Nhah Nhah!

This is new!

Northern Town is experiencing a surprising warm spell that is forecast to last for much of the week before dropping back to seasonal norms in the high (or should I say low?) -20s and -30s. Yesterday afternoon’s temperature of -14 C felt tropical in comparison to last week’s low of -41 C but already this morning, the temperature in

Northern Town is only -4 C (with a wind chill of -9)!

Here’s the kicker. Check out these simultaneous temperatures:

Prairie Town is -22 C (with a wind chill of -32)
(~ 18 degrees latitude to the south)

Home Town is -12C (with a wind chill of -23)
(~ 26 degrees latitude to the south)

It’s not been this warm here since about September. I won’t be at all surprised to see the T-shirts come out on Northern Town residents today, especially if we reach a forecast high of -1 C this afternoon. The ravens were displaying and croaking (in song?) yesterday, perhaps celebrating the warmth or just making fun of all you southerners experiencing a bit of northern cold!

This reminds me to tell you that there will be an upcoming post on staying warm by none other than ManNorth. It may not go up before the cold snap passes down south, but look for it coming soon!

In the meantime, layer up and get out the wool!

Living Green in the Great White North - Cloth Shopping Bags

I've decided to write an occasional post about living "greenly" in the north and unique challenges to this that we encounter. Today's topic: shopping bags!

In a time of increased awareness of the detrimental effects of pollutants and waste created by humans and a growing sense of individual responsibility, small changes to our lifestyles may help to make a difference (although see this article for an introduction to one of many related caveats which I won't be discussing today). Growing in popularity by conservation-minded folks are alternatives to plastic bags to carry one’s purchases. Touted as being “ecofriendly”, reusing shopping bags or other containers makes sense at a time when reducing unnecessary consumption can reduce the amount of waste in our landfills among other benefits. In particular, reducing use of petroleum products, such as plastic bags, can be an environmentally friendly thing to do.

I’ll admit straight off that nothing is cost free. We are consumers by nature and by consuming anything there is always going to be a negative cost somewhere to someone or something. By opting to use cloth bags, one is a part of the financial and environmental costs of using land and growing the plants used to make the fabric, actual manufacturing of the fabric and in creating the bag and shipping it to the seller. The idea of course, is that by reusing the bag (or other container) the relevant environmental costs are incurred less frequently and thus overall to a lesser degree, than those incurred by getting a new bag every time one goes shopping and for each product type purchased. By choosing a cloth container (or other readily biodegradable material) over a petroleum product, one is also reducing (not eliminating, mind you) dependency on fossil fuels and the environmental costs incurred through their use. I’m a fan of this strategy and cringe whenever I see products touted by advertisers as being attractive particularly because of their easy disposal.

The “use it once and throw it away” sort of products make me cringe and make me angry. I’m not talking facial tissues and toilet paper here either, which for sanitary reasons and the high environmental costs of laundering, I’m all for using and then throwing out, although I certainly don't require them to be bleached white in order for me to purchase them.) I am talking about such things as using aluminum foil instead of a pot, or a disposable plastic bag for steaming your food in a microwave or a disposable tissue to wipe your floor when a broom will do the trick. Occasional use of these products I understand, but reliance on these sorts of products is wasteful and in my mind, irresponsible. Plastic grocery bags are one of these kinds of products. They are too thin to ever be used more than once and usually only serve to move the food from the store to the consumer’s vehicle and from the vehicle inside their home. One use and then they are trash.

Ah, but they can be recycled, I can hear you saying.

Yes, that’s true. In my experience in both Prairie Town and Home Town, some grocery stores offer to recycle plastic grocery bags and in Prairie Town, one grocery store even charges their customers who opt to use the store’s branded plastic grocery bags. (I’m not sure that this is at all related to attempts to be environmentally friendly so much as it is simply an attempt to recoup the costs of producing the grocery bags. Nevertheless, it can be an incentive to the consumer to bring their own bags or boxes or to buy the newly marketed tiny green cloth “ecobags” for sale in the store.)

They can also be reused to contain household garbage or, a favourite of mine while dog-sitting, for scooping up doggy doo while out exercising the dog. Admittedly, those aren't altogether terrible uses for them, but far far more don't get reused or recycled and far too many end up simply as waste.

In Prairie Town ManNorth and I did our best to carry our groceries in cloth bags and only resorted to plastics bags after forgetting our cloth ones. Usually no one batted an eye at the cloth bags and we never had to worry about plastic handles tearing and spilling our groceries in the parking lot. (The ones with long handles are great as they can be carried over the shoulder, making it much easier to carry a full load. But I digress.)

When I go shopping, I carry the cloth bags rolled up and stuffed into my satchel (those who know me would never call it a purse!) and I happily pull them out at hardware stores, grocery stores, or wherever I buy anything that could remotely be carried in a cloth bag. In Prairie Town, usually no one was surprised if I declined their plastic bags and pulled out my own to bag my own groceries but I have gotten the occasional odd glances at places like Canadian Tire or in bookstores for instance, where presumably the trend to bring your own bags hasn’t quite caught on. I DID get astonished looks in Prairie Town when needing more groceries than I could carry in my cloth bags and thus using my camping backpack and loading it up full to ride home on my bike.

So how well do the cloth bags go over here in Northern Town? I’ll give you one guess!

Yep, I ALWAYS get funny looks when I decline plastic bags in any store in town, no matter if it is a grocery store or not. Strangely enough, the clerks at one of the three grocery stores in town always look put out when I smile and say “No bags please. I have my own.” I even save them the trouble of packing them, which gets me through the till faster as they can ring up my purchases while I bag but they don’t seem to appreciate it much and generally just stare sourly at me. At the second store, I get a smile and cheery conversation while I bag and they scan and at the third store, they barely notice I’m even there, bags or no bags, until I hand them my payment.

At the two hardware stores in town, I’m actually becoming recognized because of the bags even though I'm an infrequent customer there! “Oh yes, you’re the one that doesn’t want bags” a clerk recently declared, smiling at me after I declined the proffered plastic bag for the paint brushes and stain we’d purchased.

Doesn’t anybody else here do this?

This past summer I would occasionally see people walking home with bags and bags of groceries, stopping to repack them as handles broke or looking genuinely pained as the thin plastic handles bit into their palms. I’d confidently march by with my bag (or two or three) comfortably slung over my shoulder and holding about as much as they were carrying, thinking of them sympathetically, but also thinking that they should pay attention to a good idea! (Or use a backpack!)

I want to hear from all of you. Do you use plastic grocery bags? (If so, what do you do with them all? Do you crochet clothing, mats or bags out of them? Do you feel badly about using them or are you fine with it?) Do you use boxes or plastic bins? Do you already use cloth bags? How do clerks or other customers respond if you bring your own container? Would you consider using cloth bags or another alternative to carry your groceries and other purchases? If not, why not? Do tell!

-----------------------

5:30 PM Update:

Okay, now this is odd. The very day that I get around to blogging about cloth shopping bags and how no one in Northern Town seems to use them, what do I find in my postal box this afternoon but two of these:

They were each part of two 81/2 x 11 inch flyers describing a few ecofriendly products for sale at NorthMart. With every $50 purchase and a coupon, customers can get a free reusable shopping bag. I don't know if these are cloth or plastic but am mildly impressed although I think the flyer was unnecessary waste. A few large signs in the store could do the trick along with coupons ready at the till.

Guess which of the three grocery stores described above is giving away the bags:

Heh. The one with the clerks that would get put out when I used my own cloth bags, which, admittedly aren't nearly as spiffy as the one their store is now giving away. I find this funny.

I'll let you know if their reaction changes the next time I shop there and I'll also keep a watch for other customers using them there and at the other two grocery stores. I wonder if those stores will follow suit?

New Year's Trip Day 1. Part II

We pressed on from Big City through the late afternoon and into the evening as we headed northwest, hoping to make it to our next provincial border before stopping to sleep but a close encounter with a moose, who we hoped made it across the highway unscathed, general tiredness and multiple loaded logging trucks travelling at 100km/hr on dark narrow and snowy roads when we felt comfortable travelling only at 70 km/hr meant that we stopped early at a small town a few hundred kilometres shy of the border.

We drove around the town looking for a dark parking lot to use, as we planned to sleep in our truck, but all were either too busy or lit too brightly so we headed down the highway to a dark and empty rest stop and pulled in. Luggage was moved into the cab and our mattress pads laid out on the truck bed. We snuggled into our sleeping bags and read together for a little while by flashlight until we were sleepy enough to turn in. The darkness and quiet were broken just as we were ready to fall asleep by a transport truck who pulled in directly behind us, shining its headlights into our truck and rumbling loudly.

Darn!

Eventually the driver turned off the headlights but his/her running lights and running engine disturbed our sleep throughout the night. We might have gotten used to the sound of the engine if it didn’t shift in pitch every few minutes! Rumble rumble rumble RUUUUUUUMMMMBLE rumble rumble rumble....

Okay, okay. You’re wondering about how we managed to sleep comfortably and stay warm? Well, we had our camping mattresses (mine described earlier in this post) as well as our winter sleeping bags. Although I'd brought appropriate sleeping attire (mostly lycra and fleece) I couldn't be bothered to change into it and so I just climbed in with the clothes I had on, using my down vest as a pillow and leaving my coat inside the cab. I also wore my down slippers over a pair of wool socks as my feet tend to get colder than ManNorth's in the same conditions. I'm not sure what ManNorth wore in his sleeping bag. He tends to overheat easily and so usually just strips down.

Here’s a photo of our sleeping bags laid out during our holiday for our niece to inspect. Guess which one she’s actually in!

This one!


(I should say though, that we took multiple photos and she tried out both so perhaps she was in the blue one for the first photo. The drawstring around the head area is pulled tight in the first photo..) The point is that the bags have about a foot of loft such that even with someone in them, it’s hard to tell if they’re occupied. They have lots of down and large baffles, making them very insulating and warm. I’ve comfortably slept in mine in -38 to about -40C and ManNorth has used his during his arctic adventures in much colder temperatures. (Yes Mom, we were just fine. Really!)

Northern News flash

This just in:

Over 3,000 reindeer are missing from an island about 150 km from Northern Town.

Herders who are responsible for maintaining the herd arrived at the island to check in on them and to ensure that the herd hadn't crossed the ice to the mainland.

They arrived too late, the herd having left the island to go gossip with the mainland caribou. If tongue wagging is all they're up to, the herders and wildlife biologists will get over it because caribou never believe what reindeer have to say but if they get up to any carousing or passing of disease from the domestic reindeer herd to the caribou they'll be suspended from school and made to attend lectures on abstinence and safe se...

Er. It will be bad.

Herders searching by snow mobile have so far found only a few hundred animals. If I see any strolling down the river to warmer climes or in cahoots with the local caribou, I'll be sure to let you all know and to have them ask where Santa hid the rest of the holiday gifts I'd wished for.

In the meantime, perhaps their wagging tongues might be a hint as to where to find them...

Or was that wagging tails?

New Year's Trip. Day 1. Part I

Before I begin the description of our trip, forgive me for this brief aside as I'm not sure when I'll have occasion to mention this particular topic again: If any of you are ever passing through Prairie Town, be sure to drive through some of the oldest areas of town and in particular through the residential area on the western side, near the government buildings by the lake. The homes are beautiful and many have their original leaded windows which have a curious and tell-tale glint from their uneven panes that adds to the homes' charm. Tall elm trees lining the streets are lovely to drive under, shading the thoroughfares and giving the neighbourhoods a wonderful green lushness in the summer. Of course, if you are a home owner of one of those lovely homes, as are an aunt and uncle of mine, you have a bone or two to pick with those trees who also drop branches frequently, rain a fine mist of sap down on your home and vehicles in the spring and are frequent targets of insects whose worm-like larvae descend on fine silk-like strands in the hundreds and thousands onto everything, to be walked into, stepped on and squished and to munch munch munch away on the greenery. That said, and as a non-home owner, I still love those trees!

My aunt and uncle were good enough to put us up during our brief stay in Prairie Town when we came to get our truck and we bid them a warm farewell after coffee and breakfast, sad to say goodbye but eager to get on the road and to home. We’ll be back again one day, and hopefully they’ll also be able to pay us a visit here.

About a block or two away, I remembered that I wanted to record the trip’s mileage and so took a snapshot of the odometer at the first red light we stopped at. Note the truck already has a few miles on her but we were sure she was up to the task. I'll post our final odometer reading in the last blog post about the trip for comparison. This also reminds me to tell you that with only a few exceptions, the trip photos were all taken from inside the truck while we were driving so the quality is a bit grainy, there is occasional blurring from the motion of the vehicle and odd splotches in strange places due to dirt or snow on the windshield and windows. Of course, you all wanted to imagine what the trip was like from our perspective, so perhaps this isn't too bad a way to show it to you. If the photos are exceptionally blurry, like the one below, you can just imagine that you're tired and in need of more coffee, as we likely found ourselves at the time.



A few hours later, the sun was just about to rise and light up the prairies. Prairie Town was one of the sunniest places I’ve ever lived in and I always did enjoy the bright winter days. Here is a picture of a prairie field along our route at daybreak just before the sun rose above the horizon.


Hours later we were crossing our first provincial border, which curiously, runs through the middle of the city so that each half is governed by two different provinces, one of which has no sales tax. I can't imagine that stores in the other province/half of town are able to compete very well with the stores on the western side. We took a photo of the small sign indicating the provincial border as we passed over it and through an intersection. (The wee green sign in the top right of the photo.)



We also discovered that if you want a clean Canadian loo, this town (or at least one half of it) is the place to, erm, go.


The landscape changed again as we travelled north into aspen parkland. Now the agricultural fields were regularly (and increasingly) interspersed with woodlots and aspen forests, full of usually small, knobby aspen trees, unlike the tall stately aspens that are logged in the transition zones of the boreal forest and which we would see cut and loaded on logging trucks for a few of the following days.


As we chugged our way into one of Canada’s major cities (photo below)


we were dismayed to discover that there were no gas stations lining the highway, which we had expected. A tiny sign indicated a gas station nearby and so joined by a few other vehicles, we ventured off the highway and down a narrow country road to fill up at a small gas station a few kilometres away. An old man in a tiny grey car who had joined the caravan played frogger with the transport trucks and zipped across the highway, his life preserved only by his car obeying exactly his command to accelerate. Knowing Red to be slow but steady, we bided our time and crossed when it was safe, hoping not to encounter a crumpled grey car farther down the road.

As we passed through the city, I was sure that I had spotted an old acquaintance of mine from home in the east. It’s a funny thing that when I travel, I am always prepared to run into people I know, even though I’ve no reason to expect to see them and never do. Perhaps it is just that while travelling (and particularly through airports), one passes so many people, that one is bound to see familiar faces that look similar to people we actually know. Perhaps that was it but knowing that this person had actually moved to this city recently, gave this encounter at least a chance of more than zero on the probability scale!

If you happen upon this blog, Rex, were you driving a white or silver car with the first three digits of your license plate RJB at 4:30 pm on January 3, 2008 in Edmonton? We were in a big old reddish maroon truck. You and I locked eyes for a second and then I watched you merge from the north, briefly join us on #16 and then zip across a few lanes of traffic to exit at a left turn to head south, somewhere just east of 170 St. If it wasn’t you, you have a twin more used to city driving than ManNorth or me!!

Need I say more?

Actually, yes, I do!

There was a beautiful ice fog covering the town and the surrounding land today. ManNorth was working outside today and took some photos. This is what it looks like in high humidity and low temperatures around here! (Photos coming soon -he's on his way home.)

I'll speak for him and repeat one of his platitudes (to which I hold) to head off at least one of your likely inquires in reply to this post, possibly asking us about finding this temperature cold. (Which of course it is, but one can prepare):

"There's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing." -ManNorth, time interminable

When (and Where) solar energy is not an option

People in southern climes wishing to wean themselves from a dependancy on fossil fuel powered vehicles may dream of solar power to fuel their cars year round, but this far north, short winter daylength and long periods of darkness mean that this could only be possible in the summer when the sun stays up for almost two months straight. This can certainly be capitalized on in the summer (and is by at least one company in town) but for much of the winter, we're rather out of luck. Although the sun has finally returned from its month long hiatus from the north and the days are slowly growing longer, solar power won't help our town much in its new dilemma at the moment . Why ever not, you ask?

For the simple reason that our town is running out of gas. Literally.

Apparently the company charged with shipping up enough gas to the town only sent about half of what was needed before the rivers began freezing up and the barges that carry the shipments couldn't run. Owners of gas stations are accusing the company of keeping things secret until now, although they would have known by ice-up (back in the fall) that not enough diesel and regular gasoline were sent.

This means that gas is being rationed and will also likely be jumping dramatically in price. ManNorth biked to work yesterday and had always intended to keep cycling/walking/snow shoeing to work but this will be added incentive to minimize use of Big Red. We're also glad that we filled two large jerry cans as an emergency supply while enroute from the south where the price was cheaper and those have now been used to top up Red's supply.

Gas station owners have the option of paying to have fuel trucked north but this will obviously increase the cost as the expense is passed along to the consumers. I'll be interested to see if this changes any of the town residents' fuel consumption and driving habits. ManNorth and I are continually boggled at the fact that so many residents drive what is only a 5-10 minute walk to their workplaces or for shopping on our main street. (Many of them also drive back home for their lunch, creating a wee rush hour at the town's sole traffic light beginning and ending at noon and one pm. Perhaps as fuel prices increase (or should fuel become unavailable) a few people may consider packing a lunch or (horrors!) walking to and from work occasionally.

The town also has a suburb of sorts out in the delta where some local residents maintain cabins and access them by snow mobile in the winter and by boat in the summer. Thinking of them, I wonder how the fuel will be rationed: will such residents get priority over mainland residents? Will there be a fixed limit per address or per employer vehicle? I don't know yet, but will post again when I find out.