Back by Popular Demand

(And a bit of friendly nagging,) we’re going to recommit to the blog.

We’ve settled into life up here, and things are less exotic and exciting then they were when we first arrived. We’ve realized though, that the blog is less about life in the North, and more about keeping those in the South up-to-date on *our* life in the North.

Next week marks our one year anniversary of being in the North. Having experienced a whole year, we’ve definitely learned a couple of things.

1. Winter just may be better than summer for being outdoors. We are finding that the cold and snow was much easier to deal with than the huge swarms of huge mosquitoes. And apparently we have black fly season still to look forward to.

2. The weather in the summer can be just as wild as the weather in the winter. Our first visitor to the north tied our longest delay due to weather. We were stuck in Winnipeg for four days due to a blizzard in December. Mom was stuck here in Baker for four days due to a massive fog system in July.

3. Don’t hold your breath waiting for the barge. As we experienced waiting for the last barge to come in last year, the first barge of the season is already late too. At least at this time of the year we don’t have to worry about things freezing.

We miss our friends and family in the South, and the convenience and independence of life down there. But we’ve made new friends up here (Poker Night is becoming a weekly tradition), and we’re starting to look forward to what life will be like for us when we do return to the south in a couple years.

A brief soliloquy from the "he" in this "we"

Seems the days fly by and become months by the time you turn your head to look back at them.

There's been a lot of firsts these days. We survived our first winter in Baker. "She" won a poker night the other day (I've never done better than second best myself). I've made my first trip to Iqaluit, the territory's capital. And its the first time I've blogged in way too long.

We've really settled into routines here; some of the adventure feel is starting to fade, as we go about our usual daily business of waking up in the morning, going to work, arguing about dinner plans--you know, normal, non-adventuring people stuff.

"She" now has a position up in the main office; my department has moved down into a converted-residence office. (No more unacceptable 5-minute commutes for me; I currently walk a much more reasonable twenty-four seconds or so...two houses down from our own.)

Iqaluit was cool but I'd really love to see it in the summer. I couldn't make out where the land ended and the water began.

Its definitely more "civilized" in the metropolitan sense: there are all the amenities of a proper city, including theater, bars, real paved roads. Its got its quirks too. You cannot sit down at a restaurant or bar anywhere in town as far as I can tell without several people offering you a bit of local art (drawings, carvings, etc). I thought it was just funny at first, even after I'd been warned in advance, but after a while you just learn to wave them away.

I feel pretty much zero interest in ever moving to Iqaluit though. Amenities aside, I prefer the quiet-town thing we have going right now, and I love not needing a vehicle (we'd need one in Iqaluit..and the unpaved roads are bone-crushingly bad bad bad in the winter).

We managed to get some more euchre games going at a party the other night. Somehow we even both got groupies cheering for our individual teams. (It was that kind of party I guess). I'm starting to hold my own a bit now although I still make her shake her head sometimes with some of my strategically-unpredictable (read: stupid) plays.

Just to bring this post full-circle, and speaking of firsts: we're about to receive our first visitor from the south and we're sort of christmas-excited around here. Couple more days till MOM arrives. Huzzah! We're looking forward to the week ahead for sure.

I'll just close on this last note. Summer is pretty awesome, how we get two stat holidays, with Canada's birthday plus the civic thing right? Well, smack dab between those, we poor souls up north also get Nunavut day off (July 9th.)

How sweet is that? Suckers.

Seven Signs of Spring

1. Seagulls outnumber ravens
Ravens are the only bird we see throughout the winter months - so the arrival of the seagulls must equal spring. Accompanying the seagulls on their return to Baker Lake are ptarmagans, buntings, geese, and several other small birds.

2. Birdsong
See above. All the our new feathered friends sure make for a chorous of song we haven't heard since last fall.

3. Icicles
Or as Squire calls them: 'sticks'. (poor kid) It was a rare day we had any in the winter, but now in the thaw we have plenty.

4. Mud
Keeping the floor clean is a practical impossibility. Almost makes me prefer the cold and snow. And only having choking dust to look forward to all summer doesn't make it any better.

5. Sicsic
They're just popping out of their holes, and have already started yelling at Baker Lake inhabitants.

6. Hondas outnumber machines infront of the Northern
A machine is a snowmobile, and a honda is an ATV of any make or model. The landscape is still predominately white - especially on the land - but the roads are bare, muddy (see above) but bare!

7. Barbeque!
Ok, so not blissfully warm, but at 2 degrees on the plus side, I deemed it the start of bbq season. What's on the menu? Hot dogs and steak.

** I have a confession to make... I actually wrote this post while sitting at work earlier in the week, and forgot to post it. :( So in the few days that have passed, with the mild temperatures, I can't say that the landscape is still predominately white.... It's suprising how fast the snow is melting out on the land. The culverts have thawed, and the melt water that had threatened to flood the roads has drained.

I know that it's only a few weeks to the official start of summer, and I think I'll go out on a limb and say that we are right in the middle of spring here in Baker. I'm hoping to still have snow for our first southern visitor at the end of the month. My mom is making the sojourn up, and both of us are looking forward to having her here! At least I can guarantee ice on the lake!

Can you spot the Arctic Tern?

Today, while walking home from the office, 'he' and I almost literally stumbled across some new neighbours living in the open area behind our house. (Hey! Their camoflauge was super effective!) The new neighbours, Arctic Terns, recently migrated from Antiarctica, where they winter, to Baker Lake, where they'll breed, or so Wikipedia says.

And while you're sitting there laughing at our southern city-slicker ways, maybe we should play a game?!

Can you spot the Arctic Tern?

Ahhhh, but can you spot all five Arctic Terns?

What if I made it slightly easier for you?

Ok, admittedly, there are only four terns in the last photograph, but I challenge you to get any pictures of any birds whatsoever once your super-hunter dog has spotted them!

Good morning sunshine...

.... at 3 am?!

Squire decided at 3 am one morning this weekend that it was time to get up and take a trek outside. After bundling up and taking her out, I decided to check for Northern Lights while she found the perfect pee spot.

I didn't expect to see the sky lightening already. So I went back in, got the camera, and snapped a quick pic before heading back to bed.

While people back home...

While people back home prepare to mow their lawns for the first time, up here, we've been doing slightly different property maintenance.

Tonight after work, 'he' surprised me with a brand new set of snow steps! We cut through the back field on our way to and from the office. The snow hill behind our house (a combination of snow drifts and plowing in front of and in between houses) was becoming a bit of a slippery slope. And since I'm one who manages to fall over while standing still on flat ground, my super-hubby decided we could no longer take the risk of me walking up (or down) the hill. Seeing as we've been having nice mild weather, with lots of daylight, he was able to shovel me some steps to keep me safe (or safer, at least) in the days to come.

We have to congratulate our friends A&P (not the grocery store) on the birth of their baby boy. It's moments like this when I really miss being back home and close to the action!

Not to be outdone by our friends, we too have a new addition to our family. He's soft and cute and cuddly and blue and says 'squeak, squeak' when you squeeze him. 'Moo puppy', as he's become known, is just the lastest addition to Squire's Moo Family; Moo Cow and Moo Bunny being the older siblings.

Since we reached a blissfully warm -2 today, we were asked if we'd be dragging out the bbq. We'll cook a steak on the bbq for anyone who wants to come shovel it out....

PS. "He' says we have way more sunlight than our friends in the GTA. And he woke me up at 5:00AM this morning (!!!) to prove it.

Him: "Wake up! Look, its 5AM and its bright enough to read!"
Me: "Whatever."
{Edited by "him": }
Me: "Whatever (snore)"

a blizzard day double header, an arctic heat wave and easter bunnies

Last week we had a decent blizzard here. We had two afternoons where the office was shut down and we were sent home early. Sounds awesome, doesn’t it? It is pretty great (a paid vacation) but keep in mind it was a blizzard – perfect for watching movies on the couch.

This week we’re experiencing ‘spring’. It’s -6 outside as I write this, and is getting mild enough that my parka seems like overkill. The snow has melted enough that we were able to unearth the deck boards on our deck that have been buried since Christmas under 20” of snow.

Last weekend was a super long holiday weekend for us. We had both Friday and Monday off. We had Bingo planned for Thursday night, but it was cancelled due to an unexpected death in town. The jackpots were $5K and $10K respectively! Friday was poker at our house, and there was a party at a co-worker’s house on Saturday. Needless to say Sunday and Monday were rest and relax days. We had an Easter dinner on Monday (ham and scalloped potatoes) and ‘he’ got a chocolate bunny.

In the next few weeks we’re looking forward to more spring like weather, another foodmail order… and maybe our liquor order will come in now that planes are able to land again!