Sealift Before and After

Thought you'd want to see Baker Lake's high-tech dock at work! The tugs actually pull the barge into to dock, which is essentially a gravel laneway that juts out into the lake. This year that had a flat barge that they had at the end of the dock, then docked the house barge (and enclosed barge to keep personal effects dry) to the end of the barge. When they first started off-loading, it was a giant parking lot of skids where you wondered up and down looking for yours.

Our pantry underwent a dramatic change once we got everything delivered and carried up the steps into the house.

Before:

After:

We made sure to stock up on things that are super expensive at the Northern: pop of all sorts, dog food, cat food, cat litter, flour. The cat litter wound up in the porch, since we were out of room in the pantry. Our sealift this year was around $4K, but paying $5 per case of pop instead of $26 makes it all worth it!

Perfect Timing

So our sealift is apparently on the barge that finally docked in town today. A couple of barges limped into view over the weekend, were delayed out in deeper water until the wind calmed down, and then the brilliant folks at NTCL decided it was a good PR move to unload the barge with the vehicles before the barge with the personal effects. These are the same people who have been promising the barge will be in 'next week' since the beginning of August.

I'll sneak down tomorrow and snap a couple of pictures, as they ended up double docking... they kept the (now empty) barge docked, and somehow connected house barge with all our groceries and whatnot to it.

Admist all that excitement, I check my WeatherEye, and this is what it says:

Snowfall Warning

Issued at 2:21 PM CDT Tuesday 5 October 2010
Summary

Up to 15 cm of snow expected.

Details

An intense low pressure system is expected to move through the Kivalliq tonight and tomorrow. This system will bring a swath of 10 to 15 cm of snow to an area including Baker Lake and Coral Harbour. The heaviest snow will occur in Baker Lake tonight while Coral Harbour can expect a few centimetres of snow tonight and up to 15 on Wednesday. This system will move out of the area on Wednesday with the snow tapering off during the morning in Baker Lake and Wednesday evening for Coral Harbour.

Aaargh! I think I was planning to fight the bugs and not the snow while hauling three skids worth of groceries into the house.

Some new colleagues?

He has some new colleagues down at his office. I think their names are Larry, Curly, and Mo, but they aren't very sociable. In fact, one of them (Curly maybe?) even tried to attack me shortly after catching them on film, loitering outside the office, and generally being unproductive.

I've heard rumours that they're already on their way outta town. I can't imagine they'll be in town much after the serious snow starts to fly.

A frosty morning

After what seems like an eternity of rain, we caught a break and the weather cleared overnight. We woke up to a pretty chilly morning; Squire left paw prints in the frost on the deck.

I think we've had the 'November Blah's'. The weather here lately reminds me of November in the south. We're literally waiting for snow - almost to the point of *hoping* for snow after all the rain and muck.

Apparently, according the news, we've been nice enough to send Ontario some cooler weather, so you can experience what the weather's been like here lately. No need to thank us personally.

We're still waiting for the barge to come in - anxiously now, as some time this month the lake will freeze. It's scheduled to be in this weekend, but we've been hearing that story since the beginning of August. I'll believe it when I see our skids in our driveway. We'll post some before and after pictures once we get all the stuff in!

What is this??

It could be frost. It *could* be. But it isn't. It's totally snow and fell two days earlier than last year! This was what was waiting on the ground for us in the morning on Monday, and more fell while we were at work. None of it was around much past coffee break. Turns out those white bunnies knew what they were talking about afterall.

Breaking News

Every once in awhile, we think it's nice to reward those that check our blog often. As such, minutes after booking our plane tickets south for Christmas, I logged on here to break the news.

We'll be arriving in Toronto in the evening of December 15th, and departing after all the festivities on December 29th. We haven't firmed up our schedule... but let's be honest, there will be a schedule. Luckily, it won't be as strict as the pre-wedding schedules.

As now savy north-dwellers, we patiently waited until FirstAir was running a seat sale. We saved over $1200 compared to what we paid for our last Christmas trip. Sounds like I freed up some budget space for a shopping spree.... but don't tell him!

Return of the....

...... white bunnies!!

Looking for a sure sign that winter is around the corner? I watched two white bunnies playing on the tundra today, and last week while walking to work, a white bunny escorted me all the way to the office.

Apparently, it's a little closer to winter on the north end of town, since our friends who live on the south end, say their bunnies are still brownish-grey!