Our office outing is back on.  It was cancelled last week due to blizzard conditions and ASS-BITING cold.  Yesterday, it was -37 with the windchill.  Today is much warmer at a balmy -17.  Tomorrow should be the same, so we are heading out for a day of fishing and eating and tea and good times. 

I damned near froze my thumb off last night while I was driving around on my snowmobile.  The crazy thing wouldn't start all day and my smart Carolynn decided to put a lamp under the hood for the afternoon.  By 8pm, things were warm enough to get the machine started - so I went out on the ice and through town for a little over half an hour to get the whole machine good and warm.  This seems to have done the trick (plus the milder temperature, I am sure) and I had no problem getting it going this morning.  Good thing too, as Caro is subbing at the primary school today and I could give her a ride to work.  It is amazing how hard it is to walk in the snow here!  It really is like beach sand on the roads because of all the skidoo tracks churning it up all the time.

Tomorrow should be a lot of fun, and I am really looking forward to the trip.  I just have to figure out how to keep my throttle thumb warm!

Posted by zippy at 8:34 AM EDT

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So, 38 doesn't feel that much different from 37.  It doesn't feel that much different from 18 for that matter!  I have been logging on to http://mnhs1987.myevent.com to follow the plans for my 20th High School reunion, to be held this coming summer, and that hasn't really made me think I am that much older either.  It is a strange feeling!  I thought for sure that seeing people who are also 20 years older since the last time I saw them would jolt me into "feeling my age" but it really hasn't.  Odd, no?

Carolynn has been struggling with some lung ailment for the past week and a half.  There is something going around town that has people hacking and feverish for a good two weeks.  Since she didn't (and won't) go to the health centre, I am not sure what it is actually, but my guess is influenza.  She is feeling a bit better now, no fever at least, but she is still coughing up a storm.  It is very strange to see her sick with something for so long - she is generally very healthy!

We has a blizzard here for a few days and lots more snow fell.  As soon as I find the damned USB cord for the camera, I will post some pics of the community and our little trailer in the 'hood.  the snow drift on one side of the building is nearly to the roof and our back door is completely impassable.  I am even having a hard time opening the window in the back porch because of the snow.  The dogs are liking the fact that they can see in the kitchen window when they stand on the snowbank on the opposite side of the house.  I don't think the cats care one way or the other - much as they are about everything!

Posted by zippy at 9:23 AM EST

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It is a gorgeous day here - finally, the temperature is right about where it should be.  We are hovering at around - 21.  Perfect.  The sun is out and there is no wind and the smell of woodsmoke is wafting through the town.  Excellent.  The snow is back to its perfect, crunchy consistancy as well - and it smells clean.  No this is more like it! 

Unfortunately, our windscreen still did not arrive for the snowmachine.  Seems the boys at cargo in Goose Bay sent it up last week, but it may have been taken off in another community because we certainly do not have it here.  When I called Goose Bay, they said they would try to track it at first, but as the days passed and it became increasingly obvious that someone else was benifitting from our missing part, the tune has changed.  Now they have to purchase a new one for us and send it up.

My question is: Why did they take it off the machine in the first place?

Posted by zippy at 8:22 AM EST

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You may have heard that the Inuit of Nunavut and Alaska are suing the Bush administration for not signing on to the Kyoto Protocol (read it here).  This may sound a bit far fetched for those of you living in Toronto or out West where cold temperatures and snow are plentiful at the moment.  However, the impact of climate change is so noticeable here in Nain, that I can't help but write about it from my own perspective.

Two weeks ago, I was all excited to get my new skidoo.  I am still very thankful to have it, to be sure, but the reality of how limited I am with it is just hitting me now.  In the north, it is not supposed to snow in January and February - it is supposed to be ass-biting cold and therefore too cold to snow.  This hasn't happened.  We are supposed to have snow in November and December and then the first two months of the New Year are supposed to be freezing months where ice fishing and lots of ice travel happen.  This year, we are seeing all kinds of snowfall records being broken and indeed, it is snowing and RAINING here today.  This means that there is a ton of weight on the ice, much more than usual, and because we do not have the cold temperatures, the ice is "rotting" already.  Many people here cannot get out to their cabins, nor go fishing and hunting, much less travel to points south on the coast by skidoo.  It is so dangerous with this much snow covering the ice, and any open or weak spots, that people are sticking close to the community or taking huge risks to go out for wood or fish and caribou. 

For me, it means we are community bound.  Oh sure we can travel a bit on land, but with hills all around us and deep snow, we can't get very far at all.  The ice IS the highway here and it is not in good shape at all.  Our office had been planning a retreat at one of the cabins own by a staff memeber.  Three years ago, they went at Easter.  This year, there isn't likely to be any ice travel at all by Easter.  We thought maybe we could go sometime in early March instead.  With the weather we have had in the past month, that isn't likely to happen either as folks realise their cabins are already inaccessible.

I am not as 'green' as I want to be - nor as I should be.  I leave lights on, brush my teeth with the water running, and fall asleep with the heating pad still sucking juice from the outlet.  I can do more - we all can probably, if we all think about the little things we do that we know are inconsistent with a health environment.  I am no environment crusader, but when I think of what living in the north was like 15 years ago compared to today, I get scared - really scared.  People's lives are at risk, not just their livelyhoods.  People NEED to go out for wood, they NEED to go out for meat and fish, and they NEED to get away from the townsite from time to time - just like you or I need our holidays and weekend getaways and groceries from Sobey's.

I haven't even touched on the cultural aspects of what all this means.  People in Ottawa were briefly horrified at the thought that the Rideau Canal might not open for skating this year.  Imagine if it never froze, the Carnival in Quebec never took place, we never had the sugar shack festivals in New Brunswik or Quebec or Alberta ever again.  These are small and almost insignificant events compared to losing a whole way of life that involved food sources, personal safety on the land/ ice, how to build shelter, and how to recharge and reconnect with nature - how to survive and how to be Inuit.

 And that's my rant on that.

Posted by zippy at 10:02 AM EST

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Our machine arrived.  It is a beaut.  Really, you can't even tell it is five years old!  Getting a snowmobile here is a real treat for us and we can't wait to get out and do some exploring.  Unfortunately, the machine arrived without the windscreen - it is supposed to be here today, on the afternoon flight.  Apparently, when the boys in cargo were preparing the machines to go, they took the windscreeens off and put them "away" so they couldn't get scratched.  Sadly, the boys who loaded the plane on Saturday didn't see the pile of parts, so they got left behind.  We didn't have any planes on Sunday or Monday due to bad weather, so everyone is hoping they come up today!

We had a scare with our Pud (or Franner Panner, as she is sometimes called) on Sunday night.  Crazy dog ran out when I was tying up Tibby.  She was at large for about an hour and then we heard the most horrible screaming sound any dog can make.  I thought she had been hit by a skidoo or something.  I bolted out of the house to find her (she sounded really close), but I couldn't see her at first.  I thought she was in the neighbour's yard, but I didn't find her there.  When I was walking back to my yard, she howled again - the sound was coming from the side of the house we don't use because it is the side where all the snow piles up.  Then I figured she might be stuck in the deep snow.  I waded in up to my waist, and finally I saw her.  I think she had tried to jump over the picket fence between us and the neighbour's and the soft snow gave way.  There she was, hangning by her two front paws on our side of the fence.  Both her fnrt legs had slipped between the pickets and she couldn't get any purchase in the soft snow to stand on her hind legs.  I ran over to lift her up and I was sure her legs were broken.  Carolynn came out by this time and together we lifted our Pud enough to slide her legs out of the fence.  Not a mark on her.  Lucky dog!  Her legs didn't even swell up after all that - maybe it was the cold that helped.

There is a hockey tournament here in two weeks, so there will be lots of people here from Natuashish.  It will be really good to see some familiar faces from there! 

Otherwise, it has been pretty good here.  We have had one suicide (the first one in about eight months, which is good for here) so it was quite busy last week.  The funeral is today and we expect to be kind of busy tomorrow.  There have been a few meetings to attend as well to develop the Community Health Plan which deals with Public Health, Mental Health, Community development and programs.  Exciting times for the new government, to be sure. 

Carolynn has been walking a lot and exploring all the places where we can take the dogs to run free.  Today, she is waiting for the Aliant guy to call so we can get our internet up and running at home again.  It is amazing how much we miss having the luxury of home internet!

Posted by zippy at 9:53 AM EST

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So, here I sit at work, typing on my blog during my coffee break.  Home internet - which had been so compliantly running until last Tuesday - is still down.  The techie won't be here until February 12.  Lovely.

On a happier note, we bought a snowmobile of our very own.  YAY!  We should have it in a week or so.  It is coming in from Goose Bay on the plane.  We had hoped to get something here, but everyone is selling their NEW skidoos for more than we want to spend and we picked up this baby

 http://www.motorsports-network.com/polaris/smb2002/SptTour2.jpg 

for under $4000.  Shipping is aobut $900, so we still come out right where we want to be in terms of spending.  Oh how I cannot wait for it to get here!

Posted by zippy at 1:53 PM EST

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We are back in telephone communication.  Funny how just a few days without a phone seems like being totally cut off, even though we really aren't.

It is snowing and blowing here today.  Walking to work is a little more challanging when the winds are kicking up to 87 km/hr.  And school is open here this afternoon.  Tough kids, these are.  The snow is very fine and feels like little pins on the skin.

It is frightfully hot in my office.  Thankfully, I have windows that open here, unlike in Natuashish with its hermetically sealed feeling of "no air".  The office here is in an old house, and I am quite sure I have the smallest office/ bedroom.  Not that I mind - it is still bigger than what I had in Nat.  I do need a different chair though.  There are no armrests and I feel like my right arm is coming off at the shoulder.

The dog-catcher came by the house today.  Seems Spek got away from Carolynn this morning and all the gods know I had a heck of a time to get her in the house at lunch hour.  Crazy old dog - loves the snow.  Anyway, we have to be diligent in tying the creatures or to the Great Hydrant In The Sky they will go.  We also need to get them licenced for here.  How nice it is to live in a community with by-laws again!

Posted by zippy at 1:15 PM EST

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We made it.  It wasn't easy, but we are here.  Let's recap:

We were supposed to move on Saturday.  Then we had a crappy weather day and a message saying "We will call you when we reschedule your flight".  Ok.  I thought this meant we would have a bit of notice.  Apparently not as the call came in at 1:00 pm on Sunday afternoon - "Hi, Jenn?  This is Trevor from Innu Mikun [the airline].  Is your freight at the airstrip?  No?  Well, we will be there in an hour."  Holy shite.

Called a bunch of numbers of people with vehicles who were going to help haul over 3000 lbs of freight (read: our shit) to the airstrip.  Since no one thought we would be flying on Sunday, no one was around.  It didn't help that it was a beautiful, but bitterly cold day, so there was much visiting about town.  No one knew where anyone was.  And we weren't even finished packing up the bathroom, the kitchen, the bedroom - incidentals mostly.

The mad scramble was on.  Carolynn was next door at Delrose's having tea.  The boys had taken the clinic van to the dump to dispose of the week's garbage.  I made a frantic call to the only other person I could think of with a vehicle - Bob, the school principal.  Thank all the gods, he was home and agreed to come and rescue us.  Ken, the other nurse next door radioed the van to get back to town ASAP.  Unbelievably, the whole operation took four van-loads, we filled the plane to the point of a shakey take-off and a few hastily said prayers and a mere twenty minutes later, we were in Nain. 

No one knew we were coming.  When we landed, the pilots told us that even they did not know about the trip to Natuashish to get us until an hour before they landed.  There are no lights on the runway in Nain - they can't land in the dark.  We arrived just after 4:00 pm and the sun was on its way down.  As we stood on the runway with all our goo about us, a snowmobile and komatik arrived with one of the friendliest drivers ever - Richard.  He took the dogs and cats first, thinking they could stay in our new house until we sorted out the rest of the stuff and rounded up another skidoo and komatik. 

No keys. 

Since we were supposed to arrive the day before and no one knew of our arrival on Sunday, the man with the keys, Samuel, was off on the land somewhere.  Carla showed up.  She was a CYFS worker in Nain who also made the switch to working for the Nunatsiavut Government.  She is married to Richard.  Carla was a total sweetie as she zipped around on her skidoo trying to locate a key for the house.

Samuel arrived at the airstrip to save the day.  On his heals, Richard came back with four guys and another skidoo and komatik.

By 7:00 pm, Carolynn and I, with the help of the gang in Natuashish and Nain had moved all 3000 pounds four times - out of the basement and onto the vans; off the vans and onto the plane; off the plane and into the komatiks; off the komatiks and into the new house.  We are both wrecked.

I put in a full day of work yesterday - meeting the new staff, going to the various other agencies to be introduced, up to the gas pumps (my nose was frozen white at this point. The weather was, well...a blizzard describes it best), back to the office to try and organise the office.

This morning, we had no water.  Most homes here have to leave the taps running a little bit to prevent freezing.  We didn't.  I look like gak, Carolynn looks like gak, the dogs are freaking out because they have to be tied up, and the cats are most disgusted with the boxes all over the house.

I am glad to be here.

Posted by zippy at 3:08 PM EST

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Well, it is official.  We are moving.  I was able to give my final day of work notice yesterday so now I can start blogging about it.  Trust me, it is not as easy as jumping in the U-Haul and hitting the road.

The most difficult part of the process has been the decision to move.  Carolynn and I were completely happy to stay here in Natuashish for another year.  But the universe was conspiring to point us in another direction.  The only real concerns I have are with the organisation I was hired to work for when we came here.  There have been problems right from the get-go - no other social workers here when I was told there would be three of us, withholding Carolynn's ticket until I promised things I should not have been made to promise, our roof still has a hole in it because no one seems to know who is responsible for our house, no training, no support and the list goes on.  Both Carolynn and I have had our moments when we weren't sure we could adjust together to the community, but those were minor concerns and we did adjust.

A while back, I was approached by the Nunatsiavut government to go and work for them.  Initially, I told them we were fine where we were and decided not to take them up on the offer.  Then things deteriorated and what do you know, another call came from Nunatsiavut.  So, I decided to hear what they had to say.  Then they offered me a job in Nain.  Because I was getting no where with my concerns here, it seemed like we should go for it.  And so we are.  Now, moving on the coast of Labrador in winter is a right royal pain.  In the summer it is easy - jsut box everything up, put it on the cargo boat and go.  In the winter, everything has to go by freight plane.  The freight plane is not on a schedule - it comes here when it is full of goods for the coast.  We will be able to fill the plane with our own things and have to sell off a bunch of food that we ordered for the year that is now filling our basement and freezer.  Damn.  Anyway, the good news is that our dogs and cats can fly with us on the freighter, whereas they cannot on a passenger flight (no pets allowed in the cabin, too cold in cargo). 

We are in selling, packing, and tearful good-bye mode.  This is the last move before we settle down somewhere for ever and ever, amen.

Posted by zippy at 1:42 PM EST

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I was looking at my post history a while back.  As of February 23, 2006, I had done 200 posts on my old blog.  That represents exactly one year of blogging.  To date, I have only made 51 posts on this version.  With only about six weeks to go until I mark the second anniversary of blogging, I am getting the distinct feeling that I have not been anywhere near as prolific as the previous year.

Hmmm.

I suppose part of that could be that I did not have surgery this year, I did not graduate from anything, and working full time is a definite hindrance to blogging whenever the mood strikes.   Sadly, I think a big part of it is not feeling secure that I can write what I want.  That whole feeling of Big Brother watching.  Oh how I hate the fact that my thoughts could be used against me if I voice them.  I guess this is why I am leaving my current position.  There is no feeling of security, really, and that is what is getting me down. 

In other news, I was speaking with a friend of mine who used to work in Nain.  She moved to Nova Scotia a few months back and she is ready to move on from them as well.  Next stop for her is Baffin Island.  

And now I must go and beat back the ugly green monster with a large sledge hammer. 

Posted by zippy at 9:18 AM EST

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