Bye bye summer

Well I've done it again.

Here it is mid September and the list of pictures to upload just keeps getting longer, which makes me want to upload them even less.  See the problem.

I just finished looking over the last post to see where I left off last time.  Oh gosh, I'm definitely waaaayyy behind.  It's a bit daunting, but I seem to say this every time I start off but once I get started it all seems to come together.

We had some really great experiences during the past month and a bit.  Some things you wouldn't believe unless you saw it yourself, like the beluga harvest last month, hundreds of geese flying over town heading South, our mini snow storm last week or the Northern lights last night.

So here it is - August and the first half of September......

Our little community hosted Ocean's Day this year.  Nineteen people came to town on a big 'ol chartered air plane and set up a fair of sorts in town for the day.  It was really fun.  There was drum dancing, harpoon throwing competitions (yes, I tried.....no, nobody should rely on my harpoon throwing skills for any sort of purpose), an obstacle course for kids, a bbq, tug of war for kids and adults, face painting and lots of crafts.  Fun fun fun. 

A friend took this picture me right before I sampled my first little piece of muktuk.  Yes, beluga whale.  I expected the worse....the very worse, but I was surprised that I actually liked it.  I expected it to taste really fishy, but it didn't.  I'm not sure how to describe but I'm glad I tried it.


The drum dancers and singers put on another amazing show.  Every time I see one of their shows it makes me appreciate it even more. 

 

 

Kids tug of war.....

 

 

 

We spent a fair amount of time this summer at different beaches.  The early part of the summer we spent over by "the point" but the Arctic Turns chased us away.  Then we started hanging out at "sand beach"  I don't know what to technically call it, but the name fits, so I'm sticking with it.

 

 

 This year's beluga whale hunt was late.  I guess the whales were late coming through this year.  I learnt a few neat beluga facts that I'll share because if I don't write it down....I'll forget it.  The Mom's and their calves travel first and then the rest come through.  I guess this year there were a couple different pods, one with around 100 whales, one with 30 ish and another with 7 or 8.  That's the last I heard but that doesn't mean there weren't more.  Baby beluga's (starting singing the song here) are grey.  The whales that the men got this year were around 16' long and I asked how old they were, nobody really answered me so I said "are they around ten?" and the said they would be older than that. 

 

I do have a few pictures of the men cutting up the whales.  I asked before taking them and was told it was ok as long as I don't post them on facebook or send them to Green Peace.  I had no intention of doing either, I really just wanted them so we can have them for the future.  It really was something to see.  Last year I think it would have really bothered me to see it but this year it didn't.  I'm not sure why but I think it is because I feel more in tune with the community now and know that getting a whale really is a special thing and really excites everyone.  It's not another every day event.  The whale is respected, appreciated and celebrated. 

 

Watching the men butcher the whale really was a sight to be seen.  They know what they doing.  They don't mess around.  While we there there were two whales being butchered and two groups of men working on them.  There were a few 10 - 14 year olds around watching their Dad's, Grandad's and Uncles work on the whales. 

 

I'll do my best to describe the process.  The men cut large 2' x 2' square pieces and then about 3" from one side put a slit in it and use this as a handle.  Then they pull up and over and use their knife to cut the blubber away from the muscle.  Beluga whale meat is black.  Who knew?  Some of this is harvested and taken back to town in the boat.  Mostly it is just the elders who enjoy this, and it is dried, like dry meat, or dry fish....kind of like beef jerky only less additives.  The whole process is down to a science.  Once the whole 2' x 2' piece is cut free it's placed in the Ocean and a rope is put through the slit to tie it to the other pieces.   The whole whale was cut up in this manner and the then dragged back to town behind a boat.

 

Once back to town the women take over.  The women take the big squares and cut them up into little squares with ulu's, but the piece ends up being like a rope.   Once this is done the muktuk is hung up for 24 hours.  Then the majority is frozen to be enjoyed during the year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The above picture is one of my favourites because it just says "North" all over it.  Mountain, lakes, muktuk and bear dogs out guarding it for the night.

 

 

Bear Tracks

 

 

 

 

We spent many afternoons this summer on the quad.  We found a few new favourite places to go and one of them is down along "sand beach" all the way up to where you have to cut up on the land.  Every time we went out we saw bear tracks.  At first it freaked me out.  I was on high alert all the time looking for "the bear" who I just knew was scoping us out.  I started to feel a little bit like Man Tracker because I was trying to figure out how old the tracks were. 

 

We did see a few grizzly's so far this summer/fall,   Two were at the dump, one was during a quad adventure to Billy Lake (2 hrs ride away), he was a ways away, but close enough.   The other one was during an evening trip to "sand beach".  A few of us were playing in the sand on the banks when R came on the radio and asked where we were.  We told him we were on the beach below the dump.  He came back on and said to come up because he was at the dump and there was a bear there. 

 

You want to know a great way to get two Moms and a 2 little kids packed up quickly.....that's it.  We were up and and out of there on the quads in seconds.  Up to the dump we went to see the bear.  He was a pretty big one.  I think he was a bit ticked off that we were ruining his supper, but eventually he took off up over the hills.

 

 

 





 N and I chilling on the hills during a quad trip in August

 

 

 

 

I think this one is funny because N and the plane match ; ) 

 

 

 

 

There was a search and rescue during August.  A group of boaters that left Tuk were a few days overdue so the troops were sent out.  This plane came to town to refuel.  One of the missing boaters was actually a teenage girl from town.  They were found, and were thankful to be found because they were in trouble (mechanical issues) floating in the Ocean North of Tuk.  Brrrrrr.

 

 

 

Another little quad adventure

 

 

 

Check out that fog. 

 Craziest thing.

Our side of town was sunny.

The other was not. 

The plane was cancelled this day.

 

Somebody had a Birthday!

 

 

 

 

 

 

R and I had bought a few gifts we were really excited about giving him.  Like really excited.  We were both a little giddy the night before with anticipation.  Our presents were a flop.  His favourite "gifts" were balloons, party hats and band-aids.  The band aids were a joke gift because I mentioned to a friend that our supply was low because N raided the stash and apparently had about 30 boo boo's because he covered himself and the bathroom with band aids. 

 

You can't really see his party hat in this picture, but it's Hannah Montana.  I had a birthday party supply stash but I forgot hats.  Whenever I mentioned his upcoming Birthday he'd say "party hats" so I knew I had to get some.  Problem was there were none at our one and only store.  Luckily a friend was flying into Inuvik and back a few days before his party so I asked him to get some party hats.  He searched Inuvik high and low, and the only hats in all of town was Hannah Montana.  Cracks me up.  N was beyond thrilled with his party hats and for the week following his Birthday asked for a party hat at every meal.

 

 

 

I take hundreds of pictures during the span of a month. 

Out of at least 300 hundred pictures I have 1 family picture.

Here it is for the month

 



 





 

 

 

I guess if shadows count, this month I had two family pictures

 

 

 

Beyond the obvious rainbow in this picture there's a story.  We were out for a walk this evening up to the water shed about 1 km out of town.  On the way out I noticed a few kids playing in a trench by the ball field.  On the way back it started to sprinkle a little and a truck going by stopped to ask if we wanted a ride.  We passed but said "thanks" and continued on our way.  A few minutes later the truck was out by the water shed and we heard screaming and they were honking their horn.  We figured that they were looking for the kids that had been playing and carried on our way back.

 

The truck came back past a few minutes later.  Stopped and asked us if we had seen the bear.

 

Uh NO!

 

Turns out the screaming and honking was for us to get going because a bear was running down the hill towards us.  I don't know how close it was, but I do know that we saw the dog come back into town that was "playing" with the bear".  I don't know what happened to the bear.  He must have taken off back up the hill.  I think it's best I didn't see a thing because I might turn into the hermit in town, either that or I would have passed out cold. 

 

 

The barge came!

 



 

 

 

 

The view from our house just sucks.....

 

 

Hi ho hi ho it's off to the river we go

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yup - this happened.

 

September 13th

 

 

At least somebody was happy about it.

 

 

 

It's all gone now, but you can still some

 at the top of the hills in this picture.

 

 

A little Friday night bon fire by the Arctic Ocean

No trees, so we burnt pallets

 

 

Last weekend we quaded out to Fred Matthews

It was an 8 hour day and we all

loved every single second of it.

 

Whale

 

 

Haha - we were meeting up with L's parents out on the land

Here's how we do our tundra searching.  Get to high ground

or on top of a quad and just look.  As luck would have it we did

all end up meeting up.

 

Cranberries!

So far I've added them to a fruit crisp and tomorrow

they are muffin bound.

YUM!

 

Me and Magoo

 

 

He told me "just one" picture.

He was quite the berry picker....and berry swiper.

 

During our 2 hr trek home.

 

 

 

 

 

Happy trails.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

July - this is what dreams are made of

How is it even possible that it is AUGUST.

I cannot even begin to wrap my head around the fact that July is over.  Really....July is over!?  Is this just an April Fools prank that somebody is playing on me?

If it really is August that means it is almost hat & mitt season again.  I have yet to convince N that he doesn't need to wear his winter hat every time we go outside.  If he doesn't have his winter hat on it is rare that he doesn't have a hood pulled up over his head.  It must have become a comfort crutch of sorts.  I was wearing a really cute little red fleece jacket on him but the hood is ridiculous.  It has a pointed hood on it and it reminds of the Travelocity Gnome.  Every time I put it on him and he pulled the hood up I always thought to myself "someday he is going to hate me for letting him wear this and taking pictures of it".  One day we were at the "playground" and a little boy from play school was there as well and said that N was wearing a Santa hood.  That was the end of that jacket.  It was one thing for me to think it was funny/cute but the second I saw someone else pick up on.....bye bye jacket.  Ah well, it was cute while it lasted.

Once again I have a crazy amount of pictures to share.  We had a blast this month.  We went on many quading adventures, saw lots of wildlife, caught a few fish, took a few dips in the water, flew some kites and took in what will likely be our last full month of July in this lovely town we are lucky to call home.

We also one day of "those days".  July 17....I visited the health centre 3 times in one day. 

First I went, nothing serious but I was there.

Then, in the early afternoon N and I were headed outside to play with some kids.  He missed the last two stairs.  Off to the health centre we go and 1 (should have been 2 but that wasn't happening) stitch later we were away again.

And then that night our English Mastiff Morley started bleeding out from his gums.  Talk about a helpless feeling.  I remember when we decided to move up here one of our major hesitations was the fact that there is not a vet.  We do have three dogs so it was a legitimate concern.  Up until this day we had been doing okay.  No major issues, but when your 6 yr old dog starts bleeding from his gums and becomes lethargic to the point of not even moving his tongue when we were trying to get pictures to send to the vet......well we were worried.

With the help of no less than 4 people we were able to fix him up.  We got a short supply of pills from the health centre and our old vet in YK took a larger supply of pills to the airport to catch the next flight. 

He's been off the pills for 5 days now, and so far so good.  Yes, I did know on wood.

So here is our July in pictures.

It was pretty great!

Who doesn't love to fly a kite

I know I do.

He's a natural!

This little yellow plane was in town for a few weeks.  They were tracking the Caribou.  From what I understand they were hoping to see them all get together and form one big herd, but that didn't happen while they were here.

Mr Seal.

Impromptu quad beach party.  We went out by ourselves and ended up at quite the social gathering.  We were out site seeing, some were out gathering glacial water (that's a little chunk in the pic) and others were heading out to Egg Island.

It's pretty cool quading on the beach beside the Arctic Ocean

Weird Sand/Mud

R's first fish.  Bahaha.  A little flounder.  N said it was a baby.  R already taught him all about fish stories and now if you ask him how big it was he stretches his arms out nice and wide.

Hot dog roast up by the river.  Awesome day with awesome people.

Considering we are kind of in the middle of nowhere I was more than a little surprised when our picnic site...in the middle of nowhere turned into an afternoon social drop in.  A whole crew of people were heading out caribou hunting a few hours out of town.  I'm not exaggerating when I say at least 6 other quads stopped in to say "hi".

A little perk of no trees is that kids can run and run and run.  Really, where are they going to go you can literally see them for miles.

On our way to go blueberry picking

Yup, that's me.  I got stuck.  Sunk right in the mud.  Got winched out.  Is it bad that I thought it was kind of fun?

The blueberry search in on!!!

Another trip over to Crowts.  Sand dunes are fun.  Another one of those spots where kids can just run and run and run.  Hmmmm, there seems to be a theme emerging here.

Now, if you look really close you can see a mama caribou and her little one.  Over towards the left just past the dirt.  By the time I dug my camera out they were getting pretty far away.

A few people from YK came up for R's work.  They brought Tim Hortons treats with them.  N just couldn't decide what he liked the best.  Totally reminded my of my Aunt M and her dang chocolate experiments.  Pot of Gold and M do not mesh well.

Yeah, they are cute, but there are three of these little birds that kept me up for nights on end chirping away.  This was 2 am and there they are just looking at me.  Good thing they are cute.

Big news.  A new boat in town!  It actually just left yesterday but it was here for about 10 days.  I guess they were lucky to make it into town because they were having mechanical issues and they got stuck here while they waited for a part to be flown in.  Not a bad place to get stuck.

We were having a blast one evening down on the sandy beach.  R was working and called on the radio to ask where we were.  We told him...just down the hill from the dump.  He said he was at the dump and to come up....

There was a big ol grizzly bear at the dump.

I'll admit I panicked a little but once we got up there and saw exactly where the bear was I felt okay again.  It's not a nice feeling thinking a grizzly is eyeing you up.

He's the dot past the dirt by the lake.  Not really that far away but it looks it in this picture.  He took off running a few minutes later.

GONE FISHING

It started off as a beautiful sunny morning.

All except one direction.

The direction we were going.

Holy Fog

There was a total of four quads and at times we couldn't see  any of them except the one directly in front of us.  It didn't rain, thank goodness but it was so foggy that we could feel the mist on our faces at different times.

We were headed out to Dennis Lake - a 2 hr quad ride and yes we did have a 2yr old with us and another couple had a 1 yr old with them.  They were super stars and rocked it!

The Enchanted Forest.

When you are above the tree line this is pretty neat to come across.

Erie and really spectacular all at the same time.

Arriving at Dennis Lake.  I asked our leader if you could normally see the other side of the lake or if was really big and you couldn't see anything.  She assured me that when it was clear you could see lots including the other side of the lake.

Talk about a group of people in their glory. 

We had such an amazing day.  It started out crazy with all the fog and ended up being clear and marvellous.

A total catch was 5, 6 -7 lb lake trout and a whole bunch of memories.

N is quite the baker.

Pretty proud of himself. 

There is a new rule in our house:

No baking without Mom and Dad.

We have flour in our sugar and sugar in our flour

and 1 little baker boy

The moon is at it again

It still doesn't get dark here.  This is it. 

Taking a dip in the Arctic Ocean.

It was pretty warm yesterday, I was a little tempted,

But Nah.

Brrrr

Kids just have better insulation.

They didn't mind it at all.

So as I sit here trying to hurry and finish this up because I mistakenly hit "publish" instead of save before I finished up, this is what I see off my deck.  Not a bad view on another spectacular 26 degree day in Paulatuk.

It may seem a bit like I'm rubbing it in, you know, what a wonderful summer we are having. You're right, I am. I only get 1.5 months to do it so I'm getting all the good stuff in while we can. Before I know it we'll be bunkered down for another 9 months of real, hard core winter and I will be reading all your facebook posts about how you are still camping, swimming and enjoying the last bits of summer.

So yes, it's true.  Our summer has been one for the record books and I am rubbing it in.

What will August bring.....