Mixed bag of Spring

Here we are at the end of the first week of June.

- snow
-ice

and FOG.

Holy Fog!!!  I've been doing a lot of reading and research on San Diego and other California destinations for our upcoming October trip.  And I've read about the dreaded June Gloom.  Well I guess California and Paulatuk share a few thing in common.  Who knew?  Beaches, Ocean Front, Fishing, and FOG.  If only it was 20 degrees warmer....Paulatuk might just be confused with some isolated area of California.  Yeah - maybe a far stretch but with all this fog it you can't really see where you are anyway.  I have a feeling nobody is wearing mitts and hats in Cali though......

It's not all doom and gloom.  There have been a few really nice days tucked in with the fog day during the past few weeks, and we took full advantage.  We travelled down to the river - twice.  We've gone on walks that lasted all afternoon, we've gone quading around town, just because we can and we have our fishing sticks all reading to go catch "the big one".  Fishing sticks wasn't a typo - we really have sticks with line attached.......that's the way we roll in up here. 


June 5 - anybody else seeing this out their window?
There are three snow machines out there - two of towing toboggans filled up with I'm guessing geese.  Coming back from hunting.  Love how I"m making up this story as I go.  An educated guess.   Geese hunting is a big deal here.  Families rely on them as one of their main food staples and it is a once a year thing - so when geese arrive, people get excited.

Obviously there is ice under the water that they are snowmobiling on.  They made it across safely.  I watched.  Buuuuuut - there are 2 snowmobiles in the bay waiting to be recovered and there have been a few more go in that have been dragged out already.  People don't really seem to worked up about it.  Just another sign of Spring I suppose. 

What's another sign of Spring?

Well flying kites of course.  Garbage bags count as kites don't they?

Well they do in the eye's of a very pleased and entertained 2 yr old. 

We do have a real kite for him.  The Easter bunny brought it.  I"m waiting for summer to dig out the big guns. 

Here is a picture of the fog I was talking about earlier.  June Gloom.

You can see the other side of town here - which you can sometimes, but not all.  Sometimes I can't even see the bay. 

Here's Bossy.  This is the same dog that came to the boat with us.  He is cute!  He has the chair turned the other way now so he lays on the back.  Smart dog - there is more room for him that way.  I think it looks cuter this way, but he does look a little cramped.

The next few pictures are some I"ve taken around town. 

I've started my own version of "Where's Waldo".  Only I try to spot whatever is new around town.  I've spotted some great things the past few weeks.

This is the seal skin that I told you I spotted awhile ago.  Well it's still out.  It's stretching alot!!!  

This one was a little more difficult to spot.

Do you see it?

There is a Polar Bear hide attached to the house.  Fur side in.  I walked by it a few days before I figured out what was going on.  I always figure somebody is watching from their window so I try no to stare at anything for too long.  Fur side in threw me off. 

A few days later it was hanging off the railing.  Spotted that right away.

These ones were neat.  I could see them right from the kitchen window.

Do you know what they are?

Two Wolverine hides and a Wolf in the middle.  Cool.  I have to say that either that is a small wolf or wolverines are much larger than I thought.

Goose eggs!  Delivered right to our door.  We were instructed to boil them because they are the best that way.  People here love them.  I"ve boiled them.....haven't figured out if I'm brave enough or not to try them.  

Egg salad sandwich?

Purple flowers are covering the tundra by the River.

Love It!

This past week-end we took the quads down to the river for the second trip of the year. We ended up down at the tent right beside the river. We tucked inside for a visit. We made the 8th, 9th and 10th person in the tent. It was neat. It was pretty big inside, had a bed, bench, table and chairs, wood stove, camping stove, radio and a caribou hide mat. I loved it in there. It was toasty warm, we sat around chatting while having tea and a few people played cards on the bed. It reminded me a rainy day at our cottage growing up.

When I first went in the tent I glance up at the ceiling....is that the right word for a canvas tent. I'm not sure. So anyway, my eyes were drawn to an area at the top that when I glanced quickly looked like a skylight. I almost made myself sound like a fool by making a comment about how the tent even had a skylight. Anyway, my brain intervened and saved me from sounding foolish but I took note and realised that it was a patched area on the tent. The owner of the tent must have spotted me looking at the ceiling because he told us the first of many tent stories.

So this tent looks like it is all canvas from the outside but on the inside there are half walls from the ground up.  There is a real floor in it, and as you can see a real door.  So this patched roof was on the other side of the tent - I checked, you can't tell it was patched from the outside or I would have taken a picture to show you.

So our first tent story went something like this. 

"You see that hole in the roof?'

Me - "yeah, what happened?" 

"A bear came through there"

The story became much more detailed than that but the gist of it is that a bear came into the tent 3 different times while nobody was there.  Remember that grizzly I told you about a few weeks ago in an earlier post.  The first grizzly of the year hanging up in town - that was this bear.

I have to say - bears freak me out.  They are so big, fast and really will eat you.  I just don't want to come across one by mistake.  I know my little bear banger pen is not going to do anything.  I felt a little braver last year before I saw the other RCMP member try to scare one away from town with a rifle shooting some sort of noise bullet.  That bear didn't care AT all.  If he didn't care about I know how much he'd care about my little pen.  The standard bear tip is to play dead - I think that might come easy to me because I'd pass out on the spot.

So back to the tent.

So this bear was known to the couple that stay in the tent.  It was a three year old.  The first time they saw it, it was up around the tent with his mom and another cub.  Then they saw it last year by himself.  They had gone fishing and when they came back the bear was outside the tent.  Their dog chased it away.  This year it tried to bust in the tent 3 times.  The first time it tried to use the door (nice house guest ; )  )   The second time it bust in threw the roof right onto the bed.  Didn't trash the tent like I guess is normal bear practise - but gave the tent a new skylight.   The roof was patched up.  Then Mr. Grizzly came back a third time.  Threw the roof again.  I can say from the size of the hole in the roof - Mr. 3 year old Grizzly was big.  Again - he was a good house guest and didn't trash the tent.   Fourth trip - Mr. Grizzly was caught for intruding. 

Sad day for Mr. Grizzly but these people spend the entire summer and fall in that tent.  They live there and use it as their base for fishing and hunting.  They can't have Mr. Grizzly as a regular visitor.  Can you imagine sleeping away and waking up to a Grizzly jumping into your tent.  Oh gosh - I'm getting freaked out now.  Dang those bears are big!  Anyway - no thanks.

This is leaving the river - that little blue dot is the top of the tent.

This loader is in the middle of nowhere.  Literally on the road to nowhere.  If you look close you'll spot the ptarmigan.  He's white with brown head right now.  I guess this is the best hiding place he can find until he finishes changing colours.

This little hut has been parked out there on the ice for over a week now.  It is kind of on it's own little island now.  I'm sure somebody will be by to pick it up eventually.  Either that or it's going to turn into a submarine.

TADA

The first glimpse of our camp fire site. 

 Looks like we have a little brook beside us this year.

On one of our walks we met up with one of N's friends.  They had a great time running around town, chasing birds, hunting out sik sik's and throwing rocks over the banks.  We ended up at the swing set where they both thought they needed to swing in the baby swings.  Let's just say getting them into the swing was much easier than getting them out.  

So I have been told that Spring is almost over.  I have my doubts.....ice, snow, hats and mitts being the main reason for these doubts.  But no no - Spring is almost over because the geese are now sitting on their eggs, and that my friends, means Spring is almost over.

Bring on Summer!!!

Spring?

Could it be?

I'm not certain and I certainly do not want to jinx anything so I will knock on wood immediately.   But...... I think that Spring might be here. 

Some of the traditional tell tale signs are here - the snow is melting, puddles are taking over our tiny town, people are out and about with lighter jackets on and big smiles on their face and of course - NHL play off talk is a main topic of conversation.

Some of the traditional Northern signs are here too -  4 wheelers are out numbering ski doos.  I suppose the exposed dirt roads likely have something to do with that....but that doesn't stop skidoos...maybe just slows them down a little.  The snow birds are back in town, in the past couple of days puddles have formed on the bay.....that does not stop skidoos either.  The geese are back, people are enjoying one of their favourite meals and filling up their freezers and the community freezer to store enough for next winter, also spending endless hours plucking geese.  I see feathers every once in awhile floating by the living room window. 

The sun is up all day and all night.  I actually just checked to see the official sunrise and sunset time because I never see it get dark anymore.   I guess it doesn't get dark at all anymore because the sunrise and sunset portion of the weather forecast is gone.  So it's light - all the time, and yes it affects me.  Not only do we have black out curtains in the bedroom but I also sleep with one of those beautiful sleep masks on......and it takes me about 2 hrs every night to get to sleep.  I think it's just because my body doesn't get all the normal tell tale signs of night.  R and I have been watching tv and looked at the clock and realised it 11:30 and had no idea it was late.  From looking out the window it could be 3 in the afternoon.   So for a person who normally goes to bed right  around 10 pm every night and gets up at 8'ish in the morning I now get to sleep around 1 am (gasp) and get up around 8'ish.  You would think I"d be exhausted.  Nope - I do curse a little every night as I take my eye mask off to see the time and realise that is LATE and I'm still wide awake - but I'm fine.  The sun is a good thing, and with the snow starting to melt - it's not even so blinding to go outside.  Spring is good - just ask N.

There actually was a road - but snow biking must be more fun

One of the teachers has an annual tradition that starts the long weekend of May.  It's simple and sometimes the simple things are the best things.  May long weekend in many places means the beginning of camping season.  I've been camping many times during May 2 -4 weekend.  And yes, 24's were normally involved.   This past May long weekend was the first coffee & tea on the deck day.  It was so fun we did it twice. 

She had told me about the tradition of coffee on the stoop months ago and honestly I forgot about it.  Saturday morning I had a dentist appointment that I was really stressing about.  So many things seemed wrong about it.  First of all the obvious - does anyone like going to the dentist.  I think that's a resounding "no".  Second of all - there is not a dentist in Paulatuk - so this was a mobile dentist and his assistant who come and set up shop in the health centre for a week and see everybody they can.  Third - I knew I was at least going to have to get a filling and of course my mind on over drive, by the time I got the the actual appointment I convinced myself I was for sure getting a root canal....at the mobile dentist.  And last, going to the dentist on Saturday....really.

I could say I was losing sleep over it but I think I already blamed my sleep loss on the sun - so I'll just say - I did not like the thought of going to the mobile dentist one little bit.  It seemed kind of shady.  So Saturday morning off to the "dentist" I go.  Well N and R came to.  N went first - after the dentist showed him his cool chair that went up and down and said he'd brush his teeth N was all game.  He loves to brush his teeth so he was in and out in a flash.  Then it was my turn.

I had been scoping the place out.  Obviously I came to the conclusion early on that it was indeed legit or else N would not have even had his teeth brushed.  But I was still sceptical so I had a little interview process.  Well - really just a one question interview.  "What color filling will I get....white?"  I've been paying closer attention to peoples teeth these past few weeks and I've noticed a whole lot of silver........just saying.  So the dentist - a nice young guy originally from Montreal but based out of Inuvik,  laughed at me and said "we specialise in full grills" funny guy.   I laughed a little  - just on the inside and clarified "so white?"   Yes - white.  So turns out I didn't need a root canal - I had chipped an existing filling so I did need a needle and all that jazz but I was in and out in 45 minutes and headed home....all in one piece.  Actually with an extra piece.

On the way home I saw a few people out on the step and immediately realised that the annual coffee on the step tradition was in full swing.   So N and walked over.  Well N rode his bike and I walked.  It was fun.  Sitting out in the sun with a nice warm tea chatting with friends and watching N play in puddles.  N was having a blast going from puddle to puddle.  I noticed he was lingering in one puddle for awhile but he seemed content so I left him be.  I guess we weren't the only ones watching him because the lady that lives in the house in front of the puddle came out to "rescue" him from the puddle.  I looked at the coffee gang and commented that I was now going to be the talk of the town, leaving my 2 yr old abandon in a puddle and having to be rescued.  So I sheepishly walked over to help him get closer to where we were and to let her know that he wasn't really abandon...he was being watched (closely by 4 grown adults).  She looked around and said "who's baby is this?"  I know we don't match physically but he's mine even though I *may* have thought about replying more like "I don't know,  Who in the world would leave this precious child alone and abandoned in this puddle?"  I simply said "mine" and she laughed as she continued to help him out the puddle all while she was in her slippers.   I thanked her for coming to the "rescue" and made sure she saw where we were going....30' down the road where the other adults were now laughing at us.

Every once in awhile a thought goes through my head about how people perceive R & I with N.  Don't think for a minute that I dwell on this or that I have ever felt anything but kindness and acceptance from people.  I think it's only natural to have those fleeting thoughts - it can't be helped.  If ever I think or wonder those things, I hope I remember this Mother's Day - when I felt nothing but love not only from my family, but the other Mothers of this tiny community we call home.

I know I've mentioned a few times in previous posts how lovely the people here in town are. On Mother's day N and I went for a walk around town. Sludging through the slush of town - bundled up...it was cold that day.   Every single person I met along the way said  "Happy Mother's Day".   It thought it was the nicest gesture. One lady actually popped out of her home to shout down the street - "Happy Mother's Day".  I can't imagine that happens in too many places and I am grateful to live in a town where it did. 

Geese - lots and lots of geese

Remember way back in October when I watched the Ocean freeze - literally overnight.  Well it melts almost as quick.

I took the first picture early one morning - the very first puddle on the ocean.

This was that evening.

So the past week has been fun.  We also went on our second and last snowmobile trip of the year.  It was much warmer this time.  We didn't get too far.  More on that  with lots of pictures later. 

N and I are going to get our rubber boots on and see how many puddles we can find.

It's been awhile.....

Yikes - 3 months is a lot to catch up on.

I'm not even sure where to start.  It's almost to the point where I thought maybe I should just cut my loses and move on.  Then I realised that this has also not only turned into a journal of sorts for me.  Since I have horrendous memory - I should likely keep on top of this because if it gets too out of hand I really won't remember.  But this has also become a great way to keep family and friends up to date with what we've been up to.  It's not nearly as great as receiving a good ol' fashion letter in the mail - but it works.  Also - since just a few months ago I sent out pictures that I intended to send out a YEAR ago.....well - I better get back into this blog.

There is simply too much "stuff" to play catch up on.  I have to admit that this is my third attempt to write this.  I'm having a tough time getting back on the waggon.  I tried to upload a bunch of pictures a few days ago and figured that once the pictures were up - the stories would come.  Part way through the download the power went out.  Bye bye upload.  That was the second attempt.  I took it as a sign to try again another day.

Today is another day.  Attempt number 3.  Lets see how this goes.

So for the record today is May 10th.  I'll use that as challenge to myself to get this posted before the end of the day.  Well see how that pans out.

May 10 looks vastly different here in our world than what you are seeing in your world.  I know because I'm seeing all the pictures on Facebook.  You guys are killing me!  Some of you are going for walks in the park with your spring jackets and sunglasses.  Others are jumping in your backyard pools, without a wetsuit on.   My mother keeps talking about how she is spending hours out in the garden. 

We just had another blizzard.

What more is there to say about that?  Last week was really nice.  Sure there was still lots of snow and it was below zero but it tricked me into thinking that Spring was coming.  We went for walks with just our winter jackets on (no snow pants) and our sun glasses.  Snow blindness is a crazy thing.  It hurts.   All that white is really, really bright. 

Fast forward to this week and we have a blizzard which seemed to be the beginning of the gloom.  The clouds seemed to have found their spot - right over top of our little town.  The forecast shows sun in about 3 days.  Not that I'm counting.

I'm still trying to get out for a walk everyday.  It is starting to get a little tougher to push the stroller.  The snow is getting more damp and is packing like a snowball around the tires.  N wants to walk parts of the walk and pick up snow balls along the way.  He's discovered that snow is fun to eat.  He hauls the same big chunk of snow with him for the whole walk and then says "bye bye" to it when I biff it off the steps as we come in.

On our walk around town yesterday I was on a treasure hunt of sorts.  I heard that there were a couple bears hanging up around town.  A grizzly and a polar bear.  The polar was an easy find.  Once I spotted it I realised that if I looked a little closer out my kitchen window I could have found it.  I'll blame that on snow blindness.  I searched all FOUR streets (feel free to laugh now) for the grizzly  but I didn't find it.  They must have taken him down before I made my way around.  I did find a few other things.  I found a seal fur stretching in a much more elaborate fashion than mine.  I stapled mine to a wall - this one looked quite advanced.  Kind of like a seal skin inside a dream catcher.  I did try to take a picture.....my camera is dead.  There were also a few remnant's of geese which have been back for about a week.  I thought once the geese were back I'd see them.  I haven't seen a live one yet.  I hear they are all out at Egg Island and that they are early this year. 

So this would have been the first grizzly of the year and it was the 7th polar bear.  Not sure what to say about that so I think I will just leave it alone. 

Lets see if these pictures inspire me to write a bit more:

There is an ice rink plowed out on the bay.  Out walking one day N spotted a few kids down there playing hockey, and he was off.  Him and the puppy that picked up along our route.  Once we were down there N loved it.  I would have loved it more if he was in bubble wrap.  I use to love skating but now all I see is the potential danger.  I'll have to get bubble wrap.

Excitement on the bay.  One morning we woke up to this.  It plowed out the snowmobile race track.  N thought it was pretty fun to watch it go around.  I thought it was very nice of him to plow out a new walking path for me.  I forgot to take the wind into account and when I did walk around it it was a major workout because the majority of the path was blown in. 

Here is almost every single truck in town down at the races.

We went sledding one day with a few friends. Going down was a blast, coming back up, OMG!  With a tube and 2 year it was a tad crazy.  I went down twice - R went down twice and we each took N once.  That hill is steep!!!  The first time I went I went with my eyes closed.  I was pretty sure I was going to flip but I didn't.  I did end up way out on the ice and had to hike for 15 minutes to get back up, but it was fun.  The second time I went with N on my lap.  That time I was concentrating so much on holding onto him that I forgot to hold my butt up and bottomed out.  OUCH.    N had a ball!

Easter

Well this picture pretty much sums it up.  We were sledding the night before and apparently I was not the only one who was tired out.  N slept until after 10:00 am!!!!  R and I were sitting in the living room surrounded by eggs looking at each and wondering if we should wake him up.  Once he was up he was good to go.  It was fun watching him.

Athena likes chocolate too....

Here are a few pictures of how a 2 year old has fun and causes his Mom a little stress, and a few giggles that I tried to hide.

I know you'll all be shocked that a 2 year ever gets into stuff - especially my 2 yr old.  So here's a little proof of the "fun" he has.

I guess he didn't want to wait for me to get him juice....

I was actually impressed with the amount he got into the water bottle (that he found in our trash bin), but I would have been more impressed he missed the couch entirely.  I bet he like this juice much more than his normal "juice".  Which is water with a just a little juice.  He likely thought he found the best juice EVER!!!

N also found the cake decorating kit - with the icing coloring.....surprisingly enough it washed off fairly easy.  He only had green hands for a day or two,

There's a new bird in N's flock and is he ever pleased with the new member!!!

So there we have it.  I guess it kind of is like riding a bike after all.  Once you get going.....