Thanksgiving 2013

Nancy, Paul and Dylan joined us for the weekend. While the boys cut and split firewood, Nancy and I cooked up a storm. I saw Ree Drummond aka The Pioneer Woman brine a turkey, so we did the same and @&$! me was it good!!!

We also rocked a baked ham with Sailor Jerry rum and a myriad of delicious side dishes.

Sunday we went on a side by side adventure to Big Lake, Marguerite Lake, Indian Hill and Jackson Lake, then home to harvest and split some firewood for Paul and Nancy to take back to the city. Then we ate some more... No one ever starved to death at our place, except maybe a vegetarian.

 

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Naughty Dogs

Yesterday afternoon we put the dogs outside to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air while we got on with our chores. Just before 5pm I went out to do the weekly hot tub maintenance and called the dogs to come home. After a minute or so I heard the distant sound of Johnny barking. Movement on the opposite, northern, shore of the lake caught my eye so I grabbed the binoculars and quickly confirmed that Johnny and Sage were on one of the docks over at the cabins. Presumably the afternoon sunshine had melted the ice against the north shore, stranding them on the far side.

Our house is about 2/3 of the way along the lake on the south side. The east end of the lake is a privately owned ranch. Blaine went into rescue mode and set off in the the side by side back out the road to the 11 km marker, then onto the trails through the forest to get around the west end of the lake and then along behind the north side. The trails are just ATV/snowmobile trails, unmaintained, narrow, winding etc. Blaine struggled through deep snow and fallen trees along the little used trail. After an hour he reached the dogs who were beside themselves with happiness at being rescued.

One of the trail sections was particularly bad with lots of snow and trees down across the path. Blaine was able to make it through as he was travelling downhill, but he knew he wouldn't be able to make it back up that way. There is a road into the cabins that connects to the Beaver Valley Road which connects McLease Lake to Big Lake, Blaine took that road east with the intention of cutting down past Jackson's Hole. Unfortunately the Jackson's Hole road was impassible so he was forced to go all the way to Big Lake and back along the trail by Marguerite Lake. He got home at 7:30pm freezing cold but with two very happy, hungry puppies.

Today I locked them on the deck. When we came home from work they were waiting at the top of the road. We put them back on the deck and put their food on the driveway to force them to reveal the secret of the escape. Johnny did a series of wiggles to get his head, shoulders, then hips through the gap between the railings. Sage eventually and reluctantly jumped over the fence. Blaine spent the evening barricading the areas that Johnny got through, as for Sage we assume/hope that she will stay put so long as Johnny is contained.

Fingers crossed it works for tomorrow!

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Ice Fishing

It was a lovely sunny morning so we loaded up the qamutik and went ice fishing out on the lake. Alas we didn't get so much as a bite but we very much enjoyed a couple of hours in the sun. the dogs really aren't at all sure what is going on and probably think we are mad but they seem happy enough to hang out with us. Blaine said that they are not very helpful when it comes to tying the hooks on the line though.

 

Fun in the Snow

This weekend we had planned to go ice fishing but opted out since the lake was barely visible through the falling snow, it didn't seem like it would be much fun. On Sunday afternoon it started to clear up a little so we grabbed the sleds and went out for a ride. I didn't turn on my GPS tracking app but I am sure you have a good idea by now of where we go.

We rode over to Indian Hill and then took the trail to the barns on the south of Marguerite Lake. However, we were unable to get through as the stream was decidedly liquid. Blaine turned off the trail to turn around but his sled sank in the thigh deep snow so we spent some time extracting it then retraced our route to join the main trail to the north of Marguerite.

Instead of going all the way around to the rest area we elected to take a short cut over the lake. Blaine went ahead first to find a liquid free route. I do not enjoy riding my sled on water. Johnny, Sage and I took a short walk on the lake while Blaine zipped over and back.

  

The dogs were a little confused as to why daddy had left us but they enjoyed playing in the snow.

 

We parked up on the point by the hunting cabin and enjoyed a beer (snugged in Jimmie Johnson stubby coolers) and a packet of crisps.

This is my view on the sled. Johnny stands on the gas tank, Sage sits behind me on the passenger seat.

On the way home Blaine and I rode around the trails near our house so that they were beautifully groomed for my dog walk on Monday.

more skidoo adventures

I used the "Map My Run" app on my iPhone to track our last two skidoo adventures. Naturally both involved a run over to the gas station at Big Lake, and a trip up Indian Hill to enjoy the view. 

37 miles on January 20th

On January 26 we explored mostly to the South, where I got my sled stuck on a hill in the woods. 

 

54 miles on January 26th

The following Saturday we went North and I got stuck in the powder on the shoulder of Beaver Lake road, and then tipped over completely less than a mile from home. Blaine looks forward to my incidents and thoroughly enjoys getting me and my machine out of our predicaments :-)

some of the dreary views I have to endure ;-)

Sundowners on Indian Hill

Shredding Sun Peaks with Shalla

Winter Fun in the Cariboo

This morning I packed a cooler with some snacks and a couple of flasks of Sailor Jerry spiked hot chocolate while Blaine organised our fishing bucket. We drove our skidoos up to Jackson Hole and tried some ice fishing. Maybe this is a little like our clam digging failure and perhaps dogs aren't conducive to catching lots of fish. We fished for three hours trying several different spots but didn't get so much as a bite.

We gave up on fishing so drove the puppies home and left them at the house while we went for a ride. It is much easier to drive without 2 dogs as passengers. I followed Blaine along the quad trails through the forest and then over on the 1800 road towards Big Lake. Unfortunately we were short on gas and day light so came home about 4pm. We drove the Suzuki down to Deep Creek gas station and filled up all our jerry cans so we are ready to play again tomorrow.

Sent from my iPad

Fun at the lake

We woke up this morning to a fresh 4-inch dusting of powder. After a raclette breakfast Blaine and I went out to plough the drive, well he ploughed I just rode along. Justin got packed up and headed off, we had an awesome visit with him and the time just flew by. It was a lovely mild day so we went out front on the lake and did a little ice fishing. Blaine set up patio chairs and I made us Sailor Jerry hot chocloate so although we didn't get a bite it was lots of fun.

To maximize the enjoyment of our environment we hitched the qamutiq up to Blaine's sled and he towed me and the puppies over to Indian Hill. Alas with all the powder and extra weight we couldn't get all the way up the hill so had to walk the last little way but the view always makes it worthwhile. Me and the puppies got covered in snow but I couldn't get a picture as my iPhone was in my inside pocket.

For dinner we had Mexican, heating our tortillas on the raclette. I have a chest cough so am resting up in bed with lots of Kleenex and cough meds. Blaine and the dogs are keeping me company watching Sons of Anarchy.

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Toy Boy?

I always go to the same gas station in Williams Lake, the Super Save near the casino. The staff are super friendly and the prices are always the cheapest. Oh yeah, and they pump the gas for you and will even clean the windows. I usually clean my own windows (because my vehicles are so dirty!) while Rena pumps the diesel or petrol and we chat about stuff. Yesterday I was in town with Justin as his pickup was the perfect vehicle to take Blaine's skidoo to hospital. We pulled up to the pump and got out, then Rena said "hey so this must be your husband". Evidently Blaine and I have not been to fill up together. It was pretty funny.

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Northern Lights

Even though I now live in the south it is still possible to see the Northern Lights. Indeed there was a spectacular display on October 8th. I didn't see it but plenty of people told me all about it and posted photos during the following days.

Determined not to miss out again, I now follow the activity forecast for Edmonton, AB. Tyee Lake sits at 52.3 degrees, Edmonton at 53.5 so it is a reasonable guide.

My dream is to relax in the hot tub with my baby and a glass of champagne watching the aurora display. Our house faces North so it is entirely probable, just not tonight. The sky is clear and the Milky Way looked amazing when I went out to the car, but the geomagnetic activity is low.

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24 hours in Prince George

This morning I enjoyed the luxury of laziness. Blaine needed a ride back from Prince George so I went up last night and we spent the night. He had to go to the office at 8am but I didn't have to check out until 11. The dogs were with Judith at Wildwood Pet Resort. I did a short yoga routine then watched the Food Network while lying in the middle of the king sized bed.

After an hour of Jamie Oliver cooking Christmas related stuff I slowly got ready then drove into town to find some stuff to photograph. The absence of photographs in this post can be taken as evidence that I found nothing worth stopping the truck for. In Prince George's defence it was an unseasonably mild day so the city was awash with dirty slushy snow which is a hard look for anyone to pull off.

We ate sushi for lunch then attended a work awards ceremony. I got my Starbucks fix (venti, non-fat, half-sweet, 200 degree, creme brûlée latte) then we hit the road home. Judith had fed the dogs but sure enough as soon as we got them home they put on their "feed me I'm starving" act. Blaine played along but fed them only 2 pieces of kibble each. They were not impressed.

 

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An alternative advent

Inspired by a YouTube video shared on Facebook by a friend I am setting out to practice yoga for at least 5 minutes every day for the whole of December.  

And since I have been such an inadequate blogger, I am also committing to publishing a blog post each day.

It is 7:30am which is not too early for yoga, but I am snugly tucked up in bed watching Food Network so I will tackle that part of my pledge later today.

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The Mega

The St Jean Garrison in Quebec is known as "the Mega". Amongst other things it houses the Canadian Forces Leadership and Recruit School where Justin has been resident since April.

We arrived at the garrison at 2030 on Wednesday so scooped Justin up and he took us for a quick tour of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu before heading to the local Legion for a celebratory beer. At CFLRS Cinderella turns into a pumpkin at 2200. We returned him and then checked into our hotel where we dined on Burger King since that was the only thing open.

Thursday morning I tried to sleep in but my attempts were thwarted by housekeeping loudly cleaning the adjacent rooms. Blaine and I breakfasted at Mikes, because we wanted to see if it was anything like Mr Mikes. It is not, this Mikes is an Italian restaurant. I have never thought the name Mike to be particularly evocative of Italy but they do things different in La Belle Province. My breakfast was a surprisingly delicious apple and cheese pizza, Blaine had crepes with Nutella and bananas.

The ceremony starts at 1400 but since seating is first come first serve we got there around 1230 and got spots in the second row of the Zengel platoon grandstand. Perusing the program we were surprised and delighted to read that Pte JD Wiggins was to receive the commandant's trophy as top student in his platoon.

Commandant Michelaine Lahaie presents Pte JD Wiggins (Platoon Zengel) and OS WM Howling (Platoon Topham) with the commandant's trophy for top student

They don't get to keep the trophy, just to touch it once!

 

After the ceremony we all gathered in the Omega Mess for a reception with the recruits and their instructors. Justin's instructors all spoke very highly of him and he was constantly being congratulated by his many friends. After the reception all the parents went out for supper with the guest of honour and his friends Chris and Kristyn.

Left to right: Blaine, Emma, Justin, Donna, Phillip

Before dawn on Friday morning the recruits were up and on a bus bound for the airport. Justin shipped out to CFB Wainwright for the next phase of his training: Basic Infantry Qualification. To the best of my understanding this involves learning to crawl through mud and to love your gun.

We got home late and collected the dogs from puppy camp. At home we lit the fire, poured a drink and scrolled through the 300+ photos I snapped!

Crock of Ages of Shite

I am writing this somewhere over Manitoba I suppose, half way on a flight from Vancouver to Montreal. For my first on board movie I watched J Edgar, an informative, moving and eye opening movie directed by the awesome Clint Eastwood. Blaine watched Rock of Ages and was giggling away throughout, my sister in law is even more obsessed with RoA as she was with Twilight. So I figured I would give it a go. Guys, you are both wrong. Less than 15 minutes in and I was compelled to pull out my iPad to write a blog post about how dreadful it is. Maybe it will get better soon... maybe if I have a Johnny Walker Black Label it will help?

Let me share my opinion on "dining" aboard Air F You. Domestic beer (aka piss) is $6.50, Heineken is $7, wine is $6.50, sparkling wine $7, spirits $6.50. It's a no brainer, give me the scotch.

The best snacks are the cheese and crackers $4, and the carrots, celery and ranch dip for $5.

For $9 you can get a drink and snack combo.

For $13 you can get a meal, snack and drink. If they have pizza do the meal deal. The other food isn't worth wasting the calories on.

Generally you are best advised to buy your "meal" at the airport before your flight. Advice in the regard requires a whole other blog post depending on which airport and which terminal.

30 minutes - I have my scotch. It isn't better yet. Blaine says it is because I am too young.

51 minutes - I am wondering if my brother's next inking will be Stacee Jaxx pistols.

1hr 3 minutes- grateful that the plane will land before the film finishes.

1hr 25minutes - seriously?

I didn't finish watching. The meagre offering of witty one liners was not enough to make up for the dross.

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Skidoo therapy with Dr. Kavanaugh

After work last Friday Blaine and I joined our friend John on a skidoo ride. With John revelling in the role of tour guide we travelled North past the end of the Road to Nowhere and then onwards to the spectacular Johnson's Canyon. We then backtracked a ways to to trail to Pangnirtung which we followed for a few miles before heading home. Sunset was well after 8pm and with little wind and mild temperatures (maybe -10c) it was a perfect evening. Of course I didn't take my camera.

After almost three days of non-stop snow the tundra was covered with a soft, thick blanket of snow. My skidooing experience thus far has been limited to travelling on ice and barely covered rocks. This new surface took some getting used to as my machine seemed to float at times, and get bogged down at others. I was happy enough pottering along feeling out my confidence on the flats and closely sticking to John's trail on the hills (the boys kindly placed me in the middle of our convoy to keep me safe).

My favourite part of the evening was watching John and Blaine having so much fun riding through deep snow, and up and down steep hills. John's sheer joy was particularly infectious and I found my confidence growing as the boys frolicked on their machines. The journey from our house to Dead Dog Lake was extremely stressful for me as we had to cross several roads and the trails were sometimes steep and narrow. I can't say that I enjoyed retracing the same route on our homeward journey, but I didn't have a meltdown.

Conclusion: Happiness is good for you

Cultural activities this weekend

The forecast is for warm weather so I plan to get out as much as possible this weekend. There are a couple of neat things happening at the library / visitor centre too: Throat singing, drum dancing and igloo building. Hopefully all this will result in an intersting blog post on Sunday!

Tahoe 2012

After an excellent holiday I am back at home with the dogs who are far too exuberant for this early hour. Yesterday's -40 windchill and my lingering tiredness truncated our walk and now I am paying the price with a 7am tug of war / dog wrestling display.

Our trip began on for me on Thursday February 23 when I flew down to Ottawa to join Blaine who was there attending meetings with AFAC and AANDC. He picked me up from the airport and then back at the hotel I enjoyed a draft beer or two then we dined on sushi - both unavailable in Iqaluit. Friday morning he went back into meetings and I set off for a day of rampant consumerism, starting with a 9am hair cut and colour. Keen to get my fix I lunched on sushi, then more shopping. I emerged from Loblaws at South Keys with a trolley heavily laden with goodies to find a heavy wet blanket of snow covering everything and no sign of it easing up. Not good for driving back to the city, and not good for flying. Eventually I made it back to the hotel and dragged Blaine over to the Rideau Centre to look at a snowboard jacket and Sorel boots on sale. He found a snowboard jacket too, and a few other things. We celebrated our shopping success with a bucket of KFC and a couple of glasses Jameson's in the hotel room, then re- packed our bags ready for our early start.

The 4am wake up call came far too soon and we dragged ourselves to Ottawa airport where I endured the line ups and hated self check in kiosk. Blaine dropped the car off and got a cab back before I had made it to a human being at the check in counter where we were informed that our 9am flight from Toronto to San Francisco had been cancelled and that we should go Lin e up for ticketing to be rebooked. I noted that this would cause us to miss our 6am flight to Toronto to which the charming Air Canada staff responded there was no point boarding that flight as we couldn't fly on to SFO until the evening. We joined the fray of disgruntled passengers in yet another line up so that we could be subjected to more surly unhelpfulness by charmless Air Canada staff. Through security we settled in for the day on a couple of couches at which point I examined our boarding passes and noticed we weren't even sat near each other. Miraculously a helpful AC employee got us seats together and gave us a $10 meal voucher each. I went back to the couch and watched some TV. A couple of hours later my brain got going and I pessimistically checked the AC website to see if our flight to SFO was cancelled yet at which point I saw seats for sale on the noon flight. Back to the AC desk where I found the other helpful AC employee who worked her butt off to try to get us to Toronto in time to catch the noon flight. Had we been allowed to board the 6am flight then we could have made it, but we didn't. Instead we got to run around Ottawa and Toronto airports trying to make flights and re-telling our sorry tale. Eventually we arrived in SFO around 1am and rented a car to drive up to Tahoe. By the time we arrived Dom and Tim had woken up so we and a few beers then got about an hour of sleep before our bodies woke us up again. 

The next two weeks were much more enjoyable. Living in a big house backing on tho the woods near California base we spent our days snowboarding and our evenings BBQing, drinking and hot tubbing. We rode Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood mountains and even got free S'mores at Northstar. The weather was a little crazy, ranging from +4 on top of the mountain sunny days to wild winds that shut down all but Powderbowl chair. We took advantage of the free Epic Mix photographers to get some photos, unfortunately some of them didn't show up on our accounts so we don't have the group shot on the rock at the top of Powderbowl chair. The photo of me falling while wearing a bikini top did make it and is now my Facebook profile picture. On the last day I was struggling with my leg so I was escorted to Sky Deck where I sunbathed and sipped Shock Top while the rest of the group rode over to Stagecoach lodge.

Saturday morning we got up early and packed the cars then breakfasted at the Lakeside Casino before driving back to San Francisco. After saying goodbye to the others at the airport Blaine and I headed over to Pacifica for some Gorilla BBQ. As always we were defeated by the delicious stack of meat and tasty sides. Next stop was Infineon raceway then on to the Napa Premium Outlets for more shopping. Back at the hotel we enjoyed a refreshing bottle of Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc and In n Out burgers. 

Sunday we got to the airport super early so we had time to check in our oversize bags. So glad we chose to fly at lunch time not the first flight of the day. The return flight was moderately uneventful, just the usual rudeness that we have come to know and expect from AC. By the time we got our bags and the car it was almost 1am when we checked into the hotel, then I re-packed ready for my flight home in the morning. Another early start but this time the First Air check in agent was super nice so the day started happy. Blaine and I had a coffee together then I went through security and he went back to Ottawa for three intense days of meetings with the CAFC.

The dogs went crazy when I got home, both jumping around and circling me furiously wagging their tails. I was supposed to be moving offices but while we were away there was a small fire in the empty room that was to be my office. It is now being repainted and I should be able to move in later this week, excitingly it has a window!

Iqaluit Christmas Lights

1st Place

Each year the city holds a Christmas light competition. 

2nd Place

Tinah, Lisa and I drove around on judging night checking out the houses. 

4th Place

The entries were not listing anywhere so we tried to hit every street and I took some photos of our favourites.

6th Place

The results were posted on facebook this week, we learn a lot from facebook up here :-)

Iqaluit Swap / Sell

Iqalummiut don't use Craigslist, instead we have a Facebook page where people list items for sale. Often there is a colourful debate in the comments as to the quality and value of the item which provides endless entertainment, to me anyhow. Here are some of the more unusual things that we can buy (click on the images for a bigger picture)

bowhead whale baleen

A fresh walrus head

Two fat caribou

Hmm, typing those captions gave me an idea... maybe we could rewrite the lyrics to "A Partridge in a Pear Tree"

Surreptitiously photographed by Polarman

Iqaluit has its own superhero. His name is Polarman. He wears a wresting mask. Today I was out on the quad with Sage to take my weekly photograph of the square. I took the photo and then spoke to Blaine briefly. When I turned around I saw Polarman across the street, he was taking a photo of me on his cell phone. I guess we do make an unusual sight.

When I downloaded my photos I noticed that Polarman is in the background of this picture of Blaine and Johnny.

You can learn more about Polarman here http://ronwassink.blogspot.com/2010/10/polarman-is-iqaluits-super-hero.html