Christmas Craft Fair

On Saturday December 3 we went to the Innuksuk High School craft fair. I was so busy shopping that I didn't take any photos of the three rooms packed with tables overflowing with goodies. Items for sale included:

Photos of local wildlife and scenery

Carvings by local artists

Lots of sealskin mittens and kamiks

Christmas tree decorations

Cakes, cookies and bannock (but no hot dogs)

Handmade jewelry

Christmas cards

Paintings, block prints and sketches

I cannot divulge my purchases here as that would spoil the surprise for the recipients!

Ice Puppies NU

With the windchill it is -37C (-35F) this evening but there is not enough snow for skidoos yet so we are still playing on the quads. My skidoo has heated grips, my quad does not. I layered up with thermal socks and Sorel glacier boots, fleece track pants under my snowboard pants, a long sleeve T-shirt and a hoodie under my trusty Canada Goose jacket, a fleece toque under my full face helmet, and finally fleece mittens under my sealskin mittens. Johnny has been pretty pathetic recently so he too got dressed up in his Muttluk boots and padded jacket, Sage is hardcore so she went naked. Blaine is fairly hardcore so he wore normal clothes under his snow pants and CG jacket.

Suitably attired we drove the two blocks down to the beach where we let Sage off to run the kilometer or so down to sealift beach. Sage was so excited when we got there that Johnny's feet hadn't even hit the ground before she had him by the neck for some canine wrestling. The dogs played while Blaine did donuts on the ice then we took a moment to admire the broad green smear of the Aurora Borealis. Johnny has learned the hard way that is he wants up on the quad or the skidoo he needs to come jump on my foot, he gave the signal and I hauled him up then we drove home. Now we are nice and warm on the couch watching Ice Pilots NWT - laughing at how we used to think they were insane for living in the north.

November Road Trip

During the first week of November Blaine was out in Vancouver taking a course at JIBC, the third week of November I am attending a conference in Toronto. We took the second week as a vacation and met up in Ottawa for a road trip south.

My flight arrived at 5pm and I took a taxi to the Hilton Garden Inn where I picked up our truck then headed over to Bayshore Mall for a cut and colour. I had a couple of hours to kill so watched Puss in Boots in 3D then headed back to the airport to collect Blaine from his flight. Soon we were on the road and arrived at the Thousand Islands border crossing around 1:30am. As usual they were very confused by the Nunavut plates and couldn't wrap their heads around the idea that we had travelled to Ottawa from different locations but the one thing they kept asking about was money. We sat inside for an hour while the whole night shift pulled apart our truck looking for the bag full of cash that Blaine was going to use to buy cigarettes to smuggle back into Canada. We later discovered that they had taken a knife to one of Blaine's bags. Of course they didn't find anything so instead of apologizing for holding us up for an hour the duchebag guard covered up his embarrassment by telling us over and over and over that we should buy a new truck in the US. Asshole. The next place of any size was Watertown NY where we found the cheap motel to be full. To my continued annoyance I paid $130 to stay in a shitty ass Comfort Inn because I was too exhausted to argue or go to another hotel.

Sunday morning we consumed as much free breakfast as humanly possible then jumped in the truck and continued south. Our ultimate destination was Atlanta GA but we were fairly flexible about how to get there so with a combination of maps, sat navs and our awesome brains we devised the route on the fly and headed for the Appalachian Mountains. The clock change and mother nature combined forces to make it dark as we approached the range and after a few hours dodging deer we decided to stop at the Red Roof Inn near Roanoke WV. We had planned to drive to Lynchburg TN to visit the Jack Daniels distillery but since it is in the middle of a dry county the idea became less attractive. Some googling taught us that the entire state of Tennessee is by default dry, counties and cities can opt out and choose to sell liquor by the drink or retail. The JD distillery can sell JD retail but you can't drink it. Since Mr Daniels' product is widely available and our time in Ireland and scotland had taught us all we need to know about making the stuff we elected to skip the tour on this trip.

Monday we filled up the truck and headed to Bristol Motor Speedway where we were allowed to roam around the track all on our own. We inspected the safer barriers, stood in victory lane, ran across the finish line and marveled at the angle of the banking. The guy in the gift store recommended Cracker Barrel for lunch. Unconvinced we went along for lack of a better idea and were pretty impressed. I had chicken and dumplings which was poached white chicken meat served with thick pieces of pasta like dough about the size of a gnocchi, covered in a white sauce. Really simple and really good. Because Blaine is such an awesome husband and driver we made it all the way to Douglasville GA where we went to Hooters for dinner. This was my first Hooters experience and Blaine tells me it was not as good as the one in Texas. I liked the deep fried pickle slices and am thinking of basing my 2012 Burning Man costume on the Hooters uniform.

Tuesday morning we drove to the very well hidden Tactical Armour Group workshop to get the Tahoe fitted with a custom rear bumper. Originally we were to arrive on Wednesday but it turns out that we needed that extra day... he asked us to come back at noon as it wasn't ready yet so we drove down to Atlanta Motor Speedway which is an enormous track. We couldn't get on the track itself but we did go in the stands and drive around the outside. I wanted to eat a peach but I guess November is a little late and we didn't see any roadside peach stands to satisfy my craving. Back in Douglasville we left the truck and took Kyle's car to the disappointing mall, then for some disappointing BBQ. Liquor stores here are called package stores, we found one and got some JD honey and a big bottle of Gentleman Jack. Dominic asked me to report on prices... 750ml is around $25, 1.75l is around $60. Back at TAG we hung around trying to be unobtrusive but hoping they would hurry up. We walked to the gas station and bought some "World Famous Boiled Peanuts" which are presumably famous for being so vile. Around 4pm we learned that there was a problem with the bumper and that they would have to completely rebuild the whole thing which would take 8 hours. Strangely enough we were quite happy because by this point we had decided to visit as many NASCAR tracks as possible so we took our bumper less truck to Talladega AB. We arrived just before dusk and drove down to the security booth near the track where the old man security guard (who we later learned is called Crowbar) informed us that we were trespassing. We took this information and drove on to the bizarre town of Talladega which is populated almost exclusively by fas food restaurants. Embracing the cards we had been dealt we checked into the Super 8 and bought a bucket of chicken from the KFC across the street.

Wednesday morning we breakfasted at a BBQ place next door to the RBC and pondered the presence of the Royal Bank of Canada in Alabama. Both of us failed to consider that we were in the US so ended up with enormous plates of meat and carbs, all of which was delicious. At the Talladega Super Speedway we paid $8 each to be driven around the track by a charming chap. We were allowed out to take pictures at Victory Lane but no track or stands access. As you might expect the bumper installation was not without issues but we did get on the road and drove to Charlotte NC where we ate at the DDD featured Cabo Fish Taco then checked in to a hotel near the track so we could visit as soon as they opened in the morning.

Thursday we had an ambitious day planned: Charlotte to Dover via Martinsville and Richmond. Charlotte Motor Speedway was another lock down location so we were only able to visit the gift shop and take some photos by the sign then head north into Virginia to visit Martinsville. the only souvenir left was a mug which we bought but it messed up our shot glass collection... Guess it is just a really big shot glass. The track was awesome, just like Bristol they let us wander around freely and Blaine even climbed up into the box over the finish line where the guy waves the flags. At Richmond International Raceway we climbed way up to the new Commonwealth Tower and looked down on the track but we couldn't get onto the track itself. We jumped back kin the truck and drove to Arlington for another DDD hit before continuing to Dover DE where we got to the gift store in the Casino 15 minutes before it closed. There were no rooms at the casino so we stayed across the way in the trusty Red Roof Inn where we hauled in all our bags to do a little repacking and to audit our collection of NASCAR hats, T-shirts, mugs and shot glasses.

Friday morning we drove over to the track and were intrigued to watch them preparing for a harness race. There is a horse race track running inside the oval, to access it they have poured a bridge of gravel across turn 4. We could only get onto the inside stands so were behind glass, around the far side we took our photo with the giant monster but were a little disappointed that there was no sign saying "Monster Mile" I guess maybe you are just supposed to know that. Blaine very sweetly drove around looking for welcome to Maryland and Delaware signs to humor me in my photographic quest, we didn't find any but we did get shakes from Hardee's then plugged Orange County Choppers into the sat nav and headed north through New Jersey and into New York state. I bought Johnny an awesome pleather biker jacket - can't wait to dress him up hee hee. Our accommodations for the evening were not a hotel, thanks to Facebook I learned that my school friend Lynne now lives in Garrison NY (alas not NJ as in Copland) so we spent the evening drinking wine and catching up.

Saturday morning we feasted on croissants and fruit salad then headed back to Ottawa. We decided to cross the border at Cornwall Island to check out the Mohawk blockade, to get there we drove through the beautiful Adirondack Mountains and the picturesque town of Lake Placid which has twice hosted the winter Olympics. Our border crossing was uneventful and there was no blockade for Blaine to join so we drove to Walmart and bought groceries for him to take home instead.

Sunday we dragged ourselves out of bed and Blaine just made the flight. I stayed in Ottawa for a couple of days doing more shopping. Last night something bit me on my finger, both arms and my left eyelid so I am swollen and itchy and feeling sorry for myself as I sit on the train bound for Toronto, I hope this doesn't impact my enjoyment of the waters at Body Blitz Spa this afternoon.

Aeroplan

My dislike of Air Canada is no secret. However, I am a fervent collector of Aeroplan points, signing up for offers at every opportunity. Why? Because 15,000 Aeroplan points gets you a 'short haul' return flight which is defined as to an adjacent province or territory. Nunavut is Ontario's northern neighbour so what is usually a $1,800 return flight can be had for as little as $37.56. 

Of course you pay in some way:

• You have to fly Air Canada at every opportunity to earn miles, 
• You have to plan way ahead and be very flexible with your dates (only 2 seats on each flight between Ottawa and Iqaluit are points seats)
• You have to endure the tedium of telephoning the aeroplan contact centre with the annoying voice recognition call handling computer,
• Finally after being told that it looks like you can book, you have to wait a nailbiting 48 hours to see if your flight is avialable

Happily I survived all these challenges and have a seat on a flight out of here en route to San Francisco for our annual snowboarding holiday at Heavenly in South Lake Tahoe. Yes I know it seems a little crazy to leave the arctic in the middle of winter to go snowboarding but we don't have hot tubs here, the snow is hard pack ice and it it ffffreezing whereas SLT will be mild, covered in pow and home to many steaming hot tubs. See you there!

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"

Getting ready for winter

Two weeks without an update, you could be forgiven for thinking we had lost our satellite again. The truth is I have been busy. Last weekend we were getting ready for winter which involved me standing in the sunshine drinking coffee (bundled in my Canada Goose jacket and wearing gloves) watching Blaine work:

He has converted the crate that our sealift came in into an insulated house for the puppies. Naturally they prefer to sit outside in the cold looking pathetic instead of enjoying the warmth of their palatial box.
We had lifted the back of my skidoo up to stop the track getting iced in, unfortunately we had not taken the same precautions with the skis. Many jugs of hot water and some effort later the sled was released from the ice and lengths of wood placed under the skis to prevent repetition.
Fred and Stephane arrived with Blaine's new sled so we reshuffled the toy parking. There is not enough snow to go out on the land yet and the sea is still liquid so the sleds are parked by the house with the quads in front.

Overnight on October 1 the snow fell heavily and covered Iqaluit with a white blanket which has remained. Since then we have had several cool days and more snow, warm days have only succeeded in melting the snow enough to turn the whole city into a skating rink. The forecast is for more snow this weekend and as I type the wind is blowing swirls of fresh snow into the porch where the dogs are barking and messing around instead of sheltering in their house. I am beginning to hear talk of the sea ice forming in November. We can't wait for it to be thick enough to get out on our sleds!

Ground Control to Major Tom...

All 28 communities in Nunavut rely entirely on satellite to connect with the outside world. For example, our Internet service is delivered through fibre optic cables here in Iqaluit, and our telephone service through wires. However the onwards connection is provided by satellite. There is no cabling running under Hudson Bay. 

Our communications are delivered through three of Telesat's Anik satellites. Anik means little brother in Inuktitut, there are four little brothers in the Anik family: F1 serves South America; F1R, F2 and F3 provide service to North America. The satellites broadcast on C, Ka and Ku bands. The lower frequency C band is the original frequency for communications satellites, Ku and Ka bands are higher frequency. As far as I can tell the three bands used together give a more reliable service as each has its own advantages and disadvantages, this Wikipedia article explains some of it. 

Early in the morning of Thursday October 6, 2011 Telesat's Anik F2 satellite malfunctioned. It soon became evident that most of our communications are routed through F2 as the entire Territory was without so many things that we take for granted. No Internet access, long distance telephone calls, cell phone service, ATMs, visa or debit payment, radar communications...

Air traffic ceased because air traffic control couldn't operate. Nobody could leave and no flights could land. This may not sound especially important but consider that we rely on daily flights to bring our mail and groceries, the hospital uses air cargo to bring in medical supplies. Qikiktani General Hospital cannot provide all services and patients are regularly Med-Evaced to Ottawa, similarly patients from hamlets are transported to Iqaluit for treatment at QGH.

Not knowing if the outage would last for hours or days, Nunavummiut began to reflect on their vulnerability:

• A friend was going on holiday and had no way of contacting the friend who was collecting her at her destination.
• Another friend celebrated his birthday with no phone calls from family.
• Banks closed as they couldn't access their banking systems.
• The RCMP broadcast a message on CBC radio asking detachments to call a sat phone number.
• Employers sweated it out wondering how employees could be paid, there was no way to initiate the normal payroll through direct deposit and even if there was no one could withdraw the cash, cheques couldn't be cashed as the banks were all closed.
• People raided their piggy banks to buy the ingredients for Thanksgiving dinner.
• Someone jokingly speculated that Russia was invading, first taking out communications then they would hit the power plant.

Just as we went to bed at 11pm our Internet service was restored, communications returned and by Friday morning everything was back to normal. We all got paid and we are not speaking Russian.

Our personal preparedness plan stood up well to this and other recent tests. Thanks to sealift we have lots of food both for us and the dogs, we have cash to buy things, a generator and gas to provide power and now that snow is plentiful the dogs won't go thirsty! Turns out the all hazards approach is a solid one, our BC training for earthquake, tsunami, flooding and storm threats works just fine in the Arctic too. 

Is your family prepared?