Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Celebrations

Since I arrived back home my weeks have been filled with celebrations of many kinds.  First on the list was July 1st, Canada Day.  The weather didn't co-operate that day as it was cold & raining, actually the weather was crappy that whole week leading up to Canada Day.   Craig did play baseball and his team took first place and each member took home a gift card for the Northern Store.  Great prize! 

The following week the skies opened and it has been beautiful ever since, even today it was cloudy and a bit raining but the temperature was good.  So all last week we were in and out of the house enjoying the sunshine.  I never thought that I would ever see shorts again until I head down south but alot of people have been wearing them including me.  I think I am even getting a tan up here.  Last week Jim, Sheila, Marg, Cat, Craig and myself headed out on to the land with our ATVs and I was the passenger in the Tom Car while Sheila drove.  It was a great evening.  We didn't get home until 10pm but it felt like 8pm as the sun was shining high in the sky.

On July 9th it was Nunavut Day and the weather couldn't of been better.  There were many different games for the kids, a free barbque that included a hot dog, a bag of chips and a juice, prizes, and the list goes on.  Most of the town was shut down today as Nunavut Day fell on Saturday so most businesses were closed today.  We, Kitikmeot Foods Ltd. on the other hand was not closed as we started the annual Arctic char harvest yesterday and the fish do not take holidays.  I will do a separate post on the fish harvest at a later date.

Yesterday Craig and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversay.  I can't believe it has been 18 years, I still remember our first date when Craig took me to the BDI (Bridge Drive-In) for the best ice cream treat in his mom and dad's old station wagon. You know the one with the wood panels, how cool was he?  No wonder I fell for him.  We spent most of our anniversay day on the land with Craig driving and me taking pictures.  We seen three small herds of muskox and many birds and flowers.  The day ended with a great dinner of steak, mussels and wine.

The dogs have been happy as we have been taking them out on these beautiful days for runs...finally.  Blitz being 2 years old and a great little hunter is put on a 30 foot lead for about an hour and then he is free to run.  He usually does well as we throw the ball for him and he brings it back.  Well into this game a little birdie flew right in front of him just above the ground heading towards the icey cold waters.  Shorthair + bird + water can not equal a good thing. Off Blitz goes, over the hill towards the water in hot pursuit of this little bird.  Before Craig reached the hill Blitz was heading back towards us, I guess the bird flew over the water and the water is just too cold to swim in.  We took Molly out with us one evening and we found the perfect spot with no birds or wildlife in sight, so we thought.  She jumped out of the truck and headed straight to a long-tailed jaeger's nest.  You could say that the birds were not happy with her, dive bombing her left and right.  She finally heard our whistles and headed back to the truck with the jaegers following close behind.  She made it to the truck without injury.  Being 9 years old she can still run like the wind.

The mosquitos have been celebrating too.  Coming from Manitoba you are used to the little blood suckers but the ones up are relentless. We made the mistake one day of going out with the dogs without any protection on, you could say we fed them well that day.  The people in town tell me that this is just the beginning of the season, it gets worse!  Taking pictures is a bit of a challenge and then once you get the shot you have to spend the rest of the day editing the mosquitos out of the picture. Can't wait until black fly season.....

I have taken many pictures of the flowers in and around Cambridge Bay but since I have about 20 pictures to share with you today I will keep those for another day.

Talk soon!

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