LeBleu Pack: August 2012

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Good Friends = One Great Weekend

We had a great weekend with some wonderful friends. We hosted a dinner on Friday night for my DFO buddies Les and Mitch and we also invited Marg and Cat to help us eat the bird. After dinner we invited others over for a evening of fun playing Kinect. The laughter lasted until the wee hours of the morning.

The following day Les, Mitch, Marg, Craig and I planned on heading to Starvation Cove for a day of quadding and fishing. We finally got mobile around 10:30am and arrived at Starvation Cove for lunch. Marg started a fire and we threw on some smokies and muskox burgers. There is nothing like eating something cooked on an open fire. Marg was the first one who caught a char and Craig followed with another one. We headed home with the tide still high and we had to find a low spot to cross the river. We didn't have to drive far to find a spot and then we had to climb the cliff to get on solid ground and back on the trail. It was our luck that we found a Gyre Falcon nest with three chicks in it. I really love the 2 1/2 hour quad ride to Starvation Cove as it is mostly along the sandy shores of the Arctic Ocean. Then you hit this solid rocky hill with zero vegetation and on the other side is this amazing oasis of crystal clear water, flowers and grasses...Starvation Cove.

The bay has been busy with people boating, kayaking, sailing and this past week the first ship arrived, the Sir Wilfred Laurier. Someone also turned off the heat in Cambridge Bay this week and the temperatures will sit around 5 - 7'c for the next few days. The sun rose today at 3:56am and will set tonight at 10:10pm so it is nice to see the sunsets again.

Talk soon!

Arctic Sunset

The sun setting far far away

A close up of the setting sun

This sailboat was one that I photographed last year coming off the barge.

First ship to arrive on the bay - Coast Guard The Sir Wilfred Laurier

Cat, Craig and Marg

Les and Mitch

Marg and Darryl

Craig, Bernie, myself and Al

Craig and Les

Mitch and Marg

Bernie and Al

Les and Marg playing Kinect

Mitch and Marg giving it a go

Mitch and Darryl taking a turn

Blitz and Les getting their game face on

Craig crossing the river

Next to cross is Les

Thanks Mitch for taking my quad across

Marg crossing - better view of how deep this river was

Beach view

More beach on the way to Starvation Cove

Arctic Ocean

Les doing some fly fishing at Starvation Cove

Marg getting the first Arctic char

Craig and Les watching Marg getting the first catch of the day

Craig (look really hard to find him) fishing at Starvation Cove

Another view

This is where we crossed coming home

Searching for a place where we could climb the cliff

Marg and Craig checking out a small stream

The stream led into this small cave

Gyre Falcon chicks we came across on our way home

View from the top of Augusta Hills

All of us taking in the beauty of the Arctic

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

It's Good to be Home

It is good to go away but I am always happy to be home and sleeping in my own bed. No offense Sandy, your bed is comfy but my bed fits my body better. haha Thanks again for letting Hannah and I spend most of our time with you, Keith and of course Lexie.

My flight from Winnipeg to Edmonton was interesting as I spent it with the band members of Harlequin who bought me a drink, had loads of laughs and got to know Nik, the bass player. Harlequin is a rock band that was formed in Manitoba, my home province, in the mid '70s and are still active today. A fun bunch of guys and they were quite interested in ordering some Arctic char and muskox. Talking to these guys sure made my flight seem fast.

I have been busy at work playing catch up and by early next week I should be all caught up. Some of our fishers headed out to 30 Mile to set up camp and bring some supplies for the weir and hopefully we will see some good looking Arctic char coming in next week. Our Wellington Bay fishers will also be heading out to set up camp so we will have two river systems on the go at the same time...yikes! I am thinking it's gonna be a busy time at work. Once 30 Mile is completed they will head over to Jayko Lake to fish by weir. We haven't been to Jayko for a few years now so it will be interesting to see how they do.

Last night Marg, Craig and I headed out by quad to Long Point, one of my favorite places to go. It has beautiful sandy beaches, yes sandy beaches with sea shells. Spent some time there taking pics, too bad I didn't bring the Nikon just had my Panasonic with me. From there, we drove up to the river then to Augusta Hills and sat there for a couple of minutes and enjoyed the views. On the way home clouds rolled in and gave us some beautiful skies for our drive.

Tomorrow my buddy Les from DFO (Department of Fisheries & Oceans) will arrive and will be here for the next month working. We always have a blast with him and Craig and I are looking forward to hosting a few dinners, fishing and quadding when he is not in the field.

Today the sun rose at 3:36am and will set at 10:31pm so it's up for about 19 hours. The sunset is increasing about 10 minutes a day now and in no time we will be experiencing 24 hour darkness. The temperatures are still great, sitting at about 15'c for the next few days. Hope this weather sticks around for awhile but I fear it will be dropping soon...just like the sun.

Talk soon!

The beach trail to Long Point

Our quads from left to right, Marg, mine and Craig's

Trish look at the rock I found for you!

Very low tide at Long Point

Spectacular views

Marg was very happy she got her quad back from repair

I thought this large rock was very cool looking as it looked like a giant's head/face

Craig enjoying the views at Long Point

Augusta Hills

This photo was taken around 10:00pm

Friday, August 3, 2012

Manitoba Week Two - All About Hannah

This week didn't go exactly as planned and it turned out to be all about Hannah. After her acupuncture appointment on Monday I made an appointment with her regular vet as she had been off her food and was vomiting over the weekend. An exam and blood work results showed that she had a slow bleed from a stomach ulcer and pancreatitis. She ended up staying at the hospital for the remaining of the day on IV fluids and a change of meds. The following days were a routine of bringing her in at 8am to receive more fluids and I picking her up at closing time to spend the night with me. Yesterday was the first day where she didn't have to go as her blood work was slowing improving and she was keeping her food down. Today we returned for a final check with her vet and more blood work. She now has a new food menu of low fat to control her pancreatitis and meds to help her ulcer heal and to control her pain from her many ortho problems. I am glad that I was down south with her and I thank the doctors and support staff at Birchwood Animal Hospital for the wonderful care they gave her.

Stepping back in time, last Sunday we had a large storm that past through Winnipeg and parts of Manitoba. It was extreme, short lived and exciting. It was a close call as we went out for dinner that night and as we were heading out the door we seen the dark, threatening clouds coming in fast. We high tailed it home just before the storm hit hard.

Yesterday Sandy and I met Tyler and Les for dinner as Keith stayed home to look after the dogs. We went to one of my favorite restaurants, Foon Hai for some eats and laughs. It was good to see the boys again and Les will be coming up next week to start his field work for a month and then again return with Tyler in October. It is always a blast whenever we get together and I look forward to seeing them both again soon.

Other than that not much more to report as my time was spent looking after my old girl. Thank you to our dear friends the Birleys for letting us stay with them longer than expected. We leave tomorrow to head back home to Cambridge Bay and it will good to see Craig, the shorthairs and yes even the cat on Sunday.

Talk soon!