Saying Good-Bye to The LORAN Tower

At 11:17pm on August 5, 2014 Cambridge Bay residents watch the LORAN tower fall.  It fell like a lovely lady, gently and slowly and we heard the metal twist and bend from the other side of the bay.  The LORAN (LOng RAnge Navigation) tower was built in 1947/48 and was a free standing lattice tower that rose above the tundra at 620 feet. It had 4 sides and the base was 59 feet per side.  It was a beacon for many hunters going out on the land as you could see if for many miles away.  If you got lost all you had to do was look for the tower and head home. 

 

NAV Canada found the tower to be structurally unsound.  I had the opportunity to speak with a couple of NAV employees who were in charge of the demolition (they came into my work to purchase some Arctic char).  They were pleased that it came down as planned and that no one was hurt during this process.  Gary, one of the NAV Canada guys said that he will be back soon to oversee the construction of the new tower, a mere 160 feet replacement.  They are planning to construct the new tower this year and have it up and ready to go before the snow falls. 

 

We headed across the bay to the fallen tower today after dinner to see it and of course to take some pictures.  It was amazing to see it laying on the ground and you feel kind of sad as it had been part of this community for a very long time.  Not only was it used for people to find their way home but also when foggy it was a guide to see if the planes would land.  If the fog was thick and the tower could not be seen then you knew that the planes were not coming in.  It felt strange heading to work this morning as I looked to the left getting in the truck and saw nothing across the bay.

 

Our last view of the LORAN tower just before it fell

You can see the workers cutting the metal

 Just after it fell

 

The following pictures are from today

 

Such a giant structure

Some bolts popped off from the pressure

We how have a Gateway Arch like St. Louis

The top of the tower with the damaged light boxes

Craig and myself at the top of the tower

Looking from the top to the bottom

So much twisted metal

Mt. Pelly in the background

Among the rubble we found 'Lite 4' box totally intact

Not even a bulb broke - amazing when you see all of the metal surrounding it

It kind of looked like a roller coaster

It was shocking to see some of the thick metal bent

The base of the tower

The base close up

Thank you for the many years you provided the residents a safe journey back home.

 

Talk soon!

Blah Weather

This is an open invitation to Craig's parents to come back to the Arctic as when they were here it was the best weather we have had this summer.  It's been crazy, raining just about every day plus 3 thunderstorms which is so unusual for the high Arctic.  The temperatures have not reached the average high in many days, it feels more like our fall than summer.  Our local weather man said that we have had more rain this past month than what we get in an entire year.  The ice has finally cleared off the ocean and we have seen our first ship arrive this past weekend, I believe it is from France and it's looks a little beat up from the ice.  The sun has started to set now and today is will set around 11:00pm and rise again at 3:00am.

 

This past weekend I was feeling a bit under the weather so I only made it out to one event for the Arctic Summer Games being held here.  I attended the fish filleting contest as my work was the sponsor for this event.  I think the best time was around 49 seconds for filleting an Arctic char, and it was from a man.  The best time for a women was around the 58 second mark and most used the traditional ulu or woman's knife for the event. 

 

Here is Fred, our recreation guy showing off one of the larger char

Here's the women filleting

I think his name was David from Kugluktuk and he won the best dressed or cleanest char -

check out his filleting knife

 

I have been out walking with the dogs whenever it's not pouring rain, well I walk and they run and swim and chase the ball.  The mosquitos are nearly gone so the walks are much more enjoyable without dousing yourself with Deep Woods Off.  The pic below is a view of where we go for our walks, it's plush green grasses, two ponds and a marsh area - Doggie Heaven on Earth.

 

 

 

It was very windy the other day and I captured it on the Nikon, how do you take pictures of the wind in the Arctic without trees, well you use your dog's ears.  Problem was they didn't know which way the wind was blowing.

 

This small stream flows from the pond into the marsh area and Miss Molly

has some fun playing in it.

And Blitz ran wherever there was water.

 

The two pointers have gotten very close since Hannah past away, well I think it's Blitz getting closer to Molly and she just puts up with him.  She will likely enjoy his closeness more when the temperatures drop below zero.  I catch him often snuggling with Molly, she doesn't move so she must love him.

 

 

Today was a Civic Holiday so no work for us (well no work for me, Craig works Monday to Saturday no matter if it's a holiday or not).  The weather was kinda rainy/sunny so I played with the Nikon and did some colour selection images of our pets, it's a cool feature where you pick up to 3 colours that you would like to highlight and then the rest of the image is black and white.  Here are the results from today's experiment.

 

Mocha with her little catnip mouse

Miss Molly with her crazy cardinal

Blitz with his favorite ball - dollar store find and the best ball ever!

 

I am hoping that the weather cooperates more so we can get out to do some fishing  and I need to get out to take more pictures before our next fish harvest starts in 2 - 3 weeks.

 

Talk soon!

Where There Is Smoke, There Is Fire...

Who knew that we would get smoke from forest fires that are 853kms away, air distance but this is the second time in just as many weeks that we are receiving smoke from NWT.  Not just a bit of smoke either but heavy smoke and if you didn't know it you would think it would be fog.  Our sun all day was a bright orange circle in the sky.  The Health Centre announced a health advisory for our elders, young, pregnant or nursing moms so stay inside with the windows shut as the smoke it so bad.  For me it was a good opportunity to head out after work to photograph this.

 

This is what the sun looked like through the smoke

Some fishermen boating on the bay

So very smoky

Craig's work from the road - usually it is prominent on the landscape

PS - no he doesn't work at a golf ball factory 

Looking towards the airport

Cambridge Bay

 

Earlier this week a few brave souls dove into the cold waters of Cambridge Bay - water was about 40'F.  Why you ask?  It was the Annual Polar Bear Dip and all money raised will go towards a new multi-use facility in Cambridge Bay. Among these people were some friends so I had to go down to the main dock on Monday to photograph them diving in the Arctic waters.

 

Pre-dip group photo

Brrrrrr

The ladies from Scary Bear Soundtrack did it in style

The after pic of Sandy and Adrienne

Les and JS all smiley before the dip

Still smiling!

 

We should be finished our char harvest at Surrey River tomorrow and tonight I brought home a fresh char which I will cook up for Friday dinner.  After this river system we have a bit of a break until August 20ish when a crew will head out again. 

 

The weather has been nice so it's a good opportunity to get the dogs out for swims either in the ocean or smaller ponds.  The only thing is the mosquitos are still out in full force and today when I went out I forgot the bug spray and I could only last for about an hour with the dogs.  If I didn't have the dogs with me I would of lasted way less than that but they needed to exercise...what I won't do for my babies.   The sun started to set, well if that's what you call it, today it will set at 12:35am and it rose at 1:40am.  It just goes down the horizon a tiny bit and then up again.

 

MOSQUITOS!

Caught Blitz in mid-air

Molly was sitting pretty for the picture then Blitz came along

and jumped in the water - scared the little princess. lol

Told them to wait - they were ready to run

 

Talk soon!