Day 24 - whole lotta nuthin

Nothing terribly exciting to report. Sorry.
We are just getting settled into our new home and new jobs, so we haven't had much time or means for any big adventures yet. 

I've been a bit bored at work lately, stuck working in the office filling in for someone on vacation. It's mundane as hell and I hate it, but I keep reminding myself I have it made here and to suck it up. I think it's cause I've been sitting behind a desk for so long that the thought of a new job where I could move about.

Well I got the chance to move about last night. We had a cargo plane come in with ~400 pieces of freight around 9pm. There was no one left at the store, so I volunteered to help my better half and the manager grab the stuff from the plane.  Well, hilarity ensued when 'a lady' hit the tarmac, one guy looked right at me and said "oh no" in the most worrisome voice. There was much laughing and warning me that boxes of KD were "heavy". Mild jerkiness from the co-op guy when he would try to make me miss a projectile box.  All in all I held my own and about 90 minutes later we filled 2 vans to and headed back to unload. I'm sorry I didn't take a picture of the plane, and the laughing/concerned faces. 

Tomorrow is my day off and I have just been booted down to dial up, so you may not see/hear from me til next week, but I thought a little follow up was due.

TTFN,

A

photo time

Long awaited photo time. The camera has a hard time capturing the beauty that is the north, this was the best I could do until I figure out how to use this beast.

The flag pole we see when we walk out the door

our house

our house is on top of this hill

This is what happens when I try to zoom into to get a better shot of the hill, the white takes over

gorging

This post has nothing to do with the north. I would like to talk a bit about gorging in hopes I will review this later, maybe even next time I decide it would be a good idea to indulge in soda, nacho chips and reese pieces eggies. I feel like a beached narwhal, and could puke rainbows.

Lets review the cost of now nauseating binge session:

1 can soda  $2.25
large bag of nacho chips $9.99

large bag of reeses pieces unknown - I'm guessing $7-$9

The end

Day 11 - A day off in Pond

What to do when you have a day off in an isolated hamlet

Sleep in
stay in PJ's til at least 1 eating junk food, watching star trek reruns.
Call from online petstore to tell me they need an extra $130 to cover shipping on my order I placed 5 days ago. Politely tell said company to stuff it and boasted the wonders of ebay and amazon's free shipping.
Decide its time to go outside and blow off shipping extortion steam
Go to the co-op and browse around
Make mental note of all things you can not find at Northern that Co-op has
Make another mental note that kitty litter comes in a bigger bag and is $10 cheeper
oh look, they have hazelnut non-dairy coffee whitener - another mental note
buy huge can of starbucks vanilla double shot energy+coffee ( Only 5.99!)
go to hamlet office to find out what you need to bring to get a Nunavut license
back to Northern to replenish junk foods and pick up package from amazon*
Home to drop off groceries, grab stuff for license, grab movie rental
Reorder kitty's stuff, cheaper and no shipping extortion. 
Head to Ulaajuk elementary school for bake sale (I'm a sucker for cupcakes)
Back to Hamlet office to get M's license moved over to NU.
Make mental note of gun safety registration:)
Mental note to get fishing license
Share the plethora of cupcakes we bought with ladies at hamlet office
Off to health center to get NU health cards

Back to Northern to drop off movie rental
Share cupcakes with co-workers
Home to nice warm house on the hill
Looks over grocery receipt, shakes head at $20.99 kitty litter, $12.49 bag of fries, $8.65 chips.

Time for some lazing, trolling, online shopping
Cleaned out one of the 4 bedrooms, mysterious coloured doughy substance stuck to bookshelf dresser and walls. Grab mister clean and disinfect area.
Find old TV in storage - disappoint that it does not function
Set up Wii on working TV
update the world on my super stimulating day :)

There you have it, a day off in a northern hamlet above the 72nd parallel.

* free shipping on 4 books, arrived in just 5 days. Amazon is my new shopping buddy,  expect your Christmas presents from them.

holly wind batman!

Had the day off today, spent the morning cleaning the kitchen and wandered off after lunch
to do some grocery shopping and attempt to find pants. $250 later, no pants. After putting away the groceries I figured I would go for a stroll, it was pretty nice out, I even got to the leave my hat home. Mother nature had other plans:

Cloudy. Becoming cloudy periods this evening. Blowing snow at times early this evening. Wind northeast 40 km/h gusting to 60 becoming light this evening. Low minus 28. Wind chill minus 45 this evening.

I'd flip her the bird but I can't see 2 feet out my window - mother nature's cloaking device is activated. (and I have been watching to many SNG reruns). 

In other news I did get around to taking some shots, the camera just does not do the north justice, but I picked the best few of the bunch - I'll keep practicing I promise. Once the wind dies down and the internet can handle uploading pics, I'll add them :)

Day 7 - The Northern Plauge

Just a quick post before heading off to work

 Poor Matt has already been hit hard by some sort of bug that has confined him the the couch. Apparently everyone gets hit hard their first few weeks here, adjusting to the climate & new strains of germies floating through the air. Delightful.    Lucky me gets to work his shift today in his absence.

-27 cloudy (35 w/wind chill) maybe some fluffy stuff.


A

turn up the heat - turn down the suck

we awoke to a very cold house this morning. I assumed we just ran out of oil, no one had been living here for a while so it probably did not need to be topped off that often.  I called for oil and within 5 minutes my tank was full, alas no heat. Fiddled with the furnace, restarted a few times, still nothing.

Its been a balmy 17 in the house since about 7am. standing in front of the oven door has provided some relief until now. Bundling up and heading out to working hoping to come home to a cosy warm house tonight.

Day 6

Ladies and gents,

Today's forecast calls for -24 and sun :)

We've been quite preoccupied with work, unpacking and tracking down packages with canada post ( we have a guitar that seems to have disappeared completely) so with that we haven't had the opportunity to bust out the camera yet, but I have a day off soon - pictures I promise.


We are starting to settle in to our cozy new home, the cat still loves us, and I just spent a small fortune ordering pet supplies, tofu, soy milk, advil etc, and books. Thanks to well.ca and amazon for the free shipping, the will be seeing a lot of me.

 Although I can find the most outrageous sizes of coffee mate (no flavored - boo), and did stumble across a $15 tub of Ben&Jerry's, I can not locate any plain yogurt or any decent coffee. Hopefully I can order some in. I packed some beans that I picked up before leaving Montreal, but the magic bullet has vanished. I'll have to be creative and bust out the rolling pin, I will have decent coffee damnit!

These petty culinary grievances are outweighed by the beautiful picture I see out my window every morning, the friendly folk, and the pack of dogs I found under my house yesterday ( that I didn't dare start to play with for fear I would have the urge to take one in).

Off to work, pictures soon, promise!

A

we made it!

Me, him and the cat made it in one piece to Pond Inlet!  With only 5 stop overs, 1 weather delay (nearly missed our connection in Iqaluit) Laavie was quiet the little lady, just calmly hanging out in her carrier, with the occasional meow for attention. She was promised lavish gifts would be ordered for her on account of outstanding behavior.

Our manager picked us up and helped us lug what luggage had arrived with us to the airport.  We got a quick tour around our new 2 level 4 bedroom home, and the cat was more than happy to get out of her carrier and explore her new home.  She has already picked out her new bedroom (spoiled) and started meowing at the storage room door.

Matt ran out to get a few items to tie us over for the night, then it was a long hot bath and a good nights sleep. Luckily we had today off to settle in.

When the sun started to show are the "fog" started to lift, I spent a good hour just staring out the window at the mountains and the dogs and sleds on the ice (photos soon I promise!). We took care of the internet (that put a big 'ol dent in my bank account) and picked up a few groceries and a much needed new pair of winter boots for me. I still haven't found a scarf though, so tomorrow I'll be busting out the balaclava. Our manager took us for a tour of the town and then dropped us off with our groceries and mail.  The ice and the mountains are just beautiful, the air is clean, crisp and quiet but for the hum of ski-doos and the odd truck. The people have been so friendly and welcoming. The afternoon resulted in a mild cleaning spree and nap fest, interrupted by the delivery of our delayed baggage. Hoorah for warm gloves and xbox! Also my tripod so I can take some sweet shots for you very very soon.

PS, it was about -30 today, but no wind, so all in all a nice sunshiny day in le pond.
ttfn,
A