Victoria Island Nunavut

More hunt pix

2009-03-23T12:53:00.000-07:00

Some more pix from the hunt. Brandon, Traci, Norman in front of the school in the AM with the Arctic Cat. Norman all bundled up for the trip out. Another pic of the Elder camp too.

2009-03-23T12:37:00.000-07:00

Some shots of a student musk ox hunt in spring 2008. We headed up over a small hummock towards what we thought was alone musk ox but it turned out to be a grizzly that had come over from the mainland. We also stopped at an elder camp to do some fishing on Kitiga lake

Life goes on...

2008-12-02T07:57:00.000-08:00

Haven’t signed in for a while but lots of changes since March. Not in Ikaluktutiak at the moment but one never knows when one will be back there. Updates to follow.

Landmark Berg

2008-03-13T06:51:00.000-07:00

Some pix of the big overhanging berg. This one is about a km out from shore and about halfway along from the direct path that I take that leads south from Cam Bay to the Gulf and the cut off that takes you to the Gulf from the edge of the west arm of the Bay. It makes a great landmark for navigating. The pic of me with my skis shows how flat everywhere else is. The bergs and anything else more than a metre high are plainly obvious from well distant.

This is the one that developed the huge split after climbing on it – right next to the big roof . On this trip I was wearing by neoprene over-boots over top of my climbing boots as my crampons, of course, only fit stiff shanked boots.

In these shots I’m also wearing my wolf mitts that came from Bay Chimo. They were made by the mother of the culture and languages teacher at Kulllik School – the elementary school ( Kullik means “school” so the elementary school is called “school school”). My Cariboo mitts have started to shed quite a bit so I got these as a replacement.

Table top ice

2008-03-12T07:32:00.001-07:00

More pix of the NW passage due south of the town. For this trip I headed over the peninsula but followed a lake /stream system that led to the Gulf just west of where the overland route goes. There actually is some small topography along this route and for a good portion of it you can’t see any of the usual landmarks such as the tower or North Warning site – makes it feel somewhat more remote. Some interesting table top bergs here. 40 below as usual – the same temp it has been since November. Nice to have the sun back though.

Arctic Wanderer in 2008

2008-03-10T21:00:00.000-07:00

Here’s a couple of images of the Arctic Wander – frozen in at the North Warning aka Dew Line dock –otherwise known as a grounded barge. This is at least the third season the boat has been here in Cam Bay. This pix are from about a month ago and I noticed yesterday that the boat has an even greater list to it as it has been heaved by the ice

Out in the passage

2008-03-10T20:38:00.000-07:00

Just some more shots in and around the bergs. These trips are usually a 4 to 7 hour day. This day was hovering around 42 or 43 and not too much wind, the forecast was for wind-chill in the low fifties but I don’t think that the wind picked up enough for that. Facemask frosts up pretty good – cold or not. I skied up the back side and let my tips hang over the edge - nice to get some vertical relief for a change.

I ended up going back to this berg with the big overhang as it was good to climb on – except for the aforementioned splitting

more bergs in the passage

2008-03-10T20:15:00.000-07:00

A few more pix of the big berg out by the gravel pit, on the way to long point. The pressure cracks around its base were easily 2 metres deep and there was some soggy snow along the leeward side indicating that seawater was being forced up as the movement of the berg and the tide opened and closed the cracks – almost like a crevasse back home in the mountains! Lots of animal tracks around – mostly fox and hare.

2008-03-10T20:06:00.001-07:00

Been busy for a while with work and some other projects but I have been getting out on the weekends. The weather has been nice – low 30s to 40 but not much wind at times so travel on the ice of the Queen Maude Gulf and NW passage has been quite nice. Here some pix of some of the longer skis I’ve been doing.

Generally I head south over the peninsula and then travel along the coast. West, near the “gravel pit” there are several larger grounded bergs. The creaks and groans that they makes as the fast ice shifts can be pretty interesting as it watching some of the tension cracks open up with an associated very sharp retort or two. . It is an interesting reminder that you are skiing over deep water

One nice trip was going south onto the passage then heading east along the shipping lane and then heading back to town via the bay entrance. Along the way you end up passing numerous navigation markers – which stick up predominantly in the flat terrain. Interesting enough the North Warning site is very prominent as well and very noticeable from well out on the sea ice.

Went ice climbing on the big overhanging berg and put a very, very big split into it. The large overhanging section on the left almost cracked completely off.

More Aurora

2008-01-25T07:24:00.001-08:00

It was clear and relatively calm a while ago on a moonless night, so I was able to get these aurora shots. The aurora in Cambridge Bay seems to form mainly as highly active curtains that tend to fold in on themselves. They can exhibit hints of red but, of course, are mainly green. They don’t last long and form generally in the NW quadrant of the sky – in the direction of the magnetic pole – which at one point not too long ago was east of here, on King William Island, and probably transited Victoria Island on its way out of Canadian territory.

2008-01-24T20:21:00.001-08:00

Sunday the 20th – tried to ski out on the bay with my 3 pin set up but a stiff north wind had the temp down to about -58 again. So had to retreat to the house add some layers and change to my alpine touring rig with neoprene overboots. Since the wind was blowing from the NW I had no choice but to head in that direction – at least if one is skiing into the wind you always know that you can get home – wind will be at your back. Went out past the “Dew Live road and then veered back along it until the travel became too difficult – due mainly to the snow scallops. Anyways very cold day and I was pleased to note that the new dual battery system kept the camera working. Had to stay completely covered so looking through the viewfinder was a bit problematic though.

Saturday's Ski

2008-01-24T20:12:00.000-08:00

Went skiing on the weekend towards Mount Pelly via the bay. I was passing by the graveyard on the way up the creek and took these shots of the sunrise. Coincidentally the moon is still doing a nice circle in the sky and was low in the Northern sky as the sun was rising – about 11 AM.

Effects of the Blizzard

2008-01-24T20:02:00.001-08:00

Here are some images of the blizzard’s aftermath. The Dodge truck was almost buried as was the house– it’s just down the block from my place. Several streets on the north side of the hamlet were completely blocked with 2 -3 m drifts - those are the shots of the single pass of the Cat track down the centre of the image - before they could start to clear the road.

Blizzard, again.

2008-01-24T19:49:00.000-08:00

Friday January 18, 2008

The skies finally cleared and Cambridge Bay was finally aglow with the noontime sun for the first time since we had a brief glimpse of a refracted sun last Friday. The sun is now fully clearing the horizon and is a welcome sight – especially after the last several days that had the community weathering blizzard conditions. Temps were around-35 with gusts up to 80 kph.

Yesterdays the gusts were strong enough that they woke mw up. The bed, quality furniture that it is, was oscillating like an inertial balance as the base vibrated with the housing unit as it moved in response to the wind blasts. Well I suppose it shows that the space frame that supports the whole structure is flexible. The heavy snow and wind cancelled school and all town services.

The drifts that built up on the road during the storm are / were impressive. The hamlet workers needed to use a D7 cat to plough through them and even then the cat was actually supported by some of the drifts and unable to dig down to the road bed – but that could be operator induced as well.

Went for a nice hike on the tundra in the evening - during the height of the storm. The moon was shiny thinly through the cloud and blowing snow and gave a unique illumination to the landscape. Gusts would drive a snow band that would obscure everything for a brief period of time and the light from the town would disappear and you’d be alone on the tundra. Not a big deal – I was dressed for it – but that included making sure that there was no exposed skin whatsoever as the -59 wind-chill would find even the smallest opening. So down suit, sorrels, balaclava, face mask, toque, goggles, liner gloves and caribou mitts were the attire. Interestingly enough the wind pressure was enough to actually feel through my lighter sorrels - no discomfort but you could feel it cool off during the heavier gusts.

Here’s some pix from during the storm – mostly for something to do but they convey a little of the conditions.

Return of the Sun!

2008-01-12T09:13:00.000-08:00

Thursday, January 10 heralded the emergence of the sun to some extent. At noon a predawn light filtered through the southern sky giving a glorious red sky and possibly just a hint of the umbral edge of the sun visible just above the horizon. This bathed the landscape in a red glow for about 25 minutes. A thin layer of clouds added to the colors and highlighted the sky’s colours. Ice crystals in the air also gave rise to a sun pillar. The warm collars of the predawn light contrasted with the cool blue and white tones of the snow. In any event it was good harbringer of the return to sunlight that is to be soon upon the land

Friday, January 11 brought an actual amount of sunlight from noon to about 1230. While only a sliver of the sun was visible it produced enough light to cast shadows and glint off of the metal roofs of some of the buildings. We shouldn’t have seen the sun today but refractive effects of the cold air mass and a clear southern horizon allowed this peak at Sol a day early from the official return of light to Cambridge Bay. Tomorrow, the astronomical alamanac calculateds 37 minutes of actual daylight. So Saturday we will have a sunrise and sunset for the first time in about 5 weeks. Astronomical twilight is defined when the sun is within 15 degrees of the horizon so we’ll have a nice chunk of the day lit – and it only gets longer from here.

Saturday, January 12 -the day the sun returns. I’ll probably go for a ski out towards the NW passage and catch the dawn out on the ocean. Today’s glimpse is like a bonus that has shortened the winter.

It’s strange – we are now in the home stretch – while winter is still official until solstice on March 21 – it really feels like winter is now over with the return of the sun. I don’t really care about the temp or the snow – its over and it wasn’t anywhere near as odious as people made it out to be. I was able to get out everyday and ski if I wanted as there is a 3 to 4 hour window of light that allows one to navigate sans headlamp.

People narrowing in on trivialities of life and personal problems sometimes tend to forget the bigger picture. Most people will view the coming of the sun as a momentary distraction and not think about the fact that the light is traveling 147 million kilometers before impacting on the ground and in their eyes. It takes light about eight minutes or so to travel that distance and signifies the nature of celestial mechanics that govern the seasons on our planet – id est where we are on the path of the ellipse that the earth scribes out on its orbit of the sun. A classic crescent moon rose today about 2 PM and with it you can tell the position of the sun below the horizon – just draw a mental line from the cups of the crescent and trace a perpendicular bisector away from the concavity of the lunar form – it will point directly to the sun.

2007-12-19T08:07:00.000-08:00

I was in Yellowknife for 8 days and when I came back it had stormed enough to shut the school for 2 days. During my absence my colleagues had dug out my porch twice but it still looked like this when I came back. The snow here sinters very tightly and it becomes extremely hard consequently shoveling it involves a fair deal of cutting and a sharp bladed shovel is a coveted item.

The next day I did a bit of skiing by the North Warning site. This was December 8; the last sunrise for 2007 was December 7. There was about 4 hours of twilight to ski in – less now.

A little out of sequence...

2007-12-19T08:02:00.000-08:00

This narrative is a bit misplaced but I thought I would put it up anyways. It's about a motnh old now.

Saturday’s trip out to the gulf was slow starting. Friday night was the wrap up show for the hip hop dance / socialization program that was going on in the school all week. The program is meant for 100 students who attend instruction from 9 until 5 every day in lieu of classes. Given our school population of 220 or so this meant that we had 120 students who weren’t too happy to be in classes for the week.

Friday morning the principal asked if we could get some lighting up and running for the ceremonies and show that the group was putting on for the community in the evening. Well we do have a full selection of stage lighting but unfortunately it is sitting in boxes – never having been used. So step one was to secure some sort of light stand. Some digging in the storage room unearthed 2 stands that with some jury rigging could be pressed into service. At 2:30 the electrician was able to start rewiring the lights by patching into a 200 amp beaker box. While he was doing that I was stripping wire and fishing cable into our switch box. With a big effort we actually got it all finished by a little after 5 – and in time for a 7 o’clock curtain call.

The show went on until 10:30 and was very well received by the community and certainly showcased the week’s efforts by the students. The gym was packed with some 400 people attending. After doing some teardown and securing of equipment and cables it was past 11. I ended up getting to bed around 1:30 AM and woke up Saturday at 6 AM.

I was hoping for the weather to be poor but no such luck – a clear day with a full moon. A fair breeze was blowing from the north but I was hoping that it would slacken off. It takes about an hour to get ready for these trips by the time everything is packed, and prepped. Temp -34.

Traveling on the bay is very straight forward with very little loose snow so I stowed the skis on the sled and walked to where I head overland. A short hill leads up the plateau the forms the crest of the peninsula. I got the skis on and started to head south. The wind started to pick but was still blowing from behind me so it was bearable but the blowing snow moving in serpentine patterns along the ground portended of the possible travails of the trip back.

Hee is one part on the trip over the peninsula where the topography plateaus and undulates eough so that you loose sight of any man made bearings. However 2 very diminutive scatterings of boulders on slight rrieses provide a good pointer south. Even so every time it’s easy to stray off course and head for a long prow that looks to be running N-S but in actuality isn’t. A strony veer to the right brings one to the drainage othat empties out into the Gulf. It seems that other have been misled by the same uniformity and several marker stakes have been placed by people on skidoos to guide the way to where the tower can be seen.

They follow a longer path to get back to town since it’s esy to follow the tower lights in but for me I have to keep to a North path to minimize the distance and rough travlelling leg of the day.

Anyways by the time I get to the ocean – which is funny since it the only way to tell your are on it is by crossing the tidal cracking that forms just off shore. The light is lfat so I place a marker flag to at least set the track back. Moving out in to the ice I end up placing 2 more flags on small bergs as they are hard to see. While th flags are an easy marking device they aren’t critcal as I have the GPS with me – flags are just more convieninet than pulling out the GPS unit which has to be well insuldated in my jacket to prevent excessive battery drain.

Dawn comes as a ski oout to a berg that has grounded about 1 km off shore and near a jut of land coming in from the East. The sky is milky with thin cloud and almost a humidity laden layer of dense air by the surface – the sunrise is not what I hoped for picture wise. The moon, of course, doesn’t set now so it was still well up in the NW sky making it’s dalily circumnavigation of the heavens. The berg was plastered in snow and it the wind was biting. It was too cold to contemplate getting to camera ready – it was likely past -50 with the wind chill so using the camera was a noe shot deal.

I skied away from the berg not taking any shots. Of ocurse aftr going about 300m I had second thoughts and headed back , circled around it and re-convinced myself it wasn’t that great of a pic. I headed back towars shore once again – looking for the last flag that I had planted. I ended up heading to the over to another berg just west of the flag. Again I weighed the shot potential and though better of it and again headed towards the track back. Well after thinkig abot all the effort to get out here I skied back and took several shots – about 20 in rapid succession and that was it – battery dead and fingers very cold. Simple tasks take so long in the cold. I was tired anyways and headed back for cetain this time.

I picked pu the flags and started the slog back North. The sky was a cool blue with the sun not strong enough to even produce a hint of a shadow. It was an arduos trip back to the crown on the land. I still had the skis on the sled – as I had removed them to get the shots. I looked left and saw the headlight of a skidoo in the distance.

The owner headed my way, obtensisilby as it turned out ot seei f I needed nay help. After assuring him that I was indeed fine and actually choosing to be out here sans machine he carried on his way to go seal hunting. I continued north along my track over to the west arm of the bay. It was a long day.

Night Sky - all day

2007-12-19T07:31:00.000-08:00

It was clear and no wind last Thursday – December 13 so I was able to get some more aurora and comet shots. Comet Holmes is now very prominent in the Cambridge Bay sky and as we are now in the epoch on no sunrise there is plenty of darkness to observe celestial phenomena. Comet Holmes is plainly visible to the naked eye and subtends about .5 of a degree. This shot clearly shows the nucleus and halo –which is not bad considering the shooting conditions / apparatus.

2007-11-20T07:53:00.000-08:00

I took these shots on Sunday – the temp when I left the house was -34 but there was a breeze blowing from the north – always a problem since I was going south and I therefore the return trip would be into the wind. The wind seemed to die down a bit so off I went. It was ok crossing the bay – West Arm but I could definitely feel the cold coming through the north side of my jacket. When it came time to turn south and the wind was at my back, traveling was much better – though the wind did pick up and snow was blowing on the ground. When I started to cross over the top of the plateau the wind dropped and it was fairly nice out.

I got to the ice bergs at dawn and started to set up fro some pix – figured I shoot first and climbing after since the ice would get mucked up. Looking back to shore I noticed a black thing that wasn’t there a few minutes ago – which resolved itself into a lone musk ox. It regarded me with curiosity for a few minutes, slowly started to come out on the ice then thought better of it and went back to munching mosses and lichens.
The wind was picking up and was now coming out of the northwest. I took as many pix as I could before the batteries died and then proceeded to crampon all over the thing. I though that the ice would be brittle but it actually took the ice tools very well and I was getting one swing sticks. The wind picked up even more and before I could much more bouldering a cloud bank started to move in with the wind. Not much choice but to pack up and try and cross the plateau before the visibility degraded entirely. The lighting went totally flat and pulling the sled became a real chore as it hooked on every snow feature possible. I got back to where I could see the North Warning site just before the wind picked up again. By the time I was back on the bay and almost back to town a full on ground blizzard had picked up – which as of Tuesday morning is still blowing. All in all a good weekend.

2007-11-20T06:29:00.000-08:00

These images were taken on the edge of the Queen Maude Gulf SW of town. These pics and the two above represent about 9 hours of skiing while pulling a sled – 5 on Saturday and 4 on Sunday. It’s a huge logistical effort to get out to the edge of the passage but well worth once there. I keep the camera in a pack that I carry and the sled is used for extra clothing and emergency equipment such as a tarp, stove etc. I also had crampons and ice axes along for the ride as well on Sunday – which made for a fairly heavy load.

The trip out Saturday was good with no wind and clear skies. When I left town at 7 ish it was 35 below. The plan was to ski west along the western arm of the bay (not surprisingly known locally as West Arm) past the airport and North Warning hangar. It is interesting skiing along the ice of the bay – you only get reminded of the fact that you’re above 150m of ocean when you pass the pressure cracks in the ice which widen out, close and creak often.

From the bay I used the gps to head overland and crossed a low plateau, looking for an inlet of the gulf side of the peninsula. After a while the topography dips and you lose sight of any artificial structures and it becomes an easy place to get lost. Following several small hummocks a guides and the gps set me on to the north end of the inlet – which really looks to be more of a of a draw that leads down to a shallow bay on the ocean. Stopping to take some pix and having a more indirect path led to a slightly longer approach. A sun pillar formed right before sunrise which is unusual to see in most other places besides the Arctic.

Pulling the sled over the sea ice / snow is easy unfortunately traveling over the land represents more effort as I’m traveling more or less perpendicular to the drifts and stratugii (all of which sounds like you are walking on Styrofoam), catches the sled and makes pulling inconsistent. Keeping the camera batteries warm and useable is also a struggle. If I leave a battery in the camera and don’t open the case –it’ll be good for about an hour and half and give about 10 minutes of shooting time. If I keep the battery in a pocket and only load it when needed (which is a bit of a chore with gloves on) I get anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes of shooting time. On Sunday, with the wind blowing batteries that were kept in a pocket with a hand warmer lasted about 15 minutes each.

The other wonderful thing is the plate for the tripod mount covers the battery compartment so I can’t put it on in the house before I leave. So the whole process to take a self portrait becomes complicated at best when the wind is blowing. First you have to get the battery compartment open, install the battery, warm fingers up. Find the tripod plate, warm fingers up, install trip plate, warm fingers up, position tripod, warm fingers, install camera, warm fingers, set camera, warm fingers and finally trip the shutter timer and get in the pic. You can do this maybe 10 times before the wind sucks all the energy out of the battery. The main concern is keeping your hands functional – if they get too cold it takes to long for them to warm up and the situation could become serious since there is no respite from the cold and wind except back at town – so it’s a process to say the least.

2007-11-12T07:47:00.000-08:00

Just some shots of turns Island style

2007-11-12T07:33:00.000-08:00

Just some shots of the NW passage past Long Point. Ice bergs are actually a rarity around here - so it's interesting to see them. These are all smaller ones that have grounded just off shore but there were some 30m high ones cruising in the main passage earlier

2007-11-10T06:49:00.000-08:00

The soccer teams did well in Kugluktuk with the boys placing first and the girl’s teams placing second. The basketball team is now of to Edmonton for a tournament. We just completed mid-term and did a report card, which was an interesting exercise in database logistics to print and deliver to parents. A brown out / power failure crashed the server so I spent the whole day fixing the server / system.

Was out skiing west of town last weekend and came across a large herd of Caribou – about 400 or so. After a while I noticed that there was a dead one lying just over the hill so I thought I’d get the antlers. When I walked over to it I was surprised to find the animal still alive. He knew he was dying – you could see it in the eyes.

From the marks in the snow it appears to have been dragging itself in the snow for several hours. It was a large older male so it looks like it lost a duel and likely broke its back in the conflict – no gunshot wounds. I did have a knife with me so I put the poor guy out of his misery so at least he wouldn’t be alive when wolves or foxes came around and started chewing on him.

Death makes interesting patterns – the drag of the antlers looked like snow angels and the path of the body made a sinusoidal-esque curve that matched the contouring of the hill - interesting what one considers to be a hill after being here for a while. I left his antlers.

2007-11-10T06:13:00.000-08:00

These are a few images of what I see looking out my kitchen window – the tundra and the North Warning site – which most people still refer to as the DEW Line. Apparently when you phone up there they sometimes answer the phone “good morning – North Warning.” A falcon has taken to nesting under the main tower over the years - where it gets sticks for building supplies is anybody's guess.

These shots were taken about a month ago when the sun was setting due west of town –definitely not the case now.
Temp stady at 30 over the last 2 days. Clear this AM but a ground fog has rolled in.

Comet Holmes Pix

2007-11-07T06:00:00.000-08:00

It was a nice calm night on Monday, only -30, so I was able to get a shot of the comet. It's coming straight on hence it shows up as the grey blob below centre of the image at this point. 30 seconds at f/4 with a digital - long enough for star trailing due to the rotation of the Earth.

High today of 30 with clear skies and becoming breezy with a wind chill of -49 by tonight.

Comet Holmes

2007-11-05T12:48:00.000-08:00

Since it was clear in C Bay last night I was able to locate Comet Holmes currently in the constellation of Perseus visually. Also used the Celestron for a better view. It is also well viewed with binoculars. Mostly a fuzzy ball with limited tail development. Also was easily able to pick out M31 – the Andromeda Nebula, which is a nice spiral galaxy and part of the Local Group and our neighbour galaxy at 2.5 million light years distant

Clear and calm is AM with a crescent moon and Venus dominating the southern sky. The wind has changed from a stiff North wind to a light breeze issuing from the West.

Skied across the bay towards the Queen Maude Gulf yesterday. Clear but strong north wind – windchill at 43. Went out the edge of the passage and then back along the sea ice following the entrance to the bay.

As the barge was still working as late as October 31 there is a passage of very thin ice leading into the bay – which I was not keen on crossing. Two tugs and 3 barges are now over wintering in the bay – tied to the wharf.

Stopped by the Arctic Wanderer, which has been tied up at the North Warning / Government dock since September. It is listing a bit to starboard and providing enough of a windbreak to develop a nice size drift around it. There was some overflow /thin ice around the area and one ski got a little wet before a retreat was necessary.

Worked on the snowmobile for most of Saturday and managed to nicely fix a problem with the recoil starter only to have the machine develop a fuel issue. Limped it back home after it died out by the airport where may become a permanent fixture.

Low of 37 tonight with a wind-chill at 47 below. May have to get out my Snow Goose parka

2007-11-02T13:39:00.000-07:00

Today was clear to start; well at least it was over town– nice view of the waning moon with a deep purple sky. Unfortunately by the time the sun came up it clouded over. The forecast always predicts sunny weather – it just never seems to arrive.

We have an elder sewing project at the heritage centre – which happens to be attached to the school. The ladies kindly made me a set of caribou mitts for snowmobiling. They’re very well done with wool liners. It’s cool to watch them work using traditional methods, right from working the hide to sewing with sinew thread.

I also picked up a set of seal skin mitts from a local seamstress that are more modern in craftsmanship but a very cool none the less.

There is a burgeoning carving industry here. Most people work in soapstone though Caribou antler and ivory are also prevalent media. There are some superior works available and it is possible to commission pieces if so desired.

Like many northern communities the artist will come to you if you let it be known that you are interested in buying pieces. Some of the ladies also hand sew wall hangings which are exquisite in detail - often they come by the school with their work.

Our soccer teams are going to a tournament in Kugluktuk this weekend. 40 students are participating and probably will have to miss school on Monday, as the charter can’t get them back any earlier. The Wolverines will no doubt kick butt.

Temp today is steady at 20 with an Easterly wind picking up. Windchill is at 28
Sunrise 9:24
Sunset 16:04

Post All Hallowes Eve

2007-11-01T07:04:00.000-07:00

Halloween night is a big deal for pre teens in Cambridge Bay. About 200 trick or treaters showed up at the door. They were for the most part accompanied by parents or older siblings and arrived by skidoo or truck.

A snow machine would pull up and costumed toddlers bundled up against the cold would waddle up the stairs and tentatively offer their bags whilst declaring “trick or treat.” Then off they would go, always with a thank you.

Official trick or treat time is 5:45 to 7:00 PM. The community hall had costume judging and activities starting at 7 and things aside from the occasional face painted stragglers things were quiet by 8 PM.

I ended up watching the Buffy the Vampire Slayer with the local Buffy Fan club, which is headed up by my neighbour. They ran out of candy so I doled out goodies from their place while she readied for the Buffy club meeting – she couldn’t turn the lights on without attracting kiddies otherwise.

The grade 4/5 teacher was looking decidedly less stressed now that her Haunted house wnet over so well and all that was left to do was clean up the next day. I reminded her that she had signed up for Rememberence day duties and she was less than amused.

If you’re going to be in C Bay during Halloween – bring lots of treats.

Temp -17 but a stiff breeze today so windchill of -33.

Sunrise - 9:19 AM
Sunset - 4:09 PM
The sun only get about 10 degrees off the horizon at the moment. The moon on the other hand rises well in the north and is up for about 18 hours

Halloween

2007-10-31T14:33:00.000-07:00

Kiilinik High School had Halloween activities today after lunch. Kids were OK and pretty much a good time without getting too wound up. Kullik, the K - 6 school, had stuff planned all day with the grade 4/5 class being largely responsible for the haunted house - or rather their teacher was.
Report cards next week.
Temp today -20 with a wind chill of -28 and a low of -35 with the wind chill. Generally not too bad - it'll be OK for the tricker treaters.

October 29 2007

2007-10-29T12:31:00.001-07:00

Thought I'd start a blog about life in Cambridge Bay in Nunavut as there is a paucity of web info about this place.