Save a cow, eat a seal.

Well, I'm sure that raised a few eyebrows. I'm going to do something that I normally don't do on this blog because it has become quite a hot topic. Check out Megan and Way Way Up on my sidebar to see what I mean.

I normally love to watch the news, but lately all you see are the anti-seal hunter people. There is nothing that makes my blood boil faster than people protesting and not having all the facts. The part that drives me even MORE crazy is that this is has been going on for as long as I can recall. You see these fools all over the news, crying about how inhumane it is to harvest seals. The poor little white coat pups with the big puppy dog eyes. FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY. Hunting seal pups is illegal, it has been since the late 80's. The latest one I heard that really made me laugh out loud is how there are seal carcuses rotting on the ice. I live in the North AND around lots of ice (hell, we drive on the ice here there is so much of it), I see lots of skidoos, dogs and people, but not one seal. Seal hunting in the north is a way of life. The entire animal is used. I will end up with a pair of seal skin mittens, and will wear them proudly knowing that I have purchased quality workmanship from a hard working person. I would LOVE to see some of these "oh the poor seal" protesters come up and spend a day in the North with a sealer, or on a boat with some Newfoundland sealers. They will see how the animals are not "beaten to death", but hunted in the most humane way. I am also sure the last time Rob and Adam went hunting rabbit and deer (which I personally think are much cuter than seals) they were not followed by protesters in choppers. Really people, know your facts before you make a fool of yourself on televison.

Alexandra Falls

We went adventuring this afternoon to Alexandra Falls, which is about 1/2 hour away from here. The only pictures I (Tina) can take credit for are the first and last pictures.

I like the Steak Dad!

Ok, I know you all have heard us complaining about the lack of variety in Colby's Diet. Tina and I have been really focusing on his diet and what he is/is not eating. Over the last week, we have managed to get Colby to eat a carrot, PS2/desert noodles, pork chops, oven roasted potatoes, and steak! Our supper fights are getting fewer and farther between. I hope that this is a sign of things to come. Cross your fingers, toes and whatever else you have that you can cross.

NEW CHALLENGE!

There is a new challenge over at Nunavut Nonesense. For the first time, Rob and I have entered separately, so remember, you can only vote once! (Unless you are like us and have a laptop and a computer, than you can vote from each!) Just click on either Nunavut Nonesense on the sidebar on I have put it as a link in the first sentence!

Oh, and just to let everyone back home know that we have our vacation booked and plane tickets bought! We will be in Halifax on the 5th of June and leaving the 25th of June.

Easter morning

A little too close to home for me

From today's CBC News Online:

The partially clad, frozen body of a 30-year-old Northwest Territories man was discovered Sunday near a snowmobile trail in Behchoko, RCMP said Tuesday.

David Tlokka of Behchoko, about 100 kilometres northwest of Yellowknife, left a trail in the snow that suggested he staggered across Marion Lake, wandered into the bush and finally collapsed beside the trail, RCMP Sgt. Francis Cullen said in an interview Tuesday.

Alcohol was likely a factor, he said.

"We could smell liquor on his clothing. The pattern, or his trail if you will, that we followed — on numerous occasions he had fallen into the snow.

"He appeared to be either disorientated or under the influence of alcohol or something else." Some of Tlokka's clothing was found scattered around his body, which police say suggests he succumbed to hypothermia.

An autopsy will be conducted.

This story breaks my heart. So young to meet a death like this. So close to home for me because this is where we just left, Behchoko. The skidoo trail they are taking about on Marion Lake is the trail I have taken many pictures of. I could see it clearly from my front window. Chances are if we were still there I may not have seen him, but I for sure would have seen the RCMP when they found him. Although I cannot put a face to him, I'm sure I would have seen him in the community, probably at the Northern. Such a shame. Such a waste of a young life. My heart goes out to his family.

Dessert and Playstation Noodles

Well, since we've been here we have established "new" meal time rules. In short, the short order cook was left in Rae, and only one meal is cooked at mealtime. Colby is no longer fighting as much as he has been about eating new foods, because frankly he no longer has a choice. Rob and I decided we need to do this full fledge this time because I WILL NOT have Mr. Picky eater Colby on vacation with us in June. It will be hard enough with staying between the 2 houses, I'm not having extra "Colby food" on hand. Tonight, it was baked pork chops and chicken flavored noodles. YES PEOPLE, NOODLES. The conversation normally begins like this:

Do I have to just try one?

No Colby, you have to eat it.

This is normally followed by lots of faces and grimaces. We told him that the easiest way to eat something new is to take a mouthful of food and then a drink. This seems to be working. The pork chops surpringly were not the issue, he sucked them right back. Then came the noodles. He has been itching to play playstation with Daddy all evening AND he wanted dessert (something we normally don't do) so Daddy came up with an idea. He divided the noodles into 2 piles, one much larger than the other. The small pile was the "dessert pile", and the larger one was the "playstation pile". If he wanted both, he had to eat both. Well, this turned into:

I'm going to eat the Playstation noodles.

After a few bites when he realized the dessert pile was smaller

I'm going to eat the Dessert Noodles.

He was very serious, and after debating back and forth on eating both the " dessert" and the "playstation" noodles, he settled on just the "playstation" noodles. This is a BIG step for us. He's eating it. He's not liking it, but dammit he's finally eating healthy food. This is the 3rd full day of this, and I could just bawl when I see him eat. Finally! (I know some of you don't agree with me "forcing" him to eat foods he doesn't like, but hell, I live in the North and I'm now paying for groceries. And it's my kid. And he's finally eating something other than chicken fingers and hot dogs, so bite me.) :)

Our first carving

Thanks again to everyone who voted for our "5 Best Reasons to Live in the North", and of course to Indigo who donated the prize. Indigo and her husband stopped in to drop this off to Rob shortly after we got here last week. Unfortunately I did not get to meet her but I'm hoping the next time she's in town she will drop in for a coffee! When explaining the carving to Jen, the best was to describe it's size is, and I quote from last night

"It's the same size as a 12 oz Avent bottle with the nipple on". A picture of that to follow. :)

What is a lug??

I have seen at least 2 of these signs around town. What is a lug and why are they prohibited?

Sliding on the ice rink and stuff

Yes, I make my kids to push ups. One of my new favorite shots.

A walk around the house

Gotta love Facebook

While surfing Facebook the other night, I came across the group Beaverbank Kinsac School, which is the elementary school I went to. Imagine my surprise when looking through the pictures I found this! This was my primary class, and yes, I am in there. Care to guess where?

The boys

He's getting so big. A rare picture of Colby smiling for the camera. This was after being tickled by Daddy. The view out my backdor. Between the 2 mounds of snow is a home made hockey rink.

Hay River ... part 2

Ice road across Hay River My view from the passenger seat of the frozen Hay River This is a quick view of the houses and vehicles on our street North Mart retail store. The high school. Yes, it is purple. Colby's new school. Grade P-3.

Pictures from Hay River.. take 1

This is the store that Rob will be finishing his training in, it's beautiful!! Just like a grocery store back home. And yes, for those of you that can see it, that is a Pizza Hut sign on the left side by the door! IN THE STORE!! Street lights people! Driving the ice road across the MacKenzie River.

Internet connection here at night is slow, but since I'm not paying for it I'm not going to complain. We took more pictures around town tonight and some of the house, which I will try and post tomorrow.

We're here

Well we made it. We are in the process of unpacking a few boxes and moving the rest of them to the basement. Yes, a real basement, not a poop tank crawl space. We are going to go for a drive later to take some pictures, but we are more than impressed. We feel like we are back in civilization! There are street lights in this town! STREET LIGHTS PEOPLE! AND, a real set of train tracks! I saw a train out my window this morning. The store here is a NorthMart, not a Northern. It's a full fledge grocery store like the one you would see back home. It's amazing. This will be our goal type of store. And thankfully someone around here has wireless internet and that is what we are using for now.

We're off to Hay River

We are heading out tomorrow morning for Hay River. We may be off line for a few days until we get everything settled and internet hooked back up. See ya on the other side of the river!

Black Lake or Black Magic??

After having a few days to reflect on my time spent on relief in Black Lake, I have come to a conclusion...There is a reason it is called Black lake! I think that Black refers to the ancient art of Black magic or Voodoo of some sort...Here is my tale as I remember it. It was a dark and stormy night, well it was dark anyway. Apparently the power having been out to the two staff houses since 12:30 in the afternoon, and here it begins! After taking some time to get to know the Manager and his Wife, I am getting increasing worried about whether the power would be back on so I could have some light while acquainting myself with my shelter for the next 2 weeks. We were told that a rep from Sask-Power was flying in and power should be restored by 10:30pm. The night goes, our power guy shows up and drives circles around town, going back and forth between Stoney Rapids Black Lake looking for the issue and attempting to turn on the power. After waiting until 11:30, I decide it is time to go to bed, so I say my goodbyes and head over to the house. On the way out the door, the manager says, oh, I don’t think there is any bedding at the house. Oh...I see....Well, ok, off to the store I go at midnight to get some bedding. 30 mins later, bed in a bag, 2 pillows and a blanket later, I go to the house and let myself in. I finally find the bedroom and find that there is a DOUBLE bed on top of a QUEEN box spring and not the complete QUEEN bed that I was told to expect. So the QUEEN sheets that I bought are a little TOO big. So, what the hell..it’s only for a couple of weeks. I think to myself, “This would be MUCH easier if I had a couple of candles.” So, off to the store I go again. NO CANDLES, well I wasted a trip. Guess I will have to make my bed by flashlight. So, bed is made, I am ready for bed, 12:30 now, time for bed. House is nice and quiet so you hear every single noise without the power. Why is the toilet still running??? I can’t sleep with that running...NO too cold to get up, I’ll block it out. 1:30, still too cold, power will be on soon to mask the noise. 2:30, ok, I am really tired...gotta get SOME sleep, let’s see if I can get the toilet to stop running. Toilet is fixed, I think I can get some sleep. 4:30, HA! Power is back. Oh Crap, IM BLIND!!!! No dummy, you forgot to turn off the light switch. Have to get up and turn off the lights. Ok, back in bed grabbing at the elusive sun dot I see in every direction that I look. 5:30, heater cutting in and out, vents buckling, house too hot, should have checked the thermostat. It can wait until morning. Ok, 7 o’clock I’m Up! Ok, off to have a shower. NO WATER??! You have to be kidding me! I get dressed, head over to the store. Work with Joanne, who was not expecting me to work until Monday. Something the manager and I never discussed. Oh well, I might as well do some taxes while I am in. Talk to the Manager after work, explain about the water. “oh, maybe it’s frozen.” Does this happen often I ask? “No. Just as long as you don’t shut off the toilet”. Great, something else that I could have been told before moving in, don’t you think?? Apparently the water line runs from the manager’s house, 3 inches below the frozen solid ground and then into the staff house. Great! What moron designed this? Ok, so now what? Well, the manager chuckles and says, “we’ll get Billy to dig it up on Monday.” Dig up the frozen ground? “Yeah, he will have that dug up in no time.” Ok, he’s going to dig up 4-5 inches of frozen dirt? 4 Days later, 20 buckets of toilet flushing water later, still no water. My ground digger has been burning the ground to melt the ice to dig up the line. Decides to take the weekend off and go to Fond Du Lac, 2 hours away, for a drunk. Friday arrives and finally there is someone else working on it. Water line is finally dug up and thawing out in the furnace room. Friday, 4pm, I have WATER! What a luxury after having to bath in a sink all week, I get to have a real shower. I get ready, turn on the water...I didn’t get to have my shower...it was more of a trickle...Better than nothing. Monday comes. The Manager is due back from his conference. I am about to do dishes and realize...I HAVE NO WATER AGAIN! I walk over to the managers house and notice the water line has come apart and is pouring everywhere. I knock on the door. “I have no water again. The Water line came apart.” “Oh yeah, I noticed that when we came home a couple of hours ago”. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? So, again, 11:30 at night, I am outside fixing the waterline with his daughter holding a flashlight waving it around like Luke Skywalker fighting Darth, while he is in having a smoke. THERE! Fixed enough that I have water again. Ok, it’s Wednesday. I get to go home! I get to see my kids tomorrow! I get to see my wife! I guess I should go in and see if Wes needs any help before we go to the airport. I get in around 9. The manager goes to lunch at 11. Comes back at 12 and asks if I can run a till. Um, yeah? Good, that way I can send Rhonda for lunch. So NOW I am on cash. I ask the manager if he can call and see what time boarding is as my flight is scheduled to depart at 1:40pm. He says it is ALWAYS late. Ok, figure he has flown out of here more times than I have. I ask him to call anyway, they tell him 1:40. We leave at 1pm and he decides we have time to stop at the dump to empty the truck out. 1:35 we arrive at the airport. The plane is already boarded and they will not let me on. You can imagine the colourful words I used. I am pissed. The manager is laughing. Off to the store in Stoney we go to see if I can book another flight. “It will cost you $31.50” I’m told by a Woman at Trans West. I think she is the best person in the world at that very minute for getting me out of there before I go mad. Flight leaves at 6:55pm. I tell the manager to go back to Black Lake without me as I am staying here in Stoney to help the manager while I wait for my flight. Ok, 6pm, I am at the airport waiting for the plane to arrive. “ok, folks. The Flight to Saskatoon is running late...we will TRY and get you out by 7:30 or so.” OMG! Finally at 7:45 we board the flight to freedom and on my way to seeing my family. My luck changes as soon as I get on the plane. Flight to Saskatoon I have 2 seats all to myself. Hotel in Saskatoon, King size bed, shower, room service, no need to get up early as I have a late flight, internet and a phone. Flight from Saskatoon to Calgary and Edmonton were nice and quiet and I had the emergency exit row so lots of leg room. First Air to Yellowknife, I had 3 seats all the way up and we arrived 20 mins early, my family waiting for me at the airport. I can’t ask for much more. In closing...Black Lake has now been stricken from the places that I will ever WANT to VISIT again! Can anyone blame me?? Home at last!

New pics

I love little boys in overalls and white shirts. Colby wanted to help me clean the oven, so it's not child labor! Joey just woke up. Kelly took pics of Alan when he first woke up, which inspired me to take these of Joey. Couldn't you just eat this face? This is the only time I question if he is really mine. He's much too pleasant when he first wakes up to be my child.

2 reasons why my hubby is the best

This is what Rob brought home for me. Winter Crocs and a Harvey's burger with extra pickles. I am the luckiest woman in the world!

Maybe I'm just paranoid

I'm honestly looking for a bit of reassurance from all you parent / caregivers. I'm starting to get concerned about Joey. He still doesn't talk yet. He has his own "Joey language", which has been babbling for a while now. But the english translation still has not come through. He has certain words, like "Hi", "Dad", "Mom" and ta-ta. But he points and whines to get what he wants. He is also becoming very violent. When he doesn't get what he wants, he will sometimes bang his head on the floor or a wall in a temper tantrum. I can't help but compare him to Colby. At this age Colby was talking in full sentences. He certainly understands everything we say to him, but just doesn't talk back yet. Someone recently compared him to a child with a certain medical condition, and now I'm just super paranoid. Someone tell me I'm not crazy and other kids have taken this long to talk.

It's Jen money mommy!

Colby and I were in the truck today coming back from YK when he piped up from the backseat

"Mommy, I have Jen money!"

When I questioned him on this, he explained to me that he has a Toonie in his wallet that has Nunavut on it. It's the 1999 Nunavut commerative coin. Colby recently received a package from Jen with some great stuff in it, and he knows that she lives in Nunavut. I had a hard time not laughing, because he was very serious and is now convinced that Jen in fact has her own coin. Jen, you didn't tell us you had your own currency!

Happy Birthday Gramma

Happy Birthday Gramma, we miss you very much!

Black Lake, Around Town...

One of the more interesting buildings around town, and the newest. This is the state of the art School that no one attends. I guess the attendance rate is about 60% or less. This is my humble abode. This is the best side, actually looks nice from this angle. I could show you the back, but then you would think I was living in a chicken shack on a farm. I saw this old VW buried in snow in Stoney Rapids. Made for a pretty nice picture I think. This is the sign as you are leaving Stoney Rapids. There is about a 20 min drive between the two towns. Black Lake is a First Nation Reserve as you can tell by the sign, Stoney Rapids is not.

New pictures for Daddy

Joey's new portable high chair. Will be much easier to travel with this one, it folds down. Colby's school vest. His teacher gave it to him today as a goodbye present.

His teacher also gave him a t-shirt with all the names of the kids in his class.

This is Joey dancing to " Pop Goes My Heart" from Music and Lyrics.

Happy Birthday Connie

Happy Birthday Connie, we miss you.

By far the funniest 5 minutes of my day

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5R8gSgedh4 I can't get it to post properly so you'll have to follow the link. Thanks to Missing The Rock for this great laugh!

I've created a monster

I am almost ashamed to admit this, but part of me is secretly thrilled. I have always been a creature of habit, and because of this so are my kids. Joey and I have a morning routine which consists of getting Colby off to school, having a 2nd cup of coffee and just "waking up". I normally put on a movie for noise as I start to get our day going. The mornings typically consisted of kids shows like "The Doodlebops" and "Clifford". There was a time that the movie "Barnyard" was repeated over and over, and "I'm smooshy" will forever make my family laugh. (If you've seen the movie, you'll understand. Joey still does it). When Joey does down for his nap, I put on a movie and do "my stuff" (housework etc). I am the type of person who can watch a movie over and over. Music and Lyrics is my new favorite. It's just a feel good movie, and because of it I am now in love more than ever with Hugh Grant. This has now become Joey's favorite movie, and he squeals with delight when the movie starts and "Pop Goes My Heart" starts. He now knows how to use the remote and can put it on himself (it's recorded on the PVR). If you haven't seen it, it's worth the rental.