Canadian Buffoon's Exhausted Vacation - Update 09/01 - New TR link!

[pkondz]

Oh for crying out loud!!! They sure don't make it easy.
Can we come to Canada? Or do we need tested too?

You can come to Canada,
and have been able to for a while,
but yes you would need to be tested
prior to entry.

We paid off the room portion of the trip. Now we need park tickets and plane fare. I think it will be here before we know it with being busy over the holidays and my birthday.

Always feels good when it's time to check out
and things are already paid for.

And yes, it will be here lickety split!

 

[pkondz]

Baby It's Cold Outside.

No. I mean it's really cold outside.
Okay, I'm not making myself clear, here.
I mean it's REALLY cold outside.

But I'm getting a little ahead of myself.

And before I continue...
I must apologize for the size
of this update.
It's big.
I found it quite difficult
to pare it down as it is.
I hope you enjoy it, nonetheless...


A while ago, I posted an update on
what it's like to live in a winter wonderland.
And by wonderland, I mean where elves
sing and cavort and frolic...
Well, maybe that should be where
people swear and slip and fall.

Now some people think of the "North"
as something like this:

Which... isn't quite accurate.
There are certain realities that
have to be surmounted, however.
Like...
Well, here's a selfie I took last winter,
to demonstrate what jogging in
colder temperatures look like:

I took that photo on a run I took
when it was about -25C/-13F.

I slipped the face covering down off
my nose, but otherwise... That's what you do.


I considered calling this update
A Tale of Two Ghost Towns.
But... I didn't, for two reasons.
1. One is less of a ghost town than the other. And;
2. I will only touch on one and focus more on the other.

Let's begin with the more ghostly
and less focus-y town first.

When I began my career,
I was given a few choices of
where I wanted to be posted.
Lynn Lake sounded nice.
I mean... it's got "Lake" right in the name!
And the town actually is right on
the edge of the lake.
Besides... hadn't I heard something
or other about it?

Tom Cochrane, a rock singer
(if you didn't know) was born there.
Tom Cochrane - Life Is A Highway (Official Video) - YouTube
Big League - YouTube
Tom Cochrane & Red Rider - Boy Inside The Man - YouTube

Also, cartoonist Lynn Johnston
spent several years there,
where she started her career.
You may have seen her cartoons
in your local newspaper.

If that looks familiar to you,
then you recognize the family,
including the dog, Farley.
Farley is named after the Farley mine
which was the biggest structure
in the town.
(And apparently the husband
in the comic is just like her actual DH.)

Lynn Lake was founded in 1950 when
nickel was discovered there.
Shortly after, gold was discovered as well.
Most of the buildings that make up the town
were originally located about 200km/120 miles
south in another town called Sherridon.
So... Sherridon ceased to exist,
and Lynn Lake began at about the same time.
Houses, banks, churches and stores
(208 buildings in all) were moved by sleigh
to the new townsite.

You can see how this was done
(if you're so inclined or interested)
about the 7-minute mark of the video
"Pioneers of the North. Pt 1" at the
following link:
The Town of Lynn Lake - Town History

And while this update is about cold,
the North isn't always just snow and ice.

Lynn Lake is located smack dab in the
middle of the Canadian Boreal Forest.
(The Boreal Forest is a northern forest
that circles the globe.
It covers approximately 60% of Canada's
land area, which, when you consider that
Canada is the 2nd largest country in
the world, is a heck of a lot of trees!)

(I took that photo about a 10-minute walk from our house.)

Oh. While I'm at it, I'll apologize now.
Most of the photos in this update
were taken before digital photos existed.
Most were shot on slide film and then
scanned with an inexpensive slide scanner.
So the quality won't be that great.
Hopefully, however, you'll get a feel
for what I'm trying to show you.

Onwards and upwards...

Where was I....
Right! Lynn Lake.
The town I wasn't going
to talk about much.



When we (DW and I) arrived
in Lynn, we were both shocked
and appalled.
The sign on the outskirts of town
declared that the population was 3,000.
That was maybe the case in the 1970s,
when the mine was booming, but...
when the price of nickel and gold fell,
so did the population.
People would walk up to the bank,
drop off the keys to their house and home
and simply walk away.
When we arrived, the population was
somewhere in the neighborhood of 500.

We drove into town with boarded up,
abandoned buildings standing as silent
sentinels of a bygone era.
We overnighted in the one hotel
that Lynn had to offer while we waited
for our belongings to arrive.
I spent most of the night
consoling a distraught, crying wife.
I felt like crying, myself.

Living in Lynn was not easy.
We could drive back to Winnipeg,
which we did as often as we could
(about once every 2-3 months), but the
road was treacherous and long.
(A 12-hour drive, one way.)
Fruits and vegetables were either
nonexistent or mostly rotten when
they were available.
Meat wasn't much better.
We survived on frozen and canned goods.
(And in the summer, a fresh fruit truck would
come to town and do a booming business.)
There was no recreation and no theatre.
No library.
There was a post office.
And a hardware store.
A "grocery" store and hotel (see above)
and a gas station.
That was about it.

We had a saying...
Lynn Lake isn't Hell...
But you can see it from there.

And it got cold.
But we made do.
We'd go cross country skiing.
And...
Drive to Winnipeg.

Last winter update I posted this photo:

And I mentioned that I'd ski to work.

One evening, I was skiing to work
about 11:30 at night.
It was a nice evening.
Brisk, but a full moon made the snow
gleam as I shushed along.
Roughly the first half of my 2km/1.2mile
ski was on the frozen West Lynn lake.
I was gliding along, with my thoughts
wandering when all of a sudden
"KAPOW! WHOOOOOSH!"
Holy Cow! Someone's shooting at me!
I'd heard the shot and the bullet
whizzing past.
I looked wildly over towards the shore
and realized I was horribly exposed
on the middle of the lake as I dove
for cover.
I scanned the shoreline for any movement,
but even with moonlight, it was too dark
to really discern any shapes.
"Besides." I reasoned. "Anyone shooting
at me isn't going to just be standing out
in the open."

As I lay in the snow... it eventually dawned
on me what had actually happened.
I was skiing... on a lake... an ice-covered lake...
Ice cracks...

"Sometimes at night I can hear the ice crack
It sounds like thunder and it rips through my back"
(Tom Cochrane - Big League)

I can attest that it's loud. And sounds just like
a shot fired from a rifle.
The whooshing sound was the crack racing
across the lake.
Not dangerous... but damned unnerving!

After "living" there for almost four years...
we of course moved... farther North!


The rest of this update will be about...


Churchill is a town located on the shores
of Hudson Bay, a scant 830km/500 miles
from the Arctic Circle.
(For comparison, Chicago is 2,700km/1,600miles
and Los Angeles is 3,600km/2,200miles.)

There are three ways of getting to Churchill.
1. Cruise ship. They arrive about twice a year,
in season, from the East coast.
Not exactly economical, both financially or time-wise.
2. Train. It takes three days from Winnipeg to Churchill.
Again, not an overly expeditious mode of transport.
3. Plane.

There are no roads to Churchill.
If you take your car, you can't get there from here.
Or from anywhere.
Let that sink in.
It's so remote that you can't drive to it.
(You can, theoretically, hike there,
although no one has, to my knowledge.
You can also canoe/kayak.
I believe one person has done it.)

But you can fly.
When we first moved, the plane was this one:

(Hawker Siddeley HS 748)

It was configured for half seats,
half cargo.
It was an... interesting experience.
We were overjoyed when the
airline that services the town
purchased this:

(SAAB 340)

Not that you were frequently flying.
If you were to book a round trip flight
Winnipeg - Churchill today, it would set
you back $1,300CDN... per person.
(Approx $1,035USD.)
You can fly Winnipeg to Singapore
for about the same price.

Living in the North is not cheap.

However, while it costs more,
the grocery selection was better.
While Lynn Lake's groceries were
trucked in over 2-3 days, a lot of
Churchill's fresh produce was flown up.

So fresher... but pricier.

Churchill differed quite a bit from
Lynn Lake in some very good ways.
There were restaurants!
Anywhere from 2-3 to half a dozen
(depending on the season... more on that, too.)
There was a theatre, a library, a bowling alley, a pool!
A museum, gift shop(s), a deli, a bakery.
Yes, there was much more going for Churchill
than was available in Lynn Lake.
But there were some... obstacles to overcome, as well.


So why would anyone want to go there?!?!?


Well… one reason is that it’s an eco-tourism
hot spot.
Churchill gets visitors from all over the world.
And there are several different reasons,
during several different seasons for doing so.

Everyone knows that there are four seasons
throughout the year, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter.
But in many places, the differences between the seasons
are often blurred.
Spring blends seamlessly into Summer.
Fall molds into Winter.
When does one begin? When does one end?
Sure, you can use the Groundhog Day method

But who does that??
Spring is when flowers bloom!
Summer is hot!
Fall is cool and leaves changing!
Winter is cold!
(YMMV)

And yet… they blend a little too, don’t they?


In Churchill there are very distinct seasons.
And while the seasons are ruled by the Sun,
the weather is ruled by Hudson Bay.

The Bay is huge. It’s almost twice the size of Texas.
Texas has an area covering 700 thousand square kilometers
or 270 thousand square miles.
That’s a lot of area.
But Hudson Bay is 1.23 million square kilometers
or 474 thousand square miles.
If you were to set out from Churchill by boat
with the intent of crossing to the other shore,
you would have to row your boat about 1,000kms
or about 600 miles before you got to the other side.
Getting the picture a little bit?
When numbers like that get too large,
they become difficult to grasp.
We’re just not designed to get stuff that big.


Okay, enough with the geography lessons.
Let’s start talking about the place.

And in the spirit of new beginnings,
let’s start with… Spring.


Spring in Churchill begins usually
some time in June.
Its arrival is marked by the breakup
of the pack ice that has covered
the Bay over the long winter.

And while individual bits of ice
might be reminiscent of ice bergs,
these chunks of ice
(affectionately known in our family
as "bergie bits")
have not calved from glaciers.
They are frozen seawater that has been
shaped and sculpted by winds, currents
and temperature fluctuations and are
considerably smaller.
(Think... bus sized.)


"Hang on, pkondz! You said seawater,
and therefore salt water. That can't freeze!"


Anything can freeze given a cold enough temperature.
Heck, the air you breathe will freeze
if exposed to -220C/-360F temperatures.
Not to worry, you're not likely to experience that
kind of cold unless you travel to Pluto.
(Which averages about -230C/-385F.)

While fresh water freezes at 0C/32F,
seawater freezes at a not much colder -2C/28.4F.


Whoa.
I just totally nerded out there, didn't I?

Spring just might be my favourite
season in Churchill.
The melting ice brings a promise
of warmer days, but...
There's a surprise for those
willing to make the 30-40 minute
walk from town and leave their snug homes.

Hudson's Bay is ocean.
It has tides.
Low tide is around 2 feet,
but high tide can be upwards
of 15 feet or more.
More than enough for ice
to get stranded on land
when the tide goes out.

Standing beside these massive
chunks of ice is like walking into
a freezer.
The temperature outside can be
a nice comfy 20C/70F, but come
within a few feet of a large bergie bit
and the temperature drops down to...
Well, freezing.

But it is 20C/70F out... and ice melts.
There is nothing in this world
that I have experienced that is
like standing among the stranded
ice chunks on a warm day.
Imagine it if you can...
Hundreds of fantastically shaped
ice clumps ranging in size from a
Volkswagen Beetle to a Semi-trailer.
And they're all melting... dripping
water onto the rock that supports them.

And if you close your eyes...
it sounds just like you're standing in
the middle of a summer rain shower.
Except the sun is warming you and
you are not getting wet.

A truly remarkable and incredible experience.

I would pay that $1,000 airfare just to
be able to do that one more time.


But spring isn't just about ice.
That wouldn't be very spring-like
would it?

When the Bay starts to melt
and the days grow warmer,
the Arctic Tundra that surrounds
Churchill suddenly awakens.

Plants, after the long winter,
seem to sense that the short
growing season is upon them
and quickly burst into bloom,
seemingly overnight.

It's amazing to see brown,
monochromatic ground
suddenly transformed into... this:

And it's everywhere.
Nature, having slumbered
under a white blanket, seems
to want to outdo itself with
a riotous explosion of colour,
and seems to know that the
growing season is all too brief.

Although... what might be my
favourite spring plant
(Arctic Cotton)
is actually... white!

"Hey! Pkondz!
You said Churchill was an
eco-tourism hotspot.
And so far you've only talked
about ice and flowers."

And right you are.
Spring also marks the start
of the highly popular
and highly anticipated
tourist season.
(And highly lucrative, too.)

Spring brings visitors to Churchill.
And those visitors are...
Birds.

And while you most likely
have different birds in your
locale, depending on season,
here in Churchill, avid bird watchers
from around the globe come to
watch their return.

Interest soared in 1980 when a
Ross's Gull was first spotted here.

If the name doesn't mean anything to you...
Join the crowd.
But apparently it was "Big News"
in birding circles.

I wouldn't know.
But that's what they say.

(Pair of Loons)

(Canada Jay, or Gray Jay, or Whiskey Jack,
the official bird of Canada.
No idea why. We just have a Loon on our dollar coin!
Most Canadians wouldn't know
a Whiskey Jack if it pecked them!)

(Black Scoter)

(Franklin's Gull)

Next, we'll move onto the other seasons
that are so unique in Churchill.
But for now, we can put Spring to bed.

Continued Next Post​

 

[pkondz]

Continued From Previous Post​

As spring becomes summer,
the weather... and the wildlife
take a sudden leap off the
commonplace and into the
fantastical.

The Bay keeps people on their toes,
as sudden shifts in wind direction
or strength bring rapid temperature
changes.

I vividly recall one day,
I had just gotten off work
and it was a gorgeous
early summer day.
The sun was shining and the
temperature hovered around 20C/70F.
I arrived at home and told my DW
that we should take advantage
of the day and go for a walk.
She immediately agreed and
said "Gimme one sec to change my top."
In under 5 minutes she was ready.
We opened the door and stepped out into...
A cold and blustery 3C/37F.
The wind had shifted just enough
so that instead of blowing across
the warm land, it was now coming
in off the frigid Bay.
A 17C/33F degree temperature drop
in about five minutes.

She looked at me like I was crazy.
I actually had to call the airport
and have them tell her what the
temperature was, just a scant
few minutes ago!


Luckily, such radical temperature
changes are not the norm.
Particularly in summer.
Generally, the summer temps are quite nice
and can on occasion reach over 30C/85F.
And in fact, one day, while we lived there,
Churchill was the hottest spot in all of Canada.

As the heat took hold, the early flowers'
multiplicity of colour changed to a more
subtle palette.

And along with the changing colours,
tourists arrived in greater numbers.

Why?
July and August are whale months.


Churchill is located on a spit of land
that is bordered by the Bay on one
side and the Churchill River on the other.
From mid-June (dependent on weather)
to mid-August, approximately four thousand
Beluga whales come to Churchill
to feed, mate, and give birth.

At any given moment, you can easily see,
from shore, dozens of whales at once.
Indeed, if you were to fly into Churchill
during the summer, your pilot will almost
certainly fly the "Whale one" approach.
This is an unofficial maneuver that takes
the plane up and down the Churchill River
before landing, thus giving passengers
on both sides of the aircraft an opportunity
to see thousands of whales at once.

Regretfully, I never got to experience that,
but I did get out on the water on one
of the guide boats that ply the waters.

(In the distance, you can make out
the Port of Churchill where grain is loaded
and passengers disembark.)

The whales are very vocal.
Our guide lowered a hydrophone
into the water and the speakers
were immediately filled with
whistles, mews, chirps, squeals and trills.
(To name but some of the sounds they produce.)

They are also very social and curious.
They will approach boats and if you
canoe or kayak, they will bump your
boat from underneath.

To give you an idea of how close they
come to the boats:

(Knowing the captain,
he allowed me to come up top
for some photography.)

Interestingly, their behaviour
drastically changes mid-August
and they shun all contact with
people and boats.

One day, as luck would have it,
when my parents were visiting,
we were able to witness a fairly
rare sighting of a mother Polar Bear
swimming with her cub.

Being close to the Arctic circle,
in summer, the days are long.
While Churchill always has a
Sunrise and a Sunset…


There is a term called “Nautical twilight”
The technical definition is as follows:
“When the center of the Sun is between 6 degrees
and 12 degrees below the horizon.”
During twilight, it’s still light enough to make
out distant objects and shapes.
You could read to it, although it might
be a bit of a strain.

If you look at Sunset/Twilight/Sunrise tables
for Churchill in summer…
You’ll see that on the longest day,
the Sun sets at 10:30pm and rises at 4:05am.
And Twilight is simply listed as “Rest of night.”

Working the night shift in the summer
is an experience.
You watch as the Sun sets in the Northwest…
And you can see the Sun’s glow as it travels
along the horizon Northwest to Northeast for
the next five and a half hours.


All too soon, however, in what
sometimes feels like the wink
of an eye, Summer comes to an
end and Fall begins.

Late August and early September
brings cooler temperatures
and the promise of winter.

And Churchill's real stars
begin to put in an appearance.

Churchill is famously known
as the Polar Bear capitol of the world.

The bears, after being sedentary
throughout the summer months
begin to make the trek along
the Hudson Bay coast while they
await the coming of the ice.
Polar bears live a life that is in
opposition to their southern cousins.
They lay dormant in a "waking hibernation"
during the summer and do not eat
until winter when they are able to
hunt their main prey, seals.

Helicopter pilots can show tourists
polar bears in summer easily.
They simply put them in their GPS
as they will remain in that location.
The pilots know not to get too close
to the bears and frighten them.
Making them run at this critical time
can actually kill them.

When the temperature changes
and the days grow shorter,
the bears begin to awaken and stir.

And soon they begin walking...
straight towards Churchill.

Living in a town where at any moment
you can come face to face with a 1,300lb bear
makes life a bit more... interesting.

Most people don't lock their doors
so that if someone needs to quickly
escape a bear, they can run inside.

I never depended on that, figuring that
with my luck, I'd choose the one house door
that was locked.

Have you ever rounded a hallway corner
only to find yourself nose to nose
with another person?
You might laugh, or say "Excuse me",
move a bit to the side and continue on.

In Churchill, you quickly learn never to
walk around a house unless you've given
it a wide berth, lest you come nose to nose
with an apex predator.


Don't get me wrong, there isn't a squad
of polar bears roaming the streets
at all hours of the day and night, but...

I did have, on more than one occasion,
the experience of seeing a bear being
"escorted" out of town by Natural Resources officers.
(Escorted meaning they fire cracker shells at their
feet to encourage them to leave.)


It doesn't always work, however.
Problem bears who return to town
are trapped and placed in "jail".
This building has concrete pens inside
where the bears are kept until they
can be sedated and helicoptered
farther up the coast.

I was working one day when they
were transporting some bears.
The pilot took off with a couple of
sedated bears dangling from a sling.
A few moments later, the pilot radioed
me to let me know they were setting down
temporarily.
Minutes later, he continued.
Curious, I asked him why he'd made
an unscheduled landing.
He told me that he had a young
polar bear in the back seat and
it had started to wake up!


Halloween in Churchill is... different.
Oh, the kids still go door to door.
But... in your neighborhood, do you
have helicopters patrolling the area
until sundown and then armed patrols
in trucks keeping watch?

And as October slides into November...

Winter arrives.

Winter brings cold temperatures
and brutal wind chill values.

For those of you that don't know,
wind chill is the temperature that
it feels like when you combine
the temperature and the wind.

Most people are aware that even
a warm day can feel a bit chilly
if there's a breeze.
Or perhaps you've sat in a location
underneath an air vent.
It feels colder with a wind.

Take away the sun, and it feels
even colder.
And there's not a lot of sunlight
in winter in Churchill.
There is some, but...
the shortest day of the year,
December 21st, has the Sun
rising at 9:05am and setting
at 3:20pm.
It gets dark fast.


I remember one day, we'd been
invited out for dinner at a friend's place.
Churchill is pretty small,
so taking the car wasn't really worthwhile.
We walked.
It was -30C/-22F out.
But the wind was blowing at 70mph.
That meant it felt like it was -55C/-67F.

How does one walk when it feels that cold?
Thick, insulated boots and mitts.
Wind pants, designed to prevent wind from penetrating.
Parka, with hood up. (Nuff said)
Tuque.
You look like you could walk
on the moon, and you probably could
if it weren't for that pesky air thing.


Winter air brings a fairly common
phenomenon to Churchill...
Sun dogs and halos.

Formed by light refracting
off of ice crystals, which,
in the North... is a good
portion of the year.

In the above photos,
there were actually two
halos and six sundogs,
but the lens I was carrying
at the time wasn't wide
enough to capture them all.

Winter transforms the landscape
from spring's rainbow of colour
and summer's muted tones
to a monochromatic blanket
of snow and sleeping trees and bushes.

Aurora Borealis dance across the night sky,
constantly changing in motion, and
while commonly green, occasionally
presenting itself in
vivid reds and purples.

(I regret that this poor specimen
is the only photo I have of Northern Lights.
One of those "I have tons of time!" victims.)

In the 1970s, Brian Ladoon decided
that he would try to save the almost
extinct Canadian Eskimo dog.
Through his efforts, he managed to do so.
His methods caught the attention
of others however, as polar bears
would often pass through the
land where the dogs were kept.

Only years later, was it learned that
Brian would leave out food for the bears
to prevent them from eating the dogs.
From a conservation stand point,
that's a big no no, but...
Love him or hate him
(Brian was a controversial figure in Churchill)
he passed away in 2018.
I don't know what has become of
his dogs since then.
In 2019, his friend was caring for them
and was trying to organize a board
or team for their care.

As winter sets its grip more
firmly, the pack ice forms
on Hudson's Bay and the
bears disperse, on the hunt for food.

But one of my favourite northern
animals peeks out of its den.

The Arctic Fox is a smaller
fox and almost pet-like in
its demeanour.
You can't pet one, but you
can get quite close to them.

Which brings me to an interesting
observation about Northern wildlife.

People are rare up north.
You don't have huge populations.
People don't hunt bears and foxes
as a rule.
(Either because of conservation rules
or simply due to the population density.)
As a result, (I believe) you have foxes
that don't shy away from people
and bears that ignore us, simply because
we aren't seen as a threat.

Bears (and other animals) will bolt when
people get too close.
But up North...
I have watched as a bear has nonchalantly
strolled down the airport runway
while dozens of people, equipment and planes
whirl about in a chaotic ballet only a few yards away.
And in case you're wondering, "Isn't that dangerous?"
Well... it is.
I was observing closely and if the bear had
paused in its travels and looked towards
the activity, I had an airhorn that I could
sound to send the people scrambling for safety.

But we were talking about the foxes.
These comical pups stole my heart
with their friendliness and playfulness.

I can't think of a better spot to end
this update.

And I apologize again for the length
of this chapter.
I have far more tales of the North
than I could possibly say in an update.

If we ever meet, feel free to ask me.


As winter settles firmly into Churchill,
and cold and darkness rule,
we begin the long wait for spring
to return with all its promise.

 

[Paulaparm]

WOW!!!! That was absolutely beautiful!!
It reads like narration from a film...
What gorgeous pictures and such an interesting narrative. I thoroughly enjoyed reading every bit of it.
Thank you for sharing

 

[pkondz]

WOW!!!! That was absolutely beautiful!!
It reads like narration from a film...
What gorgeous pictures and such an interesting narrative. I thoroughly enjoyed reading every bit of it.
Thank you for sharing

So glad you enjoyed it!
And... high praise indeed!

 

[Thumper_Man]

Sounds like Lady H and myself may have to take a trip to Churchill one of these days. I wish we had a fraction of the snow you get. So hot and dry in our neck of the woods lately soon it will be all desert.

 

[pkondz]

Sounds like Lady H and myself may have to take a trip to Churchill one of these days. I wish we had a fraction of the snow you get. So hot and dry in our neck of the woods lately soon it will be all desert.

Well, well well... look who's here. Hi Mike!
Just talked to Nebo about a week ago.

How are you and Lady H doing??

 

[Thumper_Man]

Well, well well... look who's here. Hi Mike!
Just talked to Nebo about a week ago.

How are you and Lady H doing??

We're both doing good for the most part. Few bumps and bruises along the way but not bad.

How's everyone at the Pkondz household?

 

[pkondz]

We're both doing good for the most part. Few bumps and bruises along the way but not bad.

That's good enough, then.

How's everyone at the Pkondz household?

About the same. Everyone except me doing good
and I'm doing not too badly, myself.

 

[franandaj]

Awesome photos and stuff. I read from my phone. I will be back to comment further. Plus I want to see those photos on a larger screen!

 

[pkondz]

Awesome photos and stuff. I read from my phone. I will be back to comment further. Plus I want to see those photos on a larger screen!

Well, the whole update was
written with you in mind, so...

Hope you enjoy!

 

[Thumper_Man]

Everyone except me doing good and I'm doing not too badly, myself.

Did you finally find a decent shrink? Or are both kids out of the house now?

 

[pkondz]

Did you finally find a decent shrink? Or are both kids out of the house now?

Nope. To both questions!

 

[Heluvsme]

So fascinating,and beautiful, and.... BRRRRRrrrrrrr!!!!

Stay safe pkondz!!

Dawn

 

[pkondz]

So fascinating,and beautiful, and.... BRRRRRrrrrrrr!!!!

Yes... yes... and... yes!!

Stay safe pkondz!!

I don't live up there anymore.
Here, the temps typically
don't fall below -30C/-22F
and the average winter low
is around -20C/-4F.

 

[Steppesister]

And before I continue...
I must apologize for the size
of this update.

It's a big one!

Well, here's a selfie I took last winter,
to demonstrate what jogging in
colder temperatures look like:

But.... why?!

I took that photo on a run I took
when it was about -25C/-13F.

That just does NOT sound fun. At all.

Also, cartoonist Lynn Johnston
spent several years there,
where she started her career.
You may have seen her cartoons
in your local newspaper.

Names after her?

Houses, banks, churches and stores
(208 buildings in all) were moved by sleigh
to the new townsite.

WHOA! That's cool!

Oh. While I'm at it, I'll apologize now.
Most of the photos in this update
were taken before digital photos existed.
Most were shot on slide film and then
scanned with an inexpensive slide scanner.
So the quality won't be that great.
Hopefully, however, you'll get a feel
for what I'm trying to show you.

THey looked pretty good to me!

When we (DW and I) arrived
in Lynn, we were both shocked
and appalled.

Yeah, been there and done that.

I felt like crying, myself.

Yep, done that. We went to Crapistan sight unseen. I hated it before we even landed.

I shushed along.

Now that's a new to me verb.

As I lay in the snow... it eventually dawned
on me what had actually happened.
I was skiing... on a lake... an ice-covered lake...
Ice cracks...

I've heard that! Sounds like thunder, or did, in Crapistan.

"Sometimes at night I can hear the ice crack
It sounds like thunder and it rips through my back"
(Tom Cochrane - Big League)

Huh! Sounds a lot like my back most of the time.

There are three ways of getting to Churchill.
1. Cruise ship. They arrive about twice a year,
in season, from the East coast.
Not exactly economical, both financially or time-wise.
2. Train. It takes three days from Winnipeg to Churchill.
Again, not an overly expeditious mode of transport.
3. Plane.

I'll take #3 for 1,000 Alex....

Living in the North is not cheap.

I'd imagine not!!

So why would anyone want to go there?!?!?

I"d visit. Doubt I could be talked into living there.

And while individual bits of ice
might be reminiscent of ice bergs,
these chunks of ice
(affectionately known in our family
as "bergie bits")

Cute!!

Whoa.
I just totally nerded out there, didn't I?

Yes you did!

Standing beside these massive
chunks of ice is like walking into
a freezer.
The temperature outside can be
a nice comfy 20C/70F, but come
within a few feet of a large bergie bit
and the temperature drops down to...
Well, freezing.

That must have been so weird!!

It's amazing to see brown,
monochromatic ground
suddenly transformed into... this:

I think that's my favorite photo!!

Spring brings visitors to Churchill.
And those visitors are...
Birds.

I can imagine it's a birders paradise.

We opened the door and stepped out into...
A cold and blustery 3C/37F.
The wind had shifted just enough
so that instead of blowing across
the warm land, it was now coming
in off the frigid Bay.
A 17C/33F degree temperature drop
in about five minutes.

Holy smokes!! That's pretty extreme!

And along with the changing colours,

Gorgeous!!

the "Whale one" approach.
This is an unofficial maneuver that takes
the plane up and down the Churchill River
before landing, thus giving passengers
on both sides of the aircraft an opportunity
to see thousands of whales at once.

Regretfully, I never got to experience that,
but I did get out on the water on one
of the guide boats that ply the waters.

I'll bet that's quite an impactful sight!

There is a term called “Nautical twilight”
The technical definition is as follows:
“When the center of the Sun is between 6 degrees
and 12 degrees below the horizon.”
During twilight, it’s still light enough to make
out distant objects and shapes.
You could read to it, although it might
be a bit of a strain.

I remember that from ground school but had forgotten the technicalities.

and the promise of winter.

Promise? Promise of dark, cold, nah, the threat maybe?

Wakey, wakey!!

But... in your neighborhood, do you
have helicopters patrolling the area
until sundown and then armed patrols
in trucks keeping watch?

Sure, sounds like most urban places in the US anymore. LA comes to mind. Seen it myself.

Very beautiful! I've never seen a full round one.

 

[pkondz]

It's a big one!

Sorry!

But.... why?!

Because if you run naked,
you get frostbite and arrested.

That just does NOT sound fun. At all.

It does take a bit of...

lunacy.

Names after her?

Sorry, not sure what
you're asking?

WHOA! That's cool!

Freezing, actually.

THey looked pretty good to me!

Thanks.

Yeah, been there and done that.

Yes! I bet you have!
Even more so.

Yep, done that. We went to Crapistan sight unseen. I hated it before we even landed.

And then you spent...
I think it was 7-8 years there?

Now that's a new to me verb.

Shush
verb

1. 1.
   tell or signal (someone) to be silent.
   "she shushed him with a wave"
2. 2.
   move with or make a soft swishing or rustling sound.
   "I stood to watch a big liner shushing slowly past"

I've heard that! Sounds like thunder, or did, in Crapistan.

Here it was far too sharp.
No rolling sound at all.

Huh! Sounds a lot like my back most of the time.

Yikes!

I'll take #3 for 1,000 Alex....

Despite the cost...
definitely the way to go.

I"d visit. Doubt I could be talked into living there.

I would actually recommend
a visit to anyone.

Just not in winter.

Yes you did!

That must have been so weird!!

Not weird... absolutely awesome!

I think that's my favorite photo!!

One of my faves.

I can imagine it's a birders paradise.

For a short period...
I guess so?

Holy smokes!! That's pretty extreme!

I've never seen anything like it
before or since.

I'll bet that's quite an impactful sight!

I never got the chance, but...
Even just standing on the shore
and seeing hundreds of whales...

I would be hard pressed when asked
to see whales in summer
or bears in fall.

I remember that from ground school but had forgotten the technicalities.

I used to have to manually
turn on the airport's rotating beacon
so had to know when to do it.
(Also when IFR conditions existed.)
Now it's only on at night and it's
automated.

Promise? Promise of dark, cold, nah, the threat maybe?

Well... yes.

Sure, sounds like most urban places in the US anymore. LA comes to mind. Seen it myself.

Very beautiful! I've never seen a full round one.

Fairly common up north
in the winter.
I only regret not being
able to catch both halos
that day.
Now that's a bit more rare.

 

[missjackiemcg]

That was so beautifully written, and I LOVED the pictures!! Thanks so much for sharing!

 

[pkondz]

That was so beautifully written, and I LOVED the pictures!! Thanks so much for sharing!

Thanks, Jackie!
So glad you enjoyed it.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

And before I continue...
I must apologize for the size
of this update.
It's big.
I found it quite difficult
to pare it down as it is.

Hoo boy. Hang on, let me go make a sandwich or something.

Now some people think of the "North"
as something like this:

Yep. Nailed it.

I took that photo on a run I took
when it was about -25C/-13F.

I only have one question:

Why?

I slipped the face covering down off
my nose, but otherwise... That's what you do.

Or, you know, you just stay inside.

Tom Cochrane, a rock singer
(if you didn't know) was born there.

I only know Life Is A Highway...the civil engineer's anthem.

It covers approximately 60% of Canada's
land area, which, when you consider that
Canada is the 2nd largest country in
the world, is a heck of a lot of trees!)

Just think of all the paper airplanes we could make!

Oh. While I'm at it, I'll apologize now.
Most of the photos in this update
were taken before digital photos existed.

Did you have the whole setup where you duck your head under the little shroud?

Where was I....
Right! Lynn Lake.
The town I wasn't going
to talk about much.

People would walk up to the bank,
drop off the keys to their house and home
and simply walk away.
When we arrived, the population was
somewhere in the neighborhood of 500.

Wow. You should write the tourist brochures for this place.

I spent most of the night
consoling a distraught, crying wife.
I felt like crying, myself.

Yep, put that one right on the front as the main slogan.

But in all seriousness, I'm glad you guys made it through this.

We survived on frozen and canned goods.
(And in the summer, a fresh fruit truck would
come to town and do a booming business.)
There was no recreation and no theatre.
No library.
There was a post office.
And a hardware store.
A "grocery" store and hotel (see above)
and a gas station.
That was about it.

This is like the Canadian version of being exiled to Siberia. Who did you tick off?

We had a saying...
Lynn Lake isn't Hell...
But you can see it from there.

I can attest that it's loud. And sounds just like
a shot fired from a rifle.
The whooshing sound was the crack racing
across the lake.
Not dangerous... but damned unnerving!

Um...yeah! That's crazy!

After "living" there for almost four years...
we of course moved... farther North!

Well, no one ever accused you of being the sharpest tool in the shed.

You can fly Winnipeg to Singapore
for about the same price.

I mean no offense to the good citizens of Churchill, but I'd probably choose Singapore.

Churchill differed quite a bit from
Lynn Lake in some very good ways.
There were restaurants!
Anywhere from 2-3 to half a dozen
(depending on the season... more on that, too.)
There was a theatre, a library, a bowling alley, a pool!
A museum, gift shop(s), a deli, a bakery.

A veritable urban mecca of dizzying activity!

But who does that??
Spring is when flowers bloom!
Summer is hot!
Fall is cool and leaves changing!
Winter is cold!
(YMMV)

I mean, yeah, pretty much.

Whoa.
I just totally nerded out there, didn't I?

Happens to the best of us.

Standing beside these massive
chunks of ice is like walking into
a freezer.
The temperature outside can be
a nice comfy 20C/70F, but come
within a few feet of a large bergie bit
and the temperature drops down to...
Well, freezing.

Wow. Similar to when special effects shows use the flame shooters and you can feel the heat coming off them.

And if you close your eyes...
it sounds just like you're standing in
the middle of a summer rain shower.
Except the sun is warming you and
you are not getting wet.

That sounds like a neat experience!

What a cool shape!

It's amazing to see brown,
monochromatic ground
suddenly transformed into... this:

Most Canadians wouldn't know
a Whiskey Jack if it pecked them!)

Buncha loonies.

The sun was shining and the
temperature hovered around 20C/70F.
I arrived at home and told my DW
that we should take advantage
of the day and go for a walk.
She immediately agreed and
said "Gimme one sec to change my top."
In under 5 minutes she was ready.
We opened the door and stepped out into...
A cold and blustery 3C/37F.
The wind had shifted just enough
so that instead of blowing across
the warm land, it was now coming
in off the frigid Bay.
A 17C/33F degree temperature drop
in about five minutes.

Holy crap! That's crazy! It sounds like something out of a Harry Potter novel.

July and August are whale months.

Makes sense.

At any given moment, you can easily see,
from shore, dozens of whales at once.
Indeed, if you were to fly into Churchill
during the summer, your pilot will almost
certainly fly the "Whale one" approach.
This is an unofficial maneuver that takes
the plane up and down the Churchill River
before landing, thus giving passengers
on both sides of the aircraft an opportunity
to see thousands of whales at once.

That's awesome!

So cool!

Our guide lowered a hydrophone
into the water and the speakers
were immediately filled with
whistles, mews, chirps, squeals and trills.

Even cooler!

Ok, now I'm just jealous.

Working the night shift in the summer
is an experience.
You watch as the Sun sets in the Northwest…
And you can see the Sun’s glow as it travels
along the horizon Northwest to Northeast for
the next five and a half hours.

I don't think I could get used to that. The winters would be even worse.

They lay dormant in a "waking hibernation"
during the summer and do not eat
until winter when they are able to
hunt their main prey, seals.

I did not know that.

Living in a town where at any moment
you can come face to face with a 1,300lb bear
makes life a bit more... interesting.

Whatever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. Except bears, because bears will kill you.

In Churchill, you quickly learn never to
walk around a house unless you've given
it a wide berth, lest you come nose to nose
with an apex predator.

You only make that mistake once!

I did have, on more than one occasion,
the experience of seeing a bear being
"escorted" out of town by Natural Resources officers.
(Escorted meaning they fire cracker shells at their
feet to encourage them to leave.)

If I had a dollar for every time that happened to me...

He told me that he had a young
polar bear in the back seat and
it had started to wake up!

Reminds me of that 911 call where the guy hit the deer and put it in the back of his truck.

It was -30C/-22F out.
But the wind was blowing at 70mph.
That meant it felt like it was -55C/-67F.

I can't even fathom what that feels like.

Lovely! I will never experience this, because I wouldn't go outside.

(I regret that this poor specimen
is the only photo I have of Northern Lights.
One of those "I have tons of time!" victims.)

Ok, that I would go outside for. Someday I will witness this.

People are rare up north.

Can't imagine why.

Cute little fellas!

I have far more tales of the North
than I could possibly say in an update.

If we ever meet, feel free to ask me.

I will try and make sure I do so when I'm paying you back for the dinners I owe you!