Gramma's Tool Belt

If you look at a map of Canada, you will notice that Tuk is waaaaay Up North.  It is sitting on the shore of the Arctic Ocean/Beaufort Sea, and as I have mentioned before, is north of the Arctic Circle as well as the tree line.  Amazing, huh?  That being said, only the heartiest of souls would be brave enough to venture up here - and that is something Greg and I have come to realize.  What the heck were we thinking when we moved up here?  That said,  we sure have experienced some pretty amazing things so far - experiences through which most of you are happy to live vicariously!

There are two people I know who think vicarious living is for the birds - even a permafrosty, goose downy, blizzardy kind of vicarious. Jim and Dianne Wilson, Greg's parents, grab life by the seat of its pants and experience it head on. It's not any wonder that this is how my adventurous husband came to enjoy experiencing new cultures - he inherited the wanderlust gene.

Jim and Dianne are people of the north.  Dianne was born and raised in Kenora, Ontario.  She lived through winter storms and extremely cold temperatures as a child, and has the stories to pass down through the generations about her childhood.  Jim was born and raised in tiny, remote CN Rail communities, which housed the families of the CN workers who were building and/or maintaining the railroad across Canada.  Dad has stories about the train bringing his weekly lessons and taking two to three days to work like fury to get them all done so he and his sisters could go outside and play for the rest of the week, until the train came again, when they would send their previous week's work back and receive more.

Jim and Dianne have travelled extensively throughout Europe and even lived there for a year teaching the year before Greg and I had James.  Before that, they taught a year in Kuwait and traveled throughout the Middle East as a result.  Jim has been a principal in reserve schools across Northern Ontario, currently in the small, fly-in community of Poplar Hill, which is north of Red Lake.  Neither Jim nor Dianne are afraid of hard work, and face a task undauntedly, whether it be building a house, moving large items or contents of houses, solar projects associated with Jim's business aside from teaching, yard work, or pretty much anything that is thrown their way.   Their work ethic exceeds that of anybody I have ever met!

They are also devoted grandparents.  When James was born, Dianne embraced her new role of Gramma Wilson, and has been busy burping babies, pushing strollers, making chocolate chip cookies, reading stories, showing how a grasshopper jumps, and all kinds of other stuff like that to her six grandchildren, three of whom live in Mexico, and the other three whom, until recently, were relatively local.  It sure did break their hearts when Greg and I pulled up stakes and dragged our family across the country west and way north to our new home in Tuk, but they understood that sometimes you do what has to be done out of sheer necessity.  That being said, they were incredibly sad that their good grandparenting skills were going to waste!  There were trips to Mexico City and to Cancun to visit with the Mexican-Canadian grandchildren but one could hardly expect even the most devoted of grandparents to make the trek all the way up here to Tuk, could you?

Well, apparently you can!!  When Gramma Wilson caught wind of the fact that her grandchildren were struggling up here and facing more adversity than kids their age should have to face, she kissed her husband good-bye for almost three weeks, hopped on a plane, and a few days later, had James, Patrick and Charlotte in her long underwear'd, fleece covered arms.  Grampa was grim because his principal's duties kept him from visiting, too, and he admitted he was jealous not only that Gramma got to visit with the grandchildren, but that she was the one who got to visit Tuk and live as far north as Santa Claus!

As you have realized over the past several months through my blog posts, life up here takes some getting used to.  There are different aspects of life and lessons learned the hard way that people from the south have to experience in order to adjust to what we consider daily life up here, and believe me, Gramma Wilson experienced them the same way she faces all of life - head on!!

Gramma's arrival in Inuvik meant a van ride north up the ice road on the McKenzie River, which empties into the Arctic Ocean just south of Tuktoyaktuk.  It was a sunny, clear day so it was clear sailing as the van whisked along the twists and turns, the road just covered enough with snow as to prevent too many slips and slides.  Gramma was excited but tired from her early flight that morning but she settled in happily, her grandchildren by her side, which always makes her happy.

A few days later, the temperature began to drop and the wind picked up.  For us, the wind has become a part of life, especially the windchill, which can take an almost normal Southern Ontario winter temperature and plummet it to Arctic temperatures in one stiff breeze!  One particular day, the wind picked up to 60 km/hr gusting to 80 km/hr and before long, we were under a blizzard warning with the blizzard expected to hit about 36 hours from the time the warning was issued.  We still had to contend with the current wind, which blew the snow around and created limited visibility.  While the wind was blowing at 60 clicks,  Gramma decided that she would go to the school to deliver items to Greg and then come home with him at lunchtime.  There was a PD Day that day, so Greg was the only Wilson at the school, the rest of us being otherwise occupied at home.  Gramma loves a brisk walk, and so off she set, despite a few warnings about the wind, and an offhand "Oh, I'll be fine.".  I also knew that she had walked back and forth from the school enough to know where she was going, not realizing the wind was causing poor visibility.

After about an hour or so, Greg came home for lunch and said that the school was closed for the afternoon due to the poor visibility.  I was surprised that Gramma was not with him, and when he realized that his mom was out in the weather, he immediately went out looking for her.  Luckily, he found her quickly because she had gotten turned around due to the blowing snow. After a few anxious moments, we were very relieved to have Gramma safe and warm in our snug house, where, after she warmed up, continued reading, knitting and watching Wheel of Fortune all at the same time, a typical and comforting Gramma habit.

On Saturday, while we were still under a blizzard warning but had blue skies and sunshine, Gramma was rather amused while we bought cooler size jugs of water, laid in food that could be eaten without cooking or could be cooked on a wood stove, checked batteries in flashlights, made sure we had the matches and candles handy, and performed other chores one must do in preparation for nasty Tuk weather.   When the storm did hit, we spent the day listening to the wind shake the house and howl like a freight train barrelling by just inches from the walls.  Gramma was a calming influence for the kids, and she knit socks and chatted with the kids, played cards, and proclaimed a reading hour, where everybody dropped what they were doing and read for an hour, a great activity to pass the stormy day.  Even when the power flickered, she was strong, although afterward she admitted that she had never seen Mother Nature be so ferocious.  She was relieved when the wind died down and that we didn't have to eat our dinner via the wood stove!

One thing that we learned is that when there is a blizzard, you have to start conserving water right away, because goodness knows when the water truck will be able to make its next delivery.  She was all set to do laundry "since we're not able to be out and about" and was mystified when we explained why we had to hold off.  She was also a bit put off when we explained that since we didn't know how long the blizzard would last, we had to start limiting how much we flushed the toilet and that we pulled out the hand sanitizer and left it on the bathroom counter.

That night, nobody showered, and Gramma didn't much like that either, but she was glad she didn't because the next day we were low on water, and the water truck didn't deliver to us that day.  Apparently, one of the two water trucks in town had been in Inuvik for maintenance and wasn't able to make it back up on the ice road before the blizzard hit, so there was only one truck in town trying to serve everybody, and it was taking longer than usual because everybody was low on water.  By Monday night, Gramma was worried because she was running out of clean laundry.  By Tuesday afternoon, we had water again and everything was back up and running.  After this lovely lesson, Gramma better understood the rationing of water, and how we have to plan our water usage - who showers when, when we use the dishwasher and how many loads of laundry can be done on a given day.  She was fascinated when the water truck came, and watched out Charlotte's bedroom window when the truck backed up and the hose was hooked up to the house.  She also liked watching the tank fill up and just like me, the feeling of being down in the gutter rose with the water level in the tank as it was being filled. It's funny how I can be upset about something, but a fresh water supply always gives me a fresh outlook.

In the days preceding Gramma's arrival in Tuk, we had been having some issues with our front door.  The door had become difficult to open and close, and finally wouldn't latch at all. The stormy weather, which had wind gusts in excess of 120 km/hr, was enough to blow the door right in, thus allowing Mother Nature to deposit some snowbanks in our mudroom, and all over our boots and outdoor clothing!  A post-blizzard call to our landlord brought about quick results, but not as quick as Gramma would have liked.  The same thing happened when our dryer died.  Again, Gramma was growing in short supply of clean clothing and became anxious that the dryer was not fixed or replaced immediately.  I had learned the hard way that all things happen in time up here, and not to impose my Southern values and expectations on a northern community. After a day or so, when the dryer was procured eventually,  life moved on.  In the end, Gramma always managed to have clean underwear!

One of the things Gramma enjoyed the most was wandering around the hamlet with the kids. We showed her the Health Centre, which she had to visit to pick up a prescription that she had had filled in Inuvik earlier.  All prescriptions are filled in Inuvik and flown into Tuk, where they are delivered to the Health Centre for pick up, and Gramma got to live that experience, too.  She saw the graveyard, with its white picket fence surrounding it, and the white wooden crosses marking each grave.  The hamlet was mourning the loss of two elders, and she saw the amount of people in the Hamlet who attend funeral services because everybody is related somehow, as well as the fact that all the businesses shut down during the funeral, both so that people who wish to attend the funeral may do so without losing pay, and also out of respect for the deceased.

While out for a walk with Patrick on a particularly cold day, Gramma saw some people cutting snow blocks to build an igloo in their front yard.  She was amazed, and every day she walked or drove by this house so she could monitor its progress.  She was delighted when, a few days later, there was a completed igloo.  She was equally as disappointed that she didn't see any wildlife while visiting here either, aside from some huskies.

Gramma also came into the school and met the students.  They were very curious about her, just as they were curious about the five of us when we first arrived.  The students were especially amazed that Greg's own Mom was here, and they asked all kinds of questions about what Greg was like as a child.  She came in and sat with Patrick during some afternoons that I was teaching, which Patrick loved, and she taught James' class how to use sign language to sign O Canada, and she taught Charlotte's class how to sign 'Happy Birthday'.  While I was subbing in a class that had several behaviourally challenged students, she volunteered in that classroom which was an immense help to me having an additional grown up in the room, and an experienced teacher at that!

We so enjoyed our almost three weeks with Gramma Wilson, although we can't decide who missed each other more, Gramma or Grampa!  The time passed in a heartbeat, and before we knew it, Gramma was packing up and preparing to head South to be reunited with Grampa on his birthday no less.  However, she took three wonderful presents with her on the plane in the form of her grandchildren, who met Grampa in Edmonton for what was the Ontario March Break (in Tuk, we get a May Break).  During their jolly holiday, they made a circle tour of Alberta, exploring in Edmonton, visiting the Banff Hot Springs, the Royal Tryell Museum in Drumheller, and touring Calgary together.

Our trip down the ice road to Inuvik to take the travellers to the airport was fraught with adventure when our van started making some peculiar noises because the snow had drifted and had created what looked like 2 foot snowbanks all over the road but they had hard bottoms to them, rather like wide speed bumps, that caused the whole undercarriage of the van to scrape across them. It was a tense ride until we arrived just past the halfway point to Inuvik, which was plowed and clear.  Gramma was amazed that the ice road could be so schizophrenic, considering how clear it had been on the way up.  She was also impressed that she had driven on the Arctic Ocean, and at one point during her stay, walked out on the ice road a few paces to say that she had walked on it, too!  By the time Greg and I returned home, the Tuk side had been plowed, much to our relief!

Gramma and Grampa Wilson are truly devoted and loving grandparents, and our kids are very lucky to have them in their lives.  We feel so blessed to have had Gramma visit with us and get a feel for what life up here is like.  You either have to be foolhardy or tough as nails to make the trip to Tuktoyaktuk, and since we live up here despite people telling us we are crazy, we figure Gramma must have knit the tool belt she uses for her hammer!

We are truly humbled that you came to visit, Gramma.  Thank you, too, Grampa.  We know how lonely you were and we thank you for loaning Gramma to us. Your love and generosity knows no end. North, south, east or west - we love you across the map!

Mother Nature with Attitude!!

Today as I look out the window, I see a beautiful, pale blue sky laced with thin, filmy clouds.  The sun is shining off the snow, making it brilliant, incandescent almost, and the sound of the front end loader working to move the snow from the side of the road to safer and more secure locations can be heard in the distance.  The beeping sound of the water truck in reverse can be heard, too, as the daily water delivery service is completed around our neck of the hamlet of Tuk.

We have just finished a lovely lunch of vegetable soup, sandwiches, carrot sticks and strawberries, the lunch dishes are all tidied up, Patrick and Charlotte are using their imaginations in Charlotte's room playing one of their many cooperative games, James is laying down reading the second book in The Hunger Games trilogy, Greg is working on some school work on his laptop, I am working on this, and my mother-in-law, Dianne (aka Gramma Wilson) is reading and knitting socks.  The laundry is on, the bathroom is cleaned and the floors are swept.  Life in the Wilson household is peaceful, quiet and content.  Today.

Last weekend, it was not.  Last week we were scared to death by what I can only describe as the worst and most frightening weather we have ever experienced.  Last Friday was a P.D. Day so Greg was at school, but the kids and I were at home with Gramma hanging out.  I noticed that the wind had picked up and before long visibility was limited.  Just as I began to consult Environment Canada, Greg came in the door saying that the teachers had been sent home because the wind was picking up and did we know we were under a Blizzard Watch?  I sighed.  That meant we should go stock up on some water, milk, bread, and make sure we had enough to cook on the wood stove or eat without means of electricity should the power go out.  Shortly afterward, Greg got a phone call from a colleague who had to go to the Hamlet to make arrangements for oil delivery to her house and she wondered if she could get a ride since she didn't want to go out in wind gusting to 80 km/hr.  Since we had to go to the Northern Store to get our groceries, we agreed to take her and offered our chauffeur services to other teachers, who decided they should lay in some supplies too.

Greg was gone for a few hours, and I was beginning to get worried.  When he finally returned with our supplies, his face and body was taut with tension and he was taking deep breaths.  He told me that those were the worst conditions in which he had ever driven!  There was zero visibility and they had to creep along at a snail's pace, not knowing when or if they would come upon another vehicle or person, trying to keep the van on the road due to the gusting wind.  When they arrived at the office to arrange for the oil, the teacher got lost in the snow trying to find the office door.  One of the guys in the office saw her and ran out to guide her inside.  By the time they got groceries and creeped along the roads to get everybody home safely, several hours had gone by. A quick trip out had turned into a nerve-wracking adventure that everybody in the van will remember!  Greg said you could cut the tension in the van with a knife.

Saturday, was much like today....only by then we were under a blizzard warning.  The sun was shining, but the clouds in the distance were grey and ominous, and continued to become darker as the day went on.  We had laid in our supplies, and were ready to 'weather' the storm, but there was something a little un-nerving about the sunshine....it's like looking into the smiling face of your murderer.  You know you're gonna' get it imminently, but when?  There was also a strange, almost eerie quiet about the hamlet.  There were no skidoos motoring about, no people walking along the roads or kids playing hockey on the lake and there were no kids 'playing out', the Tuk expression for playing outside.  The water truck made its delivery and the sewage truck made its drainage but otherwise it was quiet.  Too quiet.  To be fair, there were a lot of people who braved the trip to Inuvik on Saturday while the weather was good, but in my limited experience, I would have been petrified to do so because the storm could hit land at any point.  Environment Canada said to expect the storm to reach land by Saturday evening, but sometimes the winds pick up or decrease and the blizzards can either hit land earlier than expected or stall.  Either way, seeing as we are but a hop, skip and a jump from the Arctic Ocean, the last thing I wanted was to be out on the ice road when the wind picked up.  I couldn't imagine the horror of being stuck on the ice road to ride out the storm!  No way!

By suppertime Saturday, as the day was waning, and the sun was getting ready to slip below the horizon, we all agreed that we felt like sitting ducks, only frozen ones, maybe like our stuffed duck Francis. (Please see my previous blog called 'Our New Addition' for that story.)  We were keeping tabs on our water usage, feeling relatively confident that there would be no water delivery on Sunday.  We played cards, competed in MarioKart 8 as a family, and made supper....all the while keeping one eye on the windows.  Eventually, bedtime came for all of us, and we went nervously went to bed, looking outside at the moon and the stars shining down on us...but for how much longer?

Along about 2am, I awoke to use the bathroom.  On my way back to bed, I checked all the windows in the kitchen and the living room, checking to see if the wind or the snow had picked up yet.  I could see the houses across the street, their dark windows reflecting in the streetlights, which were shining bright.  I could see a little bit of snow streaking across the light, but on the whole it was pretty quiet.  I carried on down the hall toward my room, when all of a sudden, I heard this sudden noise that hit the house so hard, I thought the boys' room had caved in!  Adrenalin surging, I ran to the boys' room, and there they were sleeping soundly, blissfully unaware of the fact that they were in the middle of a significant weather event.  I went back into the living room and kitchen, and through the front window the light from our front deck mixed with the blowing snow made it look like there were flames engulfing the front of the house!  I felt the mudroom door, expecting it to feel hot, but it was freezing cold.  It was then that I became aware of an incredibly loud, ear splitting sound, like a locomotive barrelling inches from our house!  I looked out the window I had just peered through not two minutes before, and I could not see a thing.  The snow was so thick that all I saw was pure white, and the visibility was zero.

So, the blizzard had hit, literally!  I now understand what it means when a storm hits - and may I never experience anything like that again!  The wind roared around the house and through the hamlet of Tuk at 120 km/hr, supposedly gusting to much faster!  It was difficult to sleep because the house was shaking so much I felt like it would be blown away, leaving us in our beds clamouring for the blankets.  I managed to fall into a fitful sleep, but it was shortly later that I heard the kids, who were cowering in the living room shortly after 5 am and they were plenty scared!  I reassured them that the house was not going to blow away, but all of us sat in the living room huddling together silently listening to the chaos occurring outside.

We spent the day in our snuggies, and but for the fact that our front door blew open in the wind and the snow swirled throughout our mudroom, soaking our coats, packing snow into our boots and filling our mitten, hat and scarf bins with snow, we rode the storm out with only two power flickers.  We had internet all day, satellite TV, and power, much to our shock and pleasure!  Part of Tuk was out of power for about 14 hours and the school gymnasium was opened as an emergency shelter for those who needed it.  We consider ourselves lucky since we could stay all cozy and warm in our own house.  The following day school was closed so people could dig out, regain power,  and assess any damage.  Again, it was a beautiful, sunny day.  As people began to emerge from their homes, they blinked in the light, like a bear stumbling out of its cave.

I mentioned some of this as it happened on Facebook, and some of you posted things like "Stay warm!" and "Be safe!",  which was all well-heeded advice.  While there were some moments when I was terrified, and others when I was more concerned than frightened, it was one of those events that you can hardly believe is happening while it is occurring, and yet can hardly believe it ever happened once it's over.  All I can say is that I hope we never have to experience Mother Nature at her rawest and most primitive again.