Spring has Sprung.....Tuk Style

Ahhh.....daffodils!!

A few weeks ago, I was talking to Aunt Sherin and she was telling me that the daffodils in her garden were beginning to push up through the soil, making their entrance into the world to announce the arrival of spring in Barrie, Ontario.  Their sunny yellow petals make me smile and think of Greg's Grandmother Wilson, whom we affectionately called Grandma B.  She planted a bunch of them around her property years ago, and now that my in-laws own that lot, daffodils spring up all over, every year they get thicker and more plentiful, and their blooming makes my heart smile.  I am sure that the daffodils are out in full force now all over what we refer to 'up here' as 'the South'.

I was talking to my BFF, Jen Hinrichs and she said that the only snow left on her property was that which had piled up in the shady parts, protected from the sun by the house.  You can see old, dirty snow along the fence line, but anything touched by the sun as it gradually warms is disappearing. Even the tired, gravelly snow piled high in the parking lots of the big box stores is melting steadily, creating a constant trickle of water to the nearest sewer.  Spring has definitely arrived in Cambridge, Ontario!

My mom said that she went outside a few weeks ago in her winter coat to run some errands, and got all hot and sweaty while she was out.  Later on that day when she had to go back out for one additional item, she wore her spring coat and has been enjoying her lighter weight jacket ever since.  This means that spring has arrived in Sarnia, Ontario!!

Every year Greg's parents have a competition to see who can spot the first robin of spring.  This beautiful bird with the red breast is most definitely the herald of spring to many people across the United States and Canada who celebrate four seasons in the year!  A few days ago, Greg's mom spotted a robin industriously pecking at some old dead grass to use for nest building.  No doubt it will be filled with a few of its signature coloured eggs within no time at all!

As a child, spring had arrived for me when I was shoved outside in a new spring coat and rubber boots, still wearing mittens and perhaps even a hat, but happily clutching a brand new skipping rope.  My friends and I had to be careful when we played at first because the street cleaner hadn't made its first run through the subdivision to scoop up all the gravel from the winter snow ploughs and sanders!  Almost every year one of us suffered a bloody knee or worse when we rolled on the gravel and fell, another spring time ritual.  You had to be equally as careful when you were riding your bikes during this time of year, because the tires skidded on the gravel, too.  We kids were always so relieved when we heard the street sweeper coming around and our smarting knees and elbows (and sometimes chins if a face plant had occurred) rejoiced with relief!

While I reflect on the signs of spring in Ontario that I know and love so well, I became more curious to learn what signs of spring I could expect to experience in this neck of the woods so to speak, since we live north of the tree line!  Actually, in all seriousness, so many of the signs of spring have to do with growth, trees, plants, flowers and greenery, I was feeling a bit lost about what to expect up here.  Currently I am substituting for the High School English teacher, and so on Friday I asked the English students what their signs of spring were and they were very willing to share with me.  One guy who had lived in Edmonton for a while said that he missed seeing the tulips and daffodils but if you look around, spring does visit Tuk, too.

The view across the street from our house at 3:30 am on
April 28, 2015.  Notice the beautiful blue sky?
Once the sun sets, this is what it looks like now, sort of
like a long and drawn out dusk and dawn all blended
into one.  Even with the blinds pulled, it is
difficult to sleep these days.

The first and obvious sign of spring to everybody is the arrival of the sun.  At first it is exciting to actually have a few hours of daylight, but after a while the daylight becomes more of a commonplace occurrence again.  Once the sun begins to rise up here, we gain 10 minutes of daylight per day, until eventually, the sun just doesn't set and there is 24 hours of daylight. Even leading up to the first day of summer and the longest day of the year, the night time is only a soft dusk before the sun rises again.  As of the writing of this blog, the sun is setting around midnight and we are experiencing that dusk, which will just get shorter until it's only a few minutes long.  We are grateful for our window blinds, which are thick enough to block out the sun.  Those who do not have any blinds on their windows use tin foil, which may be a bit of an eye sore, but at least it's inexpensive!

Once the sun rises, the temperature rises.  A few weeks ago when I originally began writing this post, the average daytime temperature was about -15C including windchill, which is almost always a factor here.  Now we are hovering between 5C and -5C.  It is so incredible to leave our parkas and fur hats and gloves on the hangers and pull out what we used to call our winter coats, but now refer to as spring coats.  The kids still wear their snowpants to play out, as it is called.  Most of us don't worry about hats unless it's windy out, and our thick mittens are now lighter weight, again what most of our Southern Ontario friends and family would wear during the winter.  We feel so light and free compared to the weight of the parkas and our heavy, clunky boots.  Apparently, the colder the temperature rating on the boot the heavier they are!  We aren't dressing in layers anymore either!  Gone are the long underwear and the layers of long-sleeves!  It is wonderful!

Since the sun has risen and is up for extended periods of time, this means the temperature rises, so naturally the next thing to happen is that the snow begins to melt.  This has been an incredible sight to see, too, since we felt like the snow would never melt.  In January the snow made a hollow sound and even someone my size could walk on it without falling through it.  Now, the snow has melted not quite enough to go away just yet, although that certainly is happening with each passing day, but it is becoming looser and turning into packing snow!  This makes for some pretty entertaining snowball fights between us, and if you have ever been around Wilsons in the winter, snowball fights are inevitable and epic.  Even Charlotte has impeccable aim!

Greg's last trip down the ice road to get our van out.  If we
did not get our van to Inuvik before the ice road disappeared
we wouldn't be able to drive home for the summer
because the first barge (which is how we got the van
up here to begin with) doesn't arrive in Tuk until
the end of July.  

With everything softening and melting, we have said good-bye to the ice road, for which we were immensely grateful during our long, frigid winter.  It was lovely to drive to Inuvik and eat in an actual restaurant, shop in a few assorted stores, sit at a traffic light (the only one in town and from what I was told the only reason it was installed was because in order for the Ministry of Transportation to allow driving tests to occur in Inuvik, there must be at least one traffic light/intersection in the municipality.), and enjoy the amenities of a town that has an actual road leading to it.

The ice begins to melt in the rivers in Southern Northwest Territories (whew..there's a contradiction in terms for you!) and this causes the ice to break up and flow up toward the ocean.  The movement of the water underneath all the ice causes cracks in the ice and before long water starts to appear along the sides of the ice road.  When this happens, the ice road is officially closed for the season.  Sometimes things freeze up again and it can be re-opened for short periods of time, but as of the writing of this blog, the road is closed for the season and it won't be opening up again.  This, however, does not stop the locals from driving on it anyway!  Yesterday a gentleman with a transport truck drove up the wet ice road with a trailer full of windows, not exactly light cargo, dropped them off, and then immediately turned around and drove back to Inuvik, I am sure thanking his lucky stars that he made it alive.  Talk about taking your life in your hands!  Many local people I know say that it is fine as long as you keep going and your vehicle is high enough off the ground to allow for the splash.  Since our van is just that - a van, as opposed to a 4 x 4 pick up, Greg drove it out a few weeks ago and left it at the Inuvik airport.  I admit it really stinks not having our vehicle up here, especially for grocery shopping, but we make do.  Greg and the kids are definitely getting more exercise!  I wish I was, but my knee will not allow much walking at all these days.

This is Charlotte's team, two boys and a girl
per team, and they placed second
in the toboggan pull for her age group.
Yay for Charlotte!!
See how beautiful the sky is?

Another sign of spring in the North are Jamborees.  Each community up here takes its turn hosting a Jamboree weekend, which is a cultural celebration.  There are games for the kids and adults, including things like the toboggan pull, tug of war, snowmobile races, and all kinds of other fun, mostly outdoor events.  There are also lots of fun events in the community centre too, like jigging contests, talent shows and square dancing and drum dancing at night.  From what I have been told, Tuk's is typically the last one of the season and it is a great chance for the community to earn some tourist revenue.  We were all involved in different parts of Jamboree but it was Charlotte who had the best time of all because she placed second in her age group in the toboggan pull and won a gift certificate from the Northern Store, where she promptly bought herself a new Barbie doll.  The ice road held up for the weekend and although it was slushy, people from all over made the drive.  it was neat to see!

One student mentioned that spring to her meant the reindeer crossing.  In order for the herd to get to their traditional calving grounds, they have to be shepherded across the ice road so they'll make it in time for the births of this year's generation of reindeer.  It was an incredible sight to see and certainly a herald of the spring. See one of my previous blog posts for details of the reindeer crossing.

The annual reindeer crossing, when the reindeer are herded
from their winter feeding grounds to their spring/summer
calving grounds.  (Photo courtesy of Krista Cudmore)

Other signs of spring that kids have mentioned to me are the return of the birds.  The most important winged creature to return are the geese, which makes a lot of people begain to drool at the thought of a roasted goose. Apparently, there are robins up here, but we won't see them until the middle of May, and they only have one nest of babies up here before it's too cold to remain.  The grass, or whatever you would call it...the scrub.... begins to grow and before long the greens, yellows and reds will be in colour. It seems like a long time ago when we arrived in Tuk and we saw the community without snow, the bare pingos, and the ocean waters lapping along the side of the road.

One of the final signs of spring are bugs.  People up here detest the bugs and in fact, do not much care for late spring and summertime simply due to the insects.  They much prefer the cold and snow.  One of the elders up here said to me that an Inuvaluit man looks much like a fish out of water when he is standing on the land without snow.  I don't know if I believe this completely because there are people who are very excited to be going out to their Hunting Cabins and spending time out there, enjoying the weather and the companionship.  A lot of the people from Tuk have cabins at Husky Lakes, which is a few hours' snowmobile/boat ride Northeast of Tuk
.
In Tuk, we do not have a March Break.  We have a May Break, because May is the time of year when whole families will head off to their hunting cabins for a few weeks to hunt geese, fish, play and socialize.
As for us, it is just nice to put away our long underwear!

Happy Spring Everybody!!

We are 'oil' out!! (There is an Addendum to this....)

See my pun there?  Either way you state it, we have a small problem this morning.

We are out of oil.  When the oil goes out, the heating pump doesn’t work, it can’t pump the hot water into the coils which run along the baseboards of the house, thus providing us with heat.  It also can’t pump water into our hot water tank, so we don’t get any hot water either.  This is definitely not a good way to begin the morning when the house is cold!

I am hoping that today will gain momentum.  We woke up to a freezing cold house.  It was so cold that our bare feet felt numb on the hardwood floors, and I seriously, no joke, thought we would be able to see our breath!  When we had to get dressed it was pure torture, going from our warm snuggly pyjamas to our clothes for the day.  Even putting our feet in our boots was an ordeal because our boots were cold! Greg made porridge for everybody and it was lovely going off to school with a warm belly full of milky, brown sugary porridgy goodness.

On a regular day, once we arrive at school, we scatter.  Greg makes tracks to his classroom to prepare for the day, Charlotte either goes to Greg’s room to hang out or she goes to find her teacher to see if she can enter her classroom early.  Sometimes Mrs. Thrasher is prepared to be in the room until the first bell rings and sometimes she is not.  If she is not, then Charlotte comes to find either Greg or I and stays with us until the first bell rings.  I generally make my way to the staff room in order to leave my boots and coat, collect my shoes and sweater – I call this my Mr. Roger’s thing – and then make my way to the high school wing.  If I am not in the high school that day, then I skip over the staff room and go right to the classroom I am in that day, since I will need my boots and coat to go out for yard duty at recess time. This morning, however, I stopped in the staff room to make arrangements for the oil to be delivered.  James and Patrick no longer attend school so they don’t come with us, although they have their own list of work to do at home.  This morning we told them to read in bed, and to wait until they heard the oil truck arrive to deliver $1000 worth of oil to our humble abode.

Heating costs can vary in the hamlet based on a few things, some of which are logical and some which make no sense to me whatsoever.  The first is the actual cost of the oil.  The oil to fuel the buildings throughout Tuktoyaktuk is brought up on the barges from Yellowknife all the way up to Sachs’ Harbour, up and down the MacKenzie River and parts beyond.  This past summer the delivery of goods via barge was extremely threatened due to low water levels.  We were actually lucky our van was put on the second to last barge of the season because the last one was cancelled due to low water levels.  We had heard that the barge that actually had our van on it got stuck a few times on its way up, and was delayed a few days because of this. Anyway, in a capital society it’s all about supply and demand, so the cost of oil goes up depending on the supply of it.  It stinks, but it’s true.  When we purchased half a tank of oil in early December (and I’m sorry, I don’t know how many litres of oil our tank holds; it’s not in my realm of expertise) it cost us almost $2,000.  When we purchased oil again in early February, the with the ice road wide open, the cost of oil had gone down dramatically because the supply had been replenished.  What a relief!!

Another thing that affects heating costs is the weather.  When it’s extremely cold outside, and by that I mean -40C or below, especially at night, the heating is on more, thus using up precious oil.  Every time I hear the water gurgle in the coils along our living room I see dollar signs.  When the 

temperature is warmer but the wind is blowing, the heat comes on more frequently.  There is almost always a wind chill here too, seeing as we live on the shore of the Arctic Ocean.  Calm days are few and far between, but when they do occur, they are most welcome, as it saves on oil.

Apparently there is a way to check the amount of oil in your tank, which is found outside your house, supposedly along the same side of the house as the entrance for water delivery and sewage removal.  This makes sense since oil delivery involves another large truck backing up in the laneway beside your house.  This morning when Greg called he asked for $1000 worth of oil, which is payable by cash or credit card.  If you choose to pay by cash, you must stop by Gruben’s, which is the oil delivery business, and pay in person before delivery.  If you call in with a credit card number, delivery is usually within a few hours.  Here’s hoping our boys are at home getting warmer!

I am looking forward to coming home to a warmer house, although with how cold it was this morning I am unsure how long it will take to sufficiently heat up the place.

I guess there’s always soup for lunch!

ADDENDUM....

It got worse.  After a busy morning at school, we arrived home for lunch to find our boys dressed in their warmest sweaters wearing their boots because the floors were so cold.  To our shock and dismay, the oil truck had not made its delivery, and we could not be in touch with Grubens' because in Tuk, everything shuts down between 12 and 1 for lunchtime.  The schools, offices, and pretty well everybody except the grocery stores are closed over lunch so that families can go home and eat together.  On this particular day, however, we had to drink our soup out of our bowls because we were shivering with the cold and the soup couldn't make it to our mouths from the spoons!

After a series of phone calls, it was discovered there had been a transposition error and the oil was delivered.  We were busy with supper, and had the oven and stove going full throttle, along with our space heater, so we felt as though the house was warming up sufficiently.  WRONG!!  The oil was delivered, but that didn't necessarily spark the heat pump to begin working.  Apparently, one must get one's landlord to bleed the air lock out of the tube that connects the tank to the pump.  Who knew? Too bad for us that we didn't realize this until after midnight, shortly before Greg and I were headed to bed!

It was a pretty miserable night.  We put the space heater in the boys' room and closed their door, and took Charlotte to bed with us and layered ourselves in both pyjamas and blankets.  I wound up sleeping with my head between two pillows, like a pillow hat, and every time one of us moved, it brought a draught of icy air through the top of the blankets.  I slept no more than 30 minutes at a time, and spent far more time awake shivering than asleep.

By the time we had to get up and going the next morning, we could actually see our breath!  Greg found a piece of wood that we had kept in the back of the house, and he started a fire.  We haven't been using our wood stove very much for other reasons which I will not discuss right now, but we were certainly most grateful for it yesterday!  A phone call to our Patient and Long Suffering Landlords procured an airlock bleeding and before we knew it, our heat pump was happily chugging hot water along our baseboards and the Wilsons were toasty warm in no time at all!

Interestingly enough, we never lost hot water throughout this ordeal, which is unusual.  Normally we should have, but for some odd reason which we can't explain, the line that connects our oil supply to the water heater was not connected to the one heated by oil, but rather to the electric one.  This probably cost us a lot more money in electricity costs this winter, but it saved us over the last few days because we had hot water running through pipes that otherwise would have become cold enough to cause a pipe to burst or freeze and that cost would have fallen on us in our negligence to keep enough oil in the tank!

God sure does work in mysterious ways!  We have no idea how things got mixed up because we don't touch all the heating/wiring/water stuff in the utility room.  We have no idea how it works and when it doesn't, we call the Landlords!  Perhaps somebody re-routed our source of hot water during the Flood of 2014? (Please look in the archives for the account of that historic event in our adventures up here!).

I am amazed sometimes at how God looks out for us!  I think there are times, however, when our Guardian Angels must be exhausted, and honestly, I don't blame them!

The Reindeer Crossing

THE REINDEER CROSSING

Yup.  You read that right.  Today the Wilson Family joined the throng of people who drove to the halfway point of the ice road between Inuvik and Tuk to watch the 80th Annual Crossing of the Reindeer from their winter feeding grounds to their summer grounds.  This is most definitely an event unique to the north, and one of those things that, while it is happening, you can't believe you are seeing with your own eyes.

I have come to realize that we certainly have had several eye-opening experiences in the last year.  It began with our adventure out here. From the rough Canadian Shield and the dark, cold water of Lake Superior, to the golden-green wheat fields and the grain elevators of the prairies, to the rugged beauty of the Rockies, and finally, the incredible fireweed and rolling mountains of the Dempster Highway, which led us through the Arctic Circle and the end of the road in Inuvik, we Wilsons have lived this part of our country.  There were several times when we had to pinch ourselves because we couldn't believe what we were seeing!  Since our arrival in Tuk, we have had even more amazing adventures.  It was mind-boggling to watch the darkness gradually take over the sky through the fall, until finally the sun didn't rise at all - and we are in the exact opposite position now as the sun tips the scales and continues to shine long past what any person would consider a decent bedtime!  We have learned lessons along the way - water rationing and delivery, how to prepare for a blizzard, dressing for the weather and experiencing extreme Arctic temperatures, living amongst the Inuvaluit culture, adjusting our teaching styles to suit the students here, small town living where everybody knows you and your business, the ice road....the list goes on and on.  Today, we shall add the Reindeer Crossing to our list of adventures.

Here they come!! (Photo courtesy of Krista Cudmore)

The history behind the reindeer crossing has to do with ensuring that the herd crosses the MacKenzie River (named for Bob or Doug...I forget which one. There's a little Canadian humour for you there, ya' hosers!).  According to some articles I read, the herders, dressed in traditional clothing and driving snowmobiles, the modern man's dog sled, round up the reindeer from their wintering grounds on Jimmy Lake and, more or less 'escort'  snowmobile to their calving grounds on Richards Island, familiar landmarks to those in the MacKenzie Delta Region, which is close to Tuk. The herd is made up of about 3,000 reindeer, the only free range reindeer herd in Canada, all of them descendants of the original reindeer that were imported to Canada in 1929 as part of the Canadian Reindeer Project, which was originally launched to keep the Inuvaluit from starving.  Some of you may be confused when I refer to the Inuvaluit people.  Aren't they called Inuit?  Well, the Inuit people live all across Northern Canada, but the Inuvaluit are the western most Canadian Inuit, and believe me, the people of Tuk are proud to be Inuvaluit!

Moving right along folks! (Photo courtesy of Krista Cudmore)

Traditionally, the reindeer cross the MacKenzie River at Swimming Point because well, from what I read, they used to swim across during the summer, or at least that is what was implied.

 Now, they are herded across in early spring.  Every year the locals look forward to the event.  As a matter of fact, there are Arctic tours that come up here in time for the Reindeer Crossing, and people from all over the world pay big money to travel up here to watch this.  We actually saw a truck with a Texas license plate in the parking area today!

It was amazing that we were so close to them! (Thanks Krista)

The last of the herd...around 3000 total. (Photo courtesy of Krista Cudmore)

In order to get to the crossing point, Greg drove the van full of Wilsons plus Pam and Michele, two fellow teachers, up the ice road to Swimming Point, which was marked by two RCMP vans flashing their lights, two Reindeer Crossing signs and some rope to cordon off the road when the herd actually appeared.  There had been a parking lot ploughed out for us and some port-a-potties dropped off, although you'd have to be pretty desperate to want to bare certain parts of your anatomy today!  As I type this afternoon it is currently -28C with windchill, and the wind is really blowing.  This morning it was definitely below -30C and windy, too!  We parked the van and started to explore the area.  There were snowbanks piled up from the ploughing which were perfect vantage points for the crossing.

After a little while, you could see the front lights of the herders' snowmobiles coming along the horizon, and there appeared a big white cloud of snow, which were quite a distance apart.  As the cloud got closer, you could see that it was the reindeer kicking up the snow with their hooves!  If you looked just a little below the snow cloud you could see a mass of antlers bumping up and down.  It was truly amazing!  This year, however, the reindeer did not quite cooperate. They did not cross the road where they were supposed to, more or less moving up the shore of the river, past the far side of the parking lot, but we all got to see them and they will still make it to Richard Island in time for calving season.

While we were waiting for the reindeer to arrive, an Innuvik CBC reporter sent to film the event interviewed Greg and I on camera, asking us all about what we were doing in Tuk and what we thought of being at the event.  It was really cool!  You never know, we may wind up on the local news....or maybe Territorial....or maybe National!!  Or...maybe not.  You never know!

Anyway, this is one of those chance-in-a-lifetime experiences for us and we were extremely happy to have been able to witness this.  Greg took loads of pictures and I will add them for your enjoyment.  The CBC reporter asked us if we were going to have reindeer for supper tonight, and I said, "No way!! We don't want to upset Santa and accidentally eat Vixen or Blitzen, so we're having chicken. We figure that would be safer AND keep us on the nice list!".

After all, you never know.........

P.S.  See below for the link to the CBC news report.  Happy Reading!!

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/tuktoyaktuk-reindeer-crossing-marks-80th-year-1.3014151