White Pumpkins

Never saw one until I came to the Great White North - not that they are grown here...but here it is, in white...a ghost pumpkin. Blends in with the dirty snow on the road...it still looks good in the dark...though weird.

Where's The Party?

Not here, apparently. I did have an opportunity to go to a Halloween party with a friend from work, but she would have been the only one I knew there, and maybe one other girl. I just didn't have the effort to spend the evening with strangers AND come up with a respectable costume idea. In past years, I've gone to some really cool parties. One year I went to a cool one in Waterloo, but only knew two people there as well. I was dressed as the Queen of England...fur stole, hat and handbag...

Then there was the year I went as Spongebob Squarepants...it was quite funny actually, I had a hoot of a time. I had to eventually cut some of the sponge holes out to let some air in...it got hot and smokey in there...that was at S.'s house in town. I recall a ridiculous conversation with a cop who attended a 911 call from the house (someone had gotten sick from something they ate...) and I was out on the deck, having known this officer through my job, and having chatted with him tons of times...but there I was, having had a few drinks or 10 (got a taxi home that night with my friend, coworker and Angel) blathering about who the hell knows what with this cop. He never mentioned it after that, but my friends do, lol.

I went as Martha Stewart the year after that. In prison clothes, designer of course. I handed out flyers portraying my renovated cell...that party was at my friend R. and A.'s house (before they owned it). Twas a fine time that year too.

Then I went as a book last year. Private Parts, a guide to the male anatomy. At least my head was out of the box. I think that was hot chocolate in my mug...I usually spend a great deal of time outside with the smokers...simply because I am usually running hot and smokers are often the most interesting people, lol...and the folks below were belting out some Tragically Hip tunes last fall at S.'s party in his new house. Wonder what happened this year...S. is in Fort Mac this fall.

so here I sit tonight, in the Yukon, watching Gothika on sattelite, playing gin online, passing the evening away with just my own felines (yeah, the others moved out, FINALLY). And I'm fine with that. I'll have to get the scoop on my friend's costumes tomorrow.

Northern Sunset

This was the sunset from tonight, at about 5:30pm, just as I was getting home from work. The days are getting so short now! I drive to work in the dark now, and it is still dark when I get there.

Sunrise is not until after 9:00am now, and sunset is 6:22pm today. Before long I will be driving home in the dark...ick. Why can't we just have 12 and 12...

The Latest...

After talking with the local gal in Fort Res today, I found out I shall be on training from 15-29 Nov in Yellowknife, so we have rearranged things a little. I will officially start on Nov 13 (which I didn’t realize is the Stat holiday for Rememberance Day. I’ll stay here and fly to Yellowknife on the 14th or before, and stay for the training, with a short hop to Fort Res to meet staff, and check out housing at some point during the two weeks and then fly back to Whitehorse after training in time to pick up animals and plants and head east for Fort Res. I will have to get the movers to pick-up my stuff at some point and haven’t quite figured that out yet as there is not enough time after I return to deal with it, so will probably get them to pick up and store while I’m away as they use containers anyhow, and then have them deliver in December once I get to Fort Res. It shall be a whirlwind, but I’m sure I’ll persevere somehow! As for what I’ll do with my time from the 9th -14th …there is enough cleaning to keep me busy I reckon…and that’s when I hope to have the movers pick up my stuff, during that week. Ok, phew…breathe…

The alternative is to proceed with a move on the 9th and get to Fort Res with cats and plants to somewhere, hope that someone can feed them while I am away, and head out to Yellowknife, but I won't be doing that...

More Time No Info

Ok, now I have more time but no more information really. I have to find a place to live first and foremost and organize the movers. My employer here will pay for my move to NWT, and I'm going to drive out after my last day at work, with cats and plants...we'll see who survives...

It has hardly sunk in, even though I've been waiting for this news for so long now. I am MOVING in 3 weeks...um, holy shit. Once I get that kid outta here next week, then I will begin packing my stuff for the drive, and organizing the rest for the movers who will pack it up. I have to figure out some place to stay after the movers...probably a hotel if I can get one employer or the other to pay for it, rather than impose on my friends with two cats! I'm hoping that they don't take too long and that my stuff will be there shortly after I arrive, without having to pack it up next week to do so...I want them to pick it up the week I finish work and arrive with it the week I begin my new job...too much to ask? heh heh...

There are no hotels in Fort Res, so I have to figure out what people do when they move in there...I might find myself at a campground in November, lol...stay tuned.

Ann Of The North

Looks like I am on the move again - I was offered and have accepted the job in Fort Resolution! I've only got a minute now so will write more details when I have more time but wanted all to know! My last day here will be November 8th, and I begin my new job on November 13th. YAAAYYYYY!!! And yes, much more money. Goodbye student loans...

Oh The Stress Of It All

Living life in limbo has never been one of my favorite places to be. When there are other mitigating factors, it gets stressful. So randomly...

• I have been screened out of the competition for Mayo because of my lack of supervisory experience. Hmm...I don't recall that was on the job ad, but I shall check. And when I did respond to the email informing me of this, I was told what they were really looking for was someone who "worked" as a supervisor. Ok, whatever. If that's what helps them sleep at night. In the meantime, the position in Mayo will likely continue unfilled as I also heard through the grapevine that they didn't get the applicants they had hoped for, among other interesting things...it is just another sour experience to add to the many I've experienced here working for the man. Like how the accomodations officer hasn't returned my call for nearly two weeks. So I emailed him a nice letter...
• I have not yet heard from the Ft. Resolution job. They wanted more references last week, so I provided them with one they appear to have lost, and provided two additional ones, I haven't heard if they contacted them. And then I heard that the rep in Fort Res is away this week, so I may not hear this week anyhow. ARRRRRGGGGHHHH!!! Another week?
• three cats in the house was plenty...now we have four. A. is moving out for Nov 1st so two will go, but in the meantime I am their mistress. A. should be here more, but chooses not to be, and when she is here, will simply snore away on the sofa, and then roll off to bed, without playing with her animals more than a minute, and puts off cleaning the cat litter, a job we both EVERYONE hates. We take turns and she is behind by two turns now. and of course we had a discussion about it last night, so she made a half assed attempt and cleaned out the freshest tray, and vacuumed the bathroom. And left the litter box in there, instead of putting it with the others (it had been in the bathroom for the first few nights her second cat was here, since we segregated her for a little bit). She was going to move it, but never got around to it. This morning she got around to it. After McGee had been in there another 4 times, throwing litter all over the bathroom again. And who likes to step on cat litter when their tender steamed skin is fresh out of the shower...come on now, admit it! So when I dared open my mouth, her excuse was that she never had time when she was here. Then come home earlier than 11pm at night and you will have time. You were off at 4pm...that's a CHOICE you made. Anyhow...she left in a huff, and who knows when she'll be back. I joked with her that I hope this isn't any indication of how she will treat her children...I was half joking. And wondering where in the hell she learned that behaviour...sheesh.
• my fish tank looks like a toxic waste dump again but because I am moving, I am putting it off, as I know I can't take them with me. I should just get rid of them and go clean the tank....but that is another chore I really don't like. Suddenly pet free life looks attractive...
• my fridge is slowly getting bare. I hesitate to buy much more fresh food as my time here wraps up. I want to clear out what I have, so less to pack. The moving company doesn't pack food, so I want to bring it with me on my roof rack. But I could potentially be here until the end of next month...or not...
• limbo...interestingly enough, I read the Mirriam-Webster definition of limbo and somehow I can make them all fit...

On a positive note...it ain't all bad being home with the kitties, just hanging out on the sofa, listening to music and playing gin online at yahoo. My cold is no better, but I'd rather be at home when I'm not feeling great, in my comfort zone. You probably all have one, a comfort zone.

My landlady stopped by today, and she is also home from work with a cold...and after she replaced my storm window (a 5 min task, no big deal) she retreated to her comfort zone, after a chat...we both had the time.

The snow is still on the ground. We did not get 7C that was rumoured for today, lol. The temp is hovering around 0C. Ok, now I am retreating to get my ass kicked play gin.

October Snowfall

It started snowing on Friday. It is still snowing. WTF? Much of it melted yesterday so I was encouraged. Then it snowed again last night. No wind or anything, so not a storm, but snow just the same that I finally had to break down and shovel off the steps. And just as I finished that, I was just taking one last glance at the beauty of snow (trying to find it anyhow) and McGee buggered off through the door and out into the snow. I don't think it was quite was he was bargaining for as he slipped and slid but all he knew was he was OUT! So then, I was only in my slippers, shovelling the snow off, and didn't want to go out into the 5-6 inches of snow in backless slippers...ran back in, got my sneakers on and took off after him. Little effer...he is so quick, but also so very dunce at the same time. He lets me walk right up to him. He got about 30 feet into the woods before I walked up and scooped him. Now he is bag in the house, making feeble scratchings at the door, hoping someone might let him out. Um, McGee, NO.

Egads, It Is Snowing...

I was in town earlier today, had a drink with some coworkers and A., then went to leave the bar and it was snowing out. Imagine. I may even be forced to sweep off the steps. Good thing I bought a new car brush/scraper yesterday...or maybe I jinxed it all.

Brrrr.

Went outside in just my sandals and t-shirt, gonna empty some of the junk out of my car that I've been bringing home from work and BRRRRRR...I could see my breath, easily so I checked the temp...-5C in the sun at 11:00am...

Not cold enough to plug the car in, ha ha...but cold enough that my stubborn ass had to put a jacket on and admit that fall is here...I also rooted out my fall/winter coats too. Now if I could remember where I put the scarves and mittens...now THAT might prove to be a challenge. They are SOMEWHERE in my storage closet.

The squirrel has resumed home building in my birdhouse...

High As A Kite

Sponge Bob was high again today and decided to remain this way...see, this is what happens when I try to fly my kite in my back yard...too many trees...I have cut him loose, the drifter, and if he comes down to earth again, I shall reclaim him once again. See how he rests on the branches, mocking me?

Yukon Bahai Centre

The artwork/decor was very interesting at the Yukon Bahai Centre.

Pimp My Turkey

Indulgence was the theme of Thanksgiving yesterday, along with thankfulness of friends to spend the day and break bread with. 11 of us visited our way through turkey, sweet potaoes, carrots, corn souffle, and stuffing....and yes, there was gravy. The turkey was so very moist, which is always important, heh heh. And boy oh boy, there was homemade apple pie, with vanilla ice cream. The young ate well, and of course A. beat everyone to the third helping...her father's stomach that one.

The setting was definitely kid friendly and the 4 of them played for hours together in the vastness of the centre. There were little turkey printed baggies with treats/toys for the mites as well, which kept them all busy. A. was looking for her baggie...funny how the child comes back in them when there are treats, lol.

The commercial sized kitchen was great to cook in, tons of room, and enough burners. I wish I could have figured out the oven, but couldn't be bothered and then have to figure out how it bakes...the turkey did well in the apartment oven, along with the corn souffle, except for the one that A. forgot to take out of the oven (the third pan) and ended up being tossed, pan and all...so I didn't get to have any leftover as I sent part of a pan off with my friend R. and enough to feed her family tonight. I can only look at leftovers for a day or so, then I'm through, so if there are lots, I prefer to share with my friends when I can, and they are usually glad enough of it, lol so it works out all around. Speaking of turkey...

The felines certainly enjoyed their stay, once the fear of dog was put in them (yes, I do mean dog - T-bone was his name) and we had to keep them apart, so I bunked out in the centre with the kitties and A. bunked in the apartment with the dog. I didn't sleep much as the bed was pretty hard on my bones...talk about the princess and the pea...so was glad to get back in my own bed again last night, even if McGee was caterwauling last night for his mistress...I told him I didn't blame him, since she abandoned him here for the past month, heh heh...and then I told him to shut the hell up. I was tired.

So turkey day is behind us and now I'm on vacation with turkey nibblings tonight. There may be a plan for tomorrow...they may not. Vacation rocks! Maybe I'll get my Pink Floyd dvd's I bought on eBay a few weeks ago and can chill with PF.

Gobble, gobble. Happy Thanksgiving.

Turkey Day Lays In Wait

Got most of my prep work done for the big turkey day tomorrow. Pies are made (from scratch of course) and some squares. Portioned out some of the things I'll need for cooking tomorrow as I can't count on them being there. I'm heading out tonight to spend the night with A. at the big centre...she said it is spooky with lots of strange noises...sounds like she is prime for a good scare...I'll let you know. I got her just a few weeks ago when I crept up on her outside while she was vacuuming her car. Oh how I howled with laughter...

Tonight I need to figure out how to work that commercial oven, and sort out the pots and pans and put my stuff away in the big cooler. Groovy. I like a challenge.

Annoyances of the Week

• viral infection of my dear laptop...21 all told; quite a mess and took me hours to recover from and now I hear that the gal who infected me doesn't care and hasn't bothered to clean her computer...irresponsible cyber behavior I tell you! she also infected many others who aren't too pleased about it...clearly does not recognize the time involved cleaning up that mess, not to mention the frustration! I have blocked her, and hope I don't get refinfected...then I shall be REALLY ANNOYED! Nearly as annoying and still continuing are the million and one questions from my mother who is convinced that she has a virus(she doesn't) and my frustration at being her tech support (I have been for since she first sat down in front of a computer years ago) for every little thing, often when I am trying to do something else. If I say anything, then she is even harder to deal with, lol...sigh...
• shopping at night is quite annoying. It is quieter which is why I go, but the damn shelves are cleaned out! our local Superstore cannot seem to keep up with the volume of sales. I was there earlier in the day to check out the turkey situation and they only had two fresh ones, HUGE too and nearly 50 bucks...pass...so I grabbed a frozen one as the meat manager was putting out 5 cases of them that I then had to paw through. I went back last night to get the rest of my groceries and all of the fresh were gone AND all of the frozen ones...damn lucky I got one when I did!!!
• why, please tell me why, do stores and businesses insist on keeping one of their doors locked in a two door entrance? I slam into it more often than not, expecting it to be open...I mean, WHY NOT open it? what is the purpose of locking one and leaving the other open??
• jammed shopping carts. Superstore has ones you have to put a coin in to release...fine with me, I bought one of their handy coins and use that. but then I couldn't get it out and some guy came to help me out and told me the problem was that I didn't put the coin in the right one...yeah buddy...I'll put my coin in a cart three rows back so I can get the one I am after out...dumbass...it was just jammed. end of story. so I took my coin out and put it in another one while he continued to struggle with freeing the cart...
• cats who roam in the night...need I say more
• I DID NOT HEAR from the job in Fort Resolution and when I emailed the HR gal yesterday, I got her out of office auto-reply. Dammit...even if I get the job now, I shall have to wait until my term runs out here to move now as they have waited so long that I can't possibly organize the move by the end of the month now. So I shall continue to search for work locally as well...

Don't Panic

Blogger has merged with Google, and I have decided to merge along with them to check out the new options for my blog, hence the new look. I'm still tweaking it, deciding if I like the colors and elements I'm fooling around with, and hope that I don't fuck it up altogether and lose it to cyberspace...feel free to comment on the new looks as I continue on the journey...

The Continuing Saga...

Well, I emailed back to the gal in Fort Res tonight, just expecting she would get it in the morning, but lo and behold, she was still at the office and emailed me back to call her tonight if I wanted...turns out she was just checking in with me to let me know they are still working on contacting my references, and knew I would be getting anxious without hearing since they had mentioned in the interview they would contact me last week. Ok, phew...it definitely sounds positive, but they are having difficulty reaching my references...so...G. and P. if you are reading along, those messages you have gotten(if in fact they are leaving messages) from Health Recruitment...could you PLEASE CALL THEM BACK? Apparently they don't keep regular work hours and often work late evenings, so keep that in mind if you are thinking they are gone for the day at 5pm. Thanks so much. I did hear from my friend R. that they called and spoke with her today. Another good sign....so still waiting...it might be a few more days in light of the difficulty in reaching references.

However, having said that, I did have an interesting chat with the gal in Fort Res that was on the hiring committee (although she doesn't do the offers, HR in Yellowknife does that). We got to talking about life in Fort Res, and what to expect, housing, internet (of course) and so on. She knows I'm looking for a cabin/small house in the woods, kind of thing and she was telling me about a log home that used to belong to the former MLA who was also Premier at one time and he is looking to rent for about $400-500/month. EXCELLENT! So I asked her to make some inquiries to see if it is still available...log home! Sweet! As well, I found out they do have high speed internet there too which is of course, wonderful as anyone who knows me will understand.

So there you go...the latest...

Ants In My Pants

The latest news for those of you wondering (my loyal readers...you know who you are! Hi Tobey) I got a call from the gal who interviewed me last week for the Fort Resolution job, however I wasn't home at the time, was at training for the day and she left a message on my voicemail, and sent me an email, requesting that I call her. As well, they have called one of my references that I know of, possibly more...so here I sit on baited breath with ants in my pants, waiting to see what turn my life shall take next...I'll be calling in the morning before I head out to my training session again to see what's up...stay tuned! There may be news to report tomorrow....tick tock, tick tock...

I Damn Near Died

Went hiking again today with my friend J. and her little one, and her golden retriever. We drove to the end of Fish Lake Road, and then began the ascent...I didn't realize how much ascending there would be until my lungs informed me that it was too much. I forgot my puffer too...so there I was, gasping for air on the way up...stupid me. It was a lovely hike, but about 3 kms uphill, which is more than my poor out of shape body is ready for...so we didn't make it to the summit, only about 2/3 of the way before I began feeling nauseaus, faint, and rubber legged...ok, time to turn around. We hiked for about 2.5 hours as it was, so I am fine with that, and I certainly got a work out...my bandanna was soaked when we arrived at the bottom again. I wish I could have made it to the summit, but having an asthma attack was not on my schedule for today...better luck next time I reckon.
And I nearly forgot to mention how busy the trail was with folks going up and down, including a group armed with shotguns, and .22 rifles. They claimed to be hunting for ptarmigan, however I suspect they were simply on the lookout for bears, heh heh...and 4 of the 5 were women - only in the Yukon! We had our bear spray, and hoped for the best, along with a big dog and a chattering baby, so also hoped they would both deter the bears. We didn't see any...good!