Shovelling Snow

Ok, I moved to the north to get away from the snow (it isn't as wild as it sounds - it's usually too cold to snow) but this is late September and I have already shovelled twice today - wet, heavy snow...it is rather pretty...there wasn't any wind with it, so it fell straight down for the most part, as you can see from the photo. I don't know if this is going to stay...hard to say. If so, I might have to consider putting away my patio furniture...

Pride Goes Before A Fall

Drove my good friend I. to Hay River today to catch a flight tonight to YK. She heads to Edmonton in the morning, bound for New Zealand for a month...I'm insanely jealous...I may have mentioned that before...

It was a little snowy on the road in. This is later today. It was actually a LOT FUCKING SNOWY on the way in...not the worst I had driven in, but certainly nasty. So I took my time on the dirt portion, which is about 50-60kms or so, and drove just 60kms. Then we hit the pavement and things were somewhat better, as it had been plowed, but still lotsa slush on the road, swishing under my car and tires. Things improved the closer we got to Hay River, and then about 8 kms before HR...I either was going a little too fast, or hit a clump of slush in the snow rut, either way...we spun around a couple of times and then flew into the ditch on the other side of the road, facing the opposite direction. Thankfully it was a soft landing and no one was hurt. It could have been so very much worse - we could have hit another car coming in the other direction, we could have landed in one of the MANY roadside ponds such as the one pictured here, or flew off into one of the many rivers and brooks we cross, or flipped the car and ended up seriously injured.

The guy who was not far behind me pulled over and offered to help. We first tried to drive it out, but the grass was slick under the snow and there was no traction. Then another driver stopped (unlike the MANY who whizzed by, slowing only to rubberneck) and they hooked my car to the first guy's truck and we were out in a few minutes. Everyone left, and I tried to turn the car around...and had some difficulty in doing so.

There is some kind of mud flap/plastic protector behind the front wheel that somehow parted from the car and got snow behind it, and because it was closed in at the bottom (by design) the snow was trapped inside, puffing it out right up against my front tire, making it very difficult to turn. The plow driver came up behind us while I was out sizing it up, and helped get some snow out, but it turned out my hand was the only one small enough to get at it, so I scooped some out, and we limped the last few kms into town to the car wash where I was able to get the rest out and the plastic slipped mostly back into place.

While I was rooting out the snow, my friend ordered up some food for herself, as she was catching a flight in about an hour; we picked that up, then dropped her off and I set about trying to take off the hubcaps as they were packed tightly with snow, and I didn't want them on at all. Couldn't figure THAT out at all, and nothing in the owner's manual, so headed to Kal-Tire to ask the stupid question - do you know how these hubcaps come off? I wasn't a total idiot, I did try to take the nuts off in case they were like the ones on my work van - fake kind of nuts nthat hold the hubs on and then real bolts underneath...I didn't have fake nuts. Turns out I have aluminum allow wheels that do not have hubcaps and I am stuck with the snow jammed into them...dammit. I headed to the grocery store to pick up what I needed, grabbed a pizza, wolfed that down in the car. Met up with a local from Res who did exactly the same thing I did, only she nearly hit the plow driver that stopped to help me out. I then decided I wanted to get back on the road while it was still daylight and I was off again...

The return journey was nowhere near as terrible. The first 60+ kms were clear and mostly dry, having been plowed and melted off. The next bit was slushier, so had to slow down again, and the dirt was ok, having also been plowed...just messy. It still took me 2.5 hours (usually is only 1.25 hours) but I didn't go off the road, and am home safe and sound. I saw about 14-15 places where others had landed in the ditch as well...not a good day on the road. I should have slowed the hell down...

Winter Has ARRIVED

Make no mistake about it - winter has arrived in the territory...and it is still snowing heavily. Wouldn't you know it, I am due to drive to Hay River this afternoon, a 155km drive (one way) in which about 50kms of it is dirt road...not gravel, slimy clay and dirt. Good thing I'm an excellent driver (rainman). Nothing to be afraid of for this down east gal...been through MORE than my share of blizzard conditions for driving, and made it safe and sound. The key is simple:

SLOW THE FUCK DOWN. Which of course, I always do...(in snow)

Northern Shopping

I was invited to a university friend's wedding this fall and had originally hoped to make it, however things happen, and I won't be there this Saturday. I still had all the paperwork involved in a wedding invite these days though (wedding announcement, shower invitation {and inserts}, and wedding invitation {and inserts} so checked out where they were registered to see if I could possibly buy them something online, since I don't really have anywhere but online to shop, and I managed to fart around long enough that I don't have time to get them anything before the wedding now anyhow...

Sure enough, they were registered at three places - Direct Buy, Linens-N-Things and Canadian Tire. Of course, because I had farted around so long, most of the gifts had been bought, so I was only able to buy them a moist heating pad...it was either that or garden tools such as a shovel or rake...

However, I was able to buy it, request it be gift wrapped, and specify what I wanted on the gift card, and then pay just $6.99 to have it shipped to them...I couldn't get it to them from here for even twice that. Cool. So now the gift is on the way, and I have only the belated shower stuff to send back (my favorite recipe and favorite memory of the bride) in the enclosed stamped envelope. How easy is that? Works for my lazy ass, that's for sure.

I do regret that I couldn't make it to her wedding, not just for the wedding, but to see her for the first time in nearly 5 years, along with all the other folks I miss in Waterloo...sigh...one of these years, I shall make my cross country trek...

Job Update

Well, completed the written portion of the interview on Monday night, and now I have an oral interview scheduled for Friday afternoon at 1:00pm with the panel of 3. In case you haven't been paying attention, or been to my blog recently...I applied for a Foster Care & Adoptions Social Worker position in Yellowknife. Let's hear it for fingers crossed and positive vibes for me!

The Latest Northern Notes

I've been neglecting my blog for most of the summer, posting only when I have some photos, and I've run out of things to photograph at the moment.

The job in Yellowknife is starting to look like it might happen. I can't say much about how I know but an interview is coming up soon enough, and if I am the successful candidate, they are looking for that person to start in mid-October. Yes, mid-October, as in 3 weeks from now. So that scares the hell out of me...I had been thinking that if I got the job, I wouldn't go until January, given that my contract here is not up until mid-November. My reason for that was that I am planning to go to Whitehorse for Christmas with my daughter, and I want to drive. The ferry across the Mackenzie usually gets pulled in mid December and the ice road is put down about the same time, depending on cold weather conditions, and if I was in Yellowknife, I might not be able to get out. Local folks tell me it is always iffy as to whether or not people will be able to drive out at Christmas, and if they do, whether or not they can get back, or will have to wait until the ice road is ready.

So...if I get the job, I might be looking at flying to Whitehorse, because I AM GOING, one way or the other. Which is fine, now that I have given it more thought. It is a hell of a long drive from Yellowknife to Whitehorse, more than 2 days driving each way, and I might be doing it alone, so would spend a lot of time in the car, and less with my daughter. If I fly, it's just 4 hours in the air each way. The drawback is the price of airfare. One would think it would be cheap to fly between the two territorial cities...it isn't. If I fly through Edmonton, it is outrageous - over $2,000...if I fly direct via Fort Simpson, it is still $800, which is more than I paid to go back east this summer...crazy, eh?

What really has me in a panic is MOVING. I know, you would think that a nomad like me would be used to it by now. Sure I have it down to a science, but it doesn't make it any more pleasant, or less exhausting. The agency will pay for the move, and will send out guys to pack...though they resemble thugs more than movers...however they unloaded me just fine when I arrived here. I just hate having to cram everything into my car that I'll need until I find my own place, cleaning the trailer after they go, and then the enormous chore of unpacking once I find a place to live. In the spirit of being proactive, I have been sorting and sifting through my junk all weekend and have managed to clear out a TON of it. Mostly paper and little bitty things that find their way into drawers, boxes, baskets, bags, and totes...you know the stuff...like old key chains, assignments from university, old greeting cards, notebooks with 20 good pages left...GAWD, what an effing mess of JUNK. So I was rather merciless when turfing this weekend because I REFUSE to move this junk yet AGAIN. I don't even know how it got this far in the first place...What I do know is that it isn't going anywhere else but the dump.

Even though I don't have the job yet, I have begun to look for housing in YK, and my friend K. sent me the website for one management company that I think I'll apply with sooner rather than later. Going back to apartment living will be interesting...haven't been in one of those since 1999 when I moved off campus...however I hope to find a nice 2 bedroom for about $1000/month (heat and hot water included, hydro extra). My friend C. has graciously offered for me to come and stay with her once I arrive until I am able to find a place and my stuff shows up. So that's comforting...I was not looking forward to more hotel living...it was nasty when I did it in Whitehorse, and downright awful when I did it here - no phone, one room, no control over the heat (stinking hot) and tiny. With two cats.

I think it will all come together in the end, as it usually does...I just wasn't expecting to have to consider moving this early, so now the push is on to sort it all out. IF I GET THE JOB, that is. Don't want to jinx it. There is more to the whole issue than I can write about (nothing bad, just more to consider) so if you want to know, just email me (friends who have my email).

Ok, time to relax...have been busy most of the weekend, sorting and clearing out, and even cleaned my car out this afternoon - what a dustbowl...

Vancouver, 2725kms

I think if I saw this sign on my way to Vancouver, I would simply turn around and go home...I saw this on my way from Fort Simpson earlier this month...

Snow

It snowed on Saturday. And again on Monday. Ick. The last day of summer has not yet arrived (September 23 is the first day of autumn) and we've already had snow more than once. Of course the ground is not yet frozen, so you only see it fall, and it melts instantly on the still warm ground. Locals have tried to scare me by saying it's going to be a hard winter...we'll see about that. Last winter wasn't any big deal...no storms, not much snow, no long cold snaps...what more can you ask for?

Let's hope since I have a fair bit of driving to do in December and January...I'm heading to the Yukon to see my gal for Christmas, and intend on swinging into northern BC to visit my sis and her family. Not that I haven't already driven in most any kind of winter weather...and survived.

We had a rash of deaths this past few weeks. Four funerals since last Monday...and the 2006 census numbers us at 485...and now we are short another four. The superstitious ones thought after so many deaths last year, it was due to the town council taking down the fence around the graveyard (to replace)...we have a brand new one, finished last month...and still had a rash of deaths. The reality is, people get sick, people die. All died of health reasons, no accidents (this recent group). Otherwise I might get suspicious myself...

There hasn't been much to photograph that I haven't captured already...perhaps on my journey to YK in early October. I'm going up for a conference, and have also been enlisted to cook the turkey at K.'s or C.'s place. This time if I hit a ptarmigan, it might come with me to go into the pot...JOKING. I don't like ptarmigan...

I'm signing on for another year here, and if I am successful in the YK job, will simply resign this position and take the transfer. They are willing to pay for my move again, phew. And if I do not get the YK job, I'll hang around here for another year, and see what 2008 brings.

Roadside Pond

apologies all around for lack of posting...been busy/lazy/uninspired...but here I am again with some photos from my drive to Hay River yesterday. One of them is different from the others - see if you can tell which one and why...

Sambaa Deh Falls

Inukshuk

In case you are unaware, these are inukshuk. I came across them at Trout River, next to the Sambaa Deh Falls.

Water Water Everywhere

One of the tourist routes in the NWT is known as the Waterfalls Route, for good reason. Several stunning waterfalls are along the way, easily accessible on foot. I've been to most of them now, but the one elusive one is Virginia falls, and I must take a small plane or helicopter to get there. Here are several photos from Sambaa Deh Falls, and Coral Falls on the Trout River. The river has eaten away at the riverbank over the years, and now it's quite overhung, so they put signs up to keep the dumb asses from falling into the river...it is bound to happen regardless of the signage.

Northern Camping

So on Saturday, I left before 8am heading west to Fort Simpson. Apparently the Department of Highways thinks I need to know how far it was to Vancouver. Like I would start counting down from up here...

Then I saw some partridges...and one of them kissed my bumper...awww...so his friend is walking around, clucking, wonder WTF happened to his friend. Clearly they have learned nothing from the tragedy, and continue trying to walk across the road in the path of a tractor trailer...

We had to cross a ferry at Liard River - just the usual standard small ferry. Hit the timing well and didn't have to wait. We camped at the Fort Simpson campground, which was quite nice, very well maintained, clean as hell...but they locked the bathrooms in the afternoon from 1-5 for cleaning....weird. And this is my car at Kakisa River, where I stopped for a short break. The juniper berries were along the path to Coral Falls.

My Friend K.

To satisfy her wanton need for attention (HAHAHAH, KIDDING K...) I am remiss in not noting the input she had in my decision making process for the new job opportunity. We spent a few hours discussing this, and her feedback was very valuable, and I would be terribly excited to move to YK to spend more time with her.

I haven't written about our shared background before, so perhaps I'll indulge us both and drop a few lines here. I first met K. in Cape Breton but our story starts even before this. While I was in university in Waterloo, she too was pursuing higher learning at the high school down the street, aka Sir Wilfred Laurier University. We joke about that all the time, and in fact, Laurier is well renowned and I even attended a couple of courses there myself. In any event, she was in Waterloo at the same time, we likely passed one another on campus and out and about the city, not knowing one another. Then our paths crossed in small town Cape Breton. I was to step into her job, and she was moving on to another program with the same employer. We hung out a fair bit over our time at the same agency, melding with a group of friends who we frequently socialized with - our "crew".

Then K. and I both became frustrated with our student loan debt. We were about ready to go postal on some of those call centres that plagued our phonelines, seeking payments. We both applied for jobs up north where the pay is much higher, and discovered we applied to some of the same positions. Both of us were granted interviews, and before I knew it, K. was off on her adventure up north, bound for Inuvik. Meanwhile, I was doing my interview from Belize where I was backpacking with my daughter, and found during our central american exploits, I was not yet ready to move north, wishing to spend just one more year close to my daughter.

When K. headed north, I moved into her house. So then I had her former job and her former house. Life was ticking along, but those student loans were hell. I had finally settled my daughter in at university, her own apt with the b/f and before long, a year had passed and I was then looking to make a move. By November, I found myself in the Yukon, by which time K. had moved on to an opportunity in Yellowknife. My year in the Yukon passed faster than I dreamed it would and I was on to my current opportunity, which I was prodded into by my good friend, K. I know, I'm a grown woman, can make my own decisions, but she was key in my decision to come here. And now she's done it again...

Not that I wasn't already considering a change, but the prodding to move to YK has been there for some time, and swiftly rebuffed by me, but as soon as she smelled indecision on me when this YK job posting came up, the prod was out once again.

So there you have it, K. and I have criscrossed the country together for years, and nothing has changed...thanks K. for your hours of encouragement, listening to me whine and complain, debrief, and cry. You are a good friend.

Life Spins and Then I Ramble

So here are today's ramblings...

• I've been contemplating a next step for several weeks, career wise. My current job is a term position, which I am confident they will renew, however I've been thinking about whether or not I wish to, and if not, what else would I do. I struggle so much in making these decisions, as my faithful readers know, particularly as I've written about it before on Dreamazone. So I've been looking at other opportunites, in other provinces, countries, you name it. Lots to consider, lots of options...too many almost, that I was stuggling to settle on one path.
• Then I happened to be checking out our gov website for current postings, mostly to see how the job description for the second social worker here was written, as I was boning up my resume...and then I happened upon an interesting position for which I am qualified, and intersted.
• It is an adoptions/foster care social worker job in Yellowknife. I had said my next move would be out of the north, but I was wavering on that already. The money is hard to leave behind, particularly when I still owe so much on student loans. Taking a job anywhere else but in the territories would certainly mean a huge pay cut. So I looked at pros and cons...and forwarded a cover letter and application yesterday. Interested in the pros/cons? Read on...

Pros

1. no more child protection investigations. As anyone who has worked in child protection (and still is) knows, this can get quite stressful at times, and I have been MORE than ready to leave it all behind. There isn't much here most of the time, but a recent rush of referrals has provided motivation for change.
2. no on-call work. I am not currently "on-call" but have the opportunity to be called, and have. Just knowing that I can be called is somewhat stressful.
3. less social isolation - Yellowknife is a busy city, tiny as it may be, they do have a lot to offer. I would be close to my friend K., and other new friends, and the opportunity to make more friends is vast. I could go back to having drinks with friends after work on payday Friday, going out to movies, dinners, having folks over for dinner, movie rentals, taking in live music, shopping with friends, you name it. It's been such a void for that here and I've had to stuff it into any business trips to YK instead, cramming in at night, or lunchtime between work commitments.
4. better shopping - no longer would I be forced to pay $8.19 for a gallon of milk. Grocery prices in YK are actually quite good, wayyyyyy better than Hay River as they have an Extra Foods, AND a COOP, both very large stores. There is also Wal-Mart, and we all know I have an addiction...not to mention many other stores, a mall, fast food (come one, sometimes ya gotta break down) great restaurants, etc.
5. more activites - I can take a class in just about anything in YK...so I may even return to yoga, or something else.
6. Live would no longer be lived in a fishbowl (to use I's phrase). Doing the job that I currently do and living where I currently live, my every move is watched, and commented upon. I don't always hear about it, and people have been generally quite friendly, but I can't sit out on my own deck and have a few beers on the weekend. One simply just cannot do that here, where alcoholism is high. So moving to YK would mean I could recapture some of my anonymity that I really like sometimes.
7. the job would be a very useful career move, if I do manage to get myself to Africa to work, I would like to process international adoptions at an agency there, and this would give me much more experience. I can currently do it here, but the volume is very low, and opportunity for international adoptions is slim to none here, but more in YK.
8. less occupational isolation. Much of the time, I am in the office here completely alone. I am the only social worker, despite there being two positions. No one has yet been hired for the other one and it took them MONTHS to even post. The boss is away often, and the receptionist/finance clerk is here occasionally (WHOLE OTHER STORY), which leaves me on my own much of the time. Workwise, I can manage to putter away, but I do miss the comraderie of a fully staffed office. I could return to going out for lunch with coworkers, something I truly enjoyed in previous workplaces, particularly in Cape Breton - yeah ladies, you know it!
9. the end of listening to people problems day in and day out. Some of them are minor, but they certainly take a toll on you day after day, having to sort out and problem solve constantly. I know, I know, it's often part of a social worker's job, but in the words of my friend L., I'm OVER it. I get enough problems listening to my family...EEEK!
10. this change of job would mean I wouldn't have to orient too much to a new workplace. I've been to the office several times, it is the same folks I work for here, and I have met most everyone. I have already done all the required training, and have processed the same paperwork in the new job, so there would be very little learning curve. I could just about slide right in...just about.
11. quicker access to health care providers. I can get in for an appt quickly enough here with a nurse, and the doc isn't too hard, but I have to go somewhere else for stuff, such as physio, massage therapy, etc. who really wants to pay for a nice massage then have to get behind the wheel for a bone rattling 155 kms drive home over a dirt road?

And now for the cons, and yes, there are a few...

1. less pay. I may be able to negotiate my current salary, but I cannot control the loss of some of my northern allowance. Not the end of the world, but to be considered.
2. another fucking move. Believe it or not, I am tiring of moving - the packing, setting up, notifying everyone of my new address, phone number, blah, blah, blah.
3. I would have to pay more for rent, and likely live in an apartment. Apartment life can suck...depending on neighbors, and I can't play my music as loud, would have to use a laundrymat again, and probably have to climb stairs.
4. I would be farther away from my daughter, though I would be closer to the main airport in NWT that flys into Whitehorse....something to chew on...
5. I would be isolated from southern Canada for several weeks a year while the iceroad/ferry process is in changeover...however there is promise of a permanent bridge by 2009 I think...
6. I would feel guilty about pulling up stakes here where I have begun so many projects in the community. I would feel better if they were able to hire someone before I left.

so there you have it...clearly the pros outweigh the cons. The reality is, I don't have the job yet, so this could all be moot if it goes to someone else. And then I would probably settle on renewing my term until June here, and things would simply continue on as they were for several more months, and I would face the big question again in the spring.

I Should Have Known

Stopped by the local restaurant today for some grease - admit it, sometimes you just gotta have some grease...and the local restaurant is certainly able to provide the necessary grease. I've mentioned the restaurant before, it's just a small trailer, with two tables for those who choose to eat in (which I usually don't) and folks from out of town typically eat in. Today there were four of them at a table, and I should have known had my sensors been on, but it was lunchtime, and I wasn't thinking about a whole lot of anything. These folks were 3 women and one man, and one of the women spoke up right off, asked me how I was doing, and knowing they were not from here, I was curious more than anything to find out who they were. It didn't take long.

After chattering about where we were from, and they seemed just a little too interested in my background, so I asked them what brought them to Res today...and out came the pamphlets. I don't know if she had them in her bra, or under her ass, but she whipped those suckers out of somewhere, and then wanted to know if I wanted to hear about the word of God. (if you haven't guessed yet - Jehovah's Witnesses). So I politely told them - No. Not interested. Then they inquired into my own spiritual background. Hmmm...should I be rude and tell them to fuck off, it's none of your business? Can't imagine the scandal that might toss to the locals...of course I was tactful and simply said that I was comfortable with my beliefs and had no wish to discuss them.

I should have known - well dressed white folks who are too friendly with strangers usually are looking to sell you something, either a vacuum cleaner or their version of The Word Of God. Both get a polite fuck off not interested from me.

And Then I Saw This

Purple sunshine...on a beautiful dusky summer day.

Fall???

Saw this outside my window today...I'm not ready for fall. We are not impressed. We are greedy.

Hand Games with Drummers

Local Drummers