The Amazing Aurora Borealis

This past week the temperature has warmed up (-20C) and with this the skies are clearer at night as there isn't any snow falling. We have been treated to an amazing light show, right from our front porch! It makes me laugh to think about all the times I jumped into the car and drove into the fields north of Calgary whenever the aurora report indicated they could be seen that far south.

I had become a bit discouraged after the first few months in Cambridge Bay without seeing any northern lights, but it seems as though it was just the extreme cold that had ice crystals in the air or blowing snow that prevented the lights from being seen.

It is typically when we are out walking Tetue at night that we see the lights and the intensity of the lights fade in and out for hours. With the warmer weather we can just stand outside on our porch and watch the lights as they amazingly create patterns in the sky. It is really hard to explain what it is like to view the lights as they really are magical. We tried to capture some photos of the lights and their incredible beauty.

Journey to the Igloo

One of the things that has always fascinated us about Inuit culture is the igloo and how it so beautifully fits together. We discovered that a few people had made an igloo out on the frozen bay and we were excited to go and visit it. We decided to head out one weekend to go and find the igloo (with basic directions- i.e., it's right out on the bay and you'll see it). This will be important for later on in the story. 

We put together Nicolas' wooden sled and the wind cover that fits over top of it (not an easy feat)! Stuffed Nicolas into his Canada Goose snowsuit and head out onto the bay. We didn't even get more than a few metres out onto the bay before Nicolas began protesting. We were pretty sure he wasn't cold as he was bundled up pretty well and so it was likely he just wasn't happy being confined to his sled. We continue on our trek over the frozen water and Nicolas continues to cry and cry and cry. 

Walking over the snow that has been blown into uneven mounds by the strong winds makes walking a bit difficult, so we focus on moving forward. Then suddenly there are no more cries, Nicolas is quiet. My first thought is that the movement of the sled over the snow mounds has lulled him to sleep. Randall moves the sled slightly to see if Nicolas stirs. Nothing. Randall gives me a worried glance and then he shakes the sled harder. Still nothing. Now I am becoming concerned. Oh my goodness is Nicolas alright- is it too cold out here for him. Panic sets in and we rip the cover off the sled to check on him and the opening of the sled startles Nicolas up from his nap and we breathe a sigh of relief and laugh at ourselves.

 

Randall and Nicolas on the Frozen Bay

We set off once again towards the igloo (or where I think the igloo is located) and it is at this point that we see the wind picking up the loose snow and blowing it around more. This decreases the visibility considerably and so we can only see about a kilometre in the distance. With this strong wind the local kite skiers are out on the bay enjoying the wind. 

Glenn kite skiing on the bay

We come up to the hill across from the shore where I believe the igloo is located (I'm just not sure exactly how far and in which direction to go along this hill). We have now been out on the bay for a good 40 minutes in -40C weather and we try climbing the hill to get a better view to see in which direction to go to reach the igloo. Nothing. We can't see anything anywhere. We decide we will have to pack it in and head back since we don't know which exact direction to head in and we don't want Nicolas out in this weather too long. So, we sadly we head back home without having found the igloo.

However, being as stubborn as I am, I decided we would head out again the next week but this time without Nicolas. Easier to stay out longer and move faster when we don't have to tow a crying 2-year old in a sled. The day is clear and sunny- gorgeous! We head towards the bay and from the street along the shore we see the igloo!! Unbelievable- that hour-long trek onto the bay and we couldn't see anything and here we are staring at the igloo and realizing we had just been 10 metres from the igloo the previous weekend and just couldn't see it because of the blowing snow! Crazy.

We get out to the igloo and it is as incredible as we had imagined it would be. The igloo even has a window made out of frozen water! Amazing. Below are a few photos of us having fun at the igloo. It was definitely worth the journey to get to the igloo!!

Igloo in Cambridge Bay

 Randall in front of the igloo door- close fit!

Hanging out in the igloo

Randall in front of the igloo window

 Igloo snow bricks

Randall in front of the igloo

Cold!!!

The last few weeks have been extremely cold and I have not ventured out much other than to go to work and the store.  When I say cold I mean it has been ridiculously cold in the range of -50C with the windchill. The wind is actually so strong that it can actually throw grown men around!! The wind picks up the fine snow that floats across the land and creates whiteout conditions as it blows the snow so much that doors are suddenly covered with snow drifts and people need to be dug out of their houses! The other day we had almost blizzard-like conditions where you couldn't even see down the road because of the amount of snow being blown around.

Another problem that one encounters with strong winds and cold temperatures is that EVERYTHING freezes insanely quickly. On a two minute walk from my house to the store I was walking into the wind and was facing the direction of the sun which was blinding me and so my eyes started to tear up and by the time I had reached the store about a minute later there was a piece of ICE that had formed on my upper eyelid!!!!  This is worse than when you get ice on your eyelashes as it doesn't really irritate your eye, but ice on your eyelid directly rubs on your eye and feels EXTREMELY strange!! Thankfully the piece of ice wasn't very big and it quickly melted once I got inside.

Ice frozen on my upper eyelid

Even the outside of the house is suffering from the cold temperatures and my chimney is freezing over and I have lovely icicles building all around the chimney and roof of the house. Thankfully the ice hasn't covered over the entire chimney so I am still fine and have heat. 

Icicles covering our house and chimney

This week a number of people whose houses are on the outskirts of the community have been dealing with frozen water pipes as the wind and cold get in under the houses (all houses are built on 'stilts' as they can't sit directly on the ground as they would melt the permafrost and the ground would become unstable) and the pipes can't withstand the cold and freeze. No running water or use of toilets in the dead of winter is not fun!! I am very happy that our house has both a skirt (cover over the bottom of the house to prevent most of the wind from getting in under the house) and is also in the middle of the community so we don't get the brunt of the wind hitting our home directly.  

House on stilts with no skirt covering the bottom of the house

Brain Freeze

So I've had my first 'wind brain freeze'! As I'm sure most people have experienced, when you drink an icy cold drink too quickly you get a sudden 'brain freeze'. Well, this is the exact same feeling but from simply walking in the wind. You're walking along and the wind hitting your forehead causes a sudden painful 'brain freeze'! Now I guess this is what would be expected when the temperature outside is -39C and with the wind it feels like -54C!!! The arctic wind brain freeze..lol.

My colleague from work all bundled up on her way home for lunch

I had another first today, as well. I get into the office and start to warm up and then I receive a phone call. It is my colleague from work and she is trapped inside her house! Very similar to the phrase 'I've fallen and I can't get up.." well this is the arctic "I'm stuck and I can't get out.."!! So I reassure her and tell her I'm on my way and start to run through some of the possibilities of why her door might be blocked (e.g., snow blown up against the door, ice in the doorframe, lock frozen, etc) and I start collecting shovel, ice scraper, lock deicer to see which item will do the trick. I get to her house and I can see her from the window trying to push the door open from the inside with no luck. The door doesn't have snow blown up against it keeping it from opening, so must be frozen shut. Yes- doors here can FREEZE shut so that you're unable to open them! Apparently a hair dryer serves the double purpose of thawing your door frame so you can get out of your house!! Good thing I finally decided to invest in a hair dryer after 30 years (figured natural hair drying wasn't such a good thing in the frozen arctic..lol). So, knowing that the door was likely frozen shut the only option was to try and push it in from outside and I proceed to throw myself against the door and with a sudden bang, the door jerks open and I see a very greatful colleague. The doorframe was covered in ice and the door had simply frozen over. To the point that we were unable to close the door again as there was too much ice in the doorframe, so we had to leave her house with the door slightly ajar!  Randall became quite the master at manually 'de-icing' the doorframe with his 'ice machete' (i.e., a long flat kitchen knife) when we were having problems with the door freezing over. 

Ice that built up in the doorframe overnight

Randall chipping away the ice in the doorframe

Home Sweet Home

Seeing as Google came into the community last year with a special bicycle to capture the street view in Cambridge Bay, I have been able to find a picture of our house here to show everyone.

As you can see it is a one-level home and the bottom of the house has a skirt covering the "stilts" the house sits on as houses here are not built directly on the land as the heat from the house would melt the permafrost.  You can also see the bay behind the house as we have a quick walk to the shore (hopefully this will be nice in summer). Right now we see people that drive their snowmobiles & cars out onto the frozen bay to go ice fishing or even the occasional kite skier (will post photo shortly). Still waiting to see those elusive northern lights over the bay!

The Sun Returns!

After waiting over a month to see the actual sun again, I was thrilled to see the beautiful sunrise this morning around 11:30am. I ran out of the house and down to the bay to capture the sunrise and right at the same moment I saw a woman taking her three huskies out for a run on the frozen bay. Everybody is very excited to see the sun again this week!

Water and Sewage Tanks

We had an interesting learning experience today that involved the water and sewage tanks at the house. All the houses in the community have fuel, water and sewage tanks attached to the houses and there are municipal service trucks that come around and fill/vacuum out the tanks.

Water truck delivery

Now, how exactly one knows they are getting close to emptying these tanks, I don't know but I ended up learning the hard way today. I noticed that when I turned the tap on or flushed the toilet there was a strange noise the water was making as it was coming out and I thought to myself, god I hope this doesn't mean we're getting low on water. Sure enough, not 20 minutes later I see the warning light on the water tank turn on- NO!!!! Suddenly all the things I still needed to do with water over the weekend started flashing through my head: this is not good! I saw all the trucks making their rounds in the neighbourhood and I prayed they'd stop at my house, but I think maybe because I am new in town they didn't remember to fill up my tank. Thankfully, though, I called the dispatch number and I was able to get the truck to come back and I tell you I've never been so happy to see a water truck in my life- now I can go and have a shower!

Typical house 

The other interesting thing about water and sewage tanks is that there seems to be some connection that when the sewage truck comes by and takes away your sewage, the house suddenly becomes permeated with the smell of sewage! Not a pleasant odour! The trick I've been told to handle this issue is that as soon as you hear the sewage truck coming through you run to turn on your taps and flush your toilet and this helps to alleviate the smell of sewage in the house.

Oh and then add to this the fact that the water itself at a given time of year smells like fish! Apparently the lake where they draw the water from isn't always aerated, so the water can take on a fishy smell. This happened the other day when having finished a load of laundry I went to put it into the dryer and noticed that all my clothes smelled like fish! You just have to laugh!