Mid-December already! That’s a little crazy – I had forgotten how quickly time passes in my little cabin east of town. You always seem to be busy doing something that in reality is I guess nothing; stuff like splitting wood, carrying water, walking/scavenging, warming up the truck, talking about home renovations that will never be completed, making coffee, making supper, writing, painting, driving to town. Could be worse.
A south wind today has brought a bit of flurries and warmer temperatures – the past week has been hvoering near -25 to -30 with -40 to -50 windchill. There are a few frostbite marks walking around town now, the dark, dead skin on cheeks making folks look like NFL Arctic tryouts.
The northern lights have made their appearance now that tourist season is over. This past week, we have had three really nice shows. The first as giant green globs lavalamping across the sky and the latest a sharp staccato of green fluttering and poking into pinks. Pretty nice, both worth getting out of bed for – a bedtime which now seems to waver between 9pm and 2am depending upon mood and motivation. Morning invariably comes with the first light of day, which is luckily only around 8:30.
The sun sets around 3:30 now, short days for Churchill but then again, most arctic communities are in permanent night these days so again, not complaining. There is usually only time for one dog sled training run of about 30-40 miles in a day like that – moving at 10mph, it has a way of taking up most of the day – still there is no better way to travel than dogsled and the long sub-arctic sunsets are best seen standing on sled runners.
Fresh moose tracks are seen along the trails and locals are out hunting moose on a daily basis. Its that time of year – seasonal employment at Parks Canada and the Port of Churchill are over and polar bear tourists have all left as well. Time to tune up the snowmobiles, clean your guns and go get a moose for the freezer… even if hamburger is on sale at the northern store for eight bucks a package…
