-56F Windchill and Goodbye to the mortgage

Brutal day up here as the windchill is in the -50 region, locally blowing snow horizontally, and the blizzard forecast overnight had the Churchill scouts' overnighter called off as no one knew if the roads would be open. Just another day in sub-arctic paradise.

We had geared up all day for the scouts with Laura the cook on her feet literally all day and we got the cancel call only 30 minutes before we expected them to arrive. The worm and dirt cake is now in the freezer as an experiment to see if when it thaws out next week it will be edible and whether we'll be able to insert the worms.

On the positive side my cribbage buddy Roger "starman" arrived bearing a box of Tim Horton donuts and new decks of cards plus a new game Crib Wars, a cribbage game with penalties, shortcuts, etc. Looks interesting.

Aurora forecast for tonight is good but we need the clouds to cooperate by going elsewhere. The week-long photography group arrived today and are quite anxious to photo the auroras and get out to the landscapes. Maybe fortunately their bus did not start after lunch and the hood would not open - going out in -50 windchill is not conducive to anything, it's hard to get your mind to focus when you are thinking frostbite and "how long will it take for me to die if the bus won't start again?"

It must be "bring your daughter to work" week as both Nick the Polar Bear expert and "starman" have their daughters coming up. Nick's will probably get to fly in the helicopter out to the mama and cub bears, lucky girl!

Linda got to spend the night in town Monday so was able to get some kitty love. We do miss our cat Bailey.

Let's see....what do I have for new pictures?

Aurora along southern tree line, unusual location for us

 The auroras are usually overhead or to the north of us. First time I had seen them this far south. And it turned into quite a lively display later in the night. The Earthwatchers were almost delirious! I'll try to post a timelapse and a few more pics in the next post.

Next two pics are of day or two old tracks (at the time a week or so ago) of a mom and two cubs crossing the road on their way to the Bay. Note the two sets of tracks on the right.

Mother polar bear and two cubs trekking towards Hudson Bay recently

Why did the polar bears cross the road? To get to Hudson Bay

So, the thing to remember is that there are always bears around. This time of year it is the mother with the newborn cubs. And she is hungry not having eaten since December or so. And you would look quite tasty. Mike, the CNSC director, told me a story of following such tracks into a wooded area which is unusual for mother bear and cubs and he kept just getting closer on the skimobile when he decided to get the heck out of there. Circumnavigating the tree island he determined that the bears were still in it so he made the right decision!

Valentine's night full moon rise through low clouds

 With a Valentine moon setting the stage like this, you know the night was right for ....

Just another ho-hum aurora pic over the old launch facility blockhouses

 Taken the same night on the southern side.

The Earthwatch group was hot to build and sleep in an igloo and did. Construction took longer than expected. Note the mailbox and the barely visible Shell logo on top of the igloo. Many of the Earthwatchers that come up in the winter are sponsored by Shell.

 

The igloo built by the Earthwatch group

Inside of igloo with 8mm lens

Donna our other volunteer with near full moon and aurora

Oh, and what was that about the mortgage? Yup, we paid the final installment today. Long haul what with college, cabin foundation and other repairs, a wedding, and more. But all well worth it.

Mortgage going up in flames