January Pictures

Well it is another beautiful January in the banana-belt of Nunavut! Matt and I went for a nice ride last weekend. My husband- the over protective nurse- didn't want me skidooing out of town until I was out of the first trimester. So our little Fetus got to go on a good rip. I didn't go far from town, but it was still nice to be out. The sun is back up with just over 5 hours of sunlight now a day. My plants are happy to get some real light again! Enjoy the pictures!

Here is Matt and his kamiks standing on the thick sea-ice. There hasn't been a lot of snow this winter and there are many spots that you can see the ice. It is so beautiful!

Hey Clare- your boat looks great! I want to go for a ride with you one day when you come and pick it up!

My super cute husband! We are enjoying our last winter on our own. Next year there will be a cute baby in all of the pictures!

The East Coast Vacation

Here are some pictures of our Christmas in Cape Breton. Highlight #1 was telling our folks that we were pregnant. Highlight #2 was poking at a dead whale. I know, I am a little odd, but that whale was great!

Here are the parents opening up their picture frames. It took them a few minutes to get the clue!

And highlight #2- Dead Whale!

So this whole pregnant thing....

Well being pregnant is interesting. We had been trying since last Christmas, so when it finally happened we were very excited! However, right from about week 5 I have had morning sickness that is actually all day and night. At one point I was at home for a week! I was just too sick to go to work. That made it interesting as we were keeping it a surprize for our parents for Christmas. My mother asked why I wasn't at work so I got to make up stories like the furnace wasn't working, blizzard, wild attacking hikhiks, etc. Soon though my great nurse husband put me on some wonder pills that make the nausea much more bearable. I still manage to throw up at least once a day though, but this is better than it was! For some reason the cold really seems to bother me. As soon as I go outside I start to throw up. It makes for a miserable walk to work and back. Perhaps I should go on a 5 month vacation to a nice hot country. It would be a nice change from the -50C windchills we have this week!

Other than that, everything up here is good! Honestly all I think about is having a baby. I now have a one track mind. We are probably going to head to Edmonton to have the baby. Since I will be out for the whole month of June, I can shop and then send everything I buy to Hay River by a trucking company just in time for the barge! If anyone knows of a good doctor there please let me know! I have to get one lined up sometime.

Oh, something almost as exciting- the computer guy for work is arriving on Sunday and guess what he is bringing me! McDonalds!! Yaaaahhhh!! I know, the stuff is crap, but I just love a cheeseburger and mcnuggets. And I only eat the stuff twice a year, so I feel okay with it. mmmmmmm I cannot wait for Sunday!

I have another request from someone in the real world- please send me fuzzy peaches, blue whales, red lips, red feet and coke bottles. I am craving gummies like mad. I will send you money! Please send me gummies! I am desperate!

Now to go outside and face those wild attacking hikhiks (siksiks for those of you out east)

:)

Now we can share our news...

Happy New Year Everyone!

We had a great Christmas over with Matt's folks in Cape Breton. My folks from BC came out for a week as well. Fun was had by all!

On Christmas Day we shared our news with our parents.... we are pregnant and due in early July!

We had kept it a secret from the parents so we could tell them in person at Christmas. It was so hard to hold in! I am pretty sure I told everyone in Kugluktuk that I was pregnant because I just had to share my news with someone!

We gave both sets of parents a frame with pictures of baby items out of the Sears catalogue and baby stickers. It took all of them a few minutes to figure it all out- I will post pictures on the weekend.

So far it has not been a fun pregnancy! I have been so sick I have missed a lot of work. The nausea and vomiting became so bad I have to be on medication for it. But it looks like everything is going well! I will be getting my ultrasound in about 3 weeks when the traveling ultrasound team is back in town. That will also give us a better due date.

So life up here in the North is going to change as well know it! However, a couple of elders here in town have told us we are having twins..... now that would be a shock to the system!

Out for the Holidays

Well today is the day!

We are headed to Matthews home- NewWaterford, Cape Breton!

And as a bonus, my folks from northern BC are flying out there as well.

This is going to be a hoot!

We will be back early in January.

We hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Happy Birthday Husband!

On Sunday it was Matt's 31st birthday. Last year we had a big bash for him, so this year we were pretty laid back. Poor Matt was actually nurse-on-call the whole day and had to spend most of it at work. However, we did find the time to go to a friends house for cake. This is the same amazing friend who made me my Musk-ox cake for my birthday! Check back a few entries to see the pictures. This cake was amazing and just perfect for a nurse!

What a piece of ass!

Here is my happy husband with his cake!

What a birthday cake!! And complete with thermometer!

Off to the Christmas Bazaar!

So I keep hauling a bunch of the stuff from my sewing store down to the bazaars and craft fairs. Well it is a hoot now that winter is here. I thought people would get a kick out of these pictures.


Here is our sled full of my supplies! My husband does a wonderful job of filling it up and tying it all in.

Here is my skidoo hooked up. The vehicle in the background belongs to the Health Centre, but it sat dead in our driveway all weekend.

I am an Auntie!

How exciting! My little brother Travis and his wife Corrienne just had their first child! He was born in the morning in Fort Nelson, BC on November 23rd and was just over 7lbs. His name is Damon Riley Hunter. What a cutie! I am a very excited Auntie! He has a great sense of timing as he was born on his Daddies birthday! Happy 25th Birthday Little Shit (also known as Travis)!!

I am a little sad because I won't be able to see them until next summer. But maybe by then he will be ready for his first drum set!!



The next generation of Hunters makes his appearance!


My amazing sister-in-law Corrienne and her new little boy:

Proud papa Travis and his little boy. I wonder if the kid will grow sideburns like his daddy one day!

Beautiful Berries!

In August and a bit into September I went berry picking a couple of times with some friends. I got about 10 cups of berries. I am sure I ate at least that much while picking them! I mixed them all together. I have cranberries, blueberries, bear berries, and lots of this little black berry. I spent time this long weekend to turn them into jam! I really love making jam and jelly. When I lived in Hay River I picked pounds and pounds of cranberries and make a lot of jars of cranberry jelly that I gave away at Christmas time. It is funny, I really hated berry picking when I was young, but I love it now!



Beautiful Colourful Berries!



The 10 cups of berries all ready for mashing. I missed a few twigs and leaves, but I think that just adds some extra fiber to the mix!

The finished product! 11 jars of "Nunavut Jam"!! Hopefully I pick a lot more next year!

End of Honda Season

Winter is here! Well it has sort of been here for a while, but over the last few days it snowed a lot and we had great wind! There were some drifts around town that were over 4 feet high! Today was the first sunny day in quite a while. So we went out on the last ride of the Honda for the season. The temperature tonight is -19C with the windchill at -30C. Definitely time to break out the skidoos!

I have to say that I really dislike daylight savings. I grew up in Dawson Creek, BC and we did not change time there! I know, odd, but it was great! But now I am inept at changing clocks. I like this time of year because I feel like I am getting ready to hibernate, but it is so hard to say goodbye to the sun! Time to break out the happy light.

Enjoy today's pictures!



Winter ready willow:


My poor Honda! It will spend the winter under the house hibernating.

The ice is starting to form. Weird though, last year in the third week of October I was out icefishing. And now the Coronation Gulf is still open.

The boats are slowly being put away for the winter.

Has your husband ever said this to you....

So my husband comes home from work the other day, runs into the house and says this line as he grabs his quad key:

"Honey, I am going to the dump to get you a present!"

Then he runs out the door, hops on the Honda (well Polaris Honda) and I watch him through the windows head to the dump with the wagon in tow.

I am left sitting at home with fond memories of going to the dump with my dad. We would come home with great stuff and always had a chance to poke at a dead bear, cow, etc while there. Mom would always be a little upset that we came home with more than we went with! I loved growing up in the boonies of Northern BC.

So about 20 minutes later I see him coming home, wagon full. Well I really lucked out! The Coop store decided to throw out these great storage doohickies that hold embroidery floss. There were two, but with the bit of damage from the dump, I only ended up with one good unit. But another bonus- in the bottom of one unit were these mini-yarns, about 20 of them, and still in great condition! So I shall now sell them in my store- I am very opportunistic!

Matt got the heads up about the priceless dump goodies from a great friend! The dump here is actually referred to as Canadian Tire. It is splendid!

So thank you husband for my great "present from the dump"!

Life up here is such a hoot. When people from the South ask us how we do it, I just smile and say it is easy. :)

Kara's Sewing Supplies

So two months ago I started my little business on the side selling sewing and craft supplies out of my porch. I spent a whopping $12 000 getting myself set up. I bought a little bit of everything. Until yesterday I had sold about $3500 worth of supplies. Not bad for two months.

But yesterday blew me away. I put about 1/3 of my supplies into rubbermaids and filled my quad trailer, my quad and my husbands quad and went down to the Complex for what was posted as a flea market. It was $20 a table to set up. I went down thinking that if I sold $300-$500 worth of supplies I would be happy.

So I set up my tables and was instantly busy! This wasn't even a big sale, it hadn't been very well advertised and not a lot of people came. In November the community starts having Christmas Bazaars and those are packed! Well I was blown away by the amount that I sold. I was set up for 3 and a half hours and I sold almost $1400 worth of supplies!! And I really got my name out there. People were pretty excited when I told them I had way more stuff in my house!

So far I have been able to sell my supplies cheaper than the Northern Store and the Coop. I still have a ways to go before I turn a profit, but I am learning quickly what people want. I am going to have to order more supplies throughout the year, which will cost me a bit more since it will have to be brought in on the plane. But I should be able to put together a really good barge order for next year.

I also had a lot of Elders purchase items from me at the complex. It so so cute to see the old women excited about the fabric!

So thank you Kugluktuk in making my little store so successful in only two months!

Got one for you Jaime!

Alright, I finally figured out my blog! Thank you Jaime for your help! I just could not seem to make that map work to follow my blog! Ah well.

So thank you Jaime for your help- I finally got the map off.

Now I got another one for you Jaime! So you won $500....

WELL I WON $1000!! Well it is a Canada Savings Bond... but that still counts! And I really did win it just recently!

I entered a contest in my Macleans magazine. The fine print said that there would be a one winner in EACH province and territory! So I figured I could be a shoe-in! How many people in Nunavut would enter. I made Matt enter so I would have some competition- and I kicked his butt! So I had to write a little letter saying how a $1000 Canada Savings Bond would help me live my dreams. Well I wrote the sappiest thing I could think of! I don't think I will be giving Clare a run for his money on his great writing, but $1000 isn't too bad of a start!

ps. Clare- I got to visit with your boat last weekend- it sure is pretty! I will try and get a picture for you!

Here is my story along with other winners:
http://www.csbstories.ca/winners.asp look under my name: Kara Went

I must warn you- I am not that sappy in real life. I am a professional bullshitter. I am sure that my BSc that I earned over 5 years at UNBC really stands for Bull Shit Certificate.


By the way- winter arrived here a couple of weeks ago. We have enough snow that the skidoos are out. I am going to give it a bit longer before I put away my quad. Today the temperature was -12, but the windchill was -21C. Matt finally made me put my sandals away. Although I have to admit my little toes were getting chilly even with woolies!

I will try to get some more pictures put up soon. Have a great day everyone!

Well it has been a while!! But the house looks amazing! My mother was up for two weeks and we worked her hard!

So we worked our butts off for two weeks and got a lot done. We put up new kitchen cabinets, new countertop, tile backsplash, wood wainscoting, installed a new dishwasher, stove fan, finished the floor in the kitchen, living room, hallway and master bedroom, built a new bed frame and rearranged my sewing supply store! Man oh man! What a tonne of work! And in between my mom cooked cookies, meat pies, cinnamon buns, homemade sausages and other goodies. I love my mom!

I do believe the value of our home has just gone up! Check out all of the pictures! We are still working on a bunch of little stuff and when I have the house put away I will post pictures of my clean, finished house!

Old kitchen, fridge view:

Old kitchen full on:

The start of the new kitchen. I didn't get any pictures of us taking out our old cupboards. They were the metal ones and had faux wood doors. They were rusty and had a lot of perma-dirt/grease that even a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser couldn't take off. The new cupboards are just the pressboard kind, but they have a nice maple laminate on the front. That is my mom in there with Matt. People here in town loved her! They kept commenting on how much we look alike, how young she looks and how handy she is!



Here is mom hard at work with the jigsaw.

My mom and I working on the wainscoting in the living room.

Matt and mom in the kitchen again working on the sink. We had some technical difficulties with the plumbing- but it all came together and it even all works!

Mom working on the tile backsplash. I am sure she is cursing at me here for taking her picture! doesn't the tile look amazing!

Matt working on our new bedframe. 6 rubbermaids on wheels slide in underneath it for even more storage. Notice our little helper cat? That is Freak and she was pretty upset that we took the bed apart!

Kugluktuk from the air

Here are a couple of pictures from the air of Kugluktuk. I was flying in from Cambridge Bay and I was on the right side of the plane to get some good pictures. I remember landing here for the first time 15 months ago and laughing when I saw that the runway was gravel. My husband was really wondering what I had gotten us into!

Tomorrow my mother is flying in and I am getting pretty excited! My dad is too busy with work to come up though. My mother is going to help us install our new kitchen and finish off the rest of the renovations. Right now I have no kitchen! All of the cuboards all pulled out!! So hopefully by next weekend I am posting pictures of our new kitchen!

An amazing treat on my birthday!

Actually, I got a few treats on my birthday! The first was from my husband who let me buy a nice little china cabinet at the Northern Store sale. It now holds our little collection of carvings. Then last night (my birthday) we had a spectacular thunder and lightning show! This is only the second time we have had a storm like that since we got here 15 months ago. The next treat was all of the people who showed up for my birthday bbq! I needed a good excuse to get everyone together. Then the final treat was unbelievable! A friend made me a birthday cake that was out of this world! She made me a muskox cake! The pictures don't do it justice! We are really blessed with the friends that we have here. Another friend of ours put it very well- he said that we all have relatives, but up here, the people that we surround ourselves with- are our family. I liked that.

Trip to CamBay

I got the change to go to Cambridge Bay for 5 days for work at the end of August. Well it was cold, windy, but I got to see muskox so I was happy! It was nice to see another community in Nunavut- so far I have only seen here and Iqaluit.


Here is the small herd that I saw. They were only about 1km away from town.



The DEW Line site there in town. It sure all looks out of place on the tundra!


Cambridge Bay had a very nice graveyard. Everywhere I go I take pictures of graveyards- I have no clue why! Kinda odd I guess!





Here is a cruise ship that was in town on the day that I arrived. It was so funny to see the tourists all dressed in toques, parkas and mittens and I just had my fleece pull over on! They didn't speak much English, but you knew from their voices in the Northern Store that they were blown away by the high prices!

Trips to the falls

My favorite quad ride so far is going out to Bloody Falls. It is about a 35km round trip, probably less if you don't bomb around at random around the tundra like I do! We have been up there quite a few times now by boat and quad. It is a good fishing spot and just an all around place to relax! Here are some pics from a few random trips:


Bloody Falls is there in the distance where the Coppermine River narrows (centre of picture). Still about 5km of quadding left to get there.

This pictures is taken from the falls looking back at where I took the above picture.

Here is part of the water moving through the narrows. People call them falls, but really it is just a very narrow spot in the river that the water moves through very quickly! I have no clue how the fish move up through this!

Here is a caribou hide out on the tundra. Someone probably shot it, and since the hides aren't very good in summer they left it behind. This picture was taken the 13th of August and you can already see that the tundra is turning brown.

Here is Matt relaxing on the rocks at the falls.

Me out on the tundra. Yep, I was wearing my light winter coat on the Labour Day weekend. It was pretty windy and cold! However, that all changed this week- we had temperatures up to +18! We broke records up here!

Here is our friend Amanda, sad that she didn't catch any fish! Her and I have been up there twice together and still no fish!

Me and my hubby!

Kugluktuk has been called the banana-belt of Nunavut because we always have warmer temperatures than the rest of the territory. We also have a lot more greenery than other communities. In some spots the willows are taller than me! Almost like having trees! We also have a lot of berries. I have been busy picking blueberries, blackberries, bearberries and cranberries. I almost have enough to make a big batch of jam! The only berry I have not found yet are akpiks. Maybe next year!

Here is a little hikhik jaw in the dirt.

On one of our trips to the falls we ran into a group of Danish guys who were canoeing down the Coppermine River. All they could talk about was getting into Kugluktuk and relaxing by ordering a beer. Well we had to break their hearts by telling them that there was nowhere to order a beer in town! They looked so sad! So the next day when they arrived Matt and I took them down our last 4 beer. They were so happy that they sent us home with about $60 worth of shotgun shells as a thank you!