Sea Cans & G-Cans

Most of the summer toys are under Snow and Ice

Everywhere you look, if you really look close, you will find evidence of a coastal culture. 

Under the snow and amongst

All set ready to go...it will be a while yet!

the drifts are some very fine boats...no sailboats so far, just speed boats...those with wide hulls, big motors. The kind you would take out in Lake Erie on a rougher day...but they are not enclosed. There all open hulled.

The main reason is transport, fishing, and whaling. These boats allow the family to visit relatives up the coast. They allow for fishing out on the big bay called HUDSON...and the hunting of walrus and whales, both beluga and narwhales. Of course, Narwhales, are controlled these days and require permits... sometime a community will get the permit for a whale and everybody becomes involved.

The main feature in town you will notice, appears to be discarded containers from the shipping companies. These are sold and bought like any commodity. You do require a hamlet permit, like any permanent structure, and are subject to some rules and regs.  People use them to store summer goods. Christmas decorations or any other item that may be seasonal. 

Frozen in place...what hides inside?

"Quads",  BBQ's, tools are stored and anything else that we might put in our basement for storage are placed inside....they have no basements here! If you sell your Sea-can, and it has to be moved to a new location, you simply call the front end loader over and the man with the CAT comes by and drives it to the new spot. Right now there won't be much movement and they are frozen solid to the ground and surrounded by a little bit of snow.

SEA Cans...found all over town

The new Garbage Collection Truck...in action

The G-cans have a few uses and come in a variety of sizes, shapes and colours. Primarily they are used for garbage, and dot the landscape...but closer examination on these during and after the big blizzard led me to a couple of other conclusions. Yes, they get packed with garbage and there is probably a schedule to the collection process. Often, travelling through the hamlet, is a very large garbage truck. It looks brand new, a year or two at the most, and obviously from its size had to come into this town by sealift as do most commercial vehicles, trucks, buses and the heavy equipment that we've seen used over and over. You got to have the tools to do the job.

Hiding out of the wind, but in the sun. An hour later, the wind swung and they were gone

One of the most prominent beasts in town is curiously absent these days. After the big blizzard they seemed to disappear. I have yet to find one or confirm it. I have seen the ravens in town, tearing the garbage bags and spreading a mess along the way, much like our seagulls do. They are wiley...they avoid the coldest weather by maintaining the presence on the lee side of the buildings, well out of the wind. During a coffee break last week, I was asked if I noticed that the ravens were absent, then was  told that they have started to nest for the season. Now the weather today is -28 and the news is that ravens are nesting.

This brought forward the conversation about the collection of eggs, goose and duck. The Inuit use them in their diet since living chickens are not found in this area. I then made the mistake of asking if they used the raven's eggs...You could have heard an ULU drop..."they're garbage eaters" was the first response..."we don't eat garbage eggs" was the second. Of all the crazy questions or statements that I've made since I arrived, this one seemed to hurt. I apologized but then I was asking questions. There may be reasons for the short fuse with the recent publicity about garbage and some citizens using the dump to find food. It was a hot topic in the news and lead to the deputy mayor's resignation.

The garbage cans mark the streets in "Old Town"

After the big storm, I noticed that you couldn't find the roads,or streets, just because the volume of snow and the resultant drifts in certain parts of town. You could imagine where the roads might have been...but here in Rankin Inlet, you could see the tracking of the streets. The people clearing the snow, post storm, also knew where the streets were. It was simplistic...the was a row of barrels along the side of the street, sometime both sides.

It's where the residents place their garbage for pickup...and the barrels provide a landing strip effect allowing the plowing teams to get the clearing done, when necessary. There are other bins around town in the larger buildings, including our health centre, with lids, but no one in winter uses the lids and the ravens and been seen ripping the green plastic to shreds and getting to the contents.

All ready for the new truck

The ravens are smart...One story that surfaced was about a dog in summer, whose owner had put food in the bowl, withing reach of the dog's chain. The story teller said the raven landed and moved around the spike until the dog became entangled in the chain as became shorter. As the chain became shorter the dog could not longer reach the bowl of food and the raven was free to enjoy the meal.

My education had continued as did those stories....an old computer adage came to mind..."Garbage in....well you already know the rest!"      

The Road to Nowhere...

The frozen car graveyard..just wait til Spring..oh wait...it's Spring

...it both starts here and ends here in Rankin Inlet. This hamlet received a boatload full of trucks, and vehicles in the last sealift. The numbers are astounding... I've been told that as many as 150 arrived last year alone. That's quite possible...I've also been told that at least1/4 of those are un-useable currently. Cold temps are the contributing factor.

All plugged in during  the blizzard

First the vehicle MUST be equipped with a block heater. In Winnipeg, the hotel parking lot provided an electrical hookup to plug your vehicle in....it's mandatory here, in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, or your engine block will be frozen solid by the next morning...defrosting here in the midwinter is quite expensive while most embarrassing at the same time.  The normal vehicle operating procedure includes details such as "the vehicle must be started 15-20 mintues BEFORE driving the vehicle."

The new lower level parking lot at the health centre has electrical hookups on the metal barrier just like the upper parking lot.

All vehicles running while the owners are shopping, banking, or visiting Tim's

Be back later with heavier equipment to finish the clearing

Each morning around the apartment complexes, there is a stream of fully outdoor-dressed persons..starting their cars...unplugging the block heaters, then going back inside and finally returning more than a quarter hour later for the 5-8 minute commute to work. At noon, staff at the health centre don their cold winter gear and go outside to start their vehicles about 20 to twelve..it's just the routine you have to do.  You must be fully dressed for the outside...you just can't run and start and run back in...wouldn't be a wise choice, perhaps in the summer and warmer weather, but not now. 

The buses transport the kids morning, noon and night

Here, no one drives their kids to school...if they do, it's a rare occasion...there are school buses for transport...both before school begins in the morning and after school ends. The buses also drive the kids home at lunch and pick them up, thereafter, for their afternoon classes. It keeps them out of the strong winds...and, at certain times of the yea,r safe from animals as well.

There are kids playing outside all the time...Minus temperatures are not a reason to remain inside...unlike the south...they embrace it...it's part of the culture, a large part of their life. Blizzards and high winds are different...and close businesses and offices as well as the schools. They do not take chances with their lives here. They are always aware of the weather and Inuit wireless network (telepathy) is active...and word spreads fast. Last week, when we closed early because of the rolling electric blackouts affecting our communications...landlines, cells and internet...someone asked who declared the building closed....the answer was the name of a clerk in our stores area...not half wrong, it turned out!

Another road temporarily to nowhere

No one locks their car or truck doors....too much power would have to be used to unlock as the locks would have frozen closed overnight...and then the battery might not be strong enough to turn the engine over to start. If the vehicle was stolen...they wouldn't be able to drive it far, as there are no roads south. NONE..NADA...Unlike you see on TV, there is no road that comes north....no Ice Road truckers. There's talk..and it might happen in time...but a connection south would change this place very dramatically....and contribute to losing the charm.

The cars, and trucks are left running all the time, outside stores, banks, the post office and many parking lots. It's a chance to warm the inside...but also to recharge that important battery...and it has to be a heavy duty with arctic extreme cranking power. Never seen a CAA vehicle...but a few jumper cables from time to time.  The service man usually arrives by snow machine..cables in a box on back...and a huge battery also mounted...often it's the neighbour, cousin, or other relative or friend.

RANKIN INLET AIRPORT known as  "CYRT"...busy night and day

The airport is the main link in and out..I'll soon be using its facilities...but my patients have been. Medical evacuation is common...more common than I had ever realized. Whether it's a "hot" appendix, or another surgical intervention that requires emergency surgery, all the communities including ours (the largest medical facility in KIVALLIQ), rely upon the various regional medevac options. Sometimes, due to weather, or flight crews being unavailable or the planes and equipment already in use, the patient awaits transport. Sometimes mere hours turn into days. Last week we had a plane diverted, we swapped the patient ONBOARD for the one at the health centre, providing a temporary home, while our more "critical" was transferred to Winnipeg on that plane. A different plane came in later to finish the initial transfer...such are the ways here, winter and summer.

These "Honda's" are built for all kinds of weather, heavy duty tires, extra light for the dark times...and extra bins for gear.

In the summer months, the "honda's" are the main mode of transport out to the cabins and lakes, rivers and streams for camping, fishing and picnics.Whole families climb aboard...as many as six or seven..all balancing...and did I mention that seat belts are used sparingly.  They are tough here, live a tough life, conquer a tough climate and I have the greatest of admiration for the residents.

The best example I can give is the patient that arrived a few weeks ago...He was a shoulder that I had to xray from an injury sustained a few weeks earlier. The relevant clinical history stated: "Skidoo injury on the land. Comatik/sled landed on chest and body. Sustained head injury from the Comatik travelling at 40 k/hr. Large laceration to scalp bleeding and right eye closed shut. Patient complaining of pain in upper back on the right." 

Many 'Quads' are used sparingly in the winter..they're a warm weather machine

At home, after an ambulance ride to the local hospital, he might have ended up in ICU a day or two, and would have had, at the least, a CT of the head and chest. In Rankin Inlet a few weeks later, he had his shoulder xrayed...at his convenience...since he was out hunting. I've met "tough"a few times now...just another example.

Time for a career change....

My second full moon is soon here

It's a week before Easter and my return visit to Ranking Inlet, Nunavut Territory is soon coming to a close. When I started to review my blog and looked back, I couldn't help but notice how much has changed in just a few short weeks. After a couple of weeks I stopped wearing the face mask protector, except during the big blizzard...the extra hood has also been put away. For a week now I've worn a baseball cap to prove the point that in -30C temps...spring is here! Today, I didn't wear my snow pants.

I just returned from the Health Centre, the second time on a friday night and it wasn't even 9 p.m. Tonight's sunset was another blue sky, drop dead gorgeous red ball descent. On the way back "home" the moon was greater than half, shining brightly, glistening of the new snow that fell today.

There are more "CATS" here than in any Broadway production!

When I arrived here in early February, the new moon soon became a slit, finally full and is now a few days away from full. It will be the second time since I arrived. During that time we have had our 'share' of momentus events. The 3 night blizzard with winds approaching 140 km/hr and above was probably an event that ranks right up there. The cleanup took more than a week and from the heavy equipment used, mechanics here will be busy with spring maintenance...whenever that arrives. The new power poles and transformers on them performed as expected and no power outages were recorded to my knowledge during the "big blow".

It took almost 6 hours to clear the hotel parking lot.

 

Many drifts were above my head...and those were the small ones

Same drift...different angle...a few hours earlier

The best/worst story of the blizzard...and there were many...was my patient on the last day of the storm. He arrived with a sore shoulder. Hockey? I asked as he shook his head in denial..."Was walking yesterday to the store during the storm", he continued, and "I was following the big snow drift..walking on top....couldn't see only a couple of feet ahead." Then he came to the swath that had been cut across the drift..by the front end loader..so cars could travel the road. Gravity took over and down about 6 feet he fell. He could have been killed from the fall, found frozen the next day, but he went home with a sore shoulder so he wouldn't bother anyone during the storm.  

The rotating hydro blackouts last week added some drama to an already "fun" filled week. That was caused by one of the three generators going down...but it's now history. The frozen water mains, could not be predicted and according to a conversation at breakfast are happening all over town as the hamlet has expanded with new buildings,and the flows in the circulation of that system have changed. The other interesting fact from that talk was that this time of year, and in the next month, as the sun warms the surface of the ground it can drive the frost deeper...so they may be seeing more of Big Bertha, soon, around these streets.

The "Big Bertha" watermain defrosting team...working their magic !!

Five days after the big blizzard, the work to clear continued

While the infrastructure has improved and continues to do so, the new water supply line is now in place and will commence to bring fresh supply of water into town from miles away. The final approvals have been granted and crews are ready in the warm weather to begin that process, and should ensure a steady supply for the next 20 years or more.

Minerals will continue to be the focus as more mines come online. Logistics, being an important part of any change, are the main barrier. The lead time for heavy equipment arriving by sealift in the summer months takes almost 2 and a half years from approval to delivery. The landscape is dotted with "c" cans. These are remnants left from the delivery of goods, act a storage units and are well used for everything from wind blocks to garages. Actually it's SEA CANS...since they arrive by the sea and bring everything from autos to xray film.

There will be tankers arriving in the warmer months to reload the tank farm so that the community will be able to function during the next winter. Heating oil, diesel, aviation fuel and automobile gas are all fluids that need replentishment for the town to function...and they need to order for the entire year in advance. Snow machines, bombadiers, "Honda's", SUV's and trucks all will need to be brought into shore from delivery vessels, anchored just offshore. With 24 hours of daylight the work is continuous and contracts allow much bonus money to be made as deadlines are shortened in the already concise "nice" weather.

The tank farm "up the hill" just out of town.

There is an abundance of east coasters here. More "newfoundlanders" can be found here than in St. John's...not really but they are a large group. With so many around, I may have developed a slight newfie accent. The biggest change, though, is the constant replacement of contract health care workers. While more Inuit are now starting to fill key positions, the bulk of health care workers are imports. Many come for a 4-6 week contract and leave, vowing to return. One thing that has been more noticeable, this trip, is the number of Inuit who are starting to take those higher responsibility jobs. Many of the contract spots are nurses. With my time here coming to and end, I wanted to introduce you to some of the St. Catharines General connection.

Nurse Bette upon Graduation

For a time there were three former "General" employees working here at the Kivalliq Regional Health Centre and another from the former Hotel Dieu on Onatario Street. Linda, Bette and I all worked together for many years at the General Hospital in St. Catharines. Both of them worked ER, while I was in Xray. Linda and I actually attended our anatomy classes back then as the xray and nursing students took those classes together in the same lecture hall...the Leonard Classrooom. I just found out last night that our teacher, was the daughter of a "mover and shaker" of universal health care, Tommy Douglas.

Nurse Linda at Graduation

Years later, here in Rankin, we have been working to provide quality care. The graduating pictures from the class of 71 and 66 (sorry girls) show we have hardly changed. Of course my graduating class was much smaller and less formal. Linda and Bette have been here for many years...Linda has been the Nurse in Charge at the Health Centre working here for almost 15 years and Bette has been coming here for almost as any years as well but on a contract basis.  I'm the new one as this is my second "tour". 

Back in January 2008, I survived an eight day "canadian record breaking" blizzard and rotating blackouts. This time I have survived several blizzards (the longest 3 days), multiple days of rotating electrical blackouts AND frozen water supply distribution. I've survived at least 6 hockey tournaments of various ages and genders. Here, the days have more daylight than at home in Niagara...and the sun is stronger and brighter every day.

Semi-retired, I wondered if I would be able to survive the daily regimen for this length of time and surprisingly have enjoyed every minute. They tell me the fishing is good a few miles inland. Many lakes hardly ever get "touched"...but that's the summer and currently everything is a few feet under ice. It'll take a little while to thaw...perhaps it's time for a career change....what if I sold cameras? I may be getting out of town at a good time.