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| Monday morning the weather is improving!!! |
I had decided that Monday would be wash
night...simply because the cupboard was getting bare. The previous
week, one of the nurses, had offered the washer and drier in her
unit, I took her up on the offer since if I'd get called in...at
least the laundry was secure..Eight days later, it was time, once
again.
As I mentioned earlier, we had a storm
most of the weekend. Starting as predicted at noon on saturday, it
raged through to the wee hours of monday morning (-58 with the wind
chill and winds gusting to 68 km/hr). I'm getting very used to
this...cancellations and re-bookings are a way of life, here in Rankin
Inlet and most of the north. We are so heavily dependent on the air
traffic it is quite interesting but at the same time quite
frightening as you realize the consequences of that vital link...and
the outcome should flights not be available.
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| Snow Covered Quad! |
Sunday evening just prior to supper, I
got a call to come in. I arrived after “a stroll”...through the
blustery gale force winds to find my patient in the ER room.
Conveniently, my xray room is right next to it and has an adjoining
“en suite” entrance. It's very convenient. We finished our
filming and returned him to his room. My first actual multiple
trauma. Most accidents happen at home, as did his. The ambulance had
picked him up at his residence and delivered him to us.
We did our job, arrangements for his
care meant we would be transferring him. The cards were dealt for an
medevac out to Winnipeg. He was soon ready for transport...but the
planes were not flying. He was bedded down and preparations were made
so that safe transfer could occur once the storm broke. He was off
the ground around 3 a.m., would be arriving about 6 a.m. and be at
the hospital by 7 a.m.
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| Our bay window was "painted" by the storm |
You can hear planes taking off and
landing, if you listen, at various times of day...mostly when you are
outside. The larger planes can be heard when you are standing inside
near a window (and the TV
is off). I'm starting to know some of the
scheduled times and glance out the windows when those times are near.
The airport is not three minutes by truck from the centre of town and
I could walk there from my apartment...we'll see what the weekend
weather has in store.
I would like to get out this weekend
and take some photos at the other end of town. There are a couple of
images, I would like to capture, but I need the weather's cooperation
to achieve success. One thing that is dependable is we will have
weather...what kind...well, it's just a matter of time. We have
almost a full moon rising about 4 p.m. from “out the bay”, as the
sun is setting about 75 minutes later in the west.
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| As the weather improves, the traffic increases |
As the weather has improved so has the
traffic on all level, quads, trucks, SUVs and snow machines. Most of
the community has taken the time to dig out their ramps, steps,
parking lots. Amazing how extension cords keep working their way to
the surface of the snow....and the maintenance guys and gals here
have to defrost and warm things outside BEFORE they can even attempt
repairs.
Inside is a different story. The
buildings here have windows that open outwards usually...not vertical
or side sliders. I'm told that the summer months here are even more
spectacular as the hill where the inukshuk stands is completely lined
with violet coloured flowers. Even with the changing seasons, air
conditioning is not something that is normally required. The heat in
buildings does not stop in the summer apparently, just the windows
open and there are screens so there must be flying critters...more
research on this is definitely needed.
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| No drive through here..the window would be frozen shut! |
Hope you did even better!
