The House & other Arctic musings

Avalanche!

Saturday afternoon I headed out to the St George Society Cliffs to check on the Gyrfalcons.  It was a beautiful sunny day, but a little breezy. I wasn't too concerned that I couldn't see any birds. I assumed that one bird was on the nest, tucked back in the aerie where I couldn't see, and that the other was off hunting. I'm amazed of how good a spot that these birds have chosen. The spot on the cliff is in a large hollow where some time in the past a great part of the cliff face fell into the ocean. The little cave of the actual nest is even located under a larger overhang, further protecting them from the elements.  The nest was well whitewashed, as were the half dozen or so prominent perches used by the birds.

I hung around for about an hour, walking to the base of the cliff to see if there were any prey remains to be found below, there wasn't.  Two things always surprise me when I come out here. One is how the sheer size of the cliffs messes up my perspective. I always think I park closer to the cliffs than I do and it startles me when I start walking and don't seem to close the distance. The other is that I always think I'm going to get creamed by a rock fall when I'm under there, close to the base.

Although the snowmobile seems close to the cliff in this picture, it is probably 75 metres from the face.

Now while that might seem like a irrational fear it's not.  There are always a lot of rocks on the ice that have fallen, and often when I'm out there in the spring, when everything is quiet, I can hear the "click clack clack" as a rock falls away somewhere along the face.  From 600 feet, even a small rock would sting.

The cliffs were surprisingly quiet, no ravens at play, no Gyrfalcons, the only sound was the groaning of the ice as it shifted up or down with the tide. I went back to the snowmobile, laid back on the seat, and waited. It was gloriously warm, for fortuitously I had parked directly into the wind, and the windshield actually did what it was suppose to do (does anyone else find these things far too short? What is the point?) and I basked in the sun. 

I hung around for an hour or so, tried to find a place where I might be able to better see inside the nest, and then headed back to town, pausing to pick up a wayward fellow blogger. Okay, not really wayward, Darcy was out for a walk, photographing the cliffs.

I was troubled that I didn't see any birds, and headed out again Sunday for the aerie. Perhaps troubled is the wrong word, I would just be more comfortable to see them, and know that the aerie was alright. Sunday was another gorgeous day, even though it was a little windier than the day before, and I fairly sped out to the spot to see.

Once again, I could see no birds, and as I waited I ran possibilities through my head.  Had my trip out the other day disturbed the beginnings of their nesting season? The bird on perch had seemed very nonplussed at Travis' and my presence. Had I only imagined seeing the top of the second birds head on the nest and was the bird I saw the sole bird vainly waiting the return of its mate? Or am I just not seeing the bird on the nest, while the other is away foraging (the aerie is high enough up that unless the bird was standing on the nest, or at the edge you wouldn't be able to see it from below)?  What ever the case I spent close to two hours waiting, in vain.

Once again the cliffs, for the first while, were strangely quiet, but then I heard the calling of a Raven from somewhere high on the cliff face, and then a second in answer.  They were making calls (each distinct) that I had not heard before and then when the second bird appeared the first left its perch and the two soared high along the top of the cliffs, calling constantly. They left for awhile but kept returning all the time I waited.

Once again I took a walk to the cliff face, but this time I was startled to see that a fairly large rock fall had occurred since my last visit. Judging by the distinct tracks in the snow it didn't occur long before my return, remember it was blowing a good wind.  Some of the rocks had bounced and rolled and ended up perhaps forty or fifty feet from the cliff, and there were a lot of them lying around.  Some had smashed or even cratered the new ice formed from upwelling tidal water. Here are some pictures of the rock fall.

Some of the rocks, well away (perhaps 20 metres) from the cliff face.

Another view, you can see some of the bounce marks and trails in the snow.

Follow the bouncing ball, er rock. My footprints are visible for scale.

Impact.

Another impact, with my glove for scale.

Hard to see in this picture, but this is a perfect little crater, about 18 inches across.

Some of the rock behind the tidal pressure ridges.

Notebook tales

Kate Nova, of Port town Ghosts, recently confessed her fear of the dreaded little black notebooks that police carry. I found a notebook to be a crucial piece of equipment, taking good notes at a scene can prove invaluable in court. The wheels of justice can turn very slowly at time, and when you're testifying about something two years or so after the fact good notes can really enhance your credibility.  But my all time favourite notebook story doesn't involve good notes, or even court, but it illustrates another time honoured use of a police notebook.

When I was in Thompson, Manitoba, way back when, two friends of mine went to a domestic in a nearby apartment block.  Let's call them Constable A and Constable B.  Constable A and B go to the domestic and handle it in a classic manner. They separate the two, and each one talks to the other, getting the stories, but keeping each other in sight.  By the time they had arrived though the arguement was over, they quickly determined that no offence had occurred, and neither party was in danger.  The two were just one of those couples that believe that the person that argues loudest, argues best, and they were both very loud.  The situation calmed, now it was safe, and the proper time to get the mundane details. Like names, dates of birth etc. 

Constable A started asking the questions and as he did he saw Constable B take out his notebook and write in it. Seeing no need to duplicate that task he didn't bother with his notebook. Their work there done, they headed back to the office for that part of police work that movies are made of... paperwork.  Constable A generously offered to write up the file and then the conversation went like this:

A:  I'll need your notebook B.
B: What do you need my notebook for?
A: You were writing down the names so I didn't bother, I just need to copy the details for the file.
B: I didn't take down the names.
A: What were you writing in your notebook?
B: The lotto 6/49 numbers were on TV.

Species at risk

The appearance of this news item on the CBC's site was especially timely in light of my last post. Some of my readers, I know, are wondering how an animal that has been in the news a lot, as a threatened species, can be hunted. Some of my readers I know, wonder how any animal can be hunted, but perhaps thats a post for another time.

The Polar Bear, as a species, is threatened. As a species it is also thriving in some locations, but despite this is still under threat. In the north Baffin, where I live, populations are growing. Yet the US government is planning on listing the the Polar Bear as threatened, and the Canadian Government has listed it as a species at risk.  What's going on?

The Polar Bear is facing a huge threat these days, one that if current climate trends continue, will see the sea ice, that the Polar Bear depends on, disappear. When the ice disappears, much of the arctic biosphere will disappear with it.  There is a possibility, of course, that remnant populations of bears, ringed seals, ice dependent whales such as Narwhal and Bowhead Whales, will survive, adapt, and re-emerge as new populations or species, but the pace of climate change makes that unlikely.

So where does hunting fit into all of this?  Really it doesn't factor into the threat.  Current hunting levels, at least in the regions I'm familiar with, are being done at sustainable levels. IQ or Inuit Traditional Knowledge is consistently saying that Polar Bear Populations are increasing. Science is hedging their bets, saying there have not been adequate populations studies done.  Opponents of IQ say that Inuit have a vested interest in saying populations are rising, but consider this... Inuit have been saying for years and years that the eastern population of Bowhead Whales was much higher than the estimates given by DFO and increasing.  They were largely ignored or scoffed at. Population estimates were in the low hundreds of animals for years. In recent years that estimate was increased to around 5,000, and now estimates number 14,400 (although the DFO prefers to say that they're 95 percent sure that the population is between 4,800 and 43,000). The Bowhead is a long lived (probably the longest lived animal on the planet, estimated at 200 years, perhaps more) relatively slow reproducing animal. Far too slow reproducing to jump from 300-400 to 14,400 in 10 years.

So should we rely solely on IQ when it comes to wildlife populations? Of course not, just like we shouldn't rely solely on the scientists when there are people here, very attuned to the land and the wildlife, with much data to contribute.  What we need to do is ensure that our federal, provincial and territorial agencies charged with managing our wildlife are better funded than they currently are, and that research into these populations is increased.  But I digress.

The current population of Polar Bears here is healthy and growing, however that will matter not a wit when the ice disappears, and hunting or the absence of hunting will not impact on this threat what so ever.  By listing the polar bears as threatened the US might be putting processes in place to help combat the threat, but to my mind it is a smoke screen.  Give people the impression you are doing something when the real problem is not being addressed.

I'm not being entirely accurate when I say that hunting will not have any impact on the threat, climate change, for it does.  It has a positive effect.  As much as those of us who live in the north like to think that we tread lightly on the earth, we don't.  The arctic is far from being carbon neutral. All of our electricity is generated by local diesel fired generators.  Heating is done by oil furnaces or burners. Our preferred methods of transportation, snowmobiles, ATVs and boats with outboard motors, tend to be at the high end of the polluting scale for combustion engines. Perhaps the biggest impact comes from the shipping of our food. 

While some of our dry goods are shipped up on sealift, most of the food - all of the produce, fresh and frozen foods, snack foods like potato chips with a short shelf life etc. - is flown here. A long long way. There is a very big carbon footprint up here for the amount of people.

Some friends who I've spoke to regarding hunting, when asked if they are familiar with the 100 mile diet are very familiar with it. Country food is this area's hundred mile diet. Many people here supplement their store bought food with country food.  Some people try to make it as large a portion of their diet as they can. They prefer it.  Every pound of country food harvest here is a pound of food that doesn't have to be flown here from Montreal (or farther). Probably more actually, the nutrition is generally better.

We impact our planet in so many ways, it is impossible for us not to, that there are no easy answers to how best to tread on this earth. You may not like fur (or sealskin) but harvested in a sustainable manner in well monitored populations it probably is better for the environment than that fleece jacket you might be wearing. Recycled or not, it started off as hydrocarbons that took millenniums to make, and energy to create.  Everything has an impact, and unfortunately local hunting is not going to be enough to remove the real threat to the Polar Bear, zooplankton, and phytoplankton and the rest of the arctic biosphere that depends on sea ice.

Best NWT Blogs

Megan, she of the fantastic, occasionally scary (in a David Hasselhoff stalking sort of way), Reflections in the snow-covered hills has created the NWT equivalent of the Nunies - Best NWT Blogs.  The nominations are now open so head on over there and contribute darn it. 

Leah's hunt

Warning. This post does NOT contain graphic images.

Every year the community is allocated a certain amount of Polar Bear tags for which to hunt Polar Bear. The community decides how the tags are to be handed out, and normally the community tags are allocated by a draw. If your name is drawn you have three days to kill your bear, and if you don't the tag is drawn again to give someone else an opportunity.  Polar Bear is one of the most sought after country foods up here, and one of my favourites.

Four nights ago Leah's name was drawn for the first time in five years. Five years ago when she was drawn we decided that I would go do the hunt (Inuit, under the terms of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, can assign some or all of their hunting rights to a spouse or someone they live with). To make a long story shorter, it was fall and a three day gale made travel by boat, and the hunt, impossible.

This time Leah wanted to do the hunting (her younger sister shot her first bear this year), and started making plans to go out on the land. Given that she has a full time job, and we both have other full time responsibilities, dropping everything for three days was not an option. Yesterday, the last day of her tag, was the only day she could go out, and her parents took time off their jobs so they could go out with her. Alas, although we had no clients yesterday other commitments and a lack of an available sitter denied me my first opportunity to really get out on the land in a couple of years.

Komatik being all packed and ready to go they headed out around 8 am. They had hoped to head a little south on Admiralty Inlet where friends and seen two sets of large tracks the previous day but once again the weather decided not to co-operate and the blowing snow was too bad in that direction so they turned north. The only sign they found all day (they returned about 12 hours later) was a set of tracks from a young bear that they decided not to follow. They did manage to get some seal hunting in, but again were not successful. Although it was a little cold, she had a great day out on the land.

One of the points on Admiralty Inlet (I had originally thought it was Ship Point but it isn't. Possibly the mouth of Elwin Inlet).

Leah's parents hunting seal.

Another hunter from town seal hunting.

Google queries. You're looking for what?

I really should keep a list of the the things people are searching for on Google, that bring them to the House. There are some queries that I get all the time, like Purple Saxifrage. Every day I get hits for Purple Saxifrage and I still don't understand how there can be that much interest in it.  I mean its a beautiful Arctic flower (and it is arctic with a C by the way, not artic) but everyday sees someone in the world searching for information on it.  The colder months always see my hit counter swell with queries on Frozen Sewer Vent or Frozen Vent Stack or Frozen Sewer Stack or well you get the picture.  Trust me, if you want to increase your hits in the dead of winter squeeze the words Frozen Sewer Sewage Vent and Stack somewhere in one post and the hits will come.  There is the ever popular My Wife Wants to Use a Stap On On Me (and spelled like that). Don't ask, I really have no idea.  Lately various queries on Hog Ties or Hog Tying Someone have been popular,  ones like Is It Safer to Hog Tie or Frog Tie Someone. I have no idea what Frog Tying someone involves and I don't think I really want to know. There's also been a lot of searches for Cartoon Sausages, and Narwhal Costumes (not at the same time though... yet.)

No one's  looked for Arctic Goats lately, maybe they lost their popularity.  But some days you get these queries that make you think "You're looking for what?"  I've had several lately but for the life of me I can't remember them, and some were truly bizarre. But just moments ago someone was looking for A Medium Size Dog that Looks Like A Cat In The Arctic.  Boo perhaps?

2nd Ypres - The Battle of Kitchener's Woods

"To my infinite delight, some men came marching up in the moonlight from the end of the canal. I recognized them as the 16th Battalion, Canadian Scottish, and I called out, 'Where are you going, boys?' The reply came glad and cheerful, 'We are going to reinforce the line, Sir, the Germans have broken through.'

'That's all right, boys,' I said, 'Play the game, I will go with you.'" - Canon Frederick Scott

On the 22nd the Canadian 1st Division had two battalions in reserve, the 10th and the 16th. In simple terms when a Division was in a sector they had battalions at the front, opposite the enemy, battalions a little farther back in reserve in case things went sour, and battalions in the rear areas, resting, training, and relaxing. All of these battalions rotated through these positions.

Things had gone sour, and orders quickly came for the 10th and 16th to get ready to move to the front, and both battalions moved up closer to the action. At 5 pm at the start of the battle the four companies of the 16th were actually spread apart and when the orders came to get ready to move to the front they had to assemble.  It was 8 pm by the time they were ordered and moved forward. Much of the distance that they covered was through fields, as the roads were being heavily shelled and were choked with civilians and others streaming away from the action, and equipment and supplies trying to be moved forward.

By the time the 16th reached forward positions it was 10pm and it was learned that the 10th Battalion had been ordered to attack Kitchener's Wood (not named after Lord Kitchener but from the French name for it Bois de Cuisiniers) with the 16th in close support (in other words right behind them). Although it was dark the night was moonlit and the two battalions formed up some 500 metres from the edge of the woods, which could be seen silhouetted against the sky.  Both battalions formed up one behind the other.

A battalion is made up of four companies and the attack was being made with a two company front, two companies of the 10th Battalion side by side standing shoulder to shoulder, followed after twenty metres by the other two companies, and followed after another thirty metres by the 16th in the same formation.  It was now almost 11:30pm, and the men had removed their great coats and packs, fixed and un-fixed their bayonets, and then fixed them again.  The Germans were dug in on the near side of the woods, and the two battalions were ordered to take the trench and then move on through the woods to capture it.

I'd like you to pause now to realize just what was being asked of these men, in order to understand just how impossible this attack was, and why it's success was so incredible.  These men were asked to make an attack in the dark of night, over land that they had never seen or reconnoitered, without maps, through open fields against an entrenched enemy of greater numbers. And they were to do it virtually unsupported by any artillery (they were supported by one field gun firing into the woods prior to the attack every five minutes.

Canon Scott moved down the line encouraging the men, and then at 11:30 pm they moved forward.

"I passed down the line and told them that they had a chance to do a bigger thing for Canada that night than had ever been done before. 'It's a great day for Canada, boys.' I said. The words afterwards became a watchword, for the men said that whenever I told them that, it meant that half of them were going to be killed." - Canon Frederick Scott

The two battalions moved forward in silence, the sound of their bayonet scabbards slapping against their thighs the only noise. They had to cross several hedges and the noise they made then must have seemed deafening to them. The last hedge the crossed had been barb wired and must have seemed especially noisy but still they moved forward. Part way across the last open field a flare shot into the sky illuminating the scene, followed by many flares, lighting up the field like it was daylight.

And then the enemy opened up with machine gun and rifle fire.

"Bullets were ripping past. Fellows were dropping everywhere. I held my hand in front of my face to ward off the bullets."

As soon as the firing started the two battalions faltered a little and then charged towards the trench in front of them. As they closed the distance the shooting suddenly stopped, as the infantry manning the trench turned and fled into the woods. Order disappeared, some troops stopped in the trench, consolidating it and reversing the sandbag parapet to face the woods, others continued into the woods. Most of the fighting was at the point of a bayonet, a particularly nasty business.  Huge dark shapes loomed ahead of them and the lost British heavy guns were recaptured. By about 1 am on the 23rd, men from the 16th and 10th and almost completely captured the woods, some moving past the woods to the open fields beyond.

Unfortunately the two battalions found themselves in an untenable situation. They were virtually surrounded by a vastly larger force, both of the their flanks up in the air. They had suffered heavy casualties and were having a difficult time digging in on the hard ground at the far end of the woods. They sent for horses to remove the British guns and unsuccessfully tried to find a Canadian Battalion on their right flank, they found only German infantry. Many officer had been killed, indeed the commander of the 10th Battalion, Lt. Col. Boyle, was killed shortly after trying to consult a map with his flashlight.

As dawn approached the remnants of the 10th and the 16th retired to the original German position at the front of the woods, occupying that trench and digging a second about 150 metres farther back. In this crowded trench the men tried to make room, heaving the dead over the parapet, digging slits in the back for the wounded. In the light they could make out their dead and wounded in the woods in front of them. Efforts to recover the wounded met with heavy rifle fire and after a stretcher party was killed the efforts were abandoned. At dawn the trenches were heavily shelled, but the expected attack never materialized and the next dawn first the 10th and then the 16th were relieved by the 2nd Battalion, sprinting across the fields to safety under fire. The 10th, although down to only 3 officers and about 150 men, were ordered to another part of the line and found themselves under fire that same day.

Later that same day the 2nd was ordered to retire from the trench at Kitchener's Woods that was taken at such high cost. Although costly, the counter attack had stalled the German advance long enough for the remaining gaps in the line to be closed. At the war's end Marshal Foch, the supreme commander of the allied forces called the attack on Kitchener's Woods "the greatest act of the war."

The Second Battle of Ypres lasted for another two weeks. In the first four days, the Canadians had suffered 2000 men killed, all in their first battle of the war. The 16th suffered a total of 439 casualties, 162 killed, 246 wounded, and 31 taken prisoner. The 10ths losses were similar. Kitchener's Woods was never granted as a battle honour, the practice was that counter attacks were not awarded those honours. Years after the war, the battalions that perpetuated the 10th and the 16th Battalions were granted the honour of a special insignia, an oak leaf with an acorn, to commemorate their actions at Kitchener's Wood. It is a unique honour amongst all of the Commonwealth.

2nd Ypres

Ninety-three years ago today marked the start of the Second battle of Ypres in the Great War. It was one of the most significant moments in the Great War for a number of reasons. Perhaps the main reason was it marked the first large scale use of poisonous gas (not the first use, as it is usually reported. The French experimented with poisonous rifle cartridges and the Germans had used gas shells on the Russian front prior to this). It marked a major shift in war to the modern "Total War". And as much as our side makes much of the gas attack it didn't take long before we made liberal use of it as well. The battle also marked the first major battle that the Canadians took part in, and they suffered thousands of casualties.  It also marked a significant battle in my Grandfather's regiment, albeit before he had joined the war, a counter attack that has been called one of the greatest counter attacks in the History of the Great War.

Early in the Great War both sides fought each other to a standstill, and in the constant attempts to out flank each other ended up establishing a system of trenches that stretched from the English Channel to Switzerland. The war became a static affair, one of attrition. In theory one could walk all the way from the Channel to Switzerland in a ditch, without ever sticking your head above ground. Ypres Belgium was a city that formed part of the small bit of Belgium that was still uncaptured by the Germans, and holding it became a symbolic necessity for the allies. It was also at the base of a Salient (called the Ypres Salient) or bulge in the Trench system. This meant that inside the Salient the allies literally had enemies on three sides of them.

The afternoon of the 22nd of April German artillery began heavily shelling Ypres, which still had a significant civilian population and a large number of refugees. As a result many people were fleeing and the roads that the soldiers would need to use to get to the battle were congested. 

At exactly 5 pm, German engineers opened the valves of hundreds of cylinders of Chlorine gas, which drifted on the wind directly towards French Algerian and Territorial troops.  Those that weren't killed (suffocated by their own blood and fluid in their lungs) fled the line, opening up a huge gap in the line. Fifteen minutes later the gas was followed by thousands of German infantry, with no or little opposition before them the way to Ypres was completely open for them.

It was on the right flank of the Algerians that the 13th Battalion, the Black Watch or Royal Canadian Highlanders, found themselves.  They were not hit by the gas but watched the yellowish green Chlorine cloud drift towards the Algerians, heard and saw the shooting from their lines rise to a crescendo and then drop off, and watched as the Algerians that were left tried to flee the gas.  The Canadians had been in France only for a couple of months, and although they had experienced the static, day to day warfare that was life in the trenches they had yet to be involved in a major battle. Now the 13th was faced with a situation unprecedented in the war, and their left flank had no one in it and German infantry were pouring through the gap in the line.

The 13th gathered men, and rallied the Algerians that were still at the Front and threw up a defense flank, firing on the Germans who then turned to attack them.  They suffered many casualties but their actions prevented the Canadian lines from be outflanked and overrun. Other elements of Canadian Forces, such as the 7th and the 14th Battalions began to try and fill in the gaps in the line. French Zouaves moved to defend critical crossings of the Yser Canal. French, British and Canadian artillery moved to shell the advancing Germans, who had moved some 4 kilometres in a war that usually saw advances measured in hundreds of metres, if at all.

By about 8pm, Reserves of British, Belgium, and French had been rushed forward to stem the advance, and to counter attack. Canadian Reserves had also been moved up however there were still three large gaps in the line that were unprotected and offered little or nothing that would stop the continued advance. In Kitchener's Wood the German advance had captured four heavy guns of the British. By around 8:30 pm the German's stopped their advance in order to consolidate their positions, move up artillery and reserves and wait for daylight to renew their attack.

All of this story so far is by way of background to bring you to what I wanted to talk about, the counter-attack by the 16th and 10th Battalions on Kitchener's Wood.

To be continued...

Does this mean I can add "Award winning journalist" to my resume?

I just found out that the articles I wrote for The Roblin Review on my trip to Vimy for the 90th anniversary of the battle was named Best Feature Article by the Manitoba Community Newspaper Association.  Now my cousin Lindsay Kines isn't the only award winning journalist in the family. Oh sure he won awards for writing on stuff like the disappearance of women from Vancouver's Lower East Side, that was part of the reason police started paying more attention to it, which in turn lead to the arrest of some guy named Robert Picton for the murders of 27 women. But I mean really anyone can win awards with writing that sort of fluff.

I was also nominated for Best Feature Article nationally in the Canadian Community Newspaper Association awards but, unlike Kent of the North and inflatable elvis, I failed to crack the top three spots nationally. But hey, it was the first newspaper article I've ever written, just wait for the second one.

It takes awhile for me to get the hometown paper up here, but this is what the editor wrote about the awards.  Thanks Ed.

Vimy feature picks up MCNA award

(Roblin Review April 15th, 2008)

The Review only picked up one award in this year's Manitoba Community Newspaper Association's Better Newspaper Competition.

But it was for one editor Ed Doering really wanted the paper to win.

"Clare Kines did a wonderful job for us on his trip to the 90th anniversary celebrations at Vimy Ridge and i really hoped he would be recognized for his efforts." Doering said.

Kines' journey to Vimy was featured in the April 24 issue and won first place in the Best Feature Story competition.

"I had hoped the feature would be recognized at the national level but unfortunately  it wasn't." Doering said, noting it was also nominated in the Canadian Community Newspaper Association competition.

"I think it really deserved to be." he added.

Update:  Here are some pictures of articles.  I think that much of the credit needs to go to Ed, for he did a masterful job on the layout, which was designed as a four page pull out in the centre of the paper.

Teaser on Front Page

Main Article

The two other articles

Return of the Kiggavik

I've been trying to get back out to the St George Society Cliffs, ever since my last trip out there, to see if the Gyrfalcons had returned. Unfortunately something always seemed to get in the way. It doesn't help that only one of the snow machines is working and Leah relies on hers as much as people down south rely on their cars.  But Sunday a narrow window presented itself and I decided I wouldn't let it pass. 

It was Leah's mom's birthday and I had a second cake in the oven after supper. We were heading down for cake and tea after her parents got home from church, around 8:30, so that left me with about a half an hour from when the cake came out to whip out to the cliffs, check out the aerie, maybe get some photos and make it back in time to head down.  It seemed like a good time for Travis to come along, and he jumped at the chance, frustrated at how long the cake was taking to bake ("Dad, you're taking soooo long!").  Finally it was out of the oven and we were out the door, leaving the cake for Leah to ice.

We whipped out and I'm continually amazed at just how far it is, I always think of it as being just around the corner.  As we got closer I could feel Travis tucking closer and closer in behind me, and sure enough as soon as we stopped he told me he was cold.  Now Travis spends a lot of time outside playing, so when he tells me he's cold I listen.  I was a little surprised because, although it was -20 or so out, he was tucked in behind me and I'm a pretty big windbreak. I quickly glassed the aerie, and although there was fresh, er, whitewash there I couldn't see a bird.  A quick look at a couple of resting spots on the cliff near the nest and sure enough there was the Gyr, I believe it was the male.  Looking back at the nest I could just make out the top of another bird's head.  So the pair has returned and it looks as though they might be incubating.

I tried to get Travis to have a look through the binocs, but once again he complained of the cold and I tried to get a quick photo. I snapped off what Charlie would call a "record shot" and the battery died on the camera.  It wasn't unexpected and I had another ready to change into the camera but a plaintive "Dad, I'm COLD" convinced me to put it all away and head back.

Unsharp detail from Record Shot

Once again with Travis tucked in behind me I wasn't really worried about driving fast, thinking he was out of the wind, and I hurried back to town to get him somewhere warm, figuring faster was better. I pulled into Leah's parents and dropped him off before heading home for Leah, Hilary and the cakes. As he got off the machine I suddenly saw just why he was cold.  His pants, and snowpants on one leg had pulled up, exposing bare skin from his boot to below his knee and he was frostbit.

I don't think, and am really hoping, that the frostbite isn't too bad.  The skin is red and puffy and slightly sore to the touch, but it doesn't appear to be anything more than superficial.  If it looks at all worse tomorrow we'll head down to the nursing station. He's a tough little guy, but I can't for the life of me figure out why he didn't say his leg was cold, or try and pull the pants down when we stopped.  Next time I'll not be so lackadaisical about his clothes and check him more often.