The House & other Arctic musings

Avinga and the avinga

In the early spring, when the Sun has warmed and you can feel its strength, even if the air temperature stays cool, the lemmings emerge from their tunnels under the snow. Before the snow has a chance to glaze into a hard, shiny crust their tracks can often be seen as they go on excursions under the warmth of the Sun.

I often see their trails, meandering for great lengths and wish I could catch one out in the open. I figured that a lemming, slowly out for a walk on the snow would make an excellent photo. Even though they aren't leaving any trails on top of the glazed snow I finally saw one on top of it yesterday.

As the kids and I drove down to Victor Bay I saw one on the expanse of snow along the road. As I pointed it out and pulled to a stop (well pull is a bit of an exaggeration as I just stopped in the middle of the road) it slipped down onto the shoulder.

When I got out it took off, with a speed and an urgency that must come with being pretty much the bottom of the food chain and on the menu of most predators up here. And while it might have made an excellent photo it was one I still don't have. There was no slow walk on the snow as it made a beeline away from me, and I found it impossible to get one in focus shot of it, just a lot of blurry lemming butt photos that might  have well been photos of Bigfoot.

It was only when it finally paused ducked into a bit of a tunnel just below the surface I managed to get a shot of it peeking out.

As it took off again, off the snow and into the rocks I finally loosed Travis on it, as he'd been right behind me clambering to catch it. He made quick work of it as it hid under a rock and I ended up with the money shot. My son, who shares an Inuktitut name with this tiny speedster, holding it gently. After showing the others, and taking a bite for his efforts, he let it go. It once again raced across the snow to the rocks, leaving me with even more blurry, out of focus, lemming butt photos.

The faces say it all

Tired

... so all you get are a bunch of random photos.

Apparently Arctic Hares like to munch on poppies.

Sled dog portrait

An Arctic Trifecta: King Eider, Long-tailed Duck, and Red-throated Loon

Hare today, gone in a couple of seconds

Two Ravens playing with a feather

Travis, Bolt and a couple of the pups

My Studio

A portrait of my children taken on a really cool walk today. Cool as in awesome, not as in frigid temperatures.

Time passes

When last I went fishing at the Fish Derby Travis looked like this (just under 2 years old)

This week he looked like this (just under 8 years old)

More on the Fish Derby later.

Qimuksiq

The weather has been extremely fine lately. Without a breeze the Sun's warmth is glorious. Days like these are undeniably fine.

Bolt, our family dog, has finally been getting the exercise and attention he needs. And he loves to pull, true to his heritage.  For a little dog, that has been largely sedentary he digs in and does his level best to drag me around with the leash. As it turns out, I'm the only one that can really walk him as he'll pull the kids off their feet and along on their belly until friction overcomes him.

So it is natural that we would hook him up to a sled. The original plan was to get a kicksled and let him help propel it around town, but "the best laid plans..." went aglay and we ended up not getting one (the cost of shipping killed it). So we used Travis' toy qamotiq which was originally built to haul the air compressor back and forth between the House and our duplex so we could keep it inside overnight.

Bolt pulls like a trooper, and when fresh fast out distanced me running to catch up. Being the undisciplined pup he is, there is no control  of where he's going, but I don't think Travis cared a whit.

Here are some scenes from yesterday's qimuksiq (dog sledding).

One way of getting him to go in the direction we want
Following Leah

Immediately before the dog slobber on the lens

Pull

Bolt demonstrating his irresistible urge to go for my camera.

A boy and his dog (bonus points to anyone who saw that movie)

A boy and his Aunt's dog (same age as Bolt, but quite a bit bigger)

Yeah, my boy knows how to relax

Hey! Wait for me!

Watch out Carrot Top

We interrupt regular intermittent blogging for a family moment.

Travis Snowboarding from Clare Kines on Vimeo.

Airborne

The shadow from the flash spoils a bit of the effect, but you get the general idea.

My pirate is such a joker

I hope to have a longer post about Hallow'een up soon, but in the mean time I give you photos of my children.  Both Travis and Hilary had costumes that they wore at their school parties, but it was a cold, wintery night here last night and we opted for just made up faces and warm outdoor clothing for their trick or treating.

No photo of Hilary's face paint apparently exists...

Lion's Teeth

I remember being a little startled when I first saw a Dandelion up here. There isn't, after all, a lawn to speak of within hundreds of kilometres of here.

I was even more surprised to learn that the Dandelion species that are  up here probably are not one of the common introduced species seen in the south, but native species. Uluksan in the fall is one of the best places to find them, which is exactly where we found many this past weekend.

(And while unrelated to the rest of this post I couldn't resist this clump of Prickly Saxifrage and its patterns and colours).

Of course where there are Dandelions and children together two things are required: picking some for mom, and blowing Dandelion seeds everywhere.