To Zen and Back

I dropped my Zen mp3 player today and it don't work no more. *sigh* The shinny surface on the screen is the plastic protective covering. I never took it off. The Zen does have a recovery mode that I will keep trying and if that doesn't work I will try formatting it. But I must face the music and accept the fact I may just have an expensive paper weight. *sigh*

Michele Travelling

Michele left last night to travel to Iqaluit to attend a course. The flight was originally supposed to leave at 4:30 pm but was delayed until 11:30 pm. The plane didn't get unloaded until 12:30 am and the plane didn't get off the ground until 12:45 am. She landed in Iqaluit at 2:00 am then a 1/2 hour wait for a taxi finally arriving at the hotel at almot 3:00 am. Didn't take to long to go from the airport to the hotel but Michele had to battle through all the drunks leaving the bar. But she made it and is safe.

Comments

Hey folks. I've received a couple of emails from people saying they can't leave comments on the blog unless they sign up for Google or Blogger accounts. All you have to do to skip this is to pick on Name/URL and leave your name. The URL is optional and you don't have to enter it. Another option is to pick the Anonymous button and you just leave your name in the body of the message. Just as simple as that. I had to change some of the comment features because of an increase in spam. We do enjoy reading peoples comments and suggestions. One of the suggestions we received was to have our own (M&M) pictures on the site as you see on the right bar. I also have the comments set to pop up in their own window now. Fancy.

Thanks again.

Snow & Temps

We had a blizzard over the weekend and I was going to take a couple of pictures but this is all I could see out the windows. Maybe next time.

It was warm enough today (-8C) that we opened the windows. Nice to get the fresh air in. We were actually sweating today.

Bear Meat

A polar bear was shot recently in town by a 17 year old. The bear had been hanging around town for a couple of days before it was shot. Michele was lucky enough to get there soon after the bear had been brought in and got a bit of video before her batteries went dead. She also got a portion of the hind quarter and cooked it up soon after. I found it tasted a bit like roast beef but was very stringy. Had to get acquainted with the floss. Later Michele was able to get the jaw and hopefully we can purchase the pelt after it has been dried. The bear was shot under licence with the wildlife officer present. A certain amount of polar bears are allowed to be harvested each year. The person who wins the hunting license draw has just two days to get their bear or they can't try again until next year. A bit like moose hunting home.

Hamlet Day

During hamlet day the community will get together for various activities including snow sculpture and igloo building competitions, games, community feast and a parade. I ended up being volunteered to be a judge for the snow sculpture competitions with two of the local RCMP officers. Michele and I enjoyed being out and meeting everyone.

Getting in and out of the igloo was the hard part. They are quite roomy once your inside.

Jen of Nunavut laying down on the job. Her camera lens was bigger than mine.

Wildlife

We had a polar bear and a couple of cubs come through the hamlet a couple of weeks ago. They were after some dog meat. They were eventually scared off and didn't have to be shot. The pictures of the actual bears were taken by someone else. Michele snapped the pictures of the were the bears were sleeping and the paw prints.

Were the bears were laying down waiting until they were hungry again.

The bears are just above center of this picture.

Big paws.

Northern Lights

I have been out to take pictures of the Northern Lights on a couple of occasions and have developed (no pun intended) a passion for it. I can be -40C but when the lights come out you don't notice anything but the lights and where the next picture should be taken. The darker photos below are my first attempt. The funny colors come from the street lights that were behind me. Made for unusual pictures. The lighter colored photos were taken on my second attempt and were taken during the full moon. Almost look like they were taken in daylight. My favorite photo of the lights is posted on the "It's Been How Long?" blog entry. So go back to the entry and enjoy it one more time. The opportunity to take more pictures of the Northern Lights is almost gone because we are getting close to 24 hours of light. Even now it isn't getting dark until after 9:00 PM and the spring weather keeps it overcast most of the time. I will keep trying. Enjoy the photos below.

The Eclipse

I love my new camera. It is an Olympus E-510. Thank goodness for Photoshop so I can fix a lot of my mistakes. Here are a couple of pics from the recent eclipse. It is definitely worth freezing your but off for. Enjoy.

The dot to the left is the planet Saturn and the dot above the moon is the star Spica.

Vacation '07

I won't bore anyone with too much to say from the holidays. We went back to the big city of Anagance, New Brunswick to visit with family and friends. It was a nice month off. I helped my Mom renovate the house and spend some of her money. LOL. I did get out and snapped a few pictures of the swamp. It was November and we didn't have to put a jacket on. Use to the cold weather now. Michele went to Boston to visit with her sister Jackie and they went to New York.

We are going on a cruise around the Gulf of Mexico this year and will have much more interesting pictures and stories from there. I will be caught up to recent events soon.

I did run into a bit of the maritime attitude when I went shopping for groceries. I remarked at the counter about the price of the groceries. We bought enough groceries for three people to last a month and it came to $98 and change. That is what we spend on snacks here for the weekend. The girl at the counter looked at Michele and I and said "I don't know why anyone would leave here (NB) to go work out there (I assumed she meant the west) when they could be doing just as good working here for $7 an hour." I didn't respond to the comment just nodded. I will have to go get groceries there again when I'm retired in 10 years and ask how she's doing.