Saturday catch up.

Tis been a busy few days with one thing and another and this and that, several trips down to try fix an Iridium modem problem among many other things. The modem problem was fixed by unplugging it from the iBoot and plugging directly into the power bar.

Aside from that the weather has been a mish mash but nothing uncomfortable, actually it has been quite enjoyable, at least for me.

Thursday it we had flat in cloud and light snow all day, little to no wind and getting up to -10.
Yesterday it was mostly clear all day with temps from -21 up to -15 or so but it came down again in afternoon. Both days were ideal for walking and getting around and just enjoying what we have here.
Thursday’s snow did put a hold on many people getting in and out of Nain; yesterday saw the airstrip busy with the airlines playing catch up with people and freight.

I missed a great photo op on Thursday; I was just leaving the Northern store when the church [just down the road] bell started ringing. It reminded me that it was Young Woman’s Day [Moravian Church]. Just after the bell started a parade of young woman [unmarried] proceeded out of the town hall and headed for the church.
The women were dressed in the traditional church cap, white amautik, and skirt and skin boots, made for a very nice scene.

Down the coast in Happy Valley-Goose Bay there was an interesting turn of events on one particular story.
With the governments hypocritical [government owned were exempt] order for all privately owned seniors and long term care homes to get sprinkler systems installed or close, the one private home in that area was slated to close next Monday.
Pine Lodge has about 19 clients, some have been there for 2 decades, some need constant care, some are unilingual [not English] and others are more comfortable speaking in their own language [not English].

So the future of these people was certainly up in the air, and the stress and sorrow was very evident as shown on Here and Now. The coverage CBC videographer Tony Dawson did early in the week really showed in no uncertain terms the results of the badly managed health care system we have.

Then low and behold last night on Here and Now the same Tony Dawson presented us with much happier images, ones of the same once anguished people now laughing and smiling, what a great end to the work week.

The reason for the smiles? Seems the reason the owner was shutting down Pine Lodge was he could not afford his share [25 grand] of the cost to have a sprinkler system installed.

So the Nunatsiavut Government came to the rescue sort of. Not sure of the details but reps from the NG flew to HV-GB and had talks with members of the NL government. Cooler heads prevailed, some one came up the some sort of proposal that put a stop to this absurdity and the Pine Lodge will not be closing as planed.
The owner is to get a quote for a sprinkler system by Monday. Given other anecdotal evidence of delays in getting the actual work done in other private care homes one wonders when the sprinkler system will be in place, but that is another story for another day.

Happy International Woman’s day you Ladies.