From a facebook profile page:
Employer- Canadian Forces- Top Gun Academy. Code Name: ???????. Status: Drop out.
Seems they dropped right into the humanities dept at undisclosed uni.

I love that.

Fog this marnin, still down to ground at 9:15 with 100 yards vis, 10 degrees, I think most folks do not have a problem with that, after all we are all cooler weather folk.

I'd like to give you the weather report but our station is not responding at moment. A visual is that it is: partly cloudy with some shallow fog, temp of +2.9 and calm.

2.9 is a big drop from the past weeks for sure, lest hope it is temporary.

Later in the morn; weather station is now reporting. Bit of difference from there, down by airstrip, and the house at times.

It's been 22 days since "the Dutch" left Lewisport with the last freight for the coast. She is now back in that port and has to have work done on it's 'main crane' [it has not worked all season] before it can load and then CREEP up the coast again.

They are saying two days to fix the crane, then load ? then a week to get up here. That should take it to a month at least between trips.

Did I mention old Bogart movies and freight recently. Oh if we only had it that good.

Take a listen to this interview with the transportation minister and tell me we do not have a clown handling this portfolio.

Assorted pics from down the dock over weekend and Monday.

The dog is Pitsik, the local dog adopted by operators of Wanderbird last year.




The yacht is from Maryland USA and the long liner is from Quebec heading for Nunavik for an experimental fishery. Seems every body and their dog are doing experimental fisheries except in Nunatsiavut.




And the dock is bare.

The dock is Nain is the place to be during the balmy days of summer. It’s the place to people watch, catch the cool breeze and generally chew the fat.

It was hopping there the last several days for sure.

The dock was blocked with one ketch anchored off Tuesday and evening. There was a barge and tug at the ro-ro ramp offloading building materials. Then a local boat, ‘sprite of the Torngat”. Then the Wanderbird, who had returned to town with a engine cooling problem. Then the yacht from Maryland. On the outside where two ocean going tugs refueling, then the long liner heading to Nunavik and the barge belonging to the tugs out in harbor.

Bundle in with this the local boats and fishers coming in with their catch for the fish plant.

So going down this morning it looked almost devoid of any activity, just the local boat and the barge STILL offloading the building material.

The handling of freight up here always reminds me of those old Bogart movies set in some third world jungle state [without the jungle].

It got up over 25 yesterday, not so hot yet today but the wind has dropped so we won’t be spending much idle time down the dock if it keeps like this.

Sweet indulgence break.

Knocked up this pie on the weekend, it's all gone now.

Since there is no longer Robin Hood flaky pastry flour on the market I have reverted back to making my own from scratch. The other brand [made by Robin Hood] is the pits.

Actually I think it should be an election issue, BRING BACK THE FLAKY.

It is always hit and miss making my own but this one came out AOK.

I call it 'hint of blueberry apple pie'.

Update mid morn close ups of the harbor action.


Calm morning and heading for in the 20's today.













Quite the bit of activity in the harbor, Long liners, charter boats, yachts, barges, tugs.

Boggyity boggyity boggyity, and bless my smokin hot wife. Ah men.

I'm overwhelmed and lost for words.

'The Dutch' was in Sunday morning early, took the day until 3 pm to unload and load.

There is still many issues all along the coast about this vessel and it's operation, but that is for another day. 'The Dutch' does take a nice picture though.


A Coast Guard chopper was in doing some heavy lifting up to the CG tower on Nain Hill.

I hope that the ecological damage caused to the hill by inconsideration and violation of town by-laws last year is addressed by the Canadian Coast Guard and their contractor Westower in a timely manner.

The Wanderbird arrived in town Friday evening with a full accompaniment of 12 guests.

Friday mid day Fran, myself and Siutik took a walk around town and up to a vantage point for photos with the guests, three crew two on board dogs [Pitsik who is from Nain pulled like a dog twice her size] and a gaggle of local children.



Thankfully the breeze made the walk comfortable for all. The guests were from the US, Canada and a couple from Australia.

Pictured below are Karen with Bruce from Lismore NSW.


OK his name is not Bruce, it's Paul but he is from Lismore

Monday 25th.

Carter and mom made a flying visit this past week while dad was flying up in Nunavut. Their stay was extended a little as dad's return was delayed some by crew change issues.
Carters eczema is a problem, but both mom and grandma had/have it so have to just deal with it.

Terrence, Carters cousin, was down to see Carter off. The shy pose is not the usual Terrence.

It was a great weekend weather wise, up in the low 20's both days with a good stiff breeze keeping the flies down to a very minimum.

A good weekend for Australia on the world sports stage too. A win in a bicycle race in Paris, beat South Africa at rugby, a third in F1, win in motoGP but the biggy to my mind was the upset in the mens 4x100 freestyle relay at world championships.

I was having a fairly successful and pleasant day yesterday until a snarky e mail from some policy wonket sitting in an over air-conditioned office up Ottawa way arrived in my in box.

The background to the snarky; I had previously sent some of my concerns about how the NNC program is playing out in Labrador to the Labrador representative on the advisory board of NNC.

I had included some information on how it was possible to display pricing of subsidized items publicly including a photograph I took from a social media sight depicting the price of milk up in Norman Wells.

I had also mentioned that recently a local store had received a shipment of frozen meats that were already dated before leaving Goose Bay and mentioned that this on-going practice adds to retailer’s costs and how it effects the consumer as well.

Miss snarky goes on to berate me for not picking up on the fact that the photograph of the milk prices in Norman Wells was the work of the retailer and not that of NNC.

Well whoop de doo miss snarky- that was the whole point of my e mail, why has something LIKE this NOT been done by NNC.

But the kicker of Miss snarky’s bureaucratic muse was when she accused me of contradictions, she asked if I condoned or condemned the selling of outdated frozen product by retailers. Miss Snarky obviously did not read my e mail correctly nor bothered to check any previous correspondence from me to NNC and or the Labrador representative to the NNC advisory board. It would be obvious where I stand on that if she had bothered.

Needles to say my reply to Miss snarky will most likely result in my blackballing by her or NNC.

Feeling good today I am.

Coincidently the very same day: We go into Northern and there are some fresh vegetables being put out. Fran notices the tomatoes, and knowing how a love the little red buggers she says, “these look nice”. I check them out and they do indeed look nice [relatively speaking] and I pick out half a dozen.

When we go to the checkout with our purchases I notice the price per kilo for the tomatoes comes up at $11.99 a kilo.

After I pay I go over to the produce section and check the sticker prices above the produce. You have to work at it as there is no rhyme or reason to how the prices are stuck up there.

Low n behold the sticker price says ‘loose tomatoes $8.99 a kilo’.

I go back over and ask for the manager and am told he won’t be in till 4pm. I then mention the discrepancy to the check out lady promptly says ‘she can fix that”. Good I say but I don’t want you to get into trouble and such.

“No problem” she says.

Well there was a problem as the computer checkout would not co operate, then people started to back up waiting to check out and the store is short staffed so I say I will come back later and deal with it. This I will today.

There is more; next we head to BigLand to pick up some dry dog food. While there I notice fresh vegetables are out there too. There are some loose tomatoes, but this time packaged into four and wrapped in store.

The sticker price is $5:47 a kilo.

Bloody hell I think to self. There are only two packages of four on the shelf, one goes while I am there thinking “what the you know what”. Any way I do not need any more tomatoes for now and I will see what is what on the morrow.

There is more and it gets better, or worse depending on your point of view.

Later in the evening I find out that tomatoes are selling at Jacquie’s Convenience store for…. wait for it………..

$3:25 a kilo.

You say tomato, I say buyer beware: So the final solution to the tomato saga of yesterday is.

The manager was in and I pointed out the discrepancy, my impression is himself and other staff were already aware that I might be in, the check out lady from yesterday was off.

It took some time and an explanation or two from the manager and some controlled calmness from myself and if I am not wrong from himself. This is what the explanation was:

I hope I can relate in it an understandable manner.

The check out lady of yesterday entered in the incorrect code resulting in the $11:99 a kilo price.

The $ 8:99 a kilo sticker price of yesterday was last weeks price. This week’s price is $ 5:19 a kilo which is now up above the produce shelf.

I received a full refund of $9:65 along with the comment of “I hope you enjoy your tomatoes.”

I know that Northmart [part of the same North West Company that Northern is part of] in Goose Bay has a policy of a full refund if the sticker price is higher than the check out price if the item is under $10:00.

So I don’t feel guilty one bit. Matter of fact the folks up here in some of the stores are lucky that the majority of people do not question openly these sorts of anomalies.

It is not about the money, it is about a lot of other things that the consumer has to deal with on a daily basis.

Nice warmish breezy day yesterday. The Labrador Storm hove into town for a brief visit.

Seems the purpose of the visit was to change skippers, something this and other boats have done in the past.



I don't want to overdo the pizza shtick, but I do put a lot of attention and care into making them.

Sure beats the product in the large frozen pizza sections in all the stores by a wide margin.

Actually there is a connection [or I hope there will be] between the two photographs.

I know someone who procured 1 of 4 boxes of shrimp that came off the boat for bartering purposes.

I have dangled the prospect of several slices of pizza for a couple of meals of shrimp.

The mid range forecast is looking better than it has for some time. We are due for a break in this bleak drizzle and overcast, best to wait and see what eventuates though.

There is some really weird stuff going on with the marine shipping of freight and even with passenger reservations at the moment.

The people at the dock in Lewisport are refusing to accept freight, especially frozen goods, until they have a better handle on when the "Dutch" will be back in that port.
There is storage capacity there, especially freezer space, but they wont turn them on because they would have to have somebody on duty to monitor them. Yep I know, hard to believe but true.

This really puts a lot of people out, including the retailers, the wholesalers and at the end of the chain the consumer.

Then there is freight arriving at the dock in Goose bay to be loaded on the "Dutch" when it does the GB up the coast run. Freight arrives a good 24 hours before departure yet still does not get loaded. That means another two weeks before it may arrive at intended destination.

There is more and I am sure much more I am unaware off, but the point is made and what the hell is being done about it is a question for the government and the operators.

Then there is also the little spat between the captain and the operators on the last trip of the "Dutch" out of Lewisport resulting in 4 containers being left behind.

Then there is this policy about not putting opposite sexes in 4 berth cabins on the Northern Ranger. Seems fine on the surface.

But what happens if a mother and her two children [in this case 2 of the male sex] want to book berths to go from Goose Bay to Hopedale for a holiday.
The mother is a mature student and cant afford to book the whole cabin, she just wants 2 berths.

No way do you get accommodated by CAI-Nunatsiavut Marine. Mother and two kids have to sit and sleep up in the lounge for the 30 odd hour trip.

My bad:

A loud growl near my ear dragged me out of a deep sleep. Looked at my watch, 4:50 am. Looked at indigent dog staring at me from the middle of the bedroom.

No sleeping in when Siutik wants to go out.

Video from the air of ice Island off Labrador. More on it here. Busy day at the town at the edge of all things, later.

Oh yeah, almost forgot, Carter and his mom in town, picked them up at airstrip and not seen them since dropping them off.

Three views of Alca i at the dock Monday morning.





The weather was quite unsettled and offered some nice background bow on.

The emerald hills of Nain.

Quite the sight in it?
OK, the middle bottom is from the front of the house for contrast.

When I took the pics yesterday morning of the yacht moored in harbor I was intending to labeled it 'unknown yacht in harbor'.





Since then she came dockside and Fran and I had a chance to chat with some of the crew last evening. Well it was us them and a gazillion flies.

'Alca i' is out of Portsmouth New Hampshire and has an eclectic crew who are supporting seaweed research off the coast.

Ours is not to question, ours is not to reason why. Thats a load of balderdash but we wont go into it will we?

Balmy oh night boy! Temps jumped from 9 to 17 from 4 to 5 am. Then dropped to 11 at 6.
Looks like it will be unsettled for a bit with nice temps in the mid to high teens.

Another warm one saturday, up to 23, and that was last evening.

After a walk and then a bit of a run Siutik was knackered, not a warm weather dog that one.

My little buddy across the road, along with his sister, always bawl out greetings every time we go out the front door. We have great conversations, cant hear or make out what they are saying half the time, nor them of me, no matter, it's great that they take the time.




Carters dad has been away flying out of Iqaluit for over a week, was not due home for a break until the 23rd. Out of the blue yesterday we had word that he was flying their aircraft [Air Labrador OPN] back to Goose Bay for an inspection or something.














Then word came that they would be refueling here on way home.

So down we go last evening to see Carters dad [at right with the hose]. So carter got to spend the night with dad, and maybe even one more night before dad heads back north. At least that is the plan for now.

That was a warm Friday, over 25 at the house and 24 official.

Bit of shallow fog out there this morning, it just adds to mystical look of the place.

With the sudden warmth comes the sudden change in the flora. The hills and valleys turned an almost emerald green reminiscent of Ireland.

Heading for another warm day today.

Another warm one yesterday, up to 23 art the house.

Most of the day was a busy one at the dock.

Tinnies getting ready to leave, long liners being loaded for Torngat park and another with supplies for archeologists dig just outside Nain and the Dutch being unloaded/loaded.

There is even some movement at the fish plant.

Four of the tinnies [at right] a few hours prior to their departure for communities in Nunavik.

Later in the afternoon all was a lot quieter and the dock looked bare after all had left.


This 28 footer was sent back to the manufacturer.
The owners drove her to Nain from the Island portion. On the way it was established that the boat was way underpowered and had a very disconcerting tippy habit dispute having a good amount of concrete in the bottom of hull.

I watched her come into the dock under speed, it looked like a giant metal beluga whale in the distance.

Word is that it was a sort of experiment by the builders.
My neophyte instincts tell me that the planing hull under an obvious displacement looking upper structure combined with outboards is not a very good fit.
A displacement hull with an inboard motor would probably work best, but I am sure that is not what the owner was looking for.

Wow what a day out there, sunny, warm, calm.

On the way to the airstrip a stopped off to get some pics at the dock.

Some of the folk from Nunavik there prepping their boats and supplies for the trip north. Five boats came off the Dutch and one has been here since last year.

So the six are all Silver Dolphins of various lengths, configurations and engine set ups.

Update: My Well.ca order arrived today. 15 days from day of ordering. Not bad considering force majeure and all. Actually it is about standard shipping time. Can Post must have done the force majeure thing to piss people off, if so it looks like they succeeded.

Force manure

[sorry majeure] is spreading across the country.

I am getting many hits from searches for force majeure and Canada post delays from folks from coast to coast to coast.

So the lockout is starting to effect people in ways that were not contemplated by the burgers at Can Post.

My personal force majeure is still in Quebec, I have had no further updates since the 7^th.

Having said that the package could turn up any day, the tracking system Can Post uses just does not work after items leave Quebec or St. John’s heading for Northern Labrador.

Heading for a nice day by the look of it out there. Be heading down to the dock later; see what’s on the go.

Busy day there as the first boats and people will be leaving for the annual lark in the park [just thought that up]-Torngat Park that is.

Then there are the six speed boats that are heading for Nunavik, the boats should be off the Dutch by this time.

Then there is the Dutch [says I with head in hands].

Some of the freight that came off Dutchy.

Having drop trailers with freight already on them or loading freight onto them on board is the most economical and efficient way.

Having the tide right is another factor, and to be fair the mv Astron had to wait on tides too.

If you look hard you will see that this trailer is going on board and not offloaded. They put trailer back board on to lift the boat off into the water with the crane.

Dutchy hoves into view.

Update from below: At right Dutchy just after hoving into view.
Trust me she did hove.

mv Dutch Runner arrive almost on time this morning. Took about 45 minutes to come from the point to reversing for docking at 7:45'ish.



People have all sorts of derogatory names for the vessel,and truth be known I have used some myself.
So in the interest of fairness I will refer to her as Dutchy from now on. Unless of course something happens for me to throw fairness out the window.

She unloaded the top deck freight from the stern OK, the tide was receding, and there are about a half dozen drop trailers now that she can use to "drop" the sea-cans onto either on board [ideally] or on the dock.

Nain seems to have been the only clear spot north of Goose Bay this am. Planes are now on the way so I hope the front does not head this way, though it looks like it is.

Issues continue to plague the marine shipping on the coast. Northern Ranger was late leaving Goose Bay yet again. Monday, July 11th
Departed Goose Bay 4:00 pm
ETA Rigolet 10:45 pm;

Tuesday, July 12th ETA Makkovik 07:00 am

Only four hours late but these continued delays must start to concern some political types one would think. Then again maybe they don't give a rats arse so to speak

Some questions that need answering are: what is the hold up with the Ranger every week departing Goose Bay. Is it on shore issues, is it on board issues like mechanical, are the engines able to keep up with these constant running times to make up lost time??? Has there been sufficient maintenance done over the winter months for the engines and ancillary equipment to keep up the pace.

The ultimate responsibility for the safe and efficient running of the vessel is in the hands of the provincial government, so that is where the questions should be asked.

Then we have the Dutch Runner: It is still in Hopedale according to the CAI-Nunatsiavut web site: July 11th, 12:49pm
MV Dutch Runner Information
ON TIME

Monday, July 11th
Arrived Hopedale 10:00 am
Departure time to be advised.

No updates since the above posted.

I have it on good authority that there were loading and offloading issues in Makkovik this trip. Things like no fork lift for the wharfinger. The fish plant had to provide their forklift so sea-cans could be loaded at high tide.
Then while offloading a sea-can: "As the crane of the DR was lowering a seacan to a flat bed on the dock the DR listed towards the dock with the weight of the seacan. Of course when the seacan landed on the flat bed the weight came off the crane. The DR then righted itself taking the seacan back into the air like a match box swinging around uncontrollably, nearly taking out the stablizer on one of the crab fishing boats moored on the other side of the wharf. Not sure who owned the freight inside or if it was damaged. Very lucky nobody was hurt. A dent in the large green upright on the DR. Maybe you can see that when she arrives in Nain later this summer".

Fogged right in here at moment here.

Update: According the CAI-N web site the Dutch Runner miraculously arrived at Natuashish without departing Hopedale. Tuesday, July 12th
Arrive Natuashish 06:55 am; departure time to be advised when loading completed

Just kidding but that is the image given when following the web site.

For folks on the Wanderbird, Siutik is in fussy eating mode again, food she gobbled up for three days she now refuses to eat, is your husky a female?

Update2: A brighter story from the north, unfortunately further north. The Nuliajuk passed through here not long back.


Update3: Had my first search hit from
Nain,
Newfoundland,
Canada

Usually not so defined.

Also a shipping update: Even thought the Ranger was advertised to leave Makkovik at 9 am she did not depart until 11:15'ish.

Your package has suffered a Force Majeure,

that’s a new one for sure.

Received this by e mail from Canada Post: Shipment Status: Force Majeure on July 07, 2011.

Canada Post is experiencing circumstances beyond our control causing a possible delay of the item. We are committed to delivering the item as soon as the situation is under control. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

I had ordered a bunch of stuff from Well.ca on the 29th of June. Everything was going swimmingly until the package reached a sorting facility in Quebec on the 7th July.

Now they {Canada Post} are claiming that is not their fault the mail is backed up. Nope, they were not the ones who locked their workers out.

As everyone and their dog know this is all the fault of the Chrétien Liberal Government who turned Canada Post on its head back in the dark oh days of the natural governing party.

I had a different problem with an order I made with Ashton Green. I placed the order 2 days prior to the Postal union going on strike. Ashton green [kudos to them] foresaw possible delivery delays and switch the shipment from the usual Can Post system to Purolator courier.

Unbeknown to Ashton Green Purolator and the Can Post have more in common than being owned by the Canadian Government. There are very similar ineptitude's when getting parcels into Labrador.

My Purolator parcel went to St. John’s where it was handed over to Can Post for delivery to me during a Can Post lock out of its workers.

Now one would be excused for thinking that a courier company would pick the delivery system of least resistance and fasted mode. Nope, not Purolator, they hand over packages to Can Post destined for Labrador regularly either in St. John’s or some times Goose Bay.
Then some times packages arrive on one of the scheduled airlines servicing coastal Labrador from Goose Bay [as it should].

So don’t bother to figure that out. As every one and their dog know [see above].

I wonder if the OC Transpo buses are running on time today.

Cloudy some fog and light rain all day Sunday, light rain again this morning. The upside is the road dust is supressed.

Our three day warm clear break has ended, light rain and fog this morning, not due to warm up again until Thursday or so.

Busy at the hacienda yesterday, Fran cleaning out the front porch [wonder who ‘accumulates’ all that stuff] and me weed whacking what passes as a lawn at different locations around the house.

I see some movement of the plants in the greenhouse, heat does wonders.

Very quite around town and at the dock too.

I would call it tranquil. Nice blue sky with wispy white clouds, white caps on the water and at the dock three local boats, a couple fishing for rock cod at the end of dock, couple kids fishing for whatever they can get in the middle of the dock and a handful fishing for char near the boat ramp.

Yep, tranquil works.

The folks are out in their fine summer regalia finely. Up to 23 yesterday, could end up close to that today. Then of course we have the constant threat of cloudy foggy cooler stuff on the horizon.

Mealyman made a comment challenging the 'fairness' of my previous post. I could go into a long winded muse about what is fair when it comes to all sorts of issues facing the people of the Labrador coast, especially Governments attitudes towards marine shipping, and not just this present government. The negative attitude has been in place ever since the province took over responsibility for shipping from the Feds and Marine Atlantic. but I wont.

Suffice to say that after CIA-Nunatsiavut declaring at 3.59pm on July 8th that the Dutch Runner was anchored off Black Tickle due to high winds they then update: July 8th, 10:57pm
MV Dutch Runner Information
ON TIME

Friday, July 8th -departed Black Tickle 6:30 pm

Saturday, July 9th
ETA Rigolet 07:00 am

Now that is a pretty fast docking unload and depart in high winds in it? Especially considering the Runners other handicaps. That is if she did dock and unload.

Bullshit talks, sanity walks.

July 8th, 3:59pm
MV Dutch Runner Information
DELAYED

Friday, July 8th - Attempting to dock in Black Tickle - delayed due to high winds.

There is some bullshit going on here some place in it?

Weather Forecast: Black Tickle, NL

2){ getScriptPage('citylist','text_content','en','weather','web');}" name="text_content" id="text_content" value="" style="font-size: 11px; width: 150px;" type="text">

Change »

Current WeatherFri, Jul 8, 2011, 15:00 ADT Cartwright

Black Tickle, NL

11

Partly cloudy

• 
  
• Wind : NW 7km/h
• 
  

Time for some sanity in this whole marine shipping to Labrador coast debacle.
Alas I do not see any sanity within the levels of government that make our lives a little less comfortable that it should be.

Straight Signet.

The second vessel in two days passing through going north was this vessel.

They took on several truck loads of fuel while here.

Lot more chatty than the crew of previous boat, though I was not corrected when told it was a 'research vessel' and I carried on as if they meant 'fishing research', naughty little chap.

Hope all their chickens have wooden legs, not for being misled or anything , but for playing a role in the future devastation of a pristine part of the world.

Funny how ones body adjusts to temperatures very quickly. All these low temps and foggy cloudy weather plays games with the psychic.
Then as soon as it warms up a little the old body does not take it well, walking out the front door yesterday into 15 degrees felt like walking into an oven.

After a time things adjusted and it felt like heaven, especially with a breeze from the ocean.

It made it up to 21, the next three days are looking similar then back into the doldrums if the long range forecast can be believed.

Could this be a game changer in the Torngat Nation Park? Carrying a gun does make some sense, but on the other hand there are some cowboys out there, maybe some will be lulled into a false sense of security.

Wait and see what regulations they come up with.

"NULIAJUK"

Noticed a visitor in the harbor Wednesday morning.


Took a run down for a look and some photos.

Nuliajuk is brand spanking new, built in Glovertown NL and heading for Iqaluit Nunavut.
Told that it will be doing some "experimental' fishing for several species.

She was not here long, just picking up some supplies, she left about 12'ish.

I told the crew that their arrival must be announcing the start of summer. After the quizzical look I expalined that they were the first boat to 'pass through' and hopefaully it would be a good omen.

Turns it it may be, we got up to 14 official and 16.8 at the house. This morning it is 10 official and 5 at the house. Forecast is for low to mid teen for the rest of the week.

Big crowd down the dock when the Northern Ranger arrived, thought royalty maybe aboard.

No royalty, just tourists, Labradorimuts and lots from Natuashish doing some shopping, I hear the shelves are all but devoid of goods in their town.

A little while ago a friend brought us some Japaneses style buckwheat noodles.

With Fran having a discerning taste when it comes to noodles or pasta [if it ain't white it ain't right] I hesitated to use them.

Throwing caution to the wind I gave em a shot last evening. I had lots of left overs from previous meals roast port, so I diced some cold meat, mixed left over gravy with some meat juices, stir fried some vegetables and mushrooms, added some eggs at the end, poured the lot over the noodles.

I found the whole thing very tasty but the test was yet to come. After several mouthfuls Fran chirped up with "are these wholewheat noodles".

"Oh no" I replied, "they are Japanese buckwheat noodles that so and so brought us".

The tension was building and after a few more mouth fulls Fran says "they are pretty good".

Whew!.

The trials and tribulations of marine shipping continue. No biggy on the surface, the Northern Ranger left Goose Bay late again yesterday. This time only 11/2 hours late. The ETA into Makkovik is estimated 2 hours behind schedule this morning.
Do we have continuing mechanical problems? or other problems?

The time in Rigolet was cut to 1 hour from the 11/2 hours posted schedule.

Fog and light drizzle again this morning.

Scene at 8:30 this morning, all planes are on hold, not looking good for the rest of the week either.

Matthew supposed to fly out to visit Carter too, Guess he will be antsy all day.

I like it that CAI-Nunatsiavut Marine has on line shipping updates.
Trouble is that the Dutch Runners ETA's to any one port change regularly. One would think they could gestimate a little more accurately.

The old crowd who ran the shipping hid all this information, they did have a toll free number for update that was not that reliable for the freight vessel.

So is it better to have it 'out there' and update all the mishaps and slow downs, or the old way. I think the new crowd are trying but are a little bit out of their league, lets hope time ups their game and they qualify for the Labrador Coast league.

Happy 4 July to all you folks down in the states.

Here is a little update on the lack of internet services I wrote about previously. Election ploy, blowing smoke, too little too late, who knows. Point is it proves my point about nothing much getting done in this part of the world without some sort of corporate welfare.
Then if not for corporate welfare you would not be reading this blog, oh dial up was just too slow and painful for this type of social media.

Continuing on with the travails of the mv Dutch Runner.

The accompanying photos show what the dock at Makkovik Nunatsiavut looks like as I write.

The DR on it's exclusive run into Makkovik from Goose Bay drooped off these two sea-cans.

If they are not moved by Tuesday then the mv Northern Ranger will have trouble lowering it's gang way and certainly will not be able to unload freight.

ON the very first run the DR left sea-cans on the dock but the Makkovik Inuit Community Government {MICHG dragged them off the dock and out of the way.

It is unknown if the MICG will come to the rescue again.

I sure hope that the MICG sends an invoice to CAI-Nunatsiavut Marine, and if there is any justice in the world they would also send a cease and desist order.

You can see the ramp where Ro Ro vehicles unload, with no drop trailers on the DR then this can not be used.

I know some e mails of concern have gone to the president of NG and the local member for Makkovik.
As usual no response from the president and the local member sent a reply that he has passed the concerns on to NG and CAI. Submitted photos.