Took an early morning walk and let Siutik run for a bit yesterday. She took her time getting in the mood, she is not that keen on crusty surface snow but soon got into the mood.

There is some snow in the forecast for this coming week, not a lot and temperatures not below -8 in evenings.
Nice temperatures but a bit on the oped side for this time of year.

Still trying to off the left over Xmas ham, this time on a baguette with lettuce, tomato and red onion with sweet potato fries on the side.

We had a shortish (40 min) power outage yesterday afternoon. Not long some would say, but when you know the truth about the state of the power plant it is not very comforting.

Another nice day on the books yesterday, clear and light winds. Some very light snow falling this morning, we wont get any of the snow that seems to be falling by the truck load down south.

The harbor ice is firming up but still caution in needed.

News came from Hopedale that an older gentleman went through the ice and perished yesterday. He was walking, so with his experience and still having difficulty just shows that great care is needed when out on new ice.

A correction on the Hopedale incident, man was on snowmobile. 

Well the yucky weather did not deter the late shoppers and those wishing to win any of the Xmas draws in the stores on Xmas eve.

Wet snow and light rain fell most of the day, it stopped precipitating long enough in the afternoon for a couple of planes to get in. Temperature of +1 all day.

Still just above 0 this morning. Hope Santa and his deer had rubbers (wellington boots) on,

Have a great day everyone.

Compliments of the season to ye one and all.


Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah.

It was a grand day indeed yesterday. Winter solstice and the sun sure took its time getting up over the mountains. Top photo taken at 8:10 official sunrise.
Then mid morning we took a stroll down to airship to see Carters dad come in and give him some goodies.

By 9:45 the sun was just barely peeking sober the lowest of the hills and reflecting off the ice.

Meantime at the strip busy times, four planes on ground at one time with Carters dads plane expected soon.

Lots of people and freight being moved this time of year, our grandson Brian even had a ski doo come in on one of the planes.















With clear sky, no wind  the snow capped mountains and the clear glassy ice it sure was a picture perfect scene.

Now it is time for snow, not enough to get around town without wearing out the skis and tracks of snowmobiles, not to mention the insulation value. But we dont need the aggro of the storms that seem to hit southern parts with increasing regularity and fearsomeness.

The harbor ice looked beautiful yesterday evening, all sorts of pinky blue hues reflecting along with the white capped mountains.
There have been folks out walking on it, always someone has to be the first.

The warm front we have in forecast wont help in strengthening the ice.

The H of A is still sitting this morning, the filibusterer continues, it is revealing the stark truth about who is going to be paying for this Muskrat Falls folly in black and white. It will be the ordinary folk of the province who will bear the brunt, with no possible recourse or review of rates for the life of the pay back.

As Pat Martin said; rat faced whores indeed.

The NL Hydro's appeal for conservation did not go over that well with folks in town. Rat faced whore would count as a polite response to NL Hydro compared to other comments on social media.

Made up some light wholewheat bread and some brushetta baguettes yesterday. Then had a hankering for something different,  Italian meat balls halved, tomato on one side of baguette, feta cheese and wilted spinach on the other side, marry them together, presto something different.

Would make a nice luncheon addition to the dinning room at the Atsanik Lodge.

Days will only get longer now.

Foggy out there this marnin. Foggy in here too, out of sorts what with these private notifications of power outages that dont happen, not on our street but seems they did happen in other areas of town.

Now if NL Hydro could just treat the people on the Labrador coast with a little dignity and respect then maybe some of the that respect would be reciprocated.

Until then; your a bunch of arse holes NL Hydro. 

Strange how  prophetic the above and other recent post turned out. After listening to little miss know nothing from Hydro on CKOK one would think that everything was under control. 

The underground drums were saying a different story. Then a day after little miss know nothing Hydro comes out with all sorts of public announcements in form of press releases and twitter the whole shebang.
NLHydro ‏@NLHydro 
!/2 - As a precaution, customers in Nain asked to conserve electricity while the diesel plant requires repair on 1 of 3 generating units.
 NLHydro ‏@NLHydro

2/2 - For more info for customers in Nain, view http://bit.ly/Zm2hrC 

Lots of unhappy campers here let me tell you, nothing like stepping back 20 years. Come to think of it we seem to be doing a lot of stepping back on many issues of late. 

Many people have put a lot of effort into Christmas decorating their homes, now this will darken their doorsteps.  

  

Here is me at my diplomatic best, an e mail to NL Hydro Customer service. 

What prompted this diplomacy one may ask, well the news that there is another power outage scheduled tomorrow morning, 5 to 7, of course it is not up on the NL Hydro outage web page as yet. Another reason is that I was bugged by a comment one of the Hydro mechanics said to a hotel employee prior to them leaving Tuesday morning, *better get a big load of wood in for over Christmas*.

This is just the first contact, best to go through the rungs before getting to the top I have learnt, just hope it is not too late. 

 Hi there,

Id Like to know what type of tin pot organization you guys are running. Nain had a not 10 year old plant almost burnt down due to lack of due diligence.
Then you put multi millions of dollars into the damaged plant with a new gen set plus all the repairs.

Now we are back to a situation we had going back 15 years before the new plant was built up on the hill.

One operational unit, one barely operational unit and one unit out of service.  Rumor is that an emergency unit is being brought in, is that true?

Whatever is true one thing is for sure, the management and overseeing of the plant in Nain needs an urgent review. How can new units and units with recent repairs and upgrades be in such bad shape.

Brian Willimas
Nain NL

Continuing on with the Grinch them.

The hydro plant will be on peoples mind over the festive season. Yep, the plant that was less than 10 years old when it caught fore and almost destroyed. The plant that then had tens of millions of dollars spent on repairs and a new Gen set (generating unit). The plant that had a power outage (among many over the years) last week necessitating a crew being flown in for repairs. The plant that now has one operating Gen set in good order, one Gen set that was just repaired and is in dodgy condition and one Gen set that is nonoperational (meaning there is no stand by back up).

I remind one and all this is the same crowd that brings us and is responsible for building and operating the so called lower Churchill Falls.

“This is truly a significant day in the history of Newfoundland and Labrador as we prepare to write the next chapter in our province’s future, a future that will be guided by energy independence, security, and self-sufficiency,” said Premier Dunderdale. “With the development of Muskrat Falls, our province will make the transition from an economy dependent on non-renewable resources to a diversified renewable economy fueled by clean renewable power that will provide benefits and opportunity for future generations of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.”

May the spirits spare us from this malfeasance. 

Beautiful out there this morning, calm, -10 ish, sun behind the mountains.

 Ice is forming nicely in the harbor. Ice is soon to be disturbed by the mv Aston who is due in at 4 pm.
It is a catch 22 situation, better to let nature take its course with ice freezing (there are many reasons why), or better to have two trailer loads of  firewood delivered to the community for elders.

There are those who will side with acquiescence, and those who would say all this could have been avoided with planing and priorities earlier in the shipping season.

Later in the day: Well the arrival of the mv Astron could be best described as *In and out like a honey moon dick*.

She was in and gone by 1:15pm. And any acquiescencers got a kick in the teeth, only a quarter of the expected 75 cords of wood arrived. No room was the reason.

Figure out that cost per cord of wood, trucked to Cartwright, ship diverted to bring wood all way up the Labrador coast in December to drop off 20 cord of wood.

Temperature taken a dip again, 5 degrees colder at the house than official of -12 as the sun travels just below the mountains. Very brief exposure to direct sun this time of year.

By the forecast we wont be seeing any snow for this week, bummer eh.

What would another week be without: and out on the water update. mv Astron been anchored out of Black Tickle since Saturday night;

Monday, Dec. 17th

Delayed, anchored at Porcupine Bay.  Unable to dock at Black Tickle due to high winds.  Arrival time to be advised when weather improves.

Arrival times for other ports to be advised.

Next port(s) of call:  Black Tickle, Cartwright, Nain and Lewisporte

Speaking of on the water, after about 10 years of Humming and haring we have a request for proposals out for new ferry. 
 Warning: dont get your knickers in a knot over this, asking private enterprise to submit RFP to build and operate vessel will not work for up this way. Only way to go is for Government to build the vessel and operate it themselves, after all it is our essential highway.

Well that was an anti climatic evening and morning to say the least.

Needs an explanation I know: First off there was a snow and blowing snow warning issued for our area for lat yesterday and overnight. Most were looking forward to the snow, not so much the accompanying wind, but ya take what is given. Bugger me when I arise not a flake of snow has fallen and the winds are quite mild. So much for that.

The second anti climax: Late yesterday afternoon a local Facebooker, who is not even in town, posted from a friends Facebook a power outage warning for Nain.

Nice of them to do this as as usual the powers that be at NLHydro neglected to give an official heads up (in keeping with the vagaries and uniqueness of the geographic area) of the pending outage.

Any way all sorts of chatter and concerns posted on these posts as the outage was first going to be from midnight to eight in the morning.
This was later refined to only some areas of town at a time, rolling outages, but the impression was that most would be without power for an extended amount of unknown time. Plus there was a scheduled teacher Xmas party at the hotel.

Thankfully the temps had risen to minus single digits and the outages were not extreme, at least on our street, I think they may have been longer in certain other parts of town.

So no blame on the messenger; more like thanks is needed.  But it highlights what I and others suspect, the equipment in the hydro plant is not sufficient to meet the present needs of the community let alone the future needs as the town grows.
CKOK had a late update on their web site, thanks to them but not that much use as they are not on air Saturdays and I doubt many would check out the web site

In the coming years several large buildings are planed plus the usual housing builds each year.

On the brighter side we had a nice juicy healthy burger n chips to celebrate the impending doom that did not materialize.

On a bed of lettuce and tomato I placed a burger topped with fried onions, melted cheese (old white cheddar) and an egg. Yum yum pigs bum.

We-I attended another Xmas seniors dinner last evening. This one put on by the NG DHSD staff. Nice little do with good food, Santa could not make it this year but he sent along a small gift for all in his absence.

All these Xmas socials, and many others during the year, have had to find other venues due to the community hall being condemned due to asbestos. This one was held in the school gym.

There are plans in the works to build a new multipurpose building but that is a way down the road, maybe further down that road than expected now that the Provincial government is busted broke despite all the oil wealth these townie types keep bragging about. Oh there is money in the kitty but the bright minds have kept a couple of billion to dump into the Muskrat Falls debacle.

I digress; so the Xmas do went off rather well and the DHSD staff did a great job looking after the quests. 

As every body and his gun knows the caribou herds in Labrador are in serious decline. When I first came here the George River heard was up in the 800,000 range. Today it is down under 25,000.

Since the 1980 s it has been discovered that there are splinter groups of the Goearge River herd, plus there are smaller herds in the south west of Lbarador.
Any way long story short they are all in serious trouble.

We keep getting a lot of empty rhetoric about conservation and the provincial government and the Nunatsiavut Government have introduced smaller kills, although the NG one was a volunteer one, which by the way most people abided by.

Now this year with no word from the provincial government NG has come out with a  very blunt press release asking for a no kill of caribou for a couple of years. From NG perspective still a voluntary ask, but the province and other native groups have to come the the party as well.

A very big ask for peoples who have relied on caribou for their main source of red meat (and one time clothing) for generations, but it has to be done IMO. Lets hope the others see it the same way.

We had a clear crisp morning earlier, clouding over mid morn with snow and winds on the cards later and into tonight. At least the temps are rising from -19 to -13 as I write. -25 wind chill though.

Meanwhile out on the water: Yep, even when the shipping season is over (or so most thought) we can still relay some very funny stuff that comes out of CAI-N.

The updated mv Astron schedule going  south was confusion enough, it went from an ETA Rigolet 2:45am Saturday to a ETA Rigolet 8:30 pm Friday to  the latest ETA Rigolet 9 am today. I shit you not.

Then low and behold this is the latest screen shot of CAI-N schedule  

MV Astron (Freighter)

 

Saturday, December 15th

ETA Black Tickle 09:00 am

 

Arrival times for other ports to be advised.

 

Next port(s) of call:  Black Tickle, Cartwright, Nain and Lewisporte

 

Mind you I am not surprised she is heading back here, the lay down area at the dock has many many empty sea cans sitting there, not the usual for the long winter ahead. 

The internal communication within CAI-Nunatsiavut maybe the pits but give the crew credit for having at it. The Astron was in and out of Hopedale by 3:30 am yesterday, then into Nain by 1:30 and out with an ETA midnight Natuashish.
I'm not sure if there is any freight left in Lewisport for the coast, have had mixed messages on that last week and have not spoken to anyone on it this week.

Nice clear weather, -19 at the house this am, we can do with more snow now, we may get some on the weekend, but then so is the wind foretasted. 

Nice to see some countries protecting species, must not be any non renewables in the area says the cynic in me.

Official photo of 2012 Order of Newfoundland and Labrador

recipients.

 

Nice sunny day for the most part yesterday. Air traffic not as busy below 3 thousand feet but above 25 thousand was real busy with contrails crisscrossing the sky above Nain from east and north east.

Meanwhile on the water: No better mind has come forth with an explanation on the workings of coastal shipping. Some more to explain; the schedual ealier in the week clearly stated that after off loading in Makkovik the Astron would head for Nain then do ports south.

As mentioned yesterday she headed into Postville after Makkovik, and now this morning she has an ETA Hopedale of 5:30.  I Quote;

*ETA Hopedale 05:30 am (weather permitting)*

*Next port(s) of call: Hopedale, Natuashish, Nain*

I only mention this because this type of irresponsible behavior puts everybody who is expecting freight out on a limb and tensions are high not knowing WTF is going on.

And an update from the off load in Makkovik, and I quote;   *Back to the ‘70’s. Astron took the fork lift on the ship as she is not retuning here. 1000’s of cases of items to be unloaded from sea can’s by hand.

Onto the trucks and off again*.

Both human and freight left at risk with these below freezing temperatures. 

And to top it off I was sent this link, not sure of the date but interesting to say least. That picture of the Astron looks like it was taken in south side of St. Johns harbor.

I guess it is done to keep everybody on their toes, latest from confusion are us- 

Thursday, Dec. 13th

Discharged at Hopedale @ 03:00 am

 

ETA Nain 1:30 pm

 

Next port(s) of call: Nain, Natuashish, Rigolet, Black Tickle and Lewisporte

Another no plane day yesterday, grey flat with light snow all day.

The mv Astron made it into Makkovik last evening. An earlier arrival there was a tug and barge en rout Hopedale to the Island, she had over a foot of ice on her starboard side. So the weather is not ideal still.

One has to speculate if the captain and crew are all that happy about being out in these conditions with a heavily loaded small container ship.

Update: This morning CAI-N has the Astron anchored off Postville awaiting conditions to improve to dock and discharge. Which is at odds with the previous announcement that Nain was next port of call after Makkovik. I will leave it to greater minds than mine to figure it all out.

On regional front; the mariner restaurant adjacent to Hotel North is on fire. According to person on the ground and a guest of hotel the fire started in a back kitchen where deep fryers are located. 

The mariner is a popular eating place for many people from the coast.

According to Facebook there is no truth to the rumor that the end of the world starts at the Mariner Restaurant.  If they have had said with north coast freight service then maybe.

deja vu all over again

Chief of Attawapiskat, Theresa Spence has made the decision to conduct a hunger strike to protest the actions of the current Conservative Government and their unilateral decision making against her community and against all First Peoples of this great land.

MONDAY, December 10, 2012

2:00 pm Press Conference (Destination to be determined)

TUESDAY, December 11, 2012

6:00 am Sunrise/Pipe Ceremony at Victoria Island

9:00 am Chief will later commence Hunger Strike at Parliament

I will update further details as we go along! Keep watching!

Megwetch.

Last week my sister down under made a Rotweinkuchen cake and posted results on Facebook.

The motivation to make the cake stemmed from the fact they have a visitor from Germany staying with them, and the visitors mom sent my sister the recipe.

So that motivated me to give this wine chocolate cake a goo as well. I did up a collage of some of the steps and the ingredients, as that's what some people do on food blogs. The only variation from the recipe is I added a handful of white chocolate along with the chopped dark chocolate at the final mixing stage.

The result, not too shabby, nice and moist inside with a deep chocolate flavor, the wine is evident as well. Best to keep an eye on the baking time as if in oven too long it could come out overly dry.

Meanwhile out on the water: The mv Astron still has not made it past Cartwright.  Still storm bound and will be for the day at least.

Planes got on the go late yesterday, weather in other communities south of Natuashish held things up, then it was like LAX @YDP in the afternoon.

Nice covering of fresh snow out, wind is up so how much will be there at end of day I wonder.

The annual seniors Christmas party put on jointly by the recreation department of NICG and the staff at Labrador Grenfell health facility was yesterday. I did not get to attend but Fran did. Good turn out I am told, santa was handing out large bags of gifts to all that attended and those that did not.  Contents of one bag are pictured.

Big thank you to all those that work so hard in organizing all the little gifts and those that help out on the day.

In a way there would have been many mixed emotions yesterday. The Nain Huskies won the schools provincial volley ball tournament, the Makkovik girls won their provincial tournament as well. Unfortunately weather prevented them from getting home yesterday.

The flip side is along with a couple of regular attendee seniors who are out in hospital receiving treatment a long time fisher and hunter of the old school passed away this weekend.

The ways of relying on the land for subsistence is sure passing by quickly (some might say gone for good), one does not realize how quickly until someone leaves for whatever awaits them in the ever-after.  

Meanwhile out on the water: The mv Astron  left Lewisport in another attempt to deliver freight to the coast. She left Saturday with an ETA Makkovik 6am today.

Not so fast says the sea spirits, this is the north Atlantic in December. So the Astron is storm bound in Cartwright. 

Must be very stressful for people who have freight on the boat and still at the dock awaiting shipment. Most of the world has moved on and joined the 21st century. We here on the Labrador coast are regressing (thanks to the provincial government) at a fast pace back to the 1970s or earlier.

Had a hankering for corn bread yesterday. Not sure why, have not had it for awhile, or maybe because of the new De Buyer fry pan (this one is a 10 inch job).

Any way this recipe is a southern baked corn bread in skillet. Not bad for change of pace, bit crumbly but that is OK, I can use it in the chicken stuffing today.

The Nain Huskies volley ball team won the schools provincial tournament yesterday. great job, teams form the coast have been doing very well in Volleyball this year.

There was a comment on an older post that I thought I would bring forward to respond to:
 Christopher Brennen
Any update on the restoration of local CBC to the cable providers? I know that Eastlink here in Postville still haven't added it back in. What's the situation in Nain? 

For what it is worth the cable companies never had any intention of supplying the regional CBC feed to their small community customers once they lost the free to air pick up off CBC sites.

Despite some empty rhetoric from cable providers, and others who should have done their due diligence before speaking, it would cost thousands of dollars for each community to provide the digital equipment needed.

I am not defending the CBC actions on shutting down all the small community transmitter sites, nor the cable providers, just telling it how it is.

So the answer to you question would be, no, Nain does not have the local CBC feed either.

I am not sure how things will play out in the future, Shaw satellite has been directed by the CRTC to carry some sort of regional CBC feed come January. Trouble for East Link customers is they are affiliated with Rogers not Shaw.

If East link had a deal with Shaw they could do the small communities at a cheaper cost.

Oh looky looky, wind warnings right along the east coast.

Well by crikey that will play havoc with old ships with containers on deck exposed to freezing spray and all.
The mv Astron did a fast turn around at Lewisport and departed for Makkovik with ETA Dec 8.

All to no avail as she has promptly done another fast turn around and headed back to port. 

MV Astron (Freighter)

Thursday, December 6th

Returned to Lewisporte due to high winds & swells.  Departure time to be advised.

Next port(s) of call:  Makkovik, Nain, Natuashish, Hopedale Postville and Rigolet.

Not like it has not happened before, not like the folks who run this shamozzel of a shipping outfit (the Government) have not had years of experience. 

Yet with only one boat (outdated) for most of the shipping season the government has done dick all nothing to improve the the situation. With another load after this one who knows what is in store. Mitigation and due diligence indeed.

On the power outage pole down situation: The Hydro line crew were quick in isolating the downed pole and getting power back to a large part of Middle Path Rd. The business sector was all back up mid afternoon. Not sure about the area on the down side, hope it was not too long.

With the new snow down and likely to hang around we enter into a yearly ritual of ski doos and 4 wheel traffic plus pedestrian traffic all vying for the same narrow space we call roads up here.

For this post I will just touch on the topic of (what to me is oxymoronic) silencers on ski doos.

Ski doo silencers seem to be manufactured for performance without any effort made to suppress the noise emanating out the exhaust.
Now this may be all well and good for race tracks and out of town wilderness ridding (my opinion is they should be banned from wilderness areas until noise effects on wildlife can be determined).

But for around town use, bane them all together. One small example of why; couple weeks ago after the very first snow fall that barely covered the ground someone decided to take his ski doo with silencer (or cracked muffler) for a run around town in the early hours of a Sunday.

Loud does not describe the noise that could be heard all round town no matter where this guy was on his machine. These silencers have the ability to frighten the bejasus out of anyone.

This resulted in quite a bit of chatter on social media, most condemning these silencers and some condemning the driver.

It does represent a bit of a problem for people who buy ski doos either new or second hand as some machines come with these silencers installed.
Alas I think the greater good has to take precedence and the owners of these machines have to pay due diligence about what is installed on the machines they are buying.

Any way it seems the social media chatter was enough for the local council to get back (it has been on the back burner for some years) at introducing town traffic by laws.

One of the by-laws they can and should introduce is noise pollution, others will be more problematic because of the type of roads we have and the conditions of the roads i.e. gravel and dusty in summer and snow in winter, some narrow to very narrow with nowhere for pedestrians to walk safely.


There was a short power outage around 3 this morning, apparently a longer one for part of the town. The primary school is closed with further updates at 11. The school is in the down town main business area.

Temperatures are a mild -5 or so, that should help with the pipes not freezing.

NLHydro we have a problem: After further inspection we have a serious issue with a pole partly down. Only thing that prevented it from crashing to the ground are the telephone and cable wires that run on the hydro poles at a lower level. 

Not sure if it is a lack of due diligence issue or a vehicle hit the pole, only two ways it could have happened.

Any way the main business section of town and homes along Middle Path Road are all without power. A line crew would have to be sent in from Goose Bay to deal with this.

It is now known that a vehicular accident precipitated the downing of the hydro pole. 

Early morn, straight road, bit of snow on road. There was also a medi vac (medical evacuation) flight this morning.

Update: Incident report; lots of rumors so wont get into them. What I am reasonably sure of is; three men in vehicle, vehicle runs off road, hits hydro pole and snaps it off near bottom, vehicle hits mound of dirt and rock near pole, vehicle rolls couple time, one perp ejected out but OK. Two perps trapped in vehicle, one OK one unconscious for a time, this is the guy medi vaced out.

Vehicle has front and rear glass busted out, air bag activated. 

Hydro line crew landed at noon, immediately on scene to do repairs and replacement of pole, rather a big job, power out could last until tomorrow.

Well it seems I put too much trust in some information I presumed was a good source. Funny how some people try and hide the truth based on where one is from. Any way there is official news out on the incident now.  Some folks are in serious do do I would think.

We have some snow on the ground, present weather is marginal here for flying but not good other places with freezing up conditions. Lets hope for some good conditions to keep what we have.

This week the provincial government FINELY released details of the home heating rebate for this heating season. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth and all, I'm sure we are all very grateful and all but when you go and pay $620:40 for 410 liters (2 drums or 90 gallons) of oil delivered it takes some of the excitement away.

With all the travails of our MP in Ottawa the Penashue name is taking one hell of a beating in the countries media.

But in our mind the Penashue name rates up there with Gandhi, Tutu and Mandela and the like. And it has nothing to do with her son, it has everything to do with the courage and inner strength of Elizabeth Penashue and her husband and her followers and supporters.  

Nice clear crisp morning, down to -18 at the house. Some weather on way, pretty pink ski all across the east as the sun rose.

Mean time on the water things are confused, at least in the mind of who ever updates the Astron update. Earlier had her getting into Postville today than changed to read

MV Astron (Freighter)

 

Tuesday, Dec. 4th - Correction

ETA Black Tickle 7:00 pm  Whose on first I wonder?

After successfully warding off colds and flues for a couple of years I have been struck down with a bad oh cold since Thursday. I have had worse colds, this one is hanging around in the head, just when you think it has cleared the stuffiness re appears. It is less a pain in the arse than a pain in the head.

So to brighten my day and tingle my taste buds I experimented yesterday. Beer braised cabbage, two roasted spuds, slow roasted port loin with mushroom-sherry-cream reduction, more commonly known as sauce.

I rather like the sherry thing, on the other hand Fran made no comment.

Meanwhile out on the water the Astron is painstakingly making crawling its way down the coast unloading freight as she goes, when weather permits.

What with weather and slowness of unloading it took three days to get into and out of Hopedale over the weekend. 

Now this morning she anchored off Hopedale due to high winds and heavy seas. 
Not sure about the winds, they have subsided, the seas could be on, just goes to show the inadequacy of the boat for the job at hand.

I'm fading to black in honor of the mighty Mista Shipu and its pending demise.

And in honor of the people who have the guts to make a stand at the attach on democracy for the sake of the almighty god damn $

A first, an anomaly and on to the unethical bordering on the illegal.

A first for the new provincial minister for works services and transport. An interview with CBC HV_GB on marine transport. 
The message has not changed from his predecessor, just a more reasoned sounding approach.

Still that does not get us to the point of dealing with the aged and ailing vessels at our disposal, looks like more of the status quo for the foreseeable future.

The anomaly is of the Nunatsiavut Government doing a media event in the fine city of St. Johns. Actually doing a media event anywhere for NG is news of and in itself. Maybe things are to change.
The video is longish but worth the time for a number of reasons. 

By the sound of the responses from government and Nalcor the next steps maybe taken up the steps of the law courts.

Unethical just does not seem the right word to describe the goings on of our MP in Ottawa, both pre and post his election.

If APTN has the bone then they are going to chew on it it till the marrow is sucked out. At least there can be no accusations of white liberal media biases.

As I maintained all along, this guy is in the doo doo he is in mainly due to dealings with bottom feeding unethical white guys with dollars flashing before their eyes, plus his own low ethical standards and dollars flashing before his eyes. 

Cultural Center part 6.

There was a public information session on the proposed Cultural Center yesterday afternoon. In reality it is not proposed, more like a done deal.

Not a bad crowd, mostly NG, Parks Canada and community government people. Just over a hand full of public.

That did not stop a lively and probing question period. Pity no questions about the validity of the process leading up to the site chosen. Has anyone being following the Rob Ford legal issue in Toronto?

I digress; the session was opened by the minister responsible for Culture. He gave a spiel, more like spin, of the reasons the site was chosen. Things like historically significant, has place in the heart of the Inuit of Nain, used to be a community when Inuit were still living traditional life styles.

I have no doubt that well may be, which raises the questions of; why no community dialogue in the lead up to the site being chosen. Why no community dialogue in the lead up to site preparation work.

Why was it used as a small boat work area and failed several attempts at building small boat wharfs these last decades.

Why have the towns burgers decided to go ahead and plonk a modern concrete, rock gravel, steel, wood, glass structure on an allegedly site of such cultural significance with out any dialogue with the community, or the region of Nunatsiavut for that matter.

Anyway enough of my silly little questions.

There were two people from the architectural firm and two from the engineering firm present. The architectural guy did most of the background talk about vision of the design leading into the changing engineering process and the shrinking size of the building as costs rose, as is the usual with these things.

The number of pylons to be driven into the ground has gone from around 20 to 100. The depth of these pylons will be in the 60 feet range, penetrating the permafrost and into a stable load holding base beneath. At least that is the hope.

The building basement has also been raised a couple of feet to accommodate any possible rise in the sea levels due to global warming. I think I touched on these points in previous posts.

The interior size has shrunk as previously mentioned, there will be offices for Parks Canada and Torngasok Cultural center people. A 90 seat theater, kitchen, areas for craft sales and a public eating area.

The majority area will be for exhibits, I’m not sure if static or changing. This area will be a public space as well with broad open views of the harbor, seating and an indoor fireplace.

Some Torngasok staff questioned why not all of them will be accommodated in the new building. The answer was *just the staff who have contact with public will be accommodated*.  Ouch.

Outside will be a wooded  type space thing around the circumferences of the building leading on to a stepped rock and gravel area sloping down to the water.

An open fireplace and the steps of about two feet high are to encourage community activity such as sitting around and contemplating while looking out at the water. At least this is the vision of the designers.

Community members have a different vision of it. Concerns about safety of children, concerns about kids hanging around the fireplace in the evenings. Not like kids have not been up to no good with previous new buildings, just look at the state of the Okalakatiget Society building, the Husky center, all the broken windows in the school, the two previous government buildings and on and on.

So the concerns are real, but alas the visionaries seem to be paying little credence to these concerns.

Concerns were stressed on the geophysics of the area, the possibility of sea water as well as water from the land encroaching on the site.
These concerns were not made light of but the engineers and architects seem confident that mitigation's like raising the height of the footings and the pylons will suffice.

So from bottom to top we have 100 steel pylons, these are joined together where the floor will start, then steel stanchions raised to the roof height. There will be a heated space under the floor.

Large I type floor joists will tie it all in then flooring (not sure what type), 8 inch wooden studs for the exterior walls with large glass windows on the sea side and treated lumber on the town side.
Looks like a flat roof with a good amount of skylights in areas not having natural light from the windows. Not sure about this concept in winter.

Heating bills will be augmented by some solar panels, mainly to heat water to kitchen and washrooms. Large black heat absorbing fin like panels will be installed, I am not sure where exactly.

I neglected to ask about cooling in summer, and air re distribution, it is going to get bloody hot with those large triple glazed windows.

Outside we have the rock, gravel terraced down to the waters edge.

Seems like the engineers have taken care to adapt as discovery of soil and geophysics work was taking place. Only big question is, why?. There were other locations with less vulnerability to the ever changing environmental conditions. These would have required less ground preparation for less cost to mitigate leading to more dollars for the actual building.

Some asked about local employment. As usual this was not handled well by the powers that be.
The post construction  phase should garner some local jobs in the lower paid area.

But the construction jobs was danced around, the best that anyone could come up with was, *see the contractors when the job starts*. Well we all know how that has worked in the past don’t we.

In closing, the architects promised more community dialogue as work on the design of the exhibits progresses and what should be incorporated outside the structure such as carvings and such.  Not sure who will be the target of the dialogue, sure hop it encompassed more people than any dialogue to date.

Interesting that the power brokers behind all this did not dialogue their intentions of more dialogue with the public.

Update:  Here is an interview CKOK radio did with the NG minister responsible for the culture on the public consultation and the cultural center itself.  Inuktitut first as it should be.

Who’s on first is playing again on the Labrador coast.

Remember yesterday I mentioned that the Astron was heading back to Goose Bay from Rigolet instead of doing the advertised scheduled run up the coast.

The word that came from our MHA after talking to someone at WST was that Astron unloaded some equipment in Rigolet and was going back to Goose Bay to empty out the shed of freight and head back up calling into Makkovik then points north.

I was thinking that was a load of BS……………….. turns out it was a load of BS.

Issued this morning on the CIA- Nunatsiavut we site is that the Astron has an ETA of 6:00 am Nain on the 29th, then ports south to Lewisport.

I will capture the report instead of linking as it could change at any moment, Abbott and Costello anyone?

MV Astron (Freighter)

Thursday, Nov. 29th

ETA Nain 06:00 am

Next port(s) of call: Points south to Lewisporte

Well that little warming trend soon got blown away out to sea din it?

+1 yesterday morning to -11 today with -23 wind chill, winds gusting to 76, poor old air line passengers cant get a break.

Going to be icy underfoot, the roads were all slushy snow and ice under yesterday, council was laying sand on hilly areas, now with all that combined things will be tricky, but what is life without some challenges?

The Aston is due Rigolet 6:30 this morning, if the winds persist it could be held up again on way up coast. Then it has to get back to Lewisport for another run up.

Update: Well the Astron made it to Rigolet, now it is headed back to HV-GB with an ETA of  6:30 pm according to the CAI-Nuntasiavut web site.
No need to panic or get stressed, the government has it all under control.

No fly weekend

with fog, light snow, light rain, low clouds you name it we had it.

In my back and forth twittering with one of the air lines it came to my attention that Nav Canada Wx cams are badly needed and should be installed in all the coastal communities.

Environment Canada often does not give precise information on ceilings and visibility, and with constant changes like this weekends the Wx cams would be an invaluable extra tool for the air lines.

 There are only 4 Wx cams in all of Labrador, two of them on the north coast.

Time for the community councils and other players to start lobbying for this to change. Even if cams are installed outside of Nav Can it would be a way for the airlines to log in and check the local conditions regularly.

Update: Same conditions today as well, same result with airlines not sure if they can get into Nain. 

Big hugs and kisses to our ingutatjusak Carter who is celebrating his 2nd birthday today.

Theres going to be wrapping paper flying all over the place any time soon.

Photos by Aimee, Carter was more taken by the balloons on the ceiling at first, until he and dad opened all the presents.

A very good  article contained in Up Here magazine on the lady who is the power behind Feeding My family Facebook page.

Leesee Papatsie and others are proof positive that individuals can make a difference, and community activist is not a dirty word as some milquetoast brown nosing status quo recidivists around here would have people believe.

Its harp harp harp on marine shipping time again.

Every year this happens, and every year there is more and more reason to harp as every year the service deteriorates.

This year we have the Nunatsiavut government harping (an anomaly of sorts) the concerns that the people on the coast have about receiving the winters freight.

We also have the MHA for the region using social media very well  and speaking to the house and to the minister about the same concerns, plus claiming (I have no reason to doubt the claim) that there is a back log of freight in both Lewisport and Goose Bay.

Then we have silence from the government of the province but doubling troubling is the total silence from the minister responsible for this file. Also troubling is that CIA- Nunatsiavut (the contracted operators of the one vessel left) is saying that there is no backlog.
If it can be proved that there is a backlog then CAI-N should be given a big kick up the arse, they are after all majority owned by the people of the Torngats, rather than a bunch of pencil pushing know bugger all civil servants..

It just highlights the contempt these Island centric politicians have for the people of the Torngats in particular and for Labrador in general.

That folks is my harp harp harp for the day………………… but maybe not seeing as the day has barely begun.

It is becoming increasingly obvious that relations between the Nunatsiavut Government and the Provincial Government continue to be a paternalistic one. No prizes for guessing who is on top has the father figure role.

Since the new Minister of Works and Services took over NG has issued two press releases and numerous other representations (so we are told) pertaining to the state of Marine shipping, not one response, at least that is known to the public, this is the latest presser.

November 21, 2012

For Immediate Release

Concerns continue to rise as shipping season nears end

The Nunatsiavut Government is calling on the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to ensure all freight is shipped to northern Labrador communities before the season comes to an end.

“We have made numerous requests, in writing and verbally, for another vessel to complement the Astron,” says First Minister Darryl Shiwak. “We are at a crucial time in the year when residents and businesses in Nunatsiavut are completely dependent on goods and supplies for the winter. While the provincial government has given us a guarantee that all freight will be delivered, based on our experiences we are very concerned that this will be the case.”

Minister Shiwak says he’s concerned that some freight will be left behind.

“This has been one of the worst years ever for the marine service,” he says. “Given the situation, the Astron is doing a good job, but it can only do so much. If that vessel breaks down, or if there are delays because of weather, then we run the risk of not having essential goods and supplies shipped to our communities this winter.”

The Minister is once again calling on the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to replace the MV Northern Ranger, which broke down in early September, with a new, modern vessel – one that is capable of serving the long-term needs of northern Labrador.

Bert Pomeroy

Director of Communications

Considering the ministers lack of interest on issues in Labrador within his departments mandate I now take back the nice things I said about him when we met at Frans O.N.L investiture. He is like his predecessor, an Island centric partisan hack, albeit less prone to verbal diarrhea.

Sadly this is not the only file where meetings between the two governments lead to zero, in many cases they just lead to layoffs and cut backs in funding for much needed programs and services.

I just wish someone would come out and just put the cards on the table and be truthful about what is going on. Sadly again, governments dont deal in truthfulness and oneness. 

The provincial governments finances are in dire straights, but we continue to be barraged with hype and propergander and its full steam ahead to invest future generations well being in in the folly of Muskrat Falls hydro development.

The overnight and morning temps are not good for this time of year. +4 is the opposite to what most people are looking for. Freezing temps and then lots of snow mid December is the ask.

Stupid formatting again, not it doing it all over again.

Today’s picture of last nights meal has a real purpose. It shows the breaded (my doing) pork tenderloin chops from Northern, reasonable pricing and nice and tender along with what is available for a salad on a Tuesday in Nain. Note: my favorite salad is lettuce, tomato, onion, cucumber.

Which leads me to today’s Blog topic:

 Kind of a disrupted day yesterday ending with reasonably good results, time will tell.

Started out I had an 11 O’clock meeting set up with three people from Nutrition North Canada.


No weather delays but airline fleet issues let to the NNC charter leaving Goose Bay later than intended.
So the NNC board of advisers and NNC staff did not arrive in Nain till about 12:45. Lunch dash strategy meeting followed by meetings with other folks had my meeting set back to 5:30, while the three people eat, but that’s OK, got to put some of my thoughts out.

NNC had a public meeting at 7 pm in the NG board room. I think most people were not expecting a great turn out, history tells us that, but lo n behold around 45 people plus the NNC people were in attendance, standing room only and chivalry is a thing of the past. Age justified my seat.

It was an eclectic mix of people, about 50 50 of local residents and a lot of women who I have no clue who they were. I suspect most worked in health field either for NG or Labrador Grenfell Health. There was defiantly more NG department people that others, but that is the way it should be. Well not less others but NG staff have been notoriously missing at many public meetings that are in their field of interest.

Each retail store had representatives present and the heads of NG and Community Governments were present, and rightly so.

What came out of all this? Time will tell as usual, but there was a good exchange of ideas and concerns and the NNC people had a chance to see first hand the good and the ugly of the stores we shop in daily.

Noticed were little or no labeling of many of the NNC subsidy items in one store in particular (BigLand). Dated items like bread (best before Nov 9, store not stated). They noticed the ridiculously small and unattractive space at the back of the store (BigLand) where fruits and vegetables are displayed.
Also noticed was lack of product and the state of product on display (Bigland). Mind you it was a week since the last shipment, but nothing was on sale to help move it off the shelf.

Also noticed were the discrepancies of prices between stores on many items covered under the NNC and provincial subsidies.
A lively discussion insured over this at the public meeting, not sure if the explanations were all that well received by the public. But NNC seemed to be listening.

Will update later.

Later:  Kind of a disrupted day yesterday ending with reasonably good results, time will tell.

Started out I had an 11 O’clock meeting set up with three people from Nutrition North Canada.


No weather delays but airline fleet issues let to the NNC charter leaving Goose Bay later than intended.
So the NNC board of advisors and NNC staff did not arrive in Nain till about 12:45. Lunch dash strategy meeting followed by meetings with other folks had my meeting set back to 5:30, while the three people eat, but that’s OK, got to put some of my thoughts out.

NNC had a public meeting at 7 pm in the NG board room. I think most people were not expecting a great turn out, history tells us that, but lo n behold around 45 people plus the NNC people were in attendance, standing room only and chivalry is a thing of the past. Age justified my seat.

It was an eclectic mix of people, about 50 50 of local residents and a lot of women who I have no clue who they were. I suspect most worked in health field either for NG or Labrador Grenfell Health. There was defiantly more NG department people that others, but that is the way it should be. Well not less others but NG staff have been notoriously missing at many public meetings that are in their field of interest.

Each retail store had representatives present and the heads of NG and Community Governments were present, and rightly so.

What came out of all this? Time will tell as usual, but there was a good exchange of ideas and concerns and the NNC people had a chance to see first hand the good and the ugly of the stores we shop in daily.

Noticed were little or no labelling of many of the NNC subsidy items in one store in particular (BigLand). Dated items like bread (best before Nov 9, store not stated). They noticed the ridiculously small and unattractive space at the back of the store (BigLand) where fruits and vegetables are displayed.
Also noticed was lack of product and the state of product on display (Bigland). Mind you it was a week since the last shipment, but nothing was on sale to help move it off the shelf.

Also noticed were the discrepancies of prices between stores on many items covered under the NNC and provincial subsidies.
A lively discussion insured over this at the public meeting, not sure if the explanations were all that well received by the public. But NNC seemed to be listening.


To encapsulate; NNC officials are not up to speed on the vagaries and differences of the workings of the NNC program in Labrador compared to elsewhere in the north.

THAT IS NOT SURPRISING WHEN YOU CONCIDER THAT IT COST nnc $1,000,000 TO SHIP 600,000 KG OF FREIGHT INTO LABRADOR AND  11,000,4000 KG OF FREIGHT WORTH $30,7000,000 WAS SHIPPED INTO NUNAVUT IN 2011-2012 YEAR.

I GET THE IMPRESSION THAT NNC OFFICIALS AND ADVISORY BOARD ARE LOOKING AND LISTENING.

THEY ARE TO MEET WITH PROVINCIAL, NG, RETAILERS AND WHOLESALERS IN GOOSE BAY. SO HOPEFULLY SOME ANSWERS WILL BE FOR COMING AS TO WHY THE TWO WHOLESALES HAVE A MONOPOLY ON NNC SHIPPING INTO THE COMMUNITY AND WHY THE RETAILERS ARE NOT INVOLVED IN THE PROGRAM.  IN OTHER AREAS OF THE NORTH PEOPLE HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO ORDER FROM SOUTHERN SUPPLIERS IF THE SO CHOOSE.

THE DIRECTOR GENIAL OF AANDC AND NNC SUGGESTED THAT THE COMMUNITIES IN NUNATSIAVUT START HAVING COMMUNITY DIALOGS ON MANY OF THE VAGARIES OF NNC, THE PROVINCIAL PROGRAM, ISSUES WITH PRICE VAGARIES AND THE LIKE. I COULD NOT AGREE WITH HIM MORE.

HE ALSO MENTIONED THE FEEDING MY FAMILY FACE BOOK SITE AND ITS SUCCESS IN GETTING THE NUNAVUT GOVERNMENT AND MANY OF THE RETAILERS  FURTHER NORTH IN STARTING TO REACT TO THE COST OF FOOD AND FOOD SECURITY IN A POSITIVE WAY.

mumbo jumbo

Mumbo jumbo man is back lowering the bar yet again.

Unfortunately this guy has his supporters, both in supporting his behavior at hockey rinks and his attitude to constituents that do not agree with him on the political front.

There is an interesting interview on CBC Lab Morning with a fan who was at the two games where Russell lost his mojo.
 I will post a link when it is up, guys like this have no place in public forums nor government.

Pizza snob

One of my best, but I keep saying that dont I?

This one I took more time over. Focaccia bread dough rolled super thin, caramelized onions, salami, olives, fresh basil, fresh spinach, fresh tomatoes, mushrooms and three cheeses.

I was debating anchovies but decided against, maybe too many taste sensations, will have to find out next time.

Weather is seasonal, still the wind is a bugger, in the minuses for the most part. That is supposed to change mid week with projected high of +6 and low of -3.

Windiest kind of day yesterday, and on the day Carter bear and his fam jam were due to fly in.

First off Nain was out as far as planes landing so fam jam planned to stay home and try again today. Then it was decided that fam jam would get off the plane in Hopedale and fly to Nain Monday.
Mid flight the winds picked up and fam jam and Carter bear could not land in Hopedale so ended up back in Goose Bay.

As to Nain, the winds were brutal. Official 100 clicks with gusts to 105. But, an Environment Canada peep who twitters had the highest gust to 124 clicks for Nain.

I'm inclined to not doubt the EC peep, when we were coming back from the stores Siutik and I were blown backwards and peppered with blowing gravel in one nasty gust.

Good news for local sports fans; the Nain mens Huskies volley ball team won the regional finals yesterday. The finals were played over in Western Labrador. Next stop the Provincial finals.

Update: Carter bear and is fam jam made it in about 12, windy and clear but hell of a lot less wind than yesterday,

Unfortunately G Grandma had time for a quick kiss and a hug and boarded the plane Carter arrived on, she heading for Rigolet for women's group seniors workshops.

A weekend change of pace for brekky. Crepes, snags, strawberries maple syrup.

Couple of local stories regionally speaking.

First one is local, not a big bust as drug busts go but not bad for a town of 1300 removed from any roads and by the way it is going removed from any marine access, but I digress. The other regional and in keeping with how things seem to be spiraling out of control for the once proud mounted Mountie. They are after all only human.

Back to the drug bust, anyone with a functioning brain should be aware that drugs are an issue in this town. How large an issue is not known to me, but I an sure it is known to others, and they apparently are not saying.

The drugs in this bust were packaged ready for re sale, if the authorities got a whiff that the drugs were coming in then does it not stand to reason that it may be known who shipped them?

The alleged perk is just a little cog in the big wheel, which makes me wonder why no discussion is taking place in the province, and indeed the county, along the lines that is taking place in other jurisdictions, namely several states in the US of A at the moment.

I am not a user of any drugs, leaving aside the odd Advil, but there may come a time when medicinal marihuana could be a choice in treating some illness that may come my way. I sure would like to have that option rather than having some of the drugs within the status quo medical profession fostered on me.

We I had a break from cooking last evening and had a nice meal and wine at the Atsanik, only gone just over two hours and when we came home Siutik was all sooky and all over me as if we had been gone six weeks.

Something a little different (for us) last evening; wineless chicken cacciatore, having no wine I substituted beer.

The Astron is creeping its way up the coast leaving damaged freight and not leaving freight as it goes.

In one part a ski doo destined for a port further up the coast was dropped from height onto the deck, pity the poor bugger who is waiting for it.

In Hopedale one of the relatives was anxiously waiting for a new washer to arrive. They had been without a washer for some time so excitement was in the air when they were informed that said washer was on the boat.

After the boat departed and the relative went looking for the washer it was discovered there was no washer, it was still on the boat.

Now the washer goes rest of the way up the coast and back down the coast to Lewisport then up the coast again and this time hopefully dropped off (not literally) in Hopedale.

The sad part is that these two incidences described above are not an anomaly, they are more the norm.

I hear that the last day to ship goods out of Lewisport and anywhere else is this Friday.

This is another anomaly as in all previous years the closure dates varied between Lewisport and Goose Bay and the coast.

He never did did e?




And the guy under the bus does not know anything about it either. Mind you a comfortable and lucrative place to be under the CNLOPB bus

Yesterday started out fine and dandy weather wise. Planes on the go playing catch up with passengers both ways and freight coming into the coast. The provincial court circuit staff had been stuck here since Friday.

Then sort of out of the blue a front moved in with light snow and closed down on Nain and other communities. Planes had to deal with freezing conditions at altitude, some turned back to Goose Bay and others who were closer to their destinations and found holes in the clouds got down safely.

On the water things were status quo, nothing moving.
The Astron had been at the dock in Goose Bay storm bound, it had an ETA Rigolet of 7pm last evening.

The fund raiser for the Seniors Van mentioned yesterday realized $1,538:50.
Kudos to all those who organized and worked hard to put this on and to the people who donated food items or cash.

Now here is a great recipe just geared to today's rush rush world (not), poached eggs that take up to 2 hours to cook. Or perhaps it is geared to today's uber rich who can place an order a day ahead and pop in for breky on the way to the hairdresser.

Today is PP day, Our beleaguered Member in Ottawa is going to explain all the overspending and alleged illegal fund raising during the last election to his constituents some time today.

From what I can ascertain on social media no media are invited, there is no venue set and no time st for this great revelation.

Important upertydate:  
On PP day, lady was just on CBC Labrador morning, she called PP this morning as he had not replied to her e mail of last week asking where and when the explanation would be.

PP told said lady that he had meet with some people last evening and is intending on meeting with some more people today.
Lady asked about a public meeting, PP said if any one want to contact him they can either e mail him, sent a snail mail or call his cell phone, he gave her his cell number.

The hole is getting deeper, time to start back fill by sound of things.

Super duper important upertydate:

PP had no intentions of meeting with his constituents as he had most of the country believe. Instead he issues a press release.
Talk about PP Pee Peeing allover his constituents and pushing his election official agent under the bus.
By that criteria I guess his ex official agent has no business in the job he was appointed to after PP won the election.

Windy weekend getting up to 100 k gusts, kept planes grounded to all the coast and the freight boat Astron was delayed leaving Goose Bay.

Spent Sunday moving some snow but mostly doing some baking for a fund raiser event today.  Peanut butter choc chip cookies and baguettes are pictured.

The recreation department of the town council acquired funds to purchase a van to aid seniors in getting around town for appointments and the like. The bulk of the funds to purchase the van came from the International Grenfell Association.

The funds came up a bit short by about 8 grand, so there is a fund raising program that will be on going as wages for a driver and such have to be found yet.

Today in the school gym a bake sale along with soup and chilli and stuff will start at noon. I am told the van will be on display as well, she came in on the last freight boat. Lots of little things to be worked out on the operation of the van so it wont be put into service until next summer.

Update:  Droped off the donations at the gym, lots of goodies coming in prior to the sale, checked out the van which is parked outside the entrance.