It is with great sadness, that the family of Brian announces his passing on July 25, 2013.
Brian was diagnosed with cancer in May, and received radiation therapy in St.John's. He was then sent to the Labrador Grenfell Health facility in Happy Valley Goose Bay for care. This is where Brian spent his remaining days. He was surrounded by family and friends at the time of his passing.

The family wishes to thank all those who were there to support Brian in  his time of need. We appreciate all the kindness, help and love expressed at our time of sorrow.

Not highly recommended: a 3 day trip to Goose Bay to get an ex ray and two other appointments. Especially with a bunged hip.

The ski doo ride to and from airstrip was the worst, nothing to do about that, or was there?

Had good help at airstrip and at GB airport, wheelchair waiting. The flights both ways great, just getting off and on was difficult with the pain.

I was getting down that not enough emphasis was being payed to the seriousness of my condition, still worrie3de realy as it will take 10 days or so before the Doctor gets the official read out of the ex rays.

I am encouraged by the reception from the physio therapist, took great interest in my general condition and was great help in dealing with the hip issue.

The state of the northern caribou herds is still a controversy bubbling under the surface. Another meeting to form committees to look at ways to deal with the issue.
Nunatsiavut Government has dealt with the George River heard quite well, I am not sure why they have not dealt in similar manner with the smaller Torngat herd in a similar way.
Asking people to not hunt seems a smart way to go untill others agree on a moratorium, or a survey shows there a enough animals left for a sustainable hunt.

Wish me luck, off to the Goose for an ex ray and couple other appointments. Not looking forward to the trip from home to airstrip and then GB.

I am receiving inquiries why the dearth of postings of late.

It is mainly due to some health issues that have popped up making life painful and miserable for the most part, and I just dont have the inclination to get onto the internet that much.

Some of the issue have been resolved and just working on the old painful hip issue and rotator cuff now.

Meanwhile Mia and Carter bear are whooping it up, (unfortunately the picture did not don load)..

Here is a twist on Arctic travel that has some appeal.

Nunatsiavut Government has 51 % share in an airline, but I doubt if you can get a seat sale to Goose Bay let alone a tour to places of interest.
Too busy building iconic buildings in Nunatsiavut to attract tourists from south, or town centers outside the claims area.

An Ozzie battler finely takes the green jacket, bloody buedy mate.

Ozzies were third and forth as well.  All are exceptianlly long hitters, and straight for the most part.

Jason Day had it won a couple of times but some miss judged approach shots cost him big time.

Carter bear finely has a baby sister, he is right caught up in her too, at least for now.

Mia was born 11.50 on Saturday night. 7Lb 3 oz. All doing well.

Cooler temps and sunshine today, nice change from those low flat precipitation days we have had.

I sure would like to be a fly on the wall of some of these offices involved in the on going debacle of marine shipping on the Labrador.

There had been no official word on the straight of bell Isle, just speculation. Now just days before the service is to start the doo doo hit the fan with controversy and the company that thought it had the contract was told to take a hike.

Then still nothing from the government until it issued this release yesterday awarding a one year contract to Labrador Marine (hands up all those surprised).

The government release came after the company had issues its own release.

All this does not bode well for the summer season for vessels to the north coast.

The Northern Ranger seems to be ready for service but the freight vessel is still an unknown, what company and what vessel is any ones guess. Although considering what is happening on the straights one could make an educated guess.

It will be decades if ever when we see the promised purpose built vessels for our service. Wouldn't it be great if we were to see something like this in the next couple of years.

Well the Heritage Dog team race got away this morning under grey and wet and windy conditions, though not as bad as yesterday.

Dennis Woodrow Burden and his team were the winners. That is the team that Karen came up with as helper and photographer and dogs body.

Karen let loose in the kitchen yesterday knocking up an incredible roast chicken and vegetables with an amazing pear, grape, onion sauce.

The go or no of Heritage dog team race is is in the hands of spirits,or perhaps the weather.

Not looking or sounding good out there at moment with light snow, +1 and windy.

I am sure most Canadians are relieved that Marmageddon has been prevented down New Zealand.

I would be more upset if a Vegimageddon hit for sure.

Good news on the Peter Penashue front, according to Rex (dip stick) Murphy PP is running in a Newfoundland riding, we are spared any further and deeper embarrassment.



Karen and her human and four legged friends have made it to Nain, some time last night.

Karen and the huskies have made it into Makkovik, had a good trip to date, let the dogs have a 30 k run besides the ski doos on the way.

There is something fundamentally wrong with the way this mob called the Harper Government conducts business.
Lying, cheating , obstification, covering up for incompetent former MPs, paying off fines to Elections Canada for former MPs. It is all just too stomach turning and an injustice for the majority of Canadians who hold this crowd with contempt, contempt eared more and more each day.

Please seek solace in the spirits and advice of your elders Peter Penashue and do the right thing for once in your life, money is not everything.

Now we have some people to track heading north for a change.

Karen from the Wanderbird, Dennis Woodrow Burden and his dog team plus
Ommati Merkuratsuk from Nain leave Goose Bay today for Nain. 

The dogs are to compete in the up coming Heritage dog team race this weekend.

They will be traveling by to snow mobiles, not dog team if anyone interested.

The Innu Cultural Walkers have reached their destination.

                                                                  Photos by Antne Rich.


Apart from CKOK no other media have covered this admiral adventure, in support of Burton Winters.


All media attention is elsewhere at the moment, the murkier underbelly of life within the Labrador self professed movers and shakers/

For the second time in a week I crossed paths with Carter Bear in the Goose Bay airport. This time he coming and me going.
Grandma had to play second fiddle to great grandma for CB attention while he was here, GGM has the right technique.

Nice to be back where the spring snow is still nice and white, though a bit icy on top after a warm spell.

I was hardly in the door before Fran and Siutik had me in big hugs. Nice to be home and nice to be missed.

Make my day, no my week, on second thoughts my year.

That bent bastard PP has resigned from cabinet and his seat of Labrador.

Resigns his seat so he can run in a by election, not bloody likely, there is more to this stinking swamp fest that will come out eventually.

His poor allegedly inexperienced campaign manager must resign from his plush appointment now too.

Update:  I see where Reg Bowers has also resign from the CNLOB, very coincidental that I am sure.

I never brought into the *inexperienced* bullshit about Reg. He worked for years in various government departments as financial adviser and business development areas to clients. He also double dipped while working on government time doing private jobs.

I crossed paths with Carter Bear and his mom at the Goose airport yesterday.

I was arriving in town to get some chiropractic work done, Carter Bear as there waiting for the second flight to Nain, going on a visit to see the fam jam, he sure loves airports and planes.

I'm staying at Carter Bears, no one here is Carters dad is flying down the Quebec north shore.

Must say I am not a fan of Goose Bay in the spring, pills of dirty snow, no foot paths or walking trails cleared, vehicles with what looks like inches of mud all over them, not used to Canadian city life I think.

Add to that the legions of big pick ups with flags on them, has the distinctive frontier town look for sure.Wonder if it will go back to the status quo in a few years.

Had one session of bone cracking, get another couple before going home. Early days yet but my body is showing signs of receptiveness to the treatment.

The final results are in for the Labrador Winter Games. Congratulations to all athletes and the large contingent of volunteers.

Nain finished fourth overall and won the most improved award.

The Innu walkers are still at it, trying to make sense of what is going on by following the Facebook page is like trying to make sense of the NL government, no bloody chance. But we do our best.

Beautiful clear day yesterday.

Team Nain continues to do well at the winter games. The volley ball power houses of Labrador took the top three spots, Makkovik, Nain Hopedale in that order.

In other sports Nain finished in the top half of the brackets, doing re markedly well IMO.

The Innu walkers are still making good time, getting lots of support from Postville people it seems.

Nunavut Government is introducing a food price monitoring program.  Good for them, but the article says Nunavut is the only jurisdiction that does not do that sort of research to date.
I would have to disagree with that statement, Nunatsiavut does bugger all to monitor food prices and food security.

At one time there was a half arsed attempt to monitor prices, non of the results were ever made public. Maybe they still monitor, maybe they dont, but if the public is not made aware then for all intents and purposes nothing is been done.

The weather continues to co operate at the Labrador Winter Games, overcast but no precip. 

Nain had another medal, a silver in women's badminton, just missed out on a medal in the mens.

At the end of Wednesday Nain is third in the community standings. Now there will be no more updates until the announcement of the winners on Saturday.

I sure hope the organizer can figure out the complicated scoring system as no one else can.

The Innu walkers are still at it, weather is mild and slowing progress down I guess.

It was young women's day yesterday at the Nain Moravian church. 18 participants took part in activities around the church and community.

I borrowed a couple of photos so you can see the outfits that the women wear.

                                                            Top photo is by Louisa Lamp, bottom by Rex Holwell.

I am happy to see that at least one person (apart from UN representative) with knowledge of the program continues to critasize the Nutrition North Canada food subsidy program.
It is difficult for the proletariat to follow the complicated system of checks and balances done under the old food mail program and doubly so under the alleged checks and balances with the new program.

Matter of fact from the consumer perspective there are no checks and balances under NNC, it is all set up to benefit the retailer and wholesaler, if some savings get passed on to the consumer we should thank our lucky stars according to NNC.

I feel badly burned by the people at NNC who pushed for change using the northern consumer as the catalyst, then when in power totally changed the objectives and aims of the program to benefit the retailer without any checks and balances and proof that savings are being passed on to the consumer. 

Team Nain is doing A OK at the winter games. 4 gold and a bronze in 2 days must be president setting. 
Gold in women's ski race and bronze in mens ski doo race.

Not faring so well in target shooting or snow shoe, but in the middle of the field is good.

The Innu Walkers are in Postville with some technical difficulties, you can see comments in previous post, thank you anonymous.

Update: Innu Walkers are on thew move again, bit of a long leg this one.

Nain is off to a blazing start at the Labrador Winter Games.

Three finals in table tennis and three gold medals.

Not so in snowshoe with no one from Nain making the finals, still they get points for trying.

Seems like a big power outage in Goose Bay last evening, power pole down near Terry's Tents on the stretch.

Another polar bear taken outside Nain, another big bugger too.

                                                               
                                                               Meagan Dicker photo.

Not sure what is going on with the Innu Walkers, no updates as of this morning. 

An hour and a half snowmobile ride????? Yet the Innu are using rotary and fixed wing aircraft to spot and hunt an endangered caribou heard.

Sumin not right here. One half hours snowmobile ride is a walk in the park.

Warming temperatures (just below freezing) and flat white (espresso with milk in Oz) conditions. We had some planes in yesterday and it is supposed to clear off after today.

The Innu walkers are on the go again it seems, should be getting into Postville today.

The Harper governments big commitment to the north was not work the paper it was spoken on was it?

Big cuts backs in the army training and infrastructure.   And of course it makes sense that with a country with a vast arctic region such as Canada has you would have planes and people who are more comfortable in warmer climates.

Sight for sore bones to be sure.

After being down all the season the trail groomer was heard then seen coming up the road yesterday afternoon. Great to see it indeed, knocking bumps down and widening the usable road, happy bones is us.

The Innu walkers have not moved on spot me this morning. Lots of heavy wet snow that way I would think.

Update: Seems there is a spot of bother with the spot me, it is either on the fritz or flat batteries or is covered up in someones bag. 

The continuing story on the Innu right to hunt caribou, and its offshoots.

 If you get a chance listen to the interview with Mr. Michelin. I dont know what is going on here but answering questions with accusations and questions of your own sure does muddy the waters. Being Innu Michelin defends the Innu hunt (as I suppose he would) but being in the RCMP he has other obligations I would think.

The Innu walkers have been been making good time. First night camp located here, they are taking the traditional ski doo trail towards Postville and then branch off onto the groomed trail south towards Lake Melville.

I dont know where the caribou were taken nor how hunted, but the optics dont look good for sure. It would be easy for the authorities to find this out, maybe they already know.

You have to listen to the audio to learn much more about this projected pilot program centered towards the retention, or some may say  re introduction, of the traditions of brass band and organ playing in communities of Nunatsiavut. 

Personally I think it a worthwhile project, if I am to attend church (very rarely indeed) then my preference is listening to this type of music.

All or most of the athletes made it out to GB for the Labrador Winter Games yesterday. Good thing as light snow has moved in here, it looks on the yucky side from Hopedale south.

First camp of the walkers, Jennifer Price photos. 

A further update on planes and caribou and hunting moratoriums.

And the trail groomer just went up the road for its first run of the season, be more careful with expensive machinery should be the lesson. 

The Labrador Winter Games 30th edition starts on Sunday in Goose Bay. Its a big deal for many and I hope all goes well for the athletes and the organizers.

Originally the athletes from the coast were to fly in on Saturday, this has been brought up a day due to a pending winter storm moving in.

Still nice weather here, we could get some snow and flurries out of the pending storm but as usual will miss the brunt would be my guess.

Interest is growing in the where a bouts of the Orlova.  What puzzles is why Canadian authorities have not been taken to task for letting the ship drift off into the North Atlantic, seems very irresponsible.

Here is a spot me of the Innu walkers who left Makkovik this morning.  Can get regular updates from there.

Some Innu from Natuashish are starting a walk from Makkovik to Sheshatshiu this week. An eclectic group of 20 + people of various ages and sex, several Inuit will be joining them.

The walk is in support of Burton Winters and the efforts to get changes to the search and rescue set up in the province.

No bent band member's or elected politicians, just happy fun loving people who still know how to live on the land like their ancestors did.

I think they leave today for south, hope the weather co operates for them and safe journey.

The first two pictures taken by Air Lab pilot, the third by Lori Dyson of Makkovik.

A large crowd turned out at the airport to greet the Innu.

Couple of meals made this week, not in the mood for anything labor intensive: one a chicken pot pie (mini) using small puff pasty shells, turned out very good.

Last night I had (Fran was at banquette) szechuan noodle, chicken and shrimp, bloody hot, but then it is supposed to be eh.

If anyone can get there hand on the Winter 2013 Inside Labrador put out by Downhomer magazine there is a little blurb about Fran. Story written by Micheal Johansen and titled *A Rich Life* with some photos. .

Another fantasmagorical day in the offing, a week of sun sun sun and mid - teen temps, oh when will it all end.

Pity I have been restricted with my movements, this shoulder is getting me down. So much so I visited the nursing station Friday.
Ended up seeing the Doctor first thing Monday (on the one week a month rotation visit), got bumped up the list due to high blood pressure.

So after blood work and some rest my BP was down a bit, doctor recommended (one of several) a needle in the shoulder to see what happens, thinks its rotor cup issue.

While injecting the needle my little Francois came over to see how things were going, she was at a conference near by.
Walking into the room Fran looked at me and asked, have you seen the doctor yet? Not wanting to make any sudden moves I sort of indicted with my head and eyes that said doctor was behind me sticking a sharp object in my shoulder.

Doctor chirped up with, that's me, and laughter all round ensured.

Doctor is young and female.

Fran is a presenter at a women's conference this week, plus doing the MC duties at a banquette this evening.

NG status of women (Annait Ilitagijaugutinganut are the promoters of *Advancing Inuit women: Empowering Choices Energize, Inspire, Support*.

Another polar bear was taken outside Hopedale Sunday evening, a young 20 year old shot it in company with his step father.

So it looks like we can relax a little concerning our power supply.

The third engine, you can call in new (but you would be wrong) or call it second hand or refurbished (right answer), is now up and operational.

Great work by the crews and lets hope the management at NL Hydro learn some lessons, but we wont hold our breath.

 A new and potentially important job opportunity is in the offing. I say potentially just for the fact it has three funding *fingers in the pie*, these can be problematic if not handled correctly.

My guess- the success of the job will depend on the person who is selected for the position. It is way past due and much work to be done.

The FSN has had some projects on going in Hopedale for some time, I just hope not too many meetings between outside *experts* have to be re convened as it seems like a lot of work can be carried over to this regional position.

Regional Project Coordinator
Job Opportunity The Food Security Network of Newfoundland & Labrador, in partnership with the Nunatsiavut Government and Inuit Community Governments, is seeking a Regional Project Coordinator to coordinate a food security project in Nunatsiavut.
The Food Security Network of Newfoundland and Labrador is a provincial, non-profit organization that actively promotes comprehensive, community-based solutions to ensure access to healthy food for all. www.foodsecuritynews.com
The
Engaging Communities food security project aims to increase access to healthy food in Nunatsiavut communities by completing Community-led Food Assessments, implementing community food action plans, and developing a regional food security strategy. www.foodsecuritynews.com/engaging-communities
About the Regional Project Coordinator Position: Reporting to the FSN Executive Director and the Project Team, the Regional Project Coordinator will be responsible for the overall coordination of and support for project-related activities in Nunatsiavut, including:
 Providing oversight, support, and guidance to Nunatsiavut communities in completing Community-led Food Assessments, and implementing community food action plans;
 Coordinating a Nunatsiavut Food Security Network;
 Liaising with various Nunatsiavut Government Departments in developing recommendations for a regional food security strategy;
 Organizing project-related meetings and events;
 Maintaining detailed records of activities
 Assisting in the completion of required project reporting and evaluation
 Other duties as required Requirements: 
Post-secondary training or equivalent experience/skill set
 Experience with project management Knowledge of community-based food programs and understanding of hunger/poverty/food system issues
 Ability to work independently and as a team player
 Strong organizational skills
 Ability to multitask and meet deadlines
 Strong interpersonal and excellent communication skills
 Ability to work flexible hours and willingness to travel
 Extensive experience using computer software including Microsoft Office (word, excel, powerpoint, outlook, etc.)
 Ability to communicate in Inuktitut is a strong asset. Terms of Employment: The Regional Project Coordinator position is a full time, temporary position running from March 2013 to January 2017 with a 6 month probationary period, and annual performance reviews. The Coordinator will be based in Nunatsiavut (Nain, Hopedale, Makkovik, Postville, or Rigolet). To Apply: Please submit a resume and cover letter by March 8th 2013 to:
Via Post: Food Security Network NL (Attention Hiring Committee)
44 Torbay Rd. Suite 110 St. John’s, NL A1A 2G4
Via Email: kristiejameson@foodsecuritynews.com
  

Magical weather here at moment, not so magical south of hear with planes delayed again, and of course St. Johns to be hit with another winter storm. Some chaps from here came back with a bear yesterday, big one of about 8 ft, but it is its mouth and paws I would be worried about if still alive.

I hope they dont mind me *borrowing* the pictures, I did enhance them a little for clarity. 

Back in my youth there used to be a lot of hawkers who used horse and cart to peddle their goods and services (called wares) them days.
One such peddler was a guy who sharpened scythes, knives, axes, lawn mower blades (non motorized), scissors etc.

I tell you this as a segue to the next story, the second bluntest knife in the cutlery draw known as Goose Bay.
The bluntest being the buddy who got booked for DUI in the RCMP parking lot.

By chance I came across the present location of the Northern Ranger. She is filling in on the Island south coast run, short and not suited for a ship her size.

Boy that Hedderson guy sure did leave the transport ministry in a bloody mess, wonder what state the environment portfolio will be in after he has been at it.

Again  we are basking in relatively nice weather, though on the warmish side (+1 yesterday) while Goose Bay gets hit with another winter storm. Almost everything was shut down there yesterday. Now this morning Hopedale is in another blizzard and flights are on hold to the coast.

237 years ago today the first Labrador Inuk was Baptized into the Moravian church. “Kingmingosi, a shaman, was given the name of Peter after the baptism.

Had a nice Valentines meal with my Valentine at the Atsanik Lodge last evening. Tables all set up nice and decorations on the window, nice quite crowd too (at least until we left).

I had sent a tweet to N L Hydro asking how the replacement new ish engine is coming along. The reply was- Crews are currently on schedule to restore spare generation in the Nain diesel plant next week. ^MK 
 I think the engine block arrived about a week ago so the rebuilding must be in progress. 

We are not the only ones with chronic engine failure issues, Natuashish is another one.

An interesting interview with the N L Hydro spokesperson on the Natuashish issue, Ms King uses the same talking points and the same *we feel your pain* points as she does with all towns facing these break downs.
I agree that the crews are working hard to address the problems, but what Hydro does not seem to get is their failed business plan and failed planing and implementation departments.

Nature in the wild taking place as normal, belugas must not hold the same awe with some as say killer whales, no big hullabaloo with the belugas getting harvested by bears and humans.

This interview with caribou scientists just ads confusion to the stew me thinks, be nice if he just came out and said in plain language what he means without all the waffling around.

Did ya get all than then me oh son? Clear as mud bye. I wonder if that rumor of the Northern Ranger breaking down on way back from Ontario repair job.

Temperatures are warming up, people are feeling good about that, why yesterday there was hardly any wind to speak of, but people did anyway saying *great to not have any wind*.

The ban on hunting caribou (for some) continues to be controversial. The Innu of Labrador and Quebec continue to hunt, though alegedly under some sort of regulations self imposed.

People within Nunatsiavut are not very impressed with this increased hunt, and people are not saying *why not us* but rather are against the Innu hunting for conservation reasons.

Here is an interview with Deputy grand Chief of the Innu Nation from CBC Lab Morning

The alleged 150 to be taken by two communities seems like a lot of bullshit to me. Over 100 have already been taken by people from Natuashish. And the chief of Natuashish keeps repeating that they will take 300 animals. 

Then there are the people over in Quebec, I still have not heard what the Inuit intend doing, the Innu are resolved to keep hunting. 

Here is the interview with the Quebec Innu chief on CBC Lab Morning. Not a very convincing argument he puts up. He wants to see the evidence that the herd is low, how about he produces the evidence that the herd is sustainable to hunt at the level the Innu plan to.

Great couple of days in row, starting to get more spring like with temps in the mid to high teens, still get that breeze that drops it into -20s, but we will have to get used to that.

I have been trying (unsuccessful to date) to post a short video from Facebook. It is of one cute arse Carter kissing his moms pregnant belly.

Meantime grandson Brian helped his team win the annual hockey tournament in Nain this weekend.

It was breathtaking while out on a couple short walks yesterday, literally breathtaking walking back into the -40 wind chills.
But the sun and the rugged undulating snow covered roads makes for a feeling of contentment and comfort. Until some idiot (and there are many) on a ski doo comes blasting at high speed past you only a foot or so away.

Apparently the trail groomer the council has needs a part before it is operational so the roads can not be leveled, but more important, widened.

Personally I have not trouble with the roads left to accumulate the snow. It is usually in short order that ski doo traffic dampers down a trail that gets progressively wider making walking easier.

But these past years with the introduction of bigger and faster snow mobiles (which seems to induce a lack of common sense in some) life has become more perilous for people walking around town.

I notice that the price of milk has gone up province wide. An increase of :48 cents seems to have people complaining.

We purchased 2 liters of 2% yesterday at BigLand grocery. The price there has increased by :70 cents, up to $5:99 from $5:29.

I guess the extra :22 cents increase over the rest of the province is for sundries. Or is it because all our milk and dairy products come in from the mainland.

Still, at 5:99 it is still cheaper than at Northern, who as of yesterday had not hiked up their prices on milk.

Well it was nice to have one day with no weather warnings, today it is wind chill warnings, sunny and -45 out there and will be all day.

Managed to get bathroom break area cleared at the back of the house for Siutik (thanks to the Nephew).

I gave clearing front window a half arsed attempt but the pain in my shoulder put paid to that quick. Fran finished it off, so now Siutik can see something when looking out instead of staring at a wall of snow.

After the snow and blizzard from the north subsided, a brief hiatus ensured (very brief) then the wind swung around from the west and hit hard last evening, and still is gusting to 98 this morning.

There is a quite and warmth inside the house which tells me that we must have a very good snow build up all around the outside. 

Our meal last evening was not what one would normally have on blizzard y days,still one has to use up what is in the fridge. Nice salad with canned salmon.

Which is a segue to what I realy want to write about. Can you guess?

Those that said food prices, in this instance cucumbers and cherry tomatoes win the prize. 

Last week I purchased an English cucumber among other things. I did not checked the receipt until I arrived home. The cucumber cost $3:99. I thought that was a bit high but let it slide.

Then Monday I attempted to purchase a similar cucumber, this one was very small. The price tag on the shelf said $3:99.
Not wanting to get ripped off further I had it price checked, it came up $3:99 on the till. I questioned the validity of this with co manager, she said it seemed steep and said the other type of cucumbers are :99 cents. She added that she would have to check with HQ in Winnipeg about the 3:99 one.

So yesterday I go down and lo n behold the English cucumbers are priced at $1:45 on the shelf.

Got that sorted out-then right after I had to question the $7:49 I was charged for plastic box of cherry tomatoes.
There was no shelf sticker  with that price on it, with no management available it takes a little longer to sort these things out, but I was determined.

The closest thing on the sticker prices was $4:99 for cherry tomatoes, so that is what we went with.

Just on these two items I prevented a rip off of $5:04. This is not an anomaly with other items being miss priced in the computer, bags of potatoes double what they should be, many other items I'm sure overpriced but who has time to overseer this very troubling issue full time.

Northern stores should be ashamed of themselves. Not so much local as the HQ in Winnipeg where apparently all the pricing is done before entered in the computer. It has been on going for years with no correction in sight.

Under normal circumstances I guess an argument can be made that it is *customer beware*, shop at Northern at your own peril.

Alas this is not normal circumstances is it. NNC provides a subsidy of $2:50 a Kg on freight for perishable foods. This is paid to the retailer to ensure affordable nutritious foods for all northerners.

As is clearly the case in this instant, and many many others like it, all the subsidy is doing is padding the margins for the retailer Northern stores. Northern is owned by The North West Company.

Boy O boy, the storm has been worse than I thought  64 cm of snow and winds to 113.

Well that was the biggest storm of the season. Strong northerly winds from 10 last evening to 2 or so this morning constant gusts in the 100 K range with high of 106. Snow and blowing snow (naturally).

Siutiks bathroom door at back is three quarters blocked with snow, so out the front door.

Side ways view of back door,  three quarters blocked. Siutik looking at me as if to say, get to work boss.

Not bloody likely says I, my shoulder been causing me excruciating  pain this past week. Took couple go but she got the message that its the front door pro tem.

Everything shut down in Goose Bay, at least for the morning and the small school closed here as well.

Bit on the chilly side of late.

The past 24 hours the high at the house was -21.5 and low of -28.1.

Wind chills have been high of -36 and low of -45.

Nice and sunny out at moment but the winds are picking up.  Go and check the oil tank level eh?

A healthy beef burger and egg on a bed of herb salad and home made creamy dressing.

A little more on NL Hydro meeting here Wednesday evening. You will see a comment on the previous post, I know their name but was asked if I used the comment to not post the name.

I post the comment because it is very important as it runs parallel with what others are saying as well as to what Hydro is saying, but who still operating on a status quo basis.

I will add firstly that the larger unit in Nain is now a caterpillar, brought in after the fire a few years ago.

By operating with this business model (if you can call it that) Hydro are putting most of the communities on diesel power at risk for power outages and units coming off line unnecessarily. Hydro transmissions and operations know they operate in a very backwards kind of way by not using the best equipment available.

I don’t know where it all goes whacky in the system they have, is it in planning?, in another department? Does the fact that Hydro has to go to the PUB for permission to upgrade?, is it the public tendering act that dictates that inferior quality but cheaper units are spread throughout their diesel network

An example relayed to me is this; the cheaper engines are purchased, parts are way cheaper than a better quality engine so Hydro buys a whole lot of spare parts for the inevitable break down. Then lo n behold that engine has a catastrophic failure and has to be taken out permanently, so the stock pile of parts is rendered useless.

Penny wise and pound foolish seems to be the modus operandi of NL Hydro. Why someone has not picked up on this is troubling, huge amounts of money can be saved if changes to buying, planning and operations were made. It is also known that most of the diesel plants are running on inferior engines and in a band aid state, all the stop gape measures to keep these engine operational must be costing large amounts of $, one cant help but ask, why? Is there any reasonable rational to explain this behavior, or is there something a little on the sinister side going on here?

 Goose Bay gets a lot of its power from Churchill Falls supplemented by the old diesel units on the Goose Bay air base. Lately the power from Churchill Falls has become unreliable and tenuous at best. Yet there is no plan to supply Goose Bay with power from the upcoming Muskrat Falls power line that will go very close to Happy Valley.

A couple of other towns are operating in a tenuous way similar to Nains. One of the operating units in Nain has gone way past its major overhaul time because of the issues here, when will it give up the ghost?

The meeting with Hydro was useful but not reassuring, when are the powers that be going to become more pro active and demand that Hydro change its operations to better meet the needs of the customers, and not least change to better meet the financial responsibility it should have towards the tax payers of the province.

It should have been known but pointed out any way by Hydro that the 20 diesel plant customers in the province are subsidized by the other customers to the tune of about 70%. Imagine what we would be paying if not.
If not for the obvious bad planning, blatant waste, incompetence and whatever else is going Hydro could reduce that 70% to closer to 50% I am sure.

 This has gone beyond a *little more*, much more to say but will give it a rest. 

We took in the public meeting with NL Hydro last evening, good turn out of about 30 odd locals and a collection of non locals visitors.

Personally I appreciate the NL Hydro coming in and taking the meeting seriously (on the surface at least) with four staff in attendance.

Rick Kennedy, the manager of Labrador operations is new at the position, and it showed. That was outweighed by his pleasant personality and having the ability to stay calm under fire.
An older gentleman from the island operations dealt with most of the technical and processes and regulatory issues.

I came away with my conviction that the generating unit for Nain is underpowered in tact, even though Hydro has all sorts of graphs and projections to the contrary.

Trouble with all the projections and graphs is that Hydro admits that that is all they are, graphs that may not be correct and projections that are always incorrect  by the very nature of the business.

So we have two operating units, plus one broken down unit that will be replaced with a rebuilt unit using some of the parts of the broken down unit. Hydro calls this re built unit a new unit. So at least we know now that when Hydro says new it does not necessarily mean new.

This should be completed by mid to late February.

There is a totally new fourth unit in the works which is scheduled to be operational by very late 2014.No one other than Hydro believes that this time frame will be met.

This unit will be a small 750 KW job. People asked why not put in a larger unit when everybody know the load projections are rising every year.

This is where it gets weird, Hydro is held to having to justify any new units to the PUB. If PUB denies them then Hydro has to go through a complicated appeals process. So I think this is one reason Hydro low balls usage projections.

Another troubling bit of information garnered is the fact that Hydro knows what brands of engines are the best for the job at hand.

Unfortunately Hydro is bound by the public tendering act. So invariably we dont get the best engine for the job but the low bid which can turn out to be an inferior engine. Which obviously is the case with two of the engines in the Nain plant. So you shrug your shoulders and carry in it seems.

Lots of other discussion and some suggestions that Hydro said they will take under advisement and see what can be done.

Meantime further south there was a meeting of Innu in Sheshatshiu last evening on the caribou hunting ban.
Bet it was more exciting (but no more important) than our meeting. Any updates and reports will be posted when available.

We are under a weather watch with snow falls up to 15 cm projected by Friday, some winds also.

Nice light meal of chicken turkey vegetable legumes soup accompanied by potato leek pan cakes with tzaziki.

Nice sky this morning, something on the way though. 

I'm listening to Randy Simms on VOCM this morning, catching up on the hulla balloo from yesterday.

He said apologize and unequivocal, whatever that means these days.

The unfortunate thing is that now the Innu will use this incident to its fullest political extent, or at least   Tshakapesh will.

Later: as nature told us, something was on the way.

Following up on yesterdays caribou hunt ban, some news stories on same.

Justice minister Darrin King said *Anyone found in violation of the hunting ban will face fines and will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, says Justice Minister Darin King. The ban will be reassessed after two years*

Being ever the skeptic I wonder what is realy going on here, or is it a genuine attempt to protect a species at risk. 

Three ministers to announce something like this has to be an anomaly.

Does the province have the will plus resources both in people and equipment, not to mention fiscal, to follow up on the threat to prosecute all and sundry.

Another issue, a very serious one, is the groups over in Quebec, what will happen over there. There are some sub group herds in the western part of Quebec, but for generations parts of the George River herd has sauntered through some of the communities on a yearly basis. Maybe that has changed with the decline, but we still need to hear from the Inuit, the Innu the Cree and the Quebec Government one would think.

Here is a link to some press releases issued by the NL Government over the past 9 years, Stop or we will say Stop again. 
Not very encouraging is it?

Update: I guess the highlight of the CBC Labrador mornings news was news briefs of the chief of Natuashish  saying he is not going to stop hunting. A link to a story here but nothing of length available yet.

SimeonTshakapesh said that he is not going to stop hunting as it is their right. He went on to allude (paraphrased) to mining and exploration being the main factor in the decline of the herd. He said if there is a moratorium on minning and exploration for five years then he will not hunt for five years. 

Wow, that would put a hole in the quarterly cash payouts to individual Innu plus what goes to the bands under IBAs.

The fine folk of the business communty in Goose Bay must be shoveling down the Alka-Seltzer after hearing that declaration.

Things are getting down and dirty on the inter tubes.  I garnered from Twitter that Randy Simms of VOCM call in show called Simeon Tshakapesh an arse hole and hung up on him. 

Meantime of Facebook many are outraged at the Innu approach to the caribou. 

Here are a couple of updated stories on the goings on.  

And an another view from Labrador. 

What a magical day out there, -16, sunny and calm, looks like being that way for a few days.

Media have picked up on the caribou hunt story, no comment from the Province yet nor the Innu. The province may comment later this week, stay tuned as it is the guy who used to be WST minister who now has that portfolio. 

Update: Who da thought that it would be this quick and this asertive.

Province just announced 5 year caribou hunting ban for everyone in Labrador. Includes all aboriginal group.

G Grandson Terrence receiving some hot tips on goalie tactics from his dad.

Then some shots on goal from bigger kids.

Another light snow white day for the most part Friday. Lifted later in day, planes managed to get in under iffy conditions.

Just listening the the news, the plane that was missing in the Antarctic has been located. News briefs had people putting a positive bent to the high hopes of finding the crew of three alive.

Alas that does not seem to be the case. A chopper located the crashed plane at high altertude and no sign of survivors. Sad if that is in fact correct.

Twin otters operating in harsh frigid environments always resonate with people of the north.

Without any public announcements of any kind some how a good crowd gathered at the school gym for a special presentation Friday afternoon.

Three local people were presented with the Queens Jubilee medal, better late than never they say.

The well compensated person who supposedly represents Labrador in Ottawa (more commonly known as an MP) presented the medals to retired chief elder David Harris, man of many hats and past president of Nunatsiavut Jim Lyall and last but not least Susan Frances Williams ONL, past president of LIA and many other hats.

                                                                 Sean Lyall photo; edit by me.


Fran can add this one to the Queens Golden Jubilee medal of 2002, the Confederation medal of 1992 and of course the Order of Newfoundland of 2012.

I would be remiss if I did not mention another balls up in communications for this event. Or rather lack of any announcements that the event would or could take place weather permitting.

Someone on federal level knew, persons within the community new, as the MP had lined up meetings after the presentation. Still nothing of an official pronouncement of it taking place.

This not not an anomaly, it is rather the way things go in this community. I dont know if it is different other places, but one would think in the year 2013 with all modern technologies available that a communications strategy could be worked out, one where ample time and community wide notice could be given for all sorts of events and goings on.

If not for Facebook and members of the families of some of the recipients hardly anyone would have know about yesterdays event.
Many were surprised to hear of the event after the fact, the vast majority of the town that is.

Word is that another bunch of caribou (around 30 ) have been taken by the Innu. it is not illegal to hunt deer, but surely it must be bordering on the immoral and irresponsible.

I will touch on the state of the caribou heard again this morning.

It is very troubling to me and what appears to be many others that very little conversation (that is in public domain) seems to be taking place. Matter of fact if the herd is in as bad a shape as claimed why has there not been pro active action been introduced already.

Highlighted after the meeting in Kuujjuaq recently is the anecdotal evidence of how the small heard was harvested this weekend.
The delegation of Innu from Natuashish flew back home on a charter (as did other groups). But the Innu did a reconnaissance fly over of know caribou migration routes. A small group of 50 to 60 animals were spotted.
The day after arriving home a group of Innu left for the area and harvested 46 animals.

Which begs many serious questions that need public answers. Firstly was the Innu harvest a community effort or a bunch of individuals. Not that it should make that much difference, but if communal then it would touch on a traditional hunt, unlike the mode used in spotting them in the first place.

I would point out that much of what I am saying is taken from others who are as concerned, or more so than I.

The province is silent along with scientists and groups like Torngats Wildlife Secretariat. There has been word from these people in the past but now is the time for more dialogue as the main hunting season approaches.
Will the province wait until hundreds of caribou are hunted and then do their yearly press release of empty rhetoric.

Some ideas of what could be done:

Nunatsiavut Government could implement  something under their much ballyhooed EPA.

Perhaps NG could introduce a moratorium, they could use their Conservation Officers, with back up, to enforce the moratorium. No one will be thrown in the caboose, but animals could be seized, the names of the perps made public, and the animals distributed to the elderly and the many poor people in the communities.

This would only cover NG lands, but it could embarrass other groups to take the initiative and make the move.

At the moment the NG assembly has decided to still rely on their recommendation not to hunt. This wont wash as many people are of the mind of * well if those other guys are going to hunt, then we will too*

If the caribou are in in such peril maybe they can be put on the species at risk list. This would encompass everybody, leaving aside the traditional hunt argument, which sounds empty these days with some groups using spotter planes and even flying in ski doos to the hunting areas.

The next passage is a cut and past from a local Facebook page, I hope they dont mind.

Is it just me or does it seem like no one gives a rats ass about the state of the caribou population? God you see people with caribou, talking about how good their meal was or that they are going soon! Do they know that the herd is at a steep decline in numbers and that all the aboriginal groups, here and Quebec, are trying to save them? For a while there, I didn't even care either, but after careful thought, maybe I should care. I don't want to wake up someday and reminisce about the days when we "used" to go caribou hunting. What, do they think they will rebound back with today's technology? Or are they trying to all get some before they're gone? God I hope the goverment does something like a moratorium so that the wildlife people's could start enforcing it and hopefully save one of our most precious natural resources.

Poignant words indeed and should be taken very seriously by the leaders of all stripes and cultures. 

While we are on the subject, the Labrador North Chamber of Commerce held a big shin dig in St.Johns this week to promote Central Labrador as a place to do business. 

 LNCC Twittered that their end end of shin dig gala featured caribou and arctic char with the accompanied picture.

A Goose Bay based reporter asked the question *where's the caribou from?* Good question, one that warrants an answer, but we wont hang by the short and curlies.

I'm getting e mails from friends in Toronto to New Hampshire about them being colder than we are, well yes, but what can I say but grin and bear it. NH had -20 and -35 chills.

Seems the big city folk have to go through the same pains we do, lowing thermostats, not using large appliances etc. On the plus side for us is- we are used to it for the most part, and we dont have to worry about public transport, snow plows blocking our drive ways with piles of snow and the like.

Harking back to the story on caribou and those reported animals near Border Beacon. Well there are at least 31 less live animals now.
A group from Natuashish traveled in and harvested 31 I am told.

No surprise to anyone around this area.

There is an urgency for some action by Government, but we wont hang by the short and curlies waiting.

Saying it was a productive meeting and all agree that something needs to be done and agree to meet again in couple months does not seem to cut the mustard.
Not that the Aboriginal groups have any power of legislation and enforcement, but harsher words of reality may have been another way of dealing with it.

Nice day yesterday, back to a mini white out this morning though with -16 temp and -25 chill no biggy.

The unsettled weather and anomalous storm patterns did not get passed President Obama in his configuration speech either.

Iqaluit has been getting hit too with closures for couple days, St.Johns hit again too.

St.Johns and area now find themselves in similar position as we are with their supply of electricity threatened by a down generator.

Back to Iqaluit; there is a Food Security meeting going on there this week. Some familiar names from the Feeding My Family Facebook site presenting.

Meanwhile down this way we will continue to stumble and bumble our way back to the 1980 s and beyond.

Last week 50 people gathered in Kuujjuaq around a round table ( I wonder if it was really round or diagonal) to agree to have a future meeting in April.

Seems like some groups did not have there ducks lined up. Like its not like the decline of the caribou heard has not been known for some years.

Two groups arrived at the table with a plan, another group said it had to take it back to their members, other groups have been silent.

No NL provincial attendance, strange that, after all it is the province who holds all the cards when it comes to policy, legislation and enforcement in this province.

Totally unrelated: There have been sightings (from the air) of caribou in the Border Beacon area. Size of sightings vary from 50 to many hundreds.

Ha, told you it was not a round table.

 Photo via of Nunatsiaq News.

Wind yesterday (again), along with light snow it produced an eclectic and unpredictable day. School was open and rightly so. At eleven K to 3 was close for the afternoon, right choice at the time as it looked like getting realy nasty. Then lo n behold it turned out not all that bad.

Being one and a half hours as the crow fly's from the nearest liqueur store I dont get many opportunities to brows wine sections so I dont know how unusual my experience is.

That being: I received about 6 bottles of grapa of various styles and brands for Xmas. Two bottles were from same source and where of same make and type according to the label. Golden Kaan 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon.
The bottles were green so it was not until after we took the tree down and putting gifts away that I noticed something odd. One bottle had red contents and the other had white contents.

I checked the labels thoroughly, there was no doubt the labels were identical for the Cabernet style. I had visions of tampering and such, after all how could this escape all the checks and balances at all the levels this bottle had gone through.

So we drank the red first, not bad at all. Then this Sunday I took the plunge and opened and did a taste sip of the white contents, after all one does not dispense of such things lightly..
Not sure the style but according to Golden Kaan web site I would guess  Chenin Blanc, but then I am no expert.

Fran liked it as it was not sweet, went with with the roast chicken.

Yesterday we had a heads up of a pending letter to all households in Nain from the Manager, Transmission and Rural Operations – Labrador Region of NL Hydro.

To wit:

Dear customer:
I want to provide you with an update on the status of the power supply in Nain this winter. We
acknowledge your concerns and want to assure you that Hydro is committed to meeting the
electricity needs in your community.
The diesel plant in Nain has three generating units. In mid-December 2012, the engine in one of
the two smaller generating units experienced a mechanical failure. Hydro plans to meet
customer electricity needs in communities serviced by diesel plants by ensuring that all of its
diesel plants are able to meet the demand from the community even with the loss of its largest
generating unit in any one plant. Sufficient generation remains at the Nain Diesel Plant to
provide power to all customers by operating the largest unit and one of the smaller units.
After a thorough assessment, it was determined that the best solution was to replace the
damaged engine with a new engine. A new engine has been ordered and crews are currently
disassembling the old engine in preparation of the new equipment. The third generating unit is
expected to be restored by mid-February 2013.
While the plant has only two units available, although there is sufficient generation for the
community, we always encourage and promote energy conservation and asked customers to be
conscience of their electricity use. Efforts by customers to limit their electricity use will lessen
the generation demand on the available generating units and help to avoid possible outages.
Customers can conserve energy by using minimum electricity for heating and lighting, and avoid
using non-essential household appliances. When repairs are complete to the engine in the third
unit, spare generation capacity will be restored, however until then some short duration
planned interruptions will be needed to perform routine maintenance, such as oil changes on
the two available engines.
We also acknowledge that customers in Nain experienced several unplanned outages since the
diesel plant has been operating with two units. Some of these outages were caused by
mechanical and automatic control issues on the largest generating unit. Hydro has made
permanent repairs to this unit and crews continue to carefully maintain both operating units.
There were also some short outages related to distribution issues affecting power to the
community, unrelated to any issues at the diesel plant, as well as some scheduled outages to
complete routine maintenance.
As you have experienced first hand, outages can happen unexpectedly and it can often be time
consuming to restore service. For this reason, we encourage all our customers in all our
communities to be prepared for emergency situations such as extended power outages. Hydro
has put measures in place to ensure the diesel plant is staffed full time until the repairs are
complete to the third unit’s engine and we have plans in place to respond to an emergency
situation.
Representatives from Hydro are holding a public meeting in Nain on Wednesday, January 30 at
7:00 – 9:00 p.m. at the Nunatsiavut Government Boardroom. This meeting will provide an
opportunity for us to provide a further update and answer your questions.
Hydro is committed to meeting the electricity needs of all the communities we serve, and
providing you with a safe and reliable power supply. I thank you for your cooperation and
patience during the power situation this winter. If you have any questions or comments before
the public meeting, please call our Customer Contact Centre directly at 1-888-737-1296. We do
appreciate your feedback.
Sincerely,
Rick Kennedy

As if to hammer those points home there was a power outage last evening, short but to the point.