This is Gary's Arctic winter diary 2004-2005
September 29th,
2004
- October 9th, 2004 |
October
12th, 2004
- October 26th, 2004 |
October
27th, 2004
- November 6th, 2004 |
November
7th, 2004
- November 16th, 2004 |
November
17th, 2004
- November 28th, 2004 |
December
1st, 2004
- December 12th, 2004 |
December
13th, 2004
- December 23rd, 2004 |
December
24th, 2004
- January 2nd, 2005 |
January
3rd, 2005
- January 12th, 2005 |
January
13th, 2005
- January 22nd, 2005 |
January
23rd, 2005
- Febraury 2nd, 2005 |
February
3rd, 2005
- Febraury 12th, 2005 |
February
14th, 2005
- Febraury 25th, 2005 |
February
26th, 2005
- March 10th, 2005 |
March
11th, 2005
- March 18th, 2005 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
| Winter
Diary Extract 2004 - 2005 |
| |
| Monday,
December 13th |
| Warm still at -26°C. Four hour
run with adults. Returned for Twizzle and he pulled well on
his longest run yet. |
| |
| Tuesday,
December 14th |
The three sibling brothers fly
from Iqualuit in the lower eastern Arctic tomorrow. They’ll
be kennelled in Yellowknife until Saturday before reaching
me. |
| |
| Thursday,
December 16th |
| Ran adults for two hours. Cloud
cover hid full moon last Sunday. A crescent shaped first quarter
moon showed up tonight. I thought Twizzle was going to rip out
of his pen. He was so keen to come out with us. I want to contain
this enthusiasm. His coat is looking magnificent. Prepared stakeout
chain for the three brothers. I’ll get Spoons and Blitz
out on one soon. |
| |
| Friday,
December 17th |
| - 33°C. Two hour run with my
dogs. Twelve training hours in total for this week. |
| |
| Saturday,
December 18th |
Collected three brothers from
Inuvik airport. I changed their original names Nixee and Siku
to Piston and Marshall. Napu’s name is now Cream. They
were understandably flighty. It’s the first time the
brothers have seen trees. It must all appear very, very strange.
They look beautiful dogs. Late night sewing and mending while
listening to Saturday Night Blues on CBC Radio 1. I crank
up the volume listening to tracks from Clapton’s new
CD of Robert Johnson covers. |
| |
| Sunday,
December 19th |
Staked Blitz and Spoons out for
the first time, only for ten minutes just to break them.
Early night, 10.30pm, making tent alterations. |
| |
| Monday,
December 20th |
| - 40°C. Walked new boys Marshall
and Piston individually on a lead. Cream followed. He snapped
his stainless steel collar ring and wouldn’t let me catch
him. Poor guy. He’s obviously taken the upheaval worst.
I moved Marshall and Piston directly in front of my backdoor.
Cream crept into Marshall’s strawed kennel and settled.
I watched him nap and left him. Later I talked quietly to him,
he raised his head and lay it down again. I left him again.
After another hour I knelt down and he let me collect him by
the collar. I moved Marshall and let Piston stay where he was.
Calm voice with no fast hand moves calms him. Pick-axed frozen
piss from puppy pens. |
| |
| Tuesday,
December 21st |
PowerBar
have sent a large consignment of bars. Ran Piston and Marshall
side by side. Short run then swapped Piston and Marshall for
Twizzle and Cream. Poor Cream is finding re-adjustment difficult.
He’ll be OK. First time for the brothers in tandem hitch,
they’re used to the traditional less efficient fan hitch;
all these new things to soak up for them. They can pull, that’s
for certain, hard.
|
Walked twins Blitz and Spoons
on a moonlit lake. We stopped and I settled them. They saw
and ‘gruffed’ at things I couldn’t determine.
Wolves? Probably. I praised their awareness and we moved on.
There was a power-cut in Inuvik today. These normally amount
to seconds. Today’s lasted half an hour. Most heating
systems in the community are powered by electricity. No heat
at today’s temperature of - 39°C was no joke. Phone
lines were down too.
|
 |
I noticed Christmas decorations
for the first time today in the community, one in particular.
Someone had made an igloo. A lantern inside gave it a transparent
orange glow. Three wise men figures stood by the entrance.
Fireworks are for sale here. I saw a few let off around 10am.
It was as dark as Guy Fawkes Night in the UK. Walked past
The Mad Trapper bar. Frozen drops of blood were scattered
all about like a burst bag of sweets. Very festive. A few
vehicles with tyre cold spots passed me. Until they warm a
little one side of the rubber will remain flat and look like
a circus clown’s car. |
| |
| Wednesday,
December 22nd |
| Ran early. Warmed to -28°C.
I expected it to snow earlier than it did at 2.30pm. Radio report
talks of blizzards and 70km winds on the coast. I’m normally
very good at preparing nutritious meals for myself. Lately I’ve
eaten anything to hand. I downed six big chocolate bars in one
go late this afternoon. Ran everyone for a couple of hours.
This time headed down river and past Inuvik. We over took huge
barges and tugboats frozen in on the shoreline. They looked
ghostly. |
| |
| Thursday,
December 23rd |
| Warmed right up to -15°C.
Phoned my folks and said I’ll be thinking of them over
Christmas.
I bought Piston, Cream and Marshall into my place one at
a time and encouraged them to get closer to believing I’m
their dad and want the best for them. For half an hour there
was lots of sniffing, wide eyes and Marshall tried to flood
the poor flour sack with piss. I smelt it first as I lay on
the floor and dozed. I’m so tired. Blizzard blows in
with 50 mph gusts. |
[<< back] |
|
|
|
[more >>] |
| |
|
All
photographs copyright © Gary Rolfe