Canada Day. Canada celebrates its 138th birthday with all things Canadian. Rain hits to ripple Grassy Lake this morning. It was too cold for bugs to do the rippling. I saw a bald eagle fly over the lake. The bird was enormous. Thin fog made the scene look prehistoric.

I got stuck into running and a decent weight training session late this morning before grooming all my dogs. Piston’s and Beef’s coat run ridged and spiky like hair of a Mohican Indian’s. It’s startling.

I ran for two hours before walking all my dogs in the rain and across a creek on to tundra. I store dog food in an old wooden barge crate. This evening I learnt it’s roof leaks. Underneath piled dog food was about to become spoilt. I treat dog food like gold and didn’t think twice about the three hours it took to complete the evacuation.

I’ve been in the Arctic an entire year. I sat with all my dogs thinking I always want dog hairs on my clothes.

I hurried the dogs’ walk out this morning. The mosquitoes were oppressive.

Albert shot a grizzly outside his backdoor and was so nonchalant about it, as though he was talking about bringing milk in off the step.

Today the bugs were miserable, biting my lips, eyebrows and the palms of my hands. I watched one of the wretched creatures on the back of my hand as it guzzled and swelled red. It enjoyed itself drilling into me. I waited and watched for the right moment. I took pleasure squeezing the bastard until it popped splashing my blood.

I want the cold. Piston seems to long for the cold too. He continues to dig frantically for cool permafrost dirt and now has a semi-circle of cool spots looking like a sunken West Indian steel drummer’s kit. I walked the five miles to Inuvik, posted some mail, made for the food store and the frozen pea section. I just stood there glad to be cool. The dogs’ summer coats have lost the downy insulation but the guard hairs keep fur long.

I was two miles into my run this morning when a car slowed down. The woman driver flagged me down as if she had something vital to relay. With a pendulous bosom she lent out of the window to let me know a wolf had just crossed the road behind me. I thanked her. Beef was bitten through his plums today. Easy targets.  He has the biggest pair of balls I’ve ever seen on a dog. I’ve started him on a course of antibiotics.

I walked to a grocery store on the outside of town taking Bomber and Beef with me. They wore Ruff Wear dog packs and helped me get food back.  Tonight’s weather forecast is for snow flurries.

I wore gloves and our breath fogged in cool morning air. No bugs.

Around a 100 people formed a mob and ran six suspected drug dealers out of town in the early hours of this morning. The RCMP (Canadian cops) were involved. For the safety of those suspected they were escorted on to the Dempster Highway. The road only goes one-way, south.