Small Plane Missing

A small charter plane owned by North Wind Aviation went missing this morning on it's way to Cartwright from Goose Bay. It was about 15 minutes from Cartwright and the pilot radioed that he was about to land but the plane didn't arrive and nothing was heard. The weather was very bad with rain and drizzle and low overcast skies. The area it is believed to have gone down in is very hilly and rugged. The single passenger on the plane used to work up to Domino when I was fishing with my Dad.

Tragedy Strikes Labrador Families

Last week May 18/10, tragedy struck hard for three Labrador families. Three young men, one of them Roy Sainsbury from here(Cartwright), went over Muskrat Falls in a small aluminum boat. Not much is known. They were too close to the falls and got caught in the current. Their girlfriends were on shore and could only watch in horror as they were swept away. Apparently two of them jumped overboard and tried to swim to shore. The other two were Ryan Russell of Charlottetown and Randy Rose of Goose Bay. They were all about to Graduate from the College of The North Atlantic in Goose Bay. So far all that's been found is a pair of sneakers and a few pieces of the boat.

Roy's memorial was held Saturday May 22/10. A lot of people showed up for the memorial including people from out of town. It was one of the biggest memorials I had ever seen in Cartwright. There was standing room only in the Anglican Church and adjacent Parish Hall. After the service there was a reception at the school. There was about 250 to 300 people showed up for the memorial. That just shows you how many lives he(Roy) touched and how sadly he will be missed. Faith, Junior and the kids received a great deal of support and love.

This and That

We made a trip up to the Straits last Friday, May 21/10. James had a great time. It was a pretty good trip, really nice scenery. We took the vehicle up to get her serviced, me & Julie, James and mom and dad. Done a bit of shopping while we were up there. Got back late the next night. We stopped at several places on the way back including Point Amour on the right, Capstan Island and Red Bay.

We will be going to Goose Bay soon, around the end of June in anticipation of the birth of our second child.

Travel on the TLH

I recently had to fly to Goose Bay for medical appointments and because of the weather I had to drive back(as had many other people). It was my first trip on the new road between Goose Bay and Cartwright and it was memorable for more than one reason. The condition of the road was really good to really bad depending on which section you were on. One thing I remember in particular was the forests after leaving Goose Bay. Boy would I love to get my hands on some of that wood. No wonder the provincial government left that part out of the Mealy Mountains National Park. They want the wood for logging, plain and simple. The forests were tall and majestic, and absolutely untouched.

Rainfall Warning In The Middle of Winter

It's been a long time since I wrote on here but we have had such severe weather I figured I had to say something. Normally temperatures get down to around -30 degrees celsius this time of year, but for almost a week now we have been getting temperatures well above zero along with wet snow, drizzle and or rain. Brooks and ponds are starting to flood just like in Spring. And now we have a rainfall warning, up to 60 mm of rain is expected. This is the third time this winter we have had a stretch of warm wet weather and this latest one is by far the worst, and it is expected to last at least four or five more days. The last time we had weather anything like this was in the 1950's.

Celebrities passing away

Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson died today. Ed McMahon died yesterday. Seems like celebrities are dropping off the earth. Michael Jackson is probably the most famous pop star ever besides Elvis Presley(hope I spelled that right). I remember listening to his songs like 'Beat It' when I was quite young and a little later listening to the parody 'Eat It' by Weird Al Yankovic(hope I spelled that right too).

Night at North River, April 24/2009

We had a lovely night at our cabin at North River 9 miles north of Cartwright across the bay. Weather was great. We caught a few smelts in the evening then went to the cabin and cooked supper, home made spaghetti with garlic bread. The next morning we decided to go get some water at the spring a few miles up on the Strand(Porcupine Strand). Before you can get to the Strand you have to go out behind the cabins and cross a marsh. We got almost all the way across the marsh but got stuck in slush. I had to walk all the way back to North River to get help to get us out at least a mile, some of it in slush up to your knees. Saw my first geese of the year on the way back. Robin birds have been getting around for a few days now. Someone spotted an American Kestrel a few days ago. Temperatures have been very warm the past few days.