More of This and That

There is a bad stomach bug getting around town for the past week or two. It is very contagious and when it hits you it comes on fast. Everyone in my family except my mother got it. Me and Julie, James, Jazmin and my Dad had it. Common symptoms include fever, stomach pain, vomiting, diarhea, and nausea. When I got it came on suddenly just after I got off work around 6:30 and I had a fever up until around 11:00. I was up off and on every 20 or 30 minutes the whole night after my fever broke. Fortunately I didn't throw up and it lasted no more than 36 hours. I am glad that I didn't get it during Christmas.

On another note, as usual we are not ready for Christmas yet either although we have most of our presents wrapped and I expect we will have them delivered this weekend.

Weather is cold, at least it seems cold. I am just not used to the cold like I used to be. The temperatures are actually way above normal for this time of year. The harbour should be froze over by now but it is blowing so often it never gets a chance to freeze.

James was in his first school concert last night. I went to the concert only to discover I had left my memory card for the camera in our computer. So I didn't get any pictures or video of him. Hopefully I will be able to get copies from someone else who was there.

Our first snowfall

A Couple days ago, Oct. 16, we had our first significant snowfall for this autumn. We had about 6 cm I think. Then right after the snow came the rain, about 40 mm I think(good bye snow). We had the wiring done on the new room in our house yesterday. It only took two or three hours. Here are a few pics of the two boats that were driven ashore in last weeks wind storm, all courtesy of my aunt Marg Holwell.

Wind and Moose

Last week was very busy and I guess you could say stressful. I had to take James to St. John's for medical appointments and therefore there is a lot of travel involved which is also very expensive. He had to have an audiologist check his hearing, he had to have a pulmonary function test done which is something used to determine if you have asthma and he had to see Dr. Crosbie the developmental pediatrician. Fortunately everything went well and he was very cooperative although the audiologist said he either had some fluid in his left ear or he had an ear infection. The trip itself certainly wasn't uneventful. To start with we had to switch to another flight because ours was delayed, the flight itself(especially landing in St. Anthony and St. John's) was rough due to high winds. Last Friday, Oct. 12, there was a wind storm affecting the south coast and Labrador Straits area. At least one fishing vessel and a sail boat broke their moorings and were driven ashore. The crab boat had her hull punctured and the sail boat was so badly damaged she was written off. The owners of the sailing vessel Taravana have their own web site detailing their travels in Labrador and are from Marseille France. James' appointments were one after the other the next morning and in the afternoon we had to go several places to find things for Halloween and Christmas which took all afternoon(James was quite tired).

Me and James on Signal Hill

The road trip between Cartwright and Goose Bay is a long one and it certainly didn't help almost hitting a moose on the way back. We were about an hour away from Cartwright and it was just getting dark when there is not enough light to see well and not enough darkness for the vehicles headlights to highlight anything on the road. You have to be very careful at this time of day when traveling by road in areas where there are moose around. This particular one just popped up on the road out of nowhere right in front of the vehicle. He was so close he almost touched our bumper. Antilock brakes and the ability to steer at the same time without your wheels locking up was a significant factor in us not being injured or even killed.

James at St. John's Airport

On one of the rides at the Avalon Mall

Summer has come and gone

Summer is over already or almost over. They stopped processing crab at the plant weeks ago now. Luckily Julie is still getting some work. Some of the boats are fishing turbot or shrimp and are offloading it here. Operation Swift Current got off about a week ago now. It was an exercise involving the Royal Canadian Air Force, Navy and Army, and Canadian Rangers. HMCS Goose Bay was in port to participate as did several aircraft. I didn't get to see any of it though. We had to have Jazmin medevaced to Goose Bay a couple days before and we ended up spending three or four days there. She had pneumonia.

Jazmin recovering in hospital

Blue berries and black berries are ripe. I picked about a liter or two of blue berries up by the weather station. Quite a few people are picking them. Bakeapples weren't as plentiful this year and there were a lot of people after them. We caught a few trout at Muddy Bay Pond today. Julie had one big char on but lost it. We were only in there a few times late this summer but it seemed the char were scarce this year.
James starts his first day of school tomorrow. He is very excited. He is doing well in therapy academically but his speech still needs a lot of improvement. Hopefully he won't have any trouble adjusting. I guess it is only natural for a parent to be a little worried especially if their little boy is autistic.
Weather wise the summer was pretty good. At first it was very hot, and now it is cold and wet. But most of the summer was pretty good with regards to weather and lately(up until today) the weather was really good, with no flies to bother us.

Fire forces evacuation of two Labrador communities

The summer so far has been very hot with a few cold days in between and very dry. There are more than thirty forest fires burning across Labrador right now. Last night North West River and Sheshatshiu had to be evacuated because of fires. There is a fire near Charlottetown that is out of control as well. Just a few days ago there was a forest fire at Eagle River just two kilometers from an outfitters camp and another one at Dove Brook Valley. Both are just up the bay from Cartwright. For several days there was quite a bit of smoke in the air and you couldn't even see across the bay. There was also a large fire burning on the edge of Canadian Forces Base Goose Bay a few weeks ago. The airport had to be closed down a while because of that one.

Some wild weather today.

It was quite a day weather wise. The temperature got up to 31 degrees when the forecast maximum was 22 degrees. The normal temperature for this time of year is 9 degrees. Then the temperature plummeted from 31 degrees  down to 19 and then all the way down to 7 in two hours. And that's not all. When the temperature got cold we had a thunderstorm with lightning, thunder and heavy rain which lasted several hours. Total precipitation after it stopped raining was 11 millimeters. Very unusual to have a thunder storm this early. I have seen a thunder storm in early winter though and there is one recorded in October several years ago. The picture above shows some cumulus fractus below the cumulonimbus cloud.

Local news

Work has started at the crab plant once again. Early for work to be started, at the crab anyway. Renovations were being carried out on the plant all fall and winter. Julie and my Dad were lucky to get work at the plant this year. Two crab plants are closed this year which was very bad news for the communities of Black Tickle and St. Lewis as they were the only employer in their respective communities. Some people from Black Tickle were able to get work at the plant here and I would imagine there will BE more work at the plant here in Cartwright because there will be more boats bringing crab here now.

The icebreaker Ann Harvey was in yesterday to break up the ice. She also escorted a longliner in from Dumplin Island about 12 nautical miles North North East of here. Apparently they had stopped at Dumplin because they had run out of food and gas. Three of the crew walked all the way in to Cartwright on bad ice for help. They had contacted the Ann Harvey previously and had some rather heated words with the skipper.

The snow and ice is almost all gone now. Just a week ago me and Julie spent the night out at Hare Harbour about 15 nautical miles East of here. There are some geese and ducks around but not a whole lot. Robin birds and Morning Doves have come back and the familiar sound of Snipes flying in the air doing their annual mating ritual is a sure sign of Spring.