Cartwright Hotel Destroyed By Fire

AT 6am this morning the Cartwright Hotel and adjoining lounge caught fire and by dinner time were completely destroyed. The hotel was in business for about 25 years. Nearby residents and the clinic was evacuated because of the risk of an explosion from the propane tanks located at the hotel. The local volunteer fire department could do very little as they had only a small tank on their truck and apparently there was no fire hydrant nearby.

Update on the stomach bug

Julie is very sick as of 5am yesterday morning. This is the second time she has had the stomach bug now and this one is way worse than the first one we had before Christmas. She had a fever for almost 24 hours and was throwing up for almost 24 hours straight. Jazmin had it a second time also and only got better a few days ago. This particular bug is a different strain and is much nastier. I heard in the news that the HSC in St. John's was overwhelmed with influenza cases and gastrointestinal cases. Apparently it is widespread.

On a more positive note we purchased a snowmobile for James a few days ago. We can't wait to see the look on his face. He was wanting one for a long time.

The weather is warmed up finally after some extreme cold temperatures in the minus thirties. Labrador City reportedly had temperatures in the minus forties, this without the wind chill.

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.