Temperature Report

It's 5:56pm on Friday afternoon and the temperature is -10C and with the windchill, -25C. It kind of takes your breath away when you step out fully into the wind and it always makes me feel so small and insignificant against the forces of nature! Our cabins are nice and cozy and warm, ours is especially now since we received a new door! The old door's plywood had completely warped and when it got windy, we'd end up with a small snow drift on the inside of the cabin! I think that every crack has now been stuffed with tissue or duct taped up so we are draft free as much as possible.

I just watched a DC-4 Buffalo land on our ice strip. My roommate was so cute one day, asking me if I travel to different towns in the evenings for our time off. I don't think he realized at the time HOW remote our camp is. The only way in and out is by air. Right now, there is 6m of ice on our lake and we have a 5500ft runway on the ice. It's a big job to keep it maintained and someone is always out there with the front-end loader clearing the snow off. They also groove the ice so the planes have traction when they land with their rubber tires. It always amazes me when they land successfully! They make it look so easy. The runway boundaries are lined by weighted down diesel barrels and the pilot today came SO close to hitting the beginning barrels! Guess he wanted to give himself a lot of room to land!

One of my favorite things about being up here is hearing the crunch of the snow underfoot. I love that sound. I always would much rather be on the beach in barefeet with the waves as the background noise but for now, I enjoy the snow. Once you learn to tune out the generator hum, it's amazing just how quiet it is up here. That's one thing you really take for granted if you are not careful. Whenever I return to the city on a break, I get so tired for the first couple of days because of all the noise from the traffic, sirens etc.... At least once a day I try to sit and find a quiet place out of the way and tune into the sound of 'nothingness'. It's truly beautiful.