happy new year

well as they say it's twelve o clock somewhere. A belated happy birthday to older brother jurassic Frank. I understand cathy couldn't use the appropriate amount of candles on the birthday cake because of some added fire insurance issues (with THAT many candles, it's technically a bonfire).
Yeah, ol' Frank has been around since the time of christ, and is still wearing his hair and beard the way him and jesus did back in the day.
I'm just kidding frank. I hope you and cathy have a great new year with much happiness.
well, i'm getting into my cups as they used to say in ancient rome...vino veritas, did I get that right Frank?

going for 11p.m. and still occasionally vulturing on the turkey carcass and I'm actually having a couple glasses of wine, even at christmas that's rare for me.

Other than me coleman and miranda having the flu, it was a good chirstmas. only one bummer we didn't get to see beckers as she stayed in yellowknife for x-mas. Coleman looks like a Las Vegas lounge singer in his little vest and tie. And BEHOLD....SILENT DEATH! Miranda got me this kick ass compound bow and all the goodies. oh, Coleman will be selling copies of his self titled debut CD in the parking lot after the show.

Merry christmas everyone.

Apparently i post about as often as I buy new winter jackets, and there is a reason for that, I have a pinched nerve in my neck and sitting at the computer is about as aggravating as it gets. Coleman has been practicing his peek-a- boo, there is some talk of him being invited to try out for the canadian olympic peek-a- boo team or as the chinese say peeka-boo.

every 13 years...just like clockwork

yup, that's a new winter jacket I'm wearing. The last time I bought one was 13 years ago, i wear stuff till it wears out, but the missus has objections about me going around dressed like a homeless guy who's down on his luck.... When I travel for work it's sorta expected that a feller presents himself in a certain light. " oh, YOU'RE the airport guy, sorry thought you were a homeless guy" I've actually heard that before- I think deep down I like shattering that first impression.

Frank, i will trade your +18 of the other day for my -18 of this morning. Old man winter is not here yet...but he sent his missus the BVSQ on ahead to get things ready for him, hence the mongo-drift hanging off the edge of the roof.

a pic of Coleman and Miranda.

well, I just got back from Wrigley, NWT, pop. approx. 150. Flying back today was kinda cool. The cloud deck was maybe 500 feet above ground most of the way back, so the tree tops were not too far below us. With the mountains going by it was pretty cool. Of course, I didn't have my camera...next time. there is a road to Wrigley but because it's on the other side of the Mackenzie river, you have to take a ferry, but with freeze-up going on, the boats are done for the season. I was up there training a gal to work at her airport. Which is a vital link for an isolated community at this time of the year. maybe some kid pics and whatnot tomorrow maybe.

we've had a bit of snow but nothing to speak of, it's not collecting or anything. A pic of Coleman and one of Charlene, oh yeah, heh heh, almost forgot...Happy Birthday Coleman Brown!! He's one year old today. There's also a pic of the sim board from the final excercise of the emergency site controller course I took.

And what will likely be the last fish I catch this year.

on the go...

we've been busy lately. went to yellowknife last week for a couple days,( Frank, it was snowing the entire time we were there) I'm flying out to yellowknife this afternoon for a few days.
I'm taking an Emergency Site Controller course, ( mmm control, one of my favorite things)it's part of an Emergency Management course I've taken. It's a good course and despite the fact that I'm short staffed at the airport, ATS services(my employer) believes in professional developement and on going training, so off I go.
It's gotten down below zero here for a few nights and all the leaves are just about down. We'll have snow down by the end of oct., we always do. our kids go trick or treating in parkas every year. Although one year we had a green christmas which was odd.
There is a Cougar hanging around town these days. I've spent quite a bit of time looking for him for a photo-op, but no magic yet.
Sis, my medical condition remains a mystery(they haven't told me anything yet) well no news is good news. I guess. health care up here is pretty good considering. I think the longest I've ever waited for an appointment or even on a walk-in is maybe 20 minutes. I don't have any recent pics but I'll ask the missus to put some up tonight. The Coolman is standing up now, as long as he has something to hold onto. He'll be a year old here right quick. well bye for now, I'll try and not go a month between updates.

lets see...what's been happening lately. Rebecca is here visiting and we've had a lot of fun. She learned how to drive the dirtbike down at Willow river and got reaquainted with her fishing rod.

One of the pics shows her with a nice pike. We've done quite well with the pickerel, and miranda's friend caught a really nice whitefish. it was yummy but a bit over cooked (sorry babe, but you know it's true)

What else, Oh yeah I went to yellowknife on monday, I flew over and came back that evening. I had some tests at the hospitol and spent some time with my boss while I was there.

Charlie Brown goes to school! Her first day was on tuesday. She had fun. She's sitting in the compant car honking the horn right now.

Well, we've been kinda busy lately, lots going on. Trying to squeeze every last minute out of the too short northern summer. On friday we all took off down to willow river and had a good time, we didn't fish much but ate really good, lots of yummy steaks and burgers.

Yesterday, I drove down to fort nelson B.C. it was pretty cool but a quick trip, we were there for about forty five minutes and came back. we stopped in fort liard onthe way home to pick up the company car and bring it back to simpson.

The pics, of course Coleman with his drooly grin. There was a forest fire in the mountains behind the first range. And steve-o once again wishes he would have listened to me, but he didn't and his tire paid the price as well as his rim. the highways up here are can be brutal.

three years in on a life sentence

I mean that in a good way, today is Miranda and my third wedding anniversary. Oddly enough we don't have any pics from the wedding in the computer. Funny story though, our wedding like most everything in my life was unorthodox to say the least.
I was down in Northern Quebec training a couple fellas to work at the airport there and got back to Fort Simpson on July 4 after being away for almost three weeks. I had a one hour layover in Yellowknife on the way home so I had my boss meet me at the airport there and I went and bought an engagement ring and hustled back to the airport to get my flight home.
When I landed in Simpson I ran straight through the building and out to the parking lot- I was down on one knee before she was even out of the vehicle. She teared up and said yes(go figure)
" When?" she asked, before I knew what I was saying I said "on my birthday!" She said "no, how about the next day, the sixth?"
That gave us one month to put together a wedding. I didn't even own a suit or a pair of dress shoes. Over the coming weeks, we started putting stuff together,got the marriage license and a Justice of the Peace, arranged for the rec center, bought the food and all that. About one week before we were to get married our justice of the peace got very sick and couldn't perform the ceremony...uh-oh.
well we got another guy, a pentecostal fella as the catholic priest and anglican minister wouldn't marry us without taking 10 years of marriage counselling, which I thought was kinda cart before the horse, know what I mean?
So the pentecostal guy is on board and we're good to go. Until the morning of the wedding, when pentecostal guy drops the bomb that because I was divorced... HE WOULDN'T MARRY US!
AAAAAGGGH!!!
Lucky for us Fort Simpson has a ferry...with a captain...hmmm that was the best we could come up with until the last minute we heard a rumor that a fellow in town had a special license he got from the territorial government to be able to perform marriages(he was going to perform the ceremony at his son's wedding)
I called the guy, I didn't know him from Adam and persuaded him to do it, remember this was on the morning of the wedding.
So at 2:00 p.m, right on time we started the ceremony- no rehearsal no plan, not even so much as who was going to stand where. I picked an invited guest to do a bible reading, and we just winged it. went off without a hitch. Would have been really cool to get married on the ferry though...oh well...next time. Just kidding babe, I love you and happy anniversary!

Sis, coleman doesn't so much crawl as....I guess humps is the word I'm looking for. yup he humps around on the floor. it works for him though. chubby little bugger can't quite stay up on his knees yet. Coleman had his first boat ride last week, he didn't seem to mind it at all. he also had his first jacuzzi while we were in Hay River. It's been smoky here off and on over the last week or so, not so bad as to make you choke but bad enough to provide some welcome relief from the bugs. there have been a few fires in the area and some pretty big ones over by yellowknife. The pics, Charlie brown's self portrait(I'm ready for my close up, mr. DeMille) A Pickerel we caught over by Harris creek, Coleman in the boat, and one of the tanker crew walking the wing of the DC4 while refuelling for operations 10 south east of fort simpson. This is not a water bomber, these guys drop dry chemical retardant and are used primarily to contain a forest fire as opposed to attacking the fire itself. forestry has a base at my airport, and sometimes when we have 2 or 3 tankers and 2 or 3 bird dogs(small, fast twin engine a-craft that accompany and direct the tankers) operating in the area.

We made a quick trip over to Hay River on friday after work. The truck was due for a service, so we all piled in and away we went we came back last evening. here's a pic of the Hay River gorge, if it comes up. we saw a lynx and of course I had to jump out and chase him to get a good look,(don't try that at home) as he wouldn't turn around. When I got close and hollered at him he turned and gave me a decent pose. When I was walking back to the truck miranda screamed at me " HE' S RUNNING AFTER YOU!!!" I almost shit and started running to the truck until I saw her laughing, in fairness though I would have done the same thing to her.

Oh yeah, Coleman says, "Look where I can go!"

way to go charlie brown!

I took Miranda and Charlene out fishing last night, across the river to Harris creek, neither had been out in the boat yet this year and it was a great start. Miranda caught a few with her new rod and reel. But the big winner of the evening was Charlie Brown, she caught the biggest fish and was pretty proud of herself(I was grinning pretty big too) She looks like me and when out in the boat fishing, talks like me too. It's cute, she's got this big fish on her line and he's pulling line and her drag is screaming, she's holding on tight and says " he's very agressel" aggressive is the word she was looking for but it's even cuter for the mispronunciation.

The fish was too heavy for Charlene to hold up, so dad had the honor.

Here's a nice fish(not the one that bit me) and a pic of a spider web. I woke up around 6:30 and the fog was right up to the tent I mean zero visibility. I stumbled around and got the fire up enough for coffee and as I was sitting on a log having coffee the sun started to lift the fog and as it lifted the spider web was revealed. beauty in nature.

well, I'm back. pics will be spread out over both blogs over the next few days as there are a million of them. It was an awesome trip that began on the first evening when a cariboo came running through our camp and almost ended up arse over tea kettle in my boat. We had thunderstorms almost everyday for a few hours with hail one time. but as steve-o and I are both weathermen that was a bonus. we caught a lot of fish and literally went back to camp sore from fighting the fish, we caught a few 20 pounders and I couldn't even guess how many in the 10 to 15 lb range.

steve-o fell out of the boat, which was odd because he did it by trying to stay dry. He dropped my lip grip in to the lake, and in reaching over to get it, was just shy, if he had took a breath and leaned his face in, he would have been able to reach, but he tried to turn his shoulder and defy the laws of physics but physics won, and tossed him in the lake.

Anyhoo, the pics are popping up, one of our stuff in the float plane- I can't say enough about the operation Ted Grant runs at Simpson Air, Ted is a legendary bush pilot up here and all his crew are top notch. A pic of a river that runs off the Horn Plateau from about 2000 feet up. Steven in the back of the plane with the gear and head set on. Miranda crying and waving good bye on the river bank above the simpson air float dock. sometimes the fish get even, I released a jackfish and after it was back in the water as i was pulling my hand back up the fish came back airborn out of the water and shredded my finger...good times, good times.

vacation!

well my vacation started an hour ago. feels good. 3 days til departure. I know I ve been remiss with the blogging and I know the eagle ain't moved a lick, but to be fair, I've been busy at work, and miranda was looking after the residence for the past two weeks. Friday the thirteenth was a bad one as Miranda had to take me to the health center at 6:00am in extreme pain (they blame my kidneys). I'm dubious about that. but some "imaging" will tell the tale. when I get back from fishing of course-a guys gotta have priorities. there was some talk of medevac-ing me out, but I opted to stay in town and just have them manage the pain. If I had gone to YK on a medevac, they would have just done the same thing, at least at home I was somewhat comfortable. Sis here's the one and only...Coleman Brown. I told myself I wasn't going to cross contaminate my blogs but the answer to the question is a "boar spear" and it is exactly what it sounds like. Steve-o of the crispy sticks wants to kill a bear with it...I know, I know. (don't worry, I won't let him)

Well, not much happening. 15 days til the trip. pics of the majestic eagle, at the not so majestic fort simpson landfill.
badee badee badee that's all folks.

miranda and charlene have some fun challenging gravity. A freaky cloud and a sunset from about two weeks ago. We just got back from Yellowknife. We left Simpson last night at 7:00 p.m.-got in to YK at 2:00a.m. left YK at 2:00p.m. and back into simpson at 9:30p.m about 1600km round trip. pretty tired.

welcome back midnight sun

I took this picture at 11:20p.m. two nights ago, as you can see it's pretty light out. The ferry will be going in the water tomorrow and operational on friday. we will likely take a drive down to Redknife river on sunday for some Arctic Grayling fishing. pound for pound these are the fighting-est fresh water fish I've ever caught.

Miranda learned how to drive the dirtbike today. She got the hang of it pretty quick and was soon doing circuits around the house. Charlene had lunch in her playhouse today. We started putting together Charlene's playground set, and will finish it tomorrow after work. I also managed to finish installing my weather station, and tomorrow will power it up.

It was a busy day, but a nice one. Sure nice to spend the day outside instead of in the office.

Some bad news as Charlene's pup brownie is missing and presumed eaten by wolves. There have been some hanging around in the woods behind the airstrip in town all winter. you could hear them howling sometimes. it's not a very common occurence, but it happens. Cheeto was traumatized for a few days as well and was very timid but is back to her old self now.

Charlene took it quite well, and there were no tears.

break up

My prediction turned out to be pretty close. The Liard river broke at the ferry crossing sometime after midnight and the ice broke by town shortly after that. There was little risk of flooding this year as the ice didn't jam up and has been flowing smoothly. GTUG got stuck and had to get towed back to Woverine Air's ramp at the town strip.

The busted ice, it was not so good a show this year. I hear maybe a week to ten days for the ferry. busy at work today.

breaking up is hard to do...

for the ice on the river this year it is, that's for sure. I'm guessing tomorrow night at the latest. we are on our annual flood watch.

We have the Vista curse on our computer as well. when I get my laptop, I'll be getting windows XP installed.

I'm only trying once for pics tonight.

congrats to Sis and Gary on the arrival of the two new baby goats.

well that's it for me, it was like fort simpson international airport out there today.

and i am bushed. here's pics from previous post. woo hoo! it worked!