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.