from the Warehouse to the Trapper

It's Halloween

And yes, since we now know the town, we are invited everywhere. Lindsay invited us to his companies Party out at Matco,the moving company's Warehouse. Although we both worked all day, we had to go.. It's Halloween

Main Street

Nothing special.. but i know you all want to see it all. So here you go.



It is home to us!

It's Freeze Up

The Road is Closing. As Sheila says, stock up on milk. It goes from regular price to 10 dollars for 2L. So what did we do, Listen to Sheila

We are fully stocked.

It is quite funny to see almost no milk on the shelves in the store. Good thing we got some.

Look at those Icicles

Meet Teaka.

We are dog sitting.

Anyone you know have a dog in Inuvik, let them know we are open for business. We can dog sit anytime.

She is a wonderful visitor in the house. We like Teaka!

North of 60.. What do we do. WE CURL













Both of us have never curled before.
Actually this was the first time we ever saw
the rocks in person. And the first game guess
who we played against.. The elders.. Made up of
Dr MacNeil (our Dr at the hospital) and a bunch of older nurses (we did not know until this night). We had a blast. They were great at explaining the game to us. And yes of course we lost. The elders kicked our butt. Curling is fun, who knew.

Willie thinks we should buy
this
..........Can you see us truking across Canada in this--HOT!

Girls Dinner Night Out- October 25th


A bunch of us after our course decided dinner would be a great way to finish off the day. So there we went to the Mackenzie.. (by the time we are done here in Inuvik I think i could own the Mackenzie hotel by the number of times we go there).

All fellow nurses from Acute Care!

This is me trying to become a little photographer. What do you think. I will keep trying no worries. The big golf ball looking building on the right is the NewsNorth building for our local TV and radio. Haven't been into it but I hear it is unique inside.

The Trails of the Local Ski Trail

I need to order some cross country ski's. That should be a great past-time this winter. There are a variety of ski trails and they all have lights on them. That is needed, as we will be in complete darkness for 1 month of the year.

So far I would say we have gotten about 6 inchs of snow in most spots. Some areas I would say even have up to 2 feet. It is getting darker, every week we loose about 1 hr of light- preparing us for 24hr darkness. Excited to see how that feels.

These Boots are Made for Walking.. And they will be walking in Snow for the next 6 Months

Below is Willie after being awake or about 32 hrs. Didn't sleep well in the day, worked night shift then Passed her NRP (neonatal Resuscitation... What a trooper

Happy because I passed too.

Laura Wants A PUPPY!

As many of you know, I am a sucker for dogs. This is Snowball a puppy that always wants to follow me to work and comes over to hang out. He is so cute. And he can be mine if I want (Cyndi Said), but I know I cannot. Self-Control--- No Dog Laura. Someday, but not today!

Maybe I need to buy some dog treats.. then the whole neighbourhood of dogs may come over. Willie willl hate me then

Loving the Winter- The funny thing is it really hasn't hit us yet.

Parka's need to come out soon, give us a month. About -4 during the day, but feels like -10 says the weather channel

Willie Introduces you to the Trapper....



Anyone who comes up can come with us... Who will take us up on our offer

October 19th- What happened then........................................

WILLIE TURNED 25 today

And i think she will kill me for putting this picture on- but it is for Paul!

I had the house all decorated for the Big Birthday Bash! We had a few girls over for drinks and B-day Cake.

Willie was surprised---

Then we went to the Mackenzie Hotel Lounge as it was too Early for the Trapper

Tammy, Willoughby, Hero and Birthday Girl

AND THEN..... THE TRAPPER (or aka Trapper Sams)

Food Night

Anywhere in Canada Food night is good

Goodbye to Martine Night on Acute Care!

A Nurse that will be missed-

we also had a little boy come into the world this night- and I got to help in the labour room.

You can see the hospital up above in this picture

Bootlake- one of my favourite pictures

smartie box row houses

there are many of these units around. I cannot wait to see how they look with white stuff around them.

Visitors Centre- October 6th 2006

Me and My New MAN! Lets call him Edgar!

You will have to come visit to meet him.

He doesn't travel well!

Willie and her two new friends...

She doesn't want to hang out with me all the time!

(located at the Visitors Centre)

My work at the Hospital

I feel like I live there. It is good. I have a variety of people, big and small of all ages. There is a variety of illness that bring them in to the facility and they come from all over the communities. I enjoy hearing stories of how they got people to the hospital, as all the communities do not have access by car. When the weather is poor, as fog comes and goes around here hourly, planes to not take the risk to travel and risk lives of the air team. One story that comes to mind is there was a elderly lady who needed immediate attention. Planes could not fly that day due to fog, so the lady was placed in a boat and taken by water to an area of land which the taxi could pick her up from and transport her by taxi to the hospital in Inuvik. I just think it is great how things get done around her. Not like home!

The work itself, not what I expected. But that doesn't mean it is a bad thing. I thought I would be placed in more acute situations, really having to apply all my nursing skills. So far I have had only a few occassions where I felt I was challenged. Many of our traumas or other acute illness requiring further advanced treatment we send out via medivac to Yellowknife or Edmonton. Staff here are nice, but I think with all the nurses who come and go up here, they become "thick skinned". It also doesn't help that we have no coordinator to facilitate consistency up here.

I do enjoy it though and have no regrets leaving Ontario. I have assisted in 2 deliveries, and have had many little people who I am not use to in the ICU. I am always searching for new knowledge and new experiences. And this years adventure will only make me stronger!!

Welcome to INUVIK- Land of the Midnight Sun

population 3,586

Located 2 degrees above the Arctic Circle on the scenic Mackenzie River and Delta. Inuvik(place of people) is the homeland of the Inuvialuit and Gwich'in and a wide variety of other aboriginal and non-aboriginal people and cultures.

Inuvik is a place of rich diversity, located on the Mackenzie Delta - Canada's largest fresh water delta, close to the Arctic Ocean, with a spectacular view of the Richardson Mountains. Inuvik is nested between the treeless tundra and the northern boreal forest, and overlooks the incredible maze of lakes and streams of the Delta.

The community is accessible by air year round. It is also accessible by road (the Dempster Highway from Dawson City) year round however during break-up (spring) and freeze-up (fall) the community is not accessible by road. Ice roads also link the communities of Aklavik and Tuktoyaktuk to Inuvik in the winter months where before the only access to these communities is by plane.

WHITE STUFF -- WHITE FLUFFY STUFF-- MUST BE SNOW-

October 5th, 2006 Willie out on our First Winter Walk
Me on the Mackenzie River
Us being Crazy- Yeah we found a boat

How the Town looks:

Because of the permafrost houses in the Arctic cannot be built directly on top of the ground. If they were, then the heat from the house through the floor would melt the permafrost and the house would start to tilt or sink into the ground!

Instead the houses are built on "pillars" sunk into the frozen ground. For the same reason not even the plumbing or water pipes can be put into the ground and you see elevated pipelines running to all the houses. These are called utilidors and they run all throughout Inuvik. You get use to the look. This place looks nothing like home!

Igloo Church

Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church

Inuvik, Northwest Territories

STOCKING UP OUR CUPBOARDS

Stanton's Grocery Store

Total Cost: Over 400.00 Dollars (b/w Willie and I)

Our impression of the town before we moved here was the hospital, bank and 1 department/grocery store called NorthMart. To our surprise you can get groceries at a vareity of places ie/ the hardware store, V&S - they have PC brand, the fruit man, Northmart and Stantons. Stantons was recommended to us from a girl at work Sheila. We had to walk across town as it is on the edge of the town. We loaded up and then cabbed it home. A visit that needed pictures to be taken.

"The Laura's" as they call us

We sure did enjoy our first night

of many, out in Inuvik

This place isn't so bad!