Shhh...

Okay, so I've been a bit quiet this weekend, but such is often the case as of late.

I do a lot of writing professionally and for this blog during the week... and tend to spend my weekend time with friends or out on the land (for you newbies, one of our big 'hobbies' up here is going out of town for drives on our ATVs and Snowmobiles - - I never thought I'd be that kind of person, but when the opportunity's there... why not?).

So this weekend, we went out to Sarah and Paul's cabin (aka, VERY rustic cottage). It's a good 45-minute drive via snowmobile... and the longest I've ever driven The Beast (official name for the Skidoo. Not very original, but oh well)... and in the coldest weather too. It was about -25 today (luckily, very little wind) and the faster you go, the colder it feels on the machine.

But for the most part... I can honestly say... I was warm! I was trying out this new combo I dreamed up when I was searching for a good "out on the land" jacket/parka. I have a BEAUTIFUL Canada Goose jacket... that I absolutely LOVE, but I just can't bundle up as much as I would like to, it's just not big enough. (Don't even get me started how tragic that whole story is).

So I thought I'd experiment. I bought a 650-fill down jacket from Cabela's (it was a freakin' steal - only cost me 50 bucks or something) and a wind-proof top layer. I did the research, and tried to figure out, given the measurements how BIG that top layer would have to be, to fit over the down jacket... and sweaters... and my bib-snowpants .... etc. Anyways, it was ACTUALLY warmer than my Canada Goose (for some reason, I always found my shoulders/arms got cold). So I'm stoked. Now all I need is a nice fur for the hood, and I'll be set. So for a fraction of the price of my original jacket, I've found an even better solution. I'm just SO smart haha.

Anyone besides me notice how much frickin' time we spend up here in search of the ULTIMATE WARMEST WINTER GEAR? Shit, back home, its like "Columbia? Okay, no prob, ring it through." Here, there's so many factors. I must own over a thousand dollars worth of winter gear ... and I'm still on the search for the ULTIMATE BALACLAVA and the ULTIMATE MITTS.

Finally, yes. As I'm sure you figured, my skidoo is up and running again. It sat at work overnight Friday, still wouldn't run come Saturday. Then Good Friend Paul suggested we try new spark plugs. AND IT WORKED. Man, when that machine turned over, I just WHOOPED, and was jumping up and down hugging him. I think he was a little surprised. But honestly, there was a point there when I SERIOUSLY CONSIDERED selling the thing. It just was THAT depressing.

Bottom line? "Eights rock" (Nope, don't really know what that means, but I know my new spark plugs are 'eights' and whatever was in there before was NOT eights. Therefore, "eights" rock.)

An-tic-a-paaationnn....

So big news on the Jackie-front.

Actually, it's kind of old news, but not to my blogger friends nor my non-north friends. Are you ready for it? Sitting on the edge of your seat? Mouth salivating with anticipation?

Come to think of it, the only thing really in the world that makes my mouth salivate is Lays Salt & Vinegar chips. Just thinking about them, right this very moment, my mouth is just watering. Unfortunately we don't get them up here. We don't really get any "good" Lays chips at all. The occasional bag of Dill Pickle. But Dill Pickle doesn't really do anything for me. So if you all are interested in sending me a present, please send me Lays Salt & Vinegar chips. I will adore you forever.

What? You say I've strayed far off topic and left you hanging on the "big news" hook?

Ok, no more suspense.

Here's the big news:



















That's right! I bought a Ski-Doo!!! And isn't she pretty? Basically everything I own is a "he" (dog, desktop computer, Ipod - with the exception of my laptop whose name is "Tabitha" because she's a TABLET pc lol) so I think this one will be a girl.

She's a 2006 Ski-doo GTX 550 Fan. She's coming on sealift (less than a month from now) just days before my FOOD sealift comes. So it's going to be a big week.

So yah, big move on my part. And pretty exciting. I never ended up getting my Honda way back when (a year ago!) but decided a Ski-Doo was necessary for the upcoming winter season.

I can't wait!

Grampie would be proud

A group of us went out to a friend's cabin this weekend. It was a fair ways out... about 1.5 hrs ATV-drive, but it's on this cute little peninsula with a beautiful view and clear waters. Seven of us left on Friday night for the cabin... and our numbers dwindled a bit as the weekend progressed (I finally left last night, but there are still three people who will be coming back today)... but it was a great way to spend a long weekend... and here I am today, with the whole day to myself.

You have to understand the craziness of this cabin. Or, rather, what MOST cabins are like outside Rankin.

I've not seen a LOT of cabins, but basically they are spruced-up shacks...off the grid... basically a more permanent tent. With counters to prepare dinner on Coleman stoves...sometimes a couch and make-shift table, and often a set of bunkbeds. Essentially, the cabins out here provide better protection from the elements, a place to cook meals and sleep AWAY from the flies.

But this cabin? Holy crap. Talk about luxe. Generator. Outhouse. Sinks. Television. Sleeps 14... real mattresses... unreal. If it had actual plumbing it would be considered a cottage down south. Hell, it's even winterized ... insulated and has a furnace.

They also have a decent sized boat with outboard motor... so we (of course) went fishing....and I caught three!!!!!!!

You have to understand how much of an accomplishment this is for me. The last time I went line fishing was when I was eight, and my grandfather took my sister and I to Ben's Lake - - this fish pond in PEI where they dump hoards of fish so little kiddies like us can have the joy of actually CATCHING a fish. I think since then I may have gone smelt fishing, but that's different (you use a spear and sit in a little shack on top of the ice).

So I'm officially an experienced fisherwoman, I came back with the MOST and the BIGGEST fish of our crew (lol, I'm not competitive at ALL). I hadn't really been all that keen about fishing in the past... but then I'd never caught anything either. And now I have three big, beautiful trout.

And it was glorious.

So between the 1.5-hour ATV ride (also a Grampie-thing... he used to have one and drive it around the "mini-farm"...aka couple acres of land they have in Flat River PE ... where the only animals to be found are the neighbour's dogs) .... and the fishing excursions, I figure my Grampie would be proud of me and my weekend adventures.

Happy Birthday Grampie!

Mission: Impossible

So I almost died this weekend.

Kinda, sorta, or at least genuinely feared for my life. That's kind of like dying, right?

So this weekend was the grand "ATV retrieval" party. Four of us left on two MONSTER ATVs at about 2pm on Saturday, GPS in hand, to go get the two stranded ATVs from last weekend's venture out on the land.

The first five minutes just about killed me.

You see, I may have grown up near the water, and I have pretty much always been ultra comfortable with it. That is, when it's in its liquid state. Different story when it's frozen. Or half frozen.

I swim like a fish, but from a very early age I've always had this fear of falling through the ice. Maybe it was mom's insistence we check the ice depth before skating on the pond behind my friend's house... maybe it was swimming lessons drilling into my head that you need at least 25 cm to drive a truck on the ice...**

So the whole driving on the ice, while there was easily anywhere from 3 inches to 2 feet of melted water on top??? Terrifying.

Now Mom, don't freak out. Turns out there is still like 17ft of ice BENEATH that 2 feet of water... but it's still terrifying. Pretty sure I spent the whole way there muttering "please oh please oh please oh please" and clutching onto the back rack like a madwoman.

The stranded ATVs were about 14 km away... and we made it half way before we had to turn back. The snow was just too melty, and there wasn't enough tundra to get there without stopping every 5 minutes to tow out one of the ATVs. And that half took us a good 2 hours. That's how wind-y the trip was, because we were on a constant search for tundra.

Not to mention having to stop every 20 min or so for either a photo shoot... or because the weather was feeling schizophrenic. Pretty sure we saw three seasons in 2 short hours. We had almost-blizzard snow (luckily only lasted about 5 minutes), we had hail (hurt like a mo-fo, little pellets whizzing at high-speed straight for your face?? Not fun), and we had beautiful warm sunshine. I even got a bit of sun (I could tell because when I got back, I noticed the freckles had made an appearance. Only happens with the first "tan" of the summer...)

The way back was less terrifying... I guess I figured if it held us on the way over, it would hold us on the way back. And I was right. But the boys decided to give'r on the home-stretch... and we all ended up soaked to the bone by the time we got back to town.

It was a good go of it though... and then we had a BBQ afterwards... delish steak, shrimp, grilled veggies, scallop potatoes and Pino Grigio... not to mention a round of Scattergories. All in all? A pretty sweet weekend.

Then I slept all day Sunday. Gotta keep the balance, doncha know?

**Of course, this seemed impossible "down south"... where winter's last less than 9 months...

Fishing derby adventures...

So I had my first Great Northern Adventure this weekend.

And man oh man was it a good one. I think. Though really, I didn't have anything to compare it to...

So this weekend was the hamlet's Fishing Derby. I'd never really heard of a fishing derby before, but the general idea was to spend the May long weekend catching the biggest trout and cod you could get your hands on.

Out we went. Me and 4 others, atop two ski-doos and two Hondas, headed for "The Land". Our brave leader seemed to know what he was doing, and where he was going... so we followed suit... or tried to.

I can honestly say I have no idea where we were going, how we got there, or where we set up camp. I was told it was about 20 km from town... but as far as I knew it was Arctic Bay. That's how long it took to get there.

You see, this weekend, the ice and snow were in this funny little in-betweeny stage. Where it was half slush, half snow, half tundra, and half ice. Yes, that's too many halves :P

So for the first little while things were fine. We puttered along, the two ski-doos in front, and us two Honda-goers following the best we could. But about half way there we started to hit really soft snow, and the Hondas weren't a big fan of that. Lots of circling back, digging, pushing and swearing ensued... and we were good for a little while.

I have to say my favourite part of the trip was this patch of tundra we hit shortly thereafter. I was having a great old time, humming to myself (and the Honda), bouncing over the little hills and valleys... and then dove into a GIANT PUDDLE getting myself SOAKED (but pissing myself laughing the whole time).

And then... about 1 km from our final destination ...

We. Got. Stuck.

Reaaallly stuck.


By this time I had vacated my Honda post, and was riding on the back of Fearless Leader's ski-doo... but we hit some really deep, really soft snow. Even the ski-doos were getting stuck. So we eventually decided to leave the suckers behind (the Hondas, not the ski-doos), and blaze a trail to camp, and come back for the rest of the gear.

The whole ride... probably took a good 2 hours. At least. Pretty sad, seeing as the spot was "only" 20 clicks away.

Anyways, the five of us set up camp, three tents in total... the central figure being Fearless Leader's GIANT MANSION OF A TENT.

Seriously, this thing was HUGE. A sleeping area, a sitting/dining area ... where we set up a Coleman stove to keep our shivering bodies from turning into solid human-sicles.

Lots of cheese, char and other yummie goodies were consumed... leading to the grand scheme to drill a hole and set a trap for the night.

We had a HUGE auger, the boys had to stand on the two ski-doos to start it off... but by the time it was at waist-height... the bugger was STUCK. And NOT coming loose.


So by the time we all hit the hay that night (ps, if you have a good tent and warm sleeping bags, -10 is NOTHING... until you have to use "the facilities"), we had left our mark on the tundra: Hondas and augers stuck in snow/ice.

I went home the next day (my mom was still in town) but the rest of them stayed on until late Monday night.

They tell me they were able to pry the auger loose with little effort the morning I left, and drilled a couple more holes...

But despite their best efforts, didn't catch any fish.

The fishing derby winners were announced last night though, first prize in trout went to a fish 45 1/8 inches long...(prize = $3,000) and the largest cod was 25 5/16 in long (also a $3,000 prize).

So no prize money for me, I didn't catch any fish this weekend....

But I sure as hell caught a cold. I spent all day yesterday sniffling, and all day today hacking...
channeling my 80-year-old self, repeatedly asking people WHAAAT? and turning the volume on my phone/tv etc. up really high... because my ears are totally plugged.

Aw well, tis the price I pay for an awesome weekend. Thanks guys, for letting me tag along!