Temp: 7
chilly

Well, it was a whirlwind of a weekend last weekend what with all the travel and the wedding but it was sure a lot of fun. We set out on Wed afternoon and had about a 5 hr wait in Churchill and the staff there were amazing! They took pity on Oliver and me and the staff let Oli hang out with them while one employee drove me into town to get some food. Nice! Then it was off to Grande Prairie after a stopover in Winnipeg where I ran into a friend from Baker which was nice.

We got to GP and my dad picked me and Oli up and dad whisked Oliver off to the vet to check out his problems. I just got a call from the vet and thank goodness everything is good with him. Turns out he's merely neurotic and suffers from severe separation anxiety! Good times. An expensive trip just to find that out but my vet's office was so good to us ~ thanks guys!!

So, with that, I'm back in Baker and we're heading into a long weekend which is going to feel soooo nice. Can't wait to catch up on my sleep on Saturday. Heaven help the person who wakes me up before a good sleep in let me tell ya! ;-)

Anyway, here's a few of pics from the weekend.

Michelle and I at the reception



A quick stop at a little pub after the ceremony with the wedding party. The best man Jim and I looked rather comical as he's 6'4 and I'm 5'2. Too funny...



Flying out on the way home. It was pretty cool to see the farmland from the air.



And this is the landscape of Nunavut from the air. So pretty.

Temp: 9
A chill in the air.... could fall be around the corner???

Well, the weather has been a bit chilly lately and cloudy but I suppose that's what we should expect with August fast coming to a close. Actually, I'm looking forward to fall and the first fall of big fluffy snowflakes. After having spent a sweltering July in AB I have come to the conclusion that I am very much a winter girl!

Anyway, the town is a buzz right now with the many barges coming in; both for personal orders and for supplies for the mines that have gone in here. I am breaking down this year and placing a barge order and it should be here in mid to late September if everything goes as planned. I only wish that one could get fresh produce on the barge as I have not had much luck getting any through Foodmail. Here are a couple pics of the produce and Tofu that I recieved yesterday (note the expiry date of June 13th!) Nice....



Mmmmmmmmmm..... strawberries or some kind of science project?



And on the opposite end of the spectrum we have very green, very hard bananas. Excellent!



Sigh... this trying to eat healthier isn't going so well.

A couple weeks ago Jenesta, Todd, Tania and I took the dogs out to the edge of the lake for a bit of a romp. It was an amazing day and the sky was so blue that the water looks phenomenal! The dogs loved playing in it and Oliver LIVES to fetch the ball. That is, apparently until he decides he's had enough and he plunks his butt down in the water while the ball floats 20 feet behind him. The look he gives me is 'you get the blasted ball, I've had enough!' :-)





Jenesta in the back of the truck with the rest of us heading out to the edge of the lake



All in all, it's been good being back. We started work this past Wednesday but the kids don't come back until Monday. However, I've run into a lot of the students around town and it's been so great to see them. Man, in two months they've grown and changed so much! Some of them are catching up to me in height, it's crazy. I hadn't realized how much I'd missed the kids until I saw them again and I think it's going to be a really fun year. We're with a teacher named Kristen who is new to Baker but was in Whale Cove for a few years before coming here. She's got a great sense of humour and will be a lot of fun to work with. And, she's 10 feet tall so we'll make an interesting pair in the classroom. Ok, she's probably only 6 foot something but with me being 5'2 it's going to look a bit like Mutt and Jeff I'm afraid. :-) Too funny.

And this Wednesday I head back to Alberta for my good friend Michelle's wedding. I think it will be a good time. The trip just got a bit more complicated though in that I have to take Oliver out to the vet to get some tests done. Sigh.... I'm pretty worried about the little stinker, so I'm really hoping that it ends up being a bug of some sort and not diabetes or a bladder thing. Living in the north will make it very difficult and expensive to treat something serious. I'm hoping against hope that it's tapeworm or something like that. It's amazing how dogs can become such an important part of the family. Fingers crossed he is A-OK.

Here are just a couple more cool pictures I took while riding from Peace River back to Edm to come back up North. The one of the flag on the shed didn't turn out quite as well as I'd hoped but I love this picture because it reminds me of going home. It gets repainted nearly every year. Pretty cool.

Temp: 12
Chance of showers
Nice and cool...

Well, not too much new in Baker. I'm working on a scrapbook for a friends wedding in August which I hope turns out nice. And, other than that, I'm just taking it easy until school starts next week.

Here are some more pics from the summer.



The fam playin' checkers at Sandy Beach



Sittin' at the cabin by the 'smudge' that we had to keep the bugs away (actually, I just kind of suck at fire building) :-)



Mom's rock garden full of lilies - just beautiful!

Back in Baker
Temp: outside: 9
inside my apt: about 30 I'm guessing

Well, after 7 weeks down south I am back home and it feels good. It's nice to be back where life is calmer and there are so many familiar faces. I got in today at about 4:00 after our plane went mechanical in Thompson. I know this happens pretty regularly but it's the first time I'd been on a plane when it happened. I don't know what it was that happend to it but they had it fixed in about 45 minutes and we were off and running so that was good.

Anyway, it was really good to get back and see my boy. He looks so different; he's lost weight too which is good because he was a bit chunky when I left but there's a bit of concern of how much water he's drinking and relieving himself of. I need to have him checked out for diabetes so we'll see how that turns out.

And here are some pictures from my summer.

Me and my girls hanging out at the Pembina River; they are such beautiful girls. It was great to see you Stacey and Kelsey. I miss you so much when I'm in Baker. Thanks for everything!!