Weather, Travel and Me

Its seems to me that the minute that I want the planes to work out, the weather gods cook up a doozy and send it flying to fool with my plans. (Those of you who recall, I was recently stranded in Rankin for 4 days - and the Science Fair nearly was cancelled - although in the end the weather worked out and everyone made it in) Not to mention my wild non-trip to Iqualuit. I do have to give them some credit - no problems at Christmas. So, I'm watching the weather again with a glint of horror as I hope beyond possibility that the blizzard conditions will abate long enough for a plane to land this evening. I'm not holding my breath, but I can't help wishing, especially since this looks to continue to get worse and last until Friday at which point, there will be nearly a weeks worth of bumped flyers trying to make their easter destinations and after weeks of seat sales, I expect that it'll be a while after the weather clears before my incoming guest can get a seat.

Baker Lake is the blizzard capital of the north, averaging nearly 20 blizzard events annually, thus our choice of the Blizzard as our athletic mascot. Still, while looking for a description of the minimum landing conditions necessary, I found this wonderful quote from the late weather caster, Bill Matheson:

“I really believe that Baker Lake, N.W.T., has got to be the epitome of all things Canadians hate about winter,” Matheson said. “The wind is blowing all the time. You're on the tundra. For half the year it's dark. And it’s always the coldest place on the weather map.”

Most of the time, I like the weather in Baker Lake. The crispness, the wind, and even the dark. The wind doesn't actually blow all the time, only when I want the planes to fly and frankly it has been quite mild this year and I can still see the sign, so maybe everything will work out fine. I guess sometimes you just have to hope and prepare to accept the worst. Not much else to do - to be happy in the north you have to be able to accept the things you can't change and weather is definitely out of my hands.

So, heres hoping beyond hope for a large miracle.... and making the best of things as they are.

Vinegar and nails....

If you want to induce rust this is a fun experiment. I was surprised that the nails under the vinegar were rust free, but the heads were very rusty. (The beaker was covered in tin foil so the heads were in vinegar fumes)

My head doesn't want to seem to want to wake up this morning, so I apologize for the short post.

Home Sweet Home

I had a wonderful weekend away from home. I have to say that the regional science fair is one of the most fun activities I've ever taken part in - a big thanks to the kids and colleagues that made it great. I'm already looking forward to next year. The really cool lab coat was a great idea. In the mean time, I'm looking forward to having only the normal teaching load on my shoulders. Its funny - it seems the busier that I am the more I get done, but I'm glad for a break because I have some great ideas I'd like to enact, but I need time to actually do them properly.

A happy anniversery to my amazing and inspiring Grandparents. I'm sorry that I couldn't be there to celebrate with you, but I'll see you in the summer and talk to you soon!

In other news, it is shockingly almost April and the days are starting to get longer. By the end of April they will be long and by the middle of May the sky will no longer get dark enough to call night (even if the sun does technically set below the horizen.) We've been spoiled with warm weather the last few weeks, although currently its pretty bitter. Hopefully, it'll get springy again in time for me to actually enjoy going out on the land (well, at least outside) for easter.

I'd better get my supper cooking and my biology homework done and a good workout in....

:D

Muffin Tree

Who said muffin's didn't grow on trees? Or at least grow like them!

Well, it didn't last long after I took the picture. It'll probably take me longer to clean the little tree cakepan then it did to eat it, but I was pretty hungry.

Yumm.... oh and I still seem to have the yawns. Okay. Quick bit of yoga, then out the door.

NWTel Science and Technology Challange

One of my favourite special events is the SET challange where students are given about an hour to complete a Science Challange. This year we were building Card Inukshuks and Straw Iglus. The one pictured about was my pick for most artistic. Good work to all of the students who participated. This event always surprises me by how engaged the students are with the task. Everyone had fun and even the ones that didn't win did a really great job working together as a team and coming up with some very inovative projects. Congratulations and a huge thank you for NWTel for their sponsership and KSEC for planning and organizing the event.