What Would You Pack?

No smoke in the air today, but there has been and I'm told there will be more.  There is a major fire burning near Chip and there are usually dozens of fires around here every year. The Slave Lake Disaster really hit home -- our town is literally carved out of the forest, and from what I understand, there is some really old timber around here. 

Last year was apparently 'wet' (not compared to Ottawa) and this year is dry and hot.  Although I know Ontario has had a really wet spring, we've had only 3mm of rain since March 24.  And this is on top of less snow than usual.  And what snow there was melted and ran off before the ground thawed, so little was able to infiltrate.  And we've had some wicked winds... the Chip fire was able to travel 40 km in one day!   


Another thing I have learned about forest fires, is that unlike the lessons from Smokey the Bear to be careful with your campfires, almost all of the fires here are caused by lightening.  So, while we're hoping for rain, we hope it doesn't come in with a bang.  And its really luck of the draw on where that lightening strikes!

Last week we got a disaster/evacuation preparation brochure in the mail.  If we need to be flown out, its one carry-on per person.  And no animals.  We have a dog and its really hard to even think about that.  But most likely we'd be driving out of town.... [apparently we should keep our tank full as gas will sell out in a matter of minutes as soon as there is smoke in the air].  Still, strange to think about grabbing all that is important to you.  I guess I have some thinking (and packing) to do.   What would you bring?   

It's yellow here

It's fall in Smith -- and has been for a few weeks.  I have to admit I was a little concerned at the beginning of September when there was ice on my windshield every morning and temperatures didn't venture about 6 or 7 C for a few weeks.  But we had a reprieve this weekend -- beautiful sunshine, probably reaching mid teens yesterday.  We took a little hike out to a really unusual and interesting spot called Grosbeak Lake, in Wood Buffalo National Park.  It was a scouting trip for my Geology field trip today.  My teacher friends in Ottawa will be quite jealous to see my class -- only 7 students in this class and field trips really are so easy (and free for students).

Yellow definitely dominates the autumn scene here  -- poplar, tamarack and some birch.... and while there are some smatterings of red, nothing like Ontario and Western Quebec.  I do miss that, but this spot quickly took my mind away from what I was missing.  It is a very shallow salty basin (remnant from an inland tropical sea), with no vegetation due to the salt.  It is strewn with rocks of all types that were carried from hundreds of kilometres way by glaciers some ten thousand years ago.  But what is most unusual is the weathering that has resulted from the salt and freeze/thaw -- some very interesting pock marks and rocks that look like they have just exploded on the spot.  Also on our trip today we saw a male moose running down the side of the road (the hunters were salivating) and a big bison in the park.

Also included is a shot of the river running through town as well as our newly paved path -- it was unveiled for the Terry Fox Run, which was a great way to get everyone out and using it.  This was our favourite dog walking place before the paving -- but now it is too busy.  I guess it's a good thing to have more people using it, but we have since done some more exploring and found more great trails nearby.

Summer in Smith

Its hard to believe the summer is over -- it really flew by.  We had an amazing 'first' summer up here (yes we've already decided it won't be our last) and were very very  happy that Rob's boys, Jake and Jamie, were able to come up.

I spent the first three weeks of summer teaching for Aurora College's Teacher Education Program in Edzo (see earlier post). When I got back to Smith we only had three weekends left with the boys and we crammed in a lot.  Here is a quick recap of some of the highlights:

• Canada Day -- the boys were in Smith and I was in Rae. 
• Story telling festival and Aikaitcho Assembly -- my fist experience watching Dene hand games. Its a guessing game with high stakes -- apparently a lot of betting goes on (sometimes tens of thousands of dollars).  The drums, energy and showboating are amazing -- you can watch for hours.    
• Annual Pine Lake Picnic in the Park (Wood Buff) -- lots of food and fun -- the boys participated in traditional Dene games as well as a canoe race while I helped out with the kayak demonstrations.
•  A fly-in fishing trip to a cabin owned by one of Rob's staff on Lake Germaine.  It was a beautiful spot -- lots of fishing, hanging by the fire, swimming, canoeing, boating, eating, etc. -- a great little getaway.  
• Paddlefest on the Slave River (see earlier post). 
• An evening trip to the Salt Plains (WBNP), a unique habitat with salt mounds and a great place to check out tracks. 
• Road trip down to Edmonton -- included are some photos from Alexandra Falls, NWT.
•  We also did a rafting trip on the Nahanni near the end of August-- see separate post below