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Published: October 23rd 2013
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Mr Furry Features!
Always on the prowl! This male sniffed our front and back steps then wandered across the street and had a poop outside our neighbour's house... A big hello to all of our blog followers...
A blog by Dave...
We haven't blogged for a wee while, partly because we've not traveled a great deal during the year other than work related trips, and partly because we've had almost endless sunshine all year and have spent most of our time outside... However, we are now losing daylight very quickly and the temperatures are falling by the day so we're starting to get into hibernation mode - ideal for writing a blog or two.
There has been a few 'incidents' this year involving our furry-faced friends... There was one fellow who got charged a couple of times by a young bear on the Town Beach and another chap who got bitten and scratched by a different young bear! Both men were O.K., but understandably, they were a little shaken! There was a local lady who got chased by a bear down a back lane last week and another bear that broke into shed to grab a feast of moose meat that was being stored there! We also had a bear at our house! Twice! One morning at about 06:30 hrs a bear was scratching around our
Wandering the streets after dark!
This was at 05:20 hrs. I heard a thump as he banged against the side of the house... front deck for a bit before wandering across to our neighbours yard, then three days later (also in the morning) another bear banged up against the living room wall and sniffed around the front deck before moving to the back of the house... It was all very exciting! We've lived in this house for three years and these are only times we've actually seen bears right from the house - pretty cool eh!
We've been hearing cracker shells most mornings as the conservation team move bears out of town - some bears like to snoop around at night. They're sneaky and can more-often-than-not find their way into town undetected... We really have to be vigilant as we wander the streets at night these days...
Bear Season is officially upon us!
The town is abuzz with tourists! Seriously! There are thousands of them!
Bear season always seems to attract a fair amount of interesting, yet wacky characters! Eccentrics, activists, evangelists and transvestites to name a few. There's always interesting conversations and arguments to be had! We also get the Hollywood Stars!...
Before the tourists, actors and crazies came in hordes (and before the sun fell from
Nudging the Kayak
They were getting a wee bit amorous!? the sky) there were thousands of beluga whales in the estuary. The belugas were incredible this year! We had some amazing experiences with them as they frolicked around our kayak. The more time we spent with them the more curious they seemed to get? We had them nudging our kayak and spraying us with their blow holes! We had massive pods all around us at times - it was quite the thrill! But now, with the exception of a half-dozen stragglers, the whales have all gone. As the season changes the whales head to their wintering areas near the ice edge of the arctic ice-cap. We'll be seeing them next year again when they move back to the estuary.
For the first time in my life I tried some maktaaq! Maktaaq is a traditional food of the Inuit and is usually made from the skin and blubber of bowhead whales, but beluga and narwal is also used. It is usually eaten raw! I tried it raw and it was like chewing on a cat-food flavoured piece of bicycle inner-tube - not particularly pleasant! However, when it was cooked it was actually not bad...
The next morning Theresa could
Blow hole
Frolicking belugas in the estuary. see this horrid thing staring at her from the fridge! A horrid piece of flesh! Needless to say, she did not try it!
I spent a good chunk of September working in Wapusk National Park and exploring some of the gems in various locations. When I wasn't flying around in noisy, smelly helicopters or hiking out to even more remote corners of the Park, I was helping on some small mammal projects (lemming and vole population studies) with a colleague. We even managed to catch a few! Wapusk National Park is an enormous wilderness park covering a massive 11,475 kmĀ² and it is an awesome place to explore. Everyday, when we weren't checking the traps, we hiked, explored and made discoveries and there was a lot of wildlife accompanying us! The colours on the tundra were striking and mesmerizing, it was like looking at a fairy tale land in miniature! Wapusk really is an amazing place - vast, empty and silent.
At the same time, Theresa travelled thousands of miles to get to North East Ontario's James Bay Region, also work related...
All of the pictures for this blog were taken in September... It's such a wonderful
Lingonberries.
Vaccinium vitus-idaea month! A month of change...
Now it's October and there's a little bit of snow and ice on the ground - we are sure our furry, white, four-legged companions will like that! But it's been awfully quiet these last few days! We are wondering where they are?
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Cuzzz
non-member comment
Dave, You have to try it deep fried, it\'s fantastic! Take a small peice, about 3 x 3 inch, score it deeply and cook like french fries. BE WARNED. You might like it so much that you may over indulge, you will look like a cooked lobster as the rich blubber is high in vitamin D Great shots! Love it love it!