Week 9 - Sea & Sky

We woke up Sunday morning to this, another day of cloudless blue skies and....SNOW on the distance hills. I thought “well this is it, winter is here, time to put the flannel sheets on the bed, get the comforters out, find my cozy slippers, look for the extra electric heaters and maybe think about bringing in the remaining water bottles that are still sitting in the rack outside.

We had an email from Ken B this week and it sounds like there is a plane arriving in the near future. Life here has been pretty smooth sailing so far but there has been the odd hiccup. Our 35kw genny which we rely on for a back-up, stopped working – an ignition switch being the problem and the incinerator decided on the last day the crew was here to huff and puff and blow itself out. I think I heard it's the air blower, maybe the motor. We've been managing just fine (although having a operational back-up genny would be comforting) but someone is coming in to assess and/or fix these issues plus a couple of others that need to be addressed before the season starts up again in the spring.

So anyways a plane will be nice. Abit of company and fresh produce and the timing is rather perfect, for just the other day Sammy got the last bit of the celery that was no longer edible....to us.

Bet your wondering how my apple-pear sauce turned out....sweet.

....and the apple jelly, well can't wait to test it out on a warm ginger scone.

The dusting of snow didn't last but what has, is this amazing weather. I've got to find my records from last year and see if was like this, I sure don't remember it being so nice for so long. Not complaining.

We are able to use Skype here although it's not the best system and the delay that you experience makes it very annoying or at least I think so. Mike manages to call family and friends but when you need to make an important call, we use the satellite phone, only glitch though, you have to go down to the heli pad (most times) to get a really good signal. This could be a good thing cause I just might tend to settle into a nice comfy chair for a good long tongue wag but at the cost of over $1 a minute I don't think I could actually do that.

It was just another trip with the slop bucket down to the dock to feed the fishes and seagulls yet what I came upon had me staying there almost half an hour watching these bizarre and yet extraordinary luminous creatures glide ever so gently as if they were in a sphere of zero gravity.

The end of yet another glorious day at the Outpost.

Till next week,

Heather & Mike