Usually I classify my blog in only one category; if you check through the archives, you will notice that this generally means the blog about the community in which I live (currently ‘Kugluktuk’) or stories about the general state of being of dogs in the north (‘Snow Dogs’). It’s also no secret that my two dogs, Scarlett and Gryphon, feature regularly in both. What do you do, then, when you go out with your dogs and take pics that could easily blend into a new category called ‘Kug Dogs’? That’s a page I refuse to put together.

For the past two years I have lived on Baffin Island in the eastern Arctic – a land that didn’t quite fit in with the view we were presented with in grade school. On Baffin, there were mountains everywhere and the fjords and islands I encountered were breathtaking. This year, however, I’m living in the community that pushes to the furthest-most location along the western boundary of Nunavut.

I know that’s not the clearest map, but you can still make out the names. Pangnirtung and Qikiqtarjuaq are about as far east as you can go whereas Kugluktuk hangs out there in the west (just north of Yellowknife – and the Arctic Circle).

…and you know what? It’s just as beautiful. Check these pictures out…

From the hilltop behind my house looking back over the hamlet.

OK, one more before I start impressing you with the dogs.

Pretty amazing right?

Or what about this…

These next pics could be filed under ‘Kug Dogs’ but, of course, that’s just a tab that’s not going to happen…

NB: For some reason the pictures of Gryphon have him looking like some weird stretched out dog. He’s actually quite well-proportioned in real life!

Another one of the cuties together…

Facing the wind...I love how Scarlett's ears act like sails!

Scarlett (or ‘carlett as my nephew says)…

Gryphon…

When the ravens caught sight of the dogs and started circling, I knew that was the end of the outing. We had a great time, though, hopping from rock to rock in 12 degree weather. Can you believe that? 12 – 15 degrees all day yesterday, and right now it’s around 10; what a beautiful place.

“Enough lazin’ around now!” was what I said to my Mac last night. It is a sentiment that I repeat today.  I’m sure “it’s not you, it’s me,” would be the appropriate quote, but I don’t want to break up just yet. Can’t we try again?

It’s the iPhoto…curses (imagine a type of evil mutter and exhale of breath here)! I’ve been trying to load pictures into a post for the past 2 days with no luck. If I just want to view then I can, but if I try to load them it won’t read most most recent transfer from my camera.

…the pictures of the golden grass and mini-bushes, the big rock behind my place, the madness of sealift preparation…and I can’t access them. Why, oh why Mr. Mac, are you holding out on me? Oh, and when I say ‘mini-bushes’ it’s only because I spent the last two years on Baffin Island where it’s already snowing.

I suppose I can post some summer memories – all photo montage-like.

Above: Huge tree, right? Completely out of the realm of northern imagination. My older brother lives in Haida Gwaii, and how could I resist checking this out? Sometimes the sound of the damp surroundings under the canopy reminds me of the inside of an igloo – completely different worlds, but somehow similar in their solitude.

Above: This is Yakoun Lake at the bottom of a beautiful hike through the trees (the previous picture of the big tree was taken on the walk down).

Above: No, my nephew is not a crazy miniature boy…this is just Scarlett – the chihuahua mix – on a very large stump. This was taken, in fact, just before she found a pile of some sort of nastiness to rub herself in; she loved the back-twists, but she sure hated the bath!

Above: Of course, safety first if you’re out on a boat with dogs who don’t really like to swim!

Above: At my younger brother’s wedding in August, this was one of the only pictures taken of me – I was snapping for most of the weekend. Painting nails and drinking coffee. What? You thought the sunglasses were the only note-worthy things in this snapshot?

In life, everyone has their emergencies; some more serious than others. For example, I cannot find any bocchini at the Northern or the Co-Op. What are the chances, right? Alas, my quinoa salad will have to do without. I’ll survive.

Other emergencies? The life-threatening kind? Hmm…thankfully they don’t come around as often; when they do come around, its a good reality check. You know, emergencies that affect something close to your heart.

I’m sure you have an idea where this is leading…with such an awesome picture of my girl here, how could you not?

Basically, it was two days before I was due to fly to Iqaluit for orientation meetings and I was out enjoying the warm weather with Scarlett and Gryphon. I know that these monkeys don’t feel grass under their paws nearly enough, and I was trying to take advantage of those last moments in the south. Anyway, as Scarlett did her…business…I noticed a glint.

NB: I know it’s nasty to talk about poop if you’re not a pet owner or a parent, but this post is all about Scarlett and her digestive system.

Back to the glint…well, as it turns out, it was my purple and silver necklace. Went right through her. She’s always had some weird fetish for jewelry, but this took it to the next level. Since I was traveling at the time, I had everything stored in a ziploc bag in my suitcase – ripe for the picking! After finding the mess of mismatched earrings and bracelets, I decided a precautionary trip to the vet.

The Bank Street Animal Hospital in Ottawa is absolutely amazing; for anyone looking for someone, you should check them out. Dr. Kamran did a quick x-ray then came back with my very healthy looking pup. He, on the other hand, looked a bit green. When he had me check out the screen I saw a few earrings and beads in her intestines and a whole mass of tangled jewelry in her stomach. He then broke the news that a relatively high risk surgery needed to happen within the next few hours.

…a bit more serious than the lack of bocchini at the local shop, right?

Anyway, all I can say is, ‘thank goodness for modern science’. A surgeon came in and, within an hour and a half of me walking in, she was under general anesthesia. And this is what they found…

Can you imagine that she had all of this in her little chiweenie gut?

Fortunately, miraculously, nothing had punctured her stomach lining. Had that happened, who knows what this blog entry would entail!

These are her crazy stitches two days after her surgery.

Scarlett is notorious or not wanting anyone to poke, prod, pull, or pick at her – who could blame her? And here the closest vet is almost a 2 hour flight away. Classic quotes, however, stick around for a reason: Necessity is the mother of all invention. In the north many things are necessary. And many things are not readily available. It seems everyone must become a ‘jack of all trades’; I can’t say what my trades may be, but I can say that local nurses often moonlight as a vet techs! This afternoon two of them took time out of their weekends to remove my rascal’s stitches. And this is what she looks like now…

That's one nasty looking scar!

Guess what…my jewelry will no longer be housed in a plastic ziploc bag. And pet insurance rocks bee-otch!

It hasn’t stopped snowing here in what seems like ages. Shoveling three times a day, though an interesting story, is not exactly the most fun thing to do. But three times a day? Including smashing ice from the metal teeth on the steps? At least I haven’t yet felt that I had to get on the roof to clean out the stink pipe!

…for those of you not from the north, the ‘stink pipe’ is the gas venting system found on the tops of buildings; when they ‘ice over’, the gas backs up and empties into the house…trust me, you don’t want that kind of drama!

Ah, there we go…there’s nothing like hearing the water truck come to fill you up after an evening of bottled water! Yes, I ran out of water again. I suppose I should start getting in the habit of avoiding a complete laundry day; my tank can’t handle it. I’ll have to spread out the washes…can I really be that organized?

Today is my school turkey dinner; the season has officially begun. Though I had a Christmas dinner last weekend, Korean food hardly qualifies as a traditional holiday feast in my world. Nope, for me it’s ‘The Bird’: the gobbles have ceased, and the gobblers are showing up in the roast pans. In fact, I have one ready to be juiced and roasted right now! I suppose that means I should get going.

Even Sophie's getting into the Christmas spirit!

So: water? Check. Turkey? Check. Spices? Check. Cider ingredients? Check. Someone to take Sophie out on her pee run? Hmm, grrr, I guess I’ll say ‘check’…

One more thing – I have to include the following pictures. Sophie guarding her chair, then Scarlett and Gryphon taking over:

"My chair, it's mine!"

"What-ev...the two of us can take you on!"

Earlier this evening I was sifting through some old pictures, and I realized that I had a shot of each of my dogs when they were only 3 months old. Gryphon, the pure chihuahua, is the only one that looks the same – and even that’s a stretch.

Check out my first furbaby, Scarlett, when she was queen of the household (pre-Cesar).

Scarlett at 3 months

Next came Gryphon. At nearly 2 years, he still only weights a whopping 5 lbs.

And, finally, the monster who I can no longer lead (Cesar, help me Cesar!), Sophie. By now - 6 months today – she must be at least pushing 70 lbs.

One of my students found out her dog gave birth to a litter of 5 pups and she wanted to pass one along to me. Don’t worry mom, I said ‘no’…

Ya gotta love pink hair!

As anyone who knows me well can confirm, I love Halloween. I love to pull out that ‘Tickle Trunk’ of sorts and figure out just what I should wear. Actually, that pic on the left is from a Halloween celebration I had with one of my classes in the middle of August…why limit the fun to the end of June? Or February? Or October?

Well, this year it’s like the All Hallows Eve grinch snapped through and stolen my pumpkin. I thought it would be great to dress up again, get the dogs ready, and wait for some trick’or’treaters. That was, until, I was advised that it would be a better idea to put up my Beware of Dog sign and turn the lights off.

My pumpkin and ladybug...

Last year was more fun. At the time, I lived  in the brightly-lit part of town which was frequented by many costumed kids; these days, I do not. I thought giving out handfuls of treats was great. Wouldn’t you have smiled? Even though I was dressed as a witch?

…I’m not sure what I would have put on Sophie, but I guess I’ll figure that one out next year…

Here it is, not even November, and I’ve already gone through all of the big chew-bones that I shipped up in my sealift. Since it was the first time I had put anything together – and it’s really difficult to foresee what a growing St. Bernard will need – I ordered a little bit of everything. The biggest hit were the big cow joint bones…

…and here’s the last one…

Gryphon is constantly trying to pull this away for Sophie...quite the power struggle.

You see, I didn’t expect to have the little dogs sneaking in and grabbing something that is so much bigger than their regular chews. This is that same bone with Sophie, the 5 and a 1/2 month-old St. Bernard…

The funny thing is how Scarlett acts as the ringmaster in the who circus. She usually stands back and just watches, then, when things look to be getting a bit rowdy, she ‘takes care of business’. “To the mattresses,” is that the expression? In this last pic, she’s defending Gryphon’s possession of the bone when Sophie got a little too close for comfort. You’d do that for your baby brother, wouldn’t you?

Craziness, craziness...