… and time passed.

Hello everyone,  20 months have passed since our last post and of course so many things have happened to us in our lives.  K has returned to University and then come back up north.  I have been moved through several locations with work and now have been in Weagamow Lake for almost a year in a position which was supposed to be temporary. One of the biggest things for me however was finding a hobby in Auroral and Astro photography and developing it a lot. Attached below are some of my best shots I’ve taken over the last couple of years.

The Price of Northern Living

Recently we found out that many people have been asking about the store we work at and the prices of many of the everyday staple items.  So we took our camera to the store recently and took some pictures.

This was taken looking across the front of the store.

 

 

 

This image show’s our produce section.  The cooler space is 12′ across and in the foreground is a rack where we place things which don’t require refrigeration like potatoes and bananas.

The potatoes currently cost $10.99 for a 5lb bag and $20.99 for a 10lb bag. Bananas are $6.25/KG.

 These flags hang above the doors in and out of the store.

 

 

 

We sell coffee and other hot beverages from our Fun 2 Go, a 12oz coffee costs $2.30.

 

Our fresh meat section usually carries a selection of beef, pork and chicken cuts.  Chicken legs with backs are $14.39/KG. Those blade steaks at the bottom are $28.39/KG

 

 

 

 

Boneless skinless chicken breasts for $29.89/KG

 

 

 

 

 

Another picture of the produce cooler.  As you can see the top shelf is fairly empty.  Many of the berries we ordered that week weren’t shipped to us because of poor quality.  So we did up cut melon, grape and cheese trays and other prepared fruit and vegetable trays to fill the space until we can get more produce delivered.

We have quite a large frozen food section. Selling many of the frozen foods available in the south.

 

All our 12 packs of pop are $18.50

 

 

 

Our 591mL bottles of pop are $4.69

 

 

 

 

 

 

The holiday cake is the foreground is $12.29 the ones behind it are also 9″ cakes and cost $24.29

 

$32.69 for this slab cake.

 

 

 

 

 

We carry all the normal staples availiable in a grocery store.  This flour for example is $12.19 for a 2.5KG bag or $18.29 for a 5KG bag.

This is only a portion of our cereal section. The 300g box of frosted flakes on the left is $6.59

 

 

The best value white bread is our highest selling item in the store at $3.89 a loaf.

 

 

A selection of soups available.

 

 

 

Goldseal flaked light tuna in water $2.95.

 

 

 

 

Kraft Dinner $3.45 a box.

 

 

 

Here in Kasabonika we get our 4L milk in bags.  When we were in Deer Lake it was sold in jugs.  $15. 49 for 4L of milk.

 

 

We carry a good selection of milk but only one brand.  This is our whole liquid milk section.

 

 

 

 

600g Best Value cheese $14.59

 

 

 

1 Dozen large eggs $4.85

 

 

 

Salted butter $6.39/lb

 

 

 

Here are some of the basic appliances we carry $919.99 for a basic fridge and $899.99 for a 15 cubic foot freezer.

 

$749.99 for this couch.  It is a popular style due to it’s low price.

 

 

This is the flag of Kasabonika First Nation.

 

 

Beading is a popular hobby for many people here and we carry a fairly large selection of different coloured beads.

 

A selection of furs and leather.

 

 

 

We sell a selection of frozen meat packs.

 

 

 

These trailers store many of our bulk or large items like furniture, appliances and some bulk foods like sugar and dog food.

 

Stay Warm,

~A

The Weather Outside is Frightful

We are in the midst of our first snow(storm).  It started yesterday and has continued through to today.  It’s bad enough to interrupt our satellite internet connection at work and the snow is heavy enough on the main powerlines that they’re worried it could snap and cut off all power to the entire community.  It hasn’t happened yet, and we’re hoping it doesn’t happen at all, because if it does, it won’t be repaired until Monday (for reference, I’m posting this on a Saturday).

Anyway, we wanted to get a pic up of the first snow(storm)fall of the year.  It might melt Tuesday so we wanted to chronicle it while it’s here.

Stay warm,

~K

There and Back Again

It’s been a long time since our last update. It’s not that things haven’t been happening, but we’ve been keeping busy and haven’t taken the time to update, even just a brief one.

For the last two weeks of August we were in the South visiting our family and friends. It was a lot of fun and we did a lot of stuff while we were down. Getting down was a bit of a fiasco and we ended up spending a few days in Thunder Bay because we weren’t sure when Wasaya would be flying us out of Kasabonika. Coming home things were relatively fine, though Wasaya was, as usual, running behind. So we didn’t get there as early as we had hoped, but we did arrive before dark, so there’s that.

The weather up here has really been cooling off, with temperatures reaching single digit weather at night. We have Winter hats and gloves out already at work which have been selling really quickly. We also have out Winter boots, but those have not been selling as quickly. Because we experienced how cold it gets last year in Deer Lake, we ordered some snow pants, boots (for me) and thermal socks that are rated to -40 from Winnipeg Outfitters. It was much cheaper than prices in the South! If you have to buy some warm outerwear, check them out. They have reasonable shipping rates if you pre-pay (shipping is more if you do it cash-on-delivery). You can order by catalogue, phone or online.

Last night A went out to karaoke with our bosses at the school gym (I had been up early that day and was falling asleep by 9pm so I went to bed super early). It started at 10p and A says he returned home around 12:30a. Apparently it was a fun time with raffle prizes (it was part of a festival that’s been happening this week), and I really had wanted to go and was looking forward to going, but hopefully I can make it next time. Today we had some power outages and no internet access, so it was a quiet day/night. We just did laundry, played video games that don’t require internet, and cooked a turkey for supper. I know, Thanksgiving is only a couple weeks away but this was the first we had a proper turkey (as opposed to a stuffed breast) since Christmas. For those curious, our 4.8kg (10.5lb) turkey was $50.

Stay warm!

K

Rest in Peace

There has been a death in Kasabonika, it was the mother of a couple co-workers. She died last Saturday and the funeral was held on the 2nd of July at 1pm. Unfortunately we were unable to make it, but we have seen our co-workers since and have expressed our sympathy. Sad times.

In other news, in mid-June we signed up for a service called NatureBox which sends you nutritious snacks every month in the mail. In Canada you can only choose to have a 5 snack box sent for $20 (includes shipping). We just received our first box this week and it contained dried pineapple rings, vanilla macaroon granola, mini peanut butter oat cookies, sea salted corn kernels, and cheddar and onion sunflower kernels. Overall we are very satisfied with these snacks and are looking forward to our next box. Each bag contains up to 5 servings of each snack, so each box should last us almost until the next box arrives.

Also, it has been brought to our attention that we haven’t posted any pictures since the grass and leaves came out, so there have been some requests to post new pics before the snow returns.

Here is a pic looking out down the road from a corner. You can clearly see the bilingual sign which is in English and Oji-Cree. A likes to joke that in Oji-Cree it says “slow down a bit” because we’ve never seen anyone else actually stop at a stop sign on the reserve. You can also seen one of the many fire hydrants on the reserve. We are not sure why they are there, since there is no fire truck or anything which can use the fire hydrants on the island.

Petro-Kas. This is where you come for gasoline.

Kasabonika Lake.

The everburning fire at the dump.

NAPS.

The water treatment facility.

Mama, coming to greet us upon our return (she wasn’t around when we left). As you can see she has lost most of her winter coat and this is also post-surgery. Funny story from her return is that she reacts the same way to a leash as my cat Carl does: she just kinds of sits down and won’t move. She literally had to be carried out of the vet clinic to the car after her surgery. Because, of course, here in Kasabonika she just roams free, right? I mean sometimes she has a collar on, but never a leash or lead, so she’s not used to having one.

Bacchus has drowned more men than Neptune. ~Giuseppe Garibaldi

So here’s something we learned about living on a dry reserve: dry means dry. No alcohol. Sounds obvious, right? But it doesn’t just mean ethanol (i.e., the stuff in beer, wine, and liquor). It also means no Listerine, no hand sanitizer, no alcohol-based glasses cleaner, no alcohol-based disinfectant, no perfume, etc. Nothing containing anything that might cause someone to become intoxicated, whether or not it’s safe to consume. So if you ever visit a dry reserve or county, bear in mind that it’s not just beer/wine/liquor that you could get in trouble for, it’s ANYTHING with ANY form of alcohol.

A Winner is You!

So today at work A came up to me with a resident.  The resident mentioned the hockey pool they had done.  Puzzled, I looked at A who reminded me about the hockey pool he told me about a while ago.  Well anyway, apparently I won $36!  Score!  I smiled and thanked the resident and put the money in my pocket.  I remember A mentioning the pool, I didn’t know he had put in both our names, so winning something came as a pleasant surprise!

“My inventory is full.”

So anyway, on Monday I was home alone on my day off.  A came home for lunch and I was playing my Nintendo 3DS (it’s a portable video game system, if you’re not familiar with the name).  After he left to go back to work, I decided to go for a nap.  Well, he didn’t lock the door (we do that when one person is home, usually) but didn’t tell me.  Well, I woke up a couple hours later and heard a thump in the house as though something fell to the floor.  “Weird,” I thought but I decided it was nothing because no one was home except me.  I climbed out of bed and came out into the living room/dining room area.  I couldn’t see anything on the floor so I thought I was just imagining the noise in between sleep and wakefulness.  While I was up I could hear our outside door blowing in the wind.  I went to the front door and it was ajar.  I opened it, closed the outside door, and closed and locked the front door.  It was after that point that I realised I couldn’t see my 3DS, which had been sitting at my laptop which is close to the front door.  I looked around for it, but couldn’t find it anywhere.  Someone had been in our home while I was asleep and stolen it.  There had been some kids around earlier to see the puppies, so maybe one of them had stolen it.  However, by now they were gone.

The next day I told our boss about it.  He doubted someone had been brazen enough to enter our place and steal something, but he told his wife (our grocery manager) about it and she talked with some local kids.  Days passed and we heard nothing.  Then on Thursday, a mother came in and handed the 3DS to the grocery manager who immediately brought it to me.  It was dirty, it had a lot of minor scratches on it, but it was otherwise fine.  I was very relieved and thankful for its return, but we’ve learned our lesson and now keep our doors locked at all times.

In other news, this was a big week for us because we had two inventories to do: one for grocery and one for general merchandise.  We did the grocery inventory on Sunday starting at 10am and finished around 3pm.  The store is ordinarily closed on Sunday, so it did not affect store hours that day.  However, on Thursday we had GM inventory, and the store was mostly closed for that.  We finished around 2pm and we opened the store from 4-7pm.  Both inventories seemed to go well, but we won’t really know the results from head office for a couple weeks.  Hopefully everything was counted correctly and it won’t have to be done again.

Yesterday, our boss had a barbecue and propane tank expensed for our home, so we now have a barbecue and propane for it.  We cooked some Johnsonville Brats for supper (which taste great, if you’re looking for a good bratwurst).  The weather is still pretty cool, even though it’s June.  Warm enough that you could go out in a t-shirt, but most people wear a hoodie or light jacket.

The puppies have now been sent away by plane and are on their way to Sudbury where they will be met by one of our grocery manager’s daughters and then taken to their new homes.  Mama will be going out sometime this week so that she can be spayed.  She has had at least 2 litters per year for the past 5 years so it’s time for her to get a break.  They’ve wanted to spay her before, but it’s hard to get the timing right since you have to spay her before she gets pregnant again.

There hasn’t been much else to report on, but it’s been quite the week!

~K

Man (and woman) about town

We went for a drive around the community today and took pictures of various things we saw. Below are pictures and descriptions.

The airport terminal.

A raven we saw while at the dump (the rest flew off as we were driving in).

One of the wind turbines which generates electricity for the community.

More turbines.

The bridge that connects the island to the mainland.

Mama

Mama’s puppies

Mama with her brood.

Home sweet home. The left two doors go into our home (the left into the living room and the right into the mud room). The door to the right belongs to the other house where our store manger and grocery manager live. You can also see part of the truck off to the left that we used to drive around.

Lake: “I’m melting, MELTING!”

To be honest, this isn’t the full lake. This is just the small part of the lake that divides the island from the mainland (i.e., where the bridge is located).

The school.

The Kasabonika Northern store.

As you can see, the snow has mostly melted and it’s getting warmer up here. You could *almost* go outside today in a t-shirt (the breeze is too cold to get away with it). Spring has finally arrived in Kasabonika. We’re only about two months behind everyone in the south. 😉

~K

Nothing Boring About Aurora Borealis

Tonight for the first time in our lives, we were able to see the aurora borealis with our own eyes.  Sure, we’ve seen photos and video and such, but it’s not quite like seeing it in real life.  What is amazing is how quickly it moves and changes, going dimmer and growing brighter, moving around, and branching off.   It really was quite a sight to see.  According to A, tonight was a “low” activity night for aurora, and the next few nights should actually be higher activity, so we might be able to get better viewings in the next couple of nights.  Unfortunately our digital camera doesn’t allow for long exposure times, so we can’t provide photos (we tried, but all the photos just look black).

Tomorrow our store manager and grocery manager (his fiancée) take off for their 5 week vacation.  In their stead, another couple have come from within the company to take over and oversee things.  So we have a temp store manager and temp grocery manager.  When our store manager and grocery manager return, they will be husband and wife, and we are all excited for them.  We look forward to hearing about the wedding and honeymoon upon their return.

Not much else has been happening so far.  Our store is starting to transition to Spring/Summer despite the snow still on the ground and the sub-freezing temperatures both day and night.  Some days it gets warm enough to start to melt, and then a few days later it will snow again.

Stay Warm,

~K