Small word encounters

All settled in to the routine now and although my roommie says that the two out of three days on call is "too much on call" for her, you do get used to it. And….this is the only work I'm doing now. There are nurses who work in between contracts here, with a contract in another region or territory or 'down south'. For me it's….you're working and it's a steady pace and then….you're not and it's relaxation central. Already almost three weeks into this jaunt. Mind you, we are just starting out on an eight day stretch with only two of us, as one of the nurses is heading out for a week to see her oldest daughter graduate. Hey, that was me just last year this time! Anyway it will mean sleeping with one or the other phones until we have a third CHN again. 

The clinic has been a very busy thoroughfare this past few weeks as we have had the dental team (doing repairs, extractions etc) for ten days and the dental screening team (exams, fluoride for a week, teaching) - they had a list of a possible 220 children from ages 0 - 7 years in this community of 900, the gyne/ob locum (they fly in with the chartered plane which waits at the airport for the morning and off to the next community) and now the GP is in doing his four day clinic. These additional clinics put people in the waiting room who you have to check out as to their destination, add to the bustle and noise level and increase the workload. As in, 'oh, if I have to sit here for 15 minutes while I wait for my appointment I should ask the nurse……insert request here ex. tylenol or advil, to be examined, to have their child examined, to pick up their meds which have come over on the plane from the pharmacy, to ask for test results, etc. etc'. These are usually the same people you are chasing for immunizations, pap smears, chronic disease check ups, bloodwork or generally any morning appointment. A great deal of the not wanting to get up, is that many people have only been asleep a couple of hours by 10 am. When I asked one of the clerks if she was a nite owl she said "no I am not, I go to bed by 1 am always" so it is a matter of degrees I guess. 

The 24 hr. of sunlight, where the sky is as bright at 3 am as 3 pm is in full swing now. We

Canada geese

have resorted to double layers of garbage bags taped/pinned to the bedroom windows behind the curtains. As my roommate calls it 'the first year university look' of either a blanket (most likely with wolves or horses on it) or possibly a towel or a flag. It feels as if one is working perpetual night shifts. I looked out the window at 3:30 am this morning and there were more people making their way around the community than during the day. The geese have returned to their summer home and these two were some of those hanging out at the golf course. 

I've done a bit of baking….scones (as promised for the roommate - it was the bribe to get her to join me here) cookies for ice cream sandwiches (most of which we took to the supper we were invited out to last weekend) cupcakes, and homemade butterscotch sauce.  I had thoughts of baking this evening but instead we watched a romantic comedy (we've also watched Despicable Me - both 1 and 2 and The Book Thief) on the 47" LG flatscreen TV that the Acting Nurse in Charge bought for us - how's that for a Nurses Week gift eh? Well, not actually….the TV in the other apartment was small and so they convinced me (the non TV watcher) to switch. When the roommate arrived, she was not impressed and made it known, as she'd brought an external hard drive with 362 movies downloaded to watch and the ancient rejected TV didn't have the ability to hookup the laptop. When the TVs went on sale for $800 (which I'm told is a good price) at The Northern Store….we hit the jackpot. Good thing my husband aka roommate is handy and could assemble the stand and hook up all the wires. We've decided she's my husband because she doesn't listen well a lot of the time, has good ideas that someone else can do and doesn't walk anywhere. She has been heard to state "I don't walk anywhere, I wasn't hired to walk". In fact one of the home care workers asked her if the headache she had might have come from walking to the clients house (home care truck was begin repaired) as she is widely known to only walk as far as the truck. More on her later. I have downloaded e-books, paid bills, uploaded my photos and downloaded some that others shared from the Honduras trip and have made a valiant attempt at saving myself some income tax. More on that later too. 

My call shifts have been fairly steady - my touch of having entertaining work hours has followed me north of 60. I worked the Friday afternoon of the long weekend which was called as a local holiday and received a call from the Post Office saying there was a parcel there for a person ℅ the health centre. I stated that we'd have someone pick up the parcel on Tuesday and the clerk said "what if it's an emergency?" I assured her that if it was an emergency, it wouldn't have been shipped through the mail. My curiosity got the better of me and I asked the NIC what the parcel was on Tuesday and she said "shoe lifts". My nerves. I've had a 3 year old with a laceration to a thumb at 10 pm (yes because that is when he should be using a knife) and the child was very badly behaved. My first clue was when the mother made several calls for assistance to hold him down for thumb repair and no one accepted. He was yelling before he got to the door, slapping his mother, throwing pieces of the paper off the exam table and she said "he's like this when he has to come see the nurse". That earned him glue on his cut which sealed it and a wave goodbye. The lab called with a 'critical value' of a K+ of 2.8 (low but not critical in my assessment) at 3 am. Since the patient in question was asleep in bed I thanked them and went back to sleep. When I checked in the morning, and found the result had been steadily dropping each of the pat four months, and the patient was being followed by specialists, I phoned the Dr on call and then the patient and advised eating bananas and orange juice over the weekend. When I later asked if there had been bananas and OJ consumed, I was informed "I don't like bananas, I eat country food". A 1 am call from a young mother with a 10 mo. old with D&V. When I questioned on number of poops the reply was "I don't even know". Then who does? A call at 4 am to examine a newborn "crying for hours" who was asleep and had to be awakened for assessment. Another call about an hour later with a ℅ abd. pain. I get up and dressed and then another call to advise "I'm not coming, my boyfriend took the honda to work". I saw an elder who was quite ill in the am and when she came back for reassessment told me "I ate caribou for supper that fixed me" well….A 2:30 am call to say "my knee is bleeding, I'm in the porch" from someone chasing a younger sister past the health centre might mean a laceration to suture but it was just one of those 'scrub the gravel out, debride the dead skin and put antibiotic ointment and a bandage on it' scrapes that mothers handle. The good thing about having a video intercom at the new health centre will be you can say "hold your knee up to the camera, no a little to the left - oh that looks okay, go home and clean it up and come back in the morning" without having to get dressed and go downstairs. 

The health centre construction continues at rapid sped and there is the promise of a December 2014 occupancy date. It is large structure which can be seen from all directions. 

Green siding going on

I met a young fellow working on the site as an electrician who lives about 35 minutes from me at home. He said his coworkers had told him to come over and meet the nurse who talked like him and came from where he lives. One of those small world experiences. Very focused, not creating any troubles in the community group of tradespeople here this year.

I also had a wonderful gift this week as a childhood friend from 50+ years ago shared that she had attended a church conference and met our elementary school teacher from the 1960s. It seems she must've married a military guy (there were two local bases in our area in those days) and moved to Germany and Australia and is now living a few hours away in NS. I dropped her a quick email saying I was working in Nunavut and she sent a lovely reply today saying she reminisced about those days and a bit on what she'd done. I was astounded to read that she had come to Taloyoak in 2011 to visit a teacher friend. Nunavut maybe, but specifically this small remote community? I wrote a quick note to say "I'm in Taloyoak and will write later" what a large country/small world experience eh?

This past week I've seen a few novel things such as some kids flying a kite in the middle of snowflakes and yes it has snowed here last week (I was pelted with freezing rain on my walk on Sunday too) but mostly it is becoming mud season. I watched a pickup hockey game at 5:30 am and no those young fellows did not get up early to play, they were on their way home from an allnighter but the ice is getting weak in the large pond they were playing on so the games have moved to another location apparently. Saw an arctic hare (okalik) in the front parking lot  - but that wasn't the first time I'd seen that. 

I'm slowly working my way through a stack of Inuit history/cultural books lent to me by the Mental Health worker. At present I'm reading 'In Order to Live Untroubled' which is very good. There is a course through Athabasca University which counts as an elective of the BN program, called The Inuit Way. It's a total cost of $777 for registration and tuition, which is a bit steep for just interests sake - auditing and challenge for credit cost the same, before you ask. The plan is to share the materials with the roommate when she takes it as an elective. No, I don't feel guilty, if the cost was more reasonable I would pay the institution for them. Here are a couple of links to videos, for those Inuit scholars amongst my loyal readers:

nfb.ca/subjects/inuit/netsilik

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/1960s-taloyoak-footage-comes-to-light-1.2554156

Speaking of freebies….all of us GN employees here have registered for Aurora Rewards which allows those of us frequent northern flyers to collect points (additional to Aeroplan) with silver beginning at nine segments/year. You know you're in the north when…..the security question on the sign up page uses "what was the name of your first car or snow machine?". Love it!

Speaking of travel….I had an online chat with my nursing colleague who is going to Liverpool, UK with me in December for the tropical nursing course. We've both gotten conditional acceptances (likely the only condition is sending them a significant amount of money) and she was telling me that a RAF friend of hers had won a $650.000 settlement for a sexual harassment claim and had purchased a condo in Cyprus so that is plan B for December. In discussion of how to get to Ireland to visit (flight or ferry? - matters not) another colleague she mentioned the hostess was in Singapore. Okay, hold the bus…the wallet and free time do not allow for Asia. Cyprus yes. 

As promised the update on the roommate who ate dill pickle chips and the Cadbury cookie dough chocolate bar (dry as dust but not as bad as the astronaut food she said)  before having a nap. Got herself wrapped in a blanket and thought she was in a sweat lodge, came out with her eyes all puffy from crying she thought. She was in high school, her brother was a baby, there were mean girls, she wanted to make out with the jock, there were muslims with serious guns (like the ones in the Hansel & Gretel movie she says - not a version I've seen) but the chauffeur picked them up. We both have weird dreams up here - strange beds, isolation, overeating? Not sure. I asked her if she had any more dreams and she said "I have but I didn't share them with you" apparently because they involved her being a pole dance and stripper. Now there's an image I can't get out of my mind. 

Also as promised, I have been attempting to get my taxes reduced at source from payroll and sent to an RRSP so as not to have to pay so much income tax. It is an admirable idea and a saga that is likely to run as long as Bonanza. sigh. It involves the downloading of Revenue Canada forms, calling toll free numbers, mailing the form (can't be faxed or scanned) to my province of residence, not the one where I earn the money and the tax is deducted then waiting 4 - 6 weeks for the CRA ruling. Should happen before I retire, but not sure when. 

The offspring are all doing well. The oldest daughter is talking about a trip to Seattle this fall. I am officially jealous!! just sayin. The teacher daughter has had full marks on both of her MEd assignments in the first course she's taking. They have met the yellow lab puppy (Pete) they wil be parents to in a few weeks and he is a very cute baby - their cranky cat Hank will not be impressed I am sure. The boy is looking forward to finishing up the spring lobster season and moving on to the next seafood harvesting gig. The nurse daughter is making her way through the final weeks of her first year as an RN - hard to believe!

So, it's off to bed with my friend the phone. 

Welcome back

Well, I am settled in and living my spring life north of 60. It's pretty close to 24 hours of daylight but….there are supposedly about three hours of dusk in the middle of the night. However, last night while on call as I looked out the window at 1:30 am in good light and saw a pick up hockey game in progress on the ice near the COOP, a toddler walking down the road with his grandmother following, skidoos zipping around across the lot in front of the new health centre, a group of preteens playing on the steps of an empty building next door and the street in front of the craft store filled with a crowd of kids…I thought - oh yes, that's right you're north now. It goes without saying that the nurse on call had a quiet morning as the community slept in. Although I was second call I managed to have a relatively quiet day including a nice walk down to the sewage lagoon with the coworker and mental health worker. The only task was a house call. The home care nurse will be here Wednesday so will handle the in-house visits. It's a former roommate who's coming back so I'm pretty excited - she has put her order in for scones already. 

My commute to work is getting routine and the travel Gods smiled on me yet again. As I was waiting in the departure lounge in Halifax, I was paged to the gate and the agent said "are you travelling alone?" when I replied "yes" she said "I'm going to change your seat" so I agreed "as long as I get a window seat" and she smiled and said "oh, I'm giving you a better seat, we've got to get those Aeroplan points working for you" and indicated I was being moved to Executive Class. It's been over 20 years since I sat up there. Not only was I upgraded but I had a window seat in the front row so leg room for a 6 ft. passenger. For those less fortunate in their travels I can share that some of the amenities include warm washcloths before a lovely breakfast is served with cloth napkins and real silverware. Too bad it was on the shorter segment of my journey but I certainly did not look any gift horses in the mouth. Had a very comfortable nap and awoke on the descent to Toronto. A very brief wait at Pearson and on to Edmonton. A window seat but none of the accoutrements of the morning - I did however, watch the movie The Monuments Men and it was excellent. I don't usually watch war movies but George Clooney et al convinced me that it would be worth it and it was! Had a wonderful afternoon with my two girlies in Edmonton where we had a snack then shopped at the mall - Davids Teas and The Body Shop (essentials for northern contracts) before heading to Walmart for the spring provisions. With three of us sourcing groceries the shopping went fairly quickly. A stop at the hotel to tear off the excess packaging, load up the action packers and send them to the hotel cooler for retrieval in the a.m (have developed this scheme so they'll be brought to me on a cart as I catch the shuttle vs me wrestling them out of the room and down the corridor) and to print my boarding passes. Off to have supper at Canadian Brewmaster - good meal and visit for the three of us before the electrician daughter headed back to Bowden for work in the am. 

The baby daughter slept over and I snuck out in the early a.m. to catch the airport shuttle. I've learned to insert myself firmly at the first of the queue for the van and stare down any oil workers who attempt to butt in line. In to Canadian North - my action packers weighed 48 and 49 lbs each (the new limits are 50 lbs per bag) and my duffle bag passed - on to the oversize conveyor belt and scanner and I am free with only a knapsack. Ahh. I console a chocolate lab who waits patiently with only a sigh beside the scanner in his kennel. Through security, time to check the online world and then zip up the jacket for the boarding - no jetports from Edmonton onwards. A beautiful day to fly, warm breakfast and a nap then we're landing in Yellowknife. Oh, definitely much cooler here - I so want to pull out my hat and mitts but the Inuit on the plane with me stroll with open jackets to the terminal, so I resist. As I come through the door I meet an elder from this community who is attempting to get home but apparently someone in medical travel used her Inuit name which doesn't match her health card so her escort is attempting to sort the situation out in the hour remaining before boarding. I find a mother/daughter from Taloyoak in the departure lounge and as I'm waiting the dentist recognizes me and comes to have a chat. He is going in for a ten day clinic which is part of a five week tour of the region. The elder and her escort have joined us, so apparently the name snafu was sorted out, but now the escort hasn't been checked in - they are having their troubles. We head out to the Dash 8 and climb the steps. The flight attendant firmly instructs us to take our assigned seats and I smile and say to her "how is that working out for you?" as it's been traditional for years that Inuit climb on the plane and sit wherever they choose, if you were to try to approach them with your boarding pass in hand and insist on your assigned seat, you'd likely be met with a blank stare and the indication that the passenger doesn't understand English. "I'm sure it's not going to work at all" the flight attendant replies with a smile. She makes the announcement repeatedly and finally says "you just have to keep these seats for take off and landing due to weight distribution, you can move around after the seat belt sign comes off". A routine flight to Cambridge Bay and we are down for a refuelling service stop. We meet a passenger from the previous

High Arctic view

day because the flight yesterday went mechanical here and instead of making her ultrasound and mammography appointment in Yellowknife, she has overnighted in Cambridge Bay and is returning with us and will be rescheduled. A lovely day for flying, clear blue skies, lots of clean snow, blue stretches of sea ice and brilliant sunshine. Not sure what you saw on your commute today but I just have a feeling of coming home when I look out the plane window. 

We are down on time in Taloyoak and I explain to the flight crew that I'll see them in July when they take me home. I head in to the terminal and see more familiar faces, including the health centre caretaker who has come to pick me up. He tells me that they expected me yesterday (boy HR sure was determined to have

Awaiting the luggage

me here a day early) and wondered why I hadn't shown up. I am greeted with "welcome back" by a number of community members and we're off to claim luggage. I am ecstatic to discover both my action packers and duffle bag have arrived and are being ejected from the back of the pick up truck aka luggage carousel. We drop the dentist at the hotel and continue on to the health centre. I am amazed at the progress of the new health centre construction. I introduce myself to my coworker and the acting nurse in charge (both from Ontario and experienced northern nurses) and am welcomed by the support staff. Up the stairs with the perishables, 

 unearth the gifts of coffee for the staff, over to the COOP for milk and eggs (no hamburger) and suddenly it's suppertime. After retrieving my stored goods and settling myself into the apartment it was an early bedtime. 

I headed down to count narcotics at 9 am and discovered that I can't read a calendar properly as I'd thought I was on call Sunday. Nope - today! Good thing I had breakfast first. A relatively quiet on call day - quite a few people out on the ice seal hunting for ringed seals  - just some sore ears, teething, rashes and bladder infections. My last visit at 10 pm is the final one for the night. I am amazed that I have been allowed to sleep when the alarm went off this am. 

I looked out the window this morning and realized that a polar bear hide was stretched out on a frame leaning against a house in front of the health centre. Ah, what would the Coca Cola advertising machine think of that? Mind you, they sell enough of their teeth destroying elixir to northern people, so shouldn't worry about those marketing symbols being traditionally killed. 

Well, time to wrap this up and hit the sack. Getting back into being employed again always takes some work. Had a bit of a warm up with the mission but nothing like being an independent practitioner again. Ahhh, back to the routine. 

The spring migration begins

The wanderer has returned (details on the mission to follow) again….in time to leave two days later. This sneaking out in the middle of the night with only a few hours sleep is getting to be a habit lately. My flight is at 8 am which means counting backwards so that I awoke at 2 am alarm, left at 2:30am, drove to my classmates house in Middle Sackville  to meet the prearranged taxi (we were both early), arrived at the airport for checkin in / security screening before 6 am. Was expedited by a great Air Canada agent who was looking for info as his wife and daughter are both nurses who want to work in Nunavut and now awaiting boarding by 7:30am for the first flight to Toronto. I will be in Edmonton by mid day and the youngest daughter has promised to meet me at the airport. Provisioning and packing will be the order of the afternoon and then supper with both the oldest and youngest and a sleepover with the one on days off. Best part of my commute!

The two days after my return from Honduras saw me reducing the car insurance, emailing my classmate about car storage, booking the airport taxi, starting my internet in Nunavut, and cancelling the daily newspaper - this last task with some difficulty, as they had somehow removed the number to contact them - not particularly convenient as the only way to cancel is by phone! The lists have been checked and rechecked - what is stored north of 60, what needed to be packed, what needs to be purchased out west and….what needed to be transported (seafood) to the western girlies. The duffel bag weighed

49.8 lbs (take that Air Canada and your 50 lb luggage limit) and the action packers are in the car of the daughter who stored them for me in February.  The weather is rather mild in Taloyoak with a 1c temperature today although the wind chill was listed at -20c. The forecast here on the right looks pretty good. One of the coworkers advised to bring sneakers for walking so there is obviously a retreat of the white stuff in process. A couple of seasons between May - July on the NW Passage. 

Speaking of my other home, I saw an ad for one of those swishy cruises in the Arctic and emailed a tour guide friend to see if she had any contacts. My latest scheme involves pitching for some speaking gigs as I do live half the year on the NW Passage and have some cultural knowledge of the Inuit. She asked if I could drive a zodiac? Ummm, no but I could learn. I commented that this would be a job skill for a marine biologist not a nurse. She noted that with larger ships and 20+ zodiacs, it was always helpful to have a couple of spare drivers on hand. I suggested that it would be very helpful to have an advanced practice nurse familiar with the area on board. We left it at that. I emailed for information on itinerary and pricing - not a good financial sign if those details aren't posted. I expect the cruises would be August/September as that is when the shipping lanes open in the passage. A girl can dream. 

So as promised, details of the mission:
I drove to the airport - rainy, windy drive but at least not freezing ice pellets and snow as it was in the central area of the province. Quick commute to Toronto then security, customs (where they use an automated system - at a kiosk you scan your passport, answer questions, the machine takes your photo, compares it and prints out a boarding pass like piece of paper which you take to a (human) customs officer for an interview. It felt like a combo of George Orwell's 1984 and Space Odyssey 2001. Uneventful commute to Miami and out to wait for the hotel shuttle in the steamy, warm air. The Baymont Inn (Best Western brand) was comfortable, friendly and convenient. I had a swim in the pool, supper at Firehouse Subs (highly recommend it) a wonderful sleep, hot breakfast and shuttle back to the airport. Miami airport is HUGE and you walk for miles. I found the American Airlines ticket counters but with 50 + passengers in each line my hopes sagged. I was thrilled to be sent directly to screening as I'd checked in online,  printed my boarding pass and didn't have a checked bag.  I even won the lottery and didn't have to take my shoes off at security - I HATE that - I am sure it is more of a public health hazard than any security threat! Met some brigade members in the departure lounge - those Bwaston accents gave them away - and finalized some details ex. get drinking water here as we'll go directly to Los Encinitos when we get off the plane in Honduras. A smooth flight which was almost entirely made up of American missions going to do volunteer work in Honduras. A steep touchdown in Tegucigalpa (short runway set in the middle of the houses) which is a large, smoggy third world city. I was amazed to find that anyone (even those replacing toilet paper in the plane lavatories) was thoroughly searched 

Put your hands up

and scanned before being allowed to approach the plane. We were quickly through customs and baggage and out to the waiting 4x4 trucks. Heavily armed military escorts accompanied us on the two hour drive which

Dental students and soldier

wound up through the mountains on very rudimentary tracks. We settled into the dorms after kicking out the bats, had a meal in the dining room which the Sister had prepared for us and unpacked the supplies we'd brought for the clinic. The 

Female dorm

we'd brought for the clinic.  next four days followed in a routine of sleep, meals and clinic until all the people were seen. It was overwhelmingly hot and humid (30+c) except for the day of the fierce thunderstorm and torrential downpour which flooded the dental clinic and knocked out a transformer. We had power for one day of the week and the 

Waiting to be registered

generator ran to keep equipment functioning. The clinic was primary health care (the most emergent case was 

Waiting area in the rain

a burn from a gasoline stove) with exams done and medications dispensed. The brigade leader had brought his son who is a massage therapist and it was entertaining to watch the local people enjoy a massage for the first time. We volunteers made sure to take our turns also. I organized the pharmacy as well as taking turns with the paediatric or adult triage, doing lab tests (urine dips, pregnancy tests, blood 

Pharmacy

sugars and Hgb by finger pricks). Got a lot of practice with my Spanish "qual es tu problema por favor? and working in an American system. On the final morning of the visit at dawn a group of four fitness freaks and….me hiked up San Pedro which is a peak near the mission. I thought I was 

San Pedro at dawn

going to die with the incline, heat and pace but when I noticed a cow patty almost at the top I thought 'if a cow can be up here, I can do this' The others patiently waited for me after realizing I wasn't going to give up - apparently someone half my age had not made it to the top last year - and were pleased with my success. We packed up and drove back to the city, first stopping at a local clinic to share some medicines with them. We stayed at a very upscale hotel and had the afternoon to pamper ourselves (spa) shop (in groups) or just hang out. Three of us opted for a typical Honduran lunch at El Patio which cost us $15 each and was twice as much food as we could eat. We paid the cab driver $15 to drive us half way across Tegucigalpa and wait the hour while we ate lunch as well. Time for a swim, soak in the hot tub and ready for supper. Due to the crime rate in Tegucigalpa we took cabs to the restaurant for supper - even though it was two blocks - and enjoyed a nice meal before crawling in to bed. The morning saw various departure times and destinations and we were off to the airport ourselves for a noontime flight. Pandemonium at the airport, check in, pay exit fee, customs forms and up the stairs to departure. A total of four desks to stop at and have the passport examined and then to the departure lounge. A bit of delay with leaving due to air quality and we were off for the flight to Miami. Shuttle to the Red Roof Inn (not as good as the Baymont) and then online check in via my phone and printing of boarding pass in their business centre as you could NOT check in there - go figure. A swim in the pool with a child screeching "look at me" at top volume while the adults ignored her (wonder why she screeches eh?) and then over to Bennigans (and Irish sports bar) for supper - the restaurant being owned and operated by East Indians and filled with European tourists. I thoroughly enjoyed my mojito, chicken quesadillas and key lime pie. An early start in the am and two uneventful flights from Miami then Philadelphia and at the second daughters by suppertime. 

Lots of happenings for the teacher daughter and son-in-law as they have purchased a canoe and have taken it out paddling, she has begun her Masters in Education studies and they are adopting a golden lab puppy who they have named Pete and will pick up in June. A busy summer ahead of them. An overnight at their place and up in the morning for the drive to the physio clinic. I was 'kicked out' by the physio who says my shoulder/back are just fine now (and I agree) so I'll contact her if I need to. Woohoo!

A colleague forwarded the following link for a weekend simulation in Michigan which looks like it would be a fun way to learn disaster relief. Not this fall (Europe travel takes care of that) but 2015 is the target:

http://blog.lib.umn.edu/mmf/news/bulletin/2011/humanitarian-aid-101.html

Next posting from 69.4 degrees north latitude as I begin my 58 day contract "not even two months" as the shore captain said. I'm thinking this contract may be a bit different as apparently Nellie is out on vacation until July so there will be an acting SHP hmmmm details to follow. In a nostalgic look back - I offer this link to Taloyoak (then known as Spence Bay, NWT) - with some footage from the 1960s: 

cbc.ca/news/canada/north/1960s-taloyoak-footage-comes-to-light-1.2554156

24 hours of sunlight here I come!