The Cold Has Come (Nov. 21 - 25)

This has been a cold week. The temperature hovered around -25C to -28C and with the wind chill was consistently under -40C. One thing that's a little scary is that the locals are telling us that we haven't seen anything yet!
There were a few things that we noticed about the cold weather. Firstly, it's amazing how quickly the dogs can "do their business" when there's an incentive. Typically we take them for a 20 minute walk and half way through the walk we let them off their lead and give them some time to complete their natural calling. When it's really cold, Quinn especially wants no part of a walk. He goes outside walks to the closest snow bank, pees and takes 4 more steps to the ditch, has a dump and is back at the door before you can turn around.

The auto dynamics in the cold is interesting. We had a few people from work that came in late this week because they couldn't get their car started. Knock on wood, however our little 1990 Jeep Wrangler started every morning and every night after work.

When we let the dogs out in the morning about 6:45 am, we plug in the jeep and leave for work about 7:50, so it gets about an hour of "plug in" time. Along with a block heater it has a cab heater that activates automatically on plugging in the vehicle. Apparently a lot of vehicles up here come with that option. This heats up the cab, so when we get in to go to work, it's quite comfortable. Another interesting tidbit about cold weather driving is once you get out on the road, the exhaust kind of freezes in the air. This causes visability issues which is a lot like fog on the roads. This is particularly an issue at stop signs where vehicles are not moving. The exhaust literally freezes in the air when leaving the car in front of you. You need to be very careful not to drive into the car in front of you.
The other very interesting thing is getting ready to go outside!! Jacquie and I work at getting ready to go outside to stay warm in the elements. We have lined pants or long johns and put on snow pants over them. We normally have a tee shirt, over shirt and sweater on. Then there are the sorel's for the feet and the down-filled Canada Goose parka's. I wear a hat under the parka's hood and down-filled mitts or very well insulated gloves. Jacquie has a balaclava that makes her look a little like a gangster then a toque under her hood. What I'm getting at is that it takes 10 minutes to get ready to go outside. For anyone who knows me well and interestingly, Jacquie has the same trait, it means we can't be the last minute poeple that we usually are. It takes 10 to 15 extra minutes for each excursion outside. And believe me, you do want to take the time to get properly dressed. I have tried a couple of times to take short cuts and almost froze my perverbial balls off.

The cold is not all bad. We have a glimpse of Frobisher Bay from our front window and a beautiful view of the bay on our drive to and from work. The cold weather initiates a mist that rises from the bay. With the sun shining on it, it is one of the most beautiful views I have witnessed and there is no description that would do justice to just how beautiful it is.