Thursday Thirteen

Again, Kcinnova has saved me from making another uninspired blog post. She had this on her blog today:

I won’t give you the rather convoluted way in which this meme came to her – here’s mine instead.

1. Please share one middle school memory. It can be good, bad, ugly, funny. Pictures or words, I don’t care, just share.

We had a very cruel bully in my middle school. He was especially cruel towards a girl whose parents had escaped from Germany during the war. He loved nothing better than giving her nicknames alluding to her parent’s supposed close dealings with the N*zi Party. I was livid – but since it would have taken three like me to make up his weight, I couldn’t do much… Until I realised that I could run soooo much faster than he did… I had a shoulder bag for my books and I used that to wallop him when he was bullying my friend. Then I ran for dear life… This went on for a few weeks or so and pretty soon my school bag was in tatters. Mom and Dad couldn’t understand how I could be so careless, but I got a new one…. Before Christmas that one was a goner as well and that time I had to promise to be really careful with my new bag.

As luck would have it, I never needed to use it as a weapon. The day before X-mas holidays, he slipped and fell on the road home. Being rather well rounded to body, he couldn’t get up before I had a chance to sit down on his chest, where I jumped up and down  until he begged for mercy. I didn’t get up before he had made a solemn promise to never say anything bad about my friend – and from what I remember, he never did.

10 years ago, he tried contacting me via a friend of a friend… I still haven’t responded.

2. What’s your favorite Beatles song?
Imagine – hands down.

3. If I asked you to describe your most comfortable outfit, what would it be?

Leotards and a XXXL-t-shirt – not the stuff you let anyone else see you in…

4. Would you rather host a party or be a guest?
I actually prefer hosting the party. I like the planning, the cooking, seeing friends enjoy my food and of course the conversations and fun. Then I’d like to have someone else come in and do the cleaning up!

5. Do you think we will move completely from traditional books to digital ones, and if we do, are you OK with that?
I hope not! I can’t see myself reading anything else in bed than books! Like KC, I like the rustle of paper, the smell  – even falling asleep with the book over my face! Digital media is OK for reading the evening paper, blogs and some non-fiction, but fiction “fits” better in good old-fashioned books.

6. Do you learn best by reading, listening or experiencing?
Depends on what it’s about, but I believe a mix of all three works best in most cases.

7. If you are (or when you were) single, what is the kiss of death for you concerning the opposite sex? (That is, what is one trait or behavior or habit or anything at all that immediately turns you off from considering that person a potential match for you?)
Narrow-mindedness, smoking and two-toned shoes. In that order.

8. Snacks. Salty or sweet?
Salty. Feta cheese and olives, licorice and crackers with just about anything on….

9. Look around you in a four foot radius. What object is around you that you didn’t realize was there or forgot was there? How long has it been there?
No need to look that far away. My desk is a constant disaster area… I think I can throw away the manual for the cell phone I lost about a year ago, for instance…

10. What is your favorite Tom Cruise movie?
Top Gun – again like KC – it was the soundtrack that made me shiver. (Oh well, he wasn’t too bad for resting your eyes on, either!)

11. You buy a bottle of shampoo and discover that you don’t like what it does to your hair at all. What do you do with that full bottle?
The truth? I have a few bottles collecting dust on a shelf right now…

12. Your favorite Fall comfort food? (Last week it was beverage.)
Fresh berries with cream.

13.  What is one thing you are thankful for today?
Life. Almost two years ago, I had a close call… My name was on the page but not in the top position!

A Day Well Spent

On Sunday I went along with my friends when they were gathering their reindeer for a day of branding and butchering. Some calves are always missed when they do the initial branding in early July, but since the calves keep to their mothers more or less for at leat 9 months, they can still brand them. This time of year, they are also slaughter some of the males – for their own needs and to sell the meat.

Here’s the next generation getting lessons in how to brand their animals. Yes, these two sisters will eventually take over after their parents.

The female reindeer still have the black velvet cover on their horns, but the males have started shedding it in preparation for rutting season. Some of them were actually getting kind of randy – but didn’t have nothing for it as the females aren’t interested just yet.

Dinner Is Served

Yesterday I roasted some lightly seasoned ribs in the oven. They were gone before I remembered to bring out the camera… There is something very special about fresh meat, the taste is just sooo different when the meat hasn’t been frozen! (Anyone from the North in Canada or Alaska knows exactly what I’m talking about…) Well, today I made chili…

This pot brought over my neighbour because of the way the aroma got out into the hallway. She’s going to take care of Loki tomorrow, while I go on an excursion with the local museum, so I gave her what was left after I had supper… With 110lbs of newly packaged meat in your freezer it’s easy to do things like that!

Contrasts

Yesterday afternoon I received a phone call from my friends, telling me that I had a slaughtered reindeer waiting for me.

Maybe it was one of these I could load into my car – butchered and packaged in plastic bags – about 9 PM last night. Yes, you read it correct – the meat was deboned and cut into pieces suitable for a one-person household less than three hours after I got there! I am truly blessed to have such friends!

Now, what’s the “contrasts” bit all about.

On the way back to town I cranked up the stereo to make sure I wouldn’t loose concentration as I was quite tired by then. I was listening to Santana’s “Super Natural” and then Supertramp’s “Breakfast in America” – and it struck me what a vast difference there is between the world in which those records were created and the world where I’m driving home in the dark with 110 lbs of meat in the trunk of my car.

From Arctic Bay To Antarctica

A blogger friend of mine, Clare in Arctic Bay, has entered a contest in which the winner gets to go to Antarctica. Go here and follow the instructions to vote for him! He has had his blog, The House and other Arctic Musings for more than 4 years, and Kara calls him the Godfather of Nunavut Bloggers – which I can only agree to. In any event – Clare is also an accomplished photographer, a birder, husband and father of two. A through and through nice acquaintance who lives almost as far north as it is possible to live and now wants to go to the other extreme of this world. I’ve already offered my services as valet for his trip…

For Jenn

Recently my blogger friend Jenn commented about the fact that she felt totally spent after having been partying with 20-yearolds for 5 days… I’ll have you know that it took only 2 days of partying with the 45+ crew (and older) for me to feel as if a Mac truck has hit me…

Loki got some fantastic social training with Tessie. They were at it for a solid three hours, running and playing all around the community hall. She put him in his place a couple of times which is great – he is often a bit too big for his britches.

A Day In The Life Of Loki

Loki is growing very fast and today I realised that I’d better get busy and take some pictures of him.

It took less than an hour to massacre a paperbag from the Coop.

The neighbour’s dog is a good role model and very gentle with him…

… but he can be a real tease, what with his superior height.

Tug o’ war with a little guy is always fun.

Guess who called it a day around 8PM this evening?

Fireweed In A Different Shape

If you haven’t already visited  a blog called Hearty Halfbreeds, please do so. She’s the one that gave me the idea to do this.

I plucked the fresh flowers off fireweed and made…

…jelly! I would never in a lifetime come up with the idea myself, but I’m really pleased there is a way to capture and use the essence of one of my favourite flowers. It still is termed a weed – but what do I care!

Finnskimo has a recipe on her blog so I won’t repeat that, but here’s a few hints.

To get 8 cups of flowers, you need almost half an IKEA paper-bag full of flower stems cut off just below the flowers.

Use the fresh ones – the ones bumblebees go for – I think they give the best colour to the finished product.

If you can’t find pectin in envelopes, a bottle containing 180 ml (do the math!) should do the trick. (Says she who is worriedly looking at her 6 beautiful jars of jelly, hoping it’ll set over-night… That’s the trouble with translating recipes from one set of measures to another, it turns into a guessing game at times.)

Update.

I ended up having to bring it to a boil again and add another bottle of pectin…. and then one more. The second one may have been overkill, but I didn’t want to have another repeat.

For My Blogfriend in New Zealand

… and others who may have tried to pronounce the name of my hometown. At first I was going to refer you to Wikipedia, but they don’t offer any help, just a mention that the Northern Sami name is Arjeplouvve. I suppose also using the proper phonetic signs would be a way to go – but I can’t be bothered!

With my Canadian accent – which is quite different even from American English and definitely not the same as Kiwi or Aussie – I would pronounce the name something like this:

Ar    as in far

j        as in yam

e       as in bed

plo   as in plosive

g        as in dog

After that you deserve a picture!

Normally, the church is photographed from the parking lot on the other side – I had to go traipsing through the bush for this one since I don’t go for the typical touristy views.

On the Beach

Another fantastic day with enough wind to keep the bugs away, especially on the half-secluded beach we went to. Parents, kids, dogs, puppies and some friends – we made for a motley crew, to say the least.

Loki is still not quite sure that water in such a large container is useful in any way – but two of his siblings went swimming – more or less on their on accord.

Now, here’s one who knows how to enjoy water – both in this form and like he did this winter on top of a Skidoo!