GATHERING MUSSELS...UNDER THE ICE

    Yes, I'm going back to one of my favorite places again...Wakeham Bay. Yes, I did go under the sea ice to pick mussels.

    Here's how it happens.

    We lived in a beautiful bay that was 24 miles deep and at places 6 or 7 miles wide. There was a very high tide ...40 feet. The bay froze over around the first of December because of the constant wind and high tides. Going in and out of the bay were strong currents...about 12 miles per hour. You wanted to come home when the tide would sweep you in to home. The beach was stony, rocky and covered with huge boulders Some boulders were 10 to 12 feet high. Now you have to remember all these details to get under the ice.

     Later in the winter when the ice has become very thick and at high tides is the time to go under the ice. Yes, I know the tide comes in daily . But along with that there are higher tides when lined up with the moon.

     When the tide goes out the ice settles on the beach but remember those huge rocks. Well,  the ice parks on top of them . The ice sort of drapes over the rocks. What this does is to leave space under the ice around the rock. When there are a number of large rocks in a row it leaves a passageway under the ice.

     So very carefully the Inuit choose where to make a hole in the ice. They choose a time when the tide is going out. A hole is made in the ice big enough for a person to go through. Sometimes a ladder is put in the hole for you to get down to the bottom. Then anybody who wants to go down is able to. Sometimes 15 - 20 people are under the ice.

     A lantern is used to provide some light. You have a pail and start picking up mussels. Some water drips from overhead. You sometimes go 100 meters under the ice all the time walking on the ground. There is some cracking of the ice.

     I will post a video of Lukasi , who you met before talking about the petroglyphs, now taking you under the ice. Lukasi's father , Napaaluk, was the person who took us down in 1967.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HNLdATjXH4

    Now these were small black mussels and very tough. I didn't like them but, being a prairie boy that's not surprising.  The kids would bring up a half pail of mussels to my house and I would give them some money. I didn't eat the mussels.

    When I look at this video now I say I would never go under the ice now. In 1967  it was an experience of a lifetime to go under the ice.

THIS WILL COOL YOU OFF !

     In many places this has been a very hot summer. I for one don't like hot weather. I know many other people don't like hot weather either.

    People have many ways of keeping cool. Air conditioning! Fans! Shade! Cool drinks! Swimming! Ice cream! I think this list could get very long.

    I quite often think back to my summers in the Arctic. Yes, we had some pleasant weather. I even water skied above the Arctic circle! Believe me that water was cold . You didn't want to fall. The lake water was very, very cold.

   What I think about most often is when I lived on the coast for two years. I lived on a beautiful bay that was 24 miles long and the widest point was about 7 miles.  There were very high tides...45 feet. That was a lot of water going in and out of the bay twice a day.  At the mouth of the bay there were fast currents. When bay water met strait water there were some interesting waves.

    Now the bay didn't freeze until November because of the tides. Once it froze the ice got very thick. There were huge house sized rocks on the beach. When the tide went out in the winter the ice lodged up on the rocks. At times we would find a hole in the ice, stick a ladder down and walk under the ice picking mussels. Google this one and you should find some articles and photos.

    However, (are you ready for this?) one summer the ice went out on July 22. Now does that cool you off? I'll bet it did.

    The bay was completely covered in ice. We knew that the ice would be taken out with the tides but didn't know what day. All of a sudden you look out and you could tell the the ice was moving. In a few hours the ice would be gone. Everything stopped and we met on the beach to watch such an exciting spectacle.


    One year a hunter was on the ice and of course the ice leaves the shore. There was quite the excitement to get him off. At a place where the ice was near the shore another hunter took his kayak and got the guy off the ice.

    So if this doesn't cool you off, I don't know what will!

ONE THING I DISLIKE ABOUT WINTER

    Usually I like most things winter...my winter which is snow, ice and low temperatures to minus 30 C ( Minus 22 F) or more.

    However, there is one thing about my winter that I dislike intently and that is rain. Our ground is frozen so when rain hits the ground here in winter it freezes and leaves a treacherous layer of ice. 

   We had such a rain three days ago. We are prepared and equipped to drive on ice. Walking is another issue. We don't have much to take ice off sidewalks so ice stays until snow covers it. If we get enough snow it will pack on the ice and cover the ice.

   I've counted birds in one area here for over 40 years. I could not count on Sunday as the ice made footing too risky and I wasn't going to go out and fall on the ice. 

   The rain we had made the layer of snow we have quite solid in most places. This places stress on many of our native critters that depend on soft snow to survive. For example, mice stay under the snow all winter and make miles of tunnels to get food. Coyotes and foxes dive into the soft snow to catch mice. Deer paw the snow away to reach some plants otherwise they browse on trees and shrubs. 

    So we are prepared for snow , cold and wind but rain makes our winter more challenging and dangerous.

Loosey Goosey

     I got out of the house for a while yesterday afternoon and visited a local watering hole for geese. The ponds in the photos were actually reclaimed gravel pits. Now they make a fairly good wetlands habitat. 

     The geese were quite willing to hang around and pose .

    That's right. These geese are sitting out on the ice. They've been here about three weeks. There is open water about 200 m away on the river where they can feed. Many of these geese will continue north until they land on Arctic islands where they will finally nest.

     There were some smaller geese further out which I think are another form of Canada geese. They have different markings.

      So the ice is very solid and nothing has melted around the edge. I could still skate on this ice.

      This large pond is the reclaimed gravel pit. Islands and points have been constructed to give some variety to the pond. a pair of loons spends each summer here.