So as you can see in this photo I've been keeping very busy. Marc-Andre and I have been living in Churchill for 6 months now. Which means I've been an R.N. for 6 months and we've had our dog team for 4 months! Let me explain. In September our good friend and dog sledding mentor, Glenn (we got Nuvuya and Riel from him), let us know that he had 6 of his team that were looking for a good home, and we thought who better than us! We had been toying of the idea of eventually having a team some day but we didn't think it would happen quite so soon. Everything just seemed to fall into place perfectly and before we knew it 6 happy huskies arrived from Yellowknife in early October. We've got all 6 in a dog yard 10 minutes out of town with the other mushers' dogs. Initially the dogs all had these big blue barrels for dog houses, so everyone in town seems to know them as the dogs with the blue barrels. (They now have lovely wooden houses built with the help of our friend Dan). Nuvuya and Riel are still at home with us, the older dogs are used to the dog yard and Nuvuya and Riel seem to enjoy being out there for an hour at a time, but they are most comfortable in the backyard here at home. On the line all 8 are a big happy family. Nuna is our eldest female and our Gee-Haw leader. Pirate is one of the older males and a very hard worker no matter what you throw at him. Chetwynd is the other older male and he is full of beans, always raring to go. Herschel is the younger male, a super happy guy, loves a good bum rub. Ivva is a very gorgeous hard-working lady. and then there's Ula, she's the snuggliest little girl, always on our heels asking for a hug. This is our doggie family. They are very special. Let me tell you a funny story, the other day we went out to feed the dogs and I opened the door of the truck and who was sitting at my feet but Ula. Somehow she had gotten off her chain and apparently she had decided she wanted to snuggle of to Nuna because there was a little hole in the snow beside Nuna. The other funny thing was that she had taken each of the dogs dishes and brought them all to Nuna. There was a pile of bowls in Nuna's circle, so cute!It's a lot of work of course but we feel so lucky to have them. Having the dogs has let us take advantage of all the awesomeness Churchill has to offer. Out on the trails we see the most beautiful things like gorgeous sunsets, northern lights, and all types of wildlife. It's breathtaking.
So when I'm not dog sledding I'm working of course. Nursing here is so special because Churchill is such a tight knit community. The nurses I work with are also very tight knit and supportive. When I arrived I was working as a float meaning I worked full-time hours but with a different line of nurses all the time. In the new year I switched to working with a regular 4 on/4 off. I enjoyed working as a float because I got to know all of my colleagues but I am really enjoying working on this line as well. The familiarity is very nice. Working in Churchill is very unique I really get to do a little bit of everything, no 2 days are the same. I work with peds, geriatrics, post-op, and lots of ER. Working emerge is very different than anything I've ever done and really flexes my brain muscle and all my physical assessment skills. We just had a 4th year student join our rotation for her consolidation. She's really made me reflect on how I felt starting my consolidation, I had no idea how much I would learn between then and now. But I really can't believe it's been almost a year since I started my own consolidation. Time flies when you're loving life.
Unfortunately we weren't able to get home for the holidays, so e spent our first Christmas away from our families and that was different, but our friends and family made it feel as homey as possible. I have never received so many Christmas cards, they filled our shelves! Made us feel so loved and kept us feeling the spirit of Christmas. I was determined to have a real tree but living in Churchill makes that difficult. However, Marc-Andre and I made it happen, we drove out of town and found the funniest little tree. It was about 3 feet high, actually had branches on all sides, (most only have 1 side!) I also home made all my decorations. So it was a lovely Christmas.
Right now in Churchill it's very cold, it's been close to -50 with the windchill for the past few weeks, we're getting very good at bundling up. I can't even imagine what it was like not to have to wear 3 layers of pants, a balaclava, toque, goggles and a nose cover! hahaha, but it really is beautiful here! We're loving the snow so it's hard to say I'm looking forward to summer, especially since that means the bears will be back. But I have vague memories of the beautiful summer days when we arrived here and they help warm me on my 5 minute walk to work.
I hope I can update my blog again soon, time really goes by fast when you work 12 hour days and you're feeding your dog team twice a day and dog sledding 10 hours a week. It's a good thing Marc-Andre and I are such an awesome team!
To all my friends and family I miss you all, wish I could charter a plane and fly you all here!
