I had a fabulous weekend as always! We didn't get evacuated, however the road did shut down for awhile (which is our only way out) and we did end up evacuating six of our residents to Yellowknife. They are staying there for the next week until they can be sure that there won't be any more danger to the town.

This weekend on Friday we had a long long night. The Smith family (all of us non-locals that hang out) went to the bar called The Landing. We stayed until it shut down and went back to Alex and Andy's place.. just the three of us. Then we decided that we should have figured out where the after party was before we left the bar but instead we figured it out at like 3:30 in the morning and trekked across town:

Alex clearly looks like he is about to pass out but he wasn't. We took turns piggy backing until the three of us made it there. We had a grand ole time at the after party (we went out because we were celebrating John passing his big test, which now means he gets to be a co-pilot instead of being a rampie). After the party we trekked back to Alex's place. As you can tell from the pictures it was light out the whole time. It was light out when we went to the bar, when we walked home, when we walked to the after party, and when we walked home from that. Here's a pic of Alex and Andy posing with this miniature version of Smith in someone's yard:

The next day we went to the golf course for some lunch. Here is a view from the golf course:

Last night I went for my evening walk and met up with Alex down at the rapids. He let me ride his bike which is pretty amazing since I figured I'd fall off of it. I didn't, but I almost ran down a couple people. Next time I try to ride his bike it'll be on a paved road, not on a dirt trail. It was my first time riding a bike since before I had any of my leg surgeries so about ten years. Crayzay! Here's another picture of the rapids and pelicans although I'm sure everyone is getting sick of the pelican pictures... too bad!

We had a really lazy day on Sunday. Sat around watching movies. I took some pictures today that were really pretty. One is of a picture of a lily that is growing in the garden I take care of at work, one is the sky tonight as I was going for my evening walk, and the third is of a sweet fence this guy has built since I moved here.. he shaved all the little logs down.. and made his own teepee:

Well that is all for tonight :)! Hope everyone is enjoying their summer, I know I am!
xoxo

Pictures are here! Also just to let everyone know that the town is preparing for an evacuation this weekend if the fires get too close. We are apparently expecting a lot of lightening in the area over the next couple days. They have pulled fire fighters from other areas to come up here just in case. Fingers crossed that that doesn't happen though. Our facility might be evacuated some of the highest needs residents tomorrow to other parts of the territory to make it easier if we do have to evacuate.

Anyways... on with the happy stuff! To start, here is the picture of how smokey it has been here:

Here is a couple of the Pelican Rapids area. The picture doesn't give the rapids justice.. they are incredibly fast and crazy:

Here is one of a landslide that happened along the hike down to the rapids:

Here is one of myself, Alex and another pilot (I won't say her name because it is unique and if she googles her name I don't want her to stumble upon me posting pictures haha... paranoid much?):

Last but not least here is a picture of a couple crib boards that were given to me. They are hand made by a guy in town. One is for my dad because he does Ironman's (it's the ironman logo) and the other is a polar bear... pretty sweet:

Finally.. here is an article talking about how great Fort Smith is. It was in the Globe and Mail... happy reading!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/time-to-lead/wheres-canadas-best-community-try-fort-smith-nt/article2065605/

Bugs bugs bugs and more bugs! Other than the bugs I had a fabulous weekend. It still feels like the weekend because today was a holiday up here for National Aboriginal Day. I had to work yesterday but I had all of today off. A bunch of us went to the fish fry today which is where the band cooked up a huge meal and the whole town is invited and it's free! It was great other than I don't like fish, but I still tried some. Tonight I went to a BBQ and then all of us went to the drum dancing.

For the weekend we went on a hike on Saturday and had a fire, cooked smokies, and went swimming. I have pictures but I think I left my camera at Alex's house. Two of the pilots, Alex and Andy cooked me and another pilot (a girl) dinner one night and we did wine and a movie afterwards. We actually had a couple wine and movie nights in the past few days. It really is tons of fun up here. It is just like a big family. I will write some more when I get my camera back and I can explain all the pictures! I hope everyone had a great weekend. Too bad you guys didn't get today off... suckers!

Have a great rest of the week :)!
xoxo

Today I had an interesting experience. I am starting a new course through Athabasca. Well my books arrived today and instead of delivering them to my house (it wasn't through Canada Post which does not deliver), the guy recognized that the address was for the health staff housing. He then went to the hospital to figure out where I worked and hand delivered it to me at work :). How nice of him! Now I have the stress of starting the course uh oh! At least I have lots of motivation to get through it.

What was up with the Canucks? And then Vancouver afterwards? How awful! I took my Canucks shirt off and threw it on the floor (I had a shirt underneath). The boys were all shocked when I announced it and then were a little embarrassed when they realized that I wasn't getting naked.. however they probably would have been more embarrassed it had bared it all! There were three of us from BC watching the game plus a few others and it was such a shame. Maybe in another 15 years or so we will win!

Anyways it is bedtime. My bestest is having a birthday soon and I just wanted to throw it out that she is OLD. Old as old can be. The ripe old 2-5. 25.. your life is pretty much over.. sorry to break it to you.

Xoxo

Mother and anyone else who wants to send me presents... or bills that I owe: You just send something with my name and the town of Fort Smith and it'll get to me. I don't have a box number because they don't have enough boxes it's like a two year waiting list. Maybe I'll get put on Crystals. It's like Rossland you go pick up your mail at the post office. I would suggest putting a random number and street and the postal code here is X0E 0P0. I would be worried Canada Post would send it back if it didn't have some info on it.

Last night we went out to the bar to celebrate a couple boys birthdays this past week. It was awesome because there were SO many people out. Lots of fun. There's a new boy that just came from Castlegar. Another pilot. He just did his pilot training there, he's originally from Vancouver. So excited to have people from the Kootenays or people who love the Koots up here! Speaking of BC.. GO CANUCKS! I cannot believe we are one game away from winning the cup! Too bad Tambellini won't be bringing the cup to the Koots.. probs to Calgary.

Hmm what else is new. Well my roomie (the one that is here for a couple weeks) brought one of the pilots home last night hahaha. I love it. He is so cute. Another BC boy. Apparently he hasn't hooked up with any girls in the year or two he has been here. So excited for both of them. He is really good looking but really shy. Ash is really outgoing and roped him in! here is a picture of my future roomate (Crystal) and Andy, Ashley's boytoy:

I would explain my boy situation but just incase anyone from up here reads it I think I'll stay away from doing that on the blog. Don't want to get myself into trouble! Same with work. I wish I could explain more stuff about work but I don't wanna put myself in a bad spot. I definitely miss working in Mental Health and with other RT's (I miss you Marcky Marc!). It's a downfall of working in longterm care for sure. The rehab assistant has put in her resignation as well so I'm losing the help I have.

I'm not sure if I wrote about this before, but I signed up for my course. I start on July 1st (if the materials get here in time). I'm excited but it'll be a pain doing school work in the summer. My future roommate, Crystal, was thinking of doing a post-grad diploma in case management through McMaster but wasn't completely set on it. But I talked her into it so she has signed up and will be starting in September! I'm so very happy to have a study buddy! It's much easier to get motivated when other people are in a similar situation.

I talked to Crystal and I get to paint my room :)! YAY! I already have a mood board made up for the room. I'm also very excited about that! When I am done my room I will post a picture of the room and of the mood board I created.

Anyways I think that's all I got for now. I'll post more pictures when I get some off of Ashley's camera. My pictures are all kinda crappy!

xoxoox

This past week has been somewhat eventful. I finished housesitting for my future roommate and before she got back I had to emergency housesit for another coworker. She is moving out of Fort Smith and has been having a hard time getting everything to go through with the sale of her house. She had to go to Hay River on a whim to sign papers at the lawyer and that's where I came in. I took care of her SIX dogs and THREE horses for a night. I didn't sleep at all because her great dane is the cuddliest dog ever and in addition to her there were 3 others who slept in the bed with me. Here's a pic:

This weekend, John (one of the pilots) took me fishing. Unfortunately my pink rod has not made it's way to Smith yet so I bought a new rod. Unfortunately (yes, again) I didn't catch anything (I was going for a pelican). And most unfortunate of the unfortunates, I lost my reel into the water right after I casted my line :(. So I had to pull the line back with my own two hands. I hope my next fishing trip is better. John took this picture of me with three fishies.. although they were just the minnows that we were using for bait:

My new roommate (in staff housing), Ashley, and I went out to the bar with the boys on Saturday night. Got a little tipsy. It was fabulous times. I didn't do anything too stupid. The bar is called "The Landing". Kinda fitting for pilots I suppose. Here's a picture of some of the pilots at "The Landing" with my roomie on the left:

I'm pretty stoked that I have such a fab roomie at the moment. She is a locum nurse who is only here for a couple more weeks. Also, Crystal (my future permanent roomie) is back from the east coast which makes me happy. I have more to share but I will leave you with this. And for my creepy mother... my addresses are:

29 Poppy (staff housing)
28 St. Mary's (future housing)

And I don't know the address of my work. Just search Northern Lights Special Care Home you creeper.

Tata for now :)! xoxox

PS. If I was complaining about the light before.. let me tell you it is almost 11 and the sun just stopped shining in my window about 5 minutes ago. When Ash and I came home from the bar on Saturday (we shut that place down) at around 3.. it was still light out.