tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-312135082009-03-01T06:18:24.624-06:00Polar Bear AlleyPolar Bear Alley follows the ice-free season of Hudson Bay when the Polar Bears of Churchill are on land. Based out of a cabin fifteen miles east of Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, it is a local view of the arctic, climate change and northern life.Kelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350443472552794136noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31213508.post-1158614496227436442006-09-18T16:12:00.000-05:002006-11-15T18:00:52.021-06:00Polar Bear Blog - September 17, 2006The greenhouse is dead. With increasingly cool temperatures, we figured it was time to put the old redneck greenhouse to rest. Of course, when it was halfway disassembled the sun came out and it feels like it is 20C out there now.The final harvest was pretty good, lots of potatoes, carrots, some dill, nasturtium and onions. We moved quite a few plants back Kelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350443472552794136noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31213508.post-1157637481802682342006-09-07T08:55:00.000-05:002006-11-15T18:00:51.800-06:00Polar Bear Blog - Polar Bears Doing Okay, Somewhere - September 6th, 2006Ask and ye shall receive. A few days ago, I went on a rant about the fact that nothing but bad news is being published about polar bears and all this bad news was kind of degrading for these big white beasts.Today is a bit gloomy so I was catching up on computer work this morning, enjoying my coffee and CBC Radio. Their Kelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350443472552794136noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31213508.post-1156970090330946642006-08-30T15:33:00.000-05:002006-11-15T18:00:51.611-06:00Polar Bear Blog - Incredible Shrinking Polar Bears - August 30, 2006I am not sure why but I really get irked when I read news articles about the latest scientific disaster to hit polar bears. There are always announcements that the ice cap is melting, they have less time to hunt seals, they are drowning, they are being over-hunted, they are turning to cannibalism, they are turning into Kelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350443472552794136noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31213508.post-1156363034170303952006-08-23T14:50:00.001-05:002006-11-15T18:00:51.436-06:00Polar Bear Blog - Is it Bear Season Yet? - August 23, 2006Another polar bear visitor came back this morning, around 5:00am this time. You know there have been a lot of bear encounters when you wake up to your dogs barking and howling, your girlfriend grabbing the shotgun, running out the door saying, 'Are there cracker shells or slugs in the gun?' and your equally sluggish response is 'Umm... Kelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350443472552794136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31213508.post-1156362955985740072006-08-23T14:50:00.000-05:002006-11-15T18:00:51.245-06:00Polar Bear Blog - Is it Bear Season Yet? - August 23, 2006Another polar bear visitor came back this morning, around 5:00am this time. You know there have been a lot of bear encounters when you wake up to your dogs barking and howling, your girlfriend grabbing the shotgun, running out the door saying, 'Are there cracker shells or slugs in the gun?' and your equally sluggish response is 'Umm... Kelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350443472552794136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31213508.post-1156200722723771772006-08-21T17:50:00.000-05:002006-11-15T18:00:51.114-06:00Polar Bear Blog - My Brief and Tumultuous Career as a Travel Writer - August 21, 2006So, I just finished a ten-day argument with editors at UpHere Magazine about my 'Confessions of a Buggy Driver' article. You see, I have a slight problem with authority and especially authority that changes my creative ejaculations. I take it personally.Things were going quite well until I received the latest Kelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350443472552794136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31213508.post-1156132443626382712006-08-20T22:44:00.000-05:002006-11-15T18:00:50.911-06:00Polar Bear Blog - Men and Women - August 20, 2006Well, I was going to write about the polar bear that came by at 4:04am this morning and firing cracker shells and running around in my skivvies chasing him but there are greater issues at play these days. And of course what could be greater than male/female relationships - the blessing and scourge of the planet all at the same time.Where did this Kelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350443472552794136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31213508.post-1155909659728984382006-08-18T08:59:00.000-05:002006-11-15T18:00:50.748-06:00Polar Bear Blog - Top Predator - August 17, 2006This is the summer of bear! I love it! They are all over the place.We have a couple friends up from Winnipeg for the weekend and after an awesome supper of whitefish and wildrice, we headed out for a walk to the Ithaca, our local shipwreck.The Ithaca ran aground in September 1960 and has been rusting away ever since. Actually, it was probably Kelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350443472552794136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31213508.post-1154958028924859412006-08-07T08:32:00.000-05:002006-11-15T18:00:50.564-06:00Polar Bear Blog - Cloudberries - August 6, 2006Heading out east to check our cloudberry patch. Our new york hikers are very excited about helping us gather our 'winter stores' and I am very excited about a new batch of berry smoothies this weekend!Cloudberries are also called baked apple berries and, naturally, they taste a fair bit like baked apples. They grow two or three inches high and Kelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350443472552794136noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31213508.post-1154664148992425832006-08-03T23:00:00.000-05:002006-11-15T18:00:50.427-06:00Polar Bear Blog - Scat Cats - August 3, 2006Actually, it is a scat dog. Quinoa, a Dutch sheperd, is a polar bear poop sniffing dog that has just returned from Wapusk National Park along with a few other weary and mildly smelly researchers.The crew from LaPerouse Bay is back in Churchill for another week or so, coming off another season at Nester Two - a research camp built on the edge of Wapusk Kelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350443472552794136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31213508.post-1154473303744905722006-08-01T17:57:00.000-05:002006-11-15T18:00:50.295-06:00Polar Bear Blog - Moody Manitoba Tuesday - August 1, 2006Nothing good comes from an east wind. For two days, you could see clouds building out on the bay before they finally arrived, bringing a marathon downpour that made it feel like we jumped straight from July to September.Today, it is still raining and still windy and still gloomy. A good day for northerners to stay inside and drink coffee Kelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350443472552794136noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31213508.post-1154393439211485232006-07-31T19:45:00.000-05:002006-11-15T18:00:50.101-06:00Polar Bear Blog - Nudge Nudge - July 31, 2006There is a place in Churchill, along the Churchill River, called The Flats. It used to be populated by the remnants of the homeguard Cree and a few white trappers in the early days of Churchill. Today, it has kind of a shanty town feel, still hanging on to a slower pace of life (yes, even slower than Churchill itself) and another era. It is also been Kelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350443472552794136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31213508.post-1154368430310153002006-07-31T12:39:00.000-05:002006-11-15T18:00:49.904-06:00 Polar Bear Blog - East Wind - July 31, 2006A strong east wind is terrorizing the tundra today. The plants and trees bend to its will, in colourful subjugation (sorry... I had to use that line, it was the first thing I thought of when I saw the fireweed in my yard...and yes, I am sober...relatively).It has been a great summer for fireweed, one of Churchill's more prolific plants. As a disturbanceKelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350443472552794136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31213508.post-1154300454168226752006-07-30T17:59:00.000-05:002006-11-15T18:00:49.740-06:00Polar Bear Blog - Bears Again! - July 30, 2006Finally, a polar bear update on the polar bear blog.L5, Churchill's recycling centre, is chugging along, at least at the local level, who knows what is going on in the bureaucracy above. Anyway, there is still garbage in there waiting to be shipping out and still bear attractive smells. However, most bears have either been escorted away by Manitoba Kelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350443472552794136noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31213508.post-1154035731362386572006-07-27T16:27:00.000-05:002006-11-15T18:00:49.502-06:00Polar Bear Blog - Munck Revised - July 26, 2006Another entry for today... you see, I could write about Jens Munck everyday because he was a pretty cool cat...and tough as nails. In fact, when I first came to Churchill, I told everyone I was going to open a martini bar on the tundra called Munck's Cafe. Of course, Munck's Cafe only ever existed in my mind, although I must say the occasional Kelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350443472552794136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31213508.post-1154035614571267642006-07-27T16:25:00.000-05:002006-11-15T18:00:49.320-06:00Polar Bear Blog - Munck Site - July 26, 2006The old bones are sore today. Yesterday was another full day of hiking across river. Another perfect day across river, eight hours of sun and occasional cloud and just enough wind to keep the blackflies and mosquitoes at bay.Crossing the river to Cockles Point (the old site of White Whale Lodge - more about that later...), we started our journey south Kelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350443472552794136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31213508.post-1153919155207534142006-07-26T07:45:00.000-05:002006-11-15T18:00:49.105-06:00Polar Bear Blog - Belugas Galore - July 25, 2006I will have a polar bear update pretty soon. They have been up to some crazy things around here but this is peak beluga whale season and the river is pretty amazing right now.Yesterday was a good day. There were two accessible high tides (9am and 9pm) meaning that I spent four or five hours out on the river watching whales. Heading out at 7am, I Kelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350443472552794136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31213508.post-1153776201765102922006-07-24T16:15:00.000-05:002006-11-15T18:00:48.879-06:00Polar Bear Blog - Northern Harrier Cruising By - July 24, 2006I should probably just change the name of this blog because everything up here is way too neat not to write about. So today I'm talking about birds. Actually, just one bird, in fact, a raptor that is cruising around just outside my window right now.It is a Northern Harrier (the one's the fighter jets are named after) hunting and Kelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350443472552794136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31213508.post-1153668010816627392006-07-23T10:08:00.000-05:002006-11-15T18:00:48.758-06:00Polar Bear Blog - July 23, 2006We are soaked in a thick fog this morning, my own lake barely visible. Think of it as a hangover from last night's antics; a continuing barrage of lightning and thunder and torrential rain.This seems to be the result of a hot northern summer. While Churchill has enjoyed a very reasonable 15-20C, the rest of the northern Manitoba has been up around 25-30C. As the airKelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350443472552794136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31213508.post-1153586567102283882006-07-22T11:41:00.000-05:002006-11-15T18:00:48.560-06:00Polar Bear vs. Beluga Blog - July 22, 2006So, there is a film crew in town this weekend creating a documentary about Churchill's beluga whales. As it turns out, I know the director - from ages ago and from strange and random encounters every few years.Anyway, I agreed to do an interview and helped them find a few other locals with whale stories, true and otherwise. During this interview, she Kelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350443472552794136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31213508.post-1153521173920985382006-07-21T17:25:00.000-05:002006-11-15T18:00:48.370-06:00 Its a little blurry but that is what a baby arctic tern looks like while the rest of the colony is dive bombing you and trying to peck your eyes out.Kelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350443472552794136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31213508.post-1153506768213704962006-07-21T13:27:00.000-05:002006-11-15T18:00:48.124-06:00 Fresh from his scrap with a savvy female polar bear and her cubs, this grizzled old male plods inland for some peace and quiet, and a good scratching in the willows along Hudson Bay.(taken on Tuesday, July 18th)www.polarbearalley.comKelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350443472552794136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31213508.post-1153495855197544192006-07-21T10:21:00.000-05:002006-11-15T18:00:47.939-06:00 Haven't downloaded my photos from yesterday yet, but this is one of my favorites from last year. This is a group beluga whale bulls swimming in the Churchill River.I will post a few more pictures at my main site - www.polarbearalley.comKelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350443472552794136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31213508.post-1153495265446194022006-07-21T10:19:00.000-05:002006-11-15T18:00:47.730-06:00Beluga Blog - July 20, 2006Headed out on the river today with a couple friends in search of whales. It was a fairly slow day so we only saw 50 or 60 whales but it was still pretty amazing.Usually there are around 3,000 whales kicking around the river, swimming in and out with the tides. The last few days have been a little quiet (but still awesome), a few locals figure that an Inuit boat might beKelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350443472552794136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31213508.post-1153354307232237282006-07-19T19:00:00.000-05:002006-11-15T18:00:47.581-06:00Here is a quick post of the bears sparring in Hudson Bay yesterday. I don't have a $30,000 lens but you get the picture. The bay was like glass, sunny with a cool breeze and all you could hear was the splashing and grunting of two polar bears....and a gazillion biting insects swarming around us. Paradise!Kelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11350443472552794136noreply@blogger.com0