Arctic Quiz - the Answers

1. Who was the first English explorer to sail to the Arctic in 1576?     Martin Frobisher

2. How far did he get?     The southeast corner of Baffin Island at Frobisher Bay.

3. Early explorers ran into a lot of ice as it was still the Little Ice Age.  Which explorer first penetrated the ice to start mapping the Northwest Passage over 250 years later?     William Parry, for whom Parry Channel is named.

4. Sir John Franklin was perhaps the most famous of Arctic explorers because he became trapped in ice and he and all his crew starved to death.  What were the names of his two ships?     Erebus and Terror, finally located by Parks Canada, remarkably intact, in 2014 and 2016.

5. Who was the biggest champion of Arctic exploration in the following years?     Lady Jane Franklin who ran a dedicated campaign to convince the English government to search for her lost husband.

6. Which Arctic explorer is now credited with finding the last link in the Northwest Passage during the search for Franklin?     John Rae, who was vilified at the time, in 1854, as he discovered evidence of cannibalism among the starving men. 

7. Near which island were Franklin's ships finally found in 2014 and 2016?     King William Island.

8. Who was the Inuit man who directed Parks Canada to Terror Bay to find one of the ships?  (After 3 dogged years of searching, they found it in ten minutes with his help.)     Louie Kamookak who lived in Gjoa Haven on King William Island and had compiled oral history of the area, including reports of starving white men in the mid-19th century several generations earlier.

9. Almost all Arctic islands and waterways are named after various Victorian English gentlemen.  Queen Maud Gulf is named after a queen of which country?     Norway.

10.  Who named the gulf and why?     Amundsen, a Norwegian, because she was his Queen.  Amundsen was the first to actually travel through the entire Northwest Passage, in 1903-06.

11. In what year did the American oil tanker, strengthened with an icebreaker bow, sail through the Northwest Passage escorted by the Canadian icebreaker CCGS John A. Mac Donald?     1969.  It sailed from east to west and collected a symbolic barrel of oil in Prudhoe Bay, then sailed back from west to east.

12. Which Arctic community known as a centre for native art changed its named to Kinngait less than a year ago?     Cape Dorset on Baffin Island, known particularly for Inuit print making.

13. In which community is the Canadian High Arctic Research Station (CHARS)?     Cambridge Bay.  It's an architecturally spectacular facility just recently opened.

14. How many cruise ships plied the Arctic waters in 2019?     73.  Cruise ships are a rapidly growing feature of Arctic tourism after the Crystal Serenity cruised the Northwest Passage in 2016 bringing 1000 passengers to tiny Arctic communities.

15.  How far north in the Canadian Arctic do those Snowy Owls nest?  All the way to the north end of Ellesmere Island.

Arctic Quiz

I mentioned that I was reading about Arctic exploration as one of my mental exercises this winter.  It's a great way to challenge myself, keep my mind busy and forget about the pain.  The pain just recedes into the background when I'm mentally busy like that, or writing my blog like this.  And besides that it's interesting.

But it's taking more research and writing than I thought to prepare some posts on the Arctic for you, so I thought I'd give you a little quiz on the topic to whet your appetite in the meantime.  Here goes!

1. Who was the first English explorer to sail to the Arctic in 1576?

2. How far did he get?

3. Early explorers ran into a lot of ice as it was still the Little Ice Age.  Which explorer first penetrated the ice to start mapping the Northwest Passage over 250 years later?

4. Sir John Franklin was perhaps the most famous of Arctic explorers because he became trapped in ice and he and all his crew starved to death.  What were the names of his two ships?

5. Who was the biggest champion of Arctic exploration in the following years?

6. Which Arctic explorer is now credited with finding the last link in the Northwest Passage during the search for Franklin?

7. Near which island were Franklin's ships finally found in 2014 and 2016?

8. Who was the Inuit man who directed Parks Canada to Terror Bay to find one of the ships?  (After 3 dogged years of searching, they found it ten minutes with his help.)

9. Almost all Arctic islands and waterways are named after various Victorian English gentlemen.  Queen Maud Gulf is named after a queen of which country?

10.  Who named the gulf and why?

11. In what year did the American oil tanker, strengthened with an icebreaker bow, sail through the Northwest Passage escorted by the Canadian icebreaker CCGS John A. Mac Donald?

12. Which Arctic community known as a centre for native art changed its named to Kinngait less than a year ago?

13. In which community is the Canadian High Arctic Research Station (CHARS)?

14. How many cruise ships plied the Arctic waters in 2019?

15.  How far north in the Canadian Arctic do those Snowy Owls nest?

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We Found a Snowy Owl

 Well, we were successful in finding a Snowy Owl  It made our winter birding highlight!  We drove southwest of Owen Sound, toward Chesley and Paisley and crossed a back road or two down there.  With white fields it was hard to think of spotting a white owl, but we now know what we're looking for, having done this for five years (not always successfully)!

This was our first view.  Would you have spotted it?  As you drive you are constantly keeping your eyes open for something white.  What your brain first registers is simply something out of place, something not quite right.  It's a milli-second later that you realize that it's what you've been looking for, aa Snowy Owl.

We creep forward a bit and I steady the camera.

And then what I consider a good shot, considering it was late afternoon and  the light was getting dim.  I had to edit all these quite a bit to get good lighting.  

It was fascinating to sit there and watch it swivel its head through about 270° apparently without moving a muscle.

At one point it hunched down to straighten a feather on its foot.

Mrs. F.G. turned the car around and I got a picture from the other direction.  Then it abruptly lifted off, flew and quickly disappeared in the dusk.

This is probably cropped too much, but I'll put it in to show you its furry feet!

In case you're thinking 'Aren't owls nocturnal?', you need to remember that these Snowy Owls nest on the Arctic tundra were the sun never sets, so they hunt throughout the day.  And we almost always see them sitting up off the ground on a fencepost or hydro pole where they can watch for prey.  They are our largest owls, with a wingspan of 4-5 feet.  This one looks like a male to me, with relatively few dark spots in its feathers.

Have you noticed that the days are getting longer?  I sit here writing this at 5 p.m. and it's still light out, noticeably lighter than 3 weeks ago.  

In Search of Snowy Owls

No time for a thoughtful blog today, headed out in search of Snowy Owls after physio.  You can expect a post on our snowy countryside, or even with luck, a Snowy Owl sometime soon!

Thanks for your computer suggestions yesterday, it seems they may have helped.

Testing '''''   ?????  Wow!  Yes, thanks!  

Laptop Questions

I got a new laptop recently, after some functions on my 15 year-old laptop originally bought for teaching gave up the ghost.  I am slowly trying to get used to its idiosyncracies, with some frustration.

First of all, after bringing it home I spent 4 hours trying to get it to connect and another four hours on the phone waiting to get a Staples technician (who I had paid extra to get access to!).  He concluded that the computer had been set up incorrectly, with no visible wireless adapter (the crucial bit of programming that allows you to connect).  He told me to take it back to the store.

This was both a relief (because I had not just been an idiot trying to get it set up myself), and annoying (for the extra trip).  They had it re-programmed in 15 minutes and I was then able to start the process of downloading software and getting on the internet to access this blog.  

The next problems are the keyboard glitches.  Typing an accent I get è.  Same for quotation marksÈ.  Same for question marks.  And my delete key just types periods.  Do you know how awkward this gets trying to write blog postsÉÉÉ (there, I canèt even ask you a question)!

Any ideasÉÉ (thatès meant as another question)!

The advice I find online is to type Ctrl-Shift.  However this doesnèt work!

I still have to figure out how to use the microphone.  I can dictate in Word, but not in Blogger.  It would be so much faster if I could (with my slow two-fingered typing).  I dictate almost all my emails and texts on my iphone and find it very accurate.  Hopefully I can sort that out soon.  You can only spend so many hours a day sorting these things out; I have other things to do too!

And then there is the keyboard spacing.  Although keyboards are generally identical, there are tiny differences I have to train my brain to recognize compared to my ergonomic desktop keyboard.  

However, in many ways I think this is going to be a big advantage.  You may not even experience as many days with no blog posts.

Dedecorating Day - the Downside of Christmas

Yesterday was the day for taking down the Christmas tree and a few more decorations in the house.  Not much fun really, especially from a wheelchair.  My job was to remove all the ornaments and wrap them up, a process which took nearly three hours (just double the time it would take you).  But we persevered and got it done.

Now we head toward spring, though I haven't tasted fresh air for some time.  No church, no coffee, don't even know about physio this week.    But seed catalogues have arrived and plant nursery websites are being perused, so Mrs. F.G. says she is getting excited about the garden this year.  Maybe there is a light at the end of winter's tunnel.

Weatherwise there is a certain sameness to the days, a lot of sameness in fact.  Grey clouds, rare patches of blue sky but no real sunshine.  Snow falls, temperature goes up to +1 during the afternoon and then back down to -1 overnight.  An unending cycle of winter days.  Occasionally I see people snowshoeing or walking their dog out back.

We're in lockdown here, not supposed to leave the house anyway, though my caregivers report that the toboggan hills are crowded and maskless.  People still travel and then say it's ok because it was 'essential' to them.  I may lose one of them this week because schools are closed for another week and parents have to stay home to help their children be online.  What if you have two kids and one computer and both of them are supposed to be logged in to their classrooms!?

Here's a post-Christmas selfie for you showing off one of my Christmas gifts.  Not a very good smile, but the best I could do while holding my phone with one hand far enough away and pressing the button with the other.  Enjoy the New Year!

Building Back Better

Over New Years we reflected on the year past, but the more important thing in my opinion is to look ahead.  Here in Canada our Prime Minister has talked about building back better, moving toward a more just and meaningful society.  There are a lot of sides to that; I am just going to touch upon a few of the things that really strike me about the future.  But the dramatic stresses in the modern world brought on by the pandemic do push us to rethink how we do many things.

Soaring Interest in Hiking and Camping

One good thing I have noticed is the surprising rise in the numbers of people heading out on the trails and heading to our parks.  Gone are the days when you could expect to enjoy solitude on the trail during the warmer months.  And gone are the days when you could show up at a provincial park and expect to find a site; if you are not reserving soon for next summer you will be out of luck!

This reflects a broader interest in the outdoors, back yards included, but it comes with advantages and disadvantages.  Popular spots are getting too popular, and needing more maintenance.  Potentially we could see a rise in people interested in volunteering, but that takes organizing.  Many trails in Ontario are volunteer run, and it is a challenge sometimes!  And many new hikers or campers could stand to be a bit better prepared!!

Home Delivered Restaurant Meals

Ok, this is a small one and specific to folks like us, but the availability of restaurant meals delivered to your door every now and then is a godsend for us.  And restaurants are going to have to adapt to survive, at least by developing take-out services, patios, catering, or other sidelines to stay in business.

Slow Travel and Purchasing 

I have been fed up with the crowds at popular tourist destinations like Venice or Barcelona, and the dominance of Amazon for some time now.  You may not see these going together, but to me they do, just like the slow food movement.  The spread of AirB&Bs in popular destinations is causing local housing crises.  Even here in the ski country of southern Ontario it is hard for employees to find accommodation during the winter season. 

We should also be trying to buy local whenever possible, and I am glad to see local businesses developing online ordering opportunities, even if delivery is a little slower than from the giant multi-nationals!  Here in Canada we certainly need to be able to provide our own personal protective equipment!

A Living Wage for Essential Workers

And what do I need to say about this!  We depend totally on the essential workers who have kept us going through this, but with the exception of doctors, we pay them all too poorly.  And it is not just medical workers, but the grocery store employees and the truck drivers and many others as well.  I have always felt that the disparity between rich and poor was too great, but now itts very obvious!

I see this everyday in my caregivers, up close and personal!  Three of them are young single mothers, and I simply do not understand how they can afford to pay rent, maintain a car, and raise their children.  They and all other essential workers deserve a living wage!  In my mind this is something that simply needs no debate!

That is it for my rant today.