Hard to believe, but Gerard leaves tomorrow for home. It’s been good to have him here, and he’s been fun to have around. Gerard is good natured, and takes my ribbing very well. He never seems down, even though he’s faced some personal challenges while he’s been here, including the death of his father and a friend.
Shortly after he got here we learned that he had only tried perohgys twice before in his life, this particular meal being the third time. I’m mean come on, even babies raised by wolves have had perohgies more than that.
He has steadily mudded and taped most of the house by himself. He is meticulous and proud of the job he does, working mostly alone while the rest of us works together. That is probably the hardest part of the entire job for him, for he loves to converse, about anything and everything.
I’m especially happy that he managed a small trip out on the land last week, camping from Sunday to Thursday morning, hiking up to the top of one of the mountains on Adams Sound and enjoying the snowy vista.
Now, this is probably one of those things that you have to be a part of to get. Actually that’s not true because I don’t get it and I’m a part of it. Gerard keeps telling one of the guys that they are going to go hunting Wooly Mammoths. This of course is despite the fact that no self respecting Mammoth would be caught alive in this epoch or anywhere near Baffin Island, the last Wooly Mammoths disappearing on Wrangel Island about 4,000 years ago. Also because of the ice cover here the Baffin was out of their range.
However, in honour of Gerard’s stay here (that perohgy thing notwithstanding), and through the magic of Photoshop, here is the "proof" of Gerard’s Mammoth adventure to the High Arctic.