keeping warm in MINUS 35 degree temp's (con't)

Yesterday, my cold weather travels from Check Point continued ... 

I hopped over to Jean Marie River for a community visit and to share AEA energy efficiency information with students & staff from Louis Norwegian School and a number of residents from the community.  We had a great time and everyone went away with new information & a few helpful energy saving devices or home winterization materials :)

While I had to hop away from our "off grid" perch here at Check Point, Pam was busy taking care of the wood pellet stove & boiler operations, ... during the coldest days we've had so far this season (Autumn)!!!  The temperature during that time was a consistent -35 degree Celsius, which made it much more challenging to reload the pellet hopper outside.  Pam figures it took twice as long to do because of the extra time needed to stop & warm up her hands along the way.  Thanks for taking one for the team, Pam, much appreciated :)

These colder temp's also contributed to a little waterline challenge, when I was getting ready to head off to Jean Marie River in the morning yesterday, I noticed that the water was not draining out of the kitchen sink.  Turns out the waterline had frozen, so Pam ended up setting up a portable heater to help thaw the line.  It's been a problem in the past, so Wayne will know that to do when he's back to take care of the frozen line more fully.

As well, the wood pellet stove in the main building was bumped up a notch yesterday to kick more heat out to maintain the room temperature in the main living space at 20C.  Otherwise, the temperature would only have been maintained at 15C as a result of the colder temp's outside this week.   

The 2 dogs here have also been enjoying a little extra special treatment, as we've made sure they aren't out in the freezing temp's for too long.  Yet, Max & Nikko are happy to hop outside to run around & check out their territory!

It also appears that the higher wood pellet stove setting over the past 24 hours may have increased the amount of black carbon deposited in & behind the burn pot of the pellet stove ... as we have observed while dealing with cleaning the wood pellet stove again.  We're doing this cleaning a few days earlier, at Wayne & Lynn's request, to make sure it is done prior to & not after the timing of this coming Monday, when they'll be in the thick of getting settled back at home here at Check Point.

We'll have a more reasonable temperature to deal with when we go out to top up the hopper for the wood pellet boiler in a little while, since the outside temp. has increased to -26C for today!

We'll also be packing up here at Check Point to get ready to head off to Lindberg Landing, where I'll be posting updates on Sue Lindberg's "off grid" living operations.  Sue's primary & ONLY heating source is wood, with propane for the majority of cooking (wood as secondary), while the primary electricity at the Lindberg Landing Guesthouse comes from a Solar Photovoltaic (PV) array with battery storage.

Thanks HEAPS to Wayne & Lynn for the opportunity to learn and experience the day-to-day tasks involved with maintaining a wood heating system that operates with wood pellets.  Both Pam & I have learned heaps about wood pellets and we've pumped up our biceps along the way too!  I am also very grateful to Pam as well, for helping make this "off grid" blogging experience possible, with her keen interest in learning about & helping maintain these systems :)

"Mahsi cho!" 

We'll connect again, further "Up the Dehcho ... without a Powerline," ...  from Lindberg Landing ...

Teresa ... & Pam

keeping warm in MINUS 35 degree temp's

It's been a busy week of travel for me from this "off grid" location here at Check Point ...

I had to hop into Ft. Simpson for a couple of workshops led by Linda Todd, fr. the AEA Yk office on Tuesday & Wednesday for the NWT Housing Corporation staff and group of their Housing program clients.

The Tuesday afternoon session was a "Burn it Smart - train the trainer" session to provide a few NWT Housing Corp. Dehcho staff with the information & resources to share with residents who either rent or who have recently purchased Housing Corp. homes.  The Wednesday evening workshop was an information session attended by 8 community members who rent/own Housing Corp. houses.

Linda shared heaps of important information with all of us & I have included a few web links, videos, & lists below to highlight some of the key points that we learned ...

Here's a link to a video that we watched, it shows the difference between a conventional wood stove & an advance, EPA/CSA efficient wood stove ...

 

Advanced Wood Stove Technology video (Env. Canada)

 I find it odd that they don't keep the door closed for the old stove, when they are comparing the size & quality of the flames, but otherwise, the information shared in the video is quite helpful.  

Environment Canada also produced a video for the Burn it Smart program to share many helpful tips on selecting, handling, and storing your firewood ... you can see the video below ...

 Firewood from the Forest to the Shed video (Env. Canada)

 Here's a few links to other great sources of WOOD HEATING information & resources:

• Wood Heat Energy Organization (heaps of helpful wood heating resources) at:  http://www.woodheat.org/  
• WHO - Big List of Tips WHO - Big List of Tips &/or WHO - Big List of Tips (Word file)
• WHO - "Burn it Smart" Overview 

• CMHC Guide to Residential Wood Heating:  http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/co/maho/enefcosa/upload/wood_heating_EN_W.pdf
• CMHC's "Efficient Wood Heating" tipsheet:  http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/co/maho/enefcosa/enefcosa_001.cfm 

• AEA's Heating & Cooling Tips:  http://aea.nt.ca/saving-energy/heating-and-cooling#pellet_stoves
• Yukon Energy Solutions (very interesting & historical wood heating information) handout titled:  Lure & Lore of Wood
  

• other Wood Heating information links:  http://www.wettinc.ca/bisrc.html

More on our "off grid" cold weather fun in my next post ...

Teresa

Pellet Stove Cleaning Day ...

10 Steps for Cleaning a Wood Pellet Stove

Time for the weekly maintenance cleaning of the wood pellet stove here at Check Point ... all in all, not a difficult task ... but somewhat finicky & needing a reasonable level of care and attention to detail.

What we used to get the wood pellet stove cleaned up: 

·          leather (or rubber) gloves
flash light &/or head torch/head lamp

·         large flat tray to work on in front of pellet stove

·         ash vacuum cleaner

·         scraper

·         small wire brush

·         cleaning rag or paper towels

·         fine dust cleaning gloves

·         wood stove glass cleaner (spray) & conditioner (gel)

 soot-covered glass of wood pellet stove BEFORE cleaning

Here's how we cleaned it, in 10 steps ...

1.  TURN OFF wood pellet stove & WAIT for it to cool down (~60-90 minutes) ... when glass is cool/cold to the touch, it's okay to start cleaning

#2.   OPEN BOTTOM HATCH (be sure to put the wing nut & washer up away from areas to be cleaned with vacuum cleaner)

#3.  RELEASE burn pot (pellet tray) hook & pull out burn pot

wood pellet ash in burn pot

burn pot being removed after ashes vacuumed out

larger charcoal pieces caught on outside of vacuum nozzle
 ... pull these off & add to ash drawer

#4.  SCRAPE ASH AWAY from all surfaces within the burning chamber ... all 4 walls, above door, all around combustion chamber area where carbon deposits may be heavier

back side of burn chamber after burn pot is removed ... see the charred black carbon deposits that need to be scraped off

#5.  CLEAN BURN CHAMBER really well - very important for this area to be free of any debris

vacuuming out the burn pot before removing it

Teresa scraping off the soot

close-up of soot/carbon deposit

#6.  VACUUM ALL AROUND the inside and WIPE DOWN with fine dust catching gloves (you can vacuum the gloves to remove the heavy ash layer that collects on them)

wiping the walls to remove ash dues

vacuuming ash off gloves

 #7.  CLEAN GLASS on DOOR - vacuum & wipe down inside glass of the pellet stove door, then wipe clean with Clear Flame Glass Door Cleaner (spray) & Glass Cleaner & Conditioner (gel)

inside of glass BEFORE cleaning

glass door AFTER cleaning

#8.  RETURN pellet tray to original position & lock in place with latch that secures it in place

FULL ash drawer

#9.  EMPTY ASH BOX  & return to original position

 #10.  CLOSE HATCH & fasten hatch door in place with  washer & wing nut

wood pellet stove ... ALL CLEAN & ready to be fired up again!

1st pellet dropping into the newly cleaned burn pot :)

pellets igniting ...

... we have FIRE!

ALL systems GO!

front row of burning wood pellets ... burning strong

clear view of the flaming burn pot ...
enjoy it while it lasts, 

…  the glass gets smokey over the next 1-2 days

Thanks HEAPS to Pam for her help with this pellet stove cleaning demonstration & to Wayne for his tutorial on cleaning the pellet stove before he & Lynn headed South :)  "Mahsi cho!" Teresa

"topping up the hoppers" ... ahead of hopping into town ...

G'daye Maits!

Yesterday, we hopped into Ft. Simpson, to make sure that all was well back at our place in Bannockland, shovel about 12"-16" of drifted snow from our driveway, fire up the wood stove, & then enjoy a community meal at the Great Slave Helicopters party.

We topped up the hoppers in both the wood pellet stove & the wood pellet boiler so that they could operate as needed without running out of fuel.

Pam re-filling the wood pellet stove

Here's a few pic's to show you what Wayne's hand-made pellet boiler hopper looks like ...

wood pellet boiler hopper ... needing a refill before we head into Simpson

Pam clearing off the snow from the bulk wood pellet bags

wood pellet refill pail #1

Max & Niko supervising Teresa's hopper refilling technique

I managed to put at least eight, 20 litre pails of pellets into the boiler hopper, while Pam shoveled around the site, ... a good workout & warm-up for both of us, for the snow shoveling that awaited us back in Simpson!

pail #3 ... into the hopper

Max waiting patiently for me to finish refilling the hopper (pail #5)

full hopper (after pail #8) for the Check Point wood pellet boiler :)

Here's a picture of the snow drifts that we had to clear from our place in Bannockland, when we arrived there Saturday afternoon ...

time to tackle the snow drifts at Bannockland ...

We managed to clear away the snow in less than an hour, while also getting our little wood stove fired up to start warming up the house after our first 3-4 days away.  As much as radiant, in-floor heating can be a good idea for some homes, the set-up in our place does not seem ideal, since the ambient temperature in the house was about 10 degrees lower than what we left the thermostat set at.  We had suspected this might be the case, so we had left the thermostat set at ~18C but after 3.5 days without having the wood stove kicking out heat, the in-floor system was only maintaining the room temp. inside at ~8C!

Despite the delay in our return after the community get-together/party (with the extra time we had at home gathering up a few other supplies to bring with us), ... any concerns about what state the wood pellet supply might be in when we got back were quickly wiped away when we saw that it still had half a hopper of pellets waiting to be dispensed into the burning chamber :)

Now, it's off to Lindberg Landing to visit our friend Sue at her awesome "offgrid" place & our dog Yukon who is now living with Sue, enjoying the freedom of no leashes & the adventures that arise with each raven, wood bison, squirrel, snowshoe hare, & pine marten that appears!

Looking forward to tramping/snowshoeing about with Sue & Yukon in the big snow that recently came our way :)

Teresa

Benefits & Challenges of Heating with Wood Pellets vs. Wood

It's quite a treat to be living in this remote location, with the chance to experience remote living in a unique way ... I am also learning heaps about the differences between heating your home with wood pellets and heating your home with firewood.

Bannockland - Wood stove scenario #1
Back in Ft. Simpson (~60 km up Hwy. #1), Pam & I are living in an 800 square foot home (no basement) where we have a small wood stove to heat the house.  

So far this Winter, our little wood stove has been able to keep the house quite comfortable through the night & into the morning, eventhough it burns down to ashes by morning time.  Ironically, it actually keeps us too warm during the times after we get it burning strong, but that gives us the opportunity to shed a layer & even walk about with short sleeves & shorts on various occasions :)  We've perhaps only had to burn one load of wood so far which cost $160 and some propane would have been used to operate the "in-floor" heating but it is difficult to separate that out from the other hot water heating for showers, dishes, and warm water for some laundry and the operation of the propane-powered stove.

Antoine Drive - Wood stove scenario #2
Conversely, the house we were renting last Winter had a much larger wood stove located in the full basement and there was a second story.  One might have thought that such a large wood stove would have meant a warm house but location of the wood stove and the design of the house had major impacts on the warmth of the house from this wood heating system.  

All in all, the work involved in maintaining that wood stove was quite significant and the effort you put in was NOT directly experienced since the main living space, did not readily receive the heat generated by the wood stove.  Heat did not disperse to the rest of the house very effectively from the basement even with the help of the ventilation system kicking in every now & then to move air through the house.  

Unfortunately, that air movement then relied upon the diesel fuel-fired furnace, so the benefits that some folks realize by using their wood stoves to offset  fuel use/cost were not as fully experienced with the set-up at this larger house last year.  The cost of relying upon the furnace to maintain the house temperature at 16 degrees Celsius while operating the wood stove as continuously as possible (feeding the stove morning, NOON, after work, & before bed) still worked out to be ~$320 every 2 weeks + $140 every 2 weeks for firewood delivered by a local fellow, for a total of ~$920/month just to heat the house.

Check Point - Wood pellet stove & boiler scenario
The operations here at Check Point are on a larger scale than for a single home and the daily chores are a little more involved than if you were maintaining a single wood stove heating system.  Since there are a few buildings combined as one complete building, the heating system is larger and more complex.  In addition to the main wood pellet stove in the commercial accommodations area (plus a couple of fans moving the hot air through the space) & the wood pellet boiler out back that provides heat to the main building, there are also propane powered furnaces that need to be maintained so that they are available as needed, when the rooms are more fully occupied and the temperature outside requires the additional heat that these furnaces can provide.

Ultimately, since the building arrangement that Wayne & Lynn are operating with here at Check Point was in place when they bought it, they are working with the structures that were here. They have been modifying or replacing the inner workings of the buildings as they've determined what the useful improvements could be to reduce operating costs and decrease the amount of energy required to heat the buildings here.  All of the improvements they have made here are due in no small part to Wayne's keen-ness & aptitude for electrical/mechanical systems, & his ability to creatively work with old systems to retro-fit them in innovative ways so that they can operate more efficiently using newer technologies.


Teresa's Comparison of Wood Stoves & Wood Pellet Stoves 
There are a number of similarities when dealing with both wood & wood pellet stove heating systems.  As with any heating system, you need a reliable source of energy/fuel and in the case of both firewood and wood pellets, both require a significant amount of physical handling.  Wood pellets seem to offer a somewhat cleaner experience given the packaging of pellets in sturdy bags.  Although, these bags are made of plastic and if not reused, become a petroleum-based waste product that accumulates quickly even over the space of a month.  Ultimately though, a wood stove system is more forgiving, since you don't have micro-computer monitoring systems beeping ERROR messages at you if pellet hopper doors are left open too long, or you run out of pellets in the hopper.  

The thermostat control settings on wood pellet stoves offer a level of convenience that is handy but that does come with the "trade-off" of the need for familiarity with high tech. control systems and the ability to handle 40 lb bags or 20 litre pails.  Whereas, wood stove operations involve more basic & forgiving maintenance systems (although too often overlooked & disregarded by some folks).  The handling of firewood in smaller individual pieces of firewood along with the regular chopping & gathering of your firewood supply are two key differences between wood & wood pellets.  

Most importantly, the reliance on a third party for the production & delivery of wood pellets is another consideration when comparing these two wood heating options.  In addition, electricity is critical in order to start a wood pellet stove and to maintain the functions of the micro-computer controls, whereas, a wood stove requires a regularly cleaned chimney with ashes removed frequently from the stove, plus kindling that is properly laid out with stove dampers opened to allow important air flow up the chimney/flue to occur so that the fire can be successfully lit. 

The main activity here at Check Point is the daily "topping up" of wood pellets in the two wood pellet heating systems ... when Pam & I went out this afternoon to do this, we had to carefully fill up six, 5 gallon (20 litre) pails so that the light snow falling overhead did not get into the wood pellet supply, the pail, or the wood pellet hopper that feed into the larger pellet boiler system.  Of course, the research/purchase/delivery of the large supply of wood pellets was taken care of well in advance of this Winter heating season and that required a great deal of planning & cash to cover the bulk purchase of the season's supply of wood pellets from a sawmill operation in northern Alberta.

For more information about wood pellets & the stoves you can burn them in plus wood stoves, feel free to check out the AEA's "Heating & Cooling Tips" website at: http://aea.nt.ca/saving-energy/heating-and-cooling#pellet_stoves  

AEA has also created a little brochure about wood pellet heating, I'll add the link when I relocate the item, in the meantime, AEA also did a "Wood Pellet - Community Study"  in 2009, click on the title to go to the pdf of this study. 

For anyone who relies upon a wood stove to heat your home, you may find the following resources to be quite helpful ...

The folks with CMHC have created an excellent "Guide to Residential Wood Heating" to share important safety and efficient wood burning practices with homeowners.  You can find this booklet through the bolded link I've attached to the title & through the following site:  http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/co/maho/enefcosa/upload/wood_heating_EN_W.pdf 

There's also a great summary  of these wood heating tips, titled "Efficient Wood Heating," by clicking on the title that I've typed in this sentence.

That's all for today, time for me to go sit near the wood pellet stove while we watch a movie ...

Teresa

Did You Know ...?

did you know that in today's news ... "a report by the UN Environment Program, released just days ahead of a major climate conference, said the concentration of heat-trapping greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has risen about 20 per cent since 2000"  CBC news UN-climate-environment-emissions-report  here's another link to a similar news story: MS NBC

we have a big job ahead of us but we've also got the means to turn things around to reduce our energy use and our reliance on greenhouse gas producing energy sources ... here are a few ways that each of us can make a big difference in the amount of energy we use around our homes & communities ...

do you know ... about the following Energy Saving videos and websites that are available for NWT residents:

 Arctic Energy Alliance has a variety of information on our website with helpful tips/ideas for increasing the energy efficiency of your home that also helps lower your energy bills.  You can find this information at:  http://aea.nt.ca/saving-energy

the GNWT distributes a video to help people in the NWT get informed about renewable energy options such "Wood You Like to Save Some Money?", this video was created by Tait Communication
(click on the green bolded words to visit the websites for these items)

AEA also helps distribute a DVD created by the GNWT titled:  A Guide to Home Energy Savings to share information with NWT residents to help them decrease their energy bills & increase the energy efficiency of their homes.  (you can click on the bolded words above to watch a series of video clips that AEA has posted on YouTube)

The NWT Power Corporation also has some helpful tips ... that you can access through the following links:  NTPC Energy Saving Tips & NTPC's $ave Energy, $ave Money tips


There's heaps more we can each do, feel free to explore those possibilities, perhaps share your ideas with folks in your community or ...

... you can give one of our Arctic Energy Alliance offices a call if you would like to seek out some of our FREE Energy Advice, or if you have ideas for something bigger & want to find out how to move these ideas forward.

It's time to go "top up" the wood pellet stove inside & hopefully the fluffy snow that fell overnight has reduced itself to a trickle, so that we can add more pellets to the outside hopper for the wood pellet boiler :)  

I'll be in touch again in the afternoon with another update from Check Point to share more stories of Living up the River, without a Powerline" ...

Teresa

Lessons in Wood Pellet Heating at Check Point

PellX Pellet Burner with External Auger (made in Sweden)
... attached to a retro-fitted diesel  fuel boiler 
(Weil-McLain EnergyStar Gold Oil boiler)

 ... not sure why these pictures have reverted to the horizontal layout
(I'll try to figure this out & change it soon)

 close up of the PellX Pellet Burner with External Auger ... attached to a retro-fitted diesel  fuel boiler (Weil-McLain) 

See the yellow angled piece at the top (or right if the picture hasn't rotated) 

... the pellet auger is located inside this tube & pellets are transferred from the wooden hopper outside the building, into the boiler through the curved, articulated hose that feeds the pellets into the Combustion Chamber Tube found inside the bottom yellow plate.

Wayne showing us the minimal amount of ash that collected in the "Combustion Chamber Tube" after burning 
over half a tonne of wood pellets over a period of ~10 days

NOTE:  It is important to clean out this chamber & the small holes so that air flow to the pellets is maximized & pellets burn more efficiently.

ash Wayne removed from the PellX Pellet Boiler

 NOTE:  it is important to clean out the ash & "soot" from the bottom of the Wood Pellet Boiler at least once/week during the heating season.

"A layer of ash and soot that covers heat-transferring surfaces in the boiler means that less heat is transferred to the boiler water.  The warmer the flue gas, the more heat will disappear through the chimney."  (p.27 PellX Operating Manual)

Wayne showing us the Electricity Generating system 
- the smallest generator (20 kiloWatts) in the middle is all that is required during off-peak times of the year here at Check Point

The 60 kW (foreground) or the 35 kW (background) generators are used when a higher capacity of electrical power generation is needed, & as back-ups, should the smaller system fail.

bulk bags of wood pellets

night time sets in at Check Point 
(I'll post a daytime picture soon as well)

40 lb. bags of wood pellets, on hand to use inside 
in the wood pellet stove

 buying wood pellets in bulk brings the price down ... to just below $5/bag when you buy large quantities

topping up the wood pellet stove ... 
something we'll do at morning, noon , & night

So, although heating a building with a wood pellet stove or boiler can be simplified through the help of technology ( for example computer circuits, thermostats, & pellet augers) there is a basic level of daily/weekly maintenance that is required plus a certain amount of technical proficiency to trouble-shoot problems that arise as you get familiar with the system or as other situations might arise.

Pam feeding the wood pellet stove

TEACHABLE MOMENT #1 of our "off grid" experience:  hopper door for the WOOD PELLET STOVE can only be kept open for a MAXIMUM of 3 minutes at any one time before an ERROR message appears ... yippee, for us, we managed to get it sorted out eventhough we thought we'd need Wayne's help to trouble-shoot it :)

that's all for today ... all in all, we're off to a good start ... have a good night!

Teresa

p.s.  oh yeah, I'll be posting links to related websites, such as the Arctic Energy Alliance & the Yukon Energy Solutions plus the energy saving Search Engine called BLACKLE ... did you know that to do one Google Search requires the equivalent of boiling water for a cup of tea?  to minimize the amount of energy used when you need to search for something on the Internet, feel free to try searching it out through www.blackle.com instead :)

please feel free to post comments to share related websites that you think would be of interest to people trying to reduce their energy use especially for living in remote locations.

Checking In from "Check Point"

Hello from the Dehcho! 

The opportunity recently arose for my partner Pam & I to help out some friends who live "off grid" outside of Fort Simpson about 45 minutes at a place known by the locals as Check Point.  You can search out our location at Check Point (where the Mackenzie Hwy. (#1) meets the Liard Hwy (#7)) through the following tourism websites:  NWT Explorer's Map (2009) or Dehcho Travel Interactive Map

We agreed to help Lynn & Wayne Mckay take care of their business in this "remote" location while they got away for a break with their family down South. Yesterday was the beginning of this adventure, as we took care of final preparations in the office and around town before we hit the road after work. The ice crossing over the Liard River was in excellent shape, no problem for my little Honda Fit "Zorro" to drive across. 

It's quite amazing that major waterways can be turned into such functional ice crossings up here. Large chunks of ice and snow getting smoothed out and shaped with additional water that is pumped from the Liard River below, to even out the hummocky, icy terrain!  As well, the Liard Ice Road was open at least 2 weeks earlier than it has been over the past few years.  So, we were actually able to drive across, instead of having to be shuttled over the river by Great Slave Helicopters to a vehicle that Wayne & Lynn would have left waiting for us on the east side.  The drive out on the Mackenzie Hwy. was smooth and helped along by the bright light shining from the half moon overhead in the clear night sky.

We arrived last night, to a warm welcome from Lynn & Wayne, the owners/operators here at Check Point. It didn't take long to get into a variety of discussions over dinner with Wayne & Lynn to help us start getting oriented to the "in's & out's" of living "off grid"  ~45 minutes down the Mackenzie Hwy. from Fort Simpson. 

After enjoying a dinner that included rice/quinoa and elk meatballs, salad, and steamed veggies, we got a tour of the main building to get us familiar with the layout and the heating/ventilation systems that require regular attention and maintenance. This building includes the dorm style accommodations that are maintained for work crews who stay at Check Point when they are working in the area. The older, original log house building (I believe it was built in the late 1980's) contains the commercial kitchen, dining hall, and private living quarters for the owners and their small menagerie of "livestock." Our new four-legged canine friends include Nieko & Max, plus "Mouser" the short-haired black cat. 

Details for maintaining the wood pellet stove and wood pellet boiler systems would wait until the morning, along with a variety of other instructions for living and operating this "remote camp" facility. On that note, we headed off to our dorm room and settled in for a good night's sleep, while the wood pellet stove & boiler did their thing and the ventilation system moved that pellet generated heat throughout the building. 

Looking forward to seeing what adventures and learnings abound as we embark on this "off grid" living experience out here at Check Point.  It's a unique "remote" experience in that we are right on the main highway, only 45 minutes from Ft. Simpson, but there are no power lines or built-in water lines.  The power & heat that supply the buildings here, operate on either diesel fuel (electricity) or wood pellets (heat) and the water supply originates near the Jean Marie River in a well that is drilled deep in the Earth.  Plus, we have the ability to plug into cyberspace to post updates on this Blog through the "not-so-high-speed" Internet access available here at Check Point! 

Alas, there's a few more things to tend to in this unique "remote" situation that we'll be exploring and sharing with folks through this webpage ... I'll be trying to post a daily update on this blog to share some of the highlights & challenges that we experience to help folks understand what it takes to live in a remote northern location in the NWT.

"Mahsi cho!"  (thank you very much in the Dene language) 
... for tuning in to this Blog & for the comments and questions you share with us along the way :)

Teresa