Isaac is already a product of the North. Some of his favourite things are "bou-bous", "nanuks", and "mobiles" - his baby talk for caribous, polar bears (nanuk is the Inuktitut word), and snowmobiles. It's funny because right before we moved, I purchased some Schleich animals (German made plastic animals that look more real - unlike the Fisher Price ones for example) for Isaac for Christmas. I bought the mama and baby polar bears, a walrus, and an antler animal that we call a caribou (it's probably a reindeer of some sort). Anyway I had no idea whether or not Isaac would play with them. Well he loves them and one day he insisted on taking mama nanuk to bed with him for his nap. Isaac also LOVES going outside to play no matter how cold it is or how many times he falls down (he's not very agile on the snow yet). The Inuit find him irresistible, picking him up all the time and getting right into his personal space (he rather dislikes the latter and screams at the kids who try. It's interesting that often they don't get the message and I HAVE to tell them "oh Isaac doesn't really like it when you're THAT close to his face so could you please take a step back?").
On the "bou-bou" topic, I was thrilled to be given a nice piece of caribou meat yesterday and couldn't decide whether to turn it into stew or leave it as a roast. I had decided on a roast (less work ha!!) when I turned the hunk of meat over and noticed a larva (a biggish white worm with rings). I have a pretty strong stomach but I HATE larvae, maggots and dislike worms (I wear gloves to garden at ALL times) so my stomach turned, my legs went weak and I sat down on the couch. When I came back to my senses I called Brian's workmate to ask him what to do. He told me that he always "boils the heck" out of caribou meat and then fries it or prepares it with sauces etc, but even he was unsure whether or not he would eat this meat (it's funny because we were going to invite him over for dinner to share the caribou). So he and Brian were going to ask "conservation Jimmy" about the meat. I'm almost certain the locals would have no trouble eating the meat (I doubt it was the only larva in the entire caribou), but I'm just not sure and, well, I've lost my appetite! Interestingly, a couple of weeks ago other "conservation" people came to Coral Harbour, and along with Jimmy, tested a good number of hunted caribou. I'm looking forward to hearing about the results (now with a vested interest). I looked online and read a little (as much my stomach could handle) about warble fly and nasal bot fly. Both of which nearly are making me never want to eat caribou again... As for supper tonight, we'll be having frozen pizzas.
As an aside, I just looked outside my window and there is a truck with a skinned caribou carcass in the back of the truck...
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