The Walrus

Yes, the walrus post is finally here.  Yay!  First though, a few announcements.  Actually, only one. When I first started the blog my posts were published at random days of the week, all willy nilly.    As some of you may have noticed (and others.......not) a few weeks ago I decided to publish my blog posts consistently every Monday and Thursday.

While this initially worked well for me, I find I am not enjoying having a deadline looming over my head.  As the great Douglas Adams once said, "I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they fly by." I have learned that, like Mr. Adams, I prefer a more "free flow" style of writing. In light of this revelation, I have therefore decided to move away from the twice weekly blog post format. Instead, I will be posting at random. I will of course be updating the Facebook page for Seriously North each time I post, and the email subscribers will still receive notification that way. I hope you will all continue on my willy nilly journey with me.

And now, The Walrus.

A couple of weeks ago I posted about the various things one can find on the local Facebook page, Iqaluit Sell/Swap.  One of the photos I posted looked like this:

Facebook post

My sister, who lives in Nova Scotia, sent me an instant message that went something like this: "DUDE, HOW MUCH DOES A WALRUS SKULL SELL FOR? I need that in my life."  OK, it wasn't something like that, it was exactly that.  And you have to admit, it is a great piece of decor.  You might think that finding another walrus skull would prove to be a challenge.  The last big community walrus hunt was in the fall, and it's not like the skulls are listed all the time (Coach C was interested as well when she was here, but we couldn't find one).  However, I happily did my sisterly duty and put up a post on Facebook.

Within minutes, someone sent me a private message.  He had not one, but two walrus skulls ready to go.  I asked about price.  Walrus skulls are not cheap, but when you consider this is how hunters earn a living, the cost wasn't exorbitant. (A lot of effort, money, and planning goes into hunting walrus, not to mention no small amount of risk.) To make the deal even sweeter, he offered to throw in the baculom. I have to admit, I did not know what a "baculom" was, so I looked it up. In certain novels, this appendage is referred to as a "member" or "manhood". So of course we're taking it. Walrus manhood that I can just throw in with a skull as a gag gift? Sign me up!

The seller was polite and professional, and it turns out he owns a local outfitter business here in town, Polar Outfitting. It's an Inuit owned company that takes people out on the land hunting and on various expeditions.  The owner, Alex, learned to hunt as a child and maintains the Inuit tradition of providing food for his family and others. He offered to help with the permit and to package the skull up safely for transport to Nova Scotia.

That's Alex on the left after a successful walrus hunt.

You aren't allowed to just take certain arctic animal bones out of the territory. Since my mother would be the person bringing the skull home with her, she came with me to meet Alex at the government permit office. When I asked to see the skull, it turned out that Alex hadn't just brought a skull, but an entire walrus head. With meat still on. And whiskers. And the ...ahem... "manhood"? It was there in its complete glory. I expressed my disappointment that the skull hadn't been cleaned. Alex seemed surprised. It seems many people who are in want of a skull prefer that skull to be in a more "natural" state so they can clean it themselves. "Its no problem," he said. "You can just get some beetles and put them in the box with it. They'll clean it up."

You can even see the whiskers!

Um.....hmmmmmm. No thanks. I did not want a walrus head and flesh eating beetles. I wanted a walrus skull. Alex happily agreed to take the skull and clean it for me by boiling the remaining meat and tissue off.

Ugh......gross.....

Cleaned skull and baculom

It took a awhile, and a lot of messages back and forth, but Alex managed to get the skull cleaned in time for my mom's return to Nova Scotia. Since he is a hunter, Alex's schedule is sporadic. If the weather conditions are good, he goes hunting. He can be gone for several days at a time. Combine this with the general "Whatever--it will get done eventually" attitude in the north, and its amazing it only took a month.

On Friday we drove down to the permit office again to finish completing the paperwork. The skull was measured by the government representative, signatures applied, and voila! We can now export a walrus skull.

All about walrus in inuktitut, posted at the
permit office.

And again in english.

We debated the best way to get the skull home. My mother could have taken it as checked baggage, but it is quite heavy and she will be traveling back to Nova Scotia solo. In the end Alex agreed to package it up and ship it via Canada Post. My mother will have the honour of packing the baculom in her suitcase (wrapped in a garbage bag). We were advised to coat the tusks in vaseline. "Walruses are marine animals," explained Alex. "if you don't coat the tusks, they will dry out and start to chip." He also explained why the teeth on the lower jaw weren't sharp. "Walruses don't chew very much, they suck up their food. They don't need sharp teeth."

Alex with the skull in the back of his truck.

Isn't he cute? My sister already has a named
picked out.

Later that night we all watched The Crown on TV (via portable hard drive). JJ went outside to let Buffy out, and as per usual checked for northern lights. He came dashing back in to get his coat and said "They're there!" Off we went to put on boots, parkas, mittens, etc. We stood out on the deck watching the most glorious display of pink and green dancing lights that we have ever seen. Afterward, we came in to go to bed. I turned off all the lights and began the usual routine of herding my animals to the bedroom. Buffy sleeps at the foot of our bed but is afraid of the laundry room door so needs to be escorted every evening, and Mylo can be quite temperamental if he isn't included in the parade down the hall. Since he sleeps on my pillow (just above my head), it's best if he is in a good mood.

I noticed the lights on in the kitchen a short while later and went to investigate, as I had already turned everything off. My mother was there, holding the baculom in her hand. "It's leaking!" she hissed, trying not to wake the kids. "And it STINKS!" The heat in the house had caused the water and soft tissue left in the bone to seep out. Unsure of what to do, I think she was going to try to wrap it in a garbage bag. Instead, I advised she throw it out on the deck in the snow. After all, it is quite dry out there, so it will either help it to dry out, or freeze it. This of course meant that JJ now had to get out of bed and come back out to the kitchen to close the door to the deck (the cold has warped the door frame sufficiently that only he is able to manhandle it closed enough to turn the deadbolt).

Now we are wondering if the ravens will manage to make off with the walrus' manhood. Ah well, c'est la vie.

Update: The ravens did NOT consume the walrus' ding-a-ling on the deck. My mother brought back in when it time to pack up her suitcase, and wrapped it in 2 layers of garbage bags.

Tune in again next time to read about what's been happening lately with our family in Iqaluit.