Catch up

Hey all.  Sorry I haven't blogged for so long.  Shortly after my last entry our powerhub blew up (moisture from thawing the house, I guess) so we haven't had much power--only when the generator is running, which it is currently. 

It's been a most pleasant holiday season:

A few weeks ago  Scott and I and our friends Guy and Evelyn and Evelyn's daughter Sam got bundled up in all of our best cold weather gear and headed up the Top of the World Highway (which is only open right now to km 4, as far as it will be open until late Spring) on our skidoos. Our goal: the fortymile caribou herd. Guy had seen some caribou a few days previous and so we knew there would be a good chance of seeing them. We saw 2 on the road in front of us in about the same place he'd seen them previously but we scared them away in our excitement (these are shown in the pictures posted taken by Evelyn on my profile). We decided to go a little further, even though us girls were all a little cold. We looped off of the highway onto a little ridge road that would join back up with the highway heading back and climbed a ways further. Guy, Evelyn, and Sam were just ahead of us when they pulled over and Guy encouraged us on, saying he'd just scared some off of the road. We went a few more meters when Scott stopped and I looked up just in time to see two big caribou leaping away from right next to us, going up the hillside. I guess Scott had stopped because there was also one in the roadway right in front of us, though I didn't see that one (I gave Sam my helmet so I was without eye protection and so keeping my head down when we were moving). The two that had leapt away and one other one hung around less than 30 yards or so away until we decided to leave. I've never been that close to caribou before--two of them had decent sized racks and they also looked like they were shedding with a layer of long hair hanging over their usual coat...I'll have to find out what that is about. I've seen porcupine caribou before, up the Dempster, but I'd never seen the fortymile herd before, it was a wicked experience and well worth the cold toes.

Around the middle of the month our good friends Nathan and Anne had a Chinese Auction party with a wide variety of guests including a pastor's wife, the vet, a famous Yukon singer/songwriter, the owner of the local bike shop, and a couple of teachers as well as several other interesting people.  I felt like the big winner that night bringing home a really cool headlamp.  Very good time!!!

We celebrated the solstice by having a big party with lot's of neighbours attending.  We had a little impromptu live music with neighbours Jonathan (on an electric guitar) and Florian (on a djembe) and me, Laura, and Claudio taking turns between my tubano, bongos, and other percussion instruments--Guy even joined in making his own beats sans instrument.  It was a blast.  Much alcohol was consumed, we had a bonfire in the driveway, and I fell down the ladder and landed on my ass.  Our last guest left around 4am, long after the generator ran out of gas. 

For Christmas, Scott and I spent the day out at the humane society as we've done the last couple of years and then we went to a great Chinese Auction and Christmas dinner party at our neighbour, Brent's.  There were probably about 25 people in attendance, the food was spectacular--potluck, and there was much fighting over a few gifts during the auction part of the evening with Scott ending up the mighty victor ending the evening in possesion of a large bag Caveman Bill's Morels and some in a hand made birch bark container.  We'll be having morels with our moose steaks tonight. 

For New Years we were going to go to a bonfire with live music and dancing out in Sunnydale at Kirsten and Holly's place but my back was killing me and I was pmsing so we just stayed home.  We did however, go watch the fireworks from the back part of our property overlooking the river, where they set off the fireworks at the ferry landing.

The last couple of days have been fun, too.  i helped a neighbour cut up a hind quarter of moose he had hanging in his meat house.  All of these things I have to learn if I'm going to be a hunter.  Then I came home and tore apart my kitchen and, two days and six coats of paint, total, my kitchen no longer has ugly drywall showing!!!! We varied a bit from our original plan when we didn't like the green on the ceiling that we'd picked, so we painted it the same dark blue as the big living room wall and then we painted two of the walls bright red.  it looks awesome.  We are both very pleased with it and I'm feeling very proud cause I am a shitty painter and it actually looks pretty good. We were so happy with it we invited a neighbour, Florian, over to have sushi with us in our new kitchen.  Not only did we feast on tuna sashimi and tuna maki and yam tempura but we also played drums for awhile as Florian is a brilliant drummer (one of many skills).  He also serenaded us with his talents on the guitar and as a singer/songwriter.  I love having friends who are willing to entertain us in exchange for food and scotch!!!! lol.  It was a fabulous evening. 

So that's whats been up here.  We've also been going to town on getting more firewood cut and we're waiting on some parts for our skidoo.  Next week things get crazy.  Scott is taking a course one night a week and giving a course on another night during the week.  I have a week subbing for kindergarten coming up which I look forward to and then, I think in February I'll be subbing at the library for a couple of weeks.  I also have a course to finish up this month that I'm finding rather difficult. 

I'm going to upload some pics today.  I know it's been forever but keep in mind that it takes like 5 minutes per picture.  Very frustrating. 

I hope everyone is happy and well and has had a great holiday season. 

11:55 - Friday, January 4, 2008 - post comment

Untitled Comment

Seeing caribou would rule. I'm guessing they don't show up in Indiana all that often though. Sounds like a successful first winter in the new abode. Keep us updated.

Phollower - 09:34 - Friday, January 18, 2008