Picking up Hitchhikers

So, yesterday we decided to go for a Sunday drive up the Dempster a short ways. On the way back we see a guy in snowshoes pulling a very heavy looking sled just past the Dempster corner...so about 40 km from Dawson. We stopped and offered him a ride, thinking that with a sled that size not many people would be capable of helping him out. We load him into the van (barely...big sled) and head back to Dawson. Turns out his name is Jacob and he is from back east and has been travelling, on foot, across Canada for 4 years! And this is his first time up here! Well, you all know how I am. By the time we get back to Dawson I've invited him up for a hot meal and nearly the best view in Dawson. Turns out he's a really interesting guy. Same age as us. His plan is to go up the Dempster as far as he can...brave fellow. We hung out, had dinner and, instead of giving him some firewood and sending him on his way, we decided to give him a warm place to spend the night. We have a spare room and since none of you are currently using it, I figured, why not? And this morning we made the decision to leave him here when we went to school before 8 am. You all are thinking we're nuts, I know. But you know what? When we got home this afternoon all was well. Nothing stolen. Everything was clean and tidy. If I was hitchhiking/walking across the country I'd want to be picked up by people like us, wouldn't you? So I say: give hitchhikers a chance. lol. Not all of them are axe murderers. We wish him the best of luck and hope to see him again.

-44

Yep. You see correctly. -44. All week it's been in this range. I've been substituting in grade 5 in the portable and just to go the 25 feet from the school to the portable is extremely uncomfortable and grasping the metal outside handles with bare hands is unbearable! And do you know the sound your steering column makes at these temperatures? Not good. We've had to leave the dog inside and well...if you've been following our blog you know that's a sure recipe for disaster. Let's see how many times we can put plastic on the same 2 windows this winter, shall we? Not to mention all the missing paint scratched of the molding around the door. Today he got into the bathroom garbage. Yuck. Anyways. Sorry for the short posting. We've just been soooo busy. I promise to get on it this weekend to let you all know what we've been up to...besides freezing our asses off, that is. Later.

Everyone is getting along just fine.

from top to bottom: Max, Khan, and Simon.

Well...mostly.

A few tunes on a Saturday night.

Milo!

Today we took Milo for a walk to Crocus Bluffs. It's a couple of km down the mountain and overlooks the confluence of the Klondike and the Yukon. This pic is taken on the trail just below our driveway. Milo is so well behaved. He stayed with us the entire time with the exception of when we passed two ladies with three dogs on the trail at which time Milo insisted for only a minute that he be allowed to have a visit with them. It was all on friendly terms though. He really doesn't even need a leash. We bought him tons of toys and treats today and he seems to appreciate each and every one. Hope you enjoy the rest of the pics from our sunset walk.

On the road next to the graveyard.

Lynne and Milo at Crocus Bluff. Notice the frost on Lynne's hair.

The view today from Crocus Bluff looking up the Klondike.

Okay guys. Sorry I couldn't write more yesterday but it was hectic, what with both Scott and I being at the school until almost 5:30 (he for skills club, me for homework club), picking our new dog up at 6:30 and having friends over for Magic at 7:30. Yukon time my ass.

Anyways, I thought it was about time I caught you all up on what we're doing these days. Scott has just started a second semester and I think this one will give him maybe a little more time to breathe. He's teaching Health and Personal Planning-grades 7 and 8, I think, P.E.-high school aged kids), Tutorial 7, and senior shop...And he's got preps! Yay! I'll make sure I come back and correct any mistakes I make here after Scott arrives home, he's at the audition of 'Rats', a production that himself and the librarian/Grade 3 teacher are putting on. So between that and his Skills Club, he doesn't mind that I am at the school Mon-Thursday until 5:30 doing homework club and tutoring. I'm just filling in for the great lady that does them normally while they are on vacation until mid-March. I'm also getting tons and tons of subbing work-I was some semblance of a Kindergarten teacher again today!

I mentioned in a previous post that I'm also volunteering at the Humane Society now, which is totally gratifying and I highly recommend it. Just walking a bunch of dogs is so entertaining and good for your soul. They stay so happy and appreciative while living in cages because they've been abandoned or abused-they just seem to know you are there to help them out. And of course, if you've been following things for the last couple of days you know that we fell in love and brought one home-well, two technically. But the first one, Loki, just didn't work out. So now we have Milo and Milo is so flipping adorable! He likes to throw himself down the driveway like it's a slide (hard packed snow)! He's been so good with our cats and he likes nothing better than to play ball, we've discovered. He will return that ball right to you a billion times and when you are distracted he throws it up in the air himself (with his mouth, of course) and proceeds to chase it! It's wonderful.

Today was a bit frustrating. Because I got called to sub last minute Milo had to stay by himself today and we left at 7:30am because I had the Breakfast Program at the school. We dashed home at lunch to find that Milo had ripped up the piece of carpet by the door and ripped the plastic off of two windows! Trying to get out to come with us, I think. And so we chained him up on the porch for the afternoon but when I arrived home he'd actually dragged a half a case of beer off of the porch, down the steps and into the driveway and worse! The door was wide open! It doesn't always latch and he must have pushed it open though he couldn't get very far in with his cable! But it was freezing! 42 degrees! The spilled water from the cat dish (Simon does love to play in it) was frozen on the floor like a little ice rink! And to top it off the cold must have made the smoke detector malfunction because it was going off! Damn good thing I can build a quick, efficient fire, but with the plastic off the windows, it's only just now-3 hours later that it's up to room temperature!

I know, I know. I ramble. But I'll stop now. I just want to say congratulations to Jade and Sharon, who have become engaged! I personally haven't met either of them but they're probably pretty cool if they're Scott's friends!! I hope everybody else is at least nearly as happy as they must be! Take care folks.

MILO!!!

A sad decision and a funny story

Hi everybody. Today is a sad day. Last night Loki tried to eat Khan, our littlest cat. Then, after getting in shit, he continued to stalk 2 of our 3 cats(not even a big dog will mess with Simon. I mean, would you?) for the remainder of the night. So... Loki has to go back. Our one rule was that whatever dog we got would not hurt our cats. I spent today volunteering at the Humane Society, where we got Loki, and decided that we would give Milo a try. He's young,maybe 2, and very happy and hyper and very eager to please and he responds immediately to a number of commands. I have enjoyed Milo's company on my visits to the Humane Society immensely-he's really entertaining..His favorite thing is to hold the leash: So today I'm walking the two puppies, Wasabi and Tobeko, Milo, and Bailey-who is a very very hyperactive young pit bull. I start off with Bailey and Wasabi on leashes which I intend to take off after we are off the beaten path but they are too crazy and almost immediately become tangled. Just when I've almost got them untangled, Bailey pulls her leash free and starts to take off. Well, little Milo wasn't having any of that. He promptly grabs my falling end of Bailey's leash in his teeth, turns around, and starts running. Now, Milo's very well behaved and slows almost to where I can grab the leash a number of times on command but is just too excited and Bailey is a pulling force, running full speed ahead so I never quite get the leash. That is, not until we turn the corner where I had intended on removing those leashes anyways! That was where Milo and Bailey both stopped and waited patiently while I undid Bailey's leash. After that, Milo only walked me for a couple of minutes before running off to join his pals playing in the snow.

Anyways, the point to this post was that tomorrow Loki will be returning to his life at the Humane Society and Milo will be coming to see if he can get along with our cats. I'll post pics asap. I promise.

Our New Addition!!!!

This afternoon we went to the Humane Society and picked up Loki. He's some kind of husky/wolf/maybe akita cross-and he's probably nearly 15 years old. He's been living at the Human Society for awhile now and the folks there have grown to love him. He'll get to visit with all his friends there each Wednesday when Lynne goes in to volunteer. We're really excited to have him join our little clan and look forward to posting more pics.

Loki's making himself right at home.