two summers past
the fierce Minto fire
rolls over to show its pink belly
kjmunro
Spring Summer Yarn Tasting Kit!
5 months ago
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Whitehorse town.
Today I got to meet the Stanley Cup at the Scotiabank in Whitehorse. I was one of the first 500 people in line, so they took a professional picture of me with it and will e-mail it to me in a few days. I also met a really nice family in line and they took another picture of me with The Cup in the background. They were rushing everyone through so much and the line wasn't even that long. I think they expected the event to be busier than it actually was.
After that I just strolled around town and ran some errands. As we rarely come into the city, some of my coworkers wanted me to pick up special items for them. I also had a list of touristy things to see. I’ve been taking pictures of downtown Whitehorse architecture. It’s an interesting place because there are a lot of historical cabins and false-front buildings right in the middle of the city. They are all very well maintained and painted in really nice colours. I particularly enjoy this blue one and the purple log cabin below.
This little building's claim to fame is that it is the oldest operating building in the Yukon. It's the Klondike BBQ serving northern BBQ cuisine. I think it would be a great place to eat, but it isn't open right now. Hence, it is no longer the oldest operating building. There is something going on with its completely dug-up front lawn, so I'm guessing that it's under renovation.
Right next door to the Klondike is the Cupcakery. It's pretty cute and fabulous. I ordered these little guys for a treat. The front one is a blackforest cupcake with a cherry on top and the one in the back is a lemon cupcake with lemon curd centre and a blueberry and lemon zest on top. Yum.
There’s also this giant piece of copper. The sign says it is most likely the largest piece ever found in Canada. It took them 10 days to retrieve this piece and haul it back into town over two mountain passes, the Yukon River, and countless other dangerous obstacles. But, now they have a nice possibly-record setting Big Thing for one of their corners. This is right out front of the Yukon Museum, which is also not currently in operation. These people keep strict winter hours until May. Then the town really starts to open up. I'll have a couple days to see the things I couldn't see when I come back to head down south.
After my walk downtown I drove up the hill to the Canada Games Centre to the Environmental Fair. It was really neat and I talked to so many interesting people. Everyone wants me to come live here and work. I collected a lot of business cards. I want to work in Ontario, though. I suppose that's the problem for most people. While I was at the Fair, I ran into a woman I had met the previous night at the hostel. She works for the local Native Council and I mentioned that I couldn't get a ticket to the Wade Davis talk tonight because they were all booked up. She showed me the ticket booth for people picking up tickets. They had started a waiting list. They hadn't mentioned that to me the day before when I called, and for some reason they didn't want to add me today, but I was persistent. I had to come back at 2:00 pm to see if I could have a ticket. I came back at 2:00 pm and even though I was the second last person they had allowed on the list, I got one of the tickets! I'm really excited to go to the talk. One of the other girls at the hostel here is going with me. She is currently staying at the hostel and writing her Masters about people's connections to their places and land. And she knits. We have a lot in common, so it should be a fun night!
Tomorrow I'm going out to the Beringia Interpretive Centre and the local hot springs with one of the other women who is staying here. This has been a great day off so far!
After that I just strolled around town and ran some errands. As we rarely come into the city, some of my coworkers wanted me to pick up special items for them. I also had a list of touristy things to see. I’ve been taking pictures of downtown Whitehorse architecture. It’s an interesting place because there are a lot of historical cabins and false-front buildings right in the middle of the city. They are all very well maintained and painted in really nice colours. I particularly enjoy this blue one and the purple log cabin below.
This little building's claim to fame is that it is the oldest operating building in the Yukon. It's the Klondike BBQ serving northern BBQ cuisine. I think it would be a great place to eat, but it isn't open right now. Hence, it is no longer the oldest operating building. There is something going on with its completely dug-up front lawn, so I'm guessing that it's under renovation.
Right next door to the Klondike is the Cupcakery. It's pretty cute and fabulous. I ordered these little guys for a treat. The front one is a blackforest cupcake with a cherry on top and the one in the back is a lemon cupcake with lemon curd centre and a blueberry and lemon zest on top. Yum.
There’s also this giant piece of copper. The sign says it is most likely the largest piece ever found in Canada. It took them 10 days to retrieve this piece and haul it back into town over two mountain passes, the Yukon River, and countless other dangerous obstacles. But, now they have a nice possibly-record setting Big Thing for one of their corners. This is right out front of the Yukon Museum, which is also not currently in operation. These people keep strict winter hours until May. Then the town really starts to open up. I'll have a couple days to see the things I couldn't see when I come back to head down south.
After my walk downtown I drove up the hill to the Canada Games Centre to the Environmental Fair. It was really neat and I talked to so many interesting people. Everyone wants me to come live here and work. I collected a lot of business cards. I want to work in Ontario, though. I suppose that's the problem for most people. While I was at the Fair, I ran into a woman I had met the previous night at the hostel. She works for the local Native Council and I mentioned that I couldn't get a ticket to the Wade Davis talk tonight because they were all booked up. She showed me the ticket booth for people picking up tickets. They had started a waiting list. They hadn't mentioned that to me the day before when I called, and for some reason they didn't want to add me today, but I was persistent. I had to come back at 2:00 pm to see if I could have a ticket. I came back at 2:00 pm and even though I was the second last person they had allowed on the list, I got one of the tickets! I'm really excited to go to the talk. One of the other girls at the hostel here is going with me. She is currently staying at the hostel and writing her Masters about people's connections to their places and land. And she knits. We have a lot in common, so it should be a fun night!
Tomorrow I'm going out to the Beringia Interpretive Centre and the local hot springs with one of the other women who is staying here. This has been a great day off so far!
Bucket Babies, Babies, Babies!
As usual, this week was a crazy one and flew by in record time. We had all sorts of nests to process, lovely weather, and now I’m starting my four day break in Whitehorse. You’ll probably hear from me again before the weekend is over. I’m staying at a hostel in town and the internet is free. Around here you still need to draw in the tourists with free offers, as opposed to charging for every little thing like they do downunder.
Dylan and I headed out to Agnes this week to collect the first set of babies. This is Dylan with all the squirrel tracking gear. This is sort of a dorky picture. (Dylan says and I agree). We trap the mother squirrels once we know the babies have been born. We put little collars on them that transmit a signal to our antennas. This type of tracking is called telemetry. I learned how to do this when I was working with the numbats in Australia. The closer you hold the antenna to the collared squirrel, the louder the beep becomes. Sometimes (a lot of the time) it’s tricky to hear the difference between the beeps. But, we always find the squirrel before we go home for dinner.
This day, Dylan loc’d (located…a little Squirreler lingo for you) to a big white spruce. No surprise there. There are only white spruce and very small willows on grid. We couldn’t really see a nest, but we did see this guy. Dylan thought it looked like a good nest, but it was really a porcupine with a cool mohawk. The squirrel we were looking for was in the next tree over in a grass nest in a witch’s broom. Dylan retrieved the babies and we processed them.
This is one of the littles who lived in the nest. Before they have fur, the baby squirrels are tiny, pink aliens, with eyes that don’t open. Somehow, however, they are so freakishly cute. While they are out of the nest they stay in tiny fleece bags that we keep in the front of our jackets. We don’t keep them out of their nests for long. I really like protecting them in the little bag and keeping them warm, though. There are 4 to 7 babies in each nest. You can pick them all up in one handful.
We determine the sex of each baby, weigh them, then snip a little notch in their tiny ear to sample the DNA. We will come back in 25 days to check on them and weigh them again. The first time we process the nest we use a system of ear notches so that we can identify the individuals. The first female has her left ear notched, the first male his left, the second female her right, then we continue on with double notches. Snipping the ear is really quite easy to do. Unfortunately, it hurts a little bit and the babies always cry. They also nuzzle into the crook of your thumb which is very cute.
The next day, Lindsey and I went to check on two nests. Both of the nests were in the buckets where we put the peanut butter. I’ve been hoping to see bucket babies the whole time I’ve been here! So this was very exciting. You can see the lowered bucket, all our nest kit gear, and Lindsey snipping a teensy tiny ear. After we raised the bucket up, we waited for the mother to come back and move the babies to a new nest. The mothers move their babies frequently, definitely every time the nest is disturbed and they carry them one at a time in their mouth. It’s really neat to watch them. They tuck all of the little arms and legs in and carry them pink side out. This mother took a while getting back into the bucket and we were worried that she couldn’t find them, but she made it back in.
Little babies back in the bucket nest.
On Thursday I had an even better baby surprise. We went out to find some Nest 2’s. At Nest 2, the babies are 25 days old and have fur. I hadn’t been on a successful Nest 2 outing and we weren’t that hopeful for these ones. Sometimes it’s very difficult to trap the mother and put a collar on, so we try to do behaviour locs to figure out which nest she is keeping the babies in. They have a whole series of nests on their midden, so this can be quite difficult to determine. This particular day, we didn’t even really have a nest loc at all (the squirrels are active during the early day, then they go to bed around 4:30 pm, so we come back for break then head back out with nest kits to process the babies). We just went to check things out. This squirrel had so many nests. We usually shake the trees and watch for the mothers to leave, but the PhD student that is visiting right now prefers the snowball attack method for getting squirrels out of nests. I don’t really like throwing snowballs at them, but I gently tossed a snowball at one nest and the mother popped right out. Then we found these little guys. And tagged their little ears. I picked the colours. This is G*/G*. He is cute.
Here is his cute little tail end. Their hind paws are so out of proportion at this point in their life.
I really hope I get to see more Nest 2 babies before I leave!
And a special bonus picture for all my twitcher friends out there ;)
A ruffed grouse I flushed out of the bush and managed to snap some pictures of. He's well camouflaged.
Dylan and I headed out to Agnes this week to collect the first set of babies. This is Dylan with all the squirrel tracking gear. This is sort of a dorky picture. (Dylan says and I agree). We trap the mother squirrels once we know the babies have been born. We put little collars on them that transmit a signal to our antennas. This type of tracking is called telemetry. I learned how to do this when I was working with the numbats in Australia. The closer you hold the antenna to the collared squirrel, the louder the beep becomes. Sometimes (a lot of the time) it’s tricky to hear the difference between the beeps. But, we always find the squirrel before we go home for dinner.
This day, Dylan loc’d (located…a little Squirreler lingo for you) to a big white spruce. No surprise there. There are only white spruce and very small willows on grid. We couldn’t really see a nest, but we did see this guy. Dylan thought it looked like a good nest, but it was really a porcupine with a cool mohawk. The squirrel we were looking for was in the next tree over in a grass nest in a witch’s broom. Dylan retrieved the babies and we processed them.
This is one of the littles who lived in the nest. Before they have fur, the baby squirrels are tiny, pink aliens, with eyes that don’t open. Somehow, however, they are so freakishly cute. While they are out of the nest they stay in tiny fleece bags that we keep in the front of our jackets. We don’t keep them out of their nests for long. I really like protecting them in the little bag and keeping them warm, though. There are 4 to 7 babies in each nest. You can pick them all up in one handful.
We determine the sex of each baby, weigh them, then snip a little notch in their tiny ear to sample the DNA. We will come back in 25 days to check on them and weigh them again. The first time we process the nest we use a system of ear notches so that we can identify the individuals. The first female has her left ear notched, the first male his left, the second female her right, then we continue on with double notches. Snipping the ear is really quite easy to do. Unfortunately, it hurts a little bit and the babies always cry. They also nuzzle into the crook of your thumb which is very cute.
The next day, Lindsey and I went to check on two nests. Both of the nests were in the buckets where we put the peanut butter. I’ve been hoping to see bucket babies the whole time I’ve been here! So this was very exciting. You can see the lowered bucket, all our nest kit gear, and Lindsey snipping a teensy tiny ear. After we raised the bucket up, we waited for the mother to come back and move the babies to a new nest. The mothers move their babies frequently, definitely every time the nest is disturbed and they carry them one at a time in their mouth. It’s really neat to watch them. They tuck all of the little arms and legs in and carry them pink side out. This mother took a while getting back into the bucket and we were worried that she couldn’t find them, but she made it back in.
Little babies back in the bucket nest.
On Thursday I had an even better baby surprise. We went out to find some Nest 2’s. At Nest 2, the babies are 25 days old and have fur. I hadn’t been on a successful Nest 2 outing and we weren’t that hopeful for these ones. Sometimes it’s very difficult to trap the mother and put a collar on, so we try to do behaviour locs to figure out which nest she is keeping the babies in. They have a whole series of nests on their midden, so this can be quite difficult to determine. This particular day, we didn’t even really have a nest loc at all (the squirrels are active during the early day, then they go to bed around 4:30 pm, so we come back for break then head back out with nest kits to process the babies). We just went to check things out. This squirrel had so many nests. We usually shake the trees and watch for the mothers to leave, but the PhD student that is visiting right now prefers the snowball attack method for getting squirrels out of nests. I don’t really like throwing snowballs at them, but I gently tossed a snowball at one nest and the mother popped right out. Then we found these little guys. And tagged their little ears. I picked the colours. This is G*/G*. He is cute.
Here is his cute little tail end. Their hind paws are so out of proportion at this point in their life.
I really hope I get to see more Nest 2 babies before I leave!And a special bonus picture for all my twitcher friends out there ;)
A ruffed grouse I flushed out of the bush and managed to snap some pictures of. He's well camouflaged.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Whitehorse roadtrip!
Earlier today I arrived in the lovely, sunshine-y, people-filled, cultural centre of the Yukon. I'm sort of excited to talk to people who don't talk about squirrels and to take in all the things that go along with city-living.
There is a lot going on here this weekend. Tomorrow, the Yukon Environmental Fair is on at the Canada Games Centre. Actually, there will be a Red Squirrels and Climate Change talk in the morning. I might skip that.... The Rotary Music Festival is on at various venues around town. AND, tomorrow the Stanley Cup is visiting Whitehorse! It's stopping in 15 cities across the country on it's playoff tour. It'll be at Scotiabank. I need to go to the bank this weekend, so I might as well stop in while The Cup is there too.
I have a good old fashioned squirrel update for you, but I'm on the free internet computer at the hostel (which is very nice and small and all of the people staying here are very pleasant). So I will post that later on when I'm using my own computer. I'm sure I'll have lots of interesting things to post about before I head back to camp.
I'm off to see the downtown and maybe catch a movie at the tiny Whitehorse Cinema this evening. I'll have to see what's playing. I have the truck and it's daylight till late at night, so it'll be easy to find my way around town.
More soon, Cass
There is a lot going on here this weekend. Tomorrow, the Yukon Environmental Fair is on at the Canada Games Centre. Actually, there will be a Red Squirrels and Climate Change talk in the morning. I might skip that.... The Rotary Music Festival is on at various venues around town. AND, tomorrow the Stanley Cup is visiting Whitehorse! It's stopping in 15 cities across the country on it's playoff tour. It'll be at Scotiabank. I need to go to the bank this weekend, so I might as well stop in while The Cup is there too.
I have a good old fashioned squirrel update for you, but I'm on the free internet computer at the hostel (which is very nice and small and all of the people staying here are very pleasant). So I will post that later on when I'm using my own computer. I'm sure I'll have lots of interesting things to post about before I head back to camp.
I'm off to see the downtown and maybe catch a movie at the tiny Whitehorse Cinema this evening. I'll have to see what's playing. I have the truck and it's daylight till late at night, so it'll be easy to find my way around town.
More soon, Cass
Friday, April 9, 2010
They sell Tim Tams in Haines Junction and they cost $4.89.
What a rush! Our town days are so busy, I barely have time to squeeze these blog posts in. I also don't have any time to prepare them ahead of time because work is so busy. We have so many squirrels to trap, tag, stretch, monitor, it never ends. Not to mention, all the things we have to do to keep camp running smoothly.
My camp day was last Sunday so I made everyone a huge Easter Dinner Feast. This included creamy, garlic mashed potatoes, roasted acorn squash and beets, steamed greens, bread stuffing, and hardboiled eggs. I decorated the eggs with wax drips and elastic bands and dyed them in beet juice and boiled onion peels. The elastics made stripes and the wax made spots. They turned out quite well and everyone was very pleased with dinner. I also hid the 61 chocolate Easter eggs that Mom and Dad sent (thanks again!) and Frances' parents sent. It was so funny to watch everyone search for their surprise eggs. They didn't notice any of the hidden eggs before dinner and it was a lot of fun.
I'm off to dinner at the Alcan tonight. I have to put up some pictures of places around town one of these days! Here are some from the past week.
Self-portrait in mid morning sunshine on Chitty. My hair is growing so quickly.
Little Y!/Y!. I made a movie of him for the blog! Unfortunately, it will take 2 hours to upload all 30 seconds of it here. I also have an hilarious one of little Purple/Blue digging out a cone and squeaking at me from her midden. One day this will be a videoblog.
Sprout update! Look at our little guys! We're so proud. This is the kale. That's why it's so pink and pretty. Will make a tasty half sandwich, or so.
Dylan and his current project. He's staying here for the entire 6 months and he monitors Agnes grid. It's huge and is a food add grid, so the squirrel population density is high. He's also got a whole lot of pregnant mothers and babies to look after. This is a map he made to keep track of everything and aid in navigation. I hope it helps him stay on time. We carpool together and he is frequently late which means I have to wait patiently because we don't like to rush each other when handling the squirrels.
A shot of the map. Someday it will be a rainbow of colours and symbols, we hope.
And by waiting patiently, I mean, knit in the truck at the pullout off the side of the Alaska Highway. To be honest, this is not a bad part of my day. Here, I'm working on my bright blue sock. I purchased the wool in Ottawa and it's almost finished. The goal is to finish it by the end of the week and cast on it's mate. I designed the whole thing with a cool chevron pattern. Close-ups to come.
And I almost forgot!! I've been finding buried traps in the snow on Chitty this week. All along, I've said I didn't really relate to the namer of the traps on Chitty. I don't really get his references and why he'd name the traps the things he did. This week I found Pancakes, though. I promptly took out my Sharpie and corrected that mistake. It's now called Pamcakes, after one of the most special kittens I know. Next though, and this freaked me out a bit, I dug out Agamemnon. That's the dude from the old times who the prophetess Cassandra was murdered with. Good thing I'm not that superstitious. I am a little though, and I haven't actually set the trap yet. Ha. I might trade Dylan for a different trap this week. Just to be on the safe side.
Don't be scared! Got to run! Miss ya lots! Cass
My camp day was last Sunday so I made everyone a huge Easter Dinner Feast. This included creamy, garlic mashed potatoes, roasted acorn squash and beets, steamed greens, bread stuffing, and hardboiled eggs. I decorated the eggs with wax drips and elastic bands and dyed them in beet juice and boiled onion peels. The elastics made stripes and the wax made spots. They turned out quite well and everyone was very pleased with dinner. I also hid the 61 chocolate Easter eggs that Mom and Dad sent (thanks again!) and Frances' parents sent. It was so funny to watch everyone search for their surprise eggs. They didn't notice any of the hidden eggs before dinner and it was a lot of fun.
I'm off to dinner at the Alcan tonight. I have to put up some pictures of places around town one of these days! Here are some from the past week.
Self-portrait in mid morning sunshine on Chitty. My hair is growing so quickly.
Little Y!/Y!. I made a movie of him for the blog! Unfortunately, it will take 2 hours to upload all 30 seconds of it here. I also have an hilarious one of little Purple/Blue digging out a cone and squeaking at me from her midden. One day this will be a videoblog.
Sprout update! Look at our little guys! We're so proud. This is the kale. That's why it's so pink and pretty. Will make a tasty half sandwich, or so.
Dylan and his current project. He's staying here for the entire 6 months and he monitors Agnes grid. It's huge and is a food add grid, so the squirrel population density is high. He's also got a whole lot of pregnant mothers and babies to look after. This is a map he made to keep track of everything and aid in navigation. I hope it helps him stay on time. We carpool together and he is frequently late which means I have to wait patiently because we don't like to rush each other when handling the squirrels.
A shot of the map. Someday it will be a rainbow of colours and symbols, we hope.
And by waiting patiently, I mean, knit in the truck at the pullout off the side of the Alaska Highway. To be honest, this is not a bad part of my day. Here, I'm working on my bright blue sock. I purchased the wool in Ottawa and it's almost finished. The goal is to finish it by the end of the week and cast on it's mate. I designed the whole thing with a cool chevron pattern. Close-ups to come.
And I almost forgot!! I've been finding buried traps in the snow on Chitty this week. All along, I've said I didn't really relate to the namer of the traps on Chitty. I don't really get his references and why he'd name the traps the things he did. This week I found Pancakes, though. I promptly took out my Sharpie and corrected that mistake. It's now called Pamcakes, after one of the most special kittens I know. Next though, and this freaked me out a bit, I dug out Agamemnon. That's the dude from the old times who the prophetess Cassandra was murdered with. Good thing I'm not that superstitious. I am a little though, and I haven't actually set the trap yet. Ha. I might trade Dylan for a different trap this week. Just to be on the safe side.
Don't be scared! Got to run! Miss ya lots! Cass
Friday, April 2, 2010
The Law of the Yukon
This is the law of the Yukon, and ever she makes it plain:
"Send not your foolish and feeble; send me your strong and your sane --
Strong for the red rage of battle; sane for I harry them sore;
Send me men girt for the combat, men who are grit to the core;
Swift as the panther in triumph, fierce as the bear in defeat,
Sired of a bulldog parent, steeled in the furnace heat.
Send me the best of your breeding, lend me your chosen ones;
Them will I take to my bosom, them will I call my sons;
Them will I gild with my treasure, them will I glut with my meat;
But the others -- the misfits, the failures -- I trample under my feet.
Dissolute, damned and despairful, crippled and palsied and slain,
Ye would send me the spawn of your gutters -- Go! take back your spawn again.
"Wild and wide are my borders, stern as death is my sway;
From my ruthless throne I have ruled alone for a million years and a day;
Hugging my mighty treasure, waiting for man to come,
Till he swept like a turbid torrent, and after him swept -- the scum.
The pallid pimp of the dead-line, the enervate of the pen,
One by one I weeded them out, for all that I sought was -- Men.
One by one I dismayed them, frighting them sore with my glooms;
One by one I betrayed them unto my manifold dooms.
Drowned them like rats in my rivers, starved them like curs on my plains,
Rotted the flesh that was left them, poisoned the blood in their veins;
Burst with my winter upon them, searing forever their sight,
Lashed them with fungus-white faces, whimpering wild in the night;
Staggering blind through the storm-whirl, stumbling mad through the snow,
Frozen stiff in the ice-pack, brittle and bent like a bow;
Featureless, formless, forsaken, scented by wolves in their flight,
Left for the wind to make music through ribs that are glittering white;
Gnawing the black crust of failure, searching the pit of despair,
Crooking the toe in the trigger, trying to patter a prayer;
Going outside with an escort, raving with lips all afoam,
Writing a cheque for a million, driveling feebly of home;
Lost like a louse in the burning. . .or else in the tented town
Seeking a drunkard's solace, sinking and sinking down;
Steeped in the slime at the bottom, dead to a decent world,
Lost 'mid the human flotsam, far on the frontier hurled;
In the camp at the bend of the river, with its dozen saloons aglare,
Its gambling dens ariot, its gramophones all ablare;
Crimped with the crimes of a city, sin-ridden and bridled with lies,
In the hush of my mountained vastness, in the flush of my midnight skies.
Plague-spots, yet tools of my purpose, so natheless I suffer them thrive,
Crushing my Weak in their clutches, that only my Strong may survive.
"But the others, the men of my mettle, the men who would 'stablish my fame
Unto its ultimate issue, winning me honor, not shame;
Searching my uttermost valleys, fighting each step as they go,
Shooting the wrath of my rapids, scaling my ramparts of snow;
Ripping the guts of my mountains, looting the beds of my creeks,
Them will I take to my bosom, and speak as a mother speaks.
I am the land that listens, I am the land that broods;
Steeped in eternal beauty, crystalline waters and woods.
Long have I waited lonely, shunned as a thing accurst,
Monstrous, moody, pathetic, the last of the lands and the first;
Visioning camp-fires at twilight, sad with a longing forlorn,
Feeling my womb o'er-pregnant with the seed of cities unborn.
Wild and wide are my borders, stern as death is my sway,
And I wait for the men who will win me -- and I will not be won in a day;
And I will not be won by weaklings, subtle, suave and mild,
But by men with the hearts of vikings, and the simple faith of a child;
Desperate, strong and resistless, unthrottled by fear or defeat,
Them will I gild with my treasure, them will I glut with my meat.
"Lofty I stand from each sister land, patient and wearily wise,
With the weight of a world of sadness in my quiet, passionless eyes;
Dreaming alone of a people, dreaming alone of a day,
When men shall not rape my riches, and curse me and go away;
Making a bawd of my bounty, fouling the hand that gave --
Till I rise in my wrath and I sweep on their path and I stamp them into a grave.
Dreaming of men who will bless me, of women esteeming me good,
Of children born in my borders of radiant motherhood,
Of cities leaping to stature, of fame like a flag unfurled,
As I pour the tide of my riches in the eager lap of the world."
This is the Law of the Yukon, that only the Strong shall thrive;
That surely the Weak shall perish, and only the Fit survive.
Dissolute, damned and despairful, crippled and palsied and slain,
This is the Will of the Yukon, -- Lo, how she makes it plain!
Robert Service
The last verse of this poem is posted in pretty much every public building around this place and it's true.
"Send not your foolish and feeble; send me your strong and your sane --
Strong for the red rage of battle; sane for I harry them sore;
Send me men girt for the combat, men who are grit to the core;
Swift as the panther in triumph, fierce as the bear in defeat,
Sired of a bulldog parent, steeled in the furnace heat.
Send me the best of your breeding, lend me your chosen ones;
Them will I take to my bosom, them will I call my sons;
Them will I gild with my treasure, them will I glut with my meat;
But the others -- the misfits, the failures -- I trample under my feet.
Dissolute, damned and despairful, crippled and palsied and slain,
Ye would send me the spawn of your gutters -- Go! take back your spawn again.
"Wild and wide are my borders, stern as death is my sway;
From my ruthless throne I have ruled alone for a million years and a day;
Hugging my mighty treasure, waiting for man to come,
Till he swept like a turbid torrent, and after him swept -- the scum.
The pallid pimp of the dead-line, the enervate of the pen,
One by one I weeded them out, for all that I sought was -- Men.
One by one I dismayed them, frighting them sore with my glooms;
One by one I betrayed them unto my manifold dooms.
Drowned them like rats in my rivers, starved them like curs on my plains,
Rotted the flesh that was left them, poisoned the blood in their veins;
Burst with my winter upon them, searing forever their sight,
Lashed them with fungus-white faces, whimpering wild in the night;
Staggering blind through the storm-whirl, stumbling mad through the snow,
Frozen stiff in the ice-pack, brittle and bent like a bow;
Featureless, formless, forsaken, scented by wolves in their flight,
Left for the wind to make music through ribs that are glittering white;
Gnawing the black crust of failure, searching the pit of despair,
Crooking the toe in the trigger, trying to patter a prayer;
Going outside with an escort, raving with lips all afoam,
Writing a cheque for a million, driveling feebly of home;
Lost like a louse in the burning. . .or else in the tented town
Seeking a drunkard's solace, sinking and sinking down;
Steeped in the slime at the bottom, dead to a decent world,
Lost 'mid the human flotsam, far on the frontier hurled;
In the camp at the bend of the river, with its dozen saloons aglare,
Its gambling dens ariot, its gramophones all ablare;
Crimped with the crimes of a city, sin-ridden and bridled with lies,
In the hush of my mountained vastness, in the flush of my midnight skies.
Plague-spots, yet tools of my purpose, so natheless I suffer them thrive,
Crushing my Weak in their clutches, that only my Strong may survive.
"But the others, the men of my mettle, the men who would 'stablish my fame
Unto its ultimate issue, winning me honor, not shame;
Searching my uttermost valleys, fighting each step as they go,
Shooting the wrath of my rapids, scaling my ramparts of snow;
Ripping the guts of my mountains, looting the beds of my creeks,
Them will I take to my bosom, and speak as a mother speaks.
I am the land that listens, I am the land that broods;
Steeped in eternal beauty, crystalline waters and woods.
Long have I waited lonely, shunned as a thing accurst,
Monstrous, moody, pathetic, the last of the lands and the first;
Visioning camp-fires at twilight, sad with a longing forlorn,
Feeling my womb o'er-pregnant with the seed of cities unborn.
Wild and wide are my borders, stern as death is my sway,
And I wait for the men who will win me -- and I will not be won in a day;
And I will not be won by weaklings, subtle, suave and mild,
But by men with the hearts of vikings, and the simple faith of a child;
Desperate, strong and resistless, unthrottled by fear or defeat,
Them will I gild with my treasure, them will I glut with my meat.
"Lofty I stand from each sister land, patient and wearily wise,
With the weight of a world of sadness in my quiet, passionless eyes;
Dreaming alone of a people, dreaming alone of a day,
When men shall not rape my riches, and curse me and go away;
Making a bawd of my bounty, fouling the hand that gave --
Till I rise in my wrath and I sweep on their path and I stamp them into a grave.
Dreaming of men who will bless me, of women esteeming me good,
Of children born in my borders of radiant motherhood,
Of cities leaping to stature, of fame like a flag unfurled,
As I pour the tide of my riches in the eager lap of the world."
This is the Law of the Yukon, that only the Strong shall thrive;
That surely the Weak shall perish, and only the Fit survive.
Dissolute, damned and despairful, crippled and palsied and slain,
This is the Will of the Yukon, -- Lo, how she makes it plain!
Robert Service
The last verse of this poem is posted in pretty much every public building around this place and it's true.
We rock out to Beatles tunes and Dusty Springfield hits all the way to town.
Last week I wrote a guest blog post for the Kluane Red Squirrel Project's main site. Of course, I mentioned how lovely the weather was and how it felt like spring was just around the corner. On Sunday, we woke up completely buried in heavy, cold snow. The Yukon spring certainly is a winter wonderland, but squirrels don;t really like to come out in these conditions, and I wasn't really thrilled about spending the entire day outside slogging around on snowshoes either (the day goes much more quickly if you actually catch squirrels). The surrounding were even more eerily beautiful than usual, though. When there's this much snow everything is absolutely silent.
This picture was taken looking back at our huts from the cookhouse. Usually you can see them there.
I love the way the snow balances on the branches of the willow.
I've also been very excited about the upcoming wildflower season. I've been studying up on the Yukon flora. We have a lot of interesting species right on our study sites. Right now I can just take shots of last year's willow buds. Also, we were reading the Encyclopaedia Britannica the other day about the Greek Prophetess, Cassandra. It's a great story, if I do say so myself. We found out, though, that cassandra is also a little plant in the Ericaceae family. It's found throughout the arctic circle and is actually present in bogs all the way down south to Georgia. It's also known as leatherleaf. That's not a good nickname for me though.
And, everyone I talk to wants to know how the squirrels are, of course. They are well. Squirrels that live on our food add grids are chubby and having happy little babies. Squirrels that live on my non-food add grid, Chitty, are happy to have a peanut butter snack in a trap. This is my favourite squirrel pose. It's called vigilance.
The sun sets here in the Yukon around 8:50 pm these days. It's really nice to have so much daylight. At this latitude, the amount of daylight actually increases by about 7 minutes each day. Dusk lasts until we go to bed around 10:30. Last night Dylan came into the hut at 1:15 am and woke us up to see the northern lights. We had a deal that if they were spectacular we'd wake each other up. I think it's actually getting a little late in the year to see the really colourful lights here, but last night there was a huge swath of green light across the sky and I saw two little pink strikes as well. I tried to take a picture, as requested, but it wasn't working with my little Canon. I have to admit, I totally forgot about the fireworks setting until this morning, as I was quite deeply asleep last night, but I'll see if they are out again tonight and try to snap a picture.
Also, I have a bit of bad news, dear blog readers. My time in the Yukon at Squirrel Camp is going to be cut a bit short. I really haven't been feeling well at all up here. Unfortuntately, I've been spending a bit of time at the health centre, and drove in to see the doctor in Whitehorse yesterday. I'm okay, but it's not practical to be driving from Squirrel Camp to Whitehorse to try to figure things out over the next few months. So, I'm going to head home at the end of April.
Stay tuned for a few more blog posts, of course. I'm very excited to see the Nest Two babies (they'll be furry little guys! We have one coming up this week). The work is still a lot of fun. I'm going to be very sad to leave this place, but everyone says to come back for a vacation. Some day I will definitely drive the rest of the Alaska Highway (roadtrip, anyone?) Also, I'd like to give a big shout out to all of the people who are having a Good Friday Feast at my parent's house in Warsaw. I hope you guys are having a great night and time is being kept accurately by the 11 clocks of the Stabler residence.
As usual, thanks for the mail. It makes my day and I was especially happy to receive some notes and things (chocolate ;) this week.
Talk to you soon, Cass
This picture was taken looking back at our huts from the cookhouse. Usually you can see them there.
I love the way the snow balances on the branches of the willow.
I've also been very excited about the upcoming wildflower season. I've been studying up on the Yukon flora. We have a lot of interesting species right on our study sites. Right now I can just take shots of last year's willow buds. Also, we were reading the Encyclopaedia Britannica the other day about the Greek Prophetess, Cassandra. It's a great story, if I do say so myself. We found out, though, that cassandra is also a little plant in the Ericaceae family. It's found throughout the arctic circle and is actually present in bogs all the way down south to Georgia. It's also known as leatherleaf. That's not a good nickname for me though.
And, everyone I talk to wants to know how the squirrels are, of course. They are well. Squirrels that live on our food add grids are chubby and having happy little babies. Squirrels that live on my non-food add grid, Chitty, are happy to have a peanut butter snack in a trap. This is my favourite squirrel pose. It's called vigilance.
The sun sets here in the Yukon around 8:50 pm these days. It's really nice to have so much daylight. At this latitude, the amount of daylight actually increases by about 7 minutes each day. Dusk lasts until we go to bed around 10:30. Last night Dylan came into the hut at 1:15 am and woke us up to see the northern lights. We had a deal that if they were spectacular we'd wake each other up. I think it's actually getting a little late in the year to see the really colourful lights here, but last night there was a huge swath of green light across the sky and I saw two little pink strikes as well. I tried to take a picture, as requested, but it wasn't working with my little Canon. I have to admit, I totally forgot about the fireworks setting until this morning, as I was quite deeply asleep last night, but I'll see if they are out again tonight and try to snap a picture.Also, I have a bit of bad news, dear blog readers. My time in the Yukon at Squirrel Camp is going to be cut a bit short. I really haven't been feeling well at all up here. Unfortuntately, I've been spending a bit of time at the health centre, and drove in to see the doctor in Whitehorse yesterday. I'm okay, but it's not practical to be driving from Squirrel Camp to Whitehorse to try to figure things out over the next few months. So, I'm going to head home at the end of April.
Stay tuned for a few more blog posts, of course. I'm very excited to see the Nest Two babies (they'll be furry little guys! We have one coming up this week). The work is still a lot of fun. I'm going to be very sad to leave this place, but everyone says to come back for a vacation. Some day I will definitely drive the rest of the Alaska Highway (roadtrip, anyone?) Also, I'd like to give a big shout out to all of the people who are having a Good Friday Feast at my parent's house in Warsaw. I hope you guys are having a great night and time is being kept accurately by the 11 clocks of the Stabler residence.
As usual, thanks for the mail. It makes my day and I was especially happy to receive some notes and things (chocolate ;) this week.
Talk to you soon, Cass
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