TUGs

Chicken Celebration in Red Deer, Alberta

Over the first weekend in September I took time out and went to Red Deer, Alberta.  My brother, his wife, and my good friend live there. 







 If you haven't already guessed there was a chicken exhibition! Birds of every feather and age - some for sale, some for show.
Wow.

The Crocus and other Spring Things

Well, it is possible that spring has arrived.  At least today and yesterday showed some promise in the floral category, although the weather still has some catching up to do.  While other parts of the world are enjoying summer, the Yukon is just getting rid of snow, while suffering from the occasional nasty precipitation.

Whatever it is, is.  I enjoyed some nice walking in the last two days. 

Voice of Trees

Things... they are a changing.  The forest around my home this past summer demonstrated some odd behaviour. 

The majority of spruce in the surrounding area developed a large mass of cones at their top.  After coming to maturity they dumped their seeds in large quantities atop of the surround trails and forest floor.

In later summer, upon being weighted down with too many cones to bear, the tops began to bow over.  For as many tops that manage still in this position, the others broke off and fell to the floor.

Fraser Lake & Mossberry Island (secret location)

This past weekend Two weekends ago was one that I would call glorious.  It is a word that I rarely use; I save it to describe only very specific circumstances.

The weekend was three days long; the weather was absolutely beautiful; I got out hiking and berry picking; experienced vista comparable to any in the world; picnicked on the shores of a hilltop lake with friends and dogs; traveled to Skagway, Alaska; ate exquisite food; hung out with great people, AND got my laundry done.   

So up, up, up...... we went.....

 

After our picnic up at Fraser Lake, we went back down, got in our vehicles, and drove to the coveted Moss Berry Island.  Beautiful!  And a great walk along the way. 

They are now at home in the freezer.  I will post the muffins when they are fresh out of the oven...

And then we ate at a fabulous Thai restaurant in Skagway.  The five of us tried to convince our waitress that they should move the joint to Whitehorse for the winter season.  Most everything in Skagway closes up by the end of September.  Come October there are no more cruise ships, no more tourists, no more shopping...

Then we drove home... returning at about 10:30 p.m.  What a lovely day we had.  

Spring!

Yesterday I took over the spare room and moved my computer and desk upstairs right in front of the window.  My computer is now hooked directly to the internet!  What a treat.  For this past winter I edited my posts and pictures on my off-line computer, transferred them to a usb stick and then used my beau's laptop to get on-line and post.  I think there will be marked increase in posts and pics coming to the site.  :) 

Spring has finally arrived here in Dawson City and maybe the fever of anticipation has broken.  The dogs and I have been out each evening to "our" Bonanza Creek Road.  Not only are we in the spring season but It is apparent that it is nearly mining season as well.  "Our" road is quite busy now with fast truck traffic and so the walks are saved for the later evening.  It takes a bit of adjusting to give up this perfect winter trail.  So, speaking of spring changes, I took these pictures three days ago, but already I noticed changes last night.  The creek has started really running since and the water sound was much louder last night.  

I also noticed how all of the snow is long gone from the south facing slopes while those facing north still have much melting to do. 

Last week I took the dogs to the local ski-hill, which of course is closed.  It is a perfect venue for a little hike.  The view at the top is beautiful.  Here is a shot taken last week of the Yukon River Valley looking south. 

Ch-ch-ch-chiiiaaaaa

Ch-ch-ch-chiiiaaaaaa   -  Day 1 -

As you can see, the little Chia-Dog is growing.  Today is day three (the bottom picture).  It is pretty exciting to come home, knowing something good is in store. And who says children are te only ones about instant gratification?!  I love this little dog. 

Orphaned Cacti

Last fall we moved into the winter home here in Dawson City.  The previous renters removed all their belongings except for two sad looking cacti and a six pack of club soda.  The club soda is still in the cupboard and the cacti also remain in their kitchen corner.  Every few weeks I would splash some water on the plants wondering what should be done with them. 

Since my childhood I have been fascinated with growing things.  I remember the large glass jar that was kept on top of the fridge.  It was filled with water and egg shells.  Somewhere I read that the egg shells will release nitrogen into the water, which will help the plants grow when given the solution.  Whenever my Mom baked or made fried-egg sandwiches, I was the lucky recipient of shells.  I would climb up onto the counter, pry off the lid of the big jar and plunk them into the plant water.

I can't remember how many spider plants we had.  My parents were wonderful about letting me do my thing.  I would root spider plants, and African violets every once in a while.  My Dad had a hydroponics room in the basement for a while where I remember watching him grow beans.  We - actually my Dad -  inherited a giant philodendron that lived in a half-barrel from our neighbours, when I was about 6 or 7.  Thank goodness that plant pot had wheels so it could be easily moved when we changed the living room furniture around.  I wonder what happened to that giant?

So, back to the present...  a couple of months ago I decided that the only way these long and spindly cacti will survive is to cut them back and re-pot them.  Since I have never tried rooting succulents and am now sure how it will go, I decided to try just two as a trial.  When I was at my place in Whitehorse a couple of weeks ago I grabbed a little container of rooting gel and some cacti soil and brought it back to Dawson with me.  Then about a week ago I cut three different pieces from the parent plants.  Yesterday I decided that each wound had sufficiently scabbed over. I dipped them in the rooting medium and planted them in their new containers. Now I will wait and see... if they stay green and eventually grow a leaf (or something) then it will have proven to be a successful operation. 

These orphan plants have been transplanted into two lovely tea-cups and matching saucers.  I found them at the local Dawson City thrift store.  They are made in Romania out of porcelain.  Lovely.  What cacti wouldn't want to grow in such an elegant home?