What’s up?

I’m long overdue for updates. So let me ask myself the questions that are surely on your mind.

Is it spring up there yet?

Yes! Of course it is spring! But it’s been a cool spring and slow melt of a record amount of snow.

It RAINED here yesterday! The first real rain since… who knows. September? Every day it’s been 10C’ish during the day and now it’s only going down to about freezing over night.

This is our second week without a fire in the woodstove. I turn up our oil monitor heater in the morning to 64F and that’s just fine. Some afternoons I even open a window! So nice to get fresh air in a stale house after a long winter.

The Klondike River broke on Tuesday. Here’s a super short three second video as we were crossing the Olgivie Bridge over the Klondike (the bridge you cross coming into Dawson City).

The Yukon River is still holding on. People stopped driving across it last weekend but residents who live across the river are still walking across it. (No thanks!)

Mid way along town, the Yukon River is really low, with many many feet of gravel river bed showing through. I think the river level usually comes up significantly before the river breaks, but we’ll see!

What else is going on?

We have Lock-wood wooden windows from 1993 (oddly the same windows we had in our Nova Scotia house that we started replacing). They get covered in ice on the inside during the winter, and as it melts, the wooden frame is discoloured, moldy, and the wood isn’t sealed anymore. We are finally replacing them! The trouble here is you have to keep your house looking historic. Our windows are a decent size. The Yukon company that makes windows only makes casement crank out windows now, but they would totally not suit our historic house. And I really like single or double hung windows so the air flows nicely through the house when the windows are open.

We hired a local contractor for the job. We’ve replaced windows, but it always takes way longer than we think it will take, and we seem to only do it when it is freezing, raining, or snowing, and I really don’t want to do 13 of them. So we had him come by and take the trim off to get accurate measurements. We’ve ordered the windows, so now we wait weeks (maybe months) for them to come in, so we get to look at the rough looking trimless windows in the meantime.

We’re going for triple pane, vinyl, white, single hung windows. 13 of them for just under $10k, which isn’t as bad as I was preparing for. Plus we get a government rebate for energy efficiency for about $1k. One of them will be a casement crank-out, in our back guest room, because it is too small for an egress window. They are putting a line in the middle of the window so it matches the others a bit, but it isn’t somewhere noticeable in the back of the house near the garage.

Any good parties lately?

I had a couple fun parties last month. I got together with two friends one weekend for a tea for the Queen’s birthday. Just something fun and low key to do while a friend recovers from surgery. Look at the spread my friend Janet prepared for us!

On another weekend, we got together with some friends to have a Mexican dinner party. We’re a long way from Mexico and I’ve never even been there so I Googled for easy Mexican recipes. We made and brought these recipes:

• a 3 layer dip – refried beans, sour cream, salsa, with shredded cheddar on top (forgot the green onions on top)
• Tequila Lime wings
• Black Bean and Cheese Enchiladas
• Tres Leches (Milk cake)

We also had some steak tacos there with all the fixings and some home made guacamole. So good! We had a fun night and played a couple games of Cards Against Humanity after the toddler went to sleep. Jeff had never played and I recently bought a set, with the add on Absurd pack to keep in our camping trailer.

When are we going to see you again in Ontario?

Next week I have my six month check-up in Whitehorse, and then I’m taking the new Air North flight through Yellowknife direct to Toronto! It’s going to be a shorter visit than normal, so I likely won’t get a chance to hang out with everyone, but I will finally meet my new nephew Jordan! I’ll get back during the May long weekend and plan to catch up with Jeff who hopes to have the trailer out camping somewhere.

Do you really still have snow?

Yes, but not much any more! Our back deck is almost entirely clear now, and I can see the fence, and some of the lawn! The streets are full of big puddles and rivers of water carving across the gravel streets. The city is busy steaming all the drainage sewers to capture the flow of water. So far, no flooding!

The snow finally slid off the front of our bedroom side of the house. And covered the front stairs!

April 29

What am you watching or listening to?

I binged the last episodes of Ozark that were released last Friday on Netflix. I liked this series, and I didn’t. From what I’ve heard, they sat around a table to write it together? It shows. It gave me an insight into just how corrupt, connected, and rigged everything may be in politics. An an insight into a Mexican cartel / FBI relationship. And how money laundering works. I liked some of the characters. I liked the suspense. Some parts I still don’t understand, even though I watched every episode. I imagine you’d get more out of it binging all seasons at once. They brought back characters throughout that I actually had to Google because I couldn’t remember who they were any more. I’d give the series a reluctant 4/5 stars.

Listening wise, I dove into Scott Patterson’s podcast. He plays Luke on Gilmore Girls. He had never actually watched the show, even though he’s in all of it. So the pandemic started and he got an idea. What if he watched an episode a week and brought on guests to talk about each episode? I’m really enjoying it. He shares what happens behind the scenes, how they taped the show, and who doesn’t like hearing more about one of their favourite shows? I’m amused at times how he can sound exactly like his character, especially when he was ragging on how much he didn’t like Max, one of his competing suitors for Lorelei in the show. The whole thing is light and loveable and a walk down memory lane.

I’ve got some long drives and flights in the next couple of weeks, so this podcast is on top of my list.