I spent close to a week at my brother and sister-in-law’s house while they were away, to “teensit” my nephew! He’s pretty chill, and mostly self-sufficient at the age of 16 (!!) now, but he isn’t able to drive himself to his hockey games yet, so I moved in to hang out and drive him to hockey.

We had a great time! Highlights include:

• watching The Dukes of Hazzard – my brother and I were raised watching this show and talking on walkie talkies and riding our bikes around the farm like we were the good ol’ boys. It was fun to pass it along to the next generation!
• watching “Corner Gas” – he needed to learn how funny this show is.
• ordering 5 Guys burgers and Cajun-spiced fries via Uber Eats for a gajillion dollars so we could watch Anwar drive around with our food until it was almost cold. It was still a ton of fun and delicious.
• making a pizza from scratch together. It was legendary!
• watching a couple of his favourite comedians.
• going to his hockey game, driving in my truck and shouting out some “yeeeeeeeeeeehas” like we were Bo and Luke Duke.
• talking to his sister from her dorm room each day
• watching 2 coyotes walk across the back lawn the first morning
• being awoken to a loud coyote party at 5:30am
• going for a walk on the back road and finding a freshly eaten half fawn (I think)
• keeping their 2 cats alive
• watching some Outdoor Boys together

A few pics:

My progress to becoming an official resident of Ontario is continuing:

• I have a temporary health card for Ontario! It is the same number I used to have when I last lived in Ontario (in 2007)
• my truck has a new windshield! I didn’t think the crack that went all the way across the window below my line of sight bothered me, but the first time driving it without that crack felt like I had vision superpowers!
• my truck is at the shop today getting its parking brake fixed, the washer fluid nozzle replaced (broke while getting windshield replaced so they ordered a new part and sent it to the shop for me), and a safety inspection.
• I can’t get Ontario car insurance until I have an Ontario driver’s licence, and I have to travel all the way to Walkerton to a driver’s test centre to convert my Yukon driver’s licence to an Ontario one. So that’ll happen after I get my truck back.
• I can’t register the truck in Ontario until I have Ontario insurance and a safety approval.

The weather in Ontario has just been outstanding! I wear shorts most days! Yesterday I was doing some reading for work on the back patio until my laptop was so hot it was burning my legs. Mom took this picture:

It seems hardly fair for Jeff and Hank to be in the snow and ice 🙁

I’m still settling into my new job, learning the ropes. I’m still in the onboarding phase, which has a nice pace, so I can take my time to learn all the things and ramp up before I break anything. My sister-in-law set up a desk for me in their living room so I was able to sit in the sun and continue working from their house without any trouble.

As for Ontario living. Sometimes it feels like a future century. While at my brother’s, I just ordered a comb, some new pens, and some tooth floss from Amazon, and it was left on their porch the next day for me. Wild. Totally not supportive of local businesses. But the convenience is nice!

The full HST on purchases hits hard though. There is noticeably so much more tax on purchases, and that kinda hurts (while I’m still waiting for my first pay cheque). Soon I’ll be booking a flight back to Dawson for the holidays!

Any downsides to this upheaval aren’t worth dwelling on. It does feel a bit like I’m away at a summer camp or school though. The bed doesn’t feel like mine, and I have a limited selection of clothes (why did I pack so few socks?). But I’m just choosing to keep busy, help out family, see old friends, knowing that I made the right move for my career and work-life well-being, and it’ll all work out soon enough.