Tales From the Yukon

I spent all of last Sunday afternoon washing and polishing my truck ... then I went on a quick trip to Faro ....

for all of those that are wondering, no it was not raining out here. To keep our roads semi dust-free and to avoid the dreaded washboard effect on the roads, they are sprayed with a calcium-lime solution (to which I think is referred to as calcium hydroxide to the rest of the world).

So, yet again, this weekend, I will be outside, baking in the sun (if we have sun) soaking off this muddy mess off of Gates, the truck.

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This morning, I received word that a past teacher of mine (who taught me phys ed and health from grade 5 to 8 and who was my soccer/field hockey coach with his wife many times over) had passed away doing what he loved best - going on adventures. News of his passing had just made it into New Brunswick newspapers, and I imagine has been a shock to many who knew him, his family and the community of Sussex, NB.

As a tribute to his love of the outdoors and cycling, I headed out into the Yukon wilderness around town with a colleague. I am sure he would have approved and would have loved to join in.

Here's to you Mr. L, for teaching a generation of students to love and appreciate the outdoors and recreation.

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This weekend I headed over to Faro to partake in the Sheep and Crane festivities. I managed to see plenty of wildlife (cranes, grouse, squirrels) and yuppies but not a singular sheep. Seems as by the time I made it out to the sheep viewing station, they had decided that they had had enough of everyone staring at them and went incognito.

Mountains heading towards Watson Lake

On my way to Faro, I decided to drive down the other direction of the road for a couple of clicks heading out to Watson Lake (just out of curiosity). Beautiful scenery out there, and if I had another person traveling with me or another vehicle in the pack, I am sure I would have gone out a little further ... but I didn't want to get stuck out there with no rescue.

Once in Faro, I headed down to the school where there was a BBQ going on that was hosted by the school. After chowing down on a burger and some potato salad, I headed over to the library for a bit, then to the Kettle Cafe for a latte and then out for a drive towards the Mine (to which I had never been to before). Not much to see other than the mine, and the sludge pool below the mine.

The next morning I was up bright and early to head out on a nature walk out to the falls. On my way there I passed a large group of Cranes.





There was quite a large group of us heading out (head count was 65 people for the 9:30am hike). On the hike we learned about some of the flora and fauna of the Yukon and what is present in Faro and what some of the plants were and are still used for. Pretty amazing to think what some of the plants in the forest were used and are still used for.



At the end of the hike we made it to the water falls. Weren't quite as spectacular as I thought that they were going to be, but still impressive all the same. I just enjoyed the walk through the woods more than anything.



Prior to 1957, the official flower of Yukon was the Crocus ... however, Manitoba also had it as their official flower as well and were quite upset that Yukon wanted to use it as well ... so in 1957, Yukon changed its official flower to Fire Weed.





And of course, we have mysterious paw prints .... our theory (mine and Julie's) is that it was Big Foot carrying Hasselhoff on his back.

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Friday was spent painting our volcanoes .... most of my students did very well at this task, others not so well and preferred to paint each other, their desks and the floor - those students wound up spending a lot of time cleaning and sitting in the corner until they were able to behave.

As long as the weather holds out for Monday, we will be setting our volcanoes off outdoors .. if not, indoors.

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Oh, "it's a great idea Kennie. you're kids will love it!"
Oooohhh, "let me know how it goes...."
Snicker, "good luck"

Yes, above are conversations with colleagues here and away about my plan to make volcanoes with my students. Some were very encouraging (which I was skeptical of) others ... seemed to fit reality much more closely....


Today, we began to make our volcanoes in class. Yes, paper mache volcanoes. Surprisingly, it wasn't as much of a disaster as I thought it was going to be. Only had one group melt down and dissolve, and a couple of students chase each other around with mache paste, but in all it didn't become the disaster that I thought it was going to be.

We managed to get our water bottles (our volcano mantle) taped down to the cardboard support, created a bristol board skeleton around it to make the volcano base, and even got three layers of paper mache on the skeleton. Right now they are all sitting on the table in the back of my classroom drying out, waiting to be painted tomorrow during Art class.... and with any luck, on Monday, we will be going outside to "set our volcanoes off". All I have to do now is find different colours of food colouring as most of my crew wants non-red lava (go figure).

Here's how they look so far (taken during our very long and extended science class today):

I can only imagine how they will look tomorrow after we paint and decorate them.

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So far, since I've arrived here in the Yukon, I have seen very little wild life. Sure, I've seen the odd bear (one, who appeared to be humping a tree), a couple of porcupines, a few elk (last week), some very stupid birds (who consequently either wound up in the front grills of vehicles or smucked on the way by), squirrels (who seem to be on a suicide mission), and of course, the big gopher that has taken root in the front yard of a colleague.

This weekend, I hope to add mountain sheep and cranes to the list, as it is the Sheep and Crane or Crane and Sheep (one or the other) festival over in Faro. And since I am always welcome to the basement suite chez Kara and Matt's I figured this would be a great weekend to head out and enjoy some wilderness.

Now, I know this might seem crazy to some - sheep and cranes, big whoop. Well it is a big whoop when you live out in the middle of nowhere and you never see any wildlife! Mind you, I don't want a bear on my front steps or anything, but, still, a little bit of the great wild nature is a good thing.

So, with any luck, I will have some good pictures to post here after the weekend ... weather permitting.

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of my blogging death have been greatly over exaggerated. Yes, I will admit I have been absent from the blogging world since .. oh... what was it? October? Yes, it technically was my fault, however, I still hold time (and the Time Lords) more responsible for my lack of blogging, as I really could use a couple more hours - like 5 - per day.


So, what has Kennie been up to? Well ... here we go:
1. Courses ... oh school how I love and hate thee ... took four courses this year, two per term, rocked all four ... and these courses took up much of my free time
2. Teaching ... yes, I actually do teach, or attempt to. Somedays it is quite successful ... others... not so
3. Traveling... although only between RR and WH and RR and Faro ... but still, I try to get out every now and then
4. Being sick as a dog for months .. although now on the mend as we have finally discovered that it is allergies (to what we are still unsure), but I am feeling much better
5. Sleeping ... what ever free time I get, it's allocated to sleep. Teaching 12 grade 5/6 kids all day is exhausting. I"m lucky if I am able to finish my morning coffee half of the time.
6. Looking for a Grad School ... you would think that this would be easy ... it is... however, I need to locate a distance education program in Math / Sci education, IT education or Administration ... this isn't so easy.

So.. between having a job, and going to school and trying to sleep ... something had to be cut out from my day (and considering that Blogger is blocked by the school server, can't type and post my ramblings while at work). But, now that I am done courses, and that the year is finally winding down, I'm hoping to get back onto the blogging band-wagon and return to the bloggosphere .. in both publishing and reading (I have a lot of blogs to get caught up on too ... sigh ... but makes for good reading in the evening! Some of you have had much fun over the past several months! )

So.... yeah, don't have much for pictures, as I never have my camera with me ... but I will get better at this (the camera thing)... and will totally try to at least do one post a week from here on in ....

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