Yukon Chatter Bug

Quand je pense à ma vie

Ici, souvent je m’ennuie

La fatigue et les affaires

D’école et du travail

De rien, maintenant, je raffole

Au manoir, je deviens folle

Les amis et les ennuis

J’ai seulement hâte qu’ça soit fini

Livre après livre

Les pages deviennent tordues

Lettres embrouillées

Mes pensées perdues

Tannée d’expliquer

Ce que je pense, ce que je sais

Je ne veux plus étudier

Ni parler, ni penser

Puis-je me reposer?

Prendre un somme et rêver?

Sans être obligée

D’utiliser ma pensée?

Est-ce presque fini

Ce martyre non béni?

Cette torture psychologique

Qui affecte mon physique

Maux de tête

La fatigue

Une tempête

Psychologique?

When I heard on the radio this morning about a local store owner willing to “rent” the video An Inconvenient Truth free of charge to his customers, I was impressed. Apparently, the owner of FasGas in Whitehorse was so blown away after seeing the video about climate change that not only did he decide to “lend” the video instead of renting it, but he’s looking into bringing in biodiesel at his gas bar. I don’t know that the use of biodiesel will be effective in the north’s cold, but this guy’s sudden passion for environmental issues which has prompted him to action is laudable. If you haven’t seen this video yet, get to it! You won’t regret it.
A bonus feature of the video is Al Gore’s top-notch use of a Power Point type of software for his presentation. I always cringe when I see lights go out and the good old PowerPoint come on (or the overhead) because 9 times out of 10, people DON’T KNOW HOW TO USE THEM EFFECTIVELY! The slides become a crutch, rather than adding to the content.

Getting back to the environment, when I visited my future mum-in-law over the holidays, I was a little surprised by the extent to which she re-uses everything: foil paper, coffee filters, saran wrap, bags; in short, anything you can possibly imagine gets washed, wiped, and put away. I don’t think my mother-in-law re-uses things for the specific purpose of “saving the environment.” From what I can tell, she has always done it. She’s from a generation where you simply don’t throw things out if there’s any possibility of life left in them. It was the waste not want not generation. My generation, on the other hand, grew up in the disposable era: diapers, water bottles, individually-wrapped everything and anything. Everything has to look perfect, new, and unused. We definitely need to change our way of thinking if we’re to save this planet.

So instead of rambling on, here’s my list of small ideas/suggestions to start with:

• How about gas bar owners or car manufacturers provide some kind of a discount for hybrid and Smart car owners when filling up with gas, say, for a specified time after purchase, such as one year? What about free parking for these vehicles? There aren’t enough of these on the roads yet for businesses/municipalities to worry about losing money.

• College/university instructors could allow students to re-use paper when handing in reports, papers, and other assignments – that is, using paper that already has something printed on the reverse.

• Why not use this “recycled” paper (printed on the reverse) in some of the printers at the college and at home? I’ve been doing this for two years now and rarely have paper jams. I keep a pile of “good” paper nearby, but my recycled paper is my default paper (always in the printer).

• Buy (or make) re-usable bags for grocery shopping. In Whitehorse, Riverside Grocery currently has nice big green cloth bags with handles for $1 each; I recently bought 15 to keep in my vehicle for my shopping. (Ask for them; they’re behind the counter.)

• Turn down the thermostat at night, when at work, and when on vacation.

• More information about what you can do
  • at home
  • at work
  • and more

Feel free to post a comment to add to this list.

May the earth be with you

I once knew a man named Denis

So fit that he still could play tennis

Even now that he’s old

If truth be told

We’re careful ’cause he’s still a menace

Don’t fret if you’re looking for him

You’ll find him fiddling with somethin’

Under a car’s hood

Or in the neighbourhood

Of something in need of a fixin’

Avec amour,

xo

Yukon scenery is breathtaking, to say the least. There is something about the place that makes people want to stay. It’s been almost five years now since my move to Whitehorse (wow, has it already been that long?), and I was only supposed to be here one year. But, alas, it’s the same story you hear from everyone who has moved here.

Below is a picture I took from my aunt and uncle’s backyard a couple of winters ago. In the background is beautiful Grey Mountain.

Here’s another photo I took in the Yukon, again showing mountains that seem to go on forever.

Sun is shining bright

Cold, still air; blue skies above

Winter sundogs high

 Sundog Picture and information at ExploreNorth

To add to my last post, apparently the guy who compiled the list (of 66 Things), Bill Belew, got the info from the book What No One Ever Tells You about Blogging and Podcasting by Ted Demopoulos. Ted’s site provides an amazing list of everything you ever wanted to know about successful blogging. Now I want to go out and buy his book to read if for myself!

Since I’m trying to find my niche in the blogosphere, I find myself asking, “Okay, what do I write about now?” Again, I’m not sure where this whole thing is going to go, so I thought I’d check out what other people are blogging about, how they go about it, and how they get read. I found this neat list from a blog I stumbled on (Hug the Sky), whose blog I added to my blogroll. Being a responsible blogger, they referenced where they got the info from; so, here’s the list of 66 Successful Bloggers and What They Can Teach You. If you’re like me and just gettting started in the blogosphere, this one’s for you!

Working in the schools, I had the privilege of meeting one of the north’s favourite mushers, Hans Gatt, and a whole bunch of his sled-dogs. Gatt is a veteran of sled-dog racing, including in the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod.

Gatt ended up leaving Atlin, BC (two-hour drive from Whitehorse) later than anticipated, so the planned morning visit had to be postponed until the afternoon. Considering the late time of day and the long drive ahead of them to Fairbanks, Alaska, I was very pleased at Hans and Suzie’s immense generosity in taking the time to stop at the school, take all their dogs out (one student counted 23) and then “pack ‘em all up” for the trip ahead.

The grade six class I was working with were very excited, to say the least. They went around the truck petting each of his dogs, getting to know them and getting answers to tons of questions from both Hans and his friend, Suzie.

Having that many dogs in one place at one time, you’re bound to see EVERYTHING dogs do, all within a five-minute period. And, because sixth graders are, well, six graders, I got a kick out of hearing their reactions to seeing dogs be dogs.

A BIG THANK YOU TO HANS AND SUZIE!!!