My prehistoric son

SR arrived home today sporting new tusks! Actually, they find these tusks at the mine and he brought two into town with him (but won't let me keep one even though I really really want one). Below is the wooly mammoth to which they belong. Apparently there was quite a herd of them around the mine as they keep digging up parts of tusks.
The Wooly Mammoth (mammuthus primigenius) ranged throughout North America, Asia and Europe between 12,000 and 40,000 years ago. It had several cousins, many of whom, including the smaller mastodon and are now extinct. Present day elephants and the aquatic manatee are also relations. No one knows for sure why the mammoth died out, but experts suspect it was a combination of climactic change, which reduced the feeding range, and hunting pressure by our early ancestors.

Mammoth tusks were large teeth, made of ivory (dentin), with a protective layer of cementum. They were used for defense, dominance, mating rituals, and may have served as snowplows, clearing the ground for winter-feeding. Mammoth ivory is distinguishable from other ivory by its characteristically unique, oblique crosshatched pattern. It is used in jewelry and for carving. It is uniform and thick, enabling high relief or sculpture in the round. It can hold incredible detail and take a high polish.

Sunday as well...

Since we were half was to Carcross and were craving an ice cream cone, we decided to drive the rest of the way. While in Carcross, we visited the Carcross Cemetery and found Polly's grave shown above.
Numerous Yukon pioneers are buried here, including Bishop Bompas, Skookum Jim Mason, Kate Carmack, Tagish Charlie and Polly the Parrot.

For more than 50 years Polly held court at the Caribou Hotel where he gained international fame for singing opera--and for shocking unsuspecting hotel guests with colourful profanity. Polly died in 1972 at the age of 126 years--older than the gold rush itself--and his grave boasts one of the finest bronze markers in the cemetery. I remember Polly telling me to "f--- off" very loudly when I went to talk to him.

Annie Lake Golf Course

Awoke this morning to searing hot sunshine. Nancy & I decided to golf and decided against Meadow Lakes as their price a month ago was $27 which we thought was very high considering there was still water on the fairways, then we went 2 weeks ago and the price was $32 (and the fairways were a little better, but not $32 worth!) and was told that as the summer progressed, the prices would continue to rise, so today we decided on ANNIE LAKE GOLF COURSE. The price was right and the day looked to be glorious.
Now, for $2 you have to accept less than perfect conditions! Here I am on the t-box. The picture below IS a fairway, but the scenery was perfect. Although it did cloud over, we played 9 holes with only 2 balls lost in gopher holes (which were almost big enough to double as bear dens) but there was no one on our tail and no one holding us up in front. In fact we only saw one other foursome the whole time, (as well as two people riding horses through the fairways, and one man walking 2 dogs). The greens were actually sand which made putting interesting to say the least. All in all we had fun which is what we set out to do.

Sometimes I don't blog for a while and sometimes I blog every day. When I don't blog for a while, remember that I do sometimes blog every day!

OK, here's the same boring picture taken 5 days later. You'll notice the sun is still shining on the church across my road at 10:30 PM. This picture is looking east, the west of course is brighter. I guess I'll have to start taking pictures later into the night for you to see a difference. The longest day (June 21st) is coming too soon - then the days will get shorter which means the nights will get longer -- ugh.

Now, for my northern travellers, I have found this web cam of the highway we will be travelling to Skagway. If you click on the "loop" button, it shows the road during different current time periods. Here's the link: http://www.dot.state.ak.us/iways/roadweather/forms/CameraImage.html?areaId=5&perspectiveId=2&siteId=32&viewId=7
It's a bit slow, but I found it interesting.

And for all you Pirates of the Caribbean fans, if you haven't seen Part III, go! It is worth seeing if only for Johnny Depp. He is made for the part. As well, all you Shrek fans, Shrek 3 is worth seeing, no matter what the critics say. I thoroughly enjoyed both movies.

Not a very interesting picture but one I took at 10:30 PM just to show you how much daylight we are now getting. We LOVE it!!!

Fox update: Found a letter taped to my door this morning. It was from my next door neighbour and read: We watched a fox in our backyard eating a squirrel and then he buried it in your nice veg. garden! So I looked in the garden this morning and sure enough, there was a raised portion in the shape of a squirrel grave. I dug it up, discarded the piece of squirrel and put wire meshing on the top of the garden. Hopefully my plants will grow through the meshing. Interestingly enough, while writing this, I looked out the window and there was the fox walking on top of the meshing. He quickly found he couldn't dig through to reach his buried prey, gave up and wandered over to the 6 foot fence which he jumped and continued his search in my other neighbour's yard. I must remember to keep my camera close by.

Guess who came for tea! I finally got to spend the afternoon with Mrs Nugent & Sue (although I did spend time with Sue during the Canada Games 2-1/2 months ago). 'Ol "Billie" hasn't changed since I was 17 -- heard her war-brides stories, her stories of old England and received plenty of advice -- put yourself first, keep all the money for yourself...
I grabbed them on day 2 of their visit. Usually Sue phones on the last day and we are unable to get together.
Considered tea on the deck, but we had all of our nice weather in the 2nd week of May. Since then, there has been a constant wind blowing directly from the North Pole and although the sun is hot, the wind necessitates the donning of sweaters, coats etc. and blows away the napkins, so we settled for tea at the table. Sue brought pictures of the Games while Iris told her stories. It was a fun afternoon spent with good friends.