Last Day of February

Like Iris says, it is good to see February in the rear view mirror. Will Spring ever arrive? Went to pick up the mail today - the long way. Needed fresh air and sunshine. There was lots of both outside but also lots of wind. Luckily I layered as the windchill was driving the beautiful -18 temperature down to -34 ... like the weather office says "with a risk of frostbite". And this is why I take vitamin pills as not much of the sun is able to be absorbed on days like today.

Another Luckily, I had my earbuds inserted (sounds rude, doesn't it!?!) with James Morrison's voice floating around my head. That did much to make me forget the wind trying to nip that nose. Here is a sample of what I heard (and sorry once again, but you will have to "x" that annoying ad at the bottom):



Love his music!

Documentary

Thank you Facebook. I have been nosing through my "friends" walls and found this.




This trailer looks like it will be an interesting documentary. I remember the day well.
And that reminds me of the joke that went around that goes:
There really was a high jacking of a plane that landed in Whitehorse. The terrorist had a gun to the head of the pilot and he was heard yelling "I said White HOUSE"

Wayne Rooney

For those of you who missed it, (and for those of you that care !?!) here is Rooney bicycle kicking his brilliant goal of last weekend.

Here's what Sports & Stars said: "Rooney's kick in the 78th Minute of play put Manchester United ahead of Manchester City 2-1, which ended up being the final score.

United coach Alex Fergusson said the goal was "unbelievable," according to the UK Sun"

Rooney's back and with style!

Yukonic

My friend Iris works for the Yukon Film Commission (you'll remember her Heather!). She keeps me up to date on whaz hap'nin here in the north. Check out this trailer she just sent to me on Yukonic. CLICK HERE

Here is what she said about it:

This is the web series that I have been working on for the past year! Film Commission is the Executive Producer on this. There will be 13 two minutes webisodes that will be posted on the internet by end of the month! Oh and they will also be playing in Times Square.

Those of you who have been here will recognize bits of the Yukon from this trailer - Carcross Desert... White Pass & Yukon Route Passenger Car ... Can Can Dancers... And if you sign up you can be the first to watch the webisodes when they are released.

And for all you Facebook people, you can visit their wall at Yukon Film & Sound Commission.

Thanks for this Iris!

ughhhhh

Remember me bragging about our weather - sprinkling the sentences with words like "Hawaii"? Well, no more! Today is -22 degrees C and with the windchill will range from -44 to -34 degrees C. Ughhhhh. When will Spring come???

A Little HeadsUp

Listening to the radio yesterday I heard that Canada is moving from analog to digital TV in August of this year. The U.S.A. did this in June of 2009 (was it really that long ago??). We knew this was happening to our southern neighbours because EVERY U.S. TV station advertised this fact for months and months prior to it happening, explaining what the difference was and offering financial assistance for those needing a converter box due to this change over.

What does this mean? Not too much for most you living in southern Canada, but for us in the north, there are a lot of TV sets operating on antennas or on rabbit ears. In fact, I went to the store not too too long ago to pick up a NEW pair of rabbit ears and they were ALL SOLD OUT. Where else in Canada (except perhaps in NWT or Nunavut) would that happen? In fact, I'll bet some of you reading this won't even know (remember?) what rabbit ears are! They are the small anntenas that attach to the top of your TV set and consist of two extensible rods shaped in a "V". They pick up analog TV stations - in my case I receive CBC TV English, CBC TV French and APTN. But I digress. So I googled this change in Canada and here is what the CRTC said:

"Canadian local over-the-air television stations moving to digital: August 31, 2011

By August 31, 2011, Canadian local television stations in certain areas will stop broadcasting in analog and will start broadcasting in digital.

The majority of Canadians will not be affected. If you receive your TV signals by cable, satellite or another TV service, the switch to digital will not affect you. You will continue to receive your existing television services with the equipment that you currently use. You will not be required to buy a new TV or other equipment, or subscribe to additional services.

The switch to digital may affect television viewers who receive local over-the-air TV stations using an outdoor antenna or “rabbit ears”. Once the switch occurs, these viewers may need to have either a digital converter box or a television with a digital tuner, or may want to consider receiving their TV services from a cable, satellite or other service provider.

Areas switching to digital signals on August 31, 2011

Local over-the-air television stations that fit the following criteria will be required to make the switch on August 31, 2011:

• national, provincial and territorial capital cities
• areas with a population over 300,000
• other areas where there is more than one local television station broadcasting over-the-air signals"

What do they mean by "may"? It should read "will either"..."or". You will not be able to pick up digital signals on an antenna.

So that means my little 14" Sharp TV I received as a gift in 1989 will not longer work unless I get a converter box AND get cable TV. Boo hoo. I loved that little TV.

Hockey Day in Canada - tomorrow

Officially tomorrow is Hockey Day in Canada, but all of the "stars" are here now. Do you recognize the above person? Luckily all the hockey players that take part in this Day are "old" hockey players, so I recognize their names from days of yore, when I was interested in hockey - that is before all the fighting and before the zillion US teams joined the NHL - I mean, who even knows how to ice skate in Florida or Arizona, or California!?! (If you give up, it is Ken Dryden)

There was a skate this morning with the Stanley Cup on location at the Canada Games Centre. The CBC morning show was broadcast live on location. I thought I would see if I could see the Cup after 9 AM - when all the people had left for work or school. Of course, all the people left and so did the cup but the Puck was still there so I took advantage of that!
I know that some of the hockey people were coaching sessions in the morning, but it was difficult to tell who was who with all their equipment on. I heard Wendell Clark and Lanny McDonald were there, but didn't see them, so all you get is a photo of a puck.

I tell the truth

In case you didn't believe me when I said Shaun was in a bit of a state in 1984, here is a photo to prove it!

Yukon Quest Day One

I was going to impress you by showing you a pin from the very first Yukon Quest. So I photographed the oldest one in this special little bag I have that holds my Quest pins. I thought the first Quest was 1984 - but it must be 1985 as that is the first pin I have. Then looking on the Quest site - the first race WAS 1984! I must have filed that pin in a very special place.

My first Yukon Quest story: Shaun and I went to the finish line to see Sonny Lindner be the first to cross. Shaun was about 1-1/2 years old. He was also acting very much like a Terrible Two. I finally gave him a bottle to pacify him. Sonny's team finally arrived, he crossed the line then steered his dogs to the front of the White Pass & Yukon Route building where his dogs immediately laid down, panting, tongues hanging out. They LOOKED like they had just run 1,000 miles. Shaun, now in much better mood due to the bottle, went up to the lead dog and shoved the nipple of his bottle in the dogs mouth. Guess he though if it helped him so much, it would help the dog as well.




Give the 'ol blogger a pat on the back. I needed a few things downtown today so thought I'd grab my camera and take a few photos of the Quest start for all my faithful viewers. The crowds began well before the start line and continued well after the start line. Now, in case you didn't know it, Yukoners ARE Yukoners because they don't like crowds. We don't line up for shows (or at least those of us that are not newly from Vancouver don't), we don't like lining up at banks, and we don't like driving around and around looking for a parking spot. So, with this in mind, I proceeded downtown to pick up the few things I needed. A great time to shop downtown - parking spots wherever I went. Then, feeling a bit guilty, I thought I'd proceed further along the Yukon River and perhaps catch some of the mushers there. Eureka! It worked just fine. So here are a few shots of mushers from this year's Quest. Finish line - Fairbanks Alaska - 1,000 Miles away!
If you want to follow the race, just click into the Yukon Quest site.

What's Happening

Guess what time of year it is ... Yukon Quest time!! Our town is filling with lots and lots of one ton vehicles all sporting dog boxes with sleds on top. The race begins this year in Whitehorse on Saturday. For those of you who lived in the north, yes, the Edgewater is still here, as you can see in the above photo with Horwood's Mall (remember T & D's ??) right across the road.

Had an update from the "kids" in Argentina. The latest travel blog was about, among other things, the ZOO in Mendoza and how upon leaving the facility, Brooke cried for the animals. I Youtubed the Mendoza zoo and other than the tourism videos which shows a modern lively entertaining facility, personal videos show a very different picture - especially the one of the zoo keeper removing a dead tiger from its cage, then proceeding to skin the animal right there. Oh my, now I know why she would cry.

On a brighter note, they are in wine country and have toured local wineries as well as an olive oil factory. They toured the one and only organic winery in South America. As well, they have wine with their dinners and suggest Luigi Bosca Wine if you ever see it in the wine store.

And for all you hockey fans (which doesn't include me unfortunately) Whitehorse will be hosting HOCKEY DAY IN CANADA on February 12 - not this Saturday, but next Saturday.
The name of the event is a bit of a misnomer, as there will be a near week-long celebration in the area. There will be youth hockey events, banquets and appearances by a host of NHL alums, including Kelly Hrudey, Kevin Weekes, Trevor Linden, Wendel Clark, Reggie Leach, Pat Quin, Brad May and Tim Taylor. The Stanley Cup and Memorial Cup will be on hand, as will Calgary Flames mascot Harvey the Hound and Toronto Maple Leafs mascot Carlton the Bear.

Ron MacLean will host most of CBC's 13 1/2 hours of live coverage from an outdoor rink at the Canada Games Center in Whitehorse, starting at noon ET. He'll move inside Tahkini Arena later in the day, where the Vancouver Giants will play the Kamloops Blazers in a key Western Hockey League game. That game will serve as the backdrop to regular the Hockey Night in Canada broadcast, including MacLean and Don Cherry hosting Coach's Corner and the Hot Stove panel.

So if you want to see a bit of the north, you may want to tune your TV to CBC and see if you can catch some of the hockey action.

February 1st

The wind was a'howling last night, blowing in the warm air from Hawaii! It's not quite the Pineapple Express as no moisture was blown in - just warm air. So for a couple of days we will enjoy the spring like conditions before the arctic cold front pushes the thermometer back down to -17 as expected on the weekend.