Tak-Tar Plumbing and Heating

Just had a lovely experience this morning.  I called Don from Tak-Tar Plumbing (thanks Joan for the referral).  My drains were gurgling.  He came over within the hour, checked inside and outside, spent about 1/2 an hour at my house and thoroughly explained the problem - ice build up in the vent.   And he advised what can be done to remedy it.   The cheapest option was wait for warm weather.  The second cheapest option was to get my son to do a few things, i.e. insulate the pipe in the attic (a small piece of insulation was missing near the roof) then pour hot water down the vent.  When he was leaving I asked what I owed him.  He said a hug which I gladly paid him.

Rendezvous 2014

And Rendezvous ends with a bang.

Rendezvous Weekend

This is the big Rendezvous Weekend.  Was going to go down to view the snow carvings yesterday but line dancing got in the way.  So, made the trip this morning (after watching Finland beat the USA in Hockey for the Bronze medal & after watching Manchester United beat Crystal Palace 2-0 [finally they won a game!]).  I was to meet Brooke and SR in Shipyards Park.  Of course, I started doing a plumbing job before leaving which put me a bit behind schedule, got a phone call from downtown, then rushed to get ready.  I know SR told me this morning it was around -30 but when I looked outside it looked warm so grabbed my down coat, ear bags, boots and my Pirates of the Caribbean gloves I got for Xmas about 5 or 6 years ago (remember William you gave them to me??).  Arrived at the park to discover it WAS nearly -30 and the rest of my outerwear was good (I was wearing silk long underwear too) but my fingers FROZE.  Sorry but Pirates of the Caribbean gloves are not made for north of 60 winter warmth.

We watched a bit of the One Dog Pull.  This dog was pulling 400 Pounds.  I believe the winning dog pulled 500 pounds.  Also watched a bit of the Flour Packing contest.  Watched a girl walk - I can't remember how far but she was the leader in distance - with 548 pounds of flour on her back.  Her legs shook like jello with each step.

And one of my favourite things to do is view the snow sculptures.  Above is the Team Yukon sculpture of a Moose in some Trees and below (my fave) is Team Michigan's work of a Pirate (speaking of my gloves) and what was really cool about this was the tiny sculpture inside his telescope was a miniature sculpture of the one about 20 feet directly in front of the pirate.

Now back to my hands.  I complained so much we all went inside the tent where I stayed until the throbbing stopped and the redness lessened.   I trying to take a picture with frozen hands but it turned out a bit blurry - sorry.  What I was impressed with was the northern lights they made out of material hanging from the ceiling.  Cool!

February 19

Another performance last night.   We are so lucky.

Post Performance

After Gillian's performance The Big Band performed.  Our Line Dancing group stepped out to their music.  Above, you can see one of the two Queen's that joined in to dance with us.  When the audience saw us dancing to the music of The Big Band, the dance floor soon began to fill.  We 'got the party started'.  

First Weekend of Rendezvous

Each year during the Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous - our winter 'kick yer heals up' festival - a Queen is crowned.  This is the 50th year of the festival and to honour all of the Queens that have been crowned, a special dinner and evening of entertainment was planned and all of the Queens and their partners were invited - and quite a large number were able to attend.  As you probably know I have been learning to Line Dance - this is my second year.  This year we were asked to perform at this event.  We did three dances - the first was a waltz to Hank Karr's "Waltz of the Yukon", the second was quite a bit more lively and the third was choreographed for Hello Dolly, a song which was chosen to honour another frequent and famous entertainer (who was to follow our number), Gillian Campbell, pictured below.

Hands behind our backs mean we were dancing the waltz.  The audience loved the fact we were dancing to the music of a well known Yukoner.

Our next two dances were quite a bit more lively and fun.  Again, the audience clapped along to the music and seemed to really enjoy watching us dance. 

It was fun.  And I was surprised at the response were received from the audience.  Lots and lots of appreciative clapping.  A steady stream of people praised our performance and one even asked where we were going to be performing next!

Northern Lights

The Northern Lights were dancing tonight.  Thanks SR for the phone call.  They never become old, even after 36 years.  I still donned my coat and went outside to view the show.

12 Years A Slave

Saw 12 Years A Slave last night.  The choice was this or Monument Men and since the latter received such bad reviews no matter where you looked (critics and audiences alike) we chose the former.
I knew it wasn't going to be a happy movie.  The topic of Slaves never are.  And it didn't disappoint.  I thought it was very well done, the acting was superb and I also thought Brad Pitt played a larger role in the film than he did, not that that bothered me.  This movie is as well produced as everyone says it is.  The subject matter is a bit hard to take though.

February 11, 2014

I walked to the grocery store today.
As I was paying, I apologized for taking so long in getting my credit card out.  The clerk asked, "Are you walking today?".  I had to laugh.  Only in Whitehorse would they ask such a question to a lady wearing Sorel boots, snow pants, a 3/4 length down filled coat, a scarf covering not only the neck but at that point my chin also, a toque, two pairs of gloves (actually one small pair of gloves and one pair of Team Canada Mitts - yeah, GO CANADA ... and that being one reason it was taking me so long in getting to some form of payment),  a BackPack (the other reason it was taking me so long in getting some form of payment - as I had to take it off my back and search for a wallet) and sunglasses wrapped around my eyes.
"Yes" I replied.
"It's a cold one out there today," he said.
Yes it was a cold one out there today.  And we have almost forgotten what winter was like.  I took the long way home as the sun was brilliantly shining and it was glorious, even though the temperature was -27 C ... until I turned the corner.  The every so slight breeze was stinging my face so I pulled the scarf up to cover my cheeks.  (Yesterday it was -36 with the wind chill and I didn't want frost bite).  Well, the scarf protected my cheeks but my breath shot up out of the top of the scarf and fogged up my sunglasses.  As it was cold, the moisture turned to ice and now I couldn't see.  My choice was to risk frost bite on my cheeks or see where I was going.  So, as I was walking, I took off my big mitts, took off my glasses and checked to see if I could melt the ice to clean them off.  Then I looked down and noticed one mitt was missing.  I looked behind me and saw in the distance a splotch of red on the white snow.  I back-tracked (which was actually nice as the wind was at my back and the sun was in my face) picked up my missing mitt and again headed for home, sunglasses in my hand.
I am now all nice and cozy it my house and blogging.  Ahhhhh, life is good.

A Well Trained Dog

Two Dogs

Guess who I'm looking after this weekend.  Little TimBit (Timber) and Lily.  Lily is always the lady.  Timber is his own person - big rough bark for such a wee dog.  We went for a walk with Rudy today.  Timber is in love with Rudy - luckily he is being "fixed" at the beginning of next week.  His amorous side was in full bloom today.  My only worry is the two dogs next door (german shepherd and pit bull cross) sounding like they want to eat my two visiting dogs anytime they are all outside at the same time - there is only a wobbly fence separated the two yards.  Other than that we are having fun, going for a couple of walks a day and luckily both dogs like to sleep in so I can too.  

Fire Safety

Important!!!

Make sure your fire extinguisher is up to date.  I thought my garage door opener was about to burst into flames (considering the amount of smoke coming from it).  I grabbed my fire extinguisher at the same time remembering I had not had it serviced since 2007!!!!!  I hoped with all my might that it would still work should I see flames.  Luckily, the smoke cleared without flames so I didn't have to put it to the test, but it was an eye opener for me.  The next day I took it to be serviced.  

If you have a fire extinguisher ensure it is in proper working order.  It doesn't cost much to service it considering the important job it may one day be used for.  And if you don't have one, buy one for the house.  You NEVER know when you will need it.  Hopefully you will never need it, but its need is NEVER PLANNED.

And while I'm at it, make sure you replace the batteries in your smoke detector once a year. 

 Safety First!