Yukon bush life

Sounds like a gripping adventure movie! Neil went out to work for 10 days and left me at home with the dog. A haircut for Neil before he left I did what most people do when their spouse is away. Farted loudly, slept in a star shape and left things lying around in the way. Superstar consultant, flown out by helicopter My only crisis was, I couldn’t open a jar of artichoke hearts. Frustrating, but not a plot for a Hollywood film. Ice fog over the river, taken just before it stopped I did have one big scare. I promised Neil not to go beyond the outhouse without bear spray and I only forgot once. I was collecting some wood in the forest behind the house. I thought about going back for it, but hey, the ground is covered in a duvet of snow. Bears should be asleep by now as they hibernate when they can no longer find food. Plus, I was only 300 yards from the house. Homer never barks unless there is a large invader. A bear, moose or human. H...

The Yukon River is usually full of silt, so much so, it brushes the shore and slips past the boat with a faint hiss. As winter approaches the water clears to thick, jade green. The glaciers in the great mountains of British Columbia begin to re-freeze and no longer pour their flow of mud and ground rock into the valleys. Homer listening to a lone wolf howling across river The river is now clearer, and shallower, than I’ve ever seen it. Incredibly, there is no ice at the shore and we can gaze right down onto the muddy pebbles a few feet below. But still we can’t catch one damn fish. Dead vole for bait. Bit optimistic “There are no grayling, there can’t be!” Neil was convinced until a family of otters moved in this week. Unless they brought pizza from Dawson, they must be living off something. Otter tracks I patrol at dawn and dusk with the .22, hoping to shoot a grouse whilst our ‘gun dog’ directs me to every ...