Yukon bush life

The river broke up on May 9 th . After weeks of watching and waiting it tried to sneak out on us when we were in bed.  The day before, crazy caribou out for a stroll, deep channels of water at the side Luckily Neil’s bladder isn’t all that and he had to get up at 4am for a pee. “The river’s breaking up!” he shouted as he ran back in. You know when you’d just rather be asleep? “Oh for heaven’s sake,” I said putting on my wellies and grabbing the camera. We have 24 hour daylight now, as far as I can tell, so at least we were able to see it and film it. All the drama at 4am, icebergs breaking apart Here’s a very exciting compilation from the moment Neil ran back out the door into the yard, to later the next day when there must have been a jam upriver and it cleared for a bit. There is some foul mouthed and inarticulate 4am commentary from us to enjoy too (“Wow! Look!” etc) Perhaps because break up happened late in the year and the ice was b...

Caribou on the river in front of our house You get used to the wilderness. It begins to feel familiar, even a bit suburban and then wolves attack a caribou at the edge of your yard and you remember just how wild it is. We took the snowmachine for a swim in the Yukon that same day, so have been thoroughly shaken out of our complacency. Ice pressure ridge up river from us I nipped out for a pee in the evening and heard a commotion. When the temperature drops to 30 below, sounds distort. They bounce off the frozen surfaces and become brittle and hollow. It was pitch black. Neil came out and we both heard a volley of crashes and cracks very, very close. We are ever so brave and so ran inside in a panic, grabbed the guns and went up to our raised back porch, where we would be safe from the intruder. Been cold recently Something was thrashing the willows right at the edge of the yard. It was grunting and snorting. The creature was big, very big- so most li...

(Lou, Yukon) Don’t wash squirrels. I learned that this week. They don’t come out well. The amber, feather-light tail never quite recovers and the fur has the look of rat skin. That’s sewer rat, not muskrat. Washed, tanned, oiled and drying Au naturel We’ve been trying to ignore our squirrel problem at the old cabin all winter. After fixing the roof and stuffing it with some old insulation this autumn, we are now using it as a storeroom and, perhaps optimistically, guest cabin. And here's the master bedroom... Our plan is to keep the insulation in the roof to prevent heat escaping, the squirrels' plan is to take it down to the cold cellar to make nests and use the space above the floor as a toilet. The original roof was insulated with a tonne of mud which we had to remove before we could rebuild it  My understanding was that squirrels fiercely defend their territories so we could only have one, or possibly a pair of them, using the cabin. No. We got ...