Yukon bush life

(Lou, Yukon) We are exhausted. It was a long fight but we won in the end. Our battle of wits with a not very intelligent dog was fought over two hundred miles and 5 days. We departed last Thursday to visit friends with Homer packed in his much-hated travel box. The trail had disappeared under fresh snow in places so we un-boxed him and put him upfront to find the way with his nose. Good boy. Homer in lead Getting him back was easy. I’d call, offer a handful of kibble and he’d come running. Then we’d stuff him in his fourth class carriage. He fell for it every time. The trail crossed wind-blown ice, pocked by a warm southerly wind that had sent temperatures above freezing for a couple of days. In places it was so rough I thought my teeth were going to bounce out of my head. We let Homer run free, rather than risk blending him into a husky smoothie with all the slamming and bumping. Rock hard ice He did NOT want to go back into his box and ran up the bank into the w...

(Lou, Yukon) Our dog has a Hansel and Gretel complex. Homer thinks one day we will take him into the twisted, tangled woods and sneak away, leaving him to the wolves and witches, like the evil parents of the fairy tale. Frosted forest He stays very close when we are out working, getting firewood or cutting trail, so we can’t escape. He tried sitting in the trail at first. We couldn’t get away but he couldn’t get a nap without getting thumped on the head with a log every 30 seconds. He soon sussed that we always bring our equipment home with us so he stands beside that. When he’s harnessed to the dogsled he snoozes with one eyebrow raised and twitching, in case we cut the tug line and tip toe away with the sled. If we have the snowmachine, he sits right in front of it. Mightn’t we slip it into gear, push it silently across the snow and abandon him whilst he sleeps? Taking no chances One day we stopped the machine a few miles away on th...

It is nothing short of a miracle but we have two snowmachines running. They are going forward and backwards and doing all the things you would expect of them. Another breakdown could be just around the corner so we are making the most of it. We got the missing adjustment pins for our Widetrak so have been driving at top speed and doing crazy circles in the deep snow to test it. The sun is shining, the trails are slick and we’ve been having a blast. We’ve been to town, we’ve visited friends we’ve wanted to get to all winter and I’ve been racing up and down the creek just for the hell of it. My Valentine's present. New ear defenders. He's so thoughtful The speedo is broken on our Polaris 340, Piccolo, but Neil clocked me shifting ass at 45mph on the way back from town. Anyone remember the kids TV show The Banana Splits, whizzing around in buggies to that insanely joyous theme tune? If you don't remember, click here ... That’s us! I just want to sing out ...