Frog Mountain Music Festival!

Well, there was an exciting new festival nearby that Steph and I just had to go and check out. In case you haven't heard it was at the Circle D Ranch, west of Whitehorse and a mere hop, skip and a jump away from me. Or as comedian Mitch Hedberg says - "Hop, skip and a jump away? Well... that's not how I'm getting there. How about directions for someone who is... walking?"

It's about a 35 minute drive from me. :)

Anyways, Yukon festivals have been dwindling over the past few years, I have to admit I kind of miss all the weekends full of music, fine beverages and debauchery.
This was the most well thought out parking lot EVER. Look at those rows of cars, easy to get in, easy to get out. Simply awesome. The organizers thought of it everything. Those camping were parked in a different section.


And if you don't believe the photo - here's a video of Stripey Stephanie and the parking lot:



And THANKFULLY, after a lot of crap weather and rain and wind this summer, the day turned out pretty darned nice. Sun and a bit of wind, but that's ok - no rain! And holy crap did it ever get cold after the sun went behind some clouds. Everyone was walking around shivering then gathered at the campfires saying "um, this IS July right??"

Some of the musicians even commented on how cold they were on stage at night. Normally sweaty, hot stages had a bit of a Yukon chill. This place is definitely not for those who LOVE heat!


The camping area - huuuuuge field! We are definitely camping overnight next year. There didn't seem to be a ton of people, but still a great atmosphere the whole night.


MMmmmmm.... glorious meat! This home of the elk farm, so how could you not eat up some elk tastiness?


Food tent.


The music tent. What an awesome spot! This place was so roomy and open with 360 degree views of the Takhini River vally, the Ibex, a great place for a festival!


Brandon Isaak - the Whitehorse All Stars Band. The gospel tune rocked! I felt like I was in church.... but like a really cool, fun church.


Johnny Pogue and the Colleens. Good rolicking Irish-y Pogues-type tunes. Here's a taste of their tuneage:





Brand spanking NEW outhouses. Nothing gets me more excited than an outhouse. A NEW outhouse, even more so. This would have been a wonderful experience except for the novice outhouse-users who went before me kind of ruined the good outhouse juju. People! Learn to PEE IN THE HOLE!!!! Not around the hole and on the freakin' seat! I had to move on till I found a pee-less seat.


That's a pretty sweet meat tent behind you.


Stephanie looking at her photos and exclaiming "my, you look fantastic!" Or more like - "oh my god, we look ridiculous!"


Every good party has a bonfire ready to go!


It was getting a bit darker, much colder so we headed one of the two massive bonfires!


Starting to get dark out these days... this was around 11:30pm. The darkness is now setting in around here, it's always weird when it gets dark out again. It's the slow slide into the winter of darkness.... but it's too soon to talk about that! Right now, we'll enjoy what we have left of summer! :)

Fishing with the Big Johnson

The gang headed out to Dezadeash Lake last weekend in an effort to hit a new lake with the fishing and kayaks and this time... a boat! In case you haven't heard of this lake, let's discuss:

According to Yukon Heritage:

Compared to other big lakes of the southern Yukon, Dezadeash is a large shallow bathtub averaging four metres deep. The surface temperature can climb to 18° Celsius and higher in summer.

Lake trout prefer water temperature that ranges between 8º and 12˚C and cannot survive in water warmer than 23.5º C. During hot summer days, Dezadeash lake trout find themselves under much more stress than their counterparts who swim the frigid depths of nearby Kathleen Lake where surface water is rarely warmer than 11°C.

Um... yeah. So let me say, visiting the lake in mid-July, it was definitely NOT warm. Not even "warm-ish!" However, if there's one thing I've learned and accepted in the Yukon, is that swimming outdoors in lakes (IN COMFORT) is a rare thing. So even though we had grand plans to go swimming when we got out there, hey the sun was out... by the time we got out on the water and the wind picked up, clouds appeared... and it got cold. I think Dave read the water temp at about 58F. Gah!

I started out on the kayak, but as the wind picked up and storm swelled...ok, not exactly a storm, but it was a bit windy. Along cam that big ol' boat with a motor, food, good friends, and most importantly - and cooler of beer!

Darryl and Amil pull up and it looks like I've hooked the boat with my fishing hook. It was calm here actually.


Looking back at the boat launch




Dave and Heather tire the dogs out. Even though there was a bear alert in the area, no tenting allowed - the bears stayed away. Thanks bears.

This was the life. Waiting for my fellow kayakers, basking in the sun, floating around.

View from the boat

The girls got skunked but Darryl(below) and Dave caught some fish. Lucky!

Darryl pulls up his monster. Annnd, then throws it back.


This is what happens when the girls get bored after catching NO FISH. He's kinda cute eh?


Aklak!



Keno was Ms. Mellow on the boat. Um yeah, we're on a boat. First time ever. So what. Must bury my head deeper into the bowels of the boat.


Keno: damned humans, always goofin' around! Geez, is it too much to ask for a NICE picture of us all??
Aklak: no kidding, please pass me the grey poupon.

Mountain biking hazards of the Yukon

Heather and I headed out for a mtn biking adventure after work one night, gotta love all this daylight! With the stupid-crazy weather we've had - sun, rain, then sun... more rain! Cloud, wind, more rain, sun, etc. Crazy summer in the Yukon thus far.



There goes innocent little Heather down the trail...

who surprisingly out-of-nowhere flips me the bird! And people think she's so sweet and innocent...ha! Think again.


Me showing off my superior inner biking skills of an 8-yr old.


Sheer. Focus. And. Determination.

We didn't go too far, but Heather had a knack for finding the biggest hills in the neighbourhood. As much as I love road biking, mountain biking can't be beat. The lack of RV's and semis zooming by within inches of you immediately make this mtn biking stuff way more fun.

There is a down side though... trail hazards!

The tree lunges out of nowhere and drags Heather down to the trail. I barely managed to escape the carnage of the evil tree but Heather's bike and limbs were in my way. It's not easy to run over your friend, her bike AND a tree without wiping out yourself. You know, in case you were wondering.


She may be paralyzed but the photo op was too good to check on her first.

The one rare photo where she isn't laughing under that tree!

We did manage to survive though.

This is where I say "stop laughing! It won't look believable that way!!"

And you all thought we were bored around here in summer with less dog stuff on the go eh? Or maybe this is the sign of boredom? Perhaps its the sign pointing towards the therapy room?

Either way, gotta love friends who are game for all your stupid ideas. :)

Happy mid-July peeps!!

New website!

Not mine though, I'm rather enjoying making sites for other people. Here's Dave & Heather's new-ish business - Bombproof Outdoor Gear. Check it out!

And if you have any sewing or gear needs - Dave is the man to talk to! He's made me sled bags, collars, winch covers, Pooh Bear straight-jackets, he can do it all! He does great work, he can sew sled bags and repair harnesses like there's no tomorrow. He can pull off any type of custom gear you dream up (ie: dog-containment systems - see above), he loves showing off his bags and has some cool merchandise.

His gear is guaranteed not to fail - a VERY IMPORTANT part of mushing and skijoring!

• So don't hold out, give Dave a shout!
• Need custom gear but don't want your bank account to drain? Talk to Dave and pick his brain!
• Want some great custom gear? Go for Bombproof and never fear!

Ok, that was just lame.

Regardless of the lamest sales pitch in the history of advertising - Dave really does makes some awesome custom stuff!!

But really, I just want you to check out the site so we can up our visitor stats, ha!

(am I putting the SHAM-WOW guy to shame yet?)

We tried to get Dave at Bombproof to sew for our fantabulous company - SHAM-WOW but he turned us down. The nerve! Look at us now, who doesn't freakin' love SHAMWOW!?!?!?

Hate you sham-wow.

This'll wake you up

I freakin' hate early morning visitors who don't call first.

God, there she is stumbling around her deck in her pajamas again... with the camera... always with the damned camera...usually we just watch and laugh from the bushes, hahaHA!


Yikes! What was that?!? Thought I heard something... whew! It was just a mouse. But damn! Being a prey species just SUCKS sometimes.


Yoo hooo....you totally can't see me behind this willow bush. Heeheehee....
-Elk with Attitude

When the excitement of the elk died down I decided to head out for a bike ride. The wind is relentless lately, and it's been colder than it should be at this time of year. But you gotta just suck it up sometimes and head out!!

Riding is when I do my best thinking too, I rode for about 22km before I realized "Crap! I have to ride back into that headwind!" I was cruising along, thinking about life, while scanning for rogue grizzlies or elk or ground squirrels or beavers to jump out and attack me. I literally solve the world's problems when I ride. Too bad I forget all the answers by the time my butt leaves the seat.

Ahhh, the open road.... the rutted road, the potholes, the long stretches of gravel... and chipseal how I love (hate) you!!!!


The over-the-shoulder-while-riding-shot. Disappointing... I can usually do much better than that.


Pretty hills, keeping my eye out for grizzlies who might come running down for a piece of tasty Stacie-candy. Where's my bear spray again?? Oh well at least I have my camera.


The annual trek of U-Hauls and RV's heading to (and from) Alaska.


It's quite green out there, with a few spots of snow on the mtns. Good to know winter is never far away....haha.


Beavers are working hard.


I know, let's put a dam right HERE near the culvert... maybe we can flood the highway, haha!

Forkin' Fun with Sled Dogs and Wasp Nests and Balls and Fun Police!

Portrait Day: Harris


Portrait Day: Ivy


Lucy-cherry-picker-who-waits-wayyyy-out-in-the-field snags the ball. Shocker.

George tries to sneak in to steal the ball, Lucy ain't having none of it.


Please, can I rip her head off if she tries to steal my ball??


MMMmmmmm... ball.... love...

Gracie hovers

I know that eventually, that stupid big red ball will fall out of your mouth when you start to get careless with your silly rolling and chewing... and just when you least expect it, I WILL be there to snatch it. And then bury it so no one else can enjoy the pleasures of the big red ball...mwhahahahaha....
-Fun Police Sgt. Gracie


Wheeeeeee


Action shot! George leads the way but Jack has the ball! Gracie is just there to jump on his head but sometimes he's a little too fast for her.


Throw. Ball. Now! says Happy Jack


So this is my summer project, clearing out and organizing the shed/tent. It's a bit of a disaster and I made about 10 minutes of progess on it yesterday by hauling things out. That's when I lifted up a box with a... wasp nest in it!!! The box contained a few packages of plastic forks(ahem, for previous/future parties - one can never have too many plastic forks y'know), and all of a sudden I was swarmed by very unhappy & angry wasps. I proceeded to high-tail it out of the tent, and ran down the path to the cabin flailing my arms and throwing plastic fork packages at the wasps. While screaming my head off the whole time.

Harris, Ivy and Jack were looking at me like I was a lunatic. Actually, they ran away from me.

Now I have to go clean up the freakin' plastic forks littered all over the place. HAHA

What a forkin' mess.

Oh the fun wasn't over then!! Next up was playtime with the ball-obsessed duo, Esther and Pooh Bear!

Hey, what's this "sled dog" thing? Can I park here?

Esther and Ripper, trying to see who can look the most insane.

A rare moment when Ripper isn't ripping something to shreds that he's found.

Trying to get a photo of PB's face while holding the ball...

is next to impossible!!


Nice back of your head shot.


half a face



and the ever popular "dangling tongue"


Ooh! Almost!!! :)

And here is a good 6 second illustration of what it's like to be in Pooh Bear's world (I thought that was more than enough for you!)

If only we all could have that much energy all the time eh??