Put a Little Spin Back in Your Life

I'm sitting here listening to the warm sounds of Perry Como spinning off the old record player we bought the other day. What-player? Record. Record Player. My daughter heard of them but my son was totally amazed at the concept. The technology is so simple and clean and it brings back some rather fond memories of cranking up the tunes on the old cabinet stereo when my parents left my brother and I at home alone for a while. My Dad had a big classical record collection which is now gone; sold or thrown out I don't know. Funny how we view old technology when faced with the new. Obsolescence doesn't always equal bad. How many mp3s have you lost lately because your computer crashed? Some of the records we've found go back into the '50s are are still perfectly playable. Welcome back to my life. I've missed you, scratches, ticks and all.  

Out of the Past

I was reading that amazing CBC North article today about the 32,000 year old seed that was successfully germinated. In the comments (sorry, I don't know who you are Mr. Commenter) someone said there are stories of strange plants sprouting up around gold mines in the Yukon. That in itself deserves an article. A cursory googling hasn't turned anything up for me yet but the concept of seeds lying dormant in the frozen ground for thousands of years and springing to life upon being dug up is quite thought provoking.

Influences

Ice Floes in Black and White, originally uploaded by Dar Moorhouse.

I just found a photographer from out of Iceland named Ragnar Axelsson. His work is just stunning and his use of black and white is superb. So now I find myself wanting to try to figure it out...

Who Turned Out The Lights?

We were sitting around, taking things for granted; warm house, reading, surfing the web, watching movies. I'm sure you can picture a modern evening at home with the family. I had looked at the thermometer and it was registering -38.7C and slowly falling. I was glad the car was plugged in because it would never start without that. I turned on the water to get a drink and while it was running the pump kicked on in the well to keep the tank pressure up. The lights always dim just a tiny bit when it powers on. Moments later the furnace fired up. Ah warm house. In that split second it takes for one of those sudden, clean power outages all of that was gone. No heat, no lights, no water, no movies....nothing. All of this black nothing and -38.7C. It's a funny feeling when you realize we are only a few kilowatts away from the cold and the dark of the Yukon winter.

"Uh oh" said my wife.
"Oh great" I said.
"Hey!" said my son.
"But I wanted to read!" said my daughter.
"Beep beep beep" said all my UPSes.

I grabbed a flashlight and went hunting for the 300 watt inverter and my stash of five (yep, five) car batteries. I grabbed one of the batteries and hooked up the inverter and plugged in a lamp. One lamp gives off quite a lot of light. Enough to fill the living room and spill over into the kitchen. My wish-list now includes a 1500 watt inverter to power up my Toyo Stove to heat the house. I don't want to imagine the scenario where the power goes for 6 hours at -50C. In the end our power came back on in less time than it takes to watch an episode of The Office on my wife's charged up laptop but the thought still remains; what if the power does go out for a long time in very cold weather?

Post Christmas Tree Post

We took the plunge today and finally dismantled the Christmas tree. Suddenly there is a big empty space in our living room and the house seems that much dimmer. We were late this year pulling it down partly because our kids didn't want to part with it last weekend and partly because, well, we just didn't feel like dealing with it either. Now it just feels like winter. I need to find fun and interesting ways to brighten up these short, cold days.

Winter Light

Winter Light, originally uploaded by Dar Moorhouse.

The temperature rose to a balmy -3C today and I got a bit more restless than usual so my daughter and I went for a walk across the river. I'm pretty sure the trail which runs parallel along the far side of the river just south of Lake Lebarge is part of the Livingston Trail, which brought the gold rush folk up through this neck of Yukon woods during those early years. Now it's a well packed trail, wide and easily walked in the winter. The river is frozen solid to gaining access to it requires no more than a bit of walking against the blistering winds which howl down the open regions of the river valley. In amongst the trees there are quite a number of animal tracks ranging from wolf (prints the size of sauce pans) and bobcat, right down to tiny mouse prints which erupt from holes in the snow.

We had a great walk and by the time we got home we were ready of our cups of hot mocha.

Happy New Years

Eli at New Years, originally uploaded by Dar Moorhouse.

We rang in the New Year with friends last night. A few adults and a crowd of young people and it was quite enjoyable. It was funny how the adults sat around by the food and wine and discussed our wonderful kids while said kids took over the living room. I shouldn't really say "kids" because they ranged in age from twenty down to twelve.