Tangible Evidence

Our trip to the UK has gotten a step closer in a tangible, exciting way; our BritRail tickets just arrived! We originally planned on a three day pass but the purchase included a bonus day of travel. This extra day allows us to spend a full day at Roman Vindolanda along Hardian's Wall. If you don't know anything about Vindolanda you should look it up and be amazed at what they have discovered there. Three more weeks!

Sun and Wind

Today was about the warmest day we've had here in the Yukon in a very, very long time. My wife and I walked the Millennium Trail by the power station. I was very pleased to see the main flow of the river ice free and energetically rippling and churning. Fresh air and a warm sun are more welcome than I can say.

Forging My Own Solutions

What do my forge and my kids have in common? Back scratching. Still confused? Almost every time I get near my kids they say "my back is itchy. Scratch it!". There must be an invisible itch zone about me extending out to around five feet. So, rather than me endlessly scratching their collective backs I figured I could just make a backscratcher on my forge.

I'm going to name it "Dad".

So if anyone in the Whitehorse area has some scrap iron (I'm running out) I'll gladly take it off your hands. I have a small forge so I can't handle a whole lot larger than rebar size (maximum thickness of about 1 1/2 inches).

Eulogy for the Neon

Back in 2002 we moved from Edmonton to Terrace B.C. and I began commuting each day to New Aiyansh for work. We needed a car pretty badly as our old truck (1990 F150) wasn't really suited to driving 1000 kms per week on that grueling drive . That's right, 1000 kms per week, each week, for three years. So we bought the Neon to replace the old truck. It was a 2000 Neon with 65,000 kms and was the first year of their redesigned model. The introduction to it's new life probably wasn't too encouraging because the Nisga'a Highway was under construction for about a year or more and the conditions at times were horrendous with softball sized boulders strewn about the road and potholes large enough to break an axle. The car took a beating for sure but it survived those three years and when I got the offer to move north to the Yukon the Neon was still up to the task. I remember passing the B.C./Yukon border and shortly after I saw the odometer count up to 200,000kms. I was impressed. That was six years ago and six cold winters. The Yukon cold can be pretty hard on a vehicle but the Neon kept going. Only during the coldest weather, when the walls of the house crack and the nights are at their longest did I really worry about it starting in the mornings. Only twice did it fail me and that was mainly attributable to a failing battery. For the last three years our mechanic has been telling us not to bother with it any longer. It's too old. It will cost you too much.  As it turns out, the last three years cost us an average of less than $100 per month on maintenance. That's a fraction of the cost for payments on a new car. Not to mention we drove the Neon down to Victoria and back (getting 47mpg) just last summer with never a problem. Now, at 453,000kms on that tired old odometer we are singing her old songs of victory and putting her to rest. I dearly would have like to see the old girl reach 500,000kms but it wasn't her fate. The Neon is still fixable but I don't have the $1600 for the work and can't justify it. The amazing thing is that the transmission and engine are still original and have never needed any work.

So, in the end the Neon was a fantastic car but she had a hard life between the Nass Valley and the northern cold. She's driven us many thousands of kilometers to and from work and all around the country for pleasure but, alas, her days are over.