Meandering Thoughts From the North

I am always joking with my kids that I am trying to earn the "mom of the year award." I think this time I've really done it. Our old dishwasher just wasn't doing it's job anymore. We had bought it second hand when we moved to Ross River, the converted it from portable to built in. We finally got fed up of having to rewash everything, so we bought a new dishwasher. I chose a very nice Fridgidaire. Unfortunately there was a delay between taking out the old, installing the new and getting the new d/w wired in. Today was a very happy day for all of us. No more washing dishes by hand. The electrician was in town and did the wiring for us. So, at last the kids can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that I won't be pestering them to do the dishes after supper. (By the way the picture is from the catalogue, not from my kitchen.)

We just arrived home from our trip to Whitehorse. What an eventful trip it turned out to be. We left home on Thursday right after work. It was almost dark by that time and a chilling -33. But we braved the trek into town being careful to use the brakes regularly so they wouldn't freeze up on us. We picked Naomi up from the dorms and grabbed a late supper to eat in the hotel room. Friday morning dawned cold and windy. But we bundled up. Brian started his day at 8am at the dentist, while I took the truck to the mechanic for some much needed repairs. Then I had my turn at the dentist (and I'm proud to say I had very little plaque build up, especially since I haven't had a cleaning in 2 years). Next the kids all had their turn. It was after 10:30 by the time we were finished there. Then I had to start my Christmas shopping. I walked all over town and kept returning to the hotel with my parcels. It was 3:30 before I had the truck back! I still had most of my shopping left to do. Now I had 1 1/2 hours before we had to head out for supper. I power-shopped. Then we had supper at Boston Pizza (who knew that a pepper shaker could explode over my greasy veggies!) then we went to the ballet! Can you believe it? Josh opted out, but the girls went with us. A couple of Naomi's friends were in it. It was excellent. Then we raced downtown to see movies we have all been waiting to see. By 11:30 we arrived back at the hotel - slightly exhausted. But, that is not all, oh no, that is not all! Saturday was another cold, windy day in Whitehorse. But, being the hardy soul that I am I walked to main street to have my hair done, leaving the truck with Brian so he could take Oscar to the vet. I power-shopped some more and we headed out of town at 3:45. (Earlier than expected!) The truck, which we spent so much time and money getting fixed, is still not working properly, but we continued on. About 70km past Carmacks, a herd of caribou decided to cross the road right in front of us. It was really, really dark out - no moon or stars, just our head lights. So, Brian slows down as quickly as he can. We are swerving all over the road. Brian is just trying to slow down so as not to plow into any of the caribou. We just about made it too, but one stupid caribou decided to turn around and go across the other side of the road. By this time we are only going 20km/hr - just fast enough to hit the caribou and go into the ditch. The animal was long gone by the time we exited the truck, but we could hear it crashing around in the woods - too dark to see anything. No damage was done to the truck, but we were stuck! Eventually due to Brian's great driving skills and my muscular talent, we pushed the truck for about 100 feet along the side of the road until we finally got enough back onto the road. It was a bit of a slow drive home after that - we think the wheels are out of alignment too. But we got home safe and sound. I am definitely not in a hurry to make another trip to town anytime soon.

Here is Brian's version that he posted on his blog:

I hit a caribou on the way home tonight.It was a pitch black night, the darkest I've ever seen. From out of the woods a whole herd of the stupid things suddenly emerged and piled out on the highway right in front of me. I began a series of semi-controlled skids and swerved around the first four or five of the beasts. At that point I was completely surrounded by running caribou.

When I'm bowling I have the uncanny ability to seemingly roll the ball right through the pins without knocking a single one down and it was this ability that saved me tonight. As I was skidding through the center, the herd miraculously began to part like the Red Sea for Moses. For a split second I thought we were going to make it, but then one of the stupid beasts turned and ran right back across the road directly into my path. I cranked the wheel hard-a-starboard and dealt it a glancing blow as I plowed off into the ditch. The sickening crunch of metal against flesh is now forever etched in my mind.

I was pretty sure I hadn't killed the caribou, but I thought it might be lying injured on the highway. As I hiked back to look for the body I had visions of that scene from "The Long Kiss Goodnight"; you know the one where she snaps the deer's neck to put it out of it's misery. However, the caribou had scampered off into the forest where I could hear it thrashing away in agony. Long story short it ended with about twenty minutes of digging and pushing until we could get the truck back up onto the road. I'm glad I've got 4x4.