Lots to do!

We are happily back into our Yukon lives after last weekend's visit to Vancouver. It was a great visit to a beautiful city, and we were lucky to squeeze in lots of delicious meals (Thai, Vietnamese, South Indian, and sushi, of course!), a visit with Steve and Michelle at their nice place in Kitsilano, and fun times with our pal Jesi. We went to MEC to outfit our new canoe with some foam blocks and straps for the car, plus nice new lifejackets and a dry sack backpack for canoe trips. And since the 115-litre dry sack had lots of extra room, we stocked up on sweatshirts and t-shirts from MEC :) There was also a great exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery, Beat Nation, that we checked out on the rainy holiday Monday

Somehow, we managed to not take any photos of Vancouver! We should have, though- there were tons of stunning blossoming bushes and flowers everywhere, and the deciduous trees were fully leafed out.

The second Fireweed Market of the year was yesterday, and it was a beautifully sunny day to be outside. Colin has been working hard on organizing the weekly workshops, and has a great schedule planned:

Back to work! We will write again this weekend :)

Love Lauren

Just when we thought it was summer, we get 15 cm of snow

The dogs have been sleeping inside so that we can limit Cookie's activity with her busted up leg and all. This has been going on for a few weeks and working out well. But last night Cookie was pacing and pacing - she just would not settle down. Once a was able to ignore her noise I could get back to my much needed sleep. The power must have gone off during the night because the sun rise alarm clock did not wake me up, the pacing and cloud filtered light coming through the window did - but not too worry the end of our slumber was right on time. We knew that we would have some snow on the ground this morning as the clouds last night looked dense like a snow storm, but we were not expecting the dump we got. Power outages usually mean either high winds or heavy snow loads, we got the later.

There was NO snow left in our yard before we went to bed last night, there are a few scattered piles from the driveway being cleared but the ground was bare and dry. Lorne Mountain even was upgraded to a moderate wild fire warning yesterday because it was so dry. But not this morning. 

We are in a good situation with the garden, all of our plants are still inside under the grow lights and beside the heater, so we are not at risk of loosing anything. And most importantly, i suppose, we love the snow. 

Just to make all this a little funnier, we are headed to Vancouver in two days - their weather forecast is to be sunny and in the mid-teens (a 20 degree difference from what we are enjoying this morning). Should be fun to go from this to the summer flowers and palm trees of Vancouver.

Happy hump day everyone.

Colin

Spring time

Hi all,

You guessed it- less blog posts means more Yukon adventures. Well, 'adventures' might be too strong a word for all of the firefighting training we are currently involved in- it's still really fun, but the bunker gear is so heavy and hot in the warm spring weather, and heavy perspiration doesn't really fit into my idea of adventure. Here are some photos from a recent training session we had at Bear Creek:

Hooking up a 1 3/4 inch hose, and thinking hard about what I'm doing :)

Supporting the deputy chief as we flow water from the 2 1/2 inch hose

Water power!

We have had some good news from the Fire Marshall's office, who oversees the volunteer departments in the territory- more money for gear and training. In the second photo from the top, Claire has the new gear, while I'm sporting the set that I inherited. 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/story/2012/05/08/north-yukon-fire-services.html

We are also still nursing Cookie back to health- her front leg gash is healing slowly. She still has to wear the head cone all the time, except for when we take her for walks and she doesn't think about licking her leg with so many other things to smell. Cookie and Smiley continue to spend lots of time indoors with us, and are no happier with it than they were 2 1/2 weeks ago. Colin is taking Cookie to the vet tomorrow to have her stitches and staples removed (hopefully), and soon things will be back to normal, and we can take the pups out for their first bikejor of the year.

This week is the Homegrown Theatre Festival, and I am very excited to have a small part in the production that our pal Kim put together, called Echoes from the Rabbit Hole. I'm her 'tech', which means I run the visual show she put together, which plays behind her and her co-star as they perform, as well as run the lights. Yes, this means I sit in the audio booth behind the stage! Our first show is tomorrow at 7pm :)

And lastly, here is a delicious brownie recipe that is now a big part of our lives (from paleomg.com):

Sweet Potato Brownies           

1 sweet potato

3 eggs, whisked

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup honey

1/2 cup chocolate chips

3 tablespoons coconut flour

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Pinch of salt

Coconut flakes to sprinkle on top

Time to bake that sweet potato. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees, use a fork to puncture holes all around it, then throw in the oven for 25-30 minutes.

Once your sweet potato is soft and cooked through, peel off the skin and mash it up in a bowl. And turn your oven down to 350 degrees.

Now add your wet ingredients: oil, honey, vanilla, and whisked eggs to the bowl and mix together.

Then add your dry ingredients: coconut flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and chocolate chips. 

Mix well to incorporate all that goodness. Sprinkle on the coconut flakes.

Pour into an 8×8 glass baking dish

Bake for 30-35 minutes.

Bye for now,

Love Lauren