Up-cycled Office Supplies

Or, what to do with old typewriter parts. We have a day at the office I was digging deep in the back of the miscellaneous cover looking for an extension cord, when I found a whole pile of old typewriter roller balls. Some of you are likely to know better than I but after the letters on sticks stage of typewriter, IBM came up with this radical concept of a ball that would rotate in the middle striking against the tape, marking the letter on the page. Apparently these were extremely popular in my office, as were all the various fonts. They were 16 of these roller balls in an old Bay bag. Initially I was just gonna chuck them in the garbage but then I looked at them again and I thought they looked rather like Christmas ornaments. Then I had the ferry light Apiphany. The hot glue gun I made a string of lights with typewriter balls!

SNOW!

Yesterday we had a record breaking snowfall in Whitehorse. Somewhere around 13-18 cm. There was enough snow to close arterial roads and severely delay transit. I enjoyed a snowy walk home with a neighbour who also rides the bus. We agreed it’s fun when the car driving world is mildly disrupted by weather and you get shaken out of the everyday commute. 

Winter Mornings In Yukon

It happens every year on one of our walks in the morning in winter that we are reminded how beautiful our morning sunsets are.  They are too early in the summer to see unless you are partying super late... not really an option any more at our age;-).  The best part is that we can be super proud of ourselves for getting up before the sunrise... even if it occurs at 0830 ;-)... in addition to the beauty of the sunrise.

Takhini River Ranch

We arranged to buy beef, pork and lamb from the fabulous farmers who run the Takhini River Ranch - Scott and Jackie Dixon (farmers of the year this year). They have a beautiful location and treat their animals really well. We took the opportunity to meet the meat. 

Our lamb is in there somewhere. Sadly they are hair sheep not fleece sheep but come the spring I’m going to go check them out anyway. Just in case that very black sheep has wool...



This is the Dorper ram. With one of their quarter horses. 



The very friendly barn cats have their own heated cottage. 

The view of the takhini valley and mountains is special. 

Juniper Berries

A few new recipes I have call for juniper berries. That’s an ingredient I can forage locally. My first collection went to a friend so she can make tonic water. The second collection Christopher helped me gather. Apparently cold weather is not conducive- the branches come with the berries. So, now i have a beautiful bowl of mixed branch and berries to pick over. Did I mention the branches are very prickly and sharp?

Reaping The Harvest

We are happy to report that this year gave us a wonderful bounty of apple-crabs and crabapples.  Though we did not achieve our 'secret' plot to attempt distilling some eaux-de-vie... we managed to make some awesome crabapple juice.

Whitehorse Rush Hour

It’s sounds like an oxymoron that our city of 30,000 people can have rush hour. But with a significant proportion of the population of Whitehorse working for government offices it’s amazing what an effect it has that are suburbs are far away from those downtown offices. Then there’s the fact that there are counted ‘me, five schools in Riverdale and only one bridge with a lane of traffic going each way and there’s a lot of parents who like to drop off the kids at school… The upside for me is it’s very encouraging when I ride my bike or walk to work. That line of lights reflecting beautifully on the water are all headlights heading into downtown. 

I Love the Phonebook

I was looking online for the local CBC phone number with no luck. Then I remembered they are listened in the paper phonebook. Eureka! 5 seconds later I had the number. 

Halloween

We had a record low of 26 kids. We have lots of candy left.