Ninth Blog

Sheldon and Okka in the beginning of the hike

Brothers starting the fire

Today was Aboriginal Veterans Day, start of our 4-day long weekend. As there isn't much to do up here for the long break, I decided to head out into the woods again with Sheldon and Wallace. We ventured out the same way as we did last weekend in hope of better seeing whats out there. With roughly about 30cm of fresh snow it would be very easy to read the stories that were unfolded the previous night/day.

Wallace leading the way, Okka pondering.

Today it was Okka that followed us for the journey. He is a puppy of about 4-5 months and very energetic. Although today's outing might have been a bit too much for him. We walked about 6 hours in total but due to deep snow it felt much longer and harder than last week's 7-hour hike. Surprisingly enough we didn't see as much as we would have hoped for. We saw numerous tracks of rabbits, foxes, wolves an caribous but none in sight! However it felt great walking on fresh and undisturbed snow, enjoying the stillness of the surroundings and breathing the cold crisp unpolluted air.

Sheldon by the & tree!

A successful fire out of wet branches

As for trophies, we only managed shooting two grouse. From now on I have to do a better job of hunting, as fishing season is sadly coming to an abrupt end. There are non-stop slabs of ice floating on the river which makes casting very difficult. Worse yet the river has started to freeze from both sides and there is already about 10-15 feet of ice formed on the banks. Even if I do mange to hook a fish it will be almost impossible to bring it to shore, as it will be pulled under the ice. I plan to head out tomorrow and see if I can break the ice in a thin section and reel the line in through a narrow channel.

Okka & I

Okka resting at lunch time

The extra long weekend also provides me with a welcomed opportunity to finish off and organize the mid-term report cards that are due sometime next week. I am glad the spreadsheet template I created last year is compatible with Mac's Number software; all I have to do is to change the names of students and the number of assignments, tests. Everything else will work just fine.

Wallace and Okka, towards the end of the hike

My unit

And the dog everybody seems to love!