Aligning With Nature

The morning before Earth Day, Nancy and I lay in bed under our mound of comforters, slowly letting our circadian rhythm kick into gear. Those first mumbles of the day tend to be a series of yawns, grunts and moans. Suddenly our eyes became more than awakening slits and we scowled at each in a most accusing manner. “Eeewwww, did you fart?!” we queried in unison.

After sputtering denials from both parties, and retreating beneath the filter of covers, we realized that the smell was from coming from outside. Actually we had detected the smell outdoors the day before but now a trace of the insipid aroma had seeped through the thick log walls of the Outpost.

After getting dressed and stepping outside to check things out, it didn’t take much sleuth work to locate the mystery orifice of winter’s release. Behind the Outpost, over the top of Pulpit Hill is a relic of a former river path. It is a curving oxbow pond now and it is the smelly grail of this seasonal miasmic release.

In the past few days as we have got in some wonderful early spring ski outings in the area, we have detected the smell of sulfur every time we are near a lake or wetland’s edge. The breezes this morning carried the wake up call directly towards the Outpost.

Just as our bodies cannot process our food without creating noxious gas fumes, the waterlogged soils around wetlands become gas-producing environments. Over the course of a long winter, any oxygen that had been in the muck has been long consumed. All aerobic (oxygen loving) microorganisms have died off leaving only those anaerobic wee organisms in good shape. The metabolisms of these microorganisms that don’t require oxygen are the reason for the increase of compounds such as the odorless gas methane and the highly odoriferous gas, hydrogen sulfide. The hydrogen sulfide is the nose-wrinkling, rotten egg smell that nearly caused a rift in our morning bed.

As this is our first experience with the demise of a northern winter and the advent of a Yukon spring, we have been curious as to how spring would announce itself. I have to smile knowing now that the fair maiden called ‘Spring’ is called forth by a stale, sulfurous and bad tempered fart of Old Man Winter.

Clearly a lesson was learned here. This was simply another case of where we can find beauty, a sign of spring, in something that is typically a bit revolting. I have always found a certain joy in smelling the first skunk of March or April, but since they are not found in the Yukon, I must be rejoice in spring’s appearance as declared in a similar discharge.

And once again I have been battered with the adage that there is always something good in the bad.

Ahhhh, smell that wonderful winter fart!! How lovely.

Okay I will confess that most of my Yukon updates and blog entries give the impression that we reside in the house of heaven. Oh sure there have been a few bumps like charging dead truck batteries and lots of snow shoveling, but I really do like winter and there is a wee bit of me that hates to see the treadmill of fun shift.

Well I’m coming clean. No embellishments here this is the straight poop. Yesterday was Good Friday and I was feeling a bit of a resurrection in that for three days prior, I had been smitten with a skookum cold. (A little review on your Yukon jargon. skookum=good.) So when we discovered that our septic line was frozen on top of having pump troubles, I had a difficult time fending stress away from my healing ways.

Some would call it the perfect storm. Water and waste supplies on strike at the same time.
While it is frustrating, it’s not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things. After all, I can go down to the frozen river, less than 30 steps from the house, and tote up five gallon containers of wonderfully pure water running out of the mountains. Hot water is secured by heating it on the wood stove, which we still are using early in the morning and again in the evening. Or we simply heat water on the kitchen stove.

So what do we do with the water, well we throw out over the railing of the deck that is off the kitchen. . . just like we have been doing all winter. During the cold of winter, this was a hurried affair. We usually washed our dishes at the end of the day. With dishes washed, I would carry the dishwater out. Scurrying across the cold and dark deck, I reached the railing and my momentum allowed an impressive toss of water out over the snow.  All too often I heard the scuttle of forgotten silverware in the dishpan as I heaved everything into the night air.

No water for the toilet is not a big deal since we used the outhouse all winter. As mentioned in an earlier blog entry, The Long Drop, I have come to enjoy quiet moments of the outhouse. Though after the long winter, I can tell you we will be digging a new outhouse basement and prying the biffy up onto some pine logs and roll it to a new position. Several times over the past winter I  had to reach down into the bowels of the one-holer with a long, two inch thick section of aspen and knock down the “stalagshits’ or “pinnacles of poop.”

I spent some time on our Apple “Google Machine” and found out that our winter practice of reducing water draining into our septic system was likely the wrong thing to do. We should have been running some water down the line on a regular basis. If you want to live like we have, then it would be best to live in a tent or a remote log cabin where fetching water and using outhouses are the norm.

I spent part of Good Friday in our crawl space, writhing like a snake under the floor following and inspecting the water and waste lines. Only once did I think of Charles Bronson having a panic attack as dealt with his claustrophobia while digging on the escape tunnel in the film, The Great Escape. At least there were zero spider webs to wipe away. There is no way they would survive a Yukon winter there. Besides no spiders, there were no answers.

I tried priming the pump three times. . . no luck. I feel so inept as a handyman sometimes. But on occasion I will surprise myself. No surprises today, only disappointments.

So when I am frustrated what do I do? I do something physical, get outside and move the body. So why not do something constructive, rather than relaxing and fun? I am pleased that a pair of interchanging shovels did the work. My arms and back survived but only because I made myself stop and take two long breaks.

But I shoveled a whole lot of snow and have managed to get down to bare ground. Behold another “first” on my life list! I have shoveled away two feet of snow from a good portion of my lawn. With the days stretching and the promise of clear skies, I am hoping to partner with the sun in accelerating the thawing of the buried septic tank and line.

Feeling at least a modicum of satisfaction at something going right, I grabbed a late afternoon cup of coffee, a brownie and a fine book and settled into a chair up on the deck where the sunshine was warm. Basking felt good and all is really quite well. Though the land wears the stole of winter, the air and south wind are nudging a new story into place.

Fifteen minutes and a chapter later, I stood up, tossed the coffee grounds out of my cup out over our dishwater middens. A flash caught my eye. There sticking up out of the crusty snow, like the first bold daffodils, was a setting of silverware.

Got to love spring discoveries.

While the media pounds us with global economic woes, the news of the largest recession in seventy years, I prefer to think of it as an overdue “social correction.” Clearly with human population continually rising and our worship of growth at all costs, there was bound to be some constraint emerging. In following the common credo of limitlessness we continue to spiral into short-term thinking that compromises future generations. I believe it is time to consider the wisdom of past generations

My Great Gramma Schmidt lived to be 104 years old. Up until her last days, she was sharp and her wisdom and shared experiences were gifts I will always treasure. I have kept track of some of her sayings and pieces of advice. Such common sense is rarely heard anymore.

One phrase, a favorite of mine, is especially appropriate these days when jobs seem insecure and household budgets are tightened. Gramma often repeated, “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.” I would like to see someone take that slogan, and others of similar ilk, and create bold, colorful posters similar to the large war bonds posters that graced our nation during WW II. The posters could be hung in schools, libraries, post offices and other public locations. Perhaps the sales of such posters could be used to fight the increase in poverty.

The other night was the observation of Earth Hour 2009. Around the world, people shut off lights for one hour in an attempt to bring awareness to the need to reduce energy use and conserve resources to counter high carbon emissions. Organizers had hoped to sign up 1,000 cities. The week before the event, almost 2,400 cities, towns and municipalities in 83 countries had agreed to take part in the event. Nearly 19,000 businesses and 5,500 organizations also signed on. The goal was to cut energy consumption by5% an hour. However, if we as inhabitants of earth hope to substantially reduce carbon emissions we will have to far better than a 5% savings.

I don’t know how participants in the Yukon fared, but just south of us, in British Columbia, and far more people, the province experienced a 1.1 % power drop. It was reported that if residents of British Columbia implemented the same conservation measures that they did during Earth Hour for one hour every evening, enough power would be saved to power 2,400 homes for an entire year.

I managed to make it through the hour without a single light. But it did help in that this northerly latitude is experiencing leaps in lengthening days.

Last month our electric bill, all generated by carbon free hydropower, generated by a dam on the Yukon River in Whitehorse, was approximately $30. Last fall it was about $38 per month. So Nancy and I have saved approximately 20% on our household electric bill and we could do better.

Since just prior to Christmas of 2008, we have been experimenting with more intentional means to lessen our energy use. We try to limit our trips to Whitehorse, 25 miles away, to one trip per week. We buy groceries, go to the library, and maybe get in a cross-country ski workout at Mt. Mac, followed by a sauna and shower at the Nordic/curling center and often an evening arts event.

It has been over three months since I turned off our electric hot water heater. We could think of no reason to have a 40-gallon tank of hot water sitting there when we draw upon it only minimally, so we turned it off. Instead, we heat two large pots or a teakettle over the wood stove. We wash dishes once a day, wash up and even imbibe in wonderful sponge baths while standing in small plastic tubs placed next to the warmth of the wood stove.

Or I take hot water from the teakettle and pour it into our solar shower bag that we take camping or use here in the summer. Then I hang the shower bag over the showerhead in our bathroom and stand in the tub for a quiet shower. And I find that I can use my hot grey water for washing a small load of laundry that I squish with my feet as I shower. The final rinsing of the clothes is done in boiling water from the woodstove. The wooden drying rack for mitts, gloves, boot liners and outdoor gear is directly behind the wood stove and it makes a wonderful laundry dryer as well.

Larger loads of laundry make the trip to Whitehorse with us each week or two for a trip to the Laundromat. Nothing puzzles me more than when I hear of folks who feel a need to wash a load of clothing every day or two. Granted babies, young children and some jobs require more washing, but most folks are simply wearing out their expensive designer jeans much faster by subjecting them to the rigors of frequent washings. Wash clothes less often and you will benefit from cost savings from an energy standpoint as well as your clothing budget.

Every week or so we treat ourselves to the blissful pressure of a hot water shower and turn on the electric hot water heater for one hour. Consequently, a simple shower has become a more wondrous and amazing event. I find it incongruous when folks wrinkle up their noses at the thought of not having a daily shower or washing a load of laundry multiple times each week.

The other plus side is that since early last November, we have used less than 1500 gallons of water in our house. That amounts to about 12.5 gallons per day for the two of us.

The recent thirty-dollar electric bill was not bad considering we must have lights on much of the time during the long, dark winter nights. We also have the computer on for at least eight hours a day. The computer is a major energy user. We have the computer, printer and modem plugged into a power strip and that is switched off every night or when we know when we will be gone from the Outpost all day. We have developed a habit of unplugging the microwave after each use. It is estimated that 5 per cent of all household energy used in typical homes powers vampire electronics. These appliances include any device that has a digital readout, such as a clock. TVs, microwaves, cell phone chargers, DVD players and other electronics use the power for instant-on features.

Recently the Globe Mail newspaper out of Toronto published an alarming point regarding the electricity used by a single plasma TV over a year for the instant on feature is huge. The energy required is enough to illuminate up to 14,500 one hundred watt light bulbs for an hour!

Since we have no television, we save both on the electric bill and on mindless staring. We do enjoy watching an occasional DVD movie and use the computer for our indoor theater.

Funny, how choosing to do with less, in terms of television, washing clothes or even shaving frequently give Nancy and I more time to share time exploring another snowshoe hike to check out the local herd of caribou or to sit down with a cup of tea around the wood burning stove and read aloud. Perhaps the greatest reward has been that we have enjoyed more quality time together and have a far greater appreciation for simple pleasures.

So how will I do without the woodstove providing my hot water in a month or two? As I write this, I am researching and sketching a design for a simple, inexpensive solar hot water batch heater. The challenge is on.

On my Yukon ‘bucket list’ I have noted three wildlife sightings that I hoped to secure. One was to see a grizzly bear while out on the land. This means not seeing one from inside the protective shell of a car. Next on the list was to see a wolverine loping in that pronounced big, heavy, fluid bound that is their signature rhythm of locomotion. And third, was to see the phantom appearance of a lynx.

Twice a grizzly and I crossed paths last summer. The first time it happened, the bear was several hundred meters from me and it never saw or smelled me. The second time the bear was altogether too close and we both watched each other. One of us had a racing heartbeat and the other likely not.

About two weeks ago, in early March, with bears still sleeping mightily, the landscape up here still wore the appearance of mid-winter. The Hunger Moon of February had just slipped past and perhaps it was the hunger of a long winter that persuaded a mid-afternoon lynx to betray itself. When I spotted the large cat it was lunging in long leaps with its lanky legs up an impossibly steep bank. Such feline leaps are impressive enough, but going up a 50% incline, over one to two meters of deep and fluffy snow was all gold medal Olympian.

It bounded up the face of the hill, walking on water, so to speak, barely dimpling the surface, on oversized paws. Seconds passed with my jaw dropped and then suddenly the lynx stopped, turned its head back. For a moment we locked stares. Finally I unlocked the message behind the stare. It simply said, “Come on two-legged-one -who -wears -arrogance-so-well, let’s see what you got! Bring it on!”

I simply floundered in deep amazement and saluted the winter traveler.

As I write these words, I am two hours south of that lynx sighting courtesy of Air Canada. I am sitting in a Starbucks in Vancouver. The place is a montage of sounds. Somewhere overhead is piped in jazz; to my immediate left are two conversations in an Asian language, likely Chinese. Off to my right there is simply a droning babble merging from clusters of tables.

I recall a report on public radio that addressed the physical changes that happen to people around a drone. The commentator spoke about the droning of bagpipes, summer day insects or the consistent parade of waves that wash a beach. Our minds settle and our heart rates ease when stimulated by a consistent drone. A drone almost always accompanies yoga sessions. I find it absurd that you can even buy small tabletop machines that generate white noise to help you relax and maybe even sleep.

It is Sunday and assorted church and coffee shop congregations have gathered to speak in tongues while communing on blends of various stimuli. With a cache of muffin calories neatly arranged in glass fronted cases sitting nearby, I reflect on the lynx with whom I had earlier shared stares. I doubt it knows the luxury of a Sunday morning. For the lynx, each day of the week is spelled the same: s…u…r…v…i…v…a….l.

The human drone in the Starbucks suddenly filled me with a desire to leave. I want to run from this collection of tribe members and lunge up a snow-deepened slope of impossible angle. I feel an ache to get back to those surrounding mountains where the grizz stirs in the passing of winter, the wolverine lopes tirelessly and unseen and the lynx delivers a droning scripture that is unmistakably a wild purr.

The day had started clear, sunny and thirty below zero. That seems a bit cold for the eighth day of March. Even though afternoon temperatures climbed to above zero the wood burning stove was still hungry for dry pine and spruce.

It was time for Nancy and me to bundle up and fetch a couple of days worth of firewood from under our deck, toss it up and hurry it indoors. Still feeling a bit restless and needing to energetically move my body, I grabbed my long plastic red sled and hurried up Pulpit Hill. This pronounced pimple of a hill, courtesy of the last ice age, rises directly behind our Outpost, protecting us from north winds. Typical of the arrogant practice of naming natural features we have titled this hill “Pulpit” because we like to climb up to receive a sermon rather than deliver it. The view up and down the Watson River and beyond towards Needle, Goat and Twin Mountains is awe-inspiring.

The grade of Pulpit Hill is steep and the snow deep. With my legs churning and streams of breath trailing behind me, I can feel the blessed pain of burning thigh muscles. Best of all, attaining the summit warms me.

Below me, the groove of the sled track remains from runs made days earlier. I pause, taking the view in and catching my breath. Closing my eyes to relish the miracle of gulping breaths of such fresh air I find myself transformed towards a place where dreams happen.

When I opened my eyes, I found myself at the Worlds Luge Distance Championship Finals. Rather than go for the fastest time, this contest is all about sliding further than the competition.

I imagined that the Yukon Territory lobbied hard to garner the event. Typically, this event is held in Europe. This isn’t surprising since Europeans, particularly the Germans, have dominated the event. The Germans have been so dominant that they have even sent a retired champion racer, named Hans be the official race coordinator.

Hans smiles at me and waves me into position for my race down the track. Of course I am the last contestant to make the run. The gold medal is on the line. I set my sled down and carefully position myself so I will reduce any wind resistance.

The anticipation and the crowd noise are building. Hundreds of cow bells are clanking.  My eyes are focused on the groomed track, that looks like a sinuous otter slide. Both of my mittened hands are planted in the snow on each side of the sled. I push myself forward and back several times to warm the hull of the sled so that I can reduce friction and increase my speed. I nod my readiness towards Hans and I time the rhythm of my false starts to coincide with his loud countdown.

“Drie! Zwei! Eins!”

I am oblivious to the wildly cheering crowd and the clanging of their waving cowbells. This is it! All those years of sliding down hills, bloody noses, face plants in cold snow, reddened cheeks and stinging cold toes have come to this . . .the world championship!

With a massive pull in the snow, I send myself forward. In one smooth motion, I lie back on the sled and peer down the length of my descending body, over the tops of my pointed race mukluks down towards the narrow slot that separates an old spruce tree and an even more ominous propane tank. Clearly this is the most dangerous section of the course. I try to blot out the rows of white crosses that mark the spot where death has been the final playmate.

The top pitch of the course is steep and it is here that I team up with my loyal playmate ‘Gravity.’ Whether it is skiing down a mountain, a sinuous cross country ski trail or paddling through whitewater on a lively river, it can only happen with the help of my buddy “Gravity.”

WHOOSH! I rocket past the lanky spruce and its portly companion propane tank. There is no time to bask in the relief that I am through one of the most difficult stretches of this demanding course. I hit a rough stretch, where luge fans have constantly hiked across the course on their way out to pee near the edge of the course. I firmly grit my teeth, so as not to bite my tongue, and ride the bumps. I am reminded that the sledding runs of my childhood seemed much smoother.

For only a second or two, as I speed across a flats, I can allow myself the luxury of relaxation. Now I have to determine how much of my weight I have to throw to the right so as to miss another spruce and the corner of the garage. If I act to soon, I will create unnecessary friction on my run, loosing valuable distance. On the other hand if I react to late, I run the risk of shattering my sled and perhaps a bone.

Still oblivious to the cheering crowds, I time it perfectly, rolling to my right, without falling off the sled and I miss the tree by less than a foot. For the first time on my run, I can afford a smile as I slide to a stop between narrow corridor between the pile of shoveled snow and the front of the garage. I leap off the sled, jump up and down while madly waving and bask in the celebratory cacophony coming from the waving crowd.

About a hundred years ago Robert Service, poet laureate of the Yukon wrote,
“There are strange things ‘neath the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold.”
On this late afternoon, of a late winter day that admittedly looks and feels like midwinter, I am proud to have moiled for my gold medal in the Worlds Championship Luge event. It was the highest of honors to win for my favorite nation. . . the Imagination.

Leaving the celebratory crowd behind me, I skipped through the snow, put the sled away. Suddenly the racing boy was also put away and a man, smiling like the boy, walked slowly to the house to join his wife for supper.

After volunteering to help direct  mushers along the race route of the annual Carbon Hill Thirty Mile Sled Dog Race, I wanted to learn more about dog mushing.

So I decided to volunteer to help at the Yukon Quest. The Quest is billed as the “toughest sled dog race in the world.” The Yukon Quest Trail follows historic gold rush and mail delivery dog sled routes from the turn of the 20th Century. Mushers and their teams of dogs will travel for nearly two weeks, racing across some of the last pristine wilderness remaining in North America.

The slightly longer, and more publicized, Iditarod sled dog race is run in Alaska and the Yukon Quest crosses the international boundaries of Canada and the United States. Both of these races are the best known of the long distance dog mushing events in the world.

Over the course of three days leading up to the Valentine’s Day 11 AM start, I had the opportunity to chat with rookie and veteran mushers alike. I asked several veterans which of the two races was toughest. None would commit to one being tougher than the other. All of them agreed that each was tough but in different ways. Here are some of the fragments of our discussions, “Well, the Iditarod is longer but the checkpoints are more frequent.” Another said “The Iditarod rarely has a checkpoint more than ninety miles apart, whereas the Quest has some checkpoints three hundred miles apart.” And a third grunted, “The Quest is generally colder, usually much colder. But then it’s run nearly a month earlier than the Iditarod.”

Ron, a neighbor of ours on the Annie Lake Road, was hosting Jon Little, one of the Alaskan mushers. For Jon, the set up was ideal as Ron’s daughter, a previous Quest musher, had an empty dog yard with houses that Jon could use for his team. And there are miles of ideal mushing trails for Jon to train on during the days leading up to race day.

At the Musher’s Banquet, Ron introduced me to Jon and invited me over to his place the following morning to shoot some photos of Jon and his dogs.

The following morning dawned clear and very cold. It was still and -22°F. Nancy and I bundled and booted up and drove over to Ron’s place. The five minute drive did not even begin to warm the car. Within minutes of our arrival, Jon and his team of fourteen dogs accelerated into the forest. This was his last training run before the race start the following day. With my camera tucked inside my down parka and my hands balled in fists inside my choppers, we hiked down the mushing trail to a point where the team would be passing in the next forty-five minutes.

Besides racing sled dogs, Jon is a writer. The night before, he shared that he is facing a crossroads in his career. With two very young children, mushing takes too much time for an unpredictable income and his writing gig has been hit hard by a withering economy. He admitted that he is facing some very difficult decisions following this year’s race.

After Jon returned from the training run with a newly glaciated mustache and beard, he and his two handlers moved efficiently in the cold as they unhooked and fed the dogs. We hurried, stiffly moving towards the warm house where cups of hot tea were clutched by numb fingers.

Jon had little time to waste. Within an hour of his getting his dogs unhooked and fed a filming crew from Mexico, yes Mexico, showed up to interview and film Jon as he readied his gear and sled for the race. The four men were swaddled in highly regarded, and I might add highly priced, Canada Goose Parkas. Their unseen faces were wrapped in layers of fleece with their handsome south-of-the-border dark eyebrows and eyelashes tipped in frost nodules. Stoically, they filmed Jon, who had changed out of his mushing gear into lighter clothing and his baseball style cap and sunglasses. Clearly this was just another winter day for Jon.

Jon shared how he would pack his sled for the race. It would weigh roughly 150 pounds at the start of the race. Some of the items packed into the sled are a cooker to heat up a dog food mush and melt snow for water, a gallon of fuel, a spare gangline, snowshoes, a sleeping bag, some food for the musher and mostly dog food. He also carried a two-quart homemade insulated thermos. It looked more like a foam and duct taped covered cookie jar with a four-foot length of plastic tube to use as a drinking straw.

I wondered if somewhere he stowed a copy of a small book I spied on a book rack in Whitehorse titled, ‘God is my Musher.’

The interviewer asked Jon about men and women competing against each other in the Quest. Of the twenty-eight starting teams, six of the mushers are women. Jon shared that dog mushing is one of the few sports that men and women can compete equally. “Each gender,” he shared, “has its advantages. Women tend to be lighter in weight therefore less weight for the dogs to pull.” He smiled as he added, “And generally I think that women have better communication rapport with the dogs. On the other hand men have better upper body strength for handling the sled on rough sections of the trail.”

When asked if he had any secret strategy for this quest, Jon smiled wryly and offered, “Well, actually I do.” At this point he hesitated before cautiously adding, “But you have to swear not to tell anyone.” Feeling privileged to hear his words, the film crew and the handful of others all edged forward and nodded our heads or raised our mittened hands.

Jon paused and tentatively continued, “In dog racing there is practically a mantra that you go six-on and six-off. That means run the dogs six hours and rest them six hours. Well, I believe they are fully capable of going more, so I am going to try eight-on and four-off. The key will be to try and get the dogs into a slower tempo in the first few hours. Then I need to be consistent and develop a pattern. If I can do that, I think they will fall into the groove. I will ‘snack ‘em’ (which is slang for give giving the dogs a chunk of frozen meat) frequently, maybe every two hours.” With great admiration Jon said, “Each of these dogs burns 10,000 calories every day during the race.” Smiling he added, “That’s more than Lance Armstrong burns during the Tour de France cycling race.” Jon looked down at his sled, “If I can keep them from going too fast in the first hours of the race and establish this pattern, I think we will do all right.”

After the film crew hurried to the warm and idling SUV, Jon shared that he was concerned about one of his lead dogs not eating the way it should. He would pay close attention to it over the following twelve hours and make a decision to run it or not.

RACE DAY

In the predawn darkness I spent five to ten minutes gearing up in layers of silk, wool and down clothing. As I dressed I thought of the simple task of readying myself for a tropical day in Mexico, where in a matter of seconds I can pull on a swim suit, tee shirt and slip into my flip-flops.

The Quest volunteer meeting, fueled by big pots of coffee and trays of doughnuts, was held at 8AM. The gathering took on the flavor of a military operation. The bottom line was to keep the public from the staging area an hour prior to the 11AM race start. Prior to 10 AM, the public could wander wherever they liked. The reality was that the bitter cold would keep the crowds indoors until race time.

I paused to speak with one of the young Alaskan woman mushers who took advantage of the warm headquarters and Quest souvenir shop to tuck her heavily wool clad feet into the over-sized white bunny boots. “It’s good weather for the dogs,” she offered. “But I wouldn’t want it much colder.”
The temperature outside was hovering around -20°F.

As we waddled to our assigned areas, mushers and handlers were crowded around their respective trucks unloading dogs from their straw bedded berths. Musher’s trucks are easy to recognize as they have the names of their respective kennels and primary race sponsors painted on the truck doors or dog box.

One truck pulled a long enclosed trailer that held both equipment and shelves of dogs. The dogs were housed next to each other in cubbies that resembled a coop of chicken-laying boxes. As soon as the trailer door swung open the morning chorus of dogs began. Up and down the street the dogs shared the excitement of the day. I was reminded of the Disney movie of ‘The Lady and the Tramp,’ where the dogs howl messages across the city from dog to dog.

The procedure from truck to truck seemed similar. Get the dogs out of their boxes, onto the ground and clipped to a long chain that is affixed to the front and back of the truck. The lined up dogs each pee, creating a line of steaming pools of urine that melt into the packed snow. Dog handlers dish up their race day breakfast ration. It resembles a warmed-up thin gruel of water with a handful of soggy dried dog food added. Then, the dishes are gathered and the dogs are placed back into their boxes. This is not supermarket dog food, it is the good stuff that is designed to fuel and hydrate these canine athletes.

Then the sleds are taken off the tops of the truck boxes and lowered to the ground for final packing. Empty, these racing sleds weigh less than thirty pounds. New materials and design make these sleds much faster than the old fashioned sled used by Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, as viewed on the television show of the same title that I watched as a kid.

As labeled bags of frozen meat are stowed carefully in the sled, some mushers strip off the bases of their runners to replace them with unrolled coils of plastic runners. Plastic has low friction at all temperatures; it is strong, light, and dog excrement doesn’t adhere. It is easy to attach and fairly durable. Each of the mushers carries sets of spare runners. This will be important when they must cross over the four mountain ranges where exposed rocks might be encountered.

Gang lines, collectively made up of tow lines, tug lines and neck lines, are stretched out in front of the sleds and piles of colorful harnesses and dog booties are readied. Then the handlers begin unloading the dogs from their berths. The dogs seem to know the routine because their yowling, yapping, howling, barking, yipping and bawling creates a collective din that energizes all of us.

One at a time, the dogs are hurried to their position along the tow line and clipped into place. Then each of the dogs four feet is fitted with small colorful dog booties. The booties help protect the feet from ice. Cold snow has a sharper, more crystalline and abrasive nature. Since dogs don’t have sweat glands like us, they rid their body of excess heat by panting or through the bare skin on the pads of their feet. For that reason, it is likely that the musher will remove the dog booties at checkpoints or along the trail if the conditions are good.

Mushers are constantly inspecting their dogs’ feet throughout the race. An old mushing expression says, “As go their feet, so go the dogs” meaning that everything rides on the feet of the dogs and even minor issues will lead to trouble if they are not dealt with quickly and effectively by the musher.

Some teams had their lighter-furred dogs fitted with light wrap-around jackets, fastened around their chests and torsos to prevent frostbite on their tender bellies.

I was mightily impressed at the care of the dogs. In the staging area, Official Quest Race Veterinarians moved from team to team giving them thorough checkups. Each sled starts the race with fourteen dogs. At checkpoints the vets will check the condition of each dog. It is not unusual for dogs to be dropped along the way. Unlike basketball, there are no substitutions allowed. To finish the race, mushers have to have at least six dogs pulling the sled.

A constant huddle of photographers, tape recorders and movie cameras are focusing on Newton Marshall, the ever-smiling musher of the highly popular Jamaican Dog Sled Team. Newton drives a cart pulled by dogs in Jamaica and this is his first Quest. His primary mentor and supplier of dogs for this race is three time Quest winner, Hans Gatt, who is gearing up right next to Marshall. Marshall has been in Canada for weeks prior to this race running dogs. Up to race time I was really hoping his primary sponsor, singer Jimmy Buffet, might show up to help send the Jamaican team northward.

I tried taking photographs, but it was very cold on bare fingers and much of the time I kept my fingers balled into fists deep in my felted wool chopper liners. Looking around I found plenty of arguments to wear real fur. I saw full parkas of lynx and coyote fur and I think every musher wore a parka that was trimmed in a wolf or wolverine ruff.

One hour before the race begins, a loud voice breaks into the cold morning over the public address system. “All unauthorized people must leave the race staging area. Please make your way to the viewing area behind the fences.”
The energy level picks up and the dogs sense it. The dogs raise a cacophony. They clearly know that their release is closing in.

British musher, Mark Sleightholme, has drawn “bib number one,” and must be ready for the countdown that will free him and his fourteen dogs at the eleven AM start. Each racer that followed would leave every three minutes.

Crowds gather outside the fenced in street. All, or at least most, unauthorized folk politely leave the staging area. A bundled man, with a very nice camera hanging around his neck matter-of-factly tells me, “I’m a photographer.” Seeing that he is not wearing a “Zone A” access card I answer, “That’s great, so am I. Great hobby isn’t it?” Shepherding him towards the public viewing area, I tell him, “You will have to shoot your photos from over there.”

Another parka-clad pair show their lanyard and card while declaring, “We are part of a movie crew from the states. . . Colorado.” They are likely here to film Colorado musher Bill Pinkham. Finding that they likewise do not have proper credentials I reply, “Hey! I’m from US as well.” Their smiles and raised eyebrows spoke of relief in finding an ally in this foreign country, the Yukon, that claims is “larger than life.” Clearly, a fellow patriot would look the other way. Hah! On this day, passports and residencies be damned! I am an official volunteer for the Yukon Quest and today my creed is the same as the one custom painted across the hood on musher Jason Mackey’s truck: “In Dog We Trust.”

The pair of Pike’s Peakers looked glum and sulked away like abused dogs when I informed them that until they had the proper credentials I could not allow them entry. I was hitting my stride as a volunteer and it felt good.

I look around and see teams and mushers making last minute adjustments. Small groups of handlers and mushers are conferring, pointing, nodding and hugging. But it is the dog hugging that moves me most. Nearby Colleen Robertia, a rookie musher from Alaska, is pausing to pet and talk to each of her team. Last minute love chats with their dogs. Her team is primarily made up of a rabble of runts, rejects and rescued dogs. I feel like I am violating a sacrosanct act as I pull out my camera to photograph Colleen’s last and longest hug. It is a slender tawny dog that, with her eyes closed in seeming contentment,  leans in against Colleen. The rookie musher kneels in close to the dog and has a few quiet words with her.

Less than fifty paces from the starting line, the Yukon River gave off clouds of fog. Under the starting chute, every time a team lined up to take off, their heavy and excited breathing gave rise to plumes of steamy breath as they waited their turn.

With the dogs pulling, lunging, bawling and so full of energy, it took at least six to eight dog handlers to hold them back as the musher and sometimes a second person stood on the sled brake, cutting grooves in the hard-packed snow as they moved up towards the starting position.

My highlight of the day came when a handler got my attention from my mundane duties of watching for more infiltrating “filmmakers and photographers.” One of the dog handlers, spying my orange mesh volunteer vest yelled over to me, “Hey we could use another handler out here. Want to give us a hand?”

I looked around. I was like a solo penguin standing rigid on the ice pack. He actually did address me! I hurried over.

Amidst the loud chorus of dog noise the handler shouted orders. “Don’t step on the dog’s foot and grab the tow line between the dogs and help us hold the dogs back as we move forward. Watch your feet and balance.”

As the musher released the line that anchored us to his parked truck and lifted his anchoring snow hook, we moved forward in a controlled surge. It felt wonderful to move my limbs and trot. I felt myself warming as I helped restrain the canine tide that was intent on getting on with the chase. Hunched over and hustling with the dogs, I was goosed in my wool-layered rear several times through three layers of clothes by the lunging dog directly behind me. No longer yipping, these dogs were huffing and driving forward. One growled at another and one of the musher’s handlers growled loudly, “Hey! No!” This was no time for dissension. Focus pups. As we leaned back skidding and dancing forward, I reminded myself, ‘Keep your balance Tom. This is no time to trip and go sprawling in this gauntlet of tooth and claw.’ Oh God I can see the headlines in the Yukon News: “Cheechako Handler’s Clumsiness Prevents Musher From Quest Start”

We stopped at the feet of a volunteer whose job was traffic controller. Holding his hands high over his head waving his fingers in a “come on motion,” we moved forward. Abruptly the controller reaches high over his head with the palms of his mitts halting us. We are on deck. The musher fifty meters in front of us is in the gate and I hear the countdown over the speakers that will send him down the trail.

During our pause, I spy one of the lead dogs squatting and taking a dump. The person at the front of the line is grinning and pantomimes back to the musher on the sled that the dog has dropped its goods. The smile and the thumbs up sign tell me this is good news. Is it that excess weight has been dropped and the dog will feel more like running? I certainly know that wonderful feeling.

I was reminded of the similar behavior that a flushing sandpiper or other bird has as it drops its whitewash droppings on the beach as it erratically exits. Quick flight and escape is a good thing.

The big voice emanates from the street side speakers, “Three . . .Two. . . .One. . .Go! See you in Fairbanks!”

And in the next moment we are shuffling to the starting gate. The dogs seem to know it. Suddenly I am overcome with a desire to run with this team. I wish I had a pair of these classy black booties strapped on my feet. I can feel the rhythm of the surge. Oh I want to go with you guys! I want to run 1,000 miles over the frozen Yukon River through the quiet boreal forest under the star-studded skies smeared with the bright streaks of the aurora. Let me join you in climbing mountains, crossing the empty alpine summit of Eagle and feel the rush and fear of a speedy descent.

I want to curl up, along the lonely trail,  on a patch of comforting straw that smells of summer haymows. My inner dogness is aching to run with the pack. Suddenly I think of the news I received just days ago that Taiga, our pet dog and sometimes puller, had been released from his earthen anchor. At thirteen years, his body had finally broken down and he was helped in moving on into the next world. I remembered fitting a large dog harness to his 120-pound frame and having him pull my sled of camping gear on a past winter camping trip into the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area in northern Minnesota.

In those few seconds that we surged to the start, I could feel his spirit at my side and together we give each other a toothy smile, his long tongue is out and mine is exposed as my mouth opens wide in a grin of exaltation. My adrenaline is kicking in and suddenly I forget my chilled feet.

I am in awe of all the work it has taken this pack of humans and dogs to come to this point to run 1,000 miles on the frozen Yukon River, through the snow covered boreal forest, over four mountains and on to Fairbanks.

I am hardly aware that hundreds of people are intently watching us as we halt the team so that the musher’s sled is poised directly beneath the large yellow banner that announces the Yukon Quest 2009. Finally. We are here. I let go of the rope and turn to get out of the way.

“Thirty seconds!” announces the cadre of loud speakers. The musher finishes some last minute pats and words with several dogs. Before I return to the staging area, I bend down and pat the mottled head of the dog that had nudged me towards the start. “Good luck, safe journey friend” is all I can muster for a pep talk.

The dog pays absolutely no attention to me. The musher and the fourteen other huffing and puffing teammates all have their eyes locked on the end of the aisle lined with hundreds of bundled cheering people.

They stare ahead. There is no other direction.

****Postscript: Jon Little finished third overall.

“Suddenly the night has grown colder. . . God of love preparing to depart.”
•From the Leonard Cohen song, ‘Alexandra Leaving’

It’s 9:00 AM and still pretty dark beyond my kitchen window. As I write this, we are ten days from the solstice and the hours of light are tightening here in north of normal. I’ve never been north of 60° with the winter solstice looming.

As Nancy and I planned for our time in the Yukon, it wasn’t so much the cold or bugs that had me worried. No, it was more so the brief hours of daylight.

Yukoners recommended that we try to get out for at least an hour each day to stave off any effects of Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD. Whether we are splitting firewood, shoveling snow, skiing or snowshoeing it is important to give ourselves a daily dose of natural daylight to combat potential depression symptoms associated with SAD. Midday is the time to get outside and tend to chores or play.

In the early 20th century, hundreds of miles of telegraph wire were raised through the British Columbia and Yukon wilderness. Some of the remote stations had two operators. It was not unusual, particularly during the dark winter, for the companions to harbor a pronounced dislike for each other. Imprisoned by winter and likely the affects of SAD, personalities often brooded for months.

We are nearing a tipping point for the year. Physically, the northern pole is tipped maximally away from the sun. In less than two weeks we will march towards spring as the minutes of daylight begin to out compete the minutes of darkness. However there is deception at play. Though the daylight increases, in northerly latitudes we can expect the coldest weather in the coming month or two.

Up here, I am more aware of the shift of seasons. And anything that creates a keener sense of awareness is a good thing. For example, photographer mentors of mine have always told me to put the camera away at midday. The sun is too bright and intense. Sunlight at both ends of the day must shine make through more atmosphere and is not so harsh. Consequently, you tend to get more dramatic photos.

I am finding that same low-angled sunlight is perfect for shooting photos at high noon. Perhaps I should say at “low noon.” At midday, the sun is barely scraping over the treetops and then almost as quickly it arcs towards the horizon again. It has an eerie aspect about it, not unlike the light given off when there is a partial solar eclipse.

The winter solstice, that moment when daylight is most minimal, the word solstice literally means, “sun standing still.” On the backside of the winter solstice we witness the sun returning to it’s annual march northward.

Author Lewis Mumford, historian and noted for his work on urban architecture, wrote, “Without fullness of experience, length of days is nothing. . . .” Those words seem especially poignant for me right now. While some would say we are approaching the death or the end of a calendar year. I would argue that it is only a segment of the arc that makes a complete circle. The seasons are not linear, like a calendar. Instead, they are cyclical.

It has been said, that among early Americans (aborigines), the short days of winter inspired annual bouts of storytelling. For many tribes, animals symbolized various segments of life. For instance, the black bear was a sign of introspection. The bear disappeared in winter and became dormant to . . . think about things. And so it is with me, as the tipping point nears I find myself thinking more about things. Things like slopes of party-colored flowers, the wash of warm sun on my face in early May and going barefoot outdoors.

Ironically I find it comforting to know that we are tipping towards January. And January towards February and so on, until my mukluks and wool sox are pulled off and my pallid feet venture outdoors.

Yesterday I flushed our toilet for the first time since early June. It still works. It’s currents still swirl in a lovely clockwise motion.

You might wonder if we have been inflicted with some serious bowel or bladder obstructions, but the real issue is location . . .location . . .location. Here, at our Outpost in the Yukon Territory, Nancy and I live fifty seven steps from an art gallery, a library, a quiet seat in the park, a meditation center, a local think tank, a wildlife refuge and . . . a long drop.

My description of nearby community assets, might conjure images of a small mall with its multitude of joined offerings but I am pleased to report that each of the amenities noted is found under one 5×5 foot roof.

It was only early last spring that I learned from direct experience that a “long drop” is the South African title for an outhouse or biffy.

Culturally and socially, we Westerners tend to hide anything to do with human waste. But I would argue that we should take such a sacred moment and make it more enjoyable. So with that credo in mind we have created a multi-use long drop.

Most of the outhouse furnishings have been provided by the local Mt. Lorne dump, located about four miles from our place. You see up here, they not only have a dump to leave your garbage but an incredibly all-encompassing recycling center at the same location so that in fact the end result is very little garbage is sent to a landfill.

We have grown quite fond of going to the dump. It is a great place to meet new people as you browse through the “share shacks.” This is similar to the websites that advertise “Freecycling” in most metropolitan areas. This is a wonderful service that helps folks give away stuff they no longer want or need. And in so it helps reduce the buying of more “stuff.”

One open fronted shack contains clothes that have provided us with thick colorful wool sweaters, good slippers, fleece pajamas (like new), mint green jeans and even sassy sandals and tough work boots.

The other, similarly open fronted shack is my favorite. It has provided me with a first edition mint copy of Thomas Friedman’s book The Earth is Flat and some very nice biology textbooks and stacks of magazines. Here we also found a nearly new bread machine that has been cranking out fresh bread on a weekly basis. We found nice juice glasses, beer mugs, a knife block and other kitchen necessities. This is the shack that we have given the outhouse a makeover that has transformed it into the aforementioned destinations.

As you nestle down on the pink, inch and a half thick foam insulation outhouse seat, you can look at artwork that surrounds you. There is a North of 60° still life scene of a once-fortified Yukon Jack bottle, which proudly claims to be the “black sheep of Canadian liquors.” It’s now a vase. Two inches of solid ice in the bottom of the bottle tightly grip the still-bright, but wilted purple fireweed blossoms.

Hanging behind the sitter, (note the proper use of the word), there are garlands of plastic green grape vines and several bright yellow sunflowers. With recent mornings dipping below 0° F, the plastic botanical conservatory-look helps make the experience more pleasant, almost summery.

A platter-sized plaster seashell also takes us to tropical thoughts. But then the print of an artist’s rendition of a cold blue shadows falling over snowdrifts reminds us not to dally. Behind the seat is a rusted old hunting knife and equally rusty wire cutters that were kicked out of the dirt nearby.

If you don’t want to watch the comings and goings of red squirrels, boreal chickadees or whisky jacks (gray jays), close the curtain and consider the reading material. The stack literature sits next to your right buttock. Magazines include: Natural History, a couple of thirty year old Mother Earth News, a book on Animal Behavior and of course, an old pocket book of Ray Bradbury’s science fiction classic, The Martian Chronicles. Which incidentally he offers the following philosopher’s quote in the beginning of the book: “It is good to renew one’s wonder.” And this is a lovely place to do just that.

Next to your left cheek is the all-important toilet paper. It is housed in another dump find. Kept from the incisors of mice and squirrels, the roll of paper is kept inside an old plastic floppy disk case. With its smoky clear plastic cover you can find it easily. Behind the case is a large, porcelain cookie jar. The handle of the lid is shaped like a dog biscuit so I suspect it is truly a dog biscuit jar. It easily holds two extra rolls of toilet paper and is mouse-proof.

A single moose antler is propped in the corner. Above the antler is a found dried branch with a pleasing shape. In the opposite corner, just off your left knee, is a five-gallon bucket of wood ash to occasionally sprinkle down the long drop.

The two dried corn cobs that sit so lonely in a little metal basket, not only mementos of the Midwest, but they are clear reminders of just how rough things could be if the toilet paper runs out.

So if you choose to visit us for cultural enlightenment, simply walk out past the garage. Pass the column of balanced boulders and stones, called an “” by the Innuit and look for the quaint hut with a sign on the outside that reads: “Dog Mushing Area – Please Slow Down.”

Step in, enjoy the array of community assits and leave a donation. You will feel so much better.

So here I am at the brink of my first winter in the Yukon. Though it is only October, we have flirted with single digit thermometer readings, had a couple of light snows and had Thanksgiving. No turkey at this table. . .no siree. . .we had a black bear standing roast complemented with a platter of spruce and ruffed grouse breasts in a wonderful thick gravy and two slices of pie. After losing about 15 pounds over the first six months here, I am on a mission to consume calorie to better cope with the harshest of seasons.

Winter is the esteemed judge in determining if I am worthy of Knighthood in this land North of 60. To successfully “winter over,” in ecological terms, is to survive to spring, the season of rebirth. Whether it’s a tulip bulb buried with its stash of carbohydrates and sunshine, a fattened black bear, or the compulsive pine and spruce cones hoarder, the red squirrel, all measure another year by successfully wintering over.

My first Yukon winter will result in my receiving the ceremonial distinction of maturing from the newcomer title of “Cheechako” to “Sourdough.” Over the past four months I have become quite fond of the word “Cheechako.” The echoing “ch” sound has an exotic Latino countenance about it, especially if you whisper it loudly. I can barely contain my hips from wiggling when I say it.

Though the word “sourdough” might come with grander accolades in the northern hierarchy, its melody doesn’t dance off the tongue like saying “lily” or “marionette.” Instead it carries images of a fetid old wool sock left in a trapline shack.

I have never heard the prefix “sourdough” assigned to any other northern creatures. There are no sourdough ravens and there is no way I would call a spring grizzly a sourdough. They just go on surviving, demanding nothing, particularly attention. I suspect it has something to do with their egoless souls.

In fact my search for fellow sourdoughs often leads me to the Alpine Bakery in downtown Whitehorse. This is a genuine 100% organic bakery where loaves of breads and muffins are baked daily in a brick oven. The husky loaf of Alaska Sourdough bread is one of my favorites. Toast it golden, slather it in butter and spoon a good dose of blueberry jam on it and you will experience a preview of the Pearly Gates.

I think I inherently balk at the prefix “sour.” It is as if the bread itself is an antonym to its title . . .one is so good and the other elicits a look of disgust. The word “sour” is a short and harsh descriptor. In my mind it conjures up nothing that is worthy of a promotion. However I am fully aware that the word “sourdough” has a rich history in this neck of the woods. During the gold rush era breads, particularly sourdough breads were a mainstay to the diet of the Klondike stampeders.

You see sourdough breads are those breads that ferment and rise by capturing wild yeasts in the dough, rather than getting a boost from domestically cultured yeasts. This “more wild” bread cultivates a symbiotic relationship a group of bacteria referred to as lactobacilli and natural yeasts. Consequently the flavor is tangy or sour.

While on the trail to Dawson City, gold prospectors simply kept a small amount of “starter” dough, which contained the yeast culture. And just as they had to feed their dogs, they had to feed the starter batch with new flour, a pinch of salt and water. The new growth would provide the batter for the next loaf of bread and part of the batch was saved to repeat the process over and over. Some sourdough “bloodlines” have created hundreds and hundreds of loaves of bread. In fact there is a well-known bakery in San Francisco that has a uniquely tasting sourdough with a lineage that might match Abrahams of the Old Testament. They have used the same sourdough culture since it’s origin during the California Gold Rush in 1849.

Old timers, ironically referred to as “sourdoughs,” learned that keeping a sourdough culture warm was necessary for it to survive. They often carried a pouch of starter around their neck or on a belt, tucked inside their shirt.

It’s not the cold I fear as much as the lack of daylight that might trip up my march towards “Sourdoughdom.” Last week we had an energy audit done on the Outpost. Theo, the fellow doing the audit and a veteran of more than a score of Yukon winters, told us that he lives at Crag Lake, about thirty miles south of the Outpost. It is a beautiful spot, tucked between two mountain ranges that run east and west. He told us that when the sun is at it lowest, during the winter solstice, he and his family experience one and a half minutes. . .yes minutes. . . of sunshine! Good thing I will be home in Minnesota to see family and friends over the holidays and solstice.

Oops. . . the sun has emerged from behind the clouds. I’ve got to get outside and get a dose of needed sourdough starter.

I was a good dozen feet below the surface of our snow-dampened Yukon yard. I had taken apart our aluminum extension ladder, tied “rag slippers” on the bottom of the ladder so as not to scratch or damage the bowels of the fiberglass 1500-gallon tank. The sphere-shaped tank, accessed by a ten-foot circular shaft, holds our domestic water supply.

Years ago, prior to our buying the Outpost, our well was capped. Apparently the septic system was placed too close to the well so environmental codes required that the well not be used. The large holding tank was buried under the deck and accessed through a trap door. Water is trucked 34 miles from the Whitehorse municipal water supply at the cost of about $100 per delivery.

When we arrived here in mid-May, we found the tap water quite distasteful. In short order we bought a five-gallon water receptacle with a spigot and filled it at a friend’s house in Whitehorse every two weeks or so. The bitter tap water was used for other domestic duties such as washing dishes, showers, toilet, and so on.

Every year from about mid-August through the fall and winter, the Watson River, which is less than one hundred feet from our water tank, runs clear. (See previous blog entry for information on the quality of the Watson River). During spring and into summer it carries mountain silt and runs cloudy. During the clear months, folks from all around the area come down to the river and collect it in drums, kettles or other water receptacles to take it home. They describe its taste as “magical” or the “best water ever tasted.”

Our plan was to fire up a gas powered water pump and fill the tank with this magical river water once our May water shipment was drained dry. Recently, as I finished my shower after cutting wood, the water trickled out of the showerhead and I knew it was time to go down into the tank for its biennial cleaning.

For nearly $300 professional tank cleaning folks would come in and do the job. But being pathetically frugal and stubborn about doing many jobs myself, I confidently made plans to turn troglodyte for an afternoon.

Wearing chest waders, I slowly disappeared down the dark shaft. At the bottom, armed with two big sponges, a Tupperware container for scooping and a five gallon bucket tied to a rope that was affixed to the top rung of the ladder, I found myself standing in the eight-foot diameter orb in ankle deep water. The smell was not foul but it didn’t smell like a good source of drinking water. It didn’t take long to scoop water with my Tupperware into the bucket. I climbed back towards the blue sky, emerged, noting how good fresh air tasted and pulled up forty pounds or so of water. I repeated this six times.

By the time I got to the bottom of the water, it was literally muddy in color, due to the fine river sediments including fine sand and gravel that had accumulated from previous water pumpings. What I didn’t expect to find swirling in the clouded waters was a small rodent doing the perfect rendition of the “dead mouse float.” Clearly this mouse had been in this watery crypt for some time. Not only was its image less than appealing but also the agitated waters of death released the miasmic essences of decomposition.

I quickly, but reverently, scooped up the mouse and transferred it into the bucket elevator and I scurried like a winter-weary woodchuck towards the promise of blue sky. Gulping great gulps of fresh air was my reward for dealing directly with the corpse.

It was during the final sponging of the tank, followed by repeated fresh water rinses and two final light bleach solution washings, followed by two more fresh water rinsings, that I discovered the recording studio in the tank.
My earlier utterances of disgust had echoed nicely in the tank, but now with thinks looking much better, I began to sing. And better yet, the cave like acoustics inspired me to find the Tom Waits voice within me.

Wikipedia describes Tom Waits an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by Music critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding “like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car.”

I am particularly fond of his rendition of “Chocolate Jesus.” (Go to You Tube to see and hear this song as played on the Dave Letterman show. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wfamPW3Eaw)

I like to think that Waits, who leans towards the bizarre, would love the idea of singing in a buried water tank or even septic tank. Suddenly inspired by combined clouds of death’s essence and Hilex, my voice devolved into gravel and I suddenly began to find my inner music.

Living in the bowels ain’t so bad.
No howlin of the neighbor’s dogs.
Just me and my voice singin oh so sad
in the wash of a mouse’s soul.

(Chorus)

No cheese down here,
No little fella, cousin to Mickey,
There’s no cheese down here.

Over and over I belted that verse out finding joy in the reverberation of my Darth Vader melodies. A chore was never so fun. I began to think about looking in the classified ads for old tanks. What great playhouses of fun these could be!

Next week, Nancy is hosting a music jam for a handful of musicians in the area. With the tank sparkling, I could usher the small group with their instruments down the ladder and offer them a pillow to sit on, while they find the inspiration of this musical room– or should I say “musical womb.”

Filling the tank with magic water from the river can wait. We will continue to carry water up from the river for a few days and consider it exercise as well as a personal visit to the river.

No cheese down here,
No little fella, cousin to Mickey,
There’s no cheese down here.