Mae Bachur Animal Shelter

Actually went, for the first time ever, the other day. A friend is pondering adopting a cat or kitten and I and my partner went along for the ride.

Small and crammed with animals, toys, cages, food bowls, climbing gyms, radios, towels, kitten beds, rags and chewy bones, the shelter is a very welcoming place. The lady at the front was very friendly and cheerful, and went out of her way to show us the cats that were available for adoption, spending a lot of time with one she felt was very special, 'Lemon' who was a tortoisehell cute fat cat. Lemon is pictured here.

She then took us to the main cat room where other cats were waiting for adoption. One cat, a rather sad looking and sour orange tabby, sat in a high-up cage looking down at us. Rusty had been abused by a former foster home, our guide told us.

Another cat named 'Leo' batted at my head from his cage to get my attention. He got it all right!

A small grey cat in a bottom cage had just been returned, as she was demonstrating stress behaviour and peed on her new owners bed on occasion. The owners, showing their rather callous nature, returned their new family member after 2 weeks looking for a 'replacement'. Sorry, the shelter doesn't do replacements. After all, if your child turned out to be a bed-wetting fire-starting psychopath, do you think you could turn it in for a better version?

Little grey was not happy. Hissing and cranky. Who could blame her? It's like being at an orphanage, the joy of being adopted by a loving family, and then getting returned back to the orphanage unceremoniously.

Oh, went back today and played with the kittens--they were licking my feet! Hahah. I think the one little fluffy grey and white kitten had a foot fetish.

Summer living on a patio...

We managed to hit the High Country's patio yesterday, bit chilly as they have a fry cook station that blocks the evening sun, but still nice. I swear, the weather lately has been nicer than it was when I arrived here in July.

Word has it that the Roadhouse Bar & Grill has a decent patio as well, although I've never been--kind of looks scuzzy from the outside, near the liquor store as well so has a tendency to attract the stumbling drunk bums around.

Coasters Bistro has a nice little patio, right in town. Small but cute.

And of course, my own house has a great little deck as well! Spent a lot of the weekend listening to a little red squirrel chatter and scream at birds.

Enjoy this warm weather, it rocks! (ugh. only thing to mar the perfection is a lingering head/tooth/jaw ache. what could be the cause of such misery? Maybe my ear infection came lurking back or a cavity is starting to make itself known. argh)

A handy way to avoid the 'bums sleeping on a parkbench in summer' syndrome

Take away the park benches!

On this glorious day, unusual for Whitehorse, I went wandering around the park nearest my place of work. I was pondering sitting down for a bit and reading a bit of my latest trash read, Dean Koontz 'Sole Survivor' and maybe eating the rest of my lunch. Basking in the sunshine, I wandered around and around Shipyards Park. There were no park benches in the sun near the river to enjoy myself, there was only a couple shady picnic benches under a pavilion, where some unruly looking miscreants were drinking. Ugh, no thanks.

I wanted to sit in the sun and soak up what little Vitamin D I could grab...and I looked and looked and no park benches to be seen, for miles of walking trail.

Instead, I went back to my car, rolled down the windows and did what I saw everyone else doing--sitting in their cars eating lunch with the windows rolled down in the park. Shameful.

There weren't any rummies drunk on the benches like I was used to seeing in Vancouver's parks but the sheer lack of any bench-like item was ridiculous. I want to sit in the sun, dammit!

The only park along the river that has benches/appropriate seating is Rotary Peace Park, on the way to the bridge into Riverdale. You have to drive to that one from where I am. Boo.

Newsies

Despite the disasterous hit newspapers, radios and their ilk have taken this past year, Whitehorse media seems to be in 'ok' form. (Except CKRW, those people are asshats. Not the worker ants, but those above them. assholes)

We have...drumroll please...

Whitehorse Star: Very politically inclined, comes out more often than the Yukon News but with way less content. Available every weekday after 3pm I believe. Rather flimsy on days the Yukon News doesn't publish, also has a lot of wire content. I did meet with one of their reporters and I liked her, so thumbs up Star! (Even though sometimes people consider you the lesser of the two..well..you are still ok in my books)

Yukon News: Easy to read, easy to contact. Has a bit more insightful news, doesn't really seem to pander to the politics of the town that much. Don't really like their headwaters writer article, but the sort of 'roughing it while maintaining my government job lifestyle' really seems to appeal up here, so whatever. Great classifieds and limited wire news.

What's Up Yukon: Kind of like our Monday Magazine or Georgia Strait but without edge. Good to look for upcoming events, articles are interesting and enjoyable but far too long, in my opinion. Also, they have a column of a woman in Quebec who used to live in Whitehorse who talks about things like the Depanneur where you can, gasp, buy beer! OMG! As well as little silly things like the bags of flyers QC residents get every week or so on their doorsteps--don't you know those are wasted? Oh the horror. Useless article.

There are magazines (Yellowknife's UpHere, Whitehorse's North of Ordinary) as well.

Parking %^&*!!

Ok, this idea was really presented by Meri, but I liked it so I'm adding on with my own special twist...

Whitehorse is one of the most retarded places in regards to parking, parking limits, parking lots, tourist parking, over-limit parking and parking tickets.

Many office buildings have either no parking or 2-hr limit parking in front for their loyal employees and customers, who either have to run out to move their cars, pay for parking or park in the boonies. It gets very cold here in the winter. This is not a big city, hell, I don't think it qualifies as a city at all.

There are no indoor malls, no real boutiques, nothing save a semi-decent Main St. The bylaw officers are crazy parking Nazi's. Cue reminscing about times you just barely escaped without a ticket-or unfairly got one. I'll share mine...

I parked at a meter that had expired so I could run to the bank 10 steps away, deposit a cheque into the bank machine and run back. There was no lineup at the bank, nothing to waste my time. As I ran back, a bylaw officer was writing me a ticket. I was gone for 1.30 minutes.

Oh, but the expired-meter tickets only cost you $10 if you pay the next day. Heaven help you if you park at a 2hr only spot and exceed it by 10 minutes, which I did today. I got to my car after 15 minutes over and I had a nice $25 ticket. They must hound those areas like crazy, because they are the city's cash cows.

I think Whitehorse the one-horse backwaters town could learn a little something from Anchorage, Alaska. Free parking downtown on weekends? Sure! C'mon down! And their city is pretty much 100x bigger than Whitehorse. Give me a break. Dumbasses.

Show a little leniency and trust me, people appreciate it. Hear that Anchorage? I like you!

Swan Haven

In an effort to repair my damaged self esteem, I trucked out with my partner to Swan Haven at Marsh Lake yesterday.

It was a long drive, about 30 minutes (well it seemed long in a week that feels like an eternity of shit and days that feel like hellish weeks) so I was prepared to not be impressed.

The swans are incredibly far away so you have these large swivelling binoculars on stands to peep at them from. You can hear them from very far away though! They are very pretty even if tiny specs on the horizon of snow. Swans up here sometimes have orange stained necks, which occur from the heavy iron concentration in the lakes they feed off of. Interesting.

We walked across the ice to get a better glimps, alas, they were still way far away. There was a sign barely 10ft from thore admonishing people not to get too close, the swans were resting. Resting? Jeeze, you can barely even see them even *if* you walk out for 45 minutes, haha, I hardly think the swans will be upset. (I don't advocate annoying nature though--those critters have a tough enough time as it is)

Verdict? It was ok. Nice to see some swans but too bad they were so far away. Now a black swan, that would be something... I have only ever seen one once in my life but I have never forgot it. There's something amazing about them, they are so darkly beautiful.

Why Whitehorse?

On a marked depart from my usual hellfire and brimstone blogs, here is a cheery happy one to accompany this bright sunshiny day!

Well, not really.

I have decided (through others decisions) to make up a pro/con list for the town, I refuse to call it a city, of Whitehorse.

Pros:
I have a place to live
I can horseback ride sometimes
The weather is improving
I have a roommate I like
I have friends here
I have a job
I like the library
I had a great opportunity earlier this year and it ended

Cons: (this is where it gets ugly)
I hate my job
My partner got fired from his job
It is expensive to live here (electricity avg. $150/month??)
Landlords are assholes, so is Lister's Motorsports
I can't seem to get a better job
I hate hate hate hate hate hate snow and cold
Not much to do for trips/shopping
Can't horseback ride as much as I need to/horses are not as good
Living here is not self-sustainable
It is a trip to just to to a trip out of here (jesus save us)
My once-in-a-lifetime position was just a contract
People are flaky and incredibly unreliable

Seem like a no-brainer? What keeps me here, what keeps anyone here?
I have applied to BC Public Service position, fingers crossed they liked it!