Comedy of Errors

August 13-18

Bronwyn filled in as associate lifeguard at the pool on Saturday. She wasn’t there long. The support beam for the pool lining was weakening, and the lifeguard was concerned that if it 'went', 90,000 gallons of water would get sucked into the hole and take any swimmers with it. Needless to say, he closed the pool for safety reasons. It worked out well, because we went hiking an hour south of McPhoo in the mountains with Lynn and her kids, her dad, and her brother. It was too steep for Evangeline’s legs or liking, and Sarah carted her most of the way up. God Bless her! Ezra was reluctant, but once he put his mind to it, he kept up with Jo, who was leading the pack of young ones. Lynn used gummies as incentive for any cheerful hikers.

We were just about to the top when a storm rolled in. Diana told me later when the rain hit her face ‘it felt like bullets.’ The morale of the younger hikers (mostly mine) started to falter. Estelle was in the front pack under a blanket and slept through the whole thing. We decided to head down as the water made the rocks slippery. I used Keegan as a support. I fell three times, and Estelle STILL didn’t wake up. A little rain always makes a hike more memorable and I had a good time. Lynn and I took the wet little ones home in our van. Bronwyn and Keegan stayed with the others and they went for another hike on the other side of the highway because the sky cleared as we neared the bottom. They saw about 80 caribou, some at close range. Bronwyn said it was the most beautiful area she had ever seen, with room to run for ‘miles’. So they did.

On the drive home, I passed someone who had pulled to the side to let me by. Or so I thought...they were just pulling over at the ferry, so it looked like I was just passing them to be first on the ferry. Lynn joked, “I should’ve sunk into my seat, so no one could see me riding with an impatient Southerner.” In the evening, a neighbor brought the Hanthorns some fresh caribou meat, and Josiah, Mackenzie, and Keegan stayed to watch the carving.

On Sunday, Lynn had a group of ladies over at 8 pm. Only I got the time wrong and showed up at the Hanthorns’ at six. They were still clearing supper dishes, so I thought I’d better help. I started washing the floors, but they couldn’t figure out why I was so intent on the job. When we realized the miscommunication, we all had a good laugh.

I’ve talked to Kurt a few times by SAT phone. He was at Clinton Point for a few days, and is now at Nicholson point. (If you want to look on google earth) Our phone calls are brief but his work seems to be going fine. A new company got the contract for the DEW line monitoring. Since Kurt has done this many times before, he warned the new site leader that some of the items they wanted to bring (one being a quad) wouldn’t fit on the plane. They said they were going to try anyway. Sure enough, the quad wouldn’t fit, and they almost left without a cook tent, until they found a smaller one. Kurt also said this is his first job with no cook on site and the crew will be responsible for making their own meals. Hopefully, they will find time to work apart from their food preparation.

We did math with the Hanthorns again this morning, followed by biking and then supper together in their teepee. We sang some worship songs until the winds came up, threatening to take the teepee tarp with it. That put an end to our fun and games. We made a quick retreat inside. Apparently, the winds were so strong they closed the ferry. It got up to 20 degrees this afternoon, and now it's back to 7 degrees. It almost reminds me of living in Alberta.