A blog is something that - to continue to live - must be 'fed' almost every day. Since 11 October, when the Yukon election was held (and won by the good guys), the energy buoying MarchforArch2 has diminished, to the point where there is no good reason for your Blogress to continue.
Keeping up with Tom Eschak, our man in Afghanistan, has been fun and useful. And finding out 'stuff' about hawkweed and magpies has been fun. But the daily necessity to work on an election campaign no longer exists. As Archie has said, this blog is, at this point, just something else for him to think about, and given that he is busy with a couple of departments now, that is a rational point of view.
So, MarchforArch2 is now, officially, in hiatus. That means, if there is any news about Archie that is interesting enough for a blog entry - if Tom Eschak or Doug Tizya have things to say to the Yukon folks - or if your Blogress finds out more great stuff about Porter Creek - then I will email all of you.
Otherwise: Cheers, and have a great holiday season!
Your Blogress,
Heather

A regular feature of the writer Mark Steyn's website is his "Song of the Week." This week, he talks about "Roses of Picardy", which was (would you believe it) written by the same guy who wrote the lyrics for "Danny Boy." Anyway, this is what he has to say:

"On Remembrance Day – or Veterans’ Day or Armistice Day, according to taste – I find myself thinking about songs from the Great War. It may have been “the war to end all wars”, but it was a bonanza for Tin Pan Alley. More war songs were written for the First World War than for any other war before or since, and many of them resonate to this day – “Over There”, “Pack Up Your Troubles In Your Old Kit Bag (And Smile, Smile, Smile)”, “How Ya Gonna Keep ’Em Down On The Farm After They’ve Seen Paree?”, “Mademoiselle From Armentieres (Hinky-Dinky Parly-Voo)”, etc. But it’s the ballads I think of – the catchpenny songs of love enlarged by the canvas they’re played against: “If You Were The Only Girl In The World”, for example, a favorite of the British Tommies in the hell of 1916, the year of the Somme... "

There are problems in paradise, folks. Here we are, more comfortable, more entertained, more healthy than any people anywhere, anytime. But how do we keep all of this marvellous world of ours going? I am speaking of the plumbing, the heating, the electricity.. and the servicing thereof.

My 'furnace guy' is so busy he is scheduling visits for next fall. He is busy all the time, and he is extremely competent, and wastes no time. I understand he is taking no new customers. The situation is the same with appliance repairmen, plumbers and carpenters and all the other 'tradesmen' we have taken for granted.

Honestly, I can't understand why a young person would not look at the trades as a way to make a living. They should notice that all of us customers are perfectly willing to wait, often hours, for the guy to turn up, and we NEVER COMPLAIN, not if we have any brains, we don't. Yet, the status thing for todays' kids seems to be (I may be wrong here) to go to University and get something 'in computers.'

Anyway, this is a problem felt outside the Yukon as well. Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher noted that "Throughout this nation and especially in the state of Texas ... (companies are) suffering from a shortage of skilled and semi-skilled labor," he told the Texas Lyceum, an economic think-tank, at its annual meeting.

If you wish to contribute anything to these Canadian soldiers, there is an organization called "Canadian Angels" . Wendy Sullivan, who hosts this effort, allows you to 'adopt' a soldier, 'register' a soldier, and donate via paypal. She says,

"I started Canadian Angels because I felt there was a need for our Armed Forces to know that the people back home in Canada supported them. For years programs like this have existed in the United States, but for our brave Canadian men and women fighting in Afghanistan and stationed around the world, there has been very little."

This very uncomfortable-looking place is named "op-1(3)". One observation: it looks like a desert, doesn't it?

Tom's name for this photo is "family hatch gunner"

We are the Dead.
Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch;
be yours to hold it high.
If ye break with us who die
We shall not sleep,
though poppies grow In Flanders fields.

and here is a photo of Tom Eschak himself

Tom calls this photo, "My Section"

A letter from Marj Eschak:

"Hello Everyone:Here are some pictures from Tom Eschak in Afghanistan. He's currently on 2weeks leave and enjoying the history and architecture in the Mediterranian.He's then traveling on the Eurail around Europe.Tom will be finished his tour in Afghanistan in February. He's a very proudCanadian! "

Your Blogress is going to run all of these photos over the weekend of November 11th. My feeling is that we have got into the habit of being 'proud' ONLY of the wounded and the dead.. well, Tom and his comrades are representing Canada (that's us!) with enthusiasm, competence and exuberance. We are TRULY proud of this, Tom. And have a great vacation!!
The photo is entitled "12 feet weed" What KIND of 'weed', we will have to puzzle out ourselves.

Now, here is a real story, and it is so astonishing (to your Blogress, anyway), that I am going to copy it in full: The London Telegraph asks this question: Is it the end of Traffic Lights?? And it goes on to report that
"Most traffic lights should be torn up as they make roads less safe, one of Europe's leading road engineers said yesterday. Hans Monderman, a traffic planner involved in a Brussels-backed project known as Shared Space, said that taking lights away helped motorists, cyclists and pedestrians to co-exist more happily and safely....Residents of the northern Dutch town of Drachten have already been used as guinea-pigs in an experiment which has seen nearly all the traffic lights stripped from their streets.

Only three of the 15 sets in the town of 50,000 remain and they will be gone within a couple of years.

The project is the brainchild of Mr Monderman, and the town has seen some remarkable results. There used to be a road death every three years but there have been none since the traffic light removal started seven years ago. There have been a few small collisions, but these are almost to be encouraged, Mr Monderman explained. "We want small accidents, in order to prevent serious ones in which people get hurt," he said yesterday.

"It works well because it is dangerous, which is exactly what we want. But it shifts the emphasis away from the Government taking the risk, to the driver being responsible for his or her own risk. We only want traffic lights where they are useful and I haven't found anywhere where they are useful yet."

Mr Monderman, 61, compared his philosophy of motoring to an ice rink. "Skaters work out things for themselves and it works wonderfully well. I am not an anarchist, but I don't like rules which are ineffective and street furniture tells people how to behave."

In short, if motorists are made more wary about how they drive, they behave more carefully, he said. The main junction in Drachten handles about 22,000 cars a day. Where once there were traffic lights, there is a roundabout, an extended cycle path and pedestrian area. In the days of traffic lights, progress across the junction was slow as cars stopped and started. Now tailbacks are almost unheard of — and almost nobody toots a horn.

However, it is not the cars which seem to be involved in the greatest conflict, it is the cyclists and pedestrians who seem to jostle for space. Driving around Drachten, vehicles approach roundabouts with considerable caution – traffic approaches from the left, but cyclists come from either side. Cyclists, almost none of whom bother with helmets, signal clearly at junctions making sure motorists are aware of them.

Thus far, Drachten's drivers and pedestrians have voted the experiment a success.
"I am used to it now," said Helena Spaanstra, 24. "You drive more slowly and carefully, but somehow you seem to get around town quicker." Tony Ooostward, 70, was equally enthusiastic. "Everybody is learning. I am a walker and now you are the boss at the crossroads, everyone waits for you. But at the same time pedestrians wait until there are a number wanting to cross at the same time." Kanaan Jamal, 39, like many people in Drachten, uses a bike to get around. "It is very smooth — a lot better than other towns," he said.

The consensus is that the creation of uncertainty by taking away the lights and even in some places the road markings has worked. "Anybody who is new here doesn't know what to do. They don't know who has priority, the car, bike or pedestrian. It's all confusing, but because of that everybody takes care," Mr Jamal said.

Snow arrived.. and just in time for Halloween! One of the nice aspects of Life in the North (as opposed to Life in the Cities of the Plain) is that so much of the snow remains white.

The Arts and Crafts Winter season kicked off last Saturday at Jack Hulland School. They called it the "Haunts and Holly Craft Fair" and it was really impressive. Booths filled up both gyms and hallways in between.

Your Blogress started her Christmas shopping with a dog whistle from Rosemary Piper; a fluffy blue scarf from Shelley (who works at Super A); and the best AntiPasto in the world. The latter, made by "Kathy" includes cauliflower, mushrooms, dill pickles, black and green olives, corn, water chestnuts, green peppers, tuna, shrimp, crab, garbanzo beans, and onions. Diarm O'Donovan sold me on the deluxe version.

The next Porter Creek Craft Fair is 9th December, at the Porter Creek Secondary School, and I think it will be well worth a look.

Land, and lots of Land. Maybe you have noticed the Copper Ridge subdivision: it just happened. Suddenly.
If you go to the Energy Mines and Resources site here you will see that indeed, it HAS suddenly appeared. In the 5 years from 2002 to 2006 (when Archie was Minister), 527 Copper Ridge Residential Lots were sold. In the SIX years previously, (1996 to 2001), 337 such lots were sold.
Four jurisdictions administer land in the Yukon:
The Yukon government now controls the majority of vacant lands in the territory; Yukon First Nations control their settlement lands; Municipalities administer lands, community plans and zoning bylaws within their jurisdictions. Whitehorse and Dawson City also control subdivision within their boundaries; and The Federal government controls lands consisting of the three national parks (Kluane National Park, Ivvavik National Park and Vuntut National Park) and one Wildlife Area (Nisutlin River Delta National Wildlife Area)

There is information on Future Land Development plans here. And just to jazz up this posting, here is a map of the proposed Whitehorse Copper residential development:

From the "Grassroots News", 26 Sept, 2006 (p12): "The fifth annual BearClan Gathering heard a soldiertell others just what it’s like to serve in a war zone. PrincessPatricia’s Canadian Light Infantry soldierDoug Tizya stood before a dead silentcrowd and told his story."

Doug Tizya, who served with Tom Eschak in Afghanistan, has returned to Canada after being injured with shrapnel wounds to his wrist and lower legs. Both men are professional soldiers serving in the 2ndBattallion, Princess Patricia’s CanadianLight Infantry based in Shilo, Manitoba.

'...Tizya concedes conditions were difficult,including the intense heat, whichsometimes got as high as 40 degreesCelcius but the constant stress of suicidebombers was always there. “Thekey to dealing with it was the fact thatwe are there as a team. The guy besideyou is what gets you through thosetough times, you train together andbuild a bond with these guys,” said Tizya.“That’s who you look to when you are down.”'

The photo is Doug Tizya with Manitoba's Ltnt Gov John Harvard at the Bear Clan Gathering.