IT HAS BEEN an odd summer in the Yukon! We had a month of May that was clear as a bell and virtually rainless. Then we got a lot of sustained moisture thereafter. Now, in August, usually a cool month here, even though on clear nights the temperatures are falling nearly to freezing, in the daytime the mercury soars up to around +28 Celsius, which is HOT for us!
There are HORNETS everywhere! The bush resounds with a constant loud hum like a power substation. The keynotes for the summer seem to be hornets, mushrooms, ruffed grouse, grizzly and black bears, and cougars. No kidding. Within sixty yards of the kennel I've seen rotted logs turned over by the black bears, who seem to think hornets are a tangy treat. My neighbour saw a grizzly calmly striding across his field two days ago, and a week ago someone spotted a cougar. Not much of an invitation for a casual stroll in the bush.
The enclosure of mixed spruce, aspen, hillside and sphagnum bog where I have my shack has produced a brood of what looks like about TWO DOZEN ruffed grouse -- the most I've ever seen down there before was six. The exercise yard where we run the dogs in summer has produced a stunning variety of edible mushrooms all summer -- and you haven't seen anything odd until you've watched The Nine (our two all-bitch litters of last January) and their mothers -- eleven Seppala bitches -- all industriously hunting out mushrooms and eating them.
Is global warming going to turn the Yukon into a temperate paradise? I'm starting to wonder. Still, some of the aspen and willow leaves are already turning yellow, the wild rose hips are rapidly reddening, and the fireweed is ready to burst forth with its cottony burden of seeds. Winter will inevitably come.
Posted by jjeffrey at August 10, 2005 06:45 PM