bad dogs in west dawson

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I collected another bone story today while tucked away in a cabin in the woods with friends, along the edge of the Yukon River, in West Dawson. The above recording was made with my phone while we were gathered, around banana pancakes, bacon, eggnog gelato, eggs and avocado. Also, chaga. One unexpected guest to the brunch party was Caveman Bill. Caveman Bill has lived in a cave across the river from Dawson City proper (as opposed to West Dawson) for quite some time. West Dawson is a remote community across the Yukon River from Dawson City, mostly wooded, and annually cut off from the rest of civilization in the spring and early winter. Those times are when the river is either in the process of freeze up or break up, and is therefore not passable by foot or by ferry. Evan and I hiked for about 45 minutes across the frozen river and through the woods to get to the cabin. We passed a massive shipwrecked steam paddler along the way and I climbed up to peek into the rusted furnace room, which reminded me of a place where children might be baked for breakfast.

The new bone story came from Caveman Bill. He told me about a time, once upon a winter, when he was skiing along from his cave to somewhere else. He crossed an area in the snow that was a solid ice sheet, and couldn't figure out why it might be there as there was no water nearby. He skiied across the ice sheet and went to where he was going, but on the way back, decided to investigate to see if he could find the cause of it. He poked around at the sides of it and that's when he discovered a bone of his neighbour's dog. It was one of the leg bones with just a bit of recognizable fur on it, and part of a foot. That was all that was left of the poor dog. That's when he realized that the ice sheet was actually the kill site, and that the wolves who had killed the dog had licked up every last drop of blood from the snow. The ice sheet was the collective hot saliva of a ravaging wolf pack. He skied back then to his cave. He is not afraid of the wolves around in West Dawson, though. I will go visit him in his cave sometime while I am still here in Dawson.

This week, on Wednesday, will be mine and Evan's artist talk at the KIAC Ballroom, followed afterwards by a party at Macaulay House. Tuesday, I'm back at Robert Service School to teach some more gut work. Tomorrow night, a bonfire at some more friends' cabin. I've really started to see why, as the local tales go, people come up here for one reason or another, and end up just never leaving.

Above is another, the second of three recordings I made at Blair and Carly's cabin (the skinned squirrel was not part of brunch). Blair is doing vocals and guitar, while Rémi is on banjo doing accompanying vocals. All the assorted brunchers are talking in the background. Hold on with the Three Shades of Black recording, until about 1 minute in when it gets better with really nice harmonizing between Rémi and Blair, and a little bit less background conversation.

Carly.

Evan and Rémi.