Teaching an old dog

My last 'regular' week of work.  I've been suffering from repetitive question syndrom for the past two months... when is your last day ?...  to which I reply   hopefully not for a while yet? this response usually gets a look of incomprehension until I say that I'm not planning on dying any time soon.  The second question is a variation of ... what are you going to do with all that time? This reminds me of a similar question folks would often ask years ago when they learned that I was a teacher in a small community in the Northwest Territories. In those days I would just look the questioner in the eye and reply... lots of sex!  I haven't tried that response this time round.  I'm willing to bet that, similar to my life as a small community teacher, I won't find lots of surplus time. There are many of things I plan on doing and then there is the list of things my wife has planned for me ...  I'll still be short of time.

I do plan on having the time to learn a few new things... like how to lay tile flooring and how to take pictures of the northern lights (after all these years!)  ...  Yes you can teach an old dog new tricks. I have proof. Over the christmas break I taught my 8 year old golden, Atiq, to be a sled dog.  She used to watch in amasment whenever we passed a dog team on the trail while out skiing ... I think she was envious, so I borrowed a pulk (plastic sled) from my neighbour, dug out an old harnass I had from my Baffin days and hooked her up. We've been out three time now and today graduated from an empty sled to a sled loaded with emergency gear.  Did 10km out the Bert Mockford trail and she was great... only veered off the trail to check out a rabbit or fox trail a couple of times. We're working up to an overnighter at the ski-club's Banting Lake tent frame ...  about 15km from the road. Should be doable near the end of the month... and while I'm there maybe I'll get to try out some northern light photography!!

Atiq and I on Wolf Lake....