I've been looking for an excuse to post this photo taken on a side street in downtown Yellowknife. It's a powerful and textured mural. Real muskox may not be roaming the city; however, black bears are definitely becoming urban creatures. A bear was spotted on Frame Lake trail on Friday. When wildlife officers arrived, they saw two bears swimming in the lake. The next day a bear was found eating garbage in front of a house near a residential street--not far from my exit to the CBC. That's like seeing a bear on one of the streets near the Halifax Common or around High Park in Toronto. Another bear sighting was reported today near the Explorer Hotel and later at Niven Lake, that other trail with the fancy houses. This one wisely ran off to the ski club when wildlife officers approached. The other one near Frame Lake returned to eat more garbage and, so, it was shot, standard practice around here when a bear shows a lack of fear of people. 
The good news is that despite this apparent invasion of black bears, no one has been hurt--or even charged. My entries are probably going to be random as I begin my countdown to departure on Sept. 8th and look for ways to post some of the gazillion photos I've taken. These are the sled dogs, kept by Aggie and Terry, who I've written lots about, including their indoor dog, Magic. They also keep a team of sled dogs which they use to get to their cabin in the winter. My 'hook' for using this photo now is a news item on Northbeat tonight about the challenges of Nunavut dog mushers competing in the NWT. Their dogs, which have bigger fur, have difficulty adjusting to the warmer climate (it's all relative) and to the softer snow here. The trainers have to come two months early to acclimatize the dogs. And the style is quite different: in Nunavut the riders lie down on their stomachs, but they must learn to stand to compete in the NWT. During the interview on TV tonight, the woman had a tiny husky puppy on her lap that whined until she stuffed it inside her sweater.
One of today's highlights was a conversation with Mabel English, the Gwich'in host of Nantaii.
She calls from time to time from Inuvik and today she asked what will happen to all those interviews she's done over the years. As I've posted before, Mabel is 70 and will retire in November. She wants to see those interviews with elders put on CD so their stories and the language are preserved. And, she suggested, the CBC could "give back" to the people. In the course of our chat, she told me about an interview she did at a fish camp this week with people who trap and use just what they need--"no fancy stuff". That led Mabel to recall her life growing up, when they'd pick a barrel of berries, burying some in a birch bark tray to preserve them for Christmas to share with her mother's sisters.
I'm learning to appreciate random.
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