Hunting Mishap
As I write this, Joe is stretched out on the livingroom couch working on a crossword puzzle. But had circumstances been different, he might instead be stuck in the mountains waiting to be rescued. Or it could have been worse than that too.
Yesterday he and a friend went out hunting: they wanted to get a sheep for Ruby's funeral/potlatch. While up in the mountains, Joe was turning his four-wheeler around when it fell square on top of him, pinning him down. When it tipped, gasoline from a jerry can poured onto him and into his ear. Luckily his friend was close by, and came and helped upright the four-wheeler, since it was too heavy for him to move by himself.
When he walked in the door last night, I knew something was wrong. He had a cut on his mouth (one of his teeth went through his lip when he flipped over) and he looked pretty shaken up. I sent him off to emergency to have his ear checked....it turns out his ear drum is blistered. The doctor gave him some antibiotics and said it should heal in a couple of weeks, probably with no permanent hearing loss. For now though, he's pretty uncomfortable. Things could have been a lot worse though. What if the gas had gotten into his eyes instead of his ear? And what if Darius hadn't been with him? Joe often goes hunting alone, and this time he switched locations (the first spot had too much snow to allow for hunting), so I would have sent Search and Resue to the wrong place.
Welcomed Guest
On a more upbeat note, last night an old family friend arrived in the Yukon for a three-month stay. Greg will be working on a biography of Ernest Buckler during his stay at Berton House.
The poor man has been on the road for a good part of 16 months and was exhausted last night. We fed him and he went off to bed pretty early...today we'll have more of a chance to chat. I'm planning to take him for a drive to Carcross so he can set a bit of the southern Yukon.
7:04:33 AM 
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