The Atlin Whisper, February 2 2022

Wednesday February 2nd, 2022

The Atlin Whisper “Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world.”

Margaret Mead

WOW!!!!

We are honoured to be nominated for the BC Small business award. Winning this award would give us the financial ability to apply for Fairtrade certification, and to continue to improve our social and environmental impact.

We wouldn't be where we are today without your support, and we would love it if you could vote for us, to help us win this award and attain our goal of becoming Fairtrade certified.

The voting deadline is February 28th2022 Here is the website where you can find us and vote: https://smallbusinessbc.ca/awards/nominee/2 022/atlin-mountain-coffee-roasters/ Thank you for your support!!

Philippe and Leandra Atlin Mountain Coffee Roasters

THE MAGIC WINTER

by Paul Lucas Atlin,Winter,1985. There are winters and there are winters. Some are long and cold, and if you don’t get out for a break, it’s easy to get bushed - particularly if you are living cabin life.

The folks who make their living in the winter, trappers for example, have plenty to do, but even they find themselves a little crazed by the time February rolls around. That’s why events like ‘Rendezvous,’ the ‘Frostbite Music Festival’ and Atlin’s ‘Fun Days’ are scheduled right around then. They give everybody a chance to get together and blow off steam.

Every now and then though, the perfect winter comes along, and 1985-86 was a humdinger.

One midnight, just before Christmas, I took a break from working on a Christmas album, and took a stroll by the lake. Oh, I know what’s coming …

“Are you mad? What are you doing working on a Christmas album just before Christmas? You’ll never get it out in time.”

Yeah well ... for me, the marketplace is a place you go to buy artichokes.

In any event, it was midnight, just before freeze-up, and I happened to be standing on the lakeshore right beside the old tour boat, the Tarahne. The air was still, and the surface of the lake was glass. I was gazing across the open water, when I heard whispering coming from every direction.

The whispers got louder until they became a constant hissing, then all of a sudden, thousands of individual flash points coalesced into a skin and snap! - the lake was frozen. I was stunned.

The odds of being there at that very moment were likely one in a million.

As it turned out, it was the first event of many in the Magic Winter.

--When the lake freezes there is most often a wind, and the surface ends up being pretty rough.

Not that it matters much. It only takes a day or two for a blanket of snow to cover the ice.

But this year, all bets were off. Not only did the wind not blow, but the snow didn’t arrive either. For weeks the surface of Atlin Lake was an eighty-mile-long mirror. Even the old timers couldn’t remember a winter like it.

We were all rubbing our mitts together in anticipation of getting out there on the ice, and it didn’t take long before the skates came out of the closet. But that was only the beginning.

The doors to workshops from Marsh Lake to Warm Bay were thrown open and it wasn’t long before the iceboats started showing up.

There is nothing like sticking skates on a light wooden frame and hoisting up a good sized sail in a wind to scare the crap out of you. These things can move, and everyone was a little surprised when there weren’t more reckless sailors with busted bones showing up at the Red Cross.

--My pal, Philip Adams, and I figured we’d take advantage of the situation to go on a skate trip down the lake. So, loading up a little sled with gear, we headed south. And we were movin’!

The game plan was to skate down Torres Channel, through Second Narrows, where we would overnight, then return the next day by following the eastern shoreline of Teresa Island. But it was not to be. The ice at the mouth of the narrows turned out to be extremely rough and we were forced to turn back.

With our tails between our legs, we headed back up Torres towards a friend’s outfitting cabin.

It was a long haul and we were both tired and cold when we stumbled in the door.

We dumped our outside gear in the corner, tossed a stack of wood in the stove and fired it up.

Soon, it was glowing cherry red and the place began to thaw. Peeling off our parkas, we boiled water for tea, settled down our weary bodies, and I was just about to put my feet up when Little Billy chimed in.

Billy is my perverse alter ego. He’s a pest, and when he shows up, he tends to perch on my left shoulder. It’s a not good thing symbolically. Death and mischief perch on your left shoulder, and this little shit has got me into more trouble ...

“Say,” he chirped in that Bugs Bunny voice of his, “that pal of yours is coming into town tonight right? He’ll be arriving in a couple of hours, and I’m pretty sure he’ll be bringing beer. And you’re so close Doc, so close.”

“You’ve got to be kidding,” I mumbled back.

“What’s that?” Philip shouted over the roaring stove.

“I’m toying with the idea of skating the last leg back to town,” I shouted.

“You’ve got to be kidding,” Philip said, echoing my own thoughts.

But I was already donning my parka and untying my dripping skates from the drying rack above the stove.

“Nope, I’m gonna give it a shot,” I said, “but first, I’m going to carb up so I can stay alert.”

Down the hatch went the remaining candy bars along with fourteen of those little packages of brown sugar. By the time I was done, I was stuffed. But, by gum, I was alert.

“Alrighty then,” I crowed, “I’m ready!” And pushed open the door.

Philip shook his head as a halo of ice crystals blew through the opening.

“You’re an idiot. Go if you must, but try not to fall in the open water at the mouth of the channel. Those are my good socks you’re wearing, and I don’t want to have to peel them off you at the funeral.”

I waved, slammed the door, hobbled down to the lakeshore on my blades, and slid out on to the moonlit, glassy surface of Torres Channel. Pushing off, I strode north towards the mouth of the narrows, images of frosty beer-filled glasses topped with foam driving me onwards.

The whole thing was a magic carpet ride. More than a little heady from exhaustion and slightly woozy from my sugar buzz, I found myself skating on the world’s biggest diamond under a full moon, with a Tolkien Atlin Mountain behind me and the little town of Atlin, a sprinkling of tiny twinkling lights, ahead in the distance.

Shup … shup … shup … went the skates; aaah … hoo, aah … hoo, went my breath, the rhythm mesmerizing in that Robert Service ‘silence you most can hear,’ - a silence as close to being in outer space as you are ever going to get.

‘Old Robert would be proud of me,’ thought my addled brain as it floated above an aching body and rubbery legs.

You just can’t buy this stuff. Even if you ask the clerk nicely.

‘I’m afraid that particular experience is not for sale sir. How about a nice pair of socks pulled from a dead man who recently fell through the ice?’

But even a heightened experience can’t save you from exhaustion. I was so tired when I got back, I didn’t have enough strength to drink the beer. I know ... it sounds implausible, and it may well be a statistical anomaly worth looking into ... but there it is.

--Philip cruised back the next day, well rested, hale and hearty, swinging into town with that ‘hale fellow well met’ attitude of his and extolling the virtues of long distance skate trips. Damn his eyes.

I was still in bed when he arrived.

Atlin Mountain Inn Restaurant Hours (now licensed!)

Breakfast 7:30 am-11:30 am every day (coffee & continental, self-serve) Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, Sat. Lunch 12:00 pm-2 pm Dinner 6:00 pm-8:00 pm [Grab your reader’s attention with a great quote from the document or use this space to emphasize a key point. To place this text box anywhere on the page, just drag it.]

Sunday Dinner 6:00-8:00 pm Friday Take Out Pizza Night 5:00 pm-8:00 pm Yukon Time (MST) Follow us on Facebook for deals and specials!

Lords of the Ink ,Trilogy ACT I 2002

ACT III 2022

The Spoils of Victory

The Great Reveal

The victors write the history

The masters write all the rules

The vanquished become the ink.

But the masses begin to ask why.

ACT II

The masters write and re-write more rules

2020

But the masses have found their voice

The Great Reset

…and their courage And their drive for freedom

The masters re-write the history

And the convoy is unstoppable

The masses become the ink.

And humanity reclaims its sovereignty.

The masters re-write the history

Stephen Badhwar, January 2022

But the masses know the Truth.

ACT III 2022

Family Literacy Week January 23rd to January 30th This year we are celebrating Family Literacy Week by gifting every household in Atlin (with children) with Fire Captain Tim Kennedy’s three books: 1. Tommy and Tammy the Firefighting Children “Their First Rescue” 2. “To the Rescue” 3. “Save the Environment” Retired Fire Fighting Captain Tim Kennedy worked as a firefighter in a major North American city for twenty-four years. He has been a fire dispatcher, fire prevention officer, and a fire education officer, as well as engaged in fire suppression on hazardous material handling and high angle rescue teams. He has also taught fire, street, and water safety classes to children in schools. These books will be a fun read and a great resource for both parents and kids.

Delivery Date to Be Announced!

Sponsored by Decoda Solutions (Literacy Now)

Free Book of the Month (February) Man’s Search For Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning provides a vivid account of an individual's experience as a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp. The book focuses on love, hope, responsibility, inner freedom, and the beauty to be found in both nature and art as means that help one endure and overcome harrowing experiences.

Visit your local Atlin Library on Fridays or Saturdays from 2:00 - 4:00 to enter the draw. There will be 18 winners. Winners will be announced the end of February Sponsored by Decoda Solutions (Literacy Now)

“Heart and Soul” Whether howling wind, pale cold sun, raging storm Your well-built home and furnace will keep you warm… and forever grateful.

Whether hearty stew or soup with homemade bread Thoughts of a tasty meal will entice you out of bed…to start cooking.

Whether near or far, if you’re active in a community Your heart and soul will flourish with vitality… and you’ll have stories to tell.

Jeff Salmon

LANDFILL *WINTER DAYS* *Effective – Sunday, December 12, 2021*

SUNDAY & MONDAY 11 AM - 4 PM … PST CLOSED at temperatures -28 C & below ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CLOSED ON ALL BC STATUTORY HOLIDAYS Family Day - Closed Mon, Feb 21 Open Sun & Tues, Feb 20, 22 Easter - Open April 17, 18 Operated by the Atlin Community Improvement District

January 23, 2022 Dear Pine Drive Dog Walkers, Meet Molly, Molly and I are happy to have you continue to access the crown land through the trail that crosses through our property but ask that your dogs stay to the trail and don’t run through lot 2236.

Molly is in training to do her bathroom business in 1 designated spot and having all her new 4 legged friends marking up our yard is not fair to her.

Molly is a Yorkie, Shih tzu, poodle cross (Shorki-poo) and will grow to about 8 pounds. If your dogs are not friendly to small dogs please consider a different route, we are hoping to not need a fence and to continue keeping the trail open for all to enjoy.

Cheers Molly & Heather

In Whom do you trust?

Daily, they tell us: Don’t trust independent science; Trust our corporate science.

Don’t trust free-thinking physicians; Trust our bonded physicians.

Don’t trust free speech; Trust mainstream media.

Don’t trust your inherent wisdom; Trust our covert dogma.

Don’t trust your knowledge; Trust our simple prescriptions.

Forget about common sense; Feed off our collective fear.

Don’t trust your body; Trust our technology.

Don’t trust your immune system; Trust our experimental injections.

Don’t trust your human RNA; Trust our synthetic RNA. Don’t trust naturals; Trust our pharmaceuticals.

Don’t trust low-cost treatments; Trust our profitable interventions.

Don’t trust proven procedures; Trust our deadly protocols.

Forget about God; Follow Man. Don’t trust your wise elders; Trust our clever experts.

Don’t trust your local leaders; Trust our selected cabal.

Don’t trust eye-witnesses; Trust our government sources.

Don’t trust expansive theories; Trust our packaged narratives.

Forget about inner logic; Follow our repeated slogans

Don’t trust an open smile; Trust our veiled faces.

Don’t trust human contact; Trust social isolation.

Don’t trust your neighbour; Trust our authorities.

Forget about love; Fear will keep you safe.

Don’t trust human intelligence; Trust artificial intelligence.

Don’t trust human consciousness; Trust human obedience.

Don’t trust human connection; Trust 5G connectivity.

Forget about free will; Follow our global agenda.

Don’t trust the Holy Scriptures; Trust our Executive Orders.

Don’t trust priests and preachers; Trust the Council on Foreign Relations.

Don’t trust your Heavenly Father; Trust Bill Gates.

Don’t trust practicing doctors; Trust Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Don’t trust your family or friends; Trust Uncle Trudeau.

Don’t trust choirs of angels; Trust the World Economic Forum.

Don’t trust your gut instincts; Trust Agenda 2030.

Forget about the divine plan; Follow The Great Reset.

Wait -- Remember: God gave us free will We choose in Whom we trust.

-

Stephen Badhwar, January 2022

NORTHERN HOMES REAL ESTATE Hidden Heaven!

This stunning gem in an Enchanted Forest has been lovingly crafted by the hands of this talented owner – never to be duplicated! On 4 acres with guest cabins and a short walk to hidden lakes plus easy access to the highway, $399,000 4th of July .78 acres of Crown Land lease, gated, partly cleared, the perfect spot to keep your RV and recreational necessities, there for year around enjoyment. Lease term to 2042. $53,500 Atlin Highway 72 acres along the Atlin Highway with fabulous view of the mountains and lake, overlooking Surprise Lake Road as well. Not suitable for subdivision but offers an incredible homesite. $185,000 SOLD $187,500 Coming Soon This gem is off grid, well maintained and absolutely the perfect retreat. 2 bedrooms, spacious living area and kitchen with pantry. Several outbuildings and a natural spring running through. Hopefully should soon be available for viewing.

Trond Gulch In a pastoral setting, backing onto Munro Mtn, this one-bedroom, 715 sq.ft. off-the-grid home on 9.88 acres is surrounded by Crown Land and extremely private. Sauna and guest cabin.

Truly unique with perfection evident throughout! $350,000 SOLD Mi 43 Atlin Highway 34+ acres of land, surrounded by grazing lease, with 1700 sq.ft., 2 BR, full basement home, great well, septic field, solar and generator plus lots of extras. If you wish, will come with 2 loveable nags who consider this home. Quick possession is possible. $535,000

Call Myrna at (250) 775-1019

Leave message via text or email myrnablake1@gmail.com Go to

northernhomesbc.ca for more details.

Please note that requests for same day water delivery must be received no later than 11 am of said day. Thank you!

Water delivery and Sewer Removal are available Monday through Friday Did you know we sell and service Toyo Stoves? We offer competitive pricing on the latest models. Call the office for more information Phone 250-651-7463

Email grizzlyhomeservices@gmail.com Mailing address is Box 318, Atlin BC V0W 1A0 Summer Office hours – Monday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday 8 am - noon With thanks, Dana and Mary Hammond

Mountain Shack Café Restaurant Fast Fancy Food Great Service 110 Discovery Avenue In Atlin, B.C.

EAT IN OR TAKE OUT 250-651-7789

WANTED Wanted smaller size office/computer desk.

Maximum length 53 inches. Looking for quality construction, not particle board.

xkellywhitex@hotmail.com 867-332-0836

HELP WANTED Driver - Class 3 with Air Brakes To do Water Delivery and Septic Pump outs for the community.

Monday – Friday hours Wage Negotiable Potential for Year Round Employment APPLY TO DANA OR MARY AT 250-651-7463 GRIZZLYHOMESERVICES@GMAIL.COM OR STOP BY THE SHOP

Fishing Charters

Custom Fish Art- Fiberglas and Wood GARY HILL’S FISH ART

Bob’s Contracting & Services

GARY HILL’S – CUSTOM, FISH REPRODUCTIONS PHONE 250 651 7553 EMAIL – garyphill59@gmail.com

We provide Concrete, Drain Rock, Screed gravel, Sand, Topsoil and Septic systems.

We also provide Equipment Rentals, Excavations, Covered Storage, Firewood and Snow Removal.

Please call (250) 651-2488 or email bobscontracting2020@ gmail.com

SVOP Licence, 24 ft. Boat, Transport Canada Commercial Registration – Insured Gary Hill, Atlin B.C. V0W 1A0 Licensed, B.C. Guide Call -250 651-7553 Email garyphill59@gmail.com

7 MONARCH Drive – ATLIN – BC. V0W 1A0

$850.00 per day - $550.00 per 1/2 day

WEB SITE – http://gary-hill.com

Atlin Pet Care 287 Tatlow Street

Your pets home away from home!

Indoor/Outdoor Runs Heated Kennels Boarding-Grooming-Pet Supplies Emergency Care-Veterinarian Referrals SPCA AGENTS George Holman 250-651-7717 Marj Holman 250-651-7758

COUNSELLOR KATIE ISRAEL @ BIG WATER SOCIETY Do you experience mental health challenges including depression, anxiety, substance use and addiction? Maybe you are at a crossroads and feel stuck?

Come and let’s join hands in creating new pathways to increase wellness and inner peace.

CONTACT: bwscounsellor@bigwatersociety.org Office: (250)651-2189 Cell: (867) 334-9524 Mondays and Wednesdays

Atlin Lot for Sale

Sincerely Yours General Store & Canada Post Location OPEN

Monday to Friday 10am – 5pm Closed for lunch 12:30 – 1:30 CLOSED weekends and Statutory Holidays

Downtown Atlin Right beside The Gold Claim (Jessica’s café) On 6th street across from the Rec Centre • 50’wide x 100’deep • flat level gravel pad • Clear of any obstructions • Room for parking along 50’ frontage • Great site for business or home REDUCED from $90,000 to $75,000 Contact: Elissa Miskey atlinwellness@gmail.com Message: 604-265-5700

Atlin Christian Centre Affiliated with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada Services Sunday 11 a.m.

Come join us!

(778) 721-0710

St. Martin’s Anglican Church 10 a.m. Sunday Everyone welcome!

Covid 19 restrictions apply

May you have a heart full of hugs

Sewing Machine Cleaning, Repair, & Setup Terry 250 651-7769

every day!

MOBILE WELDING SERVICE AVAILABLE Contact: Alain Vanier 250-651-0037

Reasonable Rates!

WANTED Rental or Lease to Own For May 2022 Contact: Carmen Email: carmen.nantel@g mail.com (705) 785-9539 EST

Atlin Community Library Open Every

Friday and Saturday 2-4p.m.

Everyone Welcome

The next Whisper is Wednesday February 16th Submissions are due no later than Sunday 6pm Yukon time February 13th.

Compiled and edited by Lynne Phipps. Paper for printing courtesy of Northern Homes Real Estate Printing courtesy of RCMP Atlin; Ink costs courtesy of Literacy Now. Classifieds, news, upcoming events Contact 1-250-651-7861 or lynnephippsatlin@gmail.com if you have, pictures or articles you would like to submit.

Please note that submissions should be sent in either WORD or JPEG whenever possible. PDF must first be printed and then scanned back into the computer in order to format it into the paper. This costs in both paper and ink. We know that at times a PDF is the only way, which is okay when necessary, but otherwise, as the Whisper is a FREE community service we appreciate your support in helping to keep the costs down as much as possible. Thank You!