Thankful

Catherine Millar is a Whitehorse-based writer.

What will you be unwrapping this Christmas?

TO CATCH A CHIPMUNK

PHOTO: Pixabay

Excellent Selection of HOT giſt s for the one you love!

You Spoil Me. I Spoil You.

Locally Owned and Operated adulttemptations.ca Come see us at our discreet location 211 Black Street • 393-3360 Monday - Friday: 12pm - 7pm, Saturday: 12 pm - 6pm

Must be 19 years

COVID-19 booster shot clinics

STARTING WITH YUKONERS AGES 50+

A booster shot will increase your immune response to help protect you from COVID-19. You are eligible for a booster shot if it has been at least 6 months since you received your 2nd dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.*

Booster shot clinics will be held in all communities over the coming weeks, starting with those ages 50 and older.

It’s not as easy as you might think

Idon’t honestly remember my fi rst encounter with chipmunks, but my mother has told the story so many times I feel as though I remember it clearly.

I was three years old, as was my friend Peter from the cottage next door. We liked our tiny striped friends who ran around stuffi ng their cheeks with fallen raspberries. We began to feel sorry for them because they lived in dirt holes. One industrious day we decided to clean their home for them—by pouring a pail of soapy water down the tunnel we’d seen them disappear into.

Chipmunks are members of the same family as red squirrels, but they don’t have the same tendency to gnaw through the wiring in your house, or pull the insulation out of your walls. They pretty much mind their own business. They’re benefi cial protectors of our forests due to their habit of hiding food under old leaves. This acts as a mulch to help forgotten seeds sprout and grow.

At 16, I spent a summer at my friend Lisa’s cottage. We wore a lot of beads and wrote a Jethro Tullinspired song called The Giraffe’s Nodule. We taught chipmunks to eat out of our hands using the one recipe they simply cannot resist— peanut butter on toast. It must be the waft of air from the hot bread that carries that most delectable scent past their noses. If you make it, they will come.

The fi rst time I saw a chipmunk in the Yukon, I was on a hike with my husband at Miles Canyon. We sat on a tree to rest. There it was, sitting just over there looking at us. I had no idea they lived this far north. Since then, I’ve seen the odd one here and there, in forests or peeking out of wood piles.

Which brings me to my story: This past summer I was in the garden drinking a morning coffee and a chipmunk ran right past my feet! Tail straight up, that no-nonsense, can’t-you-see-I’m-busyhere performance as it rushed

cont’d on page 17 ...

Book online at yukon.ca/this-is-our-shot If you need help booking, call 1-877-374-0425.

* A small number of Yukoners received a 3rd dose, due to their immunocompromised status. If you received a 3rd dose, you must wait at least 6 months after your 3rd dose, before you can receive a booster shot.

Sleeves up, Yukon. Booster shots are now available. yukon.ca/this-is-our-shot

Booking Deadlines:

Contact our “fun experts” sales team to book your space!

Tammy Beese

Tammy@whatsupyukon.com

Chelsey MacDonald

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Events 2021