Dogs in boots

Hey, you want to know something? I decided to check available flights on Thursday evening, and I would have been able to book a trip to Tucson, Arizona:

For cheaper and easier than to Vancouver, where there is nothing available until Christmas.

Just a fun quirk of having an international airport!

I hope you’re doing well. I fought my cabin fever with a trip to Book and Company yesterday, as well as a very quick dog walk — Kanga was excited to get out for a bit but eager to get home quickly, too.

Yesterday’s episode of the Current led with a segment on homeless people dealing with the cold and that segment led with a visit to one of the camps in Prince George where frostbite is a real concern. Here’s one way you can help:

Things are supposed to warm up to above -25 C today, and then warmer still from there. Right now it looks like Christmas through to New Year’s is going to be in that sweet spot of just below 0 so you can enjoy winter outdoors without dealing with slush and rain — let’s hope it holds! This warmer weather is particuarly good new if you are one of the people who likes to jump in a lake on New Year’s Day.

As alluded to above, there’s more chaos and cancelled flights at the Vancouver airport. I really hope people are able to get their trips sorted for Christmas — my entire Facebook feed seems to be people either asking for or offering rides. It’s also probably a good time for a new bus service to launch, connecting Prince George to Kamloops and then on to Kelowna and Vancouver. Unfortunately for those stranded, it doesn’t start until January 4.

I have to say, given all of this chaos and cold I am impresed I am still getting mail and packages. I’m also glad I’m not one of the people to be victim of this particular form of parcel theft where boxes are cut, contents stolen, then they are resealed and delivered. If it happened to you, RCMP are looking to talk.

Here’s what else is going on:

• A look at the difficult road ahead for the forest industry.

• Not unrelated, more curtailments for Canfor.

• A Prince George doctor warns Prince George’s pediactric unit is now at capacity due to flu and other respiratory viruses.

• The suspect driver has been located in last week’s hit-and-run.

• UNBC is looking to capitalize on next year’s Nordiq Cup cross-country ski competitions being hosted in town by offering a $2,000 credit to any participating athletes which is… a pretty good idea? I was able to take ski breaks between classes when I was there, not sure how many universities offer that.

• The Prince George Citizen has a profile of two Ukrainian refugees living in Prince George, both medical professionals looking to get credentialed to work in Canada. One is doing a two-year internship while the other is working in construction.

• And a Prince George man has started a non-profit to bring clean water to rural Guatemala.

I’m not tweeting but your praise sustain me nonetheless:

I also still see those good posts:

That’s it until at least sometime next wek (yes, I am taking Christmas Day off of writing this, as much as I enjoy it). As we head into the holidays, I want to thank all of you who have signed up for this little email and I really appreciate your notes, queries and tips. May your flights depart, parcels arrive, pipes stay unfrozen, dogs be booted and moose be seen.

- Andrew

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