When the news is getting you down, remember, you can always turn it off and go for a walk while singing your favourite, happy song.
Zippity doo dah
Zippity day
My oh my, what a wonderful day
Plenty of sunshine is heading our way
Spring is coming, hip hip hurray!
Some days out on the land are just so memorable and grand, some would even say euphoric. Back in the 1970s, I had been hired to look after a drill job up near the Arctic Ocean. I was staying in a tent frame close to the ocean, where planes could land with our supplies. I had a window in the tent for light and a table for drafting and doing my reports.
The drillers had a couple tent frames on skids they kept close to the diamond drill, which was working five to 10 kilometres inland. Every day or two, I would hike up to them, to see how the drills were doing and to spot new holes. We had a Nodwell tracked vehicle and small Caterpillar tractor to haul things around with.
So, one day, I hiked to the drill to see if the hole was ready to shut down and to spot a new one. It was a beautiful, sunny spring day, not too hot but not chilly at all. Most of the snow had gone, except for a few patches in the shade. The tundra flowers had already started to bloom. After breakfast, I grabbed my day packsack, my rock hammer and a walking stick and headed out on a memorable hike. All part of the job.
I am not sure how to describe it but hiking the tundra is often memorable. It gives you the feeling that you are hiking on the roof of the world. Imagine going outside, going out on your roof and seeing the world around you from a completely different perspective. You can see so far and so much all at once 鈥� it is awesome. Awesome from a geological perspective and even from a global perspective. I could see or imagine the curvature of our planet. That is pretty amazing. We really do live on an oblate spheroid.
Halfway to the drill, I stopped on top of the highest hill in the area and took my binoculars out of my packsack to scan the area. To the left of me, in a little valley with a lot of grass, there was a small herd of maybe a dozen muskox grazing. To the right of me, far off in the distance, was a 100-200 caribou, also grazing. In front of me, I could see movement and determined it was two adult wolves with a couple of cubs out playing in the sunshine and hunting for mice.
As for birds, they were just about everywhere, if you looked closely. There was a bald eagle鈥檚 nest on a cliff nearby. In a swampy marshy area down by a stream and an inland lake, there were some Canadian geese. I had already spotted a pair of sandhill cranes and from the hilltop saw two more pairs. I think I saw a snowy owl. Lots of small birds flitting about catching flies. It is amazing how many birds spend their summers on the barrens.
It's interesting to see how much life is on the tundra when you take the time to stop and look for it. Walking, you see little, but carefully scanning the area means you see a lot more. Now, there is a word 'biophilic.' It is interaction and close association with other forms of life in nature. If you spend time on the land, this idea or concept grows on you. You aren鈥檛 just visiting, you become a part of it, just as it becomes a part of you.
I packed up and continued on to the drill. I got my work done and had a great walk back to my camp by the ocean. It was a great and memorable day, one I hope I will always remember and cherish.
So, when the news gets you down, turn it off, go for a nice long walk and sing a happy song.
