#28 Shocking Moments

Hello,

The first workshop ended today with the departure of the photographers, and my goodness, I must say that I am completely exhausted. But let's start from the beginning:

Nothing exciting happened on Saturday, but Jenny told me in the evening that she wants to give me Sunday off. I was really surprised because I thought she would forget, but so I slept a little longer on Sunday and if I had known what would happen that day, I probably wouldn't have left my bed. Since it was Sunday, I was looking forward to just being on the couch and watching German YouTube videos. David took over the customer outing that day. So I was lying on the couch, enjoying some German entertainment, and then David came in, laid down on another couch, and immediately wanted to see Jenny, who was once again working on the house. David was not doing well at all. I don't know if I mentioned it before, but David has a heart problem and is not supposed to carry heavy things, which is why I am here. But on that day, he had to carry something heavy because he needed to set up a new bait, and it didn't go well for him. We immediately got Peter, who used to be a doctor, and he decided that we should go to the doctor in Tatla Lake. David couldn't do anything anymore, so we rolled him from the couch to the car with his office chair, put him inside, and drove to Tatla Lake with a "slightly" increased speed. The whole time, David was on the verge of passing out, so Jenny and I tried to keep him awake somehow. To make a long story short, the doctor was able to stabilize him and surprisingly even gave him the green light for his trip, as he had to leave for his polar bear workshop on Monday. Jenny praised me in the evening for being calm and not panicking. But all this time, I thought that the view was to die for, but today was not the right moment for it. 😁 Of course, because of this incident, my day off was gone, and I had to take over the afternoon tour. We also had abnormal temperatures of +11°C in the shade on Sunday. You can imagine how the snow was: extremely wet and soft, and I had to drive the truck into the unpaved areas. At one spot, I had to drive or roll down a small hill, and when I thought I was going too fast, I wanted to brake a little, and what can I say: The truck started sliding to the right, and I smoothly slid off the "road" on the right side. It's a very bad feeling, on the one hand, because you can't do anything and it happens so quickly, and on the other hand, because the truck also tilted, and my next thought was "Shit, I'm about to tip over." After a few very loud expletives, I actually managed to get out of that situation by constantly driving back and forth, only to slide back in when I wanted to drive off again. But the second attempt worked, and I was able to pick up all the photographers without major problems. But it was definitely an experience I could have done without. In the evening, I was simply exhausted. First, Dave and then this stupid truck situation.

On Monday, I was completely responsible for everything until late afternoon because Jenny took David to the airport. Fortunately, everything worked out, and no one died, but it's a lot of pressure when you are completely responsible for everything. 😁

Tuesday was the complete opposite of Sunday in terms of temperature. The thermometer showed minus 18 degrees Celsius in the morning. Moreover, we decided not to wake up at six o'clock but to have breakfast at six o'clock because we had only seen one lynx so far, and the probability is higher early in the morning. So I set off, and it was the first day without clouds in the morning, so we had a spectacular sunrise that illuminated this landscape beautifully. When Rhett and Simone were taken to the spot with the deer as bait, I saw my first lynx! I couldn't take a photo because I had to leave as quickly as possible so as not to scare away the lynx, but yeah....finally, I saw one at least. 💪🏼 Rhett and Simone had a successful lynx day, while Sabrina only saw birds and the fisherman for the entire trip. I felt really sorry for her, and Sabrina was getting more and more restless. On Tuesday evening, she said that everyone who had already had a beer in the evening had also seen a lynx, so she decided to have some beer as well, and tada, on Wednesday, she saw her first lynx, but it was too far away. So I told her that she now has to drink a whole beer, and what can I say, on Thursday, the last day of the workshop, she had a lynx in front of her camera for over three hours. I was able to observe it during the pickup. We were all extremely happy, and she even cried with joy in the tent, she said. It was a very, very good ending to the workshop, all three got their lynx photos - pure relief.

What did I do this week?

I had to dismantle one spot because loggers are now working there and set up a new spot. On the way there, I also had a short moment of shock. The fuel gauge dropped to zero in the middle of the highway, and I just thought: Shit, do I have a leak in the tank? I didn't know what to do and stopped to check the underside of the truck for a possible leak. But since I didn't see anything, I continued driving, and suddenly, the fuel gauge jumped back to "full," only to shortly after drop again to "empty," then to 3/4 full, then to 1/2 full, and so on. It drove me crazy. By now, I know how much fuel I need for each trip, so I knew I would make it home, but that moment when the tank showed empty...oh boy, and we don't have an extra gas canister in the truck.

Otherwise, I sat at various spots and didn't see anything exciting except for the fisher marten and some special bird. Although I saw a lynx twice this week and my second moose, but I would have liked those moments to last longer than 20 seconds and to have a camera with me because I never see anything spectacular at my spots. Yesterday, for example, it was extremely windy, and I knew that nothing would come, and yes, for the first four hours out of the five, I was just trembling because the wind was so extreme, and when it calmed down in the last hour, the grey jays and a raven came - WOW! So yeah, it's quite sobering when you never see anything...

But how was the first workshop otherwise?

I have to say that I am slowly but surely reaching my limit. David will be back in about 10 days, and I still have to hold on without a day off until then. The constant early waking up, hours of driving, hiking, carrying the damn 30 kg of meat, dismantling and setting up tents, sitting in the tent for hours and looking at a piece of meat, and constantly scanning the area...it's extremely exhausting, and I never really have time for myself here in the main house. When I come to the main house in the evening after taking a shower, just to relax and answer some messages or read news, I have to go back out immediately to serve the photographers, and sometimes I feel like I'm alone. Jenny's tasks for the workshops here are "only" to ensure meals. I don't want to say that it's not demanding, but when I see her happily talking about what she has achieved on the construction site when I see a new load of firewood, I just think: Screw this construction site. It's workshop time! How about you go? But if I ask her if she can drive, she just says that she has to stay at home because she has to cook...yeah, right. So the division of labor is rather inadequate here. And when a person at dinner praises Jenny to heaven because she works soooooo hard, I also just think: Thanks for nothing.

However, I must also say that Jenny is extremely grateful to me, and the photographers have thanked me with a very generous tip (which I don't have to share with Fatih anymore 😅).

Now the first group is definitely on their way to the airport, and the new guests will arrive by plane, with which the old ones will fly back. The new group consists of two American couples, one of which is very, very special. I don't yet know how we will handle that. But I have to go now, clean the cabins, and prepare for the arrival of the new guests.

Until then.

Samuel ✌🏽