we are out of dog food

Yesterday J had a volleyball tourney in Port so I decided to head south to go watch a game and pick up some dog food at the vet/ranch/pet food store in Tlell, about 60km away from Masset.

On my drive, the wind was howling, tree branches were flying across the road and I could see the waves crashing. It was hard to stay vertical while getting close to the bank to get some photos.

It was a wild and crazy day on the coast with gale force winds.

J had a good showing at the vball game. He was serving, setting and passing the ball with excellence (see pic below of J passing) must have got that talent from his mother or possibly uncle Bri.




Snow day on Nov 21.

My boys! It seems their 'bonding time' is when they are doing dishes. They are either fighting or goofing off. This was a goof day. Sometimes it gets quite rowdy in there, dad asks if they need to do dishes alone, but I say no! They are forced to work together and cooperate. Only one day they did not pass inspection. I tell them if there are dirty dishes in the dry rack then they both are to blame!

Olympic Torch Run is coming here!

On Nov 3 2009 the 2010 Olympic Torch relay is coming to Haida Gwaii! Maybe I should apply to be a runner...?


And on Feb 11 2010 the run will be in the Tri-cities... maybe we can see it again? Our dance group is performing in Vancouver the first week of Feb 2010 so we are south for that. See http://www.damelahamiddancers.org/ for more info. Our next big festival is March 9-15 2009 at UBC.

A deer in my kitchen!

DUE TO THE CARNIVOROUS NATURE OF THIS BLOG, VEGETARIANS PLEASE BE ADVISED

I know I have witnesses out there when I stated my involvement with the whole hunting deer, hanging, butchering, packaging would start when the meat was taken out of the freezer to make dinner... yup, should have got a butchering lesson from Opa before we came up here :)

B went hunting last weekend (with J) and the deer hung for the week and then we got the call to come get our meat. B thought he was going to leave the deer with his fellow hunter (our freezer was already at 80% capacity) but no, it was ours. With the first deer, B had help butchering with his hunter buddy's mom who has probably packed up 100's of deer. She chopped it up (B pretty much watched) in about an hour.

So last night, I helped B get the kitchen clean and set up, he started cracking bones and I went online to do some research and get some 'game cutting' tips, even found a You-tube video. There was a lot of carcass in the kitchen and the whole process was going kind of slow. Since I now had some on-line knowledge, I figured I could help a bit. B got all the meat off the bones and hacksawed the ribs and passed it to me then I trimmed down the gristly bits and packed up stew meat, a few roasts, some steaks. The freezer is now FULL.

The dogs were so good; they could smell there was something dog-heavenly happening in the kitchen but they sat at the kitchen entrance with perfect behavior in hopes that it would pay off with a treat. It did!

what they do at the beach...

I took the boys to the beach the other day.... we were going to go to check out some dunes (D brought the skim board to try surfing/sledding/sandboarding down the dunes) and look for rocks at Agate beach (J wanted to add to his rock collection). We left town with just under 1/4 tank of gas; I was too cold to get out of the truck to fill up, it had not warmed up yet. We drove a good 20+ minutes north; I am not sure how close we got to Agate beach but when the truck said 40km left in the tank, I figured we should turn around and head back.

So we drove back towards town to find a place where we could find dunes and rocks.

We headed down a side road towards the beach. They boys were getting nervous because now the gas gauge said 'fuel level very low' so we decided to park and walk the rest of the way. We put our rubber boots to good use as we trudged through the muck before we got to the sandy road and saw the water.

The boys made a B-line for the beach and I hung back to watch...

There are no steep dunes here so the skimboard is useless and D leaves it up on grass. He heads off to the waters edge and watches the waves. The tide is heading out (thankfully) and so he is not caught unexpectedly with a bootful of water. But with the strong wind, the waves are still giving a good crash about 10ft from the shore. D picks up rocks to try to hit the wave just as it breaks... I watch him throw it long or too short but when he makes 'a hit' he looks back and grins.

J heads off away from us with his eyes glued to the ground. He picks up handfulls of sand, washes the fine grains away and collects all these small crystal-like rocks. He finds a tri-coloured rock and calls me over to check it out. I hold it for him (it is a really nice one!) and he keeps on his agate search. He finds a crescent moon shaped perfectly white sugar agate and tosses it towards me to see. He now knows the difference between a real agate and a sugar agate so the sugar ones are no longer as exciting. After about 15 mins, he finds a good size agate even though he was sure he wouldn't.

D comes over to see what J has found. D bends down and picks up a white rock close to me "look what I found J. A half moon sugar agate". J yells back, "I found that one already" I had a little giggle.

We drove back to town to get gas and head home to make soup for lunch.

After lunch J, and I went to the library with a mission to find a book about rocks. He found a reference book and read that diamonds can be found at the waters edge. He believes the crystal-like rocks he found could be diamonds!

I found a book I had almost bought at the gallery a few weeks ago "The Golden Spruce" by John Vaillant. I will give my book report when I am done. So far, it is bang on with everything I have seen, heard, smelt, felt in this temperate rainforest. Right down to the line "You have the feeling that if you stop for too long, you will simply be grown over and absorbed by the slow and ancient riot of growth going on all around you." I have tried on several occasions to get a good pic of this description but I have been unable to capture it. I will keep trying!

First snowfall of the year

This morning I looked out the window and saw white stuff... not sure if this is a strange happening this time of year or not?? Snow covered the truck, grass, road, rooftops.... I was impressed with the 'stickability'. The boys went downstairs to get their snow boots to find they were too small (why I thought last years would fit I'm not sure) so they wore their new 'quading, hunting, hiking,' boots and it seemed to do the job. I took the dogs out about 10am and it was now raining, much harder than it looked, and my pants were soaked in minutes. My rain jacket got 2 thumbs up and my new rubber boots with a drawstring at the top and thick felt liners also got 2 thumbs up. We had a good walk. Sofie went crazy running in the snow but I had to keep Wrestler on leash, he is still hobbling on 3 legs. The meds are in the mail from our vet (Wrestler says thanks nana and papa beard) so he will be feeling better soon.

With wet pants in hand I went downstairs to do a load of laundry to find water on the floor close to the washer/dryer. I put on my plumber hat and found no leak at the laundry tub, no leak on the washer, no leak in the roof... I pulled the dryer away from the wall and the vent hose looked a bit weighted. It was full of water! The dryer vent is literally at ground level outside so the melting snow and rain water was flowing into the basement. It didn't help that the roof gutter was overflowing directly above the dryer vent too.

Then I put on my landscaper hat and dug a trench in the sloppy backyard to try and get the water flowing away from the house. Hopefully that helps.

I have been doing well at staying with my exercise routine (now that the dogs can not run with me, I am not running in rough weather anymore) so I headed to the treadmill at the gym. However, on the way there I put on my ambulance driver hat and gave a ride to a teenage girl who got hit by a van in town. I didn't see it happen but her boyfriend(?) was with her and the driver of the van. She did something to her foot, maybe broken, not sure.

I made it to the gym and did my run and came home for lunch. J was supposed to have a volleyball game in Port this afternoon but it got called off this am, something about buses in the snow in Port had problems.

By 3pm the snow was %90 gone... I wonder if it will snow again tonight?

a busy weekend

J went on his first hunting trip last weekend. They packed up Saturday morning with the quad, sleeping gear, a tent, a cooler with food and under sunny skies they headed out. They drove 3 hrs to 'some great hunting place out there' and unloaded at a hunting cabin equipped with bunks, a wood stove, plates/cutlery, spices... it sounded like luxury 'camping' to me. Ben said he did not know what time they packed it in on Saturday but they were out on the quads late into the night and up early again Sunday morning. They were home Sunday evening with muddy quads and 4 deer strapped down on the trailer. It was a successful outing.

D and I had a quiet weekend: did some bikeriding, crafting, movie watching... on Sunday I played in a basketball game with the village womens team against a jr boys team. It was good to get out there for a run and my foot 'issue' didn't cause too much trouble. And since I played bball (I had not done that in over a year) I figured I should give volleyball a try too. Last night was drop in at the high school so I went to check that out... I have not played in over 10 years. I think I did ok; but by the end of the night I came to the conclusion that to go for a ball which requires a knee to hit the ground , it is a painful move to get back up. I may have stated in the past that knee pads are 'whimpy' so I guess I will be sporting purple knees if I keep playing. If my feet moved a bit faster, I could get to the ball and not have to put a knee down... not going to happen!

Family photo

All the cousins are related in some way or another:) They were waiting patiently for dessert!

Weekend pics

This is the along the Skeena in Kitselas Canyon. We are standing in the dry river bed that would be a raging river in spring.
Climbing on the canyon rocks. We were careful...

This is Grandpa's pole; it is very old... Sorry, I had to cut the pic out. It has a copyright. Here is a sketch:

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Grandpa's fishing hole.



Skeena means 'River of Mist'

back on island...

We finally got home after our first trip 'off island': We hit the road Thursday evening to catch the 11 pm ferry. Even the drive to the ferry had a typical island feel to it... we rescued the same guy twice in his rental truck. The first time he flagged us down on the side of the road b/c he was stuck just off the road in a turn-around area with a tire fully submerged in the mud. Ben got the towrope out and we gave him a pull. So then we are following him down the highway, he was driving cautiously and staying below the speed limit, but he thought we were flashing him (which we were not) so he slows down and pulls off the side just to slip off the soft shoulder into the ditch. We pull over in front of him, get the rope out again, pull him out and he leave him to drive behind us. No more chances! We had to drop off the dogs at the kennel at the vet and get to the ferry. It was the usual sail and the rockiest (sp?) thus far but we got some sleep and arrived in Rupert for breakfast at the W house (B's relatives). We picked up grandpa and grandma H and headed to Terrace to meet the G (B's relatives) family who came up from Vancouver. We spent Friday and Saturday doing all the city things we needed to do: got groceries, ate in non-Chinese food restaurants, saw a movie, did some Christmas shopping. The guys also shopped at CDN Tire for a good hour checking out cammo gear; they wanted to be prepared for their hunting trip on Monday. We also went to Kitselas Canyon where the Skeena River narrows and carves through the rock. Very cool. Sunday was B's birthday (he got lots of special attention) and we drove to Hazelton to visit the J family (more of B's relatives). Lots of second cousins there so the boys had fun hanging out with them. Monday morning bright and early (a clear cold day) the big guys (not J and D) went hunting moose. They had lots of time to practice walking quietly and slowly but no moose were found. We were on the road by mid afternoon with a truck FULL of groceries to get back to Rupert for the ferry. We boarded on time at 8pm to leave at 10pm but with and extreme marine warning we were not going anywhere. The ferry sat at the terminal till 7am when we finally headed out. I am still rocking now as I type this at 9pm. It was wild out there and by far the rockiest ride! Thankfully the boys were good to watch movies the whole time and didn't feel sick but B and I will definitely Gravol up next time they are forecasting rough water. The boys told me that up in the cafeteria at the front of the boat they rode the waves down and up and the waves crashed up over the windows. B and I were one deck below and the water would open up into this huge swell and the boat seemed to fall into it and then pop back out on the next wave. Still makes me feel whoozy! I will get to my email inbox tomorrow. I also have to make B his chocolate orange cake tomorrow :)

FYI: the Terrace Canadian Tire is the best CDN Tire store I have ever been in! Very helpful and knowledgeable staff, tonnes of good stuff to buy. Too bad they do not sell groceres or it would be our one stop shop!

I will try to get some pics posted tomorrow...

night now

hunting update

In case you are itching to know how B finished up his first hunting adventure... he got home after a long day in the bush at 9:15pm with news of a buck for the freezer. The deer was left to 'hang' overnight (at someone's house) and B was going to go with his hunting partner tomorrow to do the next step of meat preparation (whatever that may be??) however, a call came in this afternoon that a bear was very interested in the free deer dinner so the guys went out just now to take care of deer business. I told B that everything up until the deer meat coming out of the freezer to make dinner was his thing and he is doing a great job! If there are any deer recipes out there (I know the Schmidt house has some), please send them my way!

surfin and huntin

I am having a blog catchup day today... so here is another post for today's event:

B left at 5:30 this morning to go hunting with a local guy out in the bush past Port Clements. He took along enough food to last the whole day but he should be home sometime soon.

This morning, I took the dogs for a good walk around town (Wrestler's knee is bothering him again, the dog will not take is easy). I am starting to think my new running routine has catch up with him. When I am running, I take both dogs out for a warm up around town, then I bring Sofie home and run out to the village with Wrestler. Am I out-running both the dogs? It can't be possible :)

This afternoon I finally had my surf lesson out towards Tow Hill; it is just like surfing in Hawaii but also very different. I had never worn a wet suit before and it was crazy to get it on. Took me a good 15 mins to get it on and even longer to get it off! There were 9 of us dressed up like seals out there along with 3 instructors. Our lesson dues were going towards buying kid size boards and wet suits to start a kids surfing program. Cool stuff. They said that surfing on Haida Gwaii is a really new thing and it is starting to gain interest. While I was out surfing, the boys were hanging on the beach and playing in the river... last time I looked over, their pants were soaked up to mid thigh, their sweatshirts were equally wet and it was starting to rain. There was a fire going up on the beach so I hoped they were hanging there. When the rain really started coming down and I was exhausted (and had very cold toes, must have had a hole somewhere) I went back in and there was no sign of the boys. So I hike out to the truck and they are sitting in there, stripped down to their ginch and freezing cold. DID YOU BRING US SOME DRY CLOTHES? they ask.... I hope next time they come surfing too and show papa Jeep their rad skills in Hawaii :) All you need to surf is a good wet suit and a board... no lift ticket, membership fees, admission... hmmm. Maybe a new family activity??

SORRY no surf pics for me. The instructor did take one but it is really fuzzy... there was a guy out there doing promo photos for the kids surf program, maybe he got a good one!

Baskets are done!

The boys and I had our weaving lesson with M last weekend. She had the red and yellow cedar bark already prepared into strips and we had to bring along a square form to weave the basket around. It was tough work on the hands; lots of pulling and holding. The boys were dedicate weavers.

And when we were finished, it was quite the accomplishment!

quadin and bikin on the dunes

D is ready!
J would make the sand fly behind the bike!

Last weekend we took the toys out to the dunes just outside of town. My surfing day was cancelled (due to high winds) but the boys figured the weather would not stop them from going out! They rode for a couple hours while I went for a walk, with heavy wind resistance, and then I sat in the truck and read my book.