Every (Mail) Day is an Adventure...

...and today was no different. We decided to brave the road and go out for mail with the quads even though is was raining. We only had to make it out about 25km to where the truck is parked at the main road - same routine as with the snowmobiles. When we got to about kilometre 16 on the way out, Tim and I saw some fresh tracks, a grizzly had decided to take the same route out as us. These were the first tracks we have spotted out our way this spring. He was not small, judging by his tracks, nor was he too far down the road as we could still see his pad marks and claws in the snow - the rain had not had a chance to distort them yet. Couple this with the amount of times we got stuck the last time we were on the quads in this same area and you can imagine I was a little nervous...

We did make it out - only having trouble on the way out climbing the summit on the road. From there many sections of the road were showing. Since we were able to break the trail up well today - if we get some warm weather - we might soon be driving in and out with the trucks again. The lady who owns the cabins says the very earliest she was able to drive out was near the end of May. With very little snow this year - we might be able to set a new record!

Heather and Paul were (thankfully!) still at the store today just after we continued on up the road when our dog, Tiggs, showed up there. She is an 11 year old dog and she followed us out about 35km to the store, and made it in about 2 hours. We didn't know whether to be angry with her or feel sorry for her as she had just made quite a journey. We opted to take pity on her. Heather and Paul brought her to where we were and on the way home she road on the quad seat. This is not the first time she has done this. She is incredibly loyal to Tim and will follow him anywhere. She just won't listen to him when he tells her to "Stay." When we left a few weeks back to go housesitting she ran the 25km to the road and turned around - to be rescued by Paul near the end of the lake. She has followed us a few places out here in the summer too - running anywhere from a few km to 14km. It is only when we are on the quads - she doesn't follow the trucks or snowmobiles. She will no doubt be pretty stiff tomorrow, and it is now official - she will need to be tied the next time we leave.

A few little pieces of the dream coming together...

When Tim and I first came to these cabins in 2001 and the seed to our dream was planted - I have pictured many things in my mind's eye. I saw us doing many things around the place while we were here. Since by then the place had already been uninhabited for a few years, they were already in need of some TLC. Insert 8 years of hoping and planning and imagining. One of the things that needed doing was the replacement of the steps down to the lake from here. Over the years the elements had been hard on the ones that were there and we always envisioned a new set there. Yesterday the weather was warm, and we were all willing bodies so we shed our coats and set to work ripping the rotten ones out. Paul cut some stringers and he and Tim set to work cutting the place on the logs where the steps will set. If the weather holds today (several days of rain are forecast) I plan to move the firepit above the highwater line. Now some steps just need to be cut and that job will be done!

Another thing I longed to to was some landscaping around the cabin. Last fall's time was occupied by doing the dirty work; finishing the addition, clearing away the garbage and doing lots of cleanup. That left this spring for the fun part. Tim and I moved load after load of washed rock and made a rock path all around the cabin and out to the outhouse. We inserted a few solar lights too now that the sun is high enough in the sky to reach them behind the cabin. Not only does it look great - it also stops the tracking in of all the spruce needles that were on the ground. I will definitely post pictures of both projects soon.

We had a friend make the trip out from the valley on Friday and we had a great visit in the sun (I even got a burn on my face!) - hearing some great stories about their recent trip to Mexico. He loaded his sled up and drove in on our road as far as he could - he figures about a quarter of a mile - then unloaded and drove on the lake once he reached it. Even though it looks sketchy - there are still at least two feet of ice on the lake. When we go out for mail day this week we will bring the truck in as far as we can on the road and we hope inside of a few weeks to be travelling in and out with trucks. We will just keep moving ours along until we can make it all the way in. It is deceiving as all around us the road is showing - a few kilometres in each direction. At the end of the lake though the snow is still very deep. When I was getting stuck last Saturday there were parts that were still over my knees!

I am hoping to have school wrapped up by the end of May and with only two more modules to complete (there were ten for the year and we started in October.) I think we are getting close. Did I mention that I taught Cohen to read??? I wondered how that would happen but with all the great resources that came with the homeschooling package, the job was made painless.When we get home I will be on a mission to get to the library and take out some primary readers so he can keep up with it.

We are expecting friends from home that also have a claim out here sometime in the first week of June and we can hardly wait. We miss you guys! We will also start hauling loads out then as well. I aim to be just about out of food then too so meals over the next month and a bit should be interesting. Supper one night near the end of this might be packaged oatmeal, fruit cocktail and a Lipton Sidekick. Want to join us?

A tree Tim found up the road that a bear had climbed. It is quite a big,old poplar so there is no way of knowing how long ago this was. It would be many, many years as the scars are quite big and have grown as the tree did.

Sourdough, Yogurt and Fleas

OK- the three are totally unrelated - but I got your attention, right...

I keep forgetting to report how everything went with the sourdough. We received some starter from a lady in the valley who had received it from another lady in the valley, and it had come to her by way of Fort St. John. This sourdough has been around! My aunt also sent some recipes and I have had great luck with making the bread, both white and whole wheat sourdough. I froze some in case something ever went wrong with the one I keep out, and good thing - it got a little too warm in the cooler where it was and it pressured up and bent the sealer up on the jar. That is powerful stuff!

My experiment with making the yogurt using acidpohilus caplets did not work out. It tasted like yogurt, but it did not thicken up at all. I talked with the lady who is the valley yogurt making guru and she gave me some good tips. I don't think the yogurt stayed warm enough after I added the bacteria to the heated milk, and therefore didn't firm up like it should have. Heather picked me up some actual starter from the health food store and now that we are settled again I think I will give it another try this week. It worked better to try this in colder weather as it needs to stay warm for quite a while after you add the bacteria. When the wood stove was running it made a nice spot to "cook" the yogurt. I was told that putting it in the gas stove will work too - just using the heat of the pilot light. We'll see how round two of yogurt making goes.

I can talk about it now that it has passed - but we were all bitten by fleas this winter, except Tim, oddly enough... The main catch of the winter was marten and they have fleas by the hordes. Squirrels and weasels were also crawling with them. When Tim was skinning them, they would likely make a jump to the next warmest thing - him - and get a free ride into the cabin that way. The kids and I got quite a few bites over the winter. I even had the pleasure of finding a few live ones before they bit! One thing this year has done is suppressed my "inner princess" and I am no longer squeamish about a lot of things that before would have sent me into a panic. One good thing - they can't live on us, and once they bit us - would not have survived long after. A friend of ours told us he used to Raid all his furs in a garbage bag before skinning and later in the winter this was tried. That worked well and there were no real problems after that. Don't worry anyone - we won't be bringing them home with us!

Back in the land of snow and ice!

We are back at the lake and back into late winter too. It seemed strange to leave spring this morning and be back to winter just 75km or so and a few hours later! Going out on the quads went well, coming in - not so well, I lost count of the times I hit the ditch! We got out easily enough - only having to be winched once - the rest of the times we were able to push and Cohen drove. Cohen said we hit it 9 times - that was 8 times too many for me!

It was great to get back here - the pets really missed us I think. It will be nice to sleep in our bed again and curl up with the book I left behind. A short post tonight - but lots of unpacking to do!

Welcome Baby Cohen!

This is the little colt some friends asked if they could name after Cohen (his answer was a resounding YES!!) because he was born on his birthday. We got to meet this new addition when he was just 5 days old.

This is Cohen in front of Cohen :)

Gentlemen, Welcome to the Rock...

We had supper at a friend's the other night and you should see this place - just beautiful! It is called "The Rock" and if you have ever been on the backside of the Banff Springs Hotel and seen where the hotel was built right on the rock face - you can picture just what I mean. Very nice! I also saw my dream greenhouse here and I am hoping Tim can come close to replicating it (Imitation is the best form of flattery!) once we get settled again. It was a balmy 17 degrees so we had a nice supper by the firepit and the kids ran free - always excited to have a new and different place to play. The view from there is also amazing, as we watched eagles soar over the river valley. The same valley where this lady spotted a grizzly the day before out for a walk - following the path that she watched the wolves go on over the winter, likely looking for a moose kill to have a first meal of the season at.

Spring has definitely sprung and I can smell the forest waking up. When the sun shines on the pine, spruce, balsam and juniper, these evergreens give off a scent that is almost intoxicating. In fact, the first thing I do every summer when we get close to the claim is open the window up wide and breathe it in deep. I have to be careful doing this on the quad though, as yesterday I swallowed a fly...

We wrapped up the practical part of our fire course this morning, yesterday was the classroom portion. We now are the proud owners of a wallet card saying we have completed the S-100 Fire Suppression and Safety Course by BC Forestry. It is something you need in BC in order to be called to assist in fighting forest fires. Although the chances of us ever doing this are slim, as we live in Alberta the rest of our lives, if we are ever at the claim in the event of a fire - we now know what to do. We can rank a fire by looking at the smoke color and quantity, and this is helpful information when reporting a wildfire. If it is Rank 1 - they know they have a bit of time to work with providing there are no weather changes, but if it is Rank 4 or 5 (6 is the highest -these are the fires that create their own weather - wind and lightning) they know they need to get there in a real hurry! We also watched a video of a controlled burn, and I am glad I saw that. I had no idea how fast a fire could move through the forest. I naively thought you could get out of the way of a fire in time, but I now know this is far from the truth if it is a Rank 4 or 5 fire. We also learned to assess how much fuel is available to the fire, and how wind and slope multiply the speed of the fire, also important factors when reporting a fire. How to enter and exit a helicopter, how to start a pump, lay out hose, roll up a hose, etc. was also covered. This is expected to be a big year for fires if it is dry with all the "Red and Dead" aka beetle killed trees. Once the needles have fallen off the trees, the risk is greatly lessened - something I did not know. If BC can get through the next few years, when all the needles have left the dead trees, everyone can probably start feeling a little better about the fire risk. Hearing some of the things forest fire fighters have to deal with on the job also made me realize how scary a job it can be and that they are really risking their lives in some situations - a big thank you to them!

Adventures in Housesitting

Trying Lynx

We are here for a few days yet - and still enjoying our time at the end of the road. Tim is busy during the day a few miles away welding on the trommel and the kids and I are still keeping busy with school, coloring and the odd cartoon. I woke up yesterday morning with a treat from one of the kitties at the foot of the bed - a mouse! Usually it takes a few minutes to roll out of bed, but I think I made record time yesterday. I don't know if that means the cat likes me or not that it brought me a mouse...

We attended a birthday party yesterday - and it was a beautiful day! Great weather and even better company. We had a potluck style supper and Heather cooked up one of the lynx that was snared this winter. She did it in a stir fry, and it looked, smelled and tasted great, but when it got to the point where I had to push the piece of meat down my throat with my tongue, my body rejected. I couldn't do the mind over matter thing and eat cat. Even a wild cat. It tasted fine - it tasted like chicken and had the texture of pork roast. If I had not known what it was, there would have been no problem. But, alas, this girl couldn't do it. The most exotic thing I had eaten before that in life was elk, moose or deer. Although, I think one time I ate alley cat unknowingly in a Chinese restaurant in Manning, Alberta. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

A busy 10 days!

Since writing last Tuesday - we have been all over the country! Wednesday after mail we left to Dawson creek to my parent's place, and from there we travelled to Grande Prairie for a Costco trip and so Tim could pick up an order of steel. He is building a trommel (in simpler terms - a machine to run gravel through to find gold) for someone in central BC. The next day we were off to Hines Creek for the afternoon. Back at the farm for a few days we celebrated Easter and did what we hope will be just about the last shopping trip of our time here. I hope to have very little food left to pack out in June. If there is anything left that is unperishable - we will take it up to the claim cabin to be used at a later date. We are also packing up winter clothes, snowshoes, skis, Sorels and anything else we will not need in the next few months to take out.

Our drive out and back was pretty uneventful. There were rough roads to deal with though until we got on to the pavement, and the same rough roads to deal with on the way back in. I did get to see a wolf crossing the ice on Finlay Reach of Williston Lake. We also spotted grizzly tracks on the way back on the Finlay FSR and the Manson Road. None too near here though - but they are out and wandering around! It was really nice to be back in Alberta. The mountains offer amazing views - but they don't vary. There is definitely something to be said about the big Alberta skies - and Tim and I do miss them.

After being back home for just a couple of days it was back out for mail day and a bit of a birthday party for Cohen, a friend from the valley and Sasha. I have pictures that I will post next week of the get together on the side of the road where it snowed on all the food on the table. The kids were covered in mud when we got back - but we sure had a great time visiting with our neighbors.

Right now we are happily housesitting for friends travelling to sunny Mexico. There is only one problem with this - we don't want to leave! We are are really relishing this. This is a beautiful home and view that we are enjoying! Plus - something else I miss - indoor plumbing.

Tim hauled out a generator, welders, cutoff saws, and other tools he will need this week as he works on his trommel. It was a little bit of a strange sight to see a quad pulling the skimmer. We brought our quads up the road with us as the last 4 or so miles to the place we are watching is not plowed in the winter. The quads run great on the trail - there is certainly no risk of damaging it as it is very hard packed right now. No point risking overheating the snowmobiles!

During the day here we continue with school, play with the dog and feed the birds. After lunch we quad over 10km to where Tim is busy working and have a quick visit. We have even had company the last couple of days and have a busy week planned! A birthday celebration in Manson on Tuesday, mail day and a supper invitation Wednesday (Thank you G!), and we may go to a fire-fighting course on Thursday and Friday. Like all other times out here - this week will go way too fast!

Tim will have to make another trip back to Dawson Creek/ Grande Prairie in the next few weeks for more materials. We would also like to go spend some time at the claim cabin when Tim is done building. It will still be winter there until the beginning of June. It will also allow for some real quiet time before leaving here. It is already the middle of April so there are only about two months left to go here. Then it is back to the real world. Cell phones, work, crowds. We are still unsure what to do when we leave here. Do we sell our house and look for the land we want to build on? Which direction from Grande Prairie do we want to go? How far out (it is seeming that price will dictate that!) All of this is next to impossible to accomplish from here though. We can look at real estate websites, but would not want to try buying something sight unseen. We just hope if there is something we really like that it is still available when we leave here!