Another Wild Year...

Well - after a busy summer, Tim and I and the kids are set to embark on another wild year. As much as we would love to duplicate our first "wild year," it is time for us to set down roots somewhere and make a home. We are just in the final stages of buying 120 acres of land in the Grande Prairie area. This will eventually be where we build the home we've talked about for years. Of all the things we've ever disagreed on - one thing we have always managed to agree on is our house plan - so that is good. We are in the north though and as much as it would be nice to start and complete our house this fall, there just isn't time. Our next wild year will be spent living in a shop on our land.

We have purchased raw land, ie. no driveway, no power, no water, no buildings (except for an OLD outhouse that leans strongly to the south and a steel grain bin!) In the next month or so, and hopefully before the snow flies, we hope to get a 30x40 or 40x60 (still undecided...) shop built to spend the winter in. Until that happens we will be living in a 21' holiday trailer. Yup, all 4 of us in that tiny space cooking, bathing, getting ready for work and school. Don't feel sorry though! We could go and pay monthly and dearly for the next long while and upgrade to a much bigger unit, but I would rather put that money into the shop this year and house next year and get it done. We may just have to have an old timey barn raising to get into the shop in time!

We were told by Atco Electric that we will likely be waiting for up to 6 months for power (I am hoping that this the "worst case scenario" and that it will come in sooner, but we are prepared if that is not the case.) I am used to living without power though and heating with wood - so this will not be a stretch. We have a shiny new inverter generator that will help us along until Atco gets to us.

In the next few weeks we will build a driveway, prep the shopsite, move as many of our belongings as there is room for into the steel grain bin for storage and hope for the best. The kids start school Monday (Cohen) and Tuesday (Nola) and as happy and sad as we are about that, it will free up some days to set to work on this new project. I'll post some pictures soon and keep you all posted about our newest wild year that we are jumping into holding hands and holding our breath...

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig!

Back in Alberta again!

6 days short of 11 months - and our "year" in the wilds is over. There were days that it went way too fast, but a few days that I couldn't get back to Alberta fast enough. We spent the last two weeks of our time there at our "happy place," our claim cabin. It was wonderfully quiet, except for the buzzing of mosquitoes, of course! We returned late one night from going to our last mail day, expecting a mosquito free cabin, since we hadn't been going in and out all day only to find that they had found their own way in! There were hundreds of them! Thankfully I found an old can of RAID that made it's way out there somehow, because I don't use the stuff! We fogged the cabin and hid under blankets for almost an hour, then climbed out into only mildly toxic air and went to sleep! It was that or wear OFF! to sleep - I figured the RAID was the lesser of two evils.

The last few weeks flew by, there was packing to do - we had to unpack and repack a few things at the claim, goodbyes to say, and a few groups of friends visited from home. "Jerry" the backhoe hitched a ride back to Grande Prairie and was sent to auction. There will likely be no mining this year unless a good deal on a new piece of equipment is found. Of course, when gold is the highest it has been in years - we are unable to get any. When it was $200.00 an ounce not too many years back we worked our tails off on our summer holidays to get a few ounces! That same few ounces this year would have been worth a whole lot more!

We are spending time at my parents' place until the end of July when our house becomes available again. Tim has been busy doing some repairs to my truck, and the kids are having fun playing at Grandma and Papa's. I am happy to be back again. It was hard to leave, but we are ready for the next page in our lives. We want to build a house in a year or two and need to find somewhere to do that.

I never wanted to mention any names of our good friends and neighbors out there to respect their privacy - but wanted to give them all an individual goodbye - I think I can do this safely: Goodbye to Bart, Belle, Brew, Bunny, Coco, Cohen, Cooney, Gaylord, Kiera, Little Bird, Lucy, Nina, Noble, Simba, Trigger and Tykie - and to your wonderful owners - we had a blast and you helped make that possible! From the kids - a special goodbye to Bart - he knocked them over a few times and got busy on them - Nola wanted to know why Bart was "digging" on them. Too funny!

Ugh!

I think I am a little closer to being ready to leave. After moving to the claim last week we dug to the bottom of the deepfreeze for some meat only to find that it is all moldy... yuck! There were a few things that were OK - vacuum sealed stuff and things bought recently - but the rest is dog food. Maybe life without refrigeration is not so great after all! We are looking forward to fresh steaks with no "aged" flavor! We will be pretty close to out of food by the 25th when we leave - I had only packed enough dry goods to last a week and Tim wants to stay two! We should have some interesting meals over the next few days as we are down to weiners, bacon and smokies, noodles and rice. I don't care if I ever have another hot dog...

Chipmunk

We saw this little fellow on our drive tonight. He or she was happily munching on a dandelion head. If that is a favorite food - there is no need to worry about running out around here!

It looks like from the "leftovers" that the little chipmunk likes the yellow tips only. Friends that are moving soon up to their summer place out here have a whole family of chipmunks living near their cabin. They are well fed with sunflower seeds and provided with nesting material too. They look forward each spring to getting out to see their chipmunk babies. There are over 30 of them and they are really quite tame. If you sit still in a lawn chair, they will scamper in and out of your feet looking for seeds. We will get to see them next week!

Nola caught a frog today with the help of their friends, the girls at the Germansen Landing store. Each week the kids look forward to seeing the girls. There is always lots to do there - they have horses, a guinea pig, mice, snakes - lots of good stuff! This froggy met his end though, his last trip was down the gullet of a garter snake - the kids thought that was really interesting to see. We stopped back at the store a few hours later, and they were equally as interested to see the bulge in the middle of the tiny snake...

Cheers!

A friend in the valley who is an expert at home brewing of all sorts - made a batch of homemade root beer and shared it with the kids. I think they thought it was Christmas - they were pretty excited to get a whole pop to themselves!

The trommel

All loaded up and ready to go. It took two loads to safely transport the trommel to Williams Lake, and it was thankfully made without event except one flat tire on the trailer I was pulling (the smaller one with the hopper on it.) When fully assembled, the gravel from a placer claim is dumped with a backhoe or trackhoe into the hopper, water is sprayed into the hopper and the gravel self feeds into the trommel (the 3 foot casing which is turned by a gas motor.) From the trommel the water/gravel slurry dumps into the sluices and the water does the rest. Gold is 19 times heavier than water so there is no need to worry about it being carried out the end. It stays in the top foot or so of the carpets. Very rarely have we ever found any further down the sluice - it has happened on occasion when a surge of gravels comes through though. If the trommel being fed properly, there is no risk of this happening. The bottom picture shows the "nugget traps" on the top end of the sluice where all the big gold will stay. It will be a happy day for the new owner of this trommel when he looks in there and sees an abundance of yellow! We could not (OK, I say WE - but I mean Tim - I didn't do much, if anything!) have done this as easily as we did without the help of some friends and truly wonderful people who let us build this in their yard. When Tim started building this we were still snowmobiling in and out so it worked best to have it somewhere that he could easily get the trailer into to drop off the steel, etc. Thank you guys!!

Osprey

The male - circling in the sky above the nest.

The female waiting in the tree.

The nest. On our drive tonight we spotted these two osprey in the sky above their nest. The nest was on the edge of a logging block. We wondered if loggers have to be considerate of such things when they see them and that's why there was still a small stand of mature trees around it? We will assume so. When we shut the quads off - there were no peeps that we could hear coming from the nest, they are probably still sitting on the eggs for a few days yet, osprey incubate them for close to 5 weeks. They also mate for life. Awww. How romantic. It was a nice sight to see.

Just in case you didn't know what it looks like...

This is bear scat. Do not be alarmed if you see it :) only be alarmed if the animal that made this mess is in plain view. We went for a drive tonight, and did not see any bears, but saw PLENTY of bear scat. Below are 3 piles right close to one another - and when we shut the quads off you could hear several ravens calling. Perhaps a moose was killed in the trees? We did not go exploring to find out! I have read though, that if you see plenty of "leavings" in the same area, that it is a feeding or bedding down area. So, in answer to the age old question "does a bear $h*t in the woods?" We think the answer is no - they seem to really like the road.

Music Fest at the Lake!

This weekend, there is a music fest out here at the lake. Acoustic guitars, harmonicas and who knows what else! I have been looking forward to this all year hoping we would still be here for it. I have only seen pictures from previous years but it looks like fun. Knowing Cohen's love for acoustic guitar I think I am just about as excited for him as for me. People who are attending it start flying in in a couple of days. I can't wait to see the bush planes coming in for this! We still have a few weeks here yet and look forward to a few days of it being spent going to this.

You never know where life will take you...

I am writing tonight from a hotel room in Quesnel. I came with Tim and hauled one of the two loads that make up the trommel he built to Williams Lake, BC. Believe it or not we are staying an extra night so the kids can swim - and to break up the driving a bit - there has been a few hours spent behind the wheel in the last few days. This is also beautiful, green, bug free country so we are not heartbroken at spending an extra day here. We even hit the museum and Tim walked all over downtown with us without complaint!

On Thursday, June 3 was our 10 year wedding anniversary. On our honeymoon, after some re-routing - we ended up in Quesnel, and out to Barkerville. How funny that 10 years later to the day we are in the same spot! If you had told me a month ago we would spend our 10 year anniversary where we honeymooned I would have thought you were crazy.

Long story short - the trommel is complete and delivered. Now that it is close to the time we will be leaving the lake we have to get back to packing as soon as we are back. I am a little behind as I am procrastinating a bit about it, but it will be all business next week as there is still lots to do whether we want to or not. We will move up to the claim for a week or so after we leave the lake. Friends from the "outside" are coming in to work at their claim on the 11th and we would like to be a part of that. There are also some prospector friends coming in on the 7th that we will catch up with this week too.

Oh, did I mention that somewhere in here I will also drive back to Alberta for a day to renew my driver's license which expires in the middle of June? I don't know if I have said it on here or not before, but I have to agree with Tim when he says that this year that was supposed to be more about slowing down has been the busiest year of our lives! The winter went by in a flurry of mail days and trapping and skinning days. There were two trapping days each week in the middle of winter, 2 skinning days, 1 mail day and 1 day preparing for mail day. That only left 1 or 2 days a week together - the same situation we had back at home. We brought so many things we never even got to do! I have boxes of books, crafts and puzzles that I really didn't have to bring - but how were we to know?

Life Without a Refrigerator...

When we moved here to the lake from the claim last September (we left "home" in Alberta on July 31 and spent about a month at our claim cabin) we decided not to move our propane refrigerator with us. It was freezing at night already and we were able to keep food cold by leaving the cooler outside overnight. Winter, which followed shortly after made keeping food cold even less of a problem. We put the cooler outside at intervals throughout the day and found that if it were no colder than -10 degrees Celsius, nothing would freeze inside - even if left overnight, except maybe lettuce and cucumbers... We had two deepfreezes here as well, which, of course looked after themselves when left outside for the winter. We didn't run the generators on the deepfreezes from November until late March, save for the odd warm spell this winter. I am not saying I will give up my refrigerator when we get home, but we proved that life can be lived easily without it in cooler climes for much of the year. Think of the money saved! Heating and cooling are the two biggest power eaters around.

Now that it is warm again, we run the deepfreeze (we are down to one - see below for what is going on with the second one...) for 2 to 3 hours daily with a 1200W generator - this maintains the freezing easily enough When we had the two we used our 3000W generator. Since we are still using a cooler as our "refrigerator" and the snow is all gone - I found that the culvert helping our spring cross the road up the hill still had several feet of perfectly clean ice in it. We just have to chip it out with the axe and fill the cooler. We have a Coleman Extreme cooler (if you are ever in the market for a good cooler - these are the ones to use - both of our families use them) which keeps ice for up to a week. Problem solved!

About a month ago we cleaned the last of the food of our second deepfreeze - eliminating one. This deepfreeze came in handy when we transported the wolverine home. 4 wolverines were trapped this winter, 2 were sold at auction and 1 each was kept by Tim and Paul. We hope to have ours taxidermied, and in order to do this - it is best left to the taxidermist to skin it. This means keeping it "frozen whole" until that time. He is now safely tucked away at my Mom and Dad's farm, until his next move to the taxidermist. He has even survived a power outage there for close to 2 days (thank goodness for backup generators!) during a recent snowstorm. He smelled bad enough when he was fresh - I can't imagine him after being thawed for a few days!

The kids with the Omineca River valley in the background. Omineca means "Land of Slow Moving Water." While there may not be as much runoff this year as in others, much rainfall in the last week has brought rivers ands creeks in the area up, all testing their banks. With the high water date an average of June 10th, the area should be back to living up to it's name in no time. Right now though, the area contradicts it's name, as there is not much for slow moving water around here.




We came upon a sow and her cub - the mama waited across the road while the cub made it about 40 feet up the tree in about 3 seconds - I had no idea they could climb so fast (notice the blur!)

We didn't want to stay around long and stress them out too much so we snapped a couple of pictures and we were on our way!

The roadsides are becoming colorful out here! In the last few days we have fairy slippers (false ladyslippers),

Tall bluebells

In a short time, this old relic along the roadside will be overflowing with Nasturtiums. A lady up the road has planted the box of this truck full of flowers for several years - thank you R! It's people like you that make the world a more beautiful place! This truck has also been photographed in full bloom by British Columbia Magazine when this area was featured in the magazine a couple of years back.

Showy Jacob's Ladder.

Also coming into their glory right now are Arnica, many strawberry blossoms, saskatoon blossoms, meadow rue and in short time we will see the yarrow, fireweed, red columbine, and false solomon's seal, among others. No, I didn't forget the dandelions, there are lots of those too - they just don't deserve mentioning.

Sharpening his teeth...

Well, there is something new chewing on the cabin. I did not hear it yet today, but think judging from the sound that it may be another porcupine. The first one was a male so this one is not a baby, but maybe a mate? I know this will be hard to believe for my friends and family back home, but I am OK with the situation. Yesterday as I drank my tea, I could hear it bristling around underneath, stopping to chew on the occasional floor joist. He is not bothering us or the dogs, so unless that time comes, we will co-exist. We seem to share mealtimes - as we sit down for breakfast, lunch and supper, so begins the chorus of chewing!

The hummingbirds are now regular visitors to my feeder. There are a pair of Rufous hummingbirds, and a pair of Calliope hummingbirds. The very aggressive Rufous "buzz" me on the front deck and the small, almost shy Calliope's have to eat while the other variety is away from the feeder or risk being charged. At a friend's house last week we had the opportunity to see many (between 20 and 30!) hummingbirds at her feeders. With 3 feeders and only 1 or 2 feeding stations at each - you can imagine the commotion as that many little birds vied for a drink of sugar water. They dodged and darted from each other all afternoon. She had to bring out the "big guns" after we left - 2 litre feeders - or she would be adding food to them almost daily. They will slow down on their feeding soon enough, but having just arrived after a long journey - they are in need of replenishment. Factoid - did you know that their wings beat 70 times a second? Amazing.

The loons are back on the lake now and call quite regularly. It is almost humorous to see them out there in the rain too, bobbing on the waves. Tim and I took the kids down on the beach so they could practice casting the other night and I wish I'd had my camera because there was a pair of Barrow's Goldeneyes - so pretty! I don't know if they nest here or were just stopping in, noticing the big expanse of open water as they journeyed north.

Tim is back out and working on the trommel - he hopes to be done it this week and then he will deliver it to Williams Lake. On his way in the other day - he saw where wolves had just gotten another moose about 14km up the road. We had been over that trail just two days earlier and there was nothing there. He said all that was left was a pile of hair. They sure made quick work of that!

There are 3 whiskeyjacks that live at our claim cabin and they are quite tame. Tim - the "whiskeyjack whisperer" fed them all winter while he was trapping up there so they have grown to expect treats. We are now able to make it up to the claim cabin and spent a few afternoons there in the last week. The birds were out as soon as we arrived and looking for goodies!

Mother Nature Can Be Kind Too...

An earlier post of mine mentioned how Mother Nature can be so cruel. Some wolves and a moose were involved... Today I saw her true side, some of her best work. As we drove home after a couple of days in the valley with friends while Tim worked on his trommel - I stopped several times just to take in the view. With the lake ice gone, the open water has added new life out here. Today the water was unmoving. It was so still, and the luck of the day was that the kids and I could enjoy the panoramic view not once, but twice as the mountains were reflected perfectly in the water.

We had some excitement on Monday when we heard something chewing on the cabin while eating breakfast. Tim looked under there but could not see anything so we continued on with our morning. One is a little less concerned with this out here than they might be nearer civilization... It could have been a squirrel or a packrat, but such is life out here! On with the day... While over by the shop a short while later, we noticed that the dogs had something treed about 30 feet behind the cabin so Tim checked it out - and it was a porcupine! He had been gnawing underneath the addition. Apparently he has a liking for kiln dried 2x6's. The dogs knew he was here - Heather and Paul said they were barking strangely the afternoon before while we were away. They also woke Tim and I early that morning with an odd, whining bark right under our window. Fortunately the dogs did not have a run-in with him because being this far from a veterinarian with senior citizen dogs with a nose full of quills would not have been a good combination. Old Poky had to go - between the kids and the dogs - we could not have him hanging around.

A conversation was had recently with one of our new friends - someone who has probably read and researched the area as much as we have - about which books were written on this area. Tim and I put our heads together and looked at our vast library of Canadiana. There are quite a few. This list is probably not complete, but does contain the ones we have read. Many of these are out of print, but we were still able to find them online. Using your local library's "interlibrary" system would also be a good resource.

- "Manson Gold" by Vic Dyck - a story we like to read again and again about the area we love so. Written by the store owner in Manson Creek about coming here as a young man on an adventure - to mine for gold and ending up building a store many years later.

- "So We Bought the Town" by Margaret Owen - a great story of a family who moved here in the 1960's and ran the Manson Creek store for several years. They also discovered and developed one of "the", if not "THE" largest jade deposit in BC. (Jade mine we visited and blogged about last fall)

- "Don Gilliland of Germansen Landing" by Margaret Owen - the story of Don Gilliland who moved here in the 1930's during the depression from Saskatchewan and who lived out the rest of his eventful life here on the Omineca River.

- "Goldseekers" and "Pioneer Goldseekers of the Omineca" by Ralph Hall - a story but also excellent statistical information on the gold rush here in the early to mid 1900's.

- "Silence of the North" by Olive Fredrickson - one of my favorite books of all time - this area is mentioned when this lady and her husband mined near here in the 1940's.

- "Driftwood Valley" by Theodora Stanwell Fletcher - about a lady and her husband who lived north of Takla Lake in the Driftwood Valley collecting specimens for the British Columbia Provincial Museum at Victoria. Their adventure also led them into the Omineca Mountains.

This list is not complete - and if I think of any more I will add to it - we have many books that also mention the area in passing. If you know of any - please also feel free to share! I was lent a book today that I will add to the list when I finish reading it.

New People!

Welcome to a new couple who has just moved into the area! We have been corresponding over the winter with a young couple who shared a dream similar to ours. They were brave souls like we were and have taken the plunge, left civilization and are now living in a nearby community. Good for them! I am proud of those that can take the leap and realize a dream.

Heather and Paul had just taken the kids for a drive up the road when I heard a vehicle - I thought maybe one of the kids had changed their mind - but it was a strange truck I saw instead. Ever leery of strangers while alone - I did some peeking before I decided they looked safe. I went out and when they introduced themselves it was the couple we had both been corresponding with over the winter. We were wondering just the other day when they were going to show up.

We had a great visit and a yummy supper. I am excited for them and hearing their stories of moving in, cleaning up, making lists of things missed or forgotten brought back memories of not so long ago when we were going through the same things. I hope we were able to encourage them that things will look rosier when everything is clean, put away and they can relax and get right into exploring the area and looking for gold! Good luck guys!

Breakup is starting!

While it will still take a few days to melt the cube in this big drink, breakup has officially started! I knew something had changed when I woke up this morning and the color of the ice had changed from a grey to more of a light blue color. The top picture was taken at 11:00am today.

The above picture was taken at just after 2:00 today.

This picture was taken at about 6:00 today - a breeze came up and piled ice on the shore - making a tinkling crystal-like sound as it did. The ice right now about 6" thick - but all in crystal shards. Picture 1990's lucite chandelier...

I took the kids for a quick quad ride after supper down the lake and further down the ice is in great bug chunks. We also saw a pair of Mergansers - I just couldn't get the camera out in time. The water fowl are back! I can't wait to hear the loons...

Cohen chasing a grouse...

The things I will miss the most...

As our time here nears it's end - I think often of what I will miss out here. The list is long...

- The people. We have been made to feel so welcome by all. We were welcomed into their homes for great visits, delicious meals, and even given places to stay when we were far away from the lake. They say that your friends become your family - if that is the case we have gained many!

- The woodstove going 24/7. For heat, to cook on, to heat bath water on... When we went out to my parents' last time Nola said she wanted to bath when she got there - could we call Grandma and get her to "put the water on" to heat.

- The nails on the back wall of the cabin. Here we hung wet mittens, slushy ski pants and boot liners. It just won't be fitting when we are back out in civilization to fill the wall behind the stove with nails, functional as they may be...

- The spring water. We have a source for the cleanest, purest, most delicious water we have ever tasted. It makes the best tea and coffee. It is completely free and it hasn't been stored in plastic bottles!

- The view. I can look out across the lake and see Tinnecha Hill, Mt. Germansen, and several other unnamed peaks. I have watched them go from bare to snow covered, and now on their way back to being bare again.

- The colors. You have never seen bluer skies or whiter peaks. Greener trees, blacker water or ice more grey. There is nothing more vivid than a white peak against an azure sky - a combination we have enjoyed most of our time here.

- The noises of the forest. Whether it is an owl calling or the wind in the trees I have loved it and will miss it. I got to hear a wolf bark twice, but did not get to hear a howl as I had so hoped. When we leave I do not look forward to vehicles driving by or all the other noises that come with civilization.

- Doing laundry on the side of the road. Even though this was a late winter entry - doing laundry on the side of the road was a chance to sit with a magazine and a hot tea and relax. To read while the kids played in a new place. I will enjoy a laundry room again though...

- Time spent together. This was a great time to enjoy the kids and each other. We thought the kids might grow slower out here - but that was not the case. They are still taller, and have outgrown most of the clothes and shoes we brought along. We quickly learned that time can not stand still so we just made sure to enjoy it a little more.

- Not having to take the wallet out everyday. Out here we did a big grocery trip only a few times throughout the year. They seemed expensive, but I am sure they did not add up as fast as they would have at home where the wallet is opened every day it seems for groceries, Starbucks, fast food, fuel. I know some of those things can be declined, but when you are in town and in a hurry - you will pay for conveniences. Out here there was always a pot of hot water on for tea, and fast food meant a can of soup or something that could be heated quickly.

- Homeschooling. Even though there were times when I met with resistance, overall it went very well and Cohen was a great little student. Kindergarten was pretty mild material with lots of fun things to keep him interested. I don't think we would continue with this out in civilization though as we think it is important that the kids have the many social experiences offered by a school. I also wonder how much Nola learned as she sat through every school session working diligently in her Playschool workbook.

- The relaxed pace. Even though our year in the bush turned out to be one of the busiest years of our lives, everything moved at a slower pace overall. There were few times we had to rush out of bed in the morning to leave the cabin at a certain time either for a trip or going for mail.

- The, ummm... "facilities." Believe it or not I will even miss the outhouse. After I got used to the fact that I had to brace myself uphill while in there because it leaned quite far back, it was quite comfortable. We pried it up when we first got here and placed a beam under the back of it to improve "the lean" but it will eventually fall backwards after we leave. Living in cramped quarters - sometimes that was the only place you weren't followed. Last fall I fixed the floor by putting in some old leftover tongue and groove flooring, installed a trash can, hung a picture on the wall, and added a big square of pink styrofoam insulation to make a warm "seat" and voila! Mountain comfort!

I am sure I will add to this list more over the next few weeks, but these are the things that stand out in my mind today and over the last few weeks as the things I will miss the most.

Stay with me here...

Sorry all - I have not posted lately - mostly because I'm afraid to bore you! There has not been a lot going on of late... As June nears and we get closer to the end of our year (OK - it will only work out to 11 months as Tim and I and the kids came out here on July 31) we are wondering where life will take us next.

We spent some time starting last Saturday, May 1 at friends in the valley helping where we could as they put on their new roof. We took 4 days in there and went out to Alberta to get some more steel for the trommel Tim is building - completion date to be the end of May. Tim went back out to help on the roof yesterday and it sounds like they might wrap up today. Tim will come back out to the lake for a day or two - then move back into the valley for 4 or 5 days to complete his trommel and get it delivered.

May 1 also marked the first day we were able to drive out to the road with the trucks. It was a feeling of new found freedom being able to do that after almost 6 months of travelling it with snowmobiles! We made it half way out the previous day but turned around as we neared supper - it had taken us between 3 and 4 hours to make it through the section with the deepest snow - less than 10km. With lots of pushing, pulling and shovelling the two families made it to the summit. We knew the rest of the way out would (or should!) be good and we made it all the way through with few problems on the way to help roof the next day.

The friends who are putting on a new roof have a farm with cows, pigs and chicken and Nola was anxious every morning and night to help with chores - her favorite part being checking for eggs in the chicken coop. This has led us to the decision to get some chickens when we get to wherever we are going. I am a little afraid, OK terrified, of chickens - so we will have to set our coop up like the one we have seen out here - the eggs are easy to get at without having to even go in where the attack chickens are...

Back home we went looking for some land, but had no luck. There were either not enough trees on it, too much junk on it, too close to neighbors or too much money! We hope that in the next few months this part of our life falls into place as we decide whether to return to our previous home, or start a new one in the same area. It might be a tough fit - we enjoy it here when our nearest neighbors are 50km away - on the neighboring quarter will seem all too close for a while!

The bears are out and about now, lots of tracks and scat on the road - we saw a BIG black bear as high up in a poplar tree as he could get. I don't think I have ever seen anything as stark in contrast as a black bear in a white poplar. I only wish we'd had the camera - I could have gotten some great pictures because he wasn't going anywhere. In fact, he might still be there now...

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.