Monday, May 30, 2011

Where the bites aren't from bugs

The seminar has finished and it was pretty good. The school has a common goal to work around. The next step is to build a more structured, consistent approach. Here's hoping it works.

On Sunday we finished at 1:00 and came back to relax. We, as always includes Amanda and Dexter, took a walk around the donut. At around 4:00 Steve, the maintenance man from school, came by and knocked at our door. Claire opened up and Steve said, "Tell Greg we are going." I definitely didn't understand and he informed me that we were going fishing. Not knowing the time line, I was reassured it was only for a couple of hours. Of course, I knew what that meant. So off we went. We picked up his brother in-law and headed out. We went about 5 minutes into a little bay. It had to be the most beautiful scene I have seen this year. And of course being a true Martin, I didn't have a camera. This bay was kind of hidden around a corner, like a true pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Immediately arriving into this little area I noticed a huge beaver dam and was startled to see three beavers within a stone's throw. *FYI People enjoy beaver as a delicassy, but will not eat them during the spring and summer because they taste different and no one knows why.

We are now set to fish and are looking for Jackfish or Northern Pike. Just to set the stage a little further. When my family goes fishing up at the Hatfield's cottage, catching a pike is rare and extremely difficult. Back to our story. The brother casts out and reels in in 10 seconds. Upon reaching the boat he exclaims, "Oh man, the fish aren't biting today." Steve agrees and wishes that it won't be like this all night. I am looking dumbfounded, like are you kidding me, 10 seconds and we are giving up. So, no word of a lie, the brother casts out and upon the spinner hitting the water, a fish has bitten. He reels it in a catches a 30 inch Northern Pike. It was unbelievable, and then he said, "Oh man, just a small one." Are you kidding me?

Fast forward 25-30 minutes. Steve caught 6, brother in-law 5, and myself 6. I have never fished like that before and only wished my dad could have been there. I caught a fish every 4 minutes, with the smallest being over 30 inches and the largest over 3 feet. Not one of my fish was shorter than my arm. Amazing.

The guys got bored with the pike fishing, I mean who wouldn't with those bad numbers. So we moved to another area to try and catch some walleye. It turned out to be another beautiful bay. This time there was a little waterfall. We caught some more pike, but no walleye or pickerel.

With gas still left in the tank, Steve wanted to show me his net. We checked the 100 feet and grabbed the forty or fifty fish. I got really into it. The one type of fish that was in the net was a suckerfish. People here don't normally eat the fish but apparently the head is pretty good. Steve would just tear the head off, so I had him show me the process. I quickly learned and became like a true fisherman. It was definitely like an episode of Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe. My clothes were covered in fish guts and bloods, which of course Claire loved when I got home because she had just finished the laundry while I was away.

Oh yah, the best part. During our night we caught a 25 pound Trout... picture hopefully to come later. Overall it was an amazing 3 and a half hour experience. It was needed after a couple of off days. Amazing how God sends someone out of nowhere to help in a time like that. Keeps us reminded that we are never alone.

Friday, May 27, 2011

What No One Wants to Hear

Today was the beginning of another long weekend. I know, again right? This is our second long weekend in a row. The school shuts down for goose hunting. A lot of families go camping, so the community is pretty dead. Claire and I went to the store today to buy some groceries and we were walking out when a man came up to me and said, "Thanks!" I didn't quite get him so I looked to Claire and she had the same look on her face. The guy then said, "I like all the money I am getting for fixing the school's vehicle." So, yes. The mechanic said thanks for all the business I have sent his way. Well, that just made me feel extra special. Needless to say, everyone got a pretty good laugh when Claire was telling them.

This weekend we have a two day workshop at school for behaviour strategies. Two people, a man and a woman, flew in from Winnipeg to run the seminar. They seemed pretty nice, but the woman doesn't exactly fit. She stepped off the plane with clothes that were too nice and more makeup than Deer Lake has ever seen. Claire and I picked them up from the airport and brought them to the school.

On Wednesday this past week the Community had a big clean. All over the community groups were given a set area to clean. Each class had their own path. The grade 7 and 8s were paired together. Most of the groups ended at the intersection where community members were cooking on barbeque and open fire. Hamburgers and hot dogs were given to the older kids. On the fire there were two cast iron pans that had to be at least 2 feet in diameter. They were frying bannock dogs and fish. Overall it was a pretty good day.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

A day at the Deer Lake Range

This weekend we have really enjoyed the long weekend off. Our last day of school was on Wednesday and we don't go back until Tuesday. Greg and I have relaxed, walked to town, played Wii, planned our trip out East, cleaned and just hung out. It has been really nice. However, today we had the opportunity to go out and try something new.


There is a man in the community who invited us to go and shoot guns. Of course we choose the day that is rainy, but that wasn't going to stop us. He took us out towards the dam to fire off the guns.



He brought both a shot gun and a rifle. Greg and Amanda shot both guns, but I only shot the shot gun. I didn't like the kick back, but he also ran out of bullets. Enjoy a few pictures of our adventure.


This is the lake we stopped at to shoot over. He wanted us to shoot over something open because we are inexperienced and he didn't want our bullets bouncing off things.


Me learning to shoot a shot gun!


Apparently I make really funny faces when I shoot guns. It was really loud!
Amanda looks like a pro with that shot gun. You can see the smoke from it going off!


Amanda with a rifle. Apparently a rifle bullet can travel up to a mile, that is what the man who took us told us.


Greg with the shot gun.


Greg firing the rifle.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Treaty Day!

Today was Treaty Day in Deer Lake. This is when they celebrate the signing of their Treaty and every registered First Nations person in Deer Lake gets $5.00. Indian Affairs sends people from Ottawa with security guards to hand out the money. It is really quite a neat experience. Chief and Council asked the school to put on some activities. So a the teachers paired up and did some activities and this allowed the people to spend their $5.00 and more, with all proceeds going to the Grade 8 and 9 trip. We made $1800.00 today!

Amanda did face painting and did an awesome job! Greg and I, along with Preston ran the food table. Preston was the Chairman of the board and the person who drove us from the airport the first time. He is an amazing guy and a good cook. After high school he went to Culinary School at Centennial College. We sold pop, juice, hamburgers, hotdogs and more. We had to make 3 runs to the store to get more change and food because we kept running out. It was a long, hot day in the sun with the temperature being 30+ with a blast of humidity. Needless to say we both got burned today.

On another note we were looking really forward to going to the dam after our long day at school to go unwind and put our feet in the water. We went to the store and got some ice cream and munchies to enjoy. After we went to the store we began to drive to the dam. To get to the dam you have to go on a road behind the airport with nothing on it and it is not a high traffic area. We were travelling on the road for about 10-15 minutes (with nothing around) when all of a sudden our vehicle shuts itself off. We were within 2 minutes to the dam. We tried to figure out how to get the vehicle to start but it wouldn't so we had to walk down the road all the way back to the main road (a 10-15 minute drive away).

We made light of the situation, joking how we wouldn't need our nightly walk tonight. It was still very hot out. Oh yah and we had Dexter with us too. We started off and he was so excited because he was out on a nice little walk. He had no clue what he was in for. Today had been my first day wearing thong sandals of the year and for the women out there you know the first day always hurts your feet. So, although I like walking my feet were killing and I just couldn't handle these sandals anymore, so I started off our walk barefoot. My feet started hurting so my night in shining armour came to my rescue and graciously offered me his shoes. So picture the three of us walking down this remote road... Amanda has her dress hiked up (she had shorts underneath), I took off my shirt (I had a tank top underneath) with clown feet because I am wearing Greg's shoes and Greg is walking down the road in his sock feet. It was quite the experience. We walked for 1/2 hour before anyone came along and then they went to get us help and NAPS showed up to rescue us 15 minutes later. So our relaxing trip to the dam turned into a 45 minute death march.

Enjoy the pictures below from Treaty Day.

One of the activities at school was a Mock Jail. Greg and I both got put in there. Greg for 5 minutes and me 3 minutes. A mock jail is a fundraiser where you cant pay for someone to sit in jail, $1/min.

Greg looks really happy for being in jail, probably because it meant being away from his duties at the barbeque.

One of our grade 9's, Kasenda, with Preston's son Nathaniel.

Preston and Greg with some of our grade 9 helpers.

A few of our students!

Our neighbour's son, getting his arm painted.

This is where everyone got their money. The line was huge, out the gym, down the hall and around the corner.

A little history behind the day. When the Treaty was signed 101 years ago, all First Nation people registered with Deer Lake Band received $5. RCMP officers would arrive and hand out the money. The good thing about the money is that if you don't collect for whatever reason, they carry the money to the next year. Some people were collecting $20 or $25 because they have either saved it or been busy.

Part of the line to go get people's money. There is still a long line behind me.

Some of our grade 8 boys.

Amanda and one of her masterpieces. On a side note this is one of the sweetest boys in Deer Lake. He is always so friendly to us, making sure he says hi.

More examples of Amanda's handy work.


One of the games.... Bobbing For Anything From The Northern That Floats. Right here they are bobbing for tubes and rice krispie treats. They ran out of apples, so they had to improvise.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Several Years Ago...

Just thought we would provide a reflection on the Alberta wildfire. About 5 or 6 years ago, Deer Lake experienced their own wildfire. There were six fires throughout the reserve which created a thick black smoke. The residents were evacuated to another reserve. It took over 30 airplanes and 4 days to do so. Apparently, you would just go to the airport and hope to get on the plane. Figures there wouldn't be much order or organization. The people were housed in a gym, but many found their way to family in Red Lake, Sioux Lookout, or another reserve. To fight the fire, water planes were flown in for an extended period of time. After being up here and seeing the area it is amazing there aren't more fires. The forests are so dry and dense. With big storms containing lightning, it would only take one bolt to ignite. And with no infrastructure to combat the flames, the fire would have free range for several days. The benefit is the amount of water for the planes to use. Anyways, I was just sitting here reading an article about the Alberta fire and figured I would relate some experiences I have recently heard.

Monday is now over, and all went well with the Ministry of Ed. She complimented us on our organization. Thank goodness, because we spent 7 hours on Saturday with thousands of papers and over 20 binders. The only recommendations she had was for the record keeping, a matter more for the school.

Well, the weather up here has been horrible of late. I thought I had experienced the worst of it with the minus 40, but we have had even worse weather. No, there isn't a cold snap or a rainstorm. We have had days of +27, +28 with HUMIDITY!!!! Disgusting, I know. I figured coming up here I would enjoy the modest warmth. Instead, the humidity has followed me. And to make matters worse, my allergies have started their yearly onslaught. Oh fun.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

B 27??????

I forgot to include our adventure at the last school bingo. We had gone to play and they were short helpers, so I volunteered. Well, 15 minutes after it was supposed to start our caller was still not present. They suckered me into being the caller, but assured me there was no counting. All I would have to do was call the numbers that came up. So off I went to the stage with the old rickety, rusty, no-good wheel and the balls.

All went well at first until the unimagineable happened. As I was spinning the wheel to get a few more balls the latch to hold the trap came open. And so went about 10 balls, bouncing all over the stage. Slightly embarrassing.

As well, during the night I called the wrong number twice. That was fun. "G49...G49...Sorry..... I mean G 59...." Yah, memorable.

Some time later, as I was preparing for the big jackpot of the night, the unthinkable happened again! This time the balls were bouncing off the stage and hit the front table. I don't know what it is with fundraising events. I am normally not clutsy at all. My theory is that there is something in the air.

On Monday, the Ministry is coming to evaluate the Gr. 9 program. Causes a little nerves, but we're confident all the same. By all accounts this year's program is well planned and executed.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

It's Official

Thanks for the patience. We were without internet since Monday morning. It finally returned
Friday afternoon. At the same time, the cable and phones were down for a couple days between Tuesday and Wednesday. Imagine not having any of those. Luckily, our decision to go for satellite worked out well this week. Interesting story about the phones. Apparently, a construction crew, which is here to install some new trailers, blew a hydro line or something like that. Our school phone still works, but at least one home in the community can hear all the conversations. Similar to the old party lines. This started on Tuesday, but the school didn't find out until Thursday afternoon. The people living there had been listening in on the school, to all the private conversations. To make matters worse, these people had invited people over to listen. Oh yeah, they are also parents to one of our grade 9 girls.

With over a week to blog about, there isn't too much to report. The acting principal gig is now over. I had a lot of fun and appreciated the new responsibility. It did make for a longer week with juggling both duties. The school was so understaffed that they had to hire two or three people for the week.

On Thursday we did sign our contracts for next year. We have committed for another year. It should be a great year with some experience behind us. The school is hiring 2 or 3 outside staff, which would make it less like All-Bran cereal and more of a Multigrain cereal. Amanda has been asked to go down to grade 3. Julia wants to participate in EQAO and needs a strong teacher for that class. We don't know yet who might be coming up to Grade 7, but it is a heavy boy class who had little structure this year. When we signed on Thursday, Solomon, the grade 2 TA, asked if I was coming back. When I said yes, he seemed a little surprised. He is always a nice guy who you can count on for a smile. We earned instant credibility with the staff and fit in that much more with our decision.

Last night we went for a walk and saw our first wildlife. A partridge. Not too exciting, but it is the first one that I have ever seen. I went into the woods and tried catching it, but the trees, bushes, and shrubs made it difficult to maneuvre. We finished our walk at 9:10, and it was still light out. Makes the gloom of the winter seem worth it.

A couple of side notes we can report. One of our grade 8 students said he wasn't going to be here for a couple of days next week, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I asked why and he said he had to go to the bank. In preparation for the year end trip, he needs to set up a bank account and get a interac card. With the flight schedules, there isn't a way to do it in a day or two. Oh the inconvenience of the North.

Speaking on the subject, Amanda had a little injury this week. She had moved a cabinet to write something on board, which she has done every week this year, when it toppled over and landed on her foot. I had heard a loud noise and figured I would take a look. Then I started hearing a wimper, so I hurried my step. I found her on the ground in obvious pain. She went to the Nursing Station and came back with a cast. They took X-rays of her foot to measure the possible damage. But with the internet down, they couldn't send the images out. They had to write them on a CD and snail mail them to Red Lake or Sioux Lookout. And it was Tuesday, so the mail won't go out until Wednesday. The nurse told her that it would be about a week before she would hear anything. He, yes a male nurse, thought it might require surgery to fix and she would have to fly out for that. So staring at her in the face was the possibilty of paying over $1000 for flights and another $150-$300 for hotels. Her foot is now better (she cut the cast off herself after two days) but sore after a long day of standing.

We'll finish off with a weather report. All the snow is now gone, save a pile or two that was over 8 feet tall. We have had daily highs of 18 or 19, with sun all the time. Duck Lake (the lake behind the school) has now completely melted and Deer Lake is showing signs of life. A thin layer of ice remains but it will not last too much longer.

With Monday being Court, we have no school. We are looking forward to a long weekend, and are planning to walk to town today.