Two Weeks Notice

Unbelievable that it is already December 3. November flew by, as it has with the rest of the months. We only have two weeks of school left (reference the title) and both are short weeks. This Thursday is the Christmas parade. It has not been mentioned or even discussed so it will definitely be more low key this year. On Friday, the T.A.s are hosting a Formal Dinner as fundraiser for them to go to the Winnipeg conference in February. And finally, Saturday is our staff Christmas party.

We have had pretty decent weather so far. It is in the negatives, but only to about 10-15. We have had a little snow, accumulating in about 2 inches. The outlook looks pretty similar for the next two weeks.

Last Thursday I had my Cultural Program with the Grade 8s. We went to the Tepee landing for a hot dog roast. The school now hires a local, to help Vicky construct a cultural based program. Jeremy, the local, showed the students how to set a snare for rabbits or squirrels. I didn't realize there were squirrels up here. We haven't seen any or any evidence of them. Jeremy is the same person who is in charge of the Internet and Cable for the community. Apparently a "jack of all trades" man.

Hugs Not Drugs

Christmas break is fast approaching. Claire and I are busy getting the grade 8s ready for their Christmas play. Last week we finished midterm exams for the grade 9s and all did pretty well.
Last week was also National Aboriginal Addictions Awareness Week (NAAAW). It is designed to raise awareness over the growing percentage of drug/alcohol/tobacco use among Aboriginals. The entire school, save the grade 9s who were writing exams, created posters and walked them to the Band Office, which took about 45 minutes. It was pretty cool seeing over 200 students in a parade fashion going through the street of Deer Lake. Along the way, people were coming out of their houses to take pictures and read the signs. There were some pretty neat posters. "Hugs not drugs!" "For every cigarette, there is a nicorette" "I'd rather eat bugs than do drugs"

A couple ironic parts along the walk. First, we were passing one house that had a homemade sign advertising cigarettes for $5. Second occured at the Band Office. While the students were entering the door they had to pass the 5 or so people (including some councillors) smoking outside the building.

The mercury is quickly dropping as we are experiencing minus-15 to -20 days. It seems cold, but not really that bad yet. Maybe it is because we know the worse is still coming.

On a sad note, we had to put a puppy down today. Missy, the amazing dog who has been unofficially adopted by Amanda and was around the teacherages since we arrived last year, had a litter (11) of puppies last May. Only 1 was left and disappeared last week. When he finally returned he could barely walk and had lost too much weight. Amanda tried to nurse him back to life, but made the difficult decision that a quick death was the best option. I asked our Education Director to come by and help put the dog down. Not something I want to do twice in life.

I had my dad send up a box of dog food for Edgar because we were running a little short. It took one day shy of two weeks to go from St. Catharines to Deer Lake, so not that bad at all. When it arrived, the Postal Worker warned me that it didn't arrive in perfect condition. Here are some pictures of the parcel.

My dad figured the box must have sat in a warehouse and some mice or rats smelled the food inside. I don't think Edgar is going to notice a difference.

Out for a Walk!!

Today has been a nice relaxing day. We really haven't done much of anything. Greg and I prepared our midterms for next week and tomorrow we will run over to the school quickly and photocopy them. This evening we decided to go out for a walk and Edgar wore his new coat and boots for the first time. It is hilarious watching him walk in his boots because one they are a little to big for him and two he just trips all over the place and is doing a lot of face plants. It is so funny to watch. Enjoy some pictures from out walk.

The Fifth Estate

For those interested, this Friday's episode of CBC's The Fifth Estate is featuring several of our students from last year. They are showing a documentary of the challenges facing Northern Ontario's First Nation teenagers in their attempt to complete high school. I believe it is on at 9:00 pm (EDT).

A Sign of the Times

Wow! November is already here, as October flew by. It has been a busy month. With Julia gone, the fundraising is being completed entirely by the two of us (with the help of the staff). We are organizing all of the events. This month we had two Bingos, two Flea Markets, Cake Auction, Haunted House, and a Adult Dance. In total we have fundraised more than $3,500 in just 4 weeks.

We welcomed November with a beautiful day. The high was probably around 5 degrees celsius with a wonderful sun. If I had had the grade 9s in the afternoon for gym, we would have gone outside for some baseball. Obviously the weather won't last, but we are enjoying it all the same. The lack of sunlight in the morning is quite annoying. It has been getting hard to get up in the morning with it pitch black outside. The time shifting will help, but it only means we have less sunlight after school. We aren't quite ready for that yet (walking home from school with the sun already set), but you can't have it both ways.


While at the dance someone brought a costume in a bag. It was a basketball that was to be worn like a shirt. I thought the instructions/cover was different. See if you can notice:



I remember the slogan used to say, "One Size Fits All." Apparently all was incorrect. Might sound stupid, but I thought it was a little funny/sad.

If the shoe fits

This week has seemed to crawl to a stop. It probably has something to due with the fact that this is the first full 5 day week of, well, the year. But it is almost over.

We went to the store today with all the white teachers. We crammed six of us in and made our way to the Northern. Awaiting us was a package that contained Edgar's boots. When we came home we opened them up and tried them on. Here they are:

He has been so funny with them. He obviously trips a lot, so to compensate he kind of hops around. And because of the rubber soles and size, he sounds and walks like a Clydesdale. It is quite funny. On another note, Claire and I stayed at school all day on Wednesday, so Edgar was in his cage for 8 hours. He managed to hold his bladder the entire time. When we got home, all he wanted to do was play and well, who can blame him.

Food for Thought

Read the whole thing first.... Teachers' hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year! It's time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do - babysit! We can get that for minimum wage. That's right. Let's give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That ..................would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3...:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan-- that equals 6 1/2 hours). Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Now how many students do they teach in a day...maybe 30? So that's $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations. LET'S SEE.... That's $585 X 180= $105,300 per year. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master's degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year. Wait a minute -- there's something wrong here! There sure is! The average teacher's salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student--a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!) WHAT A DEAL!!!!

Already?

We have already had some snow this year, but today was the first real snowfall. By the end of the day there was a nice blanket on the ground. Edgar's reaction was funny as he did not quite know how to handle the new phenomenon. He would run around the yard and stick his nose deep in the snow.

On Saturday night the T.V. station held a karokee competition. The five of us (the white teachers) decided to go. Amanda loves to sing and wanted to enter to win the $1,000 grand prize or two plane tickets to Winnipeg. We arrived at 6:15 for the 6:00 pm start, only to come back at 7:45 for the actual start. Amanda started off and did a great job. Jill and I (Greg) also participated. Why not. Eventually roughly 15 people competed and the top four were chosen by an 'outside judge.'

This is our first five day week in a while at the school. We are having an Open House on Wednesday to meet the parents. Otherwise a pretty ordinary week. Just trying to chip away until our Christmas break, which seems pretty soon all considering.



Edgar outside with another dog. Even though the other dogs look and act scary, Edgar acts like the big dog.


Edgar's first foot print.

What to say?

Well, not much has been new here lately. Last week we were in Winnipeg. It was a nice little outing for Greg and I. Edgar had a vacation of his own at hotel Amanda. He played all week with Dexter and kept Amanda from sleeping in, in the morning.

While we were in Winnipeg we went to see a few movies, and did some shopping. We discovered an awesome Christian bookstore called Hull's. We went to Walmart, Polo Park and the grocery store. All in all it was a great trip and we got our Thanksgiving Turkey.

School has been fairly good this week. Not much to report on that note. We are looking forward to a nice Thanksgiving here. Hope everyone else has an awesome Thanksgiving.

Beach Day

The weather has been so lovely this weekend. Nice and warm. Definitely shorts and tee-shirt weather. So today Amanda and I decided it would be nice to take the dogs to the beach for a little play time. Greg was going to come but the time we choose to go was when the Bills were playing! Go Bills!!! Apparently it was a big win too... so I am sure he was glad he stayed home to watch it.

When we woke up this morning, there was BIG news all over the Facebook world. There was a fire in town last night. The old Mennonite church which has been abandoned for years burned down last night. This church had basically become a play place for the kids in Deer Lake and was causing a lot of problems for the Northern. So today Amanda and I wandered over to see the remains and I took a few pictures to share. The fire was extremely close to the Northern's propane tanks so we are very lucky that the fire didn't get to close to them. I have posted a few pictures below so that you can check out the fire and our adventure to the beach.

Check out how close the propane tanks are to the fire.
All that was left standing of the church is the stone chimney

Edgar and I enjoying the warmth of the day and the beauty of the lake
Amanda and Dexter enjoying the view also.
Edgar taking a break in the sand. He was so tired after chasing Dexter up and down the beach.
Edgar!!
Amanda getting "the boys" to chase sticks into the water. That is about as deep as Edgar would go. One day he will like the water.
Dexter playing and running back to Amanda. He is basically in the air in this picture.
Edgar chasing Dexter on the beach. Dexter is really fast and Edgar is slow so it was really funny watching Edgar try and keep up. Dexter would stop and wait for Edgar to catch up and when he was just about there Dex would take off again.
Playing in the water with sticks!

Fun with the Dogs

So today was an early dismal day (2:30) because of hunting week next week. We were all invited to go fishing after school however Amanda and I decided to stay home (Amanda's been feeling really crappy lately. Unfortunately she got my cold). Greg and Jon went out fishing for about three hours, they caught a few fish and Jon actually brought one home to clean. Greg told me that they just went to the Dam and took a bought off the shore to use. Steve had brought his own motor to use but apparently it is quite normal to come and use other peoples boats. I guess when they got back to the shore the owners of the boat were waiting to use it.

While the guys were fishing Amanda and I headed to the store and got a few things. Then we each went our separate ways and tried to take a nap. Once that was unsuccessful on both ends we got together again and played with the dogs. I discovered today that Edgar is losing his baby teeth. He had one missing and two really lose ones when I looked earlier this evening. I just looked a few minutes ago again and their are two more gone. My baby is getting so big already!

We also played dress up with Dexter and Edgar. Amanda had ordered Dexter two halloween costumes (a dragon and a basketball player). The dragon fit Dexter perfect however the basketball player was to big for him so of course I had to try it on Edgar. Check out our evening without Greg and how we dressed up the dogs!

Dexter the Dragon and Edgar the basketball player!

How cute! Although I think he would make a better football player.

In one side and out the other

Another week has finished and our routines are quickly forming. This week brought some excitement, as it snowed on Tuesday, September 13th. We woke up to quite the snow falling, but the ground is still soft so away it quickly went. The middle of the week brought temperatures hovering at 0, but with the weekend came a little bit of warmth. This week will go fast as the week after is Hunting Week. Chances are that Friday will be a shortened to start the holiday. Claire and I have decided to go to Winnipeg for four days (Monday-Thursday) to get away.

Last weekend, Blaine took us out to shoot some of the NAPS guns. We all had fun destroying an old T.V. he had. As well, they collect the liquor that is confiscated at the airport and shoot them. There are pictures of our adventure below. Blaine was promoted to a detective and to be part a new ERT (Emergency Response Team) group, located out of Thunder Bay. After 4 or 5 years of working in Deer Lake he is now permanently moving home and can start settling down. He is extremely excited and we are glad to have met him.

On Friday, Claire's grade 9s began their cultural program. The tradition continued of Claire staying at school and not venturing outside like the rest of the classes. They made small pillows from felt which featured a cut-out animal of their choice. They looked pretty neat.

A funny story from yesterday. Edgar's last booster shot was delivered yesterday by the two of us. Since there is a time limit between shots, Claire and I brought up a needle and the solutions (thanks Grandma for sending them) to deliver his last one. We prepared it all and set Edgar down with a treat. I stuck the needle into a fold of skin in his back and pushed through most of the shot. Near the end, the needle stopped pushing, so I drove the needle a little further in and pushed the rest of the contents out. Unfortunately I pushed a little too far and the remaining contents shot straight at Claire. I had pushed the needle right through Edgar's fold of skin. Oh well, lesson learned. He has been great up here and didn't seem to mind the episode. We have noticed that he has become more mellow. He really enjoys cuddling with Claire and sleeping beside her. HE is definitely growing and will be huge by christmas.

Me shooting Blaine's handgun.

Claire setting the T.V. in her scope.

Proof that we all survived and unscathed.

Deadliest Catch

Hello Everyone,

Sorry about the long wait for a post. Our internet at home wasn't working until just a few days ago.

This week we finished our first official week of school. It was a good week. Our new grade 8's seem really awesome and of course we know our grade 9's already (although they are absolutely wild). I hate yelling and I will admit I did that a few times this week. It was the only thing that made two grade 9's stop chasing each other around the classroom like kindergarteners.

This year a few things have changed at the school. We have a new principal who seems nice but is a lot different from the one we had last year. We also have two new teachers Jon and Jill. They seem really nice and we have really enjoyed the times we have hung out with them. Jon teaches grade 4 and Jill teaches grade 6. We also have another new neighbour Anna. She is the new KiHS teacher (internet high school). It is kinda fun having all these people that are in a similar circumstance living all around you.

On another note, I will take this time to discuss my baby, Edgar! He has been amazing. Greg and I haven't noticed him growing taller or longer lately but he is definitely stocky. Edgar has been doing really well with the potty training and letting us know that he needs to go to the bathroom. His nipping is still an issue that bugs me but that will change in time. We have started spraying him with water if he is doing something he is not supposed to and it has worked really well. All we have to do is show him the spray bottle and he stops his bad behaviour. We are really enjoying having him here with us.

I thought I would share a few pictures of a recent fishing trip. Greg and Jon went fishing with Steve last a few weeks ago, so the girls asked him for a turn. He took Jill, Amanda and I out for 41/2 hours. Enjoy the pictures from our excursion.

Amanda with her fish. She was very reluctant to hold any fish but gave in once she caught her own.

Jill and her fish.

Myself and my fish. I caught the first fish on the fishing trip. It was totally exciting. I never catch anything when I am fishing at the cottage.

Amanda and I being good fisherwomen.

The girls. Jill, Amanda and Claire.

Down and Out

We had promised more updates this year and have seemingly got off to a rough start. We arrived in Deer Lake with all of our bins (quite an accomplishment because Amanda had quite a few too). When we arrived at the teacherage, the internet was down. Our luck. We figured it was done all over. Several days went by before I asked our computer technician at school about the internet. He was told that the reason it was out was because the bill hadn't been paid. Our luck. I then waited a day before I found our finance person and asked her about the unpaid bills. She replied that they had been paid, but will look into it. Our luck. And now it is the long weekend, so nothing will be updated until the middle of next week.

All in all we have been fortunate, because the internet works at the school. We have just been walking to the school to check every once and awhile.

Our first day was supposed to be on Wednesday, August 31, but a community wide fishing derby was being held from Sept. 1-4. So school has been postponed until Sept. 6. The Board has designated the three missed days as Traditional Days, so as to not lose any time. At least something worked out for us.

Our classrooms were quickly prepped and we are now just waiting for school to begin. It appears as though there will be 15 grade 8s and 20 grade 9s to start. That means the year end trip will only be for 20 people (including chaperones). A lot different than last year.

Desperate and Durty

Our conference is at the midway point. We had several speakers today and learned of some practical uses. John Mighton was the keynote speaker this morning. He is the founder and creator of JUMP Math, a charity that is hopeful of drastically changing our society with a focus on establishing a simpler math program. He is a writer, who has a play currently showcasing in Stratford. He was also an actor in Good Will Hunting.

Last night we took our rental car and toured Sioux Lookout. Took about 10 minutes to drive almost every stretch of road.

Today's lunch, which was at the restaurant with the sketchy sign, was actually pretty good. Rumour has it, it was pretty decent yesterday. Found out that the full name of the restaurant is Desperate Dick and Durty Nellies. Apparently, as the story goes, Dick was a pilot looking for Nellie when he crashed (hopefully pictures to follow).

Tomorrow is our last full day in Sioux Lookout. We are on the first flight to Deer Lake on Friday morning at roughly 9:00 am (no sleeping in this time). After our last session we will be heading to Johnny's Market to pick up several hundred dollars worth food, mostly meat, fruit, and veggies.

Back to reality

Well here we are, back at the grind. Consider this season two in our reality show. Our goal this year is to be more consistent in our posts and add more pictures of our life. On that note, there are no pictures from today.

Our day got off on the wrong foot. We were supposed to be at Claire’s parents for 6 am, but the phone rang and woke us up 6:15. We sprung from our bed and in 18 minutes were able to pack/feed Edgar/load the vehicle/ and shower. Pretty good considering I had nicknamed Claire ‘Sloth’ for her actions in the morning. She did a great job. We left Vineland a few minutes before 7:00 am for our 8:55 am flight out of Toronto. A quick prayer for open roads and we were off. Luckily the roads were clear and we made it to Pearson for 8:00 am. As we were walking to our gate, they had just started to board. Perfect timing if you ask me, Thanks Dad Hotson.

We arrived in Thunder Bay at 10:40 and quickly headed over to our next airline to check in for our 11:30 flight. After doing so, I went upstairs to the Tim Hortons for something to eat. While in line the intercom came on with the following message, “Last boarding call for passenger Gregory Martin.” My immediate reaction was to jump the railing and land on the first floor, but figured this happened on a consistent basis.

We arrived in Sioux Lookout at 11:45. The girls grabbed the bags off the conveyor belt as I went to the car rental booth. I found out that this booth was strictly a pick-up/drop-off location. So off I went to the pay phone and made my reservation with the parent company. I was told it would be ready in 15 minutes. Good. 20 minutes I went back to the booth to find that no contract had been faxed over. Great. So I phoned the Dryden office and was met with the answering machine. Another 20 minutes went by before I returned and found that no contract was sent. Perfect. So I phoned the Dryden office and was met with the answering machine. Another 20 minutes went by before I returned and again found no contract had been sent. Excellent. This time when I phoned I finally got through to someone. I guess he had been out for lunch since 11:30. Super. A contract for a 2012 white Ford Fusion was faxed within 5 minutes. The problem was that there weren’t any white Fusions. Ideal. 20 minutes later, and another phone call to the Dryden office (lucky he wasn’t on break) and a 2012 silver Ford Fusion was mine. The best part was that while going over the final contract, he highlighted that I was to be the only driver and there was to be no smoking or pets. Frustrated, hungry, and dying to get out of the airport, I remarked with an ‘of course’ and ran off with the key.

We quickly dropped off the dogs and luggage and headed to the closest restaurant. Well not exactly, as the nearest eatery had a sign in the window that read, “The original home of warm beer and poor food.” We quickly peeled out of the parking lot and headed down the street. Later in the night we went to the hotel our conference is mainly being held and found out that the same establishment would be catering our lunches for the week. Wow.

During the day we ran into two teachers from Deer Lake and found out that they have hired a principal for the upcoming year. He is a native from the next reserve over. His reputation is not outstanding, but we are looking forward to working with him this year.

As for Edgar, he had a great day. He was great in the airports and was even better on the airplanes. He has performed exceeding well in the hotel room as he has routinely gone to his crate on his own to sleep or rest.

Meet Edgar!

Edgar joined our family on Friday July 15th. We thought we would share a few pictures of him. Enjoy!

Fire in Deer Lake

As some of you might have seen already, one forest fire is approaching Deer Lake First Nation.

This is a little blurb from CTV's website:

The Canadian Press

GREENSTONE, Ont. — Hundreds of residents in the northwestern Ontario community of Deer Lake are being evacuated because of nearby forest fires.

Emergency Management Ontario says 203 residents were flown out of the community on Wednesday night to Greenstone while another 127 boarded a military plane this morning.

Officials are evacuating about 480 of the community's 1,100 residents -- mainly babies and the elderly and those with breathing problems or other health issues.

Emergency Management Ontario spokesman Brent Ross says another military plane is being brought in today from Winnipeg to help with the evacuations.

The blazes, which are burning about 3.5 kilometres away from the community, are sending thick smoke across the area.

Ministry of Natural Resources crews are fighting the fires with water bombers.

Other remote communities affected by the fires are Sandy Lake, Cat Lake and North Spirit Lake but no evacuations are currently planned for residents in those communities.

And from CBC's website:

A CL-415 helps fight wildfires near the Dear Lake First Nation in northwestern Ontario (Mitch Miller/Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources)

Hundreds of people have been moved out of the remote First Nations community of Deer Lake in northern Ontario because of nearby forest fires.

The Canadian military said Thursday that rescue crews helped move roughly 500 people to Greenstone, Ont., near Geraldton.

The community is home to roughly 1,000 people, Deer Lake First Nation Chief Roy Dale Meekis said.

The people being moved out of Deer Lake are mostly babies and the elderly and people with breathing problems or other health issues.

“Smoke is definitely a disruptive factor and we expect it to be an ongoing problem for a number of days because we have so many fires going in the far north,” said Deb MacLean, a spokeswoman for Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources.

Fires were also affecting Sandy Lake, Cat Lake and North Spirit Lake, but no evacuations were planned in those communities.

Ottawa has sent two Canadian Forces CC-130 Hercules aircraft from 435 Squadron based at 17 Wing Winnipeg into the area to help with evacuation efforts.

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources crews were also fighting the fires with water bombers."I'm proud that the people of Deer Lake were evacuated in a timely and safe manner thanks to the quick reaction of the Canadian Forces," Defence Minister Peter MacKay said in a statement released Thursday.

"We're collaborating very closely with our First Nations and federal partners to ensure the safety of Deer Lake residents," Jim Bradley, minister of community safety, said in a release Thursday. "This evacuation will help take the most vulnerable members of the community out of harm's way."

There are 78 active fires burning in northwestern Ontario, with 46 in the Red Lake district, MacLean said Thursday.

With files from CBC's Jody Porter and The Canadian Press

Claire and I are thankful we are safe at home, but are worried for our Northern friends. They are evacuating people to Geraldton, a town a little west of Lake Nipigon and east of Longlac. We are not sure what they are being sent to, but in the past it has been an arena or community centre.

Here are some pictures of the fire and smoke, and one of the water bomber battling the flames.

This is a picture posted on Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Service's website. The red arrows are different forest fires. What is cause of concern is the concentration of fires in such a relative small area. Almost all of the fires are reported as caused by lightning and non-controlled. Deer Lake is situated a little to the West of the border where it juts to the Northeast. It is actually in the middle of the small cluster of 12 or so fires or red arrows.