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.

Bags and Eggs

Yesterday was the annual Deer Lake Easter Hunt. The day before, as previsouly written by Claire, we helped bag candies and chocolate. In all 1600 bags were spread out in 8 sections with even more chocolate eggs and bags of chips evenly spread out. The sections were as follows:

Preschool
K4/K5 (Junior and Senior Kindergartern)
Gr. 1,2,3
Gr. 4,5,6
Gr. 7,8,9
Adult
Pre-Natal
Elders

The hunt was to begin at 2:00, but we all knew what that meant. People started showing up a little after 1, with the event not starting till after 2. The volunteers were spread throughout the sections with slingshots, defending the helpless candy from dogs. The weather was really nice outside, with Claire wearing only a windbreaker. It was a great afternoon and glad we could be a part of it (some more than others).

On Friday, two medical students arrived in Deer Lake and will be here for 1 month. They are connected with the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, and will do three placements in Northern Reserves to experience the Aboriginal traditions and learn under the nurses and doctors who are there. They are both around our age. Jordan is from a fly-in reserve in Northern Alberta and Sarah from Sudbury. I started talking to them, because of my interest in medicine and, well, whenever new people come in, it is just about the most exciting thing that week.

Jordan was the talker and had mentioned that they get to pick, or try to, their three reserves and the person they do it with. I picked up on this, and tried to dig deeper to find out if they were a couple. I learn from the best.

After the hunt, we came back and had a turkey dinner thanks to Amanda and Claire. It was Amanda's first turkey and suffice to say, "job well done." Blaine was over to eat as well, so we got to share some stories and hear about other things in Deer Lake. He has been here for three years, so he has seen a lot, both good and bad. With our vehicle still sidelined, Blaine offered to drive whenever we needed to go to the store. We found out that the wheel bearings need to be replaced and it will be at least two weeks for them to come in, and another two before it will be fixed. We are counting on it being sidelined for the rest of the year.

Today is our last day off of the long weekend. It will be nice to have a short week. The lake is thawing and little water spots are appearing. The community shuts down for two straight weekends when the lake opens. The first weekend in May is usually the first one, but it might be pushed back another. Regardless, there is only 8 weeks of school left, and 6 before we leave for our trip. Unbelievable!

Claire and Amanda, pre-hunting.

The groups will follow the volunteer holding the sign. They were each brought to their respective section. Steve is the janitor/maintenance man at work, and seems to be connected to every part of the community. If there is a committee, he is on it and most likely leading it. Of course, he was the one starting each section's hunt.

The community lining up to start.

Claire brought along little bear for more adventures. These are six of Amanda's Gr. 7 girls. Four of them have an older brother or sister in grade 8 or 9, weird.

Blaine holding Dexter.

The preschoolers during their hunt.

Three of our grade nine girls. (L to R: Chantelle, Miranda, Karian)

The Grade 4,5,6 during their hunt. The boy in the tree is Tanner, a great kid. There was a bag of chips really high, so he climbed between two trees to the highest he could before they would bend. The chips were still several feet higher. He then jumped up onto the tree with the bag, and while it was bending back toward to the ground he grabbed the chips. An amazing display of athleticism and the closest thing to James Bond I have ever seen. The best was his reaction later. I told him that that was remarkable. He shrugged as if to say, "I've done it before." Class.

At each section, the participants would gather in two lines. The girls in the front with the boys behind. Steve would sound the horn for the girls to start, with the boys waiting 5 seconds behind. I couldn't imagine being a girl and trying to get candy from the ground when the horn sounds and a herd of boys comes crashing in.

Those same three girls trying to gingerly get candy from the side.

The Grade 7,8,9 section. You can see those girls on the side.

While this was happening, a little girl, no more than 3 was running down the road to a vacant space, where an old church and cemetry stands. Steve, on his megaphone calls out, "someone's baby running to church."

The Adult section. Claire and Amanda got involved and participated. Blaine used Dexter as his excuse, while I used the camera as mine.

The girls off to a strong start. Steve on the right witht he megaphone. The section didn't start for about 10 metres and was amongst trees, bushes, and shrubs. There was only 2 or 3 natural entrances in, which all had snow on the ground. Amanda's shoe got stuck when she ran through one. She had to make a choice. Go forth and find as many bags as possible or waste the 5 second head start and risk being trampled by the men. She mad the wise choice and went on with the hunt. Steve, later picked up the shoe and tried selling it for $5 to us on-lookers.

The men going off. The natural sound they created at the initial start was unbelievable, as the ground shook.

The women returning with the fruits of their labour.

Onto the pre-natal section. Surprisingly there were seven pre-natals. Kind of ironic that they would be running around trying to grab chocolate, chips, and sugar filled candy. That wasn't the biggest ironic part of the day though. The candy/chocolate is donated by several committees and places. One that donates things, and a large portion too, is the Health Services. This is the same group that is designed to promote good health and organize things like walkathons and weight loss challenges. I think next week is Diabetes Awareness Week.

A group of grade 7 and 8 boys eating their find. Wouldn't imagine their bags staying full too long. I know mine never did.

Some of the girls outside a friend's house.

To end the event, they started throwing some bags and eggs into the crowd. Amanda stood almost no chance at getting any, so Blaine tried grabbing some loot for her.

Wing in a Sling

Today, we were in town to help get ready for the annual Deer Lake Easter Egg Hunt (there will be more to follow on that, in another post). Almost as soon as we got to the house we were helping at one of the ladies asked us if we had ever seen a Bald Eagle. The only time Greg and I have ever seen a Bald Eagle was when we were in Nova Scotia, Greg's cousin Harrison pointed one's nest out to us and we could see it in the distance.

We quickly learned that this lady and her husband had been out by the dump and found an injured Bald Eagle. This Eagle had been shot in the wing and was just left for dead. Since they are on the endangered species list, they took the eagle home to help it, which was two days ago.

When I walked into their home I was expecting to see this bird in a cage, however I found him sitting on a perch in their living room. He was so still he looked almost fake, like he had been stuffed. It was amazing to see him just sit there and watch what was going on around him. The lady was even petting him. Enjoy the pictures below of one of God's most beautiful creatures!

Look at how huge these talons are. I couldn't believe it.
Eating a piece of fish
Feeding the bird. They have wrapped up his injury as you can see. They were sending him out on the afternoon flight to get him more help.

The Beginning of a Long Weekend

Today was our last day before Easter weekend! Greg and I are truly looking forward to resting this weekend, and cleaning our house. With the snow gone, the dirt and dust is back and we are tracking a lot into the house.


School today was a very easy going day. It was a fun day, that didn't include much school work. We just got to hang out with our class. We had a nice Easter lunch today with turkey and ham and all the fixings. The students were then given Easter treat bags. The community was also invited to eat and we had quite the turn out. Before we ate, one of the Christian teachers was asked to share some words about Easter and pray before we ate. It is so nice and refreshing to have this happen in our school. Our community seems fairly open to the Christian faith.


On another note, Julia (the principal) and about 9 teachers/T.A's have left for the week on a trip to Arizona to see how the Navajo people have preserved their culture. This is quite an amazing and once in a life time trip for many of the teachers. While Julia is away, Greg was asked to be acting principal. This is an awesome opportunity for him. He is only in charge of grades 6-9 and another teacher is in charge of the younger kids. This works well especially since Greg doesn't know the younger kids and the other teacher doesn't know the older kids. It will definitely be an interesting week for Greg as he juggles a classroom and the duties of a principal. I am so proud of him though and know he will do an amazing job.


After work today we were both exhausted from the weeks work. I fell asleep almost immediately and slept for about 2 hours. It felt so nice. We then went for a nice walk before dinner. Enjoy some of our pictures from this afternoon's walk.

A lot of dogs around are having puppies right now. We stopped by to see some and play with them for a while. Although Greg and I are both dog lovers, Amanda is a HUGE dog lover. We stopped to talk, pet and play with almost all the dogs. With Dexter around A LOT of dogs come out to smell him and play with him, so we have gotten to know a lot of dogs and their names.
Last week I got a letter from my cousin Olivia. She sent me this little brown bear and asked me to take him on adventures around Deer Lake, then mail them back to her at the school. Today Greg and I took him to the lake. Although the lake is frozen it is a beautiful place in Deer Lake.

Greg on the ice. There is a top slush layer and I am sure we will be seeing water very shortly!

Amanda and Dexter!

Me stopping to play with one of the dogs. I really like this one he was so cute and nice.

We go for a walk almost every day, and boys are always outside playing hockey at his house. Almost every day they ask Greg to play with them. Today he stopped and took a few shots on net.

Amanda and one of the puppies at another house.

While the winter road was open a lot of new trailer homes came in. They are now starting to clear the land so that the homes have a place to go.

Deer Lake's Worst Driver

On Friday, it was my turn for a fun afternoon. The grade 8s had their cultural program. We went to what is referred to as the sand pit. The kids pretty much played around the hills. We went back to the school and ate Indian Tacos again. My kids absolutely love them as they always arrange to eat them on our turn.. They were really, really good again. I actually prefer them to the traditional ones and I know Claire does too. Not much else has been new. The grade 9s came in on the weekend to make up some hours because of the Toronto trip and the different closures of the school. Most schools won't do this but Julia likes to make sure everything is alright when the ministry comes in. On Saturday Claire had 12 students from 1-5, while I had mine on Sunday. The students were pretty exhausted. For one girl who had to come in last weekend as well, it has been quite the stretch. This Thursday will be her 19 straight day of coming to school. She is also the 18 year-old committed to getting her credits this year. Remarkable. Anyways, time for a story. We had to drop off two girls in town on Saturday after Claire's lesson. All went well until the ride back to the school. Let me start off by restating how 'rezzed' out the vehicle is. Last weekend, the front left tire started making noises when we were driving. This happened to everyone else, but figured it was a small problem. Sort of like a scratch to a gunshot wound. So back to the drive to the school. We were on our way up the hill when I hit one of the thirty million potholes. All of a sudden the vehicle was getting pulled to the side again. My first reaction was, "Really?" "Really?" We squeaked to the top and pulled over. I figured we must have had a flat. I got out and looked at the wheel. Luckily it wasn't a flat. Unfortunately the entire wheel, rim, and pretty much everything connected to the wheel was about to come off. The wheel should have been straight, but was on a 45 degree angle. My luck. So similar to last the last time the second vehicle stopped and had two guys in their late 20s. Where else would a car like this stop to help? The driver gave me his cell phone and I phoned RJ at the school. He wondered if the car could be limped back to the school. At this point the two guys had gotten out and taken a closer look at the vehicle. The one started to rock it for fun or to make it worse, I wasn't quite sure. The shaking almost took the wheel off, so I figured, "No, it won't make it" was a safe bet. The guys gave us a ride back to the school, while RJ was going to get a bus driver to try and tow it back. On the way back to the school, at the intersection, was Steve standing by the road. He is one of the school janitors/maintenance men and father to a grade 8 student. He was there with his van and a large, large pot selling moose stew. Our driver stopped to buy some, so we got out and walked the rest of the way (5 minutes or so). I've heard of fruit stands, lemonade stands on the side of the road. But moose stew? This week is short as there is only four days and Thursday is apparently a different day. Good news as Claire is exhausted and still trying to get over a cold she has had for several weeks now. This Thursday, the school is putting on a Easter dinner for the students and parents. We are looking forward to seeing what it is like. Last bit of news, regarding our trip. West Jet will not be able to fly us to Toronto so Julia looked into a bus. She found out that it will save almost $30,000 from the overall total. This money will be spent on other areas. Julia advised Claire and I to look into the Delta Chelsea and try and book family suites and honeymoon suites as rooms. As well, our per diem has gone up from $40 to $80. Needless to say, no one is going to go hungry. Some of the boys on one of the hills.

Some of the girls.

Others.

About half the class on the top of the hill. At the end, all the students were playing king of the hill, boys against girls. Even through there are more boys and they are bigger, the girls actually held their own. One of the smaller girls pulled this karate move and flung a much larger boy by the shoulders.

Deer Lake's wreck yard.

A group of students were on this small piece of water, trying to throw big rocks on the ice to break it. The water was only a foot or so, but still, not the smartest move.

The Dirty North

As many of you know, today was my birthday. It was a pretty good day. We actually had a scheduled class this afternoon from 1-5. Every year the students who need extra practice or to make up some time from too many absences. Claire and I both get paid for the whole day, which makes it a little easier to take. On Friday night, the staff had a potluck. They ordered these massive steaks for everyone that looked amazing and smelled wonderful on the way home. When it came time to eating they were a little overdone, but still decent all the same. The rest of the food was really good and the opportunity to chat with other staff is always nice. Like before, after everyone got their plate and had time to quickly done it, a mad rush occurred to grab the leftovers. Dessert for most of the staff were cakes they had made, personalized for the person. Pictures of mine are posted below. My lovely cake. Can you guess what it is? This is how they do it in the north.

This is a picture we have wanted to post for a long time. On it, it describes the thickness of the ice

needed for the vehicles.

Blowing out the candles. In the background, is RJ, the Associate Director.

Awkward smile for an awkward cake.

King of the Hill

Claire and I enjoyed our much needed weekend off. As she mentioned in the last blog, we finished report cards and interviews this week. On Saturday we had a meeting with Julia regarding the year end trip. A rough itinerary has been planned out, and the bottom line is: "It will be one crazy week!" We have planned to stop at all the usual places in Toronto: CN Tower, Science Centre, ROM, Canada's Wonderland, and yes, even a Blue Jays game (I swear I had nothing to do with the last selection). While we were pumping out the itinerary, Claire was on a computer finding estimates on tickets. And the estimate grand total is............................ (scroll down under the last picture to find out) To recuperate from our week, Claire and I went for a little Sunday drive. It was quite nice, although the many potholes created for a bumpy ride. In town, we saw a vehicle driving on the winter road. Unbelievable, considering the entrance onto the lake is water for the first couple metres. It was good old homeweek at the Northern, but then again, when isn't it. We also had the chance to stop by the 'other' store and pick up an ice cream and a milkshake. No Dairy Queen or Avondale, but everything has the ability to taste great up here. When we got back, we decided to play a little outside. The pictures below are from this. Taking a break from the hard work. Our backyard has about 4 feet of snow piled up. It was quite a workout to try and walk so I needed a break.

The snow that was shovelled off our roof. It all piled right in front of our back door.

Our humble abode, at least the back of it.

To get off the pile, I needed to jump into the snow. Well I guess I didn't NEED to jump, but the kid inside got the best of me. Sort of like all those cub camps, eh mom?

We have heard rumours of snow down south. To compare, we had a balmy plus 11 degrees this afternoon with a full, bright sun with no clouds. A true Sunday!

$83,119.17!!!!