Countdown to Christmas

Well the tree is up and is it ever big! Probably 8.5 feet tall, way taller than our tree at home would ever be.  You know how it goes though, what looks small in the bush is huge in the house, luckily we have a loft only over the back half of the cabin and there is plenty on room for the tree.  The kids and I have been making decorations and will start to decorate as soon as the tree stops dripping, I'm thinking nap time for Laney will be about perfect.
We also have most of our gifts taken care of, thanks to internet shopping.  All I had ordered online came in the last time we went for mail, that was a huge relief.  You never know how busy Canada Post is this time of year and if our parcels will reach the post office they are picked up from by the mail truck that heads out our way once a week. 
As I mentioned though, not all the gifts are taken care of yet, we also have to get to work making a few.  We had decided with Tim and Martina that we would make gifts for each other.  So Paul and I have our plans, it's just putting them into action now that is left to do.  Hopefully it goes as smoothly as the plan looks in our head. 
The guys are at 61 Marten, 1 wolverine, and 1 lynx now. 

Perfect Day

Today was just awesome.  After a good morning doing school work with Sasha and not arguing with her during the process, Martina and I completed the last steps of our wine, (12 more days and we can bottle it, Yahoo!)  Then we had our lunch and went out to skate on our newly formed rink.  The lake ice is thickening up fast now that our weather has taken a bit of a colder turn.  Our coldest we have seen here is still only -19 and today we warmed up to -10.
And as for the lake ice, we could not ask for a better Mother Nature made rink.  It was able to freeze without snow and it is like glass.  There are a few rough spots here and there but overall definitely a thumbs up.  The kids have been on it 2 days now and have improved already.  They went from needing a hand or a hockey stick for support, to doing it all on their own.  It's sure great to have the rink just a short walk from your doorstep.  To be able to glide along the shore and go and go and go, if you so desire is not something I have ever experienced, and I love it.  Because the lake froze without any snow and only a little frost on it, and because it was so clean and clear to begin with, you can see exactly what you are skating over, or coming up to.  The kids like to lay on the ice and look at the lake bottom, wishing and waiting to see a fish swim by.
So after an afternoon on the rink, we added on a layer where needed and headed off on the snowmobiles and located our Christmas tree.  Paul and I had spotted it earlier on one of our firewood runs.  Today was just a matter of getting the okay from kids, Sasha said "Yeah, it's good.....enough".  We took that answer as good enough too and down it came.  Laney had her first tongue frozen on metal experience as she just couldn't resist licking an ice chunk on the skimmer.  After that ordeal, which I think was more upsetting for Sasha to see, than for Laney to experience,  we cut another skimmer load of wood for the other sled and returned home.   Aron and I unloaded wood, while Sasha and Paul went and checked their marten boxes and squirrel snares that are close to home, but no luck on those this time.  After Paul got his sled and skimmer ready for tomorrow's day out on the line, we all came in to supper which I had started before going outside and had filled the cabin with a smell that said "Time to eat".  The kids seem to have pretty good appetites out here and no problem sleeping either.  After supper we sat down to play a game together and Aron didn't make it to the end.  He was asleep on the couch in to time.
Tomorrow, as I mentioned earlier, is a day checking traps for the guys, they are at 56 marten and 1 wolverine.  The kids and I will start making our tree decorations and most likely have a day off school.  I've quickly learned that myself and 3 kids in the cabin does not tend to be a productive day in school, so these days are better spent baking and doing fun things with them.  And I'll admit that usually trapine day is also usually a movie day for the kids.  Mommy puts on a movie for the kids and picks up a book for herself, and we all get to do exactly what we want for an hour or so.

Almost Frozen

The lake pretty much frozen over.

Sunrise in Oct

This and That

I know, I know, I'm not doing my blog enough.  For someone who is supposed to have all the time in the world I am finding it hard to find time for this.  One reason is that my computer time is limited and busy.  And it seems that we are always doing something else.  Martina and I were just saying to each other that we never thought that we would be so busy out here, we brought ourselves a lot of projects, games, books, puzzles and that sort of thing and we have not done any of it yet.  I know though that the cold weather is yet to come and we will have all sorts of time for that stuff!
The guys have started trapping marten now, they have been for about 2 weeks, maybe more and they are at 36.  Tomorrow they are checking again, their typical day is leaving home around 8:00 am, they sometimes split up to do the run of 160 km round trip, which makes their day shorter.  Arriving back here for late afternoon, and if they stick together they are back for 6 ish.  Some lynx sets were also set last trip out so we will see what that brings. 
We have about a foot of snow here at the lake, at the claim cabin we have easily twice that, and at the top of the mountain there is about 40".  We have been working on our tobagan hill, which is awesome to say the least.  And somehow it has morphed into a luge run at the bottom.  It is the longest hill I have ever been on and it honestly is like a track, the GTs do the best because you can steer them through.  The kids are a little afraid to do the bottom section that crosses our road and leads down to the lake.  I have to admit I was too the first time, since part of the track takes you under a fallen tree!  But a little coaxing and off the kids went, and yes some trips you do almost get your feet wet. We also need radios to communicate from the top to bottom and to let you know if the trail is clear!
We have also been out snowshoing, there is a mountain that is of small size I would say that is behind us. and since we moved here my husband said he wants to climb it, so that is what we are working on.  Day by day we go a little further up, the kids are doing awesome, they of course like the trip down better.  Sasha wants us to take her GT up there so she can come down. 
We had Paul's birthday yesterday, which was nice.  Tim, Martina and the kids came over and some friends from the valley sledded out too, the valley meaning the community where we get our mail.  We have had to sled out to mail the last few weeks now, and the trail is quite good.  It's a beautiful trip into town and I never tire of the scenery.  Actually today Martina and I went in on our own for some lady time.  It was valley girls meets lake girls, as we all got together to make perogies.  This is something the valley girls as they started to refer themselves as, do annually, and this year they were nice enough to invite us lake girls out for the day.  I think that it is safe to say that we both enjoyed ourselves, and having the day to ourselves. 
We are anxiously awaiting the caribou migration, each time we talk to a local we try to get more information about it.  We are wondering exactly just how many are we expecting, do they come in one big bunch or are they more spread out?  The lake here is still not frozen over and some have told us that they will even swim part of the lake if its not frozen.  I just can't wrap my head around the whole idea as I have never seen anything like it before other than on TV, so I look forward to it, as I'm sure we all do.

Five Solid Weeks

Thats how long we've been in without a trip to the outside.  It's the longest amount of time that we have spent out here, previously it had been 2 weeks. 
How is it so far?  Is it what we expected?  What are we thinking now?
Well so far it is going good, we have had execptional weather, have met some great people and we are spending a lot of time together as a family.  We are doing pretty much what suits us on any given day. 
We do have times when things are not so good, like the days when we miss our loved ones back home.  Especially my 6 year old daughter, she misses her friends in school, her cousins whom she saw a lot, and she sometimes thinks that being taught school by her mom is not the greatest thing in the world.  We also had a death in our immediate family 6 weeks ago that we went out for, and of course that is always on our minds.  It definitely changed our perspective of things, especially about being out here and it is a totally different way of grieving for us than if we were home.
Is it what we expected?  Yes and no, it has taken us some time to adjust to these ways, so to speak.  Such as realizing that we can drop what we are doing (eg. a chore) and go fishing if the mood strikes us, because this is not our only day off work to fit it in.  That would have been our thinking back home.  We had a lot on our to do list when we arrived though, as the cabins needed some sprucing up.  And at first we were nose to the grind to get it done, then as the majority of the work was completed we realized that the rest can wait.  We have time to do it on a rainy day, lets go and enjoy today's sunshine.  That mind set took a while to set in.  As for other expectations, we have to wait for winter to actually hit, then I can tell you how those pan out.
And the last question, what are we thinking now?  We are glad overall that we are here.  We realize the sacrifices that we each gave up to get here and to stay here.  We appreciate having our friends living right here, because to do this alone, would probably be too lonely for me and the kids.  Not to mention the fact that more adults means more shared responsibilities.  By this I mean if someone got hurt, we have more adults to deal with the situation.  Or when they go out trapping later on when winter is in full swing, no one is out there alone dealing with the potential elements.  Etc, etc. 
I've often wondered if the title to this blog is appropriate, Living the Dream.  Maybe I should have titled it Living our Dream, since this is obviously not everyone's ideal situation. But when I hear from people or check out facebook, and hear about all the bugs that are making everyone sick, I am glad to be here. 

P.S.  We also had another visitor this past week, the tooth fairy!!

Visitors

This week we had a few visitors and I must say that I definitely look forward to them, even if they only pull into the yard for a few minutes.  I guess it makes me feel more like home and not a visitor here myself.
Our first was not actually a visitor, but more like a roaming neighbor.  The guys came back from a day of checking beaver traps and had seen tracks from a very large grizzly.  He came out from a trail in the bush onto the road about 4-5 kms from our cabin.  The grizzly then followed the truck tracks in the snow, ( in the opposite direction of the cabins) for probably 4 kms and then veered off back into the bush.  This was not a small animal either, his hind pad tracks measured near 9 inches and then there were toes and claws beyond that!
Second was a Parks and Rec officer that stopped by on wednesday.  He had heard we were out here and new quite a lot about us.  He of course, came out to remind us of the rules, since we are in a provincial park.  So far so good, no tickets are being issued as of yet!
But one interesting thing that he mentioned is that we will have visitors of another kind come December, a migrating caribou herd.  He even gave us an exact date to watch out for them since they are that predictable. We will definitely be waiting and watching for those visitors.
Another visitor(s) we sometimes get are Larry and Ingie.  This is who Paul and Tim are signed up to trap with.  They or usually he, are just passing through on their way to Mason Creek or from Twenty Mile, where they also have a cabin.  Larry is proving to be quite the mentor to the guys, teaching and telling them a little more each time we see him about all he knows of the area and his trapping experiences.  From what I have heard, he has spent a lot of time in these parts and a lot of winters eating nothing but a diet of rice, beans, flour and lard.  It makes me very thankful for the variety of food that we were able to bring in with us.  Not to mention the fact that he himself, went to Costco for us on his last trip to Prince George, that was nice.
Now that the snow has started, 7 inches today, and more in the forcast, we also expect to start getting visitors from "town", Germansen Landing.  Most of the people we know and have met are quite happy to have a reason to come out to the lake in the winter via snowmobile.  We are quite looking forward to it, so that we can provide the hospitality to them that they show to us.  So let the snow fly!
The trappers have now got a total of 12 beaver, and will soon start to but out the marten and fisher boxes.  Marten boxes are plywood boxes about 6x6x10, the fisher are a little larger, with one open end that the trap goes into and the other end has a mesh backing.  This enables the animal to smell the bait that is inside.  They will first start by putting them out at the desired locations so that the animals get used to them.  Then probably later in November actually start after these fur bearing animals and others.  This way winter will have set in and the animals will have a better coat.  The trappers were actually going to start on the day they saw the grizzly tracks, good thing they didn't because he would have torn down every one he came across and ate the bait!  Would have been a very poor start!

Still Quadding

The weather here has still been fall like, rainy, sunny and still only a little cool.  We took advantage of the nice weather and went quadding yesterday.  We took a logging road just a few kilometers past our driveway, the map told us that it should loop around the Gebhardt arm of Germansen Lake and that it did, taking us up in elevation and giving us the oportunity to see the Germansen range that surrounds us.  From there we drove down to the lake and had lunch at Rainbow Cove campsite, there was one fisherman coming off the lake with no fish.  That has been our case lately too, no fish. 
We then went to the south side of the lake to explore some old cabins that can see from our side.  There are three sets, the first being abandoned now except for the pack rats, the second is apparently leased out to some people and looks like it is used often.  Then the third is owned by a family that has a lot of history in this area, the Tates.  Years ago a lady by the name of Ma Tate ran a mining operation up here.  One of her decendants has told us that she spent more than she was able to make.  But she was a woman of business it seems, as she had quite a number of men working under her and you can still see the remnants of their operation. 
After exploring the cabins, we continued on the trail, trying to link this one we were on to one that is directly south of our cabins, along Olsen Creek.  No luck though, it was grown in too much for the quads and turned into a foot trail.  This trek will have to be done later with no kids and more powersaws.
After returning home, Paul crossed the lake and tried hiking up along the Olsen Creek trail from our direction, he did make it in part of the way.  He`ll try again later with Tim, apparenty there are remnants of a mining operation up that way too.  I`ll let you know when we succeed on that trail.
We are now at seven beaver, checking the traps later today.

The Start of Trapping

Well the trapping season is officially upon us in BC, with the fall Beaver now open.  Paul and Tim met up with Larry a few weeks back, the man whose line they are signing up to trap on.  With the freeze up of the lake and creeks fast approaching, the guys wanted to start trapping them asap.  So far so good, they have had a few beaver in their traps from the lake.  Today they went out and set 10 traps on Twenty Mile Creek which is between here and the claim.  Tomorrow we will see what that will bring us.  Some may say why trap these beaver at all?  Well, on Twenty Mile they have been starting to damn the culverts that we and many others drive across when we travel the road.  If this was left alone, the water would definitely wash out the road in the spring and that would be it.  Because this road was originally built for logging purposes it would not be rebuilt.  Some say just blow away the damn, but that will not stop the problem either because the beaver will just keep building it back up.  They will probably trap beaver for about a week, then they should have about all they will harvest for this year.  Next they will start putting out marten boxes in November.
We also cleaned up the helipad the other day.  This was an existing pad that was a little overgrown, so we now have it ready if ever we need it.

To the Outside and Back

We returned on Saturday from our first trip out.  We had planned on doing it this weekend, but a family funeral moved it up a bit.  Our initial trip planned was for gathering last minute supplies before winter, stuff we simply forgot or the things that we just didn't bring enough of. 
When we returned we came home to snow, not lots but some ground was covered.  Then a few days after our return we woke up to 8+ C weather and most of the snow is now gone, even up high. 
Our days since have been spent unpacking and getting ready for winter.  Paul cut down a few trees the other day, they were a little larger than we were expecting.  We could only fit 5 or 6 of the blocks from the butt end in the box of the little toyota truck.  Needless to say we have a  good start on our wood pile.
We also have gone fishing, we need to wait for a calm day, since any bit of a breeze makes it quite chilly on the lake, we came home with 2 Rainbows, now the kids are hooked!  It seems to be quite consistant, everytime you go out you'll come back with some trout.
Sasha and I have started school too, she is quite anxious to learn this makes it easy on me,  We are moving along quite nicely now and getting into a routine there. 
We had our first mail day yesterday, quite a bit slower than most.  Everyone of course knows who we are, they are all glad to see kids around again, I guess at one time there where 30 or more in the area, now they have all grown up and gone.  One fellow we met had a very strong resemblance to Mr. Clause, I have never seen Aron's eyes so big when the man asked him if he has been good this year.  They have seen him in malls at Christmas, but I guess this was more real because we are closer to the north pole now.  (That's what the kids think anyway, that we are closer and will be one of his first stops! 
T & M will be back tomorrow from their trip out, I'm sure their trip was very much enjoyed as they have been in here for 2  months.  We are now ready for our longest stint, 3 months to Christmas and after that we will come out again.

Call of the Wild

 Every morning and night since we've been here, we've heard a loon on the lake in front of our cabins.  I can't help but wonder when we won't hear the loon anymore, because the weather has told her its time to move on with her young. 
This morning we woke up to 1.5 celcius.  The weather is damp and cool.  We half expect the rain to turn to sleat and then snow one day.  It will probably come and go a few times before it is here to stay.  The locals tell us to be ready by mid October because that is when it is here to stay.  We were waiting to wake up and see snow on the higher peaks around us and today that is what happened, but as I write this the afternoon sun has warmed up enough to melt it. 
Though we enjoy the call of the loon everyday, we also are still waiting to hear a call of the wolf.  Maybe with the snow...

Modern Conveniences & Fun Times

Well our time has been well spent here so far, we have been busy getting things operatinal in the cabin.   One is the running water, not warm but running.  There is a spring that we are tapped into and this feeds our cabin and hopefully T & M's too.  It is so nice to turn on a tap and have something there. 
Another convenience that we did not think we would have, is electricity in the cabin.  Both cabins are wired with plugins and sockets because the previous inhabitants had a large generator in the shed that ran both cabins.  Paul thought that he would try our generator for the heck of it and voila! we had light!  Good thing there were bulbs here because we definitely did not bring any.  We had plans of using our propane lights and we still will ,we just don't have them set up yet. 
As we have been cleaning these cabins we have found a lot of treasures.  Some usable, some for the dump.  One thing that we have in our cabin was a huge old record player and a trunk full of records.  We have been thinkng what to do with this as it was taking up valuable space.  Well, once we discovered that we had power we decided if it works, it will stay.  So last night with Ma and Pa's (Paul's parents) last night here we had a party, Aron knew it was a party because the chips came out.  We had our lights, we had supper and the kids had a dance, to some good old country music.  If someone would have drove up right then, they never would have believed what was happening, as we hardly could!

Getting settled

Well we made it in one week ago and it has been very busy .  We spent the first few days unpacking and doing a little more cleaning and painting in the cabin.  Paul's mom and dad came out the day after us and have been busy helping out too.  After a few days we had to stop ourselves and remember that we have quite a lot of time for that sort of thing and we should enjoy the nice weather outside.  So with that we decided to take a day trip and quad to the store.  This turned out to be a great decision, we took the old road to Germensan Landing and saw some great scenery which is never lacking around here.  We even saw the remnants on the Germensan River of an old flume that was used in the gold rush days, there is a picture of it at the store when it was operational and it is dated back to the late 1800's. 
After stopping at the store we contined down the road to see a 6000 sq foot log home that is being built.  It is being built for a couple from southern BC, a great stimulus for the economy around here, as many locals have been hired to work on it at one stage or another.  Speaking of locals, Scott from the store mentioned to us that you have to live here 20 years before you are considered one, so I guess we will never have that title. 
But we did meet some others who are, they were working on the log house when he arrived and were more than happy to show us around.  It was of course beautiful, with lots of space.  But I don't think that I would want to make firewood to heat a cabin that size!!!  We're hoping that we will see the place again, as we were unoffically invited for a Christmas party there!  Definitely something to look forward too.

Packing, Packing, Packing!

As I am waist high in boxes and headaches in my house, I can't help but think about Tim, Martina and the kids, who are already at our destination. I so wish we were there picking berries and getting settled, instead of going through my house and wondering if I need this item or that. The kids keep asking how much longer, as no doubt this has been dragging out for them too. Everything has to fit on this load, as we are not coming back for more. It looks like we should be okay for room. Here is a picture of our last load, this one will pretty much be the same with of course the truck box full both times!

So right now I am making sure that the camera cards are empty, my ipod has everything I need, the kids have clothes that they can grow into for the seasons, and of course, all our tax info for when that season hits too.

Anyway, I had better get back at it.

Ahhh! 10 days to go!

OMG there is so much to do. Our goal was to leave by the long weekend, now Paul has been delayed at work. I know it will all come together, eventually. We are just so anxious to be there!!

Goodbyes

Well, I have had to say my first goodbye, or rather see you later. None the less, it was not easy. I've told people that I don't want to see tears when we leave, because we are so excited about the trip, that we want to leave on a good note, not a sad one. And then there I was holding back tears. What a suck. I think this is the hardest part, is saying see you later to some people that are part of our everyday lives. We definitely will miss them.

What will we do once we get there?

I've had a few people ask me that. One even said "besides watch the clock go tick, tick, tick." We have lots of things on the to do list, and want to do list. We have a lot of clean up in and around the cabins, they have been left for quite a while. We have fire wood for the winter to put up. We have to unpack and get settled. The want to do list includes: going on a quadding trip to a nearby (100+ kms - one way we think) jade mine, going fishing, mining at our nearby gold claim (20kms), playing with the kids and just whatever comes our way. It's all pretty much about spending time together in a more simplified way. No running here and there, no going away to work, just family time all the time.

Getting ready

I thought that I would have posted more info by now, but man is it busy for us right now. The summer's are usually busy and this definitely adds to it. I have been buying lots of groceries, dry goods and canned, that sort of thing and packing it up. We want to bring as much in as we can, even though we do have groceries available to us at the Germansen Lake store. We can put in grocery orders there, and when Scott, the store owner goes out for mail once a week, he also gets the grub for us and any others. I'm guessing but I think that there are maybe 25 people that weather the winters out there.
So what else have I been doing since my last entry? I've registered our oldest daughter for home schooling. She will be in grade 1. Quite a bit different atmosphere from her peers, but I think we will do great, our science and phys ed aspect will be especially interesting.
I've been packing up clothes and the like, for the kids and myself for the seasons and weather conditions that we will face.(hubby packs his own) As well as skates, snowshoes, skiis, toboggans, soccerballs, fishing equipment, quadding gear, snowmobiling gear etc, etc. Even a hammock I bought in Mexico, especially for this trip. I look forward to a down day, laying back and listening to the waves even if there is a child or two arguing in the backround.

The big decision

We decided to do it about 7 months ago. Do what? Well, we decided to go live for approximately one year in the bush. Ourselves, (Paul, me, and the kids) will be living in a cabin on a lake in North Central British Columbia. We know about this area because we have a gold claim there thanks to our friends and partners on the claim, Tim and Martina H. Last summer we spoke about possibly doing this, and both Martina and I thought it would be cool to do, but could we actually go through with it? After many months of deliberating, a time came when we had to say yes or wait another year, because time was running out to start planning and preparing. So here we are, each with lists upon lists of things to bring, remember to do before we leave, and prepare before departure. Each family has their own cabin, our own goals we want to achieve next year and we can't wait!