There's no way these chooks are flying the coop!

As I've mentioned things have been put on hold a little on the farm with all this rain so we've had to find other things to do to occupy our time. Tyler tries to put me to work doing all those jobs around the farm that no one wants to do that usually involve finishing a job that someone started 20 years ago or cleaning an area that needs to be cleared by the nuclear hazardous waste team first.
This past week I decided that every farm needed some chooks! But before we got our chooks we needed a chicken coop. I was thinking a small simple modest little little coop that I could manage to assemble with bits and pieces around the farm however Tyler had other ideas. After a full days work the chickens now reside in a very spacious, safe and well secured home. I was glad we were able to build it together as there was no way I would have been able to create such a masterpiece on my own and I can now say I'm a pro with an angle grinder... woo hoo!

We picked up the chooks yesterday and now all we do is wait for them to lay some eggs. There are four of them at this stage and as they are all identical they are imposable to name. I worked out that each chook needs to lay about three dozen eggs to make what their worth back in eggs... so they better get laying!

Here are some pics!

My new day job (when it's not raining)...

So at the moment this is my new day job. The plan is the help out with Harvest and drive the Chaser Bin, however due to the rain things have been a little stop start and it feels like when you get all your toys out to play and then having to pack them all up again before they get wet... over and over.

The times we've actually been out there harvesting (or trying to) I've really enjoyed. I can't say I'm all that good at driving my tractor and chaser bin (trying to reverse it is a nightmare) but I love being outside and so far the majority of the grain has successfully made it out of my bin and into the field bin or truck.

For those who aren't up with the farming lingo, essentially I'm driving a tractor towing a bin behind it. I drive up to the Header, the Header dumps the grain into my bin and I take it back to the field bins in the paddock, so that the header can stay in the crop, keep harvesting and not waste time by driving all the way to the field bins. For those that are still confused apparently there are plenty of YouTube videos, so my brother has pointed out. Who knew!

Tyler driving the Header

I really don't know much about farming but when I wear these boots I feel like I have super human farming powers!

Time to build an Ark...

To those who during the many years of drought questioned whether the land would ever see floods again, you now have your answer. This morning Dad and I went to take a look at the floodwaters around town. Even though you can see the massive amounts of water covering the roads and crops right in front of you it is still truely hard to believe. Boort is a town surrounds by a lake and river system and Big Lake Boort has been bone dry for at least 10 years however it is now overflowing. Roads are closed and piles of sandbags are on standby.

Big Lake Boort overflowing

 Photos I stole from other people's facebook pages...

A house in Fernihurst about 20km's from Boort

Aussie Aussie Aussie

I am now back on Australian shores. It's definitely nice to be home with the warmer weather, longer daylight hours, familiar surroundings, tripple J and good soy lattes. I left Canada and Hay River a few weeks earlier than I originally planned so that I could come home and work on the farm during harvest and fulfil my McLeods daughters longings ( I two days work in before the heavens opened).

I arrived back at Melbourne airport with nothing but my carry on luggage, the rest of my bags found me the next day when they were couriered to Boort minus one can of maple syrup. Being back at the airport it felt as though I was only just there a week ago. I generally assumed that not much had changed in the time I've been away, everything looked the same... until my Dad pulled out an iphone out of his pocket. My dad who, as much as I love him, can only just cook eggs on toast and operate the TV remote, had an iphone even before me and apparently loves it. Crazy. The other noticeable difference is the amount of water that is around. Lakes around Boort which have been empty for 10 years are now full and overflowing. It's amazing to see that in less that 12 months such a huge amount of water has fallen. The downside is that the rain keeps falling and falling....

It was sad to leave Canada, especially my Hay River Housemates. I really loved my time in Canada. I saw so many beautiful places, met awesome people and learned alot about myself. I hope to have many more adventures like it in the future.

Books!

While in Canada I read the odd book or two... and LOVED getting back into reading...

This Present Darkness by Frank E. Peretti
Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller
Icy Sparks by Gwyn Rubio (Don't bother picking this one up)
The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo by Stieg Larsson
The Girl who played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls (A good read!)
Nothing to Envy by Barbra Demick (An Awesome book!)
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Lake and other photo's from Hay Riv

Hay River lies on the south shore of the Great Slave Lake, which as it name suggests, is mightly great is size! It's the deepest lake in North America and the ninth-largest lake in the world. When you stand on it's beaches it's like looking out into the ocean. It's crazy to think that the whole thing freezes over in the winter and trails are created for snow-mobiling and ice-fishing.

A few other snaps from around Hay River

These photo's were taken by my housemate Elizabeth.

The Falls, Bison and Halloween

Life continues to roll on here in Hay River. I have really enjoyed watching the seasons change. We have had some snow falls and it's hard to explain how excited I was when I woke up one morning last week to everything being covered in white. I beamed into school however not everyone was excited as me, not sure why. I love the feeling of snow falling on me and love waking up to everything being white however two lessons I have learned are- 1. fresh snow turns to ice and is very slippery and 2. you can't see when you try and ride your bike when it's snowing. So far I am LOVING the snow... the cover of white makes everything even more beautiful!


Hay River

 

Before the snow and the chilly temperatures we had the opportunity of visiting the nearby Alexandra Falls and Louise Falls further up river. They are beautiful falls and unlike many falls in the Rockies there were no fences or gates and we could admire them up close.



On October 11th it was Thanksgiving and we were invited to thanksgiving dinner at a teacher's house on the Sunday. It was a great relaxed day with lots of Turkey and good food, not to forget awesome pumpkin pie!. This is a holiday I think Australia should definitely adopt!!

Several weeks ago Elizabeth (my housemate and volunteer at the High School) had the opportunity to spend the day at the school on the Native Reserve in Hay River. It was a great experience to witness how the school ran and how the Dene culture was so stongly incorporated. The small school has a great atmosphere with the teachers being really friendly and passionate about what they do however it was noticable that many of the children experinced significnat learning challenges, many of which come from the cultural differences in parenting, the social problems may of the native people face and the cultural differences regarding structure and education. Throughout the day we assisted in several Slavy (the native language) classes and also gave a power point presentation to each class on where we were from. I made sure I included lots of pictures and I think the kids really enjoyed it.

Three weekends ago I helped out in accompaning students from the middle school and also the Fench School to a Volleyball tournament in Fort Smith (a small town 3 hours west). It was a great weekend with the kids playing really well in their games. There was also some time to expore and we checked out some beautiful rapids along the river. Both on the way there and way home there were several small heards of Bison on the road. Such big, unsusal looking creatures!

This past weekend was Halloween and I managed to scrape together a costume from the decorations at the school. I wore cobwebs and covered myself in toy spiders and called myself 'Spiderwoman'! We hit up a party and I was blown away at the effort some people put into their costumes, it was awesome. The kids also go all out and were all very cute as they knocked on our door tricker-treating.





Fall in Hay River

The last few days Hay River has seen beautiful fall weather, no snow to be seen, the rain and wind has gone and the sun is out. Yesterday it topped 17 and the fall colours are just SO beautiful!

Everyday I find myself feeling more and more settled in Hay River as I meet more and more people and get to know the students and teachers better at the schools. Most days I help out in the Kindergarten class in the morning, giving one-one help to kids who need a little extra attention with their writing and basic fine motor skills. Once again I am reminded that Kindergartners are painfully honest. The other day I had a little girl come right up close to me and say “what's wrong with your face?”. I pointed to my freckles and said “do you mean these?” she said “yeahhhh” I then went on to explain what freckles were and that I was actually not the only person in the world that had them. Hilarious! At lunch I hang out with a great group of year 7's and supervise their lunch room, then I am out around the playground with the students. In the afternoons I am in the grade four classroom where I help support the teacher and spend time with a few boys who are a little bit of a handful. There is one particular boy who comes from a pretty difficult background and therefore has some pretty major behavioural issues but I am really enjoying hanging out with him even though sometimes it is a challenge, I hope that I can build a good relationship with him and share some fun times.

Field trip to the Beaver Dam

Besides making it into the local paper several times and getting my housemate to cut my hair, so much has happened over the last few weeks, this may turn out to be a long blog, so apologies in advance. There have been so many highlights but I would have to say last night was a ripper. Last night was my first Ice Hockey training. I suited up in my excessive padding and hit the ice. It's not as easy as it looks to skate around when you feel like an ompa loompa but it was so much fun and while I need a lot more practice I managed to fluke a goal in the practice match. Can't wait to play again!

Really enjoying living with my new housemates Elizabeth (another volunteer) and Annabelle. We enjoy some GREAT meals together, even though they are vegetarian ones, go exploring, and hit up garage sales on a regular basis. I recently acquired some used ice skates for $2, a bedside lamp for $2 and a Clarinet (which seemed like a good idea at the time) for $5.
The other week I joined the teachers for a cultural day as part of their professional development. We went for a tour of the local native reserve, listened to native men speak and share their cultural practices and cooked meat, fish and bannock (traditional bread, similar to damper) and drank spruce tea made from the branches of the Black Spruce Tree, all very yummy! It was such a privilege to listen to the native men talk about their way of life, they have such incredible respect for the land and what it produces and value the knowledge passed on from one generation to the next so highly. I could have listened to them talk and share their stories for hours. I'm really enjoying learning about the culture of the native Canadians from this area.



Great Slave Lake



Last weekend Elizabeth and I agreed to help out with the soccer tournament that Hay River hosted this year. All the schools from the district, as far as 6 hours away came to Hay River to compete and all stayed in the local High School. Our job was to stay up all night both Friday and Saturday night and supervise. Essentially making sure the building doesn't burn down and that no one who wasn't a part of the tournament tried to get in. It was tough to stay awake and unfortunately it mean I wasn't able to watch the fist game of the AFL grand final but we recovered well and the building still stands thanks to us.
In the early hours of Friday night Elizabeth and I attended the Hay River Pub to watch the AFL grandfinal. I was so pumped that they screened it just for me, even though I had to try to explain several times what it was I was trying to watch. As it turns out no one had a clue what AFL was in Hay River until Friday Night. Hay River is now a better place!

It's hard to believe I've been away from Australia now for so many months. I am a little worried that two people in the last few weeks have commented that I don't have a very strong Australian access. I was almost offended but I am continuing to work hard at mumbling my words together and not pronouncing any 'r' sounds. However I do sometimes have to put on a Canadian accent for the Kindergarten kids otherwise they can't understand me. So the Aussie accent still must be there after all.

I have been keeping my eyes out for the Northern Lights but haven't managed to see them yet, apparently it's not the best time of the year yet, but there's still a chance. Can't wait!