Memories in the Attic

I spent this morning digging through totes stored in our attics.  Yes, that was supposed to be a plural.  We have 3 attics.  One above the house, one above the guest cabin, and one above what was the wood shed, but has been closed in and insulated and is now my hubby's gun room.  Each attic holds certain things.  The house attic has the Christmas and other seasonal decorations, some of my hubby's old military stuff (which I'm hoping he will never think about getting to and I can eventually get rid of!) a couple of boxes of knick knacks that there was no place for when we moved in to this house, but are still precious to me, X-country skis, stuff I had to put somewhere because we are re-doing the deck and they were on it....basically stuff I, personally, want and need to be able to get to at least once a year. The cabin attic is a mess!  The pack rats and squirrels can get into it, and as the cats can't, well, they have free use of it.  In it are totes of the kids things.  Each tote is labeled with the child's name, and once they are settled into a home of their own they have to come and get them!  Our oldest, Morgan, now married and with a family of her own, has done just that.  I have handed all of her old toys, books etc., on to her and she has done what she wants with it all.  Jordan, having just gotten married this summer and living in a very small rental house, won't be taking hers until they are someplace more settled.  Matt lives in my Mom's basement with a friend and is still a long ways off from being able to get his.  Alley and Zac are still at home and are still contributing to their accumulation.
But, basically the cabin is for long term storage.  I only go up when I have to.
The gun room attic is pretty much camping, summer outside toys, and a lot of odds and ends.  I can get into it without a ladder and it tends to be where I put (chuck!) stuff I don't know what to do with!
But, today I visited all 3.  My reason was to find a certain tote that contained a certain box.  Mysterious, huh?  Not really.
My sister in law, Suzy, called yesterday.  It seems my brother had the wonderful idea to get my mom a bottle of the perfume my dad used to give her every year for Christmas.  My dad is now in a care home and has alzheimers.  He doesn't remember any of us any more.  Mom is familiar, but he doesn't know who she is.  For anyone who has a loved one with this disease, you will understand how hard it is to watch happen.  My dad was a wonderful father and a doting husband.  He put Mom on a pedestal, and loved her completely.  Dad would buy Mom a bottle of Guerlain perfume, even though it was expensive and we were not terribley flush when I was growing up.  He would have to have it ordered in specially some years.  Sometimes he bought her the scented soap as well.  It is the scent that defines Mom to me.
When Suzy called asking if I knew the name of the perfume, I remembered it was Guerlain, but that is just the company not the specific perfume.  I could remember the box. And then it dawned on me that I had one of the boxes in a 'memories box'.  But, as it is something I rarely need to find, I couldn't remember where I had stored it or exactly what tote it was!  Hence my whirlwind tour of our attics.

This is a really sweet apron my mom made
 for me one Christmas when I was a new wife and mom!

This classic little back dress is one my mom had made and
wore as her 'going away outfit' when she and my dad married.  My 2nd eldest, Jordan wore it
to a Christmas banquet one year.

In the house attic I dug through a few totes and boxes and in the course of doing so, found some things I'd not seen in quite some time!
I peeked into several carefully wrapped up packages and found my rabbit collection (I love bunnies!) which, when the house is finally done, will find a new home.
But, I didn't find the perfume box.
I then did a quick look through the gun room attic and realized fairly quickly it wasn't in there.
So on to attic #3-the cabin.  I was able to locate, ( my memory was jarred on seeing it) a green older type tote that I knew held many of my keepsakes.  In it were letters, cards, school reports, small toys, a child's jewelry box, photos...and Mom's perfume box. I opened it up and could smell the lovely scent again.  It has to be at least 35 years old! Amazing!  (Unfortunately, only the company name Guerlain was on the box, so my search later continued on their website where we think we have found the right one!)

Mom's perfume box.

Disneyland 1975

My wedding dress!

Once I had what I was seeking in hand, I took a few moments to relish the memories this tote contained.  Birthday cards from my wonderful Granny, who passed away in 1989.  Little cards and notes sent from her over the years...all so precious.  A poem my hubby had written me on my birthday when we were young, new parents and just starting out.  Reports I had written for school, my graduation certificate... So many memories.  I cried a few tears and tucked them all back into the tote, except for a couple of mementos I had from a family trip to Disneyland when I was 13 that I wanted to show Alley and Zac, my wedding dress and my mom's black dress.
I realized today, that one day I will no longer be around (yes, I know, duh!) and all of these things I hold so dear won't mean anything to anyone else!  There are things that I want to hand on to my kids with the stories of what they are, what they mean to me.  Things that I think they will maybe pass on to my grandchildren one day along with the memories.  So, I am making my 1st New Years Resolution now....I will somehow find the time to go through my memories, and write about them, so that the things attached to the memories won't just be "something that was my mom's/grandma's", but will have the history with them.  Then, I will take each of my children and give them the things I think they will appreciate and cherish.

Alley loved my wedding dress and had to try it on!

It has also made me realize that we REALLY need to get the attics sealed up and keep the pests out!!!

I LOVE my Wood Cookstove!!!

   
A couple of years ago, after we got home from the trapline, and I had been cooking on the wood cookstove at the cabin, I realized we could make it work at home too.  Our kitchen had been moved from one side of our main living area to the other, and the wood heater stove was now in the kitchen area. (Part of the renos).
I started looking on Craigslist for  a wood cookstove and eventually found what I was looking for.  I had been on wood stove websites advertising this particular stove and had been impressed, but was not in any shape to be spending the $2600+ for one!
I lucked out and found one for sale 2nd hand at a great price...here is what I bought!  Only I got it for $800!!  It had only been used for one winter as the people selling it had found it too much for their little house.
Hubby and a friend went off to pick it up, which was a 12 hour round trip, so I was very grateful they were willing to get it for me.  It arrived safe and sound, but needed a good cleaning as it had been stored in a shed outside, without the ash box even having been emptied.

Our first hurdle was getting it into the house.  We had double front doors at the time, so it was easy to fit through the door, but getting it to the door was a biggy!  Hubby devised a way though!  Using an atv winch and several 2x4s, he anchored the winch in our bedroom doorway, directly across from the front doors.  He backed the truck up to the front stairs, placed several 2x10s as a ramp from the box to the porch (8 steps up), and then we carefully, slowly, holding our breath-ly winched it out of the truck box and up to the porch.  It worked!!! Yay!!!  After that it was easy to lift it up the last step into the house and onto a rug.  We then used the rug to drag it into the kitchen area.

Since installing it I have enjoyed listening to the kettle bubbling away on it all winter, baked cinnamon buns on Christmas morning, kept dinner warm when hubby worked late,  and even tried to keep 3 baby pack rats alive in the warming oven after we had trapped their mom.  But, most of all I love the warmth!!!  Right now, I am listening to the fire snapping and crackling behind me and being very satisfied with life in general!  It is such a good feeling knowing that no matter what the weather outside, I can cook for and keep my family warm, even when the power fails...which it does...often.  The kids love it when that happens!  But, that's another blog!

Hooded Scarf in the works!

Over the summer, while cooking for the tree planters, my 2nd eldest daughter, Jordan, and I each began to knit hooded scarves.  One of our planters, a sweet French Canadian girl named Kate, showed up on the chilly mornings wrapped in a beautiful thick scarf.  Sometimes she would have it up over her head as well.  Both Jordan and I commented on it to each other, and then asked her where she had found such a lovely item.  She showed it to us and we were hooked!  It was a scarf with a hood attached in the middle, and wrapped so cozily around the neck and shoulders.  We began our web search for one like it to make ourselves.  We found many patterns on knitting and crocheting websites that were called hooded scarves or something like that, but it took some time before we found the one we wanted.  The website we eventually found it on is called Ravelry . It is a free site for crocheters and knitters where you can find tons of patterns from other sites.  Once you join you have a place to save your favorite patterns, contribute, join groups and discussions....lots of stuff.  It's a whole community!  You can search for patterns and get piles of responses to choose from!

Anyhoo...I picked up some lovely yarn in Smithers to get started on mine, and not having a whole lotta time, didn't get very far with it. With winter now upon us, I would like to be wearing my hooded scarf, but, alas, it is not done!  So, I am motivated to get it completed by Christmas and then get on with other projects.  I have 3 hours each week where I sit and watch Alley and Zac at their karate classes, plus, a few hours in front of the tv.  I figure I can get it done in there somewhere.  It's a very easy pattern, so not a lot of following of instructions.  I'm thrilled with the way the yarn is looking in the scarf, and can't wait to wear it!  Here are some photos of my project thus far!

Homeward Bound!!

One of 2 wolves who overcame their shyness to cross the frozen
lake to investigate us at the cabin.  Alley took this picture!

Clearing snow off the ice to thicken the ice for travelling on.

We are in the process now of heading home! Yay!!!  We are currently visiting friends in Smithers, BC, but should be on our way tomorrow by noon.
It has been another lovely stay at the trapline cabin, but it is always so nice to go back home.  Back to running hot and cold water, bathtubs and showers, flush toilets and internet!
To give you an idea of what life is like out on the trapline, here is a typical day!

The lake under it's first layer of ice.

As we have no appointments to make or jobs to get up for, we can sleep in and enjoy a leisurely cup of coffee.  This usually happens between 8 and 9 am.  My wonderful husband, Trevor, usually brings me a cup in bed, as he is up first and gets the coffee I prepped the night before going on the woodstove or Coleman.  This is treatment I can get used to, but pretty much only happens at the cabin.  I lay back and enjoy my coffee while looking out the window at the incredible view.  Our cabin overlooks a beautiful lake which is the source of our water and delicious Northern Pike fish.  Our bed is built in beside a big window we had to transport in over a rough atv trail, along with everything else we have there.
Once I have finished waking up, I climb out from under the quilts and wool blankets and dress quickly to make my first trip to the outhouse!  Our outhouse faces the lake, so even that enables us to take advantage of the view!  We also have a porta potti in the cabin mainly for night use and when it is just too freaking cold to bare your bottom outside!  The kids tend to use it more than Trev and I, but who can blame them?  I can remember being terrified of outhouses when I was little!
Next come breakfast!  We usually alternate between pancakes and oatmeal but sometime I will have made cinnamon buns the day before, or will fry sliced potatoes and Spam for a change.  We eat Spam fairly regularly on the trapline.  Because it comes in a can, does not require refrigeration, last for ages, and freezes well in the can, we have found it is a pretty good option.  We have tried the occasional canned whole chicken as well, but they always seem like so much money for something that isn't that great.  Anyways, we usually have breakfast more as a brunch, and then a snack for lunch. Cooking at the cabin is different from home due to the fact that, although we have a lake full of water, getting it to the cabin and then having to purify it is hard work.  I try to minimize the number of dishes we use to cut down on the amount of water needed to wash them.  We use paper plates, but real cutlery and cups.  I scrape bowls and pots out thoroughly after they are used to help keep the wash water clean longer.  I only wash dishes last thing at night, and it works well.  Bleach is added to both the wash and rinse water to keep the risk of 'beaver fever' away.  Our drinking and cooking water is strained through a fine filter, boiled for 1 minute and has also had a few drops of bleach added to it.  Lastly it goes through a Brita water filter, more to remove any last sediments and for taste.  We have come to appreciate water in a way most people never will.  Not only do we cut back on how much we use, but we also work hard to get it.  When we first arrive at the cabin in October, the lake hasn't frozen over yet and all that is required to get the water is to scoop it into buckets. Once the cold has set in though, and the lake freezes, we have to chop a hole in the lake.  I prefer to get the water once the lake has frozen purely because it comes out cleaner. I can go further out onto the lake, which means I am scooping water further from the lake bottom and not stirring up the dirt or catching little fresh water shrimp in my scoop, which all needs to be filtered out.  The hauling of the heavy buckets is more difficult in the snow though, and we generally pull them up on a sled.  The cabin is about as high up as a 3rd story, so carrying the buckets up hill can be a challenge!  Now you can understand why I only wash dishes once a day!

Zac and Trev fishing for Northern Pike before the lake freezes over completely.

For the kids and I, our days at the cabin involve doing some schoolwork, reading, playing games, doing various crafts (I get a lot of knitting and crocheting done!), getting water, cooking, baking and going out for a walk or some other outside activity. Trev, on the other hand, spends time out trapping!  Before Alley and I arrived there this year, he and Zac had gotten 2 beaver and an otter.  Then later, he set his marten traps and caught 7 before it was time to head out.  He uses an atv or snowmobile to get around, which often have some kind of breakdown or another, which then require tinkering.  Not my idea of fun, but he seems to enjoy it.  We must haul everything in and out on snowmobile or atv, which takes time. This falls to Trev as well.

Alley getting water at -20C.

Zac (and Zoey!) and the only beaver taken this year.

We have a small generator which, along with solar panels, charges a bank of batteries, which in turn, power lights and give us the option to use electric tools and use a 12 volt tv and charge the laptop.
A word about trapping for anyone reading who may be offended or is 'against' trapping.  When Trevor and I met, almost 30 years ago, our dream was to be able to live in the bush, using what God provided us through nature, living simply and frugally.  We looked at many ways to be able to do this.  Trev had already been interested in trapping and had taken his trapper's course and gotten his license before we met.  I, on the other hand, was anti-trapping and sold raffle tickets for Greenpeace in highschool!  That was purely from my love of animals and a lack of really knowing anything about it.  After we met, and I began to learn and realized why trapping is still something that is necessary. I found a new understanding of the industry. Owning a trapline was a way we could live in the woods and at least in part, live our dream.  In this day and age, there is not a huge market for real fur, most of it goes to China and Russia.  I personally would not wear real fur.  The need for trapping in today's world stems not from the money to be made, as this is not much, but from our own need to expand and grow.  As man spreads out and takes over more and more of the land, the animals who once lived there are pushed out.  They have to go somewhere.  And that is into land that already sustains a population of various species.  The land can only support a certain number of animals in a certain area.  If too many squirrels live in one area, they use more than what the land can provide to support them.  They either starve or move, pushing into other squirrel's territory, and repeating the process over again.  By managing and harvesting our forest of animals, we allow the species to survive and thrive.  Trappers are not 'nasty animal killers'.  They harvest and manage.  They use humane traps that kill quickly and do not cause the animals to suffer. I do not enjoy the trapping part of our cabin, but I do understand and accept it. In return for managing our trapping area, we are permitted to build cabins and trails.  We only harvest enough to maintain the line, and this is the way in which we can legally be allowed to be where we are at the cabin.
So much for my humble opinion and explanation.  If you are interested, here is a site where you can find out more about trapping in Canada.

Sunset.

Hoar frost on trees above cabin.

On the Road...Again

So much for resting up!  After a couple of weeks of time at home...the longest we've had since May...we are travelling again.  Alley and I are heading North to our trapline on the Yukon border with the 3 cats.  Zac and Trev have been there for a couple of weeks now with Zoey, the dog.  They headed up on their own this year as our pet sitters were away and we were pet sitting for them, while waiting for their return to 'sit' for us.  It's not so easy to find sitters with horses and chickens!  We trade sitting and this time our holidays crossed!  So, Alley and I stayed behind to fill in the gap.  But, we are now into our 3rd day of driving and will be with Trev and Zac on Saturday.  I'm looking forward to getting out to the cabin and having a chance to relax. 

This year we'll be able to stay a little more in contact with family as it seems Watson Lake has gotten cell service that reaches our cabin!  Which is pretty amazing as we are out in the middle of no where!  Granted, you have to stand on the cabin roof to get a signal, but it will be nice to be able to send a text to my kids!  We have been using a really cool devise to send messages ( a prewritten 'we're fine' message via email) to family while out there, just so they know everything is ok.  This handy gadget is called a Spot.  It is a great thing to have if you are like us and spend a lot of time 'out of contact' with the world.  It sends off messages to a satelite which in turn sends an email letting people know all is well or that you need help, but it's not an emergency, or an urgent 911 message which goes to an emergency response centre.  It's been great knowing that in an emergency we can get help right to where we are. Thankfully, we've only had to send the 'we're fine' messages!  

Today, we have a few things to pick up, and a stop at the bank to try to clear up some problem of their making with a transfer from my account to??? It never made it to where it was supposed to go!  Hopefully it will be cleared up before we head out to the cabin Saturday.  Time to get this show on the road, so I'm off!  TTYS!

Extreme Couponing in Canada???

Now, I don't know about you, but I LOVE to save money.  I'm always amazed and a little in awe of the TLC show about extreme couponing.  Living in Canada, we don't have the population to get the kind of deals they can get in the US...not as many grocery stores, so not as much competition.  While this might not seem fair, there are still lots of ways we as Canadians can cut our food budgets and save some moola!!  I've been checking out sites on the internet that have opened my eyes to all the possibilities out there.  I'm going to share some of my findings here with you, and hope that you too will 'see the light' and start saving!
Here is a site I found called Extreme Couponing-Canada.  It seems to be a fairly new site, with several recent articles.  I signed up for updates and joined the site as it seems like this is a really great place to learn the art of couponing in Canada!  Check it out!
Another good site is Money Saving Canadian Mom.  Here I found some great information on stacking coupons, lots of links and common sense approaches to saving money.  Take a look!
This site is chock full of information!  Grab a cup of tea and head to Extreme Couponing Canada, (same name as the other site, minus the hyphen).  I ordered her downloadable book (on sale for $3.99 from $9.99) and plan to print it out and take it with me to read while away at our trapline next month.  Plenty of  stuff here!
A good site to look for coupons for all kinds of things is Coupons.  There you will find online coupons for books, cell phones, clothing, shoes...the list is endless!  Give it a look!
Well, I'm off to start printing off my downloadable coupons!  Alley and I head to town tomorrow and I'm looking forward to using a bunch!
TTYS!

Fall is here!

Don't you just love that feeling of 'fall' in the air?  It hits me every year just how much I enjoy that crispness in the air, the leave's colours and the anticipation of snow!  If asked which season I like the most, I would be hard pressed to pick one.  Each season brings it's own delights.  Fall energizes me to get things finished.  The yard needs to be 'put to bed' and I think of projects that can be worked on while winter does it's worst.
Today was to be a day for getting some things done outside...garden trimmed down, tools put away, firewood stacked...but, as happens in fall, a beautiful sunny day is followed by a very wet one.  So, today is dedicated to getting the house cleaned and organized.  After being away for 2 1/2 weeks, with my hubby here (who couldn't care less about things being a mess) the place is pretty much a disaster zone.  There was no time on arriving home to get things cleaned up, as fall is the time we head for our trapline in Northern BC.  Due to our house/pet sitters being away on a cruise and needing us to watch their house/pet, we had to be creative with our plans this year.  Alley and I have remained here until our sitters return, while Trev and Zac headed north a couple of days ago.  Trev had been getting things packed up and ready for him and Zac to head out soon after our return, which added to the mess in the house.  So, now it falls upon Alley and I to get things back to their semi-clean and organized state.  We started off yesterday taking a car load of stuff to the Salvation Army store in Kelowna yesterday and spent a bit of time Christmas shopping.  Now we deal with the mess.
I found some really neat organization ideas online, and am hoping to be able to use them in the basement at a later date.  Take a look at this one for all those totes we buy to store things in, but which can get awkward to store.


This looks really easy to put together and inexpensive too!  Check it out!
Well, can't put it off any longer...the mess won't take care of itself! TTYL!

Time to head home.

Alley and Zac meet Aladdin!

Well, we are now almost home after 2 1/2 weeks away on our  Disneyland Road Trip.   It has been an absolutely awesome time and we have had so much fun!  We will be back in our own beds tomorrow night after one last day of travelling.  We have been really fortunate with the weather and it only rained today since our trip began, and that was short lived and also while we were staying at my sister, Heather's place in Tacoma.  So, no wet tent!  I will post more about our trip once we are back home and settled in.  Until then, here are some pictures of some of our adventures!

At the San Diego Zoo.

Zac at the San Diego Zoo.

A petting zoo in Bandon, Ore.  This is me cradling a 6 month old opossum named Rebel.

Dear Deer!

Behind the house we have a very tasty bush
 which this young fella seems to enjoy.

 These 2 fellas have been hanging around our property this summer, helping themselves to a few of my flowers and our horse shed.  I enjoy having them here, but wish Zoey, our dog, would stop thinking they need to be chased off!  Today, I sat behind the house with her while we watched this young one nibble on leaves from a bush only 20 feet from us.  The deer kept and eye on us, but didn't seem to be too concerned.  Eventually, he wandered off down the hill, reappearing a little later in front of the house.  This little guy has spikes that are different lengths.

Making himself at home in the horse shed!

Stretching!

Life has been a bit too full for me lately.  3 months away cooking at tree planting camp, home, away to karate camp weekend, home, away to daughter's lovely wedding, home, trip to California, home, away for 1 1/2 months on our trapline on the Yukon border....then Christmas!!!  For someone who has gotten used to not much happening, this is exhausting!  Not that I haven't enjoyed doing it all....it's just not having had much time to just relax and enjoy the great weather we've been having and the do the 'puttering' things I enjoy doing.  Oh well....
There has been even less time to work on this blog, which I had hoped would be a daily pleasure, where I could include projects, recipes and ideas.  But, as it has developed, there has been absolutely not time for any of those things!  Hopefully this winter, things will settle a bit...but as I peer into the near future, I don't see a whole lot of it!  After Christmas we will have some down time until February when I have the delight of going to take care of my adorable granddaughter while my daughter and SIL go on a much needed and deserved holiday.  After a year of dealing with Taylor's leukemia, which as you can imagine, involved a lot of stress, worry, and hospital time, they need some 'couple time'.  Then we are almost to the next tree planting season in May!  Over the long, cold winter days we are hoping to make some head way in finishing the basement.  The shack's basement was completely unfinished when we moved in and is still pretty much that way, aside from it being divided up into bedrooms, laundry/ bathroom, family room and craft room.  It needs ceilings, real walls, floors, wiring, and a whole new layout to boot!  Once the sunroom is insulated we can begin to move basement stuff out to it and have the room to work we will need without tripping over furniture, boxes and junk! That's the plan anyways.
The kids and I head out Thursday for our trip south, which we are all excited about.  I've been spending computer time mapping out our route and where we will stop to camp overnight, and a few places to stop and explore on the trip down.  Zac is anticipating a stop at Lava Beds National Monument in California.  Looks amazing!!  Once we've been to Disneyland for 4 days, our itinerary is open for whatever we feel like doing or seeing!  We have a few places on our list of 'must see's, but other than those, we are going to wing it!  This is a budget trip, so we won't be doing anything too pricey, but it will still be a lot of fun and I know the kids will get a lot of great memories from it.  Who says fun has to cost money??
While we are gone we also begin our homeschooling year.  We are going with a new school this year, which we are all really excited about.  SelfDesign has a wonderful approach to learning, and is very much the way I view how children should learn.  We will begin our school reporting (a weekly requirement) while we are on the road and will have plenty of learning experiences to share.
Well, after spending the morning helping our neighbours with their first time at butchering home grown meat birds, ( I can't eat chicken now for a while!), I'm off to help Trev with some firewood.  Winter isn't far off and the woodshed needs to be topped up.  TTYS!