Athabasca
10th December 2000
Fall
Roundup
Halloween
was the usual sweet feast. The day before George and the boys carved three
jack-o-lanterns which I had grown. Two were small but one was a whopper. As
usual I finished Robert’s costume that morning (he was a bat) and Neyland was
finally convinced to wear the Robin Hood costume I had made two years before.
Not long after Robert got off the bus we were trick ‘n treating with me driving
the boys around the neighborhood (we don’t go to anyone we don’t know), two
and a quarter hours and twelve houses
later we were back home. It is time to visit people you should have visited
over the summer: in our case a Lou Gehrig’s sufferer who’s funeral we went to
yesterday. Neyland could no longer carry or even drag his loot bag because our
neighbours get so few visitors they pile the kids up with treats. They get more
stuff than two full arms of Royal Melbourne Show bags. Unfortunately the boys
don’t see other children in costume so next year we may take in a community
Halloween party as well. It is time I dressed up as well.
We had a
god harvest. We got off to a bad start, three weeks of miserable weather, then
by the middle of September the weather was glorious and the har vest done in
record time. We only grew barley, but the yields were excellent. Prices are
still terrible. We were lucky to find an excellent man to help George who is
also a mechanic. Last year George did it all himself, it was so much better to
have help. It is better to pay someone, than not get the work done or George
stressed out. They must be having an election soon because the provincial
government is giving us $6.00 an acre (we have 800 in total, but 707 arable
which is what is counted). The Alberta government which benefits from the oil
and gas industry is rolling in it. I don’t mind them throwing money our way.
They are not giving us a fuel rebate, though each tax filing Albertian got
$150. Our gas bill is enormous and we finally got a man to install basic wood
stove in the basement, it was burning for the first time on Friday, hopeful it
will heat the basement and cut our fuel bill. We got a new window for our
bedroom and the room is much warmer, so it may pay to replace all the windows.
We still don’t make any money farming, we still cannot get for our crops what
it costs to grow them. Our little cow herd is doing fine, we have 19 cows, 17
calves, 1 bull and 9 heifers. We sold 9 steers and a barren heifer this year
for excellent prices. One calf was stillborn and one cow, who had calved in
July 1999, didn’t calve. Eight of our heifers are beautiful, the ninth had a
dislocated pelvis and still moves awkwardly. The calf was pulled, because it
was hoof first, still is lame. Our home pasture was further divided this year
into four fields and despite below average rainfall kept our cattle from June
until early November. We have in the past few weeks got 165 feeders but have
had a lot of problems with illness. Five have died, and a sixth will die
tonight and unfortunately our own calves have been very sick. George wants to
get about 200. We had 143 last year and sold them in early August for I think a
small profit.
I planted
tulips again this fall and 17 new lily bulbs. My lilies were wonderful this
year, I have them in colours from pale pink to burgundy and hot red. White
through apricot to orange. Even the almost ugly bright yellow. They really love
our dreadful climate. I’m still trying out new plants, most I get mail order,
but I buy a few plants from local nurseries and check out a couple in Edmonton.
My kodak moment this year came from a salmon oriental poppy although it only
flowered for 10 days, dominated the garden skyline. Next year I think I will
concentrate on small shrubs, but don’t hold me to it, If I ever find the white
with pink edging oriental poppy it is mine.
Robert is
finally in full-time school and actually likes it. He has to catch the bus at
half past 7 and isn’t home until after 4. He is in French Immersion Grade 1 and
there are 23 in the class. He has the same teacher as he had last year and she
finally seems to be teaching something. He excels at math (he got a certificate
from the principal) and science, but still cannot read, though last week seemed
to make a big break through and was sounding out all his words – he was doing
the OU sound – words like mouton, poule, soupe. I cannot help him, he already
pronounces French beautifully. He plays hockey twice a week. Friday after
school and Saturday morning. He loves it and is good at it. He scored his first
goal against Lac La Biche at the beginning of November, but yesterday they got
slaughtered by Slave Lake, so wasn’t very happy. I only saw the first 20
minutes, and had to leave Neyland and Robert with a baby sitter, the first time
ever. Elena is 15 and is just a wonder reading the new Margret Atwood at the
moment. Her father is a full Cree, her mother has George’s old job as boss of
business at Athabasca University. We now have a pile of her old books to read
Robert; they have started “Gentle Ben”. The young ones don’t;’ play in a league
just the occasional match against another small town team. He is very athletic,
he spent the summer riding his bike up and down the drive. Once he roe toa
neighbours (one a and a half miles away) without telling me. For a special
treat he is allowed to ride to the field, but he is not normally allowed on the
road. There will be no cars for hours, then someone will come speeding past.
When we first came there were only two houses on our road, but now there are
four. For over seven years we never heard another voice, just the tractor
noises, now sometimes on a still night you can hear voices.
Neyland
turned four and just wants to play all day with Play-Doh. He wanted and got a
green cake for his birthday. He just got an award winning picture book, which
received the governor Generals prize for French illustration. He is finally
going to Playschool, which is now at the primary school, every Monday
afternoon, and some Friday afternoons, he is the class clown. Neyland is very
independent and tough. He doesn’t think about doing things for himself he just
does it. Robert thinks so long the opportunity some times passes him by. We
have gone public skating at the town rink, three times and Neyland has
progressed from holding on to George, top refusing anyone’s help. He won’t even
get off when it is time to go home. Today he was skating for the first time,
not “walking”. It is likely that he will start hockey next fall, the only year
the boys will be in the same age group. My skating is at about the same level,
I have stopped clinging to the sides, but cannot glide. Our rink is twice the
size as last year and the boys were out this afternoon. Orca, our border
collie, has a straw bale kennel, but never did get a run built for him. There
are two cats and two kittens to keep away the mice (and Hanta virus).
Snow
finally came the first weekend in November, but only a couple of inches. It
snowed again at the weekend
, but only
a couple of inches were added. The ground froze very quickly. Our land needs a
lot of snow, which we haven’t had for several years. It is cold now always
below zero, most of the day is overcast, grey and dull. It was the coldest day
of the year today, somewhere in the minus 30s, the tractor wouldn’t start
despite been plugged in all night, so I had to help shovel silage to the
animals. The backhoe did start so George would get scoops of silage and dump it
near the pens. Your breath makes your hair turn icy white and the collar of my
parka freezes. There is two inches of ice INSIDE the windows of the living
room. Neyland is trying to scrape it away with a screwdriver, but found it
wouldn’t budge. But the morning sunrises are wonderful, neon pinks and purple
silhouette the bare trees.
I know I
should keep a journal, but I don’t, we do keep a farm journal, but it says
things like ”5th feeder died” and nothing else. It is mainly things
to do, people to phone, items to buy. Rarely George will write something of
note like “harvest over”. Occasionally George will admonish himself, “always
harrow after seeding”. Last week he moved the cows to a large field without
water (they have to eat snow); the normal practice around here, but because we
have five waterers, (they are big job to get in place, the water line has to be
over 8 feet deep to avoid freezing, and the last 8 feet up to the bowl and the
bowl itself have to be heated all winter) the last two winters they had water.
George said it would take three days for the cows to get used to it. I was on
the cow’s side. On the fourth day when he opened their gate to bring in silage
they bolted. They told Gorge he didn’t understand a cow’s true needs.
Pam
