Bugs...

I have never liked bugs. Everyone who knows me knows this and they also know that I have a particular loathing (some might say phobia) of spiders. So knowing these facts people also couldn't help but taunt me, when they learned that we were moving up North, about ALL the bugs they have up there! I heard plenty of...

"They have two seasons up there, winter and bug season!"

"Well you can't go outside in the summer, the mosquitoes are so big they will carry you away!"

... and many other pearls of wisdom like that.

So right now we are still in winter so it isn't bug season... but by that it means there are NO bugs... AT ALL! Every time I turn the light on in the basement bathroom, I cringe. Waiting to see the scurrying away of a spider or some other basement dwelling yuck but there aren't any and there haven't been for months. Even in the summer we only had small spiders in the basement and not that many. As for the mosquitoes and other flying bugs... yes they are around in the summer, especially if you are anywhere near a beaver pond. But all in all I have never experienced the quantity and size of the bug life that is on the Island... Holy crap!



The spider in this picture is on the ledge of my bathtub in Duncan... it almost takes up the whole ledge!! I thought it was a toy spider when I first saw it, and this is just a house spider - those bloody jumping spiders that infested my house in Ladysmith where terrifyingly aggressive and fast and big... and then those ones that were really long but so thin you practically couldn't see them (they looked like balls of hair) and that isn't even touching on the wood bugs, centipedes, earwigs, and all the other nasty things.

So as far as bugs go, I prefer the ones up here!

We have been having an amazing winter this year. We had a couple weeks of the very cold weather and then a couple weeks of snow and for the last while we have been sitting between -10 and +2 and this week has had the sunshine as well... it is beautiful. I can hear birds singing, the icicles were huge from the melting during the day and freezing at night although ours are almost gone now. We still have a fair bit of snow but if this weather keeps up... who knows maybe by the time spring break is here, it will already be spring?!

Winter Wonderland

We have been having a wonderful winter... this year has had its cold spells, for certain, but over-all has been much milder and therefore we have been getting out in it! We have been out pulling the kids in the tube behind the quad, in our alley behind the house and out on some trails. We have been out tobogganing of course, and some friends took us snowmobiling on Charlie Lake where we also got to go tubing behind those machines and go ice fishing, while having a campfire, hot chocolate and marshmallows! Michael went to Tumbler Ridge and went snowmobiling up the mountains there, and had a fabulous time and the kids and I went to the High on Ice Festival again this year which was awesome. (and will get it's own post when I get the pictures onto the computer!)

We have seen many, many deer. In fact they come to our yard every night and see what they might find to eat... we have also seen quite a few moose, including some just in the park next to our house! We have also manged to see the Northern Lights several times.

All in all we have been having a wonderful winter, and now we just have to live through about 4 more months of it!! We are planning our escape from winter during spring break though when we will head back down to the Island for Allan's annual cardio check-up... Hope to see everyone then!

Changes Are Coming...

I have been at odds with myself lately and not able to figure out why. I am enjoying the town, I am enjoying the women that I am getting to know better. The kids are at such a fun age and they have so much joy in everything right now. Hubby and I are good and the job is still amazing... So eventually I figured it must be these things creeping around in the back of my brain telling me my time was coming...

I have had the good fortune and pleasure of staying home with my kids. My youngest is in kindergarten this year and to be honest I barely drop him off in the mornings and it is time to pick him up again... but next year, it will be 6 hours per day. It is time to do something with my time. Hubby and I have talked this subject to death and we haven't gotten very far with it. I will need to do SOMETHING or I will go crazy... I really don't think there is any way around that. Yet my pride won't let me take a "token" or "hobby" job, I have amazing qualification and if I should decide to work, it will be a good job. BUT that good job doesn't allow me the freedom to be there after school for my kids or there when they are sick or have Pro-D days... Not to mention the fact that Hubby's job is so very good that we would actually earn less money if he has to turn down an overtime shift because I am at work and he has to pick up the kids that day...

So, what I have decided (and putting it here cements it so there is no turning back) is that I am going to go back to college, part time for now, to work towards my Bachelors degree... I am kicking myself for not finishing it when I had the chance way too long ago now! However, hindsight... it is ok though because I don't think I could possibly do any more business or management classes... I think it is time for some deep thinking and liberal arts. I will continue to help out at the school whenever I can and I want to increase my volunteer work beyond the school... to other parts of the community, but some of the time will be strictly for me and my school. That is the plan anyways.

The Northern Lights

My little guy was up in the middle of the night last night (again!) and since it was a clear night I thought it was worth a look... and there they were. This is the third time I have seen the northern lights since living up here... there were none last year, that I noticed. This fall has been trying to make up for it though. Still no colours other than the bluish green, but last night was a big, unmistakable swath of them up in the sky. The one thing I have noticed with them is that they don't sway, as I expected them to, they shift. One moment it will be shaped like 'this' and the next moment, it is shaped slightly different... but you don't see it changing. I showed Allan before putting him back to bed, but he had the same reaction as Maria had... "Oh... can I go back to bed?"

Otherwise known as... Finter?? Wall??

It happened... we were snowed upon. On September 29th, it couldn't even wait for October! Well, it was only a little bit of snow and it all melted the next day in the SUNSHINE! Yay, sunshine! Since then I have heard more weather rumours... weather is a common topic up here but that is because it is interesting!! You never know what is coming your way (shh, don't say it too loud apparently even tornadoes happen up here... yeesh!). Anyway, back to the rumours... I have heard rumours that by the end of the week EITHER it could snow, again... or it could be 20 degrees and sunny! Hah, there you go, predictions! The actual funny thing is, they could both be right.

Fall

We are having another beautiful fall, and although it has been "officially" fall for only about a week, it has felt like fall for nearly a month. Last year fall was wonderful. It was about two full months of beautiful cool, but not cold, weather and amazingly colourful trees. I don't think we are going to be so lucky this year.

We had our first frost last night (at least I think it was the first one!) and there have been rumours floating around that next week, the first week of October... next week we may get snow. SNOW!! I am not ready for winter yet, I am still processing that fall is here, for real! There are still tomatoes on the vine for goodness sake... well there were yesterday, maybe the frost did them in...

Anyway, we have a lot to do to get ready for winter and we haven't even started. Mostly we have to winterize our vehicles and get the snow-tires back on... it feels like we just took them off! We have to finish off the shed so we can clear out the garage so that we could actually park in there. We need to finish outfitting the kids in winter gear... we have gloves and boots for them but they will need new snow pants and possibly jackets.

So we have a lot to do and potentially, very little time to do it... lets just hope it isn't such a brutal winter as last year!

The Weather Tales...

The weather up here is always interesting and it is often in the extreme category. Extremely cold mostly. But right now, as the seasons are beginning to change from summer to fall the weather seems confused. For the most part we have been having beautiful fall days, mid to high twenties during the day and cooling off at night, perfect for playing outside and enjoying the end of summer vacation.

But this morning we were socked in with fog and I thought it was going to be a cool day, a day for pants. Yet now in the afternoon it is lovely and warm, until a cloud goes in front of the sun and then the temperature drops 5 degrees! A few days ago we had a major thunder and lightning storm, it was absolutely awesome... not to mention right over top of us! The light show started in the early evening with constant lightning but completely without sound. By 11pm it was still constant but now it was HERE and loud and woke me up from a sound sleep... I swear it must have landed right beside us! The house literally shook.

Something tells me we are not in for the beautiful, prolonged fall that we had last year but whatever kind of fall it is going to be, it has started.