~ this calf stands out among the herd ~

Thurs 11 Jan 2007
3:52 p.m.

It looks "fine" out there, just fine! But I haven't been out yet. Too busy keeping the fire stoked — I hear it's about 40 below today. The buses didn't run, again, though the grader was out early enough for the grid road to be passable when Scott went to town. I kept my little ducks home for one more day and only one of them has complained about that.

Aside from a two-hour power outage this morning due to a power-pole fire somewhere in the area, the day has been pleasantly uneventful.

Wed 9 Jan 2007
6:42 p.m.

What! Past 6:30 already! I've been working at the computer for a couple hours, so the time has flown by.

I did manage to peek through the window at the storm covering the entire province of Saskatchewan, and got a photo of our driveway. Our yard is well treed but just a few feet away, out on the road, visibility is zero.

The schoolbuses didn't run this morning so the boys have been home all day. That's always a treat for me. I got a batch of bread made, and some fagioli soup for supper.

A woman and child have been reported frozen to death north of Lloyminster after they had a road accident last night and walked away from their vehicle. Their bodies were found this morning. This is very dangerous weather. Near Edmonton, a woman has been found frozen just 500 metres from her vehicle. Alberta had this blizzard yesterday.

How quickly and unexpectedly our lives can end.

At our house, with no place to go today, we have hunkered down until it's safe to venture beyond the yard. Scott had to go out and look after cattle, and came in with a pretty cold face. Fortunately the beasts have all been moved to home pastures so Scott didn't have to go far.

Tues 9 Jan 2007

Monday 8 Jan 2007
9:24 a.m.

Scott and I made a trip to North Battleford yesterday afternoon to meet Gord and Everett and bring the latter home from his Christmas holiday at his dad's. We rendezvoused at the usual place, a hotel on the highway just outside the small city. Scott noticed this truck in the parking lot, with its headlights covered by little balaclavas.

It was after 7 by the time we pulled into our yard. We had a bite to eat, the boys had baths, and then we descended to our living room so they could open their Christmas gifts -- Emil's from family in Edmonton, and Everett's from family here.

Everett is not happy to be back, he says. Life would be so much better at his dad's. I imagine the day will come when he'll lobby even more vehemently for moving there. But unless the kid is finished school, I expect any such move to occur over my dead and putrid body.

I know I have to let him go someday, but it isn't this soon. He's in Grade 9 and I have only another three years left for him to live with me. I don't intend to be shorted any more of that time than is absolutely required for visits to his dad. Call me selfish if you like; I'll admit, these kids are the best thing I've ever done and I will be a sad and forlorn momma when the time comes for them to move away. Only three more years! And how quickly the time is passing!

Friday 5 Jan 2007
11:55 p.m.

In five minutes it will be the end of another evening of office paper-purging.

I will blame this on you, Joanne, since you sent me home this afternoon with a giant orange garbage-bag full of loot. In with the new, out with the old ... or something like that.

It really was just like Christmas, emptying out that bag.

What was in it, you ask?

1.) a hand-knit siwash, zippered front
2.) two patchwork quilts made by Joanne's mother, whom I remember
3.) fruit-flavoured tea
4.) a glass storage cylinder with peppermint-striped ceramic top
5.) a wooden bread-slicing guide
6.) an envelope full of old photos, including the funeral casket of my paternal grandmother whom I resemble and who died suddenly at age 47 of a heart attack and one of Dad and Mom hamming it up with Joanne's sister-in-law in their teenish years
7.) a painted ceramic plate -- a snowman, not Christmas-themed at all really, but more wintery
8.) a hamster

Just kidding about the hamster.

Emil and I went to Joanne's farm this morning for coffee and stayed through lunch and well into her naptime. Joanne was Mom's very close friend and it shows, for she has kept me and my family close both while Mom was sick and since she died. Her thoughtfulness and caring helped us all cope and is still making a difference.

Don't mean to embarrass you, dearie, but it's true.

Thurs 4 Jan 2007

Over in England, where John keeps his daily online journal, they have not had a white Christmas. John requested some snow photos, but I have been unable to comply, simply because for the past two weeks we've had no new snowfall. I can offer no pictures of the fluffy white variety, since it has all settled into a crusty-looking flatness.

There were a few flakes this morning but they haven't amounted to anything. We've been enjoying some El Nino weather for the past couple weeks, apparently, but it's due to change to more seasonal cold soon.

Wed 3 Jan 2007

Cosmos and Psyche, by Richard Tarnas -- how astrological positions have corresponded with big events and eras in human history and, judging by that, what is coming in the future. Tarnas is a distinguished professor and philosopher who has studied astrology and been convinced it must be taken seriously. This is not light reading; you'll need your thinking cap on.

Lullabies for Little Criminals, by Heather O'Neill. I came to this fictional novel through the Canada Reads booklist after deciding to read the five recommended books before the broadcasted discussions beginning in February. This one is classed as "young adult," I suppose because it is written from the viewpoint of a 12-year-old who is living a pretty rough life with a mentally ill, junkie father, and in and out of foster homes.

The Joni Mitchell Companion, by Stacy Luftig, is a compilation of interviews with the singer, songwriter, musician and composer over the decades of her career, and reviews written about her albums when they came out, all by different writers.

There are another three or four books on my nighttable that I can hardly wait to get to. In the stack, still uncracked (oh the self-control!) are:

Nora: The Real Life of Molly Bloom;

Prairie Fire: A Canadian Magazine of New Writing (new Canadian speculative fiction), Summer 1994;

Dropped Threads 2, More of What We Aren't Told, edited by Carol Shields et al; and

One More Time, a memoir by Carol Burnett.

Moving from one computer to another is a real pain in the ass. I do not want to take the time required to sit in this chair and figure out how all the new stuff works, so I must be patient. It's not my strong suit.

We've had a lovely holiday season. Although I'm still working here at my desk, with Emil at home from school it feels like I've had a holiday too. Scott's been around quite a bit as well.

Last night I dreamed that I woke up in the morning to find he had not come home the night before, and I could not find him or anyone who knew where he might be. I made numerous phone calls and by the time all obvious avenues had been exhausted I was so upset that I woke up for real and could not get back to sleep. What the heck, might as well get out of bed, come upstairs and have a look at him! And sure enough, he was fiddling with the new and old computers and the external hard drive we bought.

I hugged him in the kitchen before taking my hot black coffee to the loveseat in the office and wrapping up well in the not-the-warm-bed chill. It took me a while to settle down, as if I'd really been worried he'd not be found.

Scott seemed to get a bit of a kick out of that.

~ Emil out with his walker; too small to see! ~

Monday 25 Dec 2006
11:36 a.m.

I was awakened at 9:30 by a phone call from Everett, at his dad's, wishing a Merry Christmas and telling excitedly about all his presents. Emil, we can't even interest in going downstairs to open his yet.

Scott made coffee and a bacon and eggs breakfast, and has gone out to do chores. Later he is talking about going on a wild boar hunt, as apparently a big one has been spotted just east of the farm and they don't want it getting into their bales and such. I guess they are probably not dangerous unless you corner them or come close to their young, but they make quite a mess. Scott is not a hunting man, bless his heart, so it's unusual to hear this; I wish they'd leave the beast alone until it does cause problems, because maybe it won't.

I must begin prep for a turnip/celery/green pepper/onion in light cheese sauce dish to take to the Godhe clan gathering for Christmas dinner this afternoon, along with the fudge I made to add to the dessert roster. It will be a crowd that stuffs the large house wall to wall, so I will visit for a couple hours and then come home to peace and quiet for a while before driving to Margo to pick Grandma up and bring her back to her room at the lodge. The highlight of my day will probably be holding babies ... my great-nephew, born in May, and Scott's great-niece, born a couple months ago, whom I haven't seen yet.

Is anyone else even looking at their computer today? If so, I wish you a happy day with lots of hugs and loved ones around.

~ Kathy

Saturday 23 Dec 2006
3:45 p.m.

Scott and I are about to head to town for some last-minute shopping. He just came in so my writing time will be cut short. We'll leave as soon as he's changed out of work clothes (what did he do today, you ask? primed a new bedroom in his parents' basement for two newborn babies and their parents coming tomorrow for Xmas; looked after cattle; bulldozed snow out of the driveway).

Everett left at 7 a.m. with a gal driving from here to Leduc, Alberta this morning, and Emil is grinning because it's going to be mostly him and me for the next two weeks and he figures we are going to visit, visit, visit all over the countryside. I had to break it to him that while he gets two weeks of holidays, I still have to work. So we'll see.

I made five batches of my famous fudge this afternoon, then laid down on the loveseat and read another chapter of Stanley Park.

Tonight: caramel corn and almond rocha.
That's it for my Christmas goodie prep.