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Tuesday, June 27, 2006
The Last Dease Lake Blog Post
(I want to start by saying that the views in this post are that of Scott Van Achte. Lyndsay and the other two teachers whose contracts ended in Dease Lake did not contribute to this post in any way nor have anything to do with this Blog)
This is probably going to be the final post in the Dease Lake Blog post. We recently received news that Lyndsay's contract will not be renewed for the next school year. She was on a temporary contract and the term ended. I want to start off by thanking everyone in the community for being incredibly inviting and hospitable since we moved here in October. While we truly wanted to stay here in Dease Lake for many years to come, without a job for Lyndsay it just can not happen. I am fortunate for the ability to work from home and am quite mobile, and so we have decided that if we must leave here, we will head South back to Vancouver Island and the Comox Valley, where we want to ultimately settle down anyway. One thing I do want to make sure everyone knows is that Lyndsay and I, along with the other 2 teachers from Dease Lake School who were not rehired all wanted to remain in the district and had no immediate plans of leaving. The School Board, however, decided it best for some reason, to bring in new teachers from other districts and provinces. I fail to see how this makes any sense considering that the community wants the district to hire teachers that are willing to stick around. Well, they just had 3 great teachers wanting to stay, and got rid of all of them - also they had only good things to say about them. Well, that's how life goes some times, and we are going to look at this as a good thing and find the silver lining. We always imagined ourselves settling down in the Comox Valley, so that's where we go. A bit early, but certainly for the better in the long run. We have booked our UHaul and hitting the road on Saturday off to another new adventure. Thursday, June 22, 2006
Summer Solstice = Party
Yesterday was summer solstice. It happens only once a year, and when living in the North not only signifies the longest day of the year, but an excuse for a party!
Now I am not one to party during the week, but this once a year event is a great exception, even if it means spending the following work day all sleepy. (I was smart though, and only had a couple drinks, so at least the hangover factor has no place here today. Last night started with us heading over to Phil and Mo's to set up some tables, chairs, and a tarp. (It looked like it was going to be a rainy night). We started by fastening two ends of the tarp to the beams at Phil's carport and the others to a couple of poles. It didn't take long for a huge burst of wind to come along and rip apart one of the reinforced corners in the tarp and bring the whole thing down. Okay, fair enough. Rob says, "I've got duct tape" So, we fix the eye and start putting things back up - right then, another huge blast of wind ripped two more eyes and a long tear down the edge of the tarp. "That's it! It's coming down now". We gave up on the tarp, which was probably a good idea seeing as how by the end of the night not a drop of rain had fallen. Dinner was potluck style, and boy was there a lot to eat! BBQ'd chicken breast, burgers, buffalo burgers, pork chops, steak and prawns. Smoked salmon, spring rolls, honey garlic wings, a half dozen types of salads and sides, ambrosia salad, some amazing lemon/whipped cream dessert, cookies... the list goes on and on. Kids were running around doing there thing while the adults, many of which are teachers, sat back enjoying only the second full day of their now two month vacation. As we moved into the evening the baseball mitts were pulled out along with the bocce, and a good time was had by all. We headed over to Rob and Marilyn's house (next door) and had a huge bonfire to ease into the remainder of the night. All I can say is thank god for Mosquito repellant. While its far from perfect, it certainly helps ease back the bugs a little. This was the first party I have been to up in Dease Lake that consisted of more than one profession. Often the parties involve mostly teachers, medical staff, etc. This one had people from all professions and groups of the community. All our neighbors and friends were there. Around 1:00ish or so Lyndsay and I decided it was probably time to head home to bed. The sun still slightly out, but turning dusky, we walked home. It would be only another hour or two before it would start to get light out again. A great end to a great evening. I think there should also be a party on the shortest day of the year, but I doubt anyone would want to do it outside, and if they did, surely it wouldn't last until well past midnight. Monday, June 12, 2006
Map of Dease Lake
Added today: A map and busines map of Dease Lake.
Check it out! Dease Lake Map In the near future I plan on expanding the usability of this map, but this will do for now. The sizing is a little bit off and it is stretching the page. Will be a big job to fix due to the image maps. If you have any suggestions on how to improve this map, let me know and I will try to fit it in! Sunday, June 11, 2006
May = Walk On; June = Swim In
This is entirely crazy.
May was a month of wind, rain, and snow... yes snow. At the start of May we went ice fishing on Alan Lake. Today is June 11 - We just got back from Alan Lake. No, we were not ice fishing ... we were swimming! This is nuts! How can a lake go from frozen and thick enough to walk on one month, and warm enough to swim in the next? If it weren't for the threat of leaches, I would probably still be in the lake. A quick dip in and out was enough for me. We thought the warmth would never come. Just a few days ago it dipped below zero. Today we have been hovering around the 28 degree mark for hours. Tommorow is suppose to reach a high of 31! Lets hope this heat sticks around! Monday, June 05, 2006
Comments - Keep 'em coming!
I have started to get comments from visitors to the site and really appreciate it! Keep them coming! Have an opinion of the site? Good or bad, I want to hear it. Constructive critisism is great and ultimate means an improvement to the site. Since the recent redesign I am more interested in what people think about this site than ever before. If you have any ideas for improvements I want to hear them. Also how are we doing so far? The quality of the site as it stands right now, is it a useful resource to you? What would you like to see photos of?
Please keep the comments coming, and many thanks to those of you who have already sent some in! Saturday, June 03, 2006
Snow in June???
Before heading to bed last night I checked out the weather network to see what we had in store for the weekend. The forecast was for 3-5 cm of snow overnight! SNOW?? Its JUNE for crying out loud! Thankfully when I woke up and looked out the window it was raining... hmm... not so sure I love the rain, but never the less, better than snow for this time of year.
There is a big staff party/BBQ tonight, and some sunshine would sure be nice, but I guess we will have to make due with what we have. Right now it may be raining, but it is quite a warm day... its about 4 degrees right now. Wow, above 0 in June! What a concept. Apparantly it is very cold right now - ya, I know obvious, but this is not normal for this time of year up here, apparantly we are well below average. Figures. Looking forward to summer and heading south. Will be soaking up the warmth for a few weeks on the island. May not be a tropical exotic location, but compared to here it will be paradise. Community Garden
Well, we have officially planted in the community garden. It will be interesting to see how well our seeds do up here. Apparantly some things grow really well, primarily root vegetables. We have planted some peas, carrots, and lettuce. Thats it. (If it does well, we'll do more next year). Its interesting, never before have I gone to do gardening and had to bring a bear bell and some pepper spray. Watering the garden is no easy chore either, having to walk to the nearby river to fetch water. We were hoping to plant some tomatoes but apparantly they don't do very well here - guess it just doesnt get warm enough.
Anyways, this is probably one of the most boring blog posts I have written. Not really sure where I am going with it so I will end it now. Do be sure to check out the photos section for the latest Community Garden Photos. |
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