The Talens' Tales

The Iditarod race. A gruelling, race that demands everything from any person involved. With the isolated and rugged location, it offers the perfect back drop for all sorts of people to try many different things to see what they can get away with. And in Sabotaged by Dani Pettrey, one of the plots threaten not only people, but the beautiful Alaskan landscape as well. Reef Mc Kenna and Kirra Jacobs have known each other since they were little kids. But, their extremely different personalities almost always clashed. Now, grown-up, they are working together on the search and rescue team for the Iditorod. When Kirra's uncle Frank, a musher in the race, fails to check in, they go our searching. They find Frank and he tells them that his daughter, Meg, has been kidnapped and he has to complete a task in order to save her life. Now, Kirra, Reef and Reef's entire family are working against the clock to find Meg and stop the people behind the plot before it is too late. I ...

The fun is the snow just doesn't stop. Wilbert and Joash have been digging out a snow cave in the huge pile between the house and the bale furnace. It started out a nice size for Joash...  Then grew big enough for Wilbert and Joash... And now it is big enough for a whole family and there is one spot that Wilbert can stand up in. (Sorry no, picture of that. You will just have to take my word for it.) Joash's favourite thing to do in the snow cave is to carve out "lights" on the walls and clear his "driveway" out front with his shovel. With this much snow, we just need to enjoy it!

Joash has staked his claim. This is his mountain!

The clean-up from this storm is certainly taking a while. We had a total of 86.6cm of snow (2' 10") over Sunday and Monday. We are so thankful that our road was cleared enough that the milk truck could come to empty the milk tank. There was room for 56 liters more, but that was it.We knew the truck was coming, so Wilbert just waited and did this mornings milking a bit late. So, he slept in a bit, which he really needed. We are hoping that the feed truck is able to come today, as we are out. Wilbert had ordered feed for Monday, but obviously that didn't happen. So, he rationed what was left yesterday, but know we are out. The bridge opened again this morning after being closed since Sunday afternoon. Our feed comes from Moncton, NB, so we are now just waiting for it to show up. Other than that, we are good for supplies and food, so we are just staying put for now.  And now some pictures for you. These first three are taken from the top of the giant snow pile that is be...

Mom: Mataya, you are 21 months old! M(ataya): I know! And I love being a big girl. Mom: What are some of the big girl things you are doing? M: Well, I like to put on shoes and pick out my own clothes. I also really like to have bow in my hair. I like to look at books and "read" the stories. I also really like to sing sons like "Twinkle Twinkle Little Start" and "Jesus Loves Me." Mom: What are your other favorite things to do?  M: I love to go outside. I want to go outside all of the time and I DO NOT want to come back in. I love to roll in the snow, pick up snow chunks, try to crawl up hills and then slide down on my bottom. I also really like to go to the barn with Daddy and give the cows grain. I go and get my boots to let you know that I want to go outside. Mom: I am happy that you like to be outside, but sometimes it is difficult when it is so cold. Summer will be nice and I think we will spend a lot of time outside. How is the talking g...

So probably not the best pictures ever as they were all taken inside through the windows, but I think they will those family and friends who are not on the Island, what things are like here. Last I heard, we have had almost 2 1/2 feet of snow. Wilbert and kids are snow blowing with the tractor to get to the feed for the cows and the drifts most places are taller than the snow blower.  The front porch. We won't be grilling any time soon.  Looking out the workshop.  The toy room is very dark now.  Looking from the living room to the barn. The tractor has a lot of tractors. Wilbert on top of the drift between the house and milk house. I will take more pictures once the weather settles down, but the according to the forecast, that might not be until tomorrow.

We are in the midst of yet another blizzard. (Pictures from that later). We are doing our best to have fun inside. As you can hear, Mataya is getting the idea of counting down. And yes, Joash can jump better than her, but that doesn't keep her from trying.

Now we really can't see out of the window. And Joash did not have school on Thursday either, so the poor guy is a bit out of sorts. And it has been too stormy and col for him to really enjoy being outside. This has been a really crazy week. Last week Saturday, we had 700 pigs move into our pig barn. Another farmer on the Island had a roof cave in on one of his barns, so they needed a place for these pigs. We are grateful to help, but it does make for extra work. More animals that need to be fed since the automatic feeding system no longer works. More area to snow blow since we now have to have access to all of the barns. Overall it is good, but I have one tired and hardworking husband (and father-in-law.) And while I always say I don't mind winter when I can watch it from inside my cozy house, I will admit I am going a little stir crazy. I am hoping to venture into the town tomorrow to stock up on groceries and I am looking forward to church on Sunday. I didn't get to...

Well, we had a bit of a slow start to this winter, but we certainly are making up for it! We ha a pretty good blizzard Monday evening into Tuesday. We had over 2 ft of snow and crazy winds. This made for some pretty great drifts and lots of snow blowing the next day.  "Mom, we can't see out of the toy room any more."  King of the mountain.  Even the barns windows are covered up in some places.  We had some freezing late last week and it is still on the trees. And they are saying another one is on its way for Thursday evening to Friday. What a week!

We had our first real winter storm this week and that has meant lots of fun the snow.  When they blow snow a very nice pile is formed between the house the bale furnace shed. It is a great pile for the kids to play on. Not too big, but big enough and easy for me to keep an eye on from the house. We are up here, Mom! Joash is able to get his sled to the top of the hill and slide down all by himself. Opa helped Joash dig a tunnel. Snow angel! Snow angel! They say we are getting even more snow on Monday night. It seems like winter is here to stay for a while.