a week and counting?!

i think i can say that things are coming to an end up here. this morning it was -7 and we're supposed to have a high of 0 today! i think spring is officially on its way! i'm slightly excited about that, but i would like it to wait until we get onto pavement before it fully sets in! we have a few hours of driving over lakes and winter roads before we get onto the highway and when it warms up, when road traffic increses and when the frost starts coming out of the ground the roads can get extremely rough. like 15km/hour rough. i'll be sitting in the back seat, it fully loaded with gear and two dogs, so hopefully its not too rough!

this last week has been spent hauling gravel, one of the main reasons we have been up here. between equipment issues and waiting for the road to be completed its taken some time, but we finally dumped the first load last week. its about 20km to the gravel pit and a fully loaded the dump truck can only be driven 15km/hour over the lakes, making a one way trip about an hour long. because of this we're only able to do about three trips a day, starting first thing in the morning and the guys get back from the last load at about 9pm, making for a very long day. we had another dump truck brought up the other day so we were able to get a few more loads having two trucks on the road.

yay for gravel!!!

this last week we've also been receiving fuel trucks. we are stilling waiting on a couple more, but they should be leaving on monday, getting here either that night or tuesday morning, as its about a 13 hour drive in from thompson. we had quite a bit of wind last week, which totally wrecked havoc on the roads. i'm not used to the combination of wind and flat land and it just amazes me how fast it can destroy the road. we knew that the propane truck was on its way and the driver had called me from oxford house, so the guys went out to meet him and to make sure that the road was clear. there is a V plow on the front of the pick-up truck so they plowed all the way out to the junction and past where they met the propane truck and when they came back the wind had blown the road in again. where the road goes over the lakes the snow had completely filled it in, wall to wall snow, 5 feet high. i went for a skidoo ride just to check it out. the last time i'd been on the road was just after it had been completed so the difference was quite surprising.

the wind has died down now, which is quite a relief! the next batch of trucks should have no problem whatsoever. 

we are slowly getting down to the bottom of our food staples, we have: two roasts, one package of stew meat and one package of farmer sausage left, a few eggs and couple liters of milk.  there is lots of pasta and margarine and stuff thats leftover from the summer, but its time to start getting creative with what we have left. we might have a couple people come out to help haul gravel, so we can get the most out of the next couple days, so i am trying to ration what we have left so we'll have enough to feed a crowd if need be. yesterday i made a whole bunch of perogies, for some reason i always think they are so much work, but really they are quite easy - they just take a little time. one batch made about 50 which was plenty for us, even enough for another meal!

dough:

3 cups flour

1 1/2 t salt

1 egg

3/4 cup water

4 t oil

mix the flour and salt together in a medium sized bowl. in another bowl mix the egg, water and oil; stir into the flour mixture, add more water if necessary, 1 T at a time. kneed 10ish times or until smooth. cut in two and let sit, covered for 20 minutes.

potato filling:

1 T butter

1/3 cup finely diced onion

1 cup cold mashed potatoes

3/4 cup grated cheese

1/2 t salt

1/4 t pepper

saute the onion in the butter and transfer to a blow; add the rest of the filling ingredients, mix and set aside.

once the dough has rested, roll out on a lightly floured surface to about 1/16" thick. cut into 3" rounds and place 1t of filling on each round. brush half of the round edge with water, fold in half and seal.

place in boiling water for about two minutes or until they float. saute with onions and butter and serve with farmer sausage!

nothing beats homemade perogies!

well, i guess we'll see-ya later, spring!

its a good thing i took advantage of the lovely weather the past few days! this morning, before i even got out of bed i could hear the wind howling through the nooks and crannies! we looked the forecast last night: a snowfall warning for island lake, and wind and coldness for thompson and we weren't sure what we'd see in the morning, but most likely a mix of both. 

we ended up running out of fuel day before yesterday and our fuel trucks finally made it in last night, at about 9pm. it took the guys until about midnight to help unload the three tankers. we knew if the wind and snow picked up, the road over the lake would blow in, so we were happy to see the trucks before the weather changed.

when i finally quit hitting snooze and got up this morning, there was a snow drift that had blown in through the cracks in the door and the snow was blowing horizontal outside. i put the coffee pot on, turned on cbc, lit the stove and picked up my knitting, happy to be warm. then i heard the news about japan...maybe our weather wasn't so bad after all.

the last few days the weather had been so spring like, we hadn't really been using the stove at all. the wood box was pretty much empty, but because i'd only been lighting the fire in the morning, filling it wasn't such a priority. so this morning when the guys left to go down to big stone, i suited up to back wood. its only about -15 but the wind is gusting to about 33km so its pretty nasty out there. after packing wood, i went for a walk with schooner down to the shore and over to the lodge to see what the lake looked like. its hard to capture the way it really looks, the snow blowing off the cabin and lodge roofs, the way it twirls up into little tornadoes and whips across the lake, but i got a couple of white out shots...

i had the great idea yesterday to haul water. it was really necessary, but for some reason i did it anyway - i'm mighty glad i did it now! i'm going to enjoy staying inside, watching the wind and snow blow from the comfort of the cabin...and i'll make sure i have lots of hot coffee and goodies for the guys.

chasing caribou

well this morning, i feel a tad on the ridiculous side. i woke up at 6:50am and put on the coffee. it was a chilly morning, -33.8, clear as a bell and the sun was just starting to rise. it was that time in the morning when you know the sun is going to be up soon, but you can't actually see it yet. when everything outside is still blue. i looked out the window and depending on the amount of wind can't see past the end of the point, but this morning it was clear, it was cold and there was no wind. you could see for miles. and you could see caribou. actually you could see a whole heard. travis was still asleep, so i woke him up and told him. we got out the binos and watched them move, this black mass way down at the end of the lake. i had my doubts at first, it just seemed to good to be true. so we decided what better thing to do at 7am then to go for a skidoo ride to the end of the lake at -33, so we suited up. i grabbed my camera and we set out.



...waiting to play



there was no caribou. just ice fog, shimmering in the early morning light. but it was a lovely way to start the morning. we came home, hot coffee waiting for us and a warm house. the "caribou" were still there when we got back.



the sun is fully up now. breakfast is over and the coffee pot is empty. lunch is ready for when the guys get in: either soup or leftover quiche and dinner is already planned out in my head: marinated steaks, baked potatoes and vegetables. i made a raspberry chocolate bundt cake yesterday and even there’s leftovers of that too. i have a few projects on the go that i'll work on this afternoon, and i might haul water if the guys don't need the auger. the island lake forecast says its supposed to warm up to about -16 today, so it'll be nice out, almost a carbon copy of yesterday. i went for a beautiful ski with the dogs in the afternoon - they ran circles around me, chasing rabbits...and each other. they are fun company.

 

pie crust

5.5 cups flour
2 t salt
1 lb lard

combine flour and salt. Cut in lard until crumbly.

mix in a one cup measuring cup:

1 egg

1 T vinegar

fill to one cup with cold water

pour into flour mixture and mix only until combined. roll out and fill with goodness.