1974: Bizarre Stories From My First Graders

       Having been saddled with the job of driving the camp truck down to the Takla Lake shore to pick up kids from the First Nations Jack family every school day, did sometimes lead to some interesting conversations.  

       One morning while hauling Madelaine and Hannah Jack up to our one- room school I heard a  memorable “fact” about moose. 

        When I had arrived down at their cabin, I found the whole family standing outside, with the father holding a rifle.  When I got the girls into the truck, I asked them what was going on.

           Madelaine, the most outgoing of the two girls told me that they had seen a moose with a calf and their father was going to shoot them.  

        I didn’t really know what the hunting regulations were in BC, but I was pretty sure that killing a mother moose and calf was illegal, but the situation was complicating because of the fact that these were First Nation's people, which probably had different rules.

        I did want to find out more information, so I asked, "Why does your father want to shoot a mother  moose and calf?"  Then Madelaine said something that almost made me drive off the road:  

        "Because, moose eat people,"

        I had always had an interest in North American Indian people and had read about their vast knowledge of the natural world and the respect they had for animals who they viewed as "brothers” or kin.  

        "Madelaine," I said shaking my head, "Moose don't eat people or even other animals, they just eat plants."

        “But that is what my father said.” was her reply.

        Trying to break the words gently to her, I responded, "Well, I think your father is mistaken."

        "My father knows a lot more about moose, than you do."

        Having been thoroughly put in my place, I just shook my head in disbelief and drove on silently up the road with my two first grade students. 

        On another occasion, driving the two girls up to school, Madelaine seemed a bit disturbed.  When I asked her what the problem was, she informed me that she had seen a tail sticking out from behind the trunk of a tree.  This information didn't get me any closer to discovering what was troubling her, so I asked her to explain.

        "We'll, if you see a tail sticking out from a tree, then an ugly man with long fingernails, and a magic key will come and try to get you.  The man had escaped from jail and can open any door.  He attacked my friend, but she was able to hit him with a stick, knock him out, and get away."

        That was something I didn't know, and you probably didn't either, but from now on, beware if you see a tail sticking out from behind a tree.

You can see my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

 

Frosted Lupine

    I read the other day that the beginning of September is the meteorological beginning of autumn, and certainly that seems to be the case in BC’s Robson Valley.  The leaves on our deciduous trees are starting to show a yellowish hue, the leaves of the Boston Creepers are crimson, and yesterday we had a light frost.

    In an attempt to stay healthy, I have been making myself do four laps, jogging/walking around our pond after breakfast.  Yesterday, during my laps, I noticed that out in the open, there was frost on the Lupine leaves.  I had to stop my laps to take some photos.  

    Fortunately, so far the garden hasn’t been affected by the frost, but the cooler weather has given me some concern about my corn plants, whose ears have not yet totally matured.

You can see my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

 

1974: "School Bus" Driver Added To My Teaching Chores

        Today I am returning to blogging about our adventure of immigrating to Canada and teaching in an isolated one-room school in a BC mill camp.  

        After the two week whirlwind visit with our family over the Christmas season, we returned to Canada, this time with our completed immigration papers.  There were no problems with the Canada Customs officials at our "crossing" at the Vancouver airport.   We were happy to have finally gained a new Canadian status--"Landed Immigrant."

        Upon our arrival back in camp, we were welcomed by the kids, bored, and surprisingly eager to start school again.  Of course, midway through the first day, they were already tired with it and eager for the school day to end.  After school they began their visitations to our trailer, to see what new things we brought with us.

        Because we were getting so much absenteeism because of the 10/4 day work schedule of the mill, I asked permission of the school district to run school on the 10/4 schedule.  I did it for about 3 shifts, but then I reverted back to the regular school schedule.  I found that after the ten straight days of school, I was too burned out, and the four days of "weekend" in the camp without much to keep us amused was also too long--we could only walk to the little lake so many times.

        During January, 1974, Frank, camp boss, who was continually having to keep hundreds of different "balls in the air," (keeping the mill, and all the  things associated with the camp going) decided to drop one ball--running the Jack kids back and forth from school, and told me I could borrow one of the camp trucks to do it, so added to my workload was the responsibility of “school bus” driver.  

         Because the First Nation Jack kids made up about half of our school population, and since the family didn’t own a vehicle, it was important for the school that they be driven back an forth every day to keep the school population up.

        Like most things, there were both good and bad aspects of this new job.  It was nice to drive the two miles down to Takla Lake in the morning, allowing me to possibly see some wildlife or a spectacular display of light on the sky as the sun came up.  

        On the negative side, it meant one more job for me that would take extra time.  There was not always a truck readily available, so that left me searching out someone with a vehicle or the keys.   The lifestyle of the Jack family and the lack of any kind of communication system with them meant that after I found a truck and drove down to their cabin (photo above), I sometimes found no one home, and I had spent time and the trip for nothing.

Take a look at my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca

Remembering My 911 Day

     Everyone that was alive at the time, probably remembers where they were 25 years ago, when they first heard those shocking reports of what was going on in what later became called “911”   Here is what I gleaned about the day from my diary:

Sept. 11/01 Tues. (A day to remember)

    At 7:00 when my clock radio went off this morning, the first thing we heard on the news was that an airplane had crashed into the World Trade Center in NYC.  This was personally interesting to me, since we had visited and been to the top of the World Trade Center almost exactly 6 months earlier.  (My second thought was, “That’s an interesting coincidence, just like in 1945 when a B-25 bomber accidentally crashed into the Empire State Building.” something that I had remembered in collecting trivia for my Trivia Calendar that I made)

        Then a short time later, we heard that a 2nd plane had rammed into the other tower, and It became immediately clear, that the first crash was not an accident.  We turned on the TV and then saw that the Pentagon had been hit by a plane.

        I had to force myself to tear away from the TV reports while all this was happening, but I had to go to work.  As I pedaled my bike to the office, I listened to my pocket radio.  I had my earplugs on listening to the CBC Radio as it reported on the disaster.

        I was on the highway at the area between the McBride frontage roads, when they reported that the first tower had collapsed.   I couldn’t help but utter, “Aww, no,” out loud.

        I was in shell shock for the rest of the day.  As I listened to the radio at work, one event after another unfolded; the 2nd tower collapsed, and another hijacked plane crashed in Pennsylvania.  The news was full of reports of other suspect aircraft flying around.  Planes from all over the world were being forced to make emergency landings in Canada.  I got very little work done that day.

        Everyone else at our forestry office was stunned too.  In the afternoon the District Manager had the whole staff gather in the foyer of the office, and in a big circle we held a moment silence for the disaster that was unwinding in the US.   There were construction workers in the building working on a new space in the Forestry Office, which added to the chaos of the day.

    Spent the night watching TV reports about the Twin Tower Attack.  

    The photo is from March, 2001

View my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Six Months Before The Trade Center Disappeared

     Tomorrow will be the 25th Anniversary of 911, and already the news media is starting to talk about it.  In March of 2001, half year before the Trade Center vanished, my wife and I were in New York visiting friends, and as part of our trip we went up to the top of the Trade Center.  I still find it very strange to realize that up there on the top, I was standing where now, there is just air, because the building I was standing on is gone.

    I did take lots of photos of being in the Trade Center, but of course, I now can’t find them.  However, here are a few screen grabs that I took from a video of our New York Trip.  The photo below shows the plaza at the foot of the Trade Center, where you can see part of the iconic exterior of the building.  

    At the very bottom is a shot of the view from a window at the top of the Trade Center.

You can take a look at my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca

Mother Bear And Cub Visit Again

     Yesterday afternoon, I happened to glance out of the kitchen window and discovered that the mother black bear and her cub were back after a few day’s absence.   This time they were up by my shop and the mother bear was very curious about what was inside.  Before I was able to get my camera, she actually stood up vertically in front of the door, like she was going to open it and walk in.  

    I know why she was interested in what was inside my shop, because that is where I had stored all of the apples, I had recently picked from our two apple trees.

    Again, I felt bad about depriving her and her cub some of the apples, because I know they need to bulk up before they start their winter hibernation, although they do seem to look pretty healthy at present.  If only they wouldn’t trash my apple trees.

You can see my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Clouds Building Over The Cariboo Mountains

     Yesterday when I was out in the garden pulling weeds.  I always  enjoy watching the Robson Valley sky, because I love the clouds, the color, and the light.  Yesterday, I was also paying attention to the sky because I had hung the laundry to dry on the clothesline, and I was afraid that we might get showers.  As I watched the sky, I was taken by the dramatic beauty of the clouds that were building over the Cariboo Mountains.  

View my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca