An Announcement

I know, I know.   After such a long silence, you would think I'd have something more newsworthy to blog about than this:

But this has been Red Lake's big excitement for the past few weeks.  We have a Tim Horton's!

The excitement is probably hard to comprehend if you're 1.)not from Canada and 2.)not from a tiny, remote, Northern town like Red Lake.

First of all, all Canadians know that Tim Horton's (more affectionately called 'Timmy's') is a national symbol of...  Well, I'm not sure what it's a symbol of, but it's something very important.  (Can any Canadians help me out here?)  It's part of the Canadian identity.  I'm not joking.  I know there are a few in the States, but it's very, very Canadian and we're proud of our Tim Horton's. 

Secondly, having a Tim Horton's in Red Lake is extremely strange.  It's very weird for me and I'm only a Red Laker of 3 1/2 years.  I've heard the lifers talk about how strange it is for them.  Most people in Red Lake "go out of town."  It is very common to take a day trip to Kenora (3 hours away) or even to Winnipeg (5 hours away), though that is often an overnight trip.  People go much more often than we do and it's for shopping, doctor's appointments, concerts, etc.  I don't know how to explain it except that it's just part of the Red Lake culture.  At first I was surprised to run into Red Lakers at the Dryden Walmart (2 hours away), but I soon realized that it is nothing surprising at all and I am just as at-risk for embarassment shopping for underwear in the Dryden Walmart as I was at a Walmart in Goshen.  (I know, I'm 35- I should be past that.)  Anyway, my point is that Tim Horton's was always an "out of town" thing.  People always try to make a stop there for donuts and coffee.  It's just what you do.  And now we have one of our very own!  And when we go in there, we feel like we're out of town!  Except that you have to have conversations with everyone you know in there...

So here we are the first Saturday morning our very own Tim Horton's was open:

Do I dare to tell how many times I've been there since it opened 2 weeks ago?  Okay. 4.  It's just too exciting to stay away. 

Stud

A big thank you to this studly man who put snowtires on the van tonight.  THANK YOU!

Then instead of organizing his shop after supper like he was so excited to do, he spent a very long time fixing the dishwasher. 

He's leaving for an overnight trip to Poplar Hill tomorrow and I'm happy that I won't be slip-sliding on the road so much and that I don't have to wash all the dishes by hand.  (I guess I could have left all of them for him when he gets home...)

Anyway, I'll miss him while he's gone!  (Thankfully, this is a very old photo or I might be relieved to have him leave.)

A Strange Little Accident

Who is this kid and what happened to his face?

Well, let me tell you a disturbing story.  Last night he was all ready for bed.  I was trying to give one of my very effective (not) lectures, when this guy made a very wise (not) decision to dive headfirst into bed, then instantly grabbed his eye, screaming.  As if in slow motion, I saw it all happening.  Behind his pile of blankets, out of his sight, but clearly seen by me, was a wooden toy with a small dowel rod sticking straight up into the air.  He chose this great pile of blankets and landed a direct hit on the wooden stick.  

I immediately abandoned my lecture (congratulate me on my good judgement later) and hugged the boy.  He was crying and still holding his eye.  I was slightly afraid to look.  I admit that I had very tired thoughts of spending hours in the ER on this very tired night.  (I guess that's one way to get to visit Dad at work.)  Thankfully, when he finally let go of his eye, I could see that it was not as direct of a hit as I had feared.

Who dives headfirst into bed?!  I don't do that.  I calmly get into bed like a sane person.  And it's one thing to jump into bed-  But to try to land on your face?!  I do not understand and I do not know anyone else who dives into bed facefirst.

Oh  wait.  Yes I do.  I won't name names.  But one time as a teenager, I hid in her bed to scare her.  I had no idea she liked to dive into bed headfirst.  But I found out.  We smacked heads so hard.  Her shock and pain were evident in her well thought-out, "That's why you shouldn't do that!" before she ran over to Mom and Dad's room.  And just because I was the laughing big sister didn't mean it didn't hurt me too!

So perhaps Evan takes after his Aunt Kirsten.  Not that she was the diver or anything... .

But at least she learned her lesson.  Tonight I was sitting on Evan's bed waiting for him to come from the bathroom.  Giggling uncontrollably with a well-planned plan, he came tearing into the bedroom and dove headfirst into his bed.  He thought it was way funnier than it was.

Grouse

Evan got his hunting day with Dad. Since the moose tag is already filled, they were after chickens. They got 5 grouse and Evan was proud that he even got to pull the trigger a time or two.

  Here they are with the meat.

You Alone

A quick peek into the current morning happenings:

Evan is unloading the dishwasher singing, "You alone are...my table of contents!"

It would appear that he's combining a worship song with a new piece of literary information.

Back to cleaning...  (I just had to take a quick break to write this down before I forget it.)

Moose Meat!

Yay! Kendall got a moose! Now we have a freezer full of meat once again! He went out hunting with some buddies last weekend and called me Sunday morning to report that he had just shot a calf. I was glad. (Partly because he used up his tag so early in the season!)

Yes, that is a piece of moose meat hanging from Kendall's mouth as he butchers.  I assure you it is cooked.  It is the heart- a Hochstedler tradition to cook and eat the heart as soon as possible.
Please ignore background clutter, but please do notice the house.  The outside is now finished except for the chinking between the planks on the entry. 

Evan wanted this picture to look like he had shot the moose himself:

And here the boys help wrap and label sausage:

Honestly, I don't even know how many pounds of meat we got from this moose.  I know that we cut more than 26 roasts off of it.  There are also a few steaks and some ribs to smoke.  Then Kendall took the rest off the bone and took it to a friends house to grind.  I have no idea how many pounds of ground meat and sausage we have.  Lots.  We're sharing some.  It's so nice to have and the roast we already ate proved to be WAY better than the tough old cow or bull from last year.

So, I'm happy for a freezer full of meat and perhaps even happier for an already-filled tag!

Party!

Here is Eli and Evan's birthday party with school friends.
They had it at the bike park after school.  Lots of fun.  Lots of boys.

2 of Evan's best buddies from school:

Kendall to the rescue with the tire pump:

And look at the gift-opening madness:

Like I said, Lots of Boys.