Not forgotten...

Spruce covered in moss outside our door.

As the title of the blog says, everyone hasn't been forgotten. I've been very busy, but the blog has always been in the back of my mind. As I've said in the past, I would like to write more, but it hasn't happened yet. It's not for a lack of things to write about, but rather, an overwhelming amount to write about. I think about sitting down to write, but I know that I don't have time for all the things I want to say.

Yesterday I was reading the blog of a wonderful and crafty woman here who lives in the woods and does crafts from things that she gathers there. She even gathers plants and mushrooms to dye wool with. This lady writes every day, monday to friday. Not a lot, but something, every day. Every Wednesday she has a 'Wordless Wednesday' where she posts a photo she took of something in the woods around her. I found this inspiring. I really like blogging, and this might be the answer I'm looking for.

So...a summary of the chaos:

William has been swimming still twice a week and in JFW (junior forest wardens) every Tuesday. JFW had a skills meeting near Edmonton where we learned all sorts of interesting survival skills. The kids amazed me with their knowledge. It's not often these days that you can see a 12 year old kid erect a shelter and start a fire in 5 min flat. These kids could. 

William also just finished a swimming competition in Grande Cache a few days ago. He did really well and we are very proud of him. His team took home five golds and the overall title too. Also, I have to add that the boys were very blessed on their drive to Grande Cache. They hit a moose! Blessed? You may ask...Yes! They weren't hurt and the vehicle received minimal damage. Here's a photo I found here to put things in perspective:

William and Allan were in a truck and not a car, but a collision with a moose on the highway is usually the equivalent of hitting a parked semi. Very rarely are the results ok. That is why they are so blessed and I am so grateful.

In other news, winter hit us with a vengeance. In the course of a week we received over a foot of snow. The roads were horrible and William and I stayed home most of the time. If I had to go into town, Allan drove me while I looked at my iPhone (I can't stand to look at the roads when they are that bad). The weather also turned cold and we received our first -25ºC weather. Were we warm? Yes. Were quite comfortable, but we learned a few things.

Allan's shaving cream froze in the medicine cabinet. It's not a heated cabinet, so if we had opened it a crack, the warmth from inside the trailer would have heated the cabinet. We didn't think of that, so it froze. We also learned that shaving cream doesn't recover from being frozen, and Allan had to buy more. 

The worst thing that happened was that our fridge quit. We had read that there is stuff flowing through the fridge that can gel at cold temperatures and we should take precaution. We didn't take it seriously enough though...it gelled, the fridge quit, and that was last week. We have since had warm weather and we still can't get the fridge working, so we will have the service guys come out and look at it. We are blessed enough that there are guys in town that will come to the RV instead of insisting that we bring it to them. That just wouldn't work right now.

Well, so much for a quick post, but if I post again tomorrow and the next day and the next...I should be able to keep them brief and keep everyone up to date. I may steal the 'Wordless Wednesday' idea though...so tomorrow may be only a photo. We will see.