''ALBERTA CLIPPER COMIN''

It's been snowing since last Friday but not enough to accumilate any amount But she has been bitterly cold at night and some days was just like spring. Still with the weird weather. We;ve had snow warnings a few times since but has hit south or north of us. Gotta share the wealth,my nephew in Massey said they got hit pretty good. Had a meeting last night which was cancelled so i got my ride to take me up to the Seniors Complex to take my sister some fresh frozen fish and to see how she doin. She let her phone go she's been fighting with Ma Bell so i cant call her. I really should go visit her mayb take my grand-daughter with me. We got an Alberta Clipper comin and we got a snow fall warning for our area agin. Along with this is an Arctic Air Mass so expect bitterly cold temps. Sposed to be -10 to -14 range till Monday not counting wind chill. I and a friend were goin out to Tim Hortons for coffee after seeing my sis last night and i told her we better just go back home cause we were hitting white outs and the roads were drifting. Better to be safe then sorry,mayb roads were better further or maybe not. Go see my brother i guess befor storm hits,its cloudy but the sun is shining right now. Just hope the weekly power outtage does'nt continue,bad enough they calling for 6''-12'' of snow.

''THINGS ARE LOOKING UP''

Things seem to be coming my way for a change. I called the councillor liason for CORDA to find out about my grant,he said they had conferance call and they ok'd my business plan. Thats a load off my mind ,i've been trying to make my self not think about it. Only one more hoop to jump thru and they'll release the money. But i really want this ,bad,since my days of Tug or Punt fishing is on hold. Knees were givin out and you need half decent knees what with all the rocking and rolling. Im tired of livin on welfare,i'd rather work and workin for myself is even better. Although it came in handy when your not workin,earning a living is always better. So i probably will be able to start for the spring fish run and be ready for the fall run. I already have people in mind that i'll put to work. I got lots that needs to be done before money gets here,at least the waiting and wondering is over...............later.

''GUESS WHAT-DO I HEAR BRRRRRRRRRRRR''

Someone told me yesterday council said this would'nt happen agin. Maybe now they'll have a community meeting. We had thunder n lighting Thurs night snow,sleet, freezing rain a storm front thanx to the state of Oklahoma. The lights started blinking in afternoon so it was only a matter of time. They went out around 10 pm so off to bed ,they come back on a 11 pm so up i get to watch a movie out agin at 1 am. At least the power came on at 5am long enough to warm house before i got up. Good thing i had a screw driver handy to pry my doors open so i could get out. We got 3'' of froze sleet then a layer snow and a 1'' crust of ice. Dang near wrenched my knee breaking thru crust. And i skied down my steps off the deck what i thought was snow was ice covered snow at least i stayed on my feet. My poor dog a bottom watin for me did'nt know what to think. I went to my bros to thaw out before 7 am,had to break that layer before i could get his door open. Got me wondering how many other people were stuck inside,iced in. When our buddy Gus showed up he said it took him awile to get out of his house. Phones stayed on long enough for me to make sure my daughter was ok,she went to her sisters. Phone went out about 9am....damn. Our plowman came and plowed us out and the sound he made brought back memories of my tug fishing days when we used to break ice to get out to open water. Exactly the same sound when plow was breaking thru the ice. When Gus left i went home to just to see if i had power but my nephew stopped and asked if i wanted to go to Tim Hortons..sure. When we were comin home i was trying to look in houses to see if their lights were on some were on a good sign. I went up to seniors complex with my neph they had people their councilors and community members someone made soup sandwiches that was a warming station. I was there the day before ,i saw workers their they were installing a generator at least they'll have heat. So we got a place to go now when power goes out agin. Only thing different from last week it a hell of alot colder. We have a place for people to go now which is good ,good thing i got my brother next door. Storm comin ,i hope it misses us. later............

''ANOTHER COMMUNITY NOTICE''

Im gonna have to invest in a scanner. Well we got another one-

Community Notice
Re:- SNOW AND ICE STORM FEB.6,7,8,2006.
It has been brought to the attention of program supervisors and/or Chief & Council that there may be community members who feel they need to be given the opprotunity to discuss their experiences during the past storm with someone who may be able to assist them in dealing with there feelings around this event.

At this time Council is not planning a community debriefing.

Instead their gonna get counciling staff from Health Centre and Crisis Shelter to be available to people who want this service.

Don't get me wrong i don't see anything wrong with their offer,i agree some people need this to deal with this event. Like i said were not used to this in the middle of winter last time was 8-9 years ago it was only 1 1/2 -2 days. But i still believe their needs to be a community debriefing no matter if its so people can let off steam. You cant hide from this ,just look what happened to Vice Pres. Cheney
when he did'nt say anything about what happened in good time. The same thing is happening here people are jumping to conclusions,theirs enough of that already just from their administration. But i got FEELING THIS MAY BE MOSTLY FROM PEOPLE WHO DON'T ATTEND COUNCIL MEETINGS. I HAV'NT BEEN TO ONE ON OVER A MONTH BUT WHEN I WENT THERE WERE'NT TO MANY BAND MEMBERS PRESENT. [Damn caps lock im not gonna rewrite that either.] But thats not the problem at this time people not comin to meetings but even if a few come out to a community debriefing they'll get some good feed back. And maybe people won't be so angry with Chief & Council. I've been to a quite a few meetings its a learning process from what i can see so people need to come out more to meetings. I was one of those that used to sit at home and bitch about what was goin on till i joined a coupla committees and started attending council meetings. I had better attendance than some councillors was the joke there. So i myself hope they have a community meeting before the next crisis.

''COUNCIL MET ON THE PAST CRISIS''

I was just catching up on posting to Native chat Rooms and reading all my spam/e-mail. With all that has happened the past few days,i have really fallen behind. Good thing not all the rooms are busy. Oh,well i'll get caught up it's not like i got a job but soon i should here about my grant. I had another hoop i had to jump thru.
Got message on my phone that the council was holding a meeting on the past crisis. I phoned my neighbour to get update as i had a commitment already. But she said it was a supervisors meeting and on such short noctice or no notice to public. Agin this makes me think they dont want to meet with people and get ''Hell' for dropping the ball,after all we voted them in to look after our affairs and us. She also told me they said this meeting was'nt to let off steam about what happened or did'nt happen. Agin i say who better to let them know whats wrong with this picture than the people that could'nt afford motel/hotel rooms and stuck it out on the ''REZ''. Sure this is nothing compared to our brothers and sisters in the east,seems like everytime they get any kinda storm the first thing they lose is power and communication. But since thats whats been happening for years they prepare for it. Power outages are not as common around here due to storm. But years ago when Ontario Hydro cut back on there under brushing this is the result. They used to cut back and top the trees,i remember this as a kid. They used to burn the brush now they got chippers. Wonder how much this outage cost them. They just fixed a line and another tree comes down and have to fix agin. Snowplows could'nt
clear the road so hydro could get in because of fallen lines. So we lucky it was only 4 days,but they said it could go out agin. I got so many trees that got iced then snow built up that they snapped mostly ceders can't or hav'nt gone back in the bush to see how bad it is back there. This got me thinkin i better prepare for next time,instead of saying i'll do it later. Im like you guys i procrastinate why do now what you can put off till whenever. They're calling for another storm so agin im not ready if power goes off. I can hold out here to sleep,i can't leave my 2 cats and 3 dogs to fend for them selves. I had offers to stay at my sisters and daughters but i got to look after my Furry kids ,im responsible for their well being,if not i should'nt have pets. If i go away i usually get my g-son to house and pet sit. He's a good boy,good worker to although i over paid him ha,ha,ha,his help really come in handy when i had fish nets to get done before snow hit. When its minus deg., weather they're house pets. Long as i don't lose anymore food at least my pets were happy. Unless your freezer is full it don't last longer then 48 hours before things thaw out. I stuck my frozen foods outside to late. Im freezing and the inside of freezer was warmer cause water was drippin when i got something out to take to bro's to cook. And would'nt yah know it no insurance besides it's $500.00 deductable anyway can't afford that much food in my freezer.Ha,ha,ha. If we lose power agin it will be this weekend just like last week. I hope this is'nt a weekly thing till spring comes in June. I probably had more to bitch about but i forgot ,when and if i remember i fill yah in.........later.......''PREPARE NOW FOR POTENTIAL CRISIS DON'T WAIT.

''AVOIDING THE HEAT'' meet with the people.

I and my brother and our friend Gus made it thru the crisis. Gus lives up the road about 1 1/2 miles but he came over to thaw out,drink coffee and eat. I cooked us breakfast one morning. Im glad my bro has propane radiant heat,cook stove and hot water tank,so he was ok thru the blackout and dead phone. Most of all we had a place to go and warm up,he even got up earlier to open the door cause he knew we woild be by.
The power's that be sent out a flyer that kinda pissed off.......

''Welcome back to 2006 and the wonderful invention of electricity. I am sure there are those of you out there that when the hydro went out and stayed out,could remember ''the good ole days'' when hydro,thermostats and running water were not a standard of living, but a luxury. You probably fared better than some of the young ones who really didnt know life existed before the electric switch. Well,after 4 days without at least one of the above,a lot more of us feel they are a luxury too. We are thankful that the community pulled together and we all came out not to much worse for the ware. Thank you to all those community members who worked many hours to help wherever they could'' blah,blah,blah.

This was written by our band administrater probably under the direction of Chief and council. She married here and is non-native,so i cant figure out how she can remember ''the good ole days''. She does'nt know back then all houses had a wood cook stove in kitchen and a box stove in the living room. And also most homes used coal oil lamps for light. The majority of homes built before the 60's had no hydro. Another thing how would she, chief and council know how we fared during this crisis when no one came around house to house to check on ppl. My brother gets around on crutches or a moterized scooter [polio age 5-6]. I asked him if any1 came by to see how he was doin and also my elder friend up the road Mrs. Robson they both said no one came by. Even one of our councillors who has a bad foot was stuck in his house cause his wife was away stuck on our sister Rez. No one looked in on him not even any other councillor. I and others found out by flyer after the fact they had warming stations set up for soup and coffee and a place to crash if you brought own bedding.[Medical Center and Crisis Shelter] They lost power but our own acting housing manager on his own initiative went out and secured generators to power the Medical center and the Seniors Complex/apartments. Theirs something seriously wrong if they dont accept this mans application for Housing Manager. He goes above and beyond the call sometimes you dont have time to get permission from our elected body in an emergency. Beside i heard Chief and most councillors and band staff abandoned ship and went to town and got motel or hotel rooms. This is the info i got from people here and the abandoned ship came from a band member,made me laugh. It would have been nice if someone would have come by and told the people what they had in place maybe people would'nt be so mad or at least they could check house to house. We got a chief and 9 councillors[one with bad foot and had no car] plus band staff with cars and some programs with plow trucks and a voluteer fire dept. With all those people it would'nt have taken long to check on every house on the Rez. I realize not all would be able to go house to house but surly with all those people that work for us there would have been people that could. We could have had a bunch of funerals if people got sick ,with no phones to call for help and that means no Med Alert or whatever you call those''I've fallen and can't get up alarms'' But we also got people here with heart problems. We been workin on a Emergency Prepardness Plan or somthing like that for many years now and when it comes time to put something in place there's nothing. Wonder how much weve spent on it so far. So we should have a public meeting to get feed back on this crisis we had ,they should get an ear full. We voted them in so we have a right to let them know how we feel. We suffered thru it who better than us the people to give feed back weather its good or bad it needs to happen. No body likes to hear from people especially when they know they dropped the ball on a major crisis. But thats how to learn by your mistakes at least no one died or needed an ambulance at least not that i heard anyway. Another thing we been workin on since the 70's getting our own ambulance,hope i see it in my life time.

''BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR DAY 4''

That was a friggin cold night last night. Even though it was cold my fridge freezer and my freezer thawed out so i put food outside to re-freeze. Some of it thawed completely. Damn,should have checked the main freezer sooner it was dripping water. Hav'nt been able to keep full of food. But gonna have to start freezing bottled water agin prepare for next time. It will help keep cold longer. A friend came over to my bros so i made breakfast for all of us. Power's on in town so our buddy went shopping for food you dont have to cook. He said the shelves were bare at the IGA. Faskback to Y2K. My bud went to my place to get tea bags and he phoned me and said my power was on. Two pm this aft my power n phone came on or there abouts. First thing i did was phone my daughter to see if her sister was out there with her. I worry to much thats why i got grey so soon. After i moved home to look after my kids i got grey hair fast. I went home at 3 pm and my furnace was still running it quit about 4:30 pm or so. Took that long to heat my house and it gonna cycle more often till the house gets heated up agin. I gotta go online n let my chat buds know im not froze and phone the family.

''BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR DAY 4''

That was a friggin cold night last night. Even though it was cold my fridge freezer and my freezer thawed out so i put food outside to re-freeze. Some of it thawed completely. Damn,should have checked the main freezer sooner it was dripping water. Hav'nt been able to keep full of food. But gonna have to start freezing bottled water agin prepare for next time. It will help keep cold longer. A friend came over to my bros so i made breakfast for all of us. Power's on in town so our buddy went shopping for food you dont have to cook. He said the shelves were bare at the IGA. Faskback to Y2K. My bud went to my place to get tea bags and he phoned me and said my power was on. Two pm this aft my power n phone came on or there abouts. First thing i did was phone my daughter to see if her sister was out there with her. I worry to much thats why i got grey so soon. After i moved home to look after my kids i got grey hair fast. I went home at 3 pm and my furnace was still running it quit about 4:30 pm or so. Took that long to heat my house and it gonna cycle more often till the house gets heated up agin. I gotta go online n let my chat buds know im not froze and phone the family.

''BRRRRRRRRRRRRR DAY 3''

That was a bit colder,i decided to sleep on re-cliner. My cats slept with me one on me and the other climbed under the covers. My drywall lost the heat it had stored so it gettin colder. If my cats are cold then agin mayb they just like me. My dogs are in to its cold for them if it goes below -5 i bring the animals in. My dad always did and his dad beside back then all dogs were indoor/outdoor house dogs.Still no phone and nobody came around here or my brothers to check to see how we were doin. My bros had power on more than its off. Yesterday the 3rd 1/4 of Super Bowl and power went off. I was on comp and same thing got my e-mail sent anyway. Had to let my aunt know we ok since phones are dead she be gettin worried. They said our power be on 10 am,4pm,8pm now 10pm. When it was Ontario Hydro they made big cut backs so they dont cut back the trees like they used to. Wonder how much money they saved and now i wonder how much it gonna cost to fix all the lines that are dowm. They fix one area then a tree comes down and they gotta go back and fix it agin. I don't expect my power till tomorrow or next day. Another storm front comin depending who you listen to. Well go home and crawl into my caccoon.

''Brrrrrrrr,Day 2''

Got up at 6am ,went to my bros at 7:00 to thaw out and cook breakfast. Mayb i should get propane cook stove. His power came on about 10 am so i got on comp to check my spam. Waitin for an e-mail. But the phones are still out. I needed a coffee real bad so i boiled some water and put the basket from his coffee maker in it. Im so smart it scare's me sometime's. Im glad he's got propane so he has heat n can cook. Power still blinks on n off. Radio said mayb by 10 am tomorrow power will be restored then my side should have power. I wont hold my breath. I go back n forth hoping my power will be on. Drywall retains heat so my house should'nt get real cold to soon. Maybe to-night will be colder. Stay here n watch tv till 10 or till power goes out.

''COLDEST FEW DAYS IN AWHILE''

This was the coldest few days i've spent indoors in awhile. The late 70's when me Eugene,Franklin,Charlie and Fred spent the winter in the tin shacks up in Willow Creek our hunting grounds. We were up there logging,to make lumber to build cheaper housing. At least that was the plan but we got took by the white man agin. Thats a story for another time. Ok ,where was i,before i interupted myself. It was real wet snow and damn near rain all afternoon and towards evening she really started to come down. We were supposed to get plain old snow and furthur south was to get what we got.Well anyway on Saturday night i was watchin Toronto Maple Leafs winning 4-0 and during 2nd intermission the lights blinked off and on and they finally went out. Not long after the phones went dead. I was able to phone my daughter to see if they were ok. I worry more about people than when i was younger.My bro's lights next door were on ,he's on a separate line. I guess every 2nd or 3rd house on the same line to spread power surge when power comes back on. Learn somthing every day. My bro will be ok he has propane radiant heaters,cooking stove n water heater. So i got a place to go thaw out and cook.Early to bed 2 night hard to read by candle light.

''HAPPY MARMOTDAY''2006

Well,Wiarton Willie did'nt see his shadow so it gonna be an early spring. I did'nt even attempt to find a way to the Festival. Saw it a coupla years ago and was'nt really impressed,gotten to commercial now. Just like everything else that started out as a community event. Hope he's right or he be gettin death threats agin,like he did a few years ago.