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November 1st 2012

Published: May 10th 2013

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A Little Close to the Plant

If we are gonna camp, Linda must learn to drive the camper, hook up and unhook. A close call for the hanging plant.

Summer in Saskatchewan is always so beautiful and such a special place to be! We enjoyed our family, went camping, and attended the Blanchette family union in Meota at the end of July.

We were able secure an extended family camping site at Meota Regional Park. About 15 people camped with us in our designated site. We registered and enjoyed the social on Friday, and on Saturday we hosted the many visitors that came to the group site with coffee and a little fruit. Most brought something to add to the group effort including tarps to protect us from the sun's blistering rays. A short walk or drive got people down to the beach area to cool off and visit more. Later in the afternoon, we headed to Vawn for the family church service, followed, of course, by our traditional visit to the Vawn bar. We then returned to Meota and enjoyed a fabulous banquet followed by a lively evening of singing and dancing, thanks to the live band. Sunday morning found the families saying their farewells after the pancake breakfast, and heading their separate ways. We spent a few days at the lake after the family event enjoying the

Grandpa Maurice and Tai

Beginning of July in Saskatoon. Time to stand says grandpa.

best of Saskatchewan.

Then, in mid-August, we realized that once summer was over we would find ourselves with time in our hands. Not wanting to be bored, we made plans to keep busy.

Linda obtained her school bus driver's license and began driving a school bus on a temporary basis. She also placed her name on the sub list with the Saskatoon School Division. Soon after, the calls to sub came, usually for Mayfair School. Days were full for Linda, tending to Tai, our newest grandson, and assisting her folks in Langham, as well as driving for school excursions and substitute teaching.

Maurice renewed his class 1A license. He began driving a tractor and tridem for a private individual hauling topsoil right in Saskatoon. Starting August 16th, Maurice rose at 5:15AM to begin his driving duties, with most days ending with his arrival home around 7:30PM. At first Maurice got Sunday off but that soon turned into an option that arrived only when it was too wet to drive. A few break downs gave us time to catch up on home and family commitments. Often we fit those commitments in when not attending to the truck. In

Alfred's 96th Birthday

We celebrated Dad's 96th Birthday at the Dragon Palace. Check out the tractor on the ice cream cake.

early October, while the truck was being repaired and prepared for the next job, Maurice found time to help Tyler on the farm with harvesting. When he returned from the farm a new hauling assignment began. Maurice went out of town, about 4 hours away, to Porcupine Plain. He would haul and stock pile gravel for as long as he wanted to. He committed to work until Nov 8th. The weather got quite bad with snow and freezing conditions making a logging road full of curves and hills very dangerous. In the truck by 5:30AM, and returning for supper in a restaurant at 8PM, then back to the hotel to make the following days lunch was the normal routine, 7 days a week. Luckily the truck broke down on Nov. 2nd, and Maurice returned home, exhausted.

We soon had flights booked for November 23rd to Mexico and warmer weather. We crammed in as much visiting as we could, interspersed with shoveling snow. The snow was here to stay on October 23rd. We tolerated winter for a month while managing to get most of our Christmas shopping done and gifts wrapped before we left on November 23rd, and planned our

Bennett With Pony

Tyler and Kim help Bennett ride his pony at their farm.

return for December 23rd in timto join the Christmas Festivities.

We'll miss our families and the lunches, meals and gatherings we often have. We'll miss driving when and where we please. We'll miss the English language as it is not spoken readily where we go. We'll miss our bed because we are off to bed hop for a month.

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