22nd November

There are a number of things I need to tell you about in today's posting. First of all I have obviously upset an awful lot of people by my fishing and hunting exploits. I have received abusive comments, threats and just plain insulting comments. So to those nameless, anonymous cowards who won't even sign their name I would like to say;

GET OVER IT AND HERE IS A PICTURE OF MY RIFLE

This blog was first of all set up for family and friends to keep a track of what we are up to and as a diary. If you don't like what you read or what we are doing then the choice is easy, don't read it. Anyone is free to leave comments and it is good to receive these but from now on only signed comments will be posted. All that said I would like to thank the genuine readers and hope you continue to follow this blog.

Gary found out this week that he has lost his job and as from yesterday is unemployed. That really is typical of the construction industry at this time of year. As temperatures reached -16c (-21c with wind chill) this week there isn't a lot of outdoor work. So job hunting starts all over again for him.

Sue really is doing well in her job, what started as part time has turned into more than full time. The last two weeks she has done 96 hours. As she has now proved she is capable they are trusting her more and more, she has even been training new staff this week.

Craig is still working at Safeway, and also getting quite a few hours. He is still dating Jacey, been a few months now.

You may have noticed that I haven't really posted a lot about my job recently. I have also had a number of comments criticising me for changing jobs!!!! Things haven't been going all that well in this one either. The trucks and trailers have proved not to be the most reliable. In the few short weeks I have been there I have had 3 major breakdowns costing me time and causing me to lose money. I have been trying to get him to fit new tires on the trailer for 2 weeks. There is not any preventative maintenance carried out on the vehicles, the trucks get an oil change every 15000 miles and that's it. Last week I lost 2 wheel studs, the rest were loose and he wanted me to drive to the nearest tire shop to get it repaired. I refused and it turned out I needed 2 new wheels and a new hub, they took 3 working days to repair it. This week I have some kind of electrical problem on the truck, the ECU I think. I will be driving down the interstate and the engine will just die, I lose everything, lights, power steering the lot. Then it won't start, leave it a while, keep trying then eventually I get ignition lights and it starts again. I was on my way to Elrosa Mn this week and in a 30 mile stretch it done this 4 times. Had a shop look at it, clean all battery leads and terminals but couldn't find anything. Next morning it done it twice in a 10 mile drive to my delivery so called in again and was told to head to Fergus Falls and see how it goes. It actually went ok till I got to my load point in Fergus Falls, it cut out once while loading and once while scaling out. Was told to start heading home and see how it goes. To cut a long story short I got it back but don't know what happens next week now, I can't risk taking it anywhere, if it cuts out or dies during the night I still have no night heater, that hasn't worked since the second night in the truck so the truck idles 24 hours a day to keep it warm. We will see how this all turns out, winter really isn't a good time to try and find other work.

16th November 2008

Still haven't had any luck on my hunting trips although Jason got a nice Doe on Friday evening. As we are not allowed to hunt on Sundays in this part of Manitoba I decided a little bit of practice would be good with a new gun. I was getting a nice grouping at 200 yards after small adjustments on my scope, so quite happy with that.
It has been snowing lightly for most of the day here and they are forecasting temperatures of 13c below freezing tonight. Roads could be a little slick in the morning.

14th November 2008

WELL DONE GARY, KNEW YOU COULD DO IT

We now have another driver in the family, Gary. He passed his driving test on Wednesday at the first attempt. Now we have a house full of drivers it's getting harder to get the car when I need it, you have to be up early, "first up best dressed" as they say.

The posting about hunting certainly caused some reaction. Some will be pleased to hear that I didn't get anything when I went out on Tuesday but I will be trying again today.

For those interested here is an article taken from "??????" magazine.

Article removed at the request of the editor of the magazine, although I fail to understand why.

10th November 2008

Thought this comment below was worth seeing on the front page rather than hiding in the comments on my blog. To read it as posted please see the comments on 8th November.

"Hi Dave, I have followed your blog since you left Lewis Tankers way back when. You have had a great adventure which is ongoing and I wish you and your family the best for the future. I have to say how disappointed I am in you with your wish to go Deer Hunting. I did not ever think from all your writings that you would kill for killings sake or for the fun of it? Fishing is one thing as they can be thrown back but a Deer? When you get bored what next Dave? Moose, Bear endangered species?You are working at your third job since arriving in Canada and I am of the opinion you did Big Freight as much of an injustice as they did you and the same seems to be of HyTek. I wondered if those accounts would be on your cv for prospective employers of the future?I have read other accounts of drivers working and living in Canada and yours was one of the best....I now have to have a rethink or give your blog a miss if your gun exploits and photos are included. I guess others may be of the same thoughts and feelings as myself."
09 November 2008 15:22

Thank you for your comments Anonymous, yes I call you that because you happened to forget to sign your posting. My family would also like to thank you for your best wishes, now that is out of the way I would like to respond to your comments and I will deal with them one at a time.

1. You know absolutely nothing about me or my family or even our situation here in Canada apart from what you read here so how can you claim to know the reason for me deciding to go hunting. As for killing for killing sake or for pleasure, wrong again, it will put food on our table and that of many other people.

2."Get bored of it", if I do get bored of it then I will find another way of enjoying the great outdoors. "Moose, bear, endangered species" Well the first two are hunted legally but not the last one, sorry to disappoint you. Yes I may well hunt those two named species.

3. Please explain what my employment history has to do with you disagreeing to my hunting and more to the point what has it got to do with you at all. Just for the record, if I am unhappy at work or treated unfairly then I will move on and yes they will all be on my cv I have nothing to hide. The sad, unhappy ones are the ones that stick at jobs they don't like and why? What for?
I won't so get over it.

All you have done here is prove how narrow minded some people can be. Do you ever, or have, eaten meat? Man has been killing animals for different reasons since the beginning of time. In case you may be the slightest bit interested they actually call it harvesting here in North America, ask yourself why.
I am not going to waste my time checking out statistics but if you care so much do it for yourself but check out how much damage is caused every year by these animals, to crops, houses, land, property, vehicles. I would even go so far to suggest that there are as many insurance claims for vehicle damage due to wild animals than by other drivers.
So sorry that you will be giving my blog a miss but my blog is here for those that are interested in us as a family, who we are, what we are up to and where we are going.
Have a good week and I am going hunting tomorrow. I will let you know how I get on.

8th November 2008

Just last week I was saying that winter is approaching fast. It arrived this week and it obviously came as a bit of surprise to some. It also gave me a strong reminder of how easy it is to find yourself in the same situation as in the pics above. First came the freezing rain then it snowed on top, very slippy. This time of year and then again at the end of winter makes for some of the most dangerous driving. In a few weeks it will be so cold that there is no moisture in the air, it doesn't rain and there is nothing to freeze. Right now we can't even see out our front windows at home, it has rained overnight and is currently -6 Centigrade.

Got my gun licence in the post this week so going to Cabellas and Wholesale Sports to spend some more money.

Leaving on Sunday this week to go to Minnesota, Tuesday is a holiday here, remembrance day, and I am taking Friday off to go deer hunting.

Think my next job will be at Timmys!!!

DRIVE SAFE!

2nd November 2008

Winter is approaching fast and I wanted to be able to get both cars in the garage overnight so we needed somewhere else to store all the gardening equipment, bikes, boat stuff, bbq, lawn chairs and just all the general junk we have collected already. So now there isn't enough room in the house for us all to sleep I needed to find somewhere else, hence the shed!!!
I broke down in the truck on Tuesday and had to get towed to Winnipeg where it would take all day Wednesday to repair so I spent the day doing a couple of odd jobs that needed doing and then the afternoon putting up the shed and moving in. It's quite cosy really, when the sun is out, and doesn't leak.
Due to the breakdown this week I have eventually been separated from Neil and tomorrow morning I am taking a load of potash that I loaded in Esterhazy, Saskatchewan on Friday down to Jeffers, Minnesota and then will reload in Volga South Dakota to deliver to Steinbach, Manitoba on Tuesday, a cool 1620 miles round trip to start my week.