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November 2007 |
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19 November- Marie's out of the water
Yeah... Marie is finally out of the water, we managed to get her out only a few days after the last update, it wasn't easy though!! The level of the lake had risen since our last attempt but still not as high as we would have liked. We thought we had better give it a go anyway as it had rained quite a lot and we didn't know if we would get the same oppertunity again, the level of the water could just as easily go back down again.
We began by emptying the boat as much as we could, taking all the anchors, books, fuel etc, etc off to try and make her as light as possible, then we took the plunge, it all went pretty well and we managed to get quite close in to the marina this time before we hit the bottom, it is a soft mud bottom mixed with some fairly hefty bolders, so we had to be careful, we managed to plough her through the first bit of mud with just our engine, then the guys from the marina came out to help us with the rest, they then manage to drage us fairly swiftly through the mud up to the marina entrance where we hit rock, we were so close yet so far away, we couldn't give up, so we were pushed and pulled in every direction until we finally began to move again and got into the deeper water of the marina. I can't tell you how happy we were to get in there. The days have started getting colder and we fear it won't be that much longer before the lake really begins to freeze. So she is all tucked up in the marina now just awaiting a winter cover.
Click here to see pictures of Marie coming out of the water and life on the farm
Back on the farm we have brung back hay loads stored at another farm, winterized drinking troughs, spilt wood, covered the porch to stop the snow, ice and wind getting in, cleared rooms, plasticized windows, fed horses and pulled down a barn! We also looked after the farm for 2 weeks whilst Isabelle went away to a horse fair, luckily there were no crazy horse accidents.
Click here to see picture of the old Barn coming down
The deer hunting season has been upon us for the last 2 weeks, Isabelle and Andre don't usually allow hunting on their land but will make allowences for family. Andre's father Lucian has hunted for most of his life, so he was down this season after his yearly Buck. Stuart went along with him for a few days to see how it all worked. It looked as though this year Lucian would come back empty handed but on the very last day he managed to pull the rabit out of the hat (or the Buck out of the woods!)
Now hunting really isn't my kind bag but it is interesting to see someone like Lucian go about it. The process itself is actually very spiritual, he spends days in the woods tracking the animals, he gets to know the different deer and when and where they are likely to appear, the sounds of their calls, their hoof prints, the whole nature of their way of life. Its actually quite beautiful if only they didn't end up dead! But I can see how someone could get satisfaction from hunting their own food this way. The animal isn't killed purely for the sake of it, all the meat will be stored for eating throughout the year and there is something kind of honest about actually killing your own meat. Seeing what it was alive, taking the responsibility of its death, gutting it, cleaning it up and butchering it, rather than just going to a super market and buying a sterile, nicely cut, neatly packaged steak that you don't have to think about it origins. But I suppose the question is, is it really necessary? There are also a lot of hunters out there that are just 'trigger happy, want to kill something' people and there is still a lot of poaching going on around here. Not every one abides by the rules.
Click here to see pictures of hunting or not if you are vegetarian! (Some people may find some of the photos disturbing, Lyndsey and Zoe don't look!)
Anyway enough about the right and wrongs of hunting (we even have the heart and liver in the fridge, that would go well with faver beans and a nice Chianti fer, fer, fer, fer, fer!!)
We have booked flights back to the UK for 2 months over christmas, which I'm very excited about, haven't been back home for nearly 3 years and I love Christmas, all that drinking, eating and being merry!! Can't wait to catch up with everyone there, a little less enthusiastic about getting a job but we will have to. So if anyone out there wants to give us a very highly paid job whilst we are back just give us a shout, or it may end up being Macky D's!!