Close Call

Morgan Cox has spent the last 12 years of his life working construction in Resolute Bay, the second most northern community in Canada. The best part of his ten months away from home is usually the flight back to his wife and Michelle and their two young children each December. Not this time.
Cox, 11 other passengers and two crew members aboard a chartered flight from Resolute Bay to Yellowknife experienced a rough landing when the aircraft missed the runway in Cambridge Bay while attempting to land for a scheduled fuel stop. Instead of hitting the runway they landed in an icy, rocky field about 1.5 kilometres south of the runway at 1:45 a.m. MT on Saturday, December 13th.
Cox was up front, directly behind the pilot. “I could see the runway lights right there and I watched the pilot do his thing. He put the flaps down and did all the normal stuff they do for a landing, but then we started to descend faster and faster and then we hit solid,” he says.
Cox says it took about ten seconds for his life to flash before his eyes. When he realized he was still alive he and the other passengers aboard got out of the plane as quickly as they could. “When we hit everyone on her was like they were frozen for about half a minute but then we got out pretty fast. The passengers on the left side of the plane had seen fire coming out of the engines on their side just before we crashed, so we pretty much were in a rush to get out. Thinking back now I can’t believe how calm we all were.”
Incredibly, no one was seriously injured.
There were other Newfoundlanders aboard. Besides Cox’s brother, Wayne, from Terrenceville there were two other men from the Burin Peninsula and another from the Mount Pearl area. All were trying to get home to their family’s in time for Christmas.
The men, all dressed in light layers for travel, took a moment to assess their odds in the -41 degree temperatures. The plane itself was a “write off” according to Cox. While the left side of the plane was almost like new the right side-the side he had been traveling on-was practically destroyed. Also destroyed was the nose of the plane, the tip of the right wing, the engine and the landing gear. “The moon was out and you could see off about 100 feet away from where we landed was all these rocks. If we would have hit that instead of the softer snow where we struck then you wouldn’t be talking to me today,” he says. The men waited to see if the plane would catch fire. When they felt it was safe enough, and the cold began to set in, the men climbed back on board to wait for rescue. “We bundled up in these engine blankets and those emergency blankets and just waited.”
The pilot had a cell phone and called for help. The rough landing also set off the airplane's transmitter beacon and a local resident discovered the downed plane 40 minutes after it crashed. Within four hours everyone was transported by snowmobile into Cambridge Bay to be assessed before being flown to Yellowknife on another Summit Air plane. From there the men took a flight to Edmonton, changed planes and headed for home.
“It was rough having to get on the same kind of airplane you just crashed in, but there was no other way home so we didn’t have much choice.” Cox and the other men just wanted to get home as fast-and as safely-as they could.
While the voice recorder from the airplane's cockpit has been sent to Ottawa for analysis and investigators with the federal Transportation Safety Board were investigating the incident Cox says the pilots were saying the crash was caused by “an optical illusion.” “The pilots said that weather like we had that night plays tricks on the eyes and they just missed their mark as they were landing. They said we went down too fast.”
Whatever the cause, Cox says he is just happy to be home. “It didn’t really hit me until I pulled into the driveway. Then I realized what a close call it really was.”

Melina's Tale

Chatting with Melinda Flannigan breaks my heart. She and I live similar lives-her husband, Freddie, works in Alberta on a 20 and eight rotation- yet somehow her story seems so much more tragic than mine. While I often laugh about and celebrate the lifestyle that allows our family to remain in rural Newfoundland, she is sad-guilty even- much of the time. “When I had to drop Freddie off this last time so he could go away I think it was the hardest time ever,” she says. Freddie will miss their sixth wedding anniversary on July 13th. Blair missed our last two-our 17th and 18th . While we didn’t pay much attention to either one Melinda is genuinely broken hearted. She fills up so often during our chat that I find myself questioning my own reactions as I live the life of an oil patch widow.
“Each time he leaves I think it gets worse. No matter how many times we go through this it never gets any easier,” she tells me. While sometimes I admit the leaving can be tough, for me it’s more the day or so before that things seem the roughest. Instead of becoming sad, I usually turn a little surly. So much to be done around the house and Blair’s gone trouting? Or hanging out down on the wharf? The man might as well be away, I tell myself. And often, I believe it. I step into her raw, emotion-filled shoes for a moment and I feel something so uncomfortable I quickly discard them. My way is better, I decide.
Melinda and I have a few things in common. Our husbands have been working a similar rotation for around the same length of time-just over 16 months. They both held jobs close to home before going back to school to get a trade, one that would put them in high demand in the Alberta Oil Sands- her husband is a third-year pipe fitter, mine a second-year Instrumentation Mechanic. Our husbands both worked away for a longer period of time-mine six and hers three months-before securing rotation work. We both have only children-she an almost five year-old daughter, me an 11 year- old son.
But there are also many differences. I live in an outport, she in an urban centre- Marystown- a place where I thought having an absentee spouse wouldn’t be a huge deal. After all, everything she needs is right at her finger tips. She isn’t nearly as isolated as I am. Right? According to Melinda, those differences only serve to makes things worse. First of all, while I live amongst a group of women living the same life, raising children under similar circumstances, she is the only oil-patch widow in her peer group. “I’m always feeling left out. Isolated. There’s no one I can call on who understands,” she says. She is also close enough to employment opportunities to question, almost on a daily basis, their current lifestyle. Having the shipyard close is a constant reminder of what could be, she tells me. I have twelve years on the 26 year-old Melinda and I wonder how I would have reacted being away from my husband for that long at such a young age. Having a daughter also seems to make a difference. Where our son seems fine, accepting a revolving door daddy as normal, (he is, after all, just like the rest of his buddies) their young daughter, Kalei, cries for her daddy regularly-especially at night. “She wonders why her daddy can’t be home for supper like poppy is, or she’ll ask why so-and so’s daddy is home while hers isn’t.”
“He’s missing so much of our daughters life. So much he isn’t here to see that it kills me emotionally,” she says, crying once more. This time she gets me and I find myself holding back tears of my own. We will soon have a new baby, one who will experience many firsts, firsts my husband could quite possibly miss. I struggle to regain my composure, but this time, she has me. “I call women like us part-time single mom’s. We have to do all the disciplining while at the same time providing our children with enough love, patience and understanding to make up for the parent whose away,” she says.
Melinda does her best, but there is one thing she says she hasn’t quite figured out how to handle. “When Kalei cries for her daddy there seems nothing I can do to ease her pain, so I let her cry, even as my own heart breaks for her and for me,” she says.
While Melinda outlines things she finds the hardest, she also reminds me that our husbands have it worse. “Freddie will try to call when he can, but sometimes with the time difference it can be difficult,” she says. Freddie experiences his own bout of the guilt’s while away, she says. “He’s sad for me, thinking of what I have to deal with alone. He’ll cry on the phone or when he has to leave to catch his flight.”
Before I fall apart, I change the subject. Let’s talk about the money, I prod her, looking for a smile. No doubt, that is a bonus, she says. Still, even that doesn’t quite cut it for her. Three years ago their family lived in a run down apartment. They had no vehicle. Today they own their own home and have a car to drive. “I know you can’t live off nothing, but sometimes I question if it’s really all worth it,” she says.
“When I go to bed each night there’s only an empty feeling. No one to talk to, no one to cuddle with. Do you find that?” she asks.
Part of me wants to tell her that it gets easier, to toughen up, but I can’t. Again I choke up and I have to acknowledge something I’d rather not admit to.
Melinda lives with the hope that her husband might be home working for Kiewit soon. Home for supper each evening after a hard day working at the shipyard. Freddie has already applied. It reminds me to send an application in for Blair-something we haven’t gotten around to doing yet.
Again, I wonder about how hard-hearted I have become. I decide I couldn’t live like Melinda does everyday-so sad with raw emotion. Its not that those same emotions aren’t there; I just choose to ignore them.
A chat with Melinda shows just how close to the surface those feelings really are. And I’m not sure how to quite feel about that.

I'm Fine and Other Lies...

It has been a tragic Christmas for too many throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.
Residents of Bell Island recently laid to rest three children who died in a house fire just five days before Christmas and while the community of Upper Island Cove hasn't given up the search for two teenagers who went missing when their ATV went over a cliff into the water below, all that has been recovered thus far is the ATV the were riding and one boot.Then, on Boxing Day, an accident in St. John’s claimed the lives of two men in their 40's when one vehicle turned the wrong way into oncoming traffic. Tragic indeed. But the weeks leading up to the holiday’s weren’t much brighter. A 20 year old woman from Corner Brook was killed in a traffic accident on the Trans Canada Highway on Dec. 18th when a westbound car and an eastbound pickup truck collided near Goobies in the middle of the afternoon. And, on December 3, a hunter from Brooklyn, Bonavista Bay was reported missing after he failing to return home. Police and Search and Rescue converged on the small community in an effort to find the 28 year old, but those efforts failed.
That same week a French cargo vessel was lost just south of Marystown off the Burin Peninsula. Four men were killed after the Cap Blanc got into trouble in three-metre seas, as the winds gusted to 63 kms/hr.
And there was more tragic and heartbreaking headlines hailing from Afghanistan. Pte. Justin Peter Jones was killed after a roadside bomb destroyed the vehicle he and his platoon were travelling in. He was buried in his hometown of Baie Verte the day before Christmas Eve.
With each new headline Karen Coultas found facing the holiday’s with cheer and merriment more difficult. “I just know what the parents of every dear, precious child who is lost are going through. Every time I hear someone else’s child has died it brings me right back to the day Zachary died. The pain is indescribable,” she says.
Coultas lost her six year-old son, Zachary, when he was struck by a dump truck while out riding his bicycle in their Airport Heights neighbourhood.
Coultas says going through the experience of loosing any loved one is difficult enough, but loosing a child is something no one should ever have to go through, yet so many do.
“When someone become a parent, there is no denying it; life changes. From the very beginning children take on the highest priority and most parents go to great lengths to keep their children safe. We forgo sleep, energy and privacy, placing a child's needs ahead of our own. Our goal is to protect them from danger,” she says. “No one deserves to go through the pain of loosing a child. No one.”
Since Zachary’s death there are strong, powerful emotions Coultas says she deals with every day. Shock, check. Disbelief, check. Anger. “Oh, I’ve been in and out of that one, let me tell you,” she says. Anger at the truck driver, anger at herself for allowing her son out of her sight. The list of emotional up’s and down’s is endless, she says.
What Coultas is going through is heartbreakingly common for those grieving the loss of a child, explains Colleen Wells, a manager for pastoral care and ethics with Eastern Health. “When a child dies it’s quite natural for parents to experience an over-whelming sense of failure; their protective efforts failed. No matter what age a child is when they die parents feel the death was unfair for the natural order of things is for a parent to die first. Anything else is surely against nature,” she says.
Mary Steele, a grieving mother and local founder of Compassionate Friends agrees.
“Mothers care for young children both physical and emotionally. We’ve fed them, bathed them, changed and dressed them, cuddled them and held them in our arms,” she says. Whether family’s have been through a long, all consuming battle with an illness, or suffer from the trauma that a sudden death brings, the circumstances don‘t seem to matter more than the basic raw fact that a child is forever gone and each death brings its own particular burdens, she explains.
But there are things that family and friends of someone who has lost a child can do to help.
The first thing you must do is reach out. “When you loose a child you feel like a diseased person no one wants to be around. Everyone feels awkward. People are afraid to say or do anything that might make you cry, so sadly many just stay away and that’s definitely the wrong thing to do,” explains Coultas.
Steele agrees. “The best thing for anyone to do is just say whatever they feel emotionally. If you feel sorry, say so. If you feel sad, express that. Sometimes though just saying nothing is best. If your afraid something spoken might backfire, then just offer a hug and leave it at that,” she says.
There are certainly things you shouldn’t say in such circumstances. Steele lost her 15 year-old son, Danny to suicide just days before Christmas in 1988 and she says she could write a book on what not to say. “Some told me to be grateful for my other children. Others questioned the circumstances of the death, which wasn’t helpful to me at all at the time. But the worst was the people who just avoided me altogether. I needed to talk about Danny. I needed other people to talk about him, to say they missed him like I did. I still need people to talk about him today,” she says.



Never assume someone is over the death of a child, no matter how long ago it occurred, she advises.
That is something Coultas is finding particularly challenging as she faces her second year of grief. “All the firsts; the first birthday without Zachary, the first day of school when he wasn’t there and all the other children were, the first Halloween, the first Christmas, everyone reached out to me on those occassions, but now that all the firsts are over with its almost like I’m supposed to be cured and done with it,” she says. Coultas says she is far from done.

Kay Kennedy lost her son Kevin when he was killed in Afghanistan. “It will be two years this April and all my firsts were a blur,” she says. In fact Kennedy is finding her second Christmas without Kevin worst that the first. “That first year I was like on auto-pilot. I was on the ball. I had everything bought, wrapped and ready to go in November. This year I was lucky to get the tree up.”
Kennedy says sometimes shock and denial was all that got her through that first year. “That’s why having people reach out to me now is so important. I don’t want Kevin to be forgotten and to forget that I’m grieving is to forget that he was ever here if that makes sense,” she says.
Reaching out, mention his name, and see what happens, she says.
Kennedy has another tip; don’t criticize or question the response you get in return. “Many times memories of Kevin will make me cry, but other times they might make me laugh. Either is fine, don’t expect me to be always happy, but don’t expect to find me always sad and depressed either,” she says.
Steele has some advise for those who are dealing the loss of a loved one. “Always remember that person lived and its fine to remember them however you feel appropriate,” she advised. For some it might be a special ornament, or displaying a photo. For others creating a quiet spot in a garden might work best. “Grief and grieving is unique, even though there are things that are common in every case its important to recognize that grieving is almost an anything goes and expect anything emotion.”
“Bottom line is you do what you can do and do your own little thing to remember your child. If you want to veg out and go for a walk, by all means, do that. If you’d rather surround yourselves with friends and family, well, that’s fine also.”
Bottom line is to combine grieving into your life in whatever healthy way you can for however long it takes, she says.
There are no time limits on grief.
Impact of Loss: The Grieving ProcessWhen a loved one is dying or dies, there is a grieving process. Recovery is a slow and emotionally painful one. The grieving process can be less painful if you try to understand that loss and grief is a natural part of life. Try to believe in yourself. Believe that you can cope with tragic happenings. Let your experience be a personal growth process that will help you to deal with future stressful events.
The grieving process usually consists of the following stages. Note that not everyone goes through all these stages.
Denial and ShockAt first, it may be difficult for you to accept death of a loved. As a result you will deny the reality of death. However, this denial will gradually diminish as you begin to express and share your feelings about death and dying with other family member friends.
AngerDuring this stage the most common question asked is "why me? ". You are angry at what you perceive to be the unfairness of death and you may project and displace your anger unto others. When given some social support and respect, you will eventually become less angry and able to move into the next stage of grieving.
BargainingMany grieving individuals try to bargain with God. They probably try to bargain and offer to give up an enjoyable part of their lives in exchange for the return of health or the lost person.
GuiltYou may find yourself feeling guilty for things you did or didn't do prior to the loss. Accept your humanness. You accepted the humanness of the person who died. They would want you to do the same for you. Sometimes there can be indignities that your loved one went through. When you have a harsh flashback consider the huge challenge they faced and the courage they displayed.
DepressionYou have experienced a great loss. Mood fluctuations and feelings of isolation and withdrawal may follow. It takes time to become socially involved in what's going on around you.
Please note that encouragement and reassurance to the bereaved may or may not be helpful in this stage.
LonelinessAs you go through changes in your social life because of the loss, you may feel lonely and afraid. The more you are able to reach out to others and make new friends, the more this feeling lessens.
AcceptanceAcceptance does not mean happiness. Instead you accept and deal with the reality of the situation.
HopeEventually you will reach a point where remembering will be less painful and you can begin to look ahead to the future with hope, as your loved one would want you to.
Ways to Cope with Death and Dying
Discuss feelings such as loneliness, anger, and sadness openly and honestly with family and friends.
Maintain hope.
If your religious convictions are important to you, talk to a member of the clergy about your beliefs and feelings.
Join a support group.
Take good care of yourself. Eat well-balanced meals. Get moderate exercise and plenty of rest.
Be patient with yourself. It takes time to heal. Some days will be better than others.

A New Look at the Old

The new Health Care Centre is now open in Grand Bank (see press release below) but local photographer Travis Parsons of Vinland Photography recently found himself lost in thought wandering the old cottage hospitial there-more images can be found on his Vineland Photography Facebook site or on his website.

Grand Bank District MHA Darin King called the official opening of the Grand Bank Health Care Center a great day for the community as well as the residents to be served by the facility. MHA King was joined by Health and Community Services Minister, Ross Wiseman , Grand Bank Mayor, Rex Matthews, Eastern Health Board Chair, Joan Dawe, Eastern Health Board Trustee Wayne Bolt, Eastern Health Chief Operating Officer for the Peninsula ’s, Pat Coish-Snow, and many other community residents and employee’s of Eastern Health.

“This is a tremendous event for Grand Bank and the surrounding communities who are served by the Grand Bank Health Care Center ”, MHA King said. ”This is a very progressive and dynamic facility which will result not only in improved services for patients, but it will also see much-needed improvements to working conditions for employees who are here on a daily basis.”

The MHA indicated that residents have been very patient, and have waited a long time for this day. “The old Grand Bank Cottage Hospital was certainly a great facility for the residents it served, in it’s day,” King said, “but it has out-lived it’s life span. There was a great need for a new, modern facility to better serve the residents, and to provide for better, more modern facilities in which medical personnel are able to assist patients.”

Grand Bank Mayor Rex Matthews also expressed delight with the facility opening. “This is a tremendous and exciting day for the Grand Bank/Fortune area,” Mayor Matthews said. “Citizens have been waiting a long time for such a facility, given the poor condition of the old cottage hospital.”

Mayor Matthews indicated that this new facility will be beneficial to all residents of the area it serves. “Good quality health care is vital to the well being of our people. This wonderful facility, along with all the staff who continue to provide the best patient care, will be a major improvement in the delivery of health care services. I am delighted that this day has finally arrived, and I commend and thank all those who worked so hard with the town to make this day a reality.”

This new primary health care center, valued at approximately $7.7 million dollars, will provide clinic and office space for up to five physicians, 24-hour emergency care, out-patient clinics, laboratory and x-ray services. As well, the community services component will provide clinic and office accommodations for community health providers.

Worserer and Worserer

Ok, so I know 'worserer' ain't a real word, but it fits.

...and as Blair reaches out to his old Alberta contacts he finds none are currently working...

From CBC;

http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2009/01/22/suncor-union.html

A move by an Alberta oilsands giant to put expansion plans on hold will have a dire effect on workers on the other side of the country, a union official says.
Suncor, the second-largest producer in the oilsands, declared its first-ever quarterly loss this week and shelved activity on the Voyageur and Firebag expansion projects.
Anne Geehan, president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers' local in St. John's, said the announcement is the latest in a series that has taken the wind out of an industry that has provided work to thousands of migrating workers from Newfoundland and Labrador.
"Alberta has been so good to us…. We've had many men up there all this year, all last year, but right now it's slowed down because a lot of the projects [including] Suncor — it's all sort of coming down," said Geehan.
"Some of them have scaled back, some of them are on hold right now. So it isn't very good right now."

Happy Ode to Newfoundland Day (one day late)

I was on last night with Ryan Cleary talking about the commuting workforce. Interestingly enough this oilsands slow down really shouldn't come as that much of a shock or surprise to anyone.

In the last two years the number of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians participating in the fly in fly out Alberta commute was estimated to be as high as 10,000. National media jumped all over the story. The CBC calling the Alberta/Newfoundland flight program a "labour phenomenon that is changing the face of Newfoundland and Labrador."

Most phenomenons are short on stamina.

Three short years ago those Newfoundlanders who worked in Alberta either packed it in and moved there or acted like a seasonal worker; leaving in the spring, returning in the fall, and enjoyed a winter at home, and in the case of many rural folks, a winter spent in the Newfoundland wilderness. I know many a Newfoundlander who was home in time to get their moose and wouldn't have it any other way.

Still, getting use to having the work there year round has been a security blanket for many rural dwellers like myself. I, and others like me, are facing a new old reality, one we have dealt with before certainly, but one we never thought we'd be dealing with quite so soon.

As Ryan says, God Guard Thee Newfoundland.

On another note;

ODE TO NEWFOUNDLAND

THE ODE WAS FIRST PERFORMED IN PUBLIC ON JANUARY 21ST, 1902

The words of "The Ode to Newfoundland" were written by His Excellency Sir Cavendish Boyle, K.C.M.G., who was Governor of Newfoundland from 1901 to 1904. The Ode was first performed in public on January 21st, 1902. Frances Foster sang the Ode at the Casino Theatre in St. John’s.

Read more: http://www.stjohnsarchdiocese.nf.ca/archive_moment84.asp

Suncor-Have's No More?

A report I read The National Post indicated Suncor Energy Inc. cut spending plans for the second time in three months, and, God forbid, stalled any further oil sands expansion indefinitely.

This is Suncor's first quarterly loss since the third quarter of 1992, the report indicated, however, excluding one-time items such as foreign exchange losses and a shift to a different accounting policy, Suncor still earned $434-million, or 46¢ a share. Compared to the $677-million, or 73¢ per share, they made last year I guess there isn't much excited hoopla over a measly $434-Million.

As some I know head back to work in the oilsands-a little late, but still back to work none the less, we still wait for hubby's call. 10 resumes were sent out last week; including some locally, and while there was interest no one is hiring in the instrumentation field "just yet."

Stay tuned.

God Guard Thee Newfoundland and Labrador

Ryan Cleary has been hosting VOCM's Night Line this week and has been doing a great job.

From one of his Scrunchins pieces;

May 21, 2008

VOCM’s open-line shows have been credited/slammed of late for influencing government action, with bureaucrats and politicians supposedly glued to their radios to hear who’s saying what and to whom and reacting accordingly. I wonder if VOCM is paying morning show host Randy Simms a deputy-premier salary? I bet he’s definitely missing out on a constituency allowance. Woe is the poor bugger. Former deputy-health minister John Abbott told the Cameron Inquiry recently that government communication staff monitor and manipulate the open lines to deliver key messages to the public, remarks that Danny called “offensive and stupid.” But VOCM has influenced public opinion in these parts since Joey Smallwood wore short pants. (He always carried a pitchfork.) In fact, the entire proceedings of the Newfoundland Convention, held at the Colonial Building in Town between 1946-48 to decide Newfoundland’s fate after commission of government, were broadcast live on VOCM. The station helped dial us into Confederation, and we all know there was no manipulation involved in our being fed to the Canadian wolf.

Cleary is now part of that influence now and he's off to a great, positive start ending his program with the words; God guard thee Newfoundland and Labrador.

Maybe I like and admire the fellow too much to be totally objective, but I am honest when I say I am enjoying enjoying his show

Fly Free No More

I was too busy last evening to even watch the news-very unlike me at that time of the day, but as I bustled around, trying to settle myself so I could relax for at least part of it, my husband sat watching. He called to me when this bit came on;

From CBC NS

An airline that has been shuttling oil-patch workers between Fort McMurray, Alberta, and Sydney is cancelling its weekly flight.

Canadian North is ending the service on Jan. 30.

Why? Because everything has slowed.

Today is the start of our "find a job for Blair," project since the one he was supposed to start earlier this month has been delayed until at least March or April.

We have plans to update his resume and send it around locally and throughout Alberta to see what happens.

Wish us luck. And in the meantime, if anyone is looking for an instrumentation mechanic (third year apprentice I believe) let me know

Lobster Sleevens

Have you ever been out on the ocean with a lobster fisher? I have, and let me tell you; skilled or not, it ain't easy to see a v-notch lobster. (V-notching is a voluntarily practice amongst commercial lobster harvesters where one in four egg-bearing female lobsters is given a v-shaped cut in a section of the tail fan. The lobster is then returned to the water to breed. It is illegal to keep v-notched lobster.)

From yesterday's Telegram;

Three fishermen were recently convicted of keeping illegal lobster during the 2008 harvest. Hedley Butler of Bonavista was convicted on Dec. 10 for having undersize and v-notched lobster in his holding crates while fishing last June. He was fined $1,500 and is not allowed to fish for lobster during the first 10 days of the 2009 season. Meanwhile, Darrin Cooper, also of Bonavista, received a $1,000 fine and is prohibited from fishing lobster for the first five days of the 2009 lobster fishery for possession of undersize lobster. Also, in November, Daniel Baker was convicted of possession of v-notched lobster. Baker received a $1,200 fine and a one day suspension at the start of the 2009 lobster season. He also forfeited his catch. The conviction came from an inspection by DFO fishery officers at the wharf in Harbour Breton, which revealed 11 v-notched female lobsters in Baker’s catch. The lobsters were seized as evidence, photographed and released back into the water.

I know way too many good, honest fisher folk who have been "caught" this way, none of them are criminals. Just look at the picture above and see how, when your out on the ocean in the usually frigid waters in April or May, trying to earn your living as you keep from freezing to death, you could be expected to take note of each and every v-notch in your pot?

Give it a rest DFO. Make allowances for a small percentage. Too many are facing unnecessary hassles from a "voluntary" practice.

Know how to tell a male lobster from a female? Watch the video here http://www.howcast.com/videos/14477-CMN-Video-How-To-Identify-Male-and-Female-Lobsters and learn.

The Boob Battle

I'm a big believer in Breast is Best and as I nurse child number two my resolve is even stronger to keep it up. As I did on child number one over 11 years ago, I will self-wean my daughter, allowing her to decide when she is ready to retire the boob.

My son was finished when he was tall enough to play in what he called the "big boy place" in Woody Woodchucks, a play place for kids near our then Mississauga home. He came home from a birthday party that was held there for an older friend of his and broke it to me as gentle as he could. "Mom, no more nummies. I'm a big boy, see?" he said, standing tall and proud before my astonished eyes. Where had the time gone? My "baby," was almost four. Yes, you heard me, four, and up to that point he was still occasionally breast feeding.

My husband and I just had our daughter for her six month needle and had her growth checked. She is, like our son was before her, off the chart in height, weight and the milestones she has accomplished far exceeds her age. Well, there was one we can't quite say she has reached; rolling, since she has only done it once and shows no signs of ever wanting to do it again, but she sits perfectly on her own and already has a sense of "gone," and "where is it," so that, among other things, places her far ahead for her age despite the rolling thing.

So, I consider this my personal ammo for the breast is best position. I also feel I should be able to nurse my child anywhere and have had my boobs out in church, in Wal-Mart and in grocery stores in my area. If my daughter is hungry or cross, or just needs a little milk and comfort so I can finish my errands, I break "it" out wherever I happen to be.

The very natural act of breast feeding is not obscene, which is why I was shocked to hear about the latest developments happening on my favorite social networking site, Facebook.

With notes from an article I read from The Toronto Star;

Facebook has been receiving an online scolding after the social networking site deleted pictures of nursing babies. It considered the pictures "obscene" and closed at least one Canadian mothers account for good.

Breastfeeding activists are emailing, posting and instant messaging their outrage. A new Facebook group set up to petition for a change in site policy – called "Hey Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!" – has swelled from 7,000 members to more than 172,500. The picture that did this mother is was one of her "tandem breastfeeding" her two youngest sons. Her breasts were not visible in the picture. Now, there are still many pictures of breastfeeding mothers throughout Facebook in groups like La Leche League, Canadian Breastfeeding Mommies and particularly this new "Hey Facebook" petition site, so why would a personal photo be considered obscene?

The Star reported that a Facebook spokesperson said Facebook did not prevent mothers from uploading photos of themselves breastfeeding their babies, but instead removed content that was reported as violating Facebook's terms of use.

"Photos containing an exposed breast do violate our terms and are removed," Chin said, according to another recent report in The Sydney Morning Herald.

So, as my six month old daughter celebrates her latest milestones (67.5 in length, 23.5 pounds among her many mental and physical accomplishments) I might need to celebrate and commemorate the event with a snapshot, one posted proudly for all to see on my Facebook site.

I received a few emails wondering why I stopped posting over the holiday’s. The reason? Well, it wouldn’t be a holiday for me if I didn’t get ill. Pretty much every Christmas and Easter I get something awful and this time was no exception.
It started out as a simple bug, one I caught off my husband (the same husband who claims he never gets sick.) The week before Christmas I sounded worst than I felt as I really didn’t find the bug to be that bad. Even though I lost my voice and had gone through a load of tissues, I really didn’t feel that miserable.
The Christmas Eve came. It started with my hands feeling a bit itchy and ended with them becoming horridly swollen, so much so I couldn’t even hold a glass of holiday cheer. I tried being a trooper but started to whimp out when I noticed these awful hives forming on my body. My husband (the dear that he is) told me to shut up and endure it as he wasn’t loading the family up on Christmas Eve to drive an hour to the nearest emerg. I guess I could have driven myself-if I could have closed my hands over the steering wheel, that is.
I stayed put.
The gifts under the tree were more open-handed tossed there than placed with loving care, but I did what I could.
I wondered aloud a few times during the process, questioning my husband on what we would do if my throat suddenly swelled shut and I choked to my death under the twinkling lights if the tree. Blair assured me he was sure there was something around he could poke a hole in my neck with so I could catch a few breaths.
That inspired me to look for another option. I found some children’s strength liquid antihistamine in the fridge, licked what I could out of the almost empty bottle and went to bed.
I’m pleased to say I did wake up Christmas morning, though the condition I was in was less than ideal. I was covered in hives. The only area left clear was my face and my chest. The rest of my body was a mess.
When I could sneak away from the activities around the tree I checked online for the possible cause of my irritating (and very itchy) condition. I narrowed it down to ring worm or scarlet fever, though my symptoms didn’t match either perfectly. Since I wasn’t allowed to screw up Christmas dinner at my cousins home (she is a deadly cook, so I could completely understand Blair’s hesitation to miss that) I covered myself in anti-itch cream and headed out, desperately hoping I wasn’t contagious.
As soon as the meal was over we headed home and I had a nap. I did seem to be improving, but not for long. That night the condition came back with a vengeance and I was covered worse than I had been before. The hives were everywhere.
I woke early on Boxing Day and called the Health Line. They (as always) told me to head up to emerg. We were supposed to be going to my in-laws that day; a three hour drive away, but I couldn’t travel with an easy mind. Killing cousins with my possibly contagious deadliness was one thing, but exposing my elderly in-laws to the danger was quite another; I’d never be forgiven.
I drove myself to the emergency department in Burin. The problem? Who knows-I had a virus, something that was probably contagious but certainly not deadly. I picked up some antihistamine, adult strength this time, drove home, and we continued with our holiday cheer.
I started feeling better a few days later and was thrilled (though curious) that no one else I was in contact with became sick. That was until Brody woke me last Wednesday morning-asking me to scratch his back. He was covered in hives.
The worst of this bug only lasts for 48 hours but still, it isn’t pleasant. What’s worse is that besides Brody and I, I know of no one else who has had it or currently has it.
There is one thing I have to look forward to now that I know for sure it is transferable; and that is the fact that my husband might come down with it eventually.
I think we used up most of the anti-itch cream and antihistamine on Brody, so I guess I should pick up some more just in case hubby does catch it; especially considering we are such a distance from the local pharmacy.
Still, part of me doesn’t want to. If worse comes to worse I’m sure I have something around here I could jab him in the neck with-you know, to help him breathe and stuff.

Western Woes

Happy New Year! By now most family’s have gotten back to their pre-Christmas normal, but not us or others like us who depend on Alberta for our “normal.” Why? Because there may not be anything to go back to. My husband left his job out west in October to go back to school for eight weeks and before long word started filtering back to him that going back to work might not be as easy as many had thought.
On November 7th I made some notes indicating that conversations I was having with other Burin Peninsula folks indicated that layoffs in Alberta were happening at a rapid pace and there seemed to be something to it beyond the regular pre-holiday shut down.
Blair was supposed to go back to work on January 5th. He was supposed to start a new project at Albian Sands. Right now the date he has been given to start there is in April. It’s not that everything has shut down completely. Flint is hiring 1000 workers immediately but they are currently only looking for those in the pipefitting and welding trades. Those in the electrical and instrumentation trades will start later. Blair has been told that once he starts he will be “steady go” until late 2010 or early 2011 at the same project. For now, the flight program is still into affect according to some company rep’s I spoke with but some former western rotational workers told me they were advised that unless they were prepared to work “the long haul,” don’t bother heading up. Blair also experienced that as he was offered work on the 15th of this month if he was willing to take a full time job.
Our phone started ringing New Years Day. By the time we returned home on the 4th our voice mail was full; full of calls from men Blair has worked with in the past, calling not to wish us a Happy New Year, but to ask if he had any lines on work for 2009. They were all coming up empty and not having much luck so out came the cell phone contact list and the buddy calls began. Blair has made a few of those calls himself though I have to admit I don’t think he’s overly anxious to get back at it. Not right then anyway.
But we realize that things quite possibly could get much worse and despite the fact that it sucks living off EI, it also only lasts so long so finding a camp job will be Blair’s top priority this coming week.
Once you find something it has been our experience that the wheels work quickly and from the time you get the call to go and the time you leave it’s usually only a matter of days.
So, in optimistic preparation, Blair took our 11 year-old away for a boys only weekend. He has also spent a lot of time with our almost six month-old daughter. He picked up the parts he needed to ready the skidoo for Brody and he’s making plans to get his father down here so they can finish the bathroom work they started before the holidays.
This ritual seems all too familiar only this time I‘m wondering if the getting ready for gone will actually result in a leaving at all.