General Discussion & Chat: Best/Worse &What did I learnt today/Chat with Friends #40, 1 by gillibean

gillibean wrote:
This is a picture of our back yard from our back door. It was taken on Tuesday. Most of the snow that is in the picture has melted by now.

Betty - Right now our sump pump clicks in about every 1/2 hour. I'm not sure how we managed to not have the sump overflow during the power outage. I checked several times. I was out when the electricity was restored but Keith said that the pump ran for about 15 minutes to get all of the accumlated water out of the sump. I had put a bunch of towels on the floor around it just in case. Our houses have been built with the basement on grade and then earth bermed around them. I think that really helps any potential flooding issue too. When Keith is ill they either cancel French for the day or get a supply teacher. It's often difficult to get supply teachers here so sometimes one of the educational assistants will have to fill in.

I have started some plants indoors. Last year was my first time and I was not extremely successful. I'm hoping to have better luck this year. Sonora also started some seeds so it will be exciting for her as well.

Gita - There are definitely pros and cons to living here. I love the winter so I do appreciate that we have a good winter season here. The thing I find the hardest is the relative isolation from other communities and services. On the island we have a grocery store that also sells clothing. There's a gas station/ convenience store that also has a reduced-menu KFC/Pizza Hut. It also sells furniture, snowmobiles, boats and all terrain vehicles. There's also a very unique general store that sells food, tools, clothing, electronics, hunting/camping gear and pretty much anything else. There are also a couple of restaurants, a hockey arena and a curling pad. There's also a hospital that services our community and communities further up the coast. Moosonee is the community on the mainland and it has quite a few more services.

What I find frustrating is having to stock up on things that we can't get here and then lugging them back on the train. We also have to decide whether to rent a car when we travel or do we load ours on the barge to go across the river then load it on the train then have to do the reverse to come home. It's really awkward to leave the island. In the summer you need a boat in the winter a snowmobile. There are some places you can walk to in the winter but there's only so far you want to walk with three kids. To get to the closest city is a 5 hour train ride followed by a one hour drive (after getting to the train which involves getting across the river either by boat, car/snowmobile or helicopter, depending on the season).

I have to say that I really appreciate the slower pace here. All of the kids go home for lunch. If it's too far to walk, they are bussed. That means thay DH also gets to come home for lunch. I like the fact that before we had a car here I could call a taxi and get them to take DD to her friend's house if it was too far to walk. I just said the names of the parents and gave her $2. It's nice that my kids have lots of friends really close by. I grew up in the country where there weren't many other kids.

We're starting to get to the point where we're thinking that it would be nice to be in a place with more services. For now the benefits of staying here still outweight the inconveniences.