My Usk Story. Long post with pictures.

Most people don't bring anything in by train here. The last time anything was brought here by train, was about 10 years ago, when my Father In Law had the well drilled. I think it was quite expensive, and several people went together to pay to get the driller out by train to split the cost. You see, there is a weight limit on the ferry as well. I think if someone had something brought by train, it would have to be a large item, but I'm not even sure if CNR will do that anymore.

The passenger train will stop here if you prearrange it. We have taken the kids on it from Terrace to Usk before. It's fairly quick trip.

This summer I had friends in town from Germany visit, and they arranged for the train to stop and pick them up to take them back to Terrace. One of the school classes does that every year too. They take the train from Terrace to Usk, then go back across on the ferry to take a bus back to the school.

When my husband and I were married, we went to Prince George for our honeymoon, then took the train from Prince George back home. We met some really interesting people, then the train stopped here in Usk to let us off. I thought it was rather romantic. lol

I suppose, if you were stuck you could take the train from Terrace to Usk with some groceries.

The only thing about the winter that would be a pain, would be if a major appliance went, like the stove. We don't have a woodstove hooked up, so cooking would be a pain in the butt until spring. Mind you there's always the BBQ. I do miss the wood stove greatly, though. Especailly for power outages. (Oh wait, we do have a spare electric stove too, tucked in a corner of the basement. lol )If a fridge went, it wouldn't be that bad, because, it would be cool enough to put things outside. But we now have an older second fridge as back up. Having back up things is a great idea out here.

We went for a little walk the other day, up a creek out here. I just thought I would share a couple pictures. It was a wet, rainy day, but still a lovely walk.

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We also seen a bunch of wolf tracks following some deer tracks up the creek bed. The wolf tracks were pretty big. I love seeing that sort of thing. Pretty cool.
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The other day, my Husband and I took a Hike up the mountain that we live by. On that mountain are some old mines. Mining was it's biggest in between 1914 - 1936. Since we have lived out here, we have been hearing about this "Lucky Luke Mine" somewhere up on that mountain. I believe it was one of Usk's biggest mines. While we've done a little walking about the base of the mountain, we have never found the mine. So last weekend, we set out to find it. It wasn't to bad of a day, the rain finally quit for a while, and the sun actually peaked out a few times.

So we set off on our Quest. The forest is such a pretty place, that even if we didn't find the mine, it was still great to get out.

Here's a water fall along the way. It was bigger then the picture makes it look.
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A fairly large tree that had some bark stripped off. It had a ribbon tied near it, so I susspect is one of those, I forget what they call them, cultural marked tree (?). You could see chop marks on it.
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I just thought this was plain pretty, with the sun shining through the mossy trees. You could see water drops from the rain and melting snow falling, shining and glistening in the sun. I have to say, despite it not raining, the forest was still very, very wet. But beautiful.
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Standing at the edge of the Avalanch Slide area, looking down and back towards Usk. You can see a tiny white dot in the middle of the picture along the river. That is our friend and neighbors barn.
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We zig zaged back and forth, up and down the mountain as we went, looking for any sign of an old trail or road. I must say, my husband move quite fast in the bush. Some of the places were quite steep. There were lot's of fallen trees to climb over, and under. But in some area's it was just plain soft and mossy. Here's a hill we were coming back down, after just climbing up. lol. It felt steeper then it looks. Especially when you are going up.
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Another bark stripped tree we came across, in the middle of no where. It made me wonder, why they would go through so much trouble to climb the mountain to strip off that little bit of bark. You could see the chop marks in it too.
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After a while we came across an over grown road, and decided to follow it, and see were it went, having decided, that if it was the main mine, it would have a well traveled road, because men would be coming and going and bringing equipment to the mine. We found this hook thing along the side of it, and said "This MUST be the road!" We can be far now! Ha ha ha! Well, we weren't there yet. The road went on quite a ways, and had lots of switch backs because it was so steep. Plus, it was so overgrown and there had been some slides so that it was easier for us to bush whack along the side of the road, except were there were some drop offs which involved some hands and knee's grabbing branches and bushes climbing.

The hook. You can tell the bank was steep off the edge of the road.
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Hmmmm, picking it up to have a closer look. Square bolts (or was that nuts..lol) Must be old. You can see the thick brush on the road behind him, which made it hard and wet to walk down.
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After more scrambling and climbing and huffing and puffing... WE FOUND IT!!!!! The buildings were collapes, and there was a layer of leaves and snow, which made it hard to see! But Sucess!!!! He got me to hold his rifle for the picture. We take it hiking because we live in a highly populated bear area (Plus just seen a bear only a week ago or so), and we didn't want to be climbing over a dead fall and step on a sleeping bear. Which reminds me. On a game trail, we found a bear claw. Just laying there. Made me wonder where the rest of the bear was.
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Some sort of shaft or something. I was really nervous going up to it, because I had to walk on some sort of structure had collapsed and I couldn't see it well under the snow, and I didn't want to fall in and disappear!
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Ahhh Ha! A rock with green oxidization! Copper? We had heard that it was a copper mine... but then we also heard it was a gold mine.... Hmmmmm!
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Then we found some cart rails. They are smaller, and closer together then train tracks, but look simalar.
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We followed the rails, and they disappeared into a mine shaft coming out of the side of the mountain. It was collapsed, so we couldn't see much. But cool none the less.
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Well, we poked a round a little bit. But with the leaves and the snow, I was a little nervous about what I couldn't see under my feet, so we headed for home. The going was a little quicker, because it was all down hill.

Of course, I had to stop and take a picture of this mushroom that was on a log I was stepping over.
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After wards, I had to hurry to catch up to my husband, because he wasn't stopping while I wasted time. In my hurry, I stepped on the end of a kinda thick stick. It came up, and somehow figure 4rd my legs, and one end got stuck in my boots. I went down on my knee's with this stupid stick some how tangled between my legs. I had to grab onto a rotten half fallen skinny tree so I didn't summersault down the hill. It was an awkward position, delicately balanced trying not to break off the rotten tree I was clutching. There was no way I could straighten my legs to get unstuck, and my husband stopped, because I was feebly yelling "help!" Of course he stood there, down the hill laughing at me, hog tied by a 3ft long stick of all things. Well, I did manage, but it was pretty funny, because even I couldn't believe I got myself into such a position. Nice thing was, the moss was lovely and soft. I'm still laughing about it!

Anyways, we made it back down the mountain, and took the easy way hiking back home along the tracks. Although we had to scramble up a small cliff and off the tracks for a work train that was grinding the tracks throwing sparks everywhere. By the time we made it home, we were absolutely soaked to the bones. The only thing dry on us were our feet. Seriously. If anyone is going to be getting some boots, I highly recommend "Bogs". They are warm, light weight, comfortable like you wouldn't believe, and dry.

Well, there you have it, our little adventure, I like to call "Quest for Lucky Luke Mine".

Love your latest expedition story silkiebantam...I felt like I was back on the "wetcoast". (I lived in Victoria for a few years)
I honestly think there is a book contract out there with your name on it...I love reading your posts!

It's amazing how you can take us with you, your pictures and discriptions are so clear. What a wonderful part of Canada you live it. Keep sharing, we love it.

Your pics are soooo beautiful. That sunrise is absolutely breathtaking. I cannot imagine what it must have looked like for real as it is so gorgeous in the photo. I think sunsets and sunrises are just about my favorite pictures!Thanks for sharing.

Thanks! I really enjoy exploring for old places or things like that. I really expected to not be able to walk for a few days after that hike, but surprisingly enough, I wasn't sore at all. I can't wait for next spring or summer to go back.

Happy Chicks, I just absolutely love sunsets and sunrises. With all the rain this summer they were few and far in between. Nothing beats watching the day begin and end in such splendor.

The beginning of this week, the ferry went out. It was rubbing bottom, so now we are using the Cable Car. I expect it to be in use unitl spring. But that's ok, because we are prepared. So for now, we can put our feet up and relax a little. With this time of year, comes a peacefulness to the area. Traffic by the house is minimal. People are either using their Usk Mobiles or walking to the cable car. There are hardly any Lookie-looks at this time of year. Yes, I am rather glad to have the cable car going. Mind you, come closer to spring, we start looking forward to driving right up to the house. For now though, when you come home and cross on that cable car, you can let out a sigh and leave the world behind.

Pretty soon they will pull the Ferry right out of the water, so that it doesn't get a bunch of ice built up around it. For now it sits docked.
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Well stocked pantry, cupboards, and freezers, and we are good to go. One thing I find so very handy in my pantry is buckets. I went to a store and asked if they had any food buckets. They gave/sold me some nice square ones that stack nicely.
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And here's the Cable Car on our side of the river.
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Crossing to catch the bus in the morning. The kids sometimes bring snow balls up with them to drop out the window and watch fall in the river.
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Yesterday, it started to snow, and it was absolutely beautiful. The air was fresh and cool, the snow light and fluffy, and coating all the tree's. I can't get enough of it, this time of year.
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Walking home I stopped to watch this little bird.
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I love your pantry... and the canning! Holy Cow. This is how we all should shop, it would save us all a lot of time and energy instead of doing it repeatedly every week or so.

Yes, Katushifarms, this is the way to do it if you can. It is rather expensive to buy all at once like that though. It`s a habit you get into though. I found when I lived in town, that I still wanted to shop this way, even though we were closer to town. This way, other then fresh food, specialty items or if I`m making something special, I don`t shop that much this time of year. But then again, if you are carrying everything, it comes down to how badly do I want or need this item. I love my pantry though, I must say that. It`s nice to have and do the canning too. Then you know just what you are eating. Plus it looks pretty. hee hee!

Well, the last few days we have been getting really heavy wet snow. When you go outside you can hear branches breaking and we even heard an avalanche. But the down side is, the Power went out this morning. It went out around 9 am. The sad thing is we don`t have a wood stove, so it`s getting a little chilly in here. Not to bad yet, but it`s been out for 8 and a half hours now. I hope it comes on soon, but who knows. We`ve had week long power outages before. It used to be no problem and not a big deal. But that was when we had a woodstove. Oh how I miss the woodstove! Yes, life would go on as usual. You could cook on it (we had a cook wood stove as well as a heating woodstove), and keep large pots of hot water, and kettle always on the go. Ahhhh yes, the lovely, lovely wood heat. Days like today, I miss it dearly. Anyways, It`s all ok right now. We have the generator going, so I can use a laptop, the propane camping stove, and the antique lamps and some candles lit. So it`s all good.

It is a lovely way to live. I believe it. You and your hubby and your kids snug as bugs, and you know how truly lucky you are to live that way, so simple it's complicated to the rest of us. But yes, we have wood stoves and power-outages as well. But nothing like as long as you have. All I have cooked on top of my stove was fryed eggs (in a frying pan of course) We took pictures heheh! It cools down in our house quickly when it is so cold outside -25. So wood stove is mandatory! Maybe you guys will get another wood stove in the future?

We have a pantry much like Silkiebantams although not as heavy on the oil, vinegar, flour and similar items. We do a lot of canning and tend to shop once a month. We have a good store five minutes away for milk, bread and frozen foods like ice cream. We store a lot in a cold room-potatoes, carrots, beets and squash. We have a woodstove that is our main source of heat plus a propane cookstove. When the power is off we have generator, but have not installed a safe way of hooking it to the water pump. Water is our biggest power off problem.

Well, we still have no power. It`s been over 29 hours now. Brrrrr! The house is getting a little chilly. We`re lucky it`s not overly cold out. This morning you could see your breath as you exhaled. We hooked up one of those little propane space heaters, and it feels nice if you go stand in front of it.

We also had the phones out.

We have a small generator, and bought another fuse box so we can set things up so that we can hook it up to a the generator, and plug some stuff in to it. But it all needs to be wired in still.

We would love to have a wood stove on the go, and probably will in the future. We really like and miss the wood heat. We checked into the insurance, and by having any wood stove, even one of those outdoor ones, will bring out insurance up 20%. It`s crazy. Plus there will be the expense of the stove, the chimney, instillation. Our house is a 3 story house plus the lovely vaulted ceiling. But then thinking, about how hydro is going to be going up, that wood heat is looking even better every day.

Oh Silkie, your larder is full. Your summer of canning, bringing home food to last the winter will pay off. You can cook to your heart's content. Seeing that picture of your pantry pleased my eyes for surely. If this was not such a good thing, I would call you a hoarder, smiling that big smile!! I spent so much time this fall preserving food, canning so much, freezing so much, we are ready for winter too. I have not stock piled the staples, as there is not a need, such as in your case, but honestly....I think that my Husband and I could live without going out of our home for a very long time. Seriously. And oh it is such a good feeling to be so self-sufficient. With only the two of us now, the bag of rice would last about a year, I have powdered milk, just in case, smiling, lots of staples, again, with only two, last a very long time. I am proud of what you have done to ready for the winter and this is well....just nice to see and hear. Good on you girl!! I got lots of meat in the freezer too, from my cockerels and they sure are yummy!! Our Daughter (on whose farm we live) purchased a side of beef and pork. So I go to her home and get meat and make meat dishes here. Bring them down to their home and she does the rest, so got the red and white meats covered too, smiling. I love to look at your pictures that take us all into your part of this beautiful world, and trust me, they always bring that beautiful smile to my face. Thank you Silkiebantam, for being you and sharing your life, it is very pleasing. Have a beautiful day, CynthiaM.

Love that stocked pantry! Too bad about the insurance cost for wood heat. A cozy wood fire would go along so nicely with the your "tucked in" feeling for the winter. I think this is just great! My Mom used to talk about going back to our camp (cabin) in the woods and stocking food up for the winter and tucking in 'til spring. She never did it and her health problems required her to have easy access to doctors/hospitals. She passed away just a year ago with complications from kidney failure. But your beautiful story reminds me of the times we would pack up go back to the camp for a week at a time. So peaceful and quiet. I loved going in the wintertime and we always spent a week there every March tapping maple trees and boiling down the sap to make syrup and sugar. Those are good memories! Mom would have loved to see your pictures and that well stocked pantry! Thanks for sharing your life with us. It is truly enjoyable to be able to "walk with you" a bit through your stories and pictures. And that little birdie in the tree - so pretty - reminded me of Mamma too as she sooo loved birds. Guess a lot of things remind me of Mamma these days. Anyway, thanks for sharing.

happychicks wrote: Guess a lot of things remind me of Mamma these days. Anyway, thanks for sharing.

Sorry for that loss, the wonderful things that so many of us have from memories instilled by our Mammas are so nice to have. Mamma is comfort and love, or so should be, sometimes this may fall short, and that is sad for those -- but that is what it is. Silkie, think of the memories that your children will have of their Mamma, you, this is beautiful. Have awesome days, CynthiaM.

Happy Chicks, I am so sorry to hear about your Mom. Moms have such an important role in our lives. I am lucky enough to still have mine with me. She's such a wonderful woman. How neat it must have been to tap maple tree's and make syrup! I would love to try that one day. I'm sure my girls will have lots of memories of this place.

The morning was gorgeous this morning, so coming back from taking the kids to the bus, I took my time, and watched the sunrise.
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Today was such a beautiful day. The power went out for a little while so we went for a little trip to the river, to see what we could find. It's only a few minutes to the fishing hole out here so that's where we went.

This is our beloved fishing hole. It is the most wonderful place in the summer. There are big cedars and cotton woods and under them is the softest sand. It's the perfect place to take the family on a hot summers day. Under the shade and in the sand. In this picture the waters really really low (it is winter after all). When you cast your line out, the fishing weights get caught up in the rocks sometimes, and when you pull your line in , it breaks leaving the weights behind. So in the fall, before snow comes, or in the spring, it's fun to go and look for wieghts.
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My husband wore his waders to get the weights that were in the water.
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In this picture, among the rocks, we found 8 weights. Both pyramid ones and a pencil weight. Can you see any? They're hard to see. lol
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19 weights found today. Not bad. It's like finding money. The trick is beating everyone else to them! LOL
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Why not cast a line for some trout while we're here?
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You've to to love mountains in the winter!
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Silkie, sweeet!! Those are most interesting weights, what a catch, pardon the jargon, smiling. I sure do love to see the pictures that you bring us to see. I have heard that January around here is the most critical month for low water levels, then when spring comes, holy ol' getout, there is certainly no shortage of water with the snow melt. Keep bringin' on the pictures, we love them, beautiful days, Cynthiam.

Well, it's that time of year when snow is piling up on the mountains. We'v had some down here, but it seems that it snows, then it gets warm and rains and just packs it down, so that it doesn't look like we have all that much (maybe a couple feet...) But up there on the mountains, all this lovely rain is snow, snow, snow.

Today they did a little Blasting to knock some of that white stuff off the mountain, so it doesn't come tumbling down onto the train tracks at the base of the mountain all at once.

This is my favorite thing that happens out here in the winter. I get so excited when they do it.

Sometimes they shoot explosives from across the river along the highway They have a special platform for setting up their launcher. This is my favorite method. It seems so much louder when they do this (not to mention, you know it's flying through the air somewhere way up there past the house.) And you can feel it throughout your body. And sometimes they just drop explosives from the Helicopter. This is what they did today.

It's too bad it wasn't a bright clear day, because you could get some awesome pictures. Anyways, it Goes something like this.

You see a helicopter flying and hoovering over and around the mountain. Then it sort of takes off, and a second later, you see a plume of smoke come up off the mountain. If you look closely you can see two plumes, but by the time I grabbed my camera, they were drifting away.
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You know it's coming, but still, when that big BOOM happens, you can't help but jump (and get really excited), and then you can see snow come down the mountain. You can see it near the middle on the right hand side.
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Sometimes it's just totally awesome, because so much snow comes down. And if it's really cold the air almost gets foggy afterwards filling with ice crystal. I've only seen this happen a few times. But it's pretty cool.

They blast up to 8 times per session. I'm told that's all the rounds of explosives they are allowed to carry at a time.

I took some video, but it's such an overcast day that it's kind of hard to see, and I can't load it from home anyways. One day if I get some good pictures and footage, I will post it. Today the avalanches weren't huge, but it is still cool none the less.
Here's a video I took last year. I don't think that I got the sound of it though. (I can't check with my lovely dial up. lol)
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So today, I attempted to make some Chicken Saddles. I'm not much of a seamstress, and to be honest I still blush when I remember those horrid shorts I made in Home Economics in grade 8.

Anyways, today I thought I would give it a go. They still need a little tweaking. My Cochins and Wyandottes made such great models. And here they are:

This was my first one. The part that goes in between the shoulders was two long, and a tad wide. I attached some 1/4" elastic to it, sewn on. It's not that hard to put on, but then my girls co-operated with me.
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This one I made the part between the shoulders shorter. This one I just sewed the elastic at one side, and passed it through the material between the shoulders then used velcro to attach it to the other side under the wing. It worked well and is easy to put on.
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Work it, Girls! Work it!
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And here is one. It is double sided. I sew it front to front then turn it in side out so the nice side of the material is showing both on top and underneath. I need to work on smooth corners. As I said. Sewing is not my cup of tea! How to do those inside corners, at the top baffles me. They always pucker. So How do I stop that, I ask? Do I make little snips along the edge of the material?

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Yes, it's rough, but hopefully after I do a few more, it gets slightly better. I cringe to think of you awesome quilters must be thinking when you see my hack job.

Oh wow, that was so amazing and inspiring to read! I really enjoyed all the pictures and the gorgeous scenery; oh man does it make me miss BC. Especially all the lovely trees...What a beautiful, peaceful place Usk is. Lucky chickens and lucky you! I’m so glad I found this post tonight. Thank you for sharing your story!

Btw, those saddles look pretty good to me. And your hens seem to like them too.

Btw, those saddles look pretty good to me. And your hens seem to like them too.

I've seen "Btw" used twice today. Could someone translate for someone not up to the latest vocabulary.

rosewood wrote:

Btw, those saddles look pretty good to me. And your hens seem to like them too.

I've seen "Btw" used twice today. Could someone translate for someone not up to the latest vocabulary.

I believe it means By The Way. Sometimes the abbreviations confuse me too.

Your saddles look fine Silkie but if you want to save yourself a whole lot of trouble just sew the two wrong sides together(with the elastic ends sandwiched in between)and then do a couple rows of nice tight zigzagging on the raw edges, or if you have a serger you are in luck!
I have washed mine multiple times(I guess you can see that in my avatar ha ha) and they do not fray much.
just remember if you are doing different fabrics on each side (I always do 1 side denim and 1 side cotton print) prewash your fabric or else one will shrink more than the other and you will get a puckered look then...