Windy, Starchy and Overweight (and no thats not me)

It turns out that its not potatoes at all but potato starch, 24 of them in big rubble sacks sat on skids, and what a balls up. I went under the trailer and my pressure guages didnt move which tells me i am empty. Thats not a good start as it was supposed to be ready for me to go, so i pulled forward, opened the doors and peeked inside, i could see all the way to the front of the trailer and that wasnt good either as that is another sign you are empty.

Well i took the trailer round to the customer and went to book in. The forkie said stick her on the bay, ill load yer up then we can weigh you off and get your paperwork. I noticed as he was loading them up that some were fuller than others so i asked him if he was sure that i shouldnt have tared off first (weighed empty). He said "No" so i sat on a pile of skids and waited patiently.

When he had finished he went off to get the paperwork, 5 minutes later he came back and told me that he had to unload me, tare the vehicle, load me back up, weigh again then work out how much starch we had on.

Okay i said and went back to the cab to make popcorn..................

An hour later when we were unloaded, tared, reloaded, weighed and secured i went over to get my notes myself, only to be told that they would be ready in 15 mins so i scooted round to the scale, scaled off properely and returned to find the place locked up and in darkness.

Oh sugar !!! i thought, note to self, scale off later next time.

Anyway it turns out hat the office staff had passed the paperwork over to the night team so i got it off them.

I will be driving ino Washington with a tridem on a 12 foot spread and the axle weight and length rules are a nightmare to understand and i couldnt work out if i was legal or not. I grabbed my red book and all the information i could muster and dragged it all up to the office and laid it all out in front of the Chief Dispatcher.

I looked at it....................

He looked at it..................

We both looked at it............

And both came to the same conclusion.................

Its jibberish !!!

One sheet said i was good and the other one said i wasnt, the woman at the factory said it was a standard load, and the Cheif Dispatcher said 4 of these go out every week and its standard load, and even the forkie said it was a standard load. Lets dicount the forkie though, remember the taring off fiasco.....................

Taters to Washington

Ive got a lie-in this morning so its a nice slow start although i guess it will be a late one tonight as i want to push as far west as i can. I phoned Monica my dispatcher yesterday to find out what they had for me and i was told i had a (multiple) load for Moses Lakes and the last skid (pallet) going on to Vancouver.

My first question was pretty intelligent when i asked if i was crossing back into Canada at Surrey for the Vancouver skid. She informed me that it was going to the other Vancouver, the one in Washington which if i remember correctly is still in America, "oh, okay" i replied.

My next question wasnt so clever................

"What are the meat inspection timings for Eastport?" i asked.

"The clue is in the name of the load, potato load?" she replied.

After i unravelled this cryptic answer, i assumed that the potatos werent very meaty so we had a little chuckle at my expense and she told me the city drivers wouldnt have the load available till lunch time which will do for me as we have "Stuff" to do this morning anyway.

Our first port of call this morning is to the RCMP barracks in Raymond to see if we can get fingerprinted there as its a requirement for the immigration then we have to go and see Cathy Thacker at H&R so sort out some more immigration forms and i have to sign another employment contract as my work permit expires in July and H&R like to start getting the ball rolling nice and early so the renewal should be pretty much seamless.

Well thats is on the way to Permanent Residency, for those of you who are unfamliar with the process and what we are doing.........................

We immigrated over here last July and i came over here on a Temporary Work Permit which means i can only work over here for a maximum of 2 years after which we would have to leave the country for 4 months then we could come back for another 2 years.

What's happening now is that H&R Transport are sponsoring us on a Provincial Nominee Programme which is a scheme put in place by the Government of Alberta to get particular trades peole into the province to fill certain labour shortages. Once this has been approved at Provincial level it is passed up to CIC which is the Federal Level and finalised there. At the moment the process is taking between 8 and 12 months, we have just put the paperwork in to VRV so they can put together our application pack, the next process is to get police clearances for both UK and Germany and do our medicals, then its a waiting game.

Once the pack has been checked at Provincial level and we have been placed on the PNP system, which should take 4 to 8 weeks, we are given a status reference number which is also quite important as we are then able to track the progress on the internet and also Jan can then get an open work permit of her own which means she can work.

The idea of Jan working is something we have only discussed breifly as we dont really need the money so its really up to Jan what she does, she as thinking of just doing a bit of part-time just to get out and about, more of an interest than anything else.

So thats where we are at the moment with regards to immigration......................

With regards to buying a house over here, we were out this weekend looking at properties and were pleasantly surprised, it looks like we can easily afford exactly what we want and will be paying less than we planned. An average 4 bedroomed detatched house with large garden is going for between $188,000 and $250,000 which if you convert that to ££££££££ is £90,000 to £125,000. Its obviously more expensive upin Lethbridge but we want to stay out here in Raymond anyway.

Starting Permanent Residency

Todays the day...............................

We had already decided we wanted to stay in Canada anyway.

Weve done our research.

Filled out most of the forms.

Prepaired as much paperwork as we could.

Had the photographs taken.

And today we were going up to VRV to hand over everything to them and let them do their stuff. Really i could have done the whole thing myself but decided not to. I work damn hard when i am out in the truck and my time with Jan, Luke and Giz is too precious to waste on doing paperwork.

I know its a lot of money but sod it, i really cant be bothered with it.............

We spent a couple of hours with Eugenie from VRV and now its down to them.

Once that was done i took Jan to the Flying J in Calgary to sample a "J Buffet". I wasnt being tight but she wanted to see for herself how i lived when i was out on the road, now Jan can be a pretty fussy eater but im glad to say she enjoyed a big plate of salad followed by baked chicken, fried chicked, mash, corn and gravy. Finishing off with a slice of cheesecake.

Belly's full, we waddled back to the car and headed back to Lethbridge for a coffee with Alan at the Sandman Hotel.

Okay here is me (us) asking for your help out there..........................

We are trying to find out where we can get hold of scrumpy out here, we have tried all the liquor stores but all they do is the commercial rubbish, please please help. Im sure you know the stuff we mean, the cloudy stuff with no fizz, scrambles the brain and kicks you on yer ass .............................

Welcome to Canada - Alan Milnes

Been out and about today up in Calgary and thought we would pop into the sandman to meet one of the drivers thats just come out from the UK. Alan and i have been corresponding for quite a while now and now i am glad to say he has decided to make the big leap over the pond.

Welcome to Canada Alan and remember to dress warm !!!

What are Totem Poles

Totem Poles
Totem poles are an ancient tradition of the Indian tribes of the Pacific Northwest Coast--Washington state in the USA, British Columbia in Canada--and some of the Athabaskan tribes of southern Alaska. Contrary to popular belief, the Southwest Indians, Plains Indians, and Inuit never carved totem poles (use your common sense--there are no trees that size in the Sonoran desert or the Arctic tundra!) Now and then, though, you will hear an anthropologist claim that there was never any such thing as totem poles at all before Europeans came to the New World.

Since totems are made of wood and decay over time, there is no way to prove to anthropologists that this assertion is false, but the oral histories of Northwestern Indians and their neighbors are unanimous about totem poles existing in those cultures long before European arrival, and the form and designs of totem poles are so stylized and distinctive it is hard to believe they sprang up recently. They have definitely grown in size since the acquisition of European woodcarving tools, though.

The totem poles in Haida, Tlingit, Kwakiutl, and other Northwest Coast folklore were carried by men or stood inside a room. Neither was possible for the majestic totem poles made during the 1800's, which were made of single pieces of cedar up to forty feet high. Today, both short and tall totem poles are still enthusiastically made by North-western and Alaskan Indian artists, and they can be purchased--for a price.

This is probably the single most expensive native art form there is, no surprise given the cost of a full-grown cedar tree and the amount of hand-carving and painting required to turn it into a totem pole. I hate to put things in purely financial terms, but frankly, if you find a large totem pole being sold for less than $500 a foot, it is probably not hand-carved, not made by a native artist, and/or not carved from a single tree trunk. Even imitation totems are pricy, and spending $2000 on a cheaply made fake is in many ways less affordable than spending $8000 on an authentic one.

The meanings of the designs on totem poles are as varied as the cultures which produce them. Totem poles may recount familiar legends, clan lineages, or notable events. Some poles are erected to celebrate cultural beliefs, but others are intended mostly as artistic presentations.

Certain types of totem poles are part of mortuary structures incorporating grave boxes with carved supporting poles, or recessed backs in which grave boxes were placed. Poles are also carved to illustrate stories, to commemorate historic persons, to represent shamanic powers, and to provide objects of public ridicule. "Some of the figures on the poles constitute symbolic reminders of quarrels, murders, debts, and other unpleasant occurrences about which the Indians prefer to remain silent...

The most widely known tales, like those of the exploits of Raven and of Kats who married the bear woman, are familiar to almost every native of the area. Carvings which symbolize these tales are sufficiently conventionalized to be readily recognizable even by persons whose lineage did not recount them as their own legendary history." (Reed 2003). House-front poles were meant to show the success of the families.

Totem poles were never objects of worship. The association with "idol worship" was an idea from local Christian missionaries, who would have seen their association with Shamanism as being an occult practise. The same assumption was made by very early European explorers, but later explorers such as Jean-François de La Pérouse noted that totem poles were never treated reverently; they seemed only occasionally to generate allusions or illustrate stories and were usually left to rot in place when people abandoned a village.

The vertical order of images is widely believed to be a significant representation of importance. This idea is so pervasive that it has entered into common parlance with the phrase "low man on the totem pole". This phrase is indicative of the most common belief of ordering importance, that the higher figures on the pole are more important or prestigious. A counterargument frequently heard is that figures are arranged in a "reverse hierarchy" style, with the most important representations being on the bottom, and the least important being on top. Actually there have never been any restrictions on vertical order, many poles have significant figures on the top, others on the bottom, and some in the middle. Other poles have no vertical arrangement at all, consisting of a lone figure atop an undecorated column.

Shame poles
The poles used for public ridicule are usually called "shame poles", and were erected to shame individuals or groups for unpaid debts. Shame poles are today rarely discussed, and their meanings have in many places been forgotten. However, they formed an important subset of poles carved throughout the 19th century.
One famous shame pole is the Lincoln Pole in Saxman, Alaska; it was apparently created to shame the U.S. government into repaying the Tlingit people for the value of slaves which were freed after the Emancipation Proclamation. Other explanations for it have arisen as the original reason was forgotten or suppressed, however this meaning is still clearly recounted by a number of Tlingit elders today.

Shakes Island in Wrangell. The Three Frogs pole is visible on the far right.
Another example of the shame pole is the Three Frogs Pole in Wrangell, Alaska. This pole was erected by Chief Shakes to shame the Kiks.ádi clan into repaying a debt incurred by three of their slaves who impregnated some young women in Shakes's clan. When the Kiks.ádi leaders refused to pay support for the illegitimate children Shakes had the pole commissioned to represent the three slaves as frogs, the frog being the primary crest of the Kiks.ádi clan. This debt was never repaid, and thus the pole still stands next to the Chief Shakes Tribal House in Wrangell. This particular pole's unique crossbar shape has become popularly associated with the town of Wrangell. It was thus used, without recognizing the meaning of the pole, as part of the title design of the Wrangell Sentinel newspaper, where it is still seen today.

The construction of shame poles has essentially ceased within the last century. This is attributable to a decline in interclan rivalries and clan relationships in general, and to a desire for solidarity among most native tribes. However, as feelings of independence and nationalism increase among Northwest coast people, erecting shame poles against the American and Canadian governments has been occasionally proposed, though usually in a facetious manner. If outrage against some political decision is strong enough among the people of a particular Northwest coast tribe the erection of a new shame pole may again become a possibility, although the cost of construction will likely be a major inhibition.

First Nations Of Canada - The Haida

Introduction
The Haida live in one of the great temperate old-growth rain forests of Canada. "Old growth" means that the trees are hundreds of years old and have never been cut down. Most forests in Canada are second growth, having been cut down by loggers and replanted with young trees at some point. The territory the Haida inhabit consists of over 138 islands in British Columbia and is known as the Queen Charlotte Islands. The Haida refer to their lands as Haida Gwaii, "the people's islands." In the past, the Haida inhabited areas that went all the way to Alaska. Over the years, the Haida have been involved in defending some of the most beautiful rain forests in the world from clear-cutting. Clear-cutting is when logging companies cut everything in a forest down at one time to get the trees they want to use. The area the Haida have been trying to protect is known as Gwaii Haanas, or South Moresby. The Haida are also known as great carvers. Today Haida carvers are known around the world.

History
Like many Aboriginal groups in Canada, the Haida believe there was a time when great animals and birds lived on the earth. The Haida believe that these great beings are the spirits of the smaller animals and birds that we know today. Sometimes what we think of as legends actually developed because of people passing down stories of things that happened long ago. The Haida's belief in great animals and birds may be one example of this.

Many thousands of years ago, during the last Ice Age, great creatures such as the mastodon, giant beaver and wooly mammoth roamed the earth. These animals were much larger than the animals we know today. It is possible that the Haida's beliefs come from hearing stories, through their oral traditions, about these animals.

Creation Story
One of the most famous stories that the Haida tell is the story of Raven. The story begins during a time when there was only water and the sky above. There was no earth, only a single reef that came out of the water. A reef is a chain of rocks close to the surface of the water or sticking out of it. All of the great beings lived on top of this reef. The greatest of the beings lived on highest point of the reef. Next to him were all the others stretched in a row. Finally at the end was the weakest of the great beings. The great flying being, Raven, flew above but couldn't find a place to land. He decided that he would travel to the sky country instead.

In the sky country, there was a town that was set up in five rows. In the town, the chief's daughter had a baby. During the night, Raven entered the chief's house, scooped the baby out of its skin and took its place, becoming Raven Child. Then Raven Child began to get hungry, so he took an eye from everyone in the first row of the village and ate them all. He did this for four more nights with each of the other rows in the village. A woman made of stone saw everything that was happening, and she told the sky people about it. The chief of the town called everyone together and sang a song for Raven Child. One of the people was holding Raven Child in his cradle and dropped him. He fell down though the sky and drifted on the water.

Suddenly Raven Child heard a voice say, "Your grandfather is going to let you in." He stepped out onto a two-headed totem pole made of stone and he found he could climb up and down it. He climbed down and found a house at the bottom. He entered the house and found a man that looked like a seagull. The man said to Raven Child, "Put this speckled stone in the water first and the black one next. After you do this, bite off a piece of each and spit it out. You will see them unite and become one." Raven Child did as he was told. When the two pieces came together they began to appear as trees. He put them in the water and they stretched and became the land called Haida Gwaii.

After this, Raven Child was able to make many things. When the great waters had gone down, Raven Child summoned four groups of human beings. One of the groups of human beings was the Haida.
We learn from this oral tradition that the Haida believe in a world that lives above them, an earth world in the middle, and a world below the earth. The story also tells us that the trees and land are sacred to the Haida. The Raven is also sacred. He is a trickster who is greedy and mischievous, but who also teaches humans how to live a good life. The Raven has supernatural powers and uses them to obtain important things for humans. He stole the sun, moon and stars for humans, as well as giving them fresh water, salmon and fire. When the Haida look at their country, they understand the story of Raven. His creation is all around them.

Contact with Europeans
Like other Aboriginal societies, the Haida way of life changed with the coming of Europeans in the late 1700s. Disease, especially smallpox, affected the Haida and many died. Some people estimate that as much as 95 percent of the Haida population died from disease. The worst smallpox epidemic was in 1862. A census by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1885 showed that there were only about 800 Haida left. In 1915, there were even fewer -- only 588. Now there are about 4 000.
Europeans also brought alcohol, which created even more problems. Their lives were also changed when the Canadian government stopped them from having potlatches (a great sharing of presents) and making totem poles. These two things were important for the Haida to remain a happy people. The Canadian government at that time wanted to encourage the Haida to be more like Europeans.

The Haida Today
One great threat to the Haida way of life today is the logging of the forests. Because the trees in Haida Gwaii are very old, they are very large. Logging companies want to cut down all the old growth trees. The Haida say that if this happens there won't be any plants or animals left in Haida Gwaii. The Haida way of life will be ruined.
A few years ago, around 75 Haida stopped logging trucks from taking the trees in South Moresby, on Lyell Island. They were arrested and spent time in jail. One Haida man involved in protecting Haida Gwaii is Guujaaw, a member of the Raven Clan. Thanks to him and the many Haida women involved in the protests, today the region has been turned into a protected park that is 90 kilometres long. Parks Canada and the Haida manage the park together.

Way of Life
Long ago the Haida sometimes went to war against other Native groups for revenge or to get items of wealth and, especially, slaves. The Haida's slaves were either people caught in wars or were the children of those who had been caught. The Haida were successful warriors because they had excellent seamanship skills. Haida forts were very well defended against attack. Haida also defended themselves by wearing armour, including wooden helmets and breastplates, and a war coat made from thick sea lion hides or several layers of elkskin. They used bows and arrows and spears, as well as war daggers.

Food
The Haida's main food sources were the salmon and eulachon fish. The eulachon was highly prized because, besides being good to eat, its oil could be used for lighting lamps. In order to get eulachon, the Haida had to travel to the Nass River and trade with the Nisga'a people. There were also many animals the Haida could hunt. The largest was the grizzly bear. The grizzly bear is also honoured by the Haida of Haida Gwaii.

Clothing
Before the Haida came in contact with Europeans, most Haida wore clothes made of woven red or yellow cedar bark. Women wore skirts and capes and men wore long capes. Besides these woven bark capes, the Haida also had large elkskin capes that were decorated at the sides with paint and fringes. The Haida women wove hats from split spruce roots and the men painted them with forms of animals, using mostly red and black but sometimes with small touches of green and blue.

Shelter
The Haida lived in what we call longhouses. These were very large. Houses usually belonged to a single clan family, like Raven. Each household could have as many as 30 people and was headed by a chief.

Transportation
The Haida usually travelled by sea. They used huge war canoes. Each canoe was hollowed out of a single cedar tree and could hold about 50 to 60 warriors.

Education
The Canadian government thought that Native people should live more like Europeans. They sent many Haida children away to residential schools to learn European culture. Residential schools were schools run by Christian churches, and were far away from the Haida villages. Some children never saw their families for years. Once there, the children were not allowed to speak the Haida language, and were sometimes beaten for doing so. It wasn't just Haida children that were sent away. Over the years, many other Aboriginal children from other Aboriginal societies in Canada were also sent to residential schools.
Today the government knows that it is important for children to live with their families and learn about their culture. Now Haida children go to schools in and around their communities. They are relearning their culture and language.

Language
The Haida language is spoken by the Haida of Haida Gwaii and by Haida living along the cost of Alaska. The Haida language is part of the Na-Dene family of Aboriginal languages, but is not closely related to any other language.

Religion
The Haida believed in medicine people who could gain special powers from the great supernatural beings. Supernatural beings are those that live beyond the earth world. They may have the power of the sun, the moon, or even the thunders. A Haida medicine person with powers from these beings would dress in special clothes. He usually wore a dancing blanket. When people were sick he would try and cure them. He would have an assistant to help him. The assistant would beat a drum while the medicine person used his powers to cure. The Haida believed that when people became sick, it meant they were out of balance. The drumming and singing would help bring people back into balance and they would get well.

Governance
The Haida were divided into two main clans. The clans were passed down through the mother's line, which means that a person would always belong to the clan that his or her mother came from. The two main clans were Eagle and Raven. If a Haida was a member of the Eagle Clan, he or she had to marry someone from the Raven Clan. This way people had family all over the place. There were other clans as well. Some of these came under the Raven and Eagle Clans, like smaller groups within a larger group. Within each clan, Haida families had crests, which are pictures that represent different things. The village of Skidegate in Haida Gwaii has as many as 14 different crests. Eagle Clan crests can include pictures of frogs, dance hats, copper, cormorants, beaver, dogfish and black whales. Raven Clan crests include pictures of the moon, mountain goats, orcas, grizzly bears, rainbows and sea grizzly bears.

Music, Dance and Festivals
Like other Aboriginal peoples on the Northwest Coast, the Haida practiced the potlatch. A potlatch was a great giveaway of presents. It was a form of sharing, which was an important element in Aboriginal life. In the spring, and especially the summer and fall, the Haida would collect many things that they would give away during potlatches in the winter. During a potlatch there were dances and speeches. A Haida chief would invite many guests from all over to attend. They might witness the giving of special names, the honouring of those who had died, and the giving of presents. A chief would give away everything he had collected throughout the year. These gifts would go to the chiefs of other villages and to the people. The more a chief gave away, the more he would be respected. Other chiefs would also hold potlatches. That way, during another potlatch, a chief would get some things back. This kept everyone happy. It was like being in one big family. Each chief possessed certain songs, dances and stories. These could also be given away as gifts.

Arts and Crafts
The Haida are known for their totem pole carvings. Totem poles are carved out of large cedar trees from the rain forest. The carvings are usually faces of the great beings like Raven and Eagle. Each carving tells a different story. A totem pole is the oral tradition of the Haida people put into sculpture. Totem poles usually include the crests of different Haida families. They also tell the history of the crests.
The Haida have given Canada some of its most skilled carvers. The most famous of these carvers died a few years ago. His name was Bill Reid. Bill Reid carved the totem pole that is in front of the Skidegate Band Council office. Skidegate is a Haida village. Bill Reid's most famous carving is The Spirit of Haida Gwaii and features both Raven and Eagle. It can be found in Washington D.C., in the United States, at the Canadian Embassy.

Granddaddy of all rootbeers

While i was stuck at Portal i came across this little gem. Ive only really noticed it in North Dakota but im sure you can get it elsewhere. If you like rootbeer then you have to try this Sarsparilla, the taste is a little like Dr Pepper but stronger.

Its great, try it if you get the chance.............