Bruno from Schweiz

Wow, the last few weeks (month?) have just been a whirl wind! Gosh, the last post I wrote was November 13. It seems like eons ago, so much has happened since then.

One of the things was that we had a giant snowstorm. Giant to my standards anyways. It snowed for about 36 hours straight and then on day 2 our power went out for about 14 hours. It was grand. To top it all off the nearest cell tower also went out, so the partners cell phones didn't work for a few days too. Hahaha suckers.

But in the midst of all this, we were supposed to be loading up 2 cattle liners full to take to an auction yard in southern Alberta where the prices are better. One truck didn't even make it anywhere near our area of the province and the second one made it to about a half hour before our house when he got stuck! It turned out that it was a good thing he got stuck when he did for 2 reasons: 1) He got stuck just before a massive hill that would have been completely unmanageable in his truck, and the consequences of going off the road there would have been disastrous, and; 2) There are 2 ways from our location in to Alberta and both were closed at the time. So instead of our animals being stuck on the truck, they were just stuck in our yard for a couple more days.

So partner #1 heads out there in one of our vehicles to see if he can help the trucker get unstuck and ends up calling a little while later to see if we can bring him some tools. Our second vehicle, although 4-wheel drive, still didn't have snow tires on (mostly due to my laziness and our lack of funds at the time). But the tires it did have on were still all seasons and pretty good, though not the best. So I have to venture out and brave the storm in my inadequate vehicle, never daring to go over 50 km/h. Here's a picture to show you how great it was.

To the snow's credit, it was quite beautiful. 

It took me about twice as long to make the trip. I slid several times and saw 2 other vehicles in the ditch. 

when I finally caught up to them on the hill, they had the chains on the tires of our minivan and they were still having trouble navigating the hill! 

In any case, they got the truck unstuck, but decided it would be suicide to drive the hill, so we took the trucker home with us! His name was Bruno and he was really quite nice. Because the storm just kept bloody going, the passes never opened, and our power was out for so long, Bruno ended up staying with us for over 2 days! The whole time we were giggling to ourselves and wondering what he must think of our family since we offered 0 explanation and just operated as we normally would. 

During his 1st night with us, while getting to know each other, we found out that Bruno is from Switzerland and used to live and work as a chef in Nakusp, BC, which is a very small and beautiful town in the Kootneys that just so happens to be home to much of my extended family. So I asked Bruno if he knew of my 2nd cousin (Aunt? Once/twice removed?) Barbie who owns a prolific camp ground in the area, and he responds with "Yeah I know of her. Apparently her and I are very distantly related somehow". So it turns out this utter stranger from Switzerland,  who just so happens to be stranded while hauling my partners cows is somehow, in some very convoluted way, a relative of mine! It was the weirdest coincidence I have ever experienced in my life! 

I ended up calling up my Grandfather to tell him about it. He got a good chuckle out of it and said he would call up his sister to ask her if she knew anything about Bruno from Schweiz. So far I haven't gotten a response from him. But we heard from Bruno a couple times. He let us know that he made it to Alberta in one piece and to thank us for our hospitality, which made me wonder yet again, what his impressions were of my family lol.

Otherwise the last month has been a whirlwind of cattle liners, cows, airplanes (I went to Vancouver Island), and Christmas shopping! By the way Christmas shopping when you have a family of 8 is insanity! Stockings alone are so involved! I mean.... I don't know anything about stockings.... That's Santa's job....

Also I took this picture of a horse....