18 February 2010

Our Island Story Part 4~Crossing a Frozen River

This probably looks scarier than it really is!! Remember, our 1st objective with our family was always safety. Getting to know the river was the job of daddy and he did a fine job of it. Never did any of the children nor I encounter any danger with the frozen waters. In the beginning of the freezing periods, and at the beginning of thawing daddy would inspect the ice. He did this in several spots along each side of the river. Mainly by taking the flat bottom boat out a ways and jumping up and down in it to check the durability. Or, he would take an auger and check that way. Sometimes he would stand with one foot in the boat and the other outside the boat and stamp the ice really hard. This proved to work well to tell us the thickness of the ice. There was a time or two that he went in but grabbed himself by the boat. Having one leg inside the boat was a huge help in his safety!! And mostly, the depth of the water where he was checking wasn't usually over 5 or 6 feet deep.

In this photo it may seem things are not safe. It is true that there is open water but the path that you see in the picture below was safe and we always followed our path. When we would get heavy snows that would cover in our trail daddy would shovel it out, just as you would shovel your sidewalk!! Otherwise the boat would not slide as it needed to when our family was in it. He would put everyone in and pull the boat over the ice as you would pull a sled and wrapping the rope around his waist in case he fell through thereby giving him a way to climb out.


Here again, no matter what the river was like the children always wore their life jackets. Running water or frozen ice it didn't matter.


9 comments:

busymomof10 said...

What an adventure!!!

How many years did you live in this house?

I love reading about your life there! Did you appreciate the adventure while living there, or only as you look back at it?? I really can't imagine you having to ride in that boat and go through all of that when you were Big pregnant or carrying a new born baby! Amazing story!

Unknown said...

We lived on the island for 3 years. Our 6th was born 18 months before we moved off. I think we enjoyed it for the most part. Putting some of the tougher moments aside!! In the future I will share some of the most memorable moments that come to mind but unfortunately they may or may not be accompanied with pictures because one's camera is not always around when some tricky encounters arise!!

Teena said...

wow how exciting! Love the pics. Just found your blog from another blog.

Love all the pics... and stuff.

How neat

blessings,
Teena

Cinnamon said...

Tricia~ I can totally relate to it not looking "safe". We lived in similar situations where people would come visit and not even know how we could live like we did. But the Lord puts us all where we are and only for a season right? So when will you be moving back cause I know all the kids want to go live on the Island :-) Check and see if there's an extra house on the island available so we can join you :-) Just think of all the fun we'd have :-)

Hugs~ Cinnamon

Unknown said...

Could you imagine? It totally would be so fun and adventurous to share the island with you all. You know we had the opportunity to buy it then for only 42,000. A friend owned it and just wanted to get rid of it. It finally sold and since then I'm not sure what happened. I think it was for sale a time or two and we did see the price once and they were asking over 100,000. HAHA, like that's ever gonna happen. We've thought about checking it out just to see. It's only about 8 miles from where we live. We still live on the same river only on the "right" side of it!!

Kathy@theshebearofeleven said...

Imagine owning an island! My family would love it.

LLJ said...

This continuing story is amazing! and to think it is true!

Leanne

Anonymous said...

Hi Tricia,
What an amazing experience for your children - growing up on their very own island, and all of the associated learning experiences that they encounter!

The photos are great, too! :D

Have a wonderful weekend,
Blessings,
Jillian

Becca said...

wow! it looks so cooooold!!!!

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