end of the year...

It is getting close to the end of another year and what a year it has been. Every christmas, we always have our dinner on the night of Christmas Eve. This year was no different, except for one thing. There was someone missing at the dinner table. My grandfather. My mom had seen this poem written in a newspaper and she read it to the whole family before dinner.

Spending my Christmas with Jesus this year.

My First Christmas in Heaven I see the countless Christmas trees around the world below.
With tiny lights like Heaven's Stars, reflecting on the snow.
The sight is so spectacular, please wipe away the tears For I am spending my Christmas with Jesus Christ this year.
I hear the many Christmas songs that people hold so dear,
But the sounds of music can't compare with the Christmas choir up here.
I have no words to tell you, the joy their voices bring,
For it is beyond description, to hear the angels sing.
I know how much you miss me, I see the pain inside your heart,
But I am not so far away, We really aren't apart.
So be happy for me,dear ones, You know I hold you dear.
And be glad I'm spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year.
I sent you each a special gift, from my heavenly home above.
I sent you each a memory of my undying love.
After all love is a gift more precious than pure gold.
It was always most important in the stories Jesus told.
Please love and keep each other, as my Father said to do.
For I can't count the blessing or love he has for each of you.
So have a Merry Christmas and wipe away that tear.
Remember, I am spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year

I felt like screaming. I felt like crying. I felt like kicking some ass. Yet, I sat there with a small, but fake, grin. I went and congratulated the winner, shook his hand and smiled. Growing up in a family of politicians, I had to learn to take the losses with the wins. My uncle was running again for the Grand Chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, but had lost at the second ballot. On the plus side, the second reading to implement the Kelowna Accord was passed. The was the good news of the day. That and Calgary Flames won!

My Momma's Wedding

My mom had gotten married on July 22, 2006 in Valley River, Manitoba

Raymond & Alice

I still have to download the pictures from my camera, but here are some pictures that I had stolen from a friends camera. Once I download my pictures on my computer, I will upload some more. It was a great weekend and we met a lot of friendly people down in Valley River.

rediscovery

I rediscovered my digital camcorder that I had for a couple years now! I pulled out the camcorder from my closet last week to record some people I know water-skiing. It was a blast! Of course, I was too damn chickenshit to try waterskiing myself .. I probably would have hurt myself, but it was still fun nonetheless. I was going through the bag and found some old tapes from last year. Wow, talk about going down memory lane. I found an old tape in there from last year of my mosom's birthday party .. aww .. was kinda sad, but good to see.

I am just loving this camcorder again. I will be taking it with me to Manitoba for my moms wedding on July 22! I went and bought a tripod for it .. so my recordings should be alot steadier .. can't believe I didn't buy one sooner! Its marvelous. I just gotta remember to buy a DV cord so I can transfer some of the recordings from the tape to my computer and then possibly burn the videos on DVD. I'm so excited and will be more excited if I can accomplish that. It is a digital camcorder and I know that I can do so much more with then I had in the past.

I have been on my holidays starting this past Monday and will be off work for another week and a half (possibly 2 and a 1/2 weeks, if I ask my boss for an additional week off) and I am thoroughly enjoying the hell out of my holidays! I only received 2 calls from work so far. Well, three calls, but I wasn't home to answer that one .. so that really doesn't count now does it? It seems like they can survive without me! Amazing. I went to the Health Centre today just to be nosey and to look for my glasses that I had lost once again. The girl who is taking over for me seems to be able to handle things. It was kind of weird though to see her sitting at my desk. She had notes all over the place so yah! people are keeping her busy with requests and work. She is trying her damnest not to call me with questions so she won't disturb me on my holidays which is just fine by me :)

Anywhos, I have a million and a half things to do tommorow before taking off to Manitoba so I best be off to bed now!

p.s. I found my glasses (they were in my truck all this time) Oops.

What Cancer Cannot Do

Cancer is so limited...
It cannot cripple Love
It cannot shatter Hope
It cannot corrode Faith
It cannot destroy Peace
It cannot kill Friendship
It cannot suppress Memories
It cannot silence Courage
It cannot invade the soul
It cannot steal Eternal Life
It cannot conquer the Spirit

behaviours...

I don't have much time to be writing in my blog as I find it is once again past midnight and I really should be sleeping. I am at Candace's place right now and have taken a couple days off from work to do some hospital visiting. These past couple of weeks, I found that people deal with things differently and that not everybody does, what seems to me, the right thing. I should learn not to dwell on peoples behaviours, but to focus on whats happening in life. I found myself getting angry at people for what their doing or not doing, or what they were saying when I really should ... I don't know ... Am I making sense? I am trying to convey my feelings without going into details of "this person did this, but should really be doing this." In other words, I have been pissed off at some family members behaviours and I let it get to me .. when really, its their choice, their life .. not mine. From now on, I will not let it get to me. No, I will not.

Good News

Well, well, well .. Its been about a month since I last wrote in here. Looking back to the past couple entries, I think its about time that I announce some good news...

My mom is getting married!

Kinda weird, but great! She has given her notice at work and will be moving to Manitoba at the end of June. Her wedding date has been set for July 22, 2006 and will be taking place there in Manitoba. So much change!! So much to do. Right now, I am working on the wedding invitations and they are looking beautiful! It seems like just yesterday when she announced to us that she had a "friend" and next thing you know .. they are getting married and she is moving out of province.

Till Later....

Biography

SENATOR ALLAN BIRD

"We need to be ready to meet God - anywhere, anyhow, anyplace"

1921 - 2006




Allan was born on September 21, 1921 in Montreal Lake, Saskatchewan and had passed away on March 15, 2006 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan at the age of 84 years. Allan's parents were Zacharias Halkett of Little Red and Miriam Turner of Montreal Lake. He was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. John Bell.

When he was 17, he married Sally Victoria Bird, age 16, on January 13, 1939. Two hours after he had gotten married, he had to go back to work for a forestry company, cutting wood in the Montreal Lake - Molanosa area. He had worked in Waskesui as a Towerman and he would take his family with him at times when he would go to work. Allan also had worked in Pelican Narrows at the Health Centre as the Maintenance Person. He was also a Driver Instructor for a few years. He worked hard to provide for his family. He had left the reserve to work for different employees to put food on the table.

Together, Allan and Sally, had 13 children who had all lived in the reserve. They are Alice LaVallee, Roy H. Bird, Richie Bird, Beverly Bird, Alphonse Bird, Marty Bird, Patti Bird, Allan N. Bird, Stewart Bird, and Burton Bird - David Bird, Bobby Bird and Elizabeth Bird are deceased. Allan also had 5 other children: Melinda Naytowhow, Leslie Bird, Freddy LaVallee, Roy Michel and Jean Bougie (deceased). Through the traditional way, he adopted: Al Ducharme, Shirley Henderson and Dutch Lerat into the Bird Family. Throughout the years, there have been a lot of people who considers him like a father, uncle, or grandfather. He leaves 69 grandchildren, 55 great-grandchildren, and 3 great-great grandchildren to celebrate his life.

Allan had enlisted in the army around 1952 and was active in the Korean War. He was a paratrooper in the Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI). He was third in line of war veterans in his family. His father, Zacharias, had served in World War I and hsi brother Simeon Halkett was in World War II who landed at Normandy on D-Day. Allan passed on this legacy to his late grandson, Dale LaVallee, who had been involved in the Militia.

During his time in the trenches, he discovered God and carried his belief in God and spirituality throughout his life. He was always active with the local Anglican Church in his home community. In the earlier days, Allan would go to the church every Sunday morning where he would fire up the wood heater and clean up in preparation for the church services. He was still attending to his pre-Sunday service routine just before he died. On February 19, 2004, Allan Bird recieved the Order of Saskatchewan in recognition for years of exemplary service for the church.

Allan had stayed eleven months in Korea and returned to Canada shortly after an armistice was signed on July 27, 1953. Upon returning to Montreal Lake shortly following the Korean War, he had seen the need for equality between the First Nations and the non-First Nations people. When he was at war, he fought side by side with non-First Nations and they all earned mutual respect as comrades. Once he returned to Canada, he was treated differently. He was told to go back to his reserve. Indian Affairs still controlled most aspects of the reserve life - there was an Indian Agent on the reserve. People had to receive permission from the agent in order to leave the reserve.

Allan started his political life when he returned from the Korean War. "He and many other veterans started changing the structures of the reserves. Instead of the Department [of Indian Affairs] and Canada itself handling totally everything, they brought back the will, the changes, that were required, to bring us to where we are today.

In the 1960s, Allan Bird, became Chief of the Montreal Lake Cree Nation and served several terms, off and on, along with political rival and friend Gilbert Bird. During his time as Chief, he was elected by his fellow Prince Albert District Chiefs, the forerunner of the Prince Albert Grand Council, to be the District Representative, which today would be the title of the Grand Chief. In 1980, both Allan and Gilbert Bird made an agreement that they would turn over the leadership to a new generation, and they would be relegated to advisors. In 1984, the Prince Albert District Chiefs passed a resolution for Allan Bird to become a Senator of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, and he was sworn in that year. He carried this title proudly. Allan was an advocator for our treaty rights. He would always speak up and fiercely defend the treaties and treaty rights of the people and the language and defended the cultural differences.

Korean War Story - Senator Allan Bird

I joined the army January 29, 1952. I was there for three years. My basic training was in Camp Petawawa, Ontario. After six months, I didn't come back once to Montreal Lake to visit my family. From there, I went to Wainwright, Alberta for the summer training. I stayed there for about two months. From there we went across the ocean on a ship. It took us about fourteen days. We got to Yokahama, Japan. In the meantime, on our way to Korea, I was outside on the ship standing on the rail just thinking about home and why I had to leave home. Yet, I was very glad I joined the army because my father was in the First World War. My brother was in World War 2 and I thought I might as well join the army too. While I was at the railing in the ship, just standing there and being very lonely, I saw another man there. He too was just looking. He looked like an Indian to me. I went to say hello to him. I asked him if he was lonesome and he said yes. "I wondered why I crossed the ocean. I was already overseas in WW2", he said. "While I was there in Germany, during the war, I won myself a George Cross, next to Victoria Cross for bravery." He told me how he won the cross. Then he told me, "I'm not coming back until I win the Victoria Cross in Korea." He told me lots of stories about the war. At the end, I asked for his name, "Tommy Prince", he said. That was the most decorated Indian in the Canadian Army. Sergeant Tommy Prince died in Winnipeg not too long ago. He died poor. He didn't want very much help. He said, "I came into the world poor and I'll leave the world poor."

While we were in Korea, we stopped at Japan for a week. Then we crossed Japan to Korea. While we were in Tokyo, Japan, the people there gave us a tour. I saw where the atomic bomb fell in 1945 by the Americans. It looked like a fire went I through there. Everything was burnt, even the steel buildings. The steel bars were bent from the heat of the bomb at Hiroshima.

After one week in Japan, we went to Korea. We have six submarine and aircraft escorts. When we landed, we stayed on the ship. At night we were put on a train in boxcars. We were being sent to the front lines. We were there for thirteen months. Sometimes we had fun, sometimes we were scared. We hauled food and ammunition. We did all this mostly after dark. No lights because the tail lights on the vehicle would show. We never could do anything during the day. The war was on at night mostly.

Back in Japan, Sergeant Prince was with the same outfit in the P.P.C.L.I., the same as me. We would do patrol. Sergeant Prince took five men with him to patrol at the enemy lines. While they were at the front lines, he got hit with shells. Prince got shell shock. From there, he left to get back to our line. Prince and one other fellow returned, leaving the other three behind. He didn't know that he had left the three behind. They had been killed. Sergeant Prince was sent home with shell shock.

One day I volunteered to go on patrol to find out what was going on at the other side. We had our English Corporal by the name of Webster from London, England to join the Canadian Army. It took us all night to get to the front lines. There was tall grass, so we crawled to see what was on the other side. In the meantime, while we were crawling, our Corporal told us to lay down quiet. Something was wrong and we knew it. Then I saw the enemy about three feet away. They were looking for us. They were not sure where we were but they knew we were there. We lay quiet for two hours, waiting to get orders from our leader. Then he told us we could sit up to stretch. He radioed to headquarters and we were told to return. While we were walking, the sky would light up from flares. It was like daylight. We would fall on the ground. When it grew dark would start running again. Finally we got back.

I remember after the war was over in Korea, July 29, 1953-54. There was a line there where sides were able to see each other. One morning I was called to go patrol that line. There was a tower there about 25 feet high. I didn't have any live ammo or rifle, nothing but my hands to fight with. About five in the morning I got up in the tower just to look around with binoculars. There was a big valley in that area. I saw people running from bush to bush. They were coming closer and closer. I didn't feel very good about what was happening. I was getting very suspicious so I radioed headquarters. They were coming towards me. The Military Police came. I heard the trucks rumbling over the hill. I was very glad to see five vehicles coming. The Commanding Officer asked me to come down off the tower, but I didn't want to, as I would lose sight of the enemy. The enemy stopped when they heard the vehicles. After capturing them, they brought them back. The CO told me to search them. He told me they were mine, all five of them. They had knives and machine guns. For food, all they had was rice.

I still have the picture of the Koreans and myself. They took a picture of me. This was a seven in the morning. I had done a days work before breakfast. I didn't even get a thank you or take a day off. I still stayed at the tower all day.

reflection...

Today was a day for reflection and the continuing journey towards healing. A year ago today on March 02, 2005, there was a tragedy on our reserve that had taken three of our youth way too early in their life. We had a Candlelight Vigil in our community tonight. It was the first of its kind here. We had walked from the site of where the killings had taken place up to the church for a prayer service. We had planned this all last minute. Two nights ago, the idea was brought up. By that night, I had went and talked to the family for permission to have this event that would hopefully involve the whole community. With their permission, I had went back to work to meet a couple friends there to start the planning and to do up the poster. The next day (yesterday), we had a meeting with the Chief and Council and we presented this idea to them and they gave us their support, so with that, the posters were photocopied and was distributed all over the community and we were off shopping for the candles and the food.

In the midst of all this, it was snowing, snowing and snowing some more and we had come upon our winter snowstorm of the year! Blah. It snowed like there was no tommorow! This morning, we woke up with a thick blanket of snow on the ground, but luckily, it was not very cold nor windy. With the help and support of a lot of the community members, we were able to pull off this Candlelight Healing Ceremony with a great success. Around 200 people had showed up tonight to show their support. I was just amazed with amount of people that had shown up because it was just yesterday morning that I was handing out the posters and with all the snow that had fallen it had caused some "not recommended to drive" situations, I was not sure on how it would turn out. I have never organized an event like this. I had never been to a candlelight vigil before tonight. I was stressed out and worried. What if no one showed up? What if everyone was snowed in? or What if we didn't have enough candles or food for the people? Everything turned out great though. Without the support of many people, it would not have been a success. Our community, once again, had pulled together to help us in our time of need. Thank You.

With that all said...I am very exhausted.

I miss Greg.

special days...

Mmmm .. Chocolate pudding for breakfast. It is going to be a good day. My plan for the day is to be lazy. I believe thats a good plan because tonight I am going to a Caberet(sp?) here in the city. It should be a lot of fun and I am looking forward to it. On Thursday it was my birthday. It was a day that I was planning to play hookie from work and just stay home to relax. It was when I was half way into my last entry here in my blogger when I had gotten a call to go to work. They were having a dinner there for 4 of us at work whose birthdays land in February. I ended up getting stuck doing work till around 3 p.m. We had a "surprise" birthday supper at my momma's that night. It wasn't that much of a surprise considering I was asking people the day before if they wanted to come to my surprise supper. It was a great turnout. After supper, I packed up to spend the weekend in Prince Albert. I got my hair coloured yesterday by Janna (Great job Janna!) and then I had to attend a meeting in the afternoon. After the meeting, I went over to Candaces and hung out with her all evening and ended up staying at her place on my warm, comfy bed. Since I had moved out of my place in Prince Albert, I am storing all my furniture at her place. She, being a neat, organizational freak, set up all my furniture in her basement and there will always be a bed for me at her place. I miss my bed...so many stories...not all good, mind you, but still..I miss it.

Which brings me into today. Candace went to work early this morning. I woke up with a freaking cramp. Not good. This was at 10:30 a.m., I figured I slept in enough. I got up and started watching Hockey. Blah! Canada lost today towards the Swiss. Surprising. The rules are so damn sticky. A little shove and a person will get a penalty for that. Wimps, I say! The end score was 2-0 for the Swiss. We shall get even! Lastnight, the woman were playing. I am not sure what the end score was, but when I went to bed it was 2-0 for the Canadians against Finland and was going into the 2nd period. I LOVE HOCKEY.

I forgot to mention!! For one my presents, I got 2 tickets to Aerosmith with Cheap Trick opening for them! Lastnight, I had asked Candace to come with me. The concert is on April 5, 2006 in Saskatoon and her birthday lands on April 4th so I figured it would be great idea to share my present with her on her birthday! I was just about an Indian Giver though because when I a had asked her if she wanted to come to Aerosmith with me in April, her response was "Whats Aerosmith?" SHEESH! I told her she sucked and to never mind. I had to show her a couple songs that Aerosmith sang. Fortunately, she recognized the songs that I had played she just didn't know who had sang them. So, I am still giving her my other ticket. Right now, I am on LimeWire, downloading a few songs from Aerosmith for her so she can get prepared for the concert.

It is my buddy's birthday today, I should give her a call!

ice / snow drags

We had our ice / snow drags here on the reserve this past weekend. The races are taken place out on the lake. Weather-wise it wasn't that bad this weekend although it did seem cold once you were standing outside watching the races for awhile with the windchill taken into effect. I was out there for both the days.

Okay, I just got a call from work. EEK! Gotta go.

It is 9:07 a.m. on Monday morning, I have deadlines galore and here I am on the internet. We have no coffee at home. Not good. Not at all. I figure I need to drink at least a two cups of coffee before I am functional.

We had snow/ice drags this past weekend on the reserve. It was quite chilling! I will have to download my pictures to my computer sometime this week so I can share at least a couple pictures with ya'll. Okay, I am spacing out here and on my second cup of coffee. The phone is starting to ring. I should get to work. Blah. Monday mornings suck.

bling bling

I miss my truck. This picture is not of my truck, but it was the only picture I could find that looks very close to my truck. It is a 99 Dodge Ram, but mine has an extended cab. So just picture this vehicle, but extended and it would be my truck.

I haven't driven my truck going on 4 weeks now. This is the longest time ever that I have been without a vehicle. Being dependent on people for rides has been pissing me off. As you just might be able to tell, I have been easily frustrated these days. I am not sure as to when I can get my truck back, but the way its been looking recently, probably not any time soon. GrrrRRrrrRRRRRRR.

renovations

Like my life, my blogger needed a splash of colour to it! I love the new colours and everything and my blogger did need a bit of change, but this damn blogger thing has been pissing me off. The part that is getting me frustrated is the damn font size on the webpage. Maybe its just blogger.com, but the font is soooo freaking large. When I go into the template and change the html code for the font size and press "preview changes," it shows up the way I want it. I go to my webpage after that just to check things out and yeah .. the font size is freaking huge again. Is it blogger.com? Is it just me? Is it my IE settings? HELP!

(5 minutes later)

hehe .. fixed it .. and umm yeah .. it was my IE settings .. my text size thing was set on "largest" .. duh! Sooo .. forget what all I said .. and Happy New Year!

Question: How long can you say "Happy New Year" for?

Your Life Path Number is 3

Your purpose in life is to express your unique self. You are a creative and artistic person with an interesting view on life. Witty and outgoing, you enjoy sharing your crazy ideas with anyone who will listen. A total social butterfly, you're the life of any party. In love, you inspire and enchant your partner. You are often an object of fantasy and desire. While you are very talented, you sometimes lack the ambition to put your talents in play. And while your wit carries you a long way, you occasionally use it to mask your true feelings. Your natural abilities can bring you all the success in the world ... if you let them

What Is Your Life Path Number?

I got this idea from Tash. Hmm .. Is it true?

Seven

7 Things I want to do before I die:
(Not in any particular order)

1) parachute jump
2) have a child or 2 .. (maybe, still contemplating...)
3) buy a house
4) win a big texes hold'em tournament .. so I can ...
5) get out of freaking debt .. so I can ...
6) travel the world .. but first I would ...
7) pay for my truck out of the shop ... transmission went :(

7 things I know how to do:

1) laugh at myself (and at others .. hehe)
2) play poker
3) drive a standard
4) change a tire on a vehicle (but if a guy wants to do it for me...by all means..)
5) argue over absolutely nothing with my brother
6) keep a secret
7) sign language

7 things I don't know how to do:

1) say priorities
2) play chess
3) confront people
4) write in my blogger regularly (I try!)
5) commit
6) plan in advance (it never works out...)
7) quit a job


7 things I find attractive in the opposite sex:

1) humour
2) intelligence
3) open minded
4) witty
5) charisma
6) eyes
7) conversationalist

7 things I say all the time:

1) what?
2) no clue
3) "thats what I do" mainly to piss off the boys because apparently, the saying is suppose to be "thats how I roll"
4) for freak sakes
5) for real?
6) word on the street is...
7) jackass

7 celebrity crushes:

1) angelina jolie
2) nicholas cage
3) vin diesel
4) george clooney
5) brad pitt (but seriously, its angelina that makes him look good...)
6) hmmm.....
7) yeah..can't think of any other celebrities right now

The next topic was "7 next tag victims" and umm .. I really don't know who to tag next ... and plus it will save me time then having to think of 7 people.

Okay this entry only took me 9 days to actually complete!

I was thinking ... prove it, you ask! I think I will tag some people to complete this little survey as well .. they don't have bloggers .. maybe this will get them caught up with the rest of us...

7 next tag victims:

1) nimis
2) janna
3) candace
4) samara
5) charmaine
6) jennifer .. aka .. The Ruby
7) and whoever else reads this blog and wants to complete the survey (p.s. let me know who and where)

someone remind me to send them all emails with a link to my blogger.