The Big Beaver General Store is Back!
With proud new owner, Sheri Anderson, the Big Beaver General Store is back, and the community is thrilled.
Category: Canada
Live Transcript: McDonald’s Experience of a Lifetime
The McDonald’s Experience of a Lifetime. -Live transcript of Not Larry during the 2023 Arctic Winter Games in Fort McMurray, Wood Buffalo. [su_dropcap]W[/su_dropcap]hen I was coming out of Mac Island I saw three people walking. One of them was wearing a jacket from Nunavut. I was going to turn towards home, but the people I saw were walking past the Morrison Center. I started thinking to myself, ‘Why are they walking? I have an empty car right now.’ It’s...
Robert: Buffalo vs Dogs Trap-Line Incident
After the wolves ran away, the buffalo saw my dogs and he charged my dogs. He came straight down the trail. That’s why my dog-sled pack leader was trying to stop because she knew that buffalo was there…
Canoe Conundrum in Canada
At 09:08 Not Larry and I unloaded a 16’ canoe into the Clearwater River at Waterways. I was the paddle in the front and Not Larry was the paddle/rudder in the back. We rode the Clearwater to the Athabasca River and headed north. We would tackle a 50 km journey on the day. A storm would come and find us…
Not Larry’s Super Sexy 1970 Oldsmobile 98
This is Not Larry’s Super Sexy 1970 Oldsmobile 98, that she just bought. This car is a beautlful car driven by a beautiful woman. Babes!
Training Cats to Hold their Breath Underwater
Training Cats to Hold their Breath Underwater [su_dropcap]I[/su_dropcap]t is hard to know for sure at this point in my life, but it is possible that I was seven years old though more than likely I was probably eight. But what is for certain, is that it was in the later part of that year’s spring after I had been taking swimming lessons during the previous summer. I fell quite short of becoming a prolific swimmer but I did learn a...
My First Corvette – My Seven-Year-Old Fantasy is Here!
Corvette Day – This is a short guide on how to have a crush on two girls at the same time! June 1, 2019. By the time we got moving, Gene-the-Corvette-guy had called Not Larry and told her that he would let her have the car for $500 more than her offer. I have been perusing for the right Corvette for weeks. It is time! Plus, Not Larry was making a push to help line one up. So, we made...
Mud Bog: St. Laurent, Manitoba – Metis Days
Mud Bog. St. Laurent, Manitoba, Canada. 5 August 2018 Last night before Not Larry and I went into the dance at the Metis Festival in St. Laurent, Manitoba, Canada, we met an indigenous man named Hammi. It turns out that Hammi is short for Hamilton. Interesting. Hammi was telling us about the mud-bog that would be taking place today and how good it has been in the previous years. Not Larry and I decided to go to it. [su_quote]Not Larry...
The Lead-Up to the Birth of Errol Andersen
Happy birthday Errol! I have had this story for a couple of years and I have wanted to send this to you. Today is a good day for it! I remembered hearing dad tell the story years ago and figured it would be a pretty cool birthday present. The Lead-Up to the Birth of Errol Andersen -Transcript by my father, Milson Harris We put on this…I don’t know if it was the barn dance at our place or not…but we...
Mom – A Tribute to a Fascinating Lady
Mom Roxene Clementine Beler Harris Swayn 7 March 1946 – 16 June 2018 The Tributes: Larry-Vivian Kabrud She was an amazing lady for sure! Dawn Fister She was a truly gifted woman that could do anything!! Randi Mc I remember her from the Big Beaver Rodeo. She had a booth with beaded bandannas…best craft ever for a busy little girl. Trina Korbo It was a honour to know her HUGS Carmel Thurlow I remember her love for gardening and her flowers!! Kurt Thurlow I have one...
A 1981 Yamaha MX175: An Eight Year Old’s Dream
A 1981 Yamaha MX175: An Eight Year Old’s Dream I can not remember what we had been doing on that evening, or what friends I had been with, but I was happy to leave them to follow him. I was eight years old and I was busy learning how to become a cowboy on the horse that my parents had just bought for me. But he said that he had a motorbike that, “Would probably be just about right for...
Canada Driving from the Northwest Territories to Alberta.
Canada Driving from the Northwest Territories to Alberta. Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, Canada. 14 January 2018. I had an alarm set for 10:00. Alarms are terrible on vacation. It took some time, but Julie and I eventually got out of bed. Showers. Pack the car. Dead battery. Great… It was Arctic cold again, -34° Celsius, so it was hard to blame the car for not wanting to fire-up. Had it not been for our morning fire-up in the room, I may...
Entering the Northwest Territories of Canada: Fort Chipewyan to Fort Smith.
Entering the Northwest Territories: Fort Chipewyan to Fort Smith. 13 January 2018 (continued. Click here for dog sledding first part). Fort Chipewyan, Alberta, Canada. At 13:00, after some convincing from everyone in the community, Julie and I left Barbara and Robert Grandjambe’s house, gassed up the car up in Fort Chipewayn for $1.60/liter, and drove north. It would be a 3.5 hour trip from Fort Chipewyan, Alberta to Fort Smith, Northwest Territories. Neither Julie nor I had been to any...
Dog Sledding in Canada: Fort Chipewyan, Alberta
Dog Sledding in Fort Chipewyan. Fort Chipewyan, Alberta, Canada. 13 January 2018. I had an alarm set for 08:05. Neither Julie nor I wanted to get up but time was of the essence in Fort Chipewyan. Of course, there is time to be used wisely when you are on holidays. And even when you have a massive day, it is important to take partake in vacation horizontal bed dancing. The world can wait! Julie and I packed up, showered up, and headed...
Traveling Canadian Ice Roads: Fort McMurray to Fort Chipewyan
Traveling Canadian Ice Roads: Fort McMurray to Fort Chipewyan. 12 January 2018. I was nearly pacing the floor waiting for Julie to finish her course in the morning to come and collect me. It is hard to know what a person is going to need in northern Canada. I was already far north in Fort McMurray, Alberta, but we were going to be heading much further north than that on an ice-road…further north than most Canadian minds think of, to...
Learning to Butcher a Deer and Make Sausages
Learning to Butcher a Deer and Make Sausages. 15 November 2017. Dusty, Stryker and I went for a drive in the afternoon to see if we could find any deer as hunting season is underway. Shortly into our drive, a buck jumped out of a patch of trees! Dusty took three shots at him but missed the buck that ran into another massive grove of trees. The buck was in quite a hurry by that point, understandably. Dusty went into...
The Fun Job Interview
The Fun Job Interview. I was up at 05:00 this morning to do my final and third segment of the interview for a job I am hoping to line up this summer. I had to be on Skype at 07:00 my time as that was 14:00 in London. The job interview was by three random people in theor office: A Polish girl, a German girl, and a Romanian guy. They asked me random questions from a deck of question cards. ...
The Power of an Old Crush
The Power of an Old Crush. I had not seen her in about 10 years. I used to have a massive crush on her 19 years ago when I was growing up. I have been away for nearly a decade and recently returned for a spell. We became friends on Facebook. Then, two days ago I received this message from her: ‘Umm…Just FYI, Your Facebook pages tell me that you might be the coolest. person. ever. 🙂 Just want I...
A Strange Twist of Dates
A Strange Twist of Dates Feb 3 Life is just so freaking strange sometimes. It is just a strange twist of dates… Right now in my life, I am at the farm in Big Beaver, and I am trying to get all of my journals moved from paper books that they are and typed out on my laptop. I have 17 journals that I have written every single day for the past 10 years, and it takes me about four...
Making Music in a Senior Citizen’s Center
My father was hanging out with me in the basement, and then he began getting his band equipment together to haul upstairs to load into the car. He told me that he had a gig to play at the senior citizens’ home in Coronach, the next town over. My father is a very youthful 78-years-of-age. I asked him if he needed a roadie for making music. He was happy to have another set of hands to carry equipment, so I decided that I would join him for his performance. Once we got everything into the car, we had a quick sandwich in the house. As we were about to run out the door one of my brothers called. I knew we were short on time but my dad was too polite to say so and he talked to my brother as I watched the anxiousness build up in him as time was ticking by. Eventually, dad got off the phone and we jumped in the car to race the ordinary 15 minute drive from the ranch to town.
A Night With Our Heroes – Edmonton Oilers 1984 Stanley Cup Reunion
A Night With Our Heroes Edmonton Oilers 1984 Stanley Cup Reunion Sometimes the stars align just right. My childhood hero hockey team decided to have a 30 year anniversary of their 1984 Stanley Cup Championship when I was in the area, and beyond that, my best friend and I who grew up bonding over the team were able to attend the reunion together. As I said to him, “If I was in Auckland, New Zealand right now, and I knew...
The Postcard Barrel
The Postcard Barrel 18 September An amazingly cool thing happened today. Well, it all goes back a couple of months. Today ties to a day in late June when I was on Isla Floreana in the Galapagos. I wrote this from that time…. “The post office ‘barrel’ has existed since the 1800’s and it is where ships used to leave mail they wanted delivered. If you stopped at the beach where Bahia Post Office was located on your way...
Waskatenau – Finding a Job But Wanting a Statue
Waskatenau – Finding a Job But Wanting a Statue. September 17. I awoke this morning to a man calling me to give me job. That is bittersweet. I need to job as I need to make money and have enough to get out of the Canadian Freezer before the cold swallows up my will to go on, but jobs just do not really suit me…. They say that a man should never do what he is good at for free,...
Waskatenau – A Fantastically Strange Message and My Mental Difficency
September 16. A Fantastically Strange Message. I received a message in my Big Beaver Diaries inbox today that threw me for a mental loop. My mother is one of 8 brothers and sisters from a mix-matched family of parents who divorced in the ultra conservative 1950’s. I often wonder how society viewed divorcees at that time… My grandparents were undoubtedly seen as despicable sinners by that society. Both of those grandparents remarried and had more children. That made it so...
Sylvan Lake to Waskatenau – Time Warp
Sylvan Lake to Waskatenau – Time Warp. 15 September. I was awake at 2:45am. My alarm was set for 4:45am. I wanted those two hours of a coma sleep, but my body would not agree to such a plan. I think it is because I have been partying until 4am nearly every day since about December and my body was truly confused about how I put it to rest at 10pm. I think it thought the rest was just a...
Sylvan Lake: Domesticity, Child Caring and Bearing
Sylvan Lake: Domesticity, Child Caring and Bearing. September 14. I got this message from my friend Jan today. This entertained me very much; “Anyway I thought you might get a kick out of this… on my Mac my favourites board contains 12 websites. I don’t know if you are familiar with the favourites board but as soon as I click on the internet my homepage consists of my 12 favourite pages in smaller view. But you can still see what’s...
Penhold, Bentley, and Sylvan Lake
Penhold, Bentley, and Sylvan Lake. September 13. Penhold parade took place today. I spent most of the parade racing Kellen for candy that was thrown from cars. The parade was more about politics than anything else. It disappointed me. Where are the cool cars? Where are the floats? Here is the Liberal Party representative. Here is the NDP party representative. Here is the PC party representative. Here is the town secretary… Good thing there was candy to buy the children’s...
Penhold: Motivation for Income Necessitation
Penhold: Motivation for Income Necessitation. September 12. It is tough to make myself to find a job right now because I still have money in the bank. I am not broke. If I was broke, I would have had a job already last week. But, trying to find a job when I have a bank account that could probably fund my existence until Christmas if I was in Central America makes it tough for me to go and get...
Penhold: Pepperoni Hamburgers in a Haunted House
Penhold: Pepperoni Hamburgers in a Haunted House. September 11. After a late start because of a little lady’s illness last night, Travis and I left Penhold and went to Red Deer to buy diapers and beer. That is quite a combination. I tried carrying the diapers and felt that it was bad luck so I had Travis carry them instead. Some things just do not look right on me. Perhaps one day I will have to buy diapers. Maybe...
Sundre to Penhold: A Cool Trifecta
Sundre to Penhold: A Cool Trifecta. September 10. Maybe I am not supposed to be a writer and maybe my path in life is to bring old friends together…people who have not seen each other in many years. Today was a trifecta of awesome. Priscilla cooked bacon and hash-brown cuisine for breakfast and we started out day. A snowy day. This is an absurd amount of snow outside. It is like January out there and it is just out of...
