I Am Canadian

I am Canadian because I spend my winters at the rink. Watching hockey and freeze my butt off to support the team. I play in the snow and build giant snowmen with dad and Chase; so big that the top snowball is almost impossible to put on. I began skidooing at a very young age and flying behind the skidoo on a saucer. Sometimes driving and flinging my friends into vehicles or bouncing them along with me on the skidoo. The snow in Canada is so deep and fluffy that you rarely get very hurt if you crash. Once Chase was driving and I was on the saucer behind; my dog was run over by the skidoo and she wasn’t even phased. Dixie just popped right out of the snow and kept running after us. Tobogganing on my birthday was always a tradition. My whole family would come out to our farm to join us. There may be many of us because the family is so big. The best sled for the round hill was the inner tube of a tractor tire, you could keep going for a long, long way on that. All the winter sleep overs at Grandma Fouhy’s with Chase, Courtney and Caitlyn had time spent outside building huge snow forts in the piles of snow Grandpa had made while plowing the road. We would crawl through the snow digging tunnels.They would take so long to build that by the time we had finished we wouldn’t even want to stay out to enjoy them.

In  the spring after there wasn’t snow for forts we would go to the bail castles. Running through the high tunnels created by the stacks of round bales. Also in spring the calves come. We go out into the cold and what’s left of the snow to help the mothers give birth. I will never forget the time when I was just a little kid and we had to take a cow to the vet for a see section. It was so dramatic to me at the time, it seemed like a sea of blood was flowing out of the incision. With calving and spring on our farm meant work. We would have to wrangle the calves in the field, give them their needles and tag them. My job was always the wrangling and holding them down. As spring turned to summer the calves and cows would need to be moved to the pasture for food purposes. Before we could move them, the calves would need to be branded and given more needles, and the cows would need needles too. This takes about a day of work, with help from many kind neighbours. When I was old enough to do my part I learned how to give needles as gently as I could. A valuable lesson for a Canadian farm girl. Next in the spring comes seeding. Dad and Grandpa do this while the women take lunches to them out in the field. Summer is very short for a Canadian girl, much shorter than winter. Usually I hang out at the farm, loving the wide open spaces and gorgeous scenery. I play with my animals, occasionally check the cows down by the river with dad and ride my horses. When I was younger I had a feisty little pony named Jada. She constantly wanted to buck you off. Especially Chase, who refused to use a saddle. When Jada wanted him off she jumped up, Chase flew up and landed on her neck. She just stopped and didn't try again.

Before you know it in Canada winter is just around the corner. The beautiful orange, yellow and red autumn leaves are covering the ground and harvest is in full swing. My dad and Grandpa spend very long hours in the combine, trying to get harvest over with before snow fall. The kids go back to school in fall, but being in the tiny school I am in they are lenient with you missing to help out at home. The teachers at my school understand the importance of helping our families on the farm. My school is very hard for some people to comprehend. They can not imagine having school with the kindergartens all the way up to grade 12. Many small communities travel to one centre to go to school around here. Even with all the communities there are only about 180 students. I may not have too many opportunities at my school, there may not be huge parties and a large choice for friends. But I really enjoy it. It is nice to feel at home and relaxed at school. I enjoy knowing every student and the closeness of my class because its always just us. My life in Canada has taught me to be accepting of other people because I found out how it feels when people aren`t. I have learned from my amazing family to be kind and show love to the people that you love. Canada has shaped me to love my space and alone time. Big cities are not the place to be, I couldn’t survive there now. Not since I am so used to what I have here. Canada has given me freedom, taught me to be kind, to love the ones I have and to not judge others. Canada has shaped me to be the person I am today and that makes me proud.

Triple F Ranch

Many years ago a piece of land in the middle of no where, in other words Saskatchewan, a farm was established in 1904. This was done by Great Great Grandpa Dave Fouhy, who was of Irish decent. Around the 1950s a large white house was built on top of a hill on this farm. This was a young couples home; Great Grandpa and Grandma's home. Great Grandpa was the son of Great Great Grandpa, he would take over the farm. Great Grandpa was very happy to do this, he loved his family farm and it would make his father very proud if he was in charge. Barns, fields, bins, corrals and everything needed for a farm were there. This had all been done before Great Grandpa came to be in charge. There was a big red barn standing just down the hill form the white house, corrals surrounded the barn. Bins were out by the fields and a shed for the machinery was added, This was only a short drive from the house. Luscious trees, pasture and wide open fields were what completed the ranch. Of course Great Grandpa and Grandma wanted children to bring joy to the farm. Maybe a boy or two to take it over.

That is exactly what happened, the Fouhy's grew by three, Brian, David and Carol. They all helped farm and raise the cattle. There was a lot of hard work. They seeded and harvested in the spring, summer and fall. They looked after the cattle all year. Spring was always extra busy with calving season. There were also some hard, cold winters that of course had to be worked through too. All this time the children were growing up. Soon enough they would find husbands and wives; maybe they would move away. That is just what Carol did, she moved off the old homestead. But Brian and David had different ideas. They both loved their home. They wanted to farm and keep the family home alive. So, they brought their wives and created the name triple f ranch. They both built homes in different parts of their childhood home. Life went on, the men worked together on the farm; gained a few more assets and built a few more things.

Eventually they both decided they wanted a family. Hopefully to keep the Saskatchewan home stead alive. Brian had two baby girls. David a boy and two girls with his wife Linda. Now it was time for a new generation to work on the farm. Although there were more opportunities and things for Shawn, Kari and Tania to do now than when David was young. Just as fast as their parents had the three farm kids grew up. They found partners and the girls left the farm. Shawn stayed, loving the farm which had become more precious as time and generations passed through. Shawn stayed to keep the farm moving along side his father. But he also wanted to be a mechanic, which was his passion. So, to achieve both he built a shop right beside  the big red barn. Shawn and his wife Becky now had two small children. Becky and Shawn raised them at their own farm only five minutes away from the triple f ranch. They had Chase and Kelsie, who now helped with the chores on the farm along side Grandpa David, Grandma Linda and their parents.

Very shortly after Chase was born Great Grandpa passed away. Great Grandma continued to live in the white house on the hill. But soon enough she could not take care of herself, so she moved to a care home in Biggar. The second generation farm owner had now moved on. Most sadness was not far behind. When Chase and Kelsie were just little kids Uncle Brian was taken by cancer. His wife moved off the farm, and she took her house with her. The triple f ranch was only left with one f. Not long after her son was gone Great Grandma was too. Grandpa Fouhy was now the sole owner of the homestead; maybe one day that will be Dad.

What's this aboot, eh?

In the movie Canadian Bacon, Canadians are portrayed as the kindest people there are in the whole world. We don't use bad language and littering is the largest punished crime there is. We don't have a care in the world because its so safe we don't need to. There is no violence. Weapons are not used very often; unlike the Americans. They love their guns; their bombs; and their war. They need war, they are not respected without it. The mounties, that are the only source of law enforcement, have relatively easy jobs. They lock people up for having a bad attitude too often, or maybe for dropping a bit of litter. Americans on the other hand have lots of law enforcement-all over.


The Canadians love hockey, but maybe not as much as they lover their beer. Insulting either of these things can turn into a riot. Hockey is pretty much the only real sport the Canadians play. Other than football, but that doesn't really count. Even if Canadian football doesn't count that does not mean we are not tough. We can stand up to a lot; even if we don't really fight back with weapons. The Americans would have to work pretty hard to take us down. Even if the Americans do think they run the world. Canadian Bacon claims that Canada has no culture, disregarding all the immigrants in our country. The immigrants may be coming to canada to get some of the very good jobs we have here. Or maybe they want to enjoy our national anthem with us and the peace that we are so famous for.


In Canadian Bacon, the current president Alan Alda is the first president to not take America to was in many years. This causes him to not to be approved by the American people. To change this he decides there must be war. But all the American enemies are dead. Trying to find a new enemy, they see a news broadcast of an American sheriff started a fight at a Canadian hockey game by insulting their beer. This gives the idea that Canada should be the new enemy. After the hockey game incident, the sheriff (Boomer) decides to go to Canada to litter and prove power of the Americans. One of his accomplices, `Honey`` gets caught by a Mountie and taken to jail. Boomer goes back to try to save her, all of his trouble causing in Canada almost starts a real war. This movie has many stereotypes to both countries through out. This makes an entertaining comedic movie. The stereotypes are made very sarcastic and obvious, clearly not there to offend. They portrayed the kindness of Canada to a ridiculous extent and also the American obsession with military. Over all this was an alright movie, but I would not say it was great by any means. There was just not enough entertainment value.