The Icelandic Canadian - 01.11.2007, Qupperneq 38

80
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 61 #2
cows after we get my bam up so Porey and
I can have some drinking milk. There may
be another man moving to the area, though
we don’t know his name.
August 5th, 1894
Halldor’s barn is complete. The weath-
er is unusually wet, the grain is still stand-
ing but we shall stack it as soon as we get a
dry spell. I have asked for the help of the
other men, Halldor and Kristjon. We know
the name of the man and his wife and two
kids coming from Iceland. Adalsteinn
Sigfusson is his name, his wife is Asrun
Rafnkellsdottir, and their children are
Salome and Porsteinn. They have aquired
the land west of us and north of Halldor
and Porey. We will all go and greet them
when they arrive, the same way we did
with Halldor and Porey.
August 8th, 1894
There was a terrible storm last night -
thunder, lightning, rain and large objects all
of which fell from the sky. It was a terrible
racket and it woke both Porey and me. We
went outside and to our surprise there was
ice covering the ground as far as we could
see. I picked up a piece of ice from the
ground, it was nearly perfectly round, there
was a cold feeling in the night air, which
was occasionally illuminated by a lightning
strike. I am worried for our crops - we
were planning to stack them today, and I
am writing this account this morning
before I leave with the other men to the
crops. I hope they are all right.
August 9th, 1894
The crops are ruined. The stalks
crushed - our hopes, dreams, crushed with
it. We will rely solely on the timber indus-
try for the time being. We are dangerously
low on food. I must travel to Lundur . . .
we will salvage what is left.
August 18 th, 1894
We were able to salvage enough grain
for ouselves. We will take the wheat to
Lundur to the flour mill. We don’t have the
means to make flour otherwise. It costs one
bag of flour for every seven crushed. We
are still trying to cut the wood; we have
brought in an extra steamship per week,
which gets an extra three dollars. We are
actually doing very well compared to some
who have left already. We have heard that
ASalsteinn and Asrun have arrived in
Winnipeg and will come out in the spring.
They are anxious to meet us, and we like-
wise. Only four months left until we have a
baby, I hope to God it is a boy because I
need the extra help. These days Porey has
tended to stay inside more, cooking, clean-
ing, etc. She does go out and pick berries
now and again though and also tend to the
small potato garden.
August 22nd, 1894
Today is Porey’s birthday. It’s a won-
derful occasion. We invited our friends and
neighbors to celebrate with us. May made a
small cake and we had coffee and kleinur.
September 3rd, 1894
A cool fall we are having. I travelled to
Lundur and purchased a rifle. I know there
is good game in the fall as I have been told
that in Lundur. There was a large confu-
sion as to what I am to shoot. My English
is not too good, and I thought I heard
somebody say they shot a mouse. Now
why would you shoot a mouse I thought to
myself? There is no meat, no point in
shooting it. When 1 saw the so-called
“mouse” I realized I was mistaken. It was
just outside the Lundur store, a huge ani-
mal called a moose,with massive horns and
a long flexible nose. As I left the grocery,
where I purchased the gun 1 was
approached by one of the English speaking
men; he asked me if I planned to do the
same with my rifle - I said yes,and all the
men laughed - whether it was at me or with
me I do not know. At suppertime I went
back on the steamship to our little village.
We haven’t yet decided on a name. I like
the name Geysir but the other guys don’t
think it is good enough. I have also started
to smith. I tried a pair of horseshoes, which
failed. I tried a simple metal broach (one
not suitable to wear, only pin things
together) that also failed, I decided to try
the shoes again, and to my surprise they
actually resembled real horseshoes!!! I am
so proud.