Merry Christmas!

From everyone at CMMM and Sally Sad Iron, we wish you the very best at Christmas and a happy 2008!

Sally had her stockings hung and her wish for museums everywhere is that there is never a creature stirring!

(Unless it is in a zoo or aquarium.)

Sally Joins Cut Knife Quilting Divas

Sally has joined the Cut Knife Quilting Divas who are sponsored by the museum. Here she competently held the quilt in place for sewing. The Divas gathered at Maryanne Blackstock's home today to work on projects and have a Christmas Potluck dinner. The cutting wheel job proved to be too complicated for Sally, so she just chatted with the new- fangled iron to her right. (The other Divas were a little camera shy, but not our Sally.)

Sad Iron Tales; Issue 1

Someone had to tell it…

Some years ago, a couple was having heated words in their kitchen. The wife had a volatile temper and something that her husband said made her snap. She looked around for something to throw. You guessed it. A sad iron was sitting innocently on the top of the stove just within reach. Her hand fit around the iron and it was flung out the kitchen window. (At least she didn’t aim it at the source of her vexation.)

After a lively discussion about her action, the husband went outside and showed that his temper was just as hot because the iron made its way back into their house through another window.

It is not known how the dispute was settled, but the trusty sad iron found a new use that day – instant air conditioner.

This story was related to me without names and places attached and perhaps that is the way it should stay. But it would be interesting to know whether the house and the marriage weathered the storm.

Keep those stories coming in!!

Sally has been reading the comments and e-mails that have been coming in. She is most encouraged by the stories of sad irons.

You can read some of them on this blog. They are comments at the bottom of a Sally Sad Iron post. Just click on 'comments'. While you are there, you can comment yourself!

Sally at the Aquarium

A lighter and liberated Sally visited the Vancouver aquarium this week. The Belugas don't seem to mind being in their displays. But Sally, if you are going to be in our museum, you may have to learn how to do tricks like the beautiful whales.

Sally Frolics in the Snow

Now that Sally has broken out of the museum building, she is taking advantage of her freedom. The cold did not bother her one bit as she slid down a slope. In fact she didn't want to stay still for the picture as the slopes were calling her!

For all you conservator types, please note that she was snug in her baggie buffer to keep out that nasty moisture and shades to help with the UV rays! The stylish toque/head sock/stocking cap (depending on what part of the world you are from) kept her quite snug and looked smashing too.

Now where will she go next?....

Sally Sad Iron's Saga Starts

Hi! I'm Sally and I'm a sad iron. "Sad" is an old English term for 'heavy or dense'. I'm made of iron and am quite heavy. But.... I am also unhappy sad, because of the bum rap I've been given in some museums.

My sisters and I live in museums now, because modern women have the luxury of electricity. No one today would want to heat a piece of metal on an open fire or wood stove so that she or he could press clothes.

Back in the early 1900's, my owner was glad to have more than one sad iron so that she could use one for ironing while the others were heating on the stove. (Yes, a female would have most likely to have been my user back then, but men may have used me too!)

Museums don't like to have more than one of me unless we have a story associated with us. So I am asking you for your support to help save me in our museum. I need your stories that will help glamorize me. Please e-mail our museum cmmmcutknife@gmail.com with your story or post a comment below to help my cause. What might have I been used for other than ironing? Was I implicated in a crime? Did I have a famous or infamous owner?

Your stories will make up a new display next summer in our museum so that I won't have to be removed from the museum's collection. :(

Also watch for further postings as I am going out in the world to gain support for my cause. Watch out world, here comes Sally Sad Iron!

Note: The Sally Sad Iron Saga is a lighthearted attempt to engage interest in our museum. All stories will be noted as fiction.

Craft Sale

Local woodcraftsman, Jack Rowswell, with his beautiful wooden items. (Jack is also on our Maintenance Committee at the museum.)


Museum's table at Royal Purple's Craft Sale, selling our publications and a few other sales items. Noreen Foisy, sitting, and Karen Finley and Gale Stonehouse, standing.

Duvall House Update

All of the windows, except in the kitchen, have been installed. The old siding is being removed. The fellow on the forklift was overheard to say, " I could sit here all day and watch Randy work!"
They were busy trying to take advantage of the exceptionally warm day for this time of year.

They made short work of removing the siding. Even the tractor driver knows how to use a hammer!!!

Edwin's Legacy

We have lost another pioneer from our community this week.
Edwin Armstrong was a strong supporter of our museum. When he was able, he was at the museum, painting, mowing, or providing moral support for others working there. He was a Board Member for years volunteering his time and expertise.
The Edwin Armstrong Building at Tomahawk Park exists because of his generosity.
He lived a long life (97 years) and was always the consummate gentleman.
He will be missed.

Tomahawk Park Video

Techno Workshop

Noreen and Lucille attended a workshop at the Western Development Museum in Saskatoon on new technology available for museums. Smartboards and other touchboards were demonstrated. Applications with the Smartboard were shown by the Allan Sapp Gallery. Blogs, pod casts and other Internet methods of communicating to the world about our museums.

Some of the information was pertinent to the larger museums, so the task now is to decide how we can use some of the ideas and apply them to our museum. We are going to try some podcasts - so watch for them soon!

We also browsed their sales shop and came away with some ideas for ours. We are always on the lookout for some things that we can do in-house.

It is an exciting time for our museum. If you live in the area and would like to help us out, contact someone from the list of contacts below.

Premier Visits Museum in Cut Knife

This morning we were pleased to welcome Lorne Calvert, Premier of Saskatchewan, to our museum. He came to see the restored Tomahawk and view a few of our displays. He listened to Lucille's blatant promotion of small town museums, the proposed 1885 Coalition, and Saskatchewan Tourism.

Also there was "Mr. Cut Knife", Roger Emberley, who has been promoting our town and museum since he moved here from Newfoundland several years ago. Present were Cut Knife Mayor, Germaine Vany, interested citizens, and other CMMM Board Members.

It is not every day we can say we hosted a Premier!

Winter Project

We are beginning our winter project which is a Community Memories virtual story, Atton's Lake - A Summer Meeting Place. CHIN (Canadian Heritage Information Network) has approved our story proposal and given us funds for computer equipment so now we begin the work.

If any of you out there in computer land have photos of the Triple Lakes area, especially of Atton's Lake over the years, please contact Noreen F. or Lucille B. through the addresses listed on this blog. Or post a comment.

We are especially looking for photos of the Dance Pavillion, unique cabins and their stories, amusing/interesting anecdotes about the lake, winter photos, and sports teams photos and information.

Thanks to our summer staff!

Summer's over and the museum is now open when appointments are made.

Our staff did a great job.

We'd also like to thank the Department of Advanced Education and Sask Culture who provided funding for our team leader.

The Young Canada Works in the Heritage Sector gave us grants for three positions.

And last but not least, we received money through Student Employment Experience (Advanced Education and Employment, Enhanced Access for Students with Disabilities Sector).

It's these grants that help us provide jobs for our young people and also help us run the museum in the summer months.

Thanks to our staff for help making a very successful museum summer. (Photos are not identified for their protection. One person missing - I think the camera was avoided??? Or the photo is lost among the hundreds of artifact pics??)

Summer Winding Down

Today was a outdoor maintenance day at the park. Lots of trim work was done. Our park is looking great!
We are building up the grade around the Ovenstown building in hopes of keeping water from sitting close to the building and seeping into the basement.
A new and improved flowerbed will be in place next spring. It is amazing how many roots that a daylily has. We dug and dug and dug to get them out.

Young Friends of the Museum, Day 5

The young people put on a play that portrayed the Battle of Cut Knife Creek.
Parents were invited to see it at the end of the day.

This day concluded a great week with a super bunch of children. Their parents should be proud of these young people - Our young friends of the museum. They are welcome back any day!
Hopefully they are inspired to learn more about the history of the area.

Thanks to Marcy, Walter, Orval, Noreen, Nicole R., Nicole D., Amber, and Kylie for helping to make it a success.

Young Friends Of The Museum; Day 4

This is the view from Cut Knife Hill. The Young Friends of the Museum traveled to the Cut Knife Hill and the Poundmaker Historical Center. They also heard various stories from Walter Pooler, Orval Ens, and Vera Weenie about the two battles of Cut Knife. (Battle of Cut Knife Hill, and Battle of Cut Knife Creek)

Young Friends Of The Museum; Day 3

Today we taught the young friends of the museum about pond ecology. They got to take samples of different plants and insects around the park and look at them closely. The children learned to return the living organisms back to their homes and how to keep our pond preserved and clean.

Marcy showed the kids a nest that had been abandoned by its mother because of a disturbance from a human.


Amber and Nicole played Duck, Duck, Goose with the kids and taught them a new game called Sardine.

Young Friends Of The Museum; Day 2

Today's theme was horses and the different ways they were used in the past. The children took a ride on a covered wagon after a demonstration on harnessing horses. Edwin Armstrong and Fred Bingham were on hand to share their memories of using horses.

Glen Brebner also demonstrated how horses were used to harrow a field.

After a humorous stop at the cardlock station to "gas up", Glen took the wagonload of enthusiastic young people through town via mainstreet.










After the rides we had a scavenger hunt for the children to go around in the museum buildings to find things that horses would use. After that they learned the different body parts of a horse.

Young Friends of the Museum

Our children's summer program began today. Walter taught the children Heritage games.

The staff gave them a kid's tour of the museum. Marcy and Lucille helped them with a craft.

With a little muscle power, rocks and wheat, each child made a little flour that went into a loaf of bread.

Do you know what this is?

We have this artifact in our museum, but do not know what it is. Can you help us? There is a large bulb? behind a curved piece of glass. These are encased in a metal box.

The black cover for the bulb can be swung over top of the curved glass.

If you know, please use the comment area below to inform us.

Stained Glass Fundraiser

This stained glass panel is being raffled by the museum.
The materials and construction were donated by Linda Tarr, Gary and Lyn Tarr, Rena Weikle and Lucille Bullerwell.

It is 55 x 15 inches in size.

Tickets can be purchased from CMMM Board members as well as at the museum. $5 one ticket and $10 for three tickets.
The winning ticket will be drawn at Octoberfest this fall in Cut Knife.

Transportation of the panel once it is awarded is the reponsibility of the winner.

Young Friends of the Museum

From July 30 to August 3, the museum will be hosting a program for young people, aged 6 to 12, from 1pm to 4pm daily.
Monday, July 30 - Museum tour for young people, old fashioned games, bread-making.
Tuesday, July 31 - Use of Horses in the early residents lives. Will have a live team of horses on site.
Wed, Aug 1 - Pond Ecology Day - a study of the pond - what lives there, and how we can keep it healthy.
Thurs, Aug 2 - 1885 Rebellion as it relates to Battle of Cut Knife Creek. Visit the Poundmaker Interpretive Center.
Friday, August 3 - Role Playing - Story of the Battle of Cut Knife Creek.Parents invited for performance.

Only 4 spaces left. Phone Lucille 398-2619.

Machinery Display Improvements

A group of volunteer improved our implement display by placing heavy plastic and then a layer of crushed rock to form a base that will keep the machinery up off of the damp ground and make grounds maintenance much easier.

In the middle of the project, a determined mother duck sat on her nest oblivious to the noisy activity around her. She should soon be moving her new family to the nearby pond and then the machinery display area can be completed. You can't really see her in this photo, but she is there protecting her nest.

Hot Day at the Museum

Whew! The temperature soared today and it was a challenge to keep working at the museum. The ducks had the right idea - stay in the water of the pond.

Reece began work today and did a great job. He will be doing outdoor maintenance work for us this summer - not an easy task today.

Several groups went through the museum. The Staff did a good job of touring through the buildings.

We'll have to look for a cool place tomorrow for the staff to work.

Canada Day 2

From the Pancake Breakfast, great music from the Emberleys, the vintage car/bike/model plane show, the awesome Penny Carnival (with pie-in-the-face, fishpond, balloon pop, ring toss, etc), scavenger hunt, extremely well attended BBQ supper (thanks Rena and crew!), to the Miller Family Dance Troupe (a talented group of young people from Paradise Hill). It was a blast! And campfire and fireworks over the pond at dark!

Happy Canada Day!

We had a fantastic Canada Day! The weather was absolutely perfect, and with the help of a bunch of great people who volunteer, it couldn't have been better.

New Display Case

A new display case for some of our First Nations artifacts was made and delivered today. As you can see it took five strong men to carry it inside. Thanks guys!

Thanks to Danny for the great carpenter work!

It looks great!

The cabinet will be complete and ready for display when we have an acrylic cover made for the top.

North West Archeological Society Visits

Saturday, June 23, the NW Archeological Society stopped for a visit to CMMM after a day of visiting various sites in the area.
Among the stops were a possible site of one of the last buffalo kills in the area and the diggings of a 1909 Gold Rush that saw about 250 men come to try and make their fortune.
The story goes that Mrs. Julia Ford, a widow pioneer, was having a well dug and picked up the rock from the diggings. She thought it was gold and sent it to an assayer in the U.S. It was determined to be worth $32/ton and this sparked the "Gold Rush" to the Formby-Wembly area. No one else found any gold. Gold companies who came out to check out the area decided that the rock was part of glacial till and a fluke.
Those who profited were Mrs. Ford, with her initial rock, the Paynton livery stable and the women who washed the clothes and cooked for the gold seekers. And at 1909 prices for doing such work, no one became rich!
Check out the story in, Time Marches On (1975), a history book of the area.

Perfect Day for a Book Launch Party!

On June 22nd, a book launch party was held on the museum grounds. Twenty-two of the authors of stories in Prairie Christmas were first to view and purchase copies of our new publication. A special cake with a picture of the cover and iced tea were served to the guest authors.

National Aboriginal Day, June 21st

Our museum helped the Cut Knife Elementary School celebrate National Aboriginal Day on June 21st. Four of our artifacts were displayed and then researched on the internet by groups of students. A hide scaper, miniature teepee, stone hammer, example of beadwork, and arrowheads helped the students learn about the Cree and other tribes' cultures. After the research was completed, the students then played a game that tested their knowledge of Aboriginal facts. Everyone seemed to be enthusiastic and enjoyed the time!

Comments

If you have visited our museum, we'd love to hear your comments!