Newspaper Stories on the 'hand!'

'Hand' probably paw or an animal: police
Sarah Simpson, The CitizenPublished: Wednesday, January 19, 2011

After 10 feet in three years have been plucked from the shores of the Salish Sea, it's no wonder Crofton resident Steven Fitzpatrick was alarmed to see what looked like a human hand floating near the Osborne Bay beach over the weekend.
Fitzpatrick and his buddy were walking his dog along a trail around 3 p.m. on Jan. 15 when they noticed something fishy at the water's edge.
"My dog ran to the hand and was intently sniffing it and when I walked over we checked it out, flipped it over, and noticed the thumb bone, the wrist still attached and what looked like skin still in spots," Fitzpatrick said. "I didn't know what really to do and at first we left it, but when we went home we decided we should better call the police, just in case."

Steven Fitzpatrick's dog led him to a grisly discovery Saturday afternoon at Osborne Bay.

The excitement was short-lived, however, as local authorities have confirmed that forensic pathologists say the appendage doesn't belong to a person. "It is definitely not a human hand," Const. Markus Lueder, spokesman for the North Cowichan/ Duncan RCMP, said Monday morning.
"I would love to know what it is when they find out," Fitzpatrick said.
Lueder had his own hypothesis.
"It's probably a seal paw," said the officer.
The incident is not unlike a February 2009 discovery in Ladysmith in which what appeared to be a hand was found. It turned out to be the remains of an animal paw.
© Cowichan Valley Citizen 2011


Crofton find not a severed hand
Police have confirmed that what first appeared to be a severed hand found on the beach at Crofton is not human.
“A fellow was walking his dog on the beach in Crofton on Saturday afternoon and came across what he thought to be a human appendage, a hand,” North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP Cpl. Kevin Day said on Monday.
Police were called at the time and arrived on scene with police dog, forensic and coroner service personnel.
“Photographs of the appendage were forwarded to a forensic pathologist, who as of this morning was able to confirm that (the remains) are non-human,” Day said. “It’s either a marine mammal, or an animal of some sort. It certainly had the appearance at first glance of a possible human appendage, but we’ve confirmed that it’s not.”

I will neder eder forget about you

So yesterday after I dropped Danika off at preschool I went to MOPS- Mothers of Preschoolers at a church in Duncan and it was sooo refreshing! I went last year and I tried once this past fall, but Adessa wouldn't stay in the nursery so I ended up leaving. But suprisingly enough she stayed in the nursery the whole time! It is a 2 hour break where you sit, drink coffee, eat treats, and just have some nice fellowship. This time we watched a video that had young moms asking older ones questions about the day to day with young children. It was so nice to just hang out and pour a little into me instead of always pouring out! One of the discussion questions was, what would you like to see your children become one day? A girlfriend anwsered that she wanted her children to always be compassionate and to help others and so they make a point of bringing things into food banks and thrift stores and explaining why they do that. I hope my girls are compassionate. I shared that I wanted them both to always love Jesus and to always have Him as a part of their lives. I shared Danika's prayer with them, that she prays each and every night, "Dear Jesus, I love you, I miss you. Please help me to neder eder (never, ever) forget about you." We have often talked about how some people walk away from the Lord when they are older, and she doesn't get it, she just says, but Jesus is our best friend right mommy?? I hope she always loves Jesus and if she does, things like the compassion, mercy and love will naturally flow out of her!

It was a wonderful morning and I am so glad I went, as it is just encouraging to discuss with other moms and share our experiences and know that you are not alone, and not the only one going through your struggles and challenges with your children.

The Crofton Hand

So yesterday was a day full of excitement in the Fitzpatrick household. We had some great friends over that worked at camp with Steve and they spent the day with us. At about 3pm yesterday Steve and Nate took Meeko for a walk down to the beach where we used to always walk when we lived in the cottage. When they got down to the beach Meeko sniffed the ground and ran to one area and was intently sniffing something. So Steve checked it out and it was a HAND! At first they had no idea, but upon further inspection they identified the bones of a hand, with a thumb, the wrist and some skin that was still attached. They came home and they didn't know what to do, but us girls assured them that they needed to call the cops. Which they did, and they sent someone out for the guys to take down to the beach and show where they found it. He confirmed that it was a hand and then sent them away. Later we got an "anonymous" call that said we should send the picture into Chek news. So we wrote the news company and they did want the photo and this afternoon they sent a guy out to come interview Steve. We got a babysitter for the girls and we took him down to the beach and he told us that the cops had the forensics team come to the site and it was a big deal! He set up his camera, interviewed Steve and took a lot of videos of Steve and Meeko walking on the beach. It was fun! So they are posting the story on the 5 o'clock news tonight! And he said the police had sent the hand away to try and identify it and we would hear back when they found out. Apparently the cops remark to Steve when he took him to the site was, "that's weird, we usually find feet!" So I looked it up and came to this site which tells of the 10 human feet they have found around the island and apparently it is a big BC mystery!

Getting interviewed

The picture of the hand!

- This is the link to the news story that was aired at 5 pm today!

Snow Day!

Yesterday the town was shut down, schools and businesses closed as there was a good 1 foot snowfall the night before! Thankfully (and surprisingly!) we did not lose power, but we woke up and looked outside at our winter wonderland, it was quite exciting! Adessa just yelled "noooo, noooo, nooooo!" over and over (translation-snow) and Danika just wanted to go tobogganing. However living on the island we do not have a togoggan as last winter I think we had one day of snow and that was it! So halfway through the day after the roads were plowed we sent daddy in to pick up a toboggan so we could do it right! Once Danika and I were bundled up we went behind our house, with the rest of the Crofton kids, as I think we have the only tobogganing hill in Crofton! We went ripping down a few times only to discover we were absolutely drenched! That is a major difference between here and Calgary, Calgary is freezing but the snow stays together and you can toboggan without getting wet, but here it is so humid and even though there was a foot of snow it was still +5 out so the snow melts quickly, it was like slush and Steve spent an hour shoveling away a 5 foot area behind his car!
After Adessa woke up from her nap we packed up the car and headed to our friends house to toboggan down their big hill. They only had a baking sheet to toboggan on.. which didn't work so well as it just sunk right down! haha, we had some good laughs and the kids loved it, even the babies! Unfortunately I have no pictures of the fun day because somewhere along the way of our Christmas vacation we lost our battery charger! But it was one fun day and today the snow was pretty much all melted already!

Nice to be back

After being gone from our home for about 5 weeks, and contemplating moving back to Calgary to be closer to family, I am happy to say we are happy to be home! It was tough leaving family back there after being spoiled by the love and help of them, but it was not hard leaving the -20, frozen ground and busy city! We thoroughly enjoyed driving into our driveway and having green grass and warm air to greet us. The next morning was beautiful and I spent the day outside in a hoodie, gardening, pulling weeds and admiring my sprouting tulips... like as if!!!

This weekend was already packed with family get together's with families we missed a lot!

We do still wish we were closer to family, and right now everything is up in the air, but we do feel like this is home, and it sure is good to be back!

First day of Pre-school!

Looks like a mug shot... too early in the morning!!!Adessa said "cheese!" and wanted her photo taken too!

Sister love
My big girl all grown up!
Today was Danika's first day of school and it was very exciting! We woke up nice and early, had a yummy breakfast and got ready for the day. Steve, Adessa and I dropped Danika off and she was so distracted by having 2 of her best friends there that she didn't even have time to say bye! The pre-school is wonderful and Danika made 2 crafts, one with her grade 5 buddy for the year. When we picked her up we asked if she missed us, only to be told that, "no mom, I didn't even think about you I was having too much fun!" Ouch! haha but we were so glad she did so well, it seems like a wonderful school and we are excited for the new year!!!

Panorama!

my girl

me and my mommy

ready to go skiing!!

my beautiful parents... love them so much!


my mommy

Danika and Emilie celebrating new years with sparkling apple juice!
family picture during new years eve fireworks.. the girls loved them!
WE feel so utterly, totally completely blessed and SPOILED!! We were able to go on holidays for an entire 5 weeks and had so many wonderful adventures. I wish I was able to blog about the fun we had and the day to day awesomeness of our days, but I didn't and so basically I have tried my best to summarize. Not only did we get to go on a hot vacation but we were also fortunate enough to be spoiled by my parents and taken on a week long snowboard trip vacation, and it was awesome! Unfortuantley we were unable to find a place for Meeko on such short notice so we weren't able to go the whole week, but Steves parents graciously took Meeko for a few nights so we could go up to the hill.
The trip was quite last minute so we didn't bring up my snowboard, but it actually turned out good, because I was able to see that soon, I need to purchase a new one! I went 2 days in a row, one day with my parents and the next with Steve. I rented gear, really nice stuff, all Burton and rode like a pro, I was so confident and didn't have any wipeouts... its amazing what new stuff ride likes compared to 10 year old gear! However I have never found it justifiable to buy new stuff as we only go 1-2 times a year, but boy did it make a difference!
The first day we got there Steve was going to be with the girls for the day and take them to the hot pools on the hill, however he put on this ear patch, called transoderm (or something similiar!) which he has used before in the past to help control his motion sickness from skiing (and has worked twice before!) however as soon as he put on the patch his one pupil grew to the size of the color of his eye! It was crazy!! So he took that off, called the hospital, who told him to come in, which he declined and had to stay in for the whole day, with the curtains drawn as the dr said any light could permanently damage his eye!! so the poor guy and girls were in the house all day while I ripped it up with my mommy and daddy! We had such a wonderful day, mind you it was freezing, around -20 or so. But still I love my parents so much and am so proud of them both that they keep up with their sports and can almost keep up to me ; ) haha. When we got in for the day we went for a nice long hot tub and just enjoyed being curled up next to the wood burning fireplace and eating our costco or m&m meals, I mean who really wants to cook when your on vacation! The next morning Steve and I went up together, adn met up with my brother. Funny story.. my brother, his gf and a bunch of their friends booked a place in panorama months ago, my mom last minute decided to book a place, joel was upset, however my mother reassured him there was no way we would ever see them at such a giant place... turns out the first night we were there we go out on our balcony to see joel and his buddies on theirs, directly across from ours!!! haha it was quite funny! But it turned out nice, Steve and I were able to meet my brothers sweet, sweet girlfriend and hang out a bunch. We even spent New Years partying it up with the youngsters (same age as me, however they don't have children, so I feel much older!!)
Steves and my ski day was perfect. We had crisp blu sky, sunshine and reasonable weather. We went right to the top of the mountain where the sight is absolutely breathtaking. I adore snowboarding adn it was so much fun to go and have fun with my best friend. Who is a skier.. a mighty good one at that!!
The whole family was supposed to be together for new years, but my poor sister and her family couldn't make it, as she is due January 15th and figured it was a little dangerous to make the trek out there. Which we were very sad about, but understood! The girls were absolutely spoiled once again, and while steve and i were skiing grandma and grandpa took them up to the hot pools and played out in the snow. The next day mom and dad went skiing and steve and i took the girls up to the pools and had a blast. Adessa is seriously a kumma kazi.. she would stand on the seat in the pool and just run into the deep end squealing.. you always had to have a hand on her, because she loves dunking herself!
New Years eve we ate our annual delicious chicken kiev, stuffed potatoes and this year Joel bbq'ed some ribs. Then we went to watch the fireworks, and the girls just loved every moment! Soooo much oooooooo'ing and ahhhhhhhh'ing it was priceless. Then we illegally tobaganned down the ski hill and I can see why they say don't do it, as you go mach 10!!! But it made Danika's night and she didn't want to stop! Both girls had a very late night, but one filled with wonderful memories!
I hope one day I am like my mother who always loves to capture the moment and create memories wherever we go. I loved that about my childhood, my parents always saved up for lake vacations in the summer and skiing vacations near Christmas, and they are the best childhood memories ever! I am so blessed to have 2 parents who are so loving and giving and I love them both soo much!
We have been so blessed this entire trip by everyone we visited and are so lucky to have such wonderful family and friends!