After years of living and working in the "big city" of Edmonton, I came to live on my parents' farm in Westlock in 2004. In this relatively short time I've experienced paranormal phenomena captured on film and EVP, AND most recently, my first UFO experience! Westlock is a small town approx. one hour north of Edmonton, Alberta and the area in which I live is about seven miles from the townsite, free of any artificial light that can hinder night-sky observation.This recent episode actually constitutes my second "sighting" of this nature, which occured Oct. 3 2006. At the time, I was the only one who witnessed the event and at the time wasn't certain if it warranted a report.) Back to this January event: I had gone to sleep that evening at about 10 p.m. and woke up at 3 a.m. for no particular reason. But I was compelled to look outside - something I do almost compulsively now whenever the sky is clear at night. In the southeast sky, above the treetops (mature black spruce about 20 feet in height) was what looked like a very bright star bouncing (or dancing) around - akin to a balloon or bag that gets caught in the wind and remains aloft. I know what satellites look like, and planets and plane lights, etc. This wasn't it - in fact, at the time, it was almost like I knew intrinsically that this was something otherworldly, a feeling I have no explanation for.I watched it for about 30 seconds before bounding upstairs and waking my mom. I had witnessed practically the exact same "star-like" performance on Oct. 3 and after telling my mother about it, she wanted to be informed if it happened again, no matter the time.After she bounded out of bed, we both peered out of the 2nd story window and watched this "star" move in circles and up and down, and it continued to do these acrobatics for a full half hour. Afterwords, it just seem to fade into the night sky.I haven't seen it since, but about a week ago I heard what sounded like a "whirly-gig" coming from the direction of the treetops (something a kid would put on their bike or you see in gardens - sounds like the plastic blades of a wind toy.) It was too dark to confirm what the source was. For a moment I thought it might be something caught in the trees or a weird wind weather system, but after careful analysis, I've excluded those possibilities.Also, about a week after our sighting, the military have started to do training flights with low-level helicopters in the area and I watched one zoom over our farm about 50 feet from the ground. This can't be a coincidence, can it? If anyone in my area knows anything or has seen anything, please report on this site (I don't have email at this point!) Lynda