Saturday, September 30, 2006

Enough with the Christmas ads, already!!

My good oath!!! May we get through Hallowe'en .... or Thanksgiving .... or September, at least??? I have been seeing Christmas ads on TV since before the first day of Fall for heaven's sake. This is just shameful. Before long they'll start advertising before Valentine's Day.

That's my 2 cents worth.

I can't find my glasses

I don't know what is the matter with me lately, but I keep losing my glasses. Art makes smart comments ... something about "that's the first sign you know". I just ignore him. The other day I was helping my nephew load something onto his truck, so put my glasses "in a safe place" .... on the hood of his truck. Didn't remember 'til after he'd driven off. My heart sank. I jumped in my car and started to chase after him, when I saw a glint on the side of the road. My glasses were intact! Phewwwww.

Now, I've lost them again. They've got to be in this house somewhere, but WHERE ???? Yes, yes I've tried those string thingies, but they make the arms too tight and I get a headache. I must be wearing them wrong. Anyways, I finally had to dig out my old ones. Aren't these ghastly? But at least I can drive.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

My day in pictures

Art and Xena see me off as I leave for work (taken through the windshield of my car).The view from the top of our driveway (well not the VERY top, but the top of the part that goes down into the trees). I'm stricken everywhere I go lately with the beauty of the trees turning yellow. What we need are some maples to add reds and orange to the vista.The feathers in my cap. Getting quite a collection there. Makes me think of the white eagle feather that Art found a couple of weeks ago when we were at Cheslatta Lake. He ended up losing it, which turns out was just as well because apparantly it is illegal to even possess an eagle feather (unless you are Native Indian and have a permit that is). So, I wonder what you do if you just find one like that.I encountered this fellow along our road as I was driving home from work. I saw him go into the bush, so stopped the car, turned off the engine and got my camera ready. He kept poking his head out to see if I was still there and after a minute decided to just go around me.Now this is the top of the driveway, which is above the house looking back.And a beautiful sunset to finish a warm and peaceful day.

Sunday, September 24, 2006

A time to reflect

Yesterday was a glorious day. I think a chinook was passing through (that's if we even get chinooks here ... all I know is there was a very warm wind blowing). There wasn't much going on at work, so I had some fun with my camera.Marilyn Monroe's got nothin' on this babe, eh.The trees are becoming beautiful in their fall colours, so it was a great day for taking pictures. This was on my way home, driving up our road.Blackie sitting on the veranda this morning, with a beautiful autumn backdrop.

Friday, September 22, 2006

The Dalai Lama

I love this man. I am captivated by him and all he stands for. He inspires me to strive to be a better person. He is in Vancouver right now. I wish I had known. I would have tried to get tickets to hear him talk. I did get to see him when he was here in 2004. That was a very special day for me. I have an unexplainable fascination with all things Tibetan and Buddhist.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

New paint on Xanadu

You've heard Art and I talk about the painting we've been doing on our house up here in Endako. Well, I finally sorted through the plethora of pictures I took of the work in progress.

Art and his brother Tom are perusing the job at hand.Tom and sister Echo get comfy so they can supervise the project.Waddya mean I missed a spot?These are through the upstairs window.




























Here are the before and afters .... from various angles around the house.


























Art and Tom admiring their handiwork.
I love the big sky.

Mt. Roof

Don't worry, Art is very secure. What a nice view, though! I thought I'd give you something to look at while I finish getting my next post ready.

What's the problem?

The sun finally came out, so I went outside to take some pictures. It's not too cold (around 10 or so), but the wind is blowing, so I put on a hat and jacket. Well, Art thought I looked pretty funny and just HAD to take this picture. I can see, I guess, how I might look a little conflicted about exactly what to wear. Give a girl a break. Sheesh!

My new job

Here is where I'll be working for the next 5 weeks or so. The Fraser Lake dump.I gotta say, it's not the most stimulating job I've ever had, but it's kind of fun ... in a weird way. Art says I'm a girl after his own heart because I'm willing to look for treasures there and bring them home. It's amazing what people throw away, and it's not always broken or yuckky. Like old windows .... perfect for that greenhouse we are building. And a couple of screen doors. We need those, but yikes, they are expensive. These are FREE! And 2 of those lazy-susan corner kitchen cabinet thingies ... so you can get at the stuff in the far back of the cupboard. And they're perfectly good. Not bent or dinged or worn out ... like new. Go buy those at IKEA!

So there are some perks to an otherwise excruciatingly boring job. Yesterday was a little tough because the ground was muddy after a couple of days of hard rain. I wrenched my knee from continually sinking ankle deep in sucking clay. Not so much fun. The best part is coming home at night and Art has supper on and the fire on and the house is warm and cozy and smells wonderful. Life is good!

Sunday, September 10, 2006

but first, we're going campin'

Today was a nice relaxing one. It rained off and on, while we puttered around home. Art was trying out the new weed-wacker (check out his blog) and is also getting the Boler ready to roll. We are heading out tomorrow for a few days of camping. We're meeting some fellow rockhounds at Binta Lake, which is not very far from here. Definitely looking forward to some "Boler time". Here's some evidence of how long it's been ..... this is a roll of toilet paper in the Boler. Looks like a little mousie has been having some fun.

I got me a job

Art's brother runs the local dump and he has asked me to help him for the next couple of months while the government turns it into a transfer station. I think it'll be fun. He's going to teach me to run all the heavy equipment...mashers and excavators and the like. Wahooo! Can't you just see me? Who'da thunk. All these years as a computer geekoid Systems Analyst and now I'm workin' at the dump. I guess I can give myself some clever title, like Sanitary Engineer or Landfill Technician. The money'll come in handy and like Sara always says "you can do anything for 2 months".

The less obvious members of the family

Lately, I've been talking a lot about our new dog Xena. But there are a couple of other kritters that live here, too. They don't do as many exciting things as Xena, so don't get as much press, but they're my true loves. They are brother and sister kitty-kats, named Blackie (the boy) and Chickie (the girl). If you don't know their story, they were feral kittens on a farm in Abbotsford about 6 years ago. I'm pretty sure I wasn't thinking straight at the time, but we trapped them and brought them to our home in Burnaby. I proceeded to tame them. It's a long story, with lots of ups and downs (and the dispensing of a box or 2 of band-aids on Art, who seemed to keep getting his hands and arms in the way), but they eventually became pretty nice housecats. I love them to bits.Of course, right after I took that picture, they had to pretend that, no, they weren't being cuddly with each other.

Many "Thank-You"s

On Friday night our neighbours Audrey & Walter paid us a visit. And they came bearing gifts.





Some sweet peas from the garden (which smell like perfume)......









....a scrum-delly-icious pie.....







....and this.....It is a major weed whacker, of industrial proportions. It's as big as a lawn mower and works like a hot damn (Audrey has one just like it, which we borrowed once). After Art does a little assembly work, he'll post a pic of it on his blog. This was their way of saying "thank you" to us for working so hard to make the Community Hall ready for their party last weekend. We are feeling a little overwhelmed. It is so extraordinarily generous of them. They've already thanked us many times in many ways....I just don't know what to say....except thank you right back!

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Where did August go?

August was a very busy month. Some ups, some downs, but certainly not boring. It started off with somewhat of a crash and burn as the visit with my Dad took a nose-dive. No details required, but some fence mending definitely is.

The only place to go from there was up. Art's kids Sara (with husband Kevin and dog Brutis) and Treena came up and spent a week with us. At the same time, Art's sister Echo (with husband Grant and dog Buddy) drove up from Kamloops in their newly acquired truck and camper. With Art's brother Tom living just down the road and their sister Cheryl in Vanderhoof (1/2 hour drive away) and all their respective children, etc, we had quite the gathering every night for that week. It was a super good time that flew by way too fast. There was a lot of trail riding on ATVs and a lot of fishing. We even fired up the home-made smoker that a friend recently gave us and smoked a bunch of those fresh trout. Y-U-M !!!We ate well, laughed a lot and got to hang out with people that love us. What more could we ever have asked for? I think that's how it's supposed to be. I'm sorry that Sara hurt her back (while giving the intrepid Xena a bath) .... ouch! While Art and I weren't home, the kids took Xena for a walk to the pond behind our house. The water's a little low and there's a lot of black mud. This picture pretty much says it all.Well, the kids were afraid that we'd be mad, so immediately gave her a bath. The best picture is on Art's blog, where Sara and Kevin are hosing her down. I like this pic because I'm not sure if Brutis is jealous or saying "give her a break ... girls just wanna have fun!"When we got home, the first thing we noticed was how nice our puppy smelled. Then we found Sara flat out on the living room floor in excruciating agony. They gave her some good drugs at the local medical clinic and after a few days rest was up and about.

We spent the next week finishing the painting of the top half of our house. I took tons of pictures, but have yet to sort them all out and choose the best ones to showcase how gorgeous the place turned out. It's really, really beautiful.

Then we had to turn our focus to the Endako Community Hall. The event of the year (and maybe the decade for this little town) was fast approaching and there was a lot of work to do. It was quite dissappointing how little help we were able to muster, but I guess that's how it goes with these kind of projects. It was basically Art, me and Audrey (hostess of the upcoming party) that scrubbed, scraped, scoured and painted for 6 days. It was more work than I ever would have imagined, but dang it looks good! Again, I took a ton of pictures and will post them when I've sorted them. Here are a couple of the party, though. The tents were rented, as well as the massive mobile barbecue.















There was tons of food, tons of people, tons of laughter, great music and just generally a wonderful time was had by all. There was even a fun ceremony of Walter and Audrey renewing their vows, with Sherman (aka "Doc") officiating (that's Walter on the right and Doc on the left).Our friends, Mike & Carol (and their dog Moosh) and Bennett drove up from Burnaby to attend the party and visit for a few days. They all also did some ATV trail riding. I think it was Bennett's first time on one of those. I hope you enjoyed yourself, guy.



Yesterday, we had a surprise visit from our new friends Ernie and Bev. They live in Burns Lake and are fellow rockhounds. They stopped in to invite us for a few days of camping and exploration for opals at a spot not too far away. This area is well known for it's agates, jasper and opal. I think we have earned some R & R and accepted the offer with enthusiasm. Funny ... before we retired we were out in our Boler every single weekend, summer and winter. Now, we don't have time. Somehow that seems backwards.

Thirsty work

Art is taking a much deserved lemonade break after working hard at getting the roof of our house ready to paint.And here is an artsy-fartsy picture of him up on the roof pressure washing as dusk is approaching.