you think your water's disgusting?

As Art mentioned on his blog, our water line froze 2 nights ago. Once again our camping equipment came to the rescue. We brought the porta-pottie in from the Boler, so we didn't have to worry about flushing toilets. Our water system is gravity fed and the weak link is where the pipes come up into the house called "gramma's" which is between the well at the top of the hill and our house at the bottom of the hill. Art found the frozen section and thawed it out pretty quickly yesterday, which I am very thankful for. For the first 20 minutes or so, as we let the water flush the lines, this is what was coming out of our kitchen tap. A lovely orange, isn't it?Now I don't want to make my blog all about the weather, but I just had to show you today's thermometer reading. The coldest yet .... minus 29.I have been spending the last day or so counting and rolling coins, most of it loonies (23 lbs of loonies, to be precise....I weighed them, just for fun). Our local community hall had it's annual dinner and loonie auction on Saturday night and because I am their treasurer I get the fun job of counting all the money. I'm not being sarcastic there ..... I LOVE counting money! Especially the coins. The counting, the stacking, the rolling. It's all just wonderful fun for me. I find it a soothing pastime.

Anyhoo....the auction was a success. We all had lots of fun and Art and I even came home with some nice prizes.

A brisk morning

What a lovely morning to wake up to. This is what winter is supposed to be.We finally finished the painting job. While Art was slaving away.........I was trying to take pictures of frost on the window panes. Not as easy as you'd think.

Now that's gotta hurt

It looks like that little birdy wasn't the only one to bash into one of our windows. This is in Art's study. Some tweety out there must really being seeing stars.This is out the other window in Art's study. Almost looks like bars.Art did get that snowblower working.Art and Xena having a "moment".This is a sunrise picture from one of the bedroom windows.Art picked up a painting contract for a house on Fraser Lake. It's a pretty big job, which I have been helping him on. Still a couple of days to go. This is the view from the back porch, overlooking the lake. Trumpeter Swans like to call this home and there is a flock of them feeding in the water near the frozen shore (too small to see in this photo, sorry).Yesterday was a very strange weather day. It suddenly warmed up to around +8C. The wind howled like I've never seen. I was sure the roof was going to blow off (some of the tin flashing did). That wind scares the crap out of me. I think I must have been traumatized as a young child when Typhoon Frieda hit Victoria and Vancouver in 1962, because when the wind blows I shake to my core. Anyways, back to yesterday. The snow was melting like mad. Suddenly, the wind reversed direction, it started to pour buckets, the temperature dropped 7 degrees in about 15 seconds, and I felt like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. Thank goodness it didn't last.

Art's brother, Tom, brought his little bobcat up and did some digging out of Art's workshop. Art spent the rest of the day using it to clear more of the yard. It looks like a fun little contraption to drive. I think he may use it to entice Kevin up here for Christmas (last year Kev had a hoot bashing and burning some old sheds we had with the bigger cat). Here you can see the dirt actually showing through on the driveway. Come on Mister Winter .... make up your mind!I'm happy to say that I have started my Christmas shopping. I know it's too early to talk about such things, but when you shop online you have to start early. I LOVE the internet for that. Going shopping is definitely not fun for me, and now of course, by living out in the boonies I have an even better excuse. It's kind of a pain for little things, though, I admit. For instance, I want to get a picture matted and framed before Friday, but there is nowhere in town to get that done. Not even sure about Vanderhoof or Burns Lake (each about 60 km away), making the next best place Prince George. That's a little inconvenient because PG is a 2 hour drive away. The thing I want to frame is this pen and ink drawing that Art made (not this crinkled one ... it's just a photo copy). I thought it might be nice to donate it to the big Loonie Auction this weekend.Art is a man of many talents. I'll bet you didn't know he was such an "art"iste.

Fly away little birdie

Yup, that little guy took quite a bonk to the head. But he made a complete recovery. When I opened the box in the bathroom, just to have a look, he flew out. Yikes! Quick, close the bathroom door so he doesn't get into the rest of the house (wouldn't my cats have loved that). I was happy that he was OK, but worried a little about what to do next. Finally, he lighted on the mirror and allowed me to put both hands over him and put him back in the box. I took him outside and he flew away. I felt so good!

My little chickadee

While I was sitting having a coffee this morning I heard a "whack" at the living room window. I didn't really pay much attention because birds fly into the glass every so often. Then I saw Xena out on the veranda looking over in that direction with curiousity. Whatever hit was still there. I knew I'd better check it out before Miss Puppy decided to play. Sure enough there was this little guy sitting on the deck looking pretty stunned.It's pretty cold out and by the time I tied the dog up and got my camera he had tucked his head under his wing and was shivering. Now, I don't have a problem with cats (or dogs) killing birds, but not when they are at a disadvantage. This little guy deserves a fighting chance. So, I scooped him up, brought him inside where it's warm and put him in a box in the bathroom. Once he's caught his breath and shaken the stars out of his head I'll put him back outside.

A few months ago Art was at his niece's house and her children were attempting to nurse a bird with an injured wing. Art convinced them to let him bring it out to the ranch so it could be free (really he was saving it from the torment of these children that were loving it to death). You know, that little birdie survived and is still hanging around in our back yard. He can fly a little bit but doesn't get much off the ground and doesn't seem to want to leave. I believe he is a Pine Siskin (I did not take this picture).

Lest we forget

Ouch!

Oh, my aching back. I seem to have wrenched something and boy does that hurt! I'm not exactly sure what did it. I have been carrying boxes from the basement to my study, up 2 flights of stairs, but I've been very careful. But then I was washing my hair at the kitchen sink yesterday and that stooped over position is not very comfortable. Anyways, I am currently doped up on Robax Platinum and may just sit around and crochet all day.

While I'm on the topic of hair, I want to thank all of you for the supportive comments about my great hair tragedy. A tragedy it surely was. For my entire life I have always had long hair. I love long hair. I love the look of it. That long, flowing, shaggy look. These are things I love the look of ....














.... I miss my locks. I want them back.

And now for something completely different

So....now it's raining. It's warmed up, the snow is melting and that will then freeze, giving us a lovely layer of ice on top of all this. This otta be good for some driving antics. I don't know which is worse. This or the flooding going on in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island.

My sister lives along the Sooke River (north of Victoria) and she got quite a shock yesterday when the river suddenly rose and flooded her property. As she was gathering her entourage of cats and dogs and getting them to safety she lost track of her little Jack Russell, Sam. She spent 14 hours searching for him, all up and down the banks of the raging river and everywhere else she could think of. I just wanted to cry for her because I know how my heart would break if one of my animals disappeared. I guess St. Francis of Assisi was taking care of little Sam, though. He finally emerged from a well selected hiding place late last night, and wasn't swept away after all. Phewwww! Many thank you's are in order.

Wildlife in this weather

The local Super-Valu had a package in the meat section marked "free - bird fat", so we brought it home and put it in this suet feeder. Haven't seen any birds coming to it yet. Before the snow there were some Stellar Jays which ravenously gobbled down unshelled sunflower seeds I had out there .... in between rounds of taunting the dog. A couple of times we've seen a humungous owl fly across the yard. It was either a Great Gray or a Snowy. I hope he comes around again so I can get a better look. At the bottom of Savory Road, where it meets with Highway 16, is a gravel pit where road killed animals are put. Perched in the trees all around are eagles and ravens. When we drove by yesterday I couldn't count how many there were ..... must have been 20! It was amazing.Inside the house are predators of a different kind. Actually, Blackie is taking a break from scouting the basement for any little mousie-like critters that sometimes try to sneak in. He's helping me work on my blog (I know cat's aren't allowed on the kitchen table .... don't tell Art, 'kay?). I don't know where Chickie is ..... napping somewhere I'm sure.The kitz aren't the only ones who like to mousehunt, we've found. Xena finds it sporting good fun, also. I saw her tossing something around outside the other day and when I took a closer look could see that it was a mouse-popsicle. She doesn't eat them, just flings them around. When she's done, Art throws them onto the shed roof and the birds take them. In this video, she is burrowing in the snow and I'm pretty sure that's what she's after. Either that or she's just plain nutty, which is distinctly possible.

Snowfall Warning

We've been plowed out twice, stuck once, and last night it snowed a bunch more with some high winds which caused drifting and now we need to be plowed out again. And this warning says we're going to get more snow. Sheesh! It's only been 10 days and we've had more of a winter than we did all of last year. Pretty soon this snowpack on our roof (which you'll note is now covering the upstairs windows) will meet with the snow that is piling up on the ground.Art is working on getting the snowblower working and there's talk of his brother Tom putting one of his bobcats (machine, not animal) up here so we can plow paths to the sheds and around the yard. Stay tuned to Art's blog for details on that. For now, he's driving around with super mean chains on the truck.

I managed to dig out some old wool and a crochet hook I had packed away, found a pattern on the internet for socks and am trying my hand at making up a pair. I know that traditionally socks are knitted, but I can't find any of my needles. Besides, I prefer crochet. This is pretty snazzy wool, don't ya think? I wonder if Art will wear them once I'm done. I may have to mail order some supplies from Mary Maxim.

Let there be light

Well, it was fun while it lasted. Our power and phone just came back on. It was kind of like camping, but in a great big warm house. Now, to get that driveway plowed. 1 kilometre is a lot of shovelling!

What's this white stuff, Mom???

Is the question Xena is probably asking in her doggy mind. She sure is having fun. Unfortunately, all her outside toys are now buried, so she keeps trying to take her inside toys out with her.
Check out Art's blog for another video.