Kev...it's a go

The eagle has landed......ission-May idoo-Skay....all ahead full.

You may have to drive it up to our place from Tom's, but something tells me you won't mind that too much....right?

what's a loonie auction?

I'd never heard of one either until we moved here. Seems they are very popular in these parts. And the one held here in Endako is the most popular of all. It started as a way to raise funds for renovations to the community hall and has grown into a huge, much anticipated annual event. We have the added bonus of a supper, to which we sell tickets, and the community hall isn't big enough to fit all that want to attend.

In a normal auction an item is bidded on and the price keeps going up until no one wants to pay any more and the last bidder gets it. A loonie auction doesn't work that way, and in my opinion, whoever thought of this was brilliant. Items and services are donated, in advance, by local businesses and members of the community and displayed on a table. The auctioneer holds a bucket full of numbered poker chips. Each member of the audience has a sheet of paper, pencil and a supply of loonies. Around the room are several people with baskets and their job is to collect loonies. When an item is up for bid, participants put up their hands. As the auctioneer acknowledges each one he pulls a poker chip, reads the number on the chip to that bidder who writes the number down and puts a loonie in the basket. The poker chip goes into a different bucket. This goes on and on for who knows how long....depends on how popular the item is. People can buy more than one number if they want to. When the bidding stops, the auctioneer pulls from the "purchased" poker chips and whoever has that number gets the item. Many, many dollars can be raised for an item, with the winner having only paid one or two.For instance, we put a nice crisp $100 bill in a frame. Everyone was willing to spend $1 for a chance at it (and boy, the loonies were flying). It brought in $221.

So, that's a loonie auction in a nutshell. A great way to raise funds. People have fun and they don't have to be rich to participate.

feeling better

I am feeling MUCH better. Just a barking cough remains from that nasty flu. Art says I must be feeling better because my loud opinions are back, not to mention flouncing around in shorts and a t-shirt. My friend Audrey gives me heck because I don't wear a coat and my shoes have holes in them (actually, they're Crocs....they're supposed to have holes in them....I like them that way), but we all know that's not how you catch a cold. Touching the hands of 160 people at the Loonie Auction a few weeks ago is more likely where it came from.

Speaking of the Loonie Auction ...... FUN times in Endako! We kind of over-booked ourselves and the building was bursting at the seams with people, but once supper was over the crowd thinned out a little. We had lots of great stuff to auction off and people were parting with their loonies like crazy. I'd tell you how many is in this box, but we are going to have a "guess-how-many" contest at our next meeting, and just in case any of you are planning to be there I'll keep the answer to myself for now.I can tell you....that box is HEAVY!

Did it rain in Vancouver yesterday? Because it sure snowed here. We were in a blizzard for most of the day and the wind was howling. All that plowing work Art did got drifted over pretty quickly. So he was out there again today, rearranging piles of snow. Trouble is, the danged thing makes him carsick. Imagine. Needing to take Gravol to plow the driveway. Poor guy.

The blizzard was fun (brings out the kids in us) and was a great reason to brew up a big pot of potatoe soup (yummmmm), but I kinda wish it had waited a day. There was a big figure skating extravaganza in Fraser Lake last night and I wanted very much to go see it, but the roads were very, very bad. One of those nights that if you didn't HAVE to go anywhere, it was best to stay home. Darn. I was really looking forward to it.

I have been keeping busy getting Christmas gift making finished. I know it's hard to start these projects in July, but I really wish I had. I'm taking pictures so I can show you in the New Year.

Our chickens seem to be happy as clams. Egg production fell off when winter set in. We felt really bad when the heater that Art put in the coop stopped working at some point and the poor little buggers were freezing their hynies and we didn't even know it. He has since fixed that and also put a heat lamp in the chicken tractor. Now it's warm AND they have lots of extra light. It's wild to look out at night and see the red glow of their little Bahama resort. Egg production is WAY up and they're monstrous in size! (Janet....we will send as many home with Sara as we can. I know how much you enjoy them.)

Only one more week until the kids arrive for Christmas. Seven more sleeps! Kev ..... we put an word in the ear of the snowmobile fairy. Keep your fingers crossed.

a winter wonderland

Winter is definitely upon us.



After Art made the trip up the hill with chains on, YRB came in and plowed us out. So, we're good now until it snows another foot or so. In the meantime, the driveway should be passable in a car.

is it cold in here...or is it just me?

I know, I know. You never thought you'd hear ME utter such words. But honestly, I'm freezing! For the first time, having it almost 30 degrees C in this house is not causing me to put on my shorts and go stand outside where it's a nice comfy minus 20. Probably because I have one nasty $#@&(*! of a cold. Either this is a really bad one or I just can't handle 'em like I used to. This actually HURTS. It started in my throat and now my ears hurt...my eyes hurt...my TEETH hurt!

As my Mom would say....."poor iddum-diddums".

Nanook of the North

We had a wonderful long weekend with Sara and Kevin visiting from Vancouver. Art was proud to show off the greens growing in his tire garden.Sara kept telling me I was going to "catch my death" if I didn't put a jacket on,but I just don't feel the cold like she does.

Xena was very happy to have company, too. She loves to play with Kevin.

Actually, I believe she is IN LOVE with Kevin. Even though Art posted a picture like this on his blog, I like this one because Xena is smiling!

weather

Do you like my new weather section on the right? I found this site by accident and was pretty pleased to have it confirmed that this tiny community we live actually DOES exist. I find the philosophy of this website intriguing, but being the suspicious type that I am, I keep looking for "the catch".

My Mom

My sister was at my Dad's house today and found this picture of my Mom. I like it alot. It shows the true spirit of the woman she was....outdoors, smiling and making music. I don't know how old she was here, but probably still a teenager because it looks like she was on "the farm".I still can't look at a picture of her without bawling my eyes out. I miss her.

quiet reminiscences

Today would have been my Mom's 80th birthday. I've been thinking of her alot. I wanted to include a picture with this post, but am having scanner problems. Will have to get back to you with that.

my new wheels

Awhile back I told you that we traded Betsy Ford (our F250) for a minivan. This is it (Xena's giving it the once-over).It's pretty good....and it's 4X4. Quite necessary for these parts.

Around here everybody knows everybody else by the vehicle they drive. We are known for our white Toyota pickup with a very distinctive roof rack, so people recognize us and wave. It'll take a while for them to get to know this vehicle so it'll be like we're strangers in town again. Normally I prefer anonymity, but I am getting used to the small town life where everybody knows you and they wave when they see you. I don't mind that part at all.

correction

I know that some of you that read my blog are avid yarn artisans, so I must note a correction to my post from October 15. The pattern I was referring to is called a "crunch" stitch, not a scrunch stitch.

rapunzel ... one year later

It was one year ago today that I had to get that drastic haircut.....and here I am todaySlowly starting to feel normal again (not that I was ever normal...)

cold--warm--windy

Two days ago this was the view out our kitchen window.It did that for almost the whole day, then it all melted which caused some flooding in our basement. Not nice. Then around bedtime last night a howling chinook came through. It was all of a sudden, with the temperature rising to almost 16C and hurricane force winds. I could hear those loose metal shingles squeaking away on the outside of the house and looked out at one point to see a huge piece of styrofoam insulation flying across the yard. It had ripped right off the wall!Art's out there now figuring out what we need to fix this before winter really hits.

what the ??

Sometimes this Blogger can be a real pain to work with. I was getting complaints that my site takes too long to load, which is a real problem for people with slower connections and a killer for those with dialup. So, I changed some settings. Then you couldn't get to "older posts", so what good is that? I was forced to "upgrade" which is computer talk for mess-the-hell-out-of-everything. Now my links, and a few other things, are gone so I guess I know what I'll be doing for the next little while. Yeesh!

flying fingers

My evenings are pretty busy these days, working on several crochet projects. Here is the status of some of them....

This one isn't actually crochet. It's "loom" knitting on the Knifty Knitter. It's now completed and I have a couple more to make.Curtain tiebacks ... this is the first of 6. I still need to finish the ends, press it and add tassels, but I've moved this project to the back burner for now.A mystery project. I love how this is turning out. The band of darker colour was a total surprise because the pictures with the pattern didn't show it very well. I love the texture. It's called a crunch stitch. I'm a bit dissappointed in the green. The section on the left is supposed to be a lighter shade than on the right, but I sure can't see a difference. Oh well.And from another angle.There is another mystery project, but it's really difficult to get good pictures of stitching. I never realized. I've had to take a great many just to get these few.

Finally, the kitchen curtain. Not completed, but I'll show you what I have so far...

I refuse to pay the crazy prices for curtain rods, so just used a length of 1/4" dowelling and threaded it through.Chickie likes to help whenever she can.Screwed a couple of hooks into the window frame.Voila!Unfortunately, the sun still glares through the mesh, so I'll need to add a liner. I dug this dark green fabric out of my stash. I think it'll look nice.

woodpile

Art brought two more trailer loads of wood up from Tom's. They are the scraps from his log home building operation. So, we have a few hours of splitting and stacking ahead of us ... and maybe another load or two ... and we'll be all set for winter. You can't see too well what's under the veranda and stairs in the background, but there's already lots in there. Plus, there's a big pile over by Art's shop.There was only one fatality. When Art was pulling the trailer out, one of the gates caught on this tree. I'm not upset, though. I never did like those ugly things.

one mother of a rock saw

It was about this time last year when we heard of a rock saw for sale. A fellow member of the Burns Lake rockhound club was selling this one. The price was very good, so we told him we'd take it. Then it snowed. So it sat in his yard over the winter and we were only able to go and get it, finally, about 3 weeks ago.It's a biggie. The blade is about 2 feet in diameter. Maybe this winter we'll get our lapidary workshop set up. We kind of miss it.

say goodbye to Betsy Ford

We traded our F250 for a minivan with Art's brother Tom. We had a loving term for our old truck....."Betsy Ford with an Alkie on her back". The Alkie was an Alaskan camper, which is really a very cool camper. It's not a pop-up, it's telescopic, with the top half raising and lowering hydraulicly. We had a lot of fun with that rig, but with the price of gas it was just too expensive to run. So we went back to using the smaller truck and the Boler.

The camper is extremely heavy and doesn't attach to the truck the way other campers do. There is no overhang so it can't be clamped. Instead, it is bolted right through the floor to the truck bed. It is NOT an easy operation to put it off and on so we always said that if anyone wanted to buy the truck they had to take the camper, too. Thankfully, though, we now have heavy equipment to make these tasks a little easier. We used the skid steer to yard it off the truck and onto a platform of tires and pallets.Here is a view of our "camper row" .... the Boler, Grant's camper (which he brought up from Kamloops this summer), and Alkie.Funny though, Alkie wasn't sitting there very long before someone else fell in love with her. Our niece Cindy's boyfriend Brian got a glimpse and had to have her. I don't know what I was doing that kept me from witnessing them putting her on his truck, but here she is all strapped down and ready to go to her new home.Bye Alkie. Have fun!

driveway update

The driveway project is almost complete. The final loads of gravel have been dumped and spread.The slimy mud holes are gone and it's draining well. Still pretty bumpy but we've asked YRB (local highways) to grade it for us. Xena was enjoying riding around in the skid steer with Art.Art has finished cutting back all the overhanging and leaning trees so there shouldn't be a problem keeping it clear once the snow comes.That was a lot of work. I tried to help a couple of times, but the black flies were really horrible. I feel like that kid "pig-pen" in the Charlie Brown cartoons, with the black cloud around him all the time. What's with these bugs anyways? Don't they know it's zero degrees out there?

Kelowna Half Marathon

Here are some of the pictures Kevin took of Sara's race.
Lookin' GOOD! ............(You can see all the pics here).

running around

Before I do one more thing I have to post a great big ATTA GIRL to my step-daughter Sara. She ran her first Half Marathon in Kelowna on Sunday. That's 21.1 kilometers .... and she did it in 2 hours : 1 minute !!! I'm just waiting for some pictures to post.

WAY TO GO, SARA !!!

I'M SO PROUD OF YOU.
YOU ARE AN INSPIRATION.

gettin' chilly out there

Last Saturday, Sep.29, we had our first snow.It stuck for a little while, about 100 feet above us, but was all gone before too long. It was good timing because only the day before did Art finish helping our neighbour put up the last of his silage. That meant that the cows could go home, and 2 days ago the cowboys (and girl) came through to round them up. Xena was SO happy because she got to run with the big dogs. I don't know if she was actually a help or a hindrance, but I was very proud when at the end, while she was "hanging" with the cowboys, I called her to come and she did. And sat near me without being told while I clipped on her leash. Nothing worse than standing there screaming like a mad woman while the dog runs around ignoring me. I was really proud of her. She wanted to continue on with them very badly, but she did what I said.

Last night it froze HARD. When I looked out this morning everything was white. The thermometer on the veranda said it got to -3 but I think that at ground level it was colder than that. Dare we go look at the tire garden coldframes?

on a happier note

While we were at the vet's last week, Art asked if they had any other kittens up for adoption. They had a bunch, but this fellow picked Art out right away.He is approximately 7 months old. They had younger ones, but it's harder to find homes for the older guys. He's super cuddly and super energetic, and is turning out to be a lot of fun. I think he's got some Balinese in him. His fur is very fine and silky and is medium length on his tail. His body has very Oriental lines with an extraordinarily long tail, but his face and eyes are more round like an American breed. He's very vocal and not shy, having already made friends with Xena and Blackie. Chickie will allow him in the same room, but is clearly not impressed.

We've been bantering around various names for him, Art favouring "y^s", which is Carrier for "snow". It is pronounced "yoo-uss", emphasis on the "uss" with the soft "u" almost silent and the "ss" sounding very hissie. I don't know. I'm tempted to call him Johnny-long-tail. But he's Art's cat .... so he can call him whatever he wants.

a sad goodbye

I've been putting this off, but I guess it's time to tell. Our little kitten, Wasi, didn't make it. It's been about a week since the vet called to let us know that they had to put him down. His seizures just kept getting worse and worse, so it really was for the best. Allowing an animal to continue suffering is cruel.

We didn't get to know Wasi very well, but enough to fall in love with him, so it hurts a lot. The vet put him in a little box and we brought him home for burial on what we now refer to as "boot hill", which is out in our east pasture. Art made a little grave and secured it from any animals that may try to dig it up. Rest in peace little boy. I guess you weren't meant to be here just yet.

This is the last picture I took of him, having a snooze.

of mice and parsnips

My parsnip harvest was a bit of a disappointment. It was really difficult to get them to grow to start off with, so I was pleased when they finally took off. But when it came time to pull them out of the ground, all that was left were stalks. Some dirty rotten little mice had secretly devoured all the roots. This is all that was left .... and as you can see, one of them has the top chewed off.I ain't eatin' that one, so essentially all I got was one. We didn't plant many potatoes, but the same thing happened to them. My friend Audrey was dismayed when digging up her flower bulbs .... all eaten. And it seems like it's not just here. This story was on the news about a mice infestation in a food warehouse in Etobicoke (Toronto). More cats required! Get those strays off the unemployment line and put them to work.