Endako Jo

a lamb video

2012-01-20T16:50:00.000-08:00

Baba and Louie.... 2 days old....

Baba and Louie

2012-01-19T14:15:00.001-08:00

I'm gonna make this quick because I have homework to do, but also need to start boiling water on the stove so that I can wash the mountain of dishes that is taking over the kitchen. This is day 3 of having no water and it's just a terrible thing to deal with. We're buying drinking water in town and Art is bringing containers up from Tom's to give the animals. Art put a heater on the frozen pipes up at "gramma's", but the water has yet to flow. We may be past the worst of this cold weather, so in a couple of days when it's above zero again things will be melting and I'll be complaining about THAT. Why can't there just be a nice middle ground? Is that too much to ask?

Here's what it was like this morning. Thankfully, no wind.

Other news is that the Jeep has broken down.... yet AGAIN. This time it is the water pump and what seems to be gelatinous anti-freeze. I guess a 50/50 mix is not enough when it gets this cold.

Enough of all that griping.... onto FUNNER stuff! We are now the proud parents of twin lamb boys. They were born yesterday morning on a farm in Vanderhoof. Their momma is unable to care for them, so they need to be bottle fed for awhile. When we went to get them, there were 2 more... also brand new.... that we could have taken. We were so darned tempted, but felt it might be best to break ourselves in with two for now. We are interested in getting a couple more later, maybe. I really like the black ones. Anyways, we took these two brothers and named them Baba and Louie. Baba has a black nose, Louie's is pink. One of the first things we did was skype Sophie to show her the babies. I think she got quite a kick out of it. And then one bleeted and the look on her face was priceless. It was perfect!

Because it is so darned cold outside, we made them a temporary home in a big dog kennel and put it in our living room. Art slept on the floor beside them last night and we both got up every 2 hours to feed them. He was getting up to stoke fires anyways. Now, get ready for cute overload because here come a bunch of pictures.

cold enough for ya?

2012-01-17T16:56:00.001-08:00

Things are a little nippy around here lately. This was our house this morning ....

Look at this crazy forecast! For those that don't speak celsius, minus 47 is minus 52.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

I don't know if it will actually get that cold, but at minus 30 our water has frozen up. Art put a heater on the pipes, so hopefully things will be flowing again soon. There are a lot of things I can do without, but running water is not one of them.

So, there are 3 fires burning right now....the house, the greenhouse and the barn. Art goes out and stokes them every 4 hours. Even during the night. The water has frozen in the greenhouse and the barn, too, so we really need to get the house water going so that we can get some to the animals. In the meantime, though, Xena and Cleo think it's all just fun and games.

Hey, where did everybody go? Who wants to play red ball?

The cats have different ideas.

Jack is such a clown

I have a question about chickens. What would make feathers curl like this? This pullet is a Rhode Island Red and looks like she's been using a curling iron. She's not sick or anything, just has this whacky "do".

Here's me plowing the yard. I'm in there, waving at you.

We went to Prince George awhile back and look what we found! I've become quite a maniac for this hot sauce, which up until now we've only been able to find in Chinese stores in Vancouver. That's one big YAHOO from me!

And Art found one of his favourite teas. Very thrilled to have found this store.

Time to hunker down and get warm.

Which way did they go?

I ain't gettin' outta the car

2012-01-11T11:25:00.000-08:00

and this is before it became glassy EVERYWHERE....

a new year

2012-01-10T13:47:00.007-08:00

Our dog, Xena, is very much a social butterfly. She loves when company comes over and is sad to see them go. After Mike and Dyanne went home on Sunday, she had this "hang dog" look.

While they were here, Dyanne tooks loads of pictures. Her photography style is much like Carol Browne... very artistic. I lust after her camera. Here is one of her shots of our boar pig.

While on the subject of animals, some of you know that we are supposed to be getting a couple of goats. Before Christmas I found a farmer in Smithers who was giving away two goats. I had email conversations with him and we made a deal to go and get them after the holidays were over. One goat is pregnant and the other "might" be, so we would have a kid or two running around in a month or so. We were quite looking forward to it. Art was excited about learning to make cheese and got the barn all prepared for their arrival. We even borrowed a livestock transporting thingie from a friend. A couple of days ago, I sent another email to the farmer to make a date for picking up our new pets and he informed me that he gave them to someone else.

I have to say, I was a bit taken aback. We had built up a bit of a rapport. I invited him and he went onto our blogs to see the new home of his goats and he seemed to approve. So, this turn of events is quite a surprise.... and a disappointment. More than not getting the animals we were looking forward to, I feel very let down by someone going back on their word to me. It says volumes about he type of person he is. Maybe it's a blessing in disguise. So, if you are thinking of dealing with a farmer in Smithers, and you wonder if he has any integrity, let me know and I will tell you his name.

To switch gears, I have been making hats lately. Some were gifts for Christmas. This one is knit and the tie undoes to allow it to open up and slide down to be a neck warmer.

This one is also knit and I was intrigued by the design. It is made as one long tube, then twisted and turned halfway inside out and sewn closed (sounds confusing, doesn't it?). This causes it to be open at the top, but the folds keep it closed. If you get too hot while wearing it and don't want to take it off, you can open the vent a little.

And it could get too hot, I suppose, because it is double thickness... and reversible.

This one was for Sophie and is crocheted.

Another knit one....

All those hats were fun to make and are cute, but this one seems to be the favourite. Not only does Art love to wear it, I enjoyed making it.

For those of you who know about knit and crochet, the very cool thing about this one is that it looks like knit (and is stretchier than knit ribbing and springs right back), but is actually crochet. I love the result of this technique so much that I'm making socks right now just to see how it turns out.

Look what I found in the grocery store yesterday.

Check out those flavours! YUMMMMMmmmmm!

Here's a sign that's up for interpretation. I'm curious ..... what do YOU think it says?

another first

2011-10-14T19:25:00.001-07:00

This is a much more welcomed "first".... our first egg from our new chicks. I guess they're all grown up now.

I was just thrilled to find this today. Took me right back to 12 years old when I was in 4H.

One thing I DON'T remember about chickens is how nasty they can be. These guys are deliberately very, very tame. Not afraid of me at all, but a few of them have been taking some pretty good pecks out of me lately. I can see why some people are afraid of chickens. All I can say is.... we eat the mean ones first!

Geez, do you think you could get any closer to the woodstove, there, Blackie?

This is a much better viewing position.

Oh, and by the way..... the only thing worse than watching a cat eat a mouse is cleaning up the carpet after it barfs it back up. Charming.

first snow

2011-10-14T08:42:00.001-07:00

Oh good. Something for me to worry about while Art drives to 100 Mile House today (about a 7 hour drive). Good thing we got those studded snow tires put on the other day.

I know this will be melted as soon as the sun comes up, but how many idiots are out there with summer tires still on and speeding down the highway? I'm glad Art has the "SPOT" on, so I can track his trip. Just makes me feel better to see him continuing to move down the road.

bringing in the winter's wood

2011-09-12T10:53:00.000-07:00

This is what we've been doing for the past 4 or 5 days. A couple more to go. Yesterday was a good day because I have learned to pick the trees up with the skidsteer and move them to where Art cuts them up. Here I have a few all laid out. That pile in the background is about 1/3 of what we need it to be.

Cleo is guarding the stray pieces from those pesky calves. Coz you know how they can be.

Just a cute pic of Jack, lounging about.

Xena and Kermit

2011-07-31T14:53:00.002-07:00

a new day on the farm

2011-06-19T15:27:00.000-07:00

Now that the cows are back for the summer, Xena is introducing herself.

And making sure they don't make off with any of the fence repair supplies.

We are boarding Sara and Kevin's dog, Lucy, and she's not so sure what these critters are.

Yesterday, we added to our menagerie four more weaner pigs (yes, that's spelled right.... "weaner" as in they've been weaned from their mother..... not "weiner" as in a hot dog). They are a welcome addition because they are very unique little guys. Not just the regular old pink pigs, but colourful black and red striped and one kinda orange with spots. I LOVE them! I have learned that the striping is a trait of wild boar, so they've got some interesting background to them.

They are one week younger than the pinks we already had, so are a tiny bit smaller.

This one is my favourite. Something about polka dots!

Our little pink gilt did spend some time putting the newcomers in their place, just so there was no misunderstanding about who the boss was. But once that was established it was time for a nap in the sun. After all, it was a long day.

in memory of Dad

2011-05-31T11:26:00.000-07:00

My Dad passed away last week. He'd been in failing health for some time and just kind of slipped away after Mom passed 4 years ago. This is the two of them on a New Year's Eve sometime in the 1970's.

Dad was not much of a gardener, and although my Mom tried her darnedest to turn him into one, it just wasn't his thing. Even so, I spent a couple of afternoons this week planting flowers while I thought of him. I don't know which would represent him best, so I planted a little of each of all the seeds I had.

As it turns out, a friend of ours in Vancouver passed away on the same day, at nearly the exact same time. His name was Randy Rask and he worked with Art at the City of Vancouver. He was a really nice guy. Full of life and laughter. So, I planted some seeds for him, too.

a pig's tale

2011-05-24T23:35:00.000-07:00

I know that I am behind with my posting and I really do want to do a catch-up. There's much to tell and pictures to show, but first I want to tell you a story.... a pig's tale.

A few days ago we got a call that our weaner pigs were ready for pickup. It's about 2 weeks early, which concerned me a little because, although I'm no expert, I'm pretty sure they shouldn't leave Mom until 6 weeks old. Off we went to Topley, which is about 100 km away. When I first saw the piglets, they did indeed look small and were still suckling, but the farmer assured us that they were also eating food. So, we selected the 4 we wanted (3 boys and a girl) and brought them home.

The last pigs we got weighed around 30 lbs, so we decided to weigh these guys. Don't be alarmed. I'm not hurting this little fellow.

He weighed in at 16.5 lbs, and the others ranged from 10.5 to 18.5 lbs. Way too small! This picture shows how tiny the runt is in comparison to his siblings. About the size of a rabbit. The brown one at the top is the little girl.

Here are a couple of videos of their first day with us. The girl always seems to lead her brothers.... and I love those curled ears.Because they are so small, we worried they could squeeze through the sty gate, so I blocked it in by weaving an empty feed bag through the bars. Everyone was snug-a-bug, so we went in for supper.

A couple of hours later, I could hear the dogs barking in the distance. That usually means they are chasing deer or crows or something. Art went out to call them and quickly came to get me. One of the piglets was out in the field and Xena and Cleo were circling it. They were barking, the pig was squeeling, but mostly it was just a lot of noise. No harm was being done. By the time Art got there, the pig was so happy to see him it ran into his arms. Good girls, Xena and Cleo for keeping it contained! In all of this, I'm not sure what Lucy was doing (we are boarding Sara and Kevin's dog right now). Oblivious to the excitement, anyways. As Art was returning the fellow to the pen, he noticed that another pig was missing.... the runt. OMG! It was clear that my "block" had not worked. I really should have known better. These are pigs after all. Clever little buggers. What I had NOT thought about was the cat door. That's how these two got outside. It's a wonder they weren't ALL out.

So, now the hunt was on for our missing little runt. Who knows how long he'd been out for and who knows where he could possibly be. There are a million places for him to hide. I searched the area of the barns, while Art ventured to the house and garden. We asked the dogs to help us and I thought Lucy's extra good sniffer (she's a Coon Hound) might come in handy. Soon, I heard Art calling that runty was near the greenhouse and was headed to pick him up. But, just then Lucy caught the scent and took chase. We tried to call her off, but she would not listen. They both raced across the open field, but you know.... that little tiny pig was like greased lightning. Who would have thought something so small could run so fast. Out-ran Lucy and managed to lose her once they hit the treeline. I finally got Lucy to break pursuit and come to me. I had to tie her up and gather the other dogs. Then Art and I went searching. For hours and hours we searched. Acres and acres we covered. Until darkness came and we had to stop. I cried my heart out and we were both resigned that he would not make it through the night. If the coyotes didn't get him he would die of exposure. I felt horrible beyond belief, but had to put that baby's fate in God's hands.

I had a terrible night's sleep and could hardly wait for first light to continue the search. Hoping upon hope, I got up around 5:00am and taking Xena with me, went out to the barn. I had set the cat door.... just in case he came back.... to swing in, but not out. When I got to the barn, the cat door was broken. What the? I went inside, but no sign of runty. Suddenly, a grunt... which scared the hell out of Xena. That little tiny exhausted, frightened piggie had come back to the pen. He was hiding behind a table and Xena's sniffing around must have startled him. I have no doubt whatsoever that a miracle had occurred. All the odds were against this guy. He is way too young and tiny to survive alone, especially out in the wild. And he had run so far from the barn, it must have been a marathon for him to get back, especially when it was all entirely unfamiliar territory to him. He'd only been here about 6 hours before all this happened. I know that pigs are highly intelligent and I've read that they do communicate with each other, so maybe he called out and his siblings helped guide him back.

Why the cat door was broken, I can't figure, but quite frankly, I don't care.

more on moosey babe

2011-03-21T13:32:00.000-07:00

Here is the video I took of the moose calf we encountered on our road. It shows how slippery the ice really is. And she was clearly getting quite annoyed with us. I wish I had thought to turn off the heater, which is blasting away.

I've been vacillating about posting this because about 10 hours later I went back to find that she had died. Something must have happened to her Mom for her to be alone like that and the baby could not survive without her. I know that nature can seem so cruel sometimes, but I'm glad I got to meet that little girl... even for a few minutes.

moosey babe

2011-03-21T09:42:00.000-07:00

8:00 on Saturday morning, this little girl was in the middle of our road (there's that squiggly sign in the background, indicating our driveway is just ahead). She seems to be separated from her Mom for some reason and did not want to move out of the way.

My Grandfather

2011-03-17T07:56:00.000-07:00

I've added another blog to my profile.... my grandfather.

last cries of winter

2011-03-16T13:29:00.003-07:00

This is Sue's little dog, Sprocket. He came out to see us as we were collecting wood. He's not too crazy about the sub zero temperatures.

The other day Tom called to say he was plowing out the guy who lives in the valley below us. Had to use the telephoto lense to get this pic.... can you see him down there?

We drove down to check how he was doing. If you look directly above the snow blade at the bare patch just above the trees (way off in the distance) you can see our house.

Here's a more zoomed in shot.

When the job was all done (some 6 1/2 hours later.... long driveway), there were horses and a donkey by the house. Funny looking guy, this.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.... Cleo's looking for where Xena buried that bone.

Kermit's just hangin' around.

Xena asks "does this ice field make my ass look fat?"

The greenhouse will soon be visible again from behind the mountain of snow piled up in front.

Look what has popped up in the lettuce patch (inside the greenhouse, of course). What a thrill.

Also.... check out Art's blog for other stories and pics.

And, lastly, to change the subject.... I recently was in Victoria and brought home a family heirloom. These were amongst my Mom's belongings and I remember her loaning them to me to wear at Art's and my wedding. I didn't pay attention at the time, as she told me who they had belonged to, but all these years later I found them again. My auntie Roberta was able to tell me that they are from my great grandmother Barriskell. Such a treasure!

take a drive to our house

2011-03-09T10:50:00.000-08:00

For those who have never been here, I thought I'd show you the lovely drive up our driveway. For those that have been here, but not seen it in winter, enjoy the snowy view....

Starting at the "squiggly" sign on Savory Road, enter our driveway at the bottom gate and travel uphill 1 km. Don't mind the cracked windshield... those are common in these parts. The tall "cross" at the second gate is not a cross, but a weather station and flag pole.

And then, just for fun, let's go back down again....

Here's what it looked like at our house today

2011-02-06T19:05:00.000-08:00

a visit to the cathouse

2010-09-24T09:53:00.002-07:00

There have been a few trips to the veterinarian over the past few weeks, the latest being Xena for a gash she got on her leg. I don't know how it happened, but it did require about 6 stitches. Once again, she was a brave girl and let the vet do what she had to do. In return, she got the BEST treats. Here she is at home, resting after her ordeal. The black on her forearm are the stitches.

The Burns Lake Vet Clinic is a wonderful place. As well as offering the best care to all variety of animals they also have a rescue shelter for cats. Over the few years we've been here we have taken home 5 cats from here.

During the summer, a second shelter was built and Art generously volunteered his skills as an Electrician to install a light and outlet for a heater. With the days getting shorter and colder, these are becoming essentials.

While Art was working away, I visited the residents of the other shelter. There were maybe a total of 10 or 12. As much fun as it is to go in and play with all those kittens, it is pure torture to leave. Who can resist these darlings?!

The drive home along Savory Road. I do love Autumn.

don't eat pig poo

2010-09-17T13:17:00.011-07:00

I wouldn't need to tell you that, right? But it seems that Xena finds it to be a yummy treat. I don't know about dogs sometimes.

Yesterday we decided to formally introduce the dogs to the pigs. They've been just dying of curiosity for two weeks now and there's been a lot of whining and nose licking through the bars. So Xena went first.

Once face-to-face she was a little bit nervous.

.... especially when one started chewing on the end of her tail.

So, then it was Cleo's turn.

Both were very good girls.

Today, we let them in the pen sans leashes. While Cleo made a bee-line for the food trough, Xena found some lovely chewy nuggets. MMMMmmmmm.

piggies (part 3)... and other stuff

2010-09-15T18:41:00.003-07:00

Turns out that pigs like to play. Did you know that? So, we gave them a soccer ball. They love it!

Civil Servants ? No one's servants and rarely civil....

Xena seemed to be worried about me being inside the skid steer. As soon as I opened the door, she jumped in and sat on me.

piggies (part 2)

2010-09-15T18:33:00.001-07:00

After keeping the new piglets inside for the first day, it was time to let them explore their outside pen.

I love this one. It looks like the pigs are giggling and whispering to each other before going over to check out the dogs .... who are DYING of curiosity about these newcomers.

This is how they sleep. Can you see them under the hay?

The pigs and chickens discover each other.

good friends and new piggies (part 1)

2010-09-15T18:19:00.000-07:00

Earlier in the summer, RT & Rhoda came to visit and of course their dog Tommy. Tommy and our Xena are "in looooovvvve".

When they leave, Xena truly seems depressed.

But then Mike and Bubba came to stay while, with their dogs Rusty and Maya. Doggy heaven was restored. Their timing was pretty good because we were just getting ready to bring home two new piglets and needed to build a pen to put them in. Their help was very appreciated.

out of the frying pan

2010-08-19T10:53:00.000-07:00


took a drive up the mine road to get a better look

coming down over the ridge, Francois Lake at the bottom. You can see the red of the flames.

east end of Francois Lake, looking south

the mall in Fraser Lake

forest fires

2010-08-15T19:51:00.000-07:00

The smoke of the forest fires is particularly bad today. There are 3 or 4 within 50 km of here, but Binta Lake is the one affecting us most. It's hot, it's dry, the air stinks, there's an orange glow to everything and there's no rain in sight for at least a week. Here is a picture of the fire from 2 days ago.

Don't worry, we are in no danger. As the crow flies, it's about 30 km away and would have to cross a VERY large lake to get to us. On this map the blue dot is our house, the red dot is the fire.

View fire - 15aug2010 in a larger map

potatoe balls

2010-07-25T14:53:00.003-07:00

Pardon my ignorance, but what the heck are these things growing out of our potatoe plants?Potatoe ball mystery aside, the garden is growing like crazy. And in prep for winter crops, the greenhouse is progressing in leaps and bounds. Yesterday was electrifying .... as it were. I'm sure it won't be long before the neighbours are gossiping about what the new lights are "up on the hill".At any given time, some cat or other can be seen skulking around the yard.Just as I was wondering how Ewie got up on top of the Boler .... he revealed that it really was no big deal.I took this shot of Art writing by candlelight, but accidentally left the shutter open too long. I particularly like the Elton John eyeglasses look.My sister-in-law, Echo, is a beautiful artist and she made these for Art's birthday. She makes the hearts with concrete and then later does calligraphy on them. These quotes are from The Four Agreements.Xena and Kermit. Aren't they just adorable?

long time

2010-07-22T16:30:00.002-07:00

I'm sorry for being absent for so long. No excuse really, so let me do a little catch-up.....

Projects are ongoing. Art is painting kitchen cabinets for his brother's rental house. Well, the whole house actually, but just the cabinets in this picture.We're prepping the greenhouse for painting.have to scrape the darned stickers off first.insulating and putting plywood down on the floorof all the places that Cleo could lay down, she prefers the fresh sawdust.Yup, we're growing grass. Cat grass, that is.Been going for walks around the property. This day we passed under an eagle's nest and it was not happy with us (or maybe it was the dogs) being so close. Screeched at us the whole time. You can see the eagle in the big blue patch in the centre of the picture and the nest is down and to the right.On the bottom 80 acres is this old shanty house which the dogs LOVE exploring. Definitely a pack rat or two in there.On a different section of the property is another little shack. It looks like someone actually lived in it and one half was his chicken coop. Next to it is a rather elderly tree. I'd say it's at least 100 years old. Don't see a lot of those anymore. Not around here anyways.Lots of wildflowers all around and as we walked along Art would pick them and put them in the buttonhole of my jacket.In the east field Cleo found a soccer ball."Bring it?"..... no problem.What the heck kind of flower is this? It's pretty big. Bigger than a daisy.We had a horrendously bad black fly season this year. From May long weekend til just recently I have not been able to go outside without protection. Mosquitoe repellant does not work on those little &%$@ so I would have to wear net clothing. The pants are a pain to put on, so often I would just do this.But for my head and neck I absolutely needed the net.Despite it being cold this summer (so far) the garden is doing really well. We've been enjoying many salads including my new favourite ingredient .... fresh basil. It was an acquired taste for me, but now I LOVE it.I tried a new recipe for Boston Baked beans. Yuuuummmmmmm.It's been a wet season so there's lots of mud around the pond. Can you guess where Xena's been? "All the kids are wearing it, Mom".Now that Cleo has moved into the house she doesn't use her doghouse much anymore. Kermit, on the other hand, thinks it's pretty posh digs.It's taken awhile, and some work on everyone's parts, but Cleo is now allowed complete freedom amongst the cats when outside. Great progress, I think.Boose is still not all that impressed. She's a tough nut to crack, that one.Some various other cute shots of the "family".The dogs are waiting to be let outside and Ewie is planning his escape.Jack. May explain why he didn't mind being bathed. He kind of likes to play with water.What in heaven's name was that mouse thinking coming into this house? It's probably how Butch and Sundance felt.One day, there was a helluva thump on the kitchen window. I ran outside and Art followed with the camera.He wasn't hurt and after he stopped seeing stars he flew away. Beautiful guy .... now stop pecking on the side of my house!

Big handsome black bear was coming around for awhile. Haven't seem him for a few weeks now.And .... well .... I'll leave this one to your imagination.

stop buggin me

2010-06-13T14:10:00.002-07:00

itsy-bitsies

2010-06-08T12:26:00.003-07:00

in the family.....

in the garden..... it's a BOY!!!

a visit from the kids

2010-06-03T14:30:00.001-07:00

I mentioned in my last post that Sara and Kevin came to visit for the long weekend. Kev took some beautiful photos, some of which Art put on his blog. I showed you the one of the bluebird, and here is another of my favourites.... Along with good company, good food and some much needed down-time watching movies, they brought us some sweet news. They are expecting their first baby.Art has not put down that Grampa mug (let alone wipe the grin off of HIS mug) and I'm looking for patterns to knit or crochet. I'm going to be a step-gramma, which is weird coz I'm not even a Mom..... but I'm sure I'll get used to the notion.

Congratulations kiddos. Art's really pushing for that pony now!

may the bluebird of happiness fly up your nose

2010-05-25T12:39:00.000-07:00

Every spring the bluebirds pass through here. I LOVE them, and wish they'd stay, but they never do. Until this year. A pair is nesting in a piece of machinery near the garden. It's either me or my camera (I suspect the former), but I just cannot get a good photo. Sara and Kevin came for the weekend and I asked Kevin to please try and get a shot. Here's what he captured.I could just eat this photo right up. And, of course, reducing it to post on this blog does not do it one ounce of justice. Glorious, in my opinion!

out standing in the field

2010-05-13T11:52:00.002-07:00

surfin the rafters

2010-05-12T10:02:00.003-07:00

Boose, the shop cat/chicken spa matron, seems to approve of the new greenhouse.
I think she must be able to smell the remnants of past "mousie" residents from when this was just an old shed. She certainly has no fear of heights or precarious positions.

Don't worry.... no cats were harmed in the filming of this video. Boose landed just fine.

greenhouse progress and hugs from Xena

2010-05-07T10:23:00.000-07:00

If you've been following Art's blog, you know that our latest project is converting an old shed into a greenhouse. Winter keeps creeping back in on us, so some days we're wearing t-shirts and some days longjohns. Yesterday was a little of both. In the morning....

a few hours later....

Progress is coming along nicely.

Xena and Jack having a cuddle.

Xena giving me a hug.

what is wrong with this picture?

2010-05-04T09:36:00.002-07:00

Well, let's see.....it's the 4th of May, minus 5 celcius..... and snowing! The hummingbirds arrived 2 weeks ago (quite a bit earlier than usual) and they just might be regretting that. I had the feeder up and waiting for them, but on the day they arrived it was frozen solid! If I were them I mighta stayed in Mexico just a little bit longer.

a weasel in the hen house

2010-04-13T11:28:00.000-07:00

With the chicken "spa" nearing completion, we decided to move Boose in.These were her digs when we first brought her home two years ago, so it is familiar territory. She seems much happier. No more pesky Kermit (her adopted brother who stayed back in the shop) and some windows to look out.
She doesn't even seem to notice the chickens and they don't notice her. Her job is to keep the hen house free of vermin. We don't want anything harming the birds or stealing their eggs.Boose has already proven her worth as a world class mouser, but on her first night back in the blue shed she scored some big points. When I came out to light the fire in the morning, this was right in the doorway.A weasel! I won't show close-ups because no one wants to see that, but this pic shows his size (Art's foot is for scale). Now a weasel is not so bad to have around because they, too, kill mice, but they are not good around chickens. They will kill the chicks and steal the eggs. So, they're not allowed to stay. Turns out those doggies really were on to something, sticking their noses through that hole. They could smell this guy big time. Cleo was particularly obsessive. After Art threw the dead weasel onto the shed roof (for the birds to take), Cleo went around and around for hours trying to find a way up there. Xena just went on with her day, but not Cleo.

So, Boose has earned her keep yet again. She definitely deserves this cushy bed in a sunny window.

I'm pretty sure I saw mouse go in that hole

2010-03-31T11:56:00.003-07:00

You're not doin it right. Here, let me show you.

I survived another year

2010-03-30T11:57:00.002-07:00

Yesterday was my birthday. When I was a kid I loved having birthdays. Couldn't wait to be a grown-up. I've been here awhile now. Not such a big deal. I had to renew my driver's licence and was glad for the 50 lbs I've lost. That's a good thing. Maybe the new picture will be more flattering than the last. But, as this birthday was approaching I was feeling pretty blah. Didn't even want to acknowledge it. Then I decided that that was stinkin thinkin and maybe I should celebrate it instead. So, I changed my mind. It turned out great.

Art knows how to show a girl a good time, too. We took the day off from chicken coop building, went for a little drive to Burns Lake, disassembled a computer, ate some great meals (and a lot of junk food....diet be gone...for one day), fell asleep in front of the TV. All in all a super time. Art might not want me to tell you this part, but I'm gonna. Because it was my day, I got to hold the TV remote for the evening. I watched "Dancing With The Stars". And Art watched with me. He didn't go do something else, or read a book or surf the internet......he sat and watched with me. Maybe he was waiting for a glimpse of Pamela Anderson, I don't know. Doesn't matter. I thought it was pretty sweet of him.

Can you follow what was going on here?

Don't worry about that last photo. He's just joking.

My computer has developed a nasty habit of heating up and then shutting itself off. Blasted thing. Of course, HP wants nothing to do with you if you are not running Windows so they were no help whatsoever. I think I'll save that rant for another post, though. I was pretty nervous when Art started removing the million screws and peeled open my laptop. Unless you are adept as such things, I would not recommend doing this. He gave it a good cleaning and removed quite a lot of cat hair. Even so, the fan is not running properly and more repair will be required. Until then I can at least work on it for a few hours at a time. For what you pay, computers really are just pieces of junk. But again.....a rant for another post.

And speaking of cat hair. We have 6 cats....so that's a lot of hair. 4 in the house, 2 in the shop. Can you count the cats in this picture?or from another angle.... Here's Blackie, Ewie and Jack.....wait, where's Chickie?oh, there she is. What is she doing there?Well, that would be my computer she's sitting on. Also known as a "magnificent butt-warming device". She can be found there often.she even helps with my genealogy researchMight explain a few things.Blackie likes to play freecell. Has also been known to write emails that look like gobbledy-gook to me. Must be secret cat code.

Earth Hour

2010-03-27T13:24:00.002-07:00

turn off your power tonight

from 8:30 to 9:30, local time......

acrobatic cats

2010-03-18T15:05:00.007-07:00

You can see where this is going. He stuck his head a little farther into the jar and then lifted it up and was swinging it around. I had to put the camera down and help him. He went right back to it, so wasn't too traumatized.

I thought I was so clever teaching one of the other cats to shake-a-paw and high-five, but that's nothing compared to these guys.

weekend warriors

2010-02-08T12:40:00.003-08:00

We've been spending our weekends lately out in the bush bringing in firewood. Our friend has a woodlot and a one-man logging operation. What he can't sell to the sawmill is considered scrap and he gets charged for leaving it laying around, so we are more than happy to go in and help him "clean up" by bringing the wood home to burn in our furnace. I think we've gathered about 9 chords so far. We've got close to all of NEXT winter's supply in, but if we're going to keep a chicken coop and greenhouse going we'll need plenty more.Art cuts it, I load it. Either I'm getting stronger or the wood's getting lighter because I can really fling that stuff around. Mind you I usually need an ibuprofen before bed and can't stay awake much past 8:00pm, but it's a really nice kind of tired.

On the drive to and from, it's nice to have a cup of coffee. Around Christmas time we got a taste of some sugarfree syrup from Starbucks and boy is that stuff nice! Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) it's a 400 km roundtrip to the nearest Starbucks so we had to get creative. A good strong cup of coffee, 3 spoons of Splenda, 2 spoons of vanilla extract, a little whitener or skim milk....voila! Way, way yummy.All that wood cutting wears down the teeth on a chainsaw.While Art was doing a little on-the-spot sharpening, I took the pocket camera and shot some pictures.

Here's an ice caterpillar....

...and some other pics....

I love the wintertime, but we are now back into a "false" spring. It really is weird. I'm not ready for spring yet. Want to get out on these a few more times.I am. however, placing the seed order today. Want to be prepared for the biggest, best garden ever this year. So, as much as I'm not in a hurry for spring to arrive I do need to look in that direction a little bit.

been doin' a little knittin'

2010-01-29T16:38:00.000-08:00

A dickie for Sara.....a dickie for Kevin.... well, I had to present it to him half done,but eventually I did get it completed.It looks gi-normous, doesn't it? I don't think it's supposed to be quite that big, but hey, it should be nice and warm.

Then I got a request from my sister. Would I make one of those Lucha Libre masks for her son, Cody? Black and fire engine red.It's an amazingly quick thing to make. A lot quicker than a dickie for some strange reason.He received it in the mail today and sent me this picture of him wearing it. Looks awesome, I think!Now I'm working on a sweater for Art. It is about 3/4 done, but is crocheted, so should be finished fairly soon. I'm WAY better at crochet than knitting. I'll post pics when I'm done. Between that and the online genealogy course I started this week I'm keeping myself busy.

Happy New Year

2010-01-10T10:41:00.002-08:00

Xena and I out on the "trail" yesterday. We have almost completed the circle route of our property. Today will be the northeast section, but would you believe it has warmed up to zero and is RAINING! That'll be enough of that, please. I'm not ready for winter to be over just yet. Now that I've gotten my snowshoe "legs" back (my first day out after something like a 25 year hiatus was neither fun nor pretty) I don't want to stop.

deep freeze

2009-12-14T11:31:00.000-08:00

I know this is downright balmy compared to what you prairie folks are experiencing .... .... but after a certain point cold is just COLD. Sun's shining, though, and it sure is purty.

Went to the big city the other day and found these. Sweetened with Splenda and NO SODIUM. Score! (yummy, too)

the day the crowing stopped

2009-12-09T14:19:00.001-08:00

It's a sad day here on our little hobby farm. Our rooster died. No....he didn't just faint....he really did die. For those that don't know, he was a bit of a sissy and when confronted with a potential disaster, he ran into the bushes and fainted, leaving his harem to fend for themselves. But where he lacked in bravery he excelled in handsome good looks and a lot of crow-i-tude-e-ness. I will miss that serenade. (I stole this picture off the internet....can't find any that I took. But it looks just like him)
We are now left with 5 hens and one of those is pretty crippled up and can't get around very well. I have a feeling that these birds were a few years old when we bought them, so as sad as I am to say, I think it's time for the stewpot. They've not been laying well for awhile now and Art wanted to slaughter them earlier. My only concern was the rooster. Didn't seem fair to whack him because his girls weren't producing. Well, I guess that problem got solved, didn't it?

You'd never know that I grew up on a farm. That I belonged to 4H poultry for years as a youth. I have partaken in the raising, slaughter and butcher of many a barnyard fowl (as well as beast) and never batted an eye. So, why am I crying now?

frosty the snow girl

2009-12-06T12:34:00.000-08:00

Which thermometer to believe? One says it's minus 26, one says it's minus 11. All I know is....when my moustache freezes, it's COLD!

winter's here

2009-11-25T13:27:00.000-08:00

This arrived about a week ago.There have been a few snowfalls, but this one's here to stay. It was time to put the plow on the skidsteer.After a little swearing and a little bashing, it was ready to go.Art was busy clearing the driveway and the yard...... and a nice flat parking spot. You know....just in case we get company for Christmas (wink, wink, nod, nod, say-no-more....)

a little jet lagged

2009-10-30T14:01:00.000-07:00

I'm home from a quick trip to Montreal. On a whim, I flew in to surprise my Auntie Berta for her 80th birthday. Over this past year I've been in close contact with her as she's helped a TON with my genealogy research. I have not seen her or known her for the past 45 years, partly due to the vast distance between us, but mostly due to personality differences of those around me. I decided to hand the problems of others back to their rightful owners and beat my own path to her door. I'm just sorry it took this long. I had a super wonderful time and it went by way too quickly. She is fun and interesting and full of love and goodwill. I met 2 of her children and they, too, were warm and welcoming.

While the time spent with my newly reconnected family was great fun, the getting there was not. I tailored my plans specifically so that I could travel with my cousin and arrive with her at the big surprise party. The last time I saw Leslie we were wee small children. I was really,really looking forward to this. Two things went against me, though. Westjet chose that very day to do upgrades (obviously not very well tested beforehand) to their computer systems. The other opposing force was the weather. Fog at the Prince George airport .... apparantly ONLY at the Prince George airport and nowhere else. Now, I'm no expert, but if you can take-off and land a plane in the dark, why can't you do it in fog? Seriously. I sat on the tarmac for 5 hours. It was bleeping ridonkulous! This caused me to miss my connecting flight ... my cousin ... the party. The whole danged shabang. I was NOT impressed. I think Westjet needs to hear from me.

One good thing came out of that experience, though. Sitting beside me for those 5 hours, on a plane going nowhere, was one of the Directors of the BC Historical Federation. She was in PG doing research on her own family tree. When she casually started to tell me about it, my ears perked up and I turned completely in my seat to face her. Was this kismet, or what?! I still can't believe it. Since returning home, I've been in touch with her and she has offered tons of tips to help me find my very elusive grandfather. Very woo-woo.

I didn't know how the whole family visit in Montreal would go, so didn't plan to stay long. Once there, however, I wanted to hang around. Westjet was not very accommodating with my attempt to change return flights, so I just came home as originally planned. I was somewhat ticked with airport security rifling through my bag ... looking for God knows what ... only to have them confiscate my toothpaste. There went my plans to run amok with flouride gel!

I don't want to sound complainy, because the discomfort and annoyances were totally worth it. I got to meet some great people and maybe start the healing of an old wound in the family.

It was good to get home to my hunny-bunny and all our kritters. If I look a little tired, it's only coz I was.Oh ya....and no plane trip is complete without catching the obligatory cold. But don't get me started on why they can't put better filtration systems on those airplanes.

first snow

2009-10-14T11:34:00.001-07:00

Look what we woke up to yesterday (and today, too) ....Two days ago I was wearing a t-shirt outside and today it's a parka and snow boots. Gonna go get one more load of firewood .... just for insurance.

The Endako 5K

2009-10-12T10:05:00.001-07:00

We didn't make it to Kelowna, so did our road race here in Endako. We paced out 5K on Hwy 16 and ventured out into the sunny (but cold) day. Art ran the distance (check out his finish line picture) and I walk-ran it. Here I am, pushing the ribbon.It's the farthest I've done so far. Very exhilerating. We're sorry we missed seeing Sara run the half marathon in Kelowna. We hope you did great kid!

in training

2009-09-26T17:57:00.002-07:00

I'm in training. Art is too. We are registered in an upcoming race in Kelowna. I'm going to walk the 5K portion of the Okanagan Marathon. Art will run. Sara is also entered, but she will run the Half-Marathon. One day it would be fun to join her, but for now I'll stick with the short races. I'm not as advanced as Art just yet, so we go to the High School track to practice. It works out great because we can each go at our own pace and yet still be within sight of each other.

It's hard to describe to someone who's never felt it, exactly how those endorphins feel. When I used to run (a few years back), I remember telling Sara how addictive that GOOD feeling was, but she thought I was completely nuts. Now that she is a runner herself, she knows precisely what I meant. And now she has done me the favour of re-igniting that desire in me.

It's hard to get started, no doubt about it, especially after gaining an extra 100 lbs, but the more I do, the easier it gets.

Today I ran 1.35 km. Not all at once, but in 100m segments. Couldn't do that a few months ago. Easy Does It.

cooler heads

2009-08-04T23:13:00.001-07:00

I am eternally grateful that this blasted heatwave has broken. At least, it has up here in Endako. Temperatures sure do jump around. We had nearly 2 weeks of 38C and then suddenly we get this .... Yesterday's high was 28, low of 3! Today we didn't even get to 20C. I actually had to put pants on (instead of shorts .... I know what you're thinking!).

Some things that like the heat (besides a few of you crazy people out there) are the sweet potatoes .... and the Saskatoon berries. Plump and juicy. Xena loves to pick them herself, right off the bush.Then Cleo gets in on the act. She likes them, too. Now the race will be on between us and the bears to harvest these yummy berries.Other things that are getting close to harvest are the cabbage .... and squash ....
These guys are being held in slings Art made from socks.The turnips are having a problem, though. Some dirty, rotten bugs are eating them.A good soaking of water and Ivory soap seems to have taken care of that. The potatoes get a squirt, too, just to be safe.What do you suppose this is that we found on our morning walk? Is it poo or is it a mushroom?It's a mushroom. We do get quite a variety growing in the cooler underbrush.

the steps

2009-07-31T16:31:00.002-07:00

The only ill effects I seem to have suffered from that stupid flight off the back stairs was a truly magnificent bruise on my butt.... (nope, ain't postin' pictures of THAT) and a wrenched knee. I didn't realize the knee was wrenched until I tried to run on it and then it sure did let me know.

The first order of business was to put up handrails.Pretty skookum, huh? Funny, though, how some projects go .... one thing just leads to another.They look pretty good.Now for some finishing and new lights. It's really great that Art is an Electrician because there seem to be all kinds of these types of projects around here..... a light over the kitchen sink (yay!).... wiring to the island to add outlets for things like the coffee maker and Osterizer.... then the dishwasher stopped working. Needed a new plug.We also spent a day and a half installing and getting the new satellite dish and receiver working.The old receiver went on the fritz after a storm came through (which dumped a bunch of this white stuff on us!!!....only 2 weeks ago!).So, we figured it was a good time to set up the new HD one we've had in a box for nearly a year. In order for that to work, though, we needed to set up a different dish (also been in a box for nearly a year .... no procrastinators living here). I think I've been putting it off because I knew it would not be a super simple job. Installation and hook-up .... easy-peezy. Getting a signal .... not so easy. After HOURS of fiddling and then getting idiotic techs on the phone, we finally had success. One of the problems of living in the "boonies" is having to do these kinds of things ourselves.

Our friends, RT & Rhoda and their pooches Tommy & Molly, came to visit. They will be back in a week or so on their way home again. We are also expecting our rockhound pals from the coast, Dan & Susan, to stop in on their way to visit family. It's nice to have the home theatre now set up.We added a sign to our driveway entrance. It was a retirement gift to Art from his buddies at the EOB and was made by the guys who make street signs for the City of Vancouver. It's highly reflective so it'll be easy to see at night on our very dark road.The garden is doing well. It's kind of a wild thing. The veggies are growing in raised beds made of truck tires, but we let the ground cover do whatever it wants. Right now, it's thick with clover and there are TONS of bumblebees.Living just outside the village of Fraser Lake are a couple of foxes. I remembered to have my camera ready when we drove by this fellow. It's not the greatest quality because I'm zoomed in quite far using the little Canon Powershot, but still pretty good.He caught a mouse and ran away with it in his mouth. We've also seen a black fox about 2 km down the road from there.

On the animal front, back at home, Cleo is still not "getting" that the cats are not snacks. And the cats seem to know this. They are not afraid of Xena and when RT & Rhoda's dogs are here they aren't afraid because they know there is no threat. They are very wary of Cleo. They know she's on the other side of this door.We let her see the behaviour between Xena and Ewie, hoping she might learn by observing. If only.It's unfortunate, but we have to tie Cleo up when cats are around. Then we trade off and lock the cats up to let Cleo run free. She is just outside the frame of this picture, with eyes rivetted on Boose (on Art's chest). I'm sure she is wondering why Xena is not munching on that kitty.So, what are they looking at, by the way? We have a LOT of barn swallows and they were overly active for a few days. There were hundreds of them and they would fill the branches of the two big trees we have by the sheds. Then all of a sudden they would simultaneously explode into flight. They would fly around a little and gradually all go back to the trees. Then explode again. This went on and on.We welcome these birds because they eat the bugs. We rarely see a mosquitoe and that's OK with me.

SOoooooo.... has it been hot enough for ya? I don't know about anywhere else, but if you live in British Columbia you are probably cooking right about now. I know I am. And frankly, it's getting tedious. Enough already! Even the hummingbirds are lying low. I've hardly seen them during this heatwave. They come out when it cools off. The only fun part of this kind of weather are these.Actually, one whole drawer in our freezer is now dedicated to frozen treats. All fat and sugar free, of course.Dontcha wanna just stick your head right in there? I do.

lumpy landings

2009-06-28T12:05:00.007-07:00

Yesterday did not get off to a good start. I stepped outside to check the dogs and went airborne off the stairs. I landed just outside the left frame of this picture.How nothing got broken I don't know. Just some scrapes and what I suspect will become a lot of stunning bruises. I'm feeling pretty stiff today. note to self....don't wear Crocs on wood that has a layer of dry clay topped with some fresh rain. It's like snot.

It was not a good "dog" day, either.

Now, on to more fun stuff.

While we still had the use of Tom's skidsteer last week we continued some cleanup and various projects around the place. One job was the revamp of the fuel shed. Amongst the junk we removed from it was this old brass fire extinguisher. Too cool to throw away.As I took pictures of that job...Art took a picture of me taking pictures.Job done. Take me home, Jeeves.This is one of those "oops" moments. I'm far from being a master of the skidsteer and sometimes a sudden jerk can make an entire load slide off. I was attempting to move this pile of OSB and .... well .... it's slippery stuff.Art was annoyed, but after I got out to assess the situation and pause for a moment, I said "well, there's only one thing to do at a time like this" and pulled out my camera. He wasn't quite so mad after that.

The local arena is being renovated and they were throwing away all these heavy duty doors. Art has just the project in mind for those, so we made a pretty good score.Did I mention the cows are back? Well, with them comes a LOT of dung which Xena thinks is okey dokey. Not only is it green and smelling fine, but it can be very becoming when worn just right!After the skidsteer was gone, it was time to get ours going again. It's been dead for awhile. Art rebuilt the carb (I helped) and installed it (I helped).Note how Cleo is right there, underfoot?She does that alot we've noticed. She's not as equipment savvy as Xena, so we have to be careful to not run over her. But at every job we're doing she's right there. The drilling of post holes (picture on my last post....which I can't believe no one commented on, by the way), cutting wood on the saw ..... Don't fall for those sad eyes.So, our skidsteer started up right away after the new carb was put in. Yay! All that's left is this grease spot where it sat for the last long while.Unfortunately, it's now up on blocks again because the chain that drives the wheels on one side has broken. That repair should only take a day or two and this time it's not blocking the driveway.

We've been getting some rain (and cold) lately along with booming thunder and lightning. When it really crashes, the dogs bark, like they can chase it away.After a good rainstorm (and it's dried a little), the dirt is like a fresh layer of talcum powder. Animal footprints show up really well. When we went for our morning walk, we found these tracks leading all the way down our driveway. They look a lot like human barefeet. They are from a black bear.The next day, after seeing these, we were on our walk again and my heart lept into my throat when I saw something big and black in the trees not far from us. Turned out to be a cow, but boy did it give me a fright!

Speaking of going for walks .... look what I dug out of storage.10 years ago I used to run. I miss it. Sara has inspired me to be more active and I'd like to work towards getting back to running (don't worry, I'll walk a little more first).

I had occasion to do some sewing the other day, so pulled this out.It used to belong to my Mom. She was a pretty accomplished seamstress and made many of our clothes when we were kids. The sound of it whirring brings back many memories of her working through the night on some project or other. And it used to mess with the TV reception (in the days of rabbit ears, before cablevision) so she could only sew during the commercial breaks of the Saturday night hockey games or my Dad would be yelling. Anyhow, when she wanted to trade it in on a new one, with fancy zig-zag stitches and all, I begged her to give it to me instead. I'm glad she did.

This is a spider plant that my friend Rhoda gave me. It used to look so much better. Ewie has taken a sudden interest in it and keeps chewing bits off. Years ago, Chickie used to go crazy for one of these and I had to hang it where she couldn't get it. I did some research to see if it was poisonous and learned that for some cats it is just like catnip. Chickie seems to be over that fetish and for months this plant has been undisturbed. But now Ewie is after it.I found a suitable substitute for my favourite coffee, Starbucks French Roast. At least it'll hold me over until our next trip to Costco.I've tried several of the dark roasts they sell in the stores here and they are all crap (in my opinion). Too acidic. This may seem extreme, but I don't brew it like Espresso. I just use it as I would normal coffee and it is quite wonderful. Wonderful indeed!

Josee Josie

2009-06-15T18:24:00.001-07:00

I'm sorry you haven't heard from me lately, but we've been very busy. Seems the to-do list is long and the season is short, so we are always on the go. When I do have a spare moment I'm researching my family tree. Proving to be a little bit obsessive about that. I'm not really doing anything else. I take pictures, but not fervently....more for documentation of the work we're doing. I don't have any knit or crochet projects going. Maybe more balance is required. We took the D-Day weekend off, and I was just wiped out.

We built 3 gates. One on the road to "Gramma's" .... (before) ........ (after) ....One near the house .... (before) ........ (after) ....And one at the entrance to our driveway from Savory Road. Art has those pictures on his blog.

There was a lot of drilling post holes ....cutting boards ....and haulin' stuff around. Art was getting tired, so Xena took over the driving for awhile.We even stopped to watch this guy (actually, there were two, but one had gone into the trees) cross the field nearby.It was very tiring ....and thirsty work ....
But all in all, very satisfying.One day in there we had a visit from Viki's parents, Al and Jean (Vicki is Cleo's former Mom). They came to see Cleo, but I'm pretty sure they also came to see us (wink).It was funny because Jean is obviously not crazy about the dogs being all over her, but they were loving her to death.

The boards we've been using to build the gates are off this old shed. It's the one that was holding up that tree that fell down a few months ago.The planks are fir and have a natural weather-worn beauty, so we're going to clear-coat them rather than paint. Slowly, this monstrosity of a building is disappearing. Here it is from a different angle. There are still two more trees growing up through the middle of it. One is dead, so it will have to come down soon.All of this gate/fence building has been in aid of the return of the cows.and evidence of their return is obviousThe gate project was a good one, but I have two complaints. I don't work well in the heat, but it kind of came and went, so it wasn't horrible horrible. Actually, Art found my sweaty dirty face amusing so posted a quite UN-flattering picture on his blog. Yeesh! My second complaint is the *&%$! black flies. They were thick at times and although I was well protected with bug repellant on exposed skin, I forgot to put it on UNDER my clothes. Black flies are insidious. They crawl into your hair and under collars and up pantlegs. I don't feel them bite, but am left with golf ball welts. I hate them.But the bugs here are nothing compared to those farther north. A few years back we went to the Northwest Territories in June and holy cow, I couldn't talk while walking outside for fear of the bugs getting in my mouth. This is the repellant they sell in the stores.The bottle on the left is what you can buy here and in the south. Nothing stronger than around 24% deet. The bottle on the right .... 95%. It melts plastic. Amazing stuff. You might not even be able to buy it anymore, who knows.

Other things that are new.... Cleo is becoming less afraid of water. There's a picture above where she is drinking from Art's cup. Xena is showing her that it's fun to drink from the hoseand little by little Cleo is getting closer and closer.The garden is growing like mad. All the veggies are doing very well, but also the lilacs are in full, glorious bloom.I love lilacs so much and they really thrive here. The whole of outside is sweet with their aroma. Last year I mail ordered some live plants called "Josee". Part of the attraction was their name (I have a niece named Josie). They didn't arrive until late Fall and I wasn't sure they'd make it. We put them in a tire, covered them with moss and I kept my fingers crossed. Come Spring they didn't look too good. I think 3 of them are sticks, but the 4th has made a comeback.It's uplifting to see because 2 weeks ago Josie (my niece) was badly injured in a boating accident, her foot close to being severed by the propeller. It's sad because she's young and active and vibrant, but this summer isn't going to be a lot of fun with a tough recovery ahead. So, every day, when I go out to check the progress of my little Josee and protect it the best I can, I think of Josie.

a quick update

2009-06-03T07:48:00.002-07:00

Art and I have been working like dogs the past while. Making hay while the sun shines, as it were. The neighbours' cows snuck in one day, which prompted us to repair fences, which lead to installing gates. Two done .... one to go (some pictures on Art's blog, more to follow here). When we started it was cold and snowing, now it's almost too hot to be out there (I'm getting sunburn on my arms). It's only been a week or so. Crazy.

We only have use of the skidsteer for a few more days, so we don't want to waste the opportunity. We've been so busy, there's just been no time for anything else, including doing the dishes and stuff. Inside the house kinda looks like a bomb went off.

So, we've booked this coming weekend off. Saturday is the 65th anniversary of D-Day, so we are honouring the occasion by unplugging the phone, watching war movies on TV and eating junk food .... all day. Sunday .... ditto.

I'm smiling again

2009-05-23T15:16:00.005-07:00

Well, I survived my dental crisis.

Not a single one of the horrible scenarios running through my brain came to fruition (my brain is NOT my friend).

In fact, I was very impressed with the attention and care I received. They got me in almost right away and glued that little sucker right back on. After Art's tooth emergency last year I've been dismayed about what services are available in this area. Vanderhoof sucks pretty bad and Prince George is not much better. Their dentists are part-time and I was told by one place that they only take emergencies on Mondays and you need to book an appointment for that. What the ????? Fraser Lake has a dentist but he's closed for vacation (or something) and his office is a couple of trailers hobbled together, which does not exactly instill my confidence. On the verge of tears, I stopped to take a few deep breaths as I looked at the lone number left in the phone book. It was in Burns Lake. That is such a one-horse town, my expectations were pretty low. But I was in for a very pleasant surprise. It is an actual proper clinic with a wonderful staff. Not only did I not have to wait til September to get in, they are a full-time operation. Not 2 days here and 2 days in Smithers, like some of the other "professionals". The dentist himself was a bit scowlie-faced, but had a very gentle touch, so I'll give him another chance. Art and I are both booked for cleanings and checkups next week. Of course, I'm nervous all over again because those are not pleasant for me either, but it's one of those grin-and-bear-it things.

Now that the weather is finally turning nicer (still close to zero at night, though) green is popping up all over. And outside projects are taking precidence. My genealogy and other computer related things are having to wait for a rainy day.

Snow tires can be stored for the summer .... That tree that fell down got all chopped up and cleared away .... this would be why it fell down .... Before .... After .... Now that we actually own our driveway we are planning to build a nice entrance. Art's going to build an archway and a bit of decorative fence. The lumber is now in place, ready for construction.We've been continuing to bring gravel, sand and topsoil over from our newfound "pit", for use in the garden and yard. Here we are giving the dogs a ride.It's not quite so squishy in the skidsteer. I had a lot of downtime when Art was cutting up that tree, so I really did bring my knitting along. Quite a versatile gal, dontcha think?Went for a walk the other day. It was snowing.I had to put these on. No kidding.By the way...those socks are the best! They are the nicest ones I've ever found. Cushy, soft and stretchy (perfect for my tootsies). So, if anyone is ever wondering what to get me for Christmas....these are the ones.

I've got quite a nice hummingbird commune going on here now. I'd say about 15 that hang around the front of the house and about 8 at the back. They are especially active at dusk and last night, as I was taking this feeder down to refill it, about 6 birds hovered around me. Three stayed sitting on it while I carried it away. I asked Art to take a picture, but then they all got scared. Just this one guy stayed.Xena and Cleo are enjoying themselves.

dental distress is mental distress

2009-05-20T09:32:00.001-07:00

I have a fear of dentists and having problems with my teeth. Does the fact that I have 16 crowns tell you anything? This is one of them..... It has no business being in my hand. It should be securely glued to a tooth .... in my mouth! Yesterday I bit into a ju-jube and out it popped. If I was in Vancouver it would be no problem to get in right away to see the dentist I've grown to trust, but up here is a different story. I did find a place that would take me today, in Burns Lake. I'm way stressed out. Will report back later.

work, play, relax

2009-05-12T17:19:00.004-07:00

We are taking today off because it's kinda stormy outside. Rain and hail and COLD.Even the hummingbirds are looking like they need parkas. I'll bet they're wondering why they ever left Mexico for this.But don't worry. I won't embarass you by crocheting silly little outfits like someone did for this poor fellow. How undignified.... c'mon.Mind you, I don't know what this person was thinking. Maybe it was really cold that day. Makes you go hmmmmmmm, though, doesn't it?We bought Cleo a new ball. It's actually a horse ball, but we gave one to Xena and she loves it more than any other toy. So we thought Cleo might like one too.The handle makes it easy for her to carry and easy for us to throw. But Cleo doesn't quite get it."don't need no stinkin' handle....gnarrr, gnarrrrr"

We're doing a lot of work around the place, with the use of Tom's skidsteer. I'm really getting the hang of driving it. I feel a little guilty (but not too much) doing the easy part while Art slaves away with all the manual labour. I should take my knitting with me, for the times that I'm sitting inside the cab with nothing to do (wouldn't that be a picture?). But I always have my camera, so tried to be creative.

I wonder what the bunny symbol stands for ....

Art and Tom dug a Walipini and Xena is proudly overseeing the operation.She just looks so gorgeous sometimes.and when she's not supervising the hired help, she is scanning her domain.The cats, on the other hand, like to nap ..... a lot ....On our way home from town yesterday, we stopped to say hello to this guy.He was just down at the bottom of our property. When we were walking the dogs the other morning, we could hear him calling in the not too distant distance. That's when we want to keep the dogs close.As well as getting ready to plant the garden, we've had the odd home repair. Like this ........ danged thing came off right in my hand. We purchased one of those fancy-schmancy number keypad ones a while back, but do you think we could find it? No. Anyhow, this one does the trick quite nicely.In the Fall, we bought a really nice new window to replace the drafty, broken one in our kitchen. It arrived at about the same time as the snow, so the job had to wait for Spring. Unfortunately, it got damaged in a windstorm. I was very sad to see one of the panes all shattered, but Art says it can be repaired. I couldn't get a picture because of the glare, so put my polarizer on. Then it all turned pink. Kind of cool.

driving a skidsteer is FUN

2009-05-04T19:27:00.002-07:00

I guess I had to post this after all the hints that Art was dropping on his blog. We had the loan of his brother Tom's skidsteer, so decided to haul a few loads of gravel from up the hill and put it on the driveway. I had my choice .... drive Betsy Ford (which is a standard, and I DON'T like to drive standard) .... or drive the skidsteer. EEK! I'd rather walk. We did a trial run with Betsy. Art put it in 2nd gear of "bull-low" and it was no big deal to drive, really. No shifting involved. Then I got brave and thought the skidsteer might be less intimidating. Once I was in it I was scared poopless, though. Did ya know those things don't have BRAKES?! ...... (of course, I found out later, that's because they don't need them)Well, after I'd asked Art 100 times exactly how to STOP and then practiced for a little while, I actually began to have fun.Then the only thing that got me out of it was the sun going down."See Mom, we told you it would be fun!"

Speaking of the sun going down ... a couple of days ago someone was doing a lot of slash burning to the west of us. A LOT. There was no breeze to blow the smoke away, so it just hung in the air. Made for a pretty spectacular sunset over our tire garden.And speaking of fire .... now that it's warming up a little we ALMOST don't need to light our woodstove as often. Pretty soon we'll be putting these away.We've been going for daily walks with the dogs. It's a nice way to start the day and Xena and Cleo love it. Have you ever seen a 100 pound dog bounce like a pogo-stick? It's pretty funny.Xena has been showing Cleo where all the best mouse holes are.She rather enjoys trying to get them to come out.I'd much prefer she chomp those than these.We took Cleo to the vet yesterday for her first checkup with her new "doc". It went pretty well until she tried to chomp the vet. That didn't win her any brownie points. It scared the poor woman, and us too. I guess more care will be required on future visits. We did ask about the whole "rock carrying" thing she does and were told that it's definitely a Rottweiler quirk but we should discourage it as her teeth are starting to show wear and dental repairs on a Rottie are extremely expensive (Art thinks the vet just doesn't want to get close to the jaws of death again).

I almost came home with another cat from the vet. There was an absolutely ADORABLE little guy hanging out in the office and I just fell in love with him. He is about 6 months old, all white (just like Ewie) and just kept cuddling me. And he had a sassiness that made me smile. I really wanted to bring him home. And guess what his name is .... Huey! Yup, it would be Ewie and Huey. Too cute! But, alas, I didn't bring him home. Three house cats is probably enough .... right? .... right?

Besides, look what I already have to contend with.He has figured out where I keep the stash of catnip and if I forget to close that cupboard door, Ewie actually goes and gets it. Finally, I sprinkled some on the carpet for him.Oh ya, here's one last pic of all of us crammed into the cab of Betsy Ford. The dogs were getting quite the workout following us up and down the hill about 8 times, so we decided to give them a ride. This picture definitely looks like there's more room than there actually was. I was hanging out the window trying to get pictures.

a week of firsts

2009-05-02T12:58:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the comments on my Harrier pictures. This blog just does not do them justice. The first one really is the better one.... very Robert Bateman.... but on some monitors it is too dark. I may blow it up and frame it.

It's been a week of firsts. Spring is finally arriving here in Central BC. The Sandhill Cranes are back .... the Mountain Bluebirds (I love this one ... he has a bug in his mouth ... I took this photo) ..... Oh yes, and the black bears. I didn't get a picture, but we saw him down by the river as we drove past the other day.

I've been waiting patiently for the hummingbirds to return, putting the feeder out perhaps a little too early (what's that white stuff?). And look at how the crazy thing hangs crooked like that. I've gotta figure out how to fix that.We also put the seed feeders up on a rope and pulley system that Art designed (for sneaky cat purposes). You can't really see it very well in this picture.This one's a little better. Hey, wait a minute..... what's that?could it be?.... YAHOOOO !!! My buddies are back. This little fellow made his first appearance at 8:00pm on Apr.30. You can almost set your watch to these guys. (sorry the pictures are a bit fuzzy. I took them through a smudgie nose-print covered window). Notice a few pockets of snow still in the background.Our mud is finally drying up, but not before Cleo had some fun playing in it. Art calls this her "Seven-of-Nine" look.On one of the morning walks, Xena found a super good treasure in the bushes. She was NOT willing to share this with Cleo.The cats are still not too warmed up to Cleo. She does terrorize them a little, so it might be a long process. I'm hoping that this morning ritual of them eating their breakfast while she sits and watches will help with that.I want her to know they are part of the pack. I'd just let them all work it out amongst themselves if I could be sure she wouldn't do harm if she ever caught one. Time and patience.

Northern Harrier

2009-04-25T13:07:00.000-07:00

This guy was hunting over our fields yesterday. This is my favourite of the pictures I took, but I can't decide which version I like best. What do you think?

today it feels like spring

2009-04-15T14:16:00.002-07:00

Can you guess what I'm doing? Yup .... getting ready for hummingbirds. I'll put one feeder up today, just in case there are any early arrivals. Woot - woot ! My favourite part of summer.

visitors and doggies

2009-04-14T14:41:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy couple of weeks. After Cleo arrived, we made a trip to Prince George. We took the mini-van because we were getting some plywood and also so that we could take both dogs.

Cleo travels differently than Xena, in that she pants heavily ... and continuously ... in my ear. Eventually, we had to clip their leashes to the rear seatbelt holders, just to keep them at the back of the vehicle.Viki warned us that Cleo likes to bark at oncoming vehicles as they pass. She did do that .... once .... to a cop car. Yikes!

We got a present for Cleo while in PG. A heated bed for her dog house.Art also lined the bottom with some thick foam. She seems to like it.It was such a busy day, that Art didn't notice this until he got home. Do you see it?Art's been very busy in the shop, building a birthday gift for his brother. Until Cleo is shop-cat-trained, she's not allowed in there, but is VERY curious about what goes on. She just lays outside the door waiting for Art.Sometimes, she goes over to the makeshift cat door and sticks her head in.Xena wonders what she's doing."I don't think you should be doing that...."From the inside .... Boose is not too amused.Our friends from Prince Rupert .... RT and Rhoda with their dogs Tom and Molly .... came to spend the Easter weekend. It must have been confusing for Cleo because everything is still so new, but hanging out with a "pack" was good, I think.

They went for many long walks ........ and played a lot. Many naps ensued. If you look carefully you can see Molly sleeping behind Art's chair.The day that RT & Rhoda decided to leave it was doing this.As for the cats, there was one unfortunate incident where Cleo went after Ewie (my little white kitty) out in the yard. It scared me, so am making it my mission to acclimatize Cleo to her new feline family members. Blackie is clearly annoyed ........ but did not strike. Just layed down, but Cleo is DYING of curiosity.Normally, to avoid hysteria, I feed the cats before allowing Cleo into the house. This morning we started a new training idea. I want her to know that the cats are part of the pack, not something to chase and/or eat. She must integrate with them. So, after I prepared everyone's meals, Art brought Cleo into the room (on a leash), had her sit beside him at the table while I fed the cats in front of her. Of course, convincing the cats that it was safe took a little doing, but 2 of the 3 did come and eat. Cleo just watched. When they were done, then I fed Xena .... then Cleo. She is definitely not a dumb dog and is catching on quickly. I'm very pleased. When she does something right, we lavish her with praise and "scrootches". She knows.

The other thing we are having success with is that she must sit and wait while a door is opened and does not go barrelling through until invited. She just doesn't know her own strength, the big lug. We now spell the word W-A-L-K.

Xena's new sister

2009-04-05T14:29:00.000-07:00

Viki and Ron arrived on Friday night and brought Xena's new sister, Cleo.She's a 4 year old Rottie and is kind of a bulldozer of a girl. For the most part they are getting along pretty well, with a few territorial imperatives to work out.I'm not worried, though. It's an adjustment for all, including the home and family that is now missing her.

Just by chance yesterday, our niece and boyfriend came to visit with their 4 dogs, so I'm sure Cleo thought she was in some sort of doggy resort. There was much running and chasing for the rest of the day.It was sad this morning when Viki & Ron had to go. Cleo cried for a little while. I think she was worried about where Viki had gone. After a few hours, Art took her and Xena for a long walk and she stuck close by.There was a little incident of chasing the shop cat out in the yard, but Cleo listened pretty good when Art told her "NO". I believe things are going to be just fine.

the month of March

2009-04-02T13:10:00.000-07:00

That month went by fast. I've been so absorbed in my genealogy project that I haven't been paying too much attention to anything else. Art made 2 trips to Vancouver while I kept the home fires burning and did research on the computer. Data and statistics and puzzle solving....right up my alley. I had a birthday in there, too (we won't talk about which one, OK?). Thank you all for the nice wishes.

In between Art's two trips to Vancouver we were dog sitting Lucy.She's a very high energy Coon Hound, so having all the room to run was welcomed I'm sure. Her and Xena get along and sharing wasn't as much of an issue as it has been in the past.We practiced staying calm while in the house and she was starting to get the idea that the cats are not toys.It's funny because Ewie was the most afraid (at first) and he's the one who is best friends with Xena. You just never know who's gonna be friends with who. Kinda like people, I guess.The only real problem we had was when Lucy saw Boose, the shop cat, outside. All bets were off. At one point Lucy chased Boose up into the rafters of this shed. Can you see her there?How the hell did she get up there? From inside the shed you can see how she probably went.The next time, though, it was a chase across the yard. There was a lot of shouting, some hissing and spitting and scratching, and a little bit of yelping. Somebody was pretty subdued for the rest of the night.I think she could smell Sara in that chair.

So, now we await the arrival of Cleo, Xena's new sister. She will be here late tomorrow night. I'm a bit nervous. I hope everybody likes each other.

Xena was playing ball toss with Art the other day and suddenly was limping around. Her foot was bleeding like crazy, so we brought her into the house to have a look. Somehow she pulled a toenail right off!! Good Lord. I called the vet, but they said if the whole nail was gone that was better than only part of it because then they'd need to pull the remainder off. Their advice was to let her run around in the snow and let the cold cotterize it. It's been a couple of days now and there's no sign of infection or swelling. Just a bit tender and when Xena's outside she jams it in the snow. It must make it feel better. Poor baby.

Doesn't keep her from wanting to go for walks, though.

Speaking of snow....and walks.... these were taken this morning. Just before Art and Xena went for their morning walk. It's snowing like $*%#@. Doesn't it know it's April 2?

family tree

2009-03-17T16:24:00.000-07:00

Are you wondering why you haven't heard from me lately? I'm sorry that I've been neglecting you, my faithful readers, but I am fully immersed in the research of my family tree. I believe I have a tendancy to be obsessive....maybe just a little. I got bit by this bug and now it's all I can think about. I love, love, LOVE all the data. And I'm finding that my new-found relatives are very willing to share their info with me.So far I'm concentrating on my grandmother's line, on my father's side. I chose to start there because that family name is not very common. All the people in Scotland with that name come from this one family. And they've expanded to places like England, Finland, Spain, Australia, the USA and Canada. At times it's been a little overwhelming, but for the most part I'm just eating it up. It's like one giant Logic puzzle ..... and if you know me you know how I love those.

Art was away for a few days and while he was gone I was literally glued to my computer. I could barely wait to get up in the morning to see if someone from the other side of the globe had written to me during the night. While Art was in Vancouver, he had access to Chapters bookstore and brought me home some treasures.Thank you, Art. Woo-Hoo!!!

Oh, and he also brought me this. Where can I stash this for emergency purposes? Hmmmmm.....

spring forward

2009-03-06T15:39:00.000-08:00

Geez....don't forget....daylight savings time begins tomorrow night (Saturday). Set those clocks ahead 1 hour. Stupidest thing I ever heard of, but that's just my opinion.

lamb? ... what the ???

2009-03-02T12:45:00.000-08:00

It was snowing pretty good this morning, so we figured we'd better get to town while we still could. I took this as we were driving along ... well, Art stopped the car for me. All I had on me was the Canon Powershot, but it is a pretty darned good little camera.

are you smarter than a Golden Retriever?

2009-03-02T09:16:00.000-08:00

Had to take Xena to the vet the other day. She'd been having the "trots" for awhile. Her presciption is a bland diet of rice, cottage cheeze and yogurt for about 5 days and some anti-biotics. I have to give her a honkin' pill 3 times a day and you dog owners out there know how much fun that can be. A favoured way is to hide it in a bit of weiner, which works great until the first time she chews instead of gulps. Now she's on to me and spits the pill out onto the floor. I know about peanut butter or cream cheeze, but I believe I have a less messy solution. So far, it's working like a charm.....brilliant, if I do say so myself.I break off 2 pieces of weiner (not very big ... just large enough to hide a pill). Stick the pill into one of them (I don't let her see me do this ... just in case she's really, really smart). Make her sit, hold a weiner piece in each hand right in front of her face, so she knows there's 2. Pop the one with the pill as far to the back of her mouth as possible and immediately show her that she's getting the next one. She's so focused on the next one that she gulps down the one in her mouth. Then she gets the second. Voila .... Robert is almost certainly your mother's brother (as my wacky cousin in Finland says).

lion or lamb

2009-03-01T15:46:00.001-08:00

What's that they say about March? In like a lion .... .... out like a lamb.Or vice-versa. We had a little snow overnight but today is glorious. Sunny blue skies, no wind. Just lovely.

the moon and Venus

2009-03-01T10:05:00.006-08:00

Did you have clear skies on Friday night? Did you get a glimpse of the moon and Venus almost kissing? It was a pretty sight. I took this picture just around sunset (bigger view here). It looks brighter because I had a longish shutter speed. I wanted to show the horizon, too, so was going to wait until later, but that cloud bank looked like it might be trouble. I had to go for it now. I used my wide angle lens in portrait orientation for this shot, but it wasn't zoomie enough.I switched to my long lens and took a bunch of pictures, changing shutter speeds. I wish now that I'd used RAW format. I suppose I didn't expect to get anything very good, but am pleased with the outcome.

I like that this one shows the shadowed part of the moon (much more apparant in fullsize) .... .... but this is my favourite. You can't see it because the picture is compressed for posting on this blog (go here for fullsize. You can actually see the craters on the moon (that's why I wish I'd taken it in RAW ... it would have been awesome blown up).This one was taken with the shutter open for something like a full minute. Not a good picture, but it shows how much things move in a short amount of time.

Cleo

2009-02-22T15:20:00.001-08:00

For those that don't already know, we are adopting another dog. Her name is Cleo. She belongs to our friend Viki, but they can't live together anymore because Viki is moving into a condo. A dog like this needs room to run around (and boy do we have plenty of that!). When she gets here (weekend before Easter) I'll take some photos, but in the meantime I've borrowed these ones from Viki's blog (I hope that's OK, Vik).I think that no matter what kind of dog Cleo was we still would have taken her because she was the beloved pet of our late friend Ric.So, the cats are going to have to make a few adjustments, but as long as no one tries to eat each other I'm sure all will work out fine. Xena has loved every single dog she has ever met, so I'm not worried one tiny bit about that. The only part we still need to figure out is how the heck are we going to transport these 2 when we go travelling? Our Toyota pickup isn't big enough, I don't think.

I made this little video to show Cleo her new digs (pun intended). I hope she likes it.

exposure merging

2009-02-20T09:59:00.004-08:00

This is something Kevin introduced me to. It's called "Exposure Merging". You bracket your shot (it's a setting on the camera which takes 3 successive pictures, each with different exposure levels), then run the photos through the software (he uses Photomatix) and it does all the work. It merges the 3 into one and I gotta say, it's pretty impressive.

I've been messing around for days and days, in Flickr and Picasa, trying to make them presentable, but it's a pain (I'm not the most patient person for learning new stuff). So I'm just going to lay them out here.

Kevin took a bunch of photos (and I'm dying to see them all merged), but these are 3 that he did while he was here.
Cool, eh? Oh, and by the way, see the tree in the centre of the picture with a cross arm hanging from it? (Well, actually, it looks more like a stick than a tree. And it's attached to that building). That's the tree that fell down only a few days later.

In this next set, you can see me on the veranda taking pictures of Kevin taking pictures.
They don't quite "pop" here as well as in full blown uncompressed mode, but hopefully you get the idea.

I've just got to find a way to do this in Linux. And spend some time with it.

and they ran anyway

2009-02-16T09:41:00.000-08:00

Even with injuries and not feeling their best, Sara and Janet finished the First Half Marathon yesterday (it wasn't their "first" half marathon .... that's just what it's called). Sara sent me this picture from her phone.WOOT - WOOT !!!!

Check out Carol's blog for some pictures. She was at the finish line and got some great shots.

Sara and Kevin's visit

2009-02-15T16:08:00.018-08:00

I know that was 2 weeks ago, but it's taken me this long to get the pictures together. I'm slow ... and easily distracted. I've been fooling around with other photo stuff, trying to learn some new things and also trying to get some video working. Anyways, that's all for another post.

Sara and Kevin were only here for a few days, but I think they had some fun. We picked them up from the airport in Prince George and Xena couldn't stop hugging them both all the way home.Activities included a snowshoe trek to the top of the bluffs on our eastern border (more pics on Art's blog).Can you see that crazy cat Boose following them? She went the whole way. Crazy cat.It was a sunny but windy day and biting cold. Even more so up at the top. I think Sara was saying through those clenched teeth something like "alright already ... can we keep moving please?"Another bit of fun is burning stuff. Seems to be something guys like to do .... I don't know. We have a big pit where we dump scrap wood and any kind of junk that's burnable.sorry for these pictures not being really great, but I was a long way away, using my zoom lens and the smoke was blowing towards me.It looks like the fire is going up Kevin's arms legs and arms.and it's trying to attack him ... in a not nice way.barbecued dog? (don't worry. no people or animals were hurt in the making of this story)This was a few days later. The pit finally cooled off and it snowed a little more. By the way ... see the very top of that highest hill in the background? That's where they hiked to the day before.Sara, Kevin and Art are looking at a row of sheds, one of which is built around and held up by 3 trees. They were discussing how one of the trees didn't look so good.Since then, that tree did in fact fall down in a wind storm. Turns out the building was holding IT up. How it missed doing any damage is a miracle. Check out Art's blog for some pics.

Kevin got a very nice new camera for Christmas and he brought it along. Because it's so new he doesn't have any extra lenses for it yet, so I loaned him mine. One of the mornings was particularly beautiful as the sun was rising. The snow was pristine and the light was stunning, so he grabbed both camera bags (his and mine) and the tripod and traipsed out into the fields.He took some gorgeous pictures (which I will show you in my next post) and while I stood on the veranda of the house I took pictures of him taking pictures.Food is also a big part of our get togethers with the kids. We always eat well and have fun with it. This particular item is probably NOT weight watchers approved, but it was DAMN good! We lovingly refer to it as Bacon "crack". Don't even show me the nutritional label.

searching for Buddha

2009-02-13T11:59:00.004-08:00

I watched a show on TV the other night titled this. Got me pondering. So I pulled out one of my books by the Dalai Llama and read a little. Then I did some "google-ing" (gotta love Google). So much to learn. Among the many things that appeal to me, I love the sense of humour .....

star gazing

2009-02-11T11:16:00.000-08:00

Have you been seeing a super bright star in the western evening sky lately? I saw it 2 nights ago and it stopped me in my tracks. At first I thought it was a plane, but it was too bright and not moving. I got the binoculars, but I couldn't focus very well. It was kind of exciting, and when I asked Art he calmly informed me "oh yes....that's Venus".

I did a little Google. Found some interesting stuff. On Feb.27, the moon and Venus will appear next to each other, so I'll be out there with the telescope and my camera (you never know).

rubber boots

2009-02-10T09:35:00.002-08:00

When Art's other daughter, Treena, was little she had a pair of red rubber boots. When I saw these in Burns Lake last summer I thought it would be a cute Christmas gift for her.She said something about wondering if they came in adult sizes, so today I did some "google-ing" on the subject.

There are plenty out there, by the way, but what I found even more amusing were these .... Crocs boots. They have the Crocs logo, but don't seem to be on the official Crocs website (what's up with that?). But they are here. I won't be running out and getting a pair anytime soon, but maybe some of you other Crocs lovers are interested.

Cover Girls!

2009-02-09T10:23:00.014-08:00

This is the cover of Running Room magazine. That's Sara on the right and her sister-in-law Janet on the left.

They wrote an article together for the January 2009 issue (click the pic to open a pdf ... their story is on page 48 of the magazine ... 26 of the pdf).
To everyone's surprise, there they were on the cover ... of November ... in French. But still. That is way, WAY cool!!

They also had their pic in the Nov/Dec (English) issue .... page 8 of the magazine, 6 of the pdf (click the pic to open pdf)

They ran in the Kelowna Half Marathon, where they met John Stanton. He encouraged them to write their story and submit it to the magazine.

I'm so PROUD of you, Sara. One day I would love to be running alongside you.

a little more about the Rangers

2009-02-09T08:45:00.002-08:00

After my last 2 posts about the 4th Canadian Ranger Patrol, I sent them an email giving them links to my blog. They posted those links on their website and now I'm getting visiting readers from all over. That's pretty cool, I think.

I'm continuing to track their progress and read their journal entries. Apparantly there is NO SNOW in Hudson's Hope and they had to be "trucked" past that area. That's considerably north of us and they have no snow?! Craziness. Today they will cross into Alberta. I wish them a good journey.

Check them out here, and track them here.

4th Canadian Ranger Patrol Group

2009-02-04T18:06:00.013-08:00

I couldn't do much else all day yesterday but watch the Rangers' website. I didn't want to miss their approach. But they seemed to be taking forever. At one point Art made a quick trip to town and it's a good thing he did because there was flagging all along Savory Road and a big red arrow spray painted on a snow bank at the end of our driveway directing the group along the road. They weren't going to come through our fields after all. I was somewhat dissappointed. Maybe one of the neighbours refused passage.

So, I kept an ear open because I figured it would be impossible to not hear 35 snowmobiles approaching. After all, the local yahoos can be heard for miles when there's only 2 or 3 of them. Their machines have that terrible ear shattering wale that bounces all down the valley (I abhor that racket).

I kept listening and watching, but only every once in a while there'd be a faint far-off sound of a skidoo. When their SPOT showed that they were just 2 km away, we hopped in the van and went down to the end on the driveway.(green box - our land, red circle - our house, black dotted line - pipeline (original route), orange symbol - Rangers' location, blue arrow - us)
Armed with 2 cameras and a camcorder, Art and I perched ourselves and waited. Savory Road does a little curvy thing right where our driveway comes out, so it was a good vantage point. After a few minutes some machines came along, but only 5 or so. A few minutes later, another 5. And they were ever so quiet. Turns out they broke into smaller groups to travel and we'd caught only the last 2 groups. Missed everybody else. DRAT! Oh well, we got some good pictures.I felt very proud to see these people. If we were ever lost in the barrens, these are the guys that would come looking for us. They get my respect, admiration and support. Cops, too. Totally.

And it was so nice to have 35 snowmobiles go through and we hardly even knew it.

the army's coming through

2009-02-03T10:43:00.003-08:00

We're getting very excited around here today. I'm busy charging all the camera batteries and emptying their various memory cards to make room. These guys are coming through .....
"The 4th Canadian Ranger Patrol Group". They are on a training exercise and making a trek from Kitimat, BC to Churchill, Manitoba on snowmobiles. (I think they actually started on Northern Vancouver Island, but this is the leg they're on now.)

I have to admit that when we got a call on Friday night from the local snowmobile club asking permission for these guys to cross our land, I was more than skeptical and somewhat annoyed. I thought it was B.S. (you know how I feel about those ski-dooers).

They were supposed to come through on Sunday, but we saw no one. As we were taking Sara and Kevin back to the airport in Prince George yesterday, there was a piece on CBC Radio about this very thing. They interviewed a couple of the Rangers who explained what they are doing.

So, it's for real. Now I'm excited. I'm glued to their website where they have a link where anyone can track their progress. They have a SPOT (we have one of those....I've talked about it here on my blog before). Too bad Sara & Kevin had to go home and will miss it. These guys will be passing something like 20 feet in front of our house.

snow buntings

2009-01-29T09:30:00.004-08:00

(I did not take this picture)These are the coolest birds. They've been coming through here in flocks lately and are beautiful to watch. The flocks are quite big and they float over the our open fields. It's easy to see their white against the dark background of trees and hills. Then all of a sudden, in unison, they change direction and become invisible. Then turn and are visible again. I'm going to try to get a picture. Good luck.

what are those drips coming out of the sky?

2009-01-29T09:12:00.000-08:00

For crap's sake. It's something like + 7 degrees out there. Crap. Two days ago it was minus 33. Great timing. Sara and Kevin arrive tomorrow from Vancouver and it's not like they've never seen rain. C'mon.

And the wind is HOWLIN'. Probably caused by the sudden warm-up.

the ca-hooters watch the sun rise

2009-01-29T08:53:00.000-08:00

Pardon the window. It's in terrible shape and due to be replaced in the spring.

what planet am I from?

2009-01-27T16:16:00.000-08:00

It's amazing what kind of dreams you can have after spending hours and days doing family tree research and then watching the movie "Men in Black" just before going to bed.Apparantly, all my relatives are aliens (which may not be all that far off the mark). Nobody get offended now. It was just a crazy dream.

Seriously though. I have been bitten by the genealogy bug. For the last week I've been all over the internet ... and the world. I found immigration data on my grandmother and made contact with a second cousin I've never met. I wrote to an aunt asking for any tidbits she could share .... and she shared tons. My new found second cousin put me in touch with a person in Finland who has also done a lot of research on our family. I've yet to learn what his relation to me is, but the whole thing is very exciting. I don't know what gets me going, but several times in my younger life I have had the desire to know my roots. I wish I had acted on those desires while elder family members were still around, but isn't that the problem with youth? We don't look beyond ourselves sometimes.

So, my father's side comes from Scotland and Ireland. My mother's from Iceland and Russia.

photographer woes

2009-01-26T10:12:00.004-08:00

As Art promised, here are a few of my "frost" pictures.For about a week we had a heavy ice fog. Everything was covered in a stunning hoar frost (which Art's brother pronounces "whore" ... too funny). Each day the frost got heavier and more exotic. It was a photographer's heaven. But do you know happens to me? I go through phases. Sometimes I take pictures of every little thing I come across and other times I don't at all because I get so discouraged. I convince myself that it won't be perfect, so why bother. That's just crazy.

I have a good camera with some great lenses and a good tripod. I see what I think will be a fantastic photo. I take tons of shots, experimenting with all the different settings. Like this one on Art's blog. I took over 100 variations of this one picture. No kidding. I counted 65 still on my hard drive that I need to sort through and narrow down to my favourite. I already deleted 40 or so that I considered garbage. Now, I don't know if that would be considered obsessive or the sign of a good photographer (I think more likely the former). I'm such a perfectionist that none of them are good enough, but I also have a hard time throwing any away. I find it somewhat overwhelming sometimes. This is what holds me up when I'm blogging. I want to tell a story with photos, but I get in my own way so much of the time.

In all this photo-taking I've noticed that I have a lot of camera "shake". Mostly from pressing the shutter release, I think. So, when we went to Prince George last week, I bought myself a remote control for my camera.Probably the least expensive thing in my camera bag (only $30 or so), but I'm hoping it will help. I'm testing it out, just to make sure it works (please ignore that I'm covered in cat and dog hair....occupational hazard).These are a couple of very frosty trees I saw while we wandered around Prince George.We made a stop at Princess Auto. As we pulled into a parking spot beside a giant big pickup truck, Xena started going ballistic in the back seat. She'd seen another dog, so was acting all ferocious.For God's sake, Xena. It's the MIB dog. What do ya want to be barking at him for?

Back at home .... the chickens are laying crazy eggs.Maybe this wild weather is just too shocking for them, I don't know. Maybe it's time for chicken stew.

We've been having some gorgeous sunrises lately.This one's from a few days ago. Art has this morning's on his blog. I thought my fingers were going to freeze off waiting for the flag to be "just right".

Christmas gifts are being enjoyed

2009-01-23T17:30:00.004-08:00

Sara and Kevin in their Lucha Libre Smackdown masks (although Kevin likes to refer to them as Nacho Libre .... I haven't seen that movie yet).Treena and the cow scarf. She just wrote me and said that she wore it somewhere and got a lot of comments. It is kinda unique, that's for sure. Bravo to you Treena for actually wearing it out in public. I hope it was fun and not too embarrassing.The easy-peezy sweater. The only problem is that it seems to be snagging easily. Maybe all those pokey-outy wires are catching on it.Art was feeling left out of the whole Lucha Libre thing, so I "whipped one up" for him.

Donald

2009-01-23T11:30:00.000-08:00

When I make posts for this blog I try to be mindful of who will be reading it. Some of you I know, some I don't. What's really cool is when these pages are the catalyst for finding a new friend.

One day last summer we were in town (Fraser Lake). From across the parking lot of the little mall I hear someone call "Hey, Endako Jo". Well, I am only called that here on this blog. The person calling was Jody, who runs the second-hand shop (well, she used to ... sadly, it's shut down now). I never really knew Jody very well before that, but we got to talking. Turns out that she had an elderly gentleman living with her family and he was a daily reader of my blog. Who knew? His name was Donald. Jody spoke so dearly of him and we invited her to bring him up for a visit some time. He'd been following our progress for ages and wanted to see the place in person. Well, you know how time flies and everyone is always so busy. It never happened. But we did get to meet Donald finally, when he went to work with Jody one day. We walked into her shop, like we did quite regularly because she always had such great items for sale. Sitting there, working away on a laptop was this cute old guy. Very quickly, Jody jumped up and introduced us. This was Donald.

Art sat down and started chatting with him. They got on like gang-busters. He reminded me so much of my long lost friend Jack. Some old guys are just timeless. The first visual impression is that they are "old", but after a minute or two of talking to them that impression melts away. The curious, vibrant person within shines through (of course, I've only met a few of these ... a lot really are crotchety old farts).

I'm sad to say that Donald passed away shortly before Christmas. I was so sorry to hear that. He was 83.

Donald Frank Carson
1925 - 2008

I am a coffee snob

2009-01-04T13:24:00.001-08:00

I admit it. I love really good, dark, rich coffee. A little (OK...a lot) on the strong side and very dark. There's a difference between strong and dark. I've not met anyone around here, yet, who knows what I mean. In some of these smaller communities, I think what happens is, people do a lot of visiting with each other and when they do they drink coffee. When you're making and drinking it all day long it becomes mundane. My dear old friend, Jack, would call it "piss-willy". And that flavoured stuff. Well ... let's not go there. Just the thought gives me acid-stomach.

Some would say Starbucks is great coffee. I don't entirely agree. They HAVE great coffee ... they don't MAKE great coffee. What I mean is, a cup of French Roast they brew in their store tastes way way different than a cup I brew at home. Same beans. I buy them from them. Different taste. I prefer mine.

This is the latest addition to our kitchen.It grinds the beans immediately before brewing them into a heavenly pot of coffee. Sara and Kevin gave it to us for Christmas (thanks you guys .... we LOVE it). I've got a spot all picked out for it on the island in our kitchen. My electrician (wink, wink) is going to wire in an outlet for it there.

Oh ya .... the blizzard .... it is upon us. The temperature rose from minus 25 to minus 8, the wind is screaming in from the east (always a bad sign) and the snow is horizontal. I think that qualifies as a blizzard. Good call on the grocery shopping before it hit. How is youz guysez in Vancouver and on the island doin'?

blizzard warning

2009-01-04T08:23:00.002-08:00

This is coming our way. The winds have already started (sounds like Ice Station Zebra around here).So, before the blizzard hits, we're off to town to stock up on food for the animals and supplies for us. Getting dangerously low on toilet paper. Running out of that will never do.

a broader view

2009-01-03T13:54:00.005-08:00

Who'da thought those Lucha Libre Smackdown masks would be such a hit. Art wants one too now, so I've made a start on that. I want it to be finished for when Sara and Kevin come to visit later this month. I'm sure they'll do some snowshoeing and those will definitely keep the wind out. Maybe they'll frighten any trespassing snowmobilers while they're at it. Would that be bad?I received a fantastic addition to my camera gear ..... a wide angle lens.This is the first picture I took with it.The same shot with a normal lens.That's a pretty awesome range. I LOVE it! I'm looking forward to doing some learning and practicing with it. Woot-woot!
(Carol ..... got any tips?)

Once the new woodstove is all polished up and the floor is painted and the clutter is cleared away, I'll take this picture again. From both sides. To show the true wonderousness of that whole project.

Blackie and Chickie are loving the new warmth.After awhile Ewie came to join them. There's that goofy stretch he likes to do.So, Sara, we'll put a chair close to the stove just for you so you can stay toasty warm while you're here.