hey buddy, need a hug?

If you read Art's blog, you know about Xena's latest trials and tribulations. After a trip to the vet, some local anesthetic and sharp scissors, the torn part of her footpad was removed. She did some crying, but in between sobs she munched on "bickies". No bandages or drugs required, and now she's hobbling around pretty good. I think her BFF Ewie was sympathetic because he was doling out the cuddles when she got home. I love how he's laying across her "good" arm like that. Awwwww.....

fun with power tools

We went to Home Depot in Prince George yesterday and came home with this. It's a compound mitre saw and stand.I love assembling stuff so jumped at Art's invitation to help put it all together.Art even let me play with the new saw.It is pretty cool, I gotta say. Look how wafer thin I was able to cut this piece of wood.And my first 45..... I was so impressed with this that I am now inspired to build some stuff.It'll have to wait, though. I'm kinda busy with some volunteer duties for the rockhound club and the community hall society, just to name a couple of things.

busy, busy, busy.....

This has been a very busy few weeks. Lots of visitors and some projects going on. I have been taking plenty of photos, but just need to get down to posting about it all. One thing that's happened is I took a leap of faith and moved away from Microsoft. I was having more and more problems with Vista, so finally asked Art to wipe out my machine and install Linux. It was an all day event because there are quirks between the Compaq Presario and Ubuntu. But with Art's experience and my unix background, we were able to get it working in the end. Change is something I'm not good at, but this is worth it so I'll persevere. Photo management is a pretty big priority for me, so I have some learning to do.

the rain dance worked

Boy did we get a lightning storm last night. No thunder because it was pretty far away, but we could see the bolts all across the horizon and it went on for quite awhile. Then it POURED like I haven't seen in a long time.

Today .... dare I say it .... it's too cold to leave the doors and windows open. But I am NOT complaining. No way. No how.

it's too @$#% hot

A friend made this remark last night and I am adopting it as my own.....

... I WISH IT WOULD SNOW !!!

by jove - I think I've got it!

Depth-of-field. Grokking that has been a trick. In so many of my photos I am aiming for crystal clear depth of field, but am always seriously disappointed. I spent this morning doing some online photography lessons and voila! I get it.Now for practice, practice, practice. Next .... histograms.

sprucin' up the joint

We have company coming today so I guess it's time to cut the grass. We don't have the cows up here this year (not that they came around the house), so maybe we need to get a goat ... or a llama ... or a lawn mower. I don't think this weed-wacker is meant to work so hard .... and now it's broken.Anyhoo. Our company is R.T., a long lost friend from 30 years ago that Art has recently reconnected with, his wife Rhoda and their dogs, Tommy & Molly. We are SO looking forward to seeing them. And Xena has no idea of the fun that is in store. Woo-hoooo!

Xena is a very .... what's the word? ..... exuberant hostess. She LOVES when company comes. Yesterday some friends stopped to say "hi" as they were driving from Terrace to Vancouver. Eric knocked on the door and there was our blonde greeter hopping all around him. Then she quickly went over to the garden, took a dip in her pool and returned to greet Charlene as she was getting out of the car. Soaking, dripping wet dog right in the lap ..... "how do you like me so far?" Gotta love 'er.

step into the light

For a couple of cats who were born on a farm and were feral for the first 6 months of their lives, these two sure are reluctant to go outside. "We'll just watch from here, thanks Mom."

more excuses to take pictures

Not like I really need excuses to take pictures. While we were in Vancouver in June, I signed up for a 2 day intensive course at Vancouver Photo Workshops. It was a really great class, but a lot of info crammed into a short amount of time. My head is still spinning.

Since then I got myself a book and a video to help reinforce what I learned....I also got a circular polarizing lens and a very skookum tripod, which my camera is almost permanently attached to now. .... because you just never know when one of these is going to walk through .... .... or one of these is going to fly past the veranda (no kidding .... past the veranda) ....

time to move forward

Back at the end of May, we made a trip to Vancouver. I went to Victoria to spend some time with my sister and her family and I had a hoot. Just when we were scheduled to return home, one of Art's aunties died and he decided to go to her funeral...in Flin Flon, Manitoba. So, I stayed in Vancouver with Xena while he made the trip, driving with another auntie and uncle. All told, we were away for a little over 3 weeks. We left our home in what we thought were trustworthy hands, but very sadly we were mistaken about that. The person we "hired" was a friend who promised to take care of things, watching over our garden and our animals. We loaned him a cell phone and gave him some gas money and were going to pay him on top of that. We were shocked and dismayed at what we returned home to.

Without going into too much detail, we were duped. He took complete advantage of us and seemed to be under the impression that all that was ours was also his. He brought in a girlfriend (or 2) which is probably where the trouble started, but we ended up ransacked, robbed and left with paraphenalia from activities that go against our lifestyle. Worse than all of that, though, is the violation of our trust. This was a friend. Now, I know friends screw up. Heck, I've done my share, but I might be able to put that aside if he just came to us and said "I'm sorry".

But, it does me no good to carry this resentment. I haven't 100% forgiven him, but I think I'm on the right track. I just had to re-assess what the meaning of forgiveness actually is. I always thought to forgive was the same as saying "it's OK what you did....you're off the hook". It took someone very wise to help me understand that what it really means is "this is too big for me....I turn it over to a higher power".

Now I can get back to posting about the fun stuff that's going on around here. And there's plenty!

global warming....?

this is what it is doing outside right now .... at this very moment .... 7:00 am on July 10th. BRRRRRRR..... never mind the bug repellant. bring a parka.

Two Xenas

Actually, it's Xena and Sena. Sena is the 11 year old Goddaughter of our friends Roger and Rosemarie and she is visiting from Switzerland. She doesn't speak any English so was a little shy visiting with us, but she is very sweet. We just HAD to get a picture of the two blonde beauties together.Sena is enjoying her summer vacation, ATV'ing and horseback riding and there's plenty more of that, plus some fishing, to come. I hope it stays nice and warm for you Sena and that you have the best summer vacation ever. It was lovely to meet you!

Happy Canada Day

I took these photos from our veranda, with our new flag flying in the background. I thought the upside down effect through the hummingbird feeder was pretty cool.

I'm baaaack

Yup, I AM still alive and well. Sorry for being blog neglectful.

I can now report that I finished the big surprise project mentioned in my last post. It was an Icelandic knitted lace shawl that I made for my sister for her birthday. More than anything, I wanted to make this for her, but to have it ready in time I had to drop everything else and set to knitting like a maniac.

The beginning pictures are in my last post. These are some "in progress" shots (this might be boring for some, but I know you knitters out there are interested).Once completed, it seemed way small. I only hoped that blocking would solve that (and it did....sorta). I'd never blocked anything before so this was new to me. First I got the thing thoroughly soaking wet....Art nailed some styrofoam sheets to the sunny side of a shed wall........but the stretching and pinning didn't hold, so I had to try a different tack. I laid the styrofoam down horizontally, put a big sheet of cardboard over it, then a towel over top and that worked much better.From a different angle....some close-ups (can you tell I'm proud?)...
The final work of art, being modelled by it's recipient....my lovely sis.

look who's back

My sweet little hummers have returned. It's so good to see them. Only have 2 so far, but the rest can't be far behind. In anticipation of their arrival I started getting the feeders ready.I've hung out 2 for now. The rest will go up soon. I am a little concerned, however, because we have 2 new cats that both go outside and one is especially interested in the birds. Lee Valley has something called CatScat and I think I'm gonna get some.While we were in Vancouver recently, I had a birthday. Art gave me a new lens for my camera. It's a 70-300mm zoom with image stabilizer. VERY nice!He also gave me this cool camera bag. It's called a "sling shot". You wear it like a backpack, but when you need it it swings around to your front (without having to take it off) for quick access.I have been practicing a lot, trying all the different settings on my camera, but I don't know what I'm doing. My friend Rockey has given me some quick lessons via email (which have helped alot.....thanks Rock), but I'm going to take a course.

Here's a group shot of "the kidz". It's a rare opportunity to get them altogether like this.The only one missing is Boose, but she's rarely in the house. And when she is, it's not harmonious. Blackie doesn't like her much and will try to pick fights with her. I don't know what his problem is....just a grump, I guess.

I am working on a new knitting project. Working like a fiend on it because I have given myself a deadline, which is fast approaching. It's a secret, so can't tell you any more right now. Later.This is my new favourite treat. I don't mind yogurt. It's OK. Nothing spectacular .... until NOW!I know you can't read the writing on it very well, but it's called "chocolate cherry fondue" .... CHOCOLATE ! My biggest weakness is chocolate. My favourites are Guylian Belgian seashells with Cadbury's Dairymilk coming in second, all of which I gave up 4 months ago. As soon as I tasted this yogurt, I was in love. It's like eating chocolate covered cherries with that little tang that yogurt adds. It's not Belgian pralines, but dang it's GOOOOOD. And it's fat free .... only 35 calories. I immediately went online trying to find it in the big containers, but alas it only comes in the variety packs.

out of sorts

Been having a tough few days here. I can't go into any details right now, but Art did allude to it a bit on his blog. In a few weeks, when things are settled down, I will fill you in. At present, we both feel like we've been gut-kicked. It's a sad thing when friends betray.

on his way

Just after midnight last night, Art picked up Sara & Kevin at the Vancouver airport. Once he had them safely home, he hit the road to come back to Endako. I was a little worried about him driving all night but he said he slept most of yesterday and felt well rested. The sky was clear, the moon was bright, he's got those new super cool driving lights (which I'm pretty sure you can see from space) and he had the "tracker" on. So....no problem.This was another VERY worth it investment. It's called a "spot"....satellite personal tracker. There have been many times when we've been out in the wilds and ended up in places we had no intention of going. This would have been great to have. Yes, we had a satellite phone, but in all honesty, that thing cost way, way too much money and only worked part of the time. Not impressed. This little contraption is perfect. It will send "I'm OK", "send help", or "911" messages. It will also track our routes. It works with Google Maps, so people can pinpoint our exact co-ordinates.

So, while Art is driving home today, he has the device on and sitting on the dash. Every 10 minutes it transmits his location and I can go online to see where he is. Now I know exactly how much time I have to scurryfunge.

did I mention mud?

Yup, we got plenty of it. Yesterday's 2 inch snowfall has now melted and added to the soup we call a driveway. While in Vancouver, Art and I both made a little investment in these.They are called Bogs and we bought them at Lee Valley. Without a doubt they are the best rubber boots I have ever found. They're toasty warm and cushy soft, which are pretty nice features, but the number 1 for me is that the calf is stretchy. Never in my life.....EVER....have I found a boot that fits my foot and my calf at the same time. I am in love with these boots.

After we got home from Vancouver, Art made a trip back down on his own. He's been there all this past week, house and dog sitting for Sara & Kevin while they take a much needed vacation to Mexico. While he's been gone I've been on "chicken duty". During my daily outdoor trek, Xena and I play fetch ... in the mud. Well, more Xena than me. I mostly just stand there. She does all the running around. And she doesn't seem to mind getting thoroughly filthy.But not all of the driveway is horrible. The parts that Art, Tom & Eddie worked so hard on last summer .... putting in culverts, clearing ditches and laying gravel .... those parts are draining beautifully.There's still a lot of snow around. This was taken from part way down the driveway, looking back toward the house.Back to the subject of chickens. Ewie is very curious about the critters inside this coop.The other day they got out (I don't know...) and he was only too happy to lend a hand with the "roundup".He did pretty good, too. Trouble was he'd get 'em all herded together and then ........ pounce .... right into the middle. And they'd scatter.

So, I had to capture him (which was no easy task) and lock him in the shed while I finished the job. It was no big deal really. They all just wandered back into the coop on their own.