winter's here

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!