We did it!
A beautiful venue.
My beautiful wife!
It was the BEST day!
Friday, October 31, 2014
Married!
Wow!
We did it!
A beautiful day.
A beautiful venue.
My beautiful wife!
It was the BEST day!
We did it!
A beautiful venue.
My beautiful wife!
It was the BEST day!
Friday, July 11, 2014
Hitchin' post
We're getting a good dose of Kamloops hot, summer weather. Temps are predicted to hit the low 40's early next week with the high 30's being the norm the last few days. Even up at our place we've been seeing high 20's dipping into the teens overnight. It's about bloody time! I love the summer...the sunshine...hot days...warm nights...very little snowplowing! The dogs have both had their summer haircuts recently. I've included a picture but as many of you know, Joey hates being photographed, so I snapped this one as she was leaving.
Seriously, though, we are already starting to think about prepping for winter. Wood needs to be cut, split and stacked. Hay needs to be sourced and reserved for fall delivery. Annual maintenance on our equipment has to be done in the next few months. Come to think of it, I'd better get the snow tires off the car, for a few months at least. But, hey, before all this talk of winter, we've got a wedding in September to prepare for! Yep, if you didn't know already, Carol and I are getting hitched on September 13th. Carol jokes (?) that she chose the date partly because we can celebrate our anniversary every once in a while on Friday, the 13th. Hmmmm...
Anyway, we have a small group of friends and family travelling to Kamloops to help us celebrate. Thanks to our good friends, Bud and Lea Thorson, the wedding will be outdoors at Dreamscape Ranch with our friend, Roy, officiating the ceremony. Dress is cowboy casual, with jeans, boots and hats encouraged! We're providing wine with dinner and maybe some beer or whatever afterward, but BYOB will be the order of the day. Dreamscape Ranch is a "Bed 'n' Breakfast" so a few rooms are available for those needing accomodations. We're keeping our fingers crossed for good weather or we may be saying our "I do's", in the barn. Think good thoughts, everyone.
We're working hard at our jobs and trying to fit some time in to finish a few house projects before the big day arrives. It's still more than two months away, but it feels like we're rushing to get things done! Speaking of projects, we built a raised garden bed this year and planted a bunch of different stuff to see what thrived and what didn't. Well, we just had some lettuce and radishes the other night...grown on our farm...in our little garden! Very cool and yummy. We can't wait for the peas, carrots, beets and peppers to be ready! Sadly, none of our tomato seeds survived. We'll have to do a better job next year of starting them indoors and growing them to a more robust size before moving them to the garden. If this garden does work out, perhaps we can add another one next year as this one is only 16 feet by 4 feet.
Seriously, though, we are already starting to think about prepping for winter. Wood needs to be cut, split and stacked. Hay needs to be sourced and reserved for fall delivery. Annual maintenance on our equipment has to be done in the next few months. Come to think of it, I'd better get the snow tires off the car, for a few months at least. But, hey, before all this talk of winter, we've got a wedding in September to prepare for! Yep, if you didn't know already, Carol and I are getting hitched on September 13th. Carol jokes (?) that she chose the date partly because we can celebrate our anniversary every once in a while on Friday, the 13th. Hmmmm...We're working hard at our jobs and trying to fit some time in to finish a few house projects before the big day arrives. It's still more than two months away, but it feels like we're rushing to get things done! Speaking of projects, we built a raised garden bed this year and planted a bunch of different stuff to see what thrived and what didn't. Well, we just had some lettuce and radishes the other night...grown on our farm...in our little garden! Very cool and yummy. We can't wait for the peas, carrots, beets and peppers to be ready! Sadly, none of our tomato seeds survived. We'll have to do a better job next year of starting them indoors and growing them to a more robust size before moving them to the garden. If this garden does work out, perhaps we can add another one next year as this one is only 16 feet by 4 feet.
Friday, June 13, 2014
Holy Crap, Martha....He's Still Writing That Blog!
We have very busy lives these days and we never seem to have enough of that most precious commodity - time. When I sat down to write this post, I couldn't believe that almost 6 months has passed since I last took quill in hand to update all of you (okay... both of you) regular readers out there. I'll try and bring you up to speed quickly.
Winter is finally over! The news this year had been filled with one story after another about the harsh weather all over the Great White North (Canada) , and the USA. We were no exception. We had more snow than usual up at our place, although we didn't have any long periods of extremely cold temps. It just seemed that winter went on and on and on. Into the spring, or what most people refer to as spring, the cold kept clawing its way back onto our little mountain. We'd get a few warmer days and then the snow would once again cover the ground. Anyway, it's done now. It hasn't snowed for almost a month. Roll on summer!
Carol and I are getting married in September. It's been a long time coming, but we're finally gettin' hitched! September 13th, is the big day and we're hoping to have a great time with a group of close friends and family. It's not going to be some high falutin' affair, just some friends, food and fun. We'll be sure to post some pics.
As we noted in an earlier post, the economy here has been cruel to our little printing company and we've been forced to take on second jobs to pay our bills. This is where all our time is going. We're both basically working 7 days a week right now - either at KPA or at our other jobs. It makes for some long days, but there are some good perks. My security job sees me walking a lot - sometimes as much as 15 kms per shift. I feel good. I've lost a few pounds and have some "wind" back.
We've put in a raised vegetable garden at the house and are hoping to reap the rewards. We started a bunch of seeds in window boxes in the house and just moved them outside. Hopefully some of the stuff will actually grow and give us some fresh veggies later in the year.
Our horses are doing great. We're down to 4 now - Acorn has gone back to the KTRA (Kamloops Therapeutic Riding Association) and is being re-homed. They had been paying for his food and upkeep (we were providing the labour) but the new board there has changed plans and no longer wants to support him financially. They asked us if we wanted to keep him as our own but we declined. We love him and wouldn't let anyone have him destroyed but on the other hand his feed is expensive (he can't eat hay because of his teeth being completely worn away) and he is too old for one of us to ride him. We miss his happy face and wonderful attitude but are happy to report that one of the local farriers is going to be taking him. Good luck, Acorn!
Spring and summer make us really appreciate our solar powered house. We rarely (if ever) have to run our generator for anything other than equalizing the batteries. The rest of the time we rely on clean, quiet, FREE sunlight to power our little house. Very cool!
Brian and Louise stopped by for a few minutes last night. Yesterday, they moved their entire herd of 80 cows and calves and 4 bulls up to our property. They will spend a few weeks mowing down the grass here before being moved to another pasture further up the hill from us. They will be back again later in the fall before heading back to their home range. Of course, the horses and the dogs were very impressed with their new neighbours with many hours spent staring at the big bovines.
Joey is at the dog groomer's today getting her annual brush cut. She always seems so happy after having it done as I'm sure it's much cooler than the very thick, double layer of fur she grows over the winter. Ben is ...well, being Ben. Just about as happy as a dog can be...all the time...constantly. It's exhausting just watching him sometimes. I don't know where he finds the energy! He keeps busy digging up mice and voles, running and attacking Joey at every opportunity, stalking imaginary game in the woods, or running after one of us on the ATV.
We moved our bird feeders around the front of the house this year so we can see the birds on them. We have lots of junkos, yellow-headed blackbirds, grosbeaks, sparrows, finches, cow birds and even crows attend the feast on the feeders. It only takes them all a few days to empty our 4 feeders. Then they make us feel bad as they hunt through the grass below for any missed or dropped seeds, forcing us to go and refill them again. We have been lucky again this year and the swallows have returned to Carol's little birdhouse. It's wonderful to watch them zooming around catching mosquitoes. Go swallows! We also see a variety of woodpeckers from giant pilated woodpeckers to little yellow bellied sapsuckers. Great gray owls, ravens, sandhill cranes, red tailed hawks and even eagles visit frequently. It's wonderful to have such large birds, so close!
Coyotes regularly patrol through our forest. We like to see them but don't like it when they come too close to the house. We worry about the dogs being lured out and attacked so try to discourage the coyotes when they become too bold. Moose, elk, deer and bear are residents in the area, too but it's still special when we get to see them up close, as is often the case.
I have promised Carol that I will make a real effort to get our window trim and baseboards completed before any visitors arrive for the wedding. I'm also secretly hoping to get the staircase done as a birthday present for her, so please, don't say anything to spoil the surprise! That would leave just the pine tongue-and-groove ceiling boards to complete and the house will be finished. Well, okay, there are a bunch of little finishing jobs still to do but it will be more or less, done!
Winter is finally over! The news this year had been filled with one story after another about the harsh weather all over the Great White North (Canada) , and the USA. We were no exception. We had more snow than usual up at our place, although we didn't have any long periods of extremely cold temps. It just seemed that winter went on and on and on. Into the spring, or what most people refer to as spring, the cold kept clawing its way back onto our little mountain. We'd get a few warmer days and then the snow would once again cover the ground. Anyway, it's done now. It hasn't snowed for almost a month. Roll on summer!
Carol and I are getting married in September. It's been a long time coming, but we're finally gettin' hitched! September 13th, is the big day and we're hoping to have a great time with a group of close friends and family. It's not going to be some high falutin' affair, just some friends, food and fun. We'll be sure to post some pics.
As we noted in an earlier post, the economy here has been cruel to our little printing company and we've been forced to take on second jobs to pay our bills. This is where all our time is going. We're both basically working 7 days a week right now - either at KPA or at our other jobs. It makes for some long days, but there are some good perks. My security job sees me walking a lot - sometimes as much as 15 kms per shift. I feel good. I've lost a few pounds and have some "wind" back.
We've put in a raised vegetable garden at the house and are hoping to reap the rewards. We started a bunch of seeds in window boxes in the house and just moved them outside. Hopefully some of the stuff will actually grow and give us some fresh veggies later in the year.
Our horses are doing great. We're down to 4 now - Acorn has gone back to the KTRA (Kamloops Therapeutic Riding Association) and is being re-homed. They had been paying for his food and upkeep (we were providing the labour) but the new board there has changed plans and no longer wants to support him financially. They asked us if we wanted to keep him as our own but we declined. We love him and wouldn't let anyone have him destroyed but on the other hand his feed is expensive (he can't eat hay because of his teeth being completely worn away) and he is too old for one of us to ride him. We miss his happy face and wonderful attitude but are happy to report that one of the local farriers is going to be taking him. Good luck, Acorn!
Spring and summer make us really appreciate our solar powered house. We rarely (if ever) have to run our generator for anything other than equalizing the batteries. The rest of the time we rely on clean, quiet, FREE sunlight to power our little house. Very cool!
Brian and Louise stopped by for a few minutes last night. Yesterday, they moved their entire herd of 80 cows and calves and 4 bulls up to our property. They will spend a few weeks mowing down the grass here before being moved to another pasture further up the hill from us. They will be back again later in the fall before heading back to their home range. Of course, the horses and the dogs were very impressed with their new neighbours with many hours spent staring at the big bovines.
Joey is at the dog groomer's today getting her annual brush cut. She always seems so happy after having it done as I'm sure it's much cooler than the very thick, double layer of fur she grows over the winter. Ben is ...well, being Ben. Just about as happy as a dog can be...all the time...constantly. It's exhausting just watching him sometimes. I don't know where he finds the energy! He keeps busy digging up mice and voles, running and attacking Joey at every opportunity, stalking imaginary game in the woods, or running after one of us on the ATV.
We moved our bird feeders around the front of the house this year so we can see the birds on them. We have lots of junkos, yellow-headed blackbirds, grosbeaks, sparrows, finches, cow birds and even crows attend the feast on the feeders. It only takes them all a few days to empty our 4 feeders. Then they make us feel bad as they hunt through the grass below for any missed or dropped seeds, forcing us to go and refill them again. We have been lucky again this year and the swallows have returned to Carol's little birdhouse. It's wonderful to watch them zooming around catching mosquitoes. Go swallows! We also see a variety of woodpeckers from giant pilated woodpeckers to little yellow bellied sapsuckers. Great gray owls, ravens, sandhill cranes, red tailed hawks and even eagles visit frequently. It's wonderful to have such large birds, so close!
Coyotes regularly patrol through our forest. We like to see them but don't like it when they come too close to the house. We worry about the dogs being lured out and attacked so try to discourage the coyotes when they become too bold. Moose, elk, deer and bear are residents in the area, too but it's still special when we get to see them up close, as is often the case.
I have promised Carol that I will make a real effort to get our window trim and baseboards completed before any visitors arrive for the wedding. I'm also secretly hoping to get the staircase done as a birthday present for her, so please, don't say anything to spoil the surprise! That would leave just the pine tongue-and-groove ceiling boards to complete and the house will be finished. Well, okay, there are a bunch of little finishing jobs still to do but it will be more or less, done!
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Happy Holidays 2013
Another Christmas is upon us! As I get older I find that this holiday tends to sneak up on me each year. When we are children we are intimately aware of when Santa is coming to town. Reponsibilities, jobs and just life-in-general divert our attention to other "more important" things as we grow into adulthood. Around here, the horses and dogs still need feeding; firewood still needs splitting; solar modules need to have the snow cleared off them; fences need mending; driveways need plowing; etc. etc. etc.
It's good to take a day or two and put things back into perspective. The Christmas holiday gives us a chance to take a breath and appreciate the important things.
I am so lucky to have an awesome, healthy son, a beautiful daughter-in-law and two amazing grand daughters, all living in Alberta. Carol's two wonderful kids are both happy and healthy and doing well in Ontario. It is difficult being apart from them at this "family" time of year but we think about them often and love them always. If we had a wish, it would be that they could all come and share a Christmas with us. Until then I guess we will have to make do with texting, Facebook, email and Skype!
The short days mean that we don't make much power, even on sunny days, so we end up running the generator quite regularly to keep the batteries charged up. All systems in the house are working great, though. It's nice to see our planning paying off. We have the house decorated for the holidays and it makes everything seem so warm and friendly. We are very lucky!
A first for us this year is that we will be joining our friends (and neighbours) Brian and Louise, for Christmas dinner on the 25th! Brian has recently had back surgery and is recovering nicely. He had been waiting for a while for the operation so we're optimistic it will make him much more comfortable in the future.
The logging company has recently been up burning all the enormous slash piles in the Crown Land they logged off last summer. It was very creepy when we drove home last night. The entire landscape along the bottom of our driveway was on fire or smouldering. Even from our house, you could see the trees starkly silhouetted against the orange flames and embers of the burning piles! It was all very un-Christmaslike!
I find I'm rambling a bit so I'll take the opportunity to end here.
Carol and I want to wish all of our friends and family, a Very Merry Christmas and the Happiest New Year! We'll post up a few pictures over the holidays.
It's good to take a day or two and put things back into perspective. The Christmas holiday gives us a chance to take a breath and appreciate the important things.
I am so lucky to have an awesome, healthy son, a beautiful daughter-in-law and two amazing grand daughters, all living in Alberta. Carol's two wonderful kids are both happy and healthy and doing well in Ontario. It is difficult being apart from them at this "family" time of year but we think about them often and love them always. If we had a wish, it would be that they could all come and share a Christmas with us. Until then I guess we will have to make do with texting, Facebook, email and Skype!
The short days mean that we don't make much power, even on sunny days, so we end up running the generator quite regularly to keep the batteries charged up. All systems in the house are working great, though. It's nice to see our planning paying off. We have the house decorated for the holidays and it makes everything seem so warm and friendly. We are very lucky!
A first for us this year is that we will be joining our friends (and neighbours) Brian and Louise, for Christmas dinner on the 25th! Brian has recently had back surgery and is recovering nicely. He had been waiting for a while for the operation so we're optimistic it will make him much more comfortable in the future.
The logging company has recently been up burning all the enormous slash piles in the Crown Land they logged off last summer. It was very creepy when we drove home last night. The entire landscape along the bottom of our driveway was on fire or smouldering. Even from our house, you could see the trees starkly silhouetted against the orange flames and embers of the burning piles! It was all very un-Christmaslike!
I find I'm rambling a bit so I'll take the opportunity to end here.
Carol and I want to wish all of our friends and family, a Very Merry Christmas and the Happiest New Year! We'll post up a few pictures over the holidays.
Friday, December 6, 2013
Brrrrr!
I know, I know, I know! It's been more than a month since I updated this blog and you're all chomping at the bit for some good "building-a-house-in-the-middle-of-nowhere" stories. Well, to be honest, apart from the weather it hasn't been all that interesting around here.
The images in my last post showed beautiful fall weather with lots of sunshine warming the house against the forest backdrop. Take one of those images and picture it in your mind, only now there's a foot of snow everywhere and the temperatures are hovering around the -20*C mark. That tells the story pretty well! The cold weather has hit with a vengeance rarely seen this early in the winter. Heck, it's only the first week in December and we usually get our coldest weather in January and February. Yikes! That's not a good omen.
The winter weather has signalled the beginning of the "repair season". All the jobs I kept putting off in the warm weather are now coming back to haunt me. The 4wd on the tractor is not working, rendering it almost useless for plowing. It probably wouldn't be a terribly difficult repair in the good weather, but it's a major disaster to try and do it at -20*C. Our truck had suffered a catastrophic failure in its front axle, rendering that vehicle 2wd only as well. We had Rob at Canadian Tire fix it up for us by doing only "the bare minimum" to fix the problem and keep the truck safe to drive. Of course, 3 days after we got it home, the power steering pump failed. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to steer a big truck like that when there is no power steering? Forget trying to park in any tight spots. You just can't do it. My arms are still aching and I haven't driven it for 2 days!
I just re-read what I've been typing. I didn't realize what a whiner I've become!
It's not all been terrible. The dogs and horses are doing great. The house is working well, staying warm and dry and we've even been making a little power when the sun does peek through the clouds. We always have to rely more on our diesel generator at this time of year. The days are so short and even if it's clear and sunny we don't make quite enough power to refill the batteries. The 10kW Aurora Generator we have works great and has never failed to run when we needed it - even in the frigid cold weather. We recently added a small portable generator that enables us to heat the horses' water troughs when the weather gets very cold. It says it will run for up to 8 hours on a tank of gas (1.3 US gallons or 5 litres). We'll see if that's true! The Bobcat ATV is fantastic - starting every single time and doing everything we ask. We need it to haul all the feed and water for the horses twice a day so it's nice to have something that just works! We highly recommend these to anyone in a similar situation to ours. We love it!
With December a week old already, it struck me that Christmas is less than 3 weeks away. With all the cold weather challenges this week, I forgot to feel "Christmassy", if that's a word. With all the animals to look after, we won't be travelling this holiday season. We'll try to get out and visit some friends and neighbours but our families will have to do without us again this year. This is part of the 'down' side of living on a farm with animals that count on you to look after them. I really love looking after the horses. They have such wonderful personalities and make me smile when I go through the feeding routine with them. Whiskey still seems to be so happy! He canters beside the ATV (albeit on the other side of the fence) when I head down to the diet pen after throwing the 3 "boys" (Whisky, Mystery and Acorn) their hay. He often jumps up, kicking out at the air like a bronco, he is so excited about getting his bowl of yummy stuff! He is too cute! Mystery makes him move from one bowl to the other and then back again, while he tries to decide which bowl has the better stuff in it (they both contain the identical amounts of the mash!). Acorn has become quite the character, loudly nickering (sp.?) at me to hurry up and put the mash in his bowl! Jake and Sierra (aka "the big guys") are in their own paddock. Jake is NOT happy that they get fed last! He paces around with his head down and his ears pinned back, nickering his annoyance with this obvious insult to his status as Herd Leader! Poor Sierra just lets him carry on while he waits patiently for the ATV to get a little too close to the fence, whereupon he quickly stretches out and grabs a big mouthful of hay if I'm not careful. He always looks so pleased with himself.
Our business is plugging away but facing some challenges in our struggling economy here. Both Carol and I are taking part-time jobs to help out. Carol is back at TD Canada Trust. She worked for them a while back and they jumped at the chance to have her at their newest branch here in Kamloops. Being me, I'm doing something completely different and have been hired by Palladin Security as a Security Officer. I've been busy completing a bunch of courses and now have my security licence. It will be interesting to see how this works out.
I haven't taken any pictures recently but will try and capture some images this weekend. Carol is coming home tonight after being away on a course in Vancouver and we have lots going on this weekend. The wood shed is calling me....
The images in my last post showed beautiful fall weather with lots of sunshine warming the house against the forest backdrop. Take one of those images and picture it in your mind, only now there's a foot of snow everywhere and the temperatures are hovering around the -20*C mark. That tells the story pretty well! The cold weather has hit with a vengeance rarely seen this early in the winter. Heck, it's only the first week in December and we usually get our coldest weather in January and February. Yikes! That's not a good omen.
The winter weather has signalled the beginning of the "repair season". All the jobs I kept putting off in the warm weather are now coming back to haunt me. The 4wd on the tractor is not working, rendering it almost useless for plowing. It probably wouldn't be a terribly difficult repair in the good weather, but it's a major disaster to try and do it at -20*C. Our truck had suffered a catastrophic failure in its front axle, rendering that vehicle 2wd only as well. We had Rob at Canadian Tire fix it up for us by doing only "the bare minimum" to fix the problem and keep the truck safe to drive. Of course, 3 days after we got it home, the power steering pump failed. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to steer a big truck like that when there is no power steering? Forget trying to park in any tight spots. You just can't do it. My arms are still aching and I haven't driven it for 2 days!
I just re-read what I've been typing. I didn't realize what a whiner I've become!
It's not all been terrible. The dogs and horses are doing great. The house is working well, staying warm and dry and we've even been making a little power when the sun does peek through the clouds. We always have to rely more on our diesel generator at this time of year. The days are so short and even if it's clear and sunny we don't make quite enough power to refill the batteries. The 10kW Aurora Generator we have works great and has never failed to run when we needed it - even in the frigid cold weather. We recently added a small portable generator that enables us to heat the horses' water troughs when the weather gets very cold. It says it will run for up to 8 hours on a tank of gas (1.3 US gallons or 5 litres). We'll see if that's true! The Bobcat ATV is fantastic - starting every single time and doing everything we ask. We need it to haul all the feed and water for the horses twice a day so it's nice to have something that just works! We highly recommend these to anyone in a similar situation to ours. We love it!
With December a week old already, it struck me that Christmas is less than 3 weeks away. With all the cold weather challenges this week, I forgot to feel "Christmassy", if that's a word. With all the animals to look after, we won't be travelling this holiday season. We'll try to get out and visit some friends and neighbours but our families will have to do without us again this year. This is part of the 'down' side of living on a farm with animals that count on you to look after them. I really love looking after the horses. They have such wonderful personalities and make me smile when I go through the feeding routine with them. Whiskey still seems to be so happy! He canters beside the ATV (albeit on the other side of the fence) when I head down to the diet pen after throwing the 3 "boys" (Whisky, Mystery and Acorn) their hay. He often jumps up, kicking out at the air like a bronco, he is so excited about getting his bowl of yummy stuff! He is too cute! Mystery makes him move from one bowl to the other and then back again, while he tries to decide which bowl has the better stuff in it (they both contain the identical amounts of the mash!). Acorn has become quite the character, loudly nickering (sp.?) at me to hurry up and put the mash in his bowl! Jake and Sierra (aka "the big guys") are in their own paddock. Jake is NOT happy that they get fed last! He paces around with his head down and his ears pinned back, nickering his annoyance with this obvious insult to his status as Herd Leader! Poor Sierra just lets him carry on while he waits patiently for the ATV to get a little too close to the fence, whereupon he quickly stretches out and grabs a big mouthful of hay if I'm not careful. He always looks so pleased with himself.
Our business is plugging away but facing some challenges in our struggling economy here. Both Carol and I are taking part-time jobs to help out. Carol is back at TD Canada Trust. She worked for them a while back and they jumped at the chance to have her at their newest branch here in Kamloops. Being me, I'm doing something completely different and have been hired by Palladin Security as a Security Officer. I've been busy completing a bunch of courses and now have my security licence. It will be interesting to see how this works out.
I haven't taken any pictures recently but will try and capture some images this weekend. Carol is coming home tonight after being away on a course in Vancouver and we have lots going on this weekend. The wood shed is calling me....
Monday, October 21, 2013
Lookin' Good!
With the siding and exterior trim complete, we turned our attention
to cleaning up the yard. We have been experiencing some wonderful fall
weather with sunshine and temps in the mid to high teens (Celsius).
While I have been finishing the siding, Carol has been burning all the
scrap in our burn barrel and re-stacking and organizing all the "good"
lumber. We cut up several damaged and/or rotting skids so they would fit
into the barrel and moved all the left over siding to a neat stack
behind the house. That in itself is no easy feat, requiring three
tractor loads of siding piled on a skid suspended beneath the front end
loader bucket. Man, that stuff is heavy! At least we know that our house
will never blow away in a windstorm with all that weight on the outside
walls!
After
2 full days of hard work this last weekend, we have the yard completely
garbage and scrap free. With all the trim and siding getting final
coats of paint after installation, the place is looking great - just
like the image we've had in our mind's eye! We've even managed to
disassemble and store all the saws and tools in the basement before the
snow comes. That puts us way ahead of last year!
As the weather was so nice on Sunday, we decided to let the horses out of their paddocks so they could eat some of the lovely grass that is still growing in the open areas on our property. Wow! You'd think they won the lottery by their reaction! In fact we let them stay out on the pasture all night. That may not sound like a big deal, but this is the first time we have ever let any of them out of their fenced-off fields. It would be difficult for them to escape right off the property as the gates are closed but the perimeter fence that may be down in any number of hard-to-reach places that we haven't seen. Needless to say, Carol was more than a little concerned about them being out...alone...in the dark! So, this morning, still in the dark, when we couldn't see the horses in front of the house, we loaded up the ATV as usual and went down to the paddocks to feed them. No reaction at all, until Carol unchained the gate. The quiet morning was interrupted by lots of calling and cantering hooves as our 5 boys tried to prevent us from giving away their hay and mash to someone else who may somehow have sneaked into their paddocks during the night! They came romping down the driveway, through the gate and galloped past me on the ATV to where Carol was dispensing breakfast. I closed the gate behind them and Carol quickly sorted them out into their home fields and they quickly set about enjoying their meals. Once again, all was right in the Gull Lake Ranch horse world.
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
"Winter's Coming!"
It's been a long time coming, but finally, we installed the last piece of fibre cement siding last Sunday afternoon. Yes, we still have a few pieces of white trim board to install, but we ran out and need to pick up another couple of lengths of the Smartside trim boards. We are thinking that Home Depot carries it so it should be no problem. We had to rig our two ladders so I could safely clamber up the roof while securing everything to the to small triangular areas on the upstairs exterior walls. It worked well and took the drama out of working on the 45 degree sloping roof. That roof supplied most of the challenges with the siding, requiring cuts to meet that angle and also accomodate the 20 degree slope on the second floor roof.
In the immortal words of Ned Stark, "Winter's coming!" We are already seeing some temps in the minus numbers (Celsius) overnight. It doesn't seem that long ago when we were trying to beat the heat! The seasons seem to change so quickly up here. Snow can't be far off. I'll have to take a serious look at winterizing the vehicles (ATV, tractor, truck, etc.) over the next few weekends. I have several oil and filter changes to do as well - generator and tractor. The list just never seems to get any smaller!
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