Work ... Play ... Fun ...

March 29, 2016

Craig and James continued to haul the trees to the fire ...

Nathan unhooking the choker from the stumps ...

We were finished hauling the trees for today ...

Craig wanted to do an experiment of tossing a plastic bag into the draft of the fire ...

to see if the updraft would take the bag into the air ...

It worked and up to the sky it went for quite a distance.

The wind had picked up a bit ...

James And Ella decided to try and fly the kite ...

the wind was not consistent so it took them awhile to get it into the air ...

Nathan and Grandpa were sitting back ...

watching the fire and the kids playing ...

 

March 30, 2016

Early morning enjoying our breakfast before heading outside ...

for another day of working ...

The kids remembered that Grandpa had received a bib years ago for Xmas ...

and they thought Grandpa needed to put it on to protect his shirt ...

James had gotten some food on his shirt ... so I pulled out a bib for him as well ...

they all had a good laugh about that one ...

Ella piped in and wanted one as well ... I knew I had another one just for her ...

It was another beautiful day ...

before we started to work ...

we opted to go for a family quad and dirt bike ride ...

touring all around the properties ...

We also ended up hiking up the trail to Opa's resting place ...

what a beautiful view ...

Nathan was enjoying riding on the trails ...

that him and his brother Ian rode on during their childhood ...

He also tested out riding up the steep hill again ...

then Craig being of age that his dad was at the time ...

took the challenge to try out the hill ...

He did it ...!!!

Nathan went up to where he was on top ...

and guided him on the technique to make his way down ...

Craig was proud of himself for conquering it ...

just as we were all proud of hime as well ...

After our touring venture ...

we headed back to the bonfire to enjoy a well deserved lunch ...

James & Ella worked on creating their own little fire ...

to roast hotdogs and marshmallows

The clouds were moving in ...

it was getting dark ...

Ella took the picture of the mountains with the fire in the forefront ...

Beautiful ... !!!

 

Pulling Out The Trees ...

March 29, 2016

The kids love riding in the tractor ...

Grandpa is very careful when they are in the bucket ...

he was lifting them up into the air and lowering them back down ...

It's like being at the carnival ...

Mike has wanted to clear the trees from the back field ...

that had grown up into that area the last few years ...

Craig climbed up the trees to attach the choker ...

for Grandpa to pull them out by the roots ...

James and I ended up helping out as well ...

I would attach the choker around the stumps ...

then James hauled them away with the quad ...

taking them to the new slash pile for Nathan to limb ...

then toss onto the bonfire ...

It's great to finally get a few of these jobs done ... !!!

 

 

Bonfire Day ...

March 29, 2016

It was the perfect day to burn the slash pile ...

the kids were digging up gopher holes while waiting for Grandpa ...

to finish making a fire break ...

The boys and Grandpa lit the match to get this fire going ...

James and Ella taking a break from riding their quads ...

watching the fire burn ...

Nathan was busy cutting the limbs off the trees ...

so they could be thrown on the pile ...

The kids had a blast with Grandpa giving them a ride in the tractor ...

Mike was determined to finally get this old stump to the fire ...

Mike put a chain around it and started pulling it out of the bush ...

He then pushed it onto the road ... and Craig decided to stand on top of it before Grandpa ...

latched onto it ...

The stump was dragged out into the field ...

and push up onto the burn pile ...

It is going to take days for that huge stump to burn down into ashes ...

 

Cleaning Up The Yard ...

March 28, 2016

It was the perfect day to gather up all the branches ... trees ... sticks ...

and haul them to the slash pile ...

out to the field ...

The kids ended up playing in the play centre ...

after they were done helping out ...

and watching grandpa haul the trees away ...

Once all the slash was gathered ...

the kids felt it was time to haul the VW body ...

down to the shop ...

as Grandpa will be ready fix it up to put on the VW frame ...

tires are almost ready to be mounted ...

Our neighbour came up to the house ...

then out to the garden ...

to show Mike how to prune the plum tree ...

Nathan was really interested in it as well ...

It was still a little early to have the apple trees pruned ...

Chris figured we should give it another couple weeks ...

then he will help us out again ...

pruning the trees ...

 

More Cookies Baked ...

December 9, 2015

Another day in the kitchen ... baking a few more batches ...

the aroma filling the air ...

with these jam filled Christmas cookies ...

The new cookie press was used for these Shortbread Cookies ...

it was so easy to press them out onto the sheet ...

then adding the sprinkles ... before popping them into the oven ...

We also managed to wrestle the tree into the living room ...

setting it place ... securing it ...

to be decorated within the next couple days ...

when the new strings of LED lights we had ordered ... arrive at the store ...

to be picked up on our next trip into town ...

It's all coming together nicely ....

 

Decorate The Boys ...

December 8, 2015

Today was the perfect day to spend my time decorating the gingerbread cookies ...

Here they are all finished ... about 2 hours to decorate them all ...

taking a few breaks to rest my hands ...

I love bringing a smile to their faces ... tee tee ... !!!

We decided to bring in the Christmas tree from the deck ...

after days of rain had stopped falling ... plastic tarps placed under sheets

as the tree needed to dry out so that we could put it up to decorate ...

This gigantic tree ... all 14 feet of it ...

reached from the dining room door all the way to the living room ...

Since the Royal icing was already made ...

it was time to decorate the snowflake cookies ...

Just as the real snowflakes have their own design ...

so do these decorated ones ... no two alike ... !!!

It was nice to sit down and relax after a busy day in the kitchen ...

 

 

Christmas Tree Hunt ...

December 5, 2015

We travelled around the properties ... in search of the perfect Christmas Tree ...

finally spotting a tree ... way up there ...

Mike proceeded to start the chainsaw and cut down the tree ...

We were happy that it was a rather warm day ...

and the tree landed on the ground without breaking any branches ...

Mike taking a measurement ...

making sure it read 14 feet (4.27 meters) on the tape measure ...

before cutting it down to size ...

We packed the tree into the trailer ... gathered up a few branches for decorations ...

and cleaned up the area ...

We then looked around to get Oma a Christmas Tree ...

for Joseph Creek Village ...

With both trees loaded in the trailer ... we headed for home ...

There was a batch of cookies waiting to be baked ...

The tree taken care of ... carried to the deck ... to be brought into the house ...

in a couple days ...

I did manage to get the Pinwheel cookies baked ...

as well as the Snowflake cookies ...

I will finish icing the Snowflake cookies another day ...

they take a bit of time decorate ...

 

Wishing our son Ian ...

a very Happy Birthday ... !!!

Sending our love ... always ... !!!

xoxo

Safe travels for your adventure to San Antonio ...

 

Cleaning Up ...

Today we spent the afternoon ...

cleaning up the lean-to and moving things into the storage shelter ...

Mike took some time to start Ian's quad to take it for a spin ...

he had a bit of trouble with it ...

but once it fired up ... he noticed that a pile of fir cones shot out of the tailpipe ...

looks like the squirrels were storing their food in there ...

The equipment stored and protected from the elements ...

The boat was backed in under the lean-to ...

where we have always wanted it to be stored ...

There is still lots of room to park the quads and in the winter months ...

it will be my SUV ...

We continued straightening things up ...

with trimming some of the branches on the surrounding trees ...

We have lots of fire starter to have a bon fire with the kids this coming weekend ...

It's been a while since I have seen this firewood cutting roller frame ...

that dad had built many years ago ...

He would put section of wood onto it ... and then push it forward ...

or either mom was there helping ...

to cut the logs to length for the wood stove ...

There are still a few items of dads ...

that are too precious to part with ...

 

Next Project Underway ...

October 2, 2015

Well ... it was decided that we needed another shelter ...

to cover up the lawn tractor ... lawn movers ... sprayer ... etc ...

other than just under tarps ... plus to gain a bit more room ...

under the lean-to ...

While Mike was getting the tractor ready ...

I spotted more Shaggy Mane mushrooms ...

growing in the parking area ...

I ended up picking them ...

bringing them in the house to clean ...

to be cooked up and eaten later ...

There was one tree ...

that would pose a problem ... in the area the shelter was going to be built ...

Mike gathered up the tools needed to bring this tree down ...

attaching the cable to the tree ... a choker to another tree ... with the cable going thru a snatch block and attached to the tractor ...

As Mike started to cut the tree ... and keeping the tension on it ...

Mike gave me the signal to go ahead ... pulling the tree in the direction ... it was to fall ...

Tree down ... unhooked the cable ...

used the chain to hook it up to the tractor ...

to be hauled out into the field ...

Time for Mike to get started ... digging up the dirt ...

to level the area ...

but first he had to remove the stump of the tree that was just dropped ...

then hauled out into the burn pile in the field ...

We could not believe how dry the dirt was ...

even with all the rain we had gotten ...

It was powdery and very dusty moving the dirt and rocks ...

Mike had to cut off a few roots ...

in order to get enough room for the shelter ...

It took a few hours of tractor work ...

to get the landing site ready ...

My job was to rake and get rid of the large rocks ...

It is good to go to finish up tomorrow...

A good days work completed ...

time to sink into the hot tub ...!!!!

 

 

Trees Trimmed ...

June 30 & July 1, 2015

A crew was working on trimming the trees ...

near the hydro lines ...

We decided to have them trim a couple of our trees ...

Branches all down ...

ready to be cleaned up ...

The crew arrived the next day ...

to gather up all the branches and put them into the chipper ...

and when that job was completed ...

they backed up into an area that needed a little fill ...

and proceeded to dump it there ...

Mike later smoothed out the pile with the tractor ...

This was a job we had wanted done ...

to open up the view ...

Luv it ... !!!