On The Post ...

Mike was travelling home thru the valley ...

just down the road from our place ...

when he spotted this Eagle perched ...

on the fencepost ...

Thank you for taking these photos ... !!!

Fishing With Friends ...

June 25, 2014

It was the perfect day to go fishing ... to Premiere Lake ...

with good friends ...

who are travelling thru area ...

David and Sandy were amazed with the beauty of this area ...

we had a lovely day ...

cruising around the lake ... fishing ... relaxing ... and having an onboard picnic ...

I was the only one who was fortunate enough to catch any fish ...

bringing home two - 2lb  fish for our dinner ...

We felt one was to small to keep ...

and of course the "Bigger One" almost made it into the net ...

but with one last flip ... it fell off the hook and got away ...

AND that is the truth ... I have witnesses ... !!!

We had a lot of fun and enjoyable day ... 

Walker Dancing ...

June 20, 2014

We were invited to the festivities at Joseph Creek Village ...

for a Pancake Breakfast ...

The band "Old Spice" were playing a few good tunes ...

for the Walker Dancing activities ...

once the music began to play ... 

it wasn't long before Mike & I were up kicking up our heels ...

and joining in ...

It was so wonderful to see everyone up and dancing ... 

whether they had a partner or not ... 

It was great listening to Bob ...

play the spoons right along with the band ...

A fun time was had by all ... !!!

Container Moved ...

June 22 & 23, 2014

We had a couple of busy days ...

after moving the sheds out of the way ... 

Mike was ready to start the excavation ... to take part of the hill away ...

to make room for the container ...

While Mike continued to clear the bank ...

and place the pipes to slide the container over ...

I spent a few hours in the heat ...

removing all the decals off the container ...

with the heat of the sun ...

it was easy to pull them off ...

I am so happy not to see those large blue & yellow stickers ...

With the use of jacks and the tractor ...

inching little by little ...

we were able to slide the container ...

over to it's new location ... 

There is plenty of room for the snow now ... and to be cleared ...

Last year it piled up beside the container ...

and partway into the lean-to ...

covering the boat and part of the quads ...

Today June 25, 2014 ...

we took the time to go fishing ...

spending a relaxing day ...

Reflecting on the 37 years that have gone by ...

since the passing of my sister ... Susie ...

Always in our thoughts ... still sending her our love ...

Still Cleaning Up ...

We have been busy cleaning up the shed area ....

needing to make more room to move the storage container ...

away from the shop ...

It was great to finally move a lot of the stuff ... 

and most of it was taken to the landfill site ... we are on a roll ... !!!

Thankful for the tractor to help us move the sheds ...

which are now located in a new area ...

Welcome Summer ....

First Day Of Summer

Enjoying this beautiful sunny day ... !!!

Bees ... Butterflies and Lilacs ...

Enjoying watching the bees gather nectar from the lilac bush ...

 Beautiful lilac blossoms ...

being visited by a few butterflies ... 

Another butterfly enjoying the sweet nectar from my mini lilac bush ...

an explosion of flowers ...

covering this bush ...

Love the fragrance from these lilacs ...

right outside our door ...

Growth In The Garden ...

Excited to see the growth in the garden ...

the green peppers doing well ... 

and my Eggplant has quite a few blossoms ...

Protecting the Apple and Plums trees ...

from ants ...

placing a special band around the trunk of the tree ...

and spreading a salve of Pine Sap ...

to trap the ants ... 

It has been raining for days here ...

finally had a chance to go out into the garden ...

Kita ... our neighbours dog ...

loves to come down for a visit and look for gophers in the field ...

My strawberries were ready to be picked ...

then checked on the chives ... marigolds ... beans ... onions ... carrots ... beets and potatoes ...

growing in this raised bed garden ...

before the next storm blew in ....

I was able to take a picture of the rainbow ...

and just in the nick of time ...

while heading back to the house when the clouds opened up ...

and it started to rain again ...

Turtles Crossing ...

On my way home from town ...

turning onto the dirt road by the lake ...

I was held up by a group of Painted Turtles ...

that were crossing the road at this time ...

Stepping out of my car ... grabbing my camera ...

taking a few pictures of them ... all five of them ...

this was the first time I have seen this many all at once ...

 on the road ... !!!

Last Night In Houston ...

 May 29, 2014

Daigen showing grandma his plants that he had started from seed at school ...

hope to get pictures of the Sunflower and cucumbers growing ...

Making new friendship bracelets with the grandchildren ...

then spending the evening watching movies and eating popcorn ...

later bringing out the glow stick bracelets ...

the boys wanted to go to bed with them ...

tucking Daigen in bed ... and say goodnight ...

Nixon had fallen fast asleep on the floor ... 

It was a busy day of playing ... 

Lovely thoughts of Dad ... on this day of his birth ... 

May 30, 2014

Leaving Houston ... heading for Seattle then Spokane ...

 driving home to our final destination ...

We had a great time visiting our family in Houston ...

always sad to say goodbye ...

Excited to see them once again ...

in the summer ...

when they come home for a visit ... !!!

Wishing Mike's sister Linda a very Happy Birthday today ...

June 16, 2014

Removing The Stump ...

First job to tackle this morning ...

was the 3rd tree ... both of us limbing the branches ...

bucking up the log ... adding them to our huge wood pile by the woodshed ...

and hauling the branches to the burn pile in the field ...

Next job to tackle ... was the stump at the back of the house ...

it took us most of the afternoon ...

to dig around the roots ...

This was a tree of about 45 yrs old ....

roots well embedded into the ground with lots of dirt and rocks ...

one of the roots had to be cut ... as it was  impossible to snap apart ...

Mike and I worked together to pull this stump ...

out of the ground ...

a chain was wrapped around the stump ...

and hooked unto the truck ...

I kept the tension on the chain pulling as I backed the truck up ...

as Mike lifted the large root and pushed it with the back-hoe ...

finally breaking loose ...

and set on top of the driveway ...

This stump was extremely heavy ... were not sure our little tractor could lift it ...

Mike figured the stump had to be 2800 lbs... the max on what the tractor could handle ...

we were able to lift and tie the stump on the bucket ... 

with just enough clearance to drag it to its resting place ...

Stump pushed over the edge ... will leave it there until it dries out ...

before hauling it into the field to burn ...

Mike finished this part of the job ...

with filling in the hole ...

We will rake out the rocks and deal with the landscaping ...

once we decide what we want to do ...

It sure was a good ... productive day ... 

another job to stroke off the "To Do" List ...

Busy Party Day ...

May 28, 2014

A busy and exciting day for Nixon ...

he was invited to his friends birthday party ...

it was held at the mall ... with the big Carousel ...

and Mary Poppins arrived to surprise the birthday girl ...

the kids had a great time riding on the Carousel ...

Taking a break at the mall ...

before we headed out to go shopping ...

at Oma's favourite store ...

Mike's good friend invited us for dinner ...

at the Spindletop Revolving Restaurant ... in downtown Houston ...

we had not seen him in about 20 years ...

He was delighted when Mike contacted him ...

to let him know we were going to be in the area ....

Britt had been working with Mike a long time ago in Calgary ...

we had invited him to our home to spend the weekend with us ...

He felt this was the perfect place for us to get together ...

We enjoyed a lovely evening ... visiting ... reminiscing ... laughing and eating ... !!!

Some pictures  of the Houston area ...  from the top of the restaurant ...

the building were so high around us ... the only way we could see the sunset ... 

was on the reflection on the mirrored building ...

It was great spending the evening together ... it seemed as if no time had passed at all ...

since we had seen each other ...

Britt still hopes to come and visit us again ...

this time with his family ...

The Rain Continued ...

May 27, 2014

It had rained all night ...  tornado and flash flood warnings ...

Ian had to get up during the night and drain the pool ... it was close to spilling over ...

Nixon figured since you couldn't go out ...

that it was the perfect movie watching day ... and then catching a few winks ...

The rain finally stopped around 4:00 in the afternoon ...

the boys were excited to slip on their rubber boots ...

was time to head outside ...

to go run and jump thru the large puddles ...

It was a lot of fun ...

until their boots were filled with water ...

they didn't like that feeling ...

Cutting Down The Trees ...

June 9, 2014

We had talked about cutting down the tree ...

in front of the house ...

it was creating quite a mess with all it's needles ... 

on the deck and in the eaves troughs ...

we were also concerned about extremes winds blowing them down ...

Larry our neighbour said he would help out ...

Tree #1 tied off on to the truck ... chainsaw in hand ... cutting away ... and TIMBER ... !!!!

Mike and Larry continued cutting and bucking up the tree ...

I brought the tractor down and loaded them up ...

then hauled them to be piled by the woodshed ... to be split at a later time ...

Next it was time to cut down Tree #2 ...

at the back of the house ...

this tree was leaning towards the house as well as the pool ...

Once again the tree was tied to the truck ...

to force the tree to fall along the road ... 

what a team Mike and Larry are ... placed right where they wanted it to fall ...

Now Tree #3 ... needed to be cut down too ...

it is just too close to the driveway ...

plus ... this was the tree that I almost slid into early this spring ...

needed to make it a larger area to push the snow over ...

Some extra photos of the tree stumps ...

and the starting of the wood pile ...

Should have quite a bit of firewood for next years supply ...

and with it being bucked up ...

will dry quickly ...