Ice Crystals ...

April 2, 2017

It was a sunny day ... perfect to spend it outdoors ...

I loved seeing the snowpack melt on the pool ...

especially with the ice crystals shimmering underneath ...

I just couldn't resist ... taking a few pictures of the formations ...

Little slivers or pieces would break off ... and they were unique in shape ...

Mother Nature is amazing ...!!!

An Evening at the Theatre ...

February 21, 2017

Another light dusting of snow fell thru the night ...

Tonight was a special night ... Oma and I were going to the Ballet ...

"Swan Lake" ...

It was an amazing production ... that we thoroughly enjoyed ...

We are very fortunate to have these types of events ...

performed in our little town ...

 

 

It's Snowing ... Again ...

February 18, 2017

The snow was falling ... and after breakfast ... we all headed outside to play ...

Alana was amazed at how much snow we had in the yard ...

Nathan went to find the snowmobiles ... buried in the snow ... to dig them out ...

for the two of them to go for a ride ...

This was Alana's first time driving a sled ... she did great ...

driving around on the driveway her first few rounds ...

and then ventured off with Nathan ... following him on a few trails ...

Later they went together on one sled ... Nathan heading off thru the field into the crown land ...

touring the back roads but ... they were not able to go very far due to the amount of snow ...

They did stop to enjoy the quietness in the wilderness ...

 

After Alana and Nathan came back from their sledding adventure ...

they popped into the shop to check out the progress on the VW ...

It was getting late and everyone was getting hungry ...

together we made dinner ...

A delicious meal of leftover spatzle ... beans ... fresh salad ...

and fresh cooked breaded beef cutlets ...

 

After dinner ... and the kitchen cleaned up ...

we decided to go out and relax in the hot tub ... after a busy day playing in the snow ...

I had taken the picture of Nathan and Alana ...

and then the kids thought they should take a picture of mom ...

Well ... with standing next to him ... it still surprises me at how tall Nathan is ...

and how short I am ...

Everyone had a good chuckle when they saw the picture ...

It was a lovely evening ... with the deck lights on ... snow falling lightly upon us ...

as we visited ... chatting about our wonderful day together ...

 

 

Still Clearing ...

February 11, 2017

Finally a clear day ...

and we were able to clear snow off the travel trailer ...

and the sheds ...

There was a lot of snow on the trailer ... and with it warming up ...

the snow was melting which made the weight heavy on the roof ...

It was a delicate procedure as not to tear the cover ...

Mike was very careful where he stepped ...

he managed to get all the snow off ...

It was great to see the full moon this evening as well ...

grateful it was not snowing for the time being ...

The weather forecast for the next few days is snow again ...

Day 7 of Snow ...

February 10, 2017

So grateful to see the sunshine and blue skies ...

there was a skiff of snow on the deck this morning ...

After breakfast we cleared off the side deck ... as it was too much to take care of yesterday ...

The only issue was that it was warming up ...

and therefore the snow was heavier ... to toss over the railing ... for Mike to haul away ...

I was so happy to see that last shovel full of snow ...

to be thrown over the railing for this day ...

It was so beautiful ... and the warmth from the sun felt good ...

It's still hard to believe how much snow had fallen ... in a week ...

The garden is buried ... the potato boxes disappeared under the snow ...

The snow is high up on the fence ...

I think it would be difficult to open up the gate right now ...

We'll have to wait until the snow melts ...

These pictures were taken of Joseph Creek Village ...

Oma sent them out to all of our family in Europe as well ... they were surprised at how much snow there was ...

The residents were held captive ... no way to get out ...

It was difficult to try and go for a walk with the sidewalks pretty well buried ...

There was so much snow ...

that Joseph Creek and Cranbrook ...

were featured on the Global News Calgary station ... on the evening news ...

Mike and I managed to make our way into town ...

to enjoy a lovely evening with Oma ... Joe ... Mike and Shauna ...

at the Valentine's Day Buffet ...

Day 6 of Snow ...

February 9, 2017

We couldn't believe the amount of snow that had fallen overnight ... again ... !!!

After breakfast we made our way outside ...

to start with this days activities ... clearing snow ... 

The snow kept falling as we were shovelling ... 

I had the first round  pushed into a pile ...

at the end of the deck ...

When Mike had finished hauling the first pile away ...

I had started to shovel off the next round of snow on the deck ...

The Jeep is completely covered with snow ... it won't be going anywhere ...

for quite awhile ...

The next job to be done was helping Mike clear snow ... down to the boiler ...

and then off the shelters ... 

The snow on the shop roof ... was almost up to the top of the hydro service connection ...

I was concerned about the amount of snow on the grandchildren's fort ...
I hope that when they built it ... it would be strong enough for this weight ...
The snow at the barbwire fence ... 
by the field ...
was up to the second string ...
It's still snowing ...
guess the deck should be checked ...
to see if it needs to be cleared again ...

Music Break ...

February 8, 2017

Yes it had snowed again this morning ...

and yes it was cleared again ...

No pictures of this activities ... it was the same ...

I had decided to go to the next on the list ...

"Home Routes" ... concert series ...

  The concert series consists of bands from all over ... they have a scheduled circuit (Red Square, AB) ... traveling from town to town performing and staying in host homes.  The group from last night were from Nashville.  It is quite enjoyable being in a small group setting with friends.  You can get info on the website ... HERE

Mike had gone to a meeting ...

so I decided to call our neighbour to see if they were going to the concert ...

as I wasn't sure my car would make it down the host family's driveway ...

And boy ... was I glad to have gotten a ride ...

our road had not been plowed thru all this snowfall ...

And ... the driveway to the concert was treacherous as well ... People were having to leave their vehicles at the clearing ... and hitch a ride with others ...

We made it to the house ... enjoyed a lovely evening of music ...

When we left the concert ... 

Don decided to put the chains on to get out ... 

it was still snowing and blowing ...

Thank you Don for bringing us back home safely ...

Day 4 of Snow ...

February 7, 2017

Well ... another day with snowfall thru the night ... Today we are going to tackle the side and front deck ... There was an extreme amount of snow ... It was going to take me and Mike ... a few hours ... to toss this snow ... over the railing for Mike to haul away ... It was nice to see the sunshine and blue sky ... makes it all worth while to be outdoors ...

Still clearing the snow ...

Next on the agenda ... was trying to find the front stairs ...

they were off the deck somewhere ... 

I started from down at the driveway ... working my up the stairs ...

the snow on the landing was as high up on my hip ...

Digging my way thru ... I finally found the bottom step ... up to the deck ... 

Unbelievable ... !!!

Wow ...  We never get tired of looking ... at this view ...

Day 3 of Snow ...

February 6, 2017

Oh my ... this was unbelievable ... so much snow fell thru the night ...

this is Day 3 ... of fallen snow ... we could hardly get out the back door ...

It feels like we are living like the movie "Groundhog Day" ...

we wake up ... have breakfast ... clear snow all day ... have dinner ... then fall into bed ...

What will tomorrow bring ... ???

Mike digging his way out to stoke the boiler ...

after breakfast ... Mike started plowing ...

I had started to clear the deck ... and pile it off the edge ...

for Mike to haul away ... it's just too much snow to pile it by the house ...

It was a beautiful site though ... love the look of the untouched snow ...

Our driveway was closing in on us ...

Mike was having difficulty pushing all this snow ...

Grateful for our neighbour Don ...

to come and use the snowblower on his tractor ...

to open up some more room ...

just in case we get another dump of snow ...

Snow and Football ...

February 5, 2017

Oh my ... lots of snow again ... I cleared the snow on the right side of the railing and left it on the other side ...

this morning there was half as much snow again ... 

While I was clearing snow ... there was a couple batches of dough rising ...

we were going down to the neighbours later this afternoon ...

to watch the Super Bowl "LI" football game ... and have dinner ...

The dough had risen ... and shaped into a Challah bread and Italian buns ... left to rise again ... 

I went back outside to continue removing snow ...

Returning to the kitchen to put the trays into the oven to bake ... 

During that time I decided to make a fruit crisp for  dessert ...

"Apple ... Peach and Huckleberry Crisp"

The dessert was baked after the bread and buns were baked ...

We enjoyed a lovely spaghetti dinner ... with all the side dishes ...

pausing the Super Bowl football game after half time ...

Everyone fed up and ready to watch the second half of the football game ...

Some of us were in the kitchen watching it and cleaning up ...

then joined the guys ... 

It was a close game in the 4th quarter ... 

the New England Patriots were closing in on the Atlanta Falcons ...

the score at this time was 28-20 for the Falcons ... if the Patriots get a touchdown ... and a 2 point conversion ... it would go into overtime ...

When the Patriots were near the 1 yard line ... the recording of the game ended ...

we did not see the end of the game ... WHAT HAPPENED ... ???? We were stunned ... 

I guess they didn't set the recording for overtime ... so when the new program came on ...

the Patriots did tie the game ... so to start the overtime game ... 

the teams tossed a coin to determine which team would be the receiving ... 

the Patriots won the toss ...

and once the game started ... the Patriots ended up getting a touchdown to win the game ...

34-28 ...

Yippee !!!!

We had a good laugh over this one ... all of anxiously waiting for that play to tie the game ...

and boom it was over ...

hahaha !!!

It had snowed all day again ... and we were not paying attention to it while the game was on ... 

Once we left the party ... around 10:30 ... 

all of us had to clean off our vehicles ... just unbelievable ... 

and make our way home ...

We could hardly make it up our road ... so much snow had fallen ...

Oh my it was going to be another busy day tomorrow with all this snow ...

Grateful we cleared all the snow earlier ...

Snow Is Falling ...

February 3, 2017

We had spent the day clearing snow ...

towards the evening it started to snow again ...

Couldn't believe how much had fallen already ...

wondering how much was going to accumulate thru the night ...

I was looking out the window upstairs ...

and decided to take a few pictures of the snow and Mike stoking the boiler ...

February 4, 2017

Well ... as you can see we woke up to a huge amount of snow ...

we headed outside after a hardy breakfast ...

figured we needed it to give us lots of energy ... for clearing the snow ...

As Mike starts to plow the area ...

my jobs are to clean the snow off the car and truck ... then move them to the cleared area ...

for Mike to continue plowing ...

Then I shovel the snow off the decks ... the back deck is pushed to the edge of the deck ...

then Mike hauls bucketfuls away ...

We do not want to have it close to the house ... as it causes issues when the weather warms up ...

Next the side and front decks are cleared ...

the snow is tossed over the railings onto the driveway ...

as well as the snow from the stairs ... landing and stairs to the driveway ...

for Mike to plow away from the house ...

It was another busy day in the snow ...

we sure are getting a good workout these days ...

More Snow ...

January 9, 2017

What a surprise when we awoke this morning ...

approximately another foot of snow ...

It had warmed up a bit ... and the snow was heavier ...

so we needed to get to work ...

We spent the whole day clearing the decks ...

and the driveway ...

 

January 10, 2017

 

It was beautiful day ... perfect for setting up our new ...

Wireless Wind Speed Weather Station ...

It is so nice to see the monitor in the house ... giving us the info for the day ...

The moon was still high in the sky this morning ...

it's not very often I see the moon at this time of the day ...

 

 

Happy New Year ...

December 31, 2016

The last day of the year ... turned out to be a beautiful day to go for a hike ...

strapping on the snowshoes and ventured off into the field and the woods ...

The sun was shining ... and the snow glistened in its light ...

loved seeing all the animal tracks in the snow ...

and there was one large rabbit somewhere on this path ... hopping around ...

Thought it was amazing how much snow was on the roof ...

of the bluebird house ...

It was time to head back to the house ...

and start getting ready for our ...

New Year's Eve celebration ...

We spent the evening with our friends ... at the St. Eugene Mission Golf & Casino Resort ...

enjoying a wonderful buffet dinner ... then going to the casino ...

trying out our luck on the slot machines ... dancing to the music ...

and gathering with our friends ... with all our fancy hats ... party favours and champagne ... counting down the seconds as we rung in the New Year of 2017 ... !!!

We continued to play in the casino ...

throughout to the wee hours with a few of us were coming out winners ...

before heading to our rooms ...

This was a wonderful New Year's Eve event package ...

we were able to spend the last day of the year ...

and the first day of the year with our friends ...

Hope everyone had a very Happy New Year ... !!!