It's getting closer!

Aren't they pretty? Here are dad's septic tank and Cistern. I love the color. He has been working since Friday and should be done by December 2. Dad's house will be finished Dec 2 and moved on about the 6th.

This is the finished Cistern. It is all ready to go!

moving the septic tank in. We are lucky for the snow. It hasn't let the ground freeze so they will be able to do the whole septic field.

This is the hole for the septic tank.

We are so excited for dad to move. He should be moved in on Dec 11. I hope all goes well. He is all packed up and ready to go!

My Newest Hobbie

Last Saturday they had a craft fair at the Cultural Centre and we were able to go around and see the different clubs. It was so awesome to see all the different talents people had. I decided to join up with the fibre arts group. I have always wanted to try to weave. They had so many beautiful projects done. So I joined right away and started learning how to thread a loom and I am on my first project. It is going to be a scarf. We have access to the building 24 hours a day all year long and they have so many goodies I want to try. They have a carding machine where you can card your own wool and a spinning wheel, and places to dye fibre. I am going to learn how to felt and all sorts of goodies.

I have a mentor named Peggy Moore who is in our ward and is kind enough to help me out. It gets me out of the house every now and again. In the winter time I become such a hermit. Which is a good thing most days if you look at my previous post on my driving skills. I look forward to learning new things and making some new friends.

The red part will be picked out afterwards this is just to get the tension right. It will be done on Tuesday so I will show the finished project then!

Honey....I can explain!

Winter...who likes it? Well, the weather has been really cold and very snowy. So snowy that Sean didn't want me driving as our roads haven't been cleared. Well, that was fine for a couple of days but finally I assured him that I am an excellent driver and I grew up with tons of snow and I can handle it! So the first morning driving on my own, Sean followed me out to make sure I would be OK. I was driving like a pro in our driveway. Then, realizing I was going to be late, I forgot the road conditions as I tried to turn and boom...or more accurately screech...slide...stop
Yup, I hit the ditch. London was with me. Looked over and said, "Nice Mom, you made it like 5 meters outside of our gate!

That is our gate and here is my car. I think it is at least 12 meters myself. Man, was it slippery and I need new tires. Luckily, Sean wasn't too mad because he was able to say I told you so!

We left the car for the day and after work, Sean came home to pull it out and luckily just as we were going to try and get it out our drywaller and friend happened by with a 4X4! Phew, it came out really easy.

Another shot of my fine skills. It was super icy and my car just wouldn't turn.

Blossom meeting our neighbour. Everyone came to see my humiliation!

Thanks Jason! This happened on Monday of this week....fast forward to today.

OK, I can explain. It is starting to warm up and I wanted to get a picture of the snow on my tractor as it has been so beautiful the last couple of days. So I brought my camera in the car. As I was looking at the snow and the tractor, I was distracted and pulled over too far on the one side...yup, I am stuck. Well, at least I am close to home. The wind is blowing really strong as a Chinook is on its way in. So I got out of the car in a deep drift to start walking to the house when a $20.00 bill went flying from behind. Must have been in my pocket. And it was high up in front of me, I tried to run and get it when the tree grabbed it!

So now the $20.00 is in the tree too high for me to get out and my car is stuck and I am waiting at home for another lecture on my poor driving skills. Remember, honey, I can cook pretty good, I keep a pretty good house and I excel at cuddling. Plus, I left a tip in the tree for you once you dig me out! OH WHAT A DAY~ How long 'til summer?

TiMBeR!

Anyone that has been to our farm knows we have no shortage of firewood. There were a lot of trees dead that were still standing (...lots 40-60ish) and they were really tall and we knew it was going to be difficult to cut them down. Sean got a new chainsaw for the task but was not finding time to do it. It was really worrying me as the man who owned the property before us had a tree fall into the house and do a lot of damage, so every time the wind blew I was worried.



Well, our prayers were answered. Grandpa Jack knew a guy who was a logger from Newfoundland and he was out of work. So he brought him up to see the job. I thought we would never be able to afford him as we heard it was over a $1000 per tree to take down and cut up. He said that he would take them all down for $600.00! Up all for $600. So we jumped on that. It only took him 3 days and probably 9 hours in total so that was pretty good tax free money.



We started in the back where my dad is going to be living. We felt that was really important. This is the after picture. It was so exciting to be having such a nice fall that we could get this work done. I loved hearing the sawing and the big crash. He just left them where they fell so it is a big mess now but at least they are down. We will have to haul them away and saw them all up this spring (and for the rest of our lives)!!!

While he was working my power went out. I went to look if he took out the power pole but it just touched the lines. Not a good way to introduce yourselves to the neighbours. We were without power for about 4 hours. (us and our whole road). When the power guy came out, he noticed that one more tree had to come down and it was a big one right in line to hit the power pole. So he came and put spikes on his boots and climbed up to attach a rope.

He used his truck to direct the way the tree fell.

Free help. You have to love that!

Can you spot him climbing the tree?

More trees before he cut them down.

This is the same shot as above so you can see some of the dead trees. I will take some in the spring so you can really know what it looks like! I have to say that this shot makes me want spring. It hasn't been that long since summer and already I have forgotten how green everything can be!

Timber! This is the tree that came down and with help missed the wire! He is all done now. Unfortunately for us (but good for him) he has work so he wasn't able to cut up any of the trees. We had a few cut up by one of his friends but he wasn't that great and he also got a job so I guess it is up to us after all. He used Sean's brand new chain saw and it did great until the last day when a tree fell back and crushed the chain saw. The guy was just sick about it and offered to replace it but it would have been almost as much as he made. So we replaced it and he finished the job. It was worth what it cost to replace it and pay him. He was a really kind man.

We still have quite a few trees left and we plan to plant a bunch in the spring. We were really blessed to get this job done! Heavenly Father is so good to us.

Welcome to the Funny Farm!

Some times I feel I live in a crazy backwards world. Here is a perfect picture of what I mean. Blossom begs all day to go out. Every time we open the door, Blossom rushes out and the kitties run right in! It is a constant battle to try to keep our animals happy. The grass is greener on the other side of the door.



London wants Brigham to come in and her dad says "he is an outside dog so he isn't allowed in". London has spent hours the last few weeks laying outside spoiling him. This is a typical thing I see each time I look out. All the kitties and Brigham snuggling with London. Now that there is snow on the ground, it has gotten harder for her to spend time with him. I am on the fence. I want both worlds and want both Sean and London to be happy. Yesterday, I caved and let Brigham in for about 1/2 hour. Poor little guy was terrified to come inside. We had to drag him and coax him to come up the stairs. When he finally got in he calmed down a bit but didn't know what to do besides sit on London's lap. Every time he got near me, Blossom barked and let him know to back off, "she is mine"

He got hot, so we put him outside as we don't want him to lose his winter coat. I wish we could have both worlds. Anyone out there have a farm dog that comes in sometimes? How do you train it to not go to the bathroom in the house and does it mess up their fur coat? London wants to spend time with him and he is still a puppy, but like I said, Sean and Blossom don't want to budge on their opinion and as usual I am in the middle!




The Kitties and Brigham have a love hate relationship. They love him to sleep with but don't enjoy being mauled when he tries to play. I really mean Mauled!! I am worried he is going to kill one of them. He bites, chews, slobbers and tromps on them thinking that their desperate MEW's are indicating they like it. Right now they hide from him most of the day. This is a picture of nap time....yes, the door is awful and we are going to change it, I promise!

So back to the craziness. The dog eats the cat food and the cats prefer the dog food. They sleep in his heated dog house and he slept outside and froze...now that it has gotten colder he has moved inside and all of them sleep together. I guess I should have told him that he hates cats....but I didn't have the heart to break up their love affair.

Good the Bad and the Yummy

Well, this is the yummy and good part! I just love making pies. This is an apple pie. The reason I love it so much is because every time I make a pie, I remember my darling mother. She was an amazing pie maker. While I was growing up, she did an annual pie project with her 2 best friends, Barbra McLean and Diane Stewart. They donated the money to the church for the building fund. I loved the days that they did it. I would sit and listen to them chat and work and would always get some pie cookies. These dear women were my mother's friends, but I feel they had a great influence on my life. I loved them both. I know Barbra is gone, as well as my mom, but I have lost track of Diane. I know they are baking away in heaven giving service to all those around them.

This is the bad part. I have doors now but for months I didn't! We put a sheet up on our bathroom for semi privacy....doesn't cut out sound or smells...let me tell you! But at least no one watched as you did it. We always called loudly before we went to the bathroom so people knew we were in it! We had many guests come over and they were good sports to the doorless in the country situation. We were making good memories....but I am glad for a locking door!

PS....I am missing comments. Not many are commenting and it is making me sad. Please let me know that there is someone out there.....hello?

New Toys....Christmas came early

Meet Floozy. She is the newest girl in our toy factory. Sean named her Floozy.....because...can you figure it out? Anyway, Sean started a while ago looking for some Honda Odysseys. They are hard to find. He had one as a teenager and loved how fun it was. I rode one once with his crazy sister when I was single (before Sean) and was amazed at Kate and how crazy she was in it. After I got home from my ride on it, I felt something and looked in my bra and found a squished grasshopper (as Sean would insert here...."but what a way to go!")



Sean found her on Kijiji and e-mailed me the details. It looked so fun and I had a moment of weakness and said let's go get it today and poof we did. London was gone for the weekend so we tormented her relentlessly about the new toy...she was convinced that it was a puppy! We have had a ton of fun on her already.

OK, I have to insert a story here for posterity's sake......I change my mind quickly. One minute I feel "heck let's just spend money, that's what it's for". The next I feel the need to go on a tight budget and spend nothing. Let's flash back a few years to when Sean wanted a quad. I only had my work quad at the time and he really wanted a racer quad. The problem is they are tons of money. One day when we were hanging around I said let's go and look for a quad for you. Oh, the look of love he gave me. I will never forget. Off we raced to the quad store where he found the girl of his dreams....Gertie. Well, it was a weak moment and I said go ahead and buy her. Tears, I kid you not, tears pooled in his eyes as he dealt on his quad. It was near closing time and they were having some issues with the paper work, so they said why don't you come back in the morning and we will have it ready then. The look of panic was comical. He was insistent that he had to have it today....Why? He could tell I was already stressing out on how much money it was and was about to change my mind. He knows me so well. Well, he has his quad and a bunch of new toys to match. He just lies in wait, buttering me up, hoping and praying for a weak day.

How can you resist that cute face? Well, we now hove 2 more Odysseys to match. He found these in Drumheller. They were smaller but still lots of power. He found these because I mentioned that we should get two more so we can all ride one. So the search was on. I told him sure, but we don't have time to get them so if the guys will deliver them, go ahead and buy them. Hee hee, I thought I got him with that one. Who would drive the purchase over?.....Apparently the guy from Drumheller. So we got 2 more that work and 1 more that could be fixed to work. So yes, I am sucker of the year.

We have had so much fun with them. We can't wait to share them with everyone. Sean's family all came and we played around forever and the Mossey's came for a ride. The kids loved it and so did Amy and Tyler. Tyler is a crazy man on them....just like Sean.

Sean rolled it on the first day we got them just showing them off to me. I feel they are way safer as you are belted in so good and they have roll bars. Vance and Trevor came when they heard we were getting them and had a ride on them too. I can't wait until next spring & summer. It will be tons of fun!

Maddy getting her first ride! She loves to drive the quad when I am on it with her.

Jarom sockless.....a true racer in the making!

Charlie getting into the action

Such a little cutie

Teesha drove like a pro and even knows how to drive a standard now!

Comparing notes

Jack loves the little quad because he can drive it all by himself.

Come for a ride everyone!