Sharing What We Love To Do
We had the honour and privilege of babysitting Charlie at the end of January! Such a fun couple of days!!!!
Having fun with Grandpa! …
Havin’ a snuggles! …
Out for a snowmobile ride! ….
Havin’ a “nanner” after all that fresh air! …
Nap Time! …
Bed Time!
And one more snowmobile ride! …
I couldn’t believe it when I looked out the bay window yesterday and noticed what was on one of our Golden Willows… had to check to make sure I was right when we ran the dogs today…
Yes, a few of our willows have their male catkins out (the pussy willow!) In the middle of February!
Here is one of our Golden Willows in the front yard…
A little west of this Golden Willow are a couple ponds with Shining Willows, and a couple of them are just starting to get their pussy willows! It was in the shade over there, so I didn’t take any photos, but I did grab a few!
So what did I do with the pussy willows I cut? … I put them together with some I had from last year! …
Brian, Brooke & Jude and I hit the road on Friday! We went up to Edmonton to see Brian’s mom, his brother Brad and his sister Bonnie. And Jude got to meet them!!
Jude with Great Grandma Jean …
Jude got some great gifts from Great Auntie Char!! Thanks Great Auntie Char!! And Brooke loved her special gift too! (sorry, no photo of that) Thanks Auntie Char!! …
Jude is about 11½ weeks old now, and he has lots of smiles!! …
Jude with Mom and Great Grandma! …
Jude with Great Auntie Bonnie …
Jude with Great Uncle Brad …
Taking a picture of Brad taking a picture of Brad! 😂 …
Jude was quite enthralled with Great Uncle Brad … well, once Brad finished with his selfie, that is! …
Four Generations! …
One of all of them Friday afternoon…
We decided to get a new camera … one that has far superior zooming, one of the best out there for the style of camera we like (and a camera/zoom lens where we didn’t need a “lottery win” to buy it! 😆). It’s a Nikon CoolPix 1000.
We got it about the end of October, and I have finally taken off the first batch of photos. It’s taking me a bit to learn to use it, and to learn how to keep it stable, especially at full zoom. So far I am very pleased with the camera and how the photos are turning out. Here are some highlights from the first batch …
First photo! … Mr. Woody Woodpecker (a Hairy Woodpecker) hangin’ out beside the bay window …
Catching this eagle in flight was a challenge, especially with the zoom way out… “where did he go? Oh, there he is! Quick take the picture! Gone! Back! Got him!” …
Maggy …
One of our neighbors’ home… about a mile NNE from where I took the photo …
The Cheyenne Roll Cantle on Brian’s saddle …
Billy The Kid …
The Hay Barn …
From The Red Barn …
From The Red Barn, zooming in on the flowers on the left side of the deck stairs. I’m about 50 yds from the flowers …
Katie …
Aengus …
Bo …
Brian’s ready to move cows! …
Part of Brian’s Breast Collar on Bo …
The Nikon has a “moon setting”, so I tried it out near the Full Moon …
Brian took this one of this White Tail buck … about 225 yds away …
This little Red Fox… he’s about 300 yds away, and I took the photo through the front window. I certainly didn’t get it as stable as I’d like …
Check back soon for some more of the photos from this first batch, from when we moved cows on November 3rd!
We had a glorious Fall this year!! No nasty snowstorms, and Winter didn’t truly arrive until December!
I love seeing the eagles at Redtail Rise! I’m not sure that this is the fellow we rescued … maybe. But we’ll never know for sure.
Trembling Aspen (White Poplar) …
Some birch mixed in …
Trembling Aspen …
Birch …
Our Mountain Ash … one of my favorites year-round!
Sunrise at 7:04 …
At 7:18 … Amazing clouds! …
On the 26th, we had some friends over for a Quad Ride and Birthday Supper!
Brian spotted this badger from about 300 yards away while we were out running the dogs. We hung on to the dogs, and got closer, to about 150 yds from him. It took 2 shots, but Brian got him!! One less vermin to dig HUGE holes in the pastures! The badger holes are terribly treacherous for horses and cows. And the badger eats lots of gophers, which is helpful, but… if the gophers get too depleted, then the raptors (eagles, hawks & falcons) won’t have the gophers to eat and then they won’t come around.
Brian estimated him to be about 30 lbs …
And, he became immortalized on one of our Beers!
What did we do with him? We’ve taken him to a taxidermy friend who is going to mount him for us. At the moment, the hide is still at the tanner’s (apparently, they are quite oily, so need a partial tanning before they can be mounted). So, stay tuned… once he’s mounted, we’ll post some more photos! We’re looking forward to being up-close-and-personal with him without the risk of those teeth and claws!!
In September 2020 we bought a new smoker, and are having a blast with it!! It has re-invigorated barbecuing, and we’re trying all sorts of things on the smoker. As well as all the meats, fish and shellfish, we’ve smoked vegetables, chocolate chip cookies and Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies!! And we make our own rubs (stay tuned for more posts on our rubs!).
And in September 2021, we tried Smoked Sangrias!!!! 🍷 🍓 🍊 🍋 🍷 WOW!!
We smoked the fruit …
Then grabbed a jar of our own Sangria …
And joined some friends to share and taste-test!! …
It was a hit!! And definitely a “Re-Do”!!!
In the Fall of 2019, Brian made us an Apple Press. And after bashin’ apples with the “basher” he made that year, we got a grinder – our arms are happier for it! 😆 We press the apples into cider (we don’t clarify it into “juice”); and we use the term “hard cider” for the alcoholic version. It has been a fabulous way to use our apples!! And one of these years we’ll use our apples to make Hard Cider!!
Pick da apples …
Wash da apples …
Nice size this year!!! (We did some serious pruning in the Spring, to improve the health of the trees and the size of the apples!) …
Cut da apples …
Grind da apples …
Good mush! …
Why are we in the screen porch? The wasps were BRUTAL!!!
Then we press da apples …
Beautiful, golden cider! …
We got just over 9 L / 9 Qt! We bag it and put it in the freezer unpasteurized. (A couple years ago, we pasteurized and water-bath canned some of the cider … but won’t do it again that way… freezing it unpasteurized is way better for us!) …
Yum!! …
A week-and-a-half later it was time to tackle the Green Apple Trees! And we moved into the house to avoid the wasps again! This space worked better than the screen porch for this part of the process.
Grinding away! …
Pressing still had to happen outside! Why, you ask? Cuz the press Brian made can’t make it through the door! 😂
We got about 7 L / 7 Qt from the Green Apple Trees ….
So, why do we say “the Red Apple Trees” and “the Green Apple Trees”? Cuz, we haven’t a clue as to the variety, but we know the colour!! 🤣
In the Summer of 2020, we were very fortunate to be able to buy a holiday trailer… we named it “The Donald Alvin”, or “The D.A.” for short. And, Brooke & Billi had a decal designed and made for it! …
In 2021, we got out camping several times with great friends, Al & Linda.
We went out southwest of our place for a couple days to quad and to check out the trailer for the Season, making sure everything was working.
An evening Quad Ride …
Sun’s still up at 8:45 pm!
A day of exploring on the quads …
A little creek on our route …
We went part-way up Marble Mountain …
… and got some spectacular views!!…
We camped right beside the marina in Joussard …
We saw this little guy in the creek that flows into Lesser Slave Lake at the marina in Joussard …
Sun setting at 10:22 pm …
On the 22nd it was too windy and there were too many whitecaps on the lake, so we went exploring to the east end of Lesser Slave Lake, including the town of Slave Lake. Here, a storm is coming in to Marten Beach …
Clouds at Joussard in the evening …
Back fishin’ on the 23rd! …
Walleye for lunch! YUM-MEE!! …
Sun setting at 10:27 pm …
At 10:30 looking northeast …
More fishin’ on the 24th …
Walleye Tacos for lunch! YUM!!!!! …
We went northwest of home, out to Brazeau Dam, to spend some time discovering a new area for us! And, we were there for peak Fall colours!!
Looking southeast down the Brazeau Reservoir …
Out at the Brazeau Reservoir Loops …
Looking southwest over the West Canal …
Fishing on the West Canal …
Looking southeast down the West Canal …
Sunset over the West Canal …
Our Japanese Lilac… we’d had this tree for 5 or 6 years before it bloomed; and when it finally did bloom, we had to really dig deep into the memory banks to remember what it was. Once it started blooming, though, wow! And 2021 was incredible year for it! …
The Maydays in 2021 were chock-a-block full of berries — so many more than we’ve ever had before! So, that sent me to look them up and learn a bit more about them. A Mayday Tree is also known as Bird Cherry, Hackberry and Hagberry. I’ve been around them all my life and never knew those names!
I might not have known about all the cherries/berries on Maydays, but the birds sure knew!!! We had lots and lots of birds in the Maydays in August! Here are some of the young robins enjoying them and hanging around near them …
Robins have a bit of a “game scent” to them, and our bird dogs pick up that scent. Aengus was having a grand ol’ time “working” the robins! …
I didn’t plant any sunflower seeds this year, so where did this one come from? Why, the birds! The birds are a bit messy at the feeders at the front of the house, and they “plant” the sunflowers for me! 😄
