Beware da bear

Yep, right out front on the lawn toady ...a pile of poo-poo from a bear that ate one too many apples...
Silky was onto its scent in a second and was prancing after the large paw depressions int he frosty lawn. The tracks headed toward the bushiness of the adjoining lot. Lets say, I wasn't going into the thicket for a closer look. The poop looked extremely fresh. Had I been really concerned, I would have given it a prod to see how warm it was, but rlying on common sense, I saw no steam rising, so like a good tracker, I figured it to be a few hours old... I turned back towards home and directed my walk to the beach instead. No sign of Mr. Bear

Looking back to the house on this frosty morning

I stopped on my way into town to snap this photo of the still lake and the beautiful fall clours of the trees

Coming home, this was the vista fromn the deck of the HArrop ferry... red sky at night sailor's delight!
I'll be looking forward to yet another sunny day in the neighbourhood, tomorrow. Don't we live in a majestic part of the world?


"The Creator"

Peye for a Peye

Who Knew she would ever do it...This is the sign of a maturing woman. She made PIES! I'm talking about my neice Correna, the woman who is out for adventure, likes to take a risk and most of all, rises to a challenge! Kudos to her for being so brave. However , like every great feat, there is a story to be told, and because it is such a Hallowe'en mystery, I thought it would be fun to share...Thanks C. for bringing laughter to my day with your charming wit!
Enjoy:

Oh, the unfairness of it all.... life just throws curves at every
opportunity and there are times when we have to endure the hardest of
hardships - the worst of the worst - the test of all tests.
I wanted to make a pie. The first hurdle, of course, is baking in
general - my motto has always been that if it comes from a box and I
put it into an oven, that classifies it as "home made". I'll also add
that my oven is rather black inside and unless this is its natural
color (which I somehow doubt, but really have no supporting evidence
otherwise), I'm actually waiting for it to catch on fire from
"whatever" is stuck to its sides. In any event, baking is not really
my thing and I have long since subscribed to the notion that the art
of making pies is better left to the professionals, like mothers.
This year, however, mom made her visit in the summer - when apples
(and therefore apple pies) were not ready. I didn't appreciate the
full impact of this until now, when I was faced with a Thanksgiving
weekend without a pie. Now, I should mention that I've watched my
mother make pies a hundred times - and I've even written down the
recipe. Really, I said to myself, how hard could this be???
Well, I'll tell you. It started with buying apples.... what kind do
you buy, how many make a pie, organic or not??? I ended up picking
out 5 macintosh and went back and bought 3 more... (just for those who
may have the same question, and by the way macintosh were not the best
in the end because they fluff up too much and turn into sauce, and
yes, I went with organic). I took out my recipe and read the first
line: Peel a pot of apples ... I started looking around to see if
there was anyone to ask - how big of a pot, how many apples, how
full??? The room was silent. The rest of the recipe followed along
the same lines but I meandered my way through arrows and brackets/side
notes and scribbles - guessing as I went along. In the end, the whole
pot of apples was done and actually tasted pretty good so I went with
that. I was mildly impressed by the whole thing.
The following day, I tried my hand again. This time it was in making
my favorite - lemon meringue. I watched the pastry shell cook to
exactly 3 shades lighter than the sides of my oven. I expertly (if I
say so myself) put the filling into the shell and waited precisely the
right amount of time for it cool. I then topped it off with the
"white stuff". It could not have been more perfect. The pie was a
piece of art, a master piece of baking excellence... a beauty to
behold... And it was after this that life became so incredibly unfair.

There I was, enjoying a perfect slice from a perfect pie... savoring
every mouth full. I actually made a conscience effort to eat only an
appropriate amount in order to draw out the whole affair over days
instead of minutes... I even wrapped the pie under saran wrap - not
too tight but secure enough to protect its flavor. And then the
unthinkable happened. It was during the darkness of night when the
moon lined up with all the stars, when the thunder and lightening came
and the electricity sliced through the air giving life to all the
pre-halloween possessed creatures. Y'know, those creatures who sneak
around like ghosts into defenceless kitchens like mine.... It was
unheard of and I actually let out a yelp of sheer anger when the
evidence of the foul creature came to my attention in the light of
day... It was a beast of great courage that came and ate my pie in the
middle of the night! Such a beast will not be forgotten and will be
hunted down to the ends of the earth. It will be prosecuted to the
full extent of the law - my law.... snappy mousetrap law!




A Peye for a Peye...Look out Mousey!

"The Creator"

Day in the garden

Well, returning to work the day after I came home was a little crazy, especially since I had a the runny nose cold... and then I worked on Saturday, because my boss was away. Thank goodness I had a helper, a new gal that we have hired... She is very sweet and works hard...I hope she is a keeper!

Sooooooo, today, Sunday was my only day off that I was at home.

Lets say I started and never stopped all day... changed the bed, put on laundry, then did some online banking, then headed outside and never looked back.

My garden is so nice now that it is all fenced and has two side gates...I had it all cleaned up with the exception of the raspberries and in back of them, near the new fence. That was my first task...cut out all of the old canes, and tie up the new ones and similtaneously, weed underneath the raspberries. I have so many thistles popping up... and they aren't even the worst "Canadian thistle" that has taken over the vacant lot next door. I'm sure those will be springing up all over next spring. I hate when grass or weeds try to take over my raspberry bushes!

I accomplished the tyeing of the raspberries and then buckled down and dug up most every blade of quack grass that was invading the two foot space that runs along the length of the fence and the raspberry bushes. It wasn't an impossible task, but it tested my strength and will many times. I finished that little ugly, and emptied out the wheelbarrow full of grassy weeds two times...

Finally it was time to dig my poor lillies up and whatever else I had strength to dig and then transplant it from the old garden of weeds to the new weedless garden surrounded by deer proof fence... oops...maybe I shouldn't say that.

More or less, I was creating my new flower bed , on the spot, s o who knows what it will look like if it doesn't fill up with weeds before any of the plants get to bloom. I still have many more irises to transplant and my big rosebush, but I will need E's help for that... so possibly next week-end.
I was pleased to have relocated my peony. Just reminded myself of my poppies... being dead now, I am not even sure where they are...but I should try to rescue them also. Don't let me forget that!

I am kind of excited that I gave liberation to all of my poor darlings that were choked up in weed ville. I figure this is the next step to making my own park and it will just be a matter of time before its trees and plants are all overgrown too and then it will be all park and no garden.

I wound up my day in the hot-tub for a lovely soak...now I think it is time to get horizontal and read some more of my book! Have a good week everyone...especially Lynn...she is going to see Celine Dion with Nadine, in Vancouver! Wowzers for her! We'll hear all about it, real soon! Thanks Dick, for making Lynn's day!

"The Creator"

Thanksgiving at Joyce's

Whats a visit to Gramma and Grandpas without a weiner roast?

Ethan, savoring the whipped cream

Dad is supervising, but you can see who thechef is:-)!

This would be Buster, the little donkey, who is doing a homestay at Joyce and Morgan's!


Jamie, enjoying the hot chocolate with the whipped cream...Yummo!

Thanks Joyce for sharing your Thanksgiving with me ( and everyone!) Looks like fun ws had by all. It is so nice that Derrick and Barb live close enought to pop down for these special days. You get to know and enjoy those cutey-pie grandkids much more often now...way to go!

"The Creator"

Visit to Victoria

I took a few days off to go to Victoria on the Thanksgiving weekend...just Silky and I. Emil stayed to be in a fishing derby with Stan and Jerry ( which they did well with catching fish, but never won the big trophy). We had an early Thanksgiving dinner at our house, on the Friday night before I left. I must say it was yummy...but how can one go wrong with turkey, stuffing, cranberries and gravy ???...followed by apple pie? Yum -Yum!
My drive down on Saturday was lovely, tho the day got off to a cool start.
One of my first stops was at a little lake between Grandforks and Greenwood, where there is a rest stop. The bathrooms were clean and heated...much better than I last recalled them to be!
This is a photo of the lake.



Next stop was in Keromeous at my favourite fruit stand, Sandersons.

Squash and pumpkins were in abundance everywhere by the bin full, but I settled on Ambrosia apples and nectarines...all fresh and yummy



They had the gourds hanging up for a dsiplay of them...cute eh? Also, the fruit stand now sells Samosas and Pecoras...both vegetable filled and hot and Indian spicey. They are very reasonable and come with a chutney flavoured dipping sauce... Silky and I enjoyed them while we drove, but I must admit that dipping and driving at the same time can be a little dangerous!


It was great to see my kids and granddaughters once again...Both Kaleigh and Madeline played the piano for me and both play very well, indeed... Makes me proud, especially when I can't even play "Mary had a little Lamb!"

Maddie was getting a little help from Mom to build her art project...a spaceship. The capsule was created from two seperate 2 litre pop bottles...one a nice shade of green and the other clear. Maddie built the cockpit, all the rooms and set the little astro-people inside . She didn't give up ,even after a few frustrations with her walls. In the end, she amazingly stuck on smaller half pop-bottle wings, and here, Sonia is helping put on the drinking straws to complete the air exchange tubes. She even built tiny treadmills for exercise and also a private bathroom, complete with a toilet and sink and bathtub. We didn't go into details about how the water was to stay in any of the aforementioned pieces!


Sonia looked great and was doing pretty darn good, considering all the fanagling she contends with to get the kids back and forth between school and friends and afterschool... tricky when your work schedule has you at work about 7:00 am., and you have a cat and dog to worry about also. I am proud of her too for doing such and awesome job!


Annette, before work , one morning...also looking terrific! Nice jewellery too!


You'll have to crank your head around to view this one of MAddie finishing her cross country race. She beat her own last record by moving up a notch or two. They race once a week against students in their same grade, from many many schools... I'd say she raced against a hundred and came in 34th...way to go MAddie!



On Sunday, Annette and the girls and I took a drive up to Nadine's to see her cutey babies, and visit with them and Dick and of course, Gramma Lynn who was there for Thanksgiving. We spent a lovely afternoon, catching up on everything and having fun with those cutey -pies. Nolan is almost walking and was happy to try it out when you held his hands and pointed him in the right direction. Thanks Nadine ,and Dick and Lynn, for having us for a wonderful and yummy lunch and visit. It was a rainy day, so a good way to pass it.


Annette outside of Sonia's, before we left for Nanaimo


Maddie after she chased away Kaleigh!


Kaleigh with her sweet smile... still a few more weeks for the braces, then they are off!


Where to find KAleigh? At the computer. contributing to "Potter's World"


My days in Victoria went all too fast, but it was very good to get down there after a year. Next year , I hope to improve my stats. The kids are growing up so fast that it is hard to believe! Sonia and Annette are doing very well also, and it is always a pleasure to visit them in their own homes and still feel so much at home, myself. Emil will take a turn and go down in November to spend some time helping with maintenance... They need a hand in a few areas that are better left to the men folk!
I also got a quick little visit in with Eileen. She has her hands full nearly raising two grandkids...I wouldn't trade for her day to day duties. She is a good grandma , trying to do the right thing for her grandkids. They'll be better because of her.

A big hand to all the grannies out there who spent Thangsgiving with their grand kids!
Woot! Woot!

Bedtime now, as I brought a little germ back to Nelson with me...some sort of cold, throat, ear thing...it didn't make for the best return trip, and having to return to work today and tomorrow isn't all great with the snuffies, but I can look forward to Sunday off, which is supposed to be quite pleasant out... Have a great week-end everyone!













"The Creator"

Early Hallowe'en

Soleil tried it, but clearly didn't like it!

Kaleigh tried it and was paralyzed

Silky let out a yawn of boredom

Sonia thought it was a pretty kinky prop!


"The Creator"

Bear Aware...

Well, we were aware last night when a thump out back awoke both Emil and I...not Silky...
When Emil went to check on matters, he discovered our big Rubbermade garbage container ( holds two pails) was overturned and the door ripped off and garbage from here to kingdom come. Being a brilliant man, he quickly brought out his Mega powered flashlight ( Thanks John and Ronda) and shone it down towards the garden and all over the back yard. He stopped at three pair of eyes staring back at us, from under the cottonwood trees. (those big trees just above the lamp standard in the photo, above)
It was a black mother bear and two cubs!
Their feast was interrupted, (tho most of my garbage is empty plastic ziplock bags and some milk containers. )They must of discovered the turkey bones from my pot of turkey soup that I made, and probably the fish bones from our salmon , or the lamb bones from the lamb. Two bags of garbage were down by the garden and the rest was still up and around the two garbage pails. Emil repaired the bin and now we will either move it or put a padlock on it... Mrs Bear is pretty clever....well, sort of clever. She couldn't maybe open the lid to the bin, so she just dumped the whole thing over on its side and that caused the lid to pop open enough for her to rip off the front door.
So the bins are good things, but perhaps better if one has a lock on it. I told Emil that he could put a combination lock on that only he would know the combination to:-)
In the meantime, he has asked me to make up two signs in Bear language...one for the front of the property and one for the back of the property...they should read "STAY AWAY"!!!
maybe that would read " GRMPH GRR - AGRWLY!"


"The Creator"

More apple pics from Joyce

The only way to pick them is up in the bucket of the machine...cause the tree is a million feet tall!

Thats about a bushel right there in Morgan's hands

Joyce's cast. It is off now, and I heard she was hard at it making pies... can Derrick smell them cooking?

Pat's dog , Pepper isn't much bigger than those apples!

( I think I should of kept a couple of those apples for Hallowe'en hooters!!!! ha-ha!!!)


"The Creator"

Apple Queen

Check the size of these apples from Joyce's tree...the size of grapefruits! The tree is a KING apple variety...an ancient one that produces every three or four years, in Joyce and Morgan's case... Thank-you Morgan, for picking and Joyce for catching them:-)

Emil peeled me three pails of these giant beauties...and then I did the slicing and figuring out what to make the finshed product into. The apples fluff up beautifully for apple sauce...and anything that accidently overcooked for the purpose of pies, became applesauce. I had one batch going on the stove and two batches in big casseroles, going int he Nuker. It only takes about 1/4 cup of water and 5 to 8 minutes to thoroughly cook the apples in the microwave. 5 is good to start with if you wan them for pie filling. I generated enough pie filling to fill 7 ten inch bought tinfoil pie plates, and still had four -6 cup bags of filling left for the freezer. The apples were really huge...thus they resulted in lots of apple product for winter... I made three Apple bettys and froze bags of applesauce and then still had a little pie dough left for some apple turnovers... all was delicious...I was Pie-eyed by 12:30 am when I washed my last dishand ended up with a Corona and a little Saturday night Live, before falling into bed.


I used these bought foil pans for the Apple Bettys...two with a regular topping and one with the Cottage pudding type topping...crumbly but with an egg added to the flour and butter mixture.

Our radiant sunrise on friday, I think

Depressed Silky after her bath yesterday. I did her hair up fancy, but she wasn't interested in having her manicure.. Her butt end hurt after I nipped her with the electric clippers. Handy devices, but a little tricky around the flabby parts......:-)

Hark, I see a ray of sunshine...below the mountain of fresh snow... I think I will head down to the garden for a bit... The turkey carcus is in the pressure cooker ,ready for soup, and Emil offered to do the salad. I should be further along in the day's job list...like hemming my new pants. They only come in 32" lengths...but a ghost flipped the tealight lantern that used to hang on the side of my cabinet and it completely shattered in a gazillion pieces of glass all over my kitchen. Thank goodness the apple fixings were done with. For the third time, I brought out the vacuum today...
okey dokey have a good rest of your Sunday.

PS... good news from Betty in Oregon. Her grandson, Chris, who was brain injured in a skateboard accident ( no helment) some 25 days ago, said his first words last night, two days after the neurosurgeon did surgey to remove a blood clot on his brain. Whew! Everyone was praying that he would come out of his coma eventually and it looks like he has, finally and much to the relief of his family and friends. His hurdles aren't over as he still has the tracheotomy, the tube , feed, the pneumonia and lord knows what else... Everyone keeps praying for a full recovery,as at 18 or 19 years old, he has a long life ahead of him to manage.



"The Creator"

Home - Canada's Hockey Anthem Challenge - Hockey - Sports - CBCSports.ca

Home - Canada's Hockey Anthem Challenge - Hockey - Sports - CBCSports.ca
If you haven't heard the proposed new Hockey Anthems, here is your chance to choose your favourite. You can listen to them at the above link (after an annoying commercial),then you must register like you were voting in the next Queen of England. I thought the thirteen year old #2, had a rousing tune... I missed the show on tv last night, but the next one will be Octonber 9th when it will be narrowed down to two finalists... check your listings about the exact time and date...vote one night, reveal the next evening.
Have a great rainy Sunday... I cleaned out my closet of old shoes ( that would be three pair) and rearranged a few things...brought our fall trousers, tho, the heat in our store is almost unbearable with short pants....but they are beginning to look ridiculous in light of the current weather outside....which is why I am inside and not out....but I am going there...just procrastinating. Speaking of trousers, they have a lovely comfortable new pant at Mark's called Janet pants... loads of colours, no zippers...no pockets, a nice wide waist band and I can fit into a size smaller ( maybe the walking is paying off after all!! ) The nice thing is that they are on sale for 34.99 and if you do the MArk's survey that I linked you up to, last week on September 16th's post, you can save 20% plus this last week's flyer had an additional 10.00 off coupon... which means two pair of pants comes out around 50 bucks...great for work!

"The Creator"

American Mensa | Games

My Plum crumble

A beautiful fall bouquet of flowers ( along with yummy chocolate fudge)that Sonia and Louise and Mike left me after their stay here last week-end while we were in Princeton golfing. Thank-you, thank-you...I love to have my daughter/s home..even if I can't be there! And a big thanks for changing all the beds before you left!

Last night, Sandra and Leo came dinner and overnight, but not before we had a challenging card game of "Golf"...the men won, but only at the last moment! Thank-you two for swinging by...you left your thermos behind, Sandra!

If you are up to it, check out this page for links to many "Mental" games..
Have fun!
Sorry, no energy to blog tonight...my back has been sore since golf , and sitting makes it worse...I have pitted and chopped a whole bunch of plums tonight and bagged them up for the freezer...The last few remaining ones, I made a little crumble topping for them and put them in the oven...just enjoying a bowl-full now...very yummy...not too sweet...then it is off to bed...
American Mensa Games

If you are out around Joyce and Morgan's, beware the big B'ar...He made off with a huge sack of feed and an undisclosed amount of apples......
Thanks goodness, he left a few for pies:-)
"The Creator"

Stan Ali Cup!

Friday night,we ate at a new pub in Princeton...called Station Pub, I think... just at the main intersection there... excellent food...yum yum!

Diane, Ali, Stan and Ashley. This was Friday night at the motel, as people arrived.

Ronda and John getting all ready to golf...or something!The lovely thing was that we had an anonymous donor pay for all the golf carts... pretty nice aye? We think it might of been Stan.

Our good friends, and always full of fun... Woody and Diane...


After the tournament,w e returned to the motel to sit around the non-campfire and play some music and sing and eat some more and drink some more




Held In Princeton, this was a tricky little course. Leo, on the left, and Ashley, on the right were my golf partners. I have to say that Ashley was a fine golfer that day, but I had a couple of winning shots myself!Leo came through like a charm too, so we all had fun...and came in third.It was that damn hole that we had to draw M&M's on...



After the game, the prizes were handed out amidst a lot of laughs, before, during and after... Now what was so funny here? We had a lunch and a little liquid refreshment...



Now this is where things started in the afternoon...Deb, topping off the Caesar with a little extra spirits...



The winners were tied, so they had to have a putt-off...best two out of three... Gerry, who was putting int eh pic...never won...boo-hoo.. Charlotte's team won!
Well, I have to close tonight as I am pooped and tired and all...despite sleeping for about 12 hours last night... oh my...
The sad thing is that my Sonia was here at the house for the whole week-end on a training sint for PEP and we essentially saw her Thursday night for a bit and in the morning on Friday... and then her and her workmates were on their way to the airportin Castlegar, while we were driving to Nelson... Thank-you Sonia for the beautiful bouquet of flowers and the dinner in the fridge...Awesome daughter!
So...tomorrow night I'll put up some of the photos that Ronda took on my camera after I went to bed! To keep it decent,we won't post the moon pics....but they were funny!




"The Creator"