Half asleep here

Looking out on where our firepit is buried under water now ( to the left in the pic)

Lots of debris has floated onto our property

Flooding occurring as the waters rise...however this is typical.

The water is freezing cold,as I found out this morning. Walking out to our wharf is out of the question

The teenager laughing her head off...during our game of Train...
Sorry to hear that you are a Sicky on your birthday...good thing you celebrated early.

My day started with a walk down to the flooded beach and much to my astonishment, there lying in the flood waters was my crooked branch Weeping Willow tree...with many chewed up branches floating in the water...Still standing was the other trunk of the tree, but it is the trunk that is pretty much dead. So it looks like a beaver was caught red-toothed and was scared off before it could gnaw down trunk #2 of the flailing Weeping willow tree. Here is the mystery... Why chew off a perfectly delicious 6 ft tall tree trunk and then chew off half of the remaining branches ( all the green leafed ones) and then leave the whole mess floating around in the water? So that is how my day started...P*ssed OFF. That poor little tree has only begun to look like a tree, in the last couple of years.I was contemplating the removal of one of the trunks, but I surely would have chosen the "Dead" side instead of the live side.
So....anyone know how to trap a beaver???
I'm catching on to the gopher program. We have been relieved of two in the past two days:-)
...Oh yes, and a baby bird that the cat caught...and two mice that she nabbed ,as well.
The eagle took care of a snake the other morning, right before our eyes... so ,as you can see, the wildlife population is exploding and imploding at the same time...
I just wished they would leave my garden alone....and my trees...

So it is way past my bedtime again... I stopped for groceries after work and bumped into Leona and Dan...we had a little chit-chat...nice to see you two again!You were both looking great!

I'll have to tell about Bill's funeral another day. Safe to say,it was a very sad one and it will be some time before Emil gets over losing yet another best friend.

This Saturday we are going to intern Emil's mom's ashes at the Grand-forks cemetaryThat will be another sad time for us.
And my condolences to Joan and Dave...as Joan's dad passed away on Wednesday evening after a long illness...

And so my friends...live every day the best you can. Each day is a gift...that is why they call it the present.
Good night and God-bless









"The Creator"

Happy Birthday Kaleigh...Teenager!!!!

Note the teenager look on her face...No pictures please...Happy Birthday Kaleigh...we'll call tonight... Have a great day!







"The Creator"

Sad News

It is with great sadness to say to everyone, that Emil's fishing buddy and our very great neighbour, Bill Arishnekoff ( on the right, in the photo) has passed away after an ordeal with cancer, that has left his friends and family to grieve his loss. He will be terribly missed by Emil , as well as Peter, on the right, in the photo. In a small neighbourhood such as ours, friendships grow deep when its a neighbour you can count on to give you a hand or go fishing with or just to shoot the breeze with, around the bonfire. Both Emil and Mrs. B. will miss you Bill, and so will Silky...who was always glad to run over to you for your hearty "Hello Silky" and always a big friendly pat on her head. We'll miss roasting hotdogs around your giant sized beach-fire and most of all, Emil will miss a dear friend that he called brother, because Bill treated him like one.
The funeral will take place tomorrow, Tuesday, May 29th, at 10:00 am in the Krestova Hall.





"The Creator"

Last.fm – The Social Music Revolution

Last.fm – The Social Music Revolution

Now this is quite cool. You type in the name of the artist and their music starts playing, then it switches to another artist. So far, I am liking it. I think you could minimize it and just have it playing all the time while you are computing, without any lag due to streaming...I think I'll sign on to it to become a member... I started with Annie Lennox and then it went to the Cranberries...hmmph! Its a keeper for me. I'll keep you posted.

Wet Sunday

Eekers!
The rain is drizzling down intermittantly ...the reason I am here in blogville. I think I will make some new address labels and some new new business cards this morning...if I have any of the card stock left. Most any card making program will have a section for making labels and business cards and one can easily upload your own photos to give them a personal touch.
Emil was a sicky all the latter part of the week with a cold and flu symptoms. Today he sounds better..still congested but not the achy bone thing.We cancelled all of our plans for the week-end...Happy Birthday Linda and Gord!
I am back to a sniffle nose,so I hope it is only allergies.

We did some quantitative work yesterday..Emil weed Whacked all around the outer fence of my garden and some of the interior...as so much of my garden is overgrown with grass. I can't really keep so much of it up anymore. The centre of the garden is a giant forest now. All the little evergreens have turned into big trees that a growing at an industrial rate. I have a Ponderosa or White (long needled) Pine tree that already has a a large smooth white trunk and has shot up about three feet in the last year. It has the makings for a tree growing to a hundred feet tall or more...Anyone want it? It is too big for my garden...but how to get it out? Any suggestions Ken? At least five evergreens will have to be removed to make space the keepers...and we will still have a forest. Where it was once space for a flower bed, it is now buried under a canopy of evergreens.

At least the original owners of the property planned for the spruce trees to grow,as they planted them at least ten feet apart. In fifteen years, the gaps between trees have closed and soon it will be a solid mass on either side of the property...good until we have a forest fire.

I finshed planting my pots and hanging baskets with the wave petunias that I bought at the nursery at Rock Creek. Emil helped me place them and hang them,as they are heavier than hell.Now, if my friendly deer can leave them alone, they will grow as beautiful as they did last year.

Well, the sun is trying to peak thru. I hope to finish planting some more of my garden today. The spinach is up as is the lettuce, but the deer ate the lettuce plants that I bought...They were turning into head lettuce...not anymore!

So have a great weekend everyone! Talk to you all soon!

"The Creator"

New Additions to the Farm

Emil decided it was time for a shelter over our bedroom deck,and so we are now the proud owners of a canopy. I must say that it does give you the cozy feeling of camping! It alredy has kept the dew off the chairs, which is the main reason for the unit. We can have our morning coffee dewless now...and still in the sunshine more or less. It comes with mosquito nets for the sides which will come in handy later on when the West Nilers are out.

The water was up much higher, then receded ,but is still over the top of the beach. It could come way up this next week, as hotter temps are predicted.

Emil and Silky cleaning up the new rig that is bittersweet for Emil. Unfortunately for our neighbour Bill, he won't be likely to survive the cancer that is making him weaker everyday. He was happy tho, to know that Emil was the buyer of his boat. Originally, it took months for Bill to find just the right boat, a few years ago, and now by fate, he only had a couple of summers out in it. So Emil will have a boat which he always wanted, but at the same time he is losing one of his most dear friends. I hope now that Emil gets a little more use out of it than Bill did. Emil is looking forward to the grandkids coming up this summer...Tubing 101!

Here it is! Look familiar Dick and Nadine? ( I heard you were the proud new owners of a similar colured one! Congrats!)

The Captain...not exactly on the lake, but it will soon be launched once it is all cleaned and ready to go.










"The Creator"

Long Week-end in Victoria

Mads and Kaleigh having fun jumping on the clam holes. The water would squirt up out of the hole.

Kaleigh with her new "K" necklace for her birthday...that is coming up.

Seahells by the seashore and soon to be by the lakeshore...

The three muskateerettes out at the Cactus Club for a fine mother daughter night...maybe the first one in the history of us since entering adulthood... and those MArtooni's were yummy...with names like MAndarini...Yum...that was mine.

Yes, I know my eyes were closed... a slight photo problem I personally have. The picture is to illustrate the devine dinner.. King Pao Chicken... all in Coconut milk...super Yum!







Sonia with little Spikey on a walk on the new pathways at Gorge Park



The Rhotos were in in excuisite full bloom . Luckily I have come home to my own that are just opening.



Sonia nd her best little doggie woggie pal. Isn't he adorable? He loved Silky so much that he nibbled on her ears, then her feet,and then he couldn't get enough of her,so he chased her and tried to jump on top of her. She growled in delight!!!






Maddie making a "Stickable" I made a few myself. You let them dry, then peel them off the backing and stick them in a window, where the light shines thru them.. Stained glass made simple!



Sonia and Annette at the beach at Esquimalt Lagoon.



Now that I have had so much fun playing with the idea of uploading a photo to my header, that I am ready for bed. I'll upload at least one batch of pics from my long week-end in Victoria... It was divine to get away and the best to see "My girls". We had a mother-daughter night out at the Cactus Club, with food to die for...and fab martooni's to go along with the dinner... Monday afternoon was so beautiful that we spent hours at Esquimalt Lagoon, soaking up the rays and plucking seashells for our very own beach...once the water recedes...It gives me great pleasure to watch as innocent walkers stoop down and pick up one seashell after the other, off our beach, then drop them back down after they have turned them over and saw the picture or words that Kaleigh and Maddie have drawn on the backs of the shells... Too funny!






I was amazed at how tall Kaleigh has grown...she looks me in the eye now and doesn't appear to be stopping her growth spurt at this height just yet...and Maddie is all legs. Sonia said she came in third at a big track meet up at Uvic today...in the 100 meter dash... Yep, all legs!
Ok...bedtime now...
and ps... I stopped in to see Joyce on the way home from Victoria and she is doing absolutely marvelous!













"The Creator"

Damn deer

By day,she feeds innocently on the lawn and the plum trees.
By night she sneaks into the garden and munches off the tops of my beautiful Casablanca lillies...all three of them... Sh*t, H*ll, Damn,Blankedy-Blank,P**P,Bu**ers, Rats and a lot of other words not fit to print. They all poured out of my mouth like verbal diarrhea and then some. They ate my top three ,plus about four other stargazers and orientals. Now I have what is left, covered with a net. I should never have removed the net to begin with. For some strange reason, I thought the deer only ate them when they were popping fresh out of the ground. That is when they devoured the last two. I hope my irises bloom to fill in the gaping holes!
The pic below here is the last half of Sunday's labour of love...basil, tomatoes, asters,lettuce and wax beans... At least a few things will have a head start. in fact, I am two weeks earlier than last year, so all of that is good. My lettuce is up, as are the radishes and the spinach...Now to protect it somehow so it doesn't get devoured like it did last year...
I hung up a piece of that red tomato plastic on the fence at the bottom to deter the critters until Emil returns and gets putting up my new fence.
You can see how high the water is already...and how Silk loved taking a dip. No shivers there, but dare I run the cold water in her bath and she shakes like a leaf! I had to bring her home and give her a bath...Now she needs a trim....Anyone need some dog wool?
I'll have to continue tomorrow night.I am yawning into oblivion.Silk and I had a nice walk to stretch our legs ,after gardening last night,and after the rain Stopped,and just as the sun was setting. I took some nice pics of the sun fading behind the mountaintops.I'll post those tomorrow,as well as some of Annette's and Emil's trip with our grandkids up to French beach...Now that looked WONDERFUL!

Cheerio...I hope everyone had such a prolific weekend!










"The Creator"

Sunday....Happy Mother's Day...to all the great moms out there

These are my pots that I planted...they look sparse, but will fill out incredibly. That was my problem inthe past...putting in way too many plants. I used to add pansies for the "instant flower" look, but hey overtook all my other plants, so I am more patient and jsut wait for everything to grow and bloom, now.

I saved the pansies for my little table baskets. They are easy to keep and look great for most of the summer.

Burning went on all day and night,across the lake ,high up on the mountain where much had been logged out last year, due to Mountain Pine beetle. They are trying to control the population. Much of the forests all around have already turned brown.
On our property we have mostly Spruce and last year we were once again hit hard with the Yellow headed Spruce Sawfly...a nasty worm that devours a tree in no time at all. We won't know if they will be reinfected until mid June when the worms rear up their ugly little heads!

Here is a shot at night. It looked intense, but was only burning on the ground at the base of the trees that were still standing. This morning with the rain, it appears pretty much dead.

Today:

I'll see if I can listen to CoffeeBreak Spanish and type at the same time. So far it is going slow. Looks like they buy ham by the slice in Spain, so you ask for how many slices of ham you would like .





That is finshed now...I can't listen and type at the same time.





So back to the week-end.. It has been productive so far...I worked on my ten large flower pots...first I emptied out all the old dirt into Emil's tractor cart, then I mixed in a bag or two of manure and a bunch of peat moss and stirred it all up and then refilled the pots. I recycle all of the previous years dirt as once you mix in more goodies, it seems to come out a pretty good blend. However, doing all that lifting of full pots and emptying takes its toll on my hands these days. They were achy before I even began the planting.


I put in beautiful Ivy geraniums in a dark red and lots of purple Regatta lobelia and white lobelia and one dracena in the middle. They still need a wave petunia in each pot. I am hoping to get those in Rock Creek on my way back from Sonia's house. The bicolor purple and whites that I bought there last year bloomed like crazy in a carpet of petunias that draped over the side of the pots and continued across the sidewalk. They were the real macoy!


I had plenty of geraniums,so I kept on filling 5 hanging baskets and then proceeded to the front yard where I struggled to find enough dirt to plant anything. A word to the wise...don't ever think that under a maple tree is a place for a flower garden. The roots come right to the surface and have found their way through the landscape fabric and into every possible nook and cranny.





The shrubs are doing great, and the daf bulbs are surviving, but anywhere else that there was dirt,it is now all gone to a mass of fine Maple tree roots. luckily I still had some leftover dirt in my cart to add. I managed to find a spot for all of the 20 or so ice pink petunias and more lobelia,and four geraniums. That is all good,as long as the deer don't pull them out like they did last year. reminds me that I ought to take a look out the window.





A fine rain is falling right now and it is overcast. Maybe we'll get some sun in the afternoon, when I can return to the "Garden of Weedin'" and plant the rest of my goodies. I planted up some pansies in baskets for my table tops,and I have a few of those left over, plus I have more lobelia and I still have some herbs to put in. Last the basil grew amazingly well, tucked in between the tomatoes. I'll try that again this year. The shade for the tomatoes is perfect for the basil. Like Italian parsely, basil doesn't seem to have the need for full sun.





In fact, I would like to get a bunch of my garden planted today,as I am planning a little trip down to see my sweethearts in Victoria on the May long week-end, thus the more I get done now, the better. The rest can be put in later. I am a full two weeks ahead of last year. My sweetpeas are already popping out of the ground!





Emil is in Victoria this weekend to se ehis buddy Noel and to visit with our kidlets. They were making a journey up to French beach for the day yesterday. It was gorgeous weather down there,yesterday,as it was here. I'll hear all about it today.





Time to have my mother's day breakfast! I'll load up a couple of pics.


Also a big thanks to all who joined Facebook. If you haven't done it, hop to it! It is a great way to catch up with everyone... I am amazed! You have to register first, then you can opt to be friends with people in various networks. It is kind of fun!





Have a happy Mother's day!


"The Creator"

Spring on the way to work...

Downtown at the corner of Baker and Ward looking west

you know its spring when the crowds are eating outside...at breakfast...hey , maybe it is summer!

Looking down Baker street from Emil's office

My ride across the ferry yesterday








"The Creator"

Cinco de Mayo, Happy Birthday Annette,HAppy Birthday Dick, Happy Anniversary Lynn and Bob!

Turned out a very pleasant afternoon,as everyone gathered on the back balcony for snacks and a drink before dinner.

Looks like a serious discussion going on between Rick and Dick..

And then we brought out the cake for Dick. That is a party umbrella on the side of the cake...

Anne kept on singing the British tunes after the traditional Happy Birthday song

Gordo and Janice, making fun with their own personal party umbrellas. This was just before Gord and Anne and Dick led us in group song ...well, led us into Rugby songs...and Gord knew quite a few..then there was the swearing song that Janice sang so fast, she sounded like an auctioneer! All in all, it was a grand Par-Tay with loads of food and lots of laughs. After dinner there was a few rounds of bocce to work off dinner...until everyone began to freeze up. When the old sun went down, it was mighty cold.

However today made up for the whole of last week...nothing but sunshine all day. I got to work in my garden for some 6 or 7 hours... and now my sweet-peas are all in, my lettuce is in, and so is my spinach and onion sets... A big deal for me to get so much done in my poor neglected garden. Now I am so stiff and sore, that I must get horizontal, or I'll be crawling around at work tomorrow! I did have a nice soak in the jacuzzi with some 2nd Nature Muscle soak, and that did make me feel a little more limber ...but maybe some kind of A5-35 cream on the sore parts. You know you are older than dirt, when you are applying more than four different creams a day. That would be moi!
To bed...hope everyone got loads done in their gardens too.









"The Creator"

Weeping so bad that it is broken hearted

Hows this for a broken Weeping Willow tree?...Our tree...and was it even windy? No. The poor tree has had an ever enlarging split down the middle of the trunk for two or three years and getting worse with each winter. Emil lightened the tree considerably last year by removing tons of weight from exactly the opposite side to the one that broke. It prevented that side from breaking off, however, now we have this rather dangerous looking situation. What to do...what to do....


So if there are any arborists out there with a recommendation...just let us know what to do. We hate to chop the whole thing down...just too darn big and weeping beautiful.







"The Creator"

They made Front Page!

Just click on the pic to make it larger and then you may read the fine print. That is Lynn front and centre with Val not so far behind her. Lynn said the talk was excellent and she is just awaiting some answers to her gardening questions. The word has it that "Sheep manure is in"! How about deer manure? How about goose manure eh?eh?

"The Creator"

More R&R

As you can see, life is good in the new swing! Tonight when I arrived home from work, who was in the swing??? Emil! He beat me to it! I changed and joined him for a wine and I tell you, one could easily just fall asleep in there! It was a gorgeous day today... so beautiful that the ferry broke down so we could some extra hours at home this morning! How maddening!

After determining that it would be a long haul, I went back home for an hour, returned to find it still out of service and returned home again. i got my floors vacuumed, the laundry done, and the gopher trap reset, with a brand new carrot chunk in it!

Finally around 12:30,the ferry became repaired and once again operational.It was a broken Hydraulic which lifts the ramp.

I arrived at work at 1:30.

Carolyne had the case torn apart and was in the middle of redoing all of them. That project kept us busy for the whole day with still plenty for me to attend to, tomorrow morning...excluding my normal Monday cleaning! Whatever happened to a schedule????

Caro brought in many very cute new pieces of jewellery with many of them in Vermais. That is the name of our new product that has a an underbase of sterling silver. The exterior is a veneer of 18 karat gold. All in all, one has the contemporary look of silver, yet it is the colour of gold, but once again, reflects the prices of silver. I'll bring my camera in to work this week, and snap some photos of the new stuff and the rings.

so my eyes are dozing off...good night all...

"The Creator"

Pineapple coleslaw.

Looking for a fresh change-up to an old favourite?
Try this Pineapple coleslaw from Cooks.com next time you are cooking a ham. Anne made it for us when we went to dinner there a couple of weeks ago and so I made it for John and Ronda to go with our ham steaks.
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonaise
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 medium head of cabbage ( about 4 cups) or 4 cups of the preshredded coleslaw mix.
8 oz can of pineapple tidbits, drained.
Also ,one can add 1 c. miniature marshmellows. ( I didn't)

Mix up your dressing and slather over the cabbage, then add the drained pineappple tidbits. I used about a cup of tidbits...not quite the whole can. Mix it all up and serve...Tastes yummy!




"The Creator"

Various week-end photos

John and Ronda brought our swing set down for us, but of course it was "some assembly required". John and Emil spent a good deal of the windy afternoon doing trying to get it all figured out. Sorry the photos are out of order... but here they are putting the seat together. note how long it is...room on it for Emil, myself and Silk!





























Oops, having a little trouble with the canopy...
Next photo should have been first...well it could very well have been the other way around,because it required a bit of finesse to get it right.






















Here is our number one Mouser! Soleil nabbed herself not one, but two mice today...Emil says she is finally earning her keep. She brought mousie number one right up onto the balcony..and Mr. Mouse was still moving...aghhhhhhh... The photo is of mouse number two in her famous death grip...yah...just another damn mouse...




























Annette sent me this very pretty pic of Sonia before she went to a function last night...
Looking terrific darlin'!




















Back to the swing... Ronda and I did the enjoying of it, initially! I tell you, it is sooooo relaxing that one could crash in there and rock to sleep like a baby!



















Carrying it to its destination location!

The Creator"