Surprise !!!!!   it is me again... got a couple of pictures i would like to show ya..

 

A woman I worked with during the election takes pictures, so i invited to our class, these are pictures she took of Wynn

She loves agility, can hardly wait to trial her, or should i say  Robin trial her...maybe in Sept

For a Rez dog she is very smart, i am so glad we kept her..she by far the most obedient dog i have had for a long time..

Okay this next picture is NOT me, Joe's Teresa broke her leg May 19th, she was learning to ride Joe's motorcycle and had a wreck, apparently she broke the back of her knee, she is in surgery as I type, there is a 50% chance that she will lose the motion of the lower leg..this picture is the hardware they put in beginning of the week, they dislocated her knee and kept it braced apart until the swelling went down

Larry is enjoying his bees, he is making all the supers, and frames, and to keep the bees happy, he is making sure that the frames and boxes are made very straight.

I have been collecting bee pictures, i love this one, notice the blue pollen on her legs..

this is an observation hive, it has glass doors, so you can watch them.. the hive is plugged so the bees can't get out..they had this at the Lilac Fest in Merritt this weekend.. Larry wants to make one..it is so cool to watch them..

Larry and I planted about 1 1/2 cup of poppy seeds last night, on a open area next to the fence... hope they come up.

Sent the letters out to the friends of Desert Mesa for the 10 year anniversary, asked them to reconfirm with me that they will be there, only heard from about 20 of the 50+..will have to write to them again, if you know anyone who is planning on coming and haven't reconfirmed, please remind them... have a great day

 

Well, I guess when your Mom tells you, you had better get writing on your blog, i guess i had better start writing again.

I ended up working 3 days a week at the Food Bank, and that really took up a lot of time, but the Directors hired a new General Manager, so I am back to one day a week, which is just fine for me.

We had a great Winter, only a couple of days of extreme cold weather, and very little snow.. 12 inches total all winter, and then spring was great, warmed up very early.  Fruit trees bloomed early and now all have fruit started.  My Manchurian apricot finally has fruit, we have had that tree for at least 15 years, never a blossom, so of course no fruit, it is covered with fruit this year... it blooms so early, hope the fruit survives.  We are getting a bee hive next week..Larry is very excited about it.. he built the supers, the frames, the lid and the bottom board and stand.  We have a neighbours who has 15+ hives, and is very knowledgeable, so they are starting a new hive for us. I can hardly wait for the honey, won't get too much this year, hopefully enough to enjoy a jar or two.  We planted 3 new trees that are known as Bee trees, ( Linden trees), they have a lovely smell when they bloom in July, and the bees love them.

Wynn is doing great, she has finally got over her limp, the Holistic Vet I took her to really helped her, we started jumping her at 10 inches, and are now up to 16.  I am not running her, knees need to be replaced, so my friend Robin is doing it for me.. they get along famously, and Wynn is running like the Wind..she doesn't even miss me..usually takes a look at me before she leaves the line.  Hopefully we will to a trial this fall to see how she does.

Laying hens didn't improve any.. still only 7 to 10 eggs a day out of 15 hens, they are out of here as soon as the new chicks are ready to lay. 

Haven't been doing much spinning, knitting a few shawls, and scarfs..found a pattern that really appealed to me, now have to spin up another bobbin and then i'm away..

In October this year, Desert Mesa Spinning retreat will celebrate our 10th anniversary..when we asked what the girls wanted to do, they all wanted a 3 day retreat, so we asked and the management are happy to accommodate us..  so  3 days it is..  should be fun.. a few games planned just to break up the date.

Just got my green house planted... 3 tomato plants, basil, cukes and a watermelon... so just have to wait now...
Hope you all have a great day

Oh my goodness, I can't believe I have neglected my blog for so long..took a long time to get over losing Levi...and then the manager of the food bank died, very young, 51, heart attack or blood clot, haven't heard for sure what it was..so we all had to step up to the plate and do our share...

We have all been fine, i have done several shawls, birthday gifts, and a couple for donations..haven't done much spinning, too busy knitting, and running back and forth to the Food Bank...

Our young hens have started to lay finally, not very pleased with them... 15 hens and only 10 to 12 eggs a day, and some of the shells are of poor quality...very thin, and very rough, young hens are suppose to lay every day, and have nice hard clean shells...they are pure bred Rhode Island Reds.. they are not the same as the hens from years ago..going to change breeds next year, these were Larry's choice...

We had a very quiet Christmas, Joe worked Christmas eve and was home by 9 am... Matt came up for a couple of days, I am so glad they want to come home for Christmas.. 

I have been taking Wynn to Holistic vet in Kamloops, she has given Wynn, chiropractic, and acupuncture treatments, and she seem to be sound now.   Hopefully will be able to get her back into agility soon... I still can't run as my knee is still sore... better than it was, but still not able to run.  My agility friend said she would run her for me... maybe next weekend..I love to watch her run, we will only jump her at 10 inches for a while, to build up the muscles in her shoulder..

We have a good share of snow this year, but the weather hasn't been too cold...
I see i have missed a pile of blogs that i used to read all the time, will take me ages to catch up... I have missed reading them... I will try to keep up.. i promise... S

Oh my goodness it has been months since i have written... so sorry to my readers...

Had a truly crappy summer, I hurt my knee the end of June, and hobbled around all summer..went to Dr and he did no good, so finally went to a massage therapist, and he did help, but still hurting as of today..am waiting for appt with a specialist..and of course because i am favoring my right leg,my left foot is screaming in pain.. Son Joe bought L and I tickets to the Yankee Mariner ball game end of July, so I hobbled all weekend... We stayed at Tulalip Casino, what a lovely place...didn't do any shopping at the Factory outlet stores near by..lucky I didn't have to walk too far at Safeco field.. 

Had fairly good luck with the greenhouse, couldn't spend as much time out there as I would have liked..(leg hurt)... we did grow a huge pumpkin... 46 lbs.. it is still waiting to be cut up... pumpkin pie until we look like pumpkin..  

Desert Mesa spinning retreat was great again... full to the rafters.. started making plan for the 10th year annivesary...it will be a 3 day retreat...thats what everyone wanted... ya never know might make it a 3 day retreat from now on... who knows...

Haven't done agility since June with the sore knee... Maureen was running Wynn for me, until one day she (Wynn) came up really lame... wasn't putting any weight on her right leg...both of us sure miss it... took her to a Holistic Vet on Thursday, and of course she wasn't limping much.. but Dr Mills did some chiropractic and acupuncture work on her... hope it works... she does seem better today..






















we had a major tragedy end of October.. Levi died of a major blood disorder..what a shock...a dear friend of mine in Kelowna wrote a poem in memory of our boy..

Just a dog.... An Ode to Levi    by Lisa Dennis

My devoted Levi, your spirit's passed
Now only memories, I'm left to clasp
An unloved mutt, who'd been kicked around
dumped like trash at a local pound.

You came to us, and taught us much
about patience, praise, and human touch
Who adopted whom? It's hard to say
But all our lives were changed that day

An agility star, you'd never be
too stubborn willed and fancy free
No dog sport wonder, "Just a dog"
our beloved pet and blanket hog

Yet for one who live so long alone
You completed us, made house a home
Now you've left our side and shall not be back
God's called this dog to complete His pack

Okay, now that i have cried my eyes out... and shared my heart ache... i will go and feed the chickens and get some laundry done....

Oh my goodness, things have sure changed on the blog... hope i can figure it out... i need to change my picture...things are just fine around here, although I hurt my knee couple of weeks ago..haven't been to agility classes for 3 weeks.. first Wynn was lame this winter, now me... it seems a bit better today...I want to enter in a trial in Kamloops the end of Aug.. oh well, i had better get it better fast...  Joe bought us tickets to the Yankee and Mariner game in Seattle the 25th of July... i wanted to stay in Seattle, but the room cost and the cost of parking make it just too expensive... can ya believe that they charge 20 to 30 bucks to park in the hotel parking lot...So i decided we should stay at Tualip Casino, price is about the same, but no parking cost...  it is only a 35 minute drive...  Green house is doing well, lots of tomatoes, and one weenie cucumber...and lots of baby peppers... it was so hot yesterday, that we ended up putting shade cloth over it... I have a friend who works for a place that makes shade cloth for windows and decks, and if there is an mistake in the weaving they bring it back, and she said they have a warehouse full of the stuff,, I traded her a case of crab apple jelly for some... put some over our bedroom window and the  greenhouse... brought the green house temp down 10 degrees...
Butchered our meat birds this weekend, we are getting really fast, 2 hours for 12 birds, but we took two days as the temp was going up so fast..i was pleased with the weights, mostly 4 to 4 1/2 lbs, and a couple of 5+, scale only goes to 5 pounds...so we have 24 fat plumb hens in the freezer..


Been knitting my girlfriend her 50th birthday present, a shawl of course, I probably won't be around when she turns 60...just the simple "garter and lace shawl"... got the body of the shawl done, "boring", but when it came to do the lace, I just couldn't concentrate... so went to another project...I am making Father Igneous a scarf for his birthday which is the 17th of October, the first night of the spinning retreat...it is a very cool pattern...
 http://www.craftsy.com/project/view/Mustard-Knit-Scarf/17394  hope it shows up if ya go to look at it...

I am having one H of a time with this stupid blog... sometimes i can get the other blogs i follow, but most of the time, I can hardly get in to write something...
Had a great time in Nanaimo, the Regionals agility trial was very interesting, everyone from Merritt qualified for the Nationals, and they are all going back beginning of August... hope they do well..The only thing that really bothered me where the handlers and dogs that shouldn't have been there.  The Regional trials were meant for the most experienced handlers "Master dogs and handlers", I talked to some handlers that had just barely started dogs...which i found took up a lot of time..I know that being able to say you had been to Regionals would be nice, but when you start with 500 points and end up with lesss than 50 points, they aren't ready to be there.. 
Toni and I had a great visit although I did get sick one day, but it was great seeing her and meeting her new dogs... Jake, Ranger (springer spaniels) and Shortie (the orginial All Canadian--(mutt))..and of course the man in her life, "Rob"..the lawyer who loves to Log...  Rob helped me "enable" Larry's passion these days of collecting "Old Iron"..a water pump..Old Iron is stuff that is so old and rusty that takes him weeks to clean up one piece, most of it are engines that used to run threshing machines, grinders, water pumps, right now L is working on restoring a 1950 golf course lawn mower.. he can hardly wait to cut the lawn with it..it is gear driven so won't be hard to push.. This is one of the engines he has restored, I can't find the orginal picture..

Green house is doing really well..got lots of tomatoes.. the earlies "Oregon Spring" are dong really well.. the weather has been so cold here that the cukes are just starting to climb.. basil and rosemary are struggling..  Meat birds are almost ready to butcher. got new laying chicks, Rhode Island Reds" mixed,as they don't sex these ones for some reason, so will probably end up with more roosters than hens, so will probably end up with 15 roosters and 10 hens..also got the turkeys... they are so funny..15 this year, could have sold more last year... 

Joe bought us a pair of tickets to Yankee baseball in Seattle in July... couldn't believe that if you get a hotel room there, that you have to pay for parking..anywhere from $20 to 40...a night...so decided that we would stay in Tualip(spelling) at the Indian casino for 2 nights.. it is only a 40 minute drive, and the game starts at noon, so that should work...then on the way home, we plan on stopping at Costco...looking for some socks for L, they carried them in Canada until a couple of years ago... and  he loved them, but can't find them else.. and then at the Farm Store..just for snooping...

Wynn is back doing agility, her limp is better, but i am only jumping her at 10 inches instead of the 22 inches she is suppose to jump...i think i will special her at 16 inches... so she doesn't hurt herself... she is doing well, but my knees are acting up this week..hope i will be able to keep running her..i want to put her in a trial in Kamloops the end of August..

Better go get my rear in gear and go check and feed chicks,  have a great weekend... hope the sun shines on Renate B's daughters fairy tale wedding in  Pemberton this weekend..

I'm back... twice in a month... main reason is I'm bored... Larry is watching "Jail".. i get tired of watching all the drunks and druggies go thru jail.... so I have been knitting... got 3 shawlets done,one for my partner at the Food Bank, and one for a silent auction, and the one for Joe's Theresa.... and have started another one... Garter and Lace... plain garter stitch with lace around the edge, in dark brown alpaca, machine spun by Crofton wool Mills, no longer in business, and i do miss Marie and her fibre...
got my Knit Pick needle set... i do love them... but couldn't believe that they didn't include the connectors for the long cords... have to order some...

Count down to the 65th birthday... got my Gold card a couple of weeks ago, now i am really old... I am
going over to Nanaimo June the 5th..going to spend my birthday with my spinny friends on the island.  There is going to be the Regional Dog Agility that weekend, so plan on spending time with Toni and then spend a day at the Trial, and then on Sunday, I get to volunteer.. the dogs come from all over BC and the Yukon, I will never be good enough to run in that trial, but i really want to see them.. Wynn is doing better, got her on MSM, condrotin, and glucosamin (spelling  ?????), I am too lazy to get up to get the bottle to check out the spelling.  She is not limping, so i will start her doing agility again, Levi has been going to her class, I just couldn't miss any classes.  He has been doing good, but I won't trial him as he always did well at class, but messed up at Trials..I won't tell ya how many 100's of dollars i spent for 5 Qualifying scores... I had planned on running Wynn in April but had to cx as she was limping so bad...  There will be a few trials during the summer that i would like to do, but we will see..i need to win the Lottery, so  i can go to more trials..

Green House is doing good.. although even under plastic i lost 4 pepper plants and one tomato to frost.. so we put a little heater in to keep the frost at bay... tomatoes are starting to flower, and the one pepper that didn't freeze is starting to bloom.. The fruit trees here in the Nicola Valley are blooming like crazy, I have never seen so many blooms on some the old apple trees beside the Hwy.. even our two baby apple trees are covered with flowers, and my cherry trees are covered with baby cherries, I can hardly wait for them to ripen..  The saskatoons and choke cherrys are really blooming, i hope that doesn't mean it is going to be a bad winter..(lots of food for the wild critters)

My camera isn't working, so I have to use Larry's, i just change the memory card, so will take some pictures of the green house tomorrow...

I have had lots of emails from spinners wanting to know when the invites for the fall retreat will be going out.. Andrea Lawrence has sold her business, so not sure if the new girl is interested in vendoring...  Well I am off to bed, I have been waking up at 5 am this past week... need to read a bit, and hope i don't drop my book...

Take care   S

PS... this is the farm house that Larry was born in,  they had a dairy farm in Fort Langley in the 40's.. now it is a turf farm... lovely old house...

Oophs...  I haven't written since April.. so sorry... I have been busy... great excuse eh...I have been doing a lot of knitting, "flower basket shawl" for Joe's Theresa, swallow tail shawl for friend's birthday, and another "flower basket shawl" for a blind auction..(hmmm not sure that is the right word).. got the word..."SILENT" auction... those shawls are very easy, and only a 9 row repeat, so it is easy to remember..  Spring has been very slow coming this year..both my cherry trees are blooming.. yipee... i love cherries.. both apple trees are showing buds..a granny smith, and an Ambrosa... 

Larry decided that he was going to build me a green house this year, I have been waiting for 20+ years.. what do ya think... We have a company here in Merritt, called "good earth"..they compost soil and all kinds of good stuff, so we got a dump truck load... beautiful black stuff... you mix it 1 to 3of your own dirt.. then he got carried away (no picture yet).. he built a potatoe box (we have a tough time growing spuds in my garden boxs, they get really mushy when cooked, I think they get too much water when we water the rest of the boxes) so this box will only get water when i want it... and then he got carried away again, he wants strawberries, I hate them as they are so hard to weed, so he built another box for his strawberries, and put a heavy duty tarp on the ground.. so will go look for some plants today... I have kept him busy the last couple of weeks, meat chicks are coming today, and then the turkeys and the laying hens  are coming near the end of June..Larry wanted "Rhode Island Red chickens"  and of course the chicks are not sexed, so ya get roosters and hens, so we are hoping to get at least 12 hens, the roosters are raised for meat birds..

Picked up the chicks, they were 3 hours late.. brought them home, and of course all the dogs where under foot, I went thru the gate at the shop, turned to the left toward the chick house, and Dixie (the border collie) was waiting at the door of the chick house..   she laid in the door way while i watered and feed them... went back in a couple of hours, she won't let any of the other dogs near her CHICKS..  Joe teases her while she is in the house, he calls her and yells "Chickens" and she is at the door waiting for us... silly old girl....
Yankee has been talking up a storm, he makes us laugh every day...He has figured out when Cleo (the cat) is in... as soon as i take the dogs to bed, and Cleo is in the house, he starts calling 'Cleo, Cleo, and she comes out for her bedtime treat... and if she isn't in, he calls Levi... and believe it or not, he really knows when she in the house..  When the dogs are in trouble, and i call them, and they come right away, they get a "Yippee" and they get a treat for coming so good...now Yankee asks for a cookie (at treat time for the dogs) and yells 'Yippee'... he is waiting for the weather to warm up, so he can go outside..    Okay.. i have written enough today... although i need to change my picture..nite

Hi... okay, I changed the picture, now i have to write something... okay, that's it... I'm done

Okay, just kidding... nothing on the TV for me anyway.. Larry is watching "Swamp People"... dumb, dumb show... all they do is shot alligators..again and again and again..

Got a New computer /lap top... love it, it is so fast..even backed it up on to a memory stick... don't want to loose all my pictures... been going thru them to get rid of the ones i don't want, or the out of focus ones..
Weather has been okay, very little sun, and it is pouring rain right now..need it to warm up so i can go rake the lawn..

Agility hasn't been going too well either... Wynn is limping, so no agility until it is better, but i have been taking Levi, as i had paid for the month, and i didn't want to miss classes that i paid for... He is enjoying himself, I guess he need the winter off... now have to decide if i pay for the next month and wait to see if Wynn is better or take Levi until she is better... have to decide soon.. and the knee has been acting up too... need to go to Dr and see if he can make my boo boo better

Larry and I both had the flu, mine last about 5 days, (I had flu shot), and his lasted 3 weeks, (no flu shot), and he still if feeling weak, he lost 12 pounds, and he can't afford to loose weight.. he is going  to Dr tomorrow, I think he is low on iron...but we will see..

Youngest son is moving again...was in an apartment in Coquitlam, and it had  ROACHES.. just bout drove him nuts, of course he had never even seen one... he had signed a year lease on the apartment, he complained so much they released him from his contract..and is moving into a new building next week... he is so paranoid that he is washing all his clothes and making sure there is no bugs, and then putting them in a box, and duct taping every opening...poor boy..

Desert Mesa Spring Retreat is just around the corner, sure looking forward to it... it is a much smaller retreat, but i like it better, alots of fun..more intimate....got to go thru my fibres to see what i have left to spin...don't need to buy anything... I have been knitting a shawlette for Joe's girlfriend.. it was suppose to be for her birthday, in Feb... doing the Flower basket, and it is turning out great.. should have it finished before the retreat for a show and tell..

Yankee has been talking up a storm...  he is so funny... Wynn doesn't like Cleo the cat... so we are always watching her with the cat... and I am always telling Wynn "Leave her alone"..One day last week, Cleo was driving me nuts, she wanted out, but won't come to the door... so when Larry came in for lunch, i asked him to put her out (Cleo is his cat), he picked her up and walked past the bird cage, and the crazy bird yelled at him  "leave her alone"... we laughed so hard, he almost dropped the cat... today he kept say.."What ya barking at"..he is picking up our every words so easy now..  I get "Morning Dear" every morning..He is always asking the dogs "do ya want out" Larry taught him to say "abandon ship" abandon ship"..it is hard to find little sayings for him... if ya think of anything interesting let me know..
okay, off to bed... need to go read for a bit... take care everyone, and I will be BACK.. i promise... nite nite..

So Sorry, but life got in the way

I have been busy, but haven't gotten much accomplished... I did muck out my bedroom... tons of shoes, and other stuff (crap) went to the food bank... ie.. a pair of slippers that had batteries in them, to keep your feet warm,  a cute pair of cowboy boots that i only wore once, (they were red), and it was tough getting rid of them, but they were a hand me down....a set of 4 pictures of exotic flowers that were still in it wrapping cello..that i really like when i bought them, but didn't like when i got home... one of those big body pillows that someone gave Larry...the closet sure does look better...

Well that was written a month ago and that was as far are i got... I am just getting over the cold/flu what ever ya want to call it..started on Tuesday night, and just starting to feel like i will live...only thing i did today was strip the bed and wash the sheets... of course Larry, Joe and Theresa all had it too... only Larry is still ill.. and of course you know what men are like when they get sick..  I would be so much better if i could quit coughing..I was so sick i even cx my agility class and you know how hard that is for me..
Got a lovely new laptop 2 weeks ago... so sleek and so fast.. bought Larry a wireless mouse..he complained that the old computer was slow, now he complains that the mouse moves too fast..just can't make him happy...
Dogs are all fine, although they miss being out with Larry..Yankee has learned some new words this month... first one being "abandon ship" "abandon ship".. and the other wasnt a new word, he just said it at the appropraite time... we yell at the dogs to leave the cat alone, one night Larry picked her up to put her outside, and as he walked by the cage, Yankee yelled at him "leave her alone"  we laughed so hard i almost peed myself..
Snow is almost gone, although it did snow in Kamloops about 18 inches last week.. not a flake here..
have been spinning up some lovely white blue faced Leicester, love that stuff.. I have done 2 pounds, now i have to find something to make out of it..promised my son's girl a shawlette or shawl depending on how i am feeling...  better go... i need to change the picture, but my mind isn't too clear today..

Okay i am still alive

Sorry that i haven't been writing again.... i have been playing Scrabble on FB, and love it... trying to keep my mind young, as i am getting old..will be 65 this year... Planning on spending my Birthday weekend with Toni, Melody, and Marie, and my agility buddies.  The BC Alberta Yukon Dog Agility Regional will be in Naniamo this June... so would love to go down to my Moms, spend the night with her, catch the Ferry over to Naniamo, spend the day with Toni and my spinny friends, and then volunteer at the Regional.. it is on for 3 days so will try to volunteer or a day or two...then head back to Mom's on the Monday, and then back to Merritt on the Tuesday.. talked to Larry about it today, and he said he was fine with it...
Our Christmas was very quiet, Matt was home from the coast and Joe and Teresa were here for the day, we had a home grown turkey and my goodness is was perfect.. moist and lot of favour.. Larry did a good job of feeding them..Larry of course had no idea what to give me for Christmas, he ended up buying me some Montana silver earrings (2 pair), very nice, i have tried for years to convince him that jewellery is always a good gift..

Wynn has been going great in her agility classes, we have been really luck this winter, only 4 dogs in our class and they haven't been coming so Wynn and I have PRIVATE lessons...works out good..i love it... going to put her into her first trial in April, the weekend after Desert Mesa Retreat, just one day, it should be fun.. i am really looking forward to taking her... Levi is doing okay.. although he does miss going to classes, I will take him when the weather warms up a bit.. it is cold for him to just sit and wait for us...
Just went looking for a picture of Kayda, the Min Pin..couldn't find any... she has finally decided that this is home.. although she goes wild when Matt comes for a visit.. she jumps into his arms, and he is over 6 feet tall.. she sticks to him like glue.. he does miss her, but he lives in an apartment now..the cold was very hard on her -30 for a couple of days..she was wearing her winter coat and i made a mohair sweater for her (hand spun of course), she looked like a football.. just out long enough to pee and then back in.. I had better get my camera charged up and that some pictures of all of them..

Larry is staying busy in the shop, rebuilding all his old motors and drag saws..this is a picture of one of the drag saws he rebuilt.. it was used for cutting logs into lengths before there were chain saws.. so actually they were the first chain saws..  oh ya, there's Kayda...
Better go, time to go feed the pack.. Kayda in the house, Levi in the back porch, Wynn, Dixie and Jackson in the shop... i promise i will be back soon.... S

new picture

How do ya like my new picture... it is a pin  that belonged to my Grandmother (who died when i was about 10)..Her brother had been in Africa during the Boer War, and he brought this pin back for her... our only family antique... the pin is made of gold... and it is real gold nuggets on the shovel handle and the blade... and the rope is gold, and i love the rivets ....
Life has been pretty boring around here since the spinning retreat... I can hardly wait for the spring retreat...we had a wonderful time, and everyone is looking forward to the 10th Anniversary in 2013... we need some good ideas on how to celebrate that...Toni came and spent the night, we had lots of good giggles..
Levi had a wreck two weeks ago... and we  have no idea how it happened... i found some blood on the deck and went to find him... he was in the dog house, someplace were he never goes.. as my Vet put it, he had degloved his penis... the skin was hanging off the end... he ended in the clinic for 4 days..it was surgery my Vet had never done before... but he is fine now... still try to keep him quiet, but he was jumping the fence with in a week... i would have thought that it would hurt too much to jump... he is going back tomorrow to get the stitches out...
Wynn did well with her first class at agility this past week... somewhere over the course, I hurt my knee, so i limped thru the run... by Sunday I could hardly walk, and have been gimping around all week... made an appt with the Dr for tomorrow, but the knee is back to normal to day, but will probably hurt it again on Saturday..we had two dogs drop out of the class, which i don't really mind as that leaves only 4 dogs in the class, where is normally 6 dogs...the woman who quit the class was a real drama queen... she was afraid that the dogs would fight.. one other dog and Wynn growled at her dog..but this way i get to run more... plus one woman is running 2 dogs, and then i get to run twice between her dogs... good class..
Larry got our back porch almost finished... just the inside needs to be finished..should have made it bigger...
I planted over a 100 cloves of garlic this week... just need to cover it with hay...hopefully that will help it keep from freezing...
Off to the food bank tomorrow... busy place these days...
I am almost finished spinning up some Merino and silk roving that i got from Smith & Ewe, in Kamloops at the retreat... very easy to spin, and a lovely pinky purplely colour...  got a couple of patterns that i am interested in knitting... anything as long as i don't have to SEW it together...  .. have a great day.... S
Matt is coming home next week...his birthday is on the 12 of Nov... my baby will be 31... he hated being 30, so i imagine 31 will be tough..  he just moved into a apartment from a basement suite..

Levi

Levi is now official retired from Agility Trials and training.  I know he is only 4 years old, but he just doesn't care for agility.  I have tried really hard to make him enjoy it, but no luck..My final decision was made at the 5 Star Trial,the beginning of Sept, he just wasn't interested, even the judge commented on his lack of enthusiasm

 . I think what helped me decide to retire him was training Wynn the past 4 months, she loves it and runs with great joy.  Levi was 18 months old when we rescued him from his 5th or 6th or 7th  home, it is always hard with a rescue dog, he doesn't know how to play with me or even the other dogs, and he has had so many homes you just don't know how he was treated.. It bothers me that i am giving up on him, but I am not giving him away, he is in his forever home, and he will spend the rest of his life on the Homestead with the rest of the pack..if he had had his way last night, he would have spent the night chasing bears... the dogs were wild and barking their heads off...Jackson barked for hours... Levi laid on the front porch and barked..he would have been gone if he had backup but Dixie and Wynn were in the house..

So now I will spend all my $$ and time on Wynn... wish i had a video camera and i would get someone to take a movie of her runs... last night i was messing up my share of the run... and the little witch was whining at me, telling me to smarten up and get with the program.. I had to laugh at her..she is so darn fast, we start the fall classes soon, in Merritt, so the gas cost gets cut right down.. i have to travel 90km round trip to get to the Summer classes on Iron Mountain..about 50 km round trip in the Winter... this is Wynn practicing her Zones. "2 on, 2 off" that is used on the teeter, the dog walk, and the A frame... front feet in the dirt and back feet on the obstacale..she has amazing " zones" .. She should be ready for trials in the spring...

this is the dogs water bucket.. filled with pine cones.. Larry must have emptied it 5 times.. he has a big orange box just full of pine cones..

These are the socks that i now own... the grey ones are made by the wonderful Sock lady, i asked for Grey as the main colour and every shade of pink she had... and of course she had to make them just a little wild with a dash of orange... very cool... and the green ones are one that Marg Sjorstrom made me for our FB exchange... she calls them Beaufort Sea socks.. fit like a glove.. will write soon.... hugs

finally summer

What a great September we have had... the weather has been wonderful.  Denise and I went to the Kamloops agility trial the long weekend, and we almost froze the first night, I got up put on my sleep pants, my socks and my sweater and was finally able to warm up..the days were beautiful, the grass was green (previous years it has been brown and dry and very slippery), but with the late spring and all the rain, I am sure they had lots of water in their well to keep the grass nice.  Levi was his putzy self all weekend,  the whistle would blow for over time and he would start running, or he would know that we were half way thru the course and he would start to run... even the Judge noticed it... so i made the final decision and I am retiring him at the end of September, I have paid for the month so will finish it... Wynn is doing fantastic, she has discovered that this new game we play is FUN...she is truly amazing, she does every jump with grace and a grin on her face, and clears it by miles...her weaves are getting awesome, last class she did 3 jumps in a row and made her entrance into the weave poles at a gallop...i was so excited that i stopped to reward her... she should be ready for trials by the spring.  My friends are amazed that she has only been doing agility since June..
I have been busy making jams and jellies... strawberry, raspberries, apricot, black currant, red currant, chokecherry (for my buddy Lynne, who can't pick berries and watch for grizzlies bears at the same time), and crab-apple jelly for my friend and my mother, and i just finished making "Lady Rose Relish" also for my Mom.. made half a batch and it still made gallons (well sort of)..wanted to do some black berries, but Larry is too busy, and it was his idea...  My crab-apple tree finally had some apples on it, so will make some jelly from them when they get a bit redder, and my Grannie Smith has some nice apples, so will do a couple of pies, and the DAMN squirrels have stolen my Peaches, i had about 24 nice peaches just waiting to ripen, the last time i looked there were only TWO left...little buggers...
Only a month until the October retreat, I will have to start spinning to make sure i haven't forgotten how..I also have a scarf that i have to finish for an exchange..got one done, just the final one to do...
Our truck is feeling ill today, Larry headed to the coast and it was running very poorly, so he came back to town and went with his friend... buying more JUNK...

this is Jackson after spending the morning chasing squirrels, and boy do they tease him... he hates being hot, and plays with the sprinkler or his wading pool.

this is our Levi the Putz... enjoying life at home and not having to worry about agility... i will still take him to classes just so he gets to go out with me..he is such a tough dog, so stubborn and strong minded, just like the Aussies..

I am also getting a new back porch, I cleaned the old one out yesterday and threw most of the junk away...and it was just junk... I am trying to take something to the Food bank every day... trying to declutter this shack...works well... i start a pile at the beginning of the week and by Thursday I have a few things to take...
Yankee was been talking up a storm and adds new words almost every day... his latest is "give me a cold beer",(we never have beer in the house), Morning Dear, Kayda's a porkchop, do ya want to go outside, and of course tons of words that i forget... I must write them down...take care will write again soon    S

whoopee "summer"

For a while anyway... it hasn't been too hot... just right, about 27-28 all day, and cool at night.. been busy picking raspberries, and black currants..never had so many raspberries, Larry put some of the "good Earth soil" on the bed, and they have really produced, plus the bee hive has fertilized all the flowers.  If i had known that i was going to have so many raspberries, I would  have made "raspberry vinegar" my grannie's recipe... 8 cups of fresh raspberries, covered with apple cider vinegar for a couple days, drain, and add more raspberries... ya do this a couple of times.. then strain and boil, a cup of sugar for a cup of juice... boil and then seal in jars... you use 1/4 cup juice in a glass of cold water and ice... it is so good, although the first taste is very vinegary, but by the time you are finished the first glass you want more...Currants have been very prolific too... nice to have the hive of bees in the yard.... we don't own the hive, our neighbour does, he was away for a month, the bees ran out of room and swarmed.. wish we could have caught them, but they were way up the tree...he will learn.
We have agility in the morning tomorrow, Instructor just changed it to morning, and I love the morning classes, Wyn did fantastic last week... we ran a full course, and she only made one mistake...she is finally enjoying herself, she knows when i put my agility runners on, and gets so excited..but she is so fast, the poor little girl will have to learn to work away as i can't keep up with her, and Levi is doing well too, he seems to be running faster and listening better, we will be going to a Agility trial beginning of Sept. long weekend.. Our instructor is have an agility clinic up at her place the weekend before... i have never been to a clinic, so it should be interesting..the instructor is Kim Gurr, well know in the agility world..she is going to the World National Agility trials in Europe...
We butchered the meat birds last weekend..they were a little too big, but nice and fat... we also got 11 turkeys the end of June, and they are doing well too. boy do they grow fast..Larry had to pick them up as i was away that weekend, so he has been looking after them...
Friend of ours have a Cerebral Palsy  son, and he has found me on face book, and has been trying to talk to me every time i get on it... he gets really bored, and so when i talk to  him so he is happy..i also send him funny jokes of the internet, and he loves that too... he is 14, he rides on his Dad's motorcycle with him..
Had a nice fresh salmon up at Steve and Clara's last night... very good, I ate a lot more than my share, love Salmon... Larry doesn't care for it, so I ate his 2nds' too.   They have 20 or 30 chipmunks up there... they are too funny, wish we had some down here... we have squirrels and they drive Jackson wild, this picture was taken a couple of summers ago... but he does the same... he even tries to climb the trees, but those darn squirrels tease him until he is frantic..
Larry got another old drag saw, he has enough junk to fix until he dies... guess I am the same, only I have enough wool to last me more than one life time... haven't done much knitting or spinning this summer... i guess i should get started again... Spinning retreat is very full. with a wait list..I can hardly wait for October.. have to get something knitted up for the show and tell.... have a great  day.... S