World Rivers Day

Yesterday, Sydney and I attended World Rivers Day.  A day started in BC and now celebrated in over 30 countries.  Kumsheen Rafting Resort power rafts the big rapids between Big Horn (Spences Bridge) and Lytton, stopping to pick up garbage and debris along the way.  The trip is free of charge for the youth in Lytton.



Sydney and her classmates at Spences Bridge.  Sydney is fourth in from the left.




Waiting in the boat and maybe a tad nervous? :)




Stopping for lunch at Nicomen.  Wet as a fish but happy as a clam!




The creeks and rivers are swollen with spawing fish.




Doreen picks up a live one!




Coming through "The Frog."  Sydney is fourth from the front facing me.  This was scary to watch!




Gettin' Wet!  The screams from the boat could be heard up on the highway!




At least six kayakers were on the river.  I met this fellow, Bert, when he came up to his truck.




While at Kumsheen I stopped and took a pic of Sydney's shadow on a teepee.  I've entered it in the weekly DPS assignment: Shadows.




For the complete set of pictures visit my flickr site:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/kansasa/

Renovations...

You buy a 10 foot counter and cabinets and end up throwing up a 16'x10' room... who would have thought?  I had no intentions of adding on, yet another room, to our house but what is one to do with all the coats, boots, and miscellaneous stuff that is in the spot where the counter goes?  Currently my counter and cabinets are in the back of my pickup, in our driveway, calling my name, but unfortunately we won't get it all installed until next weekend.  Please don't think that I have this immaculate country house where everything is finished.  I barely have walls, have learned to love plywood floors, and putting up another room doesn't even involve drywall ;)


On Friday I zipped over to Kamloops to pick up the counter and cabinets.  It was supposed to be all ready at the cabinet place with a one stop pick up.  Things never work out that way tho' do they?  I had already done all my shopping trying to blow time because they needed the counter for just "one more hour."  In the end I was sitting in the truck, in the parking lot, in the HEAT for an hour and a half... so "all ready in the morning" turned into 3:00 PM.  On the way home I stopped and checked my load five times... the first time the strap had come off, don't ever think that when someone straps something into the back of your truck that it's all secure.  The next four times I was just being cautious but when one has gone through what I have for this damn counter one tends to guard it like it was her first born :)


Yesterday we got quite a bit done on the new room.  Tom, a friend of the family, is putting up this room.  Usually we have Robert, my Mom's spouse, do everything but Mom and Robert are in the middle of moving!  Yup, after 25 years in Nanaimo, they are heading for Kamloops.  I'm really excited about Mom and Robert being four hours closer to us with no ferry in between!  It will be nice to spend the weekend with them and for them to come here for a few days but I'll miss Nanaimo and all my Aunts that live there too.


The fires around here have died down and Hubby is no longer working our machine.  Next week he'll be back to being gone from Monday to Friday and only home on weekends.  With the kids back in school I'm looking forward to some "quiet" time again.  I've done a fair amount of canning and the season is coming to an end.  The weeds have taken over my garden big time and the other day a banty hiding in the weeds hatched out 12 chicks.  She was sitting on 14 eggs and I told Sydney to fling the two dud eggs over the fence since it had been a few days after the last one hatched.  Well when she picked up the two eggs one of them went "peep, peep."  It was a pretty hot day so I told her to leave the egg in the nest and see if the little chick hatched.  When the sun went down, and it started to cool, I ended up pulling the shell apart and out plopped one very tiny chick.  We kept it in the house for a few hours and then slipped it under the banty Mama that night, but the next morning I could see it wasn't doing to well.  So for the next few days I had the chick in the house during the day and kept putting it under it's Mama for the night.  The chick quickly learned to follow me around the house, even running after me when I went to the bathroom!  If I got to far out of sight the peeping was extremely loud, so I would tap my foot and little "chick chick" would come a running :) The little gaf is now full time with it's Mama.


Well I've still got taping to do and more stuff to organize so I'd best git at 'er.  Oh did I mention that I'm sporting a bruise on my forehead?  Lesson learned; don't stand under Hubby, holding plastic for him, when he has the wacker tacker in hand stapling insulation to the ceiling!  Ouch!


I'll leave you with a picture of the clouds on our way to the river the other night.  The photo has had a MCP action applied and I used it in this week's DPS assignment: Contrast.

Ducks at the pond

Every year the ducks fly in, hang around all summer, and then fly off.  We have two ponds on the ranch and they make their rounds to both.  Yesterday Sydney and I sauntered down to one of the ponds and I took some pics of them.

If you'd like this picture for your computer desktop (without the watermark), and have a widescreen monitor, you can download it at:  http://www.mediafire.com/file/klwegtjohzo/wallwideDucks-102.jpg  (I'm trying out a new storage site because I'm pretty sure my old one has gone down, bare with me until I get all the links changed at my blog)  I've also had to add "word verification" to my comments section because someone keeps posting a Chinese or Japanese (I can't tell the difference) comment almost every single day at my Lillooet Fire post.  I'm thinking it's computer generated and I have no idea what the comment translates into so either give up or please post in English or even your own tongue with the translation underneath and I'll be happy to post it.




Another couple of pics:





For the complete set of duck pictures (11) visit my flickr site.
I've almost got my new computer all set up and it feels as if it took forever!  The biggest programs are all installed and I'm down to just tweaking it now.  I have yet to get to my laptop, I need to uninstall major programs and use it for when I'm travelling, but when time allows I'll get to it :)
The kids are back to school tomorrow and Hubby should be starting work this week (fingers crossed 'cause don't ya think when the kids head back Hubby's should too??)  Oh shoot, that reminds me, I've got pants for Jevan that I've got to get hemmed and elastic put in... Happy Labour Day for us up in Canada and Happy Labor Day for my American friends :)

Meegie

Last night Hubby and I decided to go down to the river. Earlier in the day he had seen a large black bear and I was hoping to take pics of it. We were gone for about an hour or so and when we came back we were in for a horrible shock. Meegie, our almost 15 year old chihuahua had been under the truck when we left and was lying in the driveway when we returned. She is now buried beside her daughter Annie, who died only two months ago, and her husband Spike who passed on a few years ago. The "three Amigo's" are all back together and my heart aches for each one of them.


Meegie (short for Amigo) was born on Jan 2 1995 in a nasty dog farm and I always think that I was so lucky to have taken her from such a horrific place. She was "my" dog for quite a few years until we lost our faithful Blue Heeler, Bud, to cancer and then she sort of took a shine to Hubby. I think she sensed he needed someone and that someone was her. If he was out on the fields running a tractor she would turn up running alongside him, he got so worried about her that he built a box on the hood and she'd ride up there all day with him. He then had to rig up a beach umbrella so she would have shade... oh the things he did for her :)

Meeg and her daughter Tacobell (born the same time as Annie) riding on the hood of the tractor back in 2002.




Looking much younger Meegie sits beside the camp fire up at the landing.




As old as she was, and stone deaf, Meeg loved climbing the rocks at the river, just three nights previous we were down there and she was by our side. A few years ago we got all the way back to the house and realized Meeg wasn't with us! You want to see us scramble to get back down there, visions of coyotes attacking her came to mind. Hubby and I flew down in the truck and there she was, right where we load up the truck sitting and waiting. I don't know who was happier, her or us, but from that day on we always did a dog "count" :)
A picture of Meeg at the river taken last year.



I'll miss you girl, give a hug to Annie and Spike for me and I'll see you again :)

Pig Riding! Yeeeeehaw!

It was bound to happen; the kids rode Hamlet and Pork Chop tonight!

Hubby and I were in stitches watching them and then I almost peed myself when Jevan, oh so gently, got on Hamlet only to be quickly bucked off backwards!  He flipped through the air and came down on his head... okay he wasn't hurt, but a bit of whining was heard over my laughter.

Here's the pics: (I'm still laughing!)

Dirty, muddy, smelling... but do my kids care?  Nooooope.




C'mon Hamlet and Pork Chop!  Yeeeeehaw!



"I am soooo outta here!"




"Look, I'm gettin' on no matter what!"




"Easy now Hamlet."




I did it!




Ooops!




After flipping off backwards, and landing on his head, Jevan is a bit leery about getting back on but he does attempt it :)




"GET off, GET off!"




Hold on Sydney!!




Backwards it is!  (Oh Lord look at her pants!)




It was a fun time and I think even Pork Chop and Hamlet had a blast!

If you'd like to see larger pictures visit my flickr site or click any one of the pictures.