Random photos

This past weekend was mostly spent in Lytton.  Sydney attended three different functions as one of the May Day Princesses so guess who gets to do all the driving?  Yup that would be me! :)

My little Princess all dressed up.

The first event was on Friday night and it was a street dance.  Sydney introduced herself and then said who her parents were.  I was about two seconds too late to get a photo of her doing it but I did get a shot of all the girls, and the Prince, later on.

The band was great with a mixture of the ‘50’s and ‘60’s and a bit of country mixed in.  People were dancing in the streets and it was a lot of fun.  We had burnt hamburgers and ice cream for supper but all was good and we headed for home around 9:00 PM.

Saturday was the choosing of the Queen.  The Princesses sell tickets and they have their name on each ticket as the seller, the ticket is drawn and whoever the seller is becomes Queen.  Back when I was a May Day Princess (gosh was it really 33 years ago?!) things were a bit different but I guess times change lol!

Deirdre was the lucky winner and here’s a pic of Sydney and her together after the crowning.

While we were waiting for the Princesses to show up the Lytton drummers were performing.  I put together a short video and if you can’t see it on my blog you can see it at YouTube.

 

Sunday was a day off. :)

Monday was the May Day Parade.  Up at 6:00 AM my intentions were to drop Sydney off at Mrs. Adams at 8:30 and take Jevan for breakfast.  Things didn’t quite work out that way… we ended up decorating my truck so I could drive the girls in the parade!  Having never decorated a “float” or driven in a May Day Parade (or any parade for that matter) I didn’t have a clue what to do.  Brenda and Caroline (two Moms who showed up to help) had never done it either… but things turned out pretty good!

Jevan had a blast as my sidekick!

It was a busy weekend but a lot of fun!

I’ve been taking night shots of hummingbirds and I’ll leave you with a pic I took tonight.  The rain has been coming down here most of the day and the spots you see are raindrops.

For more pictures of the parade, drummers, and hummingbirds visit my flickr site:

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Exploring our own neighbourhood

Yesterday Hubby and I went for a drive looking for the Mama bear and her three cubs.  We didn’t get more than two minutes down the road and a cub ran out in front of us.  It wasn’t one of the cubs I’d seen from Izman Creek and, even though I had my camera in hand, he was pretty quick to hustle up the hill and was outta sight in a flash.

We travelled down to Buck Thomas’ old homestead, about 11 miles out of Lytton, near where I’d seen the Mama and her cubs.  It didn’t take long before I spotted the Mama bear.

She didn’t see us right away and I quickly leaped out of the truck.

When she stood up I was shocked at how big she was!

I was a bit nervous at how far the door of the truck was away from me but didn’t have to fear anything… she came down quickly and her and her cubs swiftly ran off.  We searched the area and didn’t see them again.

Coming up from the bottom field we stopped at Buck Thomas’ old homestead and poked around.

Inside the place is knee deep in hay and it looks as if animals have been sleeping in the corner.

The wood cookstove is almost buried in hay.

Looking out the living room window you see a massive lilac bush.

We did a bit more touring of the area and then headed for home.  Along the highway you see tons of yellow flowers and I think everyone has their own name for them. :)

Speaking of flowers I did a Still Life assignment over at DPS this week.  I had a hard time choosing what colour background I wanted to go with and ended up going against what most people said and submitted the white.

And this was the black one.  I titled them “Still life… and death.”  Hence the reason for the dead flower in the arrangement.

If you’d like to have the black background for your Windows Desktop Wallpaper click here and grab yourself a high res copy. :)

For more pics of Buck’s old homestead visit the Old Homestead set at my flickr site.

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Hummers are back in full swing

We’ve had hummingbirds since April 14th, a full week ahead of last year, but not as many…. until today!  Wow they sure hit hard and I had to refill two feeders today.

Tonight I took this picture through the screened window before the porch light came on.

After the porch light came on and I stood outside the door:

I did a small video but with my old point & shoot camera it really didn’t come out too well.  While I was doing the video one bird flew over my head and ended up in the living room, Sydney grabbed it and let it go outside.

I’ll try to get some better shots in the morning with full light. :)

Edit:  I purchased this particular feeder back in 2008 from Backyard Chirper: http://www.backyardchirper.com/bird-house-50095.html

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Pig Stew

We’re getting low on hog feed and Grandma has a ton of potatoes in her root cellar, so Hubby welded up a huge stew pot & stand and is making a concoction fit for pigs.

Along with barley from the barn and a few gallons of water the stew is actually turning out pretty good, although I’m taking the pigs word for it ‘cause I haven’t tasted it.

Love Hubby’s wooden spoon for stirring. :)

The pigs are enjoying it, and they actually got a bit testy when he skipped a day and gave them straight hog feed. :)

The other night Hubby lost a bet with me on the hockey game… he’s gotta cook one dinner, complete with doing the dishes up afterwards (this will be a first and we’ve been married for 17 years this year!).  It better not be his pig stew!!

For more stew pics visit my flickr site.

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Branding 2010

Saturday was our annual branding for the calves and it was the quickest branding I can remember.  Gotta give credit and thanks to the two excellent ropers Les and Del!

A few pictures I’ll post here but the majority you’ll find at my flickr site.

These are my two nephews Dezmond and Mikey.  Mikey’s throwing the calf.

Our brand.

Del going after a calf.

Les going after a white calf.

Hubby tending the irons.

My BIL Mike.

Dezmond taking a calf on.

Our neighbour Rick tries out Hubby’s gloves.

Lee, a long time friend, jumps right in… unfortunately he also fell right over!

Lee and the calf hit the ground at the same time.

Les throwing his rope.

Hubby brands a calf alongside his brother Doug (right) and friend Jeff (left).

It was a great day with wonderful weather, lots of helping hands, and excellent food.

We finished up quite early and all headed over to Grandma’s for lunch.  I cooked a ton of sausage rolls and about 3 dozen cabbage rolls (one day I should blog my recipe).  Two friends fighting over who was going to take home the few cabbage rolls left made me feel good LOL!

For more pictures of the branding visit my flickr site:

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