Merry Christmas!

Hope you have all been enjoying a wonderful holiday season! I love Christmas - the joy of giving, celebrating Jesus' birth, the lights, the music/carols...and just the warmth of the season. My day didn't end up going quite as planned but it was still nice. I was heading up to church and stopped in to check my neighbour's coal boiler as we've been having water pressure issues with it. This time someone had left the water on so the pressure was too high. I ended up keeping an eye on it for the rest of the morning/early afternoon until the pressure stabilized in the range where we've been trying to keep it. Around 2:30 I was able to make it up to Verena's where I had been invited to have Christmas dinner with her and her family. It was an enjoyable afternoon/evening with delicious food and great fellowship. We were also able to give their new telescope a try. And to make the day even better I got a Bernie Brown travel coffee mug (yes, Verena knows me too well! ;) ) filled with chocolates. My friends are the best! :) I have so much to be thankful for!

How was your Christmas? Favourite moments and memories?

Friends

Naomi and I on her wedding day - Sept 10th, 2011

Scatter seeds of kindness everywhere you go;
Scatter bits of courtesy - watch them grow and grow.
Gather buds of friendship;
Keep them till full-blown;
You will find more happiness than you have ever known.
- Amy R. Raabe

The Last Thing You Do - High Valley

This group has become one of my favourites. Love the country style and their songs actually have substance and good messages. They have an interesting background/history and are from Alberta! :) You can read more about them here: High Valley Music

Today's Inspiring Words. lol.

What every cat should know. haha!

Hunting Season

Lost in Canada

An American and his wife were driving in Canada and got lost on the prairie. After what seemed like forever, they finally came to a city.

When they saw a gentleman on the sidewalk they pulled up to the curb and the lady wound down her window and asked: "Excuse me, sir.  Where are we?"

The gentleman replied, "Saskatoon, Saskatchewan."

The woman rolled up the window, turned to her husband and said,

"We really are lost.  They don't even speak English here!"

Remembrance Day - May we never forget their sacrifice

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
      Between the crosses, row on row,
   That mark our place; and in the sky
   The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
   Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
         In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
   The torch; be yours to hold it high.
   If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
         In Flanders fields.

Lieutenant John McCrae

Newest project - SLC sign

It has been too long since I last posted. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up over the next while. My latest project was designing a sign for our barn which I made yesterday. Getting ready to ship chicks at 1 AM so my busy schedule will continue on for a while!

 My fancy instruments. lol. Used a ruler and then the bowl on the curves to get a uniform, consistent arc.

Taped the template to the diamond shape and then cut it out with the ladybug cutter. I had it from scrapbooking and it came in very handy!

I was planning to use regular paint but seeing there were several cans of spray paint that came with the place I decided it wouldn't hurt to give it a try. It was a tough decision between JD green and black. lol.

To seal off the sign I used three coats of clear weatherproof spray.

I'm pretty happy with how the sign turned out. Not professional by any means but it will work for the time being. :D

River Flows in You

My sister, Erin, playing Yiruma's "River Flows in You."

Barn Maintenance

Had to replace another section in the airline. It comes from the boiler shed in the background there and into the shop part of the barn.

 The faucet broke off a few days before I was going to place chicks a few cycles back. I didn't have the necessary fittings on hand to replace it at the time so I ended up just screwing an end cap in to stop the water.

Two fittings and a new faucet from the hardware store did the trick. :)

Straightening finned pipe. Not the most fun job I've ever tackled. It took me about 5 or 6 hours and by the time it was done my knees weren't thanking me. :P They are fairly flexible so I pushed them all back into place with a screwdriver. 

Before:

After:

And the lovely fogger hose. The braided hose at 84 PSI could not compete with the 200 PSI being run though it. :P 

  

Very awkward to work on the line. You are on a ladder with your head squished into the corner and then you drop the screwdriver into the bucket of water below that was catching the water flowing out when you cut the hose.

I always forget that the hose slides in like a breeze at the top and at the bottom not so. After many unkind thoughts, sore nails, and scraped fingers, I got it pushed into place and the clasps tightened. I picked up this hose from JD and it is good for 300 PSI and it can handle hot oil. So, with just cold water flowing through at 200 PSI I'm hoping this problem is fixed for good.

 This was the first time for a feedline cable to snap on me.  Thankfully the Co-op in town had the right size cable I need to fix the line.

Connecting the new piece of cable.

The cable went through the the opening into the box at the end. I had to unscrew the box off first and join the cable in there as well.

This Master Craft tool set has been one of the best investments!

Busy times!

It's been too long since I posted here and it hasn't been because of lack of things happening in my life. :) The past while has consisted mainly of chickens (obviously), barn maintenance, yard work, sewing for Naomi's wedding, helping with cleaning and making tortillas at KLBC, and turning 30 which my neighbour didn't let slip by unnoticed. :) So life is crazy but good. I can't complain. :) I'm going to post pictures of some of what I've been up to and hopefully not too long down the road I'll be able to get back to regular blogging.

 After the office flooding incident, I had to go underneath the trailer and put a new waterline in so I would be able to water the garden. Not the funnest job between working in small quarters and the cob webs. It reminded me of Frodo in LOTR getting all wrapped up in the web. lol.

Two trips to the hardware store and then I could finally get started.

After assessing the situation with my neighbour, I figured it would be easiest to "T" off the mainline here.

The faucet is a little lower than the previous one. The copper pipe at the other end is about 1/4" higher so it will drain and help keep it from freezing this winter.

And it worked! :)

Bleeding Heart

Another great year for gardening here.

I had seeded all three flower beds by the house but no flowers came up. :( Just recently Superstore greenhouse had their flowers on a great discount so I was able to fill the whole front for only $25. Adds some nice colour to the yard. :)

Thomas Jefferson Quote

 

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.
Thomas Jefferson

This is Cranford... :D

This sign makes me smile every time I pass by it going back to AB. It is about an hour from where I grew up. Though I've never been there I'm determined to turn at the sign next time and see if I end up at a delightfully similar village. lol. :) Until then I'll keep enjoying small town Saskatchewan up here where I feel like I'm living in a Cranford misnamed. :)

Davidson Farm Pics

Pics from our Davidson farm where I stayed overnight on my way back to AB. Here is the seeding rig.

Graham was hauling something (canola??).

Take me home country roads...

The camper is over here now and Erin is using it as her living quarters for the farming season.

Yes, I had to take another picture of the barn. :D

The jokes about Saskatchewan highways are not unfounded...

Truck Cleaning

It was too windy to spray for weeds today so I decided to tackle cleaning both trucks-the Ford work truck and the Honda which is my good truck. Last year with their being so much outside work, I never got around to giving the Ford a good cleaning so it was due for one.

I'm back and the adventures continue...

Since the last post time has flown by and yesterday it was already time to place chicks again! After about a week of barn clean-up, I headed back to AB to work at the dairy for a week and sell trees. I stopped at the Davidson farm on the way there and way back since it is about half way between my place and the AB place. Then it was back home here to do a bit of barn repair and get the barn ready for chicks again. Now yard work has begun so the days are even getting busier. I enjoy being outdoors and am loving how early it gets light out and stays late into the evening.

I'll be uploading some pics of the past few weeks in following posts but leave you with a few from today's adventure. I was watering my flowerbeds and then stepped into the house to see my office carpet and entryway floor soaked with water. The spigot where I was watering from is on the outside of the house right behind the office wall. There must be a leak (maybe the line froze though I did keep it heated under the house during the winter) and for how it was installed the line can't really be accessed to work on so I'll have to put another line in if I want to be able to water the garden and flowers. Right now I'm hoping and praying it will rain. :)

1 year

Today marks a year since moving here. Shipping our 6th chicken cycle happened to fall on the same day and, yes, it certainly was memorable. I had concerns about the driveway being too soft for the trucks to drive on and had a couple loads of gravel hauled. The gravel truck got stuck but my neighbour arrived shortly after and was able to pull him out. My neighbour spread it around with his one tractor while I moved gravel around in the load out area. We thought we'd have the chicken trucks come in from the south instead of the north this time as the north driveway has remained solid despite all the snow melting and then rain. The only drawback is that the narrowness at the approach isn't very forgiving to big trucks trying to turn in or out. The first truck driver thought he be able to head out the south way ok if he got moving fast enough. Both sides of the road being soft and having a 54' trailer was not a good combination and he ended up coming a little too far to the right and the back of the truck sunk down and he gave stuck a new definition. I called my neighbour around 12:15 AM and he came with his Versatile. The trucker brought a tow strap with him since sometimes one truck will help pull another one around the yard in these muddy spring conditions. My neighbour tried to use it with his tractor but then moved to his longer strap. He pulled him a couple feet ahead and then attempted to pull him out by lunging ahead but not a whole more progress was made. I believe at this time the tow strap bust apart rending it useless. In the meantime the front tires on the chicken truck were miring down and the same thing was starting to happen with the Versatile.

Plan B was to remove the chicken crates to lighten the load with the forklift which is used for loading and unloading. However, considering the angle of the truck it wasn't even possible to remove the back crates. And, now with the truck being moved a little further ahead, it was in the absolute worst spot for the forklift to try and remove the chickens from the front of the truck. The forklift operator tried to drive to the front of the truck and sunk right down on the side. So, my neighbour unhooked his tractor and came and pulled him out. My neighbour's nephew arrived with their other tractor but with the clutch almost gone in it, it didn't end up being used.

Plan C arrived with the discussion to call a tow truck with a winch from Yorkton which is over an hour away but who they call when they run into impossible stuck situations.

Plan D (at which time I was hoping we weren't going to travel through the whole alphabet trying to find a solution) was thankfully the final attempt and successful solution to our problem. My neighbour called another neighbour who is a county councilor and farmer in the area and has a JD tracks tractor. He arrived around 2 AM and pulled the truck out almost effortlessly. And, I finally breathed a sigh of relief that the truck remained upright and intact the whole time.

So, that was enough excitement for today. Another day, another year, another challenge. What can I say? The worst didn't happen, the weather cooperated, I have neighbours that will get up in the wee hours in the morning to come help simply because it is the neighbourly thing to do, and the rest of the trucks made it out the north driveway with no problems.

What can you say about where you live?? Right now I think my area ranks at the top. :D

You can see the tracks on the left where the forklift got stuck and where the truck got stuck on the right.

More truck marks due to the soft ground and heavy trucks but at least they didn't get stuck driving through.