Friday, April 29, 2011

Royal Wedding


I didn't get up in the middle of the night to watch the wedding live but I did watch part of the ceremony today online. Graceful. Spectacular. Impressive. Beautiful. Can't even begin to imagine all the planning that must have gone into the wedding. I absolutely loved Catherine's dress!

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Happy Easter!



Thine be the glory, risen, conqu’ring Son;
Endless is the victory, Thou o’er death hast won;
Angels in bright raiment rolled the stone away,
Kept the folded grave clothes where Thy body lay.


Thine is the glory, risen conqu’ring Son,
Endless is the vict’ry, Thou o’er death hast won.


Lo! Jesus meets us, risen from the tomb;
Lovingly He greets us, scatters fear and gloom;
Let the church with gladness, hymns of triumph sing;
For her Lord now liveth, death hath lost its sting.


No more we doubt Thee, glorious Prince of life;
Life is naught without Thee; aid us in our strife;
Make us more than conqu’rors, through Thy deathless love:
Bring us safe through Jordan to Thy home above.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Thomas Jefferson

 
"To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it." --Thomas Jefferson, letter to Joseph Milligan, 1816

Friday, April 15, 2011

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Spring is finally coming!

The past few days with 10*C + weather, spring finally feels like it is on its way. Since these pics even more snow has melted.




 The water was pooling here since the snow was blocking it from flowing down along side the barn. I've been having to pump it out a few times throughout the day. Thankfully I've been able to keep it out of the barn so far.

On the board inside the barn. Suggestions for other quotes welcome. :D

Thursday, April 7, 2011

10 Reasons to be from Saskatchewan

  1. You never run out of wheat
  2. Those cool Saskatchewan Wheat Pool hats
  3. Cruise control takes on a whole new meaning
  4. Your province is really easy to draw
  5. You never have to worry about roll-back if you have a standard
  6. It takes you two weeks to walk to your neighbor's house
  7. YOUR Roughriders survived
  8. You can watch the dog run away from home for hours
  9. People will assume you live on a farm
  10. Buying a huge John Deere mower makes sense

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Dryer Repair 101

Since getting my own place I've gained a lot of experience learning how to trouble shoot and fix problems which has been challenging and fun...at least for the most part. :) Recently I had trouble with my dryer. I had noticed it was taking longer to dry and then I had started to notice a burnt smell so I shut it down and went searching online for a solution. The internet is so handy with DIY info! From what I read, it sure sounded like lint build up so I gathered my Shop Vac and a few tools and tackled this problem.


After pulling the dryer out and unplugging it, I started by vacuuming the vents on the back panel.


Then I went outside, removed the vent cap and vacuumed inside the duct/pipe as far as the vacuum hose would reach. After that was done I went back into the house and vacuumed it from the inside. Later I switched the Shop Vac hose to the blow setting to blow any remaining lint to the outside and then went back out and vacuumed once more.

I started the dryer up again but it still had the burnt smell so I decided to take the back panel off and see if there was more lint build up.

I also removed the whole lint tray and gave it a thorough cleaning.

I put it back together and now I have a dryer working again! There is satisfaction in being able to detect and figure out solutions for your problems. So, yeah, I'm happy. :)

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

The Saskatchewan Experience


Saskatchewan. Known as the province 50 years behind the rest of the country. It probably is the brunt of most Canadian jokes just trailing behind Newfoundland...but we won't get off on that rabbit trail. Saskatchewan has been progressing and seems to be on an upward trend but once in a while something happens to remind you that it still has a ways to go.

- The Regina Fabricland closes at 5:30 on Friday evenings.
- Up here the Christmas candy goes on the very reduced sale after Valentines.
- When driving on secondary highways you feel like you are playing a video game trying to dodge and miss the potholes without crashing.
- If you don't have the correct right hand turning sign, you just turn a left hand one upside down. I'd have to say that this actually works good for giving directions. "Just turn at the upside down sign..." though I don't believe that that was the intention.


Now for small town humour:

The diced tomatoes were on a good sale the other day (esp for up here) so I decided to stock up a little bit on them. After shopping a little more I came back down the aisle to pick up a few more cans. The employee stocking the shelf with the canned goods stops, looks at me rather solemnly and in a serious tone starts telling me that she listened to some show on tv that was warning about canned goods and how they affect your health and are more or less killing you. Then she points over to the pasta across the aisle and starts talking about the dangers of plastic packaging and how that isn't good for you either and how you also shouldn't freeze stuff in plastic. Thankfully we didn't get around to the dangers of microwaves though I'm sure we would have had the conversation lasted much longer.

Then while waiting to use the ATM machine I couldn't help but hear the conversation taking place in front of me. An ambulance driving was ahead of me and then a middle aged woman came in. She started asking him if you can get into the service (you were in the navy, right??) if you have a record. He started talking about how they would see a criminal record. She said it wasn't that...just fines (which sounded drinking related) and she continued on with a hopeful voice. Well, I'm just thinking this might help get my son on track. Then she starts laughing about how she'd be in trouble if her son T. knew she talking about about him like this, esp with an audience. Wow, just wow. Thankfully I was able to avoid being part of the conversation though it was hard to act like you weren't hearing anything when you could only fit about 6 people in the space where the ATM was.

At the grocery checkout someone thought I was Minnie Zimmerman back to visit her mother. Uh, no, and I don't look like a Mennonite...make up on and no head covering. Funny what groups people label you with just because you are wearing a skirt. lol.

I've almost been living here for a year now and love it. I'm turning into a Saskatchewanian? Saskatchewanite? Well, whatever we are supposed to call ourselves...:) Come visit someday and you just might find yourself liking the province, people, and humour too. :)