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!

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.

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

Chicken Humour

Visit Chicken Farmers of Canada

Grandma

Happy 92nd Birthday, Grandma!

These pics were taken in 2009 when my whole family flew back to Nova Scotia for Grandma's 90th birthday.

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

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

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. :)

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. :)

Of wedding planning and friends...

Last week Thursday I headed down to Carlyle to visit Naomi for a few days. We were finally able to work around both our schedules and find a few days that we were free. It ended up only being about a 3 hour drive (once again proof that Google maps is so far off their suggested travel time that it isn't funny...but I'll save that rabbit trail for another time) and the roads were good. A storm had moved through a few days earlier on and some of the roads weren't in great condition according to the SK highway updates but they must have cleared up for me. :)

And as always, even if we haven't seen each other for months, we pick right up where we left off the last time. :) We made a pasta with cheese and a cream sauce and Naomi's fiancé, Jesse, came and joined us. We watched "The Young Victoria" while having dinner and then had some Raspberry and Pomegranate Sherbet which was an awesome flavour combination.

The next day Naomi and I headed off to Regina for wedding shopping since Naomi is getting married in September and I'm going to be her maid of honour. :) It was a full day but we had a great time and we made progress with wedding plans, ideas, and details. A highlight of the day was being able to meet up with Gabi, a mutual friend of ours. She treated us to lunch at a nice restaurant and we had a great time talking and catching up with each other. Later in the afternoon we headed over to Fabricland to look for fabric which was the main stop of the trip to find out that on Friday it closes at 5:30 PM. Lovely. Seriously only in Saskatchewan do stores close at that time on a Friday evening. Ha. :P Just when you think Saskatchewan is finally starting to progress ahead you realize it still has a ways to go.

So, we decided to go back the next day. We left early Saturday morning so we would be there shortly after it opened. After a few hours we were walking out with the perfect fabrics for most the wedding party. I love when that happens. We didn't have to settle for any pieces that we thought were okay. They were exactly what we wanted right down to the colour, texture, and pattern. We were also able to find patterns for my dress, the bridesmaids' dresses, and the little girls' dresses. I had as much fun as Naomi I think. :)

After we arrived back we went and looked at some houses that Jesse had addresses for since they are house shopping and then stopped in at his folks' place and had a candy sampling session which went over quite well. :) Then we headed over to Connie's place where she had a delicious meal prepared: roast beef, mashed potatoes, corn, baked beans, apple crisp, and pop and ice cream to make floats. Jesse and her wanted to play a new game and then we watched "Coraline."

Sunday morning was more relaxed and I played both keyboards downstairs for a little while to see how I liked the sound, feel, etc. of them. I'm hoping to purchase one sometime in the future as I really miss not having a piano around. A keyboard is going to be the best option (nothing beats a real piano!) as I can easily move it and don't need to get it tuned. Jesse came over late in the morning and then around 1 we went to the Theatre where the wedding and reception are going to be held. They were also starting theatre practice which I watched for a while and then said goodbye just before Naomi had to go up for her first line.

I had an uneventful trip home. It took a little longer since I stopped in Yorkton for some shopping. And, I got a Tim's which I always enjoy. :)

I've enjoyed having a little more time off between chicken cycles this time. I've been able to go to church a couple times, attend a Ladies Night, and have been able to help with Ladies Time Out (LTO) preparations. I've made one cheesecake and am going to make another one tomorrow and then go help decorate in the afternoon/evening. Friday evening is LTO and then Saturday I'll be busy getting the barn ready for chicks which arrive Monday!

So, how has your week been??