Day 308~Wednesday, Nov 18

Jim's truck broke last night. Donny A fixed it this morning. I drove it out to him at work this afternoon.

Day 264 ~ Sunday, October 4

We had breakfast with Mom and Melanie in our little apartment/hotel and were on the road quite early. Jim had a list of things the length of his arm that he wanted to accomplish before he goes back to work on Tuesday.

Daniel had stayed at our house Saturday night in order to take care of the dogs. He got up when we came in and had something to eat before he went outside to work on the root cellar......






I chose to finish harvesting the root vegetables in the garden......I had already pulled up all the beets a couple days ago.

The Rutabagas included some giants!

The first thing Jim did when we got home was to hook up the trailer and go into town to pick up our dog pen which Andrew had been using. He won't be putting his dogs outside all day over the winter, so we reclaimed it........

Jim's next priority was to figure out what was wrong with his truck's turbo (which was just replaced last summer).....







Dan went to work building a door covering for the bottom of the cellar stairs.......









AhHa! Here's the problem......the hose has a hole in it! An easy fix, fortunately.....








By this time, I had stored the beets in layers of peat moss in the cellar, pulled all the rutabagas, and the carrots......

There weren't as many carrots as we had hoped, but what there is are nice and straight......






I stored the rutabagas and carrots in the same manner as the beets and I pulled all the frozen squash and tomatoe plants. The other day I had taken all the onions and cabbage out when I pulled the beets so all that is left are the broccoli and brussels sprouts. Well, I cut all the broccoli that was ready....these plants apparently benefit from several hard frosts so I'll not be harvesting them quite yet.

The problem with his truck diagnosed, Jim set to work tearing down the old dog pen......








Daniel completed the bottom of the stairs door and then rushed off to work in Edmonton.......

Jim set up the new pen walls.....

The dogs are a little uncertain about this.......I think they can smell Andrew's dogs on the walls - they are not too comfortable in there, yet.

But it looks much better than the old pen, that is for sure.

Jim finished up our busy day by hanging the door on the garage......hopefully, the pigeons were not at home at the time and they will go find somewhere else to build a nest.

Overall, a busy, productive day.

DAY 234 Mon. 08-24

Our morning began with Jim and Daniel having a chat outside while Dan waited for Katie and Sherree to be ready to go. He then took them to Calgary where they had lunch with YWAM director Russell and then spent the rest of the day and evening with other friends before flying out to Phoenix tomorrow.








Daniel was home by suppertime.


Jim and I took my truck in to the dealership to have the thermostat changed out.

We picked it up again later in the day.

On the way home, we stopped to 'visit' with the two Pyrrenese sheep-herding dogs along the way.

Day 174....Wednesday, June 24

We drove back to Rocky this morning to pick Jim's truck up from where it had been getting fixed.

It was still as muddy as when Jim dropped it off.....

Jim went to work, I went home, via Red Deer and the accountant's office.

Day 147 ~ Thursday, May 28

A busy, busy day.

First, take the truck to the glass shop in Camrose.

Then, come back home to drop Jim off.

I went in to Wetaskiwin to give Kathryn a hand - including take her to the doctor.

On my way in to town, I stopped by this pond to watch a Goose family drama.....

Mom and Dad gather their children for a little trip across the pond.

At first, they did not notice that there was a 'dawdler'

But Daddy Goose quickly noticed someone was missing. He fell back and started loudly calling to his wayward offspring.

The little guy hurried to his father's call and soon the whole family was together again.

I dropped Kath at the clinic for her doctor appointment, then helped with some cleaning before Kathryn dyed and cut my hair.

Jim was busy while I was gone....

He made our first Square Foot Garden frame!

He also finished watering the potatoes - a huge job, since he first made a 'bowl' for each plant to hold water, giving each potential plant a good soak.

I was not at home long before we left for Camrose again to pick up the truck.

Back home to drop the truck off.

To Wetaskiwin to see Vinj come off the field from his first league soccer game, see Elizabeth come off the field from her game, and arrange to meet everyone at Rob and Lana's to give Emma a 'mini birthday party'.

We gave Emma her birthday gift.....the kid's version of 'Cranium'.

We did not play the game, exactly, but Emma and Sophia acted out some of the charade cards and the rest of us guessed what they were doing - while we ate the Dilly Bars and Buster Bars Vinj and Kath provided.

You have to wear these goofy glasses in order to read what you are to 'act out'...... then, if you wear bifocals, it is still hard to read because the print is so tiny.

We had a fun, laughter filled evening.

But we ended by taking Kathryn to the hospital for a stress test on Talia......Kath had been a little worried since her doctor's appointment and had not noticed any movement for quite some time.

The stress test showed that Talia's heartbeat was strong and regular - she also started moving around as soon as they put the monitor straps on Kath. So, Vinj and Kath were able to rest more peacefully that evening.

Me too.

Day 146.....Wednesday, May 27

We took my truck into town this morning - I was getting my nails done, Jim was to pick up a panel for Andrew's new dog pen. We brought the flatbed trailer with us to carry the dog pen with us. While driving down the gravel road, rock ricocheted off the trailer and hit the back window of the truck, breaking it. We did not notice the damage until after Jim dropped me at Mel's shop.

Not a nice way for Jim to start the day.





This photo is taken later in the day, AFTER Jim pulled all the shattered glass off, took the opportunity to fix the back doors (which wouldn't open) and covered the large opening with a couple garbage bags.


Besides picking up the panel and getting my nails done, we had another mission ........ to take Vinjelu out for lunch to celebrate his birthday.

Jim spent the afternoon working on the truck - since there was no longer a window, he could now get to the door handle that you normally cannot get to without opening the window. This enabled him to undo what he did to the back doors last fall - in an attempt to make the doors tighter and keep the dust out, he tightened them so much they could not be opened! He was able today to undo that 'fix'.

We went to watch Emma play soccer tonight and Mike and Victoria and Kaden stopped by the field for a short time - they had a meeting in Wetaskiwin that night.

Day Nine...Monday Jan 12

Jim called this morning with an assignment – find a thermostat for his truck.

I phoned my friendly truck specialists at Ford who called around and found that the only place in Western Canada that had any thermostats in stock was the GM dealership in Red Deer. I called and had them set aside for me to pick up tomorrow - assuming the roads are OK for driving.

I answered an email regarding the snowmachine that Daniel crashed, began working on paying bills, and bought an AMA membership for Jim on line.

Melanie came over for a visit this afternoon...that is a rare and appreciated treat!

When I let the dogs out tonight, there was a rig in the field south of us. I could see the shacks and the rig, and hear the motors. It made me lonesome for Jim and made me wish I could be on location with him – listening to the clanging of the pipes and the roar of the motors and being bathed in the artificial bright lights of the light towers.

I did not take a photo today...still getting used to this idea, so I will use an old photo of a flare stack and rig on one of Jim's locations a couple years ago. Unfortunately, I do not have one taken at night.