Sunday, December 20, 2009

Twinkling Lights & Warm Fires

The little dug out basement is filling once again with its seasonal water. Off and on the sump pump makes its humming sounds as it merrily pumps water out to the great outdoors. With gumbboots adorned one can stoke the heater down there to keep the freeze off up here. The little stove in the kitchen burns a warm fire but not enough heat for the whole house.
The twinkling of the lights on our beautimous Christmas tree look so sweet especially when one looks out the window at the grey cold day out there.
Coldness seems to be the thing for this season of joy with the company of friends and family and neighbours dropping by it doesn't seem to be that cold ~~well not till you go outside anyhow!
The pork roast scents the air throughout the house. There is a community potluck this supper time and that and mashed potatoes and gravy will be our offerings. Should be a fun time to go to and see all before the big day.
Lately everyone that visits here has an opinion on whether or not Christmas gifts should or should not be a part of Christmas. Commercialism gets folks down. And the fact that nowadays most of us have children making way more money than the parents one feels overwhelmed with the thought of trying to buy their grown children something they can buy themselves~~me I think so what give them one less thing to buy maybe they can put their money in the gas tank and come visit or go visit someone or on a bill seeing as they all seem to have that plague. Really though presents are not the real part for me even though I LOVE to open gifts I love having my family and friends around more so and as for children all children love gifts and why can't we have a special time where they can receive gifts and have a pretty tree and all those things even if it doesn't have a lot to do with the LORD's birth or reason for coming ~~they can be taught those things and sooner or later they grow up too and the cycle starts all over. Anyhow this wasn't meant to be a posting on my views or lack of views on Christmas traditions I wanted to let all who read this know that I am thankful you took time to stop by Cariboo Corner and I am thankful for your friendship and your comments and I really wanted to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas no matter how you celebrate it~~No matter when Jesus was born taking time out to recognize He came for us is the important part of the whole thing. So God Bless you and yours In the name of our LORD and SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST
ROXANNE

Friday, December 11, 2009

The Cat's Meow


I know it has been awhile since I last posted a few words on here so here is catching you up on our doings~~
The weather has been weathering no doubt about that bringing north breezes and pretty cool temps hovering around the minus 30 and 32 (celcius that is) We have had warm enough weather to have snow and have somewhere around a foot of snow. I do not know off hand without taking out a ruler what that is in metric cause I never really did learn metric and don't really care anyhow LOL There is snow and it is squeaky with it forming the snow dust on top from the cold. The trees look beautiful with it froze to them. I am thinking though that with the wind that is coming in this morning that maybe just maybe the trees will get a chance to shed the snow that is glistening off of their branches and has been for weeks. Must get rather burdensome for them after awhile.
The days have been full and busy. With inside chores and getting things made for Christmas which by the way I will not post on here as some of the recipients of these wild and crazy creations read this blog!! There has been outside chores to take care of too. The chickens are laying eggs like crazy which is a blessing right now to be sure and talking of blessings~~~
As most of you already know we raise pigs and butcher them and stuff them into our freezer~~and as most know that when one has to eat pork everyday it doesn't really matter after awhile how good the pork is~ it is tiring~So me being the person I am have been praying for some "different" meat to kind of break up the pork. We do have an old cow to butcher after Christmas but being the patient sort I wanted something besides pork BEFORE Christmas~~Well our LORD in His graciousness answered my prayers ~~now I have a huge cougar to eat~~OH MY!!! I am so glad rhinos and giraffes don't grow here (not that I would know if they are good to eat or not just not ready for that kind of different) or I would have to deal with them and YES I surely did get my DIFFERENT meat! Moral of this story be careful what you pray for or at least be more specific!
Work at the cafe/store is going fairly well and not too many people are being charged $75.00 a plate for bacon and eggs HEY they are good eggs hahaha or over $1000.00 for groceries which we probably don't even carry that much merchandise even with what is in storage. LOL Oh well so far everyone gets a good laugh and I am so slowly learning which keys to punch and when!
Apparently four wolves crossed the far end of our ranch so the nearest neighbours told us. They live eight miles or so up the road from us and saw the tracks when taking their children down to the village school. We haven't so far seen them near the house so that is okay with me too
Christmas is coming and things towards that goal are coming together. Grandchildren coming for the day Saturday and going to stay with their Auntie for the night it should be a busy week-end on Saturday as a potluck to go to that day too. If the weather isn't too cold on Sunday there is a horse drawn sleigh ride scheduled for that day. But it is weather dependent.It has already been cancelled once cause of the cold. We shall see.
I am off to do some wrist aereobics ~~commonly called knitting or crocheting.

The liberal soul shall be made fat:
and he that watereth shall be
watered also himself.
Proverbs 11:25

May the LORD put a little Meow in your Purr
God Bless Roxanne
Ps pass the mashed potatoes and the cougar please!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Long Nights Moon


The moon shine was so beautiful last night and still beautiful this morning. Although I believe it is not actually considered full till tomorrow and some exact moment in time. It is full enough to my untrained eye to just be captivated by the beauty of it all. When standing out in the cold looking about oneself the snow has a blue silver look to it and you can see for a long distance it is so light out. the heavy snow that fell the night before still clings to the trees as there has been no wind and the temperatures stayed down enough that even though the sun shone it couldn't bring a melt enough to bring the snow down off the trees.
I am thankful that the sun shone and that it wasn't too hot or too cold as we sorted cows and calves most of yesterday. Not always the most pleasant of jobs but in weather that is cold with wind and snow whipping about you it is even more unpleasant. Yesterdays sorting though was steady work but at least it was straight forward and although extremely noisy with mamas bawling(more like roaring) for their calves and calves bawling for their mamas we got it done in time for afternoon coffee. Jean and I had chickory that she had grown in her own garden and roasted herself. I have to say it was the best chicory I have had in many many years. Now I want to grow some myself. I never realized it would grow here but I guess being like a dandelion it will grow just about anywhere. You just always seem to learn something new.
I am working away at Christmas presents and trying to get all of that done on time then get told that I will be getting a lot more hours at work. That is good financially but not so good for the home crafts. I guess I will just have to work harder and faster. No boring moments around this place that is for sure.
We have a cow to butcher too but she probably could use some graining and personal attention before actually butchering her. I guess that decision will have to be made real soon too as to grain her etc she will be brought from the Udy Creek ranch ot ours then we have to think of the butchering process itself cause then no tractor to lift and hang her from. I would like to feed her up somewhat as she is skinny but realize some of the other difficulties so my husband and the son that will orchestrate the butchering will have to decide what they want to do.
In the meantime I have to get some bread made this morning before off to work this afternoon and there is always crocheting sewing and knitting to do and lets not ever forget the housework and a chicken coop that has to be cleaned and fresh hay put in it.
There is a snoopy huge cat trying to get on my keyboard he likes to bite at my moving fingers I am going to throw him out in the beautiful morning moonlight so he can find something else to bite at.

I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart;
I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.
I will be glad and rejoice in thee:
I will sing praise to thy name,
O thou most High.
Psalm 9:1&2

God Bless
Roxanne

Tuesday, November 24, 2009


Even though it was afternoon it was late in the afternoon when my dear husband had the firewood bucked up ready to load into the pickup. I pushed the gate as wide open as I could and dug it out with the toe of my felt pack boot. That helped a little but still needed it to open more as my thought was dig it out to open now so I don't end up having to shovel it out later when it is a block of heavy packed icy snow. So now I use the heel of my boot digging digging.. Finally feeling happy with the outcome of my endeavours I trudge through the crusty snow making my way over to the firewood. We just get things ready when I hear a truck.
Hellooooo there I call out, it is Roger and three of his children in a small pickup. It putt putts to a stop and out jumps Owen. I brought your new calendar he calls out. Okay as I trudge as fast as I can back over the crusted snow to them. Hows it I ask. Not too bad but the truck needs the tank taken out tonight and cleaned something causing it to choke every four to six miles. That makes a long trip for the children as they live eight miles past us and no school bus so have to be driven by family to the little school. We give them a box full of winter felt pack boots. As no one fits them here and they are still in good condition so someone might as well get some use out of them. They putt out the driveway and up the big hill towards their home and we come in to eat
.
Supper is over by four-thirty as we want to get the wood loaded into the truck. So back out we go. Tramp the cat comes with us. He climbs the gate and hangs on then scampers after the truck. When we are backed up and parked he has to stick his nose in the cab of the truck to check that out and then sit on the roof, down into the box where we are throwing wood. When dear Dennis gets in the box to stack the wood you can be sure that Tramp is there getting in the way but oooh sooo self- important.
There are no other lights to see in our area being as we are the only ones in our area. The redness in the sky to the east of us tells the tale of slash burning going on over there. W
e can hear the trucks and machines even though they are many miles away and over a couple of mountains. Sound carries pretty well with nothing to block its way. The air is mild slightly above freezing out but carries a dampness with it.
The truck is neatly stacked and parked now with a tarp over the load as it is for an old friend in trade for a welder he has.
We have our night's wood packed into the house and onto the porch for the morning.
The hard work for the day is done. Now the evening lies before us and we have some movies woo hoo! It is so fun to have movies I always make it at lea
st part ways through them before giving up the ghost ~~just sort of a practice run before actually going to bed to sleep. LOL
I have managed to organize some more of my upstairs room that someday I hope to call it a sewing room with guest beds in it. There is hope as I can see the beds now all neatly made up with their patchwork quilts on top of them. The boxes of toys and patterns that adorn the tops of the beds is a rude reminder that the room still needs some work before it is picture perfect.
The movies have started and all we need is popcorn ~~

And whatsoever ye do,
do it heartily,
as to the LORD,
and not to men. Colossians 3:23

Have a wonderful peaceful evening
Roxanne

Friday, October 30, 2009

The Day Unfolded


In the dark of the morning the snow sifted down which it had been doing off and on all night. That strange quietness that envelopes the world in the wee hours of a snowy morning was all present as I let one of the dogs out. In the end we had five inches of very fine wet snow. Instead of the usual oh isn't that a pretty Christmas card picture it gave our part of the world an odd drab white picture. Everything looked wet and almost sad.But inside the house it was warm and cozy and dry. My husband got up looking sad though~~his face swelled up like a cross between a chipmunk with a very full mouth and a bear! It was decided that he would be taken into town to see a dentist. The trip in for them was not that great the roads being absolutely a mess but they did make it in safely and the dentist did take his tooth out. That is he took out what was left of that poor old disintegrating tooth. He drained as much pus out of it as he could and put DH on antibiotics and tylenol 3's. They made it back in time to pick me up from work at the little store/cafe that I just started working at.
I had worked around here doing up things that needed doing as fast as I could so that our landowner friend could drop me off at work on her way to see some friends. Our truck was having issues with keeping air in the tire. Something we will work on today prayerfully
although DH is not allowed to do much of anything except to rest.He was told that if he wasn't feeling better today he was to go into emerg because the poisons of the tooth will be all throughout his body. It was hard enough to get him in to the dentist so here is praying he is feeling better as I am not sure I can battle male stubborness ~~LOL
In the meantime I did work my first day and enjoyed it. I will be cooking for loggers, and the general public, running the till and stocking shelves and cleaning, all the regular types of things one does as cook and waitress. Oh and turning on and off the gas pump from inside the store. It sounds like a lot but really it is a very little store and cafe so my biggest "fear" is running the till. I have always hated dealing with money it flusters me real fast but maybe the L
ORD wants me to get over it at this tender age of mine! haha
The pigs have all been butchered so that chore is over with me just rendering down the last of the lard. I have chunks in a five gallon bucket to deal with yet but not today. Today if we can get the tires changed we are off to visit and deliver some biscuits to a fan/friend. Just going out and away from the ranch for a good part of the day where we are not actually going to work with someone just visit.
The last of the cows are in the big corral so all are in off the range as far as I can tell. One might be another rancher's cow as it is hard to read the brand but we shall see in the daylight.
It has been raining most of the night but we still have snow. Such weird weather. I would like it to just make up its mind one way or the other whether it wants to be winter weather or spring weat
her just quit the up and down thing. Just a couple weeks ago it was below zero farenheit or -20something celcius. Now it is 2 above celcius at just after 6 a.m. Craziness!
Our daughter and son in law have been living with us for the last couple of months and this week-end they are moving out to just down the road a ways. It will seem different to have the house to ourselves again. Partly happy about that and partly sad too! I am sure they will be back and forth alot though as they will need to wash their clothes here so not all sadness.
With the pig butchering our little house was full to the brim with family and friends. Not to forget dead pigs in the living room. That I can honestly say I am happy to be over with. And yes my livi
ngroom looks like a living room again although I still have to dig out some fat from in between the cracks on the plank floor. That will get done today.
It will be interesting to see how the day unfolds here. In the meantime I will go make the morning tea and coffee and get some breakfast going too.

"For I know the plans I have for you,"declares the LORD
"plans to prosper you a
nd not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future."
Jeremiah 29:11

In His Hands
Roxanne

Monday, October 19, 2009


The weather being nice is a good time to take advantage of it and get some of the outside work done before it is too late. Now my flowers and strawberries are all snuggled under a covering of hay. My bunnies are in the greenhouse and out of their little cages for the winter until I have to put the greenhouse back into use.
Someday I really hope to have a run for rabbits. That would be so fun. Anyway they are super happy bunny wabbits right now.
Our front loader washing machine won't work properly so it is going back to the store our landlady got it from. We will keep the dryer and maybe be able to find someplace in here to put it so it isn't outside and then we have to thaw it out all winter to use it.
It has been quite a day here with folks dropping over for coffee and everyone giving their ideas and opinions on the whys and hows of making this machine work right. Now it is evening time and the moose liver is about to hit the pan the onions are fried and the potatoes are ready to be mashed peas are sitting ready to eat. I have not had time to make any dessert tonight but maybe later on.
We had a great time at our landlady's cabin with us the other couple from the other ranch she owns and some old family friends of hers and our buddy from down the road. Lots of reminicing going on and lots of tales of wild animals and wild peoples (wild as in bushed not wild as in partyers)the lost tribe here that was lost to smallpox and of course there is always the subject of cows!
And talking about cows we have two cows and three calves come in off the range today. So hooray we are getting closer and closer to getting everyone in.
Well folks better go finish with the supper making.

Your faith should not be in the wisdom of men
but in the power of God.
1 Corinthians 2:5

Have a lovely evening all
Roxanne

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Home Just Off the Range


It is a rather grey day here at the ranch. At one point I thought it would snow but it is warmer now with a high cloudy sky. One rancher showed up and picked up his cow and calf pair that came over to our range and then came in with this ranch's cows. So she and her baby are back at their own home now. We had our neighbour from Trout Lake Reserve show up looking for his steer that was here but it left some days back and we have not seen it since. He told us there were a couple of cows of this places at his place. He is our closest neighbour in that direction and that would be around 14 kilometres. It seems like this time of the year everyone is trying to get their cows home and get them down to the sales at least the ones that are to be sold. It can be a tough time if they get there too late. Low prices ~~why oh why are we paying so much at the grocery store for beef when the ranchers are only getting under $1 /lb on the hoof. There is something wrong with this picture that is for sure.
My husband and sons and son in law are off making firewood for one of the sons. They will soon be done the firewood thing. That will be nice for them as it is a long hard day for the bunch of them.
I am home cleaning the house (really I am just on a break here) Our landlady has invited us over for supper this evening and tomorrow evening with friends of hers. That will be fun. This is just a short little update as I have lots to do yet this afternoon and I wanted to get back to my blog which I have rather ignored the last while so here is hoping I can get back on track.

as you want people to treat you
treat them the same way.
Luke 6:31
Have a really nice Saturday
God Bless Roxanne

Sunday, October 4, 2009

An Eagle's Life

It is a busy time here at the ranch trying to get cows loaded and taken to the other ranch for their wintering. We are still short 14 cows, a bull, and 7 or so calves. They will come in with these temperatures getting so much colder now. It is just moments after 8 in the morning as I sit here typing away and the sun is just now hitting the trees and making it to some of the rail fence. Unreal!
The harvest moon shone brightly all through the night this morning we have this beautiful sparkly frost. It seems the frost is getting thicker and thicker and staying longer everyday. Yesterday there was snow and slush off and on through the day. PTL it did not stay.
Some friends of ours were here a lit
tle bit back ago and went fishing down on our part of the river (not sure one can claim a river but the ranch is on both sides) While they were fishing they would pile the sucker fish as they were going to feed them to our piggies. Well a certain young eagle had very different plans for those same fish. He came and ate them all and then had to suffer the consequences of the sin of gluttony. He could not lift off to fly he was so fat and heavy from all those fish. Our friends managed to get him on camera so I thought I would post these photos for others to see. I am not posting all of them as it takes way too long for my computer to compute! Here's hoping they work and you enjoy them.
the first one shows him after he struggled to get to a branch overhanging the Blackwater
River~~the second photo shows him trying hard to keep away from those photographers but he is losing his balance~~The third one~~ooh ohh I am slipping how do I get out of this mess? fourth one~~well if you can't fly you can always swim~man this river is cold!!
fifth ~back on dry land now to dry out ~~Geesh what a day!!




But those who wait upon the LORD
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31

Its a lot easier to mount up on those eagle wings if
you do not practise gluttony
oh the lessons we learn!!
God Bless Your Sunday
Roxanne

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Morning

A cool breeze sifted in through our bedroom window. Little stars poked out of the dark sky. An owl hoo hooing out there somewhere not far off. Getting up to this chilly morning, stepping over a dog, one of the cats yawns and stretches out a paw, not wanting me to disturb him. It seems once the days decide to get shorter it surely doesn't take them long to do exactly that.Not long ago the birds were twittering at 4 in the morning and the lightness of day was well on its way. Now it is closer to 6 before the lightness is really showing another day is in the making. There is a good frost on everything as it is a few degrees below the freezing point. Dogs are walking about sniffing the still crispy air. Mist rises off the meadow where some cattle are grazing, some are still bedded down. Canada geese come in for the landing. They love grazing in the hay-meadow this time of the year. It is quiet and very still. Not even a leaf is moving at the moment. I love this time of the day. Ravens are coming in to land in the big aspen tree outside my window. They love that tree all year round but really take to it this time of the year and through the winter they sit in it making their raven talk for "hurry up and get out here and feed us" LOL I really have no idea what they are saying but I make a few glook glook type sounds in the winter even if I do not see them and put their food on a stump. They will come gliding in. If nothing else they know that strange sounding squawking means the day's meal is served. First to the aspen then they will take turns slipping down to the stump. One always on the lookout duty. Some are very selfish and will try to take all the food they can, some of them are shy and suspicious and approach the feeding stump very cautiously taking some scrap of food and off they go. Sort of like people hey?
Being as it is Sunday today we know we will get company by mid morning. I will get something baked to share around and the coffee will be ready, filling the house with its aroma. Our church service out here is in the early evening after supper unless it is potluck night. That is once a month usually at the end of the month. I love that time together.
We got a couple of my smaller pressure canner full of jars of winter squash done up yesterday. I can use it for "pumpkin" pie filling or soups or whatever. Half will go to my daughter and husband as they bought half of the squashes. This one was quite big and for some reason was getting a mushy spot so we did not want to waste it. Now it is in quart jars. I still have my little beets and carrots to do up. The cows were nice enough to leave some of those for us. They are pretty tiny so will probably just pickle them. Tea cup is empty now so I will be off for another cup here.

Because Your lovingkindness is better
than life,
My lips shall praise You.
Psalm 63:3

Enjoy your day the LORD hath made
Roxanne

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Sasquatch Prints


Our neighbours dropped by for a visit ~~partly to see if we would by some magazine or others subscription that goes somehow to support the little school out here which has nine to fourteen students in it. and one teacher teaches all the grades including Kindergarten she is feeling very overwhelmed. The other part was to see if they could plug in a brand new freezer her and give us salmon for allowing them to do so. They are our closest neighbours to the north west of us. About 8 miles or so in kilometres I think that is somewhere around 17 km. We said sure but our house is not very big nor the porch and someone somewhere told us that these new freezers can't be put outside or they freeze and it wrecks them so that would mean they couldn't be in an unheated shed either. Don't know so I guess I will have to ask around and maybe there is something on the net that tells you if I can think of how one would look such information up.
So on went the visit when
they saw the wild blueberries our son-in-law and daughter had been picking. I mentioned I had been hoping to find some huckleberries but can't find any here. Edith said she knew where some were but the bears had eaten the one patch so she was going to try to check out another spot and then if there is some we could go picking together. So here is praying.
The conversation soon turned to hunting when our friends said that at the last pow wow some of the Chilcotins Indians have seen some close together five toed flat footed print
s. They are quite large and quite far apart. Up to five feet in the stride. The people of this area believe that the Sasquatches have crossed here on a certain trail forever. They are not often seen but there are people who claim to have seen them. I am not sure I am anxious to meet with a Sasquatch even if it would be interesting to know that they for sure exist. My granpa was a believer in them but my mom always claimed it was his Indian superstitions~~What do you think?
A friend told me that if the eagle I had fly so close overhead I could almost touch its belly has feathered feet it is a golden eagle if no feathered feet it is an immature bald eagle so the next time it comes in for new shoes I will check that out!!
the fire is crackling in the wood heater it is just below the freezing point here this morning and has become pretty fogged in but I know it will burn off quite quickly. I have my rhubarb jam to make today and some serious sewing again. I do not have a menu plan made up for this day so will have to do something about that too. One thing I am hoping to get to this afternoon is making a lot of kindling as one doesn't always leave a fire going all day this time of the year which means one has to start a fire when one is getting chilly. That is the worst part of letting a fire go out is then you have to make more kindling before you start the fire. OOOORRR have a big bucket or box already made up. Saves time and then one doesn't mind starting the fire again. I make it sound like such a chore it is that ingrained human laziness coming out in me.Talking about fires I had better go stoke mine.

Out of his mouth go burning lights;
Sparks of fire shoot out.
Smoke goes out of his nostrils,
As from a boiling pot and burning rushes.
His breathe kindles coals, And a flame goes out of his mouth.
Job 41:19-21

Now that would be a handy critter to have around
to start fires with ~~
Your friend in Sasquatch? country
Roxanne



Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Purple Morning


A purplish morning sky coming out of the darkness the day begins~~
I have to admit that today I have a pretty open list of things to do. I have lots of thing I could do but have not actually planned what I should do so I will take time with my next cvp of tea to decide if my list is a should do or a could do list. We have all the potatoes dug up now so that is off my list. Hooray for that. We have some very nice looking spuds at that too.I have a bucket of little tiny beets that I could wash up and pickle. There is a couple of buckets of carrots that could be washed up and done something with too. Right now at this very mome
nt in time it all sounds like work!! LOL maybe after I have a long walk and some breakfast I will just get at something and that will be that.
Exciting news is that I have a huge tomato in the greenhouse that is actually turning a bit of an orange colour. Woo hoo seeing as I have all these tomatoes and all of them are still green. It is super exciting!! :) The green peppers are getting eaten as soon as they look big enough to eat. I am beginning to think we need a whole field of green peppers. That won't happen any time soon though.
We think the large bird that has been around but only spottted off and on since last winter is a lar
ge golden eagle. It is not an immature bald eagle at least I don't think so. We do have a nest of bald eagles here. But this bird does not have the underwing colouring that is in my little bird book. It makes the sound of an eagle. Our daughter and her husband saw it climb up out of the river yesterday. It walked (yes it walked) up the bank and into the bush. It is quite a big and impressive bird.
It flew very low over my head making a sort of high pitched scree- type sound earlier in the morning when I was down walking through the haymeadow. It found a tree that it likes to sit on on the other side of the river and watched the dogs and I. Every time we see this bird it takes us by surprise and you don't always get a very good look at it. Sometimes wondering if you really saw such a thing in the first place.
The morning sky has been such a display of purple hues turn to red to golden hues. It is just glowing even though there are big clouds. It will be interesting to see what the day tu
rns out to be.
Dennis is off to haul hay off the fields at the other ranch. He thinks it will take up to ten days to get all the hay off and into the stack yard. In the meantime our daughter and son-in-law will do things here. It really does not take too long to find something to do around here.

Delight yourself in the LORD,
And He shall give you the desires
of your heart.
Psalm 37:4

May your day be filled with wonders
God Bless
Roxanne

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Its Sunday~~


Things really do get away on me at times. It has been a little while since I have written on here so maybe a little update is in order.
Starting with today and working my way back ~~as I sit here in the early morning darkness sipping a cup of tea I have this list of things going through my head. There will be the 3rd annual Poker Ride from here starting at 11 this morning w
ith last rider out at 2pm. The Rodeo club will be using my front porch to set up their "concession stand". A barbecue etc. So it would probably be nice of me to remove all the doggie bones that are there. I am thinking of making cinnamon buns but am still sipping tea.
My husband has to be up soon to go help with the haying. I am hoping he will be okay as he wasn't walking very good last night when he got in from helping some of our sons and a friend with getting firewood. They had a long day of it yesterday and got somewhere in the neighbourhood of seven cords of wood.
Our son-in-la
w finished oiling the log house he was oiling and is happy with the end results. He is getting pretty excited for his wife (our daughter) to come up. She will be here late Monday night. They haven't seen each other for a few weeks now.
Our garden that was a lot of work with lots of weeds is finished now thanks to the herd of cattle that harvested it. We are hoping to dig up the potatoes Monday if they haven't trampled them to pulp.
Our summer
has been incredibly busy with fencing, pushing cows out to the range only for them to come back down to the ranch only to be pushed back again.It actually would be pretty hard to write down all that we have done this summer. No big vacations though although we did make it for a couple of days away from here and took in my uncle and auntie's 50th wedding anniversary. That was fun and got to remeet relatives I have not seen for many years. Even my older cousin who wrote a book about the Red Lake area where she and my dad and family grew up. On our way home we stayed at my brother and wife's home.They took us tom my cousins' for a visit. A lot of visiting crammed into 3 days. We are home now and back at the usual and thoroughly enjoying being home. Love to visit but there is something about your own bed and your own cup of tea in your own kitchen no matter how humble it may be.

For You are my lamp, O LORD;
The LORD shall enlighten my darkness.
2 Samuel 22:29

The sky is lighting up enough to see outlines
so better let some dogs out and get

myself on a roll.
God Bless all of you with a wonderful Sunday
Roxanne

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Wolves, a tragic accident and life on the ranch

We went off to visit at another ranch past ours last night and view the new puppies. St. Bernard and Great Pyrenees cross pups so cute and soooo big. We stayed for a visit and they told us of the pack of fourteen wolves they had come out of the bush. They tried to scare them off with a gun but the one wolf just came at them and barked like a dog. They have never seen anything like it before. The rest howled in the background. These folks have the wolves coming up to their house all last winter. Somehow they want to cut the pack down. Hard work.
We got news late last night that an old time friend and relative of my grandfather's fell out of his boat yesterday afternoon as he was pulling a net full of salmon out of the river. the boat overturned and he fell in. They tried to throw him a rope but he slipped away in the fast current and they are still trying to find the body. The Skeetchetsn Reserve will be in mourning. I am not sure when they will have the funeral yet. Usually when someone is lost in hat river at that spot they do not show up till they reach the sandbars in Spences Bridge area and that would take about three days. Oh how sad~~
Well I can not stay on here as I am off to babysit for the next two days at my son and daughter-in-laws' as my daughter-in-law is moving our daughter and husband up here. So here is praying everything works out for all. What a buys time it has been. They still have many many days of haying on the other ranch that is part of this one. Our haying is done on this ranch but it is smaller only 320 acres here. The other ranch is over 1000acres so yes it is a lot of work

God bless all of you
Roxanne

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Bear Things

This photo is from a friend of ours ~it is four grizzlies swimming in Ootsa Lake BC
It is a cool morning here at just above the freezing point. Cows are grazing in the meadow, flock of crows is sitting on the old hay bales. Off and on they get squabbling over something. I hope this is just a family group that has been hanging out here the last while and not some indication of fall in the air. I love fall time I think it is my favourite season just not ready for winter yet. Nothing against winter just been a long winter this last one and kind of enjoying seeing the ground in greens and browns. Anyways not to think of winter at this point that would be just getting too way too futuristic!
Our garden is actually starting to be a garden again. Not a weed free garden but looks more like a garden. We have tomatoes in the green house that are getting a slight tinge of orange red to them. I can hardly wait to eat one of our own tomatoes! That will just be too fantastical! :)
Yesterday after being in and out of the house so many times I decided to go pick raspberries in a patch down by the garden. For some strange reason I walked over to a bone our dogs had in front of the rabbit cage. The rabbit cage is right beside the wall of the house out the kitchen porch door. Something about that bone had caught my eye. Looking at it there was a pile of bear droppings on it. Okay now that explains why one of the cats was tearing at the screen on our bedroom window trying to get in driving me crazy at 3 a.m. So now the poor doggies are on watch dog duty instead of lazing around all night under our bed.
We have a young bear that runs across the hay meadow everyday or almost everyday. A huge bear that crosses it whenever he feels like it. A mama bear with cubs and a mama bear with a cub. One of them was in our carrot patch in the last couple of days too. I still think bears in my garden are better than a friend of mine has in her garden~~copperhead snakes!! At least you can see the bears.
Today is Korean night in the village so am really looking forward to going there for supper. They come up once a year and do a culture sharing thing with the Reserve here. But everyone is invited to join in and eat supper there. They come up from the coast (Vancouver) and cook enough food for the whole community. There is Korean dancing and drumming etc. too They are a Korean Christian group. VBS is also held all this week down in the village. Very fun. I have never eaten Korean food so should be something especially when I am pretty traditional in my own food~~as in meat and potatoes, veggies, things like that.
In the meantime I am doing housework, weeding, gardening, raspberry picking when I can, baking, laundry, gathering some herbs,crocheting, and sewing. No boredom here. Hay is all in the stackyard and now it will soon be time to do the other ranch's hay.

The liberal soul shall be made fat:
and he that watereth
shall be watered also himself.
Proverbs 11:25

God's blessings upon you
Have a Beary good day
Roxanne

Saturday, August 8, 2009

hmmm Tornadoes!?


The sky has been hazed over by smoke, smoke and more smoke. What part of our province isn't smokey? Everywhere there is fires. One son phoned to wish his papa Happy birthday Last night and it was even smokey there in the Yukon. A daughter in the far northwestern corner of the province said there is a big fire near them too. Our big fire has reached 4000 hectares according to the grapevine ~~
The hay is coming off the meadow. I have had some time on the tractor moving bales too. Not loading them though not quite at that professional stage yet. LOL
Yesterday in the early afternoon a wind came up while I was hanging out a little bit of laundry. I was thinking to myself man I am going to have to put lots of pins on these clothes to get them to stay on the line or maybe I should just take them off and put them in the dryer. The trees started getting whipped around and a strange sound like water in a large hose gone out of control I was thinking of the fire near us and looked to that direction to see if there was flames or something when down the river comes a whirlwind "water devil" instead of a dust devil. Hmm I will have to tell Dennis about this I thought as he slowly pulled out into the meadow with the tractor and trailer and the Blueberry dog trotting alongside him. Suddenly my little whirlwind thing got very big and very fast. Coming towards me. I am rooted in fascination to the spot by the clothesline when the water whirlwind started picking up huge pieces of debris off the river and banks heading straight for me. I was about to run when it just as suddenly changed direction and headed for some dead trees on a rise in the meadow. If you have ever seen the Tasmanian Devil that is what this was like as it tore up the trees ripping the old dead bark and branches off of them high into the air. Down it goes now it is heading for Dennis, the tractor and the dog. They have no idea. The huge chunks of wood and other debris is swirling madly high up in the air. Some of it being spit out here and there. I am praying Lord get Dennis to speed up or turn around it is going to hit him and it will kill the dog. She wouldn't have had a hope the wood chunks it was carrying were bigger and heavier than her so she would have just been swept up. Strangely the thing turned and headed for the river again down there. The debris flying here and there. some of it still being carried high high up in the air. For those of you who live in tornado areas this would have been nothing but here it is not the usual. the first time I have seen anything carry that much heavy wood and water with it. It really only took a few moments all in all. Very fast and very strange.
Today some of our family is coming out to have a birthday supper with the papa or granpa depending on your perspective of this special man of mine.
He should be finished hauling this hay today too. all is well here Even if the smoke is thick. There are actually clouds in the sky this morning. We can see the sky so maybe we will soon see some rain that would be nice. Apparently our daughter up north said it had started raining there so maybe it will head down this way.

But as for you,
Be strong and do not give up,
for your work will be rewarded.
2 Chronicles 15:7
Have a nice Saturday
Roxanne

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Corrals and Hay Bales


The big corral is full of mooing critters. Calves are frolicking around in the morning coolness. Heavy dark clouds and red sky. Praying that the rain will hold off long enough to get the square bales in off the fields. It will be a long day today for all involved in the gathering of it all and hauling it to the appropiate places.
I have things cooking as I get what I can together for helping out with a supper tonight. It is also kind of a birthday supper for our oldest son. His birthday was on Tuesday. So much has been going on since then ( in our little life anyhow) that Tuesday seems like eons ago.
I have a shirt I am making for him almost finished. The needle for some strange reason fell out of the sewing machine while I was sewing last night and bent so I just quit and will finish this morning I am just on the hemming and have to put the snaps on it and it will be done.
The two dogs and I put these bad cows and calves and the bull back. Let's see we got them rounded up and headed back in the right direction. I had the gate to the back corral open for them but of course being the knotheads that they are they went straight up the fenceline. The dogs and I came back to the house. I knew eventually the bunch would come back and they did some hours later! PTL. I was able to go down and close the gate on them and open another corral gate so that they can get to water. All is well except that they have to be taken back out to the range yet again. But they are not down in the haymeadow reeking havoc on the huge round bales that are dotting the field.
The big old black bear came off the river while Hubert was finished haying for the day (a couple days ago now) He ws going to walk over to his pick up which was parked in the field too. As he gets out of the tractor he said that big huge old guy got up on his hind legs and started walking straight for him. Hubert kept heading for his pickup when the bear got down and still heading straight for him I guess Hubert sized up the distance to the truck and to the tractor and decided to go back to the tractor and drive to his pickup. Said he didn't know what that old geezard was thinking but he sure wasn't sticking around to find out either. Me wouldn't either! :)
It is a busy morning here so had better finish up the cooking and get things packed up to go.

...with God all things are possible.
Mattew 19:26

God Bless your day richly
Roxanne

Monday, July 27, 2009

A "Monderful" Monday Morning


The mists rising off of the river. A pretty doe standing in the hay field up here near the house.Freshly mown hay laying in the field and the morning sunshine. It is a "monderful" Monday to be sure!
Today when the dew dries off the hay it will be raked and baled into large round bales.
Yesterday was a beautiful sunny summery day too. In the early morning we did our chores. My husband went over to the haymeadow on the other side of the river. He was bucking the blow down and moving it out of the way so that the tractor and swather could get in there. Woody and I went looking for the trail at one point and gave up and came back got out the coffee and cookies and paraphenalia that goes along with that. Put it out near the bench on the bank in the shade and sure enough along came Dennis and then Hubert and then Al and some friends from Sherbrooke Quebec
! Nobody was in a hurry and sat around eating cookies and drinking coffee and talking about things that should be getting done, have been done, and will be done!
Eventually all of us decided it was time to actually get into action heat or no heat.
I finished baking bread and made ham and potato salad. Hubert came in and ate with us. We then headed off to house church and Hubert went home taking some movies with him.
We dropped off Bob and his wee daughter after church. Bob is an artist that comes to church with us usually walking from his home. He has two little ones. He told us he doesn't get many visitors at his house cause he doesn't drink anymore. We will make a concerted effort to drop by not that we go out that often but we can stop by as he is on this end of the reservation.

Today I am getting ready to do some mundane housework things but I love to do that so it is not mundane to me just to write about. I want to finish tracing a shirt pattern and finish sewing a shirt I am making for our son-in-law for his birthday which was on Sunday. I guess better late than never is my motto! I am behind on some birthday presents but slowly but surely I am getting them caught up. That is my goal.

For You are my lamp, O LORD;
The LORD shall enlighten my darkness.
2 Samuel 22:29

God bless and have a
MONDERFUL MONDAY!
Roxanne
ps one of our grandsons that was here on the week-end loved the Donald Duck picture! So it is for him

Monday, July 20, 2009

Singing of the Mercies of the LORD!



The last few days have been so very busy here even with all the rainstorms. This week-end was the Billy Barker Days week-end. For those of you who do not know what that is it is a time when the town of Quesnel takes time to celebrate the beginnings of the town. Its history especially how it got kick started with the Gold rush days of the 1800's. Billy Barker made the first big strike in the now ghost town of Barkerville. That town is resurrected and a big tourist attraction. All done up in the days of it livliehood. Houses and stores and courthouse etc are all restored. Because of the gold there Quesnel grew. People dress-up in the clothes that were popular at that time period.(not all people dressup but lots do) There is many things to do from mud-bogging to rodeoing.Parade and fireworks and the dreaded beer gardens get set up but all in all there is lots of ways to spend your hard earned cash. Lots of street booths with pretties to buy and don't forget the carnival grounds where you can go on tons of rides. Music in the park and church service there too. I have only mentioned some things cause I really did not mean to get off on a trail about Billy Barker Days. The exciting part for us was getting a chance to see a couple of our sons that were passing through town. One was working and going onto somewhere else the other one was rodeoing in Alberta. He came with his buddies who were participating in the BBDAys rodeo. Even a grandson or two were there at the rodeo grounds.
We did not stay in town long though. Came ho
me changed and went to work here. I ran the push weed whacker and my husband got himself all oily working on the truck.
This morning finds us under a beautiful clear blue summery sky. Heavy dew with a temperature of about 3 above. Or
maybe 36 in farenheit.Thereabouts anyhow. The sunshine is quickly warming the ground and it won't be too long before the dew evaporates. The mist along the riverbanks looks so awesome in the early morning but it too is already burning off. I have more weed-whacking to do and the list of things to do today would choke a horse. I won't bother posting all the things I have to do or should do or hope to do. Just suffice it to say that there is lots to do!
Our little happy h
ens are laying eight eggs a day most of the time so that is fun. We have eggs!! Cleaning their house would be another to-do thing today.
The piggie
s are really growing. The last time we had some grandchildren here the boys were running around playing with the little piggies. Not so sure they would want to play with them now that is how fast they have grown.
I can hardly wait for the grasses and flowers to dry off this morning. I want to press a bunch of flowers. I love doing that just have not decided
what to do with them after they are dry but I have lots of ideas just nothing settled yet.
My tea cup is running low so will go fill it up again.

I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever:
with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness
to all generations.

Psalm 89:1

God Bless Your week
Roxanne

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Cows,Black Fox, and a Coyote




Not sure where to start today. How about with the rain we need but not really wanted by most folks. Being as it is suppose to be summer and the theme song is Summer in the City or Summertime Blues doesn't seem to really fit here. No steaming heat rising off the dirt(no pavement)
But we do have the dirty dust-raising cows and logging trucks.The cows have been giving us a run for our money the last few days. Yesterday we managed to get them all into the corrals. I think there is still a couple around the back fence but not sure where they got off to. There is now some 40 head of c
ows bunched into the corrals waiting to be pushed back out onto the range where they are suppose to be. Where there is tons of grass and salt blocks out there for them and lots of water. In other words they are here only because they are brats and like getting into the big hay-meadow. So far only a few of them have gotten into there.
Day before we had put some cows inside the corrals and were leaving to go finish the log house we were painting. About to pull out of the driveway I said look there is our black fox. Sure enough I could almost step on the little fella. (it might have been a little gal) He is most definitely black to look straight onto but as he turns his side to you one sees why the black fox is also the silver fox. What a beautiful coat in this very deep dark silver. The underhairs are black.
Back to the rain t
hat is ever so gently falling. Our little pond mostly dried up and now we have to make our pump work and the hoses reach from a drilled well. It will take some water to water the garden and not sure how long it will take for the well to recover. We are very thankful for some rain as the garden was pretty dry yesterday when I was down working in it.
I am so excited to say we have tomatoes! Little green tomatoes. (in the greenhouse that is) Dennis is pruning my jungle of tomato plants. Some are chest high. It is so fun. And the green peppers are getting flowers on them. Woo woo
Yesterday when I was almost finished working for the day in the garden I saw something coming down the bank on the far side of a pasture fence. There was a young coyote just lightly springing down the hill. I love watching how they walk. So quiet and light. He came across the small end of the pasture through the fence and to the old original cabins. Poking his nose in the one an
d sort of looking at the one with the roof caved in. He still didn't see me standing in the garden watching. The cabins didn't look to interesting to him so he started to the garden and got almost to the gate when he stopped and our eyes met. I softly spoke to him ~ What do you want here?~~Standing very still looking at me he said ~~I want to eat you up! Haha no he didn't speak at all! I told him you can go away now for there is nothing here in my garden for you. He made a couple steps forward. I told him go now. He turned and sprinted a little ways away when I told him the dogs will see you you better run. He looked over his shoulder but was not in a very big hurry to leave. Finally I said in a louder voice~ go~ and he did go back up the hill. I do not mind him hunting for mice or rats in the old cabins but we are not far there from the chicken coop. Now the chickens I do not want to share with him or her.
It is getting on here so had better get a few things done. I am so excited that we can go to town today and actually buy groceries. It has been quite awhile since we
have bought groceries. At least in any sizable quantity.

The light of the eyes rejoiceth the heart:
and a good report maketh the bones fat.
Proverbs 15:30

May Jesus sparkle your day
Roxanne

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Here is a photo or two of the grandchildren and friends and an Auntie. They are from the last big birthday bash. Actually it wasn't real big but it sounds good and the three words starting with "b" together look rather poetic!
Our day is not going as planned. We were hoping to go finish the last half of the painting of the pastors' log house but it is raining and then the last herd of cows that was here (18 of them) came back off the range this morning with a whole bunch more buddies!! :(
so our plans are not our own. Imagine that!
Instead I am doing laundry and some baking and we will putter around here waiting for these silly cows to come back down the fenceline into the back corral. We got them off the road and had a gate that is very convenient for them to go into open and so they stampede themselves right past the gate. That lead cow is going to end up in a canning jar pretty soon. She is so aggravating. She is almost 40 years old~~ well would you believe about 14? Nonetheless the only thing saving her from a canning jar is she throws good calves.
I am pressing flowers and that is fun. I love pansies they turn out so pretty. Haven't decided what to do with them yet but have lots of ideas.
Better go feed some hungry dogs.

...to rejoice in his labour;
this is the gift of God.
Ecclesiastes 5:19

I think that verse is telling me to even rejoice in
bad behaviour cows!
Have a great day no matter what comes your way
Roxanne