Monday, October 4, 2010

Wolf Scat and Sasquatch Crossing


It seems some days are just plain meant to be just this side of heaven! Walking with the dogs yesterday in the later afternoon along the river was one of those times~~at least for the most part.
We wandered along the edge of the river bank with Sassy dog walking and flopping in the cold clear water. Blueberry has a little more dignity so she stays out as long as possible. Nellie was on a lead rope as you know she will take the other dogs off into the bush for many miles and many hours. Not too good an idea anytime of the year but especially during hunting season.
The two dogs romped and chased each other while Nellie and I ambled along. The screeing of an eagle as we got close to its fishing grounds came from high up in an old cottonwood tree. Leaves of vibrant yellows floated to the ground and onto the blueness of the river water. The late afternoon or early evening air if you prefer it to be called that being as it was around five(ish) smelled of the earth and the scent of the aspen leaves. Old spearmint along the banks still throwing of its sweetness. We decided that it would be nice to go to the far hay meadow. Just a small meadow with a really picturesque spot looking onto the river. This part of the ranch is known by the local First Nations as a Sasquatch Crossing. I knowing that bears frequent this section of the ranch and this being one of their favourite times of the day to do so was on the look-out for them. Trucking right along musing to myself about Sasquatches and such things I notice some scat. Hmm ~~pretty big scat must be one big coyote! I stopped to check it out while the loose dogs bound off into the bush, Nellie checking this out too and anxious to go with the other two. I looked up and saw Sassy bounding straight up into the air! I have no idea what she saw. I did not stick around decided we would turn around right then and there. I will never know if it was a bear, a wolf, or a Sasquatch but whatever the hair on the back of my neck was feeling rather prickly. hahahaha I spooked myself pretty good.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear;
but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
2 Timothy 1:7

Peace and Love
Roxanne

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Yellows and Golds, Oranges and Even some Red





After a long and rather cold rainy day at the funeral for Ruth the lost elderly lady neighbour today seems so slow.
The morning started out dark as now the sun doesn't come up anymore at 4 a.m. it is more like 7ish although it is getting lighter before that. The sun shining on this splendor that God has blessed us with is beyond my word capabilities to describe. The intensiveness of the colours and e
ven the contrasting shadows with their deep dark depth is something to behold. I did try to capture it on camera to share with you and praying it will look at least halfways as wonderful as it did in reality. Now the clouds are moving in again and their is a different kind of beauty to behold.

The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament shows His handiwork.
Psalm 19:1
Praying you are enjoying your Fall
Love Roxanne

Friday, September 10, 2010

Summer So Strange



It is a quiet evening at Blackwater River Ranch. There are no cows near the house for a change Only a Screech Owl makes its funny noise. I thought I could hear the sound of a wolf but it is far away.I am soaking my cookie sheets that I had cinnamon buns on and the big bread bowl thinking back over our so-called summer~~
I believe the weather got very hot for this part of the world. I am told the sun shone day in and day out and the sky was clear blue. I do not know for myself though it is all heresay. June was a cold month. The grasses did not grow well as the nights would freeze them and the days would grow hot and be dry. By July we were still getting frosts and dry weather. Our mornings would start out sunny and clear and still, very still. Not even a leaf would whisper. By nine in the morning, a breeze would come ,by ten or eleven it was a full fledged wind. Drying everything out ~~ One of those hot dry summer evenings we got an incredible electric storm. Shocking blue streaks zapped their way across the heavens. Winds blew. The display of crackling, snapping lightning was really quite awesome. The problem was evident the next day when we had the pastor's wife (a pastor herself) show up as she needed to use the phone. There was a fire just up the road from our place. That, my dears, was the beginning of a very long,long summer ~~I think it was summer as not long after that we could no longer see our sky. The sun disappeared in a strange amber clouded light.Choppers making their bwaap bwaap bwaap sound filled our quiet world turning it into a war zone. The sound of the fire roaring on the other side of the ridge from our house was heightened by the sound of six to eight of these whirling, water- bucket carrying,man -made humming birds. Non-stop for hours. We danced our fire hose dance under their bwaaaaping, the beat throbbing within our very bones. The days went on and on. We watched our ribbons tied on the stick. Wind is blowing north to northwest~ wind is blowing east (hooray away from us) wind is blowing north west again wind is blowing south west to us depending on which side of the ranch the fire was burning the heaviest. We attempted to create an envelope of humidity around the buildings. And we did succeed at that too. With help from a fire structural protection crew and their handy dandy sprinklers and hoses added to our already existing fire hoses. The fire-fighters were happy to have us here even though this was an under evacuation order area. We had chosen to stay and fight for our home and the hundred or so head of cattle that had come in off the range. Some came down with the smoke licking at their heels. Some more came in after the fire was mostly over. We were allowed to go out if we so wished but once out we would not be allowed back in so we did not go out. They did lift the road ban for a few hours one day thinking it was safe to do so. We went out to get hog grower for the ten piggies who needed grub very soon. We got back (good thing we didn't stay for supper with our daughter in law and the family) and they had it back up.They were gracious enough to let us back in. The fire really got going. I can tell you all about summer if you like thick amber coloured smoke or grey smoke or fresh rich smelling smoke or that is green smoke(meaning burning very green trees) or its raining pine needles on us. Convoys of forestry workers going up our poor old dirt road. A road that has not seen that many vehicles in its whole existence all put together. Heavy equipment. Big shots riding around being important in the bush country that they don't even know where they are! But they are important people so it doesn't matter. Local folks sneaking through on back roads some of which are more like trails,to get to their ranch that they have been denied access to by said important peoples. I guess I could tell alot of stories but really it was a very strange summer. Now it has been raining and raining. Cows are everywhere. Fording the river, walking on the trails, coming up to the house, anywhere they please to go. Back on one very hot and tiring afternoon I gave up for a few moments on all this noise and action and sat shoes, clothes and all in the river and started singing praises to God and what did I get for an audience??~~CROWS!! a whole flock of crows squawking at me and bouncing their way up and down the other side of the river shore. (I was in a back eddy) so they were very close to me. Any ways I guess all one can say about my singing abilities is it is fit for the crows . Now I am recovering from walking pneumonia probably from all the smoke I breathed for a month. I can not sing at all not even for the crows as my voice is shot but I am happy and health is back on its way to me.

Evening and morning and at noon I will pray,
and cry aloud,
and He shall hear my voice.
Psalm 55:17
God Bless your week-end,
Roxanne

Friday, June 25, 2010

May and June


I can hardly believe that over a month has gone past since the last time I wrote anything on here. I am not sure I could actually tell all that is happening here or has happened but just to get things back on a roll I will try to summarize the last month.
May eventually brought us around to the sorting, branding, ringing(of little and not so little bull calves) that was an all day till midnight event that brought us to the next day of the shipping them down to our place which was another all day event that ended around midnight. The next day was putting them out on range and believe it or not that went fairly smoothly and did not take up the whole day. Whew!!
We have been busy with fencing and trying to get our garden in. Which is almost finished and really starting to come up. Now to keep the bears and the deer out of it and never forget the cows that come down off range and break in to destroy all your hard work in one night!! I was thinking an electrified fence set on the barbeque setting. There is that setting on those things is there not??The fencing ~~well the fencing is never done ~~ever! Just when you think it is all done a moose runs through it or a bear crashes it or just so you don't get bored the LORD has a few trees dropped on it. so yeah there is always fencing.
The bugs are a happy lot these days. There are pesky mosquitoes, blackflies, horseflies, deerflies, blowflies, bees, baldface bees, hornets, wasps, little tiny bees, big fuzzy bees, flying ants, beetles and spiders, no-see-ems, the list goes on. The butterlies and the lady bugs being my very favourites.
Sandhill cranes fill the air with their not so melodic song. Pileated woodpeckers sit in a tree by the garden banging away on deadwood and giving us a badtime for being there.
The wild raspberries are starting to get flowers. The wild strawberries are starting to bear fruit.
Today the wandering bull is going back on the range where he is suppose to be. Our agenda for the day will start with putting him out there after we have breakfast and do chores here. We have high hopes of finishing with the garden if we can get on it in this wetness. And getting the fence done around the meadow so we can open the pasture gate to the pasture by the garden for horses and our cow and calf.
I have some sourdough batter mixed up to make bread so somehow somewhere in all this I do have to get that done and there is always meals to attend to and seeing as the housecleaning fairy hasn't stopped by for awhile I will just have to tend to that myself.
The afghan I am working on is coming along. It is so fun. Sometimes I wish I could just sit and do that. But alas and alack that is not going to happen anytime soon. Birthdays are numerous for the next couple months so I will have to squeeze making gifts for those into my days. Boredom is not on the agenda!!
Tomorrow we are off for the day to a neighbouring ranch(about 45 minutes away) to kill and butcher a very mean heifer. Our big outing!!


The LORD God is my strength;
He will make my feet like deer's feet,
And He will make me walk on my high hills.
Habakkuk 3:19

Have a wonderful Friday and week-end
Roxanne

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Purple Runs the River


Purple runs the river outside our kitchen window. Reflecting the early morning sky's different hues of sunrise colours. Frost lies on the ground. Ice is formed on the water troughs. Bunnies that got loose are enjoying their freedom running about nibbling from the bottom of the huge round bales. The dogs always, always trying to stalk them but never quick enough to actually catch them. Canada geese swim in the purple river water. Crows caw to each other landing and hopping around in the pig pen loving to get leftover grains from the troughs. Red-winged blackbirds search the empty bird feeders for black sunflower seeds. Little chickadees bounce light- footed over the frosty ground picking at little bits of hay seed. The horses are no where to be seen this morning so far. A few Canada Geese graze in the upper part of the meadow. Soon now I will be venturing out into the chill morning opening the chickens' door and checking for eggs. The pig food will be soaking and I can "slop" the hogs soon too. I like for them to stay in their warm bed for awhile longer before pouring the five gallon bucket of soaked grains to them. They are getting braver now these little piggies with the curly ears. Coming out and eating on one side of the trough whilst I am still pouring the grain from the bucket. They are settling in. Love the little piggies at this stage in their lives they are soooo very cute. After the piggies are fed I have to refill the bucket with the evening's feed. I have to check on the bunnie's waterers too then I will come in and do some housework. Their is some bear meat to cook up for supper tonight. I will make a stew of sorts even though not much to go into it as need to go to town, buy some kind of groceries. Tomorrow will be the big town day as I take my husband in to get the stitches out of his poor, poor chainsaw chewed foot. That by the way is healing even though the big toe is looking pretty swollen and red. The rest has gone down and the other toes are looking friendly and alive again. In the meantime here back at the ranch you will find me cooking, vacuuming out my flour drawer, baking something or other. I have floors to sweep and wash. There is some sewing to do. Some hand-embroidery to do. Mail to get together for the mail tomorrow. Then back outside to work in the little greenhouse. Pull out more of the rye grass in the second small bed so I can plant radishes and more spinach in it. I have wood to chop and pack into the porch and dogs to take with me to walk the meadow along the river. So far I have seen no bears here at the ranch although they are everywhere else around here. I keep myself alert to watching for them. I want to go down to the eagle's nest and poke around down there. The bears like that path too. Golden rays of sunshine are now streaming in the windows. The purple river is turning an odd greyish purple colour as the sky changes its hues to bright! The horses can be seen now coming up from the far reaches of the meadow in a hurry to get into the rays of sunshine.
The day has begun here at Blackwater River Ranch.
This morning as I read The Daily Bread devotional a line at the bottom of the page catches my eye and my heart: Duty alone is drudery; duty with love is delight.

Whatever you do in word or deed,
do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Colossians 3:17
(a good thing to remind myself)

May your duties be your delight
Roxanne

Monday, April 12, 2010

April Winds


Here it is April the 12th already~~We are so excited to have a new grandbaby in the family as of yesterday morning. This little bundle of sweetness made her appearance early in the morning around 7:30. From what I have heard all is well at this point. We will be able to make a visit to see mom baby and the rest of the family in a day or two.
The winds have been blowing blowing blowing here for what seems like an eternity. Bringing with them the snow, the hail, and coldness. Even with sunshine the wind bites through one. I wonder many times whatever happened to April showers bring May flowers seems more like March went out like a lion and April has not figured out that it IS April ~~in the meantime we keep the fire stoked and really enjoy the cozy comforts of the inside of our home.
I did manage to get my first batch of diapers and diaper covers sewn and shipped only to find out I was suppose to do them a little differently than I did but I am thinking that all though that is a bummer the good thing is they are all done the same in that batch so the next batch will be done the way they should be done.
A week-end long birthday party for our youngest daughter was fun. Friday was her actual birthday but she had to work. We did have some streamers up and balloons and made a nice supper and spice iced and sprinkled cupcakes for her. Saturday some long time friends came out for supper and birthday celebrations with her and a friend of hers stayed the night. Sunday her oldest brother and family came out for the afternoon and early evening. That was fun unless you were one of the cats. Haha All of us had fun watching the otters in the river. And the merganzers swimming around in amongst them. Busy river. And one mustn't forget that we had a nice visit from a magpie yesterday too. We do not get to see magpies often here so it is great fun to have one come and spend the day even if the dogs do not approve!
This morning the ranch lies in cold greyness. The crows flapping by landing on the hard ground strutting about looking for what ever they think they can find to eat. They are quite busy building a nest in on of the big spruce trees on the river bank.
Our golden eagle has not been seen the last couple of days but the bald headed eagles are back taking up residence in their huge nest down where the two rivers meet. They like to sit in an old tree at one end of the little islands here out the kitchen window. We get the privilege of watching them as they watch the river for fish.
Our son and his wife said they saw a bear on their way out here yesterday so the bears are up and about now. That means they will be hungry as this part of the country does not exactly have any berries growing as yet. Last spring at this time our friends down the road a piece lost a ram to a hungry bear. A hungry angry bear at that. That was a scary scene.
We do not have sheep or really anything that a bear would be interested in for to eat so that way we will be safe from angry hungry bears. It just kind of makes one walking in the bush a wee bit more cautious.
The house is starting to come to life so I think I should probably get some breakfast rustled up here and get my day on the go.

How beautiful upon the mountains
Are the feet of him who brings good news,
Who proclaims peace,
Who brings glad tidings of good things,
Who proclaims salvation,
Who says to Zion,
"Your God reigns!"
Isaiah 52:7

May the Peace of the LORD be with You
Roxanne

Monday, April 5, 2010

Blackwater River Ranch Easter


Easter bunnies hop here and there wherever they please here on the ranch. It seems lately that they do not have to follow the rules of staying in their shed shelter. No matter how you fix it up they can find a new way out. I have managed to catch a few and have them in little cages. There they stay put unable to dig their way out of those so far. Meanwhile we (that is the royal we meaning mostly the man of the house or ranch) is building a new shelter for bunny rabbits. It will have a nice run and three pens so to speak. one for the young bucks, when they are old enough to separate from the mama bunny, one for the young does, and the middle run for the mamas and babies and the daddy. I hope I can find the daddy that is. He left one day and is a gentle old soul and one of the dogs chased him. I have not seen him since but he may be living with the bunnies that are under a shed and coming out and have a great time in the round bales. Like I said they have little shelters for themselves any old place they feel like taking up lodgings. Some are big enough now to put in the stew pot so they may not have to worry about lodgings much longer. And seeing as they did not lay any coloured eggs the stew pot is a very good place for them!!
Then there is the cow! The cow that goes on a rampage ever so often. She charges her big round bale and stomps it to make sure it is good and dead and butts it and continues to terrorize it just daring it to fight back. Puts the chase on the so called
"cow-dogs" scaring the tar out of them. Even to the point of jumping in the truck one day! Has become very demanding of her feed of grain. That is alright Jezebel you too are going to end up in the stew pot.
The wind blew over our hard frozen land all this last week. For the Easter week-end the wind stayed with us keeping us nice and cold to the bones. Temperatures dropping way below the freezing point and only rising somewhat above the freezing point during the day. Sometimes there was sun rays shining down upon us. Teasing us. We have had snow and hail too. Believe it or not the river has opened right up. You can tell it is a river now. There is still lots of ice on the banks. Huge huge blocks of ice but the water is making itself heard now. The Canada Geese, the swans and all kinds of ducks are in their glory. Through the night you can hear them chattering away
to each other as they drift the river.
Our Easter has been a quiet but busy one here at the ranch. We have seen the odd vehicle going up or coming down the dirt road.
We were invited to supper last night at a neighbour's house. That was a fun time. And a very delicious meal. And a pleasant way to spend Resurrection Sunday to be sure.
Today it is back to sewing, sewing, sewing. I will make our Easter supper to share with our youngest daughter who will be back from house-sitting one of her older brother's and family's place later today.
I will watch the sun rise from its cold bed and the bunnies happily hopping about. Their will be grazing Canada Geese and gracefully swimming swans. Crazed cow. Cautious dogs and yeowling cats. We have a Go
lden Eagle back and even a few robins. Spring has sprung and the big garden is out from under its covering of snow. The flower gardens still hidden under their blanket of mulch (which I lifted up in spots to peak under)lie frozen but there is hope. Seems every year the grass gets green and the buds begin to appear. We do have lots of pussy willows. That in itself proves that spring is here in the Cariboo country too.

The LORD is my portion,
saith the soul;
therefore will I hope in him.
Lamentations 3:24

Praying God's Blessings be Upon You this day
Roxanne

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Sewing Machines


I seriously wonder about the newer sewing machines we have been "blessed" with nowadays. I have this old hand cranked Singer sewing machine and an old Singer treadle. The treadle I could still use if the belt hadn't wore out. If I replaced that I would be off and ~~well off and treadling! The crank Singer still works all you have to do is turn the crank. There isn't much to either machine. You put your fabric under the needle and start sewing. Neither of the machines has a reverse but both machines have attachments to gather and do ruffles and so on. Button holes are done by hand as in Hand Embroidery.
Now I have my new Janome New as in it is over ten years old and a Jonome that is from 1986 or there abouts. Yesterday when I was suppose to be sewing up a storm instead I was storming over sewing machines! The one goes clank and that is it. It needs to go to a hospital no doubt about it. My daughter was running it trying to sew her table runner for a sewing class. But it won't budge at all. It has had this kind of attack some years ago. I had a sewing machine fixer upper
friend fix it. It is no big deal but it is a problem and I do not remember what the problem was. The one I was using is from a friend whose husband bought it for her as an appeasement offering after he went out and bought a fancy motorcycle. She has rarely ever used it so she lent it to me for however long I want to use it. The silly thing has a real thing for gathering all the thread on the bottom in a big lump. It will get sorted out but it has to make sure you burst into tears first and cry out to the LORD for help and threaten to throw it out a window. After you take it apart and clean the lint out and try different needles and so on and so forth suddenly it gets all happy and runs like a charm. By that time you are drinking a couple cups of some kind of nerve calming tea and thinking you will never ever sew another seam again!!
Okay so now the rant is over. I want a sewing machine that runs when I turn it on and
doesn't have issues! Sort of like a vehicle ~~you know I love the ones that you turn the key and vrrroom it starts. No banging on the solinoid, no climbing under the hood to pour gas in the carborator, no rolling it down a hill to jump start it. Tires that stay round~~oh and candy apple red would be nice to boot instead of rust and mixed colours. Oh and while I am at it here how about a computer that just plain works without me trying to figure out why it doesn't
I am sure the machines of this world are trying to drive us crazy then they have a plot to take it over.
Maybe I will go back to the treadle and a horse drawn buggy and pen and ink!! Maybe tomorrow ~~I don't have time today

Ponder the ways of your feet,
And let your ways be established.
Proverbs 4:26

May Your Day be Filled
with Peace and Love
Roxanne

Friday, March 19, 2010

Cottage Industries


For some time now I have been doing baking for a few friends. Baked goods such as homemade bread:white or brown or varieties. Big iced or uniced cinnamon buns, buns as in rolls, baking powder biscuits and have added Angel Biscuits to the list. Cornmeal muffins is another big hit. I can honestly say that it pays for the ingredients and maybe the gas to town(for those who don't know town is an hour and a half away) and if I am really "rich" from all the baking I may be able to even buy a few carrots for us or butter or a bag of wheat or layer pellets for the chickens. Maybe the dogs will get a bag of dog food or treat the cats to a bag of cat food but not really putting money in the bank.
Now that I am no longer working a few hours here and there at the local little tiny store/cafe I have been graciously invited by a close friend to help with sewing. Her sewing business is called babycanucks and will soon have its own web page. In the meantime whilst the web page is being made up I am sewing up diaper covers that are "sew" cute. and one size fits all diapers. The covers are one size fits all also.
Now another friend sent me a message last night after I had told her what we were doing. She thought it was a wonderful cottage industry. Now isn't that fun? Here all this time I thought it was a survival technique!

Well that goes to show one how perspectives come into play.
To give you an idea of how one day is for me here at the ranch I will walk you through one day~~
it usually starts with pulling my legs out from under about three cats and putting my tootsies onto a very cold floor as the window is usually slightly open. Morning ablutions tended to I stoke the fire and start the tea water. Heading for the computer after letting dogs in and dogs out and cats in and cats out.
There is breakfast to tend to. And if it is a baking day as was Wednesday the bread is started. The bread is made by hand ~you know in a bowl mix it up punch it and cover it and let it rise. It makes eight loaves at a time or
five and a half or so buns. Wednesday I did not make cinnamon buns so there was five and a half buns that sell at $3.50/doz. seven dozen baking powder biscuits at $3.00/doz, seven dozen Angel Biscuits at $3.50/doz.
I made Mince Pumpkin Loaves two of them for ourselves. Thawed out a gallon of fish soup our youngest daughter and I had made up from the salmons we had last summer. Made moose meat stew for supper. In amongst all that I fed and watered bunnies , walked the dogs. Actually they took me for a walk to get outside.We tried to locate the missing cow. Never did figure out where her hiding place is. There is lots of room to hide in out there but she did come bac
k PTL!! Cleaned house, did four big loads of laundry, cut out eight dozen diapers and a smaller amount of reusable baby wipes. Talked on the phone a couple of times. Watched a movie and went to bed with a novel.
And sometimes someone will say to me ~~the famous line~~"What do you do all day way out here?"
I think I am an occupier or something because I do not find time to be bored that is for sure waaay out here! And so far there is no fear of me becoming rich and famous either. LOL

Honour the LORD with thy substance,
and with the first-fruits of all thine increase:
So shall thy barns be filled with plenty,
and thy presses shall bust out with new wine.
Proverbs 3:9 & 10

Happy Day to you and God Bless
Roxanne

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Sewing Diapers and Their Covers


Thursday night a quick decision was made to take our one grandson down to visit his daddy. It was such a quick decision in fact that it may have happened Friday morning I honestly do not remember. I do remember Friday morning though!! Quickly throwing together some clothing to take along with us. So quickly in fact that I actually forgot my toothbrush. LOL Our small animals we given water and feed and given instructions to live and make do until we come back. The bigger animals had a round bale to chomp on. They are good at fending for themselves. Electric heaters plugged in. The fire stoked one more time in hopes that the place would not freeze up before we got back. Stopped in on our way out to tell our daughter and son in law that we were on our way to Kamloops. Big surprise to them as they were at our place Thursday night and we weren't at that point going anywhere. How things can change in a night!
Picked up young grandson and off we were. Travelling was good. the deer around the Williams Lake area were well behaved for a change and in hayfields instead of on the road trying their very best to jump onto your vehicle.
Our visit after dropping of our grandson was to Kamloops where my friend has started a diaper business. She designed cloth diapers and their diaper covers which I had to quickly learn how to sew and put together in a few short hours. Not too hard to make and everyone who has seen them seems to love them but a couple of nurses want us to make adult diapers in the same style. They are having a very wretched time of it with the now present diapers available for adults. That is the cloth ones which they are in desperate need of a better design. Well we may look into that but right now my friend (and I second it) wants to concentrate on the baby diapers. Her diapers are called "baby canuks". She thinks her web site will be up and running in a month. You might be able to view some of them on my facebook page for those of you who are on it at least.
After the sewing "lessons" it was off to see my mother in law and meet our son Harely's new girlfriend. She is a sweetheart to be sure. Gramma or great Gramma depending on who you are was doing not too badly. She is having issues with her one kidney and may have to go on dialysis. We are praying not so. She is hoping to soon go into assisted care.
From there out to the Skeetchetsn Reserve where we ate a delicious homemade supper and stayed the night. Of course there was the usual hints to us of coming back home to live. Maybe someday but not right now.
a quiet trip back home and here we are.
Canada Geese flying overhead. Snow melting. Visitors coming for coffee. Talk of baby calves, sewing, knife making, guns.Later our son in law and daughter came over. He played crib with the papa. We said good bye to him as he is leaving on the jet plane for Ontario tomorrow. Sob sob~~ And now I am cutting out flannel for diaper making. Have cut out 46 diaper cover liners which need to be sewn. Praying I can remember what I am to do to put it all together. LOL
There is so much to get done today that it is hard to not have my head spinning. When I figure out how to do it and it is up and running I will add the diaper website link to this blog of mine.
In the meantime back at the ranch~~the dogs have checked out the world. The cats, at least a couple of them are curled up cozy as can be. The day is moving onwards and getting close to 7:30 so my morning is really starting to get away on me. I have to say though the air outside smells of spring. Even the damp grey rather grim looking morning cannot take away the excitement that spring in the air brings. Robins were even sighted not too far away although I have not seen any here as yet.

For the LORD shall be thy confidence,
and shall keep thy foot from being taken.
Proverbs 3:26

God Bless
Roxanne

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Northern Lights

Laying all cozy in bed last night with a book and heated up magic bags the window open not to very much the phone rings. Now this might not be an unusual thing to some but we do not get a lot of phone calls at 10 pm. Hey says my friend on the other end whatcha doin' ~~well I am reading why? well get outside and watch the northern lights girl. So I jump out of bed and in bare feet and my flannel negligee and my husband by my side we went out on the front porch and watched the lights flickering across the sky. Not the most spectacular showing I have ever seen but it is always so awesome to watch nonetheless. Finally my feet which were still bare and the temperature being at freezing or lower they were getting kind of cold. So came in and back to my book and warm bed.
Today being Sunday and no fuel for the thirsty truck to spare to go to any kind of church meeting this evening we stayed here doing things. Dennis knocked down a couple of trees for firewood for our oldest son's family. Woody came for a nice long visit and I made dinner for all of us. After he left I punched down my bread and went out and gave Dennis a hand piling branches and loading the truck with the firewood. He managed to get the truck out of the upper pasture even with the deep wet snow. The snow is full of water now with the temps that are so warm for this time of year. We did have a blizzard more so I think than we have had all winter thus far I think.
Now I have the dishes done up and the just about all eight loaves of bread are done.
I think I will settle in for another evening.

Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
Galatians 6:18

God Bless
Roxanne

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Happy Day I think?!


Well this has been interesting as since early this morning I have not been able to post anything . As a matter of fact I have not been able to open or even go to this blog of mine. It tells me I am denied access~~
Apparently that is a not unusual thing to have happen but why me?? I do not know enough about computers to have nasty tricks like that from cyber space.
so I was going to tell all of you about the incandescent moonbeams shining on the snow making the sparkles dazzle and dance between moonshadows. I may have been going to tell you all about what I was planning for the day. Not sure anymore being as I got so frustrated with the whole thing.
I am not even sure I trust this internet nonsense now. things might be quicker and all with internet and one may be able to contact old friends and loved ones and even some new friends through internet but oh my what a fine pickle one is in when it doesn't want to work right and you have to stare at in utter amazed confusion carefully touching a key hoping you won't blow the whole thing to beyond repair!
So in fear and trepidation here I be mostly an experiment to see if it is still going to publish this. What can I say~~? If it works then I will actually write about something tomorrow...God Bless Roxanne

Today's Blog Post

For some strange reason according to this I can not open my blog. Somehow I have got to become more computer wise I guess. This is just a trail to see if it will let me post~~Here's praying roxanne

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Sunday Morning


The day is dawning rather damp and dull this morning but I am sure once the house wakes up that the "dull" part will quickly disappear.
Being as there is no television reception here unless you can afford one of those fancy satellite dishes the grandchildren have to come up with things to do out of their imaginations. Well never fear this bunch has enough imagination for an army
of grandchildren ~~there has been time spent sledding on a steep side hill~~man-tracking~~and cops and robbers with robbers being accused of such offenses as stealing underwear off clotheslines, being busted for a "fart-monster",and numerous other serious offenses. hehe. Food has been eaten at every possible waking hour of the day. Boots & felts, snowpants, jackets, gloves, jeans, socks all in various stages of sogginess and believe it or not there has been no moose or coyotes in the vicinity since the arrival of our mighty little hunters. That is okay though as they have spent much time target practising and so there are some very shot up teddy bear types on the place.
Children are now coming to life and I have managed to clean up some kitty cat vomit so I guess the day is off to a roar!
The grampa is still in bed ~~how does he do that?? It is almost 7 a.m. LOL
I have birthday gifts to wrap up
for our little grand-daughter turning four years old today! Time really does fly by.
Everyone is going home this
afternoon. The cats will have to readjust and come out of their hidey holes! haha
I have more bread orders to tend to this week but have to wait for more flour. It is not always that easy for me to run to the corner store. We do have lots of corners but seems no stores are on them! The one store that I worked at in the small village would take close to my year's income to pay for the bag of flour so would rather wait for one of the family members to pick me up one from town and bring it out this way.
After the big Rabbit Rodeo Roundup we had on Friday one of the little scamps has escaped again. I think we are just going to have to dig out the chicken wire and lay it all down on the ground so they can not dig themselves out of the shed. Here is hoping and praying we can build them a nice rabbitry soon. I would like something that they can run around in more so than cages and use the cages only for when some bunny needs isolating for some reason or other. If I could have something where the mamas and babies and papa run in and the females and males that come of age can be separated into runs until butcher time would be m
y dream come true. We shall see as everything takes time not to mention "ingredients"!
I should run and do a couple things here and then rustle up some grub ~~

Because thy lovingkindness is
better than life,
my lips shall praise thee.
Psalm 63:3

Happy Sunday blessings to you
Roxanne

Tuesday, February 23, 2010


Sewing and breadmaking are my main thoughts this morning. My tea cup is wanting refilling while the happy crackling fire throws its warmth throughout the rooms. Sometimes like this time I can not make up my mind just where I want to get started for the day. I could write you a list of all that is clamouring for priority place but I will spare you those gory details and suffice it to say that I am starting with the refilling of the tea cup. I think better that way. LOL
Daylight is c
oming to our part of the world showing trees, bushes, everything covered in hoarfrost. It is really pretty. Even though it looks a little on the grey side.
The moose have been eating the middles out of the huge round hay bales. Sometimes a mama and her large calf will stand in the hay-meadow and watch us up here at the house. They are getting that brave. There are times they are on the other side of the house nibbling at the willow bushes on the little islands. They like to truck themselves along the river banks eating willows as they go too.
I do not think I have any more work at the cafe really. The boss lady told me once a month for the next while~~I have s
o many things on the go now and coming spring and all I think we will be too busy for to go to work once a month there. That is quite alright with me!
In the meantime back at the ranch I have to go get working on some sewing. Finish up a little crocheting. Our one daughter and her husband are coming for supper tonight. We are looking forward to that. It does mean though that I have some things to do beforehand. It really doesn't matter which things get done first as long as it gets done.
There is bread and biscuits to make for to sell. I am thinking I will leave those till Wednesday and Thursday as we are going to town or close to it by Thursday.
A quiet, stil
l, or I should say incredibly still morning stands there awaiting for me to shatter the peace ~~

Seek the LORD,
and his strength:
seek his face evermore.
Psalm 105:4

God's Many Blessings Upon Your Day
Roxanne

Monday, February 15, 2010

Mush Myths


It is midwinter. There is no getting around it. Yesterday the drive to the little cafe/store where I work was what one would call "interesting!!" Being as I am not use to driving on an ice road it was challenging. I think if I was brave enough I would have turned around and gone back home but the thought of trying to turn around was just waaaay to scary for this gal. Onward HO! I did make it there and then was told I did not have to work till 3pm. It was 10 a.m. my usual time for work on Sundays. I did not drive back home just went to our friend's home not far from the store and visited there. Now that was fun as I do not get to visit there often.
The Valentine's Day supper was a raging success with everyone thoroughly enjoying their steak, prawns, stuffed potato, and glazed carrot supper. They could have soup or salad beforehand and because it was a ticket supper and private party there was wine(red or white) and beer to choose from along with
their coffee, tea, juice, pop, milk or water. We usually close at six. This time we closed at five. Only those who had bought tickets were admitted. I was done my part of the work by close to 7:30. The drive home was much better although I did drive slowly as I wasn't sure just how icy it still was and not really wanting to land in the ditch to find out! haha
This Monday morning I have these mushy thoughts of menu making for the rest of the month. Trying to be creative with what is on hand but not really getting very far past the big five gallon can of oatmeal! It really is not a myth that you can do lots with oatmeal and we could always have bacon a
nd fried oatmeal with ketchup on it. Then there is cougar meat to throw in for variation plus I could do something with the last of the turkey that I cooked the other day. It was just cooked nothing fancy so I can make soup and cut up meat to freeze for casseroles or I could make up the casseroles and freeze them. Decisions decisions.
I have been crocheting this sweet little dress and just have to put the hem trim on it and some kind of lining then it will be done. There is the sewing to do. I really should, now that I am home from our world travels to Manitoba, get the last of our youngest son's quilt finished. It would be nice to do that.
There is a
chicken house to clean out and the rabbit house should get cleaned out too. There is always cupboards to clean and kitty litter to change(eeewww) I could wash walls in the bathroom and make the toilet bowl shine. In other words there is no lack of things to do. I think I will pour myself another cup of tea and see if I can make a decision ~~maybe I will just go for a long long walk...

But as for you, brethen,
do not grow weary in doing good.
2 Thessalonians 3:13

The grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
Roxanne

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Quilt on a Curve


You know sometimes teaching thine ownself can be a real challenge. Now I have taught myself how to do many things~~sometimes that is good but sometimes ~~well sometimes it is how you say?? INTERESTING! Now take this here quilt I have been working on for what seems like my whole life but in reality has been about two months. It is a Christmas present by the way. Ahh some are thinking she is really together already working on Christmas presents. Remember I have been working on this for two months. It was in my mind a week-end project. Cut circles out of all the old blue jeans slap some fleece squares in the middle of the circles, make strips, sew strips together, presto zappo quilt is done. A friend assured me it was simple as she held up the beginning of her baby quilt proudly. She was making hers for her new grandson that was on the way. Cool I can do that. But of course I decided to sew a bigger quilt for the son whose name I drew for Christmas. No problemo I can do it. The pile of jeans was right there so I started tracing around the little blue plate and making my circles and cutting them out. Some one hundred forty of them. and then one hundred forty squares of fleece, then a hundred forty squares of batting to go under the fleece. Oh I was so pleased with myself looking at these nice little neat piles of cut out circles and squares. Wow! Then of course there was some cows needing sorting, then work to go to, and Christmas presents to crochet or whatever other bright and easy things my little overactive brain came up with. Don't forget housework, wood to pack or chop and pack, little critters to feed, phone calls, and on and on the list goes. Hours of crocheting. But never fear I did start sewing circles together and more of them and even more. Then Christmas day came so I SHOWED the quilt to the son who would be getting this labour of love. He liked it really he did! In amongst the stitching together of denim circles I fought with the sewing machine trying to convince it that working with me was better than working against me. Not very convincingly I may add as the machine kept on doing its silly thing. Then there was the fact that I had been sewing pyjamas for little grandchildren so now there is patterns and flannel everywhere and the cats decided it would be great fun to attack the nice neat piles of circles and square so they were all over the place too. Some were under the a cat who had the job of holding them in one place. Oh golly I have actually got all the circles and squares sewn together and when you lay this quilt art on the floor and look at it from the right angle it is ~~well actually maybe look at it from a left angle ~~Maybe if one took a yardstick and a sharp knife to it you could straighten out the curve MAYBEEE~~!! THEN AGAIN IT COULD BE I JUST STARTED A NEW FAD!!


Consider the work of God;
For who can make straight
what He has made crooked?
Luke 7:13


God bless
Roxanne

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Coyote Musical

I was up before five this morning which is not the usual for me as I am usually up at five not before. Have a crook in "me" neck so it is easier to get up than to try to make it comfortable.
The fire in the wood heater is burning cheerfully and the tea is steaming hot in my cup. My cup with the poinsettia on it. I put most of the Christmas cups away but I love this one with its little chip out of the lip of it. I have one cup with a snowman picture on it too that I like to use all winter. Never really decided if that is a Christmas cup or a winter cup so I use it all winter too.
My tea sipping is disturbed by what sounds like a chorus of a hundred coyotes yodeling. They yip and yelp and yowl. Their voices carrying back and forth to each other. One of the dogs starts barking as she flies off the porch to chase them. No my little doggie NO come back here! And believe it or not she di
d come back~~The yipping goes on. The chorus lifts hitting high notes like some well practiced crescendo then dropping only to rise again. Their voices are clear and close. Listening to them I can tell some are here nearby the old house we live in and some are over on the other side of the river. Singing of the mice they are catching under the snow or the cats they would like to catch from the house here I am not sure. Maybe singing in the hopes of drawing the "in season" dogs out of their safety out to where they can tear them to pieces!The dogs try to out sing the coyotes. The yelping melody starts to move on down the river taking with it the song of the ones by the house. It disappears and the morning darkness becomes still with only the sound of horses crunching on the frozen surface of old crusted snow.

O come,
let us sing unto the LORD:
let us make a joyful noise to
the rock of our salvation.
Let us come before his
presence with thanksgiving,
and make a joyful noise unto
him with psalms.
Psalm 95:1

Rejoicing in the LORD
Roxanne

Monday, January 25, 2010

Rural Country Living

I never really know what to call our area~~are we rural~are we country~are we bushed~are we hillbillies? I really do not know.
In my humble opinion we don't live in the city or town or village so that would make us rural right?
We have dogs, cats, chickens, a couple old horses on the place and cows when they are here on their way to or back from the range. That must mean we are countr
y, right? There is no nearby neighbours for a couple miles one way and over 8 miles the other way so that might mean we are bushed. But we are the last ones on the power line so we can't be that bushed and we do have a telephone and internet even if it is dial up. We have a fairly well maintained dirt road goes passed us even though we rarely see traffic on it. Once in awhile someone goes up it or down it. We are surrounded by trees, and snow and ice on the river. There are moose in our stack-yard where the big round bales of hay are stored. It is well fenced to keep the animals such as cows, and horses out of it. The moose are easily jumping the fences even with the snow being about knee deep on me. We love to watch the eagles and the foxes come by for a visit and do things like steal the dog's goat rib cages they were gnawing on. The coyotes yip and yap through the night and cross the hay meadow on their way to some other destination unknown to me. Bears in the right season cross the haymeadow on their way to fish in the river. Deer bound through the deep grass of the meadow too. Wolves can be heard on occasion moaning not too far from our bedroom window These are our main visitors. There are folks that come by for a coffee now and then. They too have similar homes homes none of us think of ourselves as bushed unless we haven't been to town for a couple of months or when we see tv commercials and realize how out of touch we really are. I mean none of us have hair that shine and flows back into place gracefully after swooshing our heads from side to side. Or think broccoli is more of a miracle than eight babies! Oh my ~~ And then there is the light airy febreeze smelling house when most of us have houses that smell of baking, or dogs or cows or all of the preceding smells! And I know with a certainty that we are NOT hillbillies cause they live in the deep south or something like that and we live in the north so that is a great difference right there. But live here we do~~ love it here ~we do!
Not too worried about whether we are considered rural or bushed or country or what but we do have a nice cozy fire going and the coffee pot is hanging around on the stove ready to pour out a cup for those who stop by as they travel around visiting or looking for cows or horses somewhere out there. There is usually some kind of food that we can rustle together for those who stop in even if it is homemade soup and biscuits or cougar meat. It is a good life and like one fella visiting us said," good thing so many folks live in the city we get all this to ourselves." Your welcome to stop in iffen your on your way somewhere or back from somewhere and going by the ranch here. If we have fallen off our snowshoes on a trail somewhere in the back part of the ranch then you can come in and heat up the coffee and we will join you when we get here...

Thou hast dealt well with thy servant,
O LORD,
according unto thy word.
Psalm 119:65

Looking forward to seeing you
God Bless
Roxanne

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Snowshoeing


By early afternoon we had most of the chores done so strapping on the snowshoes and Dennis grabbing the huge sled we headed out back to check out some of the abandoned vehicles.Three dogs and one cat came with us a sort of "family" outing.The sun shone down on the crusted shiny snow. Even the shadows cast by the numerous trees seemed well defined and bright. We trudged along, one of the dogs and I ahead breaking trail. Poor Nellie doggie was falling through the snow crust up to her back. It didn't take long for her to tire of her snow swimming. She sat on her haunches looking up at me with eyes that said, "What on this snowy earth are we doing here where there is no trail?" Dear Dennis dragging the sled passed us giving us a nice trail to follow along on. Happily we followed his lead. The dogs occasionally stepping on the back of my snowshoes almost making me fall. The cat tiptoeing through the snow sometimes in a hurry, sometimes crying out for mercy. His toes were getting cold. He really could have stayed home but he wanted to come! On and on through the crusted snow we went. Our hearts pounding from the exertion of packing our winter boots and snowshoes and the weight of snow. We are so very in shape that that had to be the reason for our hearts pounding in our ears as we climbed a hill. (okay those who know us stop laughing) The sled being pulled by Dennis once again after our little stop to umm ~~you know let the cat and dogs catch up~~I realize there is something different about the sled. There to my wondering eyes is the cat sitting in the sled as pleased as punch watching the snow crusted earth slip out from under him from his new perch, as he skimmed by on the sled. He had had enough of this snowshoeing frozen tootsie situation. There really is more than one way to snowshoe!

Where there is no vision,
the people perish...
Proverbs 29:18

May your trails be untroublesome
God Bless
Roxanne

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Heritage Livestock


The third Sunday of the first month of a new year~~hard to believe~~that elusive thing called time quietly cascading us into 2010.
With temps much warmer than they were the last couple of months of 2009 and the daylight stretching out a wee bit longer each day we start to contemplate what we will do come the spring. Yes we could go Sasquatch hunting but they are so elusive and I heard that they love strawberry jam so I am just going to look for a good place to put some strawberry jam out and let them come to us. Then we can make big, BIG money photographing them and selling the photos~~in the meantime...

We have always wanted to do something to preserve heritage breeds of this animal and that. Mostly interested in heritage breeds of cattle, chickens, pigs, but lately in my perusing around the net I have thought of other animals. Then one day when one of my knitting magazines that send emails to me had an article on wool they mentioned sheep. Not just any kind of sheep but an heritage breed called Soay Sheep! Now they have me so interested in them. Not a very big critter but very hardy, brought in to the areas of Scotland and England perhaps by the Vikings. They shed their wool. Are slow growing and on and on. An intriguing bit of info ~~so now where to find them in BC and just how much are these little critters going to cost one to have a breeding flock. Well the quest goes on.
Maybe I will look up heritage rabbits next!
Which brings me to dogs~~yes dogs it seems one of our pups is making himself famous. He was bought by a family that could not keep him in the yard for anything so they found him a new owner. An owner that had 52 sled dogs. With that number of sled
dogs this lady is busy to say the least. She keeps her dogs in shape and has them in agility courses. apparently she took the pup that was from our batch of pups down to the coast. He won hands down and is now being trained for some movie. Hmmm interesting. That pup is a year old now so a perfect age for training. Maybe I could interest her in some more pups for friends and neighbours. Move over Rintintin~~
Until I am rich and famous though I have these chores to do~ a sink full of dishes calling out my name, floors to sweep and wash, laundry piling up, some not so famous doggies and cats to feed. My non-heritage rabbits to feed and water and a chicken coop with a rooster named "Cornflakes" ruling the roost, that has to be cleaned today while the temps are half ways decent and before it hits 30 or 40 below again!
My thoughts wander off to Heritage seeds~~probably a lot cheaper than a Soay Sheep and perhaps easier to look after~~I think really in reality I do have no other choice but to live a very long life cause there are so many things I want to do or try like this fancy heritage knitting or was that heirloom knitting? Whatever. And then there is quilting I would love to be better than I am at it. Trying to teach yourself to quilt is always a challenge especially if you are me! LOL
What about heritage recipes? The list can just go on forever. It would be nice to find recipes that one can cook and eat too and not have the consequence of tighter pants. It is so annoying when the pants won't join in the middle.
So it is Sunday and I do not have a heritage anything as far as "things" go but I do have the LORD and He is my heritage.

For You, O God,
have heard my vows;
You have given me the heritage of those
who fear your name.
Psalm 61:5

May you be enjoying the heritage
of our LORD too
Roxanne
ps I did NOT take the photos of the Soay Sheep I found them on the net . I had never even heard of them till this last week.