Chicks cheep and chirp beside me as I type away on here. I hatched them in a borrowed incubator so now have fifteen tiny fluffy little chickies. It is kind of late in the year but I didn't get the chance at an ncubator until late so that's the breaks, eh?

The last few days have been pretty nice and warm here. Blackflies are doing wonderfully well. The berry picking is fabulous. I have been able to pick wild strawberries and enough of them to freeze. Wild blueberries are just coming around and oh my are they going to be plentiful. Saskatoons grow wild here too so have lots of them picked and same with raspberries. In other words no shortage of berries. The rose hips are coming. Many large reddish ones and some are becoming quite a bright red. Although we have had some frost they really need to get hit with a heavier frost yet. Same with the blueberries but never fear as it will happen.

I have dried many wild herbs and still more to pick. Finding it hard right now to keep up with everything that is growing out there at the same time. Many of these plants and berries the bears enjoy too so I have to be on the lookout for them as well.

There are a few jars of saskatoon rhubarb jam done and a few apricot jam and just two very tiny jars of raspberry jam. Mostly I am freezing the berries for later on.

The evening is closing in on me here with ten hungry pigs to pack feed to and wash out their water trough yet. Chickens need their evening rations. There is wood to bring in and I would like to set the fire ready to throw a match to in the morning so I am not running around in the woodpile in barefeet and nightie gathering kindling ~~

I still have some dishes to do from jamming and making supper but what I really really would like to do is just sit and knit on the little sweater. I want to make two of them for our five year old grand-daughters. They are white with embroidered flowers on them. At least they will have embroidered flowers on them when they are done!

Things have been hopping around here with folks dropping in to say hello and use the phone. There is a big gold mine trying to set up back in the mountains so the first nations peoples are invited by the company to view the actual sites. Then there is going to have to be tribal meetings to talk about making deals. Our youngest son is working in the one closest to traditional areas in our part of the country. It is cold up there so thankfully our friend can take some warm clothes in when he flies in next week. It will all be very interesting.

I need to go for now get all this stuff I mentioned done instead of just talking about it. Would be nice if they had a button on this computer you could press and these things would get done. But until they invent that button I guess ~~it will just have to be traditional old fashioned hand done.

The sluggard craves and gets nothing,

but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.

Proverbs 13:4 NIV

Sweet Dreams to all

Roxanne

Moon Washing

It actually gets dark here now around 10 pm~~That is until the moon comes up and washes the dark away. The we are bathed in moonlight. Don't you just love that? So pretty.

This photo was taken in 2009 but my dog that is on the leash was still alive then. I don't have many photos of her so this kind of touches my heart. She was a great friend even though she was a brat at times. The reason she is on a leash is that if she was let off when the other two were loose with her she would take them off into the bush for many many hours. Not too good. The other two will stick around but as soon as the ring-leader came out to play they would be long gone. They have no self-discipline. Easily led astray. She was good and stuck around if by herself. Go figure. The photo is taken out at the back end of the ranch.

Today I have ironing to do and all that exciting stuff. Lots of outdoor things to do.

It would be good to be able to get to some heirloom sewing patterns for children. That would be fun to do if I can squeeze in some time. First off though I should probably finish organizing my sewing area so you can get to the sewing machine without breaking your neck. LOL I am trying to put it inot some kind of logical order but I am sttarting to wonder how much logic is in that??!!

When I have a little more time I will post some of the projects I have completed . for now I will just put this one of the crocheted dress I crocheted for one of our grand-daughter's birthday.

In the meantime I had better get at some breakfast and some chores around here before I get fired! haha now there's an idea~~

The LORD is my strength and my shield;

my heart trusted in Him,

and I am helped.

Psalm 28:7

Have a dog gone good day

Roxanne

Blackwater River Ranch

Mornings are taking longer now here in this corner of the Cariboo country. The birds would wake us up with their twittering and anxiousness to start the day at a quarter to three in the morning just a few short weeks ago~~Now they start their day sometime after five. The sun is taking longer and longer to hit the cabins and bless us with its presence. But at least we are getting sunshine. The "summer" has been fairly cold and extremely rainy. So much so that the rivers flooded and are just now starting to get back into their rightful spots. The hay meadows are still wet and the garden that was under five feet or so of water is now down to being quite soft. The mushroom picking (morels) was pretty decent until even the mushrooms couldn't stand the rain anymore. We have wild strawberries big and sweet. They are so abundant it is just wonderful. The raspberry plants are taller than me and loaded with ripening berries. My husband has picked a container full of ripe deep purply blue juicy saskatoon berries too. Wild blueberries are so plentiful and soon they too will be ready for the picking.

It has been sometime since the last time I have been able to blog but I am now back in cyber space thinking I am pretty KOOL too! LOL

The weed whacking has been done, house work is done, animals are fed and wateredand relaxing in the heat they are so not use to. The men folk have gone down the road to pick up fishermen that are on tour and bring them and their raft and gear back up.

Tonight we will have a wonderful supper with friends that are camping here for a few more days. Fresh Blackwater River trout. Mmmm!

The blackflies and no-see-ums are alive and well shredding us and livestock and wild critters. All that rain and now the heat Perfect breeding conditions.

There are so many beautiful wild flowers and tall grasses covering the wildfire area now that it is hard to believe it was such a fire. If one looks you can still see the blackened earth that burned so hot. The trees are easily spotted as they stand out black against the backdrop of green.

There are fifty-seven eggs in my incubator so I have high hopes of seeing some baby chicks later this month.

In the meantime dear friends I must be on my way to complete some more chores.

The earth is full

of the goodness

of the LORD. Psalm 33:5

God's Blessings be upon you

Roxanne

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

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 even 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

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

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