Providence Acres

New Blog

2013-06-09T11:10:00.001-07:00

We are starting a new blog entitled "Providence Off Grid Living". It will be about our new off grid lifestyle and camping with posts about things like solar systems, laundry, gardening and everyday living off grid, coping with the day to day problems and solutions. We hope this new blog will be a help to those who have not yet started their journey to self sufficiency or who are not as advanced on this path as they would like to be.

We love our new lifestyle! We will leave the "Providence Acres Farm Blog" where it is for reading purposes but will no longer be adding any new posts to it. All future posting will be done on our new blog. You can find the new blog at http://providenceoffgrid.blogspot.ca

As always, we continue to acknowledge The Lord in all that we do so we can depend on Him to direct our path.

Sketching - Waiting For Spring

2013-04-27T08:21:00.000-07:00

Since our unexpected snowfall that started a couple of days ago (See post earlier today) I have been sketching. It's something to do indoors for a few days and good practice.

I enjoy simple sketching. It's relaxing and stress relieving. Painting can be, as well, but it can also be stressful and difficult. Some paintings just flow off the brush and are a delight to paint. Others turn out to be work and take forever and a great deal of self discipline to finish. I usually can't tell what a painting will be like until I get into it. For this reason I usually have a few on the go at one time, so I can switch between them.

Sketching is always relaxing, with pencil or charcoal, as is drawing with soft pastels. My charcoal and pastels are all packed away, so I'm using a pencil.

Below are a few examples of sketches I have done in the past few days on a small pad with pencil only. All done from my small Dell tablet that is loaded with photos I have taken, for this purpose. I am working on a snow leopard today.

Spring Snow... :-(

2013-04-27T08:04:00.001-07:00

We had spring here! I swear we did! I just don't know where it went...

Just three days ago I was walking on a clear and almost dry gravel path in just a sweater. We got this much snow in just two days and it is still coming down this morning, thick and heavy. (See the chair seat and stairs in picture left.)

It won't stay long, as the days are warm and we are suppose to get temps as high as +14c after this weekend, so it will all melt before the end of next week...hopefully. I can't believe this! It's so depressing! I have been looking forward to spring for such a long time! Well, it can't be helped. I just have to keep telling myself that The Lord is in control.

I guess I need to find more indoor winter projects to do. For the past couple of days I have been sketching with a pencil. It's good practice.

Another Winter Project Finished!

2013-04-20T11:39:00.001-07:00

Well, almost finished, anyway. I think I might want to make it a bit wider. We'll be fighting over it during in the cold if it's not wide enough! lol!

I made it with all the colours that I would never wear. I like to save my personal colours for sweaters, scarves and other clothing items. I am a redhead with skin and eyes to match, so I never wear any of the shades you see in this bedspread. I do, however, like them in my house. This is going on the queen size bed in our camper home. This bright blend of winter shades will brighten it up and give it some life!

It's very warm and contains a mix of various yarns. Most are acrylic, some are mohair (from angora goats) and one is sheep's wool. I washed all the yarn before I made it in cool water and cool dryer and washed the entire thing again with lots of fabric softener and dryer sheets, after it was finished. It is very soft now!

This is my previous winter project, made with the same mix of yarns and washed with dryer sheets. What a difference it makes! This sweater is super soft now!

I finished the front since I last posted it. I tightened it up between the buttonholes and added the peach trim to hold it there. I still need to make the pocket insides but I wear it, as is, for now. (This is not a very good picture, taken at twilight yesterday.)

I will have to hurry and finish this winter project. Winter is almost over up here and we will be leaving our winter spot in another week or so to go down the road to our summer campground. Then I will start the summer projects. :-)

Pizza Day!

2013-04-15T16:43:00.004-07:00

I made four different kinds of pizza today. I figured, since I was cooking and chopping the toppings anyway, I might as well use them all up. Its the prep time that takes so long anyway. The pizzas themselves throw together and bake very quickly.

All my pizzas have a lot of sauce and mozzarella cheese to start with. Some also have parmesan and sometimes cheddar, making them "three cheese" pizzsa. I did not use cheddar on any of these today, but a couple of them do have parmesan.

This one is my "Special" Hawaiian. It's my personal favourite! It has ham, pineapple, a small amount of bacon and coconut. I LOVE the addition of coconut on a Hawaiian pizza! I love coconut in anything and this is delicious! This idea came from a wood fired pizza place in Ontario, where we used to live. This is their St. Lucia pizza pie. I have made my Hawaiian pizzas with this blend of toppings since falling in love with the one they serve. (This is their website menu, if you want to get some fabulous pizza ideas: Wood Fired Pizza Pie Joint)

This is Hubby's favourite. It is simply sausage, mushroom and onion. If there are fewer variety of toppings, I put more on so it still weighs the same as the other pizzas.

This one is grilled chicken, small amt of bacon, mushroom, onion and parmesan. The chicken is cooked with onion and garlic before adding to the pizza.

This one has the most toppings and is quite a bit heavier than the other three. It's a "Deluxe" and has peppers, onions, mushrooms, sausage, bacon, tomato and parmesan. Due to the extra toppings, I had to cook it a bit longer to get all the toppings done. I think it still may need a bit more cooking.

To use tomatoes on pizza, all of the water needs to be removed. I slice them as thin as I can get them and pat them dry between paper towels. This usually removes the water, gel and most of the seeds. All the veggies are sliced as thin as I can get them. I also dry the pineapple between paper towels. You want the pizza ingredients to be as dry as possible. The ham is sliced thin too, so it cooks and curls up in the oven.

Don't overcook the bacon - leave it slightly soft and chop the sausage up into very small pieces or thin slices. Sausage can be overpowering in a pizza if there are a lot of big pieces.

I like the thin, crispy crust. The thick edge usually gets tossed out anyway, so why waste it? I also like the bottom to be crispy so I keep it thin. I make a regular large pizza crust recipe and divide it in half exactly, to make two 12" pizzas without edges. I roll it out very thin and spread the sauce and toppings all the way to the edge.

These pizzas are baked on a stone that is preheated in the oven. It's important that the stone be already hot when the pizza goes on it to get the bottom done and crispy, without burning it. I cut pieces of parchment paper for each pizza, the same size as the stone and roll the dough out to match it. I put the dough on the parchment paper and add all the ingredients. When the pizza is ready to go, I take the hot stone out of the oven and slide the pizza, parchment paper and all, onto it. (The parchment paper cooks with the pizza and does not take away from the stone effect at all.)

The hot stone with the pizza on it is then put back into the oven to bake about 12-14 mins on the lowest rack. If it is an especially heavy pizza, I might then stick it under the broiler for just a couple of minutes to further cook and brown the toppings.

I was feeling industrious today! Must be the extra sunshine! The days up here are rapidly getting longer. It is light outside now before 6 am. That will change somewhat after we "spring forward" and the time changes, but then the days will just keep getting longer until the end of June, when it starts going back the other way. In June when the days are the longest, it is light at 11 pm up here. The further north you are, the longer the days are in the summer. Likewise, the shorter they get in the wintertime. At the north pole, winter is 6 months of night and summer is 6 months of day. We are not that far north, but we are far north enough to have extremely long days during the summer months. Anyway...to make a short story long...we are starting to get a lot of sunlight now and it is very welcome!

The pizzas I made today all came out perfectly! That's not always the case. Sometimes I am multitasking and get distracted while it is baking...

Cat Training 101

2013-04-09T16:22:00.003-07:00

Princess Abby

I originally put some of this information into the last post about my cats and their homemade halters. I got so many questions about cat training that I thought it would be better to make this a single post. So much of the info that used to be in the last cat post has been moved to this one, and more added.

Shadow

We have two cats, Shadow and Abby, both dearly beloved, usually well behaved, although not perfect, pets.

Training a cat to be a well behaved family member takes time and patience. "Scruffing" is a valuable tool (Information on "Scruffing"). The very first time you scruff your cat, expect a freak out episode that you will need to hold for awhile, unless he/she is a very young kitten. We have also used a spray bottle of clean water, occasionally, for certain types of training.

I have never, not even once, had to "scruff" Shadow. I'm not sure I could now, at this size. Because Abby is a tabby and has that personality, she will always be bossy. It's the tabby nature, but tabbys can still be taught respect. (She can be amazingly tenacious!)

Biting: Cats will often gently bite to play or to let you know they don't want to do something. Even though this type of biting rarely breaks the skin and doesn't really hurt, it is "bad" behaviour and should not be allowed. (Ditto for puppies.) You can usually train your cat to stop this if you immediately turn your back on him/her and walk away at the first touch of claws or teeth, ignoring them. Cats live for your affection and approval. Scratching and biting in an angry temper should never be allowed and often requires scruffing or spraying with water. Scruffing is more effective.

It works the same for any biting. If your cat bites you when you pet her or play with her, turn your back on her or push her off of your lap and walk away. Ignore her for awhile. She will learn to keep her teeth to herself if she wants your attention and approval. Be tough!

Claws: I would never declaw a cat. Even city indoor cats occasionally have to defend themselves. You never know when your cat may get out, even just in the hallway of a building, and need to defend themselves against a dog or another cat.

Cats use their claws for a lot more than defense. They hold onto and manipulate objects with their claw tips and use them for tools. You would find it difficult to manage without your finger tips - not to mention the pain you would go through if you had your nails removed.

Cat scratching can be controlled and cats can be trained not to scratch where they are not allowed, but it takes a little time and patience. It also takes an alternative area for them to use. If you are not giving your cat a place for them to scratch that does the job, you are asking for trouble. Cats need to scratch to remove the skin that grows over their claws and to keep their claws trimmed and healthy. A good scratching place needs to be tall or long enough for your cat to get a good back stretch while scratching. They will scratch and it cannot be trained out of them, but you can train them to scratch in an acceptable location, if you have one that fits the bill.

If you live in an apartment/condo in the big city, have expensive furniture and wallpaper that you cannot abide to have scratched even a little, have no time to train your cat patiently, don't want a cat post or rough log in your living room, perhaps a small dog would be better for you.

More on claw maintenance and scratch training.

Neutering: You cannot keep an unneutered male cat indoors. It just cannot be done. You will never train him not to spray the inside of your house with foul smelling urine. It's instinctive.

Likewise you cannot train a female cat in heat to be quiet. They prance and yowl loudly, day and night, off and on until it passes. You might also end up with unwanted kittens. Female cats in heat draw all the neighborhood unneutered males, even the wild ones with fleas, ticks and disease.

Keep an unneutered cat at your peril.

Feeding and Aggression: Cats are territorial. Give each cat his/her own dish and feeding spot, not too near each other. They will very quickly learn where their spot is and which dish is theirs, especially if the dishes are vastly different. Always feed each cat from their own dish and in the their same spot every time. They will automatically go to their spot and wait at feeding time, usually meowing loudly for you to hurry and even doing little dances on the spot while they wait. They will also be nosy and have to see what the other cat gets, just to make sure it is fair. They can be so funny sometimes!

If you have a problem at feeding time, separate them visually. A large piece of cardboard between them, so they cannot see each other, will help.

Fighting: Cats usually fight over attention or food. Do not physically try to separate fighting cats. You might get hurt yourself. Throwing a blanket over them will usually stop a fight long enough for you to remove the less aggressive of the cats. Sticking a large piece of cardboard between them, from a distance, also works. Scruff the aggressive cat until he/she relaxes.

Cat aggression can sometimes be severe enough to put the aggressive cat into a separated area for awhile, until the cat learns to get along. They should still see each other and be able to communicate, just not touch. With enough time, hopefully they will learn to adjust. This separation is especially important when introducing a new cat or dog into the household.

Mousing: (Warning! Some of this is not for the faint of heart or city "Barbie Dolls".) Good mousers are born, but they are also trained. I have to say this again...cats live for your approval and affection. Even a well fed cat will still kill prey to feed their family. In most cases, that's you.

If your cat brings you a dead mouse, or any mouse, it is important that you accept the gift in the spirit it is given. Praise your cat, pet him and tell him what a good boy he is. You will see him prance around, coo and generally let you know how proud he is of himself. Take the mouse out of sight and quietly, secretly, dispose of it immediately. Let your cat think that you really enjoyed the treat he brought you!

Many times he will run outside to find another one for you immediately, he is so overwhelmed with pride and wants to do it again and again! This will become a favourite game if you treat it right!

Without this training, a cat that is well fed will often still kill a mouse that invades their territory out of instinct and boredom...maybe, but you will insure a good mouser if you let them know how much you appreciate the efforts and enjoy the food! If you scold him or just leave the dead mouse on the floor for a long period, you will eventually be less happy with your cat's mousing efforts.

Shadow went through a span of a couple of months when he thought I wanted to kill them myself. lol! We had some grand times chasing little mice around the house after he brought them to me and dropped them at my feet in the hall, almost daily. I don't know where he got that idea! lol! Cat's are very smart, intuitive and watch you for the smallest cues in how to behave in order to get your approval. It only lasted a couple of months, thank goodness, before they were dead upon arrival again. I must have overdone the praise with the first live one I got...

Many of them he eats himself and just leaves me the little green stomachs on the porch. Some mornings I would find a few little green mouse stomachs, licked clean, in a small pile on the porch. I am assuming that he brought the mouse back to the house, but it was nighttime and no one came to get his offering, so he ate it himself.

Cats are natural predators and will kill all small creatures, birds and chipmunks included. It is sad, but this is part of making a good mouser. They get praise no matter what they bring you, even if it brings tears to your eyes. Your cat doesn't understand the difference.

Cats who catch or eat mice will need regular worming. Cats get the worms from the mice. You will find the little worm casings all over their bottoms when they have worms. I have tried the common powder from Heartz for round worms. It does work to kill the worms, IF you can get your cats to eat it. Regardless of what the packaging says, I have never had a cat that would touch it, even in canned food or tuna. You also have to watch the weight and dosage with that particular stuff. You can make your cats sick if you overdose them. Shadow is particularly sensitive to it.

We use a liquid wormer now from Excel that works much better and cannot be overdosed. We can buy it at the pharmacy here in BC. The dose has to be given twice, 10 days apart, but it works well and only takes a few minutes to administer.

I have to wrap the cat with a towel, careful to enclose all four feet tightly, hold the head in my elbow and force feed the liquid down the throat with a syringe. It only takes a minute and ensures that the cat gets the full dose. They will hate this, of course, but I hope they are getting used to it. I haven't actually seen any evidence of that...

Affection and biting: Cats will learn to love attention and also like being picked up and held if they understand that they are still in control while you are holding them. If you pick up your cat, put him/her down at the first little wiggle and turn your back on him. Don't hold your cat in your arms or on your lap against her will. Repeat this a couple of times each day. It takes time and patience.

Holding your cat when she is cold to warm her helps too. Put her out in the snow for a few minutes. When she decides that she doesn't like it and gets cold, pick her up and cuddle her. As soon as she wiggles, put her right back down in the snow. Continue this a few times. She'll get the idea. Abby will now ask to be held anytime she gets cold.

Shadow loves to be picked up now and will respond by nuzzling for a few minutes, then wants down, but he will still ask to be picked up. He doesn't like to be held for a long time or anyone walking around with him. He suffers easily from motion sickness, so I don't blame him for that. I started training him to like being picked up when he was small. I didn't realize how big and heavy he was going to get! lol!

Please don't pick your cat up with a full belly, right after eating a big meal. They won't appreciate having their belly squished when it is full. Shadow will respond to that by barfing. (Just so you know...)

Getting a cat? If you decide, after reading this, that you want or need a cat (trust me, if you live in the country, you need a cat!) please look into adopting one that needs a home. If you advertise or look on Kijiji, you will see many, many cats that are under a year old and already neutered that are free and need homes. These are perfect! They are still young enough to be trained and scruffed and taught to respect all family members, with time and patience.

I think the black and white tuxedo "Jeffries" cats have more gentle personalities and make the best pets, imho. The Ragdoll cat breed are called that because they will take any handling without reacting, as a ragdoll will. This makes them the objects of cruelty more often than not and I would never have one with small children who could, inadvertently, or on purpose, tease and hurt them. Tabbies and tortoiseshell cats are bossy, tenacious and temperamental, but still make excellent pets with training. Calico cats, although beautiful, are noted for being psychotic...

This is just a generalization that I have heard from dozens of pet owners and people who feel the same way about the various cat personalities, as well as my own experience. There are always differences and exceptions based on the backgrounds of the individual cats, of course.

Most of this comes from my own experience and research I have done with my own cats over the years, some from discussions with other cat owners and vets. I hope it is helpful.

If you have a big problem with a pet, it is usually best to consult a professional veterinarian.

Our New Camper

2013-04-09T16:16:00.002-07:00

I promised a picture of the camper outside, after I washed the truck. I washed them today and here they are. Our new truck and camper ensemble:

You can read about our new truck in a previous post "Our New Truck" and you can read about our new camper, with pictures of the inside, in the post entitled: "Our New home".

Want to know what Abby and Shadow think of it? They took to it like they had always lived there. It probably has a familiar smell, being full of our things. They don't even try to leave if the door is left open. They are happy inside these days. The ground is covered with snow, ice and melting puddles everywhere.

We love our new home!

Our Cat and Handmade Halters

2013-04-08T11:52:00.001-07:00

This is Abby - "Abby the Tabby". She is the sweetest little girl and fully grown, but just very small. She is about three years old now and dearly beloved by all here, even Shadow, her brother of the same age. Shadow is much, much larger!

Shadow is a black and white "Jeffries" cat. You can see more of him in a previous post entitled "Keeping A Log".

This year we plan to do a lot of hiking in the campground where we work. We want to take them with us, occasionally, so I have made them halters.

I have tried store bought halters but they just don't work that well. I know the cat has to be trained to use them, but they still don't work very well. Abby is pretty good on a halter, but Shadow can get himself really tied in knots in one of those halters from the store.

So, I researched online and found a picture of this one. It looked great and I have some extra yarn, so I made one for each cat. It took a few tries to get the sizes right. It stretches so it can fit snug and still give them room to move and be comfortable.

I used key rings for the ends. The leash hooks them together at the back.

Their finished halters fit great! I can't wait to start training them to wear them on a hike!

Abby's is pink. She is just so feminine, fastidious, dainty, prissy and girly that any other colour would not suit her.

Shadow's is light gray and a little messy, being the first one I made. It fits him very well now, but has been adjusted here and there a few times.

He is easier to work with as he is so gentle and laid back, as are most of the black and white "Jeffries" cats. It's one of their trademarks. For all his size and fierceness hunting outside, he would never dream of showing anyone his claws or teeth, no matter what happened. He's just such an amazing cat and so smart too!

They are both extremely intelligent. Abby is so sweet but can be moody and prickly, occasionally scratching or biting gently to make a point. She's a tabby/tortie (tortoise shell) and has the personality to match. Tabbys are the bossy ones but she is sweet, affectionate and loving most of the time.

Shadow has earned her respect, however, having spent a few days here and there, sitting on her, holding her down with all fours and holding his teeth on her neck. I've seen it go on for hours at a time in their first year together, but not often anymore. When he's truly angry now, she gives him a wide berth but that only happens once in a great while.

Abby is the one with the temper and throws things around the room when she gets angry, but she is so small she can be handled. I do have to "scruff" her from time to time to teach her who the boss female is in this household, but not often anymore. We had her for a good six months before she learned to trust me and respect me enough for me to even pet her. She was wild as a kitten and spent a little time in a shelter, before she was adopted by a family with a small child who could not handle her. Then she came to us at only 8 mos old. She is a different girl now (at three years old) and loves to be held and cuddled :-)

She adored her daddy from day one and never bites him no matter what he does. This alone has made her a valued member of our family. Abby and Hubby attached themselves to one another the day she came and it gave me the time to teach her to trust me too. Shadow came along a couple of months later.

Shadow and Abby are family now and he watches out for her. He came to us at 8 mos, already afraid of the road and made it his duty to police the road and keep her away from it.

They will share a treat, even a small bowl of tuna! She will eat the first half with him licking her ears, encouraging her. When she has finished almost exactly half of it, she will move away and start washing so he can eat the second half. It's amazing to watch but they lived together for a good year before reaching this point.

It is her self appointed duty to keep him clean. lol. She often takes the opportunity to wash his face while he is sleeping. Sometimes it is appreciated, sometimes not...

Aren't cats interesting? I think so! I love cats and dogs, all animals really, but I think cats are easier in a lot of ways, than dogs. Both make good pets and serve a purpose. Shadow is a fabulous mouser and Abby is good too - very valuable living in the wilderness in a camper! We might one day have a dog again, as well as our cats, for warning and protection.

Spring 2013 Seed Planting

2013-04-02T08:11:00.002-07:00

Even up here in the great northern Rockies, just an hour from the Yukon border, we garden. Yet more reason to start things early indoors. Must dig in the dirt!

The yard long asparagus beans (above pic) are up quickly and doing well! They will have to go into individual small pots soon...

I plan to put in a couple of small raised and narrow gardens that can be weeded and harvested from the sides. I will start with newspaper in the beds over the grass and weeds, so...no digging. :-) I try to use the KISS principle whenever possible (Keep It Simple Stupid) and I can be so stupid sometimes...

I am hoping to pick up old moose and caribou poop from last year to add. We certainly saw enough of it last fall!

My tomatoes are up! (See pic above left) They are just the small, short season varieties: chocolate cherry, Matt's wild cherry, generic grape, Ailsa Craig and Buckley's 50 day tomatoes.

I am planting a few things that I am not sure will do well here, pushing the season as always. I planted some "Sweet Dumpling" squash seeds. I know that I cannot grow regular winter squash but I am hoping that these will be faster since they are so small and I am starting them early indoors. I might try some zuchini too if I can get some seeds soon enough. We are 300k from the nearest store of any kind but the post office is in our front yard, so we order just about everything online. I am also going to look online for some chocolate mint seeds and some parsley seeds. I brought a lot of seeds with me, just not those.

The tomatoes, purslane, squash and beans will need protection for a long time so I hope to make a raised cover for part of the garden, just some plastic thrown over a few taller post and held in place with rocks. (Remember the KISS principle?)

The spinach and lettuce that I will direct plant will do fine without protection.

The green onions (right) are up!

I was tempted to plant a few other things too but held myself back. It's so hard not to plant a little of everything in my excitement at being able to play in the dirt after a long winter.

I put the seeds on the hot water heater on a thick towel for gentle bottom heat. I have a south window to put them in after they sprout. I am hoping to have some healthy, growing plants for the garden when the ground thaws!

The purslane is not up yet but the seeds might be photoperiodic. The squash is not up yet either but it typically takes longer. I did soak the seeds for a few hours in warm water before planting, so it should not be much longer. They will grow quickly and have to go into larger individual pots almost right away.

This (pic right) is the feverfew that I brought with me from Ontario and overwintered indoors this year. It is not the gloriously large plant it was last fall, but it's still living and has begun to grow now with the longer days! It's very hardy and can go into the ground as soon as it thaws.

Our New Home

2013-04-02T07:48:00.003-07:00

This is our new camper. As you know, it's also our home. We just got back from Edmonton, Alberta, where we drove to pick it up. It's a "5th wheel", so will pull much better than the tow behind we had previously. It is 27' long and has a huge awning! We love it! The Lord has truly blessed us again!

It has a large fridge and freezer and a good sized sitting area (for a camper). The bedroom is at the top of the stairs and the bathroom is beside the stairs. It has a fair size bathtub with a large skylight - something we missed in the smaller camper!

The bed is queen size and there are closets and storage built in around it. It also has a fairly new queen size mattress and carpet in the bedroom!

Being a 5th wheel, we are losing much of our storage in the capped truck back. We will still keep things in the back of the truck, they will just have to be put into weatherproof storage containers, probably in a large locked box.

The trip to Edmonton was a bit of a rush. We needed to get back here for work and only had a few days. It took us two days to get there and two days to get back. One day in Edmonton was spent buying the trailer and installing the 5th wheel hitch. It came with the trailer and we installed it at the previous owners house. He had all the tools needed for the job and helped with the work.

We got to speak only briefly with some close family who live in Edmonton. We planned to visit with them the one day we were there but it took all day to get the hitch installed and we weren't done until dinner time. We had a couple of hours to visit before starting back that same day, but it didn't work out. We were disappointed to drive away without a proper visit but perhaps they will come to visit us this summer. British Columbia is a beautiful place for a vacation!

We are very happy with our new home! It's has been a real blessing to watch the Lord work since we made the decision to trust Him and step out on faith, leaving all else behind!

Our new home is a lot more, in many ways, than the little one we bought before we left Ontario last summer. It goes quite well with our new truck (see previous post "Our New Truck").

There is a white, blank area outside in the front that is a perfect canvas for a mural! Pics of the outside to come, after I wash the truck...

Freeform Crochet, A Winter Project

2013-03-23T11:53:00.001-07:00

I think it's important to keep busy during the long winter to help avoid depression and boredom. With that in mind, I started a new project a few months ago. It's a "freeform crochet" sweater and I just finished it. I still need to put an inside in the pockets, but other than that, It is finished!

I just discovered "freeform" crochet. It is basically just playing around with different stitches and so forth, then putting those things together into a cohesive unit (Google it!). Color combinations are important. This one is mostly green with touches of teal, maroon, periwinkle, green and peach. It's a good way to learn and practice stitches and make up new ones yourself. It's great fun!

I used another sweater as a pattern then adjusted it here and there to fit me when it was finished. I left lots of room for wearing other clothing underneath it for additional warmth. I also might add a thin satiny lining...maybe.

About half the yarn is ordinary acrylic. The other half is mohair and a little angora. (Mohair yarn comes from angora goats. Angora yarn comes from angora rabbits.) It is easy enough to crochet with but impossible to remove so if you are planning on using it, just be warned...taking out a few stitches you made by mistake when not paying attention is a lot of work, sometimes more work than it's worth, especially when doing "freeform".

I crocheted the button covers too!

Wolf Painting WIP

2013-02-19T09:24:00.002-08:00

I have been asked a few times lately to do a painting (WIP) post and, so, here it is. This painting is not for sale. It was sold before I started. It is a commission from a long term, regular customer who has a cottage near the White Wolf Sanctuary in Oregon and has permission from the owner to use one of her photos for this painting. If you have photos that are your own or you have written permission to use, I will be happy to paint them for you. Contact me via email through the "About Me" section in the right column. Most of the work I do is commission work, usually pet portraits. That is why you don't see a lot of my artwork for sale.

The first thing I do is sketch various poses, either on paper or the computer, moving objects around and so forth. (I am not going into the principles of design in this post.) This pose was sent to me as the one they wanted to use with a few requested changes. I made a few changes as I painted, as well. I had to change the prospective of the table for various reasons, and did so several times, but that's how the creative process works. A painting rarely ever looks exactly like the photo, except for the occasional, very up-close pet portraits. I am not going to now, and never do, show the original reference photos with the painting for comparison. When I am painting for myself I often use a lot of photos together to come up with what I think will be a good painting. Sometimes the animals in them are a conglomeration of a few different ones.

A painting takes time and usually a great deal of thought and focus. It is not simply a matter of picking up a brush and just painting. By the time I start putting the paint onto the canvas half the work is already done. Few people realize how much work goes into a painting and how much of it is practice and learning. If someone asks me what is the most important thing they can do to develop their artwork, I always tell them to practice, practice, practice. Sketch details constantly all the time, everywhere you go. Paint eyes, noses and tree trunks until you can do them in your sleep. Get books from the library and study perspective and design principles, then practice what you read.

To transfer this sketch to the canvas I drew it freehand, using a grid and charcoal. (Is it really freehand if you use a grid?) I put a grid on the original reference photo on the computer. These days I paint directly from my tablet computer. I like being able to zoom in on some of the details.

Here I am using a large brush to fill in the background shading and basic colours. It is very important to watch the direction of the brush strokes, even at this initial stage.

Now I switch to a medium sized brush to put in the basic fur texture.

This is where I switch to a tiny brush to do the fine detail.

After filling in the detail, I sit back and add some highlights, shadows and more colour to the entire painting. It was necessary to highlight and lighten some of the background after adding the finished wolf.

Buffalo!

2013-02-11T19:57:00.000-08:00

This area of the country is sometimes referred to as "Canada's Serengeti" because of the wildlife population. There is a very large, newly introduced herd of wild buffalo living down the highway from us. They cause quite a bit of trouble to traffic on the Alaska Highway during the busy season, along with the caribou, moose, stone sheep and elk.

This fellow came wandering up the other side of the highway yesterday, alone. I got as close to him as I dared. This herd is getting used to people stopping on the road and getting out to take their pictures but they are still wild and dangerous.

He's huge! Isn't he beautiful!

Re-fashioned Upcycled T-Shirts

2013-01-21T18:21:00.001-08:00

I am having a lot of fun re-fashioning clothing. This is a new fad called "upcycling". I like it!

I bought five plain ordinary T-shirts, all the same (green, of course), with the plan to re-fashion a couple of them into longer tunic styles. I got them at a fantastic price and they are pretty good quality.

This one is the first one that I made. I cut the bottom off of one and added it to the bottom of another to make it longer. I then cut narrow strips from the cut T-shirt to make the twisted bling. I also gathered the existing sleeves.

This is the second one. I unraveled a too tight sweater to use for the crocheted sections. Making crocheted lace is no different than making doilies, just larger. I shortened the sleeves before adding the crocheted edging. I enjoyed making it! I find crocheting to be a good stress relief.

Both turned out very well, fit perfectly and are so comfortable!

My own "Upcycled Clothing Ideas" album on Pinterest.

Reading and E-Books

2013-01-17T16:01:00.000-08:00

We spend a lot of our time reading. We read while camping, in the rain, waiting in line or anywhere one has to spend time in quiet contemplation. We both have e-readers that are small, light and easy to transport anywhere. These hold hundreds of books, so we always have books at our fingertips without spending a lot of storage space on them.

We discovered e-readers a few months ago and unloaded several large boxes of paper books! We love it!

First and foremost, I read the bible, aiming for daily. I also sometimes listen to it while doing handiwork (painting, crocheting, sewing, etc.) Another thing I like about e-books is that I can listen to books and music with headphones.

My most recent find in other, worldly books was Henry David Thoreau's "Walden". I knew what it was about and had many people quote parts of it to me and comment to me that "Thoreau would be proud", but I had not actually read his book until now.

He sets forth his feelings, philosophy and the interesting parts in the first half of the book, much of which I liked and agreed with. I found the second half to be quite boring, not so much due to dry facts but just to the very slow and pointless progress of it. I highlighted almost all of the first half of the book, so in agreement was I with his assessment and opinion of society in detail. Now that I have finished reading Thoreau, I am going to start "Crime and Punishment" by Dostoevsky. I'm not too sure how that's going to go...

Some other books that I want to read are the philosophies of Plato and Socrates, as well as the classics like "Treasure Island" and "David Copperfield". I have a long list of books like this to start on. I read all of these in high school English Lit class, but that was so many decades ago!

I only read fiction when I am not researching more interesting information. Lately I have been devoting my time to reading and researching wild edibles in BC. I plan to forage as soon as spring gets here!

I have recently decided to spend my reading time profitably when possible, leaving the drivel until I need to relax, mindlessly, to recover from stress. (I don't need that very often in our new lifestyle.) When reading mindless drivel, I like Louis L'Amour :-)

I do not like to read or watch highly emotional dramas (especially with people whining) or mushy, often embarrassing romances or stupid, mindless and embarrassing comedies or supernatural, spiritual with witches or ghosts or stories about psycho killers kidnapping and torturing people or real life stories of other peoples lives (just not interested). I only like action-adventure, mysteries, disasters and non-fiction how-to books. (Yes, I know, I'm very picky...) This is not necessarily due to being a Christian, but mostly just personal preference. It's just me :-)

In the mean time, I'm enjoying the classics! Have you read them since you were in school?

Making My Own Herbal Teabags

2012-12-31T17:01:00.004-08:00

I have been growing, cutting, drying and rubbing my own herbs for years. The most time-consuming part is rubbing them and cleaning out all the tiny little stems. I have found a way to beat that, for the most part - herb bags, made from coffee filters!

They are not just tea bags but culinary bags as well. I mix all my spaghetti/lasagna sauce herbs together in one bag. When I make sauce, I just toss in a bag or two. I don't have to spend hours rubbing the herbs to a fineness and picking out the little stems. I do this for soups and stew too.

I have spent hours in front of movies in the evenings, rubbing and cleaning the culinary herbs, until I started making the bags. I never did that for the tea herbs until recently, as I strained the herbal tea anyway.

They are so easy to make!

Today I am making feverfew tea bags so that my hubby can make himself a cup of feverfew tea when I am not available. We use feverfew for headaches and it works very well. It's not a pain reliever but will lift the pressure off almost immediately. It only works this well if it is fresh and pure. You can buy it at herbal stores but, like I said, the commercial mix doesn't do much for a headache. We are both very pleased by how well our own fresh, home grown works on migraines!

It's easy to grow and very hardy. It is also a perennial and a beautiful addition to a flower bed.

I don't bother cleaning the tea herbs, as I said, so this dried feverfew is rough. I do take out the bigger stems but don't spend a lot of time on it.

I cut each filter into thirds and trim off the round edges. I then sew together three sides and leave the fourth side open to stuff in the herb. Mine are square but you can make them round, as well.

I use a simple in and out stitch, just enough to hold it together. You can do a much faster and neater job on a sewing machine, which you may want to do if you are going to be gifting these. Since they are only for our own use, this is good enough.

We remove the bags from the tea with a spoon but you can sew a piece of string into one corner for handling.

For medicinal herb tea, it is important to bring the water to a full boil, then let the tea steep for at least five minutes, ten is even better. I can usually only wait the five minutes when I have a migraine. I know how well it works.

I brought a large pot of feverfew with me, to grow as we travel and camp. It is still doing well and surviving. When spring comes I will put it out in the sun where we are camping.

Soon I will plant some purslane seeds and take a pot of that with me, as well. I will always garden, wherever I am!

Merry Christmas!

2012-12-24T19:10:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas to all of our family and friends! We hope that God blesses all of His children during this wonderful season. Let us remember that Christmas is a holiday set aside to worship Christ and to thank God for sending Him to save the world.

Gifts and shopping are secondary. We have found that homemade gifts are the best ones of all and have known families that refused to buy anything that was advertised on TV, just on principal.

Please don't let the commercialism of Christmas ruin it for you! We know some families who have taken a stand against it and have quit giving presents to anyone at Christmas. It is a shame that the masses have everyone so stressed out over gifts that it has been ruined for everyone.

Have a grand Christmas all!

Our New Truck

2012-12-17T21:27:00.002-08:00

We replaced our aging F150 6 cyl 2wd pickup with a truck more suited to hauling a camper in the Rocky Mountains. We traded in our older truck and got this one. It was marked down a few times and on sale at a really good price due to the high mileage and was exactly what we had been looking for, so we bought it. This diesel engine will continue to run well at twice the mileage that's on it now, so we had no worries about that. We were thankful that this high amount of miles prevented most folks (unfamiliar with this diesel engine) from wanting to buy it.

It is a 2004 Ford F-350 Powerstroke Diesel with four wheel drive offroad package and factory towing package. It is much roomier than our previous truck and even has a back seat! It has all options available except for leather seats. I guess we can make do with cloth... ;)

We left at noon on Thursday and drove 16 hours to Prince George to pick it up. We were able to get all the paperwork, insurance and plates and were on our way back by noon Friday. We were much more comfortable returning in our new truck than we were driving down to Prince George in the old one.

We have been looking for a truck like this for a long time. These heavy duty diesel pickups are not easy to find, especially in such mint condition.

When we left Ontario we bought a cap for our red truck and it was perfect for our needs except for the fact that it was white instead of red like our F150. Well, guess what? Our new truck is white and it matches now!

Re-Fashioned Upcycled Clothing

2012-12-13T06:45:00.001-08:00

I have been busy making myself some clothes for next summer. I am trying to use up all the old stuff I have now, stuff that I won`t be using again.

The picture above is a top I just finished this morning. It`s made from the back of an old stained T-shirt and the bottom of a skirt that never did fit right. I kept it because I loved the material. It's long enough to wear with leggings but more like a shorter dress. I think it turned out really well except for one thing...IT'S TOO SMALL! I used an actual pattern too, in my size. I don't know what went wrong. Oh well, chalk it up to experience. I made notes on the pattern front so it won't happen again. I can still use the fabric for something else.

This is a before and after picture of a T shirt I bought on EBay. The before picture is the EBay picture. I thought it was gray. It was actually pale purple. Being a red head, I occasionally wear gray but I never, ever wear purple so I gave it a teal yoke. That material also has the same purple coloured flower in it so it goes with the shirt too. It's not shorter, that's just the way it is laying on the chair. I used the same material to make it even longer so I can wear it with leggings. I think it turned out well.

My next problem was what to do with all the dark olive green army T-shirts that I have been cooking in. They were all splattered with grease stains like this:

I have four of them, so I used two to make a pair of shorts and I cut another one up for the flowers and trim, leaving me with one entire T-shirt as the top. I saved out some original dark pieces and wrapped the rest in elastics for tie dying with bleach. I soaked them all with half bleach and half water then poured a little pure bleach on them. They sat for about two days. Then I took them apart and rinsed and rinsed and rinsed until the bleach smell was gone. This is the result. It's very soft and comfortable!

I used scraps to make the flower trim on the top, shown below.

My husband says that he thinks it looks like I just got really dirty in it instead of the tie dyed effect I was going for. Hmmm...maybe I will actually wrap it all again and add some dye, maybe several colours, so it actually looks tie dyed, maybe, if I feel like it and can get the dye somewhere, cheap. I could just call this practice. At least now I know I can make comfortable shorts from a couple of T-shirts. They don't have to be alike, either. I can make each side from a different colour shirt. This also gave me some practice making the flowers.

I am collecting fabric scraps to make a patchwork tunic to wear with leggings. I am also collecting yarn to make a granny square tunic to wear with leggings. I plan to make a trip to the nearest thrift store soon. I will also be looking for old sweaters from which to make leg warmers with the sleeves. I can take the remainder of the sweater apart and use the yarn for the granny squares. It probably won't be soon since the nearest thrift store is in town, 300k away, but I do get there occasionally.

Pinterest has become a good friend when searching for ideas to make. This is a link to my Pinterest boards. Pinterest can be addictive, but useful. I don't find it as time consuming as Facebook (otherwise known as "The Great Time Sink") to which I no longer belong. I unloaded that useless activity a few years ago and never looked back. We don't always have internet while camping anyway.

In spite of the failures, this has been fun! I'm going to keep sorting through all my old clothes for sewing into more useful camping clothes. Knowing that I would have time on my hands, I brought stuff specifically for sewing and refashioning. I have a huge collection of pictures of remakes that I like and want to copy. I like the gypsy, boho look, to a certain extent.

Another note: I am sewing all of this by hand and I don't find it that time consuming. I use a running embroidery back stitch for the seams.

Beautiful Winter!

2012-12-03T07:14:00.002-08:00

It is hard to believe that someone actually lives in this beauty! It's a feeling that I can't describe, to look out my front door every day and see this! It is sort of like a dream, surreal. Too beautiful to be real. We have been here long enough to become used to the view, sort of, which is kind of sad. I could paint this, and will, but find myself saying, "Well, it's just trees and mountains. Everyone has seen that." Then we get a day like yesterday and I have to back up and appreciate the beauty. Yes, I will be painting these mountains and lakes! These are all pictures that I took yesterday. As you can see, we really do live here. That's our truck and camper in the top picture.

These mountains are called "The Sentinels".

This is the view from the front porch of the trailer where we are staying.

This is the view from the back of the trailer. Unbelievable, isn't it!

I have to say that this is not much snow compared to where we came from in Barrie, ON, in the snow belt with the lake effect. They means they get SNOW and unbelievable constant winds to blow it around! However, it's much colder here! It's been between -20c and -25c (-4f to -13f) every day for a couple of weeks and even hits -30c (-22f) occasionally at night. I have been told that it will get worse in Jan and Feb, hitting temps of -40c and occasionally -50c, (c and f are the same at -40) but we won't have much snow after Dec. (It's too cold to snow!! Yikes!) Actually, this doesn't feel that cold and it's more comfortable than the 0c in southern Ontario. It's so dry here and there is never, even the tiniest bit of wind! It's just a very pleasant crunchy winter cold.

I have to tell you that I have not increased the saturation of color in these photos. These colors are real. I think it's the cold. It's so clear!

These temps are easy to dress for with my 20 year old down hunter's vest with the neon orange inside reversible and long underwear. For those of you who wonder how someone can survive in this cold, here's a tip - layers: long underwear, polar fleece, down and proper footwear for these temps: boots good to -100f. Also, keep moving. You will eventually get cold in anything standing still for a long time. If I am working outside, stacking wood and so forth, I don't even wear a heavy winter coat, just a few thinner layers, my down vest and properly covered head, hands and feet.

As far as the neon orange goes, it's a must for up here outside the compound/town. The woods and mountains are crawling with hunters. (I don't know how a month goes by without one of them shooting someone!) I don't think many of them actually shoot anything to take home with them. They can only hunt the males, at least 7 years old and there don't seem to be a lot of those around. I have only seen one male ram and one male caribou that age since we have been here. Many of the wildlife up here are protected too, like the bison.

We see the young males, females and baby stone sheep and caribou on the road a lot. They like the salt. We can drive to Fort Nelson, about a three hour drive away (and the nearest town) and see them at least half a dozen times on the way there. They're hard to miss, standing in the road, stopping traffic. Last time we saw three moose, as well, all females, of course. I think the adult males must kill each other off. I didn't take my camera, of course. Anytime we see them up close like that, I don't have my camera. (I sure would like to meet that "Murphy" person! I think he should hear what I have to say about his laws!)

This is the Double G, where we live and work, enjoying the winter beauty here.

The view from my front bow window:

Surprising Book To Read

2012-11-27T07:05:00.001-08:00

I read an old book recently, a classic that I had not read since high school - Robinson Crusoe by David Dafoe. I was very pleasantly surprised at a lot of the content! Much of the book is of his relationship with the Lord and how he becomes a Christian. This is one of my favourite passsages:

"...and when I reflected that in this solitary life which I have been confined to, I had not only been moved to look up to heaven myself, and to seek the Hand that had brought me here, but was now to be made an instrument, under Providence, to save the life, and, for aught I knew, the soul of a poor savage, and bring him to the true knowledge of religion and of the Christian doctrine, that he might know Christ Jesus, in whom is life eternal; I say, when I reflected upon all these things, a secret joy ran through every part of my soul, and I frequently rejoiced that ever I was brought to this place, which I had so often thought the most dreadful of all afflictions that could possibly have befallen me.

Another thing I cannot refrain from observing here also, from experience in this retired part of my life, viz. how infinite and inexpressible a blessing it is that the knowledge of God, and of the doctrine of salvation by Christ Jesus, is so plainly laid down in the Word of God, so easy to be received and understood, that, as the bare reading the Scripture made me capable of understanding enough of my duty to carry me directly on to the great work of sincere repentance for my sins, and laying hold of a Saviour for life and salvation, to a stated reformation in practice, and obedience to all Gods commands, and this without any teacher or instructor, I mean human; so the same plain instruction sufficiently served to the enlightening this savage creature, and bringing him to be such a Christian as I have known few equal to him in my life.

As to all the disputes, wrangling, strife, and contention which have happened in the world about religion, whether niceties in doctrines or schemes of church government, they were all perfectly useless to us, and, for aught I can yet see, they have been so to the rest of the world. We had the sure guide to heaven, viz. the Word of God; and we had, blessed be God, comfortable views of the Spirit of God teaching and instructing by His word, leading us into all truth, and making us both willing and obedient to the instruction of His word. And I cannot see the least use that the greatest knowledge of the disputed points of religion, which have made such confusion in the world, would have been to us, if we could have obtained it..."

I had no idea that Robinson Caruso was such a good Book! It's also very interesting reading in itself.

I can understand now why it has fallen out of favour as reading material in high schools and universities. Perhaps some Christian schools will still use it. I would definitely recommend it to anyone.

New Free E-Book on "Chicken Keeping"

2012-09-19T10:30:00.002-07:00

"Keeping a Few Chickens At Home" is a new book that I have just finished. Like my other books, it's free for download but I do ask for a donation to keep these books free. If you cannot afford to make even a $5 donation, please feel free to download and use them anyway. I have, after all, written these books to help others who are trying to make ends meet in their new self-sufficient lifestyle. I realize that sometimes this means a large financial adjustment.

I am happy to just be able to help in any way. I hope this book will make it easier.

This is the table of contents for the new book:
Chapter 1   Basic Introduction
Chapter 2   Egg Laying and Care
Chapter 3   Housing
Chapter 4   Feed
Chapter 5   Gardening With Chickens
Chapter 6   Pests and Diseases
Chapter 7   Hatching and Raising Your Own Chicks

You can download it, along with my other books, here:

Free E-Books

You can also get any of my E-Books from the tab at the top.

Muncho Lake, British Columbia

2012-09-09T14:28:00.003-07:00

We have spent the last week or so working and camping at Muncho Lake campground in the northern Rockies of British Columbia. It is just a few miles north of Summit Lake, where we were in my last blog post.
The highway goes around the lake, very close to it and the lake has gravel beaches! It is known as the most beautiful stretch of the Alaskan Highway.

Muncho Lake is huge! It is long and narrow and, if you stand at one long end, you can't see the other one! It's that big, but very narrow. It is surrounded by mountains and such beautiful terrain!

We are working at the McDonald Provincial Park Campground at Muncho Lake for about another week, until it closes for the season. All campsites here are right on the water and are treed for shade and privacy and there is a gravel beach running the entire campground.

There are several float planes on Muncho Lake and lots of boats, since it is so large, and good swimming in the summer months. It's cold, however, being a mountain lake in a high altitude. This stretch of the Alaskan Highway is said to have calmer and warmer winters, being surrounded by the mountains. I hope so! We may be staying here all winter this year.

We have been offered a job working at the Double G Lodge with Jack. I am not getting anything for this...it's not paid advertising (I wish!) Its a great and diverse place! He has a very small cafe with just one 4-seater table and two 2-seater tables. It is small, plain and old fashioned so it doesn't impress a lot of big city folks at first glance, but all the regular drivers and travellers eat here as they pass through both ways. The food is incredible! Absolutely the best you will ever eat anywhere and lots of it! Jack makes all his bread from scratch - he makes almost everything from scratch with real butter and only the best natural ingredients. He doesn't do "grease" - no deep fryers, no fries, but hashbrowns made with real potatoes from scratch. His sandwiches are all on his homemade bread sliced at least an inch thick. His toast is 2" thick and all grilled. It's the best bread I have ever eaten in my life! Maybe he will share his recipe if we work there but it's suppose to be a secret.

I started working there a few days ago on probation. Hubby, Lloyd, will start next week when the campground closes and his work there is done for the season. We made big cookies from scratch my second day with real butter and only the best ingredients. They are fabulous cookies! He has a secret recipe for those too...

It is a diverse business. He also has gas, just one pump reg and one diesel, a post office, a weather station, 3 motel rooms and a few lots up the mountain for sale for cabins/cottages. His large furnace is hot water forced but wood is the major source of power for it, but he has a power splitter and so forth to make it easier. There is also a bank of 96 deep cycle batteries... Lots for hubby to do in the winter and a large cat to plow the snow too! I'm working in the cafe all day right now. I like it!

The food is very costly up here where it all has to be trucked in. The closest grocery store is 200k from here, in Fort Nelson. Unbelievably expensive prices on food and gas but the regulars get used to it. If you come through here, eat at the Double G. Avoid the larger, more commerical places. The food you get at the Double G is worth it and all you will be able to eat for the money! Not necessarily so at the other places and they are all expensive!

Wild Mountain Stone Sheep

All the "lodges" (cafes, gas stations) up here make massive cinnamon rolls. It's a bit of a contest to see who can make the best and the biggest. The Tetsa Lodge has great ones. You pay $5 for it but it will feed two people full. They have a sign on their gas at the Tetsa Lodge that says "No Snivelling". lol! The prices up here were a shock to us, but we are getting used to them now. Jack's cinnamon rolls are huge too but a bit less expensive. I have not tried one yet. I'm too busy eating grilled toast on 1.5" thick slices of homemade bread with real butter! I don't think there is anything that can compete with that! I'll have to hike a lot more! :-(

We love it up here for a lot of reasons (really soft, naturally filtered water!) Time will tell if we like it enough to stay through the winter. It's autumn here already with the changing of the colours on the hillsides and mountains. According to the locals there are only two seasons here, winter and summer. That's too bad - I really like autumn! Oh well, I guess you can't have everything, but it does get fairly close to it up here!

Off Grid Camping in the Rockies

2012-08-25T10:41:00.002-07:00

This is where we have been working as Camp Facility Operators for the past couple of weeks at Stone Mountain Provincial Park, Summit Lake Campground in the northern Rockies of British Columbia and we love it! I don't believe there is any place on Earth more beautiful or more peaceful and serene! This is the highest point on the Alaskan Highway and we are right at the tree line, surrounded by stone top mountains and boreal forest. The top picture is a panoramic shot of the view from our daily trail walk. This sign sits at the top of the hill on our main trail.

We are learning to live off grid while we camp here. We have fresh drinking water in the form of a mountain stream that runs clean and clear down the hill behind our camper. The water is filtered through sand and gravel and is fine for drinking as is. We do have to haul it up the hill when our fresh water camper tank is empty. It holds about 7.5 large plastic water jugs. I have learned that it is easier to take the big jobs to the water, rather than haul it all up here. We fill a bucket with our dirty dishes as we go throughout the day. When it is full, usually after lunch, I take it down to the stream and wash them. It is easier when I don't have to conserve water. I just set the pots to soaking in the stream to soak while washing the little stuff. I can even use sand under the dishcloth for scrubbing! I also do our laundry by hand. I fill a bucket from the stream and set it beside the door outside. I dissolve some detergent in warm water and add that, along with any other additives I might want to use. We toss our dirty laundry into that bucket as the day goes by, also getting it out of the camper. I slip on a rubber glove by the bucket and agitate it and scrub spots throughout the day, as I pass by, when I feel like it. It sits there and soaks for a day or two, then I drain it at the campsite, wring out the clothes and take the bucket of clothes to the stream for rinsing and wringing. Large items can be wrung out by rolling up and kneading on a large boulder, like bread. I hang them to dry back at the campsite. They look brighter and cleaner than they have for years! I don't consider either of these things to be a chore. I love it down there beside the stream! I could sit there all day on those boulders pretending to be someone who has all morning to sit here, puttering away at washing dishes or laundry in the stream. Oh wait!! That is me ! This is my life!! :-)

We have been given a cabin to use, as well, but it is more of a large shed than a cabin. We live in our camper and store our supplies in the cabin and there is also a pit toilet behind the cabin. The cabin serves as a sleeping quarters for Shadow and Abby at night. It gives them a change of scenery and room to run around. They spend much of the night time sitting in the window, looking out and, hopefully, keeping mice out of our food supply. We have a little mouse living in the camper wall now that they have been stalking for the past couple of days. They can't get to him inside the wall, but they keep trying. It keeps them busy. We see him outside, occasionally.

We don't have phone, TV or internet up here and we like it that way for now, although we do watch the occasional movie DVD on the laptop. It's a good break for us, a chance to redefine our lifestyle without those things and spend time growing closer together and reshaping ourselves. We have to drive about 10 mins down the mountain to make a phone call and check our email. We do a lot of walking daily to the campground, around to each site and home again. We also expend quite a bit of energy hauling our water up the hill from the stream. We hike everyday and hope to be lean and healthy when the camp closes in another three weeks. Then we head south for the winter.

Because of the short season up here, this campground is only open for four months of the year. We have been asked to work at the Liard Hot Springs Campground next year. It is larger and there are jobs for both of us there. They also have a tap for the water which is a big help, so we will probably work there next summer. Camp Facility Operators are in great demand, especialy mature, experienced and responsible ones. We have to get through this coming winter first.

Where to go for the winter is a big question for us. We don't yet know where we will be going when we are finished up here. It's more a question of too many choices, as not enough and none of them seem to be exactly what we are looking for. We would like to work some and add more funds to our savings throughout the winter. We don't like a lot of heat and humidity. The days here are very warm, mostly shorts and T-shirts but we sleep under a quilt and extra blanket every night. It's perfect! Also, being so far north the days are very long in the summer months, staying light until about 11pm during the longest day period. At the north pole there are six months of light and six months of dark, all being sort of twighlight really. We are heading into the short day period now and hope to be staying much further south or on the Pacific coast where there is no winter when we are finished here.

Right now we are enjoying the month of quiet reflection and nature that we have here. The campground is busy on the weekends and we have met many nice and interesting people from all over the world! It is surprising how many Europeans are here travelling to Alaska! We have had campers from Germany, France, Sweden, Holland, England, Scotland and several other places that I cannot remember now, however, most are from Fort Nelson, about an hour's drive away. The same regulars fill the campground on nice weekends. Today we met three guys on bicycles, going from Alaska to Argentina! Wow! Yesterday we met a couple of hikers with a goat named "Brownie" as a pack animal. They said that Brownie likes the mountain trails and is very sure footed everywhere, better than they are. He does not, however, like the cold water crossing the mountain streams.

We see a lot of wildlife up here. There are few bears in this area as the highway is just too busy and they avoid humans whenever possible (thank goodness!). Lloyd takes a bat with us on all of our hikes.

Young Cariboo

We do see a lot of stone sheep, usually right out on the highway. They have lost much of their fear of humans so we assume that people are feeding them. There are little chipmunks in the campground that are like that too. We see the occasional cariboo also. Just last week we saw three young cariboo males on the highway, stopping traffic both ways. The drivers don't usually mind and are out of the cars taking pictures. It can also be sad. Just two days ago a Cariboo family, father, mother and youngster were on the highway when a speeding pick up passed a stopped car illegally and hit the parents head on, killing both instantly. The young one ran off but is not a little baby at this time of year, so will probably survive, but I think the authorities will make sure it does. The Cariboo are protected here. The driver of the truck just kept going but his truck was in bad shape. We have a big piece of the front of it stored away here, at our campsite. It was heartbreaking but both parents were killed instantly and never knew what hit them, mercifully. Cariboo are also called raindeer.

This animal is the fiercest in the area. It is known to be more dangerous even than the giant grizzly!

There is a badger and a moose that live near the park and visit frequently and there is a family of beavers in residence there. The beavers make our job more difficult as we have to continually dismantle their lodge to keep the water flowing or they will have the entire area flooded. This falls into our jurisdiction as we oversee all problems in the Summit Lake area. The ranger and his wife pay us a visit occasionally and check things out. His wife is a Camp Facility Operator at the Liard Hot Springs Campground (mentioned earlier) and managed by the same company. They are both very nice people. We get few visitors so it's nice to chat when people do come to see us.

There are many wild strawberries and low bush alpine blueberries here. I picked and picked our first week here. It is getting late in the season here now, more cold nights and fall like days so most of the berries are finished. It's so odd to think that it is only early August and yet fall is on it's way here. They will have snowfall in October but we will be long gone by then! When we are finished here, we will work a few weeks at the Munch Lake Campground before heading south.

It really is a fabulously beautiful spot up here! Unbelievable views and mountain trails with cold and clean streams everywhere. One even runs across our best hiking trails. If you are traveling the Alaskan highway, make it a point to stop in Stone Mountain Provicial Park at Summit Lake. It is well worth the visit!

These are pictures from the hiking trail across the highway from us. It is such a beautiful hike! We are up at the tree line with the glaciers and fiords!

You can Google the Stone Mountain Provincial Park campgrounds, Summit Lake, Muncho Lake and Liard Hot Springs for more information. There are two Summit Lakes in BC. If you just Google "Summit Lake" you will get the wrong one.

Our Trip To British Columbia - We Arrived!

2012-08-11T11:18:00.001-07:00

We arrived safely! For those of you waiting to hear from us, we are here, but without a cell phone signal or internet. We drive down the mountain for internet and phone use. We are now living in British Columbia, operating a small campground at one of the most beautiful spots in the world - but first I'm going to tell you about our trip.

We got the job offer for this campsite at the last minute, so we pulled away several days earlier than planned. Thankfully we were already packed and ready to go, almost. We spent a day rushing about, packing last minute items and clearing up details then drove away the next day, early on Sunday morning, July 29.

Abby and Shadow, the cats, rode in the trailer for the trip. They were much more comfortable in there than they would have been in the front of the truck with us. They spent most of the first day hiding under the bed! lol! They spent the night with us, going from window to window, around and around, all night long! Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep that night. After that first day they settled down and slept a lot. Whenever we stopped they would excitedly look out all the windows to see where we were. A loud truck nearby would send them scurrying back under the bed for the first few days but they were soon very much at home in the trailer and seemed to enjoy the ever-changing views. They spent most of their time at a window as we travelled.

We drove through much of Ontario that day, going north, north, north up around Lake Superior. That is unbelievably beautiful country covered with deep forest and small lakes, streams and falls everywhere. In spite of it's beauty it's a very twisting and hilly drive!

We had hoped to get quite a bit further than we did, however. We had not gone far that first day when we had our first exciting and worrisome experience! In Sault Ste. Marie the trailer lights quit working! We pulled into a Husky in Sault Ste. Marie (Husky's are great places for travellers!) where we discovered that a sharp turn had sliced through the thick connector containing all the wiring between the truck and the trailer. So, we spent a couple of hours stripping the wires back and soldering them all back together and taping it up. We had dinner there and were soon on our way again, for a short time anyway.

The next morning around 9:30, we suddenly lost power steering. Lloyd pulled off the road and found that the tensioning pulley for the fan belt had siezed. No way to fix it without a new part, but where to get one? After some discussion, praying and walking to see what was up ahead, a young Christian couple stopped and asked us if they could help. (I knew painting that fish on the trailer was a good idea!) They had no room in their truck but they offered Lloyd a ride into Wawa in the back of their pickup. They stopped at the Canadian Tire there and Lloyd went in to buy the parts. He needed a fan belt and a tensioning pulley. They had the fan belt, but not the pulley. After being told there were no more parts stores in town and no auto wrecker either, Lloyd said, "This is how desperate I am. Bring me all the tensioning pulleys you've got and I'll see if one looks reasonably close." So they did, Lloyd chose the one that looked closest to ours and set off to find a way back to us.

Lloyd still had to get back to the truck, and me, at the side of the road 50 kms away. He asked a police officer nearby if she could tell him were he could get a taxi. She asked him where he was going and when told, said that her partner could give him a ride as he was going out that way on patrol anyway. What nice people they were there! So, a police car drove up where I was waiting (and praying) and dropped Lloyd off with the parts. It took only about 15 minutes to get it in place and everything put back together, then we were off again on our adventure! That wrong tensioner pulley (Lloyd has no idea what vehicle it's really supposed to be for) has run perfectly for the whole remainder of the trip!

We got through Ontario without any more problems and found a nice rest stop to sleep the first night of our trip. There were already a few trucks there for the night so we weren't alone. We spent a restless night with the highway noise and the cats in the camper with us, going from window to window all night long, using us to stand on and walk on while we tried to sleep. After that first night, Abby and shadow slept in the truck cab with water and a litter box where they could look out the windows the entire night long. We found them hiding under the seat that first morning, but they soon adjusted to their new bedroom.

We were to start our new job in the campground at Stone Mountain park in BC on Saturday, Aug 4th so we had to hustle! We sped through Manitoba, which did not have enough rest stops and into Saskatchewan. What a difference in the roads! Diving was much easier now that we were entring the prairies with long, flat, straight roads.

The cat-astrophe! We pulled into a gas station for a rest and lunch in Saskatchewan. When we opened the door we were only greeted by Shadow. I looked for Abby and didn't see her anywhere so we called and called her. When she didn't come we began to panic! We did a search in all the cabinets and under the bed, pulling everything out and looking in all the boxes - no Abby! After awhile we had to figure that she had gotten out somehow. We started wondering where she could have gotten out and what we could do about it. She has our phone number on her collar so we hoped that someone would find her and call us. We knew we could not go back hundreds of miles to get her and where would we look anyway? We were crushed. We love that little girl dearly! She is so precious to us!

About this time a fellow pulled up to say that he lived just around the corner and we could park in his driveway for lunch, showers, laundry and water if we wanted to. We had to tell him that we had just lost our little cat and were heartbroken right now, but we appreciated his offer and might take him up on it. We had accepted the fate of Abby and thanked the Lord for giving her to us, even for a few short years, to love and enrich our lives, but we were heartbroken.

When Lloyd went to pay for the gas, I opened a ceiling cabinet to put clothes away and there was Abby! She must have jumped up into the cabinet when I had it open earlier in the day and I didn't see her. She had been soundly sleeping up there and didn't answer when we called. Her meow is so soft anyway, we might not have heard her. I carried her over to where Lloyd could see her and he came running! We were overjoyed and thankful to have found her and we were much more careful about going in and out of the camper after that. Having experienced what it was like to lose her, We watched them both more carefully for the entire trip!

We went to the home of the fellow to at least fill our water tank and found out that they were professional country musicians! One travelled and played with Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings for a few years! They played and sang for us and we enjoyed the music and the visit but didn't stay long. Soon we were on our way again.

We quickly covered the rest of Saskatchewan, with only a short delay when the RCMP pulled us over and checked out our documents. Luckily all was in order and we soon entered Alberta. We could tell it was Alberta immediately when the first sign we saw said, "Magnum guns for sale!" lol! We stopped at a Husky in Alberta for the night. Most Husky's have clean bathrooms, showers and laundry for travellers and a lot of room for overnight parking but it is noisy with all the trucks coming and going all night.

Checking the vehicles in the morning, Lloyd found a rear tire low. We filled it up and went on, but two hours later at a gas stop, it was low again. Lloyd decided to change it and when he took it off, the inside was covered with oil! Lloyd said the rear axle seal was gone and we'd need to fix it. We made it into Dawson Creek, found a Canadian Tire store and Lloyd went in to get the tire patched and buy a seal for the axle. The girl at the counter told him, "We don't have it and we can't order it", which made Lloyd smile as he left the counter. "Excuse me sir, is something funny?" said the girl with some annoyance. Lloyd tried to explain that a Ford F150 is a common truck and an axle seal is a part that fails commonly and that it just didn't make sense that they couldn't get one if one wasn't in stock, but the girl wouldn't listen. She just insisted it wasn't available. A few minutes later, when Lloyd was picking up the repaired tire, the service manager came out and Lloyd asked him if what he'd been told at the parts counter made sense. He frowned, punched some keys on the computer, went into the stock room and came back with the seal. Right about then the girl returned and yelled at Lloyd, "You aren't going to get any better answer from him than you got from me, why are you wasting everyone's time?" Lloyd and the service manager both glanced down at the seal and then shifted their gaze to her, saying nothing. She turned on her heel and stalked off, calling over her shoulder "Well what he asked for wasn't there!!". If you have to go down, go down swinging.

We turned north again in Alberta and spent most of a day driving north and into British Columbia. We were soon into the edge of the Rockies and beautiful country! We were climbing at this point, going higher and higher into the mountains. The ascent was usually slow with only a few steep hills to climb. We did have a few steep and long ones to go down in places, but we made it with careful driving. We spent our last night on the road just about 100 kms from the campsite and arrived there the next morning without further delay and a day early! We gained three hours going west, as well!
We met the Stone Mountain Provincial Park Manager and she got us set up in our site across the road from the campground that we maintain.

We made it! We are here and we love it! The spot where we now live is the highest altitude on the Alaska highway and it is so beautiful here!

More on where we are now to come...