Hunde Haus

…and the heavens wept.

2013-01-08T07:00:00.000-08:00

Bawled their eyes out is more like it.

This absolutely gorgeous spot below is where we daily lay down our carbon footprints

Quite lovely, right? Stunning vistas no matter which way you look, that’s very true.

Unless the heavens are bawling it’s eyes out. Like yesterday.

Then the view is this

It was a day of 44 quadrillion MPH winds coming from all directions, buckets and buckets of rain never stopped dumping.

It. Was. Horrible.

At one point I thought that it had switched from a torrential rain storm to hail…looked outside and saw a ~~dream~~ nightmare

There was soooo much rain even my most adaptable West Coast dog Watcher was unable to get into a walk. We went about 100 yards and he dragged both our wet ass’s back home.

Apparently we have a couple more days of wet stuff

oh stop snivelling…because sunshine on Thursday!

What a whiner.

As you can probably tell, I am donedonedone with this rain and wet. And unless the snow intends to stick around and be all fluffy and stuff, then it too can fuck right off.

I do appreciate it for the loveliness and beauty it brings.

But I long to see these babies renew themselves.

Return To Stoneman Mountain

2012-08-12T22:04:00.000-07:00

I fell in love with Stoneman Mountain while there last year and definitely had to get there again this year. It was as gorgeous as I remember. And holy crap, this time I saw deer! A doe and a buck crossed the road, started stripping off Fireweed flowers, and then walked on into the forest. I don't think I breathed the entire time.

Stoneman is approx. 5000 feet at it’s peak, about an hours drive on a couple pretty rough forest service logging roads so a 4x4 is a must. It could be done in a car about halfway and that would still make for seeing some glorious mountains and valleys and views.

Set out about 10 a.m. on a beautiful sunny day, stopped every 3 feet ( almost ) and took photos, got home just as the thunder, lightening and rain gong show began. Honestly, that in itself was almost as exciting and beautiful as Stoneman!

This felt amazingly terrific, it was a sweltering day. But only for a minute...it is glacier water and gave my feet a headache!

Grandma’s Excellent Adventure

2011-12-09T10:59:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I made the long and tortuous journey into Vancouver, to visit with my most favorite people in the world, Kelly, Sumeet and Logan.

And because he makes my heart go wild when I see/think of him I’ve decided that Logan’s newest middle name is Be Still My Heart.

Between Sumeet leaving for work and Kelly coming home from work I had FUNFUNFUN with Logan! We listened to cheesy Christmas tunes, we read some Christmas Carols and stories, we walked around and around the apartment where we got stuck at some point by the table. On the table was a baby food cookbook, and on the cover of the book is the adorable face of a happy baby. Logan was mesmerized by that face. He spoke the language that only other babies can possibly understand….baby gibberish.

Which reminded me of a story that Sumeet had told me before she left for work. She was standing in a line-up with Logan in his carrier…in front of them was a baby approximately Logan’s age. Logan made full eye contact and began speaking to the other baby. What do they say to each other? What is the thought process? I still can’t stop thinking about it.

Once Sumeet left and it was beyond obvious that Logan had no intentions of falling asleep I set him down and we took some photos. Cheesy Christmas photos…I love them!

By the end of all the mind tiring fascination with all the beaded garlands and large plastic Christmas balls, and the strange red hat he was exhausted, as was evident by this last photo.

I absolutely cherished my first foray into grandbaby-sitting. More please!

Life Lessons

2011-10-06T18:21:00.000-07:00

My sponge-learning years as a kid, living at home, were from 1957 till 1973. ( I left the family home at 16 )

My father, in an earlier role in his life, was an RCMP member. He patrolled in cars and *walked the beat*, but he was also an RCMP dog handler, and before that a member of the Mounted Squad. Apparently, in those days the *brass* encouraged members to be well rounded in all aspects. Through my father I was taught the basic core thinking of animal respect. And that is that every animal is a sentient being. Once I realized that, my whole world opened up.

I have known since then, that all other animals outside of the human animal, inherently have rights. My worth is of no more importance than theirs.

The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them. That, is the essence of inhumanity. ~ George Bernard Shaw.

As for a life lesson in race relations, I learned that through example. Not one time in my parents home did I ever hear one racially skewed term. Not once. Not in joke, not in anger. Nor from anyone else who came into their home.

So, I spent a very small amount of time working on racial issues with my son as he was growing into a man. I remember only once being peeved with him concerning it. He had come home from grade 4 singing a little Christmas song he had overheard on the playground. I can’t recall all the words to it, but they were derogatory. After a short discussion concerning race, hurtful lies and exaggerations I gently reminded him that he himself was a mixture of races, Caucasian and Cree on my side and Sicilian on his father’s side. He was ashamed of himself. Ever see a 9 year old boy ashamed?? It’s the most pitiful sad thing ever.

Because of the way I was raised, with good and decent core beliefs, and my passing those on to my son, ( and the wonderful same values from Sumeet! ) I know my first grandbaby Logan is going to be empathetic and kind all the way around. Of that I have no worries.

There’s a great group of organized folks with a grass roots website called Empathy Symbol. Some wonderful literature and links there. Click on their logo below to check them out.

Random Thinking

2011-10-02T16:45:00.000-07:00

My brother and sil are moving back this way from Winnipeg. They’ll be a scant 2 hours away up country…oh lawdy lawdy the drive there is stunning. All mountains and trees, I will be in my element.

I was going through some clippings and misc. papers I’d ~~hoarded~~ saved through the years. This is one of my all time favorites…

I had an interesting conversation with an acquaintance a week ago. The subject reminded me of film noir meets the 3 stooges wrapped into one dumbass package. And it brought around to mind just why I chose to separate myself from specific people and groups . So to anyone who believes things, without concrete proof, and not simply because you’d prefer to believe it, I give you the following:

and they also get this next one…because…well…it fits!

and this one too!

The days are shorter, the humidity has dropped, there’s a really lovely crispness happening all over…I warmly welcome Fall!

Fir and Cedar rusty and gnarly

The colors, the easier to breathe air, the lovely smells wafting up from 6 inches of leaves on our mountain walks, the hoodies and sweaters and thick puffy socks, flannel bedding with wool blankies on top, oh my yes! I welcome Fall!

The other day I went down to the river by myself to sit, think and ogle the mountains. I was sitting far back in the trees when these boys pulled up and set up a fireworks display way out on the rocky dry river bed. Totally ruined the peace and quiet but it was a welcome interlude. After they were done they picked up all their debris and drove away. Love seeing young people being responsible for their messes!

These beautiful colors are courtesy of Chrissy’s hanging basket…love these bright colors right now!

I’m mentally gearing up for tomorrow. I’m going to be going through all my books and knick knacks and just general *stuff* and dumping what doesn’t make my heart go pitter patter in 2 seconds. I seem to accumulate so much I have to purge twice a year!

Hope you are having a wonderful day!

The dog who hated toys

2011-09-30T21:07:00.000-07:00

That dog would be this dude

Okay, hate is a ridiculous word to use. More like has no need for them.

At all. Ever.

He favor’s the bottoms of my jeans, most especially when I am putting them on. Or scooping poop is another great time to trip me up by going between my legs, grabbing the bottom firmly and yank!

Or the shop vac extension. He kept nosing open the closet where it was stored and stealing it, so I allowed him to claim it. And it’s not like he chews the crap outta’ it, he just gives it a few chomps and then stashes it. A couple times a week after Ticket and Watcher are in a deep rem sleep, he will bring it out, chew it a few times and nose it back.

Weirdo.

Did she just call me a weirdo?

Watcher and Ticket on the other hand, are game for any kind of fun with anything, anytime or anywhere. They especially favor ripping up stuffies and chewing apart sticks. Any species of tree will do, although they seem partial to Willow and Maple. Not weirdo's.

I like this ingenious idea from some folks in Vermont. Sticks, cut from Maple trees marketed and sold to ~~idiots~~ other folks who for whatever reason, are ~~clueless~~ stickless. Fetch Stix

I don’t do TV

2011-09-16T14:58:00.000-07:00

I believe it is now 6 years that I have not possessed a TV. The bill for the luxury of it had climbed from $72 to $80 per month when I called a halt to the whole damn thing.

It was becoming horribly expensive, the packages were stupid, and I never watched it 3/4 of the time it was on anyway. It was background noise that had become a normal part of everyday living.

Youtube started the ball rolling for me. Do you realize that you can watch full length movies, tv shows, documentaries, cartoons…you name it, for free there? All genres and all eras! Playlists and playlists. Look at it as a free Blockbuster’s.

TV stations all over the world stream their news online now. A lot of those stations as well have their scheduled TV shows available for FREE an hour after they have aired!

Then there’s torrents. If it’s not available somewhere for free online you can always download it from one many tracker sites. Want to watch all seasons and episodes of your favorite TV show…voila! Want to watch a hard to find film…voila!

I have a few favorite sites that I frequent when I want to soak up some fun and or brain info. One is the National Film Board of Canada. Over 1500 films of all lengths, documentaries, interactive…all genre’. Love this site.

One of my favourite films I’ve watched there was about the Mohawks on their reserve in Kanehsatake in SW Quebec. A short summary: In 1990 the town of Oka ( on the edge of the reserve ) decided they wanted to take some burial ground land, that was an obvious cemetery with numerous headstones etc., and make a golf course. The Mohawks said fuck off. It became the first well publicized violent conflict between First Nations and the Canadian government in the late 20th century. The Quebec Provincial police, local police, RCMP, and finally the army came in. First Nations bands across Canada held blockades along all major roads, highways, railways etc. It lasted more than 2 and a half months and one person died. Read more about it all here and then watch the film below or on the NFB’s site here.

Another site I like for watching online is Top Documentary Films. A tip for this site…sometimes it says it is only a short clip for the documentary. Don’t turn it off, just let it play out, the entire film will be there. Crackle is another good site and Viewster is not bad either.

I’ll never have to buy another TV ( on average they only keep their full potential for 1 and a half years ) every few years, not one more outrageously expensive bill, nor not one more increase in cost. And, aside from some opinions, it is not a major ( or minor ) wear and tear on your computer! As well, you can take your computer/movies wherever you go, unlike your TV.

Now, after I've said all that, go outside and play!

Wow...what a view!

2011-09-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

After 7 years of apartment living, Kelsie has become a first time house renter! And whoa, what a great rental!

It sits on top of a mini mountain just outside of Hope, with a view that made my jaw drop. Every room, except 2, has a magnificent view of the Fraser River and Cascade Mountains.. And those 2 that don’t, have views of the forest. Le sigh…it’s absolutely beautiful.

The view from the extremely spacious deck on top of the garage, and the view from the living and dining room…

In the yard was this odd plant. Is it an Elephant’s Ear? It looks like it, but the leaves on this one are much wider than any other I have seen.

Along the back of the property were these bundles of Curly Willow branches, and thicker stalks. I’ll grab a few next time and get my craft on. :)

Happy first time house renter!

The sun was shining all day…

But the smog was disgusting. I haven’t seen it this thick for a few years. Crazy!

Yesterday was a great day. The company was as always lots of fun and the view made my heat go pitter patter. Yay!

Winter’s on my mind

2011-09-07T15:32:00.000-07:00

What happened to summer? There were no where near the hot sunny days I had expected. Now, I am by nooo stretch of the imagination a *sun baby*, but dang it, I wish we had seen the sun more this tiny corner of the world! I have never once in my life laid myself down to tan; not even in my teens when it seemed to matter the most to others of my age group. If I am outdoors on extremely hot days you’ll find me walking through or sitting in the shaded forest or down at the river under trees. Or, like now, sitting in an air conditioned cool trailer while it is 88 Fahrenheit out doors. But still, I wished we had seen more sunny and warm days.

In spite of, or maybe because of the great weather we’ve been having, aside from an entire 24 hours of rain, my mind has wandered to winter. And the cold it brings.

Friends, Dianne and Dave, have some extra asphalt roof tiles hanging around and so I need to nailed down to the 4 wooden steps into the trailer. Last winter they were just too slippy…I worried constantly about the dogs and pulled muscles/broken body parts. The broken body parts was of course the high end of the what ifs but still. Watcher and Ticket can at least see what the steps and ground look like and what to avoid/be careful with, but Henry just plods through life thinking all is fine. I need to make sure he can keep on plodding safely.

The Plodder

Also I need to get under the trailer and stick insulation in all the places that I can see light enter through. I thought I had done a pretty good job of that last year but apparently not, as the propane for heat was at $200 per month. I guess that’s not too bad as the walls are only 2 inches thick. I think a fair bit of heat was lost due to the thinness of the door. I was thinking that maybe the only way I can bandaid that is to find a good looking wool blanket, attach double sided sticky tape and tape ‘er up when we’re indoors. Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions

I will never, ever again live where I don’t have at least one sunroof. This one of the two is in the kitchen.

Climbing Nightshade beautifying the chain link fence.

Ever wonder where you'd end up if you took your dog for a walk and never once pulled back on the leash? ~Robert Brault

Hope you all are having a great day!

Hope Photo Day

2011-09-02T15:01:00.000-07:00

Some photos of my little burg, Hope.

No home delivery, all mail is picked up at our teeny Canada Post.

A great place to sit and watch the river, and contemplate.

The same bench, a few months later, when the yearly rise of the Fraser River overtakes it.

This is a one stop light town,( seriously ) and here’s the corner where it’s at, Third St and Wallace.

and another angle with a beautiful flower basket hanging from the entrance to City Hall

The war memorial in our gorgeous park

The only *department store* in town.

Hope has had a lot of movies filmed here, but the most famous of all was Rambo First Blood. And so there is an extremely cheesy face cut-out thingy I try to force upon ~~drunk~~ nice and obliging cousins when they travel here. Here’s my cousin Denny ~~hating my guts~~ smiling and happy while I take his pic!

Hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into where I am ( at the moment! ) calling home.

And leave a comment dammit!

Touching the tops of trees

2011-09-01T14:48:00.000-07:00

My heart loves these mountains. Any mountains will do, but because I live amongst these beauties, this is where my heart beats.

I quite often oogle and ogle at all the switchback logging roads around here while on Google Earth, and dream of the time I’ll go. But, my piddly little van would never ever make it to the top, or even near. And that irritates the hell outta’ me.

I got an invite yesterday…. I went with Kelsie and Doug to the top of 5000 foot Stoneman Mountain. It was absolutely one of my favourite day trips since I’ve lived here in Hope.

I think we crossed 5 bridges and 2 different valleys. The only wildlife we saw were Ravens, plenty of other birds, and a few Trout. Not surprising though as Doug’s truck runs on propane and was as loud as a freakin’ freight train. Oh, and the proof that were indeed other critters around. Bear scat and Elk prints. Without further adieu…here’s the trout, poop and print.

The first valley…where I willed the bears to come out and start lumbering around. Which they didn’t.

What is wrong with these trees? Sad looking things…

And down to the valley above…

Heading up…

Came to this mess, realized we were only about 100 feet from the top and stopped.

And the foliage…a Wild Yellow Raspberry…and only one!

It was a really great few hours! Thanks for the invite Kelsie and Doug!

and then there’s Chrissy’s summer home

2011-08-30T07:00:00.001-07:00

Her man’s family has land right smack on the banks of the Fraser River in Yale, so every summer is spent fishing from the banks with nets, net dipping, or poles. Oh, and swimming and sucking in as much Vit D as they possibly can.
I went there yesterday and it was hard, no, near impossible to leave. I loved it.

Where the muddy Fraser River meets at the opening of the creek

There were many pockets of Garnet Sand, but I didn’t see anything bigger than coarse sand. :(

I very stupidly wore jeans…what the fuck was I thinking?? It was sweltering hot! But, I did dip my tootsies in.

A friend of Chrissy’s dip netting

A Brown Bear across the river came out of the bush for a moment, but quickly headed back in.

I was walking to my car and turned around…and almost returned. I could swear I heard my chair whispering for me to come back and set myself back down.

Bye Chrissy, and thanks for the invite..I absolutely loved it!

Logan Day!

2011-08-29T13:33:00.000-07:00

This past Friday was one of those days that will be indelibly imprinted in my brain. Logan is laughing. And smirking. And lifting his lip in a sneer, with disgust. He’s been doing this for quite some time, but it was the first time I’ve seen it!

Listening to Dad ( check out the lift and sneer of the lip at the end, it's a family trait hehehe )

Fantastic hand to eye co-ordination

Smiling all the time!

He’s teething! Already at only 3 and a half months!! Poor little baby…big rocks trying to break through his gums…so very very unfair.

I’ve got a plan in place, and if it all works out, I will be living a lot closer to my grandbaby. Oh my…I miss him. Once a month visits are just not cutting it.

What did we do before computers??

2011-08-21T07:32:00.001-07:00

I was image searching for imaginative ways to paint a small bookshelf and came across this funkalicious shelf. I adore this!! Totally solves the problem with what to do with the digest books that are of no use anymore doesn’t it! Check out the artisan’s site for more funky stuff here: This Into That.

I’m thinking on heading to the thrift shops and find older animal digest books and make a shelf for all of my canine and other critter reference books/novels etal. I wonder how he did this? A specific glue? screws? a combination?

And, surfing for a particular German word, this popped up:

I came across this photo while organizing my folders, can’t remember what site I was on when I saved it though. I really liked the camaraderie of the women, so today I digitally put a frame on it and liked it even more.

I was reading about Gadhafi’s latest terrorist acts and was struck by the photo that accompanied the article. It showed, what looked to be, is that he is a very vain man. Was that eyebrow pencil??? I found a larger photo from CNN and yup, he used eyebrow pencil!
Then I started doing an image search on CNN and found another that made me laugh. Any woman who uses liners or powders to define areas will see what the jackass was trying to do in the top photo. ( definitely NOT photo-shopped )

Maybelline will not be seeking out a contract

This next photo I didn’t find surfing, it’s my Henry! Taken immediately after he and Ticket were wrastlin’…he’s a happyhappyhappy boy!

This and That

2011-08-19T18:10:00.000-07:00

Ticket and I had some personal space/girl time away from the ~~thugs~~ boys and walked around our area yesterday.

She’s so different when all alone with me. Introspective in some ways. I wonder if she is relaxing in the differentness of the mood, or wondering why they aren’t here. Regardless, I know she is enjoying herself for all the uninterrupted meandering she does.

She does a lot of flitting about and smelling here and there so it is difficult to get a good photo of her unless she is focused on something.

Yesterday I got a lot of these:

So I focused myself on the flowers that were screaming to be photographed.

Wild Sweet Peas

There were pink ones

And white ones

Not sure what this one is…I used to know the name but my memory of it has gone blank!

These are wild snapdragons, sometimes called Monkey Flowers

I’ve never know the name of this one…maybe you do?

I have a HUGE Wild Pink Rose bush behind the house, in the early summer the smell is absolutely intoxicating. Here’s what they looked like a month or so ago:

and here’s the rose hips yesterday. I’ll be harvesting them after they go through one frost. Or when their stems are brown…whichever comes first. I know a couple of people that make jams and jellies out of them but I find it too bland, but they make a helluva great cuppa tea!

Queen Anne’s Lace

Last evening I visited with Kelsie…we had a couple cups of tea and chatted. Nice visit. As I was leaving I spied these boots!!

LOVE THESE BOOTS!! But alas, they belong to this little girl, and I don’t need a 6 year old girl pissed at me. So I didn't steal them.

That’s the perfectly delightful Brianne, Kelsie’s gorgeous daughter. She just learned to ride her 2 wheeler! Congrats Brianne...that's a huge accomplishment!

I had some extended family camping not far from here and they drove into Hope to visit with me for bit. Met them at our beautiful park downtown and took a few photos that I'll put up tomorrow, but here's one of Ticket that Wendy took with her phone.

K, I need a nice cuppa Red Rose. Hope you are enjoying today, it was super sunny and warm with a much loved gentle breeze. Perfect!

My Dirty World ~ Part II

2011-08-17T11:41:00.000-07:00

Oh ferfucksake man.

A week or so ago I spread a huge bag of shavings in the yard to keep the dogs from bringing the dust in. ( teeny yard, no grass ) But seemingly, it wasn't helping. Vacuuming every 2 days didn't help at all. Frustrated!

So, yesterday I am again vacuuming and turned around to tell Ticket to ~~shut the fuck up~~ please be quiet ( she wants to eat the vacuum ) and I see this effing plume of dust coming out the back end of the effing vacuum heading straight at the JUST vacuumed kitchen area. What the ???

I empty it, clean it out, put it back together and try yet again. Same damn thing. My eyes and brain glaze over wondering how long this has been happening. There I was blaming the dust from the trains and the dogs. And again, oh ferfucksake.

I go online and google "why the eff does the vacuum blow dirt out of it's rear end" ( but nicer ) and find out that this can be easily fixed by buying paper filters. And this blows me away.

It's a shop vac ferfucksake. Aren't they supposed to be all powerful, so fantastic they suck up water and it's all good? But dust knocks it out? One of the reasons I wanted the shop vac was it's reputation for it's toughness and apparently as it is written on their guarantee that it does not require filters.

But according to a few message board shop vac *experts*, after time they no longer do the deed they used to do so well. So, I guess I need to buy filters ferfucksake.

Tomorrow I shall rent a pressure washer and hose this tin can out of the meter of dust that a-hole blew out..

On to a more positive topic; ( and less with a potty mouth, although I can't promise there will be absolutely no swearing ) I've made some changes in my life lately. Most of them having to do with standing up for myself more and not allowing myself to be run over.

And what comes hand in hand with that? Some people think you have become a bitch. To them I say, I'm not being a bitch, I'm just being stronger. C'est la vie...

Not wanting to miss one moment of the big fight....

Ticket and Watcher warming each others bums

Pee break on the way to Manning Park last fall

I hope you are enjoying these last days of summer. We had a lousy one here, and I feel bad for my sunaholic friend Chrissy. So to her I say, get out there and soak up that sun...snow will be upon us in no time! (ducking from all the useless suntan lotion she's throwing at me )

Flowers everywhere!

2011-08-16T15:05:00.000-07:00

My Shamrock plants, a purple and a green that I planted together, lovelovelove camping outside in the late Spring and entire Summer. Technically, it's a Wood Sorrel called Oxalis Triangularis and can live outdoors in our area if protected. I have had mine for 10 years or more and have divided it up ( it has teeny tiny bulbs ) dozens of times and given them away. It goes through a dormancy period in the winter...all the stems and leaves gone...quite pitiful. But then pops back up in March or so if we have plenty of light. It's also edible! RV99F3HHMYF5

Visited a friend’s garden the other day. Just in time for the Loganberries. My timing is perfection.

I ate so many I was burping Loganberries.

My Sage is going through it’s final stages for this year. The seeds have dropped, and it’s more yellow than green. I like the following photo of it as it shows all stages and the flowers are still beautiful.

And mmmmmm!! Chocolate Mint! I’ve never done anything with it…except walk by and squish a leaf and drown in the aroma daily.

When I had a garden ( waaay too many moons ago ), I had Pineapple, Orange, Chocolate and both Spear and Peppermint Mints on both sides of the door. Whenever the dogs came in or out they would brush themselves on it and the smell that came wafting from them all was so closeyoureyes and relax with it all….I miss my mints.

This is a St John's Wort living behind my home. It is rampant around here…dots the meadows and runs alongside the highways and byways right next to the Chicory and Golden Rod.

Mmmmmm, Blackberries. My very favourite berry. This year I plan on making a few goodies with them. Jam, pies, some juice to add to Olive Oil for salad dressings ( omg yum! ) and just a helluva lot of frozen berries. Just an FYI…Blackberry Daiquiri's in the winter months are especially favourited.

Johnny Jump Up wildly growing among the bush and trees behind us.

And a photo of Henry from almost 2 years ago…geez, hard to believe he was ever this teeny!

Bears and Shitting Your Pants.

2011-08-10T16:14:00.000-07:00

Found this little gem while organizing the disgustingly huge mass of photos and videos on my comp that, well, need to be organized.

Yesterday Chrissy took me to a spot, right along the Fraser River in Yale, that she, the 2 boys and man in her life( his family's land ) spend a large majority of their summer.

We got there and I had to take 5 minutes to just suck it all in. Of course, you have to completely love mountains and rivers and sand ( bloody well beach sand!!...bleached over sparkly clean silt basically ) and this canyon to totally appreciate it.

I walked around with my mouth open. Dotted throughout the forest of massive Fir trees and Salmonberry bushes were 3 tents, a cooking and eating station and plenty of smaller areas to sunbathe, read, play, whatever. All of which was right on the banks, literally, of the Fraser River. By the time school begins and they are back permanently in their house a month from now the creeks will swell from the last of the mountain melt, which floods the river and voila!/shame the ideal camping spot is under water till next summer.

Wow. That was the one word I said a good dozen times. It was just so beautiful. Then I reached for my camera, so I could take some photos and drool over them later.

I had left the batteries for the camera, in the photo charger. At home.

We thoroughly enjoyed the views, then went on to another spot where more fun could be had. It was one of the many run off creeks ( from the melting mountaintop snow on both sides of the river ) and that area as well was just stunning. The creek water was 100% see through and we could see a half dozen Salmon ( Pinks I think? ) resting before they fought the rest of the way up the mighty Fraser to their spawning grounds. Next spring I'd like to go there once a week to photograph the progression of the river, creek and banks alongside them. Try my hand at a time lapse mini film when done. :)

Next we headed over to a spot on the opposite side of town, (stopping for my freshly charged batteries...yay! ) that Chrissy and her friends used to play around when they were kids.

We followed a pretty well worn vehicle path

Which narrowed to this

and then we saw these fresh bear claw marks

Being as how it is berry, fish and camper garbage season...and there are bears walking around all the time, we decided to head back. But we carried big sticks and talked loudly!

These are 2 human and animal tunnels that run under Highway #1

This water is flowing down Silver Creek from the Cascade Mountain Range and right into the Fraser River.

Oh! Another little gem!

Enjoy today...go do one spontaneous act of kindness.

Sweat, Swearing and Happy

2011-08-07T15:08:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was a day of sweat, swearing and finally a few happy moments.

The sweat and swearing involved separating 7 of these 3 month old Silkie babies

from one rooster, 3 hens, and 6 five day old chicks. The moment we ( Fred and I ) tried doing any type of herding, chaos ensued.

Once the adult birds realized we weren’t coming after them or the wee ones, they told the 7 teenagers to go hide somewhere, stay together and to shut the fuck up.

Seeriously, they told them that.

They told them and they listened so damn well we started thinking they had fled the yard and were now carousing the streets of Hope.

Hacking my way through Blackberry AND Raspberry bushes 8 miles thick *shaking fist at Fred and his ~~lousy~~ non-existent pruning skills* I spotted them huddled in a corner almost completely camouflaged.

And not saying one damn word.

A 1/2 hour later, 6 were all safely crated. The last one was just too damn fast!, or we were just too spent from it all, whatever. The 6 were loaded into the car, ready for the trip to be passed off to the ~~sucker~~ lady who was offering them a new home. She’s known as the Food Lady and her blog can be found right there → Woo Tube. ( for future reference, a link to her blog is also found in the link at the top here under “Human Stuff” Also for future reference, she, along with others operates a Border Collie rescue right here → B.C. Border Collies )

We went in the house, bathed our wounds, and headed off to meet up. Then came the spectacle of exchanging them from Fred's crate to the Food Lady's. 5 of them were easy peasy, but the last one loosened itself from Fred’s grip and took off running like crazy for grass and bush that was even more foreboding looking than the Blackberry/Raspberry jungle at Fred’s house.

Fer fuck sake man.

The 3 of us were vainly trying to catch this 8 inch chicken in grasses that at some point were over our heads. Absolutely ridiculous. The Food Lady sent in a young pup she is fostering to perhaps flush out the chick. Seconds later, the sound of a chick being eaten alive came from the grass.

The chick was fine. Oh, there was a bit of canine saliva on it. And it was obviously traumatized from the whole wicked morning, but then so was I. Fair’s fair.

Happy moments from yesterday; 1 ) I was able to grab a big ass bale of shavings while out. It’ll keep some of the silt that sits on top of the dirt in my small yard down. Less dust in my home. I really could use 3-4 more, but was in someone’s car and not my van. Next time. 2 ) Received $12 in coupons for free products from Island Farms! I had purchased some milk from a store here and it curdled ( ewwww! ) within 2 days. Long story short, the store owner blamed it on crappy milk, and the company blamed it on poor handling on the store’s end. I profited, and that’s all that matters to that story. :) 3 ) Was asked to house and dog-sit for 3 days next week. It's within eye sight so it's only a matter of feeding and tending to the dog. I'll take Ticket over to play with it daily as well as take it on walks with us. Also, they've offered me the use of their tub so I can bathe my guys! It's been almost a year since they were bathed; there is only a 6 gallon hot water tank in this sardine can and that wouldn't even get one of them damp. So, I'll make a few bucks AND have clean dogs. Sweet!

I took the next 2 photos of the field where we met up with the Food Lady

This one shows the height of the grass the ~~bastard~~ chick escaped to. Told you it was head height!

And that was my yesterday.

Today has been calm and quiet. So far.

Observations and photos

2011-08-04T17:35:00.000-07:00

Henry’s nose fits perfectly in my eye socket.

‘Bruised’ eyeballs scare small children. ( sorry again to the little ~~scaredy cat~~ girl at the post office. )

Fact: if dogs sleep on your pillow and bedding before you retire for the night you will have sweet dreams and a restful sleep.

Fact: I’ve never before used the word “retire” when speaking about going to bed. Sounds like I’m a high falootin’ 1920’s rich bitch with a cigarette holder. And a drawl. And a dry martini. And white elbow length gloves.

I bet I would have been beautiful too. Like the grand dame below.

The pride parade ( the photo above is from that day ) made me feel, ohhh, I don’t know, less outwardly colorful. My anthem now is to wear more color.

I’m going to wear brighter colors! A brighter shade of blue jeans? Maybe a sparkle of pink nail polish? Clean my white runners more often?

Yikes, I need a make-over!

Fact: Grandbabies make your heart hurt sooooo bad in a good way. It’s akin to experiencing the same intense love you have for your own child, but different. It’s freer. It’s exhilarating. It’s a grand thing.

This 1 window skylight of the 2 in my sardine can makes me smile.

Enjoy your day…You only have one August 4th in 2011!

Blog Stats

2011-08-02T10:40:00.000-07:00

This blog was started so family members could keep track of my life. Also so I could have somewhere to journal and keep all my most favorite photos! It's remained with a very small following ( thank gawd, because I hate crowds ) because I do not *advertise* my blog on other sites, join groups of other bloggers, nor join up to search engines. I like it fine the way it is thank you very much!

While I have Sitemeter tracking some stats of visitors to this blog, I find that Googles own Stats are much more interesting.

Keeping in mind that Google Stats have been tracking since May 2009, here are some of the stats!

Here's an overview

Here's the stats from the Posts section of the overview. I am not surprised at all about the first one being "Chain Saw Carving Capital of the World Hope BC", but the second one did! "Cowboy Boot Windchime, Stuff and the Fruitcake Lady" also brings back some sad memories. One being that my Cowboy Boot Windchime was stolen from me by a co-worker at my last place of employment. So, if anyone is driving down Stave Lake Road in Mission BC and sees it, steal it back for me! ( and kick the thief Renee in the ass. K, thanks. )

These next stats are the Traffic Sources. I'm just thankful that people spell Hunde Haus correctly.

Some search words/phrases that people have used to make their way here....

And the last stat, the Audience.

There ya go! Stats from a really small blog with an even smaller audience.

I spent a couple of days vamping up my blog. I LOVED it. For about 20 minutes. Now I realize I will spend a couple more re-vamping. I'm not loving it so much any more. I do like the spark of color of flowers but there's just something not quite right. But that's all for another day, because TODAY I AM GOING TO SEE MY GRANDBABY LOGAN!! YES I KNOW I'M YELLING!!!

Pride Parade

2011-08-01T20:38:00.002-07:00

Wow, my eyes are still sore from all the bright colors, my ears are still ringing from all the music and sounds, and my mind is still boggled and loving all the fellowship and pure joy I experienced yesterday at the Pride Parade in Vancouver with my friend Rob.

Police, Firefighters, Ambulance, Nurses, Punks, Dykes, Trannies, and a big bucket full of others were there!

I took over 500 photos. My delete button is worn down, as is my pointer finger. It was so incredibly hard to select which ones to put here so I almost put them all. Go grab a cup of tea/coffee and come back and relax to see them all! Enjoy! ( as usual, click on the photos to enlarge them! )

Cyndy, Brock, Frankie and more

2011-07-23T13:14:00.001-07:00

I think Cyndy and I have known each other for 3 million years and friends for all of them. I love her with all my self.

Brock is a 5 year old female Cockatoo, a relative baby for the breed considering they can live to be 60ish. One day when it was particularly chilly for a bird, who has plucked a few chest feathers, her person Fred made her a *sweater* out of one of his tube socks. It looked pretty damn comfy!

Along with Budgies, Canaries, Finches, Lovebirds, and a Cockatoo Fred has Silkie chickens, 1 rooster and 5 hens. He dutifully gathers eggs every morning, but these sly chicks managed to stash 7 eggs. They hatched and voila, the Silkie family grew to be 13. Yowzers. Anyone want a Silkie baby about 2 months old? Or 7? Seriously.

The Roo, giving explicit instructions to the hens to hide! hide! hide! themselves and the babies.

Frankie contemplating on whether or not to tell the roaming neighbourhood cat to eff off.

This is Jack. AKA known as Black Jack. Dianne and Dave, his people, don’t live too far away. This summer, we are getting all our dogs together for a play date. ( nudge nudge…right Dianne? ) The first photo is with no editing. The next one is a few I played with last night. This dog is so incredibly handsome you can’t foul up his photo!

Sunset from one of my most favourite views in Hope, up on the Cheam Mountain above Herrling Island.

And on another day down at the entrance to Herrling Island

How rude. How crude

But even Travis Bickle agrees

Next Sunday is the Gay Pride Parade in the west end of Vancouver and I’m super excited to be going.

I’ll be driving in with Fred and Shannon and meeting up with Rob and hopefully Cyndy and my sister Jamie will be able to join up with us. You can read about the parade etal on the Vancouver Pride site. It is going to be a day filled with color, pride, drag queens and more fun than a

The big yellow ball woke me up this morning. Thank you sun for gracing us with your warmth and light. Please stay for a few days.

Have an absolutely glorious weekend guys!

A Canine Fueled Weekend.

2011-07-18T15:06:00.000-07:00

Jo, a dear old friend and Carol, a new friend…and their dogs, Gunny and Annie, ( an Australian Shepherd and Turvuren, which is a Belgium Shepherd ) came to attend a herding clinic and trial last week a few miles away in Laidlaw. Also along for the ride and great socializing experience was Rojo, Jo’s 8 month old Australian Shepherd, of which I didn’t take photos of…sometimes I piss myself off.

On Saturday I took Ticket for a few hours, where it rained almost the entire time. No surprise there though as that area is so tight between the Cascade and Coast Mountain Ranges it’s shocking when it isn’t raining there during our wet season.

Ticket was fine with the rain, until a half hour into it. Then she pawed up at me, make some boo hoo poor poor pitiful me noises. I knelt down and shared my umbrella with her for a few seconds then she spotted Jo’s empty chair.

I was standing to her left, quietly opened my camera bag and brought it out. She glanced up at me but stayed put. The second I slowly stepped forward to try and take a photo she went to jump off, probably thinking the rain had beat some sense into me, and that we were heading to a dry area. Carol hung onto her collar so I could take the photo. Doesn’t she look like she’s having a grand old time! Like, this is the bestest day ever! Like she absolutely cannot live without a day in the rain!

It was wonderful to see Jo again, she’s fun, energetic and has a lot of insight, of which I gladly feed from. And fantastic to meet Carol and her dog Annie and her 3 Miniature Pinschers!

Jo and Gunny

Go get ‘em Gun!

Partnership

Waiting to herd cattle.

I didn’t get any photos of the cattle herding because I was using Jo’s camera. It’s fancy schmancy and I coveted it. I must have one. Nor did I get any of the duck herding as I was a coward and didn't have the appropriate cover for my camera.

The dogs that were there were beautifully well trained ( great simple manners along with more complex ones), they were absolutely adored by their people as much as they themselves adored them.

Carol’s Tervuren, Annie

All these photos below were taken in about 1 minute. These 2 Border Collie pups rough housed, got themselves tangled up together and with people, were untangled, then promptly began to happily beat on each other again. Good times! :)

Puppies MUST play!

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Hope you all are enjoying today! It’s quite lovely where we are, I better get our asses out and enjoy it more!

Dogless on a dog stroll..

2011-07-17T07:51:00.000-07:00

A few days ago Kelsie and I drove just a few minutes out of town to a great dog stroll area I recently came across. Apparently, when she was a kid her parents took her camping there!

It was a quick walk before she began work so we could see what flowers are blooming now, so the dogs stayed at home. And boy did they lay on the guilt when I got back. Mopey faces, lottsa’ whining and snivelling. It was sad and pitiful.
Back to the walk…

The Salmonberry Tale

First there were two...then one...then none.

The End.

The only bad thing I can say about Salmonberries is that they are small and go down the gullet too quickly.

Huckleberries!

Here’s a memory of Huckleberries; North Vancouver, specifically Seymour Mountain when it was mostly bush, 8 years old. Instead of walking on the road to go to/from school I would take a shortcut through the woods. Walking across log bridges to cross the creek and eating handful after handful of Huckleberries. Ahhhh yes, good times. :)

Same thing goes for these little beauties though; too small and disappear too fast.

Spirea

Foxglove

If I hadn’t bent over to scratch an itch *shakes fist at mosquitoes* we wouldn’t have seen this Foxglove. There was only one, how weird is that??? and it was bent over and under another plants leaves. The rain had beaten it down.

Wild Strawberry

Go West young woman!

or East...whatever.

Cement Art

Natural gas pipeline completely effing up the view.

A teensy bit of vertigo happening!

The Lupine’s are dying out, but the Daisy’s are flourishing.

A young Heart Rock.

Camping spot! Even I, a complete anti-campinginatent type of ~~spoiled~~ human, would enjoy pitchin’ a tent here! ( only for one night though )

A bouquet of Daisies.

It’s supposed to stop raining by late morning today. I hope so, as I have plans with a dear friend to do outdoor stuff! Here's hoping we all have a fantastic day!