Day 2.

The next morning we ate chocolate crepes at the Bed and Breakfast with about 20 other guests and visited with our table mates from Dallas Texas who though we were amazing to have 4 small children and on our 10 anniversary trip. They also thought it was funny the way Papa and I shared our fruit cups. Papa doesn't like pineapple or kiwi so he gave all of his to me and then after eating all his and most of mine I handed over the rest of my fruit cup for him to finish. After breakfast we left the B&B and headed back down town to take some pictures and have some lunch at the Swans. Papa found the Swans on the Internet before we went and they have micro brews so he had to go!! They also have great food and a beautiful deck to eat it on. Papa got a 6 sampler of beer and loved them all. I had one of their root beer and it was wonderful too. After lunch we headed out to Butchart Gardens over 55 acres of flower gardens. We took a LOT of pictures and (sorry Mom) decided we would pass ever going with Grandma Griggs. LOL. Seriously we walked through it in about 3 hours and Grandma Griggs, we are sure, could spend DAYS there. We would have liked to see it at night too but we had to get a move on. Don't worry Grandma we are planning on putting the pictures on CD and sending them to you!! The Gardens are wonderful. Awesome even. What is also fabulous about them is that part of it (the sunken garden) is in an old pit. There used to be a cement factory there and they completely obliterated any signs of the factory. Oh actually there is one left. There is an old tower standing behind the sunken gardens but other then that. Nothing.
After leaving the gardens Papa and I headed out North up the island to find a place to stop for the night. We had to get to Port Hardy by 1pm the next day or they would charge us for an extra day on the rental car. We had a booklet of B&B's and we drove to one in Nanaimo and they had a room so we left our stuff there and headed out for a night on the town. We went out for supper, we went to a brew pub and Papa had a few samplers. After supper we headed to a movie and then to bed. What a great day. The movie was "The Time Travelers Wife" and it's very good. We both enjoyed it. If you liked "The Lake House" you'll love this one!!

I really like Tugs. Here is another one.

Where we had lunch.

A house I loved!! They were working on it but boy was it nice!!

The Bed & Breakfast. It was build in 1912. I think. :)

Day 1.

Well we hopped on the plane and enjoyed the view from above for the trip. We saw rivers and lakes, mountain and houses. We even saw some smoke from fires. Then all of a sudden there was only water below us and we were dropping dropping and Oh look land and then we were down on the ground rolling along the run way!! What a rush!! We grabbed our bags and headed out to find a bus or something to take us across to the Island and to our rental car. An hour later we were on board a bus and heading for the 1st ferry ride of the trip. We got off the bus on the ferry and spent the next 90 minutes taking pictures and gawking at the scenery. 15 minutes before we docked we ran back to the bus and hopped back on to finish out the trip to Victoria and the rental car. It was only a block from the bus to the rental and 15 minutes later we were on the road exploring Victoria. We had a great day. A seafood lunch on the pier, walking downtown, we stopped and watched a street performer and Papa walked right by another performer covered in white stuff holding so still like a statue and didn't even know it wasn't a statue until I told him later!! We toured the Parliament building, and bought coffee, chocolates and ice cream. We went for a drive along the coast and saw some incredible houses and some neat trees before going and settling in to a B&B for the night. That night we ate a wonderful seafood dinner and totally enjoyed ourselves. Oh and we took pictures. Though we didn't have the camera the whole time so we have no pictures of the inside of the Parliament building or the beautiful stained glass windows. The Parliament Buildings at night.

A piece of farmland on the way. This was pretty much the only piece we saw from the ferry. Papa fell in love with it.

The rest of the piece from above.

Papa and I on the Ferry.

A beautiful place.

A Ferry like the one we were on.

A lighthouse.

A Tug Boat in the Harbor

A Wonderful Thing!!

Papa and I have been married 10 years this fall and we planned a special trip for our 2nd honeymoon/10 year anniversary trip. We knew what we wanted to do but had a really hard time finding a WHEN!! Our anniversary is on Sept 6th which is usually close to a long weekend so we were wanting to go then but we couldn't find a babysitter for that weekend. No one could do it. So we felt God was saying WAIT! So we messed around for a bit thinking and finally came up with a week that would work for our babysitter (my mom) and Papa's work and us!!! When it came all together it was incredibly fast. We got our tickets a mere week before we left. Thankfully we got a travel agent to get them and they did a great job!! So we left our kids with Grandma and Grandpa went home to have a good nights sleep before getting up at 4am so we could drive an hour into the 'city' so we could hop on a airplane and began our 6 day trip!! Here I am with some huge flowers at Butchart Gardens in Victoria.

Here we are on day 2 after our haircuts. Papa's gift to me was his bare upper lip!!

The Easy Way....

Papa borrowed this bobcat to move cow manure from our wintering area to the front so we can mix it with peat moss for the raised beds. This was the 1st attempt. He is going to try it again with the forks of the bobcat and hopefully be able to get it out. The area he's cleaning out is about 24 feet by 12 feet and is under a roof. Here he is in the taking dirt out!! A bit tricky as the bucket won't dig deep and the bobcat doesn't have a lot of traction.

Dumping it in the truck bed trailer instead of hauling it across half the property every bucket full.

Pulling the trailer to the dumping area. Tricky work but Papa's got it down pat!!

Dumping.. Oh wait trying to dump. It refuses to fall out. He had it completely upright!! The next load he tipped it over from the side which he said worked better as it all fell out.

And the Hard Way. Papa had to pitchfork the last half out as it would not come out!! I told him I was taking pictures for proof that he can shovel shit with the best of them!! LOL.

This is the 3rd old one that needed pictures. And actually this project is NOT finished. We only got a few loads done and then it rained. This will be our project for this weekend. Got to get that area ready for winter. Have a wonderful day all!!

It's another BIRTHDAY!!

Papa turned 32 on Sunday and I surprised him with a pie and snacks afternoon with friends. We all totally enjoyed ourselves. The kids had a great time 'picnicking' in the bedroom and playing outside. The adults played '4 on the couch' a fun memory game and the girls won once and so did the guys. Papa loves apple pie so the kids and I made him 4. The boys cut up all the apples and I DID NOT FORGET ANYTHING!!! ( I do sometimes and Papa laughs at me!!) The pies were great and we all had a great time.

This is another one that was waiting for pictures. I have one more :)

Bossy and Beauty.

God answers prayer. It's amazing sometimes how fast. We found out on Tuesday that the bull that we borrowed last fall to breed Bindy was a dud. He had only two calves out of Jim's whole herd of about 60 cows!! So there was no calf. Which explains Bindy's behavior. She did not want to dry up and when we made her she just about stopped eating all together. We were sure that there was a calf but there never was. Which just shows how much we are still learning. Her bagging up we are attributing to being stressed at Mikes and relaxing here. Anyway. Our neighbor with the bull, Jim, brought some of his cows to auction yesterday and stopped in on his way home to pick up Bindy to take her to his place and the bull. She has been a bit of a brat lately and we were quite happy to see her go!! Papa went with him to take the halter and rope home and to check out this cow that Jim got last spring. Jim was telling him it was really tame and possibly had some Holstein in it because of it's size (She is very tall and big boned for a Angus). So the kids and I waited. Papa had not seemed excited about this cow at all and was only going to 'be neighborly' and because Jim was so insistent (thank you Jim) so I had no great hopes. I was sitting on the couch snapping beans when I heard something. Thinking Papa was home I went to look and here he is with a funny look on his face. Then I heard Jim drive up still pulling the trailer. Papa's still not saying anything just watching Jim back down the driveway. So I yelled SO?? Then he laughed and said. SHE"S TWICE AS TAME AS BINDY!!! WAHOOOOO. I called the kids and grabbed the camera and we stood by the window and watched them unload them. Yes. Them. As they were getting ready I asked the kids what they thought was in there. Well. E was SURE it was a horse. The boys didn't know and didn't want to guess. So I tried to give them a hint and said that it was something that mooooo-d. Well E pipes up. Horses don't say MOOO... they say NEIGH!!! I tried several times but she was convinced it was a horse. At this point the boys changed their minds and figured it was a bull. Bindy had not been gone more then a hour and I'm not sure they even noticed she was missing. Even when the big, but rather skinny, all black cow walked out E still thought it was a horse. If it had been it would have been the ugliest horse ever! And then here comes this little black calf. A heifer calf. OH then the noise level hit a whole new level inside. E is screaming about 2 horses. A big one and a little one. L is telling me that 'yup she's a milker.. I can see the milk mom. She looks like she has lots of milk in those things.' J is super excited that there is a 'new calf to watch too. A new cow and a new calf to watch too.' Over and over till I just blocked him out. And little R is standing, barely able to see out the window, screaming ARRR HHHHHHARRHHHh at very near the top of her lungs. I looked down at them all and just laughed. They were SO EXCITED!!! And I was too. But because the window was open and the cow was right there and in a new spot I did my best to shush them. The noise level went down a little bit but the cow never even noticed them at all. She love all that nice green grass that Bindy has been turning her nose up at. Papa figures Bindy will be very happy to have it when she gets back as Jim's pastures are all dried up. That very morning before breakfast the kids and I had prayed and asked God to help us to know what to do with the cow situation. We didn't ask for a new cow that night but that's what we got. They are not ours. We did not buy them but the cow has a bad hip and Jim was going to bring her to the auction unless she works out for us. Jim called her Bossy and so I named the calf Beauty for the one little white dot she has on her cheek. A little white beauty mark on a all black calf. Bossy is about a 100 years old and looks it. Jim says she's probably too old to breed back which is why he's getting rid of her. This from a man who has the oldest cows of anyone we know. Her bag is nice and large and she looks like she'll give a lot more then she is now. Papa and I went out after Jim left and took a closer look at her. Papa milked her in the corral at Jim's and I was SHOCKED when she came over and sniffed me and asked for a pat. She has a ENORMOUS head which none of our halters will fit on. She came over to me twice just for a pat and I told Papa "I could get used to this." Bindy is very offish with people. We're giving them a day to settle and Papa's going to try milking tomorrow morning. She's quite leery of chickens and chases them as much as she can with her bad hip. Beauty is also quite tame and about 6 weeks old. Young enough to tame some yet. If she'll not let us milk then Jim will take her to the auction in 2 weeks. Another wonderful thing about Bossy and Beauty is Beauty!! Papa and I have a back up if we can't milk. Oh and E didn't seem to have any disappointment over the cow and yes she now realizes it's a cow and not a horse. When I told Papa what had all gone on.. he laughed and said. "I guess we are going to have to get that girl a horse yet!!" I wonder if I can get it in writing?? :)

Fathers Day!!

The kids and I had a lot of fun getting ready for Fathers Day this year. We baked Papa these mini apple pies (and YES!! I did forget the flour inside but you should try making pies with kids sometime!!! They were still GOOD!!!) and each of the kids got to pick Papa out a card at the $$ Store and decorate them with stickers and drawings when we got home. Even R got to color on an envelope :) They did a great job!!

And yes I know this is really late. I thought I had posted this already but I was waiting for a better connection to put the pictures up too and it got a bit forgotten!! Sorry.

Fish

Well we headed down to the pond the other day with the camera and the kids. The kids loved the wild strawberries that grow well there and I took a bunch of pictures of my fish. Boy have they grown!! When I put them in they were only about 2 inches and I think, it's hard to tell, that they've doubled in size. 13 survived!! On the way back to the house the kids got a ride in our portable waterer for Bindy. Bindy had been by the pond but Papa had already moved her back closer to the house. So we put them all in and Papa pushed them up to the house.

Lard.

Here are the pictures I promised from my lard rendering day. Here it is cooking down. And cooling and sealing it's self in jars. Note the heavy glove. This stuff is HOT!!! The brown jars are cracklings. I also got 5 yogurt containers of lard (that I froze) and 3 of cracklings.

The cooker. To fill the jars I placed a clean piece of plywood over the top and used it as a table.

Beautiful Beans, Boogers, Biking Boys, Broccoli, Blessings, Belated Bindy & Buckets & Buckets....

Of RAIN!!! (but I'll get to that :)

This year is the 1st year ever that I've gotten more then a handful of beans from my own garden. So far with only 2 pickings I have gotten 3 gallons of BEANS!!! They are some sort of bush beans and are doing wonderfully. I have no idea what the name is but hopefully will remember again next year. BUSH beans work!! For those of you in warmer climates this is not a hard feat. But for us up north this is a huge blessing. Speaking of blessings we've had a few lately. The beans, which Bindy begs for over her fence, are just one of several.

Boogers. I know they are nasty things to talk about but I'm going to anyway. We've had perfect summer weather ever since the "Rain Out". If anything it's been too warm!! Imagine that!! So it figures that the children would get a summer cold. Thankfully it was only a minor one and except for R and now, just today, Papa, it was very mild and consisted of a mild irritating runny nose and a bit of crankiness. R's had a runny nose for about a week and these days it's not unheard to hear BOOGERS MOMMA!! Which means I grab a tissue or yell for another child to get one and meet me at the baby. A bit drastic you say!! Not with R's boogers. She sniffs once or twice and she's already got boogers to her chin!!! I think part of the reason we got the cold in the first place is because we were rationing milk (frozen from the freezer) and now we are OUT!! But we'll get to that!! :)

J has officially learned how to ride his bike with 2 wheels!!! YAHOO. He still needs a good push to start out because the seat on his bike doesn't go down far enough but once he's off he can go a long way!! So we've been learning turns and that if you put your legs down fast enough you won't crash. LOL. He is starting to be able to push himself a little bit and ALMOST get going by himself. But right now if I push him at the shavings pile he can go all the way to the house , turn around and come back to me!! He's also been raiding my broccoli patch. Or rather HIS broccoli patch as he is the only reason I planted it. He loves what he calls "home grown broccoli!"

Blessings. The last few weeks we've been really blessed in different ways. The T family has had us over several times for supper, lunch or just for a few hours of fun sliding on their homemade water slide. They also blessed E with a girls bike complete with training wheels. Last week we were able to bless them back by helping them butcher their meat birds. What a great way to bless this friendship.

Belated Bindy started out as Blasted Beast Bindy... but I changed it to Belated Bindy as that is where the trouble started. Bindy is now 13 days late to have her calf and we are torn between worrying whether there IS a calf and knowing that there IS a calf and wondering WHY she hasn't had it. She is a bit bagged up but not tons. She didn't really bag up last year so we're not to worried about that. But she doesn't seem to be ready to have a calf at all. Besides that she's taken off to the neighbors 2 times in the last 3 weeks. Once when we were at the "Rain Out" and our really nice helpful neighbor Mike had to go and get her and bring her back to his place where we'd left her for the weekend. Thanks Mike!! She escaped his place again and we finally brought her home, thinking that she wasn't happy enough there and sure enough the day we brought her home she bagged up a noticeable amount. Since then she's broken out again and headed to that same neighbors (He has a bunch of Black Angus and thinks she's picking out her next years mate.) this time in the middle of the day and he had to put her in a corral until Papa got off work. Then when Papa went and got her she 'headed for the high country' and he had to chase her though several fields and a lot of bush before he caught her and dragged her home. That night her punishment was to be tied short to a tree for the entire night. Amazingly the next day and ever since she has been a ANGEL!! Not even yanking on the rope. I think she realized that Papa really does MEAN it. But she also got a lesson from the fence yesterday. It was HOT and she must have tried to go thru it and next thing we know Bindy is half way to the lagoon and the fence is on the ground. Hee hee. I've been told that horses can hold their foals in for a certain amount of time until they can get alone or in more happier/safer surroundings but I've never heard of a COW doing that. Needless to say Papa and I have spent a considerable amount of time looking at her and we've seen that calf move several times. Bindy carries her calf on her right and her rumen on the left. There is a hollow spot above the calf and a BUMP below that is the calf. This bump moves actively much like my belly did when I was pregnant. So we are fairly certain there is a calf. But boy do we wish she'd just have it already. We are completely out of frozen milk and butter!! I had to BUY butter for the 1st time in a year last week. The milk only ran out yesterday but we are unsure what we are going to do about that. Store bought is not a option but we may be able to get milk from a person near us if Bindy holds out much longer. She has a LARGE private area she can calve in.. but so far she spends most of her time on the front lawn. The pen goes from the driveway to the lagoon along side the kids play area, garden and greenhouse. Last year she had Bobby right beside the house!! I still think BLASTED BEAST BINDY applies!! :)

Rain beautiful rain!! Last week it cooled off a bit and yesterday it finally rained!! Other then a short 'dampening' rain which barely got the dust damp we've not had a rain since the "Rain Out". Buckets and Buckets of Rain. I love the sound on the tin roof. Then this morning, Papa's day off, we went out to do some fencing (another story all together!!) and it POURED!! Rain drops as big as quarters!! After a couple of minutes of this it quit long enough for us to half finish our job and then came a more moderate steady rain. By the time we finished I was soaked thru!!