Hanging out at Jamber Urban Farm

I've been parked at my daughter's house for the past couple of weeks now. It has been going well and the weather has warmed up to summer temperatures. I spend a lot of time outside in their back yard, hanging out with the chickens, cats, and dog. There has been a fair bit of yard work to do as the snow only just melted a few weeks ago, leaving behind the sins of fall and winter.  We made a great deal of progress and the ornamental crabapple tree is just about in full bloom - gorgeous and annoying. The blossoms are stunning but the ornamental crabapples are useless and make such a mess and dangerous for chickens. 

I love to check the henhouse for eggs each day. The two hens, Cruella Deviled Egg and Mandarin aka Mandy are regular layers and produce up to a dozen eggs per week between them. So far today - one egg from Mandy. 

For the most part it has been wonderful to chill here however this morning one of the chickens was fussed up about something at 5:30am and because I am directly on the other side of the fence with my big bedroom window open for fresh air, I hear every cluck up. Usually I don't hear much from them other than cooing and minor clucking. Cruella loves to be held and the other day my daughter gave her a bath as she had a bit of a dirty vent (where the eggs and poop both come out. She put up a bit of protest but was easily calmed. 

I feed them very nice salads of spinach, grated carrot and zucchini topped with dried mealworms. Cruella is a ninja with those mealworms and pecks them out immediately, leaving Mandy with just a couple that she snuck out from under Cruella's beak. A few days ago on the weekend, my daughter's partner dug up a nest of beetles and a few worms so we gave them to the hens in some mud - well did they ever like that! They went nuts after all of the goodies, chasing one another back and forth to take what the other chicken had. 

We had a few escapes but nothing we couldn't handle and were able to herd them back into the pen of safety. 

Crossing the Rockies

Me and my trusty co-pilot Nash (and my Dad's ashes - my other trusty co-pilot) left my sister's place in northern British Columbia and we set out for the Rockies. We drove over them all afternoon in gorgeous weather. No mater how many times I cross them, I love each and every trip. Mount Robson is the highest peak of the entire Canadian Rockies. 

Then we hit a snag. My rv had thrown a belt and I lost all power steering. I truly believe that my father was watching out for me that day as I had been crossing the Rockies all afternoon the day before when steering is all important. I had heard a bit of a whine/screech when I started out from Hinton on the second day. The drive was quite flat and straight from Hinton as we were out of the Rockies and so did not notice until I went to adjust my steering for someone to pass me. It happened EXACTLY as a passed a lone gas station along the otherwise desolate highway. AND as luck would have it, there was a mechanic shop less than a km away that could fix my issue right away. I was okay to drive with my ARM STRONG steering (as my dad called it) and get the rv to the mechanic shop. They had to order parts from Edmonton, which was so ironic considering that was my destination. I ended up spending the entire day at their shop, but it was a lovely gorgeous day and I wandered the property and took a stroll to the A & W at the corner across from the Esso shop. I believe it was my father who guided me there at the perfect time. Had I broken down elsewhere with miles to find a mechanic, I would have had to call my roadside, wait hours and hours for them to tow me to a shop anywhere they could find and maybe sit for a couple of days. So yes, thank you Dad for your guidance once again. 

We had camped the night before at Safeway/Walmart parking lot. I had looked at campgrounds but they were pricey and I didn't really need one. Free is so much better! I went to Mr Mikes for a nice supper and relaxed watching Netflix as I could pick up Shaw wifi there too. 

Now we are tucked away beside my daughter's garage in the alleyway behind their house. I am plugged in and Nash can see into the yard to interact with us. He is not ready to meet anyone, but that's okay. The one day he met McGee from the other side of our screen door, I ended up scratched up to pieces and a nasty bite on my arm when I went to take him away from the door before one of them went through it. Lesson learned - do not approach a cat with your body when he is squaring off with another tomcat.  Get the fucking broom instead and keep him at that length. 

Northern Sweatshop

My sister and I set up our sewing machines to get into some quilts for my three nephews, aged 13, 15, and 17. Big boys for sure. 

She had started an intricate piecework one for the middle child a couple of years ago and it ended up tucked away half finished. I encouraged her to finish as many strips as she can and I can integrate them into a quilt that I promised to finish before I left. Well it didn't take long and before we knew it, the quilt was done. 

While my sister was piecing together some strips for the above quilt, I got to work on a simpler one for the oldest nephew. He is very much an outdoorsman, so we chose earth/woodsy tones and a nature print. He quite liked it. 

The final quilt was for my youngest nephew. When asked what colours he wanted in his quilt, he said purple and blue. My heart soared - these are my favourite colours and I was excited to work with the brilliant tones. He was quite happy with his quilt and looking forward to spreading it over his new bed. He was transitioning from a mate's single bed to a Queen size. My nephews are rather tall, like their dad. Two of them are 6 feet already...and those are the two youngest! Dutch heritage has definitely been passed down. 

I have more quilts to make before I return to Victoria, so will be sewing them in Edmonton when parked at my daughter's place. I promised my sister I would make her a lap quilt out of the fabric leftover from her three sones quilts. I have a quilt I want to make for a friend who loves purple and green and dinosaurs...fun! I also made a number of doll quilts and sent them to friends with little girls who might want them to cover their dollies or teddy bears. I included a velvet patch in each of them for texture, and one little Aboriginal girl I made one for I included what was left of my Aboriginal fabric I brought back for Austrlaia. I forgot to take photos of those little quilts. 

I also made my daughter a quilt over the winter along with a matching one for their dog, Kane. 

The weather has been so lovely this past week and I was recovering from a nasty cat bite the week before so I have not had the opportunity to do any sewing here, but we are in for a few wet and cloudy days this week, so I reckon I will get back to it then. 

Giddy up Reno!

My sister also knew someone who had some horses we could ride on the ranch with her, so we saddled up and headed out for a beautiful day on horseback. I was riding Reno, who was very well behaved and tolerated my rusty riding skills. I tried to remember the last time I had actually ridden a horse, and I think it was probably in Ontario when I was in university and I had taken my daughter and her father camping and we signed up for a trail ride. He had never been on a horse before. It was hilarious. I had ridden often as a teenager, but very little from there on. The last thing I rode was a camel in Australia with my sister. I had already gone twice before,  once with my daughter, and once with friends. 

The ranch had lots of places to take the horses for a ride, through mud, snow, and new grass coming up. My sister was a little rustler on her riding skills and had a bit of an ornery horse and a twisted strap that bothered the horse until we discovered the issue. The strap when twisted gave the horse mixed signals about what to do as it was only on one side. So my sister went around in circles...kind of like paddling a canoe  on one side only. 

The weather was gorgeous, and the mountains around us were so stunning. I felt very lucky that day. 

Snowshoeing The Meadows

My sister and her sister-in-law went snowshoeing on the Meadows just outside Houston. The snow was very deep so no stepping off without a snowshoe on your foot. We dug our walking sticks down and still didn't reach bottom. It was a gorgeous warm day to be out and the snow was so beautiful. My sister preferred to go through the woods, but I liked the open flat spaces to cross. My knee was still a bit out of sorts and I didn't want to risk twisting it horribly in the uneven snow of the woods. We went through the woods anyhow and I just had to be quite careful how I stepped. 

My ssiter's truck was so blocked on three sides with snowbanks that we couldn't see it u nail we breached the snowbanks! I truly enjoyed my snowshoeing adventure with the ladies and wearing my Dad's wooden snowshoes. 

Newborn Goat Cuteness Overload

So my sister knows so many people in the Houston area and knew someone who raised goats! Her friend Micah and her partner called us when they had their first newborn kids so we went racing over that day to get a glimpse of the wee goats. Oh my goodness they were just the cutest things ever. They were pretty easy to handle and the momma goats allowed us to visit and cuddle her little ones. There were several momma goats ready to birth, but unfortunately for us, not while we were there. Nonetheless, we were on cuteness overload by the time we left the farm. They were only just starting to jump up and down off stuff, including their mother! We went back about a week later and saw all the little ones in their pens with their mothers. Then there was some serious jumping and running! They were still happy to be held and their fur was so soft and fuzzy.