524 - fall cleanup Sept 30

Day 524 had us up early getting Britt to work by 8:30. Sheldon brought back a hot chai tea for a treat and it was fall cleanup. First I called Vance to wish him happy 9th  birthday!

Sheldon worked on finishing the windbreaks while I harrowed the fields then picked up all wood ends he cut off along the fence. putting away tools, watering plants, rolling up hoses, harrowing the yard, picking up trash from the storm still and ditch along the road were some of my other jobs in the morning. Sheldon stacked  pallets and took to approach for giveaway then loaded up more items around the yard on the skid steer and put away

For lunch at 1, I made a healthy out of my garden tomato soup in the Vitamix taking about 6 minutes to complete. I added a wee zucchini too

5-Minute California Tomato Sauce

Makes 4 cups

This is a light, fresh and brothy tomato sauce. For a thicker sauce, let simmer until thickened to desired consistency.

Ingredients:

2 ½ pounds (1.25 kg) large red California tomatoes, cut into wedges (5 large tomatoes)

4 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup (50 mL) extra virgin olive oil

1/8 teaspoon (0.5 mL) red pepper flakes, optional

2 tablespoons (30 mL) tomato paste

3 tablespoons (45 mL) fresh parsley, chopped 

1/2 teaspoon (2 mL) white balsamic vinegar

¾ teaspoon (4 mL) sea salt, more or less to taste

Zest from 1 lemon

Directions:

1.  Place tomatoes and garlic in the work bowl of a food processor and pulse until tomatoes are finely chopped.

2.  Place olive oil, red pepper flakes, salt, tomato paste, parsley, salt and vinegar in a large saucepan, stirring to completely incorporate tomato paste.

3.  Place saucepan over high heat and bring to a boil. Let boil 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in lemon zest. Serve hot.

Sheldon then ran to town to pickup Britt at 1:30. I updated the blog quick then returned to my yard cleanup trimming trees etc. I also gave Diego his 5 week Cartrophen shot.

 here is mcgyver taking my load of wood and tree trimmings to the pit lazy man way

 he also pulled the pumps and rerouted the rain water for the winter

 Britt sorted bottles then hosed Bird

At 4:30 we tacked up and headed out on a nice trail ride with Britt riding Baby for Shaina who worked till 4 but had to wait until tables cleared. She arrived home just as we got back around 5:30. I made supper while Sheldon went out to do finishing touches on the ends of the planters for the garage rock going up tomorrow morning.

After supper he cleaned up tools while I cleaned up kitchen, unloaded the dishwasher and washed dishes while Britt did homework and Shaina slept. Apparently a hard w/e for her as she went to bed once home, had no supper and only got up later for a snack then back to bed. Britt finished homework while we watched some PVR and read more of my book.

523 - lazy sunny saturday

Day 523 was a fairly laid back day. I was up at 9 but after taking all my supplements and doing a few things began to suffer the flu my boss brought to work. It was to be another polox day but I needed to stay close to the house. Sheldon worked on his last year of farming accounting AKA Ag Stability as well as GST.

Shaina headed out for the first of two jobs for the day for 10. I spent the afternoon collecting seeds from my garden and pulling out more plants, then I trimmed tees for a couple hours.(willing them to come back the whole time) Britt ended up going to the city with McKenzie's shopping later in the afternoon and Kaylin driving her home around 5:30 after a big i-phone fiasco. Sheldon went to town in the afternoon to exchange boards, wash his trucks and few other errands. Once back he worked on fat pen wind break.

 here is finished in skinny pen

and him working on fat pen

At 6 another roofer came to do a quote. I created a scrumptious steak supper and enjoyed yet another great sunset!

Shaina stayed in at Kaylin's as Kate was home for the w/e and they all went out. Britt took in a party at Carseland being picked up after 11 and dropped back home by 1:30 by a friends dad.I started a new book tonight, The City of Bones, and read fairly late yet again.

522 - family fun day

Day 522 was my day off and what a lovely day off it was. The day started with Britt heading to school on the bus early.Once I was up I went and watered all the garden and flower beds. Telus stopped to fix phone and whatever he did stopped the crackling and humming. Shaina was up around 10 and her and I went for a ride around 12:30 for an hour.

Dale, Stacie, Vance and Mya stopped for a visit at 2 on their way home from a conference in Kananaskis. Mya played with toys on the deck while Vance hauled a pile of items from the junk pile to the bales to make a fort. Shaina headed off to work by 3 after a visit. Britt arrived home off the bus and joined the visit. Craig Amanda and Asher arrived out around 4 and Sheldon (after making an emergency stop for beer when I called him to say we were out) arrived home about 4:45.

The afternoon was fabulous. The kids rode horses bareback then with Britt after she gave Pepper a work out. Sheldon barbequed hot dog and burgers and I made a salad and we all enjoyed supper together. Dale's group headed home to Oyen around 8 as tomorrow they were venturing off to celebrate Vance's birthday in Drumheller. Then Britt, Sheldon, Amanda, Craig and I played call partner smear until 10 when they headed home. Shaina was home after close at midnight. It was a great family fun day in the sun!

521 - foggy morning, does this mean rain soon?

Day 521 was a cooler day that started with heavy fog. It looks so cool.

Britt an I headed off as the fog dissipated. After dropping her at school I stopped to grab Tims then headed to work. I left work at 1 and headed to the ranch. It was desk cleaning and sorting time. Britt arrived home on the bus and hosed Bird. After getting home form work Sheldon worked on his truck hoping to solve an oil leak which he found to be the rear seal. A lady stopped to buy a hockey helmet quick while I trouble shot our crackling phone line. Shaina was home from work at the station from 11-5 and she finally had time to do some chores such as unload dishwasher and put washed horse tack away before Brandon joined us for supper at 6.

Bird's leg looking better

After supper, Britt, Shaina and Brandon took the dogs for a walk then Brandon and Shaina went to OJ's for dessert and Britt worked on homework.

520 - naturopath appt

Day 520 found Britt and I beetling off to school and work then at noon I headed to the ranch to meet Sheldon and we were off to view 3 metal shops to get a good idea on size in real life. We saw a finished 56WX104LX18H and it was lovely, then we saw a shell of 60WX104LX18H (the same size we had quoted) as well as a 50WX150LX20H. This was enlightening for sure.

latisse is amazing for length, I only use twice a week


Then we were off to see the naturopath for Sheldon's followup at 3:30. Seems his plan is to do 7 more food sensitivity eliminations to start. Next stop was Costco. We loaded our cart not the usual fill but a few things we needed. I had been forgetting my rebate check and finally had it with me, it was for $317.14 and can you believe our cart total as $317.06!!! I even got .08 change and a free cart load!! Darn I should have bought a lottery ticket.

Sheldon went to fill with gas dropping me at Superstore to try and find sheep cheese..hmmm nope but I did get more rice noodle and about 6 flavors of goat cheese for Sheldon. A quick stop at Booster Juice to revive us and we headed to Langdon to pickup 2 items I purchased off the garage sale. Finally we drove around by Stouts to pickup Britt who was dropped there after the bus missed our stop yet again.

Back at the ranch it was the dreaded unloading of Costco goods and coming up with supper. We decided on salad as I had stocked up. Britt hosed Bird and then it was TV night. Shaina was home early like 9 from babysitting Asher then hitting the city with Emily shopping.



My salad on left (orange is sweet potato not cheese folks) Sheldon's on right he had tons of fruit and pepperoni hidden under yet :-)

519 - 1/2 done slabs on the wind break fence

Day 519 was a hazy and increasing windy day. Britt and I were off to work and school and Shaina was off to 2 jobs a bit later starting at 11 at the golf course and ending at 9 at Target. After work I stopped at Totem to get a substantial refund as they overcharged us $410 on our lower deck!! Seems the squeaky wheel pays off. (They charged for 5 cases of deck anchors instead of 5 and being a package price it was not listed individually) I then ran to Walmart to grab items.

Britt arrived home off the bus just after I got home and Sheldon was right behind us both. He and I enjoyed a cold beer while Britt put the horses back in the winter pen. She then retreated to her basement while I blogged and continued the search for accommodations to St Lucia. Sharon and I narrowed down to these 3.
choice 1 harbor 17
choice 2 harbor 12
choice 3 harbor 5

Sheldon ventured out in the dismal weather to work on putting the slabs up. It sure went quick.

 to start

after about an hour, first shelter basically done other than a few more nails to pound

then he came in for supper around 6:30 just as it started to drizzle but not for long :-(, man do we need moisture. After supper I did health spending accounting.. boring! while Britt trimmed Sheldon's hair.

518 - funday Monday

Day 518 was a quiet lovely day. Britt was off on the bus early. I enjoyed my morning putzing around and perusing the w/e blogs. Shaina drug herself out of bed by noon as she has to work 2-9 at Target.

Kaylin and Asher came out for their ranch fix around 1:30 and stayed for a couple hours. I was surprised to see Asher got glasses.

now the chokecherries are flowering.. darn this nice weather and hail to mix them all up

After school Britt hosed Bird then when Sheldon got home we all went out to start another project, the windbreak. Sheldon hammered in nails while I made supper.

Then at 5:30 3 of her friends arrived to go riding. Once it was getting dark just before 8, they untacked and then rode quads before playing a bit of pool then heading home at 8:30.

 Hawk hopes to escape

 gorgeous night for a ride

 but she catches him soon after

 Josh, Hannah, Britt and Jayden

 KD watches while Baby chases her and runs herself silly, good exercise for her to be left it seems

 on their way back towards house

After supper, Sheldon moved a pallet of slabs out to the work area for tomorrow. Getting dark early allows for TV finally and we watched 4 shows on PVR catching up. Love that thing. Shaina was home around 10 and did laundry and playing on her laptop till at least 2 am.