They're Alive

Yesterday afternoon, as ominous as it looks it rolled on by here silently and then trashed High River I guess.

It has been a long time since I fired up Blogger and updated folks on what we are up to. Last time I had just arrived back from the land of the sun in early February. That was a mistake as it was a long time until the furnace quit running up here in the Land just North of Summer. But Brenda was needing a little nursing and the best she could come up with was me. I ain't much good at it, but I do work cheap.

After hiding out from OLD Man Winter for the month of February I started back at the pool doing a little swimming most week days and that seemed to make winter pass a little quicker. Sometime in late March I took the trailer into Woody's in Red Deer to get a few minor things looked at and to get their opinion on what I thought were some pretty flat springs under her. They agreed and Grand Design agreed to replace them with similar 3500# springs, Well it seemed to me that putting the same springs on would just mean the same result so I gave the folks at Grand Design a call and with a little cajoling they agreed to upgrade them to the 4000# models. That may solve the issue, sure can't hurt anyway.

April and May were spent getting all caught up on my Doctor and Dentist appointments, appears that I am good for a while more, at least until I'm not I guess.

Towards the end of May, Brenda and I headed into the city to watch our grandson Luke walk across the stage and graduate from High School. I have no idea how that happened, seems like yesterday he was just starting pre-school. There is a story behind those Red Boots, they are made right in Calgary by an outfit called Alberta Boots and you can almost guarantee that if you have a pair you are a member of the World Champion Calgary Stampede Showband. Luke is all of that and comes by it pretty honestly as both his father and his mother were members of that same group when they were his age.

Grandson Luke in his fancy Red Boots

I have no idea who the girl in the Red Boots is, but if she is wearing those boots odds are she is good people.

Sometime this spring we got an overnight visit from the Anderson clan, always good to get to spend a little time with them.

Of course July wouldn't be complete without a visit or two to the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth, the Calgary Stampede, and if your grandchildren are performing there it is even better. Annika is a part, the most important part in my opinion, of the band front for the Calgary Stetsons Show Band a High School aged band.

I think having Grandpa poking his camera in her face was a little disconcerting but I did get a smile or two, but I missed the money shot, when she stuck her tongue out at me.

I already mentioned that Luke was a part of the Stampede Showband and I don't actually think my paparazzi like stalking bothered him as much, he seemed to be having a blast. He plays the contra, a low, low brass instrument, but if you are part of the band you are part of the show so it is not all about music. This year Calgary was the host city for the World Association of Marching Showbands World Championships and our own Showband stole the show and won it all, their sixth time as Champions, and the Stetson's, Annika's Band, came in a very respectable third.

Having fun you think?

A salute for Grandpa, probably not, but I am taking it anyway.

We were going to try to escape Dogpound North and head to the Buffalo Creek Ranch up Wainwright way and gather some Saskatoons for jam and pies but we had a little truck problem so had to write that trip off, cousin Mike did come down from there and spend a night with us while he visited an old friend in the city though. 

Now we are getting a little bit caught up, last weekend we were into Chestermere to visit with our Tomasir grandkids, and oh yah, their parents as well. Always great to spend time with them and get a chance to visit on a beautiful summer day in their beautiful yard.

Grandma, Everly, and Kash

The Tomasirs

No shortage of sass in this one.

I have not really burnt up the digits on my camera's this year but we have had a few nice skyscapes over the past few months, well more than a few but here are two I captured, three, if I include the first shot in this epistle.

Just a dramatic skyscape that rolled on past DPN

Thunderhead

Where the Heck Did They Go?

April 25th, an auspicious day, our daughter Lacey and her Alle both call that their birthday and it is also the day I last posted a blog. I am reluctant to spend a lot of time on the mundane goings-on in our lives, let it suffice to say that we have been to dentists, doctors and shopping a bunch of times over the last 4 months. Didn't drink coffee on any mornings and very rarely read the newspaper, but we have kept up on everyone's goings on with the internet. We have been out camping a few times, once with Lacey et al and then by ourselves, both times to the Bighorn Dam where I can run around with side by side and the living is easy.

Abraham Lake on the North Saskatchewan River

Abraham Lake

Company comes to Brenda's Morning Tea Fire.

I did get an opportunity to run in and see Annika, our granddaughter at her Spring Concert, she attends the school her Dad started teaching at 21 years ago, and the Director of her Band was a student of her fathers I think. Time sure flys by.

Annika's Spring Concert

 Then in June there was a gathering at Dogpound North for my birthday, a complete surprise for me but these beauties spent the night, all worn out from the partying.

Sleeping beauties at Grandpa's Birthday Bash

 July in Calgary is Stampede time and if there is a cowboy on the planet who wouldn't like to ride at the ride Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth I haven't met or even heard of him/her but this one is special one this is Justin James, the son of Derek who gave Brenda away at our wedding.

Justin James Calgary Stampede debut

 And Stampede is Band Time also, here is my grandson, Lucas, playing at McMahon Stadium.

Lucas at McMahon Stadium with the Calgary Stetsons Show Band

 And just to keep things hopping July is also haying time in our country, it was good to see it all put up and covered with tarps with nary a rain drop on it, and I just heard today that it is all sold.

Dogpound North's haying is done, all sold too, I heard today.

 We have a couple of hummingbird feeders here at DPN, but this guy likes his organic grub. These little guys keep me entertained most evening watching the aerial dogfighting going on. I have taken hundreds of pictures but they have so far avoided me capturing any mid-air collisions.

Mid-Air Refueling

Now we are getting up to today, this was a log marshalling yard just upstream from Revelstoke. We found a great spot to boondock there as we meander our way towards the coast. Tonight we are in Merritt, BC, and tomorrow we plan on stopping on at Renè and Jeanette's before camping out at the Twassan Ferry Terminal so that we can catch the early Sunday morning ferry to the Island. I expect with a total length on our rig of right around 63' we will almost single-handedly put BC Ferries in the black this quarter.

Loading Log Trucks at Revelstoke Dam

Good morning view from our Boondocking site at the Dam Site

Well I won't make any promises but maybe, just maybe I will get another one of these journal entries done before Christmas time. Thanks for stopping by.

Well time for another journal entry, so I can keep them somewhat up to date, OK, I am only three months behind but time seems to fly and life is not that exciting. Case in point early in May I made a whirl through Banff and up to Lake Louise but the ice was still hanging around, but it was still packed with tourists.

Washing trucks here at DPN is a pretty exciting day I guess, worth a taking a picture of at least.

Mothers Day weekend my Mom and I took a run up to Ponoka to watch the Farming with Horses demo at Pohl's place near Ponoka. The weather was beautiful and the teams were working hard in the heat.

L to R Ben, Beauty, and Buddy

 Early on Mothers Day morning the old people were dancing in the sky over DPN. It was without doubt the best display of the Aurora Borealis that I have seen since I worked in the Mackenzie Delta.

Not often do the lights get so intense or so far south, they were actually filling the sky, I must have taken well over a thousand shots and still haven't finished processing them and deciding which is the best but these two will have to do for examples.

That brings us to the Long Weekend in May, commonly called May 2-4 or just May Long. Blue and I packed up some supplies and headed west for a few days of riding.

It's all you really need

After a great day or two the rains started and we ran for the flatlands and home. Everybody had already packed up and pulled out so the only rig left in the place was Blue and I, and seeing as how there were at least two grizzlies and a couple of cubs wandering around Blue said either I stay in the trailer or we blow this pop stand.

The rest of the month was filled up with visits from the kids and grandkids, Paul and Annika were out to pick up their rig for a camping weekend.

And then along came the Tomasirs, Rebecca was showing a house to some clients just down the road and the whole family came along so we had a visit with them.

And then a few days later the Andersons were in the neighbourhood and spent a night with us. We didn't get to visit long as no sooner had we got the fire going and the marshmallows out to start cooking when we had a horse get tangled in some wire and I spent the rest of the evening and a good portion of the night with the vet stitching it up. I do truly believe that horses were put on this earth just so vet's would be able to pay off their student loans.

And of course on final sunset picture just to close off the month.

Fall is in the Air

Well here it is almost the end of September and fall is definitely in the air here at Dogpound North. Other places also, I guess, I see the Bayfield Bunch has already flown the coop heading towards their Congress, Az winter refuge. As well I see Judy and Emma, along with Nurse Ratchet (Kurt) are heading south also. When the Birdlady of Blogland heads south the geese can't be far behind.

We have had a month of interesting weather here, 12-15 inches of snow to begin the month, some 80+ degree days in the middle but things have become more seasonal now. Our own harbinger's of fall are evident also. The other day I winterized my SIL Tricia's motorhome and today my son Paul hove into sight with his trailer all winterized and ready to assume its spot in the back of our Quonset Hut.

Yesterday I ran into the city and had my monthly lunch with my oldest granddaughter. As usual it was a great time and I really enjoy her company. On the ride home I mused about how becoming a grandparent seems to change your outlook on a lot of things. Claire is pretty focussed on a career as a hairdresser and from what I have seen so far she is going to be a great one. Vidal Sasson move over, there's a new girl in town. Back to the grandfatherly mellowing, I know if my kids had come home with green and blue hair I probably would have had a stroke, but all I could really think was her hair really kind of set off her ensemble.

I can only assume that as we get older it dawns on us there are a lot of things that are vastly more important than the fashions that float your boat.

On the way home from lunch I managed to stop in and give a final goodbye to my Aunt Donna Engel, I won't explain our family connection but suffice it to say she was my aunt 60 years ago and although things changed over that time I still think of her as one of the nicest ladies I ever had the privilege of knowing. We'll see you on the other side Aunt Donna.

Along with Paul today came two more grandchildren so I have had a great weekend. Strangely it seems that all the little babies I remember just a short time ago are growing like bad weeds. Luc and Annika are in Grade 8 and Grade 6 respectively. Not sure how that happened, seems like yesterday they fit almost in the palm of my hand.

For those who are following the saga of Brenda's knee replacement. She is recovering from her second surgery and yesterday was her first day back driving. I won't go into a lot of detail but suffice it to say this has not been an easy road. It seems like one step forward is followed by two steps back but she is a trooper and will make it work.