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Well the Z and I have been really busy!

Monday, July 19th, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments

Jim, Marnie and the kids got here with their friend Gavin last Tuesday. I worked most days last week. Zeta and I had a lot of river time. We did some yard work and some house cleaning.

I played in a baseball tournament this past weekend. It was our league playoffs. It has been so hot in Creston though, playing third three games on Saturday seemed like I was playing on the sun. It was 34 for most of the day on Saturday.

Our team came in 2nd! Which is great, however I am always a little bit confused when a team can play in the A league and the B league, so if they win A, odds are they will win B. None the less it was great ball all weekend.

The Joy's slopitch team

There was a forest fire started by lightening yesterday in Creston. Up on Mt Thompson, that is the mountain that our Internet tower is on. Here is a picture yesterday afternoon. The water bombers went all day.

Rain rain please come our way and wind stay away...

I have been busy making some wrapped rock jewelry. Here are some pictures of that.

Oh so pretty!

Silly Bedazzled in town, now I need a rock tumbler!

Alrighty, well I am busy on the phone helping Heidi order blinds, so I should go.

Mike and I are sending get well thoughts to Paul’s Mom, Grandpa Jim and Grandma Johnny are all in Hospital, all are ok. But we need them all to get well soon!

We love you all!

Catherine and Zeta

Here are a few photos from the Johnson family visit and our tour to Nelson on the scoots!

Monday, July 12th, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments

Andrew carved up the mountain on the mountain board. He put all the Canada day athletes to shame!

It was so nice to see part of the Johnson crew! They came last Monday to visit. We had a great time with them. They actually did a bunch of touring from here, up to Grand Forks and then down to Spokane and then back here. We did the river swim, they did some quadding. They took in the Columbia Brewery tour. We played some horseshoes! They even got a quick chance to visit with Betty and Paul.

We were so happy to see them. We can’t wait for them to come back!

Ok, on to the next post! Scooting to Nelson.

HUGS, Cath and Z

Here is some more to the last post…

Monday, July 12th, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments

The fixings for the taco night!

Carnitas on the BBQ slowly cooking away!

This was just a great picture of the weather!

The new taco pan at work!

This is the beginning of the mountain board/mountain bike/truck/quad riding day!

The girls at the top of the mountain

Joel and the kids on the Quad!

Mike and Vigar heading down on the boards

Melissa looking all chilly and beautiful

Rob and Johnny were silly enough to ride UP THE MOUNTAIN TO THE 3KM, good job dude!

Heidi trying out the board

The board won the Heidi battle!

Onlooking from the truck! We were the medivac!

Johnny on the board!

The crew chasing the boarders on bikes!

Catherine on the board

Johnny helping me out on the uphill!

Prep for the beer bong

The aftermath of the beer bong

Rob and Inge

Cutie Chloe

Catherine in fine horseshoe form!

Adele being a baby

Beef on a bun night

Mom and babe

We survived Canada Day yet again!

Sunday, July 11th, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments

The past two weeks have been fabulous. Michael has been home with the girls. He drove my car back from CA! SO the Blue car is home now and wow is it nice to drive! Jim and Marnie were here when Michael got home they stayed for 5 days, then the crew all showed up on Wednesday. We had five days of total fun, fabulous company and excellent food.

Ryan and Olga win the trooper award this year as they travelled here to camp With Adele, she turned one month old while they were here. Chloe was a big help to them the whole time too! Ok well maybe she was just freaking cute!

Joel and Heidi were here with Alyssa and Logan! It was great to have them around as always!

Melissa got the distance award as she drove from Edmonton this year vs Regina last year.

Johnny, Vigar and Mateo came in Safari style as always!

Rob and Inge made an appearance this year apparently Rob’s Mom does not have a milestone birthday every year. They win the award for biggest tent! They bring their condo tent every year.

We had lots of people show up from town this year, it was great to see everyone.

The events of the year this year were hanging out and horsehoeing on Wednesday.

Canada Day was great it was a lot of resting and having  a blast as always!

Friday, it was raining, so the crew got all suited up to try out the new pool at the new Creston Rec center.

http://www.rdck.bc.ca/community/recreation/creston/cdcc_facility_enhancement_project/update_june_30_2010.html

Saturday it was not overly hot, so we gathered up all the outdoor gear and took the quad, the truck,  the bikes, the mountain boards up the mountain. We all took turns on the various toys!

Sunday was the usual day of pack up and head to Breakfast with the gang somewhere! We went to the Kitchener Cafe this year as it is on the way for everyone!

Mike and I headed back home after Breaky and cleaned the house and hung with Z for the day. We needed to rest up for the next crew arriving on Monday. Aunt Lucille and Uncle Hugh, Andrew and Jill joined us on Monday and stayed until this past Friday. I will post more details on that in the next post, this one will be huge to start. Mikey left today, it was very sad for the girls at home. He also drove himself to the airport, which was totally different so it made it sadder for me.

But my time with him and everyone else was great.

Here are some pics of the festivities!

Zeta just hanging in the pool!

Setting up the waterslide in the garage to make sure it works!

Ryan and Mike watching the Watersliders!

Chloe climbing up the waterslide

Joel thinking about taking a slide!

Chloe at the bottom of the Waterslide!

Ryan and Olga sharing fruit

Johnny, Vigar and the Safari trailer arrived!

Heidi and Mike moving the Keg caravan with the quad and the broken trailer!

Joel and Heidi by the fire!

Inge by the fire!

Chloe drinking Juice!

Mike playing horseshoes!

Tamara on a Rock!

Ryan with full Artillery!

Tianna showing off her slide manuveres

Tamara and Alyssa planning their water balloon attack!

Mike sporting the new Apron he got from his Mom ( Jamie ) for Christmas!

Me sporting my Canada Day colors!

The boys did a great job of the fireworks!

The start to the Taco night - this is the carnitas pre slow roasting!

Melissa diligently making Salsa!

Watching the horseshoe show!

Ok my pic uploading is being crabby now, so I will publish this and start again!

HUGS to all, Catherine

The outdoor shower is officially open for business!

Sunday, June 13th, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments

Ok so technically it was open before Mike left, but it has been used well so far this week. The week was a crazy one. Mark Stanley was here, doing some paramedic training in Cranbrook. It was terrific to see him. I played a bunch of ball this week. Did a dump run, a Gleaners run, washed the truck (not so much that you would notice now!) Been for a bunch of walks with Z, we even hit the river yesterday! Jim, Marnie, Drew and Tyra were here this weekend. Derek and Dawna were here as well.

Yesterday I had the day off, so I did a bunch of things, including going for a killer scooter ride yesterday morning as it was sooo beautiful out.

Jim and Marnie got Bob II stuck, it was a total coincidence that there just so happen to be a excavator on their land clearing the power lines to unstuck them. Yah excavator guy!

I did some planting of more plants yesterday, I painted a picture. I moved some things from the front of the house to the back of the house. After that, I had a full allergy meltdown ( I definitely hate sneezing again this year), I had a cold shower and then a quiet dark rest to see if I could get things under control.

Today I worked, then I sanded the railing outside and stained it. After that I was off to desawdust myself in the outdoor shower. I was amazing. The shower itself, but the amount of freaking sawdust that was physically ON my body from that project.

Marnie headed back with the kids today and James is sticking here until tomorrow. Since Jim was just going to work until it was dark tonight, I ran into town and got a Warehouse pizza and delivered it with beer.

Zeta and I are now at home trying to cool down.

Mikey was busy busy at work as always. He had a good weekend driving the TT around, he even got some sightseeing in, which is very cool.

Here are some pictures over the last few days.

Here is my makeshift painting to cover my hole in the wall... everyone who has seen the hole knows what I am talking about.

The deck view!

Z hanging

Here is my Topsy Turvy Pepper pot!

The railing from the deck

View from down low

Jim's progress on their shed sleeping quarters!

The pretty girl

Zeta's perch when we get home from a car ride - no thanks, I am good right here in the truck - YOU go on inside!

VIew of the front of the house all niced up for summer

Ok that is enough of the pics. This week will be busy again. Ball twice this week. Mark is back on Thursday, Betty and Paul out Friday and lots of working. I still have  Lordco run on my list, but the good news is, the list is getting SHORTER!

Alright, everyone be well.

HUGS TO ALL!

Z and C out

Oh so RAINY!

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments

Which is good for the grass seed, not so good for all the new plants! They are drowning. Lots of sun in the forecast on the weekend though.

Mark Stanley is here visiting right now. He is putting in some Paramedic shifts in Cranbrook. It is sooo excellent to see him. Z and I wish we had a Mike and Anne, Ava and May to hang out with all of us.

I played ball last night. It was a really good game. The boys of the A Team even let me play short one round. It was great.

Today Zeta had a vet appointment. She is apparently a VERY HEALTHY dog WAHOO!

We went across the line and picked up a package and some beer too!

We received our new Espresso Maker yesterday. I am sooo excited for Friday morning to come where I get to make a coffee. I did play with it to get it all calibrated and what not today, but it was late afternoon so I did not actually HAVE a coffee.

Here is our new shiny thing!!! I think we shall call him Lio!

Here are both Shiny things...

These are some nice flowers my Mom brought on the weekend!

Here is Z

Here is a pic of my Perpetual Basil for Jen!

Goofball

Alrighty, well I am off to bed! Everyone be well, we will report back soon!

HUGS, Catherine

And then there was a PRO HORSESHOE PIT!

Saturday, June 5th, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments

Check today’s work out!

This was not the finished product, but they look stellar!

Here is the new railing for the rock staircase!

This was the process of Horseshoe pit making!

Even got some foliage planted in the rock wall!

Here is the new auger! (Jim and Marnie's)

It works like a hot damn to plant cedar’s!

We planted cedar’s as well this weekend.

Derek, Dawna, Betty and Paul were here for dinner last night, it was really nice.

Anyways, off to bed, Mikey goes back tomorrow.

Mark comes to stay at Hotel Kietzman on Tuesday and Jim and Marnie will be here on the weekend and there are two nights of ball this week. This is going to be a quick week! And only 21 days until until Mike gets back!

Hugs to all,

Catherine

Moose and Bears oh my…

Monday, May 31st, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments

It is Monday night, Michael and I have had a fantastic weekend. Jim and marnie were here with Gryphon, Drew and Tyra. We did some work with them Saturday and Sunday. We managed to get a cordouroy road mostly built over there.

Here is the unloading of the fourth edition of the Bobcat club. Paul was initiated into the club last weekend and Jim, Drew and Gryphon were initiated this weekend.

Here is Bob the II, Bob Jr is Paul's

James watching the unload

This is the new community Auger! Woohoo!

Jim and Marnie also got fence post holes dug and poured. We had a fabulous dinner with the crew on Saturday night.

Here are a few more pictures of us building the road over the weekend.

Culvert going in after a few attempts at using the coupler that Pyramid supplied that was very wrong.

go jim go

Work work work!

We took Ho to the The Goat to help out for the weekend. Mike broke Ho’s windshield. So she is really mad at him right now.

Mike and I had today off as it is Memorial Day in the US. So we had a lazy morning this morning, great dark chocolate mochas and just enjoyed the morning.

We finished out Rock stair case today.

They need a bit of cleaning up still.

It is gorgeous...

We did maintenance on the machines today. We washed the trailer, both machines and part of the truck. That was until the pressure washer decided to have a melt down! We also tried to set up the new Auger on Ho. No post holes dug yet, but we are close.

Michael decided he would like Burgers and fries for dinner tonight. I asked him to turn on the BBQ for the burgers. While he was out there and I was taking the recycling downstairs, he saw a bear across the field. Then while I was on the phone with Betty and Paul and Mike was outside BBQing, he came running in the house saying MOOSE! He had heard footsteps on the driveway and went to look over the edge of the deck and a Moose was right there, he came in to tell me, and he was right under the deck! Zeta barked at him, and he went running! Here is the tracks, I couldn’t get a camera fast enough, but he was cool.

He was huge. but this is the only picture I got of him!

He was fuzzy too!

Anyways, we had a amazing dinner and we will be off to bed soon. We wish everyone a great night, we will check back in soon.

Hugs, Catherine, Mike and Z

And that was May long… I am so looking forward to US May long…

Monday, May 24th, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments

Why you ask? Because the boy is coming home Friday! Yippee. We can’t wait.

Well my cold is still lingering, feeling much better, but my cough is brutal.

The long weekend was fast and furious. I worked at Fritz on Friday and we were so hopping busy! The day flew by. I love it when it is like that. Jim, Marnie and the kids came to work on their place, that was nice. Betty finally made it back from England, apparently the volcanic ash was done with her. Jackie and Ken came out to visit Paul and Betty, it was sooo nice to see them.

I worked Saturday for the Blossom Festival parade. It was fantastic. The weather was good and we were really busy. Then I did a few things around the house. Then I headed off to pick up Wayne and head over to Jim and Marnie’s to talk about building roads. Who knew you could “courdoroy” roads! He has so much knowledge. Then it was off to Paul and Betty’s for dinner. Then back home early as I had to work Sunday.

Sunday I worked, then went to the Creston Chili cook off – which consisted of 5 chili’s teehee. We also checked out some of the vendors and the show and shine! Went to Jim and Marnie’s with Paul, Betty, Ken and Jackie. They got to see the view that will make all their efforts worth it. After that I came home and made dinner for the crew.

Oh big news from yesterday, I get my car back, Mike is going to be driving an Audi TT quattro around for his California duration! I can’t wait to go down there and boot around the beach with it!

Today was a pleasant surprise, I had the DAY OFF! WAHOO!! I had sleep in dreams, but those only seem to be dreams these days as Z thinks sun up means we should wake up.

I had a beautiful coffee outside this morning. It was cool and crisp, but sunny and wonderful.

I met Betty in town and we bought all sorts of plants for our yard. Then I came home and planted and added one more stair to the rock stairs.

The crew came back late today, but they achieved their goals of getting all their pilings poured this weekend. WAY TO GO!

On to now, Z is sleeping beside me and Mikey is waiting for my upload of pictures.

ROcks stairs

more stairs

My gardening plants

more

HUGS to all!

Me

Ok well, I am back in BC, sad because of the cold that I have and the lack of Mike that is here, but the Z factor is a plus…

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments

I intend this blog to be a bit of a longer one as I have been slacking quite well.

One of the problems is that although I have discovered “how” to blog with the ipad, it is not easy to upload pictures from. Therefore I did not blog much while I was away as I am admittedly addicted to my iPad.

The trip all in all was good! A little quality Mike time, a little relax time, some great friend time and some sun.

Now please let me point out that it was warmer here in Creston most of the time I was in California.

Here are some update pictures from the beginning of the trip that were not added with the blogs.

This is a picture of the crazy swerving cop who stopped the traffic on the 101 for the Police Atheletic League ride. There were so many bikes entering the freeway, it was nuts!

This is a coconut stand at the San Jose Flea Market!

This is the Tacos at the Flea Market - oh so yummy! And my coconut!

Some handsome man I found for cheap at the Flea Market!! Wink Wink!!

Me drinking coconut milk, yes out of a plastic bag with a straw! All the locals do it!

Which leads into a funny story – I really wanted a coconut and coconut milk, so Mike says go get one then. So of course, I do. So then I see all of the locals ( aka mostly mexican in that area ) taking their freshly husked coconut over to this stand where they add this white shaker stuff – which looks like sugar or salt on it, they then shake this red shaker stuff – which looks a little like chili powder, then they put lemon juice and hot sauce on it in the bag and they SHAKE IT ALL UP! So I watched LOTS of people do it, little kids, adults, etc. So I figured, when in Rome right? So off I go to the coconut condiment table.

All I have to say is GROSS! They were just baiting the tourists for sure. It may have even been candid camer. Needless to say I ended up without coconut.

Ok so that brings the pictures up to speed on what Mike and I were up to before Joel and Heidi got into town on Wednesday of last week.

I picked them up at the airport and when headed to Half Moon Bay for lunch.

This is where we had lunch at the beach!

Joel’s only requirement was beer!

Joel sadly WITHOUT BEER!

We went back to the apartment after lunch and had some drinks, waited for Mikey to get back, then we went out for Organic Thai food. It was really yummy.

Thursday Joel, Heidi and myself went to the Great Mall in Milpiltas, it was a good shopping day. We met Mike back at the apartment early and we headed to Town, this fabulous steak restaurant for dinner.  We ate and drank until we could do no more. We highly recommend Town to anyone that is in the bay area. The steak is bar none. I will put up a separate entry for a review of  Town.

Friday we had a leisurely morning, we went to the Ingleside Cafe which is a new Cafe in San Carlos. It is fabulous for breakfast! Then we headed off to the Flea Market, to find out that it is only half open on Friday!!! YIKES!!! Once we got into the Flea Market we were very disappointed about the lack of beer there. We were set to leave when Heidi and I saved the day. We found a beer stand!

There are all sorts of things to see everyday at the Flea though. Like the following!

Like skirts that are WAY tooo short to be worn on a freaking doll, nevermind a human

Joel and his Murse for his shoes!

What? A reasonable picture of us for a change! So excited

Me in one FANCY hat

Ok so that was it for the Flea, there was some great deals, Heidi got some great pants, some new shoes, Mike and Joel got somes shoes and shirts and I got some shoes.

So it was back to the Apartment for some R and R before off to a nice Mexican restaurant for dinner. Catherine was a big party pooper though as the cold finally caught up with me a bit. I barely made it through dinner.

Saturday we fore went the Alcatraz tour and the OysterFest. We decided to sit by the pool and enjoy some sun. Here was the pool fun!

my new hat!

Cribbage at the pool!

So Saturday night we ordered in! It was good Chinese food, but not great! I tend to be a bit picky on my Chinese though.

Sunday morning we all attempted to go to breakfast before dropping the crew off at the airport. We ended up having early lunch!

Sunday night Mike and I watched some TV and had Chili. I had to leave early yesterday morning to make my flight which in the end was cancelled. It was a very long day yesterday! So it was off to the San Jose airport after not so much help from the friendly crew of United! Mike and I offered a ride to the other airport to another VERY nice couple on their way back from Maui, they were on their honeymoon! They are great and from Hayden, ID. They made all the waiting and crappiness of the day much better. Hopefully I will get to see them again sometime.

Ok so that sums things up, I miss Mike, Z is happy to have her house back and her snuggle buddy and her soft food and bones and treats!

Betty is stuck in the UK, they cancelled her flight, due to Volcanic ash again. They will try again to send her home tomorrow!

Jim and Marnie are moving on their land, they will be back Thursday to work on a foundation.

Betty and Paul’s new BoBcat is in our driveway, it is NICE !!!

Alright well tooo much at once, so I need to go.

Love to all!!

HUGS,

Cath and Z