She’s a busy girl

Every Tuesday mornings Ruth works at the food bank in lake country helping in their kitchen. She sorts food for the hampers that will be given away each week. This week they had about 20 letters of cream that expired that day so they couldn’t put it in the hampers it was destined for the garbage. Ruth packed it up and brought it home. 

I was Aiken up Thursday morning by the kitchen aid whirring away in the kitchen. 

After about 20 minutes she then proceeded to form one pound blocks of butter  and fill containers of buttermilk that we can use later. 

Not a bad haul to make before breakfast. 

We’ve bought new electric bikes.

The first thing we needed was a way to transport them so I bought a motorcycle rack from princess auto and modified. It to hold two biked. 


I bought some aluminum angle iron from the metal superstore and started to build the second holder. 


Ti worked out just as I had hoped. Looks good and works perfect. I’m just a little disappointed in myself for not getting the aluminum powder coated black to match the rest of it. 


The bikes fit the way I wanted. Now we can take them with us on the road. 

Our first ride on the rail trail. 

We stopped at the waterfalls for a photo shot. 

I could hardly keep up to her. 

This is our second ride on the bikes. 

These bikes are a game changer. 

She’s so cute. 

This was a fun day. 

We’ve been camping with Phil and Dianne just south of Vernon for the last few days. We decides to ride with them into Vernon for a pub lunch. 

I love the colour of Kel lake. 

The stone is a map of This lake. 

It’s a pretty cool stop. 

Nice picture of me and Phil. 

Dianne didn’t want to be in a picture but I still caught her before she could get away. 

This always makes me smile

This was 42 years ago.

 I’m so glad that Ruth took this picture. 

October highlights

I love Lemon meringue pie and so does  our nephew. They came for a visit and so naturally I made a lemon meringue pie for our dessert.

Paul and Sharon made up a charcuterie board fit for a king and queen. We love having them living so close. Kamloops is only a few hours away and it’s an easy visit. They are such great people.

I love the meat rose and the cheese that she picked to go with our wine. It was was fantastic.

Carrie and the kids came over for dinner with us. I would like to make Sunday  family dinners a tradition like my parents had. We seem to be slipping away from traditional family events. 

Sunday afternoon we went to an art show in Lake country and Paul and Sharon found a fish sculpture that they fell in love with. They have been looking for something like this for a while and were thrilled when they saw this. It’s beautiful. A good purchase.

They have a dog named Hudson which is likely the nicest dog I have ever been around. It was their son‘s dog and he gives everybody great memories. I would take this dog in a heartbeat to be my own. Hudson is the best.

Ruth and I also got a lot of camping in this fall. Our friends Phil and Diane are avid campers and turned us on to some great campgrounds. This was up in Fintry and our spot was  waterfront. 

It was so relaxing that we didn’t want to leave

I love this girl, she’s a lot of fun and not afraid to wear leggings like this. Personally, I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing those coloured pants. Ha ha. But they look good on her.

I’m starting to like just hanging out and enjoying the view with no agenda. It’s very relaxing.

Completing my finishing trip blog

I spent a couple of days with Wayne and Sue. We  had a few fun games of crib while I was there. I think I lost. Wayne finally admitted to me that he use to play crib in collage for spare money. I’m glad we weren’t playing for money. 

            This is one of my oldest friends. 

Len and I have been friends for about 60 years. 

We spent many years at the monkey hills on our toboggans and Snerf boards. 

That was a favorite winter sport for us. 

Len had these old magazines that he got from his dad many years ago. He dug them out a few years ago to give to Carrie. I usually see him at the lake but this year we hooked up in Winnipeg. He had the opportunity to give them to me this year and I pass them on to Carrie. She found them interesting. All on boats. Such a thoughtful gift. Actually, I’ve enjoyed reading them. They bring back childhood memories. 


After seeing Len and Janelle I headed up to Pat and Roberts place in Elfenstone. It’s about four hours out of Winnipeg and boarders Riding Mountain National Park. Their farm is a few hundred acres but they rent most of it to their neighbor. Farming is a tough job and they are retired. Their property follows the shoreline of worgatti  lake for miles. Also known as Dummy lake. 

It’s stocked with pickerel every year so they see a lot of fishermen out there every summer. We had a beautiful evening for a cruise. 

They built a new house on the property about 8 years ago. It’s so peaceful here. 

The sunsets in Manitoba are hard to beat. 

I headed up to Gimli to visit Ruth’s niece before leaving the area. On the way there I drove down 11 th avenue in Sandy hook to see if the cottage my parents had when I was a kid was still there. It was #7 on 11. 

Pretty easy to remember that address. It looks small compares to what I remembered from when I was 10. 

Cindy is my favourite niece. It’s always so nice to see her. I remember picking her up on my motorcycle to drive her home to babysit my kids 40 years ago. Yikes. Where has the time gone. 

Manitoba is getting some harsh weather this summer. There were tornado warnings on the radio as I drove to her place. Lake Winnipeg has risen so much because of all the rain they have had their basement flooded and now are building a dike across the front yard. 

This storm came on within 10 minutes and lasted about 10 minutes. It’s unbelievable the weather they are getting. Global warming I guess. 

I love their cat. 

Last stop of my fishing holiday was a stop to see Bob and Brenda Unger just outside Calgary at their lettuce farm. Still going strong but I think they are getting close to retirement. It’s hard work. 

I cooked up some walleye I had caught in Ontario and Bob made a fantastic salad. I love going on this trip every year. If I didn’t do this I would never see my oldest and dearest friends. I’ve known Bob for 55 years. Once again ,,,,,,Yikes. Where has the time gone.  

Well it’s over for another year. 

It was such a fun trip I can’t wait for 2023. 

Next year I’m planning on staying at the lake with Ron and Barb for one week longer. It was their suggestion. 

I guess is didn’t terrorize them enough this year. 

My 26th year fishing trip to Ron and Barbs

I love this drive between Kelowna and Winnipeg. Middle of summer and Rogers pass is still full of snow. 

I spent the first night In Calgary with my friends Brent and Gail. I love these guys. I sold them a piano about 22 years ago. We spent the evening eating and laughing. Brent somehow got his dads barber chair that he used in his Saskatchewan barber shop from the 1950’s. Brent restored it and he’s it in his trophy room. It was a little touching to see how proud he was if it. 

This chair looks like it is brand new. Brent does such beautiful leather work. 

This was a sign he found from the 1960’s. His dad was a jack of all trades. 

I was going to sleep in the coach but Brent and Gail had a room for me instead. I like the coach but took them up on their offer. 

Barb had asked me to make a ring toss game for her. I had some cedar laying around the shop so I put this contraption together the day before I headed out. I told her to buy her own ring and hooks. I couldn’t find what I needed so it’s her bc problem now. 

This little guy was giving the flowers outside our door a sniff the evening before I left for Ontario. 

This is an old picture that was taken about 12 years ago at the lake. Charlie the lab was one of our pups. Ron and Barb drove out to kelowna to get him when sweet pea had a litter. Charlie was a great dog. 

Sunsets from the cottage are amazing. 

Every year we have a job to do at the lake. I like puttering so I enjoy my time at Malachi. This was our project this year. A small deck on the bunkie we have built over the last two years. I got John to cut me some cedar planking

Next I made the frame for the deck out of fir in my shop  and did a dry run fitting the boards onto it. 


It looked pretty good. I love working with cedar. Carrie made me the hinges and legs for the deck out of aluminum that she had hanging around the shop. 


Now I just need to figure punt how to get it to Ontario. 

The boards just fit into the carrier. They hung over about two inches on each side. 


I piled all the parts onto the tractor and brought them up from my shop to figure out how to do this. I was worried about it being too heavy to carry out back of the coach. 


I screw the boards together using plywood and this made it one big cube. It’s not a real project until a someone bleeds. 


All the short pieces fit in the bottom of the coach.

On the road. I love this ride. I find the prairies beautiful jus before harvest time. 

I made it.  We needed two boatload trips to get all of the deck out to the cottage. Glad it wasn’t rough.

Carrie’s hinges worked perfectly.

It took a bit of fooling around but we finally got the hinges on and the legs all attached. Now Ron can raise the deck up out of the water for the winter. 

It ended up being perfectly level. 

Now the test. Carrie said she hoped the hinges she made were strong emotional hold two fat guys. 

Ron and I were wondering who she talking about. We’ve never seen any fat guys at the lake. 

Now the fun begins. 

It was good luck to get a see a double rainbow.


The three of us laugh a lot while fishing. 


This was quite a storm. I was glad that Ruth told me to pack my rain suit. 

Lots of food here for the eagles. 

This is a before picture. 

Once the fish are cleaned we take the guts to the island that is in front of the cottage and Barb throws them up on a flat rock that we call eagle rock. 


They usually show up within a couple of minutes to clean up what is an easy meal. 


This was the first year that I stayed in the bunkie 


It’s a comfortable little get away for me. Now I don’t have to listen to Ron and Barb snore. 


And the deck I brought is a nice addition. 


Back home enjoying our sunsets. It was a great fishing trip. I look forward to seeing all my friends on this annual holiday. I can’t wait for the next one.