Christmas Eve Gathering

On christmas Eve, the tradition thus far has been appy's and drinks at Dan and Yvette's house (Daryl's brother and sister in law). This is our second year going and we decided to make and take sushi. Here is an action shot of us making it and in the top picture you will see what's left of two full plates. It was a big hit. We used shrimp instead of salmon (the pre-cooked frozen kind from super store). Also, we put carrot slices inside instead of watercress to add some colour and crunch. It takes very little time to make these, if you cook the sushi rice the day before. You can get all the ingredients at any store. I tried to cut and paste the recipe but this stupid program wouldn't let me. So here is the link:

www.cbc.ca/bestrecipes

p.s: this show always has really good recipes on it, the recipes were originally published in the Canadian living magazines (back in the day) and they have made it into a show. We have made many of Kerri's recipes and they all turn out well.

chillin'

Sometimes Daryl likes to hang out with the dogs on the floor. With it being -14 outside and Karen accidentally letting the woodstove go out today, Daryl claimed the only way for him to get warm was to lie around with the dogs. Logan especially likes to roll into you (so that he is on his back and his feet are in the air) if you are lying beside him. He also likes to wrap his arms around you..... a "hug" if you will.... I'm sure the dog whisperer would have something not so positive to say about this, but hey.....we don't really care.

Daryl's New Job

Daryl was hired late September to work as part of the facilities maintenance team at College of the Rockies here in Cranbrook. He gets to do everything from running the HVAC system (heating/cooling/airconditioning/boilers) to fixing toilets, replacing plumbing, mapping out the pipes etc that have been added to the college in random chunks by different companies over the last 30 years, and snow removal. He is the "all around fix it guy" too, so all the ladies working in the office love him because he helps move their furniture/builds them shelves/delivers boxes of paper and does all his "menial tasks" with a smile. haha. Like he says: "it ain't rocket surgery." He is enjoying the work so far and with all the new snow here he is getting lots of "extra hours" because of the snow removal. Here are pictures of the kubota and Hough (huff) loader which he enjoys driving around the campus.

July With The Kids

Early July, Daryl and I met the kids at the Roger's Pass Summit, halfway between Kamloops and Cranbrook after the kids spent a week there with their Grandpa and grandma. During their visit here we camped and fished as much as possible (when Karen didn't have to work....... stupid work). We spent some time at Loon Lake, Koocanusa Lake, Englishman lake and Premier Lake. Oddly enough, the smallest lake (Englishman) yielded us the largest fish. We often went camping with Dan's family (Daryl's brother) and Grandma Deb and Grandpa Mert. Here are some pictures of our trips.

Camping at Premier Lake

This past weekend Daryl and I went camping with his family at Premier Lake which is about 45 minutes from our home. This was the first time I (Karen) have been fishing since childhood, so I was very excited to be out in the boat. we used a gang troll (Long shiny, flickery thing to attract the fish) and worms for bait. I caught a Rainbow trout which the family referred to as a "monster minnow" and Daryl caught 5 much larger, nicer looking fish, but had to put one back as it was spawning. (Reddish pink stripes up the sides of the fish) The day we were fishing was 24 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. Lovely! Here are some action shots, none of them picturing my little fish as it's too embarrassing to take a picture of. The lake was named "premier" in honor of William Smithe who was the seventh premier of B.C. We actually couldn't find out WHY he had this honour, however, we readily admit we didn't look very hard. This lake is the main resource for rainbow trout fish eggs and the local hatchery (seen in previous blog entry) stocks about 40% of the rainbow trout population in all of the B.C lakes.

Camping May Long Weekend

May long weekend we went out to Kukanusa lake (which is actually more like a very low river due to the Libby Dam in America). We set up the week before and stayed a couple of nights before everyone came out for the big party. Our friend Sandy turned 40 this year and her husband decided to throw her a "birthday in the bush" complete with lots of guests and a live band with generators to run their equipment. Yep..... that's how we do it in "the 'brook."

The Basement

slightly better colours...... and eventually we will have new window coverings and maybe some furniture. sigh..... all in good time.

The old basement...... the previous owners even wallpapered the lightswitch covers in this disaster! Note the cat's entrance way into the other part of the basement. Through this door is where I found a huge pile of dried cat poop!

So we have basically finished with the upstairs of the house, with the exceptions of touch ups and some trim work/fiddley things and have thus moved onto the basement. Here is a before shot of the basement with the beautiful "Navajo Red" colour and hideous wallpaper from circa 1984. We patched seventeen milllion holes in these walls and it took special tinted primer to cover the red. Eventually we will drywall the celing and change the carpet but for now we are just happy to get rid of the 80's theme.

March Break

Getting wood....... one of Shayla's favorite past times.

Here Gavin is feeding the fish chunks of stale bread.

This is the tank where the "teenager" fish hang out and grow bigger. There is a special name for all different ages of fish which Shayla knew as she was studying the fish life cycle in school, however, I simply called them "teenager" fish as I have no idea about the stages of fish development

After several gutterballs, shayla tried the "two-handed-between-the-legs-lob" and was quite successfull!

Now that we (a.k.a the "Staples geek squad") have recovered some of our pictures since the crash, we will try to catch everyone up on what has been going on in our lives. Gavin and Shayla (a.k.a shifty) came out for a visit during spring break. some of our activities included a tour of the fish hatchery (were they grow the fish that they restock the lakes with every year) and bowling. We even picked up some firewood along the way (much to Shayla's disapointment) which Daryl had cut and left in the bush in October. We were actually out looking for game to show the kids, when he remembered he had left it to dry. Sadly, all we saw that day were deer, nothing more interesting, as the bears were sleeping that time of year and the elk were all bedded down that time of day. We also had a chance to go up into the bush with Rylan (cousin) and we rode their families quad, roasted smokies and shot the pellet guns.

computer down

Hi guys, sorry it's been so long. Our computer has crashed and we haven't been able to get it back up and running which is why there has been no post for so long. Hopefully in the next week or two we will be able to retrieve all our files and transfer them to our laptop. I hope eveyone is doing well!
hugs,
Karen

New Fire Place....

So, after many days of sun but no yard-work to do because the ground is still frozen and the nights are below zero, we could not wait any longer and had to have a fire (rednecks huh..). We really like our new place and have finished many of the reno's so we decided it was time to relax. After a day of cleaning and vacuuming the vehicles we cut some kindling, cleaned up the yard a bit (where there was no snow or ice) (ha ha maritimers) and set the fire pit in a nice sunny spot where it will stay until Daryl builds it a permanent home. After roasting some deer/elk smokies, eating some Doritos and drinking beer, it was time to move inside as the temperature dropped down to -2 (and we got bored). Once inside, we put together our new patio furniture and tested it by the new fire in the woodstove. We especially like the light up palm tree Daryl's mom brought us back from the U.S, as it adds a "tropical" feel to our basement.

It's Finished....except for touch-ups

Well, after a couple of weeks filled with distractions, our master bath is finally done. There are still a few paint touch-ups to do and we still need some towel bars put up but it once again a functioning bathroom with no mold or rot. Stay tuned because Karen plans to do another post when all is in place.

Fixtures

The house was built in 1990 and has not been updated or changed since, hence, we inherited many chandelier-style tinted glass ceiling fixtures. We also inherited peach coloured bathrooms with mauvy-purple sinks,toilets and tubs with surrounds that have big purple/blue iris' imprinted on them. Yes! Makes me want to garden every time I take a shower. Also to be enjoyed, were the brass cover plates on all the switches and outlets. It's a horrible flashback to something older than 1990, but hey.... crazy cat lady again. So far, Daryl has changed the sinks, toilets, plugs, switches and lights upstairs. Tubs and surrounds start tomorrow!

Wood Stove

One of the things we have missed most since moving is our wood stove, especially when it's -26 Celcius outside. On Monday the guys came and installed the stove and chimney. It is big enough to heat the entire house (2528 sq/ft) and looks very nice. Daryl installed the tile hearth and we have plans to put stone on the walls behind it.

Having a wood stove means we must get firewood. In this area of B.C, all one has to do is drive 15 minutes, and you can find it lying all over the bush. As I'm sure you all know (yeah, right)every Canadian household is allowed to take 2 cords of wood per year from crown land. It is a bit of work for some of it, but it's great exercise and the dogs love going. Karen doesn't mind it either, even though she routinely comes home covered in bruises and exhausted.

Painting.....Again

After vacuuming and shampooing the carpets (lots... remember crazy cat lady) We immediately turned to fixing and patching holes. In the living room alone, Karen stopped counting after filling 106 holes. There was also four fist sized holes which Daryl had to patch and repair (pics #2 and #4...yes it's the same wall) before Karen could paint (look how high she is.... once again, dealing with her phobias), as shown above.
More to come...