Wildlife

Can you spot the deer in this picture? This is the same deer taken from two different positions about 5 feet apart. Wildlife has such amazing camouflage. These pics were taken about 2 blocks from our new home. Being used to Vancouver Island deer, I thought this was a large one, as on the island, the big ones are roughly German Shepherd sized and viewed as large rodents. Daryl reports that this is only a medium sized three point Mule deer buck, called a "mulie" (As in Julie) aptly named due to it's large ears. Sadly, we noticed a tin can stuck on it's back hoof, looking like a cat food tin. While driving away, Karen stated: "hopefully it's tetanus shots are up to date...." while Daryl commented:"hopefully it lives to grow another tine so I can legally shoot it next fall." Sigh....... (sorry everyone, but our freezer is full of deer, elk, moose and grouse. Mmmmmm delicious!)

NECK-AGILITY

So Daryl and I could not get the "Elf Yourself" cards to work. But, for the first time ever, I am going to try to put a video on the blog. When it was sent to me, the video was called the "wooden Spoon challenge." I don't know if I needed to put that in for legal reasons,and this work is not mine or any of my friends, as they are not that dumb...... I laughed out loud when I watched this.

FIRE!!!!!

We got a call this morning from Dan (Daryl's brother) to see if we wanted to get a Christmas tree and have a fire in the bush with friends. Since we are currently living in our trailer, with very little room, we said "no" to the Christmas tree but "yes" to the afternoon in the woods. It was a great day, minus nine, lots of sun and beautiful scenery. In this part of B.C, one can just randomly go out and cut a tree down, in fact while we were by the fire, three other vehicles ,(trucks for you city boys ) drove by with trees in the back, all found on backroads outside of town (which is no more than 5-15 minutes away). Yes...... that's how we do it in "the brook" teeheee.... if Julee and Chris can call kerrisdale "the dale" then we can call it "the brook" haha. We have heard a few refer to Cranbrook as "cranny" which makes me giggle but I think "the Brook" sounds a liuttle less redneck. Here are a few shots and yes, the fire is as big as it looks (taken on our phone because Kar forgot the camera again). Oh by the way, we have closed a deal on our new home. Pictures to follow....

A Visit

Chris and Julee came out for one final visit while we still live in Sooke. It was lovely to see them and to finally meet Jonathon and to see Sam again. We went to Sea Parc Req centre and went swimming, where there is lots of stuff for younger kids to do in the smaller wading pool. Here are several "humourous" pictures of Julee and I in our hot tub, in the pouring rain, hence the hats. I was trying to use the "delayed timer" to take the "portrait" but I kept messing up and the picture kept being taken too quickly. hmmmmm.... yes...... the final shot is the "best" one. Sadly, I forgot to actually take any pictures of Sam, Jonathon or Chris....sigh.

THE BIG MOVE IS COMING SOON!!!!!!

SAM STEELE: A Cranbrook Mascot (Does anyone know who this guy is? go to: http://www.samsteeledays.org/

Our big move to Cranbrook will happen November 28th so I am busy packing, cleaning and saying goodbye to friends and sigh, my garden. How Sad. The plants all look terribly sad and depressed right now, probably because they are thinking about how terrible it will be when I leave...... then again, maybe they look that way because it's been torrentially down-pouring for the last 9 days, with winds of 30-60 km's/hour and absolutely no sun.

On a happier note, Cranbrook is officially Canada's "sunniest city" as per the weather network website, and hey, couln't we all do with a little less seasonal affective disorder? Anyone? ....anyone who lives on the west coast and doesn't see the sun for 7 months? This happy piece of information made me think of a few pics that Shayla and I took when the garden was producing so here are a few old shots. Everything in the salad came out of the garden except the peppers, it's too wet and cold here to grow those. Here is the "most special carrot" from the garden this year, as per Shayla, as it looks like a heart. About a month later, as it was lying on top of the microwave all shrivelled and dehydrated, it looked a little "less special." I thought of the movie: "The Grinch who stole Christmas" as it kept shrivelling.....

Daryl has found us a spot at the Fort Steele "R.V Resort" (read as "redneck trailer park") where we will stay until we can find a nice home to move into. Between us, we have moved 14 times in the last 10 years, so really, we are both done with it. No more after this one. http://www.fortsteele.com/ shows you the park where we will stay and http://www.fortsteele.ca/ explains the big tourist festival they have every summer in conjunction with Sam Steele Days.

For more info on Cranbrook and it's surrounding beauty (and it truthfully is a gorgeous place to live if you love the outdoors) go to http://www.hellobc.com/ and in the search engine; type in "Cranbrook"

Ready for Hallowe'en

As the kids will be with their mother this Halloween, Karen will be taking the dogs out this year with our neighbour Tanya and her dog Sabie and child Austin. I (Karen) saw these at the store while buying dog food and, being so close to Halloween, they were less than 4 dollars each, so I couldn't resist. I didn't have much choice, as I guess most people with dogs this big don't dress them up...... The makers of these costumes are obviously appealing to people who own miniature dogs (which Daryl would describe as "rats" or as "puntable"..... as in what you do to a football).

Anyway, I saw this black tank-top (a.k.a a "wife beater" that's such a terrible expression but it does look rather trailer-park-ish)) in Logan's size and I thought: "I'm kind of a big deal" sums up exactly what Logan thinks he is. And of course our little angel is yes, being an angel. We'll see how long the wings last, my guess is that Logan will have them ripped off before we get to the end of the block.

SOLD!!!!!!!

Today a deal was finally struck! All conditions have been lifted and we have officially sold our house. We can now put an offer in on a house in Cranbrook. Yeah! For posterity, I took a picture of the sign. Daryl is currently living in Cranbrook at his brother's and looking there for our new place, as well as hunting. Between the 4 hunters, they have got 2 elk and a moose, so we won't have to worry about meat this winter. I put in my resignation letter for VGH emergency a few days ago. YES!!!!!!! We will be moving late November, just in time for Christmas!