Artichoke Harvest

Here we have some artichokes. There are more to pick in the coming weeks. Who knew they would grow here. They are a very visually interesting plant.

Rain barrel visitor.

Here is our local rain barrel visitor... a tree frog. He also visits our front living room window sill.

Pumpkins

Here are the first two harvested pumpkins of 2008! The one on the left weighs in at 28 pounds and the right at 32 pounds.

Out on a walk.

Here are some photos when we were out on a walk with Echo.

Alignment of the Moo Moos.

Sunset with the grain elevator in the distance.

Home Canning

The canning season has started. So far we have pickled 1/2 our beets and yielded 11 jars. Tonight we made pickled mixed vegatables. 14 jars of that should last a while.

The top picture features our new pressure canner. A pressure canner reaches a much higher temperature to kill off bacteria thus allowing us to can items without the use of vinegar.

Echo's Food Pyramid

New Tractor Driver

This well trained tractor driver is going to make our life a little easier around the farm!

The next visitors...project.

This pile of wood was cut from a wind damaged tree today. The neighbours tree blew over in the big wind storm we had. We had two limbs come off some of our trees. The ash tree is now cut up for firewood. The next visitor to our house will have to split it up. Hmmm...lets see who that is....my brother who's name starts with the letter 'P'.

Grapes Galore

We have two grape vines along the driveway fence. They are loaded with bunches of grapes. Mmmm...can not wait!

Flowers

Vegetable Garden Update

Here is the veggie garden.

Onions, lettuce, beets, spinach, swiss chard and carrots.

Tomatoes.

Pumpkins and corn.

Tree Frog

Here is a tree frog hiding out on our front window.

Echo - Customized Dog House and Cute Picture

Echo sleeping at her dog dishes.

Here is Echo's new dog house name plate.

6 Hole Pitch & Putt

This is our 6 hole pitch & putt golf course. It was very popular at our Summer Solstice Party. The neighbours come over regularly and play the course. A round takes aproximately 45 minutes. If you'd like to do 12 holes you can play the course in reverse.

Aerial Applicators

This AG plane was spraying the Canola crop just a 1/4 mile from our house. We have been seeing these planes for the last week or so spraying local fields.

Military Flight Instructor Qualified

I now am a Military Qualified Flight Instructor. I have just completed my first full week of teaching. Good to be back in the teaching seat.

Aerial Property Photo

Here is the latest aerial photo of the property.

Productive & Relaxing Weekend

We had a productive and relaxing weekend. Firstly, Echo's dog house was completed and painted. Echo got me a hammock for Fathers' Day. Yup, I'm a daddy to her. Check us out lounging around in the hammock. We are going to be here a lot now!

Mushrooms Anyone?

Here are some mushrooms growing in the backyard around the trees. I don't think they are good eats though.

Echo's Jail (Dog Run)

Echo's soon to be jailhouse. This is the longest side of the dog run. Only two more posts to put in and then build the gate.

One of the remaining post holes.

Wire buried under the dirt to prevent escape.

Quest for FREE wood - Part 4

The current stock pile. Estimated cordage - 5.8. I have a few wind storm damaged trees on the neighbours property to cut.

Random Garden Photos

Photos of the yard. Trees are flowering, the garden is greening and Dandelions are plentiful!

Echo's new path and dog run.

Here is a new brick garden path we made today using spare bricks. We needed a path to get to Echo's future dog run.

Here is the start of Echo's dog run. Construction has been held up by a delayed order for the wire fencing. Going on a month now. Common fence wire material but for some reason hard to get here. Only 2 posts to put in yet. Posts are almost 4 feet into the ground.

Canadian Forces (CF) Day at Southport

Today was Canadian Forces (CF) Day at Southport. Southport is where I work. The military puts on an airshow every year. Small but not bad for Portage la Prairie. The aircraft on display and flown where the F-16, CF-18, Herc, Aurora, Griffon, Dash 8, Havard II, Grob, King Air and the Snowbirds. Didn't take any photos of the display aircraft because after going to the world's largest airshow (Oshkosh Airventure) they seem pretty dull. The Snowbirds are always my favourite and here is a beautiful shot of all the aircraft on our ramp.

Dog Days of Summer

The dog days of summer. Dairy Queen vanilla ice cream and one happy dog.

FROST!- Where is Summer?

Well, it is May 26th and there is a frost warning tonight. Where is summer? The problem is that we have so many plants in the ground, what to do??? Cover them but how do you cover over 200 plants. This is how. Get everything and anything to cover them up and hope like heck that it works.

More Updates, Echo & Yard Work

Sorry for the recent lack of updates. The yard work is mounting and needs to be kept up with. Everything is greening up and starting to grow. I will try to take some yard photos soon and post them.

The first picture is of Echo and how big she is now. She weighed in at 53.4 pounds last Tuesday. The second photo is what my socks usually look like at the end of a evening of yard work. No matter what I do they always end up this black.

It was a beautiful day today. We started out getting a trailer full of firewood this early morning. We arrived home at 1pm and finished to plant our garden. All plants and seeds are in.

It has started to rain here tonight and we are happy for that as the garden needs a good start to growing.

Quest for FREE wood - Part 3

Yet again...more wood. Another trip yielding 1.5 cords. Winter goal is 6-7 cords. About 1/3 the way there.

Echo - Making new friends

Echo trying to make friends with horses. These horses are at the farm where we are getting firewood.

Engorged tick on Echo

Not all the ticks can be found on Echo. Since she has lots of fur some ticks with go undetected until they engorge themselves with enough blood to become big enough to pop through her fur. Gross but we found this one behind her collar the other day. As they grow with blood they change colour from dark reddy brown to a grayish colour.