Carpe Diem Acreage: Adventures

Here is Husband's video of the the ATV ride we did the other weekend filmed with a GoPro camera

We love this camera as it is so versatile. I have also been using it for work because it takes still pictures with a wide angle.

I had a request to post some photos from our quading trip with the ATV club which we did this past weekend.

On Saturday we started out at Telkwa, BC and drove over the mountains on the Telkwa Pass to Terrace, BC where we had lunch. Then back again to Telkwa taking a side trip up Trapper Mountain just above tree level where there was a fantastic 360 degree view of mountains.

Rest break at a lake

Glacier

Husband and I on top of Trapper Mountain

On the Sunday we spent the morning in the mountains on the alpine. This is above the tree level where there are meadows filled with wild flowers and as one reaches the higher altitudes the terraine become more rocky.

Still within the tree level

A huge rock in an alpine meadow left over from glaciation.

This route doesn't look very scary, but it was!
Steep with loose rock and a narrow pass connecting 2 mountains.

A totally beautiful trip with some really nice people from the club. Everyone driving responsibly and taking care not to go off trail. The worst is seeing people who have driven across the meadows leaving tracks in the alpine. No one wants to have these sensitive areas destroyed... but there' re always some idiots who just don't care or just don't know.

It was a beautiful sunny morning as I wandered outside to feed and water the chickens. I had the hen house door slightly open as I was running some cold water into the waterer. I happened to glance sideways and noticed Cockzilla heading towards the open door. I tried to head him off, but I was too late. He squeezed out the door and stood outside taunting me.

Cockzilla was crafty as he dodged my attempts to guide him back into the house. I decided to leave him outside because if I left the door open the hens would all run out to be with their 'man', and I had too many things to do to keep an eye out on the hens for the day. So I left Cockzilla outside on his own. I checked on him a few times during the day, and as I suspected he kept close to the pen and didn't wander off.

At about 6pm I asked Son to go out and try to get Cockzilla in the hen house. He came back and reported that the rooster was gone. Can't be! He had stayed close to the hens all day! I went out and searched for him to no avail. Then Husband went out and searched the woods around our home - he also could find no sign of Cockzilla. It was a mystery as to where he could have gone. I saw no sign of feathers suggesting that he was gotten by a fox or a hawk, but I resigned myself to the fact that this is what must have happened.

At 9pm I went out to give the hens their nightly food and water. As I was stooped over the feeder I heard a familiar "brrrp" at my back, and as I turned I spied Cockzilla roosting inside the house! I had no idea how he managed to get inside.

The next morning I checked the outside pens and found that the chicken wire had given way close to the ground. I can only deduce that Cockzilla, desperate to be with the girls, had pushed and pushed until the wire broke free and he could squeeze through the hole back into the pen.

I worked the past eight weekends and I made an effort to keep my calendar clear this weekend. On Sunday Husband and I decided to take our ATV and go out to a Poker ride. Not really environmentally friendly I know, but sometimes we need to offset our environmental efforts with some fun.

Son couldn't come along as he was just given the okay on Friday to remove his arm sling after wearing it for six weeks following the fracture of his left humerus bone, and daughter had a friend over plus we need a part to fix her quad. So that just left the two of us to play in the sunshine.

Here is Husband who has just unloaded the quad.

A very big turnout. They sold about 500 poker cards.

Most of the trail was nice and fairly easy. Along the way, I noticed a lot of flowers in bloom on the trailside- Indian Paintbrush, Anica, Ox-eye Daisy, wild Roses, Bunchberry, Buttercups, wild Strawberry, and Orange Hawkweed. There were also a large number of various butterflys about.

As we got closer to the end of the ride, the trail took a few turns for the worse. Huge mud holes made a lot of fun for some people, but not for us. We usually went around the holes, but here are a couple of photos of people who love the challange.

Two ATV's stuck in the mud (one if the foreground and a fellow standing in the back trying to pull his)

Two ATV's stuck in the front of the mud pit which eventually had to be winched out. There is always someone who will stop to help out.

We were rescuers at one point in the trails when we came around a corner to hear someone calling for help. An older lady (about 70) had driven her ATV though what looked like a shallow puddle, but in fact was a very deep hole. Her quad was tipping over and she was physically unable to get off, while her daughter was holding the quad from tipping into the hole. Husband jumped into the 'puddle' which was hip deep to the keep the quad from rolling, while myself and a teenage boy who happened along held on in the shallow side. The daughter managed to get the winch onto her ATV and pulled the lady out. Up until that point we had keep pretty dry ;)

Husband

Husband and I

It was a really fun day even if we had lousy poker hands!

I know I am really behind on posting anything lately. I've been busy with work plus everything else on our lives.

On January 29th the Olympic torch passed through our city and Husband, Son and I went to watch. One of Husband's coworkers was a torch bearer, so we stood outside to see him run with the flame. He is below on the right.

Son and I with flags in hand waiting for him to run by.

The Olympics begin on Friday and it has been unseasonably warm this year - they have been hauling snow onto the ski hills. My sister said the flowers are already blooming in the lower mainland. We still have snow here, but no where near what we had over the past two winters.

I decided to start a new blog that will focus on vintage interests, instead of mixing it up into my family's blog. There will be some cross posting going on, especially when it comes to recipes and cooking and possibly some other items.

I will slowly start moving the sidebar items that concern vintage clothing, cooking etc over to the new blog during next few days.

If you want to check it out you can find me at Carpe Diem Vintage.

The Carpe Diem Acreage blog will continue just as it has over the past few years.

I've been reading a few blogs that have been extremely interesting and have gotten me thinking about the past (though not my past).

Destination 1940, and 50s times are blogs written by women who are changing their lives by 'living' in another era. I am interested in the era and am learning a lot of housekeeping/general life by reading their adventures. The 1940's are of interest to me, as are the recipes and the life of homemakers during World War 2. This is the era of my grandparents and my parents as children. I enjoy hearing stories of how my grandparents/parents survived during the war years and how they had to 'make do'. Unfortunately the citizens of waring countries have suffer, make do and survive no matter what 'side' they are on.

I can't help but to think that these women's experiment/journey is in fact very similar to my own journey. Namely, cooking from scratch and living a more simple (and perhaps more satisfying) life.

Jitterbug from Destination 1940 was totally unfamiliar with her kitchen and had basically no cooking skills. I often laughed when reading her posts as some of the things she did not know, which seemed to me 'no brainers' (such as where is the broiler in the stove? - in the oven or the drawer below?). I admire her for really taking a step to change her kitchen incompetence, to realize that cooking from scratch is actually very easy and more healthful. I also admire that she was able to add small 1940's housekeeping skills/methods to her weekly schedule and stick to it. So far I am about halfway though her blog posts and I enjoy them immensely. I am also learning about why certain things were done based on the culture and amenities of the time.

50sgal from 50s times has completely immersed herself into 1955. Last year she basically cut herself off from 2009 and only cooked recipes, read, dressed, watched tv and movies, and obtained news from 1955 and prior. I can't even imagine pulling off such a feat and sticking with it for an entire year! I have just scratched the surface of 50sgal's posts (as I want to finish the Destination 1940 first), but her writing is excellent and I'm very excited to read all the back posts.

Another blog I have been reading is The 1940's Experiment in which the blog author is trying to lose weight by following a regime of Britian's war time rations. Another adventure that I don't think I personally could follow. It is an interesting read and has some good/simple/healthy recipes.

Wow! What a light show!

Daughter and I arrived home shortly after 10pm after dropping off my visiting sister at my parents home. On the drive home I noticed a shooting star and remembered the Perseid Meteor shower was happening over the next couple of days.

We stood outside on the driveway and craned our neck skyward. The next half hour was amazing! We saw many meteors quickly falling and they seem very far away. There were others that seemed to hit the earth's atmosphere and they fell slower, were often an orange colour, and left a large smoke streak which didn't disappear for numerous seconds.

The most spectacular meteor we saw was a slow moving one that actually exploded! We saw two very large flashes of light like an explosion and the smoke trail lingered for a very long time. It was absolutely incredible - I have never seen anything like that before!

I feel very lucky to have seen this as not an hour before was a huge rain storm. I can't believe the sky cleared up so quickly and we were able to see the shower. I'm also thankful that we live in the country with no lights - 'cause if we were still in the city I would never had had the chance to see this.

For more information about what is happening during the Perseid Meteor shower you can find more information here and here.

Today I meant to give my father a gift.

At age 73, I am sure he was wondering what I was doing when I made him put on the pink headphones attached to my iPod. He had a puzzled expression on his face, but I would not tell him what he would be listening to... it would be a surprise.

I found the podcast I had chosen for him and put it on play. The funny expression turned into pure joy when he began to listen to stories in Plattdeutsch. The same Platt he grew up listening to his parents speak in Germany - it was even the same dialect from the same area of the country.

Today I meant to give my father a gift, but I think it was I one who received the gift instead. It was so wonderful seeing how happy I made him!

On the weekend we began moving some of the big equipment away from the business. The fuel shed for the Bobcat we manouvered onto a trailer and brought it out to the property where we will be building our new house. The move went great until the ground on the driveway gave way and the truck dropped about a meter (3 feet). We spend the next five hours trying to get it out of the hole, but eventually had to call a tow truck to lift it up and move the truck forward enough so that the both sets of wheel could straddle the hole. Luckily, I had driven out separately and had my car. I drove home and grabbed the chainsaw so that we could cut logs to fill the hole and eventually drive out.

Apparantly, the neighbour beside us dug a water line through our property and it was never backfilled properly. Water had been running underground creating a hole with a 30cm (12 inch) dirt 'bridge'. The ground looked solid, but of course was not able to handle the weight of the truck. Needless to say, Husband was absolutely livid!