Another Week Has Gone By

WHERE ARE WE? Rivers Provincial Park, Rivers Manitoba

For the past few days, I have been watching the progression of the flowers on the Saskatoon trees along the road.  Saskatoon berry (Amelanchier alnifolia) is a deciduous native shrub that grows from western Ontario to British Columbia and the Yukon. Saskatoons are delicious berries but we only get them once in a few years because they are susceptible to all kinds of things while they are in the flower stage.  Dry weather, wind, and mainly frost kill the flowers to a point where they do not produce berries.  Last year they got frost so we were hoping they escape those threats this year.  Certainly the rain will help, but the forecast is for near freezing temperatures a couple nights.  We will know in a few weeks if they survived.

We got about 2.5 inches of rain this weekend.

And yes, it happens every week in the summer at about 6:30.  The Pratts truck comes down the hill to drop our supplies for the weekend.  He was early this week and arrived around 6 am.  Yawn.  I think I had my pants on backwards when I went out to meet him!!! 

He unloaded his boxes in the kitchen and we had a chat and then he was off to finish his route.  He said he was early because the 2 other customers normally before us did not order this week.  

My job is to take all the freezer stuff out of boxes and put it in the freezer.  I leave the non perishables for the girls to deal with when they come in later in the day.  Thursdays Cody comes to do the golf course so he also breaks down the boxes and puts them in the dumpster.

lots of cheese and buns

and onion rings and chicken fingers and wings

and of course ice cream

and more ice cream

We have a new style of onion ring this year and I'm not sure I am a fan.  The old style had a very light batter and these ones have the course crispy batter.  What do you like best??

This week was haircut week!  My hair gets sooo thick when it is longer and summer is not a good time to have a big head of hair.  I offered to take Max along and he agreed!!  His hair needed a trim for summer as well. Barbie at the Root Cellar did an awesome job as usual.  

I went first

He liked getting misted with water

And he thinks it is all right.

And of course the Thursday night TV tradition of Survivor!!

As the week went on the temperatures got cooler and the rain started.  It was that bone chilling type of weather where it didn't matter what I did, I was cold.  Manitoba spring weather we call it!!

The campground was empty!!

Even the Jeep windows were fogging over

Jorja was busy cooking bacon because if they keep the grill and the fryer going it keeps the shack warm.  I even had to add a little help with the Buddy Heater as well as an electric heater.

   

I had to paint up the boards that the coffee maker and slushie machine sit on because today Forbidden Flavours brought our coffee machine and slushie mix.  I have been drinking Mexican coffee but my supply is running low.  Forbidden Flavours has an excellent blend that we use in the summer.

When I took Archie on his run beside the Jeep today, he saw a gopher head down his hole and he was determined he was going to get him.  He is quite the digger dog and gets awfully dirty doing it.  But he enjoys it, so I just sit and wait on him!!

the hole is deeper than Archie

I know he is here dad!!

Got him!!

lets go find another one!!

Home time.

We did have some company this weekend.  Sheri and Dani came out to be with us for a while and Karalee came for a couple days.  Frenchie and his girlfriend stopped by for a short visit as well.  It was great to see Frenchie again.

I got to do some awesome listening.

Serena and Dani fixed up a pretty ugly sundae for Gramma Sue.  They had fun doing it.  Although it didn't look great, it tasted good.

I had to change the price of my firewood this year because my supplier put the price up.  Mia is our resident artist, so I tasked her with making a new sign for the truck. Good job Mia!!

Shhhh artist at work

Out with the old

In with the new!!

Looks good on the truck

We had lots of take out orders this weekend because it was too cold to sit at a picnic table and eat.  You have the option of ordering online or just calling us to place an order.  It seems to work good!!

Last project of the week was to fix Sheri's ice machine.  A new fan and some silicone over a hole seemed to solve all the problems.  She can have a cold Coke Zero now!!  And that pretty much told the story of another week around here.  Hopefully the sun comes out soon and the weather warms up.  We love Manitoba summers, so bring it on.  Good Nite!!!

May 10 to13 And the Beat Goes On!

WHERE ARE WE? Rivers Provincial Park, Rivers Manitoba

Work continues around here and although many have commented that I am busy, I am actually not overdoing it.  I understand how much I can do and take lots of breaks, probably more than I should!! Anyway, I have cut some more of the turf for the golf course.  I have decided that I will cut all of the pieces before installing them.  Some of the holes will require some concrete repair before the turf goes down. I will keep plugging away.

I had not planned to start with "Music in the Park" this Saturday but Aaron Frost stopped by on Friday and I asked him if he wanted to entertain us Saturday.  He said sure, and that's how we had music at Cj's this Saturday.  Thanks for stopping by Aaron.

Sheri and Donovan stopped by for a nice visit this evening as well.  Always fun to have them around. Later that evening I got to witness a beautiful prairie sunset.  Who said we don't get them like Mexico.

Sunday was Mother's day and Kaitlyn, Justin and the kids joined us for the afternoon.  Cj's was quite busy but because we have awesome staff, we were able to enjoy our afternoon with them.

Monday came around and I was back to the grind.  I am sometimes the gopher around here, Go for this and go for that!!!  My job is to scoot into town to buy the necessities that we run short on between wholesale truck deliveries.  So off to the store I went.

When I went to bed tonight, this is what I saw out our back window.  We are so blessed to be able to have these awesome views.  The moon was quite eerie shining on the lake through the trees.  

Of course not all is work.  Today I had my annual appointment at the skin clinic in Brandon.  I have been seeing Dr. Sneath for about 5 years now after I was referred there because I was having some weird spots on my forehead.  They turned out to be nothing, but because I am fair skinned, Dr Sneath recommended I see him every year just in case.  I feel lucky that I will have a this kind of preventative care ongoing.  

But I not counting my chickens before their hatched and I NEVER buy green banana's.

A little stop at Canadian Tire for some stuff.  Needed a new sprayer and we need to have a couple long leads for Archie because he needs to be tied now that the park is open.  He is sort of ok with that rule.  I think we might make a fence around our yard for him which will give him a little more freedom.  He will still get his daily runs out on the back roads.

Tuesday evening we headed to Reston to take in the Drama Club's presentation. Our grandaughter Abby has the lead role in the play called "Gossip".  They did a great job of the presentation and we all enjoyed seeing how gossip can ruin friendships and make things bad for lots of people. Abby loves drama and she did a wonderful job.  Her body language and facial expressions and body language were exactly what her character demanded.  You could tell that she loved what she was doing.  Great job Abby.

Reston school

Waiting for the show to begin

the whole group were fantastic

the naughty

the nice!

We lucked out and got to see the end of Sila's ball game.  We got to see him make a great catch in center field and a nice infield fly which was caught, but still a good hit.  We hope to be able to make it to a couple more of his games this summer.

We enjoyed our evening and as we travelled home, the sun set behind us.  Wow, just wow!!  Good Nite!