An Unspectacular Time of Year

The fall leaves have gone, there's lots of mud in the cleared areas, and it's a grey and gloomy day here. Buck has been rolling in the mud and is filthy. The dogs don't want to be outside, but their feet are too muddy to come inside till they dry off on the porch for a while.

It's not grey and gloomy inside, however...the house is clean and tidy, and there are delicious aromas wafting into the computer room from the kitchen. Mike is sauteeing garlic, onion and spinach and adding feta cheese to make stuffed pork tenderloin. He arrived home from his travels on Wednesday. I left home in a near blizzard to pick him up in Kamloops...luckily the snow subsided by 59 Mile and then it was just wet. The truck is staying in Kamloops to have some warranty work done on it.

Friday afternoon I lit up two more slash piles, three down and seven to go, and yesterday we spent the morning burning up all the leftover stuff from the edges of the fires. I think we can manage to do another two by ourselves, and then will need the excavator to finish for us, as some of the piles are too close to trees to burn.

Nothing else noteworthy to report. I'm going to light a fire in the woodstove, and light a few candles to brighten up a dark afternoon.

From the "It's a Small World" department...

The woman paying for her fuel just ahead of Mike at the truck stop in Fargo, North Dakota tonight is from 100 Mile House!

Now THAT's a Campfire

I couldn't resist taking advantage of the fact that it was snowing this afternoon to light up one of our ten huge burn piles. I renewed the industrial burn permit beforehand, of course.

Intially it was an inferno, but after about 45 minutes, it wasn't looking quite as dramatic.

Currently it's snowing hard, and there's about an inch on the ground.

Regional News

For those interested in ecology and geology, these things are happening in BC's interior:

The BC government has set aside 2.2 million hectares to protect mountain caribou. This is a very good thing, in my opinion.

And there's a good possibility of volcanic activity about 70 km west of Quesnel, which is about two hours north of where we live. (It's a Cariboo thing, describing driving time rather than distance..."How far is it to Williams Lake?" "I dunno, about an hour" "How about Kamloops?" "You should give yourself a little over two hours." "How about Prince George?" "Well, that's about four hours, but why would you want to go there?")

Morning/Evening Skies

Both shots from today.

Catching up, I did indeed have a nice relaxing Saturday afternoon, and a lazy Sunday morning. Yesterday afternoon I took the dogs for a good long romp. Drove up the road to where it turns into a logging road, and then parked and walked for an hour. Did the same walk again today, with Nadine. Gillis decided not to join us today and waited for us to come home.

Mike is in Lake Park, Georgia tonight, and will be in Florida tomorrow. After that he has to take 34 hours off (hours of service rules)...Florida sounds like a nice place to spend a day and a half.

Not a lot else to report from Inman Road today.

All my plans for a quiet afternoon puttering on the property evaporated at work today, as I spent the day trying to do the impossible. I got home at four thirty, have taken the dogs for a very quick romp, and am out the door momentarily to have dinner at Dori's (yay Dori!). Tomorrow morning will find me back at work, on my day off, working on all the stuff I was to be doing today but didn't even start. Yay work. Gotta love it.

Tomorrow afternoon features a good book, glass of wine, a comfy chair, and a fire in the woodstove.

Talked with Mike on my way home, he was near Estavan Sask, expecting to spend the night in Fargo, North Dakota. Smooth sailing across the prairies.

Oh Deer

Once in a while I have work a slightly irregular schedule. Last evening, around 7 pm I was driving back to the hospital and as I headed around a curve on Hwy 97, I met three deer in the road; one in my lane, one on the centre line, and the third in the oncoming lane. Tires screeched, horn blared, and I learned the meaning of "like a deer in the headlights". The one in my lane froze, and only leapt out of the way at the last instant, missing being killed by about 6 inches. I was quite shaken, but both Bambi and I came out unscathed. I'm going to use the pick-up truck for night driving; visibility is much better being up higher.

Our trucker buddy is currently in Elkford, and will be heading toward Gainesville, Florida this afternoon. Me, I have my lighter, newspaper and 400 ft of garden hose, and I'm going out to do some burning.

Gone Truckin'

Mike left for the coast this morning around 5:30, and will be back I-don't-know-when. He's picking up odds and ends that he needs today. The guy who was going to do the decals today now says he can't do them till tomorrow morning, so that puts Mike behind before he even gets started. Oh well. He'll get his dispatch in the morning, and will head for wherever he's going tomorrow afternoon. We managed to find space for all the stuff that needed to go in the truck, and there's room to spare still.

The South Cariboo is mild and blustery this afternoon. After I was done at work I unloaded all the shavings, brought in some firewood, and took the dogs along the fenceline for a romp. I gathered up branches, roots, and other wood debris to make five smallish burn piles to be lit another day. There's so much clean up to do that this is quite an insignificant contribution, but I suppose every bit helps a little.

The Buck-ster

Hanging out by the gate is now Buck's favourite pastime, now that it's hay season again. With all the rain we've had, there's no shortage of mud where he's hanging out. Yesterday Mike and I braved high winds and went to the sawmill to stock up on shavings for Buck and Rupert. Note to self: do this job on a non-windy day, or bring goggles. We were lucky not to get stuck in the mud.

Thanksgiving Morning

Happy Thanksgiving to all. Keeping my dear mom especially close in thought today.

We had our Thanksgiving dinner last night, and are spending today getting the truck stocked and organized and Mike ready for heading out tomorrow.

From the Kitchen...

Yesterday evening was pasta sauce canning night! Mike and I spent about an hour the evening before blanching and peeling all the tomatoes that I had carefully wrapped and ripened. Mike worked his culinary magic and created a big batch of tomato based pasta sauce, complete with onions, garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, a little sugar, oregano, parsley and thyme. It's really very delicious. Neither of us have ever canned anything in our lives (I made some jam a couple of times, but that's about it), so we're pretty proud of our achievement. Canning has always been a mystery to me, but it's very, very basic. Who'da thunk it?

First Snow

We woke to a trace of new snow this morning; first of the season!

Photos from an Autumn Afternoon

In comparison to last fall, things are much wetter. Today has been wet and windy, with some thunder just a few minutes ago. We are well prepared for the weather though, and are staying warm and cozy. Most nights we have the woodstove going. Mike will be heading out on Monday or Tuesday next week, so he'll be able to be here for Thanksgiving dinner, which we're doing on Sunday. In the meantime, he's busy doing chores in preparation for winter.

The rhubarb leaves are just about done for the year.- I found one lonely little lettuce that has survived!

The aspens are in full splendour now, and are just starting to lose their leaves in our area. In a few weeks, they'll be completely bare and will stay that way until may.

The truck blends right in with the fall colours. Here's the proud co-owner!