Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Looking for Books?

ACFW Fiction FinderHave you ever wondered about the Fiction Finder widget here on my blog? It's the link to a huge database of faith-based books. You can search by author, genre or content and a great way to discover new releases. And that's what I'm discussing today on the Inkwell Inspirations blog.

For today's photo, I thought I'd show you what my boys do on the farm in March... they're playing golf while standing on 3 ft of snow.


Well, okay... I guess Nick isn't standing on the snow. Haha.


Friday, March 25, 2011

Porcupine Climbing Down a Tree

He's ba-ack. Again, Nelson came home from work and said the porcupine was out in the trees. But this time instead of being on the ground, he was up in the tree. All I could see was a black bulge straight out from the kitchen window where the shelterbelt divides the yard from the prairie. Naturally, I grabbed my camera and scooted out the door. I stood in the driveway and filmed the porcupine as he climbed the 15 ft or so down to the ground.

Porcupine Climbing Down a Tree: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NK5Btmje28


This porcupine is starting to make a regular appearance on the farm. But why in a tree? If he carried a telescope, I'd suspect him of spying on me. Haha.

Anybody know what a porcupine eats?

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Punked By A Porcupine

I have to show you this video I made yesterday during our blizzard warning... that porcupine got the drop on me this time. LOL

http://www.youtube.com/user/anitamaed?feature=mhum#p/a/u/0/mqbLdaiFBO0



I can't believe it took so long to sink in that he was there. Sheesh.

By the way, Happy Birthday, Bonnie!

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Blizzard, Coffee and a Supermoon

The kids are home from school today because of a blizzard warning. Sheesh. Doesn't the weather know spring began 2 days ago?

Another thing that happened 2 days ago was the 'supermoon'. This happened when the moon was at its closest to the earth since the early 90's. Unfortunately the sky was cloudy that night, but I took this photo a couple days before that - before I even knew it was a supermoon.

I'm blogging about 19th Century Coffee Taverns at Inkwell Inspirations today. This whole movement to get the working men away from the evils of alcohol by using coffee, tea and cocoa was a complete research surprise. I hope you can take a few moments to join us in the discussion.

Did you see the supermoon?

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Porcupine Patrol

The days are a rollercoaster of warmth and cold, which is what we need to avoid a spring flood. However, the critters are crawling out of hibernation as can be seen by this porcupine. On March 9th, Nelson came home and said there was porcupine a quarter mile away. By the time I grabbed my camera and jumped in his truck we were almost too late. This photo was taken approx 200 ft away and I zoomed in for it:



However, I managed to get a short video of it before it walked over the hill. Nelson had dropped me off and then drove on down the road to turn around, so the only sound on the video is that of the wind, the camera itself, and a few of my movements.




Here's the porcupine's meandering track as it started up the hill.






Five days later - on March 14th, Nelson came home and said their was a porcupine at the end of the driveway. I grabbed my camera, put my outerwear on and headed out, hoofing it. I could see him right from the house. If you look at my blog header, he was hiding in the bush that sits at the end of the driveway on the right side.




He wasn't moving and I wanted a good photo, so I yelled at him a couple times and wouldn't you know it - he turned his back on me! Although he was a good 30 ft away, I'm not in the habit of standing behind a porcupine, so I high-tailed it back to the house and let him have his peace.




What kind of creatures are coming out of hibernation or flying in where you live?


Thursday, March 10, 2011

The Uniqueness of a Church

I'm blogging at Inkwell Inspirations about the different denominations of churches I've attended over the years and what makes each one unique in What Makes a Church Unique?

One of the aspects I love about our present church is the music - especially the gospel songs. Here's an example of
Joey Theriault singing old time gospel, Where Could I Go But To The Lord in one of my first attempts at making a YouTube video:


My questions for today are: What about you? Is there something unique about your church that you’ll like to share?

Fun Question: What do you sit on at church? Wooden pews, padded seats, cushions on wooden pews, plastic ‘bucket’ chairs, etc.

And if you don't attend church, what's your favourite chair at home and why?


Monday, March 7, 2011

Winter Damage

March is here and all over Facebook I'm reading about friends with green grass, blooming trees, and sunshine. While we have plenty of sunshine, we're not running out getting tanned yet due to the 3 feet of white stuff. Yes, lots of snow. Here's a photo of my garden with it's 3 foot high fence:







Here's another look at those animal tracks - this one taken from where they crossed the driveway. If anyone knows what type of animal made these tracks, let me know, please.












As you can see in the next photo, we've had some melting days as well. This has created a problem because of ice build-up in the eavestrough.



So far, we haven't had a problem with this gutter that runs along the front of the porch, but where the kitchen abuts the sunroom, the ice pushed the eavestrough right off the house, shown in the photo below. We heard a bang in the middle of the night and the next morning, there it was, blue Christmas lights and all lying in the snow. It looks like the sunroom gutter could be the next one to go:




The ice isn't the only problem we've had this year, though. JJ and I were in the living room when we heard a kind of thud one night - almost like you'd hear when a bird hits the window. We looked out the big picture window where the yard light illuminates the whole yard, but couldn't see anything unusual, not even in the snow below the window.

Then the next day, I was walking past the window when a glint caught my eye - a glint that shouldn't have been there. I pulled back the drapes and sheers and found a humongous crack running down the inside glass. At the time, it was a curvy line about 60% of the way to the bottom. Today, after another thud, the crack completed it's journey.

The weather hasn't been this cold this year, either as it never reached the -50C/-58F of other years. I think the coldest has been -40C/-40F. And that was only once or twice.

However, the temperature has stayed at that -28C/-18F point for weeks at a time, then warmed up to 0C/32F freezing point for a couuple days before plunging again. It makes you wonder how the Calgary population fares with their warm/cold winter from the chinooks every year.

And Agriculture Canada is predicting a long, cold spring still. Ugh.

So, how was your winter? Yes, I know it's a loaded question this year, but I'd really like to know how it's been and when you think you'll be enjoying spring.