farming

So last year I helped my boss Roger on the farm for harvest. I really enjoy working on the farm. It ends up being a lot of long hours because after I finish my regular duties in the office at 5 PM I change clothes and head to the field until about 10 to 11 PM on average. It depends on we are doing. We have to stop combining when the dew starts because the straw gets to tuff for the combine to thresh it efficiently. If I am doing field work, like cultivating I can go until I get tired or finish a field. So here are some pictures for you to see.

Roger mans the combine. And I or Travis run the grain cart.

We go out to meet the combine on the field when he needs to dump and travel along side the combine it dumps so the combine never has to stop. This grain cart hold approximately 1 semi load and can be off loaded in less that 3 minutes with the 16 inch auger.

Once the grain cart is close to full we unload it into the semi which takes it to the main yard where the grain is put in the bins.

  

*this is Esther: I can't handle leaving this unfinished and Michael doesn't always even remember we have a blog, never mind that I sometimes ask him to contribute to it, so I'm posting this as is. Yes that is his quad sitting precariously on farm equipment. He took it to the field that way.

VS Team Potluck

The new team has formed! Peggy and I are still there, but the other two members are new. So we had a potluck, and Peggy did a Meyers-Briggs personality assesment with us, and then we learned about each of the personalities.

The chart that maps out where we all fall.

We enjoyed an incredibly beautiful evening!

kijiji you make me happy!

so, i've been watching for ikea stuff on kijiji. (dangerous, i know). when the most perfect piece popped up. in the color that matches all the rest of our lovely furniture, a wardrobe was posted. i looked at it, and thought, i bet you with those dimensions it would fit in the corner of the kitchen!

see, since we have tenants again, i have given up my crafting space. i have to say i've not been too happy about that. my mind was thinking of the possibilities. all my crafting goodies stores right next to the table where i do them. what a fabulous idea. so, i showed it to michael, he figured it would fit and thought it was a good idea (i think it's just because it meant he could reclaim a couple of closets in our house).

so, we looked at it, bought it and michael set it up!

tada!

i still have to move in and get organized, but for now i just shoved stuff in. for such relatively small dimension 24" x 21" it feels downright cavernous!

when i buy bins and get it sorted out, i'll post it again.

Soul Men's Retreat 2010

quick BC trip

My mom wanted to come out for a visit this fall, but I talked her into flying me home instead. So, I went there for a long weekend. We went to Ikea, had some family dinners and hung out a bit. I also managed to see a couple of friends and my grandparents.

Breakfast with Dan & Jenn on my last morning.

The haul from Ikea (I also brought home salmon and berries and swiss chocolate!)

I discovered a great quilt shop in downtown Abbotsford, where I bought some fabric...which I think I find way more enticing than yarn. I think this could become a problem.

Except for the fact that I recently acquired this wardrobe to help with the need for storage (more on this in another post).

sewing project #3

I've been sewing a little again. Trying to enjoy the use of my very own sewing room while I can (the end of this luxury is looming).   This is a project that came from a book I bought myself last Christmas called One Yard Wonders. Great book. I modified it a little, since I needed it covered on all sides, unlike the one in the book which was bare on the back.

The picture in the book had these awesome giant buttons on it, and I wanted some too, but I'm too cheap to buy buttons that would look that cool. I was telling Michael about this and he volunteered to make some for me.

He was only too excited to have a reason to use his new tool, and I think the buttons turned out awesome.

Here's the finished product (well, kinda, I still have to sew 5 more buttons on)

Goodbye ugly, scratched and rusted filing cabinet. Hello kitschy & cute coffee table (which still does house my files).

and unrelated, but just in case some of you were concerned about what exactly I'd been knitting:

the frying pan cozy really was for the frying pan, see? i know some of you won't admit it, but when you saw the first picture you were thinking it looked like something else.

it's back to school time

We are once again sharing our house. We had two lovely young girls move in this past weekend. It means we've had to give up the shoe shelf that is normally for tenants, but I think I can handle it.

It's crazy how different it is to have girls living here compared to the guys from last semester.

This is another piece of art I bought with my money from Opa. If you can't remember what that's all about, you can check back on this post.

Michael also decided that it was time to stop putting off the issues we have with drainage in our backyard, so he ordered some crushed limestone and built a birm around the low spot where water creeps into the garage. It seems to have solved the problem beautifully, now we just have to work at making it look prettier.

A garden update. We have harvested a lot of beans, the peas are pretty much done and the weather has been so crummy the tomatoes won't ripen.

The dirt is spread out, because we are slowly working on filling in the low spot in the lawn, in case you are wondering.

family gathering at our house!

Mom and Dad Schultz and Stuart were in Winnipeg delivering a load on a Sunday, so we had them over for lunch. We enjoyed a delicious bud, spud & steak stew from Supper Central.

Later in the afternoon, John, Angela and Cate joined us. We celebrated Angela's birthday. We enjoyed classic summer food, hamburgers and potato salad.

I made some cake too! Bienenstich and Chocolate Spice Cake.

It was so windy that the candles blew out all by themselves, before it arrived in front of Angela.

fun on the play ground nearby:

Playing with the trains set.

We had a great time and enjoyed being outside all day, the weather was amazing!

ditto this

I read a knitting blog called The Yarn Harlot. She's funny, and occasionally she says things that totally echo my own thoughts. If you have the time, please do click through and read it.

In knitting news in my own life, I finally finished Sofia's dress, which you can see in the previous post.

I've also finally finished a few little cozys that I now need to felt. My ipod nano, the cast iron frying pan cozy and another ipod touch cozy. Which was finished, but I asked Michael to bring me the bag that it was in from the other end of the house. Sadly, the project was on the table, and the ball of yarn it was still attached to was in the bag. He didn't notice this. The project stayed at the far end of the house, and the bag arrived with a trail of yarn behind it. I had cast off and pulled a long loop through, but my scissor was no where to be found, so I just left it. When Michael walked away the loop came loose and the cast off edge unravelled and then several rows of the knitting itself. Sigh. I threatened to make Michael learn to knit just so he could repair the damage, but it didn't work.

I also have to finish a pair of phentex slippers. These have a deadline, let's just say it's a guilt deadline. I traded hand made things with a friend, and I have my hand made thing, she's still waiting for these.

When those are done, I think I will reward myself by starting a pair of socks from my sheeples yarn. I knit a swatch way back, thinking I would try making a striped sock, what do you think?

I'm still working on my ferns & leaves cashmere scarf.

Then there's some repairs that I'm supposed to do to Cate's summer dress (the blue on from last year). It kinda seems too late now, she's grown so much.

cookies!

Our friends that moved away in July, were here for a visit and they stayed with us since our basement was available. It was great to see them again and to hang out with their daughters. I finally finished knitting Sofia's dress, which was supposed to be finished for her second birthday, which has come and gone. I don't want to even admit how many months ago. I also baked cookies with Sofia, which was a lot of fun. Especially when she discovered that the cookies dough tasted good, so she would touch the cookies on purpose just so she'd have to lick her fingers!
Here's a little video to sum it up!