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A Field Drowned by 26 Inches of Rain Another sunny lovely day! Harley's off to the field to combine. They're combining canola. The field has a poor yield because it got drowned out!!!! Normal rainfall for spring, summer is usually 8 inches for a good crop. That particular area got 26 inches this growing season! Watching the Crab Apple Tree I take Chewy for a walk almost every day. We always check the crab apple tree (Malus Dolgo). The deer, coyotes or bear are keeping the fal

A Bear Footprint by the Pond We walked to the pond with Chewy. Found a bear footprint! A Visit from Barb and Steve My sister, Barb, and her husband, Steve, spent two nights here. They came up from Calgary to visit with Dad. The home cooking and red wine were great. BBQ wieners with coleslaw one night, Paella with Tiger Prawns the next night! I won't be weighing myself for a few days. LOL! Chewy's Guilty Hiding Spot I took Chewy to Cindy's place yesterday. Usually we sit outsi

Watching the Combines from the Patio The warm harvest weather continues. Harley's nephew was combining wheat on our home quarter yesterday. I sat outside on the patio during Happy Hour. Chewy was laying on the lawn close to me in the shade. There's an opening in the trees to the west. I could see the combines working with the straight cut headers turning, straw dust blowing. They have a 3 ton truck that they chase the combines with. They unload the combines on the go. Then th

The Autumn Equinox We have experienced the Autumn Equinox last night. I snapped a picture of our trees near our flower garden. The Ents of Isengard One of my favourite images from The Two Towers, Lord of the Rings is when the trees, Ents, come to life and march on Isengard because the orcs were destroying the trees. How Trees Practise Collective Intelligence The photo I've featured here today shows how trees practise collective intelligence. We have 3 Ohio Buckeyes. The one f

Sunrise, Combining, and Bear Scat Sunrise is now just after 7 AM. The days continue to be warm. Harley said he saw new bear scat under the crab apple tree. A great deal of combining is being done. Chewy's Favourite Truck When Chewy was a pup, we only had one truck, a Dodge 3/4 ton. He's used to that vehicle. He's never been in our Ford 1 ton. He thinks the Dodge is his truck. On Saturday Harley was combining just across the road from our house. He decided to walk over to get

Comparing Notes on Animal Damage We had a lot of company in the last week, mostly people who've lost garden produce to animals. For most people closest to us, it was bear damage. For the Hutterites it was fox and coyotes. But another neighbour said there were tiny hoof marks around his damaged corn. We have a herd of antelope here. Combining for His Brother Harley continues to combine wheat for his brother. Some fields were poor because of excess moisture. The yields are good

A Big Cooking Day I had a BIG cooking day yesterday. Harley dug a hill of potatoes and 6 carrots. I pulled up a large yellow onion. Then I proceeded to make my own invented recipe. I call it Harvest Wife Saver. Harvest Wife Saver Recipe Thaw 4 cobs of blanched frozen corn. Preheat oven to 350 F. In a Dutch oven on top of the stove melt 1 stick of butter. Chop onion medium to coarse. Brown the onions. Scrub the potatoes. Peel the carrots. Chop the potatoes into 1 inch cubes. C

Shucking and Freezing Corn at Cindy's We've been processing garden vegetables lately. Because we lost our corn crop to the juvenile bear, we purchased 100 cobs of Taber corn from southern Alberta. We took the cobs to Cindy's farmhouse. She helped Harley & me shuck it. Cindy blanched all the cobs, she made me watch tv because I hurt my back and she wouldn't let me help her. She set aside some cobs for herself. Harley and I froze the cobs when we got home. Everyone we know on f

A Bear Takes Out the Corn Crop We've been dealing with wild animals galore! Over two nights our corn crop was destroyed by a wild animal. We had a lot of communication with the neighbours. Harley's cousin saw a juvenile black bear in the 'hood. Our corn was the worst hit in the neighbourhood. Loaded for Bear We have one man pulling his trailer close to his wife's garden at night. He's staying inside the trailer. You might say he's loaded for bear. I'll keep you informed on th

Down Almost 4 Pounds Digital Scales are interesting. They measure to one decimal point. I'm almost 4 lbs down. A Friend's Weight Loss Story My friend Cindy saw a male friend at the grocery store the other day. She remarked to me about how much weight he had lost. I know the gentleman too and his story. He started taking very low dose Ozempic about 5 years ago for high blood sugar. He lost weight very slowly. Now that he is down to a healthy weight, his wife decided to go on a

Sunday Brunch at Sunrise Hill We invited a friend of ours out to the Sunday Brunch at the Sunrise Hill Restaurant at the Kinsmen Vegreville Golf Course. We've never been to the brunch before. It's first class! Delicious! We saw people we knew there and had conversations. Friends' Diet Success Stories Farther back in the week, I had an aesthetician's appointment. Donna is a tall woman. She has lost 25 lbs since March by not snacking after supper. My guess is that she doesn't h

A Morning Deep in Edits In the morning I was pursuing my final draft for the coloured edition of Your Weight Loss Companion. Harley likes to talk to me in the morning and he could see I was busy, so he went out to take Chewy for a walk. When he came back in he could see I was still deep into my work editing. He announced he was going to town to buy parts for a project he was working on in the shop. Half an hour later, he phoned to say that he wanted to invite me out for break

Freezing the Fair Baking Today is a cool overcast day. I did take Chewy for a one mile walk. I froze all of the baking I had done for the fair, and stored the preserve entries. Harley insisted that I display my ribbons. He wants me to show my sister on the weekend. A Day of Writing I spent the day writing. When my computer was fully charged, I advanced a Christmas story I had been working on. Then when my computer needed charging, I started a new Christmas story in longhand.

Round 2: Maintain, Do Not Gain I should be clear about my weight loss. I lost 7 lbs earlier in the year. This is Round 2 of weight loss. During these last few weeks of a wedding, eating and imbibing at the fair, I've remained true to my mantra: Maintain, do not gain. I did lose a little, 2.5 lbs down. Cleaning Up the Fairgrounds Clean-up after the fair. When we arrived at the fairgrounds, the Carnival workers were dismantling the rides. We picked up my 40 entries, then cleane

Horse Races and Catching Up with Neighbours Last day of the fair. We attended on Wednesday evening. They run a lounge out of the old, unused swine barn. They have outdoor bleachers where people can sit and watch the horse races. We have the 2 horse chariots and the 4 horse chuck wagons. The horses are Thoroughbreds. We have a local family who have been in the breeding and racing business for 3 generations. Many of our neighbours and friends sit in the same area that we do! We

Coffee Talk About Data Centres Woke up refreshed. Enjoyed coffee chat with Harley. After discussions about family, friends, we talked about Data Centres. One is being built about 100 km from us by Meta. We get our power from a Rural Electrification Association. They buy our power for our group. The Association is going to have to be very wise how they bid on power because they have to compete with the data centres. Watching the Parade with Dad I watched the Vegreville Parade

Maintaining Through a Busy Week I haven't posted for a few days. We've been visiting back and forth every day with friends and a business meeting. There were extra snacks every day. My goal was to maintain. And I did just that. So, I'm still 2.5 lbs down. Spain Wins the Cup Didn't I say earlier that Spain would win the cup! I let out a scream when Torres put that beautiful goal past the Argentine goalkeeper! Maintenance Is My Strength Back to maintenance. I've always been goo

Watching the Storm Roll In Maintaining Weight. The storm moved in just after midnight. The best place to watch at prairie storm is from our front room. Harley watched from our kitchen, noting the pelting raindrops on our concrete patio. He was wanting to see if it was hailing. Hail never materialized, so he went back to bed. I stayed up and watched the whole storm. The storm was moving west to east. Our front room window looks out to the east. The sheet lightening was spectac

A Windy Walk and Garden Harvest Maintained weight. The wind blew this morning. Chewy and I went for a one mile breezy walk, me with a weighted vest. Then I pulled an onion from the garden and cleaned it up outside. I always compost the crotch of the green onion. Bacteria and dirt can be trapped there. I use the bulb, straight, light green stem and the dark green stems. I decided to thin out some young carrots from the garden and store them in the fridge for future use. I have

A Friend's Court Case Maintained my weight. Because I have just written down the date, I am reminded that my young, 25ish, female friend, K (for now) is involved with an inheritance dispute and separation of property dispute. Her lawyer went to court today along with the estate's lawyer and the ex-partner's lawyer. K had been present at another hearing and the ex-partner and her family called out after a judge made a decision. The judge chastised them, then said that only the