Annie

Snowshoeing in the Valley

February 19, 2012 By Annie 2 Comments

Before I moved to the Cariboo, I had never used snowshoes. That changed when my friend Marion and I went snowshoeing! See that far tree line?

Zoomed in on the willows in the field with the treeline in behind.

And the next round of willows, closer to that treeline.

Method of transport – it was a lot of fun!

Marion lent me a pair, and she had her two dogs and I had da Wolf. When we were about halfway across the field, another dog joined us. She had seen us leaving and wanted to come along too! There was a lot of snow out there. It was fine for us as our snowshoes carried us along the top of the snow.

Here’s a pic looking back toward our house. We had made it thru the first round of willows.

It was kinda tough going for da Wolf. The other dogs are a lot lighter than he is, he was practically swimming thru the snow most of the time.

Here he is unsure of whether he wants to keep going. He kept looking at me and then looking back at the house! But he carried on, continuing to follow us.

Looking back across the fields towards the house.

Pussy willows just starting to bud! Spring cannot be far away.

The dogs blazing a trail.

Me on my snowshoes, enjoying a wonderful Winter afternoon.

Looking down the Valley.

Getting closer to the treeline on the far side of the field – we had already crossed the creek by now.

Marion stepping over and on the willows, giving me pointers along the way.

And here we are at the far treeline, we made it!

We saw Many chickadees in the willows , but it was very hard to get a picture of them, as they flutter here and there. Can you see the chickadee?

Rosehips providing some Winter colour!

It was great fun and I’d love to do it again!

(This post was originally published January, 2009)

Filed Under: Cariboo Tagged With: winter

We Made It to California

February 18, 2012 By Annie 6 Comments

Last evening we pulled in to our reserved spot in the sunshine. It took us an extra day to get here – we stopped in Fresno and picked up our new (to us) fifth wheel. We’re happy with it – it’s 10 years old and has a bit of wear, but it’s nice and it’s comfortable.

It will take us a little while to get used to it – the last time we came to California, we had our camper on the back of the truck. So, now we have a lot more room and a lot more storage for me to fill.

We stopped in Bakersfield and stocked the fifth wheel with the usual – pots and pans, dishes, glasses, etc. We dropped a fair bit of money into California pockets

A few pictures of our set up:

Filed Under: Southern California

Bacon & Eggs on the Woodstove

February 18, 2012 By Annie 2 Comments

Not long ago, I wrote about some of the virtues of a woodstove. Not only is a woodstove a great way to heat your home, it can also be used for cooking. Since our woodstove has a flat top, we use it for cooking fairly often, especially when it is Really Cold outside.

There’s something very satisfying about cooking on a woodstove – I’m not sure what it is. Maybe it’s the warmth from the stove coupled with the aromas that dance through the house.

A few weeks ago, it was bitterly cold here in the Valley.

Yes, like I mentioned – bitterly cold. The kind of cold where, if you have to go outside, you take greater care than any other time of the year. If we have to go down to the barn, we make sure we have Yaktraks on our boots. Although they are not failsafe, having them on our boots does make it a lot safer to be walking around on the ice.

If I’m home alone, I always take da Wolf with me down to the barn, or even for that matter, over to the woodroom. Usually, though when it is that cold, I do as little outside as I need to and then hunker down in the house for the day.

When we had that last cold snap, Graham made us a fantastic breakfast on the woodstove. He started by frying up some shredded potatoes.

Then he added a few slices of ham, and some eggs.

Having a cast iron frying pan is wonderful! If you don’t have one, pick one up when you can find them on sale – you will be glad you did! Every time I wash the cast iron pan, I coat it with some oil. I just rub in around using a paper towel. Then I put the pan away till next time.