Of course lots of snow also equals snowshoeing...

Saturday the whole day consisted of a gentle steady snowfall. And what's the best thing to do with all this fresh snow..

Well a snowshoeing party of course. Jewels, Annie, and I were invited out to a friends acreage for a day of snowshoeing followed by a fondue party...

This had to be one of the best days of the winter. Everything was covered with snow and the best part was that there was virtually no wind.

It was so nice and calm and peaceful and mild and wonderful..

LIFE IS GOOD!!!

Our first winter storm.. or March comes in like a lion!!

Well, it had to happen. The ground around here was brown... no snow other that a few spots in the bushes and it looked like we might be in some kind of drought conditions this spring.

All that changed the other nite and in the matter of a couple of days, we've been hit with about 20 inches of snow.

The first storm was a blizzard with high winds whipping the snow around. We took a drive up to the beach on Park Pointe to check you the lake and the waves were just hammering into the shore. So rugged and beautiful..

When all had settled down, we took a couple of pics of the house. No more brown ground.. and lots of snow to shovel...

Life is good!

speaking about Grand kidz...

My girls were off to a birthday party this past Saturday and Jill posted some photos on her facebook page. Didn't see any shots of Shaya.. she was probably in the background eating cake!!.

Looks like Rylie had a good time in her fancy mini skirt.. My girls.. I lov'em to bits...

And yeah.. Life is Good!

Well, Well, Well, - Look whoz back!

OK... I'll admit I've been a bit lax in my postings. Wasn't really sure if many people were reading this but I did get some feedback about my disappearance!

Truth is, my life has been very quiet since Xmas. I drove back to Duluth and have basically been hanging out with Jewels since then. In some cases, quiet is good though... no real issues... just sitting back and watching my birds!!! If it's not my lovely grand kids that I'm going on and on about, it's my birds. I've found a way to keep those damn squirrels away from the feeders. Just add cayenne pepper to the seed and while it doesn't have any effect on the birds, the squirrels are not fans of the hot stuff.

Jewells is awaiting a much needed week off next week while I'm busting awaiting some news from our business that is supposed to be announced on the 20th. We're planning a little road trip down to our wonderful friends down in the SW corner of the state and then will spend a few days in the twin cities taking in some of the sights, sounds, food, and culture of MSP. Oh, and of course a birthday celebration with Finley Vi - Julies now 5 year old grand daughter.

Other than that... Life is Still Good... very, very good.

Boxing day..

Well we had a lovely Christmas.

There was some question as to whether or not Santa would find us up here in the mountains but we were so very lucky and everyone got spoiled.

It's boxing day today and I'm staying with the kiddos while Wayne is back to work and Jill and her sister Becca are out trying to find Boxing Day bargains.

Posting a few pics of the kids from the past few days. Jill and Shaya playing with Shaya's 3D Nintendo... uhhh well Jill seems to enjoy it. Rylie snacking by the tree and then enjoying the snow on the deck on Xmas Day.

Jill, Wayne, Shaya, and Becca went tubing on the ski hill in the afternoon and then we enjoyed a great turkey dinner Xmas nite.

It's a great spot out here. Wish Jewels were with us but it wasn't meant to be this time around.

Life is good. Merry Christmas to all.

Driving west for Xmas...

After a stop in Edmonton to help in production of another 700 tonnes of EZ Street as well as a very nice few days visiting with Nikki and Jesse, I hit the road throught the mountains to the west coast.

I admit I was a bit apprehensive about road conditions and it turned out to be quite icy. I guess icy relates to pretty as the scenery was gorgeous. Snow and ice on the trees (as well as the road) and a wrong turn which added about 300 extra km to the drive proved to be interesting as well as somewhat challenging.

A nice 2 day drive and a relief to pull into Courtenay to start my visit with the kids.

Life is Good!!!

Nice little story in the Free Press today....

SAY A LITTLE PRAYER... Last weekend a first-year student in residence at Canadian Mennonite University was admitted to hospital with an irregular heartbeat.

Then his heart stopped.

It took time but eventually he was revived, placed on a heart machine and then he underwent an emergency procedure. It's a surgery that, if it failed, meant a heart transplant was the only option. But what adds to the story of one student struggling for his life is what the other students and the university did. Sunday evening, they began gathering for prayer vigils at the residence hall.

Monday afternoon, the prayer vigil went campus-wide. And in the evening, they gathered again to pray for their fellow student.

At last report, the student came through the surgery successfully, is breathing on his own and his parents are with him.

Oh, there's one more thing.

Because of the prayer vigils, CMU, in the person of academic vice-president Earl Davey, extended the deadline for course papers by nearly two days. How many other Canadian universities would do that?

Pray tell.

Life is Good....