hydetimes

The day after Barry got home from the Okanagan he weed wacked the whole yard. That night it was obvious he had done a good job because there were many… Many… Many bugs without homes flying around. That night I went to sleep listening to Barry zapping bugs, sounds like a lot of them. In the morning I got up for work, went into the bathroom and there were a lot of no-see-ums so I grabbed the zapper and spent about 20 minutes but I got them all. Went out into the living room and noticed there were millions of them on the living room window. They like it along the bottom and there was a solid black strip of them about an inch deep along the bottom… I didn’t know what to do then I heard Barry from the bedroom “vacuum them up”… Great idea! Grabbed the vacuum and got all them and the kitchen had thousands of them. Went back into the bathroom to have a shower and there were more then there were earlier!!! Holy! What the??? Grabbed the vacuum and got them all sorted out … Again! By this time I’m almost late for work so off I go. About an hour later Barry comes into my office with a dumbfounded look on his face…. “I can’t figure out where they are coming from”. Off he goes again. Another half hour or so passes and he’s back but this time he has a look of defeat on his face. “I just can’t win the battle, they are getting in faster than I can kill then and I don’t know where they are coming from!”. Off he goes again. Third time he showed up he had some glimmer of hope… “I think they are coming in the bathroom fan!” He put a bag over the exit on the side of the house and it filled up with the little buggers so he opened it up and shot hornet killer down it while it was running so it would carry all thru. It worked! We left the fan running for the rest of the day then covered the outside exit, we will uncover it after bug season is over.

So in the end we are both completely covered in bites…. And I mean covered! They ate us while we slept that night and while we were trying to control them they had another feast. This was about a week ago and I’m still scratching… It’s driving me mad! We found some even finer screen then we already have at the fabric store and Barry spent yesterday recovering all the windows. Regular screen will keep out the Mosquitos and flys, we had what the other stores call no-see-um screen but it doesn’t work. Wings with teeth they are referred to by the locals. The worst part about them is they don’t just bite you once like a mosquito, these little guys bite you over and over and over and over…….nasty!

Aside from this infestation we are relatively bug free this year with all the clearing that Barry has done. I leave my office door wide open most days and burn a coil at the doorway, keeps everything but the flys out.

Looks like a hobbit moved into the giant cottonwood tree in the front yard! So cute! Great job Barry!

I have been here 4 years! Wow, times goes fast… Or does it? I always say that but when I stop and think about it, a lot has happened in those 4 years, it didn’t go that fast! It really hit me when I realized I can dispose of 4 boxes of old papers from work, hahaha. That’s always a fun fire!

How have I changed in the 4 years?
I’ve become Suzie homemaker! I learned how to bake, cook everyday food (as opposed to the restaurant food I only knew), how to have enough stuff in the pantry to feed us for a few weeks without a problem…. All stuff a large percentage of females learn early in life… Not in their 50’s. None the less, I’ve figured it out now.

I went from not leaving the house without a chaperon … Ever… During bear season (I was so scared) to casually remarking… “Oh there’s a bear” when I spotted one thru the trees when we were around the camp fire one afternoon. And following bear tracks on a walk then having him scoot thru the bush next to me and I didn’t run home screaming! (He was pretty far from us but still scared the begeezuz out of me when a branch snapped and I realized it was him). As I write this there is a bear on the highway out front and the dogs are going bananas!

I would barely leave the house during bug season the first year to now working with my office door wide open (Barry has cleared so much growth the bugs are much better I must add). The first year, I swelled up like a balloon, I had a pretty harsh reaction… Now I use my home made balm that I invented on the bites and 10 minutes later, I forget I ever had it.

I am over my addiction to fast food… I enjoy the odd A&W chicken burger but otherwise, I’m pretty much done with it all. However… I do still and probably always will love cake!

Winter was my least favourite season but living here you get a different perspective on it. It has become my second favourite which is fortunate since it lasts so long! I love it…It’s beautiful and cheerful. We have more sunny days than overcast being up in the mountains. I love being cozy in our little home during a huge snow fall. It’s all so romantic and inspiring. In case anyone is keeping score… Fall is first, then summer and spring is last only because of the bugs and bears. It’s beautiful here all year, we are really lucky!

I am a lot more health conscious then ever before. I am feeling healthier then ever before.

My art work has improved, my mind is clearer.

My stress has reduced immensely!

And best for last…

I never had much interest in marriage before but now I am so happy to call Barry my husband and I get chills when he calls me his wife. Can’t wait to actually be married!

The adventures have only begun…. Stay tuned…

Tonight they came and took the camper and an old car away…Barry made the guy a deal, he was allowed to take the car for scrap if he took the camper too. So nice! It was a challenge and it took him almost an hour but he managed to get it. His rig was so cool, when he finally got the edge of the ramp under it he was able to move the entire truck backwards with the outside controls! Never seen that before! So happy to see the old camper go! We would have had to disassemble it to take it ourselves.

The bears have been trying to get inside the studio… Thru the wall! How cheeky! I googled what we should do and got a long list of really good ideas but unfortunately most of them cost a bunch of money or you need power. There were a few that we will set into motion. It’s been warm the last few days so we are hoping they are moving up the mountain soon if not already. There are a lot of them this year! We saw momma with the cutest, tiniest little cubs I’ve ever seen the other day at the top of Devils Canyon! So cute! Hopefully we can get rid of these guys that are becoming a big nuisance!

We better start thinking wood!

We got the washer hooked up in my office and 2 clothes lines… We are in business. Here is Barry hanging out the first load! So nice to have laundry again! We will sort out the dryer before winter.

We have a boot room! Such excitement, I tell ya! It still needs siding and to be insulated and a door installed (Barry’s getting a door for his birthday) but we will do all that before winter. We have shelves at the studio that will be coming over for out there and a dresser so Barry doesn’t have to keep his clothes in a duffle bag in my office anymore… He gets a dresser! La-de-da! Hahaha. Barry also built shelves for the cold storage building so we have a lot more space out there now too. Each trip we take to the studio we return with something so everything is slowly migrating over here. We got the screen door as a gift a few years ago (thanks Uncle Don!) but never hung it. It works great on the boot room door… It has magnets that let go easily and then grab each other after you go thru. It works amazingly well. Lily has figured it out, Mini on the other hand is still afraid of it and needs coaxing. When the magnets join they click and it scares her because it’s right behind her. She will get used to it. We are going to put in a doggy door for them so this is good practise for her. The extra square footage is a huge bonus for us! The freezer is out of the kitchen and all the coats and shoes… It’s awesome! In the top 3 of best ever birthday gifts. Thanks Barry!

Wow, we are still a little bit in shock that our buddy is gone. It all seemed to happen so fast. He went in to see the vet because he was sick, she gave him a shot, put him on pills, said if he didn’t improve to bring him back. He seemed to start getting better right away, his appetite came back and he seemed himself for about 5 days then he had a relapse. I took him back, he got another shot and the vet took some blood tests. This was Friday afternoon. Saturday the vet called to say the tests were showing that he was a sick little dog. He seemed to be feeling okay so she said to just bring her a urine sample and she would do some further testing.

Sunday, June 8th. We woke up and Shooter seemed fine. Around lunch time we could see he had taken a turn. He was not well and we just knew it was near the end. We started to prepare ourselves for when we took him back to the vet Monday morning, he may not ever come home again. Shooter must have heard us talking about this (although we were in my office so he couldn’t hear us) because around 3 he went outside. Did a tour of the yard, went for a drink at the creek and then sat in the sun on the front deck (all with Barry helping him, he was struggling a bit). At around 4 I picked him up off the deck and brought him inside to his bed. Sat with him for only a few minutes, rubbing his back and telling him I loved him. His breathing was laboured, I knew he was near the end. His breathing calmed, he had a couple of very mild convulsions and he was gone. We laid him on the floor on his blanket and tucked him in with another like we did every night. We all sat around him patting him and telling how much we love him. A few hours later Barry took him out to my office.

Today, June 15th, we laid him to rest with his buddy Max at his side. In the photo of inside the casket you can see lil Max is in the little box, his 2 favourite toys and his bowl. The dogs seemed to say good bye, especially Lily, she laid down next to him and sniffed him one last time before we screwed on the lid and then we dumped a couple of scoops of dirt on top. Barry will carve a seat out of the log next to the grave so I can sit and visit with them. We will also have a plaque made and attach it to the “bench”. It was very good for all of us to have the closure. We know they are safe and together, it is comforting.

They are just to the right of the log which spans over the creek. I will post a photo once we have it all finished with the bench carved into the log and plaque. Barry wants to tidy it up, I will plant some wild flowers.

RIP my buddy, I miss you.

Today Ian from Bowron Creek Log Homes showed up and dropped the 2 spruce trees in front if the house. It was crazy! This guy was amazing to watch. He was so nonchalant about it all. He held up a stick standing almost exactly where the tip of the first tree landed to determine his strategy. He cut in a small wedge in the direction he wanted it to fall then started his back cut, put in a wedge, cut a bit more, tapped the wedge and then casually stepped back and the tree fell in slow motion. It was really something to watch. The second tree was hung up on the cottonwood so it twisted a bit but landed right on top of the first and again it fell in slow motion. This guy really knows his stuff, I’ve never seen someone fall trees with such skill and ease. He was in sandals with bare feet too! Not one stitch of safety gear… A true mountain man, hahaha. Barry fired up the loader, dragged them down by the shop and its like it never happened accept the front of the house looks so bare and open. We are so happy to have them down. He left nice tall stumps too so we will do something with them.

We are not finished, he is going to come back and drop the cottonwood tree but the conditions need to be just right so we aren’t sure when that will be. That is going to be a huge clean up.

Stay tuned…

Construction began today! Yay!

Big pile of bear scat on the driveway today… He’s getting close! All dogs are closely monitored at all times!

Well this is a long time coming. For those of you who have been following my blog from the beginning, I used to give updates pretty regular but the longer I am here the further apart they become. This will be a long one so pour yourself a cup of what ever your pleasure is, find a comfy spot and here we go…

I will start with the kids…

Shooter… I think I have said this before but Shooter is the best dog ever! He is very misunderstood with his don’t touch me attitude but he is a very loving sole. He enjoys going for walks everyday but we need to limit him, He doesn’t know when to stop and over does it, ends up spending a day in bed which always scares me…we have learned to leave him behind for some of the longer walks and he doesn’t seem to mind. He came up to the top of the property the other day and barely moved the entire next day… Poor old man! But most days he jumps out of bed first thing with the girls and is ready for what the day brings. He is enjoying his sisters and the life they bring the house. Dinner is as always the highlight of his day. He loves to cuddle with us and get ear rubs and he waits in line to get brushed, he even let’s out the odd bark if I’m taking too long on one of the girls as if to say… Hurry up! Seriously cute and funny! He has a lot more life in him yet … Yay! He also likes his play time still as you can see…

Lily… She has really become part of the family this dog. She is so sweet and kind and full of love! She loves the tennis ball, she will play with other toys for a moment but she will play ball until she can’t anymore, lay down and rest then once she catches her breath, she is asking for more… She’s not as crazy as Hershey (my first JRT) thank gawd!!! Her hair grows and this is something I am not used to. Last summer we took her for a hair cut and she freaked as we left… Wrapped her little legs around Barry’s leg as if to say… Please Daddy, don’t leave me here! I cried as we drove away so I decided I would take over her hair maintenance. Over the winter I brushed her daily and kept her hair so nice but then she started to shed and she matted up so fast I couldn’t believe it. Barry has a really good clipper but the blade is really dull… Trying to find one but in the meanwhile I felt so bad she was walking around all matted up so one day I took the scissors to her and just started snipping away… A HUGE pile of fur and a few hours later, she looked like she had been sheared… Yay! We have almost all the mattes out… Just a few little bits left. Everyday for the last couple of weeks she has had a hair cut. As the mattes loosened, I would cut her more. See the before and after below, I think it’s working out.

Lily sure loves Barry, we joke a lot about how much she loves him and how she is so loyal to him. She is always RIGHT behind him which isn’t always good because her little toes get stepped on sometimes then he feels really bad. She sits in the window the entire time he is gone, she will barely go outside for a pee and I have to convince her to go for a walk, afraid she might miss him I think. She sure is a sweetie and we love her so much!

Mini… The Princess who rules Dragon Mountain with a fuzzy tail! She is the funniest, cutest little dog! She is extremely bossy and she gets away with it because she is so darn cute! She is very smart so she knows exactly what we are asking her to do but she decides on her own if she will do it… BRAT! She is getting better as she grows up mind you, she 2 now. She loves to be outside. Yesterday I brought her little bed back from the studio to put on the deck, now she will never want to come in! She has a bed in my office as well…She can push the door open if it isn’t latched so when she gets tired playing she helps herself in and curls up in her little bed and has a nap. She never misses a walk and loves to be out front, leader of the pack! She also loves to get behind everyone so she can run as fast as she can and buzz past everyone and sideswipe Lily and Shooter… Shooter used to HATE that but doesn’t seem to mind as much anymore. She gives him kisses as often as she can, he doesn’t snarl like he used… They have really grown to love each other. Mini gets special treatment from us and it’s not a secret. She gets special food, clothes, beds, toys (we even got Lily for her to play with), gadgets and privileges. She just does.

Mini and Lily… These 2 are the closest friends. They do almost everything together and when they are separated for any length of time, they have a little “I missed you” ritual. So cute! Mini doesn’t always want the treats that they are getting and she will give hers to Lily, making sure Shooter doesn’t get it. Mini is however the boss of Lily, it’s like she knows Lily is her play toy and she feels she can boss her around. If Lily gets on trouble for some thing, Mini feels the need to jump on her and give her heck. Mini hates it when Lily gets up on the bed and is really mean to her about it. Mini does get in trouble for that, she is getting better and only attacks Lily half the time now. They are loving sisters.

Us… We are in doing great. We defiantly had a little cabin fever this year. I left for 2 weeks for work and we both needed the break. It was a long cold winter and without the added space of the studio, it was a bit of a tough one. I had to work in the house for almost the entire month of Feb because of the cold weather so it was a little reminiscent of our first year here. Especially when we lost water for a few weeks.

We are both travelling to Penticton this summer to take a Terry Isaac workshop. Barry in June doing Landscape textures and mine is in July, animal textures. We are super excited about this! We both have been putting in some hours, Barry more so, he is really developing his style. I have been doing flowers just trying to learn the paint…

Which is a perfect Segway for…

Hyde Creek Gallery…

So not much good news from that end of the property. Even the phone line eventually got torn out when the snow melted and things shifted. We will be getting a new pump for the well but other than that, we won’t be putting any money into that structure so it basically sits until we can empty it and then torch it (so looking forward that). We have chosen a spot for our new building which will be studio/gallery/my office under one roof. It will be across from the shop by the entrance. This makes the most sense because then we can be open whatever hours I am at work which is basically 8 to 5 weekdays. Plus what ever time we are there working in the studio, evenings and weekends. This way at least we will be open fairly regular hours that we can advertise. This year we will get the space cleared (trailer, car, camper and a bunch of lumber), next summer we will start to build… this summer we will not have much time for much else because we have a huge project that will begin this week and look at that, another Segway…

Tree Removal…
This is the year… Month… Week… That the huge trees come down from in front of the house. Ian from Bowron Creek Log Homes is coming this week and bringing his chain saw… Scared? Damn right! If they go the wrong way, my office is squished or the house or the cold storage or the power lines… Aaaaaaaaaaaaa! It is going to take a huge portion of Barry’s summer clearing this mess! Stay tuned…

The Boot Room…

The materials are here, tomorrow construction begins, I will post photos as it develops!

The Fitbit…

I got a fitbit, it is basically a high tech step counter. It has really gotten me moving. The goal is to do 10,000 steps a day. This has got me paying closer attention to the land. As the snow melted (there are only a few scattered patches left) I expanded the area I walked and I was watching the ground… It goes from flat squished like a pancake and then things start to pop up and it starts to take shape. Very interesting. I’m really glad Barry did so much weed whacking last year, I have a lot of space to walk just around the house, I don’t have to leave the area if I don’t want to but I do make it to the studio and beyond a few times a day. This has also allowed me to keep a close eye on the run off. Today the water is down but it was pretty high for a few days there. We are hoping the worst of it is over. The water is still really dirty so we are no where close to being done. There are 3 new huge logs right by the Lost Spade Crossing that weren’t there last year, they have been washed there from up stream. Amazing that we get enough water to carry logs this size. If they make it to the culvert next year, they will be a problem!

The fitbit also records how many floors you climb and it does it by your elevation as well as steps so now everything is equated to floors… It’s 14 to the top of the property, 5 to the old snag. The driveway is 1. 4 floors to the Chinese place in Barkerville. I am so excited to see how many steps / floors it is to Richfield! Waiting for the snow to melt to take that hike. Today we were talking about going to the spot we get firewood for a walk, we will see if we can get up there yet. Love the fitbit and it’s really helped me get off my lazy butt! Yay!

Critters…

The bear we had must have moved on, we haven’t seen signs of him for a while. We do have 2 flickers (woodpecker). One has made a hole in the side of the studio wall about the size of a softball, every time we walk up to the building, he flies away. We don’t hear babies but he does have a nest in there. We have decided to leave him be. We aren’t using the house … Someone might as well take shelter there. The second one is at our house. I’m not sure where he lives but he comes and knocks on my office window, this just started a couple of weeks ago but he’s there almost everyday. I’m not sure what this guy wants. When the stellar knocks on the window, I know he wants me to come fill the seed bowl. The other day Mini and I were heading down the driveway and huge rabbit (probably a hare) came out of the small grove between the driveway and the bat cave… He’s been living there since we moved here but we don’t see him often. He’s pretty big. The grouse are all over the place too… Barry keeps talking about having one for dinner but I’m not sure if that will ever happen. Not too many big critters yet this year.

I think… For today… That is all I have … Stay tuned…

Ain’t she cute…

Both bridges on one of my walks…

As the snow melted large sections of the yard is covered with these rodent holes and tunnels… I’ve seen the holes before but not the tunnels… Interesting! We aren’t sure what exactly is creating this. This is directly beside the house … Hhmmmm this might not be a good thing!

No photos yet but we do have a bear hanging out. I saw it first near the studio then the other night Barry and walked down to the squatters place and it was at the other end of the property in the bushes near the highway. He broke a branch as he moved away from us, Scared us but he was going the other way so no worries. We were following his track at the time, he has pretty small prints so not a big guy. We are hoping he decides to move on.

Barkerville opened today so we had to go for Chinese food for lunch and stock up on soap candies! It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny. There is still a lot of snow piled up… Banks up to 12′ still. Run off has created a river running down Main Street and a huge deep puddle right in front of the school house which appropriately had boys in gum boots splashing around in it. Our favourite waiter at the Lung Duck Tong was back this year after taking last year off. We were his only customers so we got to spend some time catching up with him And enjoyed an amazing meal… We sure miss them in the winter! The big talk about town was the Kelly General Store building. It is right beside the big hotel and when the snow slide off it jarred the Kelly building askew… Not sure you can see it in the photo but the top part of the building has shifted about 8″ to the left. It’s really obvious when your standing right in front of it.

It was nice to see all the actors and other employees, we don’t see most of them all winter. The second biggest topic on everyone’s mind was how brutal the winter was. Made me feel better, I thought I was being a wuss but as it turns out, everyone felt the same way! We will probably go back again on the weekend, it was a quick visit today just for lunch.

Stay tuned…

Today we saw a grouse, weasel and hummingbird … oh and Mini is back to wearing her high visibility vest. We can ALMOST walk all the way to the studio and the grass is green in front of the house… Yay!

I scooped the little chick dressed up like a bunny from the centre piece at Easter dinner for Mini. I suspected she would love it and I was correct! She is a freak about it! It’s really hard for her to get it to squeak but when it does, she goes nuts. Barry has had to repair it more than once, look how intense she is! The cross dressing duck was a good idea! Hahaha, she is SO CUTE!

It snowed all day yesterday and it is still coming down today! Everything is white again… Love how pretty it is but I would rather see some green instead! We tried to climb the mountain yesterday but the snow is like a big slurpee, very tough to get through, every step you sink about 2′ (yes I said 2 feet!) and the snow shoes just get stuck and are useless right now. The area by the shop is one big mud pit so every time we walk the dogs down there, they come back covered in mud! We have been taking them to Stanley road to walk… No snow, no mud and lots of good smells!

We have been waiting for what seems a long time this year for some sign of spring and all we kept getting was more and more snow! How discouraging! In the past couple of days things started to really change and we are seeing run off! We have hundreds of butterflies on the front deck, the first sure sign of spring! The creek is really loud and high, we are just waiting for the boulders to start tumbling, love listening to them at night. Barry saw his first bear and 2 moose on his way to town today… It’s most defiantly spring!

Here are a few of Barry’s new comix…

The snow on the log bridge hasn’t fallen yet! It is sloughed so hard to see but it’s gotta be about 7′ deep! I did notice today there are little Mini size foot prints gong across it! Little brat!

It finally came down and we weren’t here … Dang!!! By the time it came down, it didn’t have too far to go as it was hanging over so far. We can’t see out our bedroom window. We are hoping that it doesn’t fall in and break the window! Oh the fun of winter!

It is not spring at our house! It is defiantly still winter here. Everyday we get some snow. Nothing is poking up yet so we are sure we still have well over 3′ on the ground, we got almost a foot in the past week and Barry had to plough. It is getting warmer and there is a lot of dripping going on. The trails we have made over the winter are tough to walk now, it’s like being on a balance beam, one wrong foot placement and you are instantly hip deep… Getting out is the hard part. Today we noticed that the power line from the gallery to the outhouse is down, looks like came down when the snow on the roof slid. Another casualty. This huge piece on the back of the house is ready to go and it will be a loud one! The little ones are loud, this is going to be thunderous.

Can you see Barry in the bottom photo?

-10 when we woke up but so pretty! +2 at lunch time.

We had a blizzard yesterday morning that amounted to about 6″ of snow! Today is spring, let’s hope the blizzards are over for the year. Things have been receding very nicely, we think we will be melted early this year. The creek is open in spots and the ground by the shop is changing from an ice rink to a big slushie. We are happy for Spring to arrive! Stay tuned…