Frantic Friday!

The Bag Lady has been busier than a cat on a marble slab...........(Did she just date herself by using that expression? In fact, does anyone know what that cat is trying to do on that marble slab? If not, the Bag Lady will tell you in the comment section.....)

She has some crafts yet to finish this morning, and the sale starts this afternoon! Aaacckkk....
Here are just a few of the things she has ready for the sale:

Casserole Carriers:

Sugar Body Scrubs and Salt Foot Scrubs, with wash-mitts:


Door Swags:


And, of course, her CartSmart Bags:

She will also have some of her salsa, and some home-made granola, and some Christmas cards, and soap-saver mitts, and more......if she gets everything finished in time!

Have a good weekend!

Gotta run....

Rambling Babble

The Bag Lady has been scrambling (again) to get some crafts finished in time for the sale on the weekend (which starts tomorrow afternoon).

She took advice from some of her lovely commenters and is hard at work making cards out of her photographs. She has some sewing she needs to finish, and is feeling extremely a little disorganized. Hence this very short post.

The weather has been unsettled, of course - it rained yesterday morning, but the temperature was such that the rain froze when it hit the ground, turning the world into a skating rink. Why does this cause some people to drive even faster than they normally do? (Or is it actually that they would be normally be driving twice as fast, and consider slowing down to just above the speed limit a nod to the road conditions?) It makes the Bag Lady shake her head and want to stay home (which she does, when the roads are nasty, most of the time!)

That being said, she left her house last night at 9:30 to drive to the airport with a friend to pick up his wife. The roads were actually not too bad, but the Bag Lady is not accustomed to driving at night, so she gave herself plenty of time.
Her friends' flight arrived on time, and had taken under an hour. Her friends' luggage, unfortunately, took another hour to arrive. Apparently, the baggage cart wouldn't start. The luggage finally arrived, the Bag Lady delivered her friends safely to their home, and she herself crawled into bed just around midnight.

She is hoping to get lots of things accomplished today, so she'd better get at it!

Pine and Spruce

The Bag Lady's photography skills know no bounds.... as evidenced in this little video.
These are Pine Grosbeaks enjoying the sunflower seeds the Bag Lady provides for them. (The Bag Lady apologizes for her yowling cat - he has been very vocal lately!)




Pine Grosbeaks are quite shy and will take flight en masse at the slightest provocation, which makes it difficult to get good pictures of them.


On the other hand, the Bag Lady did manage to get a reasonably good picture of last night's sunset - it moved slowly enough for her! This is the last of the old spruce trees still surviving in the pasture. It's companion was broken in a windstorm last year.


Wouldn't that make a nice Christmas card?

Lest We Forget

Today marks the 90th anniversary of the end of the First World War. The Great War, it was called. The war to end all wars.

Of course, we know now that it was not the war to end all wars.

The Bag Lady would like to take this opportunity to share some photos of her dad, who fought for his country during the Second World War. He was a telegraphist in the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve.

Dad was a farm boy from Alberta who came of age toward the end of the war. He finished his training at Ste. Hyacinthe, P.Q. in 1944. (He is second from the left in the second row)



He went home on leave for Christmas in 1944.


He served on three different corvettes during his time in the navy, patrolling the eastern coast of Canada and the United States.


On one tour of duty, he was granted shore leave in New York City, so he and a fellow sailor toured around. Here they are on the Empire State building.


Toward the end of the war, his ship escorted a captured German submarine into Halifax harbour.



The Bag Lady still has his kit bag, and some of his uniforms and other memorabilia. (If you click on the photo of his kit bag, you can see a drawing of a 'dream girl'!)





Dad didn't talk a lot about his tour of duty, but he was proud of having served his country, and I am proud of him, too. If it hadn't been for WWII, there would be no Bag Lady, for he met her mother in Halifax!

His is just one of the hundreds of thousands of stories of men and women who served their countries, and we should all take a moment today to remember them, and the many who paid the ultimate price for their countries.

Winter Wonderland

The Bag Lady wanted to share some winter scenes with you. She went to help the Rancher load some equipment the other day, and while she was waiting for him, she was captivated by the beauty of the season. Well, okay, she was bored thought the sun shining through the snowy trees looked pretty.

Please click on any of the images to enlarge them if they aren't already making you feel chilly enough!







Yesterday the Bag Lady's world was coated with hoar frost. The pictures don't really convey just how pretty everything was.





Even the weeds are sparkling in the sun.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Snow and Surprises!

True to her promise, the Bag Lady is sharing a picture of the snow that fell yesterday. For those of you in the warmer areas who want to see snow, but not necessarily first-hand, enjoy. For those of you who will eventually get some snow, here's a taste of what's to come!


The Bag Lady had to do some ranch work this morning. Because of the snow, the Rancher decided that the cows needed to be fed, so the Bag Lady took 4 feeders and 4 bales to the cows. The Rancher knows that cows are inclined to wander if they don't think there is enough to eat where they are, so feeding them helps keep them happy and inside the fences!

On her first trip to feed the cows, the Bag Lady had a look around and did a quick nose count (it's faster to count noses than it is to count legs and divide by 4....). All but one of the cows had a calf this spring, and two of the cows have two calves. One of the Bag Lady's old cows didn't have a calf in the spring, and the Rancher and the Bag Lady thought that perhaps she was just too old and would have to go for slaughter sometime soon. This idea didn't sit well with the Bag Lady because this particular cow was one of the first cows the Bag Lady bought. The cow was old when the Bag Lady bought her some 11 or 12 years ago, but she has produced a good calf every year since! The Bag Lady calls her Marble because she reminds her of marble cheese.

When the Bag Lady was doing her nose count, she glanced over at old Marble and had to do a double take. This is what she saw:



The Bag Lady had been working in the corral the day before and had seen Marble, but she didn't have a calf at that time. She must have been waiting for the storm!
As most of you know, the rest of this years' calf crop were all named for bloggers. The Bag Lady gave the opportunity to Marianne, who passed the honour on to her children. They chose to call this last calf of the season:

Autumn!

This is a comparison shot. The black calf (Mojo) was born June 8th. How quickly they grow!

So calving season has officially ended at Scratchnut Creek Ranch. Finally.

White Stuff

The Bag Lady's Blather is definitely not a political forum, but she did watch the American election results last night with some interest.

She was impressed with a couple of things. First, the number of voters who turned out to cheer for their chosen candidate. This was definitely an historic event and the American public realized it.

Secondly, she was impressed by John McCain's gracious concession speech.

And the American President-elect gave a wonderfully stirring speech. Barach Obama certainly seems to be the right choice to lead his country into what will hopefully be a more peaceful and more prosperous time for all of us, not just for America.

**

The Bag Lady is trying not to look outside this morning at the white stuff covering everything in her (still dark) yard! Dang it all, she was quite happy with the way things were - chilly, but not cold, and still a little green. Oh well, it was inevitable, but perhaps this first blast won't last!

What's the weather like where you are?