Shhh, the Bag Lady isn't really here

Okay, okay, the Bag Lady knows she said she was going to take the weekend off from blogging because she was going camping. But that was before it poured rain yesterday. And before the Rancher had such a long day at work that he fell asleep on the couch right after supper. If it dries up today, they may venture forth on a camping adventure. There is frost in the forecast for Sunday night (Gah, can you believe it?!) and the Bag Lady is undecided about what to do. If she goes camping, she will have to pick her tomatoes before she leaves so they don't freeze. If, on the other hand, she stays home, she can cover her tomatoes to protect them, and they will have more time to mature on the vine. What to do, what to do....

In the meantime, she wanted to share a few photos with you of her garden produce.
Here are some of her tomatoes:


This one was delicious!


This is one of the survivors of the late frost we experienced in July. Isn't it huge, and beautiful? (The Bag Lady is hoping it is one of the Pink Ponderosa variety - they are so pretty!)

And here are some of the peppers she is planning to use to make hot pepper jelly:



The round red ones are not supposed to be very hot, and neither are the banana peppers. The green ones are Cayenne peppers and were accidentally broken off during a wild Frisbee episode with the Princess and the Rancher's almost-two-year old grandson! No big deal - they will be fine just as they are! The little red ones are called Super Chilies. The Bag Lady has never grown them before and has no idea how hot they will be. Well, except that the little stick that came with them from the nursery says they are hot peppers.
The habaneros are starting to produce. The Bag Lady is afraid of them. She found a recipe for a hot pepper jelly that is called Habanero Gold. Sounds interesting, doesn't it? Also might cause your head to explode....

If I Had A Million Dollars......

Oh, wait -- do you have to be Canadian to know that song?


Well, whatever..... if I had a million dollars, I would give all of you medals for watching that video yesterday! Instead, I give you my heart-felt thanks.

The Bag Lady may be taking a day or two off over the weekend............ or not.

On the other hand:

she is suffering greatly from some split-personality disorder from having to constantly write in third-person (and way too much beer...) and she is taking a day off.

Love ya! *waving frantically from the barred windows*

M
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It's Friday, isn't it?

On the Road Again

The Bag Lady did go to the mountains with the Rancher yesterday. It was a 6 hour trip, and she took a lot of photographs. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't very co-operative and it was cloudy and dim or perhaps it was the Bag Lady who was dim and the pictures are not very good.

She did manage to videotape a portion of their trip. This extremely long video is a small part of the trip, but it was the reason they went..... to pick up a load of mats from an oil lease. In some areas around here, they have to build roads across swamps in order to haul the oil-drilling equipment into a well site. The easiest way to do that is to lay down wooden mats to drive on. When they are finished, they haul the mats out again in order to re-use them. The mats are made of oak, and are very heavy.

This particular video shows the trip from the main road down a very steep, very long road to the oil lease in order to pick up a load of mats. The Bag Lady had to do a lot of editing to shorten the enormous amount of video she took. Even then, the video is around 5 minutes long. Do not feel obligated to watch it. There is no music, and a lot of inane, sometimes inaudible conversation. On the other hand, if you are a big fan of noise, dust, and trees, you'll love this! The video also does not impart exactly how steep, rough and narrow the road was.

How'd It Get to be Wednesday Already?!

The Bag Lady had a cranky day yesterday. Nothing went right. She was doing some sewing, and the fabric wasn't co-operating. Nor was her sewing machine. Sheesh.

Today, she might just go to work with the Rancher. He has to make a trip out west and will be close to the mountains, so she might get some good photographs. He was there yesterday and said the scenery was fabulous! He even volunteered to take the camera with him today (if the Bag Lady can't go) to take photos for the blog (who are you and what have you done with the Rancher?)!

She still hasn't managed to get the final photographs of the paint job at her mother-in-law's house.... maybe tomorrow.

The weather is supposed to be cooling off dramatically toward the weekend, and the Rancher and the Bag Lady have plans to go camping. Figures. Rain and cold. Here's hoping the forecast is wrong!

Good grief, no-one wants to hear how cranky the Bag Lady is!

Here's something to ponder instead:



"WE HAZ MOUSE....NOW WUT?"

Babblin' Around

Yesterday, the Rancher, his mother and the Bag Lady took some cows to be sold at the auction held today. The auction mart where they took their cows is approximately an hour away, and they noticed on the drive that there was a large police presence on the highway. In that hour, they saw 4 police cars. This area has been plagued with accidents in the past few years, prompting the province to provide sheriffs to help police the highways. They were certainly on the job yesterday!

After they delivered their cows to the auction, they decided to have supper at a cafe in the little town close to the auction mart.

Lo and behold, there were 2 police cars pulled in there, and the officers were inside, having their supper. Shortly thereafter, 2 more police cars pulled in. One of the officers had to walk past the table where the Rancher et al were seated on his way to the restroom. When the officer came out of the washroom, he stopped at the table across the aisle to invite the little boy seated there to come out and have a look at his police car! The little boy was about 7 years old, and seemed quite excited. The officer told him to come and get him when he was ready to leave.

The little boy and his family left a few minutes before the Bag Lady and her family, so when she and her mother-in-law exited the restaurant, the policeman was just taking the handcuffs off the little boy! The boy seemed absolutely thrilled about the whole experience and the Bag Lady couldn't help but think what a good P.R move that was on that police officer's part!

The Bag Lady took a few photos on the trip, mostly to show her sister, Reb, who blogs over at Sibu Pegasus Power, how much the city has expanded since she was here last. Unfortunately, the photos aren't very good. If it had been dark, the lights would have shown up nicely.....

This was taken from the top of the hill (which, by the way, is nowhere near as high as it used to be - they cut it down quite drastically when they twinned the highway):

New intersection between Costco and the airport:


Here are some gulls taking flight from a field outside town:



Here's a little video clip of the new construction in town:



Sorry if this post is a little boring for everyone else.... the Bag Lady will try to have something more exciting tomorrow.

Blurry Bird

Here is a tiny little video clip of a Downy Woodpecker having a treat at the Bag Lady's birdfeeder. He was actually there for quite awhile, and the Bag Lady took a lot of little videos, but she thought he looked kinda funny in this one! (Don't blink - it's even shorter than she remembered...!)




She had a very busy week last week, and a busy weekend as well, so she's a little played out, but in a good way. She has quite a lot on her plate for the coming week, too! Cattle to round up, painting to touch up, paperwork to catch up, housework to make up....

And Another Thing.....

The Bag Lady took these photos just a few minutes ago to show you how her yard looked this morning....
The sun finally makes an appearance (haven't seen it since Monday!)




It's rather misty:

And very close to freezing: