Monday Already?

The Bag Lady's weekend did not go exactly as planned. She and the Rancher decided they were too lazy not interested in going camping, so they stayed home and had a few people over for supper on Saturday night, instead.

The Bag Lady made her famous fried chicken and potato salad, and created a new dish (new for her) - seafood-stuffed mushrooms. Her SIL brought fresh corn on the cob and a fresh baguette, which rounded out the meal nicely. They cooked the corn and the mushrooms on the barbecue, which worked very well.

A few more friends dropped in unexpectedly, and before the Bag Lady knew it, they were all sitting around a blazing fire in the firepit in her back yard and having a wonderful time! Until 4 o'clock in the morning! Unfortunately, the Bag Lady is unaccustomed to staying up that late (she is usually starting to wake up around then), so when her internal alarm clock woke her at 8 am on Sunday, she ended up being a little sluggish for the rest of the day.

She has a myriad of things to attend to this week. She needs to work in her garden and yard, finishing harvesting more vegetables and attempting to get things tidied up. Of course, if she runs out of things to do outside, there is always housework and laundry...

What a Week!

It's been a busy week around the ol' stump ranch, and the Bag Lady and the Rancher have been working fairly hard.

They ran out of pasture for their cows here at home and decided they had to move them to new pasture, but in order to do that, they had to do a little fence-building. So they loaded up the truck with some supplies and off they went:






Here is the area they needed to fence. It is a "beaver lake" that has dried up. With the drought conditions, the beaver have left for wetter pastures, and the water has disappeared:




Originally, the water came up to the end of the wooden rail fence (see where the Rancher is standing? That used to be too wet to walk in):



The Rancher pounded posts (by hand!) With this:

And then they strung some wire:




Of course, the Bag Lady had to investigate the flora (she is pretty sure that this is wild mint - at least, that's what it smells and tastes like!):

When they finished building the fence, they had to drive around the rest of the fence line to make sure it was all up, and while they were touring around, the Bag Lady was happy to see lots of hazelnuts (filberts) on the bushes (there weren't any last year):

She also spied some high-bush cranberries (and remembers exactly where they were, so will probably be doing some berry-picking very soon! Cranberry jelly for Thanksgiving is in her future!):

She and the Rancher will probably spend some time camping in the area on the weekend, and she's hoping to pick some cranberries and hazelnuts and might even lift a beer or two - it's supposed to be around +30C (86F) - perfect weather for stumbling around in the bush, picking berries!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Does Colour Really Matter?

The Bag Lady and the Rancher went on a excursion yesterday. They wandered through the bush and came upon a dugout that was in the process of drying up. This has been a terribly dry year (the area where they live has been declared an agricultural disaster area), and they were shocked to discover how much the water has disappeared from this dugout. In previous years, it has been so full, it has overflowed it's banks.



That is definitely not the case this year. In fact, the Bag Lady was surprised to see shells in the dirt and mud along the banks. She has never seen freshwater snail shells before (click on any of the pictures to enlarge):


They wandered around and followed this dry beaver run for awhile:


And finally came upon the abandoned beaver dam:


Here is another dry run, leading to the same beaver dam:


When the Rancher crossed over one of the runs, he casually remarked to the Bag Lady the only words that he knew would strike terror in her heart. "Bear tracks":


These are pictures of what are probably the tracks of a black bear, although the Rancher said that the bear he had seen in the area previously was actually brown. The Bag Lady wasn't about to hang around to find out what colour the bear really was! As far as she was concerned, they had wandered too far from the truck and it was definitely time for the excursion to end!


They made their way back to the truck and the Bag Lady is really not all that disappointed that she still doesn't know what colour that bear was!

Weekend Wedding Review

The Bag Lady and the Rancher had a busy weekend. Friends of theirs got married, and the bride used the Bag Lady's house to get dressed for the wedding. The Bag Lady was pleased as punch to have a hand in making the day special for her friend.
First, the Bag Lady cleaned her bedroom/bathroom and got it ready for the bride to use:



Then she set out some refreshments:


The bride's daughter did her mom's hair:

And helped lace her mom into her wedding dress:

Making sure everything looks good:

Adding the finishing touches:


The groom and groomsmen await the bride's arrival:


The bride and her 6 attendants (the bride and groom each have 3 grown daughters) arrive in style:

The bride's mother walked her down the aisle:


Supper:


The first dance as a married couple:


It was truly a family affair with 4 generations taking part in the ceremony, and a wonderful time was had by all!

Angel Skirt and Frosty

The Bag Lady is totally enamoured of the newest calf to be born on the ranch. He is so darned cute!
His mama is one of the oldest cows on the place, and she is also one of the friendliest and most placid (and can be really freakin' annoying if she doesn't want to go somewhere.... she just won't go!) She likes to be scratched and will stand and allow you to scratch her for as long as possible.

The Bag Lady thought the clouds the other night looked very interesting. There was little pink cloud peeking through the rest of the dark clouds, almost like an angel's petticoat hanging down:



Or not.

AND THE WINNER IS.....

.....MESSYMIMI!!

Email the Bag lady at the address in the sidebar with your mailing address.

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

Remember the day the temperature dipped below freezing at the Bag Lady's house? That chilly morning, she took a stroll out into the pasture and discovered this: (click on any of the images to enlarge - the Bag Lady recommends enlarging the first one - it's so darned cute!)


The Bag Lady had actually been aware that this cow had decided it was time to have a calf, and the Bag Lady was glad to see the little guy all curled up close to his mom for warmth!

As the Bag Lady shivered her way back to the house, she spied this spiderweb on the barbed wire fence, and thought it looked interesting, all covered with frost: