Long time no see

I received a request for an update. I haven't written in quite a while and my public misses me LOLOL...

What have we been doing? Well we started our Keto lifestyle on December 1st. We have each lost approx 30 lbs so far (he a bit more and I a bit less)... we are loving the keto life. We get to eat all kinds of delicious treats which we never used to eat before, we were not dessert people. Now I make cheesecake 'fat bombs'... as our diet is 5% Carbs, 25% proteins and 70% fats there is plenty of room for what we would have previously considered 'junk' food (desserts). I make peanut butter cups, keto pizza... tons of delicious recipes all of which are popular with our friends. For anyone considering the Keto Lifestyle, I personally recommend using 'The Carb Manager' app, just put in your details and the system will create a meal plan, grocery list and gives you excellent recipes. We have not found a recipe we didn't like on the app, and that says a lot! 

We spent about 5 days in Jasper doing a dog sit in about February, I think. It was nice to get a change of scenery and the 2 dogs were very well behaved. All 3 dogs got along great.

Stacey is planning a trip out here likely in May and Meg will be coming out again sometime soon, although nothing definitive.

(don't tell her I put this here ;) )

My garden starts are doing fabulous and are just waiting for the weather to stabilize. We were in double digits last week but yesterday we got an inch or so of snow again.

What else? I dunno, just playing Pickleball, going to Cards, volunteering for catering events at the club...

I have begun to expand my Reiki thing, I wouldn't call it a 'business' but I am expanding it so that people anywhere in the world can book a personalized online session with me. 

Also, I have always wanted to do Pottery and so I have begun teaching myself how and Brad picked up a large craft table for me just yesterday.

Robbie is doing great. His cataracts were quite bad and as I know that Castor Oil works well for human cataracts I decided to use a dropper and try it on him, there was really nothing to lose as his eyesight was so terribly poor. It has made a huge difference for him (* not medical or veterinary advise), his eyes have mostly cleared up and he can see so much better now. His hearing however.... well, he takes after his father.

Our Granddaughter was in the Edmonton Cheer competition this past weekend and so we went to the big city for that. Her team placed 5th of sooo many teams. It was a fun day for her.

I think that about sums it up. Just day to day winter doldrums really for the past few months. Super excited to have Spring springing.

Sod this, I'm Preparing for Spring

The advantage to a cold winter is that Spring looks all the better. 

Happy New Year everyone, by the way.

I refuse to acknowledge this cold wave we're having (we get a reprieve today (Jan 1) and tomorrow then after another week of mid -20s (Celsius) those who never get it right are giving everyone hope by saying it will be in the range of 0C (32F) for about a week -- I'll believe it when I see it.

Good news for the chickens though, I will leave their coop door open today and tomorrow for some much needed fresh air. I've had to keep them cooped up (pun intended) due to the extreme -40C temps. (-40C is also -40F for anyone who doesn't know -- also known as 'Damn Cold')

We decided to start planning our garden...

So because we want to learn to save our own seeds, I ordered this book which comes highly recommended by numerous homesteading peeps.

We need this book because every veg/plant, etc has different times/ways to save the seeds, for some the seeds are saved early in the growth and for others you let a few of them grow long past picking before saving the seeds.

Seed to Seed

We have 1 of these standing storage racks but to ensure it is the same size as the other I have ordered 2 of them to snug side by side.

Storage rack for seed trays

(I noted the price increased $5 since I ordered them yesterday)

And a lesson learned from last year when I started all our starts but then had to buy a bunch of starts because they didn't get strong enough even with the greenhouse.... this year, grow lights!

Full spectrum LED grow lights

As for the seeds, as you may know - if you plan to save seeds you need heirloom seeds (ie non-gmo) as the gmo seeds are sprayed and processed in such a way that they do not propagate well. By buying only heirloom seeds we ensure the heritage of the seeds, 'Purebred' seeds if you will.

Here in Alberta, there are a few heirloom seed companies and I chose to order from Heirloom Seed Vault and Wildrose Heritage Seed Company.

It is also worth noting that when buying seeds, you should always try to buy locally because by way of example, tomatoe seeds sold in Alabama will not be as hearty as those sold in Alberta, not to mention the much shorter growing season here.

Everyone should try to grow something, even if its just a few small herbs in the kitchen window, or a single tomatoe plant on the veranda. It gives you a sense of something.... I can't quite put my finger on, but suffice to say it makes you feel warm and fuzzy. A huge garden like we tend to do is not necessary for everyone but having a plant growing somewhere just, well... feels right for us. And many typical house plants are edible too... multi purpose. Not to mention the many many that are just growing wild outside your door, yes YOUR door, every door, free for the taking, and often medicinal.

May your next salad be wild! 

Cast iron, screens and garden preparations

Another day at GIRO (re-store) and another cast iron find...

Waffle Iron

I haven't cleaned it yet... just waiting to be done but its been crazy busy around here prepping the garden and the like...

While taking Robbie for a walk along the trails on this property, I found a screen door frame. Our bedroom patio door does not have a screen door and the screen door on the upstairs living area is too small.... so I wondered..... sure enough the one we have is the bedroom one and the one I found goes to the living area... screens needed replacing on both as they had ripped and were duct taped to the frame... had to get all that tape goop off the frames.

I have been saving egg shells in the freezer over winter and I ran them through the freeze dryer too then crushed them in the blender for the garden.

Peas have grown and graduated to the ground and a new pea pot was put on the windowsill. 

Bedroom screen replaced

Living area screen replaced and both fit now

I sprinkled the fire ashes I had saved, the egg shells I had saved and FD'd and also sprinkled some steer manure all over the garden (not too worried about the all over manure amount and you'll soon see why).

Brad made a post for the bird feeder to get them away from our garlic bed which is trying to peek through. Just have to keep the blackberries trimmed away from it.

Cleared a large area which was buried with the remnant garbage bits of roof etc. from the build of this house some 15 years ago... that was a lot of work but done now and the base is in place. Went to Home depot yesterday and picked up the rest of the build supplies for a greenhouse... as our main living area is being overrun with starter plants.

The almond tree in the front yard is blossoming. Which means the orchard won't be far behind. The grapes on the front of the house are budding too.... what a fabulous spot we have been blessed with.

 

Oh Brother, The epitome of Spring

 As long time readers will know, I have a sewing machine... I had a different sewing machine last spring but the feed dogs (the little grippers which move the material) would not raise above the plate and so were not moving anything but my temper. I tried to fix it myself as the closest repair was in Nanaimo (we were still on Salt Spring then) and has a waiting list. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to so I threw it out and bought a new one when we moved up here to Gabriola.

Recently the new one did the exact same thing!!!!! I am soooo *@!&*! upset, I can't even.... and because it is so new there are no repair tips online that I could find.

I tagged @brother_support on Twitter and finally (on Monday) managed to get ahold of 'Live Chat' who after I sent them a video of the problem said they would be 'escalating this to the repair specialists' who would get back to me in 24-48 hours... I figured that was a brush off and so tore the damn thing apart about 5 times trying to sort it without any luck.

The feed dog innards of Brother SQ9130

This black stick in the middle of the picture fits into a little cup as you can see above, that cup should move side to side as you move the switch to raise and lower the feed dogs but it only goes one direction and will not return to the lifted position.

Finally called the repair shop to get put on the waiting list.

About a half hour ago, I received an email from Brother that they will be sending me a new machine! The same machine and refurbished but presumably they are aware that this is a problem and have found a solution... God help them if the 3rd machine does the same thing I will go postal.

On a happier note: Spring is enroute, the days are getting noticeably longer and....

The epitome of Spring

My new greenhouse sits beside the winter wood pile. I received notification this morning that the seeds I have ordered have shipped - from Richmond, BC and so will likely be here Monday, Tuesday at the latest I would say.... WooHoo!

Soon it will be the height of summer and Stacey and I will be paddleboarding again.

Trip gadgets and dinner with friends

Some of you have no doubt heard me say that I am a gadget Queen... this post is about just that...

Today I ordered this USB multi 12V adapter for the truck. This baby will allow me to charge up to 6 of my gadgets at a time and it will show me the truck battery level while it does that. Also, should it be necessary we can even plug the CPAP into it too.

Gadget #1: Charger

I also ordered some new sticky bits for the multitude of Nite Ize magnet balls we have all over everything already so that I can move them around to where we need them now. As an example there are 2 of these balls on our RV dash but until we move the RV, we don't need them on the dash but you can't just move them this VHB tape is not meant for that, so new stickies are required. 

I have secured the space in the truck which will house the above adapter gadget and I have configured the best way to run the wiring to the gadgets without obstructing the dash in any way. Brad loves it when I fit out a vehicle for my gadgets... hahaha.

Gadget #2: iPhone

Gadget #3: Traffic camera

Gadget #4: GPS

Gadget #5: Digital camera

Gadget #6: iPad

Gadget #7: eReader

Gadget #8: Headlamp

This will be handy for breakdowns in the dark as well as if we stay in the truck for some nights (unlikely but.... undecided as yet).

Naturally, I will also be taking this laptop on which I am writing this post but it will be in the luggage not in the truck cab.

In any event the point being that the truck will be wired for sound and satellite imagery in the event we get lost driving the Trans Canada Highway.

Went out for dinner with Jan & Steve tonight as they are abandoning us, er,  I mean leaving Salt Spring for Victoria enroute to Ontario for the Spring. We hope to see them in Ontario during our trip either going or coming or both.  These two were a great gain to us during our campground managing experience and I'm sure we'll be friends for many years to come.

Jan & Steve

Campers extraordinaire

We will be particularly sad to lose Steve's warped sense of humour. However, Jan will always have the iron in the fire, I'm sure.... (private joke)

They were kind enough to take pics of us also since we've obtained only 3 or 4 in our 15 years together. This one Steve took.

Jan took this one.

Daffodil growing outside the local Inn where we had supper tonight. 

First one I've seen this season, although I've been seeing tons of flower pics on FaceBook for weeks already.