Library closing and football opener parties

The library summer reading program closing party was this morning. 

The younger children got their faces painted.

We enjoyed a yummy potluck and hotdog lunch. We brought popcorn and devilled eggs to share. 

After lunch, we sang the song the children learned all summer at the program sessions.

Then Faye Geddes, the head librarian, handed out the prizes. 

I won a door prize! (It contained a sweet Fitbit style bracelet.) Cassandra and Rebekka also won door prizes. I was most excited to win the Adult Lego contest prize. I got a large box of lego compatible building blocks. They look pretty awesome. (Real Lego brand blocks are super expensive that the library couldn't afford as prizes.)
My kids each won prizes for their lego entries that they will pick up next week when we go to the library to get their lego.

This evening was the home opener football game.

I dropped Devin off just before six o'clock at the field. I also took our stadium seats and a couple of blankets with me and set them up on the bleachers to save a good spot for the game. (Sneaky or smart- take your pick..) I then went home to get the family supper and get ready for the game.

When we got back to the field, the kids had fun at the bouncy houses (they aren't houses but whatever..). Tysyn and Savanna at the top. 

Rebekka at the top. The other two at the bottom. 


When I was leaving the washroom, I saw Devin heading to the field for warmup. I was amazed at how "white" he was that I made him stop for a picture.

Devin is excited to be back playing Football. He is excited for his senior year. He plays center so he gets lots of time on the field. At the start of this season we currently have 11 players sitting on the bench. Several with injuries and half a dozen with game suspensions due to stupidity. Devin hopes they can get their head in the game soon!! Having nearly a dozen players out before the season even starts when the team is already so small rocks the team boat. They have a lot of work to do to be able to pull off a win.

Warmups (I have seriously got to get my phone camera fixed!! EVERY PICTURE I take has purple spots on it!!)

The game started at 8pm. Brandon didn't come. He had a long day of work in Lethbridge that finished after the game started. Aaren also didn't come. Jeff had a headache and stayed home. 

The first half of the game was dismal.

The half time show was pretty awesome though!! This year we celebrate 50 years of Raymond football.

In honour of those 50 years, a rep from each past team entered the field and stood on the sideline, holding a paper indicating the year they played. There was a rep for all 50 years. It was cool. Then they called out the coach for the first year of Comet Football. He and his wife were followed by many of the original team. Several players were unable to attend and 3 have passed away.

This is a panoramic shot of the original 1967 Comet team; the coach and some of it players. Behind them are reps from 50 years of Comet football.

Devin's team didn't do well at the start of the second half but near the middle of the 4th quarter, they started to work together and were able to shorten the point spread. They ended with the loss. 15-28.

It was a late night game. My little kids played on the new hill south of the stands. They spent more time playing than sitting watching the game. After the game was over, the littles scurried over, through and under the bleachers looking for pop bottles. They collected all they could find. Savanna and Tysyn each got two grocery bags full. Evan got one and Rebekka stashed a few bottles in the bottom of hers. She collected several slurpee cups too, thinking she could get money for them. The kids schooled her on what does and does not give her a refund. The money they get will pay for treats during the next home game!!

(I've gotta stock up the new van with a bunch of garbage bags!!)

Swim lessons and exams

Savanna- Level 2

Evan- Level 4

Maren- Level 6

Cassandra- Level 9 and 10.

This was a combined level. Last year she completed level 8. I asked the instructor if they could complete both levels. She I was told that if they can complete all the requirements for both levels they can be awarded the badges for both. Cassandra rocked her lessons. 

Aaren- Level 9 & 10.

Aaren also completed both levels this year. Fantastic effort Aaren!!
Swim lessons are completed for the summer. All the swimmers passed. Yay!!
Aaren and Cassandra have now completed all the swim levels. Neither wants to be a lifeguard so they won't need to take anymore lessons. 

Brandon worked a bit this morning. Then he took the rest of the day off work. This afternoon I went with him to both a medical AND dental appointment for his mission.

First visit.
Dental with Dr. Jesse Harker. Brandon has lots of cavities to fix. And will need 2 lower wisdom teeth pulled. 1 upper wisdom tooth is missing. The other upper tooth is so high up most dental surgeons wouldn't want to pull it. It likely won't be taken out. We will look to having them done in Dec. (after hunting season..)!

Then off to the clinic for a physical.

Brandon checks out. His health is good. We need to schedule a TB test with the health unit Monday. Depending on whether Brandon wants the Hep A-Hep B vaccine, his medical will be ready to submit.

Brandon also went to the hospital lab for blood work. We enjoyed memories of the old part of the hospital. It reminded of us great grandpa Selman.

This photo was taken in the hallway by the long term care activities room. We talked of lots of memories.
This evening the older girls and I drove a neighbour into Lethbridge. After we dropped Nathan off for his driving lesson, we went shopping. Maren loved the sunset we saw after we finished at the North Walmart.

Lego entry

Today was the deadline for the lego competition at the library. I've been working on my entry on and off for nearly a month.

I am pretty pleased with it. The theme was Canada 150. My entry is titled Sea to sea.

Grain elevator, mountain, Canada flag, Mountie, lighthouse, totem pole, oil derrick, hockey player, Inuksuk. 

Pickle day

Today I single handedly packed a peck of pickled..cucumbers!!

Maren and I drove out to the East Raymond Hutterite colony this morning before her swim lessons. We picked up 50lbs of baby cucumbers and several cloves of garlic. For my future reference, the cucumbers were $1.00/pound. $50.00 for 50lbs. The garlic was $10.00.

(We need to plant garlic somewhere in the yard, so that I don't have to buy it too!!)(Also, if we grew a garden, we wouldn't have to buy cucumbers.. sigh..)

We saw the solar eclipse this morning. We didn't have any fancy glasses for viewing the sun but we saw it briefly through Aunt Brenna's as we passed by their house after swim lessons. It was cool to see. I took a few pictures on my phone while at the colony. We also watched it through a welding helmet Jeff has. 

After lessons, I drove to Magrath to check out a pressure canner being sold on the swap and buy. It wasn't quite what I wanted. The price was good but the canner didn't have a pressure gauge. I opted to walk away from the sale. I'll keep looking until I find something to fit my needs. As the canning seasons passes, I keep thinking that I need to get started on my own pressure canning instead of depending on mom doing it for us. Like dad, there will come a time when she won't be able to do it for us. I need to start doing it for us.

Peaches are on sale this week at the merc. This year they are $24.95/per 20lb box. Last year was a much better price. I think I won't be doing as many peaches this season. :(

We had a major harvest mishap this year. As it is the first year without dad's knowledge expertise and instruction, we failed to cool the corn properly and in turn ended up with a huge amount of corn spoiling after we cut it from the cob. We were so saddened and sick about the waste. Fortunately we converted it to bird feed and later we will harvest the birds. But for this year, there won't be any corn for our freezer. So depressing! We have learned big time from our mistake. Next season, we will let the hose run until the corn is completely cool.

It is now 12:24am. It's the early morning hours of the new day. I'm just waiting for the last load of pickles to finish in the canner. Two of my canners hold 4 pickle bottles comfortably. The loads go in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Then they are taken out to cool and seal. I'm leaving them overnight on the table on the deck. I hope some punk doesn't come by in the night and mess with them. The cats better leave the jars alone too. We have 20 new jars of pickles. 

Dill Pickles

Brine:

3 quarts (12 cups) water

1 quart (4 cups) vinegar

1 cup coarse salt

1 clove garlic per jar (whole or minced)

Dill as desired

Wash and sterilize jars. Heat lids in hot water. 

Mix brine ingredients together and bring to a boil.

Fill each jar with 1 clove peeled garlic. Add desired amount of dill. (I like lots.)

Pack cucumbers into jars.

Fill packed jars with brine leaving 1/2" headspace. Wipe rim with clean towel or fingers dipped in fresh water. Place hot lid on jar and twist to secure. Place in canner, fill with water to cover jars 1" and process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Remove jars from the water and allow to cool. Listen for the seal. Place those that don't seal in the fridge.

These pickles are best eaten after Nov 11, after they have had time to cure for a few months.

Picture added the next morning

Aaren's go-cart

Aaren's summer go cart project is finally finished!!! He took it for a test ride this evening.

Early in the spring, on the Raymond swap and buy, I saw an ad for a go-cart frame. Aaren was eager to purchase it. Originally Aaren planned to make a cart right from scratch. But when he saw the ad, he was all for starting out using a base with wheels already added.

Aaren has spent all summer working on it. He has purchased parts as he could afford them and as he could get to Lethbridge. I'm wishing I had pictures of his build "in progress." Hopefully Aaren does. I'm am so so so proud of him. He has learned so much this summer. Mostly through trial and error and ALOT of YouTube tutorials/ videos. He is so pleased with his finished cart. There will always be things he can add to it. But for now it runs and he is pleased as punch. And it is fast!!!

Sadly, he can't run it around the neighbourhood as there is an off-road vehicle use ban to help prevent forest fires. (FOREST fires in Raymond- ya---more like prairie grass fires.) He has been running it through the yard. 

Pictures of his first run.

And some more a week or so later.

Dump run

Cara and I spent several hours this morning hauling garbage from the old house to the transfer station.

(Don't worry Jeff, we left your stuff alone.)

It felt great to toss so many things that were of no worth after years of neglect. Stuff left out in the weather, overridden with bugs, dirt and exposure was the target of the clean up.

It felt good to remove 3 large pickup truck loads of garbage to the transfer station. I wish we could have done more.

I bought a few of the kids school supplies this afternoon. As I was watching the clerk scan the items and waiting for totals, Cassandra piped up that she was paying for her supplies this year. She told me she committed to pay for them. I didn't think to talk her out of it. I just thanked her for being so considerate.

In the van, Maren handed me a Kit Kat chocolate bar and thanked me for buying this years school supplies for her. I'm sure she would have readily bought her own supplies if she had the funds.

Jeff, Aaren and Tysyn spent some more time working at the other house. It is now compliant for the bylaw officers. Thanks guys for your hard work.

I'd like to see some of the piles moved into one place and the hills and holes levelled out for easier mowing. Hopefully we can tackle that before the snow flies.

Thank you again to the Rasmussen family for their service to our family!

334 Broadway N.

We went to the other house to weed whip. The grass is ridiculously long and there is so much to do.

We got a notice from the town that it needed to be cut as they consider it a fire hazard. (It is)

A  grass fire would certainly make quick the work to be done! As we were mowing the long dry grass, I wondered if we would accidentally create a fire due to the extremely dry field and hot machinery. But thankfully we were all safe.

Thank you to Cara and Ethan for coming to help. They brought 3 whippers bringing the total to 4. We also had 2 mowers. So awesome.
Jeff has lots of treasures in piles in the yard which make it hard to mow around.  The garden area is really bumpy and there are several dirt piles that are difficult to mow over. I hope to one day convert the back yard into a huge field again.

Unfortunately we came upon 3 massive wasp nests. Fortunately nobody got stung. We left a big swath around them untouched for now. Jeff will try to take care of them after it gets cooler. We would have done more grass cutting if they weren't there. 

I lost my clip-on sunglasses at one point. I looked all over the van. I was so sad and so disappointed. I had no idea where they went. I figured I must have knocked them off. I took a couple of kids to the bathroom at the hardware store and to get wasp spray. We went back to the store hoping that I left them there. I kept hoping that they would show up randomly in the van. As we were about ready to go for the day, I walked near the alley towards the van. I nearly passed them but stopped as when I noticed part of a lense. As I leaned down to check it out, I saw the glasses lying on the ground, somewhat covered over by long grass. Looking back, I think I set them on my gloves when I tried to start a weed whipper and forgot about them. I'm so thankful that my silent pleading prayers were answered.

Grateful!!

Look how brown and dry the grass is. It's been many days since we've had some good moisture in this area. 

Cara and Ethan stayed until dinner time. I left with the little kids at the same time. They badly wanted to go to the pool before it closed. There is still lots to do but we made a fantastic dent in the work.

After the kids and I left, I took them to the gas station for slurpees. Then we came home and changed into swimsuits for an hours worth of time swimming at the pool. It was so refreshing after the hot afternoon of yard work.

Jeff and Aaren stayed at the house and continued to work for several more hours. They plan to take care of the wasps. 

Supper was late again tonight. We ate after we swam.
It's going to be hard getting back into an appropriate school schedule.

Happy Anniversary

After cooking my meals this morning, I headed to the library. The older girls went before me for the craft lesson. The librarians were teaching how to crochet. I am so excited to start again. I learned a long time ago in elementary school. And even created a few projects way back when. But I'm hoping to be able to gain enough momentum to start again.

Jeff and I celebrated some of our anniversary day by doing a lot of things together.

It was nice to be together. We would have loved a trip to Waterton too, but that just didn't fit the schedule. 

I'm still finding it incredible that I've lived in Raymond longer than Calgary. I feel like I've become a true Raymondite. I love living here. It's a great community to live in and raise a family.

We picked 4 cookers full of corn from mom's garden. Thank you mom for the corn and to all those that helped with the picking and husking.

This afternoon Jeff got the van insurance squared away. The new van is now ready for driving. He also talked to Bruce Holt. Bruce cut 3 new keys for the van. (We were only given one at purchase..)

Tonight Jeff and I had an anniversary date. We left the kids at home with Aaren and Cassandra tending. As we were driving, I realized that I forgot to leave a new van key at home on the key rack. In Lethbridge we met Brandon at the golf course. He was on his was home from work. I gave him the spare van key from my pocket to take home. I felt it important that the van have a key in case it was needed in an emergency. 

Several years ago we were given a gift card to the Firestone in Lethbridge. Considering options, we chose to eat there. We had nice time eating out. It has seriously been months, if not years, since Jeff and I have been out to eat at a nice restaurant. The food was good. (I didn't have to cook!) The company was wonderful. Because we used a gift card, the meal was free to us.

Happy Anniversary! 23 years. After our meal, we declined dessert and instead stopped at A&W for a free root beer in a frosted mug. We had a couple of coupons that expire tomorrow. The server raved over the boys Dodge Daytona car outside. He stood at the window watching as we drove away. It's funny that the boys car is so rad to the young generation.

We thought about stopping for ice cream before leaving the city. Instead we just came home.

We finished off our date by cutting corn cobs for the freezer with some of the older kids.

We had a good day!

New Van

Jeff and I bought a new van today. We looked all over the internet for days, trying to find one in our specifications and price range. We saw ads for vehicles in our province and areas surrounding. But there wasn't a lot to choose from that we could purchase. We finally found one in Coalhurst; close to home. It is a 2008 model. It is 8 years newer than our grey van. 

Exterior

Interior. 

The purchase price was $5,500.00. We paid in cash. I'm grateful that we had that much in savings, but it was difficult to spend it on the vehicle when I had somewhere else in mind to spend it. (Credit card debt.) The asking price was more than I wanted to spend but we were able to bring the purchase price down. I would liked to have gone even lower as there are a few issues that we see might be problems in the future. I hope it will be a good vehicle to us!!!!

It's a plain white van that now looks like all the other white vans in town. I hope to switch the roof racks soon and we are hoping the running boards on our grey van will fit this one so we can change them over. Then it will look more distinctive.

The floor of this van has no carpet. It's got an extruded plastic base that will be so much easier to clean. BUT-- things on the floor slide around VERY easily (especially when you brake hard) and water doesn't soak in but runs all over. That will probably be annoying in the winter when snow is plentiful. I will probably have to get some floor mats for the van come winter. 

I like the middle position shoulder belts on each bench. That is great over having just a lap belt. Some of the kids don't like them as much. The back row is super cool. It's a split seat. 2 seats per bench. So instead of taking out 1 large bench, you can take out 2 small ones. Or leave 1 in. It's a neat option. 

It's got a lovely back up signal that is so annoying but cool at the same time. And I now have a key fob for remote unlocking and locking.

Rear defrost on the back windows will be a plus in the frosty winter. I'm excited about that. 

I don't like that the mirrors are manual. The other van was power mirrors. It's going to take some getting used to manual mirrors. 

We did a lot of searching for a vehicle. We even considered getting a smaller vehicle. But I still wanted the option of being able to take the whole family AND all of our gear in the same vehicle. We probably won't really be doing that much but I wanted a 15 passenger van. Cousins, friends, groups; I want to be able to take everyone. It's lots of fun.

I'm grateful and so pleased to be driving a vehicle again!!

Dead Van

Jeff had me go with him early this morning to drop the van off at the mechanic. After several hours, we got a call from Denny saying that the van wasn't worth the cost to fix it, and that we should be looking at a new to us vehicle.

I'm sad.

We've had that van for a good amount of time. Dad Hardy bought that van for his family and then we purchased it from them. There are lots and lots of family memories with that van. But it sounds like it will soon be put to pasture. (As I'm writing this, I thought that it sounded like a medical story. Car goes to the doctor for surgery and doesn't make it.)

I've been looking all over the internet for the past two days trying to find a vehicle replacement that will work for us within a price range we can afford. It's a super big challenge!! Used vehicle hunting is exhausting. I just want my old van back!

Green beans are in full swing. Jeff and Aaren pulled a whole row of mom's beans today. They brought the whole plants home for us to pick the beans from. It's much simpler than carefully bending iver the plants to pick them. The neighbour kids got right excited about helping pull the beans from the vines. Those beans, along with the ones that mom had already picked, kept us busy. I'm excited to freeze more this year. 

I also spared the time to take the kids to the pool. As canning season gets into productivity, it will be harder to find time to go. The summer swim season ends at the end of the month. Less than 30 days to swim!

Jeff and Devin and Aaren went to Medicine Hat tonight to pick up some mirrors for the truck. Jeff has been looking for used mirrors for years for dad's (mom's now) truck. I found some while searching for vans. The boys went on a road trip tonight to get them. Jeff plans to purchase them and put his truck mirrors on dad's truck.

Home

Now that I am home from our summer holiday, there is lots to do and lots to catch up on. The most pressing is the green beans that need to be canned. Over the weekend (Fri and Sat) while I was in Calgary, the boys at home picked beans from mom Hardy's garden. I prepared bottles this morning for all the prepared beans.

We filled enough jars for 4 canner loads.

Aaren also picked chokecherries from Mom's neighbours tree. I steam juiced a load of chokecherries and got a nice abundance of juice. Thank you Aaren for your work!

Today has been a much cooler day. I'm so grateful!! 

I'm definitely ready for fall. For schedules. Cooler nights and mornings. More energy.

I find the heat so draining. It's so hard for me to want to do anything.

We've got lots of laundry to do from a week away. The washer has been going nonstop. I also unloaded more of the van.

We've also been making arrangements to have it looked at by the mechanic.