With all this sunshine I just had to make a card

Just like in Holland the sun was shining here as well and how better to celebrate than to make a card showing the wonderful sun rays.

Enjoy!

We are not the only ones building . . .

Our son Lance and his wife Teri bought a parcel of land recently about 2 hours east and north from us.  It is undeveloped land with no building what so ever on it and they hope to be living there in the near future ( a 20 year plan I think).  But the first thing you need on your property, even if it is just visit there on weekends, is an OUTHOUSE.  So they came to our place to build an outhouse.  Following are pictures I took of Lance and Teri building their outhouse according to Teri's plans.
First they build the base which will be put on the hole and then the 'building' will be put on this base.

Got the base done and now we work on our first wall.

First wall done.  It all seems to be working well.

Screwing together our second wall.

Close up off the process.

Two walls up what is next?

The back wall.  Oops we cut the boards a bit too short.  Ah well, we just screw on a piece and hope it won't be noticed.

Close up of how we fixed our mistake.

Time for a break.  Yes there will be enough room for me to stretch my legs.

The front wall with the opening for the door.

Time for the seat.  It is a bit big to fit it in.

I know how to fix that!  Just cut off a bit to make it fit.

See it fits.  And yes I can even sit on it without falling in.

This is how Lance figured out how to cut the plywood as all he had was a skill-saw.

Cutting off the corner of the first panel.

Now we have to cut the second panel starting with a piece at the bottom first or was it the top?

All the walls are done.  The front wall ( door has to be cut out yet) and the side wall in view.

Frame done, sides done so time to put it all on the trailer to take it to their property.  Lance asked the neighbours to help to put on the frame as it was pretty heavy.  But you can see the guys are picking it up as if it is made out of match sticks. 

And here we are ready to hook the trailer to the car and away we will go.

Arrived at the property where Lance, Teri and her dad are digging a hole for the structure.

Time for me to go back home so the structure has to be unloaded from the trailer.

They now will have to move it themselves on top of the hole but I am sure they will have no problems doing so.  Next time I go I will take a picture of the finished OUTHOUSE in place.

Hope you enjoyed this photo story of the outhouse.

A Short Video

I showed you a picture of the baby skunks earlier.  This time I like to show you a video I took of the little creatures.  I did not edit this video at all but thought you would enjoy seeing them in 'action'.

 or click on the link below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jejM8ni5x-U&feature=youtu.be

Been playing in my craft room

I had some time to play in my craft room yesterday so I came up with the following card. Actually I was grounded as I twisted my knee a couple of days ago and I was still trying to give my knee as much rest as I could.  But fine at least I got to making a couple of cards.

Had to try out my new border punch on this one.

Building Update #1

My first update on our building process.  Last week we went to Red Deer to get our building permit so we can now officially build.  But as you know we first have to get the land ready to build on and I showed you all the trees and shrubs we had to clear and either take to the dump or burn.  Well we finished doing that and this is what it looks like now.

This is our last load to take to the dump.  Finally done!!!

And this is what it looks like right now.  All nice and clean but I am sure this won't last long once they start digging.

And why not explore the new open area for some flowers right?

Bluebells

Star-Flowered Solomon's Seal

Saskatoon Berry - high bush

And this is what we were treated to last night before it got too dark.

I think there about 5 little ones in total and Mom let them out to play outside for a little while.  This is the first time we saw them and we hope to get more pictures of them as they are allowed out more.  Now not every one would get too excited when they see a Skunk!!!  Ask my son's dog or our new adopted-us cat.

We started!!!

Yes we have started getting ready for our new addition to our current house.  We have decided to build on as the current house is just too small for all of us.  Which really means our family and our hobbies.  But we hope to solve it by building on 2 more bedrooms, a living room and a sitting/working area for Leo.
But first things first which means we have to make room for the foundation for the 'new' part of the house.  It all starts with clearing trees and brush.  So here some pictures of Leo cutting away the trees, me helping and our new outside cat watching.

First we have to put a rope on the tree so we can pull it away from the house once Leo starts chopping it.

This is me pulling on the rope.  Yes I had to wear a hard hat just in case.  I did not need it for this tree but later on I did need it as Leo was dropping another tree which came my way.

And here is our lumberjack officially cutting a wedge out of the tree so it would fall in the right direction.

And here we are!  The tree has fallen.

Next is cutting down my favourite tree - an old willow tree.  We have a couple of these and the birds just love these trees.  They are very old and most of it is dead wood but still it adds to the landscape.

As you can see the tree had many trunks and branches.  But then willow trees are like that.  They start out as a small bush and grow into a tree.

Finally the time has come to chop down the main trunk.

After pretty well all the trees are chopped down comes the fun part of pulling out the toppled trees to a 'safe' area to cut them into small pieces so they fit into our utility trailer to haul it all away to the dump.  Oh yes first I have to get my cord untangled.

After chopping the trees smaller they have to be put into our utility trailer.  While Leo does that I . . . . 

 

stoke the fire to burn up some of the dead wood.

and then it is time for a nap!!!

This is the area we cleared.  It does not look like anything was done but really we took out quite a bit of trees and brush.  Still more to be done but we won't be needing the chainsaw any more.

Update from overseas

Here I am again with some photos I have taken the last few days.  Nothing much changes here other than that the flowers are starting to bloom and the trees have their leaves now.  We have had some rain and lots at times but on the whole the weather has been good here with sunshine and not wind to speak of.

But here the photos as that is what you really want to see.

First photo is of a white flower just starting to bloom.

I don't know the name of this flower but I will try and look it up. 

This yellow flower grows next to our cabin on the edge of our 'natural' pond.  We have lots of these and it gives some colour to the otherwise green trees and fields. This picture is also so good for the 'Green and Yellow' theme we had for our daily picture taking theme.

June 05 - found the name of this plant.  Marsh Marigold or Caltha palustris (Gewone Dotterbloem http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gewone_dotterbloem )

Again a 'Green and Yellow' theme with my tomato plant here.  This is my first tomato on my 5 plants I started from seeds.  I am not expecting a lot from these plants as we really do not get enough direct sunshine for these plants among the trees we have around our house.

Another picture of my cat 'Knorrepot'.  He loves sitting on the bird feeders.  This is what I do when I sit outside waiting for the 'right' picture to come along.  Take pictures of my cat and . . .

this lovely couple.  Have to show my heritage somehow right!

Leny's huis

Uitzicht op het water

Leny houdt ook van kussentjes

en planten doen het goed bij haar

Cock komt binnen

Leny's domein

haar model poes

slaapkamer

bekende meubels. fijn toch.

             

hoe lenig ben ik?