Yarn Along ~ Cowl Licious

A post of my current read and what is cast on my needles ~ Inspired by Ginny over at {Small Things}

Here we are again for the weekly yarn along and I'm not sure what happened to my week! I know we weren't overly busy unless you count playing in the snow and flying kites as hustle bustle *grin*. Hubby was home for a couple of days though and that is always a joy since he is away for so much of the year working so that must have been it! I was in a cocoon of happiness with us all getting to be together *grin*.

I finished off the last little baby sock that I was knitting and I now have two completed pairs. There is still yarn left so I know I'll go back in a bit and knit up a couple more but I needed a break from those teeny tiny size 0 needles and something that was easy and needed minimal focus LOL.

You would think that with all the things I have faved in my ravelry queue it would be easy to pick something new but it was quite the opposite. I hummed and hawed, checked to see if I had needles that would work, sighed over my meager yarn stash and then fell in love again with this cowl. I had saved it planning to make it for my 8 year old daughter and then promptly forgot all about it *grin*.

It’s a one size fits all pattern but I’m using a larger 5.50mm bamboo circular needle and with the chunkier yarn I’m confident that this will fit her quite well. Plus I don’t plan on blocking it as I love the textured ripple of it as it is and it also helps to keep it on the smaller size :)

The chunky marble yarn by James C. Brett is gorgeous to the touch. It’s soft and squishy, 100% machine washable and I know my daughter is going to enjoy having it around her neck. Not at all itchy!

As for my book this week I actually haven't done a stitch of reading unless you count my lazy perusing of January's edition of the British Country Living magazine reading :) I just LOVE this magazine and all of the beautiful photos and articles.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you all are knitting this week!

Hugs,
Rosina

Flight of the Dragon

A couple of weeks ago the kids spotted some really cool giant kites at Costco and decided that mama just had to get one for them. They actually wanted one each but I managed to get them down to just one and home we came with a very colorful dragon :)

When I said giant I wasn't kidding either! Just getting the thing off the ground with its 6 foot wing span was a two man operation with one holding the kite so it was ready to go when the wind gusted and the other was in charge of tugging the line and guiding it up into the air.

It took us several failed attempts to get the hang of coaxing our dragon higher into the air and finding out the hard way as it nose dived back to earth that we were going to need a much windier day to really get it high up but when it did soar above us it was so much fun :)

After about an hour and a half of running and laughing we had snow in our boots or soaked running shoes in my case from trodding through the field and the little guy even fell over at one point tripping on the uneven ground as he took his turn pulling the kite. Thankfully he didn't fall into one of the many cow patties that littered the area like land mines *grin*.

With all of us tuckered out and getting cold we spent the rest of the afternoon warming up in front of the fireplace and munching on warm cinnamon buns that my mom had made and shared with us. Mmmm, now that's one lovely way to spend a Sunday :)

Hugs,
Rosina

Happy Snow Day

The weather man had been hinting that we might be due for a flurry of the white stuff towards the end of this week but I hadn't really given it much heed since his forecast has been a little wonky lately but when I awoke this morning this was what I saw out the kitchen window.

I must be being punished for having started turning over the soil in the garden for spring planting to early *grin*. I knew full well that there was still the possibility of frost and snow when I got in there to weed and make the beds but still seeing it covered in 4 inches of fresh snow sort of sucks.

Hubby had to go down to the wharf in the afternoon to check on his tug so we tagged along and enjoyed the scenery. You can't beat the clean, bright look of fresh snow. It just makes everything look so pretty :)

Halfway to our destination we spotted flashing lights from a local police truck and the fire and rescue truck lodged in the ditch. It seems that he had a little incident and slipped off of the road. No one was injured except for maybe their pride.

The kids had a blast outdoors building fortresses with giant snowballs for the walls and building snowmen all over the front lawn. The snow was heavy and wet, just the perfect consistency for those lovely 'slush angels' of the wet west coast *grin*. Mega fun was had and now I have 3 sets of sopping wet snow dripping and drying in front of the woodstove :)

How's your weekend shaping up?

Hugs,
Rosina

Unplugged Family Fun

{Our snow queen safely tucked beneath her umbrella}

Old man winter has been creating havoc around us this week and on Sunday afternoon he hit us with one heck of a windy snowball toppling trees up and down the island, knocking out our power for 23 hours and leaving us with no telephone service or internet for even longer.

But that didn't stop us from having fun *grin*.

Our evening was lit by oil lamp and scented with delicious smells of beeswax candles while our ears were filled with stories, board games, and silly chatter late into the night....

and plenty of outdoor play during the day. Thank goodness for wood heat and hot soup to thaw out our bodies after being frozen in the blustery cold and I'm sure that eating loads of icicles does nothing to keep children warm except it does bring giant smiles to their faces *grin*.

The 'girls' don't seem to be fond of the snow though and for the first couple of days they actually refused to leave the warm straw covered floor of their house :) My oldest ended up stomping down a nice path and area for them to come out to eat fresh scraps and in the end I think that it was stepping in the deep snow that they didn't like because they didn't mind staying on the hard packed snow. As you can see in the photo above though the lure of food would pull them into deeper areas if they thought it was worthwhile enough *grin*.

The falling snow has turned more to rain these last few days though and it is starting to melt our snow reserve but hopefully it won't all go away taking it's bright white beauty with it!

Hugs,
Rosina

Winter Wonderland

***Please note that there are a few graphic photos at the end of this blog entry showing the butchering of our cow and I just want to let you know in case you would rather not view them. ~ Rosina***

I am absolutely smitten with the beauty of winter :)
The snowy weather has continued here all week. While it hasn't amounted to much more than 5 or 6 inches it has tried awful hard and the temperatures dipped as low as -14 freezing our back door permanently shut for 4 days!! Thankfully we have another door so we didn't have to try to hard to get it unthawed *grin*.

I had been holding off heading into the city for groceries and errands since the highway has been covered with slush and hard packed snow but the fridge was mighty bare and hubby has been home from work due to all the wind up this way so we bundled up and ventured out with the truck.

Normally the trip takes us just under an hour but it was over an hour this time before we got into town as we slowly made our way over the mountain, through the fog and sometimes rather slippery conditions.

The trees covered in snow and the silence that it brings made the trip so enjoyable though that I could have gazed out the window for much longer. You just can't beat a the winter wonderland that snow brings :)

The cold weather has also brought with it the perfect temperature for killing our beef cow. We raised him from a little calf on our own pasture and it will be so nice to have yummy homegrown beef in the freezer again since I never buy any from the supermarket.

We didn't have a cow for butchering last winter so we were behind. We always try to have one cow ready every second winter so that we don't run out of meat but it didn't quite work out that way this time.

With the hide removed Hubby and my dad worked on taking out the gut and all of the organs so that they could cover the meat and raise it up high where it will hang for 2 weeks before we do the big job of finishing the butchering and all of the wrapping.

My daughter was really interested in watching the men work and was not squeamish about it at all which was great and we got to have a really good look at the heart, lungs, kidneys and liver.

I should have thought of it sooner but it would have been really cool to have done a biology block for our homeschool courses so I'm going to have to think ahead next time and get a bunch of materials ready so that we can do a full dissection class. Every moment can be a learning moment *grin*.

Hugs,
Rosina

Hello King Winter

Winter has finally come to our little neck of the woods bringing with it breathtaking beauty.

It started snowing yesterday evening, with the snowflakes falling quite heavily and this morning we awoke to a little over 4 inches of snow on the ground :)

I could hear the squeals of delight from the family room as I lay all cozy in bed and I knew that I was going to have to officially designate today a snow day because there was no way that I was going to get the children to focus on school work with all that snow beckoning them to come out and play.



With their snowsuits on and their gloves cinched up tight they were all gone by 8:30. Not long after there was a knock on the family room window letting me know that they had made paths around the house to the chicken house, the woodshed and around the front yard :) The snow is so light and fluffy that they even shovelled half of the driveway and that is no small feat!

There were no snowmen built today because the snow refused to stick together but there was a whole lot of snow angels, sledding, snow eating and the occasional face plant *grin*. All I can say is BRRRR!!! The temperature was around -6 today and with the wind chill it was more like -15 making our little jaunt to the mail boxes down by the main road a little nippy so we really had to do some speed walking to get the old blood pumping and create some internal heat :)

More snow is forecasted for tomorrow so I can just imagine what filled their prayers tonight at bedtime *grin*.

Hugs,
Rosina

Storm Watching & Video

We had storm warnings all along the east coast of the island today with winds reaching upwards of 90 km/hour at its peak, ferries between us and the mainland were cancelled and poor Hubby and the kids spent the whole day without power. Lucky me I was further down island where the power was still on *grin*.

On the way home I stopped to catch some of the action after the wind had slowed down a bit but the waves still towered way above me as they crashed over the sea wall in Qualicum this evening. I managed to stay dry but at there were a couple of times where I thought I was going to be soaked for sure as the water rushed upwards in front of me :)

I took a little bit of video on my camera while I was there to share to :) It's only about 10 seconds long but really cool to see how the water just rockets along the wall as it hits. If you are reading this via email or google reader you might have to jump over to my blog to see it :)

Hugs,
Rosina

Snow & Winter Storms

Wind storms, power outages and snow are back as winter creeps closer :)

On our way into the city for swimming lessons this morning I creeped along through slush and a mini blizzard for nearly an hour before it finally turned to rain again. Thank goodness we were behind the snow plow for part of the way so that we had a somewhat clear lane. I am so envious of those of you who have squeaky dry snow for traveling on. It seriously makes such a big difference *grin*. If hubby could run his tugboats on the prairie I think I'd head eastwards LOL.

As we traveled further south the snow and slush disappeared and the white gave way to dark gray clouds, wild wind and waves.

We stopped at one of the rest stops and joined in with some other storm watchers to snap a few photos but we weren't brave enough to actually exit the car to catch the perfect shot of the waves though. We barely managed to keep the window down as the rain blew in sideways and soaked us immediately LOL.

It was beautiful to watch the waves crash against the beach spraying water and sea foam into the air and we managed to miss the power outage that was going on at home to :)

Hugs,
Rosina

Haylage

We decided this winter that we would keep our cow one more summer to fatten him up a little bit more before butchering so that put us in a bit of a pinch to find hay close to home and that didn't cost an arm and a leg as we had nearly exhausted the stockpile that we had.

I made some phone calls up and down the island to find that most of the cheaper bales of hay had been sold or were just to far to justify taking the truck and trailer so I thought I'd try my luck and call a nearby farmer that I know just by name on the off chance that he might have a few spare bales. Success!! He had a handful of the giant haylage bales that he could sell to me and at a really great price :)



I wasted no time rounding up the kids and getting them all plus Hubby into the truck. The kids had so much fun watching the tractor spear the ball and then watching it dangle and swing lower into the back of our truck box and then sink down nice and low :)

There are approximately 10 bales of hay in each roll of haylage plus some and a good sized bale weighs around 80 pounds so I'm estimating that one of these rounds weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of 800-900 pounds, maybe more.

So with that in mind getting one of these guys out of the truck is interesting *grin*.

My dad is a rebel at heart so he likes to tie one end of a rope around the haylage and the other end around the tree, then gun the truck and rip off as the rope snaps tight and the ball stays behind LOL.

My husband on the other hand took a more gentler approach and thought that rolling it out with foot power would do the trick :)

Going, going....

Gone :)

Who knew these babies actually bounce? But they do! Try it sometime it's quite amusing *grin*.

Hugs,
Rosina

Deer Watching

I just had to share these neat photos of a deer that stood right outside our family room window :) We were all sitting here as it walked right up the pathway and at one point stood right in front of the window looking in!

The youngest two tried as hard as possible to stand quietly without fidgeting and talking but no matter how much noise they made the deer didn't seem to take much notice. All I can think is that it must have been mighty hungry. It ripped off mouthfuls from the cedar tree at the edge of the window rapidly while glancing our way every once in a while.

Such a neat experience to be only mere feet away :)

We did have a mighty nosy bear that stood outside this very window a few years back and even pushed on it with his paws (some of you might remember Dennis the Mennis) but this was a much more enjoyable experience *grin*.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend :)

Hugs,
Rosina

Old Man Winter Strikes Again

Old man winter is definitely not done burying us with snow and knocking out our electricity *grin*.

At 6:30 this morning I was awoken to tears as my youngest blubbered that he couldn't see anything. Of course I was half asleep and thought something terribly wrong must have happened but in the end he was just upset that the power was out and he couldn't play with his toys because it was still to dark LOL.

As I made my way to the family room and peered out the window I was greeted by giant mounds of snow. During the night just under a foot of the white stuff had fallen covering everything.

Last night we new a storm was coming our way so I had filled pots and buckets with water so that we could cook and have fresh drinking water and taped the handles of the toilet up so that no one could flush them first thing in the morning *grin*. I know that sounds really funny but when the power goes out our well pump doesn't work and it never fails but one or sometimes all three of the kids flush by mistake and it puts air in our water tank which causes our pump to work twice as hard when it starts up again. So this time I was prepared! LOL

Not quite the flowers that I had envisioned planting in our colored gum boots this spring... oh yeah, it's not spring yet! There goes any hopes I had of digging in the garden just yet *grin*.

Poor Hubby. He was not thrilled that he had to shovel his way to his truck and dig it out so that he could take a quick jaunt to the gas station to pick up the paper and grab a coffee :) He is a serious caffeine junky and thought that it would be easier to run down to the corner to get his fix but by the time he finally got the truck running and left he could have had the water boiled and coffee perked on the woodstove LOL.

This afternoon we thought we'd take a drive and check out what sort of damage the wind storm had done. On the news just now they said that at the peak of the storm more than 52,000 homes were without any power so we weren't the only ones in the dark today :)

Down on Hubby's tug boat as we rocked and rolled quite crazily we listened to the marine weather for updates on the wind and watched the waves crashing against the breakwater. The kids had a great time spinning the big wheel and hanging on tight at the same time as they tried to acquire some sea legs *grin*.

It was a lovely quiet day full of board games and make believe play, tickle fights and read alouds :) The lights have finally come back and we're back to some of our regular routine. Stir fry is sauteing on the stove top, the news is on in the background so that we can see how the rest of the island faired and soon it will be time for goodnight kisses and bedtime songs :)

It's been a good day :)

Hugs,
Rosina

Sunday Drive

Today on a quick trip to the little corner store down the road from our home, Hubby and I decided to take the kids a little deeper into the woods to enjoy the snow and hopefully spot some wildlife :)

I love these old signs. They haven't changed since I was a young girl riding along in the logging trucks up and down the mountainsides with some of the fellows from camp that my dad was friends with :)

As we went further the forest got thicker and the snow deeper.

Fog and clouds enclosed the distant mountains as the snow started to fall. You can just make out the larger mountain in the background :)

Beautiful sheets of ice encased the sides of the rock faces where water had previously been running but was now frozen solid.

Our favorite trout fishing lake covered in a layer of ice and snow.

And unfortunately the only wildlife that we were able to find were these bones from a predators meals. Not exactly what I had in mind when I went searching for deer and cougar *grin*.

Happy Sunday everyone :)

Hugs,
Rosina