On a Dime!

Yesterday was a typical day in southern Alberta, weather wise!

I was working, when I came home for lunch it was sunny, +3 and just a slight breeze out of the west. Carolyn took the kids out for a bike ride on the ridge and she went for a walk, it was a beautiful day. When I left home I seen one of my riding club buddies on the Black & White Trail riding his road bike.

I'm still working the desk at work, so I don't get out very much, especially on the weekends. I went out at about 2 pm and it was overcast and -5.

At 5 pm I went outside again and it was snowing & blowing and the temperature had gone down to -10.

When I left for home at 7 pm it was -18 with blizzard conditions, snow and very windy, right out of the Northwest.

Before I went to bed last night it was -24, the wind was gusting out of the Northwest at 65 km/hr.

When we got up this morning it was -25, -34 with the windchill! We listened to the radio and they advised the city schools were open, the country ones not. The kids' bus driver, Jerry, called and said he wouldn't be doing the route today because of the blizzard, so Carolyn had to make arrangements to drive the kids in.

I'm still waiting for the power outage!

Kinda nice I don't have to venture out in this, I feel sorry for Carolyn and the kids though! The high forcasted for the next couple of days is -29!

Winter is back!

Well spring is over and winter is back! This morning it was -34 with the windchill!

We took advantage of the fresh snow and went skiing on the weekend out to Hidden Valley with Papa & Andrew. This was Blair's first time snowboarding and you can see from the video he did pretty good!


Papa, Kirby & Uncle Andrew. Kirby is a pro, this was her second time skiing this year, she went last year too but for some reason she still likes the 't' bar and the bunny runs!


Board'n Blair! He took to it like a fish to water, his favourite run was "Free-style" which has all the jumps and rails and stuff; no bunny runs for him, I sometimes wish I had no fear!


Something I noticed about snowboarding; you spend a lot of time on your butt! By the end of the day he had 20 pounds of snow up his back and his coat was frozen to the back of his sweater.


Even I strapped on the skis. Its been 20 years since I last went downhill skiing! No bunny hills for me either, I didn't have a choice, I had to follow Blair! By the end of the day I has hurting, I'm glad I have fear but man it sucks to get old!


The ice is all gone but the snow came back!

Blair Snowboarding!

Blair's first time snowboarding.

Enjoying the Weather!

Today it was beautiful out, not a cloud in the sky, plus six and just a light breeze out to the southwest.


You can see we have hardly any snow left in the yard, back to that ugly brown color.


Blair has been disappointed that his skating rink is slowly disappearing, today he decided to do some skateboarding on it, later he was roller blading in the garage!


The kids went for a bike ride but I couldn't get them all together for a photo until they finally sat down to take a break.

New Neighbours.

The warm weather really got the new neighbours houses going up.

Lot #7 with their basement poured and rafters stacked in front.

Lot #2 has been really moving, they got walls up and I think its going to be a two-storey, you can see they have the floor down up top. Lot #3 they just have the basement poured and the back fill done.

Ice Fishing Fun!

Yesterday we went up to Reesor Lake, in the Cypress Hills, to do some trout fishing, the weather was awesome, sunny and minus one with no wind.


There's uncle Brett checking on dinner. The old camper is set up with four holes in the floor for fishing through, a propane stove for heat and some comfortable couches to sit and relax on.


Blair showing everyone how its done.


The biggest fish of the day, a half pound rainbow trout.


I'm not looking too impressed because I couldn't catch a darn thing.


Blair finally gave up on fishing and decided to do some skating.

On our way home, which was well after dark, we seen three huge bull elk. By the time I got the camera out they had disappeared into the pines!

(Short-lived) Winter Fun!

Over the Christmas Holiday we were out to the Van Ham farm, near Bow Island and the kids took advantage of their snow; since we don't have any!

Andrew and his co-pilot, Ben.

The kids all got on the wooden toboggan and this was the result, they just don't make them like they used to!

The kids were riding anything they could tie behind the Quad and....

...the golf cart!

Even Andrew & Amanda's new puppy, Zeus, got a ride!

It was a little cold for a few who decided to spectate from the dining room window.

After running out of toboggans, and everything else the kids could tie behind, papa went out and bought a heavy duty 'calf sled'. This thing has proved to be indestructible, the only problem with this new toboggan was the high sides resulted in a few bruised foreheads and chins, which had nothing to do with the driver...

Everyone had a good laugh at the antics going on.

Riding off into the sunset!

After a couple of weeks of above zero temperatures the snow has all but disappeared, just in time for the cold weather to come back!

Goodbye 2007!

Along with the snow and ice we say goodbye to 2007 and welcome to 2008! Hopefully everyone had a good holiday, I know we did, no excess travelling, lots of food and drink and good times all around. Carolyn returned to work today, I will return on Friday and the kids are back to School on Monday!


Some pictures of our Christmas lights.


Even the playhouse got some lights.


Isn't that peardy?

Tragedy Strikes!

Overnight we went from -15 to +5!


Last night the kids and I were enjoying the prestine ice conditions...


...today it was more of a sandbox than an ice rink. At least my bale didn't blow away!

Hockey, Hockey, Hockey!

The kids have turned into hockey feens! All they want to do is play hockey and skate on the backyard rink. I finally got it to the point of perfection, the temperature has been between -9 and - 19 which has helped with the flooding effort.


Blair and I playing a little one-on-one! Notice our fancy nets?


Face off!


Hey, what's that spectator doing on the ice?


Yeehaw!


They're not really having fun!

Twin Moons

I noticed the other morning that people in the city only have one moon.


Whereas as us on the ridge have two, just like Luke Skywalker's home planet of Tatooine!