Hi, all.
Just wanted to extend an invitation. There's a new social network being developed called Zurker. It's still in beta, so membership is by invitation only. The idea is that it's member owned, so new members will get vshares, which will be converted into real shares when it goes off beta.
If you'd like to check it out, click here for your invitation. Once you're logged in, you'll find me in your contacts as amkb, and you can accept my contact request.
Let's see how this works out! :-)
Monday, February 27, 2012
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Morning Snow
The view of our valley this morning. We have had very little snow this year.
Not that I'm complaining.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Family Day
In Alberta, today is Family Day. There were all sorts of things to do around the city, but we're not crowd people. Instead, with the incentive of having a guest with us for the next while, we finally had a cookout.
We bought the firewood to do something like this 3 (or is it 4?) years ago!!
After picking up a hatchet to cut kindling and some grillable food, we headed over to a picnic shelter in Dawson Park. This is an area we used to hike through fairly regularly before we moved to where we live now. It's a really nice picnic area. There are a number of bbq grills scattered about with picnic tables near them. The shelter has a roofed area with a pair of picnic tables and a double grill fireplace. Inside the building is an open area with seating, and behind the outdoor fireplace is an indoor fireplace as well. It has doors that are padlocked, though, so I assume there's someplace to call to get access to it. There's also a water fountain (handy, since we forgot to bring drinks) and bathrooms. This heated indoor area was much appreciated as we waited for the fire to burn down enough to grill. It was a warm day, but only when you consider what our February temperatures normally are. *L*
The downside of having such great facilities is that people tend to not treat them very well. When we got there, we found whole branches - small ones, and very twiggy - in front. Under one half of the fire area, we could see where someone had tried to start a fire. The twigs and branches were all quite green. We figure some less then sober folks had stripped nearby bushes of branches and twigs to make a fire, using magazine pages to try and get it started. They failed. It was quite a mess. We cleaned it up a bit, and found a handy branch we could use to lift the grills and adjust the burning logs as needed.
(photo set can be viewed here)
I picked up a grill pan meant to do things like veggies on a bbq, so we wouldn't be putting our food directly on the filthy grill. It's supposed to be a non-stick tray but, by the end of it, I doubt it still was. ;-) Not really made to be used over an open flame like this, even though we did let the fire burn down, first.
We tried two kinds of hoagies on the grill - beerwurst and maple flavoured. They were both good, but we all liked the beerwurst best.
For dessert, we split come bananas, stuffed them with chocolate chips, then wrapped them in foil. The peels were left on to hold everything together. After the hoagies were done, we put the foil wrapped bananas directly into the hot coals to cook. They turned out quite nice! The last time I did something like this, it was using cocoa and an oven. Tasty, but not as fun as doing it in a fire. :-D
I hope everyone else had a great holiday (whatever it's named where you are) today as well.
We bought the firewood to do something like this 3 (or is it 4?) years ago!!
After picking up a hatchet to cut kindling and some grillable food, we headed over to a picnic shelter in Dawson Park. This is an area we used to hike through fairly regularly before we moved to where we live now. It's a really nice picnic area. There are a number of bbq grills scattered about with picnic tables near them. The shelter has a roofed area with a pair of picnic tables and a double grill fireplace. Inside the building is an open area with seating, and behind the outdoor fireplace is an indoor fireplace as well. It has doors that are padlocked, though, so I assume there's someplace to call to get access to it. There's also a water fountain (handy, since we forgot to bring drinks) and bathrooms. This heated indoor area was much appreciated as we waited for the fire to burn down enough to grill. It was a warm day, but only when you consider what our February temperatures normally are. *L*
The downside of having such great facilities is that people tend to not treat them very well. When we got there, we found whole branches - small ones, and very twiggy - in front. Under one half of the fire area, we could see where someone had tried to start a fire. The twigs and branches were all quite green. We figure some less then sober folks had stripped nearby bushes of branches and twigs to make a fire, using magazine pages to try and get it started. They failed. It was quite a mess. We cleaned it up a bit, and found a handy branch we could use to lift the grills and adjust the burning logs as needed.
(photo set can be viewed here)
I picked up a grill pan meant to do things like veggies on a bbq, so we wouldn't be putting our food directly on the filthy grill. It's supposed to be a non-stick tray but, by the end of it, I doubt it still was. ;-) Not really made to be used over an open flame like this, even though we did let the fire burn down, first.
We tried two kinds of hoagies on the grill - beerwurst and maple flavoured. They were both good, but we all liked the beerwurst best.
For dessert, we split come bananas, stuffed them with chocolate chips, then wrapped them in foil. The peels were left on to hold everything together. After the hoagies were done, we put the foil wrapped bananas directly into the hot coals to cook. They turned out quite nice! The last time I did something like this, it was using cocoa and an oven. Tasty, but not as fun as doing it in a fire. :-D
I hope everyone else had a great holiday (whatever it's named where you are) today as well.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Can't resist ... too much cute!
Okay, I have to admit, we are suckers when it comes to cats.
First off, we have decided to keep the kitten the stray mama brought to our balcony. We have also been able to find a new home for mama. Our older cat has been sleeping a lot since then - I think she was completely exhausted by those two!
The kitten, which we've named Finnegan, has calmed down a lot now that mama is gone, though he does still try to find boob on our other cat, which is rather hilarious.
One of the things we've done that testifies as to what marshmallows we are when it comes to the kitties is set up a cat bed. On the desk. In a drawer. You see, our older cat likes company in the mornings, when hubby is on the computer before heading to work in the mornings. Or when anyone else is at the computer, for that matter. We have a cushion that's padded on one side, rather stiff on the other, and it first just right across the top drawer. The stadium cushion I'd made some time ago was quickly discovered by the cats and thoroughly loved, so it got put on top. When both mama and kitten were around, our cat would use this space to escape from them, except they'd sometimes both join her up there, too. Was never able to get a good picture of all three of them crowded onto there.
Finnegan, however, loves this spot too. Today, my husband was working from home and Finn decided to go for a nap on the drawer bed while he worked. He couldn't resist reaching for the macro lens and getting this photo.
As I write this, Finn's still on the drawer beside me, and it's all I can do not to break out the tripod and take more photos. Setting up would wake him, though, and I'd miss the shots I want, but my goodness I'm tempted! Especially when he grabs his own face with both paws.
Just too cute for words!!
Yeah, I'm a suck. LOL!
First off, we have decided to keep the kitten the stray mama brought to our balcony. We have also been able to find a new home for mama. Our older cat has been sleeping a lot since then - I think she was completely exhausted by those two!
The kitten, which we've named Finnegan, has calmed down a lot now that mama is gone, though he does still try to find boob on our other cat, which is rather hilarious.
One of the things we've done that testifies as to what marshmallows we are when it comes to the kitties is set up a cat bed. On the desk. In a drawer. You see, our older cat likes company in the mornings, when hubby is on the computer before heading to work in the mornings. Or when anyone else is at the computer, for that matter. We have a cushion that's padded on one side, rather stiff on the other, and it first just right across the top drawer. The stadium cushion I'd made some time ago was quickly discovered by the cats and thoroughly loved, so it got put on top. When both mama and kitten were around, our cat would use this space to escape from them, except they'd sometimes both join her up there, too. Was never able to get a good picture of all three of them crowded onto there.
Finnegan, however, loves this spot too. Today, my husband was working from home and Finn decided to go for a nap on the drawer bed while he worked. He couldn't resist reaching for the macro lens and getting this photo.
As I write this, Finn's still on the drawer beside me, and it's all I can do not to break out the tripod and take more photos. Setting up would wake him, though, and I'd miss the shots I want, but my goodness I'm tempted! Especially when he grabs his own face with both paws.
Just too cute for words!!
Yeah, I'm a suck. LOL!
Friday, February 10, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Friday, February 3, 2012
Watching over me.
Have come down with a nasty cold. Trying to sleep on the couch. I open my eyes, and this is what I see.
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