One of My Favourite Autumn Activities...

Pyromania!

Jasper

Our lovely Jasper has died.  He became very ill on Thursday morning & Mike rushed him to the vet. When we visited with him Thursday afternoon he was quite stable.  Exploratory surgery was planned for Friday morning, but he passed away at the clinic around 7 a.m. Friday.

Jasper was a loving, happy, goofy, sweet, trusting, lively boy.  Mike and I are shattered.

Jasper
August 13, 2002 - October 21, 2011

A Sunday Drive

Recently Mike and I decided to cast aside an afternoon's chores and take a Sunday drive along the backroads behind Green Lake, finally emerging at Highway 24 near Bridge Lake.

A small lake, name unknown, east of Green Lake

Free range cattle.  Ranchers are now herding their cattle to bring them back to
pasture  for the winter.

A crumbling shed.

A tiny cabin.  I wonder who once lived here?

Old tools hanging from the outer shed walls

Skylights!

Nails placed to hang tools

An ancient barn

Scenes of Autumn

I've been puttering on weekends, splitting some huge old logs that were cut several years ago, and left sitting. They are weathered, but not rotted, and have been feeding the woodstove that is now in use more often than not. Some are too heavy for me to manage, and are awaiting Mike's return at the end of the week.

Our dogs are well colour coordinated for the fall!

Buck and Rupert are spending their days munching on hay.

More wood splitting. There's something very satisfying about getting firewood in for the winter.

Looking from house to road. I love our cariboo gate. It has no hinges.

Jasper also blends in well with the fall foliage.

In case you've been wondering how Zoey is doing...she's fine!  She is a bit of a monkey, and does interesting things like standing on the dining room table when no one is looking, and is about as obedient as she feels like being at any given moment. She is sweet, and well, and very happy.

Looking from gate to house.

A lovely recent sunset.

Hope you're having a fall as lovely as ours. :)

Our Little House

My brother and sister-in-law Dave & Jan and their lovely Roxy came for a visit on the Labour Day weekend!  It was a great weekend, low key and relaxing.  Dave took some photos  of our place, and said I could post them...Thanks, big brother!

South facing front of house.  I want to paint our front door purple!  The
porch overhang keeps the midday sun from blazing in during the summer.

From the southwest...the side entrance door is off the dining room.

Southeast view.  The arctic entrance leads downstairs to a full
basement.  

From the northeast.  Our bedroom is upstairs, facing north.  We look out over
Buck and Rupert's pasture.

The house has a small footprint, but with three levels, it's 2000 sq. ft. and has tons of living space.

After a tasty fish & chip pub dinner on Sunday night, we were treated with
this sunset when we arrived home.

September!

I'm really not quite sure where August went, but with it seems to have gone summer.  Frosty mornings have greeted us for the last few days, and it's getting dark soon after 8 pm now.  Last fall the aspens turned spectacular shades of gold, so far this year they're turning brown...I believe it has to do with the level of infestation of the aspen leaf-miner, the little wormy critter responsible for turning the aspens shades of silvery-gray some years.

All here are well...the chickens are happily laying 10 or 11 eggs each morning.  It's never hard to find takers for the eggs...sometimes I have to remember to keep some for us!  Buck and Rupert are fine...I couldn't find Rupert this morning and had to go looking.  Zoey and Jasper and I found him happily munching beside the root cellar door...I must put up a root cellar post soon!

Zoey had an ear check at the vet on Tuesday...her ears continue to improve, but are not cleared up yet.  Two more weeks of ear drops, oral antibiotics, and a course of prednisone are in order.  She is becoming a little more settled each day and is adorable.

Molly the cat disappeared five days ago; I had pretty much given up on seeing her again and was about to report her demise, but she arrived home about an hour ago in a wind/rain storm, and other than being quite hungry seems unscathed.

Who sez cats shouldn't go on vacation?

Mike and Cody are in Winnipeg tonight, heading for South Carolina!  

Down Home on the Farm...

A few pics from our early morning walkabout on Tuesday morning:

Jasper beginning an excavation to bury his tennis ball.  My poor lawn.

Zoey & Jasper negotiating  possession of the tennis ball.  Sharing is not one of
Jasper's strong points.

Buck has developed an attachment and fascination with Rupert's house, which
he has ignored for 5 years.  It's way too small for him.  

Somewhere in this shot lurks a small gray donkey. Rupert didn't feel like coming
close, and I didn't feel like getting another lens.  Those windfalls are slated to become
firewood before winter.  They've been on the ground for a long time.

Jasper and Zoey.  Zoey is adjusting well to Cariboo life.