Sunday, May 30, 2010

May Flowers are getting May Showers











Today is Sunday May 30th.





We woke up this morning to more snow on the ground. It rained the entire day yesterday and in the evening last night I said to Cody, "If it gets two degrees colder this will turn into snow." What's funny is that each week we buy our local newspaper called the Whitecourt Star. We don't have our TV hooked up so we rely on this paper each week to keep us informed. Last weeks front page article was titled "Winters Last Blast" and there was a picture of the snow that had fallen from May long weekend. I wonder how those journalists are feeling about that article this morning as Mother Nature decided for herself, that it would in fact not be the "Last Blast" and the snow will continue to fall. Do you think they would consider running the same article this week? Or maybe this weeks title will be "Whoops, never mind, more snow after all." My advice to our dear local paper would be; Never write about the weather in a definitive way, only mother nature knows what's next and even she seems confused sometimes.

In all the journals I've kept over the years I have always tried to document what the weather is doing. I like to be able to go back on the previous years and see when the first snowfall was or when the first cold blast hit. I remember this week clearly because we are in the week leading up to Levi's birthday (June 5th). I am filled with reminicences of 2 years ago when I was pregnant (due June 17th) and anticipating the birth situation. That year 2008 we had a lot of rain around this time too. I was carrying quite the large belly by this time and I remember being out in the garden with a garbage bag over me planting my seeds in the pouring rain. I had gum boots on, but the soil was so wet it turned into what looked and felt like mud. When I stepped, my boots would get so stuck I had a hard time getting them out to make another step. Sure enough at one point my one boot was completely stuck and I lost my balance and into the mud I fell, pregnant belly, bucket of seeds, garbage bag and all. My boot came right off and I had to step in the mud in my barefoot. All summer long you could still make out where my steps had been by the large holes they left in the mud after it had dried.

This time of the year for me is very weather dependent. It's time to plant the garden but the weather has to be warmer and the danger of freeze has to be over. I've checked every weather resource out there in search of answers to the big question for this time of year, "Will we get frost tonight?" My gut still says yes and that's what I follow most of the time. My husband also says yes and he seems to always be right (ugh). The Whitecourt Star says no, but I already explained that their credibility flew out the window this past week. So all we can do is leave it up to the Mother.
Stay focused Mother Nature!!!! It is spring you know :)













Friday, May 28, 2010

The beginning of the beginning


Today is Friday May 28th, 2010.
I think each time I say the date out loud I am shocked yet again at how fast time is going by. We are almost half way through this year already and it seems like yesterday we were heading into another season of winter. Winters here in Whitecourt are strenuous on the soul. In the past the winters have been long. Some have even started in October and lasted 6 months. They have also been exceptionally cold hitting record lows of -45 degrees celcius with a wind chill factor causing the air to feel like its -55 degrees celcius. Yowza!!!! I know. But, I can honestly say that this past winter was very bearable and I might even say it was enjoyable. We received a heavy snowfall in October that never melted like it usually does. We got some cold weather in December and January but nothing like the previous years. In March the spring weather began and that was pretty much it for winter. Of course, all spring my gut instinct was warning me that one last big snowfall was inevitable. Sure enough this past weekend (May long weekend) we got a nice 6 inches of the white stuff. We all knew it would happen but for some reason that doesn't help us accept it when it arrives. I'm sure that's the last of it (fingers crossed) and we are ready for that warm summer sun.

We live on 10 acres of land west of Whitecourt just off the Alaskan highway. We have a nice small creek that runs right through the middle of the 10 acres and we are surrounded mainly by Poplar and Birch trees. The grass is green, the wildlife is abundant and the sun rises and sun sets over the rolling hills are fabulous. I had never lived anywhere like this before. I was born and raised in Kimberley, B.C. When I was 17 I moved to Lethbridge, A.B. to go to college. What was supposed to be a 2 year stay while I went to school turned into 6 long years, before I finally broke free of the city. From there I lived in Nicaragua, Central America for 3 months. When I left Nicaragua to come back to Canada I wasn't really sure where my life was headed or what I was going to do with myself. I came to Whitecourt to spend time with my boyfriend Cody and try and get some things figured out. The rest is history as they say since Cody and I have now been married for 11 months, we have a 2 year old son Levi and I have now lived here 3 and a half years. I guess you could say that what I figured out was that I love this acreage, the man that came with it and the idea of living a country life.

This new place I am in my life deserves to be documented and my journal is full. I thought this blog idea is worth a try since I love to talk about what's happening around here each day and I think my poor husband's ears hurt after a long day of work and an even longer evening of my babbling. I will babble here and I hope you will enjoy it. This is the beginning of the beginning. Welcome :)

PS
"The secret to a rich life is to have more beginnings than endings."
Dave Weinbaum