Aug 11 - Flowers

Was playing with my camera out in the flower garden and got these two good shots.


I was using my big lens on a bunch of different settings. Going to try my small lens on macro and see what I get - next sunny day.

August 11 - Marble has arrived

Shayne finally got his new house kitty. This one came from his friend Brady. He was picked out at the beginning of July but wasn't old enough to come home.

I know...we have lots of barn cats...but they are wild and Shayne wasn't interested. LOL But at least Shayne has gotten away from the "grey" color. He has had 6 cats since we moved out here - 5 have died - and now this one. Let's hope this little guy lasts a while.

He is a typical baby...full of energy for about 45 minutes and then he crashes whereever he has ended up. Loves to sleep on people.




Shayne named him Marble because he is orange and white - like MARBLE CHEESE.

Aug 1 - Pic of stage at Big Valley

Here is the pic off the net of the stage at Big Valley. One confirmed dead, numerous injured.

We had friends out there and they said it was unreal. They were watching the storm come in but the wind that took down the stage was actually 20 MINUTES IN FRONT OF THE STORM. It came out of nowhere they said.

One minute it was calm and then next "all hell broke loose" was one person's feeling about what happened. The cell phone towers went down so there was very little communication.

I turned on the radio and everything had come to a standstill. All that was on was the announcer telling people to stay calm...that emergency assistance was on it's way from EVERYWHERE...and they were taking phone calls from people looking for family and friends that were at the venue and from people at the venue telling their experiences.

In a strange scary way, it kind of reminded me of 9-11. Definately not on such a large scale but the coverage seemed the same. The tears and fears were definately the same.

August 2 - More severe weather

Got up this morning and started listening to the radio and heard that there was a possibility of more severe weather so went onto the weathernetwork.com and found this:

AT 10:40 AM RADAR SHOWS A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS FROM 20 KM NORTH OF SMOKY LAKE 40 KM EAST OF BARRHEAD. ANOTHER LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS IS FROM 30 KM NORTHEAST OF WHITECOURT TO SLAVE LAKE. BOTH LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS ARE TRACKING SOUTH-SOUTHEASTWARDS AT 60 KM/H. SOME CELLS IN THIS LINE CAN PRODUCE STRONG DAMAGING WINDS, LARGE HAIL, INTENSE LIGHTNING AND LOCAL HEAVY DOWNPOURS. THIS IS A WARNING THAT SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE IMMINENT OR OCCURRING IN THESE REGIONS. REMEMBER THAT SOME SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE TORNADOES. LISTEN FOR UPDATED WARNINGS. NOTE..A SUMMARY OF ALL WARNINGS AND WATCHES FOR NORTHERN ALBERTA IS AVAILABLE IN THE WWCN16 CWWG BULLETIN ISSUED IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THIS BULLETIN. PLEASE REFER TO THE LATEST PUBLIC FORECASTS FOR FURTHER DETAILS.
POSSIBLE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS MORNING AND THIS AFTERNOON. THIS IS AN ALERT TO THE POTENTIAL DEVELOPMENT OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. MONITOR WEATHER CONDITIONS..LISTEN FOR UPDATED STATEMENTS. IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES TAKE IMMEDIATE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS.
A COLD FRONT SWEEPING DOWN FROM THE NORTH IS COMBINING WITH A WARM HUMID AIR MASS TO CREATE FAVOURABLE CONDITIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND INTO THE EVENING HOURS. THE MAIN THREATS WITH THESE STORMS ARE STRONG DAMAGING WINDS, LARGE HAIL AND HEAVY DOWNPOURS.

They also said that these warnings are for almost the entire province...from south of Calgary to Slave Lake. Calgary is 4 1/2 hrs south of me...Slave Lake is 4 hrs north. WOW.

I am definately going to keep my eyes open and on the windows more than I had planned on today.

August 1 - Tragedy at Big Valley

Big Valley Jamboree is a massive country music festival that is held in Camrose (about 2 hrs from me) every August long weekend. They have big artists show up each year...this year the closing act is Tim McGraw. The festival starts on Thursday night and ends on Sunday.

They have a 400 acre site with camping etc. They have a main stage, a small stage, trade center, bull riding etc.

A big storm came up tonight around 6 pm and BLEW THE MAIN STAGE DOWN. The news said that the storm hit in minutes...one minute it was nice - the next horror.

Billy Currington was just finishing up his set...Kevin Costner and his band were getting ready to go on. Reports are that there were 100 people on the stage at the time of the collapse.

Currently, they are saying 1 dead, 4 critically injured, 4 seriously injured and some smaller injuries.

They have brought in cranes to lift the stage right now and they have ambulances there just in case. No word on people trapped.

Winds were clocked between 100 and 130 kmph. 100 km is around 60 mph.

What a horrible thing to happen.

They are saying on the radio that there are 20,000 people there today - just camping on the site - that is not including the people that are just there to watch during the day and go home.

Here is one newspaper article that shows the collapsed stage:

http://www.calgaryherald.com/technology/Stage+collapses+Alberta+music+festival/1853574/story.html

July 26 - Catch up post from a busy lady

All this new stuff has me either too tired or too busy to do anything computer wise. So here is a jumble of updates from the month of July:

I am busy working and exhausted by the time I come home. Lots of mental stuff with this new job - and all NUMBERS. Numbers have never been my best friend so I am now at age 41 trying to get a long with them. LOL

Things have been a little unsettled at work. The girl that started with me turned out to have a "bit" of an attitude. She complained lots - expected things to be done differently now that she was there - and caused some strife between our office and the site we get the work from. She also made a few mistakes in her work. She was talked to a few times about things but it didn't seem to make any difference so she was let go on Friday.

So now I am on my own doing this site payroll - I think. EEPS I do have help from a couple of the other girls so if I get stuck or behind I can go to them...but am very nervous about it because I still have not been shown how to do EVERYTHING...and EVERYTHING has to be done by tomorrow at 11 am!!! I am working today - and worked yesterday...and will continue to work every day until they hire someone else. Which could be a while as the two big bosses are away on vacation.

In other news, the kids are doing good. Bailey has been having friends over and been over to friends houses this month...Shayne seems to be content to stay home by himself. Doyle is working lots. We had a massive storm go through last weekend - took out trees, apartment roofs etc. and also the power. So the refinery shut down and they called him in to help supervise - so he had to cut his camping trip short with the kids. They are supposed to be up and running again today and then he can have a few days off.

Melissa is going through a "transition" herself. She was having a hard time at work so gave up and got layed off. Not a great way to end things but it is done. She is still registered for school at the end of August so I think she is going to take some time off - go visit the boyfriend - meet her bio paternal grandparents after not seeing them since she was 18 months old - and then go to school. After that she will decide what direction she is going to go in.

The horses all look good. Have not been able to spend much time out there - this getting up at 4:30, gone by 6:15 and then home after 6 at night is still tiring. I have been going out and giving pats (looking everyone over) each night which everyone but Gunner is happy about (he is a very standoffish boy that one).

Everyone is fat and happy so I am too. The grass has really come up after that week of rain - and I am sooo thankful for that.

Hay crops have been cut for the first time. Not that there was much to cut. The neighbor only got 10 rounds off of his 40 acres. Crops looked to be around 8 inches tall and pretty sparce. I think we are going to have a hard time finding hay at a reasonable cost this year. SCARY.

July 11 - BUSY BUSY BUSY

It has been a whirlwind this last week with the new job. There has been so much to take in and so many new procedures etc. to learn even though I am doing the same type of work as last year. There are a lot of new things with this job too. With my old company all I did was enter the time and then the payroll girls did all the reconciliations and reports but at this job...I am not only doing the timekeeping but all the reports as well. Their computer program is also NOT as user friendly. Lots more keystrokes to do the same stuff. So by the end of the day, my fingers are SORE SORE SORE.

But it is very metally stimulating as you have to constantly think through every step. And I like that.

I worked Saturday - so a day of OT already - and it sounds like that will continue indefinately.

I have also been asked to go up to Fort McMurray tomorrow night (Monday) to go through the Syncrude orientation at the plant site as well as the "J" orientation. This is to facilitate the work load I think. Nothing specific was said just that they needed one of us to go up there and do this and they picked me. So my flight leaves at 5:45 tomorrow night and I come home Tuesday night. I will be one tired girl!!

Not that I am not tired now. I slept a full 11 hrs last night. This getting up at 5 am is hard now that I haven't done it for 9 months. I am sure I will get used to it again...but it may take a few more weeks. I managed to get all my laundry done, go for a pasture walk and see everyone. I think they missed me as I was going out there 2 - 3 x per day before I got the job but have been too tired the last few days. Everyone came right up for pats...even Dolly!! After that, Doyle and I went to town for a lunch date and then got groceries. it was a relaxing day and I needed it.

Anyways...it is now 9:30 and I am going to head to bed. I have no idea what exactly is in front of me for work tomorrow nor do I know what to expect when I get to Ft. Mac. I sure hope I don't have to ride the big bus with the trades people!!!

July 11 - maybe in trouble???

I got a letter in the mail from the gov't asking where I was in January.

I put on my EI report that I was unavailable for work - did not claim the funds.
they are wanting a written explanation.

I have got it mostly done up...waiting for an e-mail from one of the staffing agencies as she contacted me while we were in Mexico and we set up an interview for the week I got back. So hopefully that will help my case.

They state in the letter that they are not "at this time" requesting re-payment.

UPDATE: I sent away my letter explaining my absences as I also had to list the vacation I took with the kids to my parents in March and the day I was away in Toronto with Bailey at Bowling Nationals. I printed off all relevant documentation from the EI site and also the e-mails regarding the interviews that I set up while in Mexico. I have not heard anything back from them at this point (September) so am hoping that all is well.

July 9 - Taylor and Kenny

are my new best friends. LOL Just kidding.

Bailey and I attended their outdoor concert. WOW...great artists.

Taylor is so young but so polished. And she is sure "down home". LOL Very personable young lady. Quite the role model.

And Kenny...what can I say. First time seeing him in concert and WOW. He is just a bundle of energy and very talented.

Too bad we were too cold to stay and enjoy the entire show. Temps were around 10C and it was windy.

July 6 - 9 - New job

The new job started after the July long weekend. Things were pretty slow the first couple of days...did up all our paperwork, played with the computers to look at the programs etc. By late Tuesday, we had started in on the filing and got a good dent in the backlog...unloaded all the boxes of files that came from site into the filing cabinets. We were sure ready to do "real work".

Well Wed dawned with new hope that we would be "working". And we did. Boy did we ever. The programs are very different than at my old job with Bantrel but still very user friendly. We all made a few boo-boos but that was good because we had to learn how to fix them.

There is also WAY MORE to this job than I thought. We are doing reports, and checking things that I didn't even know needed to be checked. And that is only with the timekeeping portion.

Today we are doing the reconciliations. EEPS.

We are also now today (Thursday) two days behind on this jobs time. OH OH. LOL But hopefully we will catch up soon.

There is also a chance I may be working some overtime already this weekend.

Oh...It is also still raining - that makes 5 days in a row. Now I am worried that my flowers are going to die from drowning not heat stroke. LOL

July 6 - Denver isn't feeling well

He has a bit of a runny nose - clear - and is coughing.

Could it be because he had never seen rain before and may have gotten a chill? Not sure if horses are like people or not. He is nursing fine and ran to catch up with everyone when they came up for water.

Guess we will just keep an eye on him and see if he gets over it on his own.

UPDATE: He was fine in a few days.

July 6 - Misc. happenings

Got the website almost done. Just didn't get new pics of the girls on there. That will happen tomorrow.

And I am going to update my blog tomorrow too I hope (which as you can see I am still doing).

In other news, we put our old holiday trailer up for sale...and then had some people complain about the soft spot in the floor that we ignored. So Doyle thought he would check it out. WOW WHAT A MESS. He has pulled up the floor from the middle of the trailer to the back end - taking out all the benches, cupboards and now into the bathroom (toilet and sink out) to rebuild the floor. All the small 2 x 2 support board were rotten and some of the plywood floor too. Must have been one hell of a leak. And he just finished re-building the entire back outside wall of the thing too. Guess we will be working on it (or he will be) for a bit longer before we sell. Maybe we will now ask a little bit more seeing as how it will be all rebuilt. LOL

July brings rain

July 2 - IT'S RAINING - IT'S POURING!!! YIPPEE

OMG - got up this morning and there are PUDDLES!!!

Went out to feed Gunner - but decided to put him out on his bigger pasture - and came in with wet feet (through my runners) and my pj pants wet half way up my calves!!!

I am sooo excited!!!

You can already see the difference in the lawn color. now to get some sun. but that may not happen today as the clouds are low, and look rainy. So here's hoping we get some more moisture today.the forecast is for rain for the next 4 days!!!

July 4 - Grass was damp this morning but not the driveway. Still a little mucky in places. Grass in pastures is getting pretty sparce in places but the horses are all pretty round so whatever is there is packed full of whatever they need and everything they need. LOL

July 5 - the weatherman can be right every once in a while. Forecast last night was for showers off and on all day today. Well, we got them!!! It rained for probably 3 hrs today off and on. Nice light showers with no wind so it just didn't evaporate immediately.

Things are greening up really nice. Now to hope that the forecast is just as accurate for the next 5 days - calling for showers all week!!!

Canada Day fireworks

We went into Vegreville for the fireworks. I read up in my camera manuals and in my photo course books about taking pics. Not sure if it really helped or not. Also took my monopod - which was more of a hindrance. LOL

In Veg, the fireworks are set off one at a time. Not in a big burst...and you sit so close to where they set them off that it is like they are right overhead.

I tried to get good shots - took around 300 pics and got maybe a half dozen that are decent.

July 1 - EMPLOYED!!!

My interview on Monday went really well - I think. I was happy with it...very comfortable. The Director - J - and I discussed the job as well as my previous one at Bantrel and she said they are very very similar. She said she was happy that I was knowledgeable about what the job would entail as well as very happy that I knew more about how "onsite" payroll worked.

When I left she said they would be making their decision and she would be making phone calls by 3 pm on Tuesday. I didn't receive a call or an e-mail so hoping that they just ran into some problems or couldn't quite make their decisions and I will get a call tomorrow.

YIPPEE - HOORAY I AM EMPLOYED.

It is our "Canada Day" holiday today so wasn't expecting a call today but she is working. I got the call on my way home from the city.

I start at 8 am on Monday. Now to go shopping for dress up clothes. I have "outgrown" everything I have.

Spring Bowling Camp-out

Coach Kevin, Coach Corinne, Doyle and I braved the elements and the kids to do an overnight camp out at Pinehurst Lake.

Doyle and the kids left at 8:30 to head to Vegreville to help pack things into the trailer and load the kids up. Kevin and Corinne took their truck and the boat.

By the time I arrived after my interview, everything was set up. Maybe it was a good thing I was late. LOL

We settled in to making supper that night.




And then enjoyed each other's company around the campfire.



There are just a few rules that the kids follow while camping to make the experience a learning one...each child is required to provide some of the food (burgers, eggs, etc.) and what they provide they must cook. I think it is a great idea. Some of these kids have not ever been camping and certainly have never cooked outdoors/over a fire...and in one case...NEVER tried to cook anything before.



After all the kids had gotten out on the boat and had their "middle of the lake" swim, it was the adults turn. Kevin, Doyle and I headed out. I took pictures while Kevin and Doyle fished (nothing caught).


As it was just an overnight trip, we packed up in the early afternoon (just before the rain).



I must say I was very proud of the entire bunch. There were no squabbles at all...even amongst the girls. And everyone pitched in and helped.

Even though I am not much of a camper...I look forward to going again next year.

June 27 - 28 - Interview and camping

Am ready to go for my interview in the morning and then drive 2 hrs to meet up with the campers. So not looking forward to the drive. I hate driving.

I also hate dressing for interviews. Didn't bother me before but have not had 2 with the same people so I am basically down to one outfit. EEPS. So maybe up a bit earlier and go to town and buy another shirt. LOL

Trailer is packed for the trip. Doyle and the kids are heading out at 8 am to meet up with the big group. All camping gear will be loaded into our travel trailer and then they will be off. coach and his wife are going and will take kids - hopefully they will only need to take one vehicle now that our truck has one extra seat.

Doyle and the kids left at 8:30 am on the 28th.

I am headed to the city to West Ed Mall to the apple store to get my phone fixed - hopefully. Then off to my interview.

From there, I have to go pay our yearly property taxes and then to the lake.

June 26 - Denver

Gets a name - or rather the idea of one.

After going through all the papers etc. and trying to figure out what to call the little man the name SKIP N SLYDE came to mind.

After mulling it over and chatting with Paige and Melissa about it...the name evolved into SLIP N SLYDE.

Now to wait until his black socks come in so I can see what his white feet are going to tell me for markings and get him registered.

June 26 - 2nd interview

Well, I got a call to come in for a 2nd interview today. Turns out the director wants to meet with the shortlisted candidates. Only problem originally was that they wanted the interview on Monday. I had already told them that I was going to be away Monday and Tuesday camping with the bowling league (kids group).

So D (interviewer) said he would contact the director and let me know another day to interview. Well, I stewed about it for a bit and then called him back, left him a message saying I would just head out camping late.

He was very happy when he called me back but still asked if it was okay for me to be late camping as he didn't want to disrupt things or cause problems with supervision etc.

So now I have interview no 2 on Monday at 1 pm.

Will keep you all informed.

June 25 - Stars fade away

Wow. Melissa just came home and said she heard that Farrah Fawcett died today and MICHAEL JACKSON.

I did a bit of internet searching and according to all I can find - it is true.

I knew Farrah was close but Michael?

He apparently went into cardiac arrest at his home and couldn't be revived.