Wonderful Company!

Having company means that all of us get to slow down a bit and just enjoy ourselves for a little bit after all the renovation craziness.  It was really nice to have the familiar faces of loved ones around and to show them a few of the reasons we have been so happy here – despite some serious drama!   But before I talk about that, I do need to let you know about our most recent addition to the farm. Clearly no farm can be complete without the addition of a dog so…… Let me introduce you to Ryker!

Fallon & Darren managed to find the sweetest looking puppy in the Kootenay’s and brought him home for us to love. We will put him to work a little later, right now, he is just busy being adorable!

The weather has cooperated fully with our plans for our visitors, so there is plenty of sunshine to go along with our adventures!  Challenge number 1!  Climb to the top of our property to see the view.  Everyone was game…. mostly!  I was probably the least enthusiastic…. frankly it just sounded too much like exercise.  Darren had explored the trail earlier – clearing a path for us – but I had heard this before.  I also know where he got to, so I had a good idea just how much climbing I was going to be doing!   Since everyone else was going,  I couldn’t chicken out, dang it!  Let me show you where we were going:

Now doesn’t this just look like a lovely stroll in the park?? I sigh a little loudly (pretty sure more than once), and pull on my big girl boots.  My husband, who knows exactly how much I am dreading this little jaunt, smiles sweetly at me and hands me a walking stick.  No, I didn’t hit him with it. I would have cheerfully stayed behind to look after the sweet little Ryker but apparently he was going too… Sigh!

So we all set off up the hill through the trees.  And yes, I have to admit, that it really wasn’t too bad.  There were some old trails up there that had switchbacks and plateau areas that gave us a break from the straight up.

The trees and the time of the day help to keep us from getting too hot and we brought a ton of water with us.  Every once in a while Chuck would ask me how I was doing, which got him the “if they can do it, I can do it” glare from me.

I counted it as a blessing that I didn’t take an eye out with an errant tree branch, I avoided all the bear/deer poop, and made it to the top at nearly the same time as the others.  Chuck brought up the rear to make sure I didn’t fall off a cliff somewhere.  I am really not terribly graceful at the best of times.

 

To say the view was stunning just doesn’t cut it.  It was spectacular! It made me completely forget what it took to get there! We wandered around getting really good views of the valley to the north and south and could even see our farm laid out below us.

It is just so hard to capture the beauty of it all. We all just stood and took it all in.  Frankly, I wanted to sit for a bit but I was scared that I would seize up after that climb and never make it down!

Pretty proud of myself for making it up! I knew the trip down would be easier and faster. Which was another good thing, given I drank all my water on the way up, and I needed get back down to the house to get rid of it!

But it wasn’t all hiking!  We wandered our company down the main shopping district in Nelson – the infamous Baker Street – during the summer farmers market, ran them over to Harrop-Proctor for some of the best cinnamon buns you will ever taste, and took the ferry across Kootenay Lake to Crawford Bay for the day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Make no mistake, we took advantage of the extra hands to get some more work done, both on the house and the farm!  That’s the rule on farms, you gotta work for your dinner!!

So I have my lovely guests to thank for priming and painting almost the whole house, for organizing the woodshed, and for helping haul over the majority of our larger pieces of furniture out of the basement of the big house over to the little house. ( Chuck and I would be moving into the little house once our guests headed home ).  Oh and we also got some swimming, sun bathing and fishing done as well!

I must admit to being a bit ashamed of the whining and moaning I did on the trip up the mountain.  Darren’s mom arrived after our journey up there – but she insisted that she also had to do the climb.  The amazing Trish Sutton has ten years on me, and that lady marched up that hill, without a single heavy sigh to be heard.  Kudo’s Trish!! Look at that smile!  I gotta work on my attitude!