I've been to the fat farm...

...... and I gained 4 pounds.  Oh, just a minute...I guess I better elaborate.  I jokingly began to refer to my sister's little acreage as the fat farm because I figured I would lose some weight when I went there..... doing chores..picking weeds...scooping poo...turning compost piles..digging in the garden...more poo....feeding horses..more weeds and dragging 100 foot hoses around...  and chasing around after cats...and visiting and going for our evening walks after all day busy....whew...see what I  mean?..... But....  I always come away heavier than when I went there.  I have no idea how it is possible... it's just reeellly weird....because we are never still a minute... and are very busy.  However, I do bake and we do eat very well and ....oh, alright I see what happened.

So...  now I'm home and better get busy and lose that 4 pounds....  a few days of walking 9's and 18's on the golf course, and doing a lot of practice swinging ought to do it.

There is still snow on some mountains...and it was misty and raining at the higher altitudes all along the way....

Stopped at Finn's Creek for our lunch....

... and fairly flew along for several more hours.... lots of traffic and lots of stops for construction holdups....... summertime travel in this area...... arrrgghhhh...not a lot of fun.

Shadow....once a feral.  Still only seen by a very small "inner circle", which doesn't include any kids.  I feel quite honoured that he let me touch him and pick him up right from square one.  I think he thinks I am an extension of my sister somehow....  we look and sound alike...and somehow...he knows I am "safe".  He can be quite lovey with us.

...still keeping a wary eye on us....

Cleo.....keeping a wary eye on us too because she knows we will shoo her off the soft stuff.  She loves our clothes...the laundry...the comforters...the pillows if we are not careful.... and..of course... anybody who will give her a "crunchie"... but, she only likes to be petted and brushed...not picked up....

Hey.....  enough with the camera already!

Mister Thompson like to lounge on the bed...which is really high...and he is ah ...uhm... how to put it delicately...he is sensitive.... don't want to hurt his feelings...  somewhat overweight.... but, somehow still manages to get up there.  Vikki has dieted him a bit...and he has become more mobile and healthier over the years she has had him...his coat is now glossy and soft..it used to be awful ...stiff and dull.... but, still he maintains his husky stature.  He can't seem to shake it.

When I looked up and saw this on the way home I was all of a sudden transported right back to Portugal....    look!..... a castle!!

Oh, alright....it's a mountain.  Had me going for a tick of a second there.....

This little guy was the centre of attention at the rest stop on the way back.  He has his own little box behind the older dude riding the 'bike.  He wears his safety  harness and is clipped to a large steel ring on a very short strap..in case he should somehow get dislodged.... he loved his ride.  The guy was all the way from Montana so they had put on some miles... this was in the Rockies just outside of Golden B. C.

more pics of the road trip

Just adding a few more shots of the drive .. usually 5 1/2 hours of amazing scenery. Although as it happened on this particular day.... we had to turn back to the Eisenhower Junction after waiting in grid-locked line up over an hour (just to be told personally by one person with a stop sign ... that there had been a chemical spill.













This is a snowshed and slide area in the mountainous portion of the road. There are several of them through this particular section of the highway. In the winter it is covered with many feet of snow...plenty more if there is a big slide .... in summer it grows lush vegetation as you can see. There are other areas of sliding snow, mud and the like as well of course...but these are built in known problem areas and do help to keep traffic moving when Mother Nature is at work.


Lately they have been installing lovely, new lighting in most of them; they used to be just black holes to drive into. Some have open slatted sides...some are closed right in and very dark. If there is a huge snow build up on the lower side, it closes off the lit area anyway...so the lights are wonderful. It is pretty bad in summer as well, especially if the day is brilliant and sunny...you are wearing sunglasses..and then hit a black tunnel. Whip off the glasses and try to adjust...not good. This is the perfect solution. Another way to cut down on the many accidents along this treacherous highway. Much of it is very twisty and there are hundreds of big semi trucks doing their jobs of hauling all sorts of goods. People don't want to be stuck behind them on hills..twisty roads and the like.... Most people speed ... usually overdriving their own ability or that of their vehicle ..........which is silly, because they are usually the same guys beside you when you arrive at each small town along the way...or... the guy you sometimes see in a ditch, or getting a speeding ticket as you go by at, or near, road speed...which is already 110 kmh. in Alberta and 90 - 100 in B.C. Fast enough when you are driving for every other driver on the road as well as yourself.


The further west we went... the uglier the sky got and we could see it raining on the peaks ... or is that snow?

Welcome to Canada....even in the summertime....