jumpin' july

all year long i have been waiting to be able to do something. I have been waiting patiently for the opportunity and it finally arrived. i was able to write a huge love note to ray on a big marshmallow bale of hay. finally it was the season, and for a short while, anyone driving down the etzikom highway would be able to see my profession. forget john deer green, forget two names on an overpass. corona loves razor in black marker on a bale. not sure if there's a country song in there some where, but i am sure if i tried hard enough, one will come to me. ray took a picture with his phone and it's now his wallpaper. i never did get an answer back on another bale of hay, but ray said - why, was it a question? lol



so much has happened since cleaning up after the storm. our friends from calgary brought their trailer to our place and after bbq and bonfire, spent the night and were gone. then it was stampede week. i decorated the station (martha stewart on speed another of my nicknames) and it was dress western week. the stampede princesses competing for the queen's crown visited the studio, so i bought dollar store tiaras and crowned christy the queen of news, karen the queen of sales, and i, the queen of google. christy had to work during the stampede parade but karen drove the station vehicle with her daughter shotgun while i walked the entire parade route, taking pictures of people i knew watching the parade. that night we went to the sawyer brown concert at the stampede grandstand and after work on friday, it was back on the bike to visit our friends 80 acres of forest near cremona.










for a change we packed lightly and added tent and 2 sleeping bags, arrived near midnight and set up the tent. on the way we passed an acreage that had a beautiful metal art sign. i missed seeing it the first time we passed, so ray turned the harley around so i could take a picture.

the weekend was spent quadding, swimming and biking, and though back home called for sun sun sun, rain was forecast for the foothills of the rockies, so the next night we pitched the tent in the old cabin. fun fun fun. we weren't planning on leaving til later, but we could hear thunder in the distance and packed quickly and we on the road, racing ahead of the storm. 20 minutes after we left, lana texted to say they had nickel sized hail. it was back to work monday but the fun was about to start again on thursday for mj's surprise 50th birthday party and camping at 40 mile lake. more on that next time. i have to get back to yard work. with my bad back, it's 1/2 hour of work and a 1 hour break. Life is good.

storm of the century

no sooner had we recuperated from the dead hog boogie, our friends from calgary arrived in town and were camping in the gas city campground for the week. last week we came home to find what looked like snow on the front deck, but it was what was left of a hail storm we while in the city. tuesday, we got together at their trailer and i couldn't believe ray rode his harley since there was rain and thunderstorm in the forecast. after dinner the wind came up and we headed out to our other friends for a drink before heading home, always in the plans, but now it was for shelter. we were headed into dark clouds and lightning and no sooner had ray pulled his bike into their garage, the rain started, and the wind, and the severe thunderstorm watch turned into a warning with possible tornadoes.

We called our neighbours to find out how they were faring, and they told us of their shed blowing into our field and tall trees bent so far over their tops were touching the ground. they called us later to tell of the damage to our farm as we had to wait longer for the storm to pass through our area. we didn't get home until after midnight, and the next day say all the damage done. 1 of 5 grain bin toppled, and another tossed and crumpled in the field behind, siding ripped off the old house and shingles torn. strange how some things were left untouched while others were obliterated. no tornado. they were proclaimed 'flat line winds'. seeing the damage to the irrigation pivots, downed trees and 2,000 lb hay bales rolled like bowling balls through fences and moved from field to field on my drive to work. it was astounding. the county declared a natural disaster and thankfully uninsured will see payment for the damage. thankfully no one was hurt since friends were on the road when it hit and had to pull over in their van, one even on a bike. ray was thankful he took the bike into town after all, since the garage it WOULD have been in, was twisted, bent and broken. we were thankful we had safe haven to wait out the storm. if you have to get stranded somewhere, what better place than a basement with a fully stocked wine cellar! and as usual, there is a wonderful rainbow to enjoy after the storm.

Dead Hog Boogie

Since Ray works 9 days on and 5 days off during the summer, his weekends start on wednesdays so i am usually extremely tired at work on thursdays and fridays. so it was because wednesday night we went to ralph's texas bar and steakhouse for karaoke and stayed in town, in the trailer, in the walmart parking lot. yup. there's a first. did you know that all walmarts across north america let you stay in their lots for free. Glad to know this infomation since i made a deal with ray that when we retire and travel i will pay for the campsites and he pays for the rest. sweeeeet! more money for me to shop - at walmart where else? it was a nice change having a 5 minute drive to work rather than 50.

after work thursday we moved the trailer to morgan and dee's farm where the a bike rally would be happening the next day. Ray has joined the south eastern alberta riders (SEAR) bike club in seven persons and it was their 2nd annual dead hog boogie. so we had an awesome dinner at their bar "the boar's nest" in seven persons and then spent the night in the trailer listening to the rain pour - or it could have been the pivot irrigation spraying us in the middle of the night, but either way we woke to sunny sky and drying dirt so the farm wouldn't be a pig sty for the dead hog boogie, as fitting as it might be.

friday night was night one and ray and i had to work or 2 hours selling t-shirts and raffle tickets. i looked through the tattoo artist's books and was this close to getting 3 tattoos that night, but thought it better to wait til the next day and let the man get partying. unfortunately for me, he was thrown in the drunk tank and thrown off the property so i was out of luck, that is until the new crew came in from sleeping dragon tattoo in medicine hat and ow, ow, ow, ow ow. felt like someone sawing me with a steak knife - but only for 3 minutes, thankfully it was a small tattoo and it was only 1. i will save the other two for another day. i want a little butterfly on my hip and a mouse on my ankle to cover a scar and to represent my home town in manitoba. in french, "souris" means mouse and my home town was named after the mouse river which flows through it, and the water is the colour of a field mouse, hence it's name. i would love to get corinthians 13 tattooed somewhere because it's my favourite bible verse - because my name corinne stems from corinthian, and i was born on the 13th.

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
but i think i will just wear my bracelet that has it on instead... that would be super OW

Saturday there we bike games and ray didn't want anything to happen to his new bike, so i ended up pair up with a fellow from saskatchewan for 2 events, the mattress pull and the outhouse race. too much fun even though we didn't win, i will have to remember next year not to put sun tan oil on BEFORE being dragged across a dirt field with chunks of dirt flying on me from the bike wheels spinning to get the mattress going from a dead stop. and the outhouse race - we girls had to down a drink, jump into the out house - whip our pants down (don't worry, had my bathing suit underneath) and then hang on for dear life. then it was another night of dancing and no dunk tank, or drunk tank for that matter.


sunday morning we pulled out of seven persons and went to 40 mile lake to camp with ed and monika and visit with her friend wendy - and enjoy eddy's new toy. what a boat! the fun never ends with my forever fiance. ray keeps me forever young... or aging me quickly... it's hard to keep up with ray but i will try til the day i die... might just kill me trying.

okanogan over

the final day in the okanogan was spent biking from one end to another. we rode to kelowna to visit my sister ,debbie and al, who live in the dolphins, a beautiful condo overlooking the canals by the lake. i was not just hot and flushed but thirsty since i only brought one bottle of water for the hour and a half drive - and after a beer (wrong choice) i felt a little better, then we turned around and went back to penticton. by the time we got there i was just exhausted. Grabbing 2 bottles of water this time (and a monkey's lunch - wrong again. ) and after another hour or so drive to osoyoos, i was shaking. heat exhaustion and dehydration. i never realized riding on a motorcyle in jeans and a t-shirt in 40 degree weather is a big no no. but i know know now - after a quick swim in the lake and lots of water, i was back to my old self and was enjoying dave and rosies great company and beautiful view from their deck. the drive home was cool, both temperature wise and view, with the lightning from a distant storm lighting the way. thank goodness we were following it rather driving into it and made it home without a drop - the only water to hit was in my belly on the drive home.

okanogan 08

it's been too long since we went to penticton to visit ray's daughter lisa and grand daughter sierra - so this year - we towed the bike and dragged the boys along for 5 fun filled days in the sun. we spent the first night in sparwood and unloaded the bike the next morning and took turns driving the truck. jesse started on the back of the bike in the coolness of the morning and i drove - then derek drove while i rode, and then it was derek's turn (in shorts and a tank in the pelting rain) while jesse drove until we reached osoyoos - what a treat to ride in the mountains compared to the prairies. from there on in it was sunshine and just a goat or two in the middle of the road to keep us on our toes.

then it was my turn to ride in to penticton, through oliver and okanogan falls and talk about hot - i learned my lesson to never ride uncovered - jeans and a tank top is not protection from the dehydrating effects of the combination of sun and wind. more on that later. the first night was spent relaxing and bbq'ing and getting all caught up and organized.

day 2 ray and i went on a wine tasting tour. i googled (yes, how else does one find information) okanogan wine tours and discovered the red rooster, so off we went and saw free wine tasting along the way, so had to stop - besides, we live on township rd 84, so when i saw township 7, it was a must. after a couple of whites, a rose and a few reds, i picked up a bottle, tucked it in the saddle bags and continued to the red rooster, or so we thought til we met the manager in the parking lot and she informed us of the soaring eagle further down the road which had an amazing view. so we passed the original destination and continued on and enjoyed more wine tasting at the soaring eagle, bought two glasses to enjoy on the patio, and another bottle of red to tuck in the saddle bag.






on the way back we were supposed to have lunch at the red rooster - but being the ADD DJ that i am, 'hillside cellars' caught my eye with a beautiful patio with umbrellas and a lunch menu posted. so we stopped in and had a wonderful salad with strawberries and nuts and vinagrette dressing. ran up and down the stairs to every level to check out the HUGE stainless steel kegs of wine (no ray, you can't do a keg stand) and then found even BIGGER ones after cutting through the kitchen. after another glass of wine and another bottle of red to put in the bike (might be running out of room soon)
and THEN it was off to the red rooster - by that time, we are wine tasted out, believe it or not - and grabbed another bottle of wine, took a quick tour and pictures and were back in penticton getting ready for dinner and a performance by a couple of jazz artists with Lisa and Walter. after wine and port and good food, we were ready to find a couch and it would be sooner than later if we didn't hush during the show... lol. so we left early and went back and played poker til the wee hours of the morning.