First Goal of the Season




Hay River Novice were due to play High Level on Dec 13th. The temperature went down to -30C so High Level cancelled. Some of the older Atoms made up a team so we could still have the matches.

Jesse #77 scores his first goal of the season. Brad shot and the puck rebounded off the goalie and Jesse put it in the net. One really proud mommy here......

Please Welcome..............


Mottopride Memories of Kizzie

Known to the Karp family as Kiah.

Born Oct 1, 2008
































Kiah was supposed to arrive on Nov 30. She was being flown from Edmonton International on Canadian North to Hay River. The breeder, Sandi, of Mottopride had her at the airport with plenty of time to spare and checked her in. We were ready for her. Then Sandi called to say she had heard from Canadian North that Kiah missed the flight. They wanted Sandi to come back and get her. It was impossible for her to do that due to circumstances. Canadian North then had to find a kennel for Kiah for the night. We were beside ourselves with worry. We needn't have been. The kennel called. They had Kiah in their home. Even sent us the photo below. She was doing great and I think Kiah just took the time to socialise a little more before she came to us.



A huge thank you to Perfect Place Kennels of Devon, Alberta for the care and love they showed Kiah. (Pic of her at kennel)

Kiah finally arrived on the plane in Hay River, Northwest Territories at 10am on Dec 1. She was fine after her flight. Honestly, I think most humans would have been upset after the ordeal she had but she was fine. And she is right at home with us. I call her NO BITE as she is typical puppy and has to bit everything and everybody. But talk about SMART. She has only been with us for 5 days ans she can sit, lie down, stay, come (although not constant yet).

The day she arrived we also had a vet's appointment booked for her and cat. Little did we know that two hours after getting off the plane, she would be travelling in the van to the vets.

There was a really sad part to the vet visit. We collected the ashes of Kizzie. The girls who work with the vet had decorated the box with flowers and a photo of Kizzie. It was so sweet of them. They don't normally do this evidently. I think they really felt our grief. And yes, we still miss her like mad even though we have a puppy in our lives.

Still Sad.......


Added after I posted this. Forgot to say that this photo was taken two days before she passed.

More than one month has passed since Kizzie left us. We all still miss her terribly. The cat still looks for her, our other dog still looks for her and her ears twitch and she looks around at the mention of Kizzie. A wonderful testimonial to her was when the neighbours behind us said how much they missed her too. They said they always knew when somebody was in their driveway as Kizzie would bark. She was not one of those incessant barkers as she was trained not to do that. She just let us know that somebody was there. I felt protected. I am constantly checking to see if doors are locked since she went.



I found this poem and it still makes me cry when I read it.


The Spirit of a German Shepherd Dog

was standing on a hillside
In a field of blowing wheat
And the spirit of a German Shepherd Dog
Was lying at my feet.

He looked at me with kind dark eyes
An ancient wisdom shining through
And in the essence of his being
I saw love there too.

His mind did lock upon my heart
As I stood there on that day
And he told me of this story
About a place so far away.

I stood upon that hillside
In a field of blowing wheat
And in a twinkling of a second
His spirit left my feet.

His tale did put my heart at ease
My fears did fade away
About what lay ahead of me
On another distant day.

"I live among God's creatures now
In the heavens of your mind
So do not grieve for me, my friend
As I am with my kind.

My collar is a rainbow's hue
My leash a shooting star
My boundaries are the Milky Way
Where I sparkle from afar.

There are no pens or kennels here
For I am not confined
But free to roam God's heavens
Among my Shepherd kind.

I nap the day on a snowy cloud
Gentle breezes rocking me
And dream the dreams of earthlings
And how it used to be.

The trees are full of liver treats
And tennis balls abound
And Milkbones line the walkways
Just waiting to be found.

There even is a ring set up
The grass all lush and green
And everyone who gaits around
Becomes the Best of Breed.

For we're all winners in this place
We have no faults, you see
And God passes out those ribbons
To each one, even me.

I drink from waters laced with gold
My world a beauty to behold
And wise old dogs do form my pride
To amble at my very side.

At night I sleep in an angel's arms
Her wings protecting me
And moonbeams dance about us
As stardust falls on thee.

So when your life on earth is spent
And you stand at Heaven's gate
Have no fear of loneliness
For here, you know I wait.

Kizzie

1997 - Oct 14, 08

Our loyal protector.

Season's Greetings

The Karp family would like to wish you all Happy Holidays!

Somebody Help Me Please!!!

I can't stop singing it!!!!! Press the button in middle to play. And if you feel like singing along with me, words are below. You have to hear the whole song as the very last seconds crack me up.

Weird Al - I bought on eBay Music Video



to the tune of "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys

Yeah
A used... pink bathrobe, a rare ... mint snow globe
A Smurf ... TV tray,
I bought on eBay

My house ... is filled with this crap,
shows up in bubble wrap
most every day, what I bought on eBay

Tell me why ( I need another pet rock),
Tell me why (I got that ALF alarm clock)
Tell me why (I bid on Shatner's old toupee),
They had it on eBay

I'll buy ... your knick-knack,
Just check ... my feed back
"A++" they all say, they love me on eBay

Gonna buy (a slightly-damaged golf bag),
Gonna buy (some Beanie Babies, new with tag)
(From some guy) I never met in Norway, found him on eBay

I am the type who is liable to snipe you,
with two seconds left to go,
whoa
Got Paypal or Visa, whatever'll please ya.
As long as I've got the dough!

I'll buy ... your tchotchkes, sell me ... your watch please
I'll buy (I'll buy, I'll buy, I'll buy...)

I AM HIGHEST BIDDER! now
(Junk keeps coming in the mall, from that world-wide garage sale)
(Hey a Dukes of Hazard ashtray),
oh yeah ... (I bought on eBay)
Wanna buy (a PacMan Fever lunchbox)
Wanna buy (a case of vintage tube socks)
Wanna buy (a Kleenex used by Dr Dre, found it on eBay)
Wanna buy (that Farrah Fawcett poster) (Pez dispensers and a toaster)
Don't know why (That kind of stuff you'd throw away) (I'll buy on eBay)
What I bought on eBay ....

Heat and Crocheting

It has been very hot in the north of Canada. We reached a melting 30c last week. Jesse and I visited the pool a lot to cool down. Then we had a huge deluge of rain which flattened my corn and broad beans. Jesse was heartbroken to see his sunflowers down in the mud. I tried to get on the garden to tie them up straight away but just got stuck in the very sticky mud.







I did manage to finish a crochet design - needed a fan blowing on me to keep my hands from getting too stitcky though. These are so easy and quick to crochet. I made both in a few hours.








I have finally got a new template for my blog. Things like this take a back seat to Jesse and work and I had been wanting to change it for ages. I also changed the comments from Haloscan so all previous comments have gone I am afraid.

Happy Canada Day!

I took the plunge and offered to organise a float for Hay River Figure Skating Club. It took Ron and I two weeks to get it together. Of course it rained on Saturday just as were had planned to decorate it all with our silhouettes, streamers etc. This morning was just as bad so we fighting the wind to do it all. Here is a pic of us minus some balloons that we lost to a huge gust of wind before we even started the parade. It also rained before the parade began and our streamers took a beating as the did the photos of famous Canadian skaters that I had along the side but the same happened to other entries. Just after this the rain stopped, we added some more balloons, more skates hopped on and we we had great fun.

And not only that, we won first prize of $175. I am hoping figure skating will allow me to donate that to Sophie Call (principal at Ecole Boreale where Jesse goes to school) and Angela Cole who are getting ready to leave town and work in an orphanage in Tanzania. It is a dream of mine to do something like that. My wish is that they can give the money to the orphanage.

Sorry about the bad pic - hubby took it. The two adults on board are Sherri (Acting President), Me bending over (acting Vice President), kids are Gracie, Paige, Georgia and Mikey. Jesse was around the other side with Meg.




It was pretty tiring for the past two days but the look on the kids faces certainly made it all worthwhile.

More fun with the Camera

Look what's been hovering around my house lately. It has been around a lot in the past week. Kitties watch out! Although it doesn't look like it from this angle - it is a young bald eagle.

This is a young crab apple tree in my front yard - right outside my office window. We even had a bee visiting while I was snapping away.

I had just been watering my hanging baskets. It is rare that I grow baskets as I am often away a lot in the summer. We plan to be at home more this year so I went crazy and planted about 6. Huge fan of petunias. My favourite flower is Lavatera

Playing with my new camera


I am the proud owner of a Pentax Digital K10D. Very, very, very nice camera with lots of bells and whistles. I used to have a Pentax film SLR - not quite so many bells and whistles but also it didn't let me play around and just delete the pics that didn't work out. Digital is VERY forgiving like that. I can't imagine having to scrap that many pics on film. $$$$$$

My wonderful cat, Cinders. She is a very timid little thing due to her past experiences. I got her from the local SPCA. She doesn't like going outside much but she will if I am out there with her. Her favourite thing to say is "mitmit". We haven't worked out what it means yet.

Jesse taking a well earned work-break. He has had this tractor since he was 2 (and he is 6 on July 3). It is still his most used/loved toy. He was clearing gravel from the ditch. The snow-ploughs pushed masses of gravel into our ditch this year. Not good for the mower!

Missing him..........

Dad would have been celebrating his birthday today, June 1st.

Lots of tears here this morning. I expect my sister and Dad's wife are finding it really hard today too.

My dad passed away in March. It affected me far more than I envisaged. I hadn't been back to England for 10 years. Was just planning a trip at Easter but he passed away before I got there. He didn't know I was coming.

Love you Dad!

Here is the smiling face that I miss so much. Click for larger pic.



John Tyler - comedian, gardener and drummer and a great Dad!

Not been up to blogging...

Sad event in my life in March and I don't really feel up to talking about it yet.

So here is something that I am curious about instead.

Winter Bugs and...


Well as often seems to happen, Jesse caught a cold. The cold turned into a bad ear infection and he got taken to the ER. Rarely can we get an appointment to see a GP so they always tell us to take him to the hospital. He got antibiotics and seems to be improving. Then I went down with the cold or whatever it was too. What a headache I had for 4 days solid. Never had one like that before.



I did mange to finish my latest little design yesterday. A crocheted bonnet for babies, dolls, little girls and any female as it almost fits up to adult. It reminds me of the bonnets they wore in Little House on the Prairie. Easy to crochet and easy to wear.

I'm a Hockey Mom!

Jesse had begun to get bored with CanSkate lessons. The kids just aren't being challenged enough and they are often left standing around doing nothing. Not good for 5 year olds. Most of parents seem to feel that things aren't going good for their kids at the moment.

Soooooooo




Jesse decided he would like to try hockey. $400 of equipment later and Jesse started Initiation on Wednesday. Couldn't find any 2nd hand stuff in town due to the time of year. He did pretty good considering that he had never skated wearing all the pads etc before. They keep the kids on the move all the time which is great. And the coaches are so encouraging. Then, on Friday, Jesse played his first match. Would have been good if we had mentioned hitting the puck and tackling. Would have been good if we had mentioned what a defender is supposed to do. Would have been a really good idea to tell him that the goalie is supposed to watch the game and not just play with his stick and the net all the time. Thankfully there was not a single shot on goal while he was in the net. The rest of the match saw him skating like crazy after everybody else. LOL

Since then we have watched matches in the arena and on TV so I hope he has a better idea. Jesse had fun playing and that was all I wanted. Ron and I had fun too so that was great.

This little boy (elf)....



....passed is CanSkate Stage 3 yesterday. And we are extremely proud of him. Just 5 1/2 years old.



Kizzie and Itsy
Our dogs on top of the igloo in our back yard. They use it as a veiwpoint to see what the neighbours are doing. Everybody thinks it is really funny to see them up there.

Christmas Decor - in more ways that one!

We had enough snow early in the winter this year to do this. It is over 4 feet hight and about 8 feet across. Click for Larger pic.




I can't believe how many vehicles are stopping outside out home to look.

We have another igloo in the back yard for the dogs and Jesse to play in.

Some more Xmas decor is a this crochet headband and matching Mary Jane Holly Berry Booties that I designed. At last my reborn doll gets to model something.

Finally

A finished project. I have been working on this design for ages. I don't get much time to crochet or knit these days so it was great to finally finish something.



Click for Larger Image.

"It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!"

Awoke to a lot of the fluffy white stuff this morning. Ron just moved the vehicles out of our drive so that we can clear some of the snow. It is still coming doen a lot.

UPDATE: go here to see my webcam of the snow from my office (if I have turned on at the time). Webcam It may ask you to accept a file - this is OK.
When it opens click on Motion JPEG Single Camera and then when the next page opens you can enlarge it to 640x480 and Image size x1.5 at the left hand side and you may be able to watch the snow fall! You can actually make the camera move too...I will let you work that out yourselves. And school was cancelled on Monday as the roads were so bad. That is not a thing that happens often here. Yes we get lots of snow but normally they can clear it pretty fast.

Pic especially for Geraldine. If you vist her, check our her wonderful cookbook. I have it and the receipes are awesome.




Now a new pic of my SPCA cat Cinders. She is not a fan of snow. She is a fan of my bed though.

The THINGS Kids Say

Some readers here may know that my husband, Ron, was standing in the local Municipal Elections. I won't bore you here but it was pretty stressful for the family. On Monday October 16th just as the snow started falling, we learnt that he had made it.

The next morning Jesse was eager to tell everybody. This is what I learnt from the school bus driver yesterday. He got on the bus and shouted to her "My Daddy got ERECTED!!!!" She said she hasn't stopped laughing about it since. Seems he went to school and told the principal and his teacher the same thing. Good job they knew what he REALLY meant LOL

It's Been Ages

Things have a way of keeping me from blogging.

We were on vacation for much of August. Took our camper and went to the Peacebluegrass Festival in Dawson Creek. Had a blast even though it rained quite a bit. Saw our favourite band Hungry Hill. Jenny Lester is the sweetest person with the voice to match. Can't wait to see them again.

Then Jesse got ill. High fever. Gave him Motrin. Fever went down for a bit, then back up. Got to Vanderhoof and he suddenly said that a kid had put a bead up his nose. Now Jesse is not one to make up stories and it would account for a fever but no other symptoms. Off we went to ER. They gave him antibiotics and steroids to reduce the swelling in his nose as they could not see past that to find a bead. Next day we went back to the clinic. Swelling was down a bit but they still could be sure. As we were not on our way home from vacation, they decided they needed to know for sure if there was a bead. Jesse had to undergo a general anesthetic for them to look deeper. I was worried silly. They let me go into the OR with him. It was awful watching him fight the gas mask. Then I had to leave. It took about 30 minutes. They said he was really badly infected in his sinuses. Jesse had said the bead was small and they didn't see it. But they said it might have been in some of the gunk they got out and they couldn't see it. He was in a FOUL mood when he came round. Kicking me, screaming and generally going mad. When we got back to the camper, we had to apologise to all the neighbouring holiday makers. The next day he was a bit more normal. We kept up the antibiotics and carried on to Smithers (Hi Jenny) and then Prince Rupert).

I love Prince Rupert. I miss the smell of the ocean BADLY. I miss eating Halibut. We went down to Cow Bay and found a new yarn store there. Atlin Yarns. I remembered a customer of mine saying she often sat watching the boats, knitting and drinking coffee. And she was there. Working in the yarn store and knitting. (Hi Shelly.) Wonderful to meet her.

We took a trip Whale watching. It was the most amazing weather that I have even seen in Prince Rupert. Not a drop of rain LOL. We took the trip with Adventure Tours who are the most wonderful bunch of people. If you are ever in Rupert, take your trips with them. Doug, the captain, is also a talented photographer. You can see lots of his photos on their website. He found us whales to watch too. The water was like glass and then suddenly up came a whale. One surfaced within feet of the boat and was coming right as. I was so shocked that I couldn't get a pic in time. But this is it taken after it surfaced the other side of the boat.


The photo below was taken north of Prince George. I can't remember the name of the RV park but it was quiet, had a river alongside and was shady. This is Ron and Jesse goofing around.
We camped right next to this river.

Our vacation was eventful to say the least but we sure enjoyed ourselves.

Then Jesse started Kindergarten. He had already spent the past few months at École Boréale in pre-school. And summer camp was held there too. It was a bit of a non-event for him other than the BIG yellow bus. He had never been on one of those before.

He is doing great in kindergarten. Seems to speak more French every day. He also gets very mad when I don't understand. I try son! I try....

And if that wasn't enough news. Yesterday I adopted a cat. I have spent 10 years cat-free and could stand it no more. The Hay River SPCA had a 2 1/2 year old cat that had recently had kittens. The elderly owner had to go into hospital and couldn't look after them. I was going to adopt a kitten and then thought how mad I was. Went to see the mom cat instead at her foster home. She was quite standoffish but I guessed that was more due to the dogs, kittens, kids etc in the house. Her eyes were stunning. She was a tabby/calico mix. Very pretty. I went home, talked to Ron. Couldn't decide. Contacted the vet (he travels up here once per month from Manning, AB). He was coming up the end of this month and could spay her then. In that time her milk would dry up. I decided to put in my application to adopt her. And yesterday I got the call that I could. Here she is. A bit nervous but not standoffish any longer. And she adores Jesse. Bit more nervous of our two dogs but that will be fixed in time. Please welcome Cinders. Named by my husband - who is not a big cat lover but soon will be. He hasn't met her yet as he is in Barrhead, AB.