Midwinter Highs

Well, the holidays are over and we here at the Wimbush household are settling in to our mid-winter routines. Christmas was definitely a glorious 14 day reprieve from the hectic pre-holiday work scene. I thoroughly enjoyed being a homebody and hosting our house guests but now its time to open the chapter of winter that includes some.. exercise!!

On the tail end of the holidays the cold snap broke around here and we got some great dumps of snow!!!! There's about 20 inches blanketing our yard and all four of us have been out playing!! Laura and I have made it up the ski hill (20min away) a couple of times each and I've started x-country skiing Tues and Thurs evenings.

There's a small group of us that carpool and ski together. It's just so great to be out with headlamps in the forest, snowing or not, sometimes a big moon overhead. We inevitably end up stopping to admire the quiet night sky. We don't loiter too much.. We usually really hustle along doing 10-14 km in 60 to 80 minutes. We classic or skate ski depending on conditions and temperature. The local pine creek trails are 10 min away and are beautifully groomed trails with a modest day lodge and waxing facilities. It's really great to ski with others too. Its easier to pace yourself as you have a reference point for your speed and then there's the camaraderie too.

I was also fortunate to be invited out to go ice climbing on a Saturday not long ago. Four guys set out in -15C weather to a local spot where a couple of cascades of ice form every year. We broke into teams of two and set up ropes and gear and took turns belaying and climbing four routes each. We hung out there for five hours , had a tea break and then packed up and hiked the twenty minutes out. On the way out there way some rough housing, tripping, face washes and several snowy trees being shaken on each other. It was certainly nice to be outside with some guys getting some exercise and fresh air.

Getting out in winter to exercise and enjoy God's winter earth has some real perks to it. 1) you enjoy snow and winter instead of pining away for summer. 2) exercise = good mental health. Its good for your head. 3) On a personal note its really good for my core strength and back health.

Hope you've enjoyed my bit on why I like winter and even January in particular. - and I didn't even tell you how nice the ski hill was with 29 cm of fresh snow!

The men make sausage !

By the time Boxing day hit we were ready for a bit of a project. Haidi and Nick brought some pork scraps from the pig they butchered and I had 8 lbs of venison that we mixed. Nick and I learned lots. We didn't have the optimum plate for the front of the grinder. Ours was too fine. Next time we'll make sure that we have coarse plates on hand.

I had fun mixing spices from two different recipes. We also cubed half of the pork into 1/4" cubes to add texture. We got a great workout grinding the meat especially the venison.

The sausage press was pretty slick. You just load the mixed product into the 6 liter container and put your casings over the funnel tip and then crank down the press. That was pretty fun! We did have some blowouts with the casings before we figured out how full to fill them..

The Venison came from the field behind our house. After watching mule deer walk though our yard in healthy numbers for the last four years, I kind of got the hunting itch. There's a bit of a hunter gatherer instinct in a lot of men - maybe it even gets stronger after you have kids.. Anyway, I got all my paperwork in order and a friend lent me an Excalibur crossbow and so began my dusk ritual of staking out the back four acres. This deer was harvested December one and it hung for one week. Thanks to everyone who gave me advice and tips on hunting

and preparing the meat and sausage.

Sledding on Christmas

These pictures pretty much tell the story. Christmas was calm, cold and sunny. We walked to the golf course sledding hill ( it's a half of a km away) and had a great time! Jesse slept in the car.

Haidi and I cooked a great dinner- I took some notes on the stuffing and cranberry chutney. We had a Peace River turkey and a Wimbush traditional trifle. Yum! We also had a great bottle of wine - Walla Walla'05.

Laura's brother and sister-in-law were in nearby Houston for the holidays and found themselves making an unexpected trip to the Smithers hospital early Christmas morning for the birth of their first child. Welcome to Jacob Jon hols!

Christmas and Cousins

Here we are right in the thick of the Christmas season! Haidi, Nick, Lyra, Marley, Zia the dog and the Kitty all arrived last night! We woke up and had waffles and then the kids played for hours in the basement - oh and Lyra watched the nutcracker video(her favorite).
Laura and I have had an interesting week prepping for the Holidays and the Telles arrival. Last Monday started off for me with an eye examination and my pupils being dilated to the extreme. After that I came home and was puttering around with my sunglasses on, chopping firewood and stoking wood stoves as it was still minus 30! I then proceeded to do a wood stove "safety" check and burnt my right palm ( to the second degree!) I spent the next 24 hrs with and ice pack and a bit of morphine. Fortunately I didn't have to work much for the rest of the week. I closed off my work year on Friday and left a nice message on our answering machine stating that HIS Electric was closed until the fifth of January! Yahoo!
Jesse's in a bit of a teething phase. Currently he eats TONS of pureed carrots, squash and rice cereal. Ava is thrilled to have her cousins here!

We were at Oma and Opa Hols' place for dinner on Tues night. We opened gifts with them and Jeff& Jenn and them went to great Oma/Opa's place for the annual rowdy gift swap (gift stealing allowed) Laura brought a Chinese fighting fish complete with mini tank, food and seashells. It was a hit! Tonight we're off to Hazelton to see Nana, Grandpa and Pepito the goat!

Sunday - Session Two

It's Sunday, everyone has been fed and washed, Ava has had a mini geography lesson and listened to her violin CD. Jesse's already had one nap and he's up .

He's happiest right wen he gets up so, we had a mini photo shoot of the kids - not sure if that's terribly newsworthy - Here goes two cute photos though.

PS- I'm cooking a pasta meal for our church youth group this Aft. Yeah - 36 teenagers and chaperones. They will be doing a progressive dinner .

Sunday Morning

OK - learning the Blog ropes is hurting my brain! and I have a 2 1/2 year old climbing on me. That can be hard on production.

This post is so I can get the remaining pictures of the Sleigh ride up! ( the only way I know how)

The farm was beautiful on Friday Owners Glen & Dolores Kerrr are parents to Brian Kerr - incidentally he has 20-30 draft horses and raises them as a hobby and labor of love. There are two resident blue heelers on the farm and six elk were also visiting earlier that morning. Glen also has a great selection of horse drawn equipment randomly arranged in the back field.

Sleigh Rides

Well it's been another eventful week in the Wimbush home. We've been hit with a bit of a cold snap which has also brought sunny clear days and full moon nights. Laura and the kids are a fighting off a bit of a cold.. nothing too serious. We certainly have our weekly and week-end routines down pat. We've been loving having a little boy in the house- we end up calling him "mister"as does Ava. He's a quite a morning person(we all are!) He gets up, has a nurse at around five am and then goes to his little living room floor mat so we can attempt to sleep 'till seven.

Ava and Dad went with the Strong Start drop-in class for a sleigh ride on Friday morning to the Kerr Ranch. Fun!! There were around twenty five parents and at least that many children too. Ava went for three sleigh rides and ate three hot dogs! When the brought the team of horses out of the barn She said to me - "look Dad, they have their hats AND seat belts on".