Blair's Blog

We seem to have had more snow since Christmas than I can remember for quite a few years.  Lots of snow storms and lots of snow each time. 

Mark had been hired be the neighbours beside us (the corner lot!) to shovel their walks for the winter.  Back in October it seemed like a good idea.  As  January turned to February and then to March and it just kept snowing, he began to feel like he should have asked for more money.

Finally, as May is just around the corner, it seems like spring is here.

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It’s summer going by!

The calender says that we are more than halfway through August – but that doesn’t seem right. Summer just started a minute ago. And a busy summer it has been!

We’ve had our holidays in Ontario, done two full weekends of airshows (Airdrie and Lethbridge), Brenda has supported two Air Cadet camps for Vintage Wings (Victoria and Penhold), we had 3 nieces and 1 nephew with us for a long weekend and the kids have all done at least a week of day camp.
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We got the whole family up in a hot air balloon this morning. We’ve joined the folks from the Calgary Balloon Club for their fall fly-in that they have each September in Drumheller.  It was really quite amazing to be drifting over the town and along the Red Deer River.  At one point were were floating along the river not more than 18 inches from the surface of the water – it was incredible.  About halfway through the flight we landed briefly in a small field and swapped passengers – Steven and Mark jumped into the basket while Alyssa and I jumped out.  As soon as we’d switched, the pilot gave a long blast on the burner and off the balloon went for the second leg of the flight.  That was cool.

A trip in a hot air balloon has been one of the things that Brenda has wanted to do for a long time. A couple of years ago we purchased a balloon flight for two at a charity auction, but it was in the fall and we couldn’t line up weather and schedules. The months went by, we got busy but tried again last year with the same result.

Through Brenda’s work at the museum, she realized that the balloon that we’d been trying to get a flight on was owned by the president of the balloon club. He invited us out this weekend to join the club and we’ve been having a great weekend. We had dinner with the club members last night when we got to Drumheller, flew this morning and had brunch together afterwards. We’ll help out with the flights planned for tonight and tomorrow as well.

What a great weekend!

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We have a nice sitting area on our lower deck – sheltered from the elements with the main deck above and in a little nook. There is a short railing and a little flower bed with hanging baskets above. We’ve got a couple of chairs and a bistro table there – it’s a great spot to sit and have a coffee.

Ma Robin (not yet named by Alyssa!) thinks so too. The last couple of years we’ve had robins nest on the upper deck, but this year the nest is on the direct vent outlet for the basement gas fireplace. With some of the cool weather we’ve had this spring, I hadn’t yet turned the pilot light off so the vent is actually quite warm. Fortunately, we haven’t turned the fireplace on any of the recent evenings! So, in the interest of not making hard-boiled robin’s eggs, I turned the pilot light off and took a few pictures.

On the front step, we had a bit of a concern earlier this week when something seemed to have spooked Amanda (… or Amanduck, as the boys have started saying! … How can a man-duck be laying eggs?? … har, har, har!). Anyway, the nest was unattended for most of Tuesday night and we were a bit concerned that it might be abandoned. However, Amanda was back Wednesday morning – a little jumpier than normal, but back on the nest. We were all a bit relieved – we’re looking forward to seeing ducklings in about a week or so.

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