THE CARPENTER AT WORK

THE WISH LIST

A BACKYARD FENCE

PUT IN A REQUEST TO THE CAPRENTER

That's all it takes

The post holes have been dug

Now comes the first of

35 bags of cement

Mix up that cement

In goes the cement to secure the fence poles

32 in total

450 cedar boards

1800 screws

This is not counting

3 gates

The carpenter with his signatuare hat

I had the job of 'penciling' the pattern

More hands less work

This gal was a great help

and she's good with a hammer too!

As you can see

the fence is starting to take shape

The last piece of cedar is ready

for 2 sets of screws

Two up two down

The carpenter rigged up a

 jig

to make sure each piece of wood was

 EXACTLY

the same difference apart from one another

The carpenter was very particular

He learned that from his Father

The finished product

ELLIOT, THE DEVON REX

Elliot sitting on the desk at our

College Street home

looking out the window

and

surrounded by books

This photo was used by the

BookKeeper Book Store

in their advertisements for the store 

Susie and Elliot taking in the view of the gardens

at Gales Ferry Conn

A trip that we, Gwendolyn and the cats

took every year

When my dog Bear died Joe said

'NO MORE DOGS'

Devon Rex cats

are referred to

as

'the poodle of the cat world'

The closest thing to a dog I was told

So

In June of 1999

Elliot entered our lives

In July Elliot had the experience of travelling

west with us in the car

thus

this was the beginning of his travels

across Canada and the US of A for the

next 11 years

Elliot would start out on the dash

Talk about being relaxed

When Elliot had had enough

of the sun he would move to the floor

beside my feet

Susie always sat on my lap

However

I see that Elliot joined her

AH COME ON 

The two of you are heavy, heavy, heavy

*************

What a Cat!!!!!!

He would greet us at the door each and

every time we came home

He slept by my side every night under the covers

He and I had a ritual where I would tuck him

close to my side

put my arm around him and he would

purr, purr, purr

He was always in the centre of things when 

friends and family were around

Didn't want to miss a thing!

Everyone is down for the count

It's ok Elliot

Elliot napping in my Mom's chair

April 27, 2010

Elliot

April 1999 - April 28, 2010

FROM THE PRARIES TO BLUEWATER LAND

Starting out in Calgary........

First things first

Our mission was to pick up

'Geoffrey'

 the giraffe

Geoffrey was being transported in our trailer

to our niece and nephew

We all had strict instructions to be carefull with

Geoffrey

thus

he has a nice warm fuzzy blanket to

go over his long neck and head

Elliot is sitting on top of the dashboard

enjoying the warmth of the sun

You can see by his coat that he has been unable to groom himself

due to health issues with his tongue

After 3 visits to the Vet in BC

we were ready for the trip 'with meds in hand'

World's largest TeePee

215 Feet Tall

The TeePee was at the Calgary Winter Olympics

Moved to Medicine Hat, Alberta in 1991

An old windmill in Saskatchewan

Wow, this piece of farm machinery sure

looks fancy to me!

Interesting what you see when you are off the main highway

This old church is now filled with antiques

What a contrast between

 THE OLD BARN AND WINDMILL

and

THE NEW FARM EQUIPMENT

On to the reason why we were off road

It was my turn to drive

Off went the book on tape

On went the country music

I took the wheel and the previous driver grabbed a few ZZZZZs

I had a fine time, taking in the view of the praries

even missed a few photo ops

I didn't have a care in the world

but

also didn't pay attention to the gas gauge

Remember we are in the province of

Saskatchewan

not many towns along the highway

and

certainly not many gas stations!!!!!

As you can see we are down to

0 KM TO EMPTY

I must say when we first went off road we had some KM to play with

Came into a little village and asked two ladies

Where is the gas station????

NO gas station here

You have to go about 12 KM to Carale

Back we went to the main highway

Decisions, decisions

We could see some sort of buildings ahead but the sign

at the side of the road indicated the village

was down the dirt road to the right

Flagged down a gentlemen driving his truck

Where is the gas station???

OH

 You should have stayed on the main highway!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh My Gosh

Holding our breath and crawling along at a

snail's pace

we directed the van back towards the building

 we had previously seen

Compared to these guys who don't have a care in the world

the situation is a little anxious in the van

The best sight in the world!!!

WE MADE IT

Looking out our hotel window

Sun setting in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan

Moose country

Over and over again I would see little

country churches abandoned

This little white church has a new owner

There were many grain elevators

along side the Canadian Pacific railway

The name on the elevator is

Dog River

Where or where did that name come from???

This artistic piece of iron work

was in the town of Estevan, Saskatchewan

I'm glad I cannot see it's brown eyes

My least favourite transport truck

Canadian cattle going across the

border to the US of A

A large farm tucked in between the hills

of North Dakota

A good billboard

My treat for the day!

Mmmmmm awsome gum ball

Sunset in Minnesota

How things can change in a matter of hours

Elliot had stopped eating and drinking the morning

we left Moose Jaw and was now

going down hill, I'd say

We phoned our Vet in Canada

made an appointment for Friday afternoon

By this time we are fairly close to

Fargo, North Dakota

We have made a decision

DRIVE THE NIGHT

Meaning

 We would drive until we were home

That meant since leaving Moose Jaw

at 7:30 in the morning

we were

2 adults, 1 dog and 2 cats

 all together in the van for

Thirty four hours

Elliot was too sick to care

Gwendolyn slept the entire time

BUT

Susie, as SWEET as she is

Cried and hollowered for 20 hours straight

The minute I would put the seat down

she would crawl over my head

down my neck

all over my chest

Fun, fun, fun

We thought she was hungry so fed her

What did she do?

SHE HURLED

Fun, fun, fun

Sunrise in Chicago

Arrived at our destination 

 2 p.m. Thursday afternoon

 Went directly to the Animal Hospital

Elliot stayed the night

Picked her up Friday morning

She went back Saturday morning

NOW

She is home again

Tuesday is the day we will hear

good news or not so good news

(Back to Thursday afternoon)

Here we are heading down the path

Sweet, sweet place

Gwendolyn entertains herself

WHILE

He cracks the cottage

You got it, keys were left behind

And

how special is this!!!!

A Pair of

Canadian geese to greet us

Once again

LIFE IS GOOD

They really do like each other!!!!

FUN IN THE SNOW

Checking in from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan

From British Columbia

to

Alberta

Through the tunnel

Each year when we travel the roads from Alberta

to

British Columbia

and vice versa

we

always stop

to lunch

at

Field, British Columbia

Drove into the little village

down the familiar road

parked by the cafe

sign said

CLOSED

WHAT DO WE DO NOW?

A side trip to Lake Louise

for a quick bite

Our Canadian flag flying

at

The Fairmont Hotel

A great sight from the parking lot!

Lake Louise

Boat House

During the summer

colourful canoes

glide around the lake

Gwendolyn checking out the lake

OH BOY, OH BOY, OH BOY

That was so much fun

What next?

Man, this snow is deep!!!!!!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THE SNOW

Life is good

The snow is sooo cold

my face is turning red

Ooooooooooooooooh Mama

Maybe they won't see me

Up for air

Oh shucks

Play time over

Making their way back to the van

The Three Sisters

Calgary

Home of the 1988 Winter Olympics

Here we come!