On the Souris

A beautiful, sunny Sunday afternoon seemed like a good time to go canoeing (and "inflatable boating") on the Souris river.  We saw a pair of huge owls, an eagle,turtles, a muskrat and a bunch of other stuff as you will see.

Flooding

A couple of weeks ago, we got almost 3 inches of rain in less than an hour.  It caused a lot flooding around town.  Click here to read a story about it.  Below is a picture from the paper showing Megan and her buddy from next door wading in what was the street.  The water actually went down a lot before this picture was taken.  I was in the ditch behind our house trying to clear the catch basin and I was in up to my waist.  Good times!!

Speedway fun!

Have I mentioned that I love working at the "Estevan Motor Speedway"? It has been a great time! Here are a couple of pictures from last night.... in victory lane with each of the class winners. Pictures courtesy of Byron Fichter the track photographer.

A Princess Story

When I posted the Montana pics I said that I would tell some stories.... here is one of them.

The day we arrived at the cabin, people were sick.  I mean puking sick.  Like "looking like death warmed over" puking sick.

Within days Megan was barfing.... all night long!  From like 2 am till Thursday.  :) 

So, the next day Megan was sleeping it off... Sari was tired from being up all night with Megan.... I was somewhat tired from sort of being up all night with Megan (I heard her first, but Sari is the more compassionate one so she opted to go help)...... and Katie..... well, Katie was bored!

"Why do I have to do nothing just because Megan is sick?" she asked (She gets her sympathy from me!).   "I want to go to the bookstore in Bozeman."

So down the mountain we went.

At the bookstore, Katie seemed a little less than her normal bubbly self.  At the next bookstore, she looked a little pale.  As we drove to the grocery store she said, "I don't feel so good!"  As we walked around the store, she began to wobble a bit.

Back in the SUV and heading down main street, she began to perk up a bit (there were some cute boys on the sidewalk)..... and then - Blam!!!.... she threw up. 

Now one thing we discovered..... No matter how much you try, it is is impossible to look cute while throwing up in an SUV while cruising down main street Bozeman.  Suddenly, the cute boys were gone.

Another important discovery.... the air return for the a/c must be right in front of the passenger seat because as soon as she threw up, the smell came wafting through the vents and right into my face (use your imagination here... then double that.... and that is about 1/2 as bad as it actually was)

At this point (being the compassionate dad that I am), I broke out my best Queen of England/Princess voice and said (reading with your "Queen voice").... "My name is Katelyn and I will have you know that we shall not throw up on the mountain!!!  We must throw up in Bozeman.  You shall drive us there so that we can be sick in a proper manner!!!!"

She was not amused at the time.

However, if you see her say, "We shall not throw up on the mountain"..... she will know what you are talking about.  :)

Montana

Here are some shots from our recent trip to Montana.  Mostly pictures - but I will toss in a little commentary where needed (check back later in the week for stories)......

Aunt Mindy's cabin on the top of a mountain near Bozeman, Montana

One of many hikes (this one was very tame - unlike the hike the girls and I took - more later)

Cabin tradition.... be up early to watch for the sun's first peak over the mountains

Whitewater rafting on the Yellowstone River

We had a good time and (as I said) we have some good stories to tell.... later.  :)

Pictures @ Motherwell Homestead

Why does all the fun stuff happen when we are away?????

That burnt patch was caused by a lightning strike in the valley a few hundred yards behind our house. Our neighbours were home went it happened and called the fire department. Said they had never heard anything like that sound..... and we missed it. :(

Oh and here is a bonus picture.... check out who is lurking in the background at the speedway.... (insert scary "lurking shark" music here)

Ok - more pictures and stories in the coming days.  We are off to a wedding so no telling what sort of "dance moves" pictures we will come up with... if the girls let me dance.  I think they are just jealous!  :)

Cool

We just returned from a week in Dauphin visiting Sari's parents and hanging out (more about that later - pics etc), but one of the things that we had the chance to do was see these guys.... they are called "The Asham Stompers". They do a show based around the "Red River Jig" and Metis culture and it was really entertaining (even if the girls made me watch the last 30 minutes sitting in a blinding rainstorm.... it was literally coming down so hard that you could not see at times. Everyone else headed for the big tent or to their cars.... Katie, Megan and I sat in the bleachers getting soaked while the dancers danced on in the rain. It seemed only fair).

The video is sort of long (and it is not the performance we saw) but it will give you the idea.

Any "Estevan Arts Council" people reading this blog??? "Stars for Saskatchewan" anyone??????

The Pippus Brother's 2nd annual Motorcycle trip... brought to you by Hypothermia

Yes.... Hypothermia... whose motto is... "Don't worry about not being able to feel your fingers... they are probably going to fall off anyway!"  :)

In other words...... it was cold!!!  And rainy!!!   And cold!!!!

This year Kurt (aka Lenny) and I went to BC.  That would have been a great plan.... except for all the flooding..... and the rain.... and the cold.   Yes, we are the only people to plan a vacation right in the middle of a disaster area.

The night we got to Tabor, Alberta (we stopped there b/c it was raining too hard to continue on), they evacuated 75 000 people out of Calgary due to flooding.  Since that was the direction we were headed, we were not sure what was going to happen.

As it turned out, nothing happened.  We saw some flooding.  We had to ride single lane past some washed out parts of the highway, but overall the road was good and the floods really had no effect on us.

The trip took us through the Crowsnest pass, to Cranbrook, Kimberly, Creston, across Kootenay Lake on a ferry, to Kaslo and then Nelson... all the way up to Revelstoke, Golden, Lake Louise, Banff, Jasper, Hinton, Wetaskiwin, Outlook, Moose Jaw and finally home.

4005 kms later.   346748967438968943674360978 gallons of rain later.

Here are some pictures..... just for fun.

The "Great Sand Hills" in Southwestern Sask (turned out to be the "Not so Great Sand Hills".  We drove 2 hours out of our way to get there and back and all that was there was a big pile of sand!!!  Surprisingly - not that interesting!)  :)

Frank Slide 

Largest tandem axle truck ever built.... in Sparwood, BC

Old steam paddlewheeler (the "Moyie") in Kaslo, BC.  Last sailed the lake in 1957

Waiting for more modern water transportation

Moraine Lake in Banff National Park

A local resident of Jasper

Reynolds auto and air museum in Wetaskiwin

Restoration shop in the auto museum

The "Skytrail walking bridge" - obviously an old train trestle - part of the ``TransCanada trail`` in Outlook, Sk

Lastly, our bikes, in the rain, in front of one of the many ``Dive-like`` motels that we stayed in.  I don`t have a pic of it, but on the last night we paid $75 for a room with two queen beds - and that price included breakfast in the morning...... let your imagination run wild (and don`t forget the smell in the room when we first walked in....... oooh - the smell!!!!)   :)

Bottom line:  The trip would have been a lot better without the monsoon rain that hit us 6 of the 8 days.  And also if the temp had been above 7 degrees that would have been nice.  On the upside, I don`t have to feel bad anymore about owning a rain suit that I never wear (I almost had to sleep with it on!)

However, we did get to go and for that we thank our nice and understanding wives!  Next year`s trip...... Hawaii (or somewhere else hot and sunny..... like the Arabian Peninsula)