What's new?

Seeding is progressing.  We (meaning Clem and Adam) are half done.  All the legumes - peas and lentils - are in, and they are trying to get going with the barley and wheat.  As you may already know, it's been a tad damp.  If you didn't know, here's a visual.

 Adam has been here for over a week.  He and Clem are tag-teaming.  Clem gets up early and goes out for the day.  Adam starts a little later and works into the wee hours of the morning.  Seems to be working!
Derek does the gopher jobs and picks rocks.  Not as much fun, I hear, but shit flows downhill, so to speak!

Derek did have some fun.  He was lucky enough to get some tickets to a couple of the Memorial Cup games in Saskatoon.  I took him and a buddy in one night to meet Rob and the perogie for a game.  Also got to visit the Heidts at the game.  Fun times!   The perogie was pretty darned excited to see the hockey players and the goooalies, in particular.  A nice young fellow found a puck and gave it to him, too, which doubled his excitement!







Derek hides his excitement a little better.  (But he did have fun!)  He also got to go in a couple of days later with some friends for another game. 

I was stupid lucky enough to participate in the town-wide garage sale.  Our local junior team used it as a fundraiser.  We had lots of lookers, and quite a few things sold. But I will state for the record that nobody is ever going to get rich by having garage sales.  I did, however, get to spend the day outside and visit with lots of people!  Plus, Clem took pity on me and we went out for supper after church. 


I'm sure there is more news, but I'm also sure that I need to get outside and make a little more progress on the yard work.  We are trying to learn to love the colour yellow (you have no idea how many dandelions we have in the yard!), but I also need to get the garden in.  I am attempting to downsize a bit this year.  Hopefully I can stick to my guns! 

Thanks for stopping by!
Chandra

The end of an era

Last weekend many of my dad's relatives gathered to bury the ashes of his uncle and aunt.  Ed and Mary were the last survivors of their generation, and their deaths have prompted much introspection.  I think it affected other family members as well, judging by some of the comments and topics discussed.  My brother is the only Huck descendant still living in the area settled by our great-grandfather.  Amazing, with so many male offspring!  But mostly it was just heart-warming to see and be with everyone again.  Many of dad's cousins were there, and some of their children, as well.  I was particularly pleased to see three second cousins with whom my brother and I used to spend a LOT of time.  And again, I was amazed at how easy it was to pick up where we left off.  Those family ties are very strong.  The five of us made sure to have a picture taken, and it was NOT in a bathtub as were some previous ones!
 

Loren, the baby of the family, did a great job conducting the burial service.  It must have been very difficult for him.  

The granddaughters each laid a rose in the grave.

 The grandsons who were present sprinkled soil in the grave.

 

My dad and my brother looked very much alike to me that day.  They also apparently don't like me taking their picture. 

 

 My dad and his sister.  This may be my favourite photo of the day. 

Some of went on a little tour to visit other family graves.  This one is my dad's grandparents, the ones who came from Russia to Saskatchewan. 

Then it was visiting time at the Pioneers' Club.  The best part of the day!  This photo shows two of dad's cousins, Oliver (with his wife Sharon) and Roy, who we don't get to see often enough!!

I love this photo of Roy catching up with a childhood friend, Valerie Onerheim Finley.  She is one of my very dear friends, as well, and my elementary music teacher!

 Here are Roy and his sister, Darleane.  Love them both to pieces.

The "Huck boys" provided a few musical selections, and were joined by Jerry's daughter, Kathy (of bathtub fame!!)   She looked and sounded very much like her mother here, and I shed a few tears.

Romber brought their precious little guys out for a visit, too.  Sammy was happy, as usual, but the perogie was not having a great afternoon, not as usual!
 

Curiously, many of the pictures I took of Aunt Ginny seem to have a wine glass in them.  I think she would blame the Saskatchewan highways.   Yes.  Right.  Because she never drinks wine at home!!
 

 The perogie sure likes hanging out with Uncle!

So even though a few tears were shed, it was a wonderful weekend full of stories and laughter and hugs and re-connecting.  Methinks another reunion is in order.  After all, the last one was nearly 25 years ago!

Mother's Day with my mom.

That doesn't happen too often.  We are usually smack dab in the busyness of seeding, and Mother's Day is normally mostly a non-day here.  I decided to switch it up a bit this year when a friend, who was planning to visit her mom in Medicine Hat, asked if I wanted to tag along and go see my mom.  What a grand idea!  Clem was very accommodating as usual, saying "Of course! It's Mother's Day and you should be with your mom!"  (Isn't he great?)  So off we went.  I dropped Debby at her mom's and continued on to see mine.  It was such relaxing weekend, as we had no set schedule, with nothing to attend and nowhere to be.  We had coffee on the patio in the morning and wine on the patio in the evening, and toodled around a bit in between.  Oh, and hockey games to watch every evening! Not sure why I don't do that more often!!

Jason and Terri drove down with their two cuties, too.  What fun!  We even had time for a few photo shots.   Here's ma with (I'm certain) her two favourite children.

 

  And blowing raspberries with "Cousin Eddie".

He is one of the cutest nephews I know!!

 

 

And he likes his food.  A lot.  A true Huck.

As I said, Mother's Day has never been that big of a deal around here, but I did get a text from all three boys.  Derek's was to ask when I was going to be home - likely because he needed to know how long he had to do the chores I had assigned before I left three days earlier.  But hey, he remembered me!  Stephen's text said he left me a car.  Which is a pretty incredible gift, until you know that he needed us to take it in for a bit of work while he was at work.  I did manage to put a few miles on it, though.   Ssshhh.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!  Love you!

(Not exactly) quick takes

1.  Hockey is over!!  The exclamation points are only because I can now do all the things that I should have been doing when I was watching, going to, or organizing hockey.  It is really a rather sad time of year for me.  Fortunately, like our summers, it doesn't last long.  Derek is attending a camp at Notre Dame (Wilcox) this weekend, and is booked for another camp in Weyburn in July.  So I will get my fixes before it all starts again in September!

2.  Derek had a grrrreat hockey season, the most fun he's ever had, he says.  I guess he's forgotten about the bus trips from hell - on roads that should have been closed in weather that was definitely NOT from hell.  But hey, this is Saskatchewan.  His team lost out in the provincial and league semi-finals, but that was a pretty good run considering they started without a goalie in October!  Derek ended up getting the top defensive player award, as well as MVP.  He is a very happy kid. He had great coaches, too. 

 He was the biggest kid on the team.  Heck, he's bigger than the coaches.

 

 This is his favourite picture - a slapper from the blue line, his signature shot!

 3.  The biggest news around here is that Derek has been accepted as a Grade 10 boarding student at Notre Dame, Wilcox for the 2013-2014 school year.  It is totally his idea - "Mom, I need to challenge myself and see what I can do" - but I think it's a great idea.  We tried to talk him into it last year, but he obviously wasn't ready.  Some days I just start crying for no apparent reason; other days I'm planning how to reconfigure his bedroom and doing the happy dance because school lunches are coming to an end!  It will be very different, and quiet!, around here, that's for sure!

4.  Easter at our place was very much like Christmas - quiet, white, and cold.   Terri and the kids made the long trip (she's so crazy brave!), but Mom and Dad decided that the weather and roads were too unpredictable and stayed in Lethbridge.  Adam, who has just moved to Saskatoon, brought his hair and joined us for the day.  Here's a shot of my baby playing with my brother's babies!  Note the abundance of snow outside!

Cousin Eddie is such a wonderful little boy, so happy and content.  And he gives the absolutely best baby snuggles!  We're so glad he came to visit!

He sat right up at the table with us, and never complained once!

Derek is getting way too cool to hang out with little kids, so Copper has a new favourite "big" cousin!

"Hurry up and get that chick going, Gerald!"

Pure joy! And looking a lot like her momma!

5.  Adam and I got to visit with the perogie and his family for his second birthday.  Such fun.  I took pictures with my phone, and now can't get them to upload here.  Of course.  Anyway, take it from me, they are cute and we had a great time.  And Adam is loving being in the city.  A new adventure for him, and it's so nice to see him so happy and excited about life.

6.  My baby brother recently got another year older.  I'm not telling you how old, cause that's just too depressing for me.  I used to change his diaper, for heaven's sake!  Here's a shot of him celebrating with his two precious boys.  See how cute they are!

 

 7.  I talked Clem into applying for a passport letting me apply for a passport for him.  That is huge, let me tell you.  There may be hope for a trip for the two of us yet!  Babysteps, people, babysteps.  I had to renew mine anyway, and Derek needs one for our trip to Ireland and Scotland next spring (yes, he is still able to go even though he'll be in a different school), so I just worked it in there.  I'm hoping Derek and I will be able to meet up with our wonderful Scottish friends, David and Lorraine, while we're there.  Lisa and I stayed with them on my first trip in 2007. 

Thanks for stopping by!
Chandra

I wasn't one of them.

Wow.  I guess I took a little break!  Based on the last post, you may have thought that perhaps I was amongst the perished.  But no, I've just been trying to dig myself out from under this pile of tasks I've taken on.  Hockey, choir, hockey, travel club, hockey, farm books, hockey...well, you get the idea.  Have no fear, I will prevail.  It's just that sometimes something has to give, and this was it, my friends.

But I'm back.  Where to start?  Our junior hockey team, the Rage, lost out in the first round of playoffs.  Our billet is still here, but the wind-up is this weekend, so that should change shortly.  Now to get the books in order and come up with a financial statement to see how they really did!

Derek's team has been quite successful this season.  They ended up second in the league, and are currently one goal up in their first round of playoffs.  They are also in provincial playoffs, and will meet neighbouring Macklin on Sunday for the second game in the third round.  We've seen some good hockey.  We've seen some bad stuff, too, but they seem to keep squeaking by!  I just love how they all hustle and work together.  Other than one really, really bad bus trip to Naicam, it's been a great year!

I ventured to the wild side and got myself the new Blackberry Z10.  Wow.  Nice phone, but huuuuge learning curve.  I feel like a real greenhorn, but am consoled by the fact the the forums are full of people in the same boat.  Again, I will prevail. Eventually.

Christmas was great. (Yes, it's been that long.)  It was much quieter and smaller than usual, and I kept looking around and wondering to myself, "Where is everyone?"  Adam and Stephen had cross-shift on Christmas Day, so Stephen joined Clem, Derek, Mom, Dad, Mark and myself for a quiet Christmas Eve.  (Honest.  That was it.)  Stephen flew out Christmas morning, and Adam arrived just in time for a humble Christmas supper at our place with the same people except Mark, who wasn't feeling well.  (I know.  Six people at the table.  It just didn't feel right!)  Rob and Amber and their incredibly cute kidlets joined us on Boxing Day, and we had our real Christmas supper then - turkey and all the trimmings.  It was so nice to have little ones around again.  The perogie is just the right age to start catching on to the whole 'present' thing, and it was fun to watch.  And of course we all got our turn snuggling little Sammy.   And speaking of Sammy, his mom sent an email yesterday that made my day.  Check this out - it really doesn't get much cuter!

 

We also received some photos of the other cutie patootie nephew.  This auntie really needs a trip to Calgary!

                          

So that is definitely the Coles notes version of life at the Schraefel farm for the last couple of months.  I'll try to keep it more current from now on, OK Carl?  

Thanks for checking in!

Chandra