Artemis - 12monthsOFwinter

A Photograph's Death and Future

2011-11-04T19:13:00.001-07:00

I am including a lot of links to Wikipedia that explain terms that may not be well understood. We will all pass away some day and what becomes of our photographs...particularly our digital images after we are gone? Before computers and digital cameras- and especially the internet- our shoe boxes, cartons, portfolios, albums and envelopes that contained our original art, prints and negatives

Watercolor Miniature

2011-10-30T10:40:00.000-07:00

Creativity did finally come knocking two days ago. I painted a small watercolour ( or 'watercolor' )and then another the next evening...by small I mean miniature. The desire to paint was strong but discouragement over the potential outcome had been stronger till about 2 weeks ago when I saw a really lovely card sized painting a friend of mine had done which was followed last week by seeing a

Bears

2011-10-26T18:49:00.000-07:00

reposted from my photography blog Bears are difficult for me to photograph when I come across them. Difficult because they strike on a primal fear that I have to intellectualize past. This kind of gets in the way of things like having quick reaction on the camera controls, setting up the photo's composition...planning my path of retreat first tends to take priority and remains an ever

Finding Creativity

2011-10-24T22:27:00.000-07:00

I was thinking about creativity a week or so ago and lamenting that I seem to have lost a lot of mine in the past year. A few days before my grad reunion a friend of mine showed me a water colour she had just had printed up as a card. As an artist who enjoys painting in the field she too is trying to find her creativity during these cold months and she manages to do it and inspires me. But

Falls Lake

2011-10-20T22:04:00.001-07:00

I was missing the green-ness of home when I suggested to my husband and brother-in-law that we check out Falls Lake. This is a tiny little lake located within the Coqhihalla Summit Recreation Area. While I would like to have explored more of the park we came rather late in the afternoon of a sunny weekend. It was distinctly cooler and damper in this area compared to Merritt which lies within the

Start of October

2011-10-13T20:20:00.000-07:00

Time to update!My brother in law from Switzerland has been living with us the past month on a well deserved holiday and it quite fun to have such an easy-going house guest...we are going to miss him when he goes home. Othmar took him hunting and scouting at least 3 times a week and I like to think my German improved a bit because of Roland.Even tho I'm no great cook he never had a bad thing to

End of September

2011-09-25T18:33:00.000-07:00

Fall has begun after a fun summer and the garden is in it's last stages. I will be updating pretty quickly with some tips on gardening- what went good and not-so-good with carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, corn, potatoes etc. in this hot and dusty climate. Of particular interest to me is seed saving and plant propagation in general. I actually collected way more flower (annuals) seed that I will ever

End Of June

2011-06-30T23:54:00.000-07:00

Been busy outdoors for the past two months. I have spent very little time online and have focused on the immediate world and contacts around me but it's time for an update. I have a new computer for email and browsing although I am doing all my writing, editing, photography, graphics etc. on my old machine which runs XP. There is so much that still needs to be done on the new machine like

June in Merritt B.C.

2011-06-12T22:50:00.000-07:00

Spring in Merritt...wonderful what all can go down here. There are sandbags on the river which may well flood again, a small tornado actually hit town a few days ago and damaged one property, and all around is that disgusting cottonwood fluff. Even the birds are puzzled by all this new water everywhere. In one of the lanes is a big cottonwood tree that drops pounds of this white stuff which

BC Boat & Sportsmen's & BC Hunting Show at Tradex, Abbotsford, B.C.

2011-03-14T22:47:00.000-07:00

Kind of a long title, eh? I am posting some of the photos I took at the BC Boat & Sportsmen's & BC Hunting Show at Tradex, in Abbotsford, B.C. The bulk of the photos will be at my photography blog http://heidikoehler.blogspot.com/ but I thought some of them should be posted here as well. I'm not a hunter as of yet but I went to support my husband who was a paid seminar speaker and really

March- 2011

2011-03-03T12:10:00.000-08:00

I've been busy with this and that the past month that I completely forgot to pick up my art at the Courthouse gallery! The two pictures I had in for the community art show are an abstract of a frosted over cactus photo and a painting of two dear in a snowy meadow against the backdrop of the Merritt hills. I'm afraid I'm cheaping out a bit with the imagery! "The Cold Points" "The Natives"

David Tennant, Jememy Wade, Jim Parsons, etc.

2011-01-05T23:35:00.000-08:00

Christmas is finally over and it was great- family came up to see us in Merritt and we even had snow for them! Back to the usual. Oh that's right- there is no usual...that cat of mine is getting fixed come Monday and I don't care how much snow is on the Coquihalla. It has to be done because she is driving me insane. Been doing a few more assignments photography wise and more art...even tho

Rosehip Jelly recipe and info

2010-12-02T11:04:00.000-08:00

Rose Hip Jelly Recipe (Hagebutte)(recipe at bottom of post)I didn't post a recipe for rose hip jelly earlier because I had tried 5 different versions of recipes (because I had LOTS of rose hips), wrote them down on scraps of paper and then put them away until we had tested out the various end results.No. 1 was probably the best- very sweet, wonderful flavor, firm consistency. 4 cups strained rose

Electronics- vintage and modern

2010-11-17T20:36:00.000-08:00

Almost finished updating my entire system. What a task. My computer had a meltdown and something caused 2 of my partitions to disappear. If it weren't for religious backups I would have lost my entire photo archive plus a whole lot of miscellaneous documents. During breaks between installing devices and programs, and getting all my photos and documents in order, I was able to tackle a few other

Oktoberfest and Computer Woes

2010-10-26T17:36:00.000-07:00

Fun stuff! Pics from the Oktoberfest fund raising dinner hosted by Knights of Columbus in Merritt which I attended with my husband...there was Schnitzel, Bratwurst, rotkohl, weiskohl (red - YUMMY- and white cabbage), kartoffeln (potatoes), gravy, spaetzlie- I don't know how to even spell that- it's like a flour pasta that's hand cut but they kind of cheated by putting it through a meat grinder to

Adams River Salmon Run

2010-10-21T22:08:00.000-07:00

I want to dedicate this post to Bill Otway who passed away in Merritt last Sunday. He was a champion of the rights of hunters, fishers, and the environment.***About 20 years ago I saw a thin red line on the southern bank of the Thompson River south of Spences Bridge, B.C. I had been swimming in this river on an off all August while I was living in the area after the carnival I had been working on

Making Rose Hip Jelly - Part 1

2010-09-15T10:23:00.000-07:00

What follows is a bit of stuff I learned about making jelly- specifically rose hip jelly which is something I always wanted to try once I had actually tasted a ripe rose hip- and some general thoughts about recipes and what might constitute 'organic' for those who are concerned about this.Starting with finding a perfect recipe (online). This will probably never happen. People are either

Garden status

2010-09-10T22:46:00.000-07:00

The garden is continuing to produce. Cherry tomatoes are coming in regularly and the peppers are ripening. Tomatoes in general are doing awesome.Both went into the food dehydrator yesterday and today they came out tasting delicious!I had already dried some of the cherry tomatoes in this way and while the little tomatoes are wonderful for snacks or salads they dry into raisin sized kernels which I

Fallout

2010-09-06T18:25:00.000-07:00

The fall fair has come and gone and with it the 51st Nicola Valley Pro Rodeo.I got some nice pictures of the cowboys risking their behinds but the weather wasn't too great for photography unless you had a really large aperture lens as did many of the photographers who were in attendance. There were more than last year and the main booth for v.i.p.s had been enlarged...I think this is a good sign

Fall Fair Time

2010-09-03T22:20:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again. I've submitted 9 images to the fall fair; 2 art pieces and 7 photos. I wish more people (artists) put stuff into the fair...I don't know if they can't be bothered, think it's beneath them, or plain forgot. I do this because I like sharing my stuff and for the exposure. Ribbons are nice too but i want my name to become familiar to the community. Although I do

Tomato Review

2010-08-27T00:57:00.000-07:00

I thought I would share my opinions on the tomatoes I currently have growing in my garden. I'm pleased with all of them except for one but despite that I plan on saving seed from all of them.Christmas Grapes: I got this as a little plant from a friend who I believe got it from someone else...anyway, these are fantastic. Bright orange, juicy, and possibly I'm imagining it- a fruitier flavour than

Early August Garden

2010-08-10T16:50:00.000-07:00

This is my garden at this point in time. Well actually, I wrote this a week ago and things have changed. This is for my own reference but might interest someone who is new to gardening and trying it in a near desert area. I've had way more success with flowers than vegetables but that's to be expected...next year I will only plant vegetables I have a real liking for as well rather than things

Hot Weather

2010-08-01T00:37:00.000-07:00

Fire season again...in Lillooet and Kamloops and the smoke comes and visits Merritt. I thank God that there don't seem to ever be fires here- I feel really bad for the folks in those areas that have this issue chronically. It's very hot now. Almost in the 40's and I'm glad we got a little bit of rain today- actually I'm not sure Merritt got any but the Shulus area did- we were at the shooting

On Collecting Seeds

2010-07-28T22:56:00.000-07:00

It's late July and I've started the ritual of seed collecting. This is something I learned from my mother a very long time ago. She was an avid gardener. She grew up on a farm and could grow vegetables with equal success as flowers...while I may have a long way to go as a food grower I do seem to have her knack for flowers.The flowers I remember most strongly are poppies (Somniferum/Bread Seed;

Quilchena Falls

2010-07-27T00:14:00.000-07:00

Had a great time with my bro and sis on our hike to Quilchena Falls. A day of hiking, lunch and lounging around in the pool before coming back home exhausted but pleased and happy.The trip in was a nice drive though forests and meadows full of wild flowers and butterflies and nothing our cars couldn't handle. The falls were impressive- water thundered down a 60 meter drop from a fair sized creek

Children's Portraiture.

2010-07-12T00:35:00.000-07:00

I thought I would share some of my favorite photos from a recent event. Family Fishing Day is where parents get to take their kids fishing for free and we have an organized event at Kentucky Alleyne Provincial Park where all the entrants got really nice participation prizes.Some 30 or 40 children got fishing rods for prizes and many of them had actually caught fish in the (stocked) 'kids' lake at

Published

2010-07-03T23:32:00.000-07:00

I am opening this post with a picture of my kitten, Dukat a.ka. Duky and Katzy :)Bigger view of Katzy at DAYesterday I received my copy of of a Photoshop resources book and cd compilation from a Japanese publisher who I was in contact with this year. I'm quite pleased to see my Photoshop patterns (seamless tiles) look pretty good in there- although I did make the effort to provide them with a

Garden progress

2010-06-18T23:59:00.000-07:00

I should post pics of the garden now that we've reworked the potato patch...had plants cramped in too much but now everything is in straight lines.Tomatoes are doing great, cucumbers have recovered.Corn is pathetic. Don't know what happened- only 12 came up plus 4 others from a later seeding project. Maybe the crows/ravens? Bad seed?Carrots are coming along nicely as are garlics...I have heard

A Will and A Way

2010-06-16T23:47:00.000-07:00

I had been struggling with wonky html editors for more than 2 years because since version 8 of IE Notepad couldn't edit Explorer web pages when I found out that it could be forced to do so thru some obscure command called 'Developer Tools'.I had looked for help on this before but none of the tricks had worked till yesterday I found the answer. Stupid Microsoft programmers are the tools that need

Dogs and Cat

2010-06-10T19:47:00.000-07:00

I was going to write about the garden but that shall wait for a bit. I felt like sharing some info: it is not a crime to threaten to take a gun and shoot someones dog. At least that's what I've been told and I can understand that to a degree. It's one of those things that could be regarded as an empty threat.A woman threatened to use her gun to shoot my dog this morning if I didn't move him away

Pie, Gardening, and Printing

2010-06-02T23:50:00.000-07:00

I started a garden last month. My husband framed up the beds which are a cross between raised and in ground- essentially it's structured to keep the water from evaporating before it actually gets into the ground.I decided to draw my front garden.I suppose we could have dug it right into the ground but there's just so much rock just down underneath it's not funny. Now it's June and stuff is

Gardening and Photography

2010-05-26T21:17:00.000-07:00

A lot happened this month. I did a photo shoot this month as well for a local woman whose mother celebrated her 80'th birthday! Loads of relations from all over Canada and Europe for the group portrait- I must say I had loads of fun with this job despite the finicky weather. A very photogenic bunch of people and a very lovely occasion and all the children were amazingly good! I did 8 different

On Photography and the Web

2010-05-10T18:56:00.000-07:00

This is just a bit of a rant because I need to vent.Let it be said that I am a photographer who had created a website from basic html code and was formerly quite happy to use Microsoft's browser and programs for those things that they USED to do well. :(BiggerThe only reason I had left to use Internet Explorer as a web browser was because I could edit the html code directly in Notepad using the '

Photography Exhibit at the Courthouse Gallery

2010-04-04T09:27:00.000-07:00

I have an exhibit of some of my best photographs at the local gallery in Merritt, B.C. which I'm quite exited about! This exhibit will run for nearly the whole month with a reception for it on the 16th.Here's a link to a page I whipped up on my web site that shows miniature versions of my photos: Heidi's Photos at the Courthouse Gallery!2 other photographers are showing as well- Anne Roberts and

March

2010-03-04T18:08:00.000-08:00

Well the Olympics are over and done with- my visit to Vancouver last Sunday with my brother was quite a patriotic experience. There's been so much mention about how we Canadians aren't very overt about our national pride but the games really changed that.The CauldronPeople really were singing Oh Canada in the streets, climbing atop the bus shelters, using hockey sticks for flagpoles and generally

Merritt Olympic Torch Stuff

2010-02-07T20:54:00.000-08:00

Yesterday the Olympic torch came through Merritt. It went right past my house as a matter of fact. There was a procession of vehichles preceding the runner(s) and the first person who went by didn't have a lit torch which was confusing but eventually the real deal came by. Olympic PsychedeliaWe watched from the window and went to Voght Park later on where I was able to get some pictures. It was a

Feb. '10 update

2010-01-27T18:21:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I finished uploading most all of my 2009 pictures to my stock gallery- a big chunk of that website done- just some captioning to do. Now I feel a bit freer to update more specialized galleries such as the carnival people of (primarily) West Coast Amusements, which is a company I worked on for quite a few years in the 90's. Basically it was there that I started to really get into

Putting Fire To Memories

2010-01-03T19:18:00.000-08:00

That's what I'm doing tonight. I could be practical and say that some paperwork I burn (like old bills and phonebooks) are my assurance of preventing identity theft but the truth is there is a psychological satisfaction in setting those bits and pieces to blaze.We have a little fire pit and it was very pleasant outside despite the cold to get another big bucket of old papers turned to ash. I

The Year is almost over

2009-12-29T22:11:00.000-08:00

The year is almost over. Had a great Christmas. Hubby and I went to my sister’s place on the coast ( the Coquihalla highway was in good shape ) and basically pigged out and drank lots of alcohol. Not common for me but I could do this because we stayed overnight. My brother was there as well as a bunch of my sister’s friends. My sister set a great table and atmosphere- I can’t remember having such

Christmas Baking and Musings

2009-12-09T01:44:00.000-08:00

I did the usual Christmas baking- shortbread, although I may get brave and try some other kind of cookie. I might even try for a Stolle ...not! I've decided not to frost my shortbread as past experience tells me I eat more cookies in a sitting if they're frosted. Even if I just 'frost' them with egg yolk it's the same thing: eat like a pig and bloat like the proverbial fatted calf.I made a

Shaw and Star Trek

2009-11-03T20:39:00.001-08:00

I don’t know what’s up with Shaw these days.We have had terrible internet connection speeds for a month or so now, they slipped up on their initial appointment but credited us for it, then after the tech guy did finally do a check-up and found nothing wrong (last week) the speed dropped even more…until a few hours ago when, by some odd coincidence, I happened to be on the page that advertises

Barriere

2009-11-01T22:30:00.000-08:00

It was a gorgeous day today so we decided to drive out to Barrierewhich is about 2 hours north of us. When we were house hunting we were actually considering moving that far north but now of course I’m glad we didn’t since I’ve become pretty fond of Merritt. Barriere and the surrounding area suffered a massive forest fire in 2003 which really hurt the community since the fire took out one of the

Lytton

2009-10-12T14:53:00.000-07:00

Last week we went for a drive to the Thompson river so check out the salmon spawning. I'm not sure at what part of the cycle they were in - towards the end or the beginning - those that we saw were steel blue for the most part with the odd red tinged one. I believe there are several different species coming up the river and their numbers are reportedly low.It was about this time in 1990 that I

Fall Fair- day 1

2009-09-05T23:25:00.000-07:00

We went to the opening day of the Merritt fall fair today after stopping at the Saturday farmers market for corn. A bit more info here.I took a lot of pictures as usual since there's tons of items on display. I will post more pictures later but for now I made a quickie panorama of the main building's interior:Much bigger view here.Baked goods, bottled goods, fruits, vegetables, art, crafts,

Fall Fair

2009-09-04T20:05:00.000-07:00

I submitted photos and art at the fall fair in Merritt yesterday.I wanted to last year but wasn't really ready and now that I am I realize that this will probably be the only year I do submit photos...I'm trying to turn my photography into a totally professional thing and by this time next year that's where I plan to be.What I put in are basically favorite pictures from the last 2 years plus my 3

Fire

2009-08-21T14:45:00.000-07:00

There was a another fire in Merritt yesterday on Granite Avenue not to far from us. It started in one house and the neighbor's house caught fire from it. I think the third house east also sustained damage but I haven't been by there today to check.My husband went outside yesterday afternoon and said there was black smoke coming up from east of the mill so I suggested we walk there. The fire truck

Naked In The River

2009-08-18T21:54:00.000-07:00

I went skinny dipping a few days ago for the first time and most likely the last- at least hereabouts!My sister came over to visit from the coast and we went for a drive all over the place. I wanted to show her some of my favorite spots like Kentucky Alleyne Provincial Park ( and no, it wasn't there! ) among other places. It was rather cool these past few days compared to normal but warm enough

Website updated

2009-08-02T14:59:00.000-07:00

I actually got my main web site updated in it's entirety. I had hit a bit of a snag with my image server that necessitated re-coding 140 web pages and re-uploading around 1500 images...I actually didn't realize that I had so many images up in the local galleries but that's factoring in the preview images which are individual files as well as the large view images.For anyone looking for stock

Summer

2009-07-28T14:08:00.000-07:00

Summer is here with a vengeance.After a cold winter followed by somewhat less cold days and the occasional rain storm that passed for spring we are now baking in 35 degree weather. We've also had lightning storms the past week which ignited forest fires in the surrounding area. The current conditions make it very risky if you live in these parts and your home is located on a forested hillside

Mountainfest

2009-07-09T20:13:00.000-07:00

Well it's that time of year again when Merritt's Mountain Music Fest rolls around. It runs from July 9th to 12th. Too expensive for us so hubby (who is doing a lot better a month after the 5 day nosebleed ) and I opted to walk around downtown Merritt and check out the vendors instead. There was a great stall selling hats and purses made with real cow hide. The lady told me she was out of Kelowna

Nosebleed And The Color Yellow

2009-06-15T22:56:00.000-07:00

It's about a week since my husband had the nosebleed to end all nosebleeds. It started on Monday and stopped but picked up again Tuesday afternoon and never stopped till the doctor cauterized a damaged blood vessel on Saturday morning in Penticton.You would think that this is the kind of operation that a general practitioner could do but obviously not since we had to wait a week and drive 1.5

Art Show

2009-05-13T18:07:00.000-07:00

My hubby went turkey hunting this past weekend and I drove him out to Kelowna to meet with his buddy Dave and then picked him up on Sunday and even helped close down the show at the civic center. He and Dave didn't get anything but they saw an immense amount of wildlife; whitetail, mule deer, intermixed deer, bear, turkeys etc. They stayed at a place called Parklane Resort which is in Christina

Osoyoos

2009-04-21T10:34:00.000-07:00

Pronounced "Oh-sue-yuse" ... Canada's hottest city.Last Saturday we decided to head out there on a road trip for sightseeing and photography. I have never been to this part of B.C. before except as a very young child so it was nice to see all these little towns and places that I just knew from reading. It took about 3 hours at our own pace and it turns out the Osoyoos is only 200 km from Merritt.

Shooting, Sandwiches, And The River

2009-04-13T19:44:00.000-07:00

Been a busy week...especially with stuff related to my husband's fields of interest.He's a C.O.R.E. instructor in B.C. (Conservation and Outdoor Recreation Education) which means he along with several other instructors were busy on the range last weekend educating a new batch of hunters on proper firearm handling, hunting ethics etc.I went along to shoot pictures of course but also a .22 long

March Is Almost Over

2009-03-17T14:39:00.000-07:00

It's been rather a long time since I wrote a blog post and it occurs to me that I don't like the concept of self promotion- which is what a blog is all about. I think a lot of artists are like this- we would rather work on our art and leave the promoting in other people's hands...I guess that's why a lot of artists find an agent. But I'm a photographer as well which complicates things - for me at

Sister And Stuffs

2009-02-07T12:04:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a fun day- my sister came up from Surrey to visit for the day bringing along a lot of stuff she wanted to offload on me ( the pack rat! ) since she just moved to a new place. Clothes, books and the like- she's trying to streamline her life and knows that she can always get stuff back from me- lolWe showed her around to places she hadn't seen before- like Nicola Lake which is still

Ice Fishing In Merritt

2009-01-19T10:44:00.000-08:00

On January 18th I attended an ice fishing derby on Mamette Lake just north of Merritt, B.C.The morning started off very cold and dreary but not too surprisingly ( for Merritt ) the sun came blazing up over the tree line at 10:25 a.m.Overall I would say there were over 300 people in attendance- lots of families with young kids as well as the usual suspects, and around 30 fish were logged in as

Tattoo and the Tulameen

2008-11-25T20:48:00.000-08:00

I watched another artist recently; a tattoo artist applied his skills to my sister's arm and she's now proudly sporting a gigantic leafy haired woman's head on her right shoulder.Quite a pretty job the artist did:Bigger picture I'm drawing more and more myself as well- trying not to let anything stop the roll I'm currently on...I've moved away from Trek-land for a bit and am working on the Lost

On Drawing, Television and the Coquihalla

2008-10-13T17:21:00.000-07:00

On September 27th the Coquihalla toll booth workers were told to go home- their job was done. After 20 years the toll has ended and the booths are being torn down. Quite a historic day! Evidently all the money brought in paid for the cost of the Coquihalla Highway and the government decided to take advantage of the election fever/interest to make themselves look generous! lolThis is a link to the

This, That, and Star Trek

2008-09-24T11:43:00.000-07:00

It's been over a month since I last wrote...typical. I'm not a committed blogger obviously - too involved in art I guess.I've been a bit slow with the photography since I'm putting together disc for sale that will contain what are referred to as 'stock images' and on those discs will also be collections of seamless tile graphics which are ( somewhat sadly to me ) the most popular items in my main

Photo Assignment

2008-08-21T17:42:00.000-07:00

I wanted to start this post off with a link to the online edition to the Province Newspaper where the story appeared- unfortunately my photos don't show up there. I guess the photo of the bikini babe with the cowboy hat frolicking in the river was sufficient. (the one photo I did not take lol)Essentially, the story is about the mayor's ideas of what direction Merritt should be moving in to keep

First Photo Assignment

2008-08-13T22:43:00.001-07:00

I was contacted by the editor of a Vancouver Newspaper to do some photography work for a reporter doing a story in Merritt. Needless to say I was pretty pleased!I obviously enjoy photography among other interests in the graphics field so this is a really wonderful opportunity to put that passion to practical use. :) I won't say much more about this as it's a story yet to be written and the

Cow Country

2008-08-05T22:39:00.000-07:00

What I've been up to these days: theres a hitch on the car, a trailer in the back yard, and a skiff ( or John-boat as my husband likes to call it ) sitting next to it. A motor for the boat will be next. I've become familiar with the print shop where I've had some posters printed out, the stationer (who has a really large wide format photo printer ), and still have to pay the galleryand museum a

Remiss In Writing

2008-07-26T19:59:00.000-07:00

My, my, I have been remiss in my writing!I get overwhelmed a lot these days- trying to do too many things and not giving enough consideration for the most important ones it seems.My husband and I got through our move successfully; in fact the whole thing went without a hitch other than it being extremely tiring what with doubling back and making a second trip on the same day. I thought I had

Orphan Works Legislation

2008-04-21T19:56:00.000-07:00

This is taken directly from my journal at 12monthsOFwinter.I've thought a lot about the proposed/pending Orphan Works legislation and am in the middle of writing an editorial about it. I'm torn on what I see as ominous implications and at the same time an expansion of artistic freedom when this comes to pass. And it will come to pass- because thats the American way.Sorry, theres no way around it-

House Hunting in Merritt Part III

2008-04-17T22:25:00.000-07:00

So we now have our house. Or rather, we are in the final stages of acquiring it. In Merritt, B.C. City of Merritt website.Less than one week of phone calls, e-mails, and (uncharacteristically) ballsy determination and we managed to get the place for under our set price. And by set I mean the amount we were prepared to pay on this particular place.The realtor pulled through for us in the end- but

House Hunting In Merrit Part II

2008-03-29T22:49:00.000-07:00

I feel like sharing the experience of purchasing our first home- the things a new, first time buyer must go through when working with a Realtor. I've actually started a journal about this on real paper with a real pen in hand and, my-oh-my, the words really start flying off that pen! So much so in fact that I realize there might be too much information to convey on the blog unless I commit to it

I Almost Died

2008-02-28T22:10:00.000-08:00

My husband broke a rib today. Evidently a goat kicked him in the chest. Most people would take the day off but not him- at least he only has to stand around and look important tomorrow since he is acting foreman while the main guy is on leave. I guess I can't object to that as long as he doesn't do more than just stand around and look important which I know is going to drive him nuts.Ironically I

Smokeless

2008-02-04T21:04:00.000-08:00

Today marks my 11th day without a cigarette.I can't take too much credit for quitting- getting that second tooth pulled figured into it quite a bit. Ielaborated on how this came about in my journal 'Quitting' over at DA. Of course something has to give and the money I would have spent on cigarettes for this month went into a snack budget- I kind of overdid it but I think I'm a bit entitled for

This Page Is Optimized For...

2008-01-27T13:01:00.000-08:00

I hate reading that. Especially if the page was optimized for Internet Explorer which I don't browse with (although I do use it to set up my web pages). It makes me think "I wonder if I'm seeing this page in a crappy light compared to how they want me to view it"...but I didn't always think that way.I used to think : "ho-hum, some geeky person uses Netscape or whatever" when I was still using IE.

Snow In The Forecast...

2008-01-24T21:24:00.000-08:00

Snow is being forecast for 5 days beginning on Friday...horrible news for us who generally don't get much snow to begin with so this will be a lot...I managed to get one shot of the most spectacular sunrise I have seen in months although of course it was a street shot.My philosophy on taking pictures when time is your enemy: Get the shot first. Don't try to find a perfect location if you know

Resolution And Wine

2008-01-12T10:28:00.000-08:00

By resolution I'm talking about pixels not promises! I've been meaning to send a print to a special person of one of my favorite photos which was taken with my old camera- the little Olympus digital as opposed to the 10 mega-pixel Sony/Minolta Alpha.I did a lot of reading about the camera before I bought it a few years ago and from the information deduced that while I could get an excellent print

January Blahs...

2008-01-07T18:20:00.000-08:00

Bigger View< - a bit blurry! lolIt rained tons all week and today the sun came out in a wimpy kind of way for a few hours this afternoon. I did yardwork- the leaf blower got a real workout, some stuff got pulled out of the shed to get rid of, and I ditched all the dahlia tubers that I had stored inside. Unfortunately the damp got to them- kind of my fault as I hadn't powdered them in fungicide

Happy New Year

2008-01-03T00:02:00.000-08:00

Hope every one is doing o.k. on this fine, first week of 2008. :)We started the year off with a flat tire on the new car and the old one is refusing to run although it tries. *sigh*Christmas was a nice time at my sister's place with a nice buffet dinner. I made a cauliflower dish which was so-so since dinner started kind of late and it got a bit- mushy you could say.New Years were pretty quiet as

Merry Christmas

2007-12-19T17:23:00.000-08:00

Well, the holidays are here. I've finished my shopping, given most of my presents, done my baking (with my sister for the first time in our lives- it was fun actually) and now just have to decide if I really am done or not! lolI've managed to make a blog and web roll (together since I don't want to clutter the page) and kept my own links separate. And finally, Othmar decided to tag me with the

The Pattern And Doll Maker

2007-12-16T00:55:00.000-08:00

I got a bit lazy about writing but I got a few things done these past two days.I finally found a java script that works in both the major browsers that allowed me to get my interactive dress up doll online! I had to rework the code a bit but it works now so if anyone has a secret desire to play with a doll then here you go- but be forewarned: she has no face and rather obvious boobies! lolDress

It's Late In The Year

2007-12-13T23:06:00.000-08:00

Kind of like in the old days when I tried to write in my diary every day...except I'm determined to keep it up with this!A kind of uneventful day although I did manage to dig up half the dahlias and divide the tubers. I successfully grew a beautiful dahlia garden this past summer after digging up my mothers dahlias. I couldn't bear to leave them in the ground because they were her pride and joy

Trying To Write Every Day

2007-12-12T22:31:00.000-08:00

Thats the thing, isn't it? You're expected to write something ever day...I remember when this blogger thing first came up- you could comment in any person's blog- at least thats what I think I remember...now I see this little note that says 'no anonymous posting allowed' or something like that. Hmph. Whatta bunch of spoil-sports.Oh well, here was my day: I coloured my hair for the first time in

Anti Whiplash Head Rest

2007-12-11T15:59:00.000-08:00

Dec. 11, TuesdayBlogging seems to have become the biggest thing in the last 5 years but I'm still pretty new to it. I established a bit of a web presence on a site I made Artemis Graphics And Design, using some basic html coding and at a few art sites 12monthsOFwinter - Deviant Art, and Artemis Graphics And Design - Cafe Press, and forums Artemis Graphics And Design - Corel Draw Forum, but now

House Hunting In Merritt, B.C.

2007-12-10T13:01:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday (Dec. 8th) my husband and I got up at 3:30am, packed our gear into the new car, and headed off for Langley to my cousin's place. My husband and my cousin's hubby were going for a day trip of hunting in Hope and I was going house hunting for the day in Merritt- possibly Kamloops as well depending on how much time it would take. Hope is about an hour or so from where we live and

Getting Stuff Done

2007-10-22T19:38:00.000-07:00

It's Monday and I actually got some work done. I posted a few more panoramics on my web site Lower Mainland of B.C. Places which include my dog (more of a photo manipulation but using panoramic photo creation principles) and added a bit of coding.I'm going to include a link here to anyone who stumbles on these pages to and needs to know how to make a simple frame with no fancy software. I made