Tree planting............

Some new faces on the blog. For those of you that think that I only do stuff with Pete, think again...........Here is Damaris holding up a little Eastern Pine, ready to plant. Below, Caleb said:" Does it really smell like a pine tree? Well, why don't we smell it and find out?"

This morning, we went with the Sea Cadets and the watershed group, and planted some trees. There were about a dozen cadets, and then a few people from the local watershed group. We had about 250 trees available to plant. They were donated by the government nursery. Planting happened on a property that we rent. It has a big man made pond with wetland all around it. An ideal spot to plant trees.All species native to the P.E.I.
A good time was had by all. Damaris asked:"Are those fishy things in the water tadpoles Daddy?" And after a closer look, yes they are. They had so much fun, it was hard to get them out of there. I don't know how much fun it was for the tadpoles.
Then it was back to the field where there was some heavy duty planting going on.
Planting is going well. Two more days should wind it up pretty well. The last two weeks we had really good weather. So a lot of planting was done.
Below are pictures of the Big Deere that we use to work the land. It pulls a Rez-Til.
A big rig that churns up the land and makes it fluffy for planting. Heavy duty pulling, it takes all 190 HP to keep it going at 7 MPH.And the last picture shows the other Deere with the potato planter. You can see how dry it is by the dust in the air.
I hope to get some pictures of the tuberunit planter yet. Maybe I will get them on next week. Enjoy these in the mean time.

Skill's Canada Competition..............

Not very ofter I write about Pete twice in a row. But this was a special occasion. By winning the provincial skills competition earlier this spring, he advanced to the nationals. And this year, they were held on P.E.I. Competitors from all over Canada, in a very wide range of skills gathered in Charlottetown for a two day face off. The category that Pete entered was called : Automation and Controls.Day 1

These pictures were taken about halfway the first day. A lot of work done, even more to be done yet. There were seven provinces and territories competing in this category.
It was amazing how many things were going on at the same time. The amount of talent gathered in one place was totally incredible.
Day 2
As you can see, the parts that were on the table yesterday, are now in the box, or cabinet as they call it. Looks complicated Pete. Glad you know what you are doing. Next came the programming of the computer part, called the PLC. And at 4:35 pm, time was up. And an exhausted bunch of guys started cleaning up their stations and wait for the judges. But winners would not be announced until the next day. Saturday, the last day of the four day event, got everybody together once more for the closing ceremony. It was held at UPEI. This was the long anticipated medal presentation. Here Pete found out that he had won the bronze medal. The medals were presented by
Mike Holmes. He was also one of the main speakers.
He was one of the judges of the carpentry skills. It was a good experience for everyone involved. It sure opened my eyes to the amount of talent God has given to all these competitors. May we put our talent to good use................

Graduation 2009......

Congratulations to Pete. He is officially graduated from Holland College as an Electromechanical Technician. He finished top of his class. And received the Proficiency and Initiative reward. Way to go Pete. Just figured I would share that with you.Right now he is working on the farm, but next week he is going to enter the National Skills Competition. They are held on PEI this year. That should be a good challenge for him. Opening ceremony on Wednesday, two days of competition, and then the closing ceremony, just like the Olympics. All the best Pete.
On another note, I meant to post some pictures yet of Dianna and Micaiah's visit with us a few weeks ago. My, how time flies. Well, here are a few of them. We had a great time. It was so much fun to have them around. A real privilege to see our grandson again. And my, how he has grown.
Relaxing by the fireplace.
Have to go for ride in the tractor before he goes back home to New Jersey.

Driving the tractor with Pake.
A few more years, and he will be a pro.
Three weeks was a nice long time, but all things come to an end, and so did the visit. Until we meet again, hopefully in the end of August when, the Lord willing, we will welcome the arrival of our next grand child. Sorry Dianna for taking so long to get these pictures on.

The Faith of our fathers............

Today was a great day. We were able to witness Pete, Julie, two of Pete's friends and the whole family Best profess their faith in Jesus Christ publicly. The family Best was baptized as well. It was really good to see. They came to us from a different religious background. And all this, on the day that we remember that Jesus rose from the grave. We pray that they will not stray from the path that they have chosen to start on today.
Afterward we had a get together at our place for more coffee and cake. Followed by dinner and dessert. It was great to have the house full off people again. I'm sorry to say, I have no pictures of today's happenings, but the following link shows the video that the guys and Julie made together with pastor Chad. In the video are Julie, Klaas DeBoer, Feije DeBoer and Pete. Klaas and Feije are twins. Enjoy.........

Snowmobiling at it's best......

That would have to be in New Brunswick. Pete and I went there last week together for three days. We had a lot of fun. The weather was really good. Thursday was a little cloudy and the trails were slushy, as it was above zero all day. But it froze hard overnight. So the next day the trails were froze solid. This presented a bit of a problem with lubrication for the track and cooling for the engine.
We decided not to leave until late morning. Which proved to be still problematic. But by mid afternoon , conditions were getting better. We had decided to go to Mount Carleton this day. When we arrived there, we were able to take the sleds right to the top.
The view was awesome. We could see for miles around. Above you can see Pete, on top of the world. To the left , a view from the mountain.
It was beautiful up there. How awesome is our God, that he created such beauty. You really got a sense of that up there.
This next picture shows how trucks and snowmobiles share some of the same roads. The trail up about four feet higher. And this would go for miles and miles.
And, all good things must come to an end. Here we are, packing up again for the trip home. We had a safe drive home and found all was well at home. But a lot of snow had disappeared on PEI. Only to see more snow again overnight. I guess our spring is not quite here yet. Contrary to what the calender tells us............

More Ice............

This is like dejavue,it was last year around the end of January,that we had the same kind of weather. I had the same kind of pictures then. We did not loose our power this time however. Eventough the ice is still on the trees and powerlines. Also, the temperature tonight is going down to minus 15, windchill factor of minus 22.
This picture shows the strain on the post. It is bending under the weight of the ice. Hope she holds. It would be a cold night to lose our power.
This is the tree in front of the house, a big sugar maple. All covered in ice. You can see the house in the background. It does look very pretty with the sun shining on the ice. God sure knows how to decorate.
And this last picture I took early in the morning through the trees beside the road on the way to work. It is so beautiful everywhere. Not the best for snowmobiling though. We are getting some more snow and rain over the weekend. Saturday will be the first day that the temperature is supposed to go above zero. Maybe the ice will fall off the wires then..........
p.s.
See also next post, I did two posts in one week. Have a great week people, and thanks for your visit.

Pete's birthday today......

Today we celebrate Pete's birthday, he is twenty years old now. Quite a milestone. All the guys are over today, for tomato soup and icecream cake from DQ.
They were going to be with Matt and Amanda this weekend, snowboarding at Crabbe. But God had other plans. Car trouble changed their plans and now they are still on PEI. Of course it is nice to have them all here for Pete's big day. I took a few pictures this morning, first one, the guys playing Battlefield together. That is Pete in the bottom right and Caleb right behind him. And the next on does not need an intro. We have all seen them before
.
Mmmmmmmm............that cake was some good.
The weather here has been wintery lately. Lots of snow around. I did get some sledding in. Mostly in the evenings though. Since we are very busy grading potatoes the last couple of weeks. And last week was a busy day of blowing snow as well. Good time for the guys to be in Florida. Bet they didn't shovel any snow there!
I took a few pictures of that as well. Our house, behind the snowbanks that are alongside of the road. .The next couple of pictures are of the snow blower. One posing and one of it working.
You can see the snow coming out of the top there. It comes right from the fan and gets thrown about two hundred feet into the air. The drum rotates and can throw the snow to either side or staight up out of the shoot.We also did some snowmobiling. Last Sunday was just a gorgeous day to be out. Today, not so good. It was raining yesterday and now it is minus ten again. The trails will be frozen and hard as rock. No lubrication for the sliding rails.
Freezing rain tomorrow, and rain for Tuesday may slow things down even more. On this picture shows us having a break and a stretch. That is Tim on the left and Rebecca on the right.
This is an action picture of the other two sleds closing in on me. The weather as I said before was just beautiful. We went about a hundred some odd kilometers. There was lots of traffic on the trail.
We also got stopped by the trailwarden in Winsloe. Him and two policeman were writing tickets out to people that didn't have the proper documentation, re: trailpermits, registration or insurance. We were waved through after checking our stickers. This last picture is the view I like best, a clear groomed trail ahead of me..........
Thanks for visiting, please leave a comment.