If summer is not yet sure it has arrived in the mountains, it is safe to say it is coming along well in the foothills.

And, with summer comes some inevitabilities.

Grass, and mosquitoes! They have not really arrived yet in the mountains - as you may well guess looking at the snow in the previous post, so I was a not ready for the small swarm that greeted me when a arrived at my Little house on the prairie.

I had made a run into the city and came back with a shiny new - Tractor!














Well, at least a teeny little one with a mower under it. Thanks to Canadian Tire for using the forklift to drop it shipping crate and all into the back of my pickup. The grass had been winning it's battles with me for the last couple of years, but 'No more'! For the first time, I was able to cut all the grass, without even breaking a sweat! Okay, so I lost a little blood to sustain the horde of attackers.
Once that was done, I started some real 'farming' and started to harrow the last decade's accumulation of gopher mounds that threaten the integrity and warranty of the mighty tractor.














And if that wasn't enough ........................................?


Then with unaccustomed dedication to achievment, I set about closing in the area under the rear deck - to provide a parking spot for the mighty agricultural implement. I was not able to finish the project this time, but I impressed myself with not making it a total mess.

Harley took care of mouse control for the project and I survived the aerial assault of the blood sucker air force with a combination of a benevolent wind, long sleeves, and copious quantities of chemical deterrents.

Strangely (though I am not complaining), I did not see a single gopher this time, even though this is prime season for them. Perhaps they have all moved to Saskatchewan, which I have heard is overrun by the little terrors?

Or maybe the hawks, owls, and coyotes have been busy?














There are many signs of progress in our little neighbourhood the last while. Last visit, new decking was applied to our bridge. Today, the grader was there doing a bang-up job of smoothing the roads, and a trencher was laying cable to our new, soon-to-be installed remote controlled entry gate. I'm not yet sure if we will have to use 'garage door' type remotes, or punch a combination at roadside?

I know there hasn't been any Mexican beach pictures for a while, but would you be satisfied with a couple of shots of my neighbors houses?

















I'm back to slaving away at work, where the prime focus seems to be on picking little hobos off the train and trying to return them to their mother. Three little black bear cubs left home and caught a freight into British Columbia last week, riding on a grain car where they had been feeding on spilled grain. The first homecoming worked out OK, but I understand they did it again -guess they thought it was fun. That will end when they find themselves on a night train west and end up in Kamloops or Chilliwack, where no one knows their mother (Bear #6 -green tag), or where they came from.

Stay tuned, huh?