Happy New Year 2009!

Happy New Year to everyone.

I know that it is traditionally a time that everyone makes resolutions for the coming year. So here's my resolutions:

• My family will once again be living under the same roof.
• I will get my dogs out to more agility competitions.
• I will start riding (my) horses on a regular basis.

I wish everyone a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2009!

Families apart at Christmas

There is not much worse than being apart from your loved ones on Christmas. To all those families that are apart, especially our Canadian military families with their loved ones in Afganistan, may you soon be safely home and together.

To my husband, who is overseas: I miss you and wish you were here. Merry Christmas from the furkids and I. We'll see you soon.

West Coast snow

I've been told, and it's being reported on the news, that this is the most snow this area of the West Coast has received since 1996. Go figure, it happens when I move out; hoping to have my first green Christmas. I guess the West Coast is just trying to make sure that I don't feel homesick! :-) I am receiving a lot of comments about bringing the prairie winter with me! I'm sure everyone will be wishing for the snow when the rain starts again (first they wish for snow, and now they wish for rain! LOL!).

A West Coast morning

The dogs wrestling in the snow

The horses enjoy the snow

And even more snow (there's over 24" now)

And it keeps coming down in really big flakes (can you see the water?)

But it sure does look pretty. A view across the water:

Running to the finish line!

Well time is running down as the end of semester nears. The big final projects are due within the next 24 - 48 hours. I'm not panicking... Yet. I still have 24 hours to get the stupid button to make a sound in my Flash project. Oh the music works, and I finally got the buttons working as movie clips (the only way that they would work) but can I get a) the buttons to work, AND b) have a sound effect with the button action that doesn't sound like repetitive machine gun fire? Nooooooo. Sigh. Oh well, maybe I'll have a eureka moment tomorrow.

As for the website design, well I have 48 hours to get that finished... Let's hope the rollover buttons on that project don't cause me as much grief!

Winter blahs? I don't think so!

I might be a prairie girl, but I've never really enjoyed the prairie winters. Granted, Calgary winters weren't too bad so long as you aren't one of those individuals that get "Chinook Headaches". I did, but having temperatures on the plus side in winter sure makes the winters shorter. Manitoba winters, on the other hand, have no appeal to me. Sure everyone says that they have the most sunshine compared to anywhere in the country during the winter. But, and this is a huge, BUT... It is so cold, that you can only enjoy the sunshine from indoors. Might as well not have any sunshine at all for the amount you can enjoy it.

So this year, I'm spending the winter on the West Coast. Okay, not a lot of sunshine but you can go OUTSIDE! Put on your raincoat, which I have to say, I haven't really needed a whole lot yet and go out. It's fabulous! If you miss the sun, get a "happy lamp" and take some Vit D. But the point is you can go outside, don't have to worry about slipping on ice, throwing your back out trying to shovel the snow, cursing when you forget to plug in your car the night before, etc. It's heaven!

And to top it off, the horses are loving it out here. Dear primadonna, Spike, is finally not cold! In fact, I've been feeding her like she was back in MB and to get the weight back on her after weaning her colt and I suddenly have found myself with a chubby horse! I was shocked; the only time I have ever seen her chubby was when she was 9 - 11 months preggers! So she's actually, gasp!, going on a diet! I'm flabbergasted.

The other joy of a West Coast winter is that it has given me the opportunity to get back into doing agility whilst the other half is still working overseas. OneX and I are taking agility classes with a lovely woman and we're having a blast! I know that Fiona of Creekside will be thrilled to hear that we're back into the swing of things, and who knows, we may even find some sheep to chase!