spring flowers and good food

[Darren8306]

I have a bunch of hair-on sealhide, and a ready source of caribou (all I can tan, pretty much) but haven't found a way, that I like, to include it in leatherwork. Be cool to see how you do with it.

[Handstitched]

@chuck123wapati as i am typing, I can see and hear a combine harvesting canola on the other side of my neighbours property. The whine of the turbo is quite audible its a ' New Holland ' I  think . They've  just turned the massive spot lights on, it's getting dark now. There's  already been  a few B double semis full of canola drive past my house . Quite  a sight to see at this time of year  

The harvesting  wont be finished until later tonight.

 Needless to say, I only use canola oil in all of my cooking 👍 

HS

[Darren8306]

Yesterday, I was invited to run a short trail around my house. I call it the Fitsters Trail, since two very athletic sisters were the first to show it to me. It's not usable in warmer weather due to deep puddles, but now things are frozen!

I only got the 4 lovely kilometers yesterday (with one of the sisters) but today I'm thinking I'll go around there again, and run the airport fence line all the way to the road.

I've really missed winter (not to mention those sisters...been almost a year) Pic somewhat related. Ice road crossing back when we still had the 'Robertson Headframe' in our skyline.

[chuck123wapati]

23 hours ago, Handstitched said:

@chuck123wapati as i am typing, I can see and hear a combine harvesting canola on the other side of my neighbours property. The whine of the turbo is quite audible its a ' New Holland ' I  think . They've  just turned the massive spot lights on, it's getting dark now. There's  already been  a few B double semis full of canola drive past my house . Quite  a sight to see at this time of year  

The harvesting  wont be finished until later tonight.

 Needless to say, I only use canola oil in all of my cooking 👍 

HS

it must be nice to live in a good region for farming, that's the one thing I really enjoy, but the climate here makes you work for it lol. I have to get my greenhouse back in order. I have left it go and now the roof leaks terribly. 

 I am heading up to the mountains again this morning to do some foraging and some fishing. It will be the last time this year before the snow gets too deep to go. Hopefully, I can get a few more large trout for smoking and some decent wood for making a bow, I have decided that's my winter project for the year. I'm going to try some wild woods first, then if that doesn't work, I'll buy some lol. We get pretty much snowed into town and need to get our shit together for the winter months or they can get looong and really boring.

 

Wishing you and your pop the best!! 

 

Chuck

[chuck123wapati]

20 hours ago, Darren8306 said:

Yesterday, I was invited to run a short trail around my house. I call it the Fitsters Trail, since two very athletic sisters were the first to show it to me. It's not usable in warmer weather due to deep puddles, but now things are frozen!

I only got the 4 lovely kilometers yesterday (with one of the sisters) but today I'm thinking I'll go around there again, and run the airport fence line all the way to the road.

I've really missed winter (not to mention those sisters...been almost a year) Pic somewhat related. Ice road crossing back when we still had the 'Robertson Headframe' in our skyline.

I miss winter for about a month lol, the other five months are not much fun here. We get a lot of wind and blowing ground blizzards. 

[Darren8306]

4 hours ago, chuck123wapati said:

. We get pretty much snowed into town and need to get our shit together for the winter months or they can get looong and really boring.

It's kind of the opposite here. I have a trail network through and around town that I like running. It's sled trails, mixed with city trails. The winter arriving opens up SO much more trail. Every lake can be crossed, all the swamps are runnable. Even Truck Lake (where the trucking company stages their ice road loads) can be crossed, and it's fun to see the b-trains stretching the ice down, as they idle on the ice surface.

 

For the last week or two, I've been avoiding bringing my dog on runs, because while good-looking, Ethyl isn't smart about ice, and would fall through somewhere. She doesn't mind being wet, but dogs can fall through in dangerous places. I know a few people who have lost dogs that way.

 

Anyway, the ice is pretty much in now, at least around the edges. I'll wait til I see trucks rolling across the big lake, but for now, all my alternate trails are open!

 

I may not describe it well enough. I strongly suggest joining me for a long run, sometime between late December and April.

 

Headed out to the craft sales today. Going to look at it with an eye to possibly starting with that kind of venue myself. Wish me luck!

Pic from years ago. Those sealhide overmitts are still in service as running mitts. Their 'patina' is nearly progressed enough to call it rot, but I still like them.

[chuck123wapati]

19 hours ago, Darren8306 said:

It's kind of the opposite here. I have a trail network through and around town that I like running. It's sled trails, mixed with city trails. The winter arriving opens up SO much more trail. Every lake can be crossed, all the swamps are runnable. Even Truck Lake (where the trucking company stages their ice road loads) can be crossed, and it's fun to see the b-trains stretching the ice down, as they idle on the ice surface.

 

For the last week or two, I've been avoiding bringing my dog on runs, because while good-looking, Ethyl isn't smart about ice, and would fall through somewhere. She doesn't mind being wet, but dogs can fall through in dangerous places. I know a few people who have lost dogs that way.

 

Anyway, the ice is pretty much in now, at least around the edges. I'll wait til I see trucks rolling across the big lake, but for now, all my alternate trails are open!

 

I may not describe it well enough. I strongly suggest joining me for a long run, sometime between late December and April.

 

Headed out to the craft sales today. Going to look at it with an eye to possibly starting with that kind of venue myself. Wish me luck!

Pic from years ago. Those sealhide overmitts are still in service as running mitts. Their 'patina' is nearly progressed enough to call it rot, but I still like them.

My wife and I are walkers, lol we try for at least a mile a day but running is not my thing I was a sprinter in high school and never really got into long-distance running. Now biking, hiking, and skiing are more my style of long-distance exercise. There's nothing more mentally relaxing than a good, quiet walk, or in your case, a run. You live in an awesome place for winter recreation, and i envy you.  I would indeed wear out a set of x-country skis there.  Altitude here is 6800+ above sea level, so the winter weather is much diferent than at sea level, it's very extreme and can change in minutes sometimes. Ground blizzards are a real thing. They are made by hard  driving winds blowing snow that only get about 10 feet above the ground, but everything under that is in a total white out and a person can get disoriented and lost in minutes.

 

[Darren8306]

Yeah, I am more surprised than anyone that I'm a runner lol. Maybe I should say jogger though, to be more honest. Three came running with me yesterday at 2. There wasn't one of them I can't beat in a footrace without cheating lol

I needed cardio a few years ago, and on the treadmill, my heart rate wasn't getting high enough for my goals, so I reluctantly started running. Became unreasonably affectionate toward it. Before, I would have said (DID say) that runners look like they are in pain every time they run.

Anyway, winter is a treat here. I used to live on the East Coast, and Ontario. Both of those have a much more brutal, intolerable cold. Here, the temp drops, then it's 'cold' (-20C and below) until spring. I call it 'poetically cold', since it sounds cold, looks cold on the thermostat, but really office workers will still take off a mitten and shake hands out in the street. 

I do try to xski now and then, but honestly I'm a bit lazy. It's easy to step into my runners, and go jog around trails for an hour. For skiing, I have to add the skis, and usually drive somewhere appropriate. I just so rarely bother. Also, I can run around Frame Lake faster than I can ski around. I don't think I'm a particularly fast runner, so I must be an abysmal skier. Actually, I can't really ski without going hard. Any time I ski I am soaked in sweat and exhausted, whereas with jogging I can moderate my effort better, and am more at ease.

On a random leather note, I ended up with a bunch of chrome-tanned leather bits, and don't really enjoy that stuff. Have you, or other posters, got a simple thing a novice can try making? I enjoy your work, @chuck123wapati, and if you have a design to share, I wouldn't mind having a go. I've thought about using the big piece of weathered bison for a camera bag, but that's a complex and large project. I'm not even sure how to approach that. Got some latigo, couple smaller pieces of 'bag leather' etc.