It's a Pretty World Out There

It's always a quandry what to do on my Saturday off. There's never any shortage of things to do, I just have to decide which of the zillion things that need doing are going to get done this time around.

My original plan for today was to head down to Estevan (about a hundred miles away) to an auction sale of flooring materials. We have made the decision that the 23 year old carpet has to go and that we're going to replace it with hardwood, but nothing further has been done. As we live approximately 100 to 150 miles from any kind of major retailer, shopping for this kind of purchase isn't that easy. We may well buy from the local lumber yard, but before I spend that kind of money I want to see lots of samples of what there is out there for choices; something a small local business has a hard time providing.

The first look out the windows this morning kind of stalled my plans for travelling - the fog was so thick I couldn't see beyond the garden which is only about 50 metres from the house. Not very good driving conditions. I decided to check on the Internet if this company was liable to have another sale anytime soon - if they are they don't have any mention of it up yet. But, by this time, the sun had broken through the clouds and it was dazzling outside .... maybe I would go after all.

Then again, maybe I wouldn't .... it only made sense to take the truck, just in case there was a fantastic deal on the 350 square feet of flooring we will need for this job, but when I went to get the truck I found it full of fencing equipment and hooked on to a feed mix mill. This time I gave up on the trip. By the time I had everything ready to go the sale would be over. Glen just called to say that the roads were extremely slippery so I guess I made the right decision.

He has been busy this past week working on oil lease sites so the fall work around here has stalled out. He and Jesse did manage to get the calves all vaccinated and the herd all ear tagged, and then moved out on the last of the ungrazed stubble last Monday. That was a big job off his list of things to do, but the barns and corrals need to be cleaned out before the cattle are in for the winter. We're hoping that the cleaners can come this week. The ground isn't frozen yet, but it won't be long now.

So, here I sit with my morning cup of coffee - laundry on the go, a pot of home made soup brewing, and a batch of cookies started. If we're not going to get this flooring down in time for Christmas I better see what I can do about getting some carpets cleaned. The plans for this year's gathering are bigger than most and I think we're going to have quite the houseful between the 23rd and New Year's Day. The carpet better be clean because people will be sitting on it!