www.michele-denis.com

Home   Archives   Links   Français

January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December

1 to 15 July 2020   16 to 31 July 2020



Wednesday, July 1, 2020


We will be shore fishing near Courval. By the way, Courval had a population of 5 in 2006.
Saskatchewan is very flat around here.


Jeremy was not quite sure of the road to the bridge. He drove in a real muddy road to get to it. Lots of mud.


We are fishing on the river Wood.


After about an hour of fishing, we went to another bridge.


We are fishing under the bridge.
 

Little Gabriel on a big bridge.


Our catches.
     

We only kept on pike, the one from Gabriel.
Jeremy is very good at making fillets with pikes.


Last night, Jeremy repaired the wires on my shifter lever. The arrows indicate where the repairs took place.


I am re-installing the lever and the arrow shows the wire that I will reposition so it does not pinch anymore. It should last a few years.


It is not hard to do, but you have to remember in which order the parts go back on.


The test, the MH is started and the Tow/Haul light is not on.


I turn it on on the shifter lever and the light comes on. All is good!


The only thing lest to do is a test drive to confirm it is really working. I will do that next week when I go and dumped the used water at Wakamow.
Because Jeremy could repair the wires, I just saved over $200 for the part and just imagine the labour cost...


What are we eating? The pike Gabriel caught. It is very good.


A few more photos of our little Natasha.
 


Natasha loves Gabriel and Gabriel loves his little sister.


Kristin is gone play softball in Regina this evening. Jeremy just put Natasha to bed and has a beer on the front porch. Since it is a very hot evening, I go out and have a beer with him.


A great day.



Thursday, July 2, 2020


The day starts with a bike ride for Jeremy and Gabriel.


When Gabriel got back, he helped me remove the weeds from the flower bed. He is pretty good at it.


The before and after photo.
 

I also removed the weeds from the garden.


After, I finished washing the MH.


Having fun.


Kristin bought some rubber pads to put under the pool. Gabriel and Joshua are helping Jeremy put them together to measure the overall size.


Kristin and Natasha.


Grand-maman and Natasha.


Playing with a friend.


Brother and sister.


I think Gabriel is not used to be so busy. He is a little tired.


This is the first time Gabriel feeds his little sister. He is pretty good for the first time.


We are eating our last steaks from Saint-Tite, QC.


It is funny to see how Gabriel is holding his sister. He is all crooked.


Tonight is the first movie night/sleep-over in the MH. Look at the two comedians.
 



Friday, July 3, 2020


Jeremy prepared a good breakfast this morning. Natasha loves looking at us eating. She is mesmerized.
 

Why the big breakfast? We are going to the beach today. We are going to Lovering Lake with some friends.
We drive by the west end of Buffalo Pound Lake.
 

It is a beautiful sunny day. It looks like there are a lot of people all next to each other, but it is the angle of the camera that gives this perspective.
 

The lake is split into two halves. The west side is nice and clear while the east side is green and not very nice.


The kids are having a great time with the crawfish and the minnows.


Nicole and her family are here at the beach. The kids and the adults had a great time.
 
 

Jeremy fed us some hot-dogs for lunch.


We did try to fish, but the water level at the boat launch is too low and the kids got caught in the weeds all the time.


The two partners in crimes.


Jeremy bought a new fish-finder for his boat, more info later on.


Gabriel before bedtime.




Saturday, July 4, 2020


A big day fishing for Jeremy, Kristin and Gabriel. They will be going to Lake Diefenbaker later on.
Michele and I will be looking after Natasha.


Natasha is giving a hand to her dad installing the new fish-finder.
 

Gabriel cannot wait to go. They will be leaving after lunch.


One happy little girl.
   

Time to go fishing.


They got delayed to launch the boat because of the weather.
Once on the water, they had a good time.
 

This is the sky we had at home.


Diefenbaker Lake is a nice lake.
 

It was after 9 pm when they got off the lake. They caught lots of fishes.


Natasha is now in bed. She moves a lot in her sleep.
 

Because it was dark when they came back, they had a flat tire on the trailer.


The four best walleye they caught.


Jeremy is also very good a fillet walleyes.


Our fishermen had a great day on the water.



Sunday, July 5, 2020


Jeremy and Kristin ended up going to bed very late last night, past midnight. They are somewhat tired today.
While they were gone to town for ice-cream, I cut the grass.


Looking after Natasha is a pleasure.


Gabriel must be tired, after coming back from ice-cream, he spent the rest of the afternoon on the sofa. The fishing day must have been too hard on him.


With this hot weather, we spend most of the afternoon on the front porch.
 

Gabriel still loves dinosaurs.
 

Natasha wants to grab the cell phone.


Gabriel all clean after his shower.


What is up with that? Another night in the MH!


It is so nice to be with Jeremy, Kristin, Gabriel and Natasha.



Monday, July 6, 2020


Gabriel lost another tooth last night. The Tooth Fairy came, but Gabriel forgot to check under his pillow! Too funny.


Our Natasha.
 

Gabriel cannot wait to get to the Canex store to get an ice-cream. The end result.
 

In the early afternoon, Natasha is cooling off with her brother in the "boat pool".
 

It is still hot later on, and Daddy gets in the water with his daughter and his son.
 

Jeremy is showing off the ice-auger he bought this winter. He even make it run for Gabriel.
 

Gabriel is using his tools to find some shells in a rock.
 

This is the sunset Michele saw on her way back from Moose Jaw.




Tuesday, July 7, 2020


Kristin and Jeremy left home early this morning. They are going to Nobleford, Alberta. It is the wedding of a friend of Jeremy.
They will come back tomorrow late afternoon.
We have Natasha to ourselves...
 

Gabriel is also with us. Here he is helping us with some cooking.


In a deep conversation at the lunch table.
 

Natasha loves the Arrowroot cookies.


More exercises for the little girl.
 

The two-parters in crimes.


We had a good day with Natasha and Gabriel.


Jeremy and Kristin at the wedding.


Gabriel with his snacks before bedtime.




Wednesday, July 8, 2020


We had an OK night with Natasha and so did Natasha.


One more nap in grand-maman's arm.


She had a big day, time for cookies.


More food...


Some playtime...
 

Some computer time with grand-papa.


Lots of laughters...


Gabriel was playing too fast and he was losing all the time. I explained to him to slow down and he started to win more games.


Look at that face?
 

And those two!
 

A game of Frustration with Natasha trying to play too.


One last nap before Mom and Dad arrive.


Shoot, no photo of Kristin. Gabriel was very happy to see both of them back.




Thursday, July 9, 2020


An easy day at home. Jeremy is back at work today.


Grand-maman with sleeping Natasha.


The three musketeers.




Friday, July 10, 2020


When I got in the house this morning, I told Kristin she could go for a nap. I will look after Natasha. By about 9 am, we all went to the MH to wake up grand-maman.


Natasha all by herself on the big couch.


With breakfast over, Gabriel and Grand-maman went for a bike ride.


What a face!


Grand-maman is ready for Natasha's nap.


When Jeremy got back from work, we were all on the front porch because it is still hot today.


Gabriel is still playing with he big rock with shells in it.
 

After supper, Jeremy and Gabriel went fishing at Wakamow. They only caught crawfishes.
   

The sunset is red and it gives a red tint to everything.
 




Saturday, July 11, 2020


Natasha going crazy.
 


Grand-papa having fun with Natasha.
 


One of the flowers blooming in the front flowerbed.


It is finally time to install the wire cover to hide the HDMI cable for the TV.


Another nice moment with Natasha.


Jeremy, Kristin and Gabriel are gone fishing at a lake about one hour away from home. It is a small reservoir. They are with friends.
 

One of the walleye they caught.
 

They came back home with two nice walleyes.



Sunday, July 12, 2020


We are having brunch at Humpties this morning.
 

The parents and the baby.
 

Gabriel wanted to be like a firefighter this morning.
 

Audrey came by this afternoon. Always a pleasure to see her.


Gabriel and I just before we went to the water park.
 

What a weird way to get yourself dry!




Monday, July 13, 2020


We are on our way to Grassland National park, East Block. This is south of us, right next to the border with the USA.


This is the last town before the Park, Rockglen.


Once through the town, we still have another 50 km to travel before we get to the Park.


The travellers.


This is the view Gabriel and Grand-maman have from the sofa. They are wearing seat belts.
 

We leave the paved road behind us and we have about 12 km of gravel to do. It is so dry that the dust is unreal. Michele is driving the car while we are driving the MH on gravel. The car would be a real mess if towed behind the MH.
 

So, after the 12 km of gravel, by the way, it was a nice gravel road. We arrive at grassland National Park, East Block.
 

We have to drive down a valley to Rock Creek Campground.
 

After we got registered and all installed, we went for a walk around the campground.


Site #3, our home for the next week. we have electricity (50 amps) but no sewer or water at the site. They do have a very nice dump station close by.


We are exploring the campground/common area. The Rock Creek does flow at the bottom of the valley. A boardwalk/bridge takes us to the other side.
 

The common area is closed because of the COVID. The swallows don't seem to care!
 

Superman!


It is a hamburger night. I did not use the BBQ because of the wind. It is blowing pretty hard right now (55 km/h).
 

Gabriel and I went for a short hike in the campground to digest our nice burgers.


This is the first time I see this kind of setup.


Michele, Gabriel and I cannot wait to do some hiking.
Just before I went to bed, because it was on the cool side in the MH, I decided to turn on the electric fireplace for a few minutes. Surprise! I see smoke and smell burning wires. I wake up Michele and we both take the electric fireplace outside for the night. I did get a little worried about a real fire, but it was just for safety that we took the fireplace outside. I will have a look at it tomorrow, maybe...



Tuesday, July 14, 2020


The first hike we do is the Creek to Peak Trail. A one-way trail of 750 m long. We will gain about 70 m. The MH in the distance.


It is a very nice trail, the grass is cut, you cannot get lost. The climbing is not hard at all.
 

All along the trail, you have a small information board indicating the many plants in the area. Gabriel loves walking trails.
 

At the top, we can see the campground and the valley area. The MH is the black dot.


At the top, you have two "Red Chairs". Park Canada had the idea to add red chairs lookout area for the enjoyment of hikers. They are very comfortable. They are anchored in the ground to keep them from blowing off in the wilderness because of the strong winds southern Saskatchewan has. Sometimes over 100 km/h. What a view!
 

We came back on the same trail we used to go up. Next to the trail, we saw an old landslide, we decided to check for fossils. Michele is looking at us from a distance.
 

We saw a lot of flowers in the valley.


After we got back, we played many games of "Connect Four" and Gabriel is pretty good at it.


After a good lunch, we hiked the Rock Creek Trail.


This is the Rock Creek. Believe it or not, this water will find its way to the Gulf of Mexico. It will first travel in the Missouri River and then in the Mississippi River. Unbelievable.


We saw no indication bout this petrified tree, still interesting to see and touch.
 

It is another trail that the grass is cut. This trail is a loop.
 

Another trail, where is it going? Who made it? Oh, if the land could talk!


Gabriel found a hole.
I had to have a look too!


The three musketeers.


Gabriel is impressed by the sheer size of the view.


A different view of the valley.


Getting closer to the campground. Can you see the MH?


A little later in the afternoon, we went to a different area where we saw some more landslides to look for dinosaur bones.


Another walk in the campground after supper.


We walked a total of 5.3 km today. Gabriel is a little tired.


We had a few drops of rain in the evening.


I forgot, this morning we saw elks in the distance. We saw them with the binoculars.



Wednesday, July 15, 2020


Today we are driving the "Badlands Parkway". This is what Park Canada says about it.
"The Parkway is an 11 km, single lane, paved road designed for two-way traffic. It rises and falls along an escarpment, much of it a historic trail, with westward views across a wild prairie expanse. Along the way, there are 20 pull-offs placed throughout to allow oncoming traffic to pass. Six unique viewpoints overlooking the grasslands and badlands of Rock Creek highlight special features of this part of the park."
 

On Tuesday, we did the "Creek to Peak Trail" and it took us to this place.


The viewpoints do not all have information panels yet. The COVID kind of put a stop to development. Remember, we are not at the top of a mountain, but just on the prairies and looking down the valley.


Our next viewpoint is the Crackerjack. We heard from an official source that a dinosaur bone was located in the area.


From the viewpoint. The picture does not do justice to the actual view we see.


The hikers.


Down in the valley we go. After a few hundred meters we stumbled right on the dinosaur bone!
Later we learned it was a humerus from, we cannot remember the name of it. Still impressive to see in the wild.

 

The Badlands, it is beautiful.


We saw a lot of cactus and many of them are in flower.


The Badlands are full of life, animal and vegetable.


Some of the look-out points we stopped along the way.
 


Human tracks!


So beautiful.


Two happy peoples.
 

More...
 
 

More Red Chairs.
 

Just enjoying the place.
 
 
 


One of the few places we saw small forests.

 


In some areas, the wind was blowing so hard...


A prairie dog on the road, can you see him?


Here he is.


This is one weird-looking flower.
 

This was a day full of discoveries for all of us.
The champ!


This is one tired little boy.


Until next time.

Life is good...




Document made with KompoZer
Province Visitée  États visités
© COPYRIGHT 2020 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED MICHELE-DENIS.COM

Profile for DM1960