Hawaiian Cruise

We have not posted for some time as we have been on a cruise of the Hawaiian Islands & out to Fanning Island. We had a fabulous time with no glitches or illness. Murray took some motion sickness pills as a precaution and I even had to take a few but all was well. We took many excursions off the ship and did some fantastic snorkelling, whale watching (saw some huge fins & baby whales breeching), and even took a helicopter ride over the cliffs of Kawai.

We were part of 200 "Spirit of the West" vacationers on the cruise who were from western Canada and had been or were involved in agriculture in some way.

Murray at Parker Ranch

One of the highlites of being part of this group was a trip to the Parker Ranch on the big Island. Here we were treated to a lunch and a presentation by the ranch boss as well as touring the museum and Visitor center.

Elaine was amazed by the size of the paper garbage bags on the cruise ship!

On the other side of the Big Island our friend Dale Trefz took us down the Waipio Valley where only 4-wheel drive vehicles are permitted. There are only a few places where vehicles can pass.

Looking down over Waipio beach.

4-wheelin' down the river at the bottom. They use the river beds as roads as they are rock not muddy as we know them.

We found the perfect retirement property down there where we could grow taro and make poi!

The vegetation is so lush and as you can see the leaves are HUGE!

At the bottom of the valley.

On Kaui we went tubing down an irrigation ditch dug by hand in the 1870's. Some of the ditch was through tunnels hence the helmet & lamps.

Elaine at top left at the end of the ride.

One of our stops after the tube ride.

If you can't read the sign this one is at Kona on the big Island and says it is the swim start and run finish of the Ironman Triathalon world championship.

We enjoyed all the fruit and had a picnic on the beach with fruit purchased from the market.











Murray taking a plunge into one of the pools when we had a hike one day.

We took a horseback ride along the beach & up into some of the ranch country at Kawai.

Our cruise went out to Fanning Island (a 2 day trip at sea from Hawaii, one way) where we got to experience more primitive culture but beautiful beaches.

The palm trees grew right out over the beach.

Of course everytime you took their picture you were expected to give a donation. Notice the size of the bucket!

Back at Kona touring the grounds at the Hilton. We were getting a little wet by the spray from the falls as it was a windy day.

At Honolulu we went to Pearl Harbor.

Hiking down to the beach with our frends Patsy & Dale who live at Waimea. We enjoyed spending 4 days with them at the end of our cruise.

At Honolulu we met up for dinner with Elaine's friend Ruby & her friend Don from Saskatoon.

We arrived home to -40 C temps with windchills below -50! Needless to say it was quite a shock to the system. Thankfully Patricia met us at the airport with a warm car so we did not have to dig out of Park & Jet. This was the scene on our return home - snow and brrrrrrrrrrrrr.

It is good to be home but sure could use some warmer temps.

We have had a very Merry Christmas so far. Here is our official Christmas picture! We were glad Murray's dad was in the photo as we had to take him to emergency Christmas Eve. Hopefully he is on the mend now.

Here is the star of the show!
We have enjoyed every minute with little Nicholas.

Tomorrow we are off to Red Deer for the weekend then everyone goes home on Sunday.

This afternoon the men had a winter picnic for lunch down at the bison corral where they were weaning bison calves. With the short days they wanted to maximize all the daylight they could. It was a beautiful day with highs near the freezing mark. And don't worry Yan, there will be more to do next week!

Murray, his Dad & Steven Kerr

On Sunday we were privileged to go on an old fashioned sleigh ride. Glad we had enough snow to use the sleigh! It was the Christmas party for the Victim Services Advocates I am a volunteer for. Murray & I are in about the middle of the group at the back.

Last evening we attended the Hemaruka Community Christmas supper . Afterward Angie & I led some carol singing until Santa arrived!
I even got to sit on his knee!

To round out the evening some people had a game of "disking". It is similar to floor curling.

Young & old get involved!

Although I have no pics I do have an experience to tell about my day yesterday. I was on my way home from Red Deer and about 4:00 PM as I was at about at Halkirk I got a call from the Victim Services co-ordinator saying there were 2 prairie fires out of control near Castor & could I help with giving out food, etc to the firefighters & others involved. (The wind was gale force, like what the west coast had a day earlier). I said sure, so met them at the junction of highways #12 and # 36 and we went south to where the fire had jumped #36 and where the command post was set up. This is a fire deptmnt truck that has a room in the front where all communications go through a co-ordinator and all directions are given. In the back is a long room with a bench down the side and where we set up the food. This was a first for me so I was learning along the way.
Altough traffic was shut down in both directions for about 6-8 hours some truckers tried to snake through but were pulled over and we fed some of them as well. The nearby Suncrest Hutterite colony provided food as well as the hospital and neighbors. We had heaps.
Earlier that morning there was a fire north of Castor in the Battle River valley so the firefighters and water trucks were there when they got the call of the one south. (Iheard this one started by the wind fanning an old brushpile). By the time they got to the south one it was well advanced and jumped the highway and totally burned around a farm house. The Lord had his hand on that house as all bales, corrals, outbuildings, machinery, pumphouse, etc. as well as most of the shelterbelt went up in smoke. It was like an island in a sea of black.
Some of the VSU (victim service unit) volunteers sat with the family trying to console them & get them to evacuate, some went with RCMP to warn other farmsteads and a couple of us gave out coffee & food. It was a scene I have only seen in the movies and unfortunately this was real, with a sea of flashing lights, acrid smoke and black faced firemen & women. Some of these guys (& fire gals)had been out since 10:00 A.M and when I left at 11:30 PM some had gone back to the north where the fire had flared up again & others were still dousing hotspots and cutting trees in the shelterbelt. Units from Castor, Hanna, Stettler, Byemoor, Halkirk and Coronation were there as well as RCMP from as far away as Red Deer and the Calgary news was reporting on the state of emergency in the county of Paintearth.
The poor family we were with finally had power restored but had no water as the pumphouse had burned as well as waterlines had either melted or been damaged by trucks. Their cattle were hopefully out there wandering around somewhere but 2 horses in the corral were feared dead. Another family nearby had show horses they were trying to round up in the dark so they could be evacuated.
During the course of the windy day there were other fires in the area but none as bad. Coming home from Consort that afternoon Murray spotted a fire that had just started by a gas flare at a battery site south of us on #886. He rushed home for the water truck and others arrived and it did not get far.
It is hard to believe that in this day of modern communications and equipment things could get so out of hand but as witnessed in Kelowna and California, we are never safe.
We are certainly seeing "the day approaching". We are only here to spread His love and kindness until then.

Unusual

A couple mornings ago this deer was discovered along the road near our place. This unfortunate young buck had managed to tangle both right legs in all 6 wires of our fence. He must have not cleared the wires then given himself an extra push with his free legs and managed to go all the way around at least once! Poor thing.