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Up bright and early, more because of the time difference than anything else. We decided to go and try Deer Valley today. It was colder than yesterday but a lot less wind and only a few specs of snow. Deer Valley is a wapping 3 miles away from the hotel so we were on the slopes early again.

Deer Valley tries to be a bit more upmarket than Park City. They have gone the extra mile with the facilities and the food available on the mountain. Although some of the lifts could do with updating as they were sooo slow. We managed to ski on all 4 of the mountains and the snow was pretty good until the afternoon at the lower levels where it was a bit slushy. We quit skiing at about 3pm and saw a number of little spills on the last run down. in fact rob saw one poor guy ski right of the edge, luckily there were some small trees that stopped him going too far down the side.

Todays stats – 20 runs 23.5 miles of downhill and top speed on 30.8 ( higher for Rob but phone only tracks me)

Up to the Main Street for dinner at the local brew pub, where we also sampled some of their beer. Followed by a walk to the Java Cow for a homemade ice cream.I had a wowie cowie and Rob had pralines and cream. Great end to a good day

So the good news was that there was snow during the night the not so good news was it was still snowing when we got up. Not enough to stop us skiing though.

We were on the first lift as soon as they started. There was a lot of high winds when we go to the top of the lifts but apart from that the conditions were pretty good – We skied until noon and then had a quick pit stop to have some chilli before hitting the slopes again.

We really only had one bad run – the bottom of the town trail was very slushy. We finished the day after 18 runs – 23 miles of skiing and top speeds of over 30 mph ( iPhone app) Then back to the hotel. We decided to go to Fuego again and this time we both had pasta.

Saturday we were up early and off to the airport. Flying Delta to Salt Lake City, very uneventful trip until we were within view of Salt Lake ….. Wow what a vista. It was a first visit to the area for both of us so a very pleasant surprise. Also we were greeted by blue skies and 58degrees.

Picked up the rental car and drove out to Park City, very easy trip and less than a 30 minute drive. Arrived at the hotel too early to check in so went up into the town on the free bus service. Stopped at the ski resort on the way so we could get Sundays lift tickets then walked on into the main Town.

The town is lovely – lots of old buildings and some great photo galleries. The best of which was Michael Fateli, his landscape photos were incredible. Although well out of our price bracket.

Back to the hotel to check in then out for dinner – very nice Italian restaurant called Fuego was just around the corner. The chicken salad I had was really great and the Pizza that Rob had was delicious. Can’t wait to get out on the slopes tomorrow

Rob says its just me that spoils them, here they are eating the cooked Oatmeal (porridge) that I made for them this morning.

But wait who is this hand feeding one of the girls – oh yes it is, its Mr Rob !

 

On Saturday we were up bright and early as we had to tend to our animals and then be over in Bremen by 8am. WakeRobin Farm had invited us to a vine planting. Being the warm popular people that they are, there was nearly a 100 people there. The day started with muffins, bagels and really great coffee (more about that later). We were then presented with a short history of vine growing in the region.

Before we were sent out into the fields to work we had a ancient Hebrew blessing of the vine – then out into the fields to be shown the correct way to plant them. Trillium (the name the vineyards will be called) had already got over 2 acres of pre drilled holes ready for us to plant into. The extension agent (Mr Rob will discuss who that is) then showed us the correct method of planting. Bruce and Karen planted the first vine and then we went off to plant our allotted area. People were working so hard the full 2 acres was done by 11.30.

 

 

I went over to introduce myself to their Alpacas and one of them, Turk, is just a doll. He was more than happy to come over to the fence and have his neck rubbed. Karen and Bruce also have St Bernard guardian dogs in with the pacas and they were quick to come over to the fence just to make sure that Turk was not in any danger.

I got talking to a really fun couple from NE Georgia, they trade as Walnut Knoll Farm. They have 88 pacas !! and they also have a coffee roasting business call the Alpaca Bean company. You can buy the beans on line and they are so good that even Mr Rob, the infamous tea drinker, liked it.

We had a fab catered lunch and then there were door prizes – so many that nearly everyone got something, I picked this neat gadget for aerating, poring and storing wine and when Rob won he picked this lovely Alpaca scarf.

 

The riding ring (oval) will make a great veg garden. It’s enclosed and, most importantly, it’s about the only flat piece of land on the property. As we don’t plan to have a horse. It makes sense to utilise the space for something useful. It could always be returned to it’s former use if required.

Right in the centre is an open sided shelter with a good roof. I plan to use one half as a chicken coop and the other half as a garden shed/store/potting area. Raised beds will provide the growing space.

I took the first steps today. We now have two raised beds built and I’m in the process of filling them from the alpaca poop compost heap. It looks really good. Just to be sure, I’ll take a sample down to the agricultural extension office to have it analysed.

 

 

 

Friday I met my good friend Robyn at the Gwinnett center in Duluth. It was the annual sewing expo for Georgia and we had planned this outing since early January.

It’s great to have a kindred spirit so close to home so that I can have company for these things. We spent some of our time looking at the quilts, although I have to say, even though they were lovely there really was not very many of them. There was however a lot of vendors 🙂

I had promised myself that I would not buy any fabric, i mean it’s not as if I am likely to run short anytime soon. However I still managed to find a few things that caught my eye.

 

We decided to move the chicken coop down to the horse ring. Moving the actual coop was the easy part getting the chickens down there proved to be more of a challenge. First of all we tried herding them down there with scenes reminiscent of Monty Python sketch and even resulting in an all out body splat by Rob.

I moved on to plan B, which was to lay a trail of oats across the grass and on down into the horse ring. It took a few hours but they all wandered down there and we were able to acquaint  them with their new home. They certainly look happy enough there.

Good job we moved the chickens yesterday (Miss Lynne will say more). First thing this morning we had a call from the fertilizer company who wanted to deliver and spread today. Now that’s service. I only put in my order yesterday and they explained that deliveries are very weather and location dependent and that we were looking at a three week window. Anyhow, our luck was in and they wanted to deliver and spread before the rain comes in tonight. …….. and the truck was just leaving the depot.

The soil analysis recommended lime at a rate of 2.5 tons per acre so I was very relieved to find a company that would deliver and spread. The other fertilizer needs a more delicate application though and I’ll have to spread that myself. The driver did a masterful job getting his truck around our relatively small paddocks.

 

 

 

This weekend I had a nice surprise in the post from one on my NY Quilty friends. Here it is, a book to teach us to speak properly. We have been giggling most of the weekend as we read through it. We now know we live in Etlaanta!

And going in the post today will be a belated birthday present for my sister. Hope she likes it, I took a basic pattern and me it more to her style, I hope.