Tiger and Lily leave

 This last week has been all about family and kittens.  

My sister and her husband flew in on Monday and we had an excellent visit with them.

Downtown Sylvan Lake

 Of course, they loved the kittens and the kittens didn't take long to take to them. 

There's not a lot to do here on the farm to entertain visitors (other than the kittens and horses) so we went to the lake one afternoon and had lunch in town, but other than that it was a nice relaxing visit with lots of catching up and Ted getting to know the brother in law- and showing him how to run the big tractor. 

I think he quite enjoyed that. He's no stranger to machines though, his business is custom log homes and he has done projects all over the world- amazing beautiful work. Check out his portfolio here.

The kittens each had a little carrier for the flight but they chose to cuddle up in the same one.

 We were too busy visiting for me to take a lot of photos of them! We totally enjoyed their visit and hope to make it an annual event- maybe we can go to the coast to see them at some point. (Driving, not flying!) It's only an hour flight which worked well for the kittens travelling. They are now enjoying their new home and new toys after being cooped up in my mud room for a couple weeks. 

A few hours after they left, I could see a rather ominous looking cloud- the color was off as all the other clouds were white. 

Sure enough, there is a new fire in the mountains to the west at a place called Pepper Lake. Human caused. The cloud dissipated  into a low layer of smoke. It is quite a ways away from us but the smoke smell is strong. A water bomber just flew over us, likely headed for Sylvan Lake for a load. 

So as we head into August, traditionally the hottest month, I expect it to be smoky and what I call stupid hot. The bush is closed down, thank goodness. It's so tinder dry here and with hot winds blowing I am always concerned about the possibility of even grass fires.