The deer pasture makeover

 This is from last week when Don Mann Excavating were starting on the makeover of the deer pasture into a park as per the Sannich Parks plans.  They had the Plan man from the Parks department out there with his plans spread out to let the Mann man know what bushes to remove, etc. 

After they scraped off the blackberry bushes and other shrubs that did not belong in the park, they dug a curvey trench about a foot deep and 6 feet wide and filled it with drain rock.

The new path was then packed with the great roller machine and gravel added to the top layer.

This machine shook the whole house when it was running to pack the path.  Mann excavating finished last week and this week the Park people have been in with 3 trucks and a couple of digging machines.  They did more clean up of the shurubs and trees that are going to be kept.  I did not get pictures!  They have a circular form built on one end of the path.  I think they mean to fill this circle with red bricks as they have done at the entry to the park on the other end of Grange... just a block up from our place.  I see that they have also removed some concrete on Gerda and have cleaned up the edges of what used to be a street.  This part of the path now joins to the deer pasture and goes on into the park.
I was not seeing any deer the last few months in the pasture.  In talking with some neighbours they told me that there had been a cougar in the park.  And yes, that reminded me of the experience of last autumn when Angie and I were going to go through the park to the Crooked Goose for lunch, and encountered a young girl who was babysitting a couple young children.  She told us that a cougar had crossed the path while she was walking!  We also have eagles in the park and every year recently I have seen the new ones out taking flight training.  I guess the wildlife is doing its natural cycle. 

This past week I have been making soups, spaghetti sauces, prepared vegetable dishes, cabbage rolls, and chicken stock, etc.  Perhaps it is just the time for harvest and this is something that is an inherited  behavioral trait.  I have a few more soups to make up.  So, when I am finished I will have a good selection of soups for the winter.  I started doing this last year because we wanted to cut back on our salt intake.  The soups from the grocery stores were just too full of salt and who knows what else.  I find I enjoy this and it makes it a lot easier to get lunch on the table or to have an entre or vegetable ready for our supper.   I was going to add recipes, but anyone can find whatever they need on the internet.