Category Archives: Uncategorized

As I outlined in the “Bush Boat” post, everyone loves a hay wagon ride. The kids, however, being kids (or perhaps just being Boyles), wanted a bit more adventure. They said “Grampy, is it OK if we jump off?” I looked at the situation and, several years ago, gave permission to jump off the back.Continue reading “The Running of the Boyles”

About 9 years ago, Beverly Boyle was having a frustrating day with grandkids underfoot and uttered those words that every grandpa dreads to hear: “I bet if you asked grampy he would build a tree-house for you!” Yikes! Now what?!! Further still, Bev was envisioning an ewok village, from Star Wars, with multi-floors and walkwaysContinue reading “Tree House”

We always thought it would be great to have a pontoon “party boat”. But the obvious problem is the slight lack of a lake outside of our back door. The solution is the “bush boat”. Reminiscent of the prairie schooners of the 19th century (covered wagons that went across the prairie like schooners went acrossContinue reading “Bush Boat”

The saskatoons are great this year, an event that happens only about once every five years They don’t do well in dry years, but their biggest enemy, since they bloom in mid-May, is frost. Saskatchewan’s biggest city is named after then little berry (a concept foreign to the Facebook dictionary since it wanted me toContinue reading “Saskatoon Pie”

“… as we dream by the fire” Here we are enjoying the fruits of our woodlot. Manitoba winters are long (and cold). We have coffee every morning and read every night in front of the wood stove, stoked with the firewood from our own woodlot. (First Posted on Facebook in 2016) Back to Boyle ParkContinue reading ““Later on we’ll conspire …”

Soon after we moved here, we joined the Manitoba Woodlot Association. They did a walk-thru and made a number of recommendations. One recommendation was that we should harvest the mature jack pine forest. The recommended approach is to “clear cut” a fairly large section at a time. The reason is to flood the forest floorContinue reading “The Woodlot”

Here is our water well, cleverly hidden by a miniature grain elevator that I had made for this specific purpose (thanks Uncle Al!). Many rural wells have creative covers which serve two purposes: 1) to make them look better; 2) to help prevent them getting run over since they are often in the open. OurContinue reading “The Well”

This old barn has fabulous wood, both structurally and well aged siding. However, it appears to have been re-shingled only once since the original shingles were put on almost 100 years ago. Moisture is causing problems in a couple of areas. So, here we are, a few hours ago (in 2016), adding sheet steel roofing.Continue reading “Renewing the 96 Year-old Barn”

This barn was built in 1920. It is in five distinct sections. The far end (the small door) has a concrete floor, and I suspect it was designed for pigs. The next section (bigger door) has got a raised floor, just like the milking section of the barn where I grew up. The next sectionContinue reading “96 Year-old Barn”

This rose is quite historic. About 20 years ago, Bev dug it up from the garden at the Boyle Homestead near Colgate. I remember that it was at the west end of the garden, and I think that Mom actually acquired it herself (an accomplishment in a yard filled with things acquired by my grandmother).Continue reading “Yellow Rose”