Deer Hunting in Idaho!

 

 

A Happy Announcement - December 24th, 2007

Something happened exactly one month ago, on the Eve of Christmas, which I have not blogged about due to a rather full life. But, it is most certainly worthy of note. It all started about two in the afternoon, when my favorite person, a most beautiful, wonderful, godly, cheerful, delightful, pleasant, funny, cute, adorable, intelligent, classically educated, (and did I mention beautiful?) girl came over to spend "a few hours" with me. We went four-wheeling. It was below freezing, a bit windy. We four-wheelered right onto the top of the big "wheat dunes" (now tilled, frozen, and covered in snow). The day was absolutely magnificent. The sun was shining through the clouds in long bright rays towards the South, and Moscow Mountain was looking a blue-ish, grayish colour which made it look like it was a painting rather than real life, except for the vividness of the colours. The snow was wisping over the hills all around us.

After about an hour of that, we returned onto our land. I told Lydia that we could park on the flatter part, out near Mr. Merkles old truck, and take a walk. We arrived there and got off. We started walking in the direction of our house, and I commented to Lydia, "look at that rock, I don't remember that being there..." to the side of the path in front of us lay a large, 400 lb block of solid stone. We had been talking, quite "randomly," about how nice European houses were all made of stone, and how that was nice. "Now that's the kind of stone I want for the cornerstone of my house one day," I told Lydia, trying to sound off-hand. We walked towards it, and I stopped in front of it. I was fumbling with something in my pocket. Then Lydia let go of my arm, and went and looked on the other side of the stone. She had her back to me as she did this. On the other side of the stone was written "The Cornerstone of the Future home of Daniel and Lydia Foucachon - December 2007 - Psalm 128." She looked at it a bit, and turned around. I was on one knee, and was holding a ring. She said yes!

We were out there probably about an hour, and it was really cold! But I had a provision for this. Sitting on the edge of our land, in all its glory, sat The Indefatigable, Mr. Merkles old Ford 72 pickup truck. In the truck were blankets, two candles, my camera (had to have some pictures), and hot chocolate, which we completely forgot about.

After spending some time getting warmer in the truck, we headed back in the four-wheeler. My parents were waiting for us, so we got our first round of congratulations which, thanks to Valerie filming, was filmed. It has now been a month, and a wonderful month it has been! I didn't think it possible, but I love Lydia more every day! Sorry guys, the best is taken...

David's Birthday + Lompnieu

We went to Lompnieu on David's birthday. There was lots of snow! The four-wheeler had trouble getting up the path, as you can see from the pictures. We tried several times, and kept getting stuck! We finally made it through (but barely) by cutting across a field. I also tried snow shoeing. I think this was my first time, unless I tried it back in Quebec. It was great! The sun was shining and the snow was fresh! It was absolutely beautiful!
David spend a good bit of time in his lab. He is trying to make bio diesel. He is lacking Methanol, and is trying to make do with ethanol, but that makes it a lot harder. Anyway, that's what I gleaned from what he said:) chemistry is not my thing! (I like balancing equations, but that's about it!)
We also had a spectacular snow fight! We made two teams, Daddy and Val, agaist Deborah and me. (David was busy in his lab) Each team built a snow fort! It was a lot of fun, the only problem with this kind of thing is that both sides claim victory:) When we left, Flicka "took" our fort:)

Four-wheeling and Mud!

We went to Lompnieu this weekend. Lompnieu is a small town between Lyon and Geneva where we have a stone farm house that has been in the family for several generations. We have been fixing it up over the past 2 ½ years. The house was built in 1820, and like many houses of that region, has a barn attached to the house. We mainly heat the living part from the fireplace that has a pumping system that distributes the hot air to all the upstairs rooms. We would like to someday fix up the barn into a livable part of the house, but for now we mostly use it for storing stuff, David's lab, and a toolshed, but there is lots of possibilities for expansion. We have already built "Wintz Hall," a large floor on the first level. (Mr. Wintz is the one who designed and built the floor last summer, with the help of Mr. Nance, my dad, David, and I. Click Here for pictures of the construction last June.) Anyway, we had a really fun four-wheeler ride! Redneck (that's what we call the big one-360 c.c. 4WD with front-end differential control-a real monster) got stuck for the first time in the mud. Ladybug (that's the smaller four-wheeler) did manage to get through, but only by going around some of the mud! Click Here to see the Video, or save file by right click Here. Those who know me know I don't go anywhere without my camera :) Hopefully the camera will be fine inspite of the mud that got on it! The view was gorgeous on the ride up as well!