Our home is located on a ranch about eighty miles southwest of Edmonton, Alberta near the village of Winfield. Living in the country is ideal for us because we have the quiet of the natural surroundings, but we are still only a short drive, on pavement, to the city. We have acres of tame grazing land interspersed with pine, spruce, larch, poplar, birch and willow. The beaver dams, dugouts and muskegs make the countryside beautiful to behold. Because this hilly terrain, with its beautiful green pastures, is also home for wild animals such as deer, elk, moose, coyotes, wolves and lynx it gives us a "LIVE IN THE WILDERNESS " feeling. It is also a scenic location to raise our horses and dogs and paint pictures. The picture shows the pond just south of our house.

As the picture shows, the large barn facility, as well as our rock gardens in the yard, makes a beautiful spot to raise our companion dogs. The barn has   individual pens with large fans for air circulation, full spectrum lights so the winter is as bright as summer and a large radiant heater to keep them toasty warm. Our house has a large room for whelping the girls and lots of room to romp, sleep and go outside. The three acre fenced yard has four large secure pens with lots of trees, perennials, bushes and flowers--lots of flowers. The dogs have their own smaller, private, outside pens and houses located within the larger areas and can run with abandon or sleep in the sun, as they wish.

This picture shows the same yard east of the house but at a different perspective. My dogs love this area of the yard and somehow we manage to combine my flowers and the exercise area without conflict. They love the stone paths.

This environment also gives Jim some inspiration to continue with his passion, painting. Jim is a professional artist who works in water colors and acryllics. He does landscapes, mountains, ocean scenes, old buildings or anything that he sets his fancy to. He will also do comissioned work. The winter scene is a photograph from our front room window. The scenery sures changes from autum [first picture] to the winter.

This painting done by Jim, is also a scene from our window, but facing to the west. If you wish to view at any of his art, his web site is www.jomcintyre.ca

This is another area south of the house that the dogs love to play in. The bridge gives them hours of pleasure as they run back and forth.