Waldo

I've decided to name my spider.....

I just can't throw him out. He has become my friend. Waldo it is.... it doesn't matter if it is a female which it probably is but I'm naming him her Waldo.

We've been chinked! There is now chinking in the office/studio. TC arrived yesterday with TCH in tow and proceeded to chink the logs and leave in no time flat. Done! Finito! Like that was quick! Now the office and studio will retain heat while keeping bugs and mice out... o u t out! We have a monster spider gobbling flies in my studio.... I'm going to give him a few more days and then I will transport him to the garden where he can join the rest of the spiders scarfing down yummy flies and avoiding being eaten themselves.

Meanwhile, yesterday, Hubby finished the plumbing for the upstairs vanity and I proceeded to put the trim around the window in the downstairs bathroom. I also put up a shelf and finished the framing for the door in the bathroom. Hubby and I have decided that the door that we were going to use opens the wrong way and so, without him here to say yay or nay I am going to build a false wall to accommodate a pocket door we will lose 4 inches of our bathroom but that is ok..... at least I think so. If I get that done over the weekend then I will start finishing the front of the pantry and I might even enlist the kids to help me with the paneling in the upstairs bathroom. This all "on my own" while Hubby enjoys another weekend of fishing.... (can you tell that I am starting to get a little miffed about Hubby being away again?....)!

There goes a chicken..... what are they up to again??? Hmmm....

Anyway... where was I... oh yes.... As a woman, I do not work on carpentry without the aid of devices that I can handle with my weak hands. So I cut all boards with a jig saw because I can't handle Hubby's circular saw because I would cut off my foot. (I'm already missing one thumb I would like to keep the other!) I could use a chop saw but I don't own one and what is the point... I can cut as straight a line with a jig on short distances as a chop saw does anyway. I wish I had a table saw for long cuts... the jig is not so great for that, but I am getting better and there is always a rasp to whittle away the bad spots. My biggest problem is that my measuring sucks. I measure say 36 1/2 inches when really it works out to be 36 1/4 inches which means that I have to go back and cut a little more off every time.... that's a pain. But at least I always measure too long and not too short.... which is Hubby's problem.... then he has a spoiled board...... ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Women rule! (I'm not really that maniacal! Really!!)

I think the biggest thing for me now with this renovation is that I am having serious fibre withdrawal symptoms..... it's been a while since I've have been able to find time to spin. I was working on some thick cabled yarn and was really excited until I ran into a glitch or two. But that is for another blog. I really want to sit on the deck and get some spinning done instead of banging and hammering away at stuff that I wish were done. Oh well, I guess I should be glad that we are making progress at all. I don't really want to sound displeased or never satisfied.... when I stop to look around at everything that has been done I'm really pleased, but I do long to get back at my fibre addiction. I guess all in good time.

It is turning into a fine day. I think some people had frost last night in our region. If so then that would be the first frost of the year. My thermometre was reading 3 degrees this morning when I got up at 6:30 a.m. so that was pretty close to freezing. Ouch! Still though the fog is burning off and I expect it will be quite nice later this morning. This suits me since it will be cool enough to work without dying from heat..... I guess I should procrastinate no more and get to my false wall. I'll let you know how that goes!

Here is a pic of the pantry so far.... still need to finish the framing on the front and put in the doors...

Covert Operations

You have read here before that we have a lot of early morning fog. You have also read here that we have an uneasy relationship with our chickens. You have also read here that I am an early riser. Put that together and you have.... I'm not sure.... a rug?

It's all very confusing but I think our chickens are up to something..... I mean like planting dynamite under our house..... or spying on human behaviour for aliens or something. Lately (since the bear attacked the chicken coop and broke down the fence that Hubby hasn't had time to repair because he is too busy working on plumbing) the chickens have been entering our territory. But not just coming up toward the house and checking out the joint but they have been acting suspiciously. This morning the chickens were up by the house when I looked out the window upstairs at 6:30 a.m. They were pecking the ground and obviously intent upon getting grit for their gizzards... or so I thought. When I came downstairs a few minutes later they were scurrying off down the path to the chicken coop. Now I know that they know I don't like them up around the house (they poop on the deck which gives me no small amount of misery)
This is chicken poop too close to my deck steps.


because I have thrown rocks at them when I catch them around the steps. I also know they know that I don't want them under the deck because they peck the styrofoam insulation which is just under the ground and wraps our crawl space and insulates it from the cold weather in the winter. (Yes chickens love styrofoam insulation..... in their gizzards!) But as soon as they hear me or see me they bee line it for the chicken coop and I know.... just know they are up to something!

Their little heads are popping above the grass turning this way and that way watching through the early morning fog, and they seem to be watching all the time for something that might come and attack them. Now what on earth could they be watching for?! Certainly not me (who likes to throw rocks at them to keep them away from the deck), and certainly not Tootsie (who is the most brilliant chicken herding dog you have ever seen), and certainly not Hubby (who steals their eggs each day), and certainly not Daughter #2 (who steals their friends away to another chicken coop to be saved from the axe... but they don't know that), and I doubt very much that it's the coyotes (that they can hide from in their really sturdy chicken coop) This is the sturdy chicken coop
and certainly not bears (that attack sporadically like the one earlier this summer)..... nooooo they can't be nervous about these things. What could possibly happen to them. I mean what do they think.... that they are going to get eaten?

And that noise they make when they lay their eggs.... I mean what's that all about? I'm sure they are making it look like the egg coming out of their wee butts is hurting when really what they are doing is practicing some kind of drill. They run away every time you go near them and their territory (which is the bush that grows around their chicken coop) looks like it is a mine field. There are scratch marks all over the place. I think they are planting mines and making it look like they are scratching for worms...... I'm sure they are up to no good!

So the thing is, with all this suspicious behaviour on the part of the chickens, why oh why did I choose chickens to be on my first hooked rug??? I have finally started hooking the rug that I bought while I was in Olds for the Level 3 of the Master Spinners course and so I chose chickens!!!!! I can't believe I did that. What on earth was I thinking? With all the subject material in the world that I could have chosen I can't believe I chose chickens. But I did....

Here's my chicken rug so far...



Here's what it should look like when done.....




I still think they are up to no good..... I'm just not going to tell them that I'm hooking a chicken rug... and let them get the last laugh... no way!

Sweet Breezes

I lay in bed this morning and felt the sweet breezes coming in through my window and knew that I was glad for this house renovation. Before our house was renovated there were two... get that???... two windows in the whole house that opened. Now I have nine. It's fantastic to feel those lovely morning breezes again. Our bed is directly under the window so when the wind lifts the curtain (sheet over the window) it feels like a miracle is blowing through my room.

It is a pleasant morning but there's definitely a feel of fall in the air. This is my favorite time of the year. I love the last three weeks of August and the first three weeks of September, that sometimes stretch into the first two weeks of October. The air is warm but delightfully so without that hot sultry feel about it. There is a coolness in the evenings that make you put on a jacket but don't make you shiver from feeling too cold. There are still some birds around to make the early mornings pleasant with their calls but some of them are getting drunk on over ripe berries. There is a smell of growing vegetables of ripening tomatoes of berries and apples. It is by far the time of the year that I love best. I miss the dragged out autumns of the eastern part of Canada. I miss the richness of the reds of maple trees. I miss the sound of the foghorns late at night when the fog rolls in from the sea. But autumn is lovely where ever you are and there are other things to make up for what I miss. Either way opening that window last night meant that I woke to a happy morning breeze blowing across my face and reminded me that it is good to be alive. How can you not like autumn?

We made good inroads into the construction yesterday. Hubby installed the two false walls in the upstairs bathroom and got the toilet ready and the plumbing installed for that then just as it was almost supper time he discovered that the flange bolts were missing and so he has to go purchase them today. So no toilet but very close. I, on the other hand was able to finish clear coating Daughter #1's bedroom and got her bed put together. We still have two walls to complete in her room but they will wait till we are finished with the upstairs bathroom. I also have to install her lighting and electrical outlets and a switch. Then we will need to install all the trim and some shelves and we are done. On to the next room, but for all intents and purposes Daughter #1 can start moving her stuff back into her room.

Today, I am hoping that I can clear coat the two walls Hubby put up in the bathroom yesterday. He will start on the plumbing for the vanities both upstairs and downstairs. I also have some painting on the backs of the doors for the downstairs vanity. There is no point in putting in the door to the downstairs bathroom until the vanity is in since there are no walls and a door would just inhibit Hubby and his work.

The jist is though that we are making slow progress and hope to continue in that way today and tomorrow until Hubby leaves for his next Rangers recreation trip (recce). Then I'll go batty again waiting for work to get done. (There is a reason that I'm called Ye Olde Bat (oops Batt)!

Anyway here are a few pics for you all to look at of things coming and yet to come.


This is the opening in the wall at the bottom of the steps where the new bathroom door is going.


This is the opening in the wall where the new bathroom door is going from the other direction.



This is the vanity that is going upstairs in the ensuite bathroom but needs serious cleaning up. My job for today.



This is Tootie Wootie checking out the new john in the ensuite bathroom upstairs with paneling complete behind it. Another of my tasks today is to clear coat that.



This is Daughter #1's bedroom with the bed in but not the mattress and mattress support.



This is the wall left to be paneled in the background behind the foot of her bed.

So I am off to get back to the various jobs needing to be done. Hubby just left to go get the new flange bolts that he was missing last night and I am off to clean and paint and build whatever needs doing..... all the time I will be enjoying the sweet breezes through my many new windows!

Culling

I wish that word were sculling. That's because sculling is more fun than culling. I made my decision and I have figured who goes and who stays. A hard job let me tell you. I don't like that in the fall there is a the big decision about which sheep stay and which ones go. Two of my older ewes are on the block which I really hate because they are nice sheep but there is no room for feeding pets and if they are causing problems then it is time to move them out. Two of my last year's lambs that lambed this year are also on the block. The decision is based on primarily fleece, but also factors like age, and friendliness, how they handle, whether they're runners, or they're the type that will stay put on our property, health, etc. It is not an easy decision but I have to put my foot down and just do it. I will be picking up 4 new sheep for my flock next week which will bring my numbers up to 21. Far more than I wanted. With the price of hay this year I want to seriously cull my flock and two of my culls are ones I would have kept had hay been more reasonably priced. I won't say whose going and whose staying. That wouldn't be fair.

I will be keeping all of my alpacas (I don't think I will ever get rid of them... I love them too much) and Honeydew, the llama will be staying put as long as she doesn't run off again. We didn't breed Mishka this year, after all, since she is young and there is so much going on with the house renovations that time was considerably lacking. Hubby suggested that I wait a year and while that was not a decision I liked, I felt he was probably wise in making the suggestion. So we will wait for next year when life is not so hectic, to breed her then. She has a dreadful hair cut this year especially around her tail which might affect her ability to breed. We'll have to do a better job next year.

Last night Hubby and I picked up a much needed bale of hay and with grass not growing very well around here this year we were in for a bit of a shock. This year's bales are selling for $40.00 to $60.00 a bale. Compared to last year at $30.00 that is quite expensive. That is why I have to cull so heavily. Here are pics of some of the keepers...


This is Fanny who is a Shetland/Merino. She is a really god mom.


This Is Honeydew the runnaway Llama who will not be running away anymore... or else...


This is Griegg who is an old geezer and a lovely Shetland cross sheep. We don't know what he was crossed with but that's ok. He loves to watch us in the window at night when the light is on. We feel like fish in a fish tank.


This is Mishka... the unbred female alpaca who has lovely divine fleece. I wish we hadn't been so busy this year I would have liked to have her bred.


This is Oscar who is my favorite sheep. He always comes for a scratch and loves getting behind his ears scratched. He is a Blue Faced Liecester/Merino cross ram. But a bigger pig for hay you have never seen.


This is Nelly who is very skittish and will not let us touch her without a fight.... but she has the most beautiful fleece from the whole flock. This is as close as she would let me get.


This is Eddie.... I just love his ears. He will be a stud.... he has a very soft and thick coat. Prime Alpaca fleece.


This is Coal and though he has a funky thing on his nose where he has lost his wool, he is a stud a will be bred with Mishka.


Benny needs a job done on his teeth which will be done in the next few weeks. He will be castrated.


This is Axton and nobody likes him because he spits. But he has a lovely soft fleece but it is thin. I will castrate him too.


This is Dexter and I likw him a lot but I can't breed him becasue he is too closely related to Mishka.... so he will be castrated too.


This is Krunch who has a pretty nice dark brown fleece bordering on black. She is a Shetland and Merino cross. She bred well with our ram last year and that is why she is a keeper.


This is Palmer and he is a Romney/BFL/ Merino cross. I like his fleece and he is a nice calm lamb.


This is Reece and she is a Shetland/BFL/Merino cross and is a lovely little lamb. She was my only white lamb from this year. We had to bottle feed her for the first few days. She made a good come back and is now as round aas she is long.

There you have it.... my flock... at least until next week when the new ones come.

Unlimited Time

How I wish I had... unlimited time..... actually I would need unlimited energy too. There are just too many things that I like to do that I don't have time to do.

Yesterday I got together with my little local guild at LH's house. We were supposed to be dyeing with natural dyes. Problem.... no open fires. Right now B.C. is so desperate for rain that there is a province wide ban on open fires. No fires... no dyeing. This turned out to be a good thing as we made paper instead. What fun! We made paper that was chartreuse, then we added blue and got a deeper green, almost teal, then we added red and got a rose bordering on brown. All the time we had fun.... fun.... fun. I'm hooked. We've decided that since paper making is a messy project, and is more fun outdoors, and that we really want to do it on a regular basis, we will get together at LH's house and do it once a month through the warmer months. Next month we will make Christmas paper for Christmas cards. I look forward to that. I'm starting to save all red paper. (I'm really sorry that I didn't bring my camera and take pictures. I would have posted them here for you all. But you'll get to see the results when the paper dries out and is finished.)

Yesterday was another hot day and I had hoped that I would get some work done on the house but it just got too hot. Daughter #2 was not feeling well as she has been fighting a sore throat again. I have a feeling that a Tonsillectomy is in her future.
Still though she perked up by evening and was dressed up in a gypsy costume at 9 p.m. last evening ready to play at some game of pretend. Daughter #2 is on the verge of growing up but has a serious case of Peter Pan syndrome. She just doesn't want too. She comes by it honestly because both her Dad and I had trouble growing up. I know I still believed in Santa Claus when I was 12.... she's only 12 now. Poor kid. It is a dreadful thing to not know whether you are a kid or a adolescent teen. She has a creative mind and when derailment happens her creative mind is what pulls her back. Last Christmas, I gave her a book called "The Mysterious Benedict Society" which is a book about a bunch of gifted kids who get into some neat adventures. She read that book and took it to heart and started carrying around a bag that has anything from rope and tweezers, to a magic wand and and sparkles, "because, Mom, you never know when you are going to meet a magical creature or get sucked into a world of fairies."
She's a neat kid. I'm glad to be able to say she's my offspring.

Daughter #1 is much more practical and realistic. She takes everything in her stride and carries on without being phased. She is 13 going on 22 sometimes and yet doesn't hesitate to call me 'Mommy', is completely fascinated with farts and does her nails regularly. Is perfectly happy dissecting a fish eye as wearing a purple and very feminine skirt with her hair in curls. She loves to mountain bike and go for walks in the bush. She loves to read and crochet. She is the quintessential young lady and tom boy all wrapped up into one. I like her besides loving her.


This is them in 2005.

and again...


They look so little... I had forgotten how much they have grown...


How can you not enjoy such exuberance.....


As, through the years they are getting older, growing and maturing into the people the will finally become...


they amaze me with their beauty....


and their joi de vivre...


They are smart...


and lovable....


cool....


nifty...


bizarre...


a little crazy....


themselves ... which is at times interesting.... and to be celebrated...


a pleasure to be around....


fun to watch when they are together...


very different from each other...


and best of all... ours...


Can you tell that I'm proud of my daughters? Sometimes I look at the girls and I wish I could be that young again. But my youth was spent in hospitals and so maybe not. What's nice is to watch them grow up. I enjoy being with them and miss them when they are away. I know I am going to have serious empty nest syndrome when they finally leave home, and though that is still a ways away I feel it looming in the future. I will probably become the weird lady with a holy host of pets which probably won't fill the void. Unlimited time is deceptive. It creeps up on you when you are not looking. You think you have unlimited time but then suddenly you don't anymore. Life is a little like that.

Hubby is off again today to his canoing course and I languor in the heat trying to get some work done. Lucky sod! I think I will go and put another coat of paint on the vanity for the downstairs bathroom and then, maybe then I will spin a little cotton in the mid-day heat.

I thought I had unlimited time for this summer portion of the renovation but now, school opening for the fall term, is baring down on me. I think I have unlimited time for Level 3 homework but all too soon that time will pass and I will be in a panic to finish. I watch my daughters grow and wish I had unlimited time with them... I don't and that is the age old story.

Oh well, that's my philosophical crap for today. Better get back to work.... time's a wasting.

Oh What A Beautiful Morning

Here I sit in my new office and look out on the morning fog... there are birds chasing each other and the sun is beginning to burn through so everything has a golden glow. The grass sparkles with dew. My chickens are out puttering for their early morning foray into the meadow to search for bugs and other interesting edibles. I'm eating a nice breakfast of fried eggs (fresh from the hens butt) and Cheerios. My tea is steeping nicely on the clean counter in the kitchen. Lovely!

Hubby returned home last evening to a nice supper of Jambalaya.... which I had thrown in the slow cooker yesterday morning. It was delicious. He then went to work and put up some more of the paneling in Daughter #1's bedroom. He worked until 9 p.m. and then we took a run up to some friends house who live in the back of beyond. (They have no electricity and no running water. They live like pioneers.) We had to go to pick up a canoe for the canoe instructors course that Hubby is attending. The course instructor is short one canoe. Ours won't work because it has a keel. Anyway we had a lovely visit with our friends and stayed until 10:30 at which time we came home. I cleaned up the bathroom where I had knocked out the wall earlier in the day and tore up some of the linoleum. We brushed our teeth and hit the pillow and were snoring in no time. It was a nice interlude from the constant work that has to be done here.

Today I am painting the vanity for the bathroom.... second coat... and clear coating the ceiling in Daughter #1's bedroom. If there's time I have one more board to remove from where the door is going in the bathroom and then I start to rebuild the framing for the door. Then I have to get supper.

Meals have become a real process in our house. I try to cook out on the deck on the barbeque as much as possible but it isn't always possible. We have things that will grill easily like fish fillets and hot dogs.... nice ones, if that's possible... and pork steaks and beef steaks (that doesn't happen very often). Tonight we are having dog turds!

I know I know.... that sounds disgusting but actually all a dog turd is is a lump of meat that tastes like a hamburger but is shaped like a hot dog. When Hubby and I first married I tried making hamburgers out of ground beef that were shaped like hamburger patties, but they always shrunk on the barbeque till they were dwarfed by the bun. I started making them bigger and flatter but we were finally eating half pound hamburgers and nothing seemed to work. I even tried that nifty gadget from Tupperware to flatten the burgers out but they came out too small..... So one day in a fit I made them shaped like a weiner and grilled them with Hot Dog buns instead. (It is also easier to make hot dog buns from bread dough than hamburger buns.) When I served up my weiner shaped hamburgers Hubby told me they looked like dog turds but he liked the idea of eating a sensible sized chunk of meat regardless of the shape and they tasted good. I've been making them that way ever since. And so they are known in our house as Dog Turds. We use everything from ketchup, mustard relish, lettuce, tomato, onion, avacado, cheese, or cheese whiz, barbeque sauce, etc... and they are yummy.

Here's my recipe:

Dog Turds
-package or ground beef. (pref lean)
-chopped onion
-pepper
-dill
-egg (or two depending on how big your package of meat is)
-garlic cloves chopped
-a little barbecue sauce or sometimes I'll use honey (it helps the meat stick together)
-bread or cracker crumbs or cereal crumbs (I use bran buds lots for extra fibre)

Mush this mess of ingredients altogether in a large bowl. Shape into turd type shapes a little longer than your buns (not those buns! the ones in your fridge!!!) Grill on barbeque till done, and insert condiments and extras on buns. Insert dog turd and voila.... summer supper with no hastle.

Hubby once told me that I could use condoms to make a bunch and freeze them.... just make sure the condoms are clean..... don't choke now!

Kitty is hiding in the grass waiting for a mouse and he looks really cute, all orange in this lovely sun through the fog. I'm off to get my brushes out for a day of finishing the ceiling.... I hope you try Dog Turds... if for nothing other than the shock factor.... serve them to guests and don't tell them what they are. Ha ha ; }