Sometimes I think to myself that I have to be one of the luckiest people alive. I love the outdoors and I can't imagine living where I was surrounded by concrete. I am a bit of a loner and really enjoy being on my own that's one of the reasons that I was so happy to move to this rural setting. I mean HH is not the biggest metropolis with just over 1000 people I would have to say it doesn't meet metropolis standards at all, but when we moved from town to where we are I was as happy as a pig in sh--! I love the fact that I can strip down to the buff in front of a window that has no curtains and not have to worry about a neighbour seeing me. They are all too far away to see anything. I love the fact that I can get up in the morning and have a cup of tea on the deck with nothing on other than a wee nightie. Nobody is going to see me and that in my books is great.
I look out my window and I can't see any sign of people at all well except for Hubby's pile of brush which we will be burning in the late fall when there is snow on the ground. We are about 6 kms away from the nearest town and while that is not a great distance it is actually just about right to avoid community living while being close enough to a community to partake when the mood strikes.
Today we are having a party for Hubby who turns 46 on the 31st. I did start out trying to keep it a secret but with the house in such slings I had to do some cleaning up and I knew he would start asking questions so I told him with the intention of getting his opinion on what I should cook (pork or beef) on the barbecue. As it turns out I ended up having to do some of both since the grocery store didn't have enough of either. I wanted to have something special to do in an effort to celebrate Hubby especially because a week ago he asked me right out of the blue how old he was going to be. He couldn't remember if he was going to be 46 or 47..... that's scary. I knew that it was time to make a big deal of his birthday. We rarely have a party for the dear guy since his birthday falls at the end of the summer when there is no money to support such an event. But this year I am scrounging together enough to make a big deal of the man who brightens my days.
We have about a dozen or so people coming if they all turn out and maybe a few who will come later in the evening. It is a perfectly spectacular evening for a party. It has been hot all day like middle-of-the-summer hot. 27 degrees is really hot these days. We suspended work on the house today and just cleaned the deck and made the living room not embarrassingly dirty. Hubby is gone for a shower and I will be heading there soon too, since we have to be somewhat presentable for our guests.
I know that summer has come to a resounding end when we celebrate Hubby's birthday. I will miss summer but I am looking forward to the tramps through the forest in a few weeks as I start my daily walks and I look forward to the quiet evenings of autumn when we sit by the lamp light and read while the girls work on homework. I also look forward to a steady paycheck and plenty in the pantry. What I do miss this year is the work of the garden. This is not the first year that we did not have a garden. Last year we didn't but the animals were using it and they were so new that we did not resent them using our garden area for living accommodations. I really really want to plant spuds and peas and carrots, beets and beans next year. So the alpacas will have to move over. There will be no house renovations next year and so I hope to have more time for the joys of gardening and more importantly harvesting.
Soon we will be experiencing regular frost in the mornings as we take the girls to school.... you know, days where puddles are frozen over and the trees will be dropping their leaves. This also means getting back to spinning and weaving and knitting. I will have to organize my Knock Out Knitters again for regular Thursday night knitting and I look forward to that. I will also organize spinning and weaving meetings and maybe somewhere in there, I might get another paper making day. Fun fun fun.
The Sears Christmas Wish book is out and time to start thinking about the dreadful time of the year (Christmas). I actually intend on being ahead of the game this year. Ha ha snort! That's a joke... ok?
Well it is 5 and our guests will be arriving in short order so I had better get into the water and make myself presentable...
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Hole In My Head
I have a hole in my head. It's one that shouldn't be there. Yesterday I was sitting in the living room minding my own business, chewing my lunch (which by the way was not crunchy, chewy, or hard in any way whatsoever) when I suddenly felt something hard in the side of my mouth that felt like it was in the wrong place. I gently swirled my tongue around separating the hard thing from my lunch and discovered that it was a filling.
Oh No! This just couldn't be! I felt a stomach dropping sense of dismay and realized that the dreaded fear of the DENTIST was about to overtake my system with a resounding EEEECK! I have a terror of dentists. It is not the dentist fault and I have to say that I have never had a bad experience with a dentist other than having your mouth stretched to the point where you look like a deranged Brat doll when you leave his office, and the scattered drilling fiasco when the deadening agent has not quite taken affect, otherwise my trips to the dentist are no more horrifying than anyone else. No my fear of the dentist is completely unreasonable.
That is why when 16 yrs ago, while on a trip home to Newfoundland, I lost a chunk of a tooth and had to have a root canal on a tooth that was vastly overdo for some servicing, and when the dentist completed the work he had said I would need to cap the tooth in Ontario, which is where I was living at the time, because the work he had done needed to cure before it was capped, I decided in all of my great dental wisdom (aka fear) decided to ignore that suggestion and so for 16 years I have had an uncapped, root canaled, stuffed full of lead tooth in my head that was a time bomb waiting to go off. And go off it did in a very timely manner this week.
Remember the blog post last week that hinted at the end-of-summer money blues that most teachers experience in August. Well we are in the depths of those blues as we speak.... We have enough to cover our bills but THAT"S IT, no more money than that. (sigh) A trip to the dentist means money. A crapped out root canal means lots of money. Our dentist has the money police for a receptionist. You can not go to the dentist without a slap up the side of the head if you even remotely look like you might forget to pay on the way out the door. (Frankly I'm more afraid of her than I am of the dentist! and she is a petite little young Chinese woman who looks like she might blow over in a good wind!!) So I sit and wait in fear and anxiety while the date of my appointment which I called and requested right away after the chunk of lead, and I might add some suspiciously enamel looking stuff came out of my mouth, looms closer.
Meanwhile, in my mouth, I have a sharp edged nasty and gross looking black tooth that would make the worst pirate proud. The day the filling fell out my tongue looked like it had been scored a hundred times by a little razor that just so happened to be in my mouth right where my tongue wanted to sit. Ouch! By night I was in such agony that I could not speak properly. While this may be a blessing in some ways it hurt a lot and I was beginning to wonder if I would make it through the week until such time as I was able to get to my dental appointment and my tongue was swollen and looked like a chunk of raw meat. Nasty, I say, just plain nasty.
I was at my wits end when Hubby told me the story of his seniour officer in the Canadian Rangers using his leatherman to file the tooth of his girlfriend on a camping trip when she had a chunk of tooth break and fall off. I was desparate and by this time willing to pretty much try anything and so out came the leatherman that I had given Hubby for Christmas a few years ago.... damn it all there was no file. That is when Daughter #2 stepped up to the plate. She had been watching as her mom had sat on the edge of the bed in tears because of the pain and inability to do anything about it. Remember a few weeks ago I told you all about her magic bag that she carries around just in case she meets up with a dragon or fairies??? Ah yes, the wonderful bag! Daughter #2 had been listening to my frustrated and rather garbled swearing as my tooth continued to slash my tongue and she heard when my frustration hit all new heights when the leatherman did not produce a file. Out came said bag and out came a nail file that I thought I had lost 6 months ago..... Great now I could do something about the razor that was wreaking havoc with my tongue. I stood in the bathroom wih Hubby holding the light for me (we still have got lights hooked up in either of the bathrooms and proceeded to file down my tooth. A few minutes later I hit my bed with a nicely filed tooth that was as smooth as a baby's a--. Problem. The tooth has been filed so smooth that I'm not sure the dentist will be able to do anything. So there may be a little dental surgery in my future to remove said offending tooth. Gee I wish there really were a Tooth Fairy!
Oh No! This just couldn't be! I felt a stomach dropping sense of dismay and realized that the dreaded fear of the DENTIST was about to overtake my system with a resounding EEEECK! I have a terror of dentists. It is not the dentist fault and I have to say that I have never had a bad experience with a dentist other than having your mouth stretched to the point where you look like a deranged Brat doll when you leave his office, and the scattered drilling fiasco when the deadening agent has not quite taken affect, otherwise my trips to the dentist are no more horrifying than anyone else. No my fear of the dentist is completely unreasonable.
That is why when 16 yrs ago, while on a trip home to Newfoundland, I lost a chunk of a tooth and had to have a root canal on a tooth that was vastly overdo for some servicing, and when the dentist completed the work he had said I would need to cap the tooth in Ontario, which is where I was living at the time, because the work he had done needed to cure before it was capped, I decided in all of my great dental wisdom (aka fear) decided to ignore that suggestion and so for 16 years I have had an uncapped, root canaled, stuffed full of lead tooth in my head that was a time bomb waiting to go off. And go off it did in a very timely manner this week.
Remember the blog post last week that hinted at the end-of-summer money blues that most teachers experience in August. Well we are in the depths of those blues as we speak.... We have enough to cover our bills but THAT"S IT, no more money than that. (sigh) A trip to the dentist means money. A crapped out root canal means lots of money. Our dentist has the money police for a receptionist. You can not go to the dentist without a slap up the side of the head if you even remotely look like you might forget to pay on the way out the door. (Frankly I'm more afraid of her than I am of the dentist! and she is a petite little young Chinese woman who looks like she might blow over in a good wind!!) So I sit and wait in fear and anxiety while the date of my appointment which I called and requested right away after the chunk of lead, and I might add some suspiciously enamel looking stuff came out of my mouth, looms closer.
Meanwhile, in my mouth, I have a sharp edged nasty and gross looking black tooth that would make the worst pirate proud. The day the filling fell out my tongue looked like it had been scored a hundred times by a little razor that just so happened to be in my mouth right where my tongue wanted to sit. Ouch! By night I was in such agony that I could not speak properly. While this may be a blessing in some ways it hurt a lot and I was beginning to wonder if I would make it through the week until such time as I was able to get to my dental appointment and my tongue was swollen and looked like a chunk of raw meat. Nasty, I say, just plain nasty.
I was at my wits end when Hubby told me the story of his seniour officer in the Canadian Rangers using his leatherman to file the tooth of his girlfriend on a camping trip when she had a chunk of tooth break and fall off. I was desparate and by this time willing to pretty much try anything and so out came the leatherman that I had given Hubby for Christmas a few years ago.... damn it all there was no file. That is when Daughter #2 stepped up to the plate. She had been watching as her mom had sat on the edge of the bed in tears because of the pain and inability to do anything about it. Remember a few weeks ago I told you all about her magic bag that she carries around just in case she meets up with a dragon or fairies??? Ah yes, the wonderful bag! Daughter #2 had been listening to my frustrated and rather garbled swearing as my tooth continued to slash my tongue and she heard when my frustration hit all new heights when the leatherman did not produce a file. Out came said bag and out came a nail file that I thought I had lost 6 months ago..... Great now I could do something about the razor that was wreaking havoc with my tongue. I stood in the bathroom wih Hubby holding the light for me (we still have got lights hooked up in either of the bathrooms and proceeded to file down my tooth. A few minutes later I hit my bed with a nicely filed tooth that was as smooth as a baby's a--. Problem. The tooth has been filed so smooth that I'm not sure the dentist will be able to do anything. So there may be a little dental surgery in my future to remove said offending tooth. Gee I wish there really were a Tooth Fairy!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Under Starry Skies
I love August. The days are glorious and not too hot. How about that! I finally got a day to see something other than my own back yard....
Yesterday we went to Valleyview to pick up my new sheep. Hubby and I built a box on our friend's flat bed trailer (We've got to get one of those!) on Monday and then yesterday
we hit the wide open road and headed out to Valleyview to pick up the sheep. We left at 8 a.m. and 15 hours later drove into the yard with sheep in tow.
We had a great trip. It stared out in cloud cover for pretty much the whole way but that was good because driving with the sun in your eyes can be seriously nasty. We stopped for snacks in Pouce Coupe on the way there and it started to rain shortly after. That was something I wasn't too happy about but Hubby had it under control. The Daughters and Tootsie the wonder chicken herder were with us. They kept themselves occupied by listening to Daughter #1's iPod in the back seat. I must say they were excellent co-travelers and did not fight too much and generally stayed polite which is amazing considering that they were cooped up together for long hours. Anyway, I digress, the trip gave us all an opportunity to see parts of the country that we have not seen for a while. It was nice to hit the highway because I realized very quickly that the colours of fall are everywhere not just my backyard and while any intelligent person would deduce this fact, it still is a bit of a shock when you see it. The turn of the seasons is irrefutable my friends.
Grand Prairie was our stopping place for lunch and it was a stop in torrents of rain. That's why when we finally got to JM's place in Valleyview an hour later it was a bit of a shock to see that she was suffering the kind of drought that we experienced here in the Peace a few year ago. There were grasshoppers everywhere and by the droves. They had polished off the grass and every green thing except for the quack grass for miles. There was one patch of quack grass in her garden that was lovely and rich and green and soft. Nothing and I mean nothing eats quack grass except maybe ducks! They had not had serious amounts of rain for quite a while. The sunshine actually hurt the eyes there. The grass was white it was so dead. She showed us all around the paddocks and barns and at one point she showed us one of her old sheep who wasn't too lively. She was just lying there and the grasshoppers were all over her and they were even eating her wool because they had nothing green left to eat. JM was horrified but I had seen it before because three years ago when we were hit with a draught we had a grasshopper plague like I have never seen before. It was truly the most horrible thing I have ever seen. When God gave grasshopper plagues to the world He knew how to punish, that is for sure.
We were at JM's for about an hour and a half where we had a very interesting tour of her place and then we left, loaded with sheep who have now been named as follows...
Pure bred Merino.... Queenie
Canadian Arcott/Merino.... Sally
Cotswold/Merino (black).... Lulu
BFL/Merino ram..... Ipwitch
The trip
home was exhausting most of which was driven after dark. Hauling sheep in a trailer meant
that we went slower than normal so they wouldn't get jostled too much. We stopped in GP for supper which had cleared away from earlier in the day and was now sunny. After we left though it meant driving into the setting sun which is never relaxing. Hubby had worn himself out by the time we got back to Pouce Coupe and so I took over driving again. It was dark and so I felt skirting Dawson Creek was a good idea to avoid traffic with a trailer in tow during the dark at night. The traffic between Dawson Creek and Chetwynd was dreadful with vehicles coming at just the right intervals to make you constantly have to flick on and off your high beams. I was glad to head north and get out of that traffic. Problem is though that I was so bleary eyed after driving that long in the dark that when we got to a police road block at Moberly Lake I decided to give Mike, who had been snoozing since I started driving an hour and a half before, the opportunity to drive us home. By this time it was really dark with no little amount of light on the horizon at all. Just before we got to the downward hill that took us into our own little home town, I noticed a strange glow in the sky, which at first I thought was the glow of our town lights. Then I rethought that since it was in the wrong place and thought perhaps it was the lights of a new drilling rig. No that wasn't right either as it had a greenish glow to it and that's when Hubby piped up and suggested that it was the glow of Northern Lights. The Daughters by this time were asleep from pure exhaustion and didn't see a thing.
It was only after we left the lights of our home town behind that I noticed how beautiful were the stars. It was glorious as the heavens were at their best. I can only imagine how the shepherds of old who slept out under the stars would have felt. We close ourselves off from the glorious skies when we go into our homes at night. But some night, if you are adventurous and have the interest, open your door and take a walk out under the skies... try to find a place that doesn't have any street lights because you will be astounded by the number of stars that are in the great dome above us. Who knows you may even catch a glimps of some of those mysterious northern lights... I think I should add that one to my "Glad To Be Alive" list... It is good to be alive when you walk out under the great dome of our world in the ever darkening night, where there are no man made lights to detract from the glorious bounty of the skies, and you see spread out before you all of the universe in cool clear pinpoints of light, gentle light, and realize how incredibly small you are. Inky blackness surrounds you and on the horizon, low in the sky are the evidence of the sun's activity with light dancing in an ever beautiful array of green streaks and you realize how lucky you are to be the reality of a one in one billionth exponential possibility. Then around you are the sleepy baaas of sheepy mom's calling their lambs to them.The still small interests of wee things intermingle with the vastly large and beyond understanding. Yes it is good to be alive......
I slept in this morning, a good thing too since I will be heading in to FSJ at 3:30 a.m. to take Fadder for tests at the hospital that requires
us to be there no later than 5 a.m. But driving in the dark again will mean another opportunity hopefully to look at the night skies and ponder the inconsequence of humanity.
As for the sheep?...
they have settled in and 
are making friends with the others. Pecking order is being established and the little ram is still nervous of this great long necked weird looking white woolly thing (Mishka) that keeps trying to sniff him and check him out! Imagine if you had this look at you....
Yesterday we went to Valleyview to pick up my new sheep. Hubby and I built a box on our friend's flat bed trailer (We've got to get one of those!) on Monday and then yesterday
we hit the wide open road and headed out to Valleyview to pick up the sheep. We left at 8 a.m. and 15 hours later drove into the yard with sheep in tow. We had a great trip. It stared out in cloud cover for pretty much the whole way but that was good because driving with the sun in your eyes can be seriously nasty. We stopped for snacks in Pouce Coupe on the way there and it started to rain shortly after. That was something I wasn't too happy about but Hubby had it under control. The Daughters and Tootsie the wonder chicken herder were with us. They kept themselves occupied by listening to Daughter #1's iPod in the back seat. I must say they were excellent co-travelers and did not fight too much and generally stayed polite which is amazing considering that they were cooped up together for long hours. Anyway, I digress, the trip gave us all an opportunity to see parts of the country that we have not seen for a while. It was nice to hit the highway because I realized very quickly that the colours of fall are everywhere not just my backyard and while any intelligent person would deduce this fact, it still is a bit of a shock when you see it. The turn of the seasons is irrefutable my friends.
Grand Prairie was our stopping place for lunch and it was a stop in torrents of rain. That's why when we finally got to JM's place in Valleyview an hour later it was a bit of a shock to see that she was suffering the kind of drought that we experienced here in the Peace a few year ago. There were grasshoppers everywhere and by the droves. They had polished off the grass and every green thing except for the quack grass for miles. There was one patch of quack grass in her garden that was lovely and rich and green and soft. Nothing and I mean nothing eats quack grass except maybe ducks! They had not had serious amounts of rain for quite a while. The sunshine actually hurt the eyes there. The grass was white it was so dead. She showed us all around the paddocks and barns and at one point she showed us one of her old sheep who wasn't too lively. She was just lying there and the grasshoppers were all over her and they were even eating her wool because they had nothing green left to eat. JM was horrified but I had seen it before because three years ago when we were hit with a draught we had a grasshopper plague like I have never seen before. It was truly the most horrible thing I have ever seen. When God gave grasshopper plagues to the world He knew how to punish, that is for sure.
We were at JM's for about an hour and a half where we had a very interesting tour of her place and then we left, loaded with sheep who have now been named as follows...
Pure bred Merino.... Queenie
Canadian Arcott/Merino.... Sally
Cotswold/Merino (black).... Lulu
BFL/Merino ram..... Ipwitch
The trip
home was exhausting most of which was driven after dark. Hauling sheep in a trailer meant
that we went slower than normal so they wouldn't get jostled too much. We stopped in GP for supper which had cleared away from earlier in the day and was now sunny. After we left though it meant driving into the setting sun which is never relaxing. Hubby had worn himself out by the time we got back to Pouce Coupe and so I took over driving again. It was dark and so I felt skirting Dawson Creek was a good idea to avoid traffic with a trailer in tow during the dark at night. The traffic between Dawson Creek and Chetwynd was dreadful with vehicles coming at just the right intervals to make you constantly have to flick on and off your high beams. I was glad to head north and get out of that traffic. Problem is though that I was so bleary eyed after driving that long in the dark that when we got to a police road block at Moberly Lake I decided to give Mike, who had been snoozing since I started driving an hour and a half before, the opportunity to drive us home. By this time it was really dark with no little amount of light on the horizon at all. Just before we got to the downward hill that took us into our own little home town, I noticed a strange glow in the sky, which at first I thought was the glow of our town lights. Then I rethought that since it was in the wrong place and thought perhaps it was the lights of a new drilling rig. No that wasn't right either as it had a greenish glow to it and that's when Hubby piped up and suggested that it was the glow of Northern Lights. The Daughters by this time were asleep from pure exhaustion and didn't see a thing.It was only after we left the lights of our home town behind that I noticed how beautiful were the stars. It was glorious as the heavens were at their best. I can only imagine how the shepherds of old who slept out under the stars would have felt. We close ourselves off from the glorious skies when we go into our homes at night. But some night, if you are adventurous and have the interest, open your door and take a walk out under the skies... try to find a place that doesn't have any street lights because you will be astounded by the number of stars that are in the great dome above us. Who knows you may even catch a glimps of some of those mysterious northern lights... I think I should add that one to my "Glad To Be Alive" list... It is good to be alive when you walk out under the great dome of our world in the ever darkening night, where there are no man made lights to detract from the glorious bounty of the skies, and you see spread out before you all of the universe in cool clear pinpoints of light, gentle light, and realize how incredibly small you are. Inky blackness surrounds you and on the horizon, low in the sky are the evidence of the sun's activity with light dancing in an ever beautiful array of green streaks and you realize how lucky you are to be the reality of a one in one billionth exponential possibility. Then around you are the sleepy baaas of sheepy mom's calling their lambs to them.The still small interests of wee things intermingle with the vastly large and beyond understanding. Yes it is good to be alive......
I slept in this morning, a good thing too since I will be heading in to FSJ at 3:30 a.m. to take Fadder for tests at the hospital that requires
us to be there no later than 5 a.m. But driving in the dark again will mean another opportunity hopefully to look at the night skies and ponder the inconsequence of humanity.
As for the sheep?...
they have settled in and 
are making friends with the others. Pecking order is being established and the little ram is still nervous of this great long necked weird looking white woolly thing (Mishka) that keeps trying to sniff him and check him out! Imagine if you had this look at you....
Monday, August 24, 2009
Barnyard Changes
It is quiet in the house. I've been awake for a while now and it is just starting to lighten on the eastern horizon. To the west there is still the dark-blue-of-an-ink-stain on the horizon. I can hear Duffy snoring gently at the top of the steps and there's a bat outside of the office window going mad after the flies and moths.Hubby is sleeping... at least I hope he is, and the Daughters are sleeping. All is quiet.
Yesterday, Hubby worked in the barnyard prepping things for the four new sheep to come on Tuesday. He pounded in two new fence posts and tightened fencing, he cut a new door in the barn and put in a divider so that it could be gotten into from the two different paddocks. Then the moment arrived when Hubby came to the house to tell me he needed mine and the Daughters help moving animals from one paddock to another. We let the sheep out onto pasture to graze while we opened the gate between the old garden where Honeydew (the llama) and Mishka (the female alpaca) and Greigg and Oscar (the ram) were. They entered the middle paddock with some encouragement from Hubby in the form of a smack on the rump. Daughter #1 closed the gate behind them and tied it tight. Woo hoo! Move number one done. Honeydew and Mishka, and the boys were quite perplexed by what was happening.... but let me tell you that Mishka and my male alpacas were getting to know each other in very short order now that there was only some wire separating them. Obviously keeping a paddock in between them had been a good idea. Coal, who is usually so passive, was trying his best to melt through the fence like butter. This was good because he and the other males were so busy checking out the cute female on the other side of the fence that we were able to sneak up on them and catch them pretty easily.
One by one, the alpacas were moved to their new digs. Phew! Move number two done! They are now in the paddock nearest the house with a lovely new shelter, under which they can hide away from stormy weather. Still Mishka was in the middle paddock which meant that all my boy alpacas were getting ready to try out their jollies. There was a total loss of male mind power.... like there ever was any (snort). I've never seen a hornier lot than those five male alpacas. I mean you could see them actually trying to figure out how they could high five each other in the battle for girl power. I think Coal was winning though. He wasn't wasting time on the other boys.... he only had eyes for Mishka.
We were able to catch Mishka fairly easily but Honeydew was quite upset by the whole process. She is not good with change. She kept going back and forth trying to figure out how to follow Mishka. Meanwhile Greigg and Oscar the ram got caught behind the barn in a little spot about two feet wide and couldn't get turned around because they just wanted to go forward but going forward got them stuck worse. Honeydew kept looking around going where did everyone go. She couldn't see rammalama-ding-dong (Oscar) and nuts-off (Greigg) stuck behind the barn. Greigg kept trying to get Oscar to move backwards but Oscar wanted Greigg to go forward.... neither one of them was going anywhere. We all backed off and let them figure it out for themselves which took a few minutes being (stupid... did say that?...) sheep. Eventually they managed to extricate themselves from their predicament and decided to check out the barn and surroundings.
Meanwhile Mishka was being led into the far paddock and was quite nervous about what was happening to her. But she survived and started to check out the poo left by her boyfriends.
Hubby went off to fetch a pail of oats and that was the downfall of the sheep. They enjoyed their half hour of freedom grazing on the grass while all the paddocks were being changed, and then back into the paddock they went,only this time it was a different paddock, carefully led by a bucket of oats. Now, all sheep have access to a barn... the barn has been divided so that the girls have access from the west side and the big paddock. Mishka has new friends in the form of the sheep and she also has access to the barn and shelter for the winter. The ram and Greigg have access to the barn from the east side and the middle paddock and even Honeydew can get in there on the most miserable of days.
Meanwhile the five males alpacas have rolling rights in what used to be our garden and they will get a new paddock in the spring. We have also built them a new shelter and though it is temporary, it will work for the winter. They also have fertilizing rights in the garden which is good because they tend to spread their poop more than Honeydew did and the Greigg and Oscar did.
The new ewes coming on Tuesday, will go in the big paddock with the rest of the ewes, and the new ram will have a spot with the boys in the middle which I feel is a better sharing of space. The biggest lot of animals are in the big paddock and the smallest number of animals are in the smallest paddock and the medium sized number of animals are in the medium sized paddock. That's fair... I'd say.
Anyway the barnyard was rather exciting yesterday.... Hey! Look at that... Mr. Bat has departed and there is the sun just coming up.... I must go have a look and see how all the animals faired in their new paddocks overnight..... hmmm... everyone is sharper than usual.... but I guess that is to be expected. At least none have made a break for it and there are none ready to jump the fences. I hope they settle soon.
Yesterday, Hubby worked in the barnyard prepping things for the four new sheep to come on Tuesday. He pounded in two new fence posts and tightened fencing, he cut a new door in the barn and put in a divider so that it could be gotten into from the two different paddocks. Then the moment arrived when Hubby came to the house to tell me he needed mine and the Daughters help moving animals from one paddock to another. We let the sheep out onto pasture to graze while we opened the gate between the old garden where Honeydew (the llama) and Mishka (the female alpaca) and Greigg and Oscar (the ram) were. They entered the middle paddock with some encouragement from Hubby in the form of a smack on the rump. Daughter #1 closed the gate behind them and tied it tight. Woo hoo! Move number one done. Honeydew and Mishka, and the boys were quite perplexed by what was happening.... but let me tell you that Mishka and my male alpacas were getting to know each other in very short order now that there was only some wire separating them. Obviously keeping a paddock in between them had been a good idea. Coal, who is usually so passive, was trying his best to melt through the fence like butter. This was good because he and the other males were so busy checking out the cute female on the other side of the fence that we were able to sneak up on them and catch them pretty easily.
One by one, the alpacas were moved to their new digs. Phew! Move number two done! They are now in the paddock nearest the house with a lovely new shelter, under which they can hide away from stormy weather. Still Mishka was in the middle paddock which meant that all my boy alpacas were getting ready to try out their jollies. There was a total loss of male mind power.... like there ever was any (snort). I've never seen a hornier lot than those five male alpacas. I mean you could see them actually trying to figure out how they could high five each other in the battle for girl power. I think Coal was winning though. He wasn't wasting time on the other boys.... he only had eyes for Mishka.
We were able to catch Mishka fairly easily but Honeydew was quite upset by the whole process. She is not good with change. She kept going back and forth trying to figure out how to follow Mishka. Meanwhile Greigg and Oscar the ram got caught behind the barn in a little spot about two feet wide and couldn't get turned around because they just wanted to go forward but going forward got them stuck worse. Honeydew kept looking around going where did everyone go. She couldn't see rammalama-ding-dong (Oscar) and nuts-off (Greigg) stuck behind the barn. Greigg kept trying to get Oscar to move backwards but Oscar wanted Greigg to go forward.... neither one of them was going anywhere. We all backed off and let them figure it out for themselves which took a few minutes being (stupid... did say that?...) sheep. Eventually they managed to extricate themselves from their predicament and decided to check out the barn and surroundings.
Meanwhile Mishka was being led into the far paddock and was quite nervous about what was happening to her. But she survived and started to check out the poo left by her boyfriends.
Hubby went off to fetch a pail of oats and that was the downfall of the sheep. They enjoyed their half hour of freedom grazing on the grass while all the paddocks were being changed, and then back into the paddock they went,only this time it was a different paddock, carefully led by a bucket of oats. Now, all sheep have access to a barn... the barn has been divided so that the girls have access from the west side and the big paddock. Mishka has new friends in the form of the sheep and she also has access to the barn and shelter for the winter. The ram and Greigg have access to the barn from the east side and the middle paddock and even Honeydew can get in there on the most miserable of days.
Meanwhile the five males alpacas have rolling rights in what used to be our garden and they will get a new paddock in the spring. We have also built them a new shelter and though it is temporary, it will work for the winter. They also have fertilizing rights in the garden which is good because they tend to spread their poop more than Honeydew did and the Greigg and Oscar did.
The new ewes coming on Tuesday, will go in the big paddock with the rest of the ewes, and the new ram will have a spot with the boys in the middle which I feel is a better sharing of space. The biggest lot of animals are in the big paddock and the smallest number of animals are in the smallest paddock and the medium sized number of animals are in the medium sized paddock. That's fair... I'd say.
Anyway the barnyard was rather exciting yesterday.... Hey! Look at that... Mr. Bat has departed and there is the sun just coming up.... I must go have a look and see how all the animals faired in their new paddocks overnight..... hmmm... everyone is sharper than usual.... but I guess that is to be expected. At least none have made a break for it and there are none ready to jump the fences. I hope they settle soon.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Fire In The Hole!!!!
The flies are driving me crazy... the one thing about this time of the year that I truly can't stand is the flies that buzz around you and pester the daylights out of you. I walk around, perpetually, with a fly swatter in my hand.
They crawl on the dishes in the kitchen and it bugs me.... I have to clean the dishes every time I want to use one. They crawl all over the computer and land on my legs just out of reach (see the fly in this picture) so that they tickle the hairs on my legs (when I forget to shave) and drive me clean square batty like I'm not there already.....
I wish I hadn't had to get rid of Waldo. She could have eaten five hundred of them....
Last night Hubby and I sat on our deck after the long fire ban was finally lifted and watched the glowing embers of our fire die late into the night.... it was lovely.... except the darn flies kept pestering me. Daughter #2 watched a fly streak into the fire and burn crisp in an arial display of complete stupidity and we all agreed that the little blighter deserved to croak in a ball of flames.
The flies are everywhere. You can't sit in the house without being driven insane with the stupid nasties crawling on some part of your body just out of reach. (see the fly in this pic?)
These are not bighting flies they are just little house flies that are too brazen for their own good. I kill them by the hundreds but it is like an oncoming never ending army of pests meant to drive the normal person to distraction.
What I want to do is dig a large pit and encourage everyone for twenty miles to climb in and then..... well look at the title of this blog.
I came up with a great idea.... you know those bug lights that zap bugs left right and centre when the are hung up and electrified..... well I always thought they were stupid. I mean they just zap bugs as five million more are attracted to the light of it and the bats get zapped too which you don't want since they eat bugs. While I was washing the dishes yesterday and going on and on about how there was no end to the little flies that I kept killing between drying the dishes,
it occurred to me that if you put a bug light in the house at a strategic place and carefully place a trash basket under it, it would take care of every little nasty flying pest in the house and who cares about the ones outside.... I think it is a great idea..... I like it.
I'm off to burn my house..... uh... I mean burn the trim for my house.... like this...
and swat a few more flies.... sigh! (see the fly in this pic?)
They crawl on the dishes in the kitchen and it bugs me.... I have to clean the dishes every time I want to use one. They crawl all over the computer and land on my legs just out of reach (see the fly in this picture) so that they tickle the hairs on my legs (when I forget to shave) and drive me clean square batty like I'm not there already..... I wish I hadn't had to get rid of Waldo. She could have eaten five hundred of them....
Last night Hubby and I sat on our deck after the long fire ban was finally lifted and watched the glowing embers of our fire die late into the night.... it was lovely.... except the darn flies kept pestering me. Daughter #2 watched a fly streak into the fire and burn crisp in an arial display of complete stupidity and we all agreed that the little blighter deserved to croak in a ball of flames.
The flies are everywhere. You can't sit in the house without being driven insane with the stupid nasties crawling on some part of your body just out of reach. (see the fly in this pic?)
These are not bighting flies they are just little house flies that are too brazen for their own good. I kill them by the hundreds but it is like an oncoming never ending army of pests meant to drive the normal person to distraction.
What I want to do is dig a large pit and encourage everyone for twenty miles to climb in and then..... well look at the title of this blog.
I came up with a great idea.... you know those bug lights that zap bugs left right and centre when the are hung up and electrified..... well I always thought they were stupid. I mean they just zap bugs as five million more are attracted to the light of it and the bats get zapped too which you don't want since they eat bugs. While I was washing the dishes yesterday and going on and on about how there was no end to the little flies that I kept killing between drying the dishes,
it occurred to me that if you put a bug light in the house at a strategic place and carefully place a trash basket under it, it would take care of every little nasty flying pest in the house and who cares about the ones outside.... I think it is a great idea..... I like it.I'm off to burn my house..... uh... I mean burn the trim for my house.... like this...
and swat a few more flies.... sigh! (see the fly in this pic?)
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Embarassing Recipe
I went to a birthday party tonight for a friend.... you know one of those affairs where you bring a salad and they provide the meat. Now Hubby and I never have tons of food hanging around the house at this time of the year. We are waiting for that all powerful first check to come in in the middle of September to restock our shelves. This is an annual event. Most people think that teachers make lots of money and while they do ok they do not get paid in the summer... at least this teacher doesn't. As a result taking food to an event such as the one we attended this evening becomes a real exercise in ingenuity.
I took beet salad.... I was embarrassed to take this concoction but take it I did. Now if you are like most people, around about now, you are wondering what is beet salad? Let me explain.
In Newfoundland every summer many small communities have what is called the annual summer garden party. Garden parties are like the biggest potluck you have ever seen. Every woman for miles will spend hours upon hours thinking about what grand and glorious recipe they will try out on unsuspecting recipients at the annual garden party. There is usually every kind of salad known to man as well as every kind of dainty sandwich and desert that could be possibly stirred, blended, ground, risen baked, fried, etc.... you get my drift.
At these garden parties there is a positive potato salad frenzy. Potato salads are a gourmet delight in Newfoundland where there are so many Irish cast offs that potatoes are a staple of the good Newfy's diet. There are potato salads with apple chopped in them... there are potato salads where there is mustard stirred into them... if you can stir it into the potatoes then it is to be expected at the potato salad table. (yes there is a table set aside for the potato salads)!
The quintessential, unavoidable, and very predictable salad is the beet/potato salad. And that is what I made for the party tonight.
I have always prided myself on the recipes that I use for potlucks and events where I have to bring something foodish to the party. I always try to find some gourmet delight that is a veritable proof of my culinary skill. I hoard recipes like some people hoard gold. Beet/potato salad is not one of them.... it is comfort food... it is a recipe (I say that tongue in cheek) that I simply use for the family. It takes no skill, it is not a gourmet delight, and no chef in his right mind would use it. It is simply too simple and totally.... well, yummy.
Tonight.... enter one beet/potato salad.... pink as petunias.... and simple beyond imagining.....
Smash hit.... who knew....
Frankie's Beet/Potato Salad
A bunch of potatoes enough to fill a 4 l stock pot, peeled, boiled, mashed and cooled.
Preserved beet in or not in vinegar.... diced. About 1 1/2 cups.
5 - 6 hard boiled eggs peeled and diced.
2 - 3 big globs of mayonaise or whipped salad dressing
Stir all the above ingredients together and smooth top... place a couple of sprigs of parsley for decoration.... chill and serve.
How easy was that.... they all think I'm some kind of super chef. How bizarre!
I took beet salad.... I was embarrassed to take this concoction but take it I did. Now if you are like most people, around about now, you are wondering what is beet salad? Let me explain.
In Newfoundland every summer many small communities have what is called the annual summer garden party. Garden parties are like the biggest potluck you have ever seen. Every woman for miles will spend hours upon hours thinking about what grand and glorious recipe they will try out on unsuspecting recipients at the annual garden party. There is usually every kind of salad known to man as well as every kind of dainty sandwich and desert that could be possibly stirred, blended, ground, risen baked, fried, etc.... you get my drift.
At these garden parties there is a positive potato salad frenzy. Potato salads are a gourmet delight in Newfoundland where there are so many Irish cast offs that potatoes are a staple of the good Newfy's diet. There are potato salads with apple chopped in them... there are potato salads where there is mustard stirred into them... if you can stir it into the potatoes then it is to be expected at the potato salad table. (yes there is a table set aside for the potato salads)!
The quintessential, unavoidable, and very predictable salad is the beet/potato salad. And that is what I made for the party tonight.
I have always prided myself on the recipes that I use for potlucks and events where I have to bring something foodish to the party. I always try to find some gourmet delight that is a veritable proof of my culinary skill. I hoard recipes like some people hoard gold. Beet/potato salad is not one of them.... it is comfort food... it is a recipe (I say that tongue in cheek) that I simply use for the family. It takes no skill, it is not a gourmet delight, and no chef in his right mind would use it. It is simply too simple and totally.... well, yummy.
Tonight.... enter one beet/potato salad.... pink as petunias.... and simple beyond imagining.....
Smash hit.... who knew....
Frankie's Beet/Potato Salad
A bunch of potatoes enough to fill a 4 l stock pot, peeled, boiled, mashed and cooled.
Preserved beet in or not in vinegar.... diced. About 1 1/2 cups.
5 - 6 hard boiled eggs peeled and diced.
2 - 3 big globs of mayonaise or whipped salad dressing
Stir all the above ingredients together and smooth top... place a couple of sprigs of parsley for decoration.... chill and serve.
How easy was that.... they all think I'm some kind of super chef. How bizarre!
Turn Of Days
For a few days now I have been fighting what I call the Autumn Blues. Even though this is my favorite time of the year I know that what lies ahead is all doom and gloom. I'll be honest I hate winter. I hate the cold and I hate.... just hate the snow. I mean don't get me wrong. I can appreciate the beauty of the snow and how it looks at various times of the day. But when I open the door and experience the cold air, when I get up at 9 a.m. and it is still dark these are the things that make winter a miserable time of the year for me.
The other thing that makes this time of the year a time of the Blues is.... I, unlike most other women, like my Hubby home. I actually enjoy the man. Why I cannot say.... maybe for the same reasons that I married him... but you would think that after 17 years of marriage I would now think of him as a nuisance. Most women don't want their husbands under foot in their kitchens, but I like my Hubby in the kitchen... he can actually cook as well as I do. I like his company and miss him when he isn't around.
Actually being married to a teacher and having a man around a lot in the summer, I think, brings us closer together. We do things together and its nice to spend time with the man you fell in love with all those years ago.
I will also miss the girls when they go back to school. I like them and have a lot of fun with them. It gives me great pleasure to watch them growing up and school undermines my time with them. So you see even though the weather of autumn doesn't bother me, I actually like it, there are some serious disadvantages to autumn.
You will note that a few weeks ago I noticed the first signs of fall.... the grass had a golden look to it. Now I have started to notice that the trees are turning colour too. My tomato plants are starting to turn yellow underneath. the tops are still green and so are the tomatoes but underneath the leaves have turned yellow. As a matter of a fact all my flowers on the deck have a decidedly tired look about them.
So in honour of the Autumnal (love that word) changes I have decided it is time for a change to the Ye Olde Batt Blog..... I like the colours that I have chosen.
By the way...Reece is doing much better thank you very much....
The other thing that makes this time of the year a time of the Blues is.... I, unlike most other women, like my Hubby home. I actually enjoy the man. Why I cannot say.... maybe for the same reasons that I married him... but you would think that after 17 years of marriage I would now think of him as a nuisance. Most women don't want their husbands under foot in their kitchens, but I like my Hubby in the kitchen... he can actually cook as well as I do. I like his company and miss him when he isn't around.
Actually being married to a teacher and having a man around a lot in the summer, I think, brings us closer together. We do things together and its nice to spend time with the man you fell in love with all those years ago.
I will also miss the girls when they go back to school. I like them and have a lot of fun with them. It gives me great pleasure to watch them growing up and school undermines my time with them. So you see even though the weather of autumn doesn't bother me, I actually like it, there are some serious disadvantages to autumn.
You will note that a few weeks ago I noticed the first signs of fall.... the grass had a golden look to it. Now I have started to notice that the trees are turning colour too. My tomato plants are starting to turn yellow underneath. the tops are still green and so are the tomatoes but underneath the leaves have turned yellow. As a matter of a fact all my flowers on the deck have a decidedly tired look about them.
So in honour of the Autumnal (love that word) changes I have decided it is time for a change to the Ye Olde Batt Blog..... I like the colours that I have chosen.
By the way...Reece is doing much better thank you very much....
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