Snow!!!!!!!* * * * * * * *

-11 degrees Celcius this morning and everything is white.  Narmin had a strange reaction to first snow and wasn't quite sure what to do when he went out through the door. Then a few minutes later the kitty went out and was not sure either about what all the white stuff is. As we were going to bed last night the wind picked up again after a day of finally blowing itself out. We had been having high winds for a full week and it surely was a Chinook.  Yesterday, everything got really calm, then last night the wind picked up again only this time it was coming in from the North.... along with it came our first snow and the fist of winter, that reaches out from the mountains into the valley and opens its palm to let loose with our first swirling snow.  By 2 a.m. I woke up and had a look out the window and there was the snow. White ground as far as the eye could see.

This is a morning for hot chocolate and a fireplace and knitting (or hand work of some kind). It is cold and grey outside and there is no earthly reason to want to go outside. If I had time for reading I would settle down with a book... (I'm reading The Secret Lives Of Dresses... just a mediocre book). But level 5 homework awaits and I did manage to finish another sample yesterday... so now I have the first section finished.

I am thinking that it is time to start the book work for level 5 since I now have ink cartridges in the printer and the right paper and everything that I need. I even got Teapot to pick up baggies on the way home from work yesterday so I am all set to get these samples washed and finished and in my books. Level 5 has started in earnest!

Now that Daughter #2 is back at school and her Shingles has settled down Daughter #1 has decided that it is her turn... she doesn't have Shingles thank heavens but she has a bad cold and has decided that a day of staying in bed and laying her head low is a good idea. I always enjoy having the company of the Daughters at home... even if they are feeling rotten.  It is nice that we have good relationships so that we can enjoy each other even at our worst.

First snow got many groans and sighs of dismay this morning... not how they would act when they were little... when they were little we would barrel out through the door and make snowballs and snowmen and kick the snow about.... but now we are beyond those days. Still, it looks grey and cold and that fireplace and that hot chocolate are beckoning .... I think I'll go now and tomorrow I will be writing about something that has been on my mind lately.... Feminism.... I'm sure you will all be watching with baited breath to read my comments on that! (snork!)

See ya'll tomorrow.

Hmmm... Not Sure About This Look

This new look that I have for my blog is something that I'm absolutely not sure about... It makes me think that Ye Olde Batt is about health... which it is not . absolutely! Will continue to work on this so hang in there.... new looks coming as I work on trying to change the face of the Batt.

Doctors, Doctors, Everywhere And Not A One To See You

Hallowe'en certainly didn't turn out at all the way I expected. I went to bed on Sunday with the beginnings of a UTI. By 2 a.m. I really wasn't sure how I was going to get through the rest of the night. Yesterday, was spent in Emergency (since we don't have a full time doctor here in HH anymore), clinics and pharmacies. I really wasn't one of my more thrilling Hallowe'en days. Teapot and the Daughters went to the annual fireworks without me since I could barely keep my head up once the painkillers and antibiotics kicked in. I feel much better today!

One of the things that encouraged Teapot and I to move here to HH was the fact that there was a full time doctor and a fully working clinic. With two small children at the time of our move here, we felt that we really wanted a doctor in case of emergencies.  I do have to say that we are not the type of parents who will call out a doctor for just any old thing.  The only time I have called out a doctor was when Daughter #1 was having issues with her heath in grade one (so many years ago) and she ended up in the hospital twice. Teapot called out the doctor after hours when he had appendicitis. So we are certainly not ones to call the doctor for every ache pain and high temperature. So moving here seemed like a good choice since we had a doctor.

With the slowly declining population of our community, we have noticed that our medical services are on the decline.  About four years ago we lost our full time doctor and though our community advertised for a full time doctor we have not been able to find one. Instead, one of the clinics in FSJ (a nearby community) were willing to send a doctor out here to the boonies four days a week.  It meant that 1. there was a different doctor here each day and you never knew who you were going to see. 2. There was no one here at night.... ever. 3.You were at the whim of the weather or other unseen factors that would pull the doctor away from coming to our clinic... and do you know how in demand doctors can be? It was a very short period of time before we realized just how lousy a situation we were in.   That was the first year they were controlling the clinic.... four years ago. Slowly our medical services have declined to the point that we are lucky when the weeks go by and we have coverage by a doctor more than one day a week.  It is dreadful!

I'm one of those people who believes that nurse practitioners are the way of the future. We have to I think if we are going to be able to expect high quality medical services. It is not a step down....

Last week when Daughter #2 was diagnosed with Shingles.... well we already were 80% sure that she had shingles... our visit to the doctor was just to confirm and to get a prescription of anti-viral medication. Then yesterday I knew (98% sure) I had a UTI (I've had lots of them before) all I needed was to have it confirmed and have a prescription of antibiotics given to me.  Both of these things could have been taken care of by a nurse practitioner. I can't understand what the negativity towards nurse practitioners is.

After I got to the clinic yesterday (in the other community) I discovered that the doctor that I was supposed to see was called out to the emergency and I was going to have to come back later in the day for an appointment with a different doctor. As long as I got to see someone I was OK, though I didn't really know how I was going to pass the several hours in between waiting to see the doctor, but I managed and was really happy to receive the prescription that I knew I needed.

Anyway, part of living in a small community is putting up with strange situations when it comes to medical services, dental services... etc. I do know that if I ever have a heart attack then it is highly unlikely that I will live. The chances of having it on a day when there are medical services here in town is about 2%.  I also know that if I ever get cancer I will have to leave this community to get treatment. Pray God that my appendix don't burst. And if I have a stroke then I'm hooped.  For all those young ladies who have birthing issues I hope they have long dragged out labours because they will at least have time to get to the hospital.

A few years ago there was a really bad accident here in town.  A young man lost his life because he was driving (drunk) and hit a telephone/light pole. He died at the scene of the accident, but the passenger he was carrying lived.... only because the doctor who lived at the time in residence here in HH was called out to the medical clinic late at night and was able to stabilise him before he was transported to the hospital.

What will happen with our medical situation here in this wee small community is anyone's guess...  I hate to think about it honestly.

Another day... is passing by and I need to go get some work done. A little spinning on that level 5 homework which I have fallen behind on in the last week of cleaning.

Scared Out Of My Bejeepers

It has been blowing a gale all day yesterday and today. I took out some broccoli stems to the bunnies in the dark last night and all around me were those dead pine trees, (they surround our property), which were cracking and squeaking in the heavy winds.  It felt so much like Hallowe'en with all that noise.  It was a real night for Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman. I kept looking over my shoulder and I thanked heavens the doggies were with me.... all of them including the ADHD dog.... Bailey!

I am not one to scare easily.  I used to have a boyfriend who would try to scare me by popping out of closets when I got home from work or would pose as having hung himself off the shower rod in the bathroom. He even bought  a retractable knife and stuck it in himself in the kitchen one evening... I found him lying on the floor in the kitchen with a knife sticking out of his chest... but then, I would pose as having fallen down the steps, unconscious, with blood oozing from a gash on my head.... but none of it was real... still it was a situation where it would scare the dickens out of you if you thought for the split minute that it was real. (I got him really good with the falling down the steps one since I acted as if I was unconscious and kept the act up really good.... Ha!)

Then there's Teapot who comes up behind you when you're not expecting it and knocks your knees out from under you. Or sneaks up behind you while your working hard on something and softly whispers in your ear and makes you want to poop in your pants.  Teapot is a little more subtle about his scaring tactics than was that other fellow.

So I have become accustomed to getting the pants scared off me. I try not to think about being scared too often.  But the one thing that scares me beyond all reason is walking through a forest in the night when the wind is blowing.... Oh man does that scare me.

Now the bunny cage is approximately 20 steps from the house and there is nary a tree for another fifty feet beyond but when I walked out there last night I got the creeping sensation that something was watching me. Now we have wild life aplenty around here... as you know, moose have walked right up to the house, deer are common visitors, the coyotes have been skulking around regularly for the past nine years and owls silently pass your head without so much as a howdy do. So when I felt those eyes on me last night, I peered through the dark in an effort to figure out what was watching me. I looked toward the horse paddock and there was Dreamer lazily eating her food which assured me that whatever was watching me was benign at least. And then I peered through the dark toward the alpaca's paddocks and they were all sleepily chewing their cuds quietly.... this too was a good sign.... so why was the hair on the back of my neck standing on end as the wind howled and the trees waved back and forth.

I just couldn't figure it out.

I started back toward the house taking steps slowly so that I wouldn't fall into the holes that the dogs insist on digging. I didn't want to sprain an ankle or worse. Five more steps and I had another look around. Still there was nothing that I could see.... or hear at that point with the wind chimes blowing back and forth on my deck... but I just knew... I just knew that there was something there with me. That's when out of the corner of my eye I saw it.... it looked like a person standing there with a long grey gown that was blowing in the wind.....

I just about jumped out of my skin..... why hadn't she spoken to me..... I called out.... "can I help you?" I thought perhaps she was lost.

Dead silence.... and I mean dead.... just her two arms raising up to beckon to me.

The hair by now was standing not just on the back of my neck but on the top of my head and on my arms and if truth be told I'm sure the hair on my unshaven legs were all standing at attention too! Every skin cell told me to run like the bejeepers...... I was sure that some specter had come to take me to some other realm...... I turned and walked fast thinking, "you're nuts, you're nuts..... there's nothing there.... there can't be..." that's when the best friend of any man or woman came to my aid.

During the renovation of 2009 we were smart enough to install motion detectors on the front deck lights.... Woo hoo! Halalujah! On came the motion detector light as it detected my now very speedy motion.

I turned as I stepped up on to the steps, to look behind me and there blowing in the wind was not the specter of my imagination.... but......

 Which in the daylight looks like this....

It's just the damn tarp that we used last summer for shelter for the alpacas from stormy rainy days. The wind of the last few weeks has torn it to shreds!

Phew! I'm glad I don't scare easily!

Nasty Weather In The Air

I finished cleaning the house last evening with a little help from Teapot and the Daughters.... good thing too since an Aunt and Uncle who are visiting my parents came to call last evening.  We had a really nice visit. And I felt proud that my house was so nice and neat and tidy... usually I'm apologizing for the mess that is all around me. Here's how it looked after the big fall 2011 cleanup...

Much better now that you can see the surface of the couch and actually sit on it!

Plants watered and window sill cleared off of debris and dead flies. Nice basket of wool for coziness and that cute wee owl to watch over all.... very nice.

Oh! Look at that.... we can eat at the table for heaven's sake.... there's nothing on it except for a table cloth... lovely (except its pink... urgh!) What a novelty.... a table that you can eat at... never heard of such a thing!

This is still the messiest area in the house but it is my work room after all... you have to have stuff laying around where you are working right?!

Wow! And even the computer area is neat and tidy. Gosh though... looking at that old blue chair of mine makes me realize just how ugly and in need of a cover it is.... yuck!

Still though the whole house looks awesome even the front porch which Teapot fixed up... it looks great too.  I wonder though for how long!

Just before our guests arrived and right after they called to say they were coming I took a quick spin into town to go to the bakery so that I would have something nice to put out and eat... (well... we are Newfies for heavens sake... what would a visit be without food on a plate... at least I served nice things... cheese and crackers and the yummiest grapes... the bakery stuff looked gross... honestly!) Anyway... as I was saying.... on the way to town I snapped this photo...

Now if there's not snow in those clouds I'll eat my shirt..... Although the forecast is calling for above freezing temperatures, I'm not holding my breath. Teapot says rain and maybe he's right but I'll wait and see.

Today Teapot will be hauling in hay... and we'll be finishing up winterizing the yard etc... there's a few small jobs around to be done before that snow comes. We've noticed that in the addition there are some spots where you can see daylight through cracks that have formed where the logs of our house butt up against the addition walls... This will require caulking since the logs shrink over time and the caulking needs to constantly be watched as the cracks open. There are a few windfalls from the last few windy weeks that will need cutting and burning. The tent trailer will need it's tarp wrapped around it and the hay will need to be stocked for horse and alpacas. Then we have to haul the ram to his new home where he will be happy to see his girls again. Tomorrow there are a few fence issues to be addressed as the snow of last winter has pulled the fence in the alpaca pen down and if they really wanted to, they could step right over then fence in one place... thank heavens they don't run fences... alpacas are very mild mannered. So these are the jobs ahead...

With Monday being Hallowe'en I feel like I should have pumpkins all over but I don't... as a matter of a fact you'd never know that it was Hallowe'en at all around here.  Nary a witch or pumpkin to be seen.... unless you count me as a witch! (Some days I feel like I could pass as one.) But since we live way out here in the boonies and since the girls are getting older and are not trick-or-treating anymore (this is a first for us) we really don't feel the need to dress up our house. We do watch scary movies on the big night... and eat carmel popcorn made by moi, and go to the fireworks that our volunteer fire fighters put off.  But somehow Hallowe'en just doesn't seem the same now that we are not walking house to house with our children. Still, Christmas is on the way and I guess we will be thinking about that great event as it draws closer....

If I don't get back here before Monday, you all have a great Hallowe'en... watch out for the ghosts and goblins.... and don't eat candy till you throw up... always sage advice from the Batt!

Change Is In The Air

 It seems like day after day goes by and I can't think of anything to say so today is a day to catch up on all the mundane things that are happening that don't really seem worth talking about but yet are my life.

For two days I have been cleaning.  I think it all started when I cleaned up our bedroom a week or so ago.  I got a hankering for a really nice clean house... but then maybe it was the fact that I had this beautiful new loom and no where to put it. Or perhaps it is just that winter is around the corner and I'm feeling the need to hibernate or make a nice little nest for myself. Then again it might be that more and more Christmas is niggling in the back of my mind. Either way it has lead to a massive clean up/move furniture readjustment. Each night I fall into bed with a sore back and stiff joints. It has to do with the pushing and pulling of all furniture in this house... When I say I'm moving everything around I mean it.

Last spring I made a decision to put the dining room table in the big square room off the kitchen which had always been our living room.... and I moved our couch, chairs and T.V. into the sunroom. It was great.  For years we had felt that the sunroom was not being utilized to the best of our ability. Day after day that lovely south facing room was just sitting there as a storage room for all my spinning and weaving gear and for our dining room table.  When we had decided to build the sunroom we had made the decision to put a door in on the west side of it with the idea that eventually we would build a deck on that end of the house but as time has gone by I really have become sorry that I did that... I should have just put a window over there and not a door at all. We've never built that deck but do intend on building it at some time in the future.  The other thing I'm really sorry about is that we didn't extend that room out a few extra feet. The room measures 5.5 feet by 24 ft. It is a fairly awkward space because it is so narrow. Not quite roomy enough for a dining room and certainly not roomy enough for a living room.  It was intended to be used as an office and as a bit of studio space for me but what we have found is that I get lonely when I use it for studio space and want to spin where the familial action is. The office in the was alright but then we had nowhere for our dining room. And the kitchen is just too darn small for it. So in the end we have decided to use the sunroom for our living space with the T.V. in the summer and the dining room will go into this room off the kitchen and then we will switch it back to the living room in.... well suffice it to say that there will be two major moves a year. Which is what I have been doing. We're kind of like a bunch of Beavers with a summer home and a winter home... the deepest rooms in the house are the ones we will use for winter and the other ones will be the ones we use in the summer... clear as mud... I know.

Anyway here are a few pictures that you can look at to see just what I mean... and do realize that I have a long way to go before I am finished....

The couch is back in where we used to have the living room... I already miss the bright light of the sunroom. : (

This is all junk that was in my studio which needs sorting... I have a plan.... really I do! I see the cats have found a cushion on the floor... that figures.

Looking toward the kitchen you can see that the computer and desk are in a complete mess. that's my next job this morning... is sorting out and dusting that area.  Oh by the way I'm not packing to leave Teapot... the suitcase is the one in which I haul around my spinning wheel.

My studio space has received the new loom as you can see but I'm still trying to fit everything else around it! The fore ground is where the mess is but I'm working on it.

The dining room is in the sunroom directly off the living room... I haven't a clue what to do with all those stupid binders... that's all the work from my Master Spinner program... and the table is a little better now because I've sorted a whole bunch of that stuff... Actually Daughter #2 is writing her science test on the table at the moment... she missed it due to her outbreak of Shingles.

Perhaps I will take pictures again in a few days when I get everything sorted out. I might have to do that to prove that I am not the world's worst house keeper!

I figure a big clean twice a year can't be a bad thing... it gets rid of any giant dust bunnies and keeps Murphy at bay... well it's my theory anyway.

Two days ago, Teapot and I went for dental appointments.  For the first time in a very long time I need nothing done.... which means no cavities. Yeah!  Teapot however, has a bunch of small cavities. Poor guy. It was interesting going to this dentist... it was a new dentist that we have never gone to before.  We walked into the office and there was no doubt in my mind that dentists do really well for themselves.  I went into the bathroom and there before me was a T.V. for my viewing pleasure. Then after I went into the office there was another T.V. over my head to look at while I was getting my teeth done. There were six chairs for the dental hygienists and there were four more chairs in more privates spaces for those who were getting more than just a cleaning. Then there was this huge machine for taking xrays and to be quite frank, while I was in that machine I felt like I did the last time I went for a mammogram... it actually was kind of scary... thank God it only took a few seconds to finish. Then as we were leaving they handed us a certificate for a free lunch from Quiznos. Like since when do you get a free lunch on the Dentist... I can handle that!

More importantly though, after our appointments were finished (and my gums felt raw from all that scraping) we went to the Telus store while we were waiting for our half hour after the fluoride treatment.....(we couldn't go to Quiznos yet). OH and we had fun!  I have an iPhone.... like how awesome is that!  I tried posting on this blog from my phone but it wouldn't let me do that... well, I haven't read the instructions yet but I'm working on it... Still it is just the coolest phone on the face of the earth. I love it. It's a big change for me. I am seriously determined to go into mod mode. I refuse to get left behind on the computer/technology front. So I have all the bells and whistles on my phone. And that makes me a very happy camper.  I can take all kinds of pictures which I could do on my other phone but now you can see what they actually are and the pictures are pretty good. I can mark things on my calendar.... I already have appointments written down for the dentist! And I can access the Internet and listen to music and I can check the weather forecast. I love it... texting is so easy now... I have a touch screen keyboard on which I can type like stink... I love it. Last week I thought all those complaining about their Blackberry dying on them were nuts... now I can see why they were complaining... I mean I'm not quite that crazy but you can have a real love affair with your phone you know!  Mind you I still hate people who pull it out when they in company and start texting on the phone... it's very irritating. I will not be one of those kind of people I assure you.

Each morning when I get up, my expectation is that we will be facing snow. But still the snow is holding off. I'm quite happy with that though I don't want it to hold off indefinitely because I know how important the snow pack is for summer moisture.  We need rain for sure if we want hay for the alpacas next year. The days are mostly grey now... no more leaves on the trees. They have been gone for weeks. It is time for packing things away cleaning up the yard and getting the garden mulched. We always try to get it done before the snow comes in an effort to make spring cleanup easier.  We have closed our tent trailer (actually we did that a few weeks ago)... which is usually open all summer but we have not put it away. It needs to be put away soon since it will get damaged where it is by a snow plow if we don't do it before the snow comes, so this weekend will be a time of getting the last of the work done in the yard, before snow falls... and more importantly stays.

Teapot will be going away soon.  He has meetings in Victoria on the first weekend of November. I will be teaching Kumihimo braiding in FSJ on that weekend... I can't believe how time is flying by. This is the last week of October sure!  After Hallow'een there will be no help for it.... Christmas all the way... scary thought indeed.

Remember my plan last year to knit silk socks for everyone for Christmas... yeah that was stupid! : ( When did I actually think I was going to get that done.  I still haven't finished my first pair from my Cat Bhordi book... let alone decent socks for everyone... I must be nuts... mind you there is always next year.... ; )

Somehow I am feeling like the dark days are ahead and I feel anxious to get everything ready for those days of hibernation/ hiding away from the cold and dark... the lights are on longer each morning before I turn them off for the day and God help us on those days when the sun doesn't show its face.... I feel like I'm disappearing into the dark.... Maybe I need to start hiding away some money for a little vacation in late February.... even a trip to Victoria at that time of the year is a break... while we are still having snow and cold and dark, dark, dark, they are having daffodils and sunshine and bright light. Maybe I can convince Teapot to go.... we just need the money eh?! 

Anyway, now that I have rambled on and talked about those mundane things that affect me each day... it's time for me and sort through papers and heaps of junk that haven't gotten put away yet in the great autumn cleanup of 2011.... hope your day is not as mundane as mine.

Getting Ready

I have been watching Grey Jays (Whisky Jacks for you Newfies) scurrying away from my feeder with food for the last few weeks.  When my dogs rejected a certain brand of food that we had been given we decided to put it out for the Jays... sure enough they love it. They have been visiting every blessed day and flying off into the forest with chunks of dog food.  You must know that what they are doing is getting ready for winter.  It's almost here and it is becoming clearer every day.

 We had our first brush with winter the other day.  Friday we had our first snow fall.  It came and then it went and by last night another Chinook was blowing in. I actually had to open my bedroom window last night again after a week of sleeping with it closed. As October slips away I see more and more signs that winter is coming.  The mountains to the west of us (the Rockies) are snow covered now and the few straggling geese are making their way south.

So the dear Daughter #2 is home again today... she has Shingles and is suffering from needle pricks in the area where the rash is.  It feels like there are dozens of wee needles pricking her skin and it is very distracting... poor kid.  She opted to stay home for a couple of days till this stupid rash goes.  In the meantime she missed, on Friday, a Science test and so she is studying to do that when she gets back to class.  So I suppose that in a way she is getting ready. 

Late October seems to be a season of getting ready. I'm not quite sure why.  Perhaps it is because we tend to start winter preparations at this time of the year. For example, we spent yesterday afternoon prepping the alpacas for winter.  They have all gotten their teeth trimmed, toes trimmed and shots for parasites... so they are good to go. The last of my sheep... the ram to be exact will be leaving us this coming weekend.  I started to trim the rabbits and decided that the staple was not quite long enough so I cleaned up the last of the knobs and noils on their fur and and gave them a good combing out.  As a result they are ready for winter.  So that accounts for all animals. Then Daughter #1 pulled all the rest of the beets and carrots in the garden and I covered the garden soil with chicken wire so that the cats wouldn't be using it for their bathroom.... so that' ready for winter.  Daughter #2 has outgrown her winter jacket and so I ordered a new one for her it should be here within a week.... then she'll be almost ready for winter. What's left?  Mittens.... today I will be starting in on a bunch of mittens for the Daughters.  Both girls are the most terrible at losing mittens even though they are 14 and almost 16 years of age.... so I will be knitting mittens for them out of wool that I spun when I first started spinning so many years ago... (yes, I still have some of that old stuff kicking around). In the end they will be ready for winter. Teapot needs boots for winter and we are working on that and so do I and so we are working on that too.

As you can see getting ready seems to be a part of our lives these days.  There are other things to that make me think about getting ready.  I am starting to clean up my spinning studio space which got trashed the day our electrician came by to finish putting in some outlets in the front sunroom.... I also have to figure out what I am going to do with the new old loom. That's something that I am going to be working on today. All this cleaning... including our bedroom the other day makes me think that it is a good time to prep for the almighty season of Christmas.... (there, I said the fowl word).... I'm still thinking of a new couch and chairs for our living room. This too seems like I am getting ready.

Meanwhile my level 5 homework progresses but I haven't actually made my binders ready to receive my work... so that's something else I am hoping to prep today. And last but not least.... in 2 weeks I will be teaching Kumihimo braiding on the Maru Dai in FSJ so I am starting to prep for that too. So even in my professional (snork) life I seem to be getting ready.

It's time I think to make a list of all that I need to do.  I'm sure I will forget something.  I know... forgetting is a way of getting ready for old age isn't it?! Well, if that is the case then I have been getting ready for years now!

Hope this finds you in all readiness....

Have a good day.