Well! This Is Different In A Similar Sort Of Way

I have been taking a break from blogging (maybe you have noticed). It hasn't been because of anything serious just that for the last little while life has been a bit of a roller coaster, with shopping for school supplies and sharpening my nails each morning so that I can cling to the last vestiges of summer. But I can no longer say that it is summer in this neck of the woods. While each morning I get up to soft breezes and warm temperatures, there has been a definite shift away from summer towards a cooler fall. All the leaves have changed around here now and the winds have been blowing enough to even take some of the leaves off their limbs.  There is a stand of poplar trees down by our old chicken coop that are completely bare.  Mom's and Dad's reno is now completed. And the sheep have been sold (though not picked up yet).  Daily, I'm heading off for short walks with the dogs as the temperatures cool. Two nights ago Teapot and I sat out on the deck with a little fire in the fireplace and watched some Labour Day fireworks.  That was when it really hit home that summer was coming to a close. I think I went through a little bit of depression then and just trying to write something here that would be pleasant and worth reading was beyond my reach....

Today is another new beginning for us as the Daughters head off for their first day of school and Teapot heads back to work. We always take pictures of the girls on their first day of school and so we did again this morning... as usual with any picture-taking, things degenerated into a nutty free for all..

So then I had to give the girls a good talking to.....

But as usual things always go south in our family when we are trying to do something good... and it all becomes a Laugh-olympics....

So the only way to combat this is to do one picture that is all about us having fun....

And then finally we were able to capture an image that wasn't sooooo bad!

Though it is slightly uncentered.... but then that is just like us now isn't it!

And so I sit here in front of the computer with two hours stretching out before me. I had planned on doing some cleaning in my bedroom this morning since it is only a couple of hours before the girls are home again.  Tomorrow... now that's a different story. It will be a beautiful day... I will be dyeing.... and I can't wait.

And so you see... life gets back to normal... well as normal as it ever gets around here....

It feels so different to be here all by myself with a day stretching out before me and no one at home.... it's different in a similar sort of way... thus the title for today's blog post....

See ya'll tomorrow....  when life is strangely normal.

Not Allowed On The Internet?!!! Never...

So here it is 3 a.m. and the Northern Lights are beautiful. I woke from a nasty dream and couldn't get back to sleep so what do I choose to do to help pass the time. Write for the blog.

I have been avoiding the internet for a few days because our usage has gone way over our allotted 5000MB. Teapot put the boots to the girls using the internet for a few more days when the clock rolls over and we reset back to 0.  If the girls can't use it then neither can I. But here I am hoping to help pass a few hours and take my mind off that disturbing dream I had.

 In the last few days I have seen the end of Mom's and Dad's bathroom renovation, seen Teapot through another birthday, (he was 48 this year), gone shopping with the daughters for school supplies and clothes etc., had fires in the deck fireplace three evenings in a row, taken my Dad to the hospital for an ultrasound, sheared the ram and gave all sheep shots before the guy who is buying them takes them away, rounded up one love sick alpaca who insists on jumping the fence into the paddock next to his girlfriend, gone for several walks, finished some of my level 5 50 hour project, and worked on some tiles for the sun room. I've even been going for a few little walks with the pooches. They've enjoyed it and so have I.

One thing I have noticed while on walks in the last few days is that somehow in the last week we have been beset upon by autumnal weather for sure.  There is no doubt that camping days are at an end... I've had warm sweaters out and I even wore a pair of.... dare I say it?!!.... socks! I had to because when walking one must wear a pair of descent shoes... and it follows that one needs socks inside descent shoes. I can't believe it... I caved. Socks before October... unheard of....

With September here we cannot, no matter how hard we try avoid the disgusting word... sch--l!  Teapot heads out daily now to work in his class to prepare for those little snot nosed beggars darlings. We have stirrings of strikes in our future as Teapot heads back to school with no contract and bargaining broken down... I dread the thought. I hate with a passion strikes as they stir the blood for a big fight for rights and then nothing ever comes of it. Everyone gets legislated back to work and then meanwhile families bare the brunt of it by suffering worry and tribulation as we wonder if we will meet our regular payments. I hate strikes... everyone loses.

Anyway, it is now heading for 4 a.m. and I'm starting to feel pooped... this is a good thing as I'm supposed to be pooped at night and not in the day... I'm off to bed, this time hopefully to sleep peacefully with better dreams...

Ye Olde Batt-less

Good-bye Norma Jean...
Only in this case it is Honeydew and all my sheepies...
Yes I'm ridding myself of my many woolly friends... and none of them are named Norma Jean but I sense that maybe I should have called at least one of them Norma Jean. Good-bye Fanny girl... doesn't quite have the same ring to it.

Yes, I'm selling my sheep and my llama. I can't believe I'm finally making the decision to do so but I am. So I will have to rename my blog to Ye Olde Batt-less. Actually you can relax. I am still Batt-full and not Batt-less yet. I will still have my alpacas. I was made an offer on my flock of sheep and the buyer wants Honeydew too. I'm ok with it. Actually if you want to know the truth I jumped at the chance. I am keeping my alpacas and that will make farming my fibre a whole lot easier.

When I originally decided to get into the fibre producing end of things I wasn't really sure what I was doing (not having done any of it before)! I decided on the alpacas first and then I decided to try out the sheep when I knew I was buying the fibre mill. Last year when I decided to sell the mill, the sheep kind of became redundant. I started to rethink my whole operation especially when I had so much trouble finding hay for my animals.  Honeydew has always required careful management... I can't let her near the alpacas because even though they are not the same species they will breed with each other. I didn't want freak animals being bred here so always I kept her away from the male alpacas who seem to lose their minds completely when any kind of animal is in heat.  I once tried putting a ram in with them and the alpacas ganged up on the poor guy and they tried to rape him... yeah... we hurriedly got the poor ram out quickly. So for a while now my paddocks have had to be managed carefully at all times.  Rams in this pen.... breeding ewes in that pen.... sex crazed alpacas in another pen.... new mommas in another pen... and weaned lambs somewhere else.  All in all, it has become a major headache.  I always knew that I wanted the alpacas but the sheep and the llama were an experiment and almost from the first moment I had them I knew that I didn't enjoy them as much as the alpacas. So when this offer for my sheep came along, I was happy to negotiate a price with the thoughts of having an easier time of it with just the alpacas. (There's also this really nice floor loom that I want...!!!)

We are prepping all animals for transfer to their new home.  The sheep will need shots before they go and we will probably do their hooves too. They also need to be tagged and ready for travel. So tomorrow we will round them all up and start tagging etc.  They will be joining a larger flock on a larger spread and they will have approximately 100 acres to wander. Lucky buggers... and the nicest thing about it all is that Honeydew will be someone elses headache... I mean pet. : )

Meanwhile back at my funny farm I have a love sick alpaca who can't believe his bad luck.

After Mishka aborted her fetus this summer we felt that we would try to re-breed her later in the month. If you recall a few weeks ago, I put here on my blog, a porn video of alpacas on my front lawn, having sex, for all the world to see.  It was that day that Teapot and I decided to put the two creatures in love, in a paddock of their own for a few days, and give them time to have as much sex as they wanted. We wanted to know for sure that Mishka would be preggers over the winter. Well, the one week turned into three and a few days ago we decided that they had had enough time to do the dirty and we could remove them from one another.  Coal seemed to not be getting it that Mishka no longer wanted anything to do with him.  He kept chasing her around from time to time and she would run away from him until he got tired of chasing her then they would go back to grazing quietly for a while and then the chasing would begin again.  As a result, she went into her old paddock with Honeydew, meanwhile Coal went back with the other males.

This morning I went out and Coal was looking sad and very pathetic and he was making strange and very sad noises.  He kept looking across the fences to his girl friend and mooning over her (there's no other word for it).  Later today we watched him jump the fence of the paddock that he was in, in an attempt to reach his one and only true love. Once he jumped the fence he quickly realized his dilemma. He was now in his old paddock... and he couldn't reach his girl friend because we are smart and have a fence around her that is far too high for him to jump.... now he's all alone with no girl friend and no pals to drink beer with and commiserate with him about the girl that dumped him. Meanwhile Mishka watches from afar as though she couldn't care less. I think she had enough of him and is quite happy to be back in the harem. Still, poor old Coal is the picture of misery and you can't help feeling a little sorry for him.

Mishka, I'm sure, will be lonely for her pals after Honeydew and the sheep leave on the weekend. It will be a full 11 1/2 months before she gives birth to a cria if everything goes well. I am not sure that she will be happy in the interim. I may have to buy her a pal... hmmm... perhaps another female alpaca is the right idea!!! That way she won't be all alone....

Still, Teapot probably wouldn't like it.....

: ( Waaaagh!

Whenever you're looking forward to something it never happens... the last few days I have been steaming about the fact that I am home and not out in the park where we wanted to be.  We even invited friends to come to the campgrounds for a lovely dinner which we were going to cook up on the barbecue... we had it but not at the park. Oh no! We had it here on the deck.  The camping trip did not happen.

Last year we had a new set of tires put on our truck... the old ones were quite worn... the day we had it done the Tire place didn't have time to put on new tires and do an alignment too. so we went to another cheaper place.  It was not good however we didn't know it until this spring.  Once the snow melted back in late March early April we started hearing a strange noise in the front end of our truck and we wondered what the heck was going on. We didn't have the money or the time to take it to the mechanic to have it checked out.  It turned out that we needed a new alignment. This was fairly quick considering that we had only had one done the summer before.  We decided that the alignment could wait for a few weeks until school closed and Teapot had time to take it to the tire place and have the alignment done.  He took it just after I got back from Olds.  It was good money after bad though.  They rotated the tires and took an old one off the spare and put it onto the front of the truck and we thought we were ok.  About a week after it was done (while Teapot was away too) I started hearing an even worse sound so I had Pops take it and drive it around for a while so that he could figure out what the sound was.... the sound just had been getting worse. That's when we discovered that one of the tires was fit only for the dump.... and the other was not much better. Clearly something other than an alignment was needed.  So with no money for tires and repairs we have no choice but to drive it carefully until Teapot is back in school and bringing home a regular paycheck... Teapot felt that pulling a trailer was putting too much stress on the bad tires and so we are not camping... we are home.

Poop!

I am hoping that we can take the girls for a nice shopping spree later in September maybe to GP or PG. But till then we are home and canoeing will be on hold till BC River's day. Waaaagh!

Banana Pancakes, Clinging Desperately To The Tail End Of Summer, And Too Many D-mn Pets!

For weeks the whore has been missing. 4 weeks to be exact. The day we brought Narmin home Squeeky (no I didn't spell that wrong) went missing. We waited and hoped (especially Daughter #1 since it is her cat). Then we waited and hoped some more. But day after day and then week after week went by and there was no sign of her. We began to give up hope.... and put it down to a coyote or eagle that she was gone and gone for good. Last night Teapot was doing his thing and I was doing my thing in different parts of the house when Teapot called out to me, "where's the kitten?" And I said, "She's right here with me." That's the kitten the Squeeky had back in the spring.) Teapot said,"well, I'm hearing a cat crying outside and it's not Midnite." So I went out on the steps and caught sight of the tail end of a grey cat with white legs running around the corner of the house. Figuring that she had probably gone wild after so many weeks of being missing, I figured I had better bar the dogs away and open the kitchen door wide, which I did. She scurried inside and headed for the safe zone upstairs. (Daugher #1's bedroom is the safe zone for all cats since the dogs know they are not allowed in that room.)

Squeeky hiding out in Daughter#1's bedroom. Sliding doors in bedrooms are great as they can go in if you leave it open just the right amount and the dogs cant follow.

 Daughter #1 had already gone to bed and so we opened the door to her bedroom and turned on her light and re-introduced Daughter #1 and Squeeky to each other.  Of course the whore is pregnant again.

I was hoping to keep the Little Monster to whom we have become very attached and is a much nicer cat. (Even though her name is Little Monster she is a really sweet natured kitten she just likes to jump out of no where and attack the bums of passing pooches....  thus Little Monster!)

Now we have three damn cats and I'm not sure what to do. Squeeky is definitely not my favorite cat as she is half wild. She was not socialized much as a young kitten and so she really doesn't want to be around anyone and she hates dogs... this is not the best house for her obviously. Daughter #1would be horrified if I tried to find a new home for her. So as I sit here eating banana pancakes I am trying to figure out what to do. If she stays she has to go to the vet.... like now.... and we have to abort whatever is happening in her belly. Camping trip.... what the heck do we do about that with a pregnant cat who needs to go to the vet and if we leave her with no one around other than the parents who come by every second day to put out food for the cats will she disappear again.

Mmmm these pancakes are good.

So today we have the tent trailer packed and we have food packed and we will be heading off to the great outdoors... I think I have managed to head off a back flair up.  We will go to the same campsite that we went to before in the hopes that we can have another idyllic few days. I am bringing wool. It will be cooler. I will need to spin. Yes wool, not ramie. So there. I am bringing my wheel and my Swalesdale I think... maybe not... maybe I'll change my mind and take my cotton tapestry. Oh I don't know.... what should I take..... argh. And the Damn cat what do I do about her?

I'm clinging to the last vestiges of summer... but I think summer is over, really.... that mild wind turned off to a shivering cool wind yesterday and now I open the windows only to find that I have to close them again because I'm chilled in no time flat. I'm bringing extra blankets camping with us too. I'm sure we are all going to freeze... oh and a wool hat... I'm actually thinking a balaclava might be good considering how cold my nose gets at night... However, Teapot finds it extremely disconcerting to roll over at three in the morning and see a face covered in a balaclava next to him.... so usually I just put my nose under the blanket up against his back, which keeps my nose warm but not as much as a balaclava. I have a lovely wool watch cap that I wear to bed camping on those bivering cold nights, that way my head and ears stay toasty warm... I just wish the stupid furnace in the trailer would work... the switch conked out on us a few years ago, and though Teapot tried to fix it, it has not restarted so it gets mightily cold at night... unless the weather is lovely and warm (like above 15 degrees at night, and I don't think it is going to get that warm in the next few days!)

The toes are starting to complain... and I hear them saluting my slippers each morning as I slip my toes inside... Thanks to Nanny in Newfy for these lovely slippers... you couldn't have gotten me anything better for Christmas. The toes are not complaining as much as they would normally since I have these lovely slippers to wear... and wear them I do....

I headed off shopping the other day and when I got to the grocery store, there I was in the line up at the cash register in my top and cullottes complete with slippers on my feet. I even wore them camping.... and that's all I took camping... (well flipflops for swimming, but mostly it was slippers all the way). I think my slippers are cool and that's what's going with me camping again today.

Choke... Christmas.... don't even want to think about it... and there's not one silk sock to be found in my house.....(remember I was going to knit a pair of silk sock each month????)  I'm resolutely thinking about summer and summer things to do... like kayaking, canoeing, and swimming and reading and relaxing.... right... it's my vacation.... and I WILL have fun.... no matter if there are ice crystals forming on all the exposed surfaces some mornings (its called frost...).

Gee... I had better go and sharpen my nails... they are getting a little dull for clinging to the last vestiges of summer!

I'll keep you all posted on the cat issues....

Gee, those banana pancakes were good.

Camping On Hold

My back is giving me trouble... another flare-up!  : (

End Of Summer

Well this is one of those rare mornings.  There is a wind blowing in from the south and quite heavily too (enough to make my bedroom door rattle and wake me up)! But it is a soft summer wind. A wind that carries with it the promise of tropical storms.  Somewhere I imagine, in the tropics, as the warm wind rushes to the north and us, a cool wind from up above in the further reaches of the stratosphere will come rushing in to replace it with rain and bitter reminders that even in the tropics, summer does not last. I love mornings where its overcast but still quite lovely. Tepid I think is the word that best describes this morning's weather. A sweet morning that tells the summer birds that it is time to move on.... there are no birds singing this morning... it is terribly quiet and already I miss the trill of the birds calling to each other. I imagine that the only place to hear them now would be at the side of the river, where warm winds and early morning fog sweetly tease and bid the birds to move ever southward.  This is the perfect morning for sailors, or a morning where the leaves on the trees dance their end of summer worship dance.  It makes me want to dance too... it makes me want to unfurl my sails and go exploring.

I have noticed that my old friend languor has come to visit me again. We have taken a trip to tranquility and I find that all thoughts of spinning and weaving and knitting have flown through the window. As a matter of fact... from the stack of dishes waiting to be done this morning I have been downright lazy.  I am reading and that is my excuse.  Daughter #2 and I had been entertaining ourselves watching old movies which allows me the time to spin or knit as I go. But we reached our capacity for movies and finally agreed that the public library was to be our source of entertainment. She has devoured five books to my one and a half. But we both have chosen books that will take us away to exotic locals. I have finished a book that takes place in 1860s Egypt, and am now reading a book that takes place in1930s Marrakesh... which takes me far from my armchair, far from my mundane chores. Last night I found myself, sitting in the light of the kitchen window with moths flittering around my head, with the balmy wind billowing the table cloth outside on the deck at midnight, and still the camels and the sand of pre-war Morocco kept me captive. And the books I am reading you ask? The Mistress Of Nothing by Kate Pulinger and The Saffron Gate by Linda Holeman, both very good reads.

In My Lady's Garden....

The carrots have come better than I could have imagined for so new a garden space....

But that is where the fineness of my garden ends.

We have three lovely zucchini plants.... and I thought I might get something good with them ... alas, the frost came two nights ago and put an end to that...

I will get one zucchini if all goes well it still has a bit of growing left to do.

The beets however, never came to anything. Teapot thinks it is because there was too much manure in the soil of that part of the garden therefore burning the beets before they got really started.

They are small and a daren't pull one since I will get so little yield anyway. I will harvest what I get... but I am not expecting much.

The tomatoes I grew in buckets on the deck but they were slow to come since I was late planting them and so as you see there will be nothing from them either.  The blooms have only just come on them and then two days ago the frost took my plants and they are looking very sad indeed.

Still the flowers were quite nice.... this picture does them no justice... that for sure.... marigolds and Dahlias and Alisum and Phlox are growing well The Lavatera just came out in time for the frost and so the blooms are there but the leaves have faded quickly.

I do think I was lulled into a wet year at the start and it made for lazy watering.... so they could have been better and I didn't have as many petunias (the store was out of them by the time I was ready to plant)... they always make a good show.

Tomorrow Teapot and I will take the girls for one last camping trip... (Monday to Friday if all goes well) I expect that if the weather continues in this manner I will be the only one submerging in the water.... it takes a great effort to lower myself beneath the cool waters but I always do... regardless of the sun shining...  and meanwhile the Daughters and Teapot look on in utter dismay thinking that the only time you can swim is when the sun is in full throttle. Still it will be a great opportunity to dip our paddles again... before the inclement weather of autumn is upon us.

The end of summer leaves me quite melancholy. I think I will go and read and submerge myself once again in the sunny climes of Marrakesh.