Currently

I have been having a great time texting Teapot in Victoria... I miss him for some reason today terribly. Teapot has been going away for years for a variety of reasons. But since he joined the Rangers and became the leader of the patrol here in HH, each autumn on the first weekend of November he has had to go to Victoria for their annual planning weekend. He's there right now. Our new phones make texting easy except that they have auto-correcting on it so last night when we were texting we discovered the joys of auto-correcting. It frustrates me no end when there are mistakes in the things that I type... (like yesterday's post! which I have now gone back and corrected...) so when I pressed send and discovered that Jiggs had become Higgs, I was quite disconcerted.  Later, "Did you have any problems(driving)", became,  "Did you have any to lens?"  That got Huh? as a response!  So it has been seriously odd texting conversations going on between us.  Still it's nice to get up in the morning and find, "Good morning," on your phone, which is what I just found.

Normally Sunday mornings are quiet retreats of pleasurable radio listening, big long drawn out breakfasts and lots of tea drinking and the pleasure of each others company, some chit chatting about whatever is on Sunday Morning (the CBC radio program). This morning I am taking Mudder to church, since Fadder's vehicle is at the dealership getting repair work done on it. Not quite as awesome a Sunday morning as usual... still I can't really complain.  I don't go to church as much as I used to or as much as I should... I kind of have been taking an hiatus from all of that since I resigned as Lay preacher 1 and 1/2 years ago.... still a little jaunt off to church doesn't hurt... right?

I'm still working on the blog post about feminism so hopefully I will get time to finish it tomorrow... Today is filled with breakfast, church, lunch... (for the girls not me as I'm too full after the pan scramble I just made... eggs, ham, hash browns, onion, cheese.... mmmm.... so good but oh so filling...) and then this afternoon..... I have all the new members of the HH Spinners and Weavers coming... I will see how serious they are.

It is much milder today in temperature.... than yesterday. The roads were quite icy going into FSJ, but by the time I headed home the roads were pretty much clear... it had warmed up to +1 degree. Winter, I guess, is upon us, though it is not "in earnest" yet as temperatures of the last low pressure only got down to -18... cold but not the end of the world. Today is sunny and lovely looking.  Weather is so all fired important to us here in Canada isn't it... imagine... I can write a post each day and include some weather info and it is not one bit boring.... (snork)!

See ya'll tomorrow and hopefully the feminist thing will be done and it won't be nearly so boring....

P.S. You guys really need to get a life. ; ) I hope all the blogs you read are better than this one!

Waiting With Baited Breath

So I got an email this week. I have been deathly quiet on the level 4 front.... but I'm sure you remember that I sent off the last of it in August. Then I waited.... and waited.... and waited.... I had heard that my instructor was really busy with his little contracting business... so I waited some more.... and waited.... and waited.... and, if truth be told, I kind of got used to the fact that I didn't have my level 4 mark back and so I kept waiting and not really thinking about it. But Thursday in came an email..... from my instructor. It's now in the mail and on its way to me.... so now my stomach does flippity flops when I think about it, and again I wait.  Will it be Monday that will seal my fate or Tuesday... I doubt if I'll have to wait beyond Wednesday. I hope it's not going to be another book burner mark! If I get another low mark, it will so badly undermine my confidence that I'll probably just give up.

This morning is a much better morning weather wise than we have been having lately... the wind has finally blown itself out. And I could see the stars this morning when I got up... that means clear skies.  This is a big concern since the day of snow that we had wrecked havoc with our roads.  As usual no plows were ready for road clearing and there were accidents galore.... if anyone loses their life in a first snow accident, I've always thought there would be a case for sueing the government for not due care of our roads.  Mind you I guess people could always stay off them.

This morning I am heading into FSJ for two hours of teaching Kumihimo braiding.... (look it up)! I have a sum total of 5 students... not many really... but they all want to learn, so teach them I will. So the highway and its condition are of particular interest to me.  We will see.  Everyone is on standby. It is only -1 degree and hopefully there has been enough traffic in the last two days to get it to "track bare". That I can handle. But I hate ice covered roads.

Anyway, I am working on a post about feminism .... coming up... but I'm going to have to leave this here this morning as I still have to pack my gear....

See ya'll tomorrow.

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!