Early Morning.

Well, here it is...2:30 am and I'm sitting in front of the computer. Why? Because we lost the electricity just before seven last night and as it was dark and not much we could do, we went to bed. So I'm sitting here having my morning coffee and wondering how I'm going to get through the day. Thankfully it came back on sometime during the night because if it hadn't, after last week, I would have been thoroughly ticked off.

We did get the tail end of a tropical storm yesterday. No rain but a wonderfully warm wind blowing. I just stood in the garden with my eyes closed and face up to the sky feeling the wind whip around me..beautiful! The lawn needed cutting badly but with all the rain we've had it had been too wet. Yesterday, and I expect because of the warm wind, the front lawn had pretty well dried. So, I got the lawn mower out and started mowing. I figured the bees were gone for this year being just about October but much to my surprise there were loads of them on the Sedum.

I feel like I've lost summer this year. I expect it has something to do with the goings on with himself. I can't seem to get back into the swing of it all. There is so much to do outside before winter sets in. I did manage to re-do the plastic on the chickens greenhouse area. Well, I still have a bit more to do there but for the most part it's finished. I won't go into all the stuff that needs doing. It would be much too boring. So, I'm off to get another coffee and contemplate the day.

A few pictures taken yesterday.


A friend brought some wonderful tomatoes as he had grown far too many and I must say I've been eating them like candy. They're wonderful.


Our oldest girl.


Stanley having his afternoon nap.

Phlox, still hanging in there.

My Experience With Igor.

Ok people, don't let your minds wander off in the wrong direction now, I'm talking about a Hurricane.

Coming up to Tuesday the weather reports were for Igor to become a tropical storm by the time it hit us with about 50 mm of rain for our area and high winds. No worries, not much to that Been there, done that sort of thing. However, Monday for some unknown reason I made a whole batch of biscuits and filled some containers with water just in case...

Tuesday morning we woke to slashing down rain and high winds. When daylight came I made my way to the chicken house to let them out to their greenhouse area when I saw what looked like a river come down behind the house and veering off around the deck. When I went in through the greenhouse, a bit of a river had come through there and had no way to get out so I was faced with a small pond. Telling the "girls" not to worry, I grabbed the shovel and started digging a trench to try to get the water to flow out, then I had to go outside and continue the trench there. Finally the water was flowing nicely through the greenhouse and out to the outside. I got three jackets soaked through doing this little job. The next thing, we lost the power, phones and water. All gone!!! Fortunately we had a small gas canister with a thing on top to put a small pot, so we could cook simple things like some soup or can of beans, etc. The biscuits really did come in handy as we ran out of bread and there were three eggs in the chicken house. Later that day a neighbour came by informing us that the road was washed away down by the bridge and the house down there had water pouring out of their living room windows. Not only that, the turn off to the beach parking lot was gone as well. The next morning, Wednesday, arrived bright and sunny so we decided to drive down to see what the road was like.

To say we got a shock is to put it mildly.

So now we're cut off from everything. This is the only way in or out for us. More people were arriving to have a look and the speculation was that it would take some time to get this repaired. We still had no electricity, phones or water. There is a small store in the other direction so we figured we had better go there and get some supplies in. Went there, they were closed due to power outage. So the sign in the window said. A friend said he was going to take his off road vehicle down to the beach and go up the road at the other end and make his way to the store in Eastport proper. He came back saying there was no way up as the road was gone, all the bank and trees were on the beach and in the water.

Luckily, our stream was bursting it's sides at this point and rushing by like a wild thing. We had over 200 mm of rain. So, we started hauling buckets of water from the stream to the house to use for flushing the toilet. The dishes were starting to pile up so I lugged them over to the stream and washed them there. Later that day we heard activity going on down the road so himself went to have a look and they were putting in a temporary road for emergency vehicles.

We eventually were able to cross the temporary road and get to the store. The Red Cross had brought in bottles of water for people so friends came by that evening with some for us, we had enough drinkable water now. Thursday morning arrived, still no power, phones or water. I said to himself that if we had to go through this again just shoot me, lol. We were going to bed as soon as it was getting dark, couldn't read as there was no light. Getting up in the morning, lighting candles, trying to get around in the dark. I was fed up by now. Noon arrived and the electricity came on, the phones worked again but still no water. I didn't care too much about the water now, I was on a high with things starting to get normal again. After supper that night the water was back. Am I smiling now, yes I am.

There's been a lot of damage all over the island. We were very lucky really as none of our trees came down, the roof stayed on the house, etc. My mother says this property has magic and that she's sure I have a guardian angel looking after me. I think she may be right.

Some Late Bloomers

But first, we were in St. John's last week for an appointment with the surgeon who operated on himself in July. We were to get the results of tests on the lobe that was taken from his lung. It was cancer but the lymph glands were clean. He just has to be checked on every so many months for a while to make sure things are still okay. It was a great relief really as neither of us was getting much sleep up til then.

Fall is settling in here. The mornings are cold enough to light a fire and leaves are starting to drop from the trees. Time is flying and believe it or not (I could hardly believe my eyes), there were Xmas ads on the television this past weekend. I haven't done much in the garden this past month or so and this is not like me at all. So, this week if weather permits, I'll be outside cleaning up and preparing for winter.

Lots of Nuthatches, Chick a Dees, Jays and Crows coming to the feeders. Some purple Finches around but they look like young ones as the males don't seem to have their full colour yet. Most of the perennials have had their day and the late bloomers are now starting to fade.






The crows went to bed with a full stomach this night. I'd opened a large can of cat food and the cats didn't like it so I put it out for the crows. These pictures aren't that good as they were taken through a grimy window. A bunch of them showed up when one, on seeing the treat, put a call out to the rest.

The Sentinel