August 23rd., 2007

Parents arrived yesterday morning, pouring down rain and rained most of the day. Once they got settled in the house one of the kittens playfully grabbed onto mothers leg and started biting her foot, then he proceeded to tear a button off her jacket....sigh. Not a great beginning! Had lunch and parents and myself went to Rosies, a tea room, craft shop and bakery. Mom wanted to buy some bread to take back with her so asked the man coming out with bread to put on the counters if he had whole wheat bread. He said yes he did, it was just out of the oven and too warm to put in plastic bags but could put it in paper bags for her. I saw a blank expression on her face and with a loud voice asked her if she had her hearing aid in and proceeded to shout out what he had said to her. All eyes in the store were on me as if I was crazy. She was also looking at me as if I was insane and told me that she had heard what he said. Had me blushing with embarrassment!

Came back home and the sun had just broken through so we decided to sit on the deck. Were chatting away when two friends arrived from the city. They are both writers and quite the characters. So....drinks for all. We were regaled with stories and laughed so hard we were all nearly in tears. They left around 4:00pm and dad says, "When is supper going to be ready, I'm almost fainting here with hunger". Mom says, "Stick a cracker in your mouth, it's too early for supper." lol....Parents!!

Had supper then went on line for a short while. Dad had the television so loud that I couldn't concentrate. Went off line as my head was all a muddle and dad wanted a game of cards. The only time I play cards is when they come to visit and they do enjoy it. Played for about two hours. At one point dad said to mom, "Do you know that so and so's daughter is a Lisbon." I nearly fell over. Brought to mind my grandmother who on hearing of some young person stealing or getting into trouble one way or another would always say, "That's that old manawanna." Meaning Marijuana of course, lol.

They've gone out now to buy some fish from the fish plant to bring home with them. Don't know what the rest of the day will bring but the sun is shinning and looks like a great day.

Took a few pictures this morning.

August 21st. 2007

I'm stumped. I really don't know what to blog about. My life is much the same day in and day out. Not that I'm bored mind you, rarely that. If I were a "chatty" person I might come up with lots to say but alas I'm not. Maybe I'm just feeling sorry for myself lately, I see the leaves changing on the trees, have had to put the fire in this past few mornings and I know the dreaded winter is not that far off.

Parents are coming for a couple of days tomorrow. My father has lost a lot of his hearing this past year so it will be two or three days of constant shouting and me with a splitting headache. He says he's "thinking" about getting a hearing aid. I know what the problem is...he doesn't want to spend the money. lol.

Daughter called last night and told me that my brother is now on Facebook. I couldn't believe it! Apparently his profile picture is of him laid back in what looks like a coffin with eyes shut and hands folded over his chest....and I thought I was the crazy one in the family!

Well, I finally got some pictures of the Hairy Woodpecker with her young one. Mother is on the left and child is on the right.




Acrobatics.

August 14th., 2007

Just a few more I took later in the day.

August 13th., 2007

Today I decided to start dieting....yep....got to lose some weight. I decided to go on the diabetic diet as I've found that works very well for me and I eat healthy. Also, I find with this that I have lots of energy. I figure what it comes down to is cutting out a lot of the carbs. So difficult this time of year because of people visiting. One tends to eat and drink too much, however, I'm going to give it a go. I also figured I would start walking for an hour every second day but guilt over getting one of the beds cleared of weeds and the soil amended so it would be ready to plant seedlings took over. The bed is about 20 ft. long going across the top of a rock wall and I'm afraid I haven't been giving it the attention it needed. So, with shovel in hand and a line of chickens behind me I started in. Took me most of the morning but should only take a few more hours to get it ready for planting.

After lunch I decided to get the camera and have a walk around. I started teasel from seed last year and this year it's doing me proud. Didn't realize they would grow so big though, neither did I know that it will grab your clothing and pull you back if you brush up against it, lol. The Bees and Butterflies love it.

Bee on Bee Balm


Butterfly on yellow flower.


And the teasel.

August 9th., The Bear

The story that goes with the pictures in yesterdays blog. I was wandering around the property yesterday morning as I heard that the two big dogs that live up the road were on the loose. Roger phoned the owners to let them know this and I went out to make sure they didn't come in after the chickens. As I came back to the deck I looked up and much to my surprise, there was a beautiful black bear about 20 feet from me. Was I thinking that he may cause me some trouble....oh no....it was get the camera, get the camera! By the time I got back out I saw his tail end going through the woods. I thought, damn it all, now that I have a camera, I missed the chance to get a picture. Then he came down around again and into view. That's the pictures in last blog.

So....about an hour later I went out on the deck and there he was again, about seven feet from me. There's a railing on the deck and a gate that was shut so I wasn't too concerned. Took the pictures below. He wandered around munching on grasses and wild flowers, had a poop, raised his head sniffing the air and headed for one of the trees with feeders on it. He then proceeded to climb about ten feet up the tree, imagine the strength in those claws to lift that weight up the tree! He climbed back down the tree before reaching the feeders and then wandered off. It's amazing how quietly these creatures can move. Couldn't hear him moving about at all.



Another bit of excitement as well. Got shots of these two birds. I'm wondering if this bird is a young Pine Grosbeak.





And this appears to be an Evening Grosbeak eating the Saskatoon berries.

August 8th., I'm shaking with excitement.

Look what I just found when I was out wandering around the garden.

August 7th. 2007

Lots of flutters in the garden today. All the same kind though.

August 6th. 2007

It's been a busy weekend. Thankfully the weather was great except for a brief shower yesterday. Daughter came with the two boys, brother arrived with a friend and two other friends came by. I couldn't resist taking this picture of all the shoes piled up inside the back door.


I got a lovely surprise yesterday afternoon. I was wandering around with the camera looking for bugs when I heard a bird that didn't sound familiar. I looked up and there in front of me was a Pine Grosbeak, sitting in the Saskatoon Berry Tree eating the berries. Never saw one on the property before.

August 4

Company coming around noon. Daughter, her son and sons friend. Possibly my brother and his friend. Going to be a busy weekend. The boys want to sleep in the tent so we will have to put that up this morning. There is also a big sale in the church hall this morning. Lots of second hand stuff and baked goods, etc. I will try to get to that, always a bit of fun.

The gardens are coming into their own now, these are parts of two areas.



I planted a pile of Lily bulbs this spring. They have started to bloom and I am well pleased. The smell is wonderful.


Bee on Monkshood. These plants are alive with bees this time of year.
Chickadee

Fox Sparrow
Nuthatch, lots of them and their young around now.
Young bird.

August 3rd.

Not much to report really. A very quiet life I lead. Overcast today and it has cooled down quite a bit. Feels a little like fall. My brother arrived in St. John's last night, he was suppose to arrive the night before but missed his connection and had to spend the night in New York. The airlines put him up in a hotel so guess it wasn't too bad. I was talking to him this morning and he's waiting for his luggage to arrive. He's hoping to get out here for a visit so am looking forward to that. My grandson arrived in the city two days ago, hoping they can get out for the weekend as well.

I'm all prepared in the event that everyone arrives at one time. Been cooking for two days, pizzas, garlic fingers, asparagus pastries, chili, etc. All frozen so it's just a matter of making salad to go with whatever. Hmmm, maybe I'll make a big pot of split pea soup and dumplings.

Found yet another wasps nest. That's four now I believe. Had to destroy that one as well as it's very near the back door.

After the heavy rain we had I took this picture of a wet little Nuthatch. Didn't realize their beaks were so long.


Saw this little bird asleep. Once he saw me there he flew off.

August 1st.

I don't know where the time is going. We say here that after the annual St. John's Regatta, which is always on the first Wednesday in August, summer is over. Looking at the long range forecast it appears that the temperatures will be in the teens at least until the middle of the month. We have been getting the tail end of a tropical storm this past few days and the rain has been coming down in torrents. I heard that part of the main highway has been washed away and traffic can't get through. A lot of my tall heavy plants have been flattened so will have to get out with stakes when the weather improves and try to tie them up.

We lost our water for almost two days this week. Something wrong with the town pump. It appears that they have it fixed now. Funny how we take all this stuff for granted and only realize how fortunate we are when we lose it.

My lawn mower, that I bought last year, broke down as well this week. I had bought an old fashioned push mower a couple of years ago but didn't find it as effective as the gas mower so had it stored. Had to drag that out and try to cut the grass. It didn't do too bad a job as it happens but it's very tiring work. Pushing and pulling back and forth, back and forth. A great way to get a few pounds off I would say. I will have to take the other mower back to the store and see if they can help me.

Then yesterday, still no water, the pipe that comes up through the top of the hot water heater appeared to be leaking. I thought, don't tell me that this has gone kaput now as it's only about a year old. Managed to get a hold of the plumber by lunchtime and he said it was nothing to worry about, it was quite normal when there was no water. Phew!!! It's been fine since.

Then......we had a huge container of water on the counter. One with a tap on the end and when it was laid on its side you could turn the little tap on and fill your kettle or pot, etc with water. Well, I walked in the kitchen and the floor was full of water, thought a pipe burst under the sink. Got a flashlight and checked all the pipes under the counter, no leak. Then we discovered that the container itself was leaking and had been for some time judging by the water on the floor. Another sigh of relief.

I hasn't been a good week so far, except.....I did get another picture of a spider. Click on the image to enlarge it.