Eleven pounds gone!

Well "he" has lost eleven pounds to date, bless him. Says he is starved to death all the time. It's going to be difficult the next few days as his friend is visiting from Nova Scotia and there is lots of great food and wine around. Pouring rain today but had to go out and fill the feeders. The birds are eating so much these days it seems I spend half my time putting food out for them. Two of them nearly knocked me off the ladder as I was filling two feeders. Cheeky devils, some of them have no fear of me. Needless to say I got soaked to the skin. Chilly inside this morning so have the woodstove going. Very cozy. Dreading winter, so much shovelling and it goes on for so long.

Frustrating Morning

I'm not sure if it's good or bad to be able to vent ones frustrations on a Blog, never the less, here I go. Now, the thing is, me and my partner can not work together. Maybe I should say that he doesn't mind working with me but I can't stand working with him. If he puts something together it's all cockeyed, not measured right and if it takes two nails or screws he will put ten. I'm not saying that I can do everything perfectly, but I can see how things work far better. So.....I bought a new medicine cabinet for the bathroom. I was hoping to put it up myself while he was out of the house, but for some god forsaken reason I decided to put it up this morning while "he" was here. First, the screws he was trying to put on were too fat for the holes provided, then as he was putting the screws through the back of the cabinet, it fell, as he needed three hands, and commenced blaming me for not being right there. Ok, so I held the cabinet up for him. Ah, all done, only problem is I have to stand on my toes to be able to see in the mirror. Of course, being taller, he says he can see in perfectly well and doesn't know what my problem is. Rather than go through the whole process again I decide to let it remain as it is. Now, I had also bought a nice little wooden shelf cabinet to go under the medicine cabinet. He goes and gets that saying we might as well put this one up now too. I say, "Why don't you go for your walk and I will look after putting this one up." No chance!! So I'm told to measure the distance the holes are apart, mark the wall, etc. No, I'm told I have it measured wrong. Ok, I say, you measure it. He does. I'm watching and tell him he has it measured wrong. No, he says, he has it right. Ok, I say, put the screws in and try it, it's not going to go on right. He does and realizes that the thing won't go on the wall as the screws are too far apart. So, now he tells me to measure it, ha, I do. He puts the screw in the right place but down too low, which I remark on to no avail. That done the wooden shelf cabinet goes up. Unfortunately, it's all ascrew as one side is lower than the other. I had to walk away from it all. I let him struggle with it on his own and now finally it's all up, over and done with. I suppose I shouldn't complain too much, he is good at some things, bless him.

Fat flying off and other stuff

Well, he's been dieting for three days now and has lost five pounds. Granted, that's mostly water, however he says he is encouraged. I think this will keep him going for another while. I've noticed that this year in the garden there are more bugs than ever before, some I haven't really seen since I was a child growing up when there were all kind of insects flying and walking around during the summer months. It seems the garden is settling into a comfortable harmony. I was outside collecting seeds yesterday when I heard the sound of wood hitting wood. Couldn't figure for the life of me what it was. It was spooky as otherwise it was very quiet outside except for the sounds the birds were making. I started walking around, following the sound when I saw what it was. The squirrel had finally figured out how to get into the squirrel feeder and as he got the food out, the top of the feeder would come down and knock against the bottom part. I was so pleased with his success, I just stood there watching. It's a glorious day here now so I'm off to cut back the herbs and tie them up into bundles for drying.

So much to do!

Well, it's a miserable rainy day. The cats are all curled up asleep on beds and chairs. Partner is napping, and I'm thinking of all the things I have to do and want to do in the coming months. Although the days have been relatively warm, the nights are getting quite cool and the feel of fall is in the air. Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day so as I had a lot of plants started from seed and still in pots I decided it was time to put them in the ground. Spent the morning moving other plants to other areas to make room for the new ones. This meant digging, lifting, and carting soil from the compost heap to the new areas. I was beat by noon as I usually go at this stuff like a mad person and want it all done yesterday. At least I had a feeling of acomplishment when I finished. I lay down after lunch for a bit of a read and two hours later, woke up. I've started collecting seed from some of the plants and the next fine day I have to cut large bunches of herbs and hang them up to dry. I do this every year and the only place I have to dry them is the small guest bedroom. Needless to say for a period of time the room is packed with drying herbs but I love the smells and it only takes a couple of weeks before I can bag them. Then I have to get to the beach to get a load of sea oat grasses to make Bridget Crosses. I have to cut alder branches to make Dream Catchers and I have to make up a pile of Protection Kits. That's for starters! Next month, I have to amend the earth in most of the gardens, cut back plants and move some to better areas. Then a general tidying up until next spring. I'm hoping to get back to painting over the winter and am also considering writing a childrens book. Something I've been putting on the back burner for some time. I bought a bunch of jointed teddy bears and I want to make clothes for them so I can give them as gifts. Don't know how much of this I will accomplish before the spring seed catalogues start arriving, then I will be lost altogether. My partner was told by the doctor today that he has high cholesterol, triglycerides and sugar in his blood so he has to go on a strict diet. Ha, ha, and ha! I just heard him say he was going to the store to buy a lemon pie. He will start his diet tomorrow, he says. Well, the rain looks like it's held up for awhile so must try to do a few things outside.

Another death in our little family

Well, it's been a bit of a tramatic week and a half. My daughter had to get one of her cats put down as she was full of growths and tumors and had started to fade. Nothing could be done for her and she seemed to be suffering. She brought her out here and we buried her next to dear old Fred in a nice spot among the trees. It was a tearful goodbye, very sad. Then, Tuesday past I was ready to go into the city. I had about five minutes to get my luggage in the car and get to the highway to catch the bus. As I was picking up my suitcase to go out the door I heard one of the hens cry out. The three hens have full run of the property and never leave it and this noise was coming from the front of the house. I immediately looked out and saw a dog run around the side of the house. I went tearing out the back door to try and head him off. Dogs are not allowed to run free in this community so I never have this sort of problem. Anyway when I got out there were two great huge dogs there. They looked something like rotweillers but weren't although they had huge heads and big chests. They looked very well kept and well fed. I screamed at them to get out of here and they ran toward the gate. One turned around and started coming towards me. Now, was this dog in attack mode? Well, he came within a few feet of me and I yelled at him to go so he headed back around the property with me chasing him to get him out the gate. My partner yelled out that he had one out and I yelled back that the other one was coming his way. We got that one out and they both ran up the road. What a mess! I was panic struck because I couldn't find two of the hens and also because I had to catch the bus. It, going to the city only once a day. We searched all over and couldn't find them, I was sick about it all and had to go. Later that evening I phoned my partner and he said one of the hens had come back but he looked all over again and couldn't find the other one. He asked around to see if anyone knew who owned the dogs but no one did. I was ready to tear a strip off the owner when I got back if I ever found out who it was. I figured they must have belonged to some visitors. Then my partner phones while I'm in the city and tells me he is running a fever with horrendous pains in his stomach, then he phones the day before I am due to come home and tells me that one of our cats has been missing for two nights and three days. It seems everytime I go to the city for a few days everything falls apart here. Totally stressed out and worried about the cat I arrive home and thankfully the cat turned up just before I arrived. Lulu, the hen, must be dead so now I have to go out and look for a body. As much as I love animals, I'm afraid that if I see those two dogs here again I might go in a killing mode myself. Ah well, I suppose I can't blame the dogs but I can blame the owners.

My new Lawn Mower!

Well, this week my wonderful old beauty of a lawn mower bit the dust. I bought it off a neighbour about five years ago for the great sum of $20.00. He says it's about forty years old but it never failed me even though it was rusty and had bits missing. Every year I would haul it out of storage, pull the rope and off she'd go. The old fellow next door would just shake his head and in great amazement say he couldn't understand why it was still working. I guess everything just gave up inside it this week, a large peice fell off it and there was smoke and gas flying everywhere. So, now I had to get a new one. I heard they were on sale about an hours drive from us so Friday morning we hopped in the car and set off. I don't know what I was thinking, I thought it would come assembled, ha, ha. I was given a box and told it was just the wheels and handle that had to be attached. I can do that, I said to myself, so we put it in the car and made our way home. We got home in time for a quick lunch then out I went to open the box and see what I had. A lovely bright red machine. There were the wheels, the handle in two parts and a funny cable that went somewhere and of course the usual bag of nuts, bolts, washers and screws. I could see trouble on the horizon. Now, most times, I'm pretty good at getting my head around how things go together while my partner is absolutely hopeless at this sort of thing. Hence, we can never work together without me blowing up with frustration. He offered to help, but I said to stay away from me, I would manage it myself. lol. Now to the instruction book. I couldn't understand a word of it, might as well have been in another language and oft times these instructions are. I laid all the nuts and bolts out, looked at the book, the pictures and the parts. Tried attaching parts, no didn't go on right. After about an hour I was so frustrated I was at the point of throwing up. I had to break down and ask my partner for help. We were at it for about three hours and I can tell you it wasn't a pretty sight. Well, we finally got it together but couldn't figure where this cable went. I was beyond frustrated by now and after kicking the machine, said to put the bloody thing back in the box and take it back to the store. Right about then friends phoned and said they were coming for coffee and asked me what was wrong as my voice didn't sound right. I explained the situation, and my friend said maybe they could help as it sounded like the one they have. My friends husband looked at the machine and said that something didn't seem right. We had the handle on backwards for one thing. Anyway he knew how the cable went on and fixed things the right way around and finally pulled the cord and off she went. This little red beauty cuts the grass ok, but alas, it will never take the place of my dear old green one.

My weekend

Well, I got my camera working again. Such a silly thing really. Friends stopped by yesterday and I was telling them about the problem I was having with the camera. It telling me the batteries I was putting in were no good. So they suggested I try a couple of the re-chargeable ones that they use. One of them went back to their house and brought back two, put them in the camera and Yay, the camera worked fine. Guess who is buying a battery charger and batteries this week. In the afternoon I was going about taking pictures of all and sundry. It was great! What a feeling of satisfaction to have the camera working again. My brother stopped by on Saturday for a short visit. It was so good to see him. He is so witty and funny. We had a great time and caught up on a lot of things. We had a great meal, Asparagus pastry, pakoras, large veggie salad and stuffing, plus I might add, two bottles of wine. The day was perfect, warm and sunny. I was sad to see him go but so happy I did get to see him. He brought with him an old school chum who he has been friends with since they started school and that was a long time ago. Today the sky is black with cloud but I'm not complaining as the gardens need a good soaking. Everything is growing well and it all looks very pretty. The Blue Jays have been here with their young. Such a racket at times and the young on the tree branches shivering their wings in anticipation of the food the parents are taking from the feeders. Ah, isn't life grand!

Bloody miserable two days!

Well, it all started yesterday morning....my daughter emailed me saying she wasn't coming out this weekend because she had to finish some paintings. Now, that I can handle, but this is the third weekend in a row. You get all excited and on a high, then bang. All gone! Then, shortly after this, I get word that my brother, who is visiting my parents in the city and had planned on coming out here on Friday and see me before he flew home figured he couldn't make it. Then, I had taken some pictures of the garden and the computer wouldn't take them off the camera. I then looked up the flippin Users Guide for the camera. It said I would have to re-install the software. Didn't have a clue how to do that. So here I was, sunk in the depths of depression. I figured the only thing for it was to go shopping. What did I do??? Why I bought myself a hair colour. Light Amber Brown. I felt much better and not only that, I was going to be a new woman when I put this wonderful color in. Now, my hair is a medium brown, but I had it streaked blonde a year or so ago, then of course there was the grey coming in. So early this morning I decide this is the time to do the job. Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha. You've seen pictures of plump older women with bright orange lipstick on, a cigarette dangling from their mouth and bright orange hair. How does that song go "Well it's cryin time again......." I expect I will be sporting a bag on my head for the next while. A bit of good news after all this, was talking to my brother and he says he will make a short visit here on Saturday. Yay!!

Thomas, a funny cat story

We found Thomas about twelve years ago living up in a small "cabin" we have up behind the house. We had been traveling for about a year and a half and when we came back we found him there and welcomed him in as part of the family. I must also add that he took our hearts. Both mine and my partner Rogers. To set up this senario, it was summer, about two years ago and my daughter, who lives in the city, had come out for the weekend. Saturday morning I was outside puttering around when unbeknownst to me Roger took a phone call from one of the neighbours saying that there was a dead cat on the road, having been run over by a car and she thought it might be one of ours. Again, without my knowledge, Roger got a garbage bag, just in case, and went off to check it out. Still puttering around the garden, I turned around and there was Roger, standing there with the bag and obviously something in it, with tears running down his face. I asked him what in the world was wrong. He said that it was Tommy and he was dead, then told me about the phone call. Going towards him I asked if he was sure it was Tommy, he said yes and you don't want to see him. Well, with that I went to pieces. Crying, wailing, stamping my feet, yelling "Why Tommy, Why Tommy!" My daughter came running and put her arms around me and calmed me down. Roger asked what we were going to do with him and I said I would get a shovel and we would bury him. I got the shovel and found a nice spot under a tree, then started digging a hole with tears running down my face. We put him in the ground saying our goodbyes then I went back in the house and Roger went to fix something on one of the windows outside. I was sitting a the kitchen table in the depth of depression. My daughter was in the living room, when all of a sudden she yelled "Mom, come here." I dragged myself out of the chair wondering what she was going on about and went to see. To my utter astonishment, there was Thomas. He had just come out of the bedroom where he had been asleep. We were all jubilant once we got over the initial shock. We found out the next day that we had buried the cat belonging to people down the road. The owner came up and I took her to the gravesite where we both had a cry. I told her the cat could remain there and she said that would be lovely.

Crazy man.

I have to relate this story. My partner went for his morning walk today and as it looked like rain, he took his umbrella with him holding it under his arm. On his way back he saw a truck coming towards him and said to himself, "Ah, here comes Joe." As the truck got nearer he hauled the umbrella out from under his arm and started jumping around the road like a lunatic, brandishing the umbrella like a sword. Unfortunately it wasn't his friend, in fact he didn't know who the person was and I can only imagine the stories flying around this community now about this crazy man who lives on the North Side. Then there was the time we had friends coming for a few days. About the time they were suppose to arrive he put on an outfit he got while travelling in the middle east. Long white robe, black and white checkered head scarf with the black band around it holding it on and a bloody big sword strapped to his waist. Out he goes and starts walking back and forth in the driveway. Nearly put a few cars off the road with that one. And there is more............for later.

Long weekend

Well, the May 24th weekend is over, although it's always held on the weekend before the 24th, if the 24th. comes during a week day. It's suppose to be in honour of Queen Victorias birthday but I think most people have lost sight of that fact. It's the weekend when all the summer people come and open up their homes, people go camping, fishing, and generally partying. People line their trailers up for days to be able to get a spot in the parks. Lots of people camp in gravel pits on the sides of the highway. Someone from away once said to me that it's the only place in the world where he's seen people camp in gravel pits. Ha ha. In fact there has been a song written about it. Lots of police on the roads trying to catch drunk drivers. It's rarely nice on this weekend, always cold, with rain or snow, however it doesn't seem to deter many. The general comments are, "well what do you expect, it is May 24th. weekend after all." We are a pretty laid back bunch of people, I must admit. My weekend was busy, between the rain showers, working on the garden. It's never ending. I have the damn Mint and Bugle overtaking some of the beds so am trying to keep on top of it. Today the carpenter is suppose to come and re-do the back deck as a lot of it has started to rot. Any moment at all someone can go sailing down through parts of it. However, wouldn't you know, it's raining, so probably won't get it done today. Ah, well, tomorrow is another day.

Just rambling

This is about the time of year when the black bears put in an appearance. I have to be very cautious when I go to let the hens out early in the morning. I remember a few years back, every morning there was a lot more than usual amount of bear poop around. We found this a little disturbing so decided to call Wildlife to see what we could do about it, (the bears not the poop.) Two wildlife officers showed up and after viewing the situation said they would have to put a live trap on the front lawn. Next thing they were back in a big truck hauling a massive big barrel like thing. We had to take part of the fence down to get this on the property. Once they had it off the truck, I demanded that they show me how it worked as I wanted to make sure the bear or bears wouldn't get hurt. I was told that the bear would go inside and the weight of the creature would trip a spring and the door would shut. I was to call immediately, anytime day or night, if this happened, and they would come and take the bear off in the country and let it go. Then they proceeded to put cake, cookies, molasses, etc in the barrel. They said any bear within a few klms would smell this and go inside, I thought that was rather amazing. They also told me, if it has been trapped before there was no way it would go inside the barrel no matter how many treats were there. So for three days this contraption sat on the lawn and we were waking up during the night thinking we heard a door shut. Alas, it was all to no avail, no bear in the barrel. Wildlife came and took the trap away and we continued to clean up the poop each morning until the bears decided to move off further into the country.

My Treasures

Here are my Treasures. We share our space with these creatures.
this is malacai

below is Ratchet, Ratch for short. She is very big



This is Thomas, who has many lives. We mistook a dead cat on the road for him, mourned his passing, started to dig a grave, crying with sadness when suddenly he walks out of one of the bedrooms after a nice nap...




Cleo is like a china doll and behaves like the queen bee, head held high. She is very reserved.



Freya came to us last. She is so loving.



Life around here just wouldn't be complete without Penelope and Lulu. They love to come up on the deck in the sun and spread their wings while laying down. They also appreciate all the bugs that surface while I dig in the garden.

Naked in the field

Just taking the afternoon off from working outside. I just remembered something that happened one day while working on a vegetable farm one summer. I always wore a pair of old pants, a tee shirt and a mans large long sleeved shirt over the tee shirt. The black flies and mosquitoes were so bad I covered up as best I could. There were three of us working that day, each of us on our hands and knees crawling up the drill weeding and thinning the turnip. I was in the middle drill, a young fellow in the drill to my left and another woman in the drill to my right. I was in the lead about ten feet ahead of the other two. Well, it was a very hot day and I was tired and sweating, so I stood up to stretch and wipe the sweat off my face. I picked the tail of the (mans) shirt up and brought it all the way up to my forhead and started wiping my brow, imagine my shock when I realized I hadn't put on my tee shirt under it, and with no bra on as well, I was naked to the world. I turned to my left and there was the young fellow, standing on his knees with his jaw dropped down to his chest, staring at me. What could I do...nothing, but put the shirt down, get on my knees again and keep going. No doubt there were a few stories flying around that evening.

Busy, busy week

This past week was mainly sunny after days and days of rain. Earlier in the week I had to haul all the pots and ornamental stuff out of the greenhouse as I had someone coming on Saturday to put new plastic on it. Then I spent two days weeding a large flower bed in the front and put compost around the plants. Roger built me four eight foot high teepees for Scarlet Runner Beans and placed them in various sunny spots around the property. I look around and have so many flower gardens that it all seems an overwhelming task as I didn't cut back a lot of the plants last fall and they now have to be cleaned up and weeded. Some plants I have to move around as well as they are starting to over run each other. I took two buckets of sunflower seed hulls from under the platform feeder and there is probably another bucketful there. Don't know what to do about it, I want to keep the feeder as the crows enjoy treats from it and the Evening grosbeaks come for the seeds. Friday we went to the nearest large town, an hours drive away as Roger had a dental appointment, teeth cleaning. When he had finished with the dentist I asked him how much it cost and he said as he only has half his teeth left it only cost half as much. On the way home we saw a bald eagle in a tree by the side of the road, unfortunatly I did'nt have my camera with me. Yesterday the guy came and put the plastic on the greenhouse, between helping him from time to time and cleaning up around the property I was ready for bed very early last night. I told the guy that I would do the two doors myself so will get at that today. Got to go and finish the laundry now, then out I go.

and she thought she was grand...

Funny the things one remembers while trying to think of something to write about. I was married to a business man, living in a fairly large town. Anyone who did'nt know us at least knew who we were. One day I had to go to the mall, so put on a pair of brown pants, smart co-ordinated jacket, high heeled boots,great shoulder bag, hair perfect, makeup on just right and off I went. I was walking through the mall, with head held high, thinking I was the best thing since sliced bread. People were passing me smiling and I was smiling and nodding back. I saw something out of the corner of my eye as I turned my head and nearly fainted when I saw about two feet of panty hose trailing behind me coming out of the leg of my pants. Seems when I last wore the pants, i forgot to take out the hose, so without knowing this I put the pants on with the hose still inside. What to do!!! I grabbed the end of the hose and started pulling, do you know how hard it is to pull panyhose out of the leg of the pants you are wearing...the more I pulled, the more they stretched. I was mortified! I pulled and pulled and finally got them out and immediately balled them up and shoved the embarrassing item in my purse. Head down, feeling very humble, I went on.

The Bucket Hat

One day, in the winter, I was going around outside with containers of bird seed to fill the feeders. Not only was there a woodpecker following me around, but, because they saw the container of sunflower seeds, they were trying to land on my head. Now, I thought to myself, this is interesting, what to do! So I came up with what I thought was a grand idea.....I found a proper size bucket that would fit just over the top of my head, comfortably, then I drilled a hole in each side, and put a rope through each hole so it would tie under my chin and hold the bucket down. Next I drilled a few holes around the sides of the bucket, then got some branches and poked through the holes, put some peanut butter on the branches then put the hat on. I then went outside to try out my great bucket hat. Lo and behold the chick-a-dees all landed on the branches. This seemed like a great idea until three cars nearly went off the road as the drivers were looking at a lunatic with a bucket on her head, branches sticking of it and birds on the branches.

Life at Wytchwood

This is a test.