Sweet treat

I can't believe how plump Big Daddy looks in these pics Vegas took today - pretty soon we'll have to re-name him Fat Daddy, LOL! He was extra-cuddly and in a very mellow mood as you can see by his sleepy foot.... he loves this cooler weather and the lack of flies. Stupid flies.

Again, no idea why blogger pixelizes photos so much now -

it used to be way better :-/

Anyhoo, click to get a clear pic - soooo much nicer!

Another cuddle moment...

I swear he's not fat in real life, in fact he still has a lot of

weight and muscle to gain!

Kissy kissy mommy!

And this concludes your eye candy for today.

Happy Halloween, if you're celebrating it!

/end of  Big Love post/

Apparently...

...the blogging well is running dry these days.

It's like I'm spending more time doing things than wanting to write about them, I guess. Actually I do my best blogging at night when I'm in the shower, whole jabberwocky posts fill up my little head and then the next time I'm in front of my laptop, meh, it doesn't seem important anymore.

I'm so hungry.

Damn crock pot and its day-long wafting aromas.

We're having butter chicken drumsticks with rice (lots of fresh coriander) and steamed veggies on the side, leftover carrot cake for dessert.

Time to bring in the horses, it's raining and miserable cold outside.

/end of Blogger Badlands post/

Friday funny

Oh.

I scraped the bottom of my brain to find something interesting to blog about tonight, and came up empty.

I guess that's that, then.

Tomorrow is another day...

/end of Shortest Post Evar post/

Pretty

I think every woman (and every man, too - why not) should give this little gem a view... it sure packs a powerful punch. I just want to hug this woman!

 Katie Makkai, a veteran poetry slammer - defining the word "pretty".

What did you think?

Busy day here on the farm...  Imma gonna be flat squashed by dinnertime but eh, c'est la vie. I have to drive to the city Friday morning to get Vegas (who will be back from his bidness trip by then) so I'm trying to get a bunch of stuff done before then. 

Um. I guess it's same old, same old then!

My lips are salty.

Meh. Stupid salt that's everywhere, just everywhere!

*throws out empty pototo chip bag*

We're having our indian summer this week, it's just fantastic - I was outside in a t-shirt all day yesterday, even had the house windows open until way late at night when the rains came. OK fine, it's not a great indian summer since it's raining practically every day, but still. So yummy.

Except for all the freaking flies, ladybugs and moths that swarm inside in droves - what the hey? I killed over a dozen flies in the living room yesterday afternoon, it felt like a scene from The Amityville Horror.

Gross, so very gross.

Besides feeding frogs and birds, does anyone know why we need flies on this planet?

Seriously.

/end of Happy Hump(ing) Day post/

Indian summer delights

The time to relax is when you don't have time for it. 

~Attributed to both Jim Goodwin and Sydney J. Harris

Are you real?

¤ excerpt ¤

The Skin Horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others.

He was so old that his brown coat was bald in patches and showed the seams underneath, and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces. He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away, and he knew that they were only toys, and would never turn into anything else. For nursery magic is very strange and wonderful, and only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced like the Skin Horse understand all about it.

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

"I suppose you are real?" said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive. But the Skin Horse only smiled.

"The Boy's Uncle made me Real," he said. "That was a great many years ago; but once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always."

The Velveteen Rabbit

by Margery Williams

I know it's old but...

...when I need a good laugh, the kind that leaves you gasping for breath and with a stitch in your side... cheeks aching from howling....

I like to turn to Janice!

What can I say?

"It hurts!"

Thank you

I was floored to find this lovely bouquet of flowers delivered to my house yesterday, a gift from my friend S both in honor of my grandfather and to brighten my day:

(not sure why Blogger blurs photos,

click on the image to see what the pic really looks like)

I am surrounded by exceptional people and still don't know what I've done to deserve their friendship - from the "olden golden" who have withstood the test of time to the "sweet discoveries" who have added to the sunshine in my life - wow, am I ever spoiled :-o

I stand humbled and in awe.

Today is for resting. Well, resting "farmer techno" style, meaning only the basic critter duties, a few errands and maybe some cooking/baking. The past week has been mental, cumulating the past three days into a frenzy of stressure. I was just a blob of shattered blobness last night but after some sleep I'm awake enough to force this day off upon myself - no mean feat if you know me, he he.

What? I blame my grandpapa, he passed on his worker-bee genes!

We're getting a heat wave this week, after a few days of frosty-freezies. I have to admit I love this weather, never boring and certainly no more sweating and mosquito swatting.

I bought a gorgeous new winter coat yesterday... and some pants... some tops... I hadn't spent any money on nice clothes in ages and the retail therapy rocked! Um, no I couldn't afford it but I did it anyways. Life.... is now. It can end or turn crappy at any moment.

Enjoy the good times :-)

/end of Happy Ya Ya post/

I'm here

...and I'm fine, just too exhausted to blog.

Getting up at 9am to rush rush rush through the day just isn't healthy nor what I had in mind for today but that's how it panned out, one thing crashing into another at breakneck speed until here we are.

Time for bed.

Hoping for less stress tomorrow.

Sigh.

A final goodbye

In the night of death, hope sees a star,

and listening love can hear the rustle of a wing. 

~Robert Ingersoll

A Thursday treat for you...

I won't be blogging for the next couple of days so I leave you with something extra special, filmed yesterday on our deck:

The beanies enjoying the last day of sunshine

of the month!

Thems happy doggies :-)

The cold heavy rains have moved in again for another week... what a mess.

*huge sigh*

Today is for running errands, cleaning the house from top to bottom and lots of cooking (I'm making chicken dumplings, bread, maybe an apple crumble). My dad and stepmom arrive this evening and then tomorrow morning we all take off for my grandfather's funeral, which is in a town an hour away. My friend N is driving from the city to pick me up as she's coming too.

Very busy days... I hope not too sad though.

Gotta run, take care everyone - 

/end of Aren't Doggies Wonderful? post/

Fade not

Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love,

the things you are,

the things you never want to lose.

~From the television show The Wonder Years

Canada needs a kick in the medical butt

I'd like to thank you all for your well-wishes on my grandfather's passing... The funeral is Friday and I'm amazed at the outpouring of love and support - my grandpa would say to stop fussing but we know better ;-)

And yes mom, of course I'll write a little speech but someone else has to read it because I absolutely do not want to deal with public speaking, specially during a funeral mass. 

*dies of stage fright*

In other news, our medical system sucks. Well OK to be fair it's not that bad: everyone has access to basic medical care and can see a doctor without paying, meds are co-sponsored, etc. But when it comes time to see a specialist or have a procedure done, even a simple one: good luck getting an appointment unless you're very, very patient.

I had to have an ultrasound done so I called the hospital to get a spot and was told that the schedules were full until 2011. Um, wow. So I then asked when the new schedules would be available so I could call that day (one day per month you can get an appointment!!) and, ha ha, they did not know, it would be announced sometime in November.

Great. Not only can I not get an appointment, I wasn't even allowed to know when I could call to get one!!

Effing efficient.

So I called the private clinic which is in the next town and guess what?

They had five spots available the next day.

For $40, tax-deductible.

I was in and out in 30 minutes, got the procedure, saw a doctor, all is fine.

Honestly, I'm gobsmacked.

There is obviously some kind of problem with our current health system. If you can't afford a procedure you have to wait months, even years to get a free appointment at the hospital, at which point what you have could possibly kill you? WTF? Since when is Canada the USA?

(no offense my peeps south of the border)

Anyhoo. It was eye-opening today and I can say that I'm relieved there is an option - health is not to be messed with. I can sacrifice shopping for shoes to save my boobs.

The end.

Passage

Life is eternal, and love is immortal,

and death is only a horizon;

and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight.

~Rossiter Worthington Raymond

In death there is life...

My grandfather passed away this morning, after a long decline in a hospital/nursing home. He was surrounded by his wife, children and family and left this world peacefully.

I am devastated but it was expected and I cannot say it's a bad thing as his last few years held no quality of life for him. He was a very proud, autonomous and stubborn man who continued to work until he had to leave his home (he was a carpenter and was fixing roofs at 82...), and after that he lost his will to live. His heart was strong though and toughed it out for a very long time, while his mind and motor skills continued to fail.

My grandparents were my 2nd home, always.

I used to spend many summers with them here, in this town, and continued to visit them a lot up until they had to be placed in palliative care.

One of the reasons I was happy to buy a house and move here was because I knew the place so well, my grandparent's old house is just a few streets from here.

Bittersweet memories.

I feel kind of numb right now. Not sure when the funeral will be, either Wednesday or Thursday I suppose.

I hope I don't break down, my mom needs strong people around her now - she was his primary caregiver and is responsible for her parent's estate and you cannot imagine everything she's done for them the past half decade. She deserves a medal but she does it out of love and says she is honored to do this for her parents.

I love my mom.

My grandmother has a form of dementia but has moments of lucidity, so not funny to be like that after a long rich life - when your mind goes, what's really left? I hope she pulls through this ok.

It's going to be a long and busy week.

/end of Love Is Now, Not Tomorrow post/

It was a dark and rainy night... again

It's been a strange autumn so far, a whole month of rain and clouds (September) and then a glorious week of warm sunshine early October, it looked like this the other day:

Same view from our back yard between two storms (September):

And then yesterday we got clobbered by the mofo of all storms, our land is completely flooded today (both creeks jumped their beds, one of them threatening to drown a portion of a chicken run) and if that giant tree in our front yard hadn't snapped two weeks ago it would have been a goner last night...

So you have to eat carbs when the weather's so grim, only when your fridge is half-empty you have to be creative with what you have. Turned out to be a rosé sauce with onions and garlic, tossed with shells:

Sprinkled with grated cheese and topped with de-crusted home-made sliced bread, brushed with garlic butter and then baked in a hot oven until crispy and bubbly:

It was pretty tasty :-)

Random photo of the messy kitchen island:

Antique bookshelf in the lounge/dining area,

I really have to start decorating and fixing up this place... someday.

I'm expecting sad news today, it won't be a surprise but it'll be heartbreaking anyways. Funny how life goes. Hug your loved ones today, life goes by way, way, way too fast.

/end of Weekending post/

The misery of cold wet October

No one but Night, with tears on her dark face,

Watches beside me in this windy place.

~Edna St. Vincent Millay

Well this is harder than I thought! :-o

Wow, I should have asked for harder questions because your simple ones turned my brain into a cheese pretzel! I did my best but if my answers don't make sense blame it on Anchorman, which is what was on the TV while I was trying to type this post -

Anchorman rocks :-D

So, here we go:

Anke from Our Little Piece Of Heaven asks " How did you get started with the chickens and the rest of the "farm"? Was that something you always wanted, or did that come with time?"
I had never thought of owning chickens until we bought this place last year - the former owner had chickens and assured me it was easy as pie... the coop and run were all set up... and the thought of having our own fresh eggs every day was irresistible! So I got 7 chooks last July... and now we have about 55 - each with their own name and personality! Total addiction and life-long hobby now, I tell you :-) 

Farmer from Rose Hill Farms asks "Do you plan on adding any more animals to your farm (other than Big Daddy and the chooks)? What's your dream barnyard?"
Oh, to have the space, money and TIME! I would love to add a couple of emus... some exotic birds... a few goats...  a couple more horses... *dreams*

Jo.Irish.Rose from Me Lil Irish Thots asks "did you grow up where you are or are you originally from another area of canada? and where? do you eat any of your farm critters?"
I was actually born in the town where we currently live but had never lived here until we bought this place last year! My grandparents spent most of their life here though so in a way it already was sort of "home" since I visited them often. I grew up not too far from here (a few hours at most) so yep, my roots run deep. And no, I would never, ever eat any of my pets - all our farm critters have names and are part of the family!

Prin from Living Life To The Furrest asks "What are the top four best parts to being married?"
I only can answer four? Awe! In no particular order, marriage offers a sense of stability that dating doesn't... you don't just quit when something goes wrong, you work at it because this is for real and you have a commitment to make it through the rough bits. Not that there are many when you marry the right person ;-) Security (emotional, physical, financial, etc), companionship and being a team with your best friend also rank highly up there.Living together becomes a fine-tuned dance where the music just rocks you to happiness - wow, is that corny or what? LOL!

Keri from Keri's Korner asks "What is your favorite color?"
Another hard question! Because it depends on my mood... I love wearing black but not in the summer, I love green but mostly outside, baby blue is also a favorite as are creams, earth tones and pink... Impossible to choose just one!

Debby from Just Breathe asks "I was wondering if you use all the eggs up that you get, how many do you sell?"
That's an easy one... I sell about 95% of the eggs laid by our girls to help offset the cost of their food, bedding and care... We keep the cracked and weirdly shaped ones for ourselves and the dogs, if they're lucky - LOL! At some point the girls will lay more eggs than I can sell in a week (hopefully) so at that point we'll get to eat more eggs: yay!

Lady Banana from Lady Banana and Busy Bee Suz from Day By Day both ask "How did you meet your lovely Vegas?"
Hah! I didn't think he was so lovely at first, imagine! We worked for the same company, me here at HQ and he in the London branch. There was a big meeting/workshop one summer and everyone flew in, I don't remember him much at all (to his dismay) but apparently I caught his eye :-D We bumped into each at a tradeshow in California a year later and I quite liked him until he started drinking and acting like an ass, so that went nowhere. We did become good online friends afterwards though, both going through difficult times - we then met again at another CA tradeshow and he eventually wore me down to loving him... and the rest is history! At least that's my interpretation :-D

Sian from Wales asks "Yes, I want to know how you met Vegas too! And I want to know if Vegas was a LARPer."
Well, I answered the question about Vegas above and yes, he used to be a LARPer a while ago, during his dark years... thankfully he got out of it and is living a happy and normal life now, LOL! (it wasn't the healthy kind of LARP)

I managed to finish this post with my morning coffee, battling a raging headach while the storms punch the house and shred the trees while drenching the land. Yeah, this is going to be a couch-surfing day I'm afraid...

Happy Friday!

/end of Now You Know post/

Go on, take a bow

I've seen this going around in a few blogs and me not being super original these days (cough! cough!) of course I'm copying it here... but only because I think it'd be hilarious :-D

Ask me a question, and I'll answer in my next post.

For reals!

Be creative, be inquisitive, be polite... and don't ask stuff you know I can't/won't answer (my bra size is my own, unless you're Prin and you know everything). :-D

Lurkers welcomed but no questions from Anonymous, please.

We don't like Anonymous.

Happy Thursday!

/end of What The Why Not post/

Modern times

A journey of a thousand sites begins with a single click. 

~Author Unknown

No title for this one

Time, it flies.

Muscles, they ache and throb and cause all kinds of regrets for youth - remember when you were made of elastics and didn't know what a Tylenol was?

Yeah, those days.

I'm up to my eyeballs in barn reno work and cannot wait to see the day when everyone's moved in, nice and cozy for the winter. I shall celebrate with something frivolous such as a day of sleeping in until 10am or something :-D

I need to charge up the lawn tractor's battery to give the lawn one good mow before the winter. The grass has grown so high and thick it's laying flat down so I've no idea if it's even possible to mow at this point, but I have to give it a go or next spring's lawn growth will be sloooow.

The gardens need to be chopped down in preparation for the coming snow... The garage cleanup  is underway and soon the winter tires go on the car -

Where! Does! Life! Fly! To!

In honor of the fast-approaching Halloween, do head on over to The Chicken Diaries for a short clip of... zombie chooks!

And that's my good night gift to you :-)

/end of Happy Running Woman post/

On clothing

Know, first, who you are; and then adorn yourself accordingly. 

~Epictetus

Blink!

I've talked a lot about bits and bobs lately (many of you get tired just reading my posts full of farm work, LOL) so consider this a well-deserved break - you can thank me later :-D

The pics were taken quickly with no artistic inclination in mind (using my new little point-and-shoot camera) and that's the way I wanted it. So. You ready?

First, the stacked hay in the stable's upper floor -

there are some 375 bales spread around to help with insulation

(until the horses eat it all this winter!)

The view of our house from the driveway

now that the giant tree is gone:

(with the giant tree, pic taken last summer)

My new wellies (rubber boots) that I got yesterday from the equine shop -

they could be used for riding but I'm keeping these for girly-girl stuff!

Got them at 25% off, woo!

Some of the hen fruit gathered today

(and yes I need a proper egg basket...):

Lazy dog #1:

Lazy dog #2 - yes, this is how they spend most of their day

unless I force them to spend some time outside on the deck!

Same goes for Vegas :-D

Me, well I just entertain myself

(should I make nana muffins or cake with these?)

View of the cluttered kitchen window above the sink:

Um, that's all for now...

Back to your regularly scheduled programs! :-D

Mrs Sandman, that's me

I forgot to share some good news with you last week:

The vet came by and re-measured Big Daddy and it looks like he's gaining an average of 20 to 25 lbs a week! At this rate he'll be looking superb by next spring, yey! And probably feeling a lot better in mind, spirit and body, too.

He loves his mommy, aka "endless treat machine" ;-)

Pretty soon he'll be frisking my pockets for carrots and apples!

Poor guy's been suffering pretty bad haircuts lately, oops. First the dreadlocks that we had to snip off last July, then burrs that were hopelessly tangled in his mane and today I cut his fringe (bangs) as they were just hanging in his eyes all the time. Um. The hack job isn't too great but at least his mane is brushable and manageable now... Sort of.

I may have to resort to braids at some point.

Nothing much to report besides extreme fatigue, I feel hollowed out from exhaustion.

Totally my fault.

I overdid it today, silly me.

Our load of hay showed up at 10:30am this morning so we had to unload that, then re-arrange all the bales in the top level of the barn to help insulate against the cold.  I don't know how much a bale of hay weighs but it's a lot! Ow.

Then! It was finally sunny so I cleaned out two of the three chicken coops, fresh bedding was long overdue - poor chooks! Mucked out Big Daddy's stall (three times during the day), spent an hour grooming him and treated his soft cracked hooves with some new strengthening product I bought. Caught an awesome sale at the equine store this afternoon so got some grooming equipment and awesome wellies (for me) - I'll have to post a pic!

Hint: peacocks and lace ;-)

Took the doggies for a walk on the mountain - yes, they behaved and mommy kept a very close eye on them! - and had lunch with Vegas at our local diner.

That's just a glimpse of what went on here today, I won't bore you with much more but suffice to say I am beyond drained. I'll either pass out in a bit or lay awake all night too tired to sleep!

Better not, grrr.

On that note, a fly woke Vegas up at 2am last night so of course he couldn't sleep so it woke me up.

Twice.

Gotta love married life :-D

/end of Are You Feeling It! post/

::::::::::::::yep:::::::::::::

Handing out the smiles today, just because :)

We had a round of heavy rumbling thunder yesterday afternoon, it was quite something to run errands under black dry clouds and lightening :-o

So I wasn't home to witness the silliness...

Vegas sent me this from his iPhone:

Innocent enough until you notice Maika's on the couch in Vegas' office, a room she never wanders into unless called in... and our dogs just don't get up on furniture, they prefer the floor or their beds. Good doggies. So for her to wander in there and crawl up on the couch like that was pretty hilarious, worthy of a photo and a story!

Ah thunder, you evil bastid.

I' m off to fetch 21 glass panes for the barn windows today... and then I have to install the darn things, one piece at a time. Big job but I'll be happy once it's all done.

I made chocolate cake at 8pm last night.

It was very tasty :-D

I case you think I'm a bit ADD-ish, yes you might be right. My daily routine inclues a few rounds of Spider Solitaire on the laptop while listening/watching this brilliant little piece just for the smile of it:

Watch it and see if you don't crack a giggle!

Told ya so!

Off to do some laundry now, something about having clean underwear for the Canadian Thanksgiving Weekend or sumtin. Not that we'd murder a turkey for a date on the calendar or anything. We'll stick to veggies and pasta with cheeeeeeese please!

PS: have you voted on the poll yet?

/end of Have A Great Weekend Y'all! post/

I'm losing the notion of time

I thought today was Friday.

Seriously.

The days all blend in together, it's kinda funny actually. I don't wear a watch so don't keep track of time and I often can't figure out what date we are.

I could feel lost but instead I just feel... free :-)

About ten days ago I decided to try something new to combat the rising anxiety and panic attacks that had dug their claws into me, clinging like toilet paper to the bottom of my shoe 18 hours a day. I woke up anxious in the morning and went to bed anxious at night, not really knowing what the heck was wrong until it hit me while writing down item 173 on The To Do List.

That damned list.

Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh!

My life was being governed by unending tasks, chores, errands and "stuff", each hour of the day crammed with something pressing to do. What a horrible way to live - slave to pen and paper? No. Thanks.

I decided to test my theory and just... stopped writing stuff down.

The important appointments and "must not forget" things and dates still went in the To Do List (which is actually a day-by-day agenda book) but the rest were to be ad lib, as they happened and needed to be done. I always keep a loose list in my head to cover the basics but that's that.

And you know what?

It worked :-)

My heart rate is down, anxiety levels are down, panic attacks are less frequent, I'm sleeping better and have tons more energy. Who knew something so trivial could bring a person down like that? :-o

Anyone else out there have/had a similar experience?

/end of Hallelujah! post/

Open your light

It's not what you look at that matters,

it's what you see. 

~Henry David Thoreau

Ever have a day?

You know, one of those days when your bones feel like cement, your head is full of bees and you just want to veg out staring at the TV, drink tea, gossip and soak in a hot tub?

Yeah, well today is my day.

For dreaming about lavish girly things, I mean.

The reality is me spending another day doing carpentry work in the smelly barn under thick grey wet skies between rounds to various hardware and farming supply shops.

Sigh.

Poking my eye out with a fork sounds more appealing right now.

/end of Ranties post/

Just sayin'

A hangover is the wrath of grapes.

~Author Unknown

Clickety click

Wheee!

My new toy arrived yesterday :-)

Isn't she cute? :-)

I vowed to keep my real toy safe from the elements - gotta learn from past mistakes - so I patiently waited until I had enough airmiles and then picked this one from the rewards catalogue, yes that's right this little blue baby didn't cost me a cent!

Hey I'm frugal, not cheap ;-)

Now I have something to snap pics and create HD movies with in the rain, the snow, the dusty barn, windstorms, you name it since it's waterproof, dust proof, shock proof and freeze proof! Well, so they say - I won't test it by throwing it in an icy river or anything.

I'll let you know how it goes after a few test shots. I'm not expecting anything spectacular as I have a real camera for that, this is just for those difficult situations.

So we'll see.

Today the big barn renos begin, we're replacing all the windows - uggh, can it please be over with! It will take a few days as there's not one straight angle or unrotten piece of wood in that hunk o'junk but we have to start somewhere. My handyman neighbor and I will do our best and that's that.

I heaved yesterday when pulling more poop-infested insulation from the walls. This shit was fresh, I'm not joking. Looked and stank like human crap - WTF?!

*gags some more*

One day Vegas will make us filthy rich and I'll never have to do this again, I can wear funky pink construction boots with a matching hard hat and direct a crew of professionals to build us a fancy barn from the ground up, that's what!

Because my husband rocks ;-)

/end of Happy Tuesday, Peeps! post/

Twisted in a cup

Decaffeinated coffee is kind of like kissing your sister. 

~Bob Irwin

Life at the Technofarm!

Yesterday our contractor came over to take the rest of the tree down and haul off the huge trunk bits and branches... Thank goodness he was there because calling professionals costs a fortune (minimum $600 and they don't remove anything from your property, that's extra!! it cost us $100 for the work, whew).

Bye-bye beautiful tree... sniff :(

I couldn't get all its height on the camera

but you get the idea!

Vegas spent a couple of hours hauling the debris to the ditches, branch by heavy branch... I helped a bit but most of my work is today, we just finished clearing up most of the mess and are now raking up leaves and smaller bits. A lot of bits.

So weird now to have a giant empty spot where the tree used to be.

Feels nekkid :-o

There is so much more light coming into the house now, all's well that ends well I guess. Next spring we'll make a rock garden out of that patch, there are wild rose bushes and lilac trees there so I imagine it'll be quite pretty.

Speaking of light! Looks like the month-long grey rainy weather is finally over, wooooo! The sun is out bright and warm and it's supposed to be like this for most of the week - bliss!

Hopefully the land will dry out so we can give it a good mow before winter... once the John Deere is fixed. It's been over six weeks. A-hem.

I'll leave you with a little update on Big Daddy, he's plumping up nicely with pastured grazing, fresh air and exercise - I'm so proud of our big boy! Such a giant goof too... Here he is following his "auntie" around, she owns Black (the other horse) and Big Daddy knows her pockets are always full of treats!

Mister Stomach McHungry:

Wishing you all a great weekend!

Liquid sunshine

Weather is a great metaphor for life -

sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad,

and there's nothing much you can do about it but carry an umbrella.

~Terri Guillemets

Impaled horseshoe

Seriously.

We have a giant horseshoe lodged in our backsides - it's one bad luck adventure after another out here lately but still here we are standing, dazed and amazed.

It's been raining and storming for days.

The land is flooded ankle-deep.

Last night a mini tropical hurricane blew in, the screaming winds got terribly warm, shingles flew off roofs, trees were bending and snapping -

Well, have a look at what happened in our driveway,

why don't you?

Yeah.

I was freaking the hell out.

But guess what? The car is intact. It's ok. There is only one small dent above the driver's door on the frame of the car and that's it. Nothing broken nor scratched. The other half of the tree came dangerously close to crashing down on our house but it's still standing - it's a bleddy miracle.

Vegas and I broke out in hysterical laughter after escaping yet another could-have-been-disastrous situation. I don't think I recuperated from the dogs being lost two days ago and now this.

Holy shit.

I need some advil and a glow-in-the-dark statue of the Virgin Mary to kiss.

/end of WTF? post/