Winter Fun

Once again winter has reared its head and dared us to come out and play.  And what better way to play than to skate on an outdoor pond. 

We have been watching and waiting for the weather to stay cold long enough for the pond in the back woods to freeze.  It would look like we were ready to skate and then BANG, the rain would come and the temperature would rise and we would be back to liquid ice.

Well this past week we finally had enough cold weather to freeze the pond enough that it was thick enough to venture out on.  Rod, Talia and I enjoyed a sunny Saturday afternoon with our shovels scraping off the INCH of snow that sat on the ice.  There were a few rough spots but overall the ice looked ready for our first skate of the year.

Sunday afternoon turned out to be perfect for our first skate.  Amber, Josh, Gracie and Sydney came for a visit, bringing their skates.  I had found bob-skates at the store so we were ready.  We gathered up all our equipment: Skates, chairs, hockey sticks, net, helmets for the girls, and hiked through the field and trees to our little hideout in the woods

Gracie's first skate 

Sydney trying hockey

 Gracie happily popped on a bike helmet, strapped on her bob-skates, grabbed a pint sized chair and off she went checking out the ice.









Sydney didn't want to wear skates and was happy to slide around on the ice in just her boots.   Little girls need little helmets.  Syd is wearing Gracie's riding helmet. Check out where the soother ended up.

Look! No Chair!

It didn't take long for Gracie to figure out she could skate without holding on.  

Much easier in Grandpa's arms

Sydney loved riding around the ice with Grandpa.  

In the middle of a hockey game

The girls were oblivious to their Dad and Gpa playing hockey.  They went where ever they wanted and we had to avoid them.




  

And of course they had to have a turn playing hockey too. We need to pull out the smaller hockey sticks.  Looks like we are going to have a girls team.

The girls playing hockey

Amber trying to score on her Dad

So round up your skates and grab a stick. We are looking forward to more family time on the ice. 

Now if Mother Nature would just cooperate.

One Man's Junk...

Is another man's JUNK!

It is amazing how much junk people can leave lying around.  We bought our farm last summer and have spent the past year fixing it up and cleaning it up. 

This fall has been dedicated to cleaning up the junk left behind from the previous owners. According to a 1969 license plate we found the stuff has been there for a long time.  We have found an old refrigerator, bed frames, bird cages, chicken coop, oil tank, farm equipment, fencing and tin sheets, as well as a lot of unrecognizable metal.

We have spent hours pulling this junk out of the back field.  Some of it has been there so long that the trees and vines have grown up around and through it and we have had to be creative, and destructive, to remove it.  We have used the tractor to lift, push and pull trying to clear all this junk. 

Rod has hauled around 20 loads of  junk to the scrap yard in exchange for cold hard CASH. They pay us by the pound and some of that stuff was really heavy. 

one of our many loads of junk

junk, junk, junk

Now that the field is almost all cleaned up we can finish clearing the weeds and scrub brush. If we find a nice calm day we can burn the old scraps of wood left lying around too.  If we can haul things to the junk yard why couldn't they?  I will never understand why people leave things like that around, and spread out all over.  It would have been a lot easier if they had just one big junk pile.  It's been a lot of work but it will all be worth it in the end when we have our place cleaned up.

Next spring we have 1500 small trees arriving and our back field of junk will be turned into a forest of evergreens. This is part of the 1 million tree project, where the province provides trees to farms to plant to improve the environment.  For a small price they even come in and plant them for us.  We have decided to take them up on that.  Last year we planted 300 cedars and that took almost an entire day with 4 of us working.  I can't imagine how long it would take to plant 1500 trees.

Garden wonders

Again this year we have planted a huge garden.  There are tomatoes galore. I think Rod bought every different kind of tomato that was in the store.  We also have squash coming out of our ears.  I have tried to keep ahead of the zucchini, but once again it has gotten away from me.  I am afraid to go out and see what is hiding under the leaves.  I had yellow zucchini this year as well as the regular green.  The yellow ones are quite nice.  The don't seem to grow as big as the green ones. 

We had a very hot dry July and with everything else that was going on that month (wedding, visitors from Alberta) the garden was neglected.  This created a problem since weeds seem to be able to grow no matter what the weather is like.  It took days, and I mean days, of weeding to clear things up and find the actual plants.  We tried to keep up but the weeds seem to be winning.  Actually, the grass is covering a large section of the garden. 

This fall we plan to take round-up to the major portion of the garden, avoiding the asparagus, rhubarb, raspberries and blueberries.  Hopefully if we kill off the weeds this fall and again in the early spring we will be able to keep them from taking over the garden next summer.

I did find some interesting produce this past week.  Have you every seen anything like this?

Siamese zucchini

conjoined tomatoes

The tomatoes were separated but only one lived.One seemed to have some worm damage.   I am not sure what to do with the zucchini.  Will I be able to separate them without causing real damage?  Should I leave them joined? 

Or should I just eat them and enjoy!?!?!?  

Gamma come roll with me!

I love my grand kids.  They add so much to our lives. And they are so darn cute!!!!!

On Saturday Gracie and Sydney came to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa while their parents went out for dinner.  First place they headed was the paddock to visit with the horses.  After greeting Winston and Jasper and sharing a few treats with them it was time to go see what Grandpa was up to on the tractor. 

We watched Grandpa use the tractor to pull the T-posts out of the ground and Uncle Zach got to drag them back to the pile to be used another day.  As you know, a one-year old and a three year old have short attention spans so watching the tractor only took up about 5 minutes of our time.

Gracie soon discovered that the lawn beside the driveway has a slope to it and decided to roll down the hill.  Then she tried the hill on the other side of the driveway. Then back to the first hill.  After about 3 times she said "Gamma, do you want to roll down the hill?"  I thought about it for just a second or two and then decided that YES, I want to roll down the hill.  And I did.  It was fun.  I had forgotten how fun it is to roll down the hill.  Even though our hill was quite small it was enough to remind me of how fun it is to be a kid.

Now I am on the look out for a large hill. Anyone want to join me rolling down a hill?  It will drive away all your unhappiness and bring you child like joy!

the new boys in my life

Well, it is official.  We have adopted two new boys into our family.  Their names are Winston and Jasper. Winston is only 4 and Jasper is 10. They are both redheads. Jasper's hair is quite thick and flowing.  Winston is quite tall for his age and Jasper could lose a little weight but we love them.  The boys are getting along quite nicely and don't mind sharing a room.  They love to eat and have their hair brushed daily.  They love to run around barefoot and play in the grass. They both love treats and attention.  Jasper has been known to pull ponytails so watch out.

Meet our new boys!

Winston

Jasper

coming for treats

sharing a room

Our busy summer thus far

Wow, this has been an action packed summer so far.

Saturday, June 25  my mother, sister and her 3 youngest girls arrived to help prepare for and celebrate Amber's wedding.

HIGHSCHOOL?!?!?!?

Wednesday, June 29  Installation of solar panels begins. Cody and Mimi arrived and Zach had his Grade 8 graduation. Zach was the last of the Merrills to graduate from Gateway Drive School (5 in total) and with HONOURS.  An era has ended.

Thursday, June 30 was spent purchasing food for the wedding.

Friday, July 1 was spent decorating and preparing food for the wedding and attending fireworks at the Hirota's. Talia went to New Hamburg and purchased her horse, a chestnut thoroughbred gelding. Completion of the solar installation today as well.

July 2 was a busy exciting day as we celebrated the wedding of Amber and Josh.  The day was hot and humid (typical summer in Ontario). The wedding went off without a hitch and the storm held off until we were almost finished (we did rush it at the end trying to beat the storm).

Sunday, July 3 was spent in Church and celebrating Gracie's 3rd birthday and my Mother's 77th.

Monday, July 4 we took Gracie and Sydney to the babysitters and then the rest of us spent the day at the Elora Quarry playing in the water and soaking up the sun.

Zach, Talia, Brock and Jenna

Tuesday, July 5 was spent in St Jacobs at the market.  Bought a new outfit at our favourite ladies shop in the outlet mall.  This is the first time since we started going there that Sheila didn't end up buying something.  What a shock.

Wednesday, July 6 Rod, Zach and I spent time working on the fencing. We stretched wire down one 450 side of the paddock 


Thursday, July 7 we packed up the crowd (14 in total) and headed to Sauble Beach for some fun in the sun.  Everyone had a wonderful day playing in the water and the sand.

playing in the water

Rebekah and Gracie

Friday, July 8 our farmer came over and mowed our hay.  He returned 3 days later to bale it and haul it away.

Saturday, July 9 Gma, Sheila and the girls, Jenna and myself we to African Lion Safari.  We spent the entire day there.  Some of the highlights were: the drive through the safari and watching the monkeys jumping on the other cars; the elephant swim, show and riding on an elephant; and of course the water park.

Sunday, July 10 was a day of rest and attending Church.

Monday July 11 the girls spent time helping Uncle Rod water his 300 little cedar trees.  They had a great time riding in the back of the trailer and taking turns holding the hose for the trees.  Sydney learned how to drink out of hose that day too.  Amber and Josh arrived home from their honeymoon in Jamaica.  For Family Home Evening we played with the water and had a water balloon toss.

Tuesday July 12 was busy getting Gma, Sheila and girls ready for their flight home.  We had a wonderful visit and it was hard to believe it was all over.

4 generations

 Wednesday, July 13 I had the day off so Rod and I worked on the fencing again. which I can finally say is done.  We had a 3 acre area we were trying to get fenced so that we could put horses in.  We started in the spring but because of the high water table were unable to complete the fence posts until the end of June.  One side (200 ft) was to be done with 3 rows of boards while the others (450 ft each) were to be done with page wire.  The fence between us and the neighbour was already finished (thank goodness).  Talia and I spent days measuring and cutting and hammering boards and completed the top two rows and Rod helped me finish the last one on Saturday night.  We spent 2 days running and tightening the wire. Rod and Zach hung the 3 gates.As earlier mentioned we have finally finished the 3 month project.

Thursday, July 14, back to work and a well deserved rest.

Saturday, July 16 we bought some new dappled willows to plant in the front yard and a crab apple tree for the back, along with 2 new blueberry bushes.  

This has been a very busy summer and we are loving it.  Without even trying I have a better tan than I have had in years.  I wonder what the rest of the summer will bring.

WEDDING BELLS

Saturday, July 2 dawned bright and clear.  The weather man had been predicting rain but Amber was determined that her day would not be ruined.  Last minute adjustments were made and at 3:00 our guests began to arrive.  The wedding was wonderful. The bride arrived in a fancy old truck.  The bridesmaids walked up the aisle with the three beautiful flower girls, and then Rod had the honour of walking the beautiful bride down the aisle Amber and Josh were married by Bishop Haddad under the willow tree in the front yard.

After a 2 hour photo shoot by Jody Crane the wedding party and guests sat down to a dinner of chicken Caesar wraps and salad.  Gracie had a great time putting money in the KISSING WELL and making her parents kiss.

The reception began shortly afterwards and many people came to wish the couple well.  There was the cake cutting ceremony, first dance and the the tossing of the bouquet.  Guess who caught the bouquet?  None other than TALIA.  I wonder if that means there will be a Merrill wedding again next year.?

Talia caught the bouquet

Wedding cake

The rain had been holding off all day but we noticed the sky starting to get dark. We had moved up the events of the reception and Rod and the boys decided to hurry and shoot of the fireworks to mark the end of the night.  No sooner had he finished and the skies opened up and the wind and rain came crashing down on us.  We were afraid the tent and all that was in it would blow away.  The big tent survived the storm but sadly, the tent we borrowed from the Bunn's was destroyed.  Luckily no one was hurt.  The Merrill's really know how to throw a party!



Some more Pics from the wedding:

The Bride Arrives

Bridesmaids and flower girls

first dance

Bridal Party

group hug

Family