Family Day

A day off at our house isn't really a day off.  It is just a day of different work. Family Day started at the crack of dawn (as always), at least for Rod and I.  We were both up and moving before 8:00 while the kids were still in bed snoring away.

The weather was absolutely perfect for the middle of February.  The sun was shining and the air was still.  The temperature was even acceptable.  The morning was spent chopping down a few trees and lighting the fire pit to burn the branches and an old couch.  The fire burned for hours.

Normally I'm not a big fan of chopping down living trees and today wasn't much different but these trees were blocking our solar panels and they had to go.  Originally we tried to just top the trees and hope that would do it but as we watched the panels we discovered that the 2 pines and 2 maples were still cutting down on our solar harvest in the morning.  During the winter, when solar hours are at a low, we couldn't afford to have panels that aren't producing.  So, as sad as it was, 4 big beautiful trees found their way into my burning pile.  I now have a huge empty spot between my house and the neighbour.  Can't wait for spring so I can go out and dig some holes and plant some new, smaller trees to help block the view of the house next door.

two dogs, two goats and a yard full of snow

Brock and Jenna came out to help chop down the trees and play in the yard with the dogs and the goats. The dogs are learning to respect the goats' space.  

Jenna and I built our first snow woman of the year.  She had pine cones for eyes, cantaloupe slice for a mouth and a wedge of cantaloupe for the nose.  And of course she had a broom in her hand so she could get some work done. 












Amber brought the girls out in the afternoon and left them with Gma so she could go shopping with Jenna.  The girls and I spent time playing in the yard with the sled.








Gracie had fun making snow angels.  









The evening was spent at the bowling alley.  Poor Gpa had an errand to run and he missed out on all the fun.  We used his credit card so he could feel included (haha).

Gracie with her 6 pound ball

Sydney giving a big push

The bowling crew

By the end of the day I was so tired I couldn't wait to fall into bed.  Sometimes it is more restful to work than stay home :)

when blogging disappears

this has been a crazy few days.  First I go to log in to my gmail account and it tells me that there has been something fishy going on with my account and I am now locked out.  I finally figure out how to request having my account restored, but I screw that up by typing in the wrong verification number and I can't remember all the silly details they ask me.  Somehow I end up on a page that asks me to change my password, which I do.  I try logging in and WOW, there is my gmail account.  Then this morning I check my facebook and find out that my mother can't find my blog.  So I check it out and sure enough, my blog has disappeared.  I spend over an hour trying to figure out how to reinstall my blog.  Suddenly, I am able to find it again.  This post is actually a test to see if this is really working or if my day is going to get worse.  If you can see this blog please try posting a comment and see if things are working again.

I didn't realize how important blogging was to me until I discovered I might not be able to continue with my blog and that I have lost all my previous blogs.  Now I need to figure out how to make a back up of everything in case this happens again.

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