FTX - Field Training Exercise

I don't post much about the cadet program, due to my overprotective privacy issues, but as I post less and less through the winter, I thought I'd give you a glimpse into how I spent my weekend.

 Our Air Cadet Squadron, for which I am a Civilian Instructor, did a weekend field training exercise. We went to a summer camp, so there was real shelter, running water, working bathrooms, and a kitchen.  They are kids after all, so we don't throw them to the wolves.  Still, they learn how to set up arctic tents, which the seniors slept in on Saturday night, and how to build improvised shelters with logs, twigs, tarps, and string. 

 There were campfires in the snow, accompanied by songs, scary stories, and jokes.  The cadets learn how to use camp stoves and cook their own breakfast.  They go trekking through the woods on snowshoes, using compasses to guide their way.

 The sunset over the lake was beautiful.

 The cadets learned how to drill holes, built snow block walls for improvised shelter, tie lines, and ice fish.  That's #1 on his very last cadet trip.  He'll be 19 this Friday, and aged out of the program.

 

That's me under the tarp, doing a little fishing.  We never caught anything, but it was fun.

The cadets learned how to build a quinzee during our fall FTX, so were eager to grab shovels and get to work on the huge snow piles the ploughs had built for them through the winter.  That's #4 in the entrance way of one of the tunnels they dug.  This was his first cadet trip, having just turned 12 last week.

They had lessons on stargazing, and the opportunity to see Jupiter and several constellations in the night sky.

A busy, fun filled weekend for everyone.

More Rain

We had a short break in the rain this morning, so I ran out to water the greenhouses.

Weeds, and a few veggies, enjoying the rain.

Except when I got there, I had no water.  Back to the house- did I forget to turn on the hose?  Nope, it's on.  I turned it up a little.

Back to the garden.  No water.  Walk back, tracing the hose step by step.  No kinks.

Raining again.  Forget it.  Go shut the hose off.  Well, there you go.  I guess I forgot to switch the splitter from pasture to garden.  Maybe later...

After three days of rain, and a high of 9°C (48°F) yesterday, I finally gave in and lit a fire last night.  I hate wasting fire wood this early in the year, but shivering all night isn't likely to motivate me to doing anything productive today.

It's our anniversary today.  15 months since Dad died.  I'm ok with the word 'happy' now.  The first year every time someone said 'happy', I either cried or looked at them like they had sprouted another head.  Happy Birthday, Happy Mother's Day, Happy Hallowe'en, Happy New Year...  Seriously?  Happy seemed like such a cruel concept.

I'm still not happy.  But at least I'm not crying.  And I guess you only have one head now.

Wake Up Call

I'm a bad farmer.  Or at least, I'm having a bad year.  A couple of days ago while watering, I said to Dorie, "You fat cow, when are you going to have that baby?"  She just gave me one of those looks.  Little did I know she was probably thinking, 'Hey, stupid, I did that last week...'

So yesterday I looked up through the window as I was washing dishes.  A little yellow dog ran through the pasture chasing Nelly.  I washed another dish.

Wait a minute.  We don't have a little yellow dog.  The little yellow dog disappeared.  Paw prints were found of dogs tracking or chasing a bear from the tack room to the woods.  Smitty came home without a collar.
The other...


I looked again. Little yellow dog in the pasture. Cindy is tied up. Little yellow dog has a white tail tip. It must be a neighbour's dog. I headed outside.

I yelled to the boys as I walked out the door.  They're just about as deaf as me.  I yelled again as I kept walking.  By the time I was close enough for them to hear me, I was also close enough to see.  "Get that dog out of the pasture!" changed to "How long has THAT been living in our pasture?"  #1 looked up, confused.  "That little thing beside Dorie."  I said.  "Holy crap", says he.  Then he was off to investigate.

#1 got close enough to look him over.  He claims it's a boy anyway- I'll wait until I get a better look.  Toothless was in a mood, so I didn't go in to see.  #1 took a squirt of milk- no colostrum.

Dorie brought him right up to the fence for me, right between the other cows.  He snuggled right close beside her.  She ate some fresh weeds from the garden.  He wandered off- right into the barn behind the horses.  She didn't fret and they didn't move. 

I'm guessing he's a week old already, since she's brought him out of hiding, and he's running and kicking and playing.  This morning they're all out grazing, followed by the little brown dot.

Thinking back, all I can remember out of the ordinary last week, was Sharlotte mooing incessantly for a couple of days.  I kept checking her water, asking her what was wrong, telling her to go and play.  It never even occurred to me to check on her mother!

Looking back further- I really think Dorie stole that baby!  Sharlotte never snuggled up to her the way the new one is.  In fact, she raced back away from Dorie in those early days.  This one is definitely Dorie's.  Man I love that cow!  She thinks I'm weird when I try to hug her though.

In other news...

 

 Husband took the boys fishing, and they finally caught some fish.  17 pike- 6 meals.  Yum!

 Afterwards I sprayed the seams on #4's boat.  It's been leaking just a little since Grandpa gave it to him when he was four years old.  I watched the flex seal infomercial a couple of times last winter and thought I really ought to try that.  Then I couldn't remember the name of it, so I went googling.  One site I found was a review site, and in the comments somebody posted something like, "I can't believe they're making all that money off of rubberized automotive undercoating..."  $6 a can at Canadian Tire, no waiting for shipping.  We haven't had it back in the water yet, but it's held up well in the rain, not running or anything, not gooey to the touch.

 The birds are eating me out of house and home.  They're currently going through two bags of feed in about 6 days- one cut corn, one turkey grower.  They still have lots of raspberry bushes and other greens in their pen, and I'm picking four buckets of weeds for them almost every day.

The days I miss-raining all day- the little carnivores attack the ducks over night.  We fenced off a corner of the shack for the ducks but they hated it, and some of the chicks would fly over top with the ducks trapped inside.

I decided to move the little chicks into it instead.  It gives them a fairly safe haven to get away from some of the bigger birds.

The ducks have a barrel outside for now.  We haven't had any fox problems this year, so far, so I figure they're safer outside than in the shack, at least until their wings grow in.

I think the bears may have eaten the foxes.  Last year you couldn't go anywhere without seeing at least tracks, but often seeing the foxes themselves on the sides of the roads.  This year it's rare to see tracks.  Bears and moose seem to be everywhere this year.  Mama bear, who lives on our property, has three cubs.  Papa bear (the really big one) has been seen three times on our side of the creek.  And we have a young one (2ish) sticking pretty close as well.  Papa bear usually chases the young ones off, but this one seems persistent, telling me there is a lack of territory available this year.

#2 left for camp on Saturday.  He won't be back until mid August.  I miss him like crazy.

The boys and I racked and bottled the apple and elderberry wines last week.  The apple finally tastes somewhat like wine- enough so that I managed to swallow it instead of spitting it back out.  It was supposed to be a quick, ready to drink in 6 months wine, but I think it's going to take closer to a year.  The elderberry doesn't taste as much like elderberry jam now, a bit bitter, but I think it will age well.

No chicks from the last batch of eggs in the incubator.  I left the thermometer out, thinking that someone was playing with the temperature since I had to constantly adjust it with the previous batch.  The thermometer got broken at some point- why leave it alone on a shelf?- so this time I'm using an indoor/outdoor digital thermometer that tracks the low and high for the day.  It appears that my incubator is either temperamental, or the unstable temperature in my house really affects the temp in the incubator.  Either way, I'm back to fiddling with it regularly.

Cows and goats broke into the garden- Mildred!!- so it appears that I only have three bean plants left.  I'm going to put in more seed, but I doubt that it'll have time to do much.  The beets are coming along nicely, and the peas are flowering.The Russian banana potatoes are doing well, the rest are spotty.   Greenhouses are coming along fairly well, although something was in greenhouse #2 and devoured half of the cabbage.

Mom and I went strawberry picking yesterday (opening day here in the north!), so today I'll be making a big batch of jam.  It's raining, so I think a vanilla cake with a strawberry topping is also in order.  And a roast.  I'm already sick of summer food.

Dad

If you've been around here awhile, I'm sure you'll remember hearing me mention my Dad.  I think I talk about him a lot, because he's a huge part of my life.  Or at least he was.  Dad passed away two weeks ago, on May 16th.  It was sudden, and unexpected, and unfair, and too damn soon.  Stupid aneurysm. 

He was born in '47, so in his 67th year, as they say, but always 17 at heart.

He taught me so much- how to butcher, how to hunt, how to garden, how to build, how to drive, how to live.  I still had so much to learn.  The boys had so much to learn.  They were just getting started, figuring out what an amazing man their Grandpa was.

There's so much more I want to write, I want to tell the story of this amazing man.  But I can't.  Not right now.  It hurts too much.  Maybe someday I'll be able to tell his stories.  Right now, everything I do reminds me of my Dad.  Everywhere I go reminds me of my Dad.  I still can't believe he's gone.

So I haven't been wring.  I haven't been doing much.  My heart is broken, and my head is stuck in a permanent fog.  My heart just isn't in it this year.  I do what I have to to get through each day, and I putter here and there.  Milk and cream sit souring in the fridge.  I can't get it together to make cheese and butter.  Dad's never going to taste my cheese.  The garden should be planted.  I barely spend any time in the greenhouse.  There's so much work to do, and I just want to crawl under a rock.

I want my daddy back.

Home Again

We got back last week, Wednesday night, and itès been busy, busy, busy since.

Picking beans, cutting beans, blanching beans... About 9 gallons so far. My back aches. My legs ache. My thumb aches. Why do I love beans? We'll be well fed and organic this winter!

My hugelkultur bean bed is an overgrown tangled mess of beans. The dry beans in the centre are still flowering, which means I can't let any of the green beans go to seed yet.

While I was gone, Husband, the Littles, and my parents all picked beans. They all agreed, I planted too many beans! lol.

The greenhouses have filled out.  I'm yanking the squash plants out of greenhouse #1.  The corn is touching the roof in there, with tassels on.  That's the sweet corn.  No ears yet.  Peppers are filled out and lush, with tons of flowers.  Green tomatoes everywhere.  Pickling cukes are producing, and I canned two jars so far.  Beets and mangels are huge. Peas are still producing. I feel like I'm in some alternate universe where the garden overproduces. It's amazing!  And most amazing- the weeds did not go crazy while I was away!  Except the perennial bed.  It's a disaster.

We're out of potatoes, so I thought we should just dig up a couple of volunteers for supper the other night, before the tops die off and I can't find them. 5 plants produced this bounty. That's more than we got out of 4 feet of hilled rows last year. We'll keep harvesting these to eat fresh until I run out of volunteer plants. There might be enough to get us through til fall.

The puppies grew like bad weeds while I was away.

That's my boy Smitty, laying with his mom. He's still smaller than the rest, but just as spunky and adventurous.

Wonder and a bunch of her little ones. 5 of the pups left to go to new homes yesterday. Brownie, Belle, Miley, Giligan and Goldie. That leaves us with one black female, Shaniqua, and two tan males, Shaggy and Sam, who need homes. And they're just 8 weeks old today! Pinky will be staying with us as well.

Our trip was good. Lots of visiting, family we haven't seen in a while. No surgery for #1. It was found to be ineffective, and they've stopped doing it. He's three letters shy of being legal to drive right now. They've recommended rigid contact lenses. Because they'll scrape his eye lids and annoy him, his brain may tell his eyes to slow down, which might get him over the edge. and practicing the letter charts, at a distance, to help strengthen the muscles. We have to go back in six months so he can be retested. Oh joy. Winter driving on a long trip. I think I may let Husband take him on that one.

 The Littles did great while I was gone. Grandma had to wake them up once, and Husband had to do a few repairs, but they survived, the critters survived, the garden survived. All is well.

#2 returned from camp on Saturday.  He was a little home sick, but now he's missing camp.  Go figure.  He figures he grew a couple of inches, but I don't find it as noticeable this year.  Probably because he was already towering over me when he left.  It's good to have him home!

And Another One Bites The Dust

I am beginning to think the universe is trying to tell me to give up on technology.  I am now using #1's lap top connected to my monitor, because #4 knocked it on the floor a couple of weeks ago and cracked the screen.  (My computer still hasn't been replaced.  And will now be on hold longer, because #1's is more important- large screen and set up for his visual needs.)  I had been using the kids computer, which has become infected with the ransomware virus.  If Husband can't get it sorted out, it'll have to go in to see a tech.  What a pain in the arse. 

Shaggy- napping on top of a blanket, on top of the paint cans, on top of the wood stove platform.  King of the hill.  The puppies have discovered a hole at the back of the garage where they can crawl underneath to beat the heat.  Getting out though- not so easy.  There's a small hole at the front where they can see everyone, but can't fit through.  It takes some cajoling to convince them to turn around and come back out through the back.  Turds.

The peas are producing nicely.  They've reached the top of the fence, still flowering, still growing.  I've convinced the cucumbers to start climbing.  They're also flowering.  Beans are flowering like mad, with the first little pods starting to appear.  Blueberries are coming along, although it doesn't look like they'll have a good season.  That late frost may have killed off some flowers.  It's a bit early yet, but the lack of green berries concerns me.  Raspberries are just starting to produce.  Rhubarb is still coming along.  And I am leaving.

Pinky running towards me

#1 and I are headed south on Wednesday, in my new car- 1998 VW Beetle- diesel.  He has appointments with the University of Waterloo for assesments, visual exams, technology enhancements, and info about possible surgery.  Then we'll spend a few days visiting with family and friends.  If the heat doesn't kill us.  Or the traffic.  The Littles are staying home to deal with chores.  Wish them luck!  They have Grandma and Grandpa next door to keep an eye on them, and Husband home at night, but the responsibility of farming falls to them.  I hope they're ready for it.

And of course they'll have the wee beasties to attend to as well.  Or entertain them.  The pups are becoming more dog like every day now.  Happy and rambunctious.  It's hard to believe they're only six weeks old.

We've been working on more hugelkultur piles, with the small trees that were trying to take over the back field (where the pumpkins and squash are out of control!) and more manure.  I think the manure levels will be kind of high compared to wood.  We still haven't got the chicken coop cleaned out!  These are more of a 'where are we going to compost this stuff' huggies, rather than true hugelkulturs.


And that's about all of the news here.  I'll be enjoying a couple of cooler days before heading south into the heat wave.

Camp & Chaos

Just a little update...

A trip to the hospital and an x-ray confirmed that my hand was not broken.  Still it took almost a week for the swelling to go down.  They gave me some serious antibiotics, claiming it was infection causing the swelling.  I was bad and quit taking them after a couple of days.  They were making me sick.  I don't believe it was infected anyway.  I think it was the vein being cut wasn't allowing the blood to drain out of my fingers.  Almost good as new now, just a bit of a sore left to heal up.

Cranberry and co have been up visiting for a bit.  Great to see them, and we've been taking some extra play time (in other words, shirking the chores).

Blueberries are starting to ripen.  I haven't started any serious picking yet, just a mouthful here and there.  Rhubarb needs picking again, and raspberries are barely getting started.  It's like the seasons are out of order.

#2 and I spent the night before he left for camp in the hospital.  He hurt his arm helping grandpa place a beam for a shed.  Poor kid.  Not broken, but very sore, probably sprained.

We met the bus at a gas station not too far from our house.  He had two switches to make before getting to camp.  Thankfully he posted to facebook that he made it there, because I HAVEN'T HEARD FROM HIM SINCE!  If he doesn't call by Sunday, I will be calling his CO to find out what's going on!

Almost caught up with the weeding.  See the TALL stuff?  Popcorn!  It's been warm this year, and it's doing great!  One more row of beans to weed, then the onions, and the garden should be back to a manageable state.  Then just to get the greenhouses caught up, and the perennial bed.

See the big empty space?  That's the brassicas.  Few and far between this year.  It's been warm.  Go figure.  The beans are flowering, we have tiny cukes in greenhouse #2,the potatoes are flowering!!  That's a first for us up here!  We're eating peas, leaf lettuce and romaine, and have some lovely little green tomatoes on the way.

These white flowers popped up last year, on the far side of the garden.  They're back this year.

No idea what they are, but pretty.  The previous owner's wife worked at a nursery, and was quite a gardener.  She died several years before he sold the house, and he wasn't much of a gardener.  I figure she's the reason things magically appear in odd spots.

We took Pinky and Gilligan with us to pick up #2s kit supplies before he left.  They were sleeping peacefully when we got there.

And isn't that the cutest greeting when we got back to the car.  Before anyone gets upset- evening, windows down, and we were parked right outside the hangar.  No danger, just cuteness.

The pups are 5 weeks old now, and displaying lots of personality!  I haven't made any definite decisions, but Pinky, Gilligan, Goldie, and Shaggy are in the lead- you know, the troublemakers.  We've been leaving the sunroom door open so the pups can go in and out as they please.  Gilligan was the first to go missing.  Disappeared for about three hours, then emerged from behind the wood shed, yawning, looking for his mom. 

Shaggy, Goldie and Pinky disappeared for about 5 hours.  I was in the garden, and I thought I had heard something on the far side.  #1 went to investigate, but didn't see anything.  The Littles looked all over the house and yard and couldn't find them.  We walked past the yard and the pond, into the trees, trying to find Wonder's path to Grandma's house.  (She goes to visit them on her own every day, and I figured the pups had tried following her).  No sign of them.  #4, Ebony and I cut back to the road and started walking toward the house.  #4 was ahead of me, and turned around to say something, and noticed we were being followed.  I don't know where they had been hiding, but they were trotting along behind me like it was a normal thing to wander off in the woods.  Little buggers.

Mother's Day

 This was supposed to post Monday morning.  Not sure why it didn't.  Hmmm.

#2 and #4 dragged these old pieces of carpet from the driveway (where they got dropped when I pulled them out of the perennial bed) to the garden. We placed them over the last section of the garden to be planted. I might as well keep the weeds at bay while I can.

A trillium making an appearance in the perennial bed.  Not sure how it ended up so close to a strawberry.

This might be a trillium getting ready to flower. The leaves might have some frost damage. Time will tell.

Unknown greenery coming up beside the Umbrella plant. Strange little thing.

I spent the morning puttering in the garden while Husband and #1 got the white quad running again.  Carburetor.  The trails are really dusty, and everything gets bogged down by sand.  #2 put in another fence post beside the garden shed, where the fence was sagging.

#3 grabbed the hoe, and he and I went walk about through the forest garden and emptied the rest of my jar of old pumpkin seeds.  If they grow we should have pumpkins popping up everywhere!  #3 found the hoeing much easier in the soft forest earth, and has requested a walk with watermelon seeds.  There's a small patch of trees in the clearing just below the forest garden, between the trails that might work well for watermelon.

Later in the afternoon we met my parents for a long quad ride in the woods.  Seeing the lakes made the boys start itching to go swimming, but I declared it too early in the season.  While some afternoons have us down to t-shirts, we're still mostly in sweaters and jeans.  Not quite swimming weather, regardless of how inviting it looks.

It was a nice ride and a lovely afternoon. I found some cute little white flowers on a vine in the woods and brought some home to transplant. I'm not sure what they are. I've been looking online, but haven't been able to match them with a picture.

Home for supper, the boys cooked taco salad. Then I tried to keep my eyes open for three hours of Survivor and two hours of Desperate Housewives. I didn't quite make it, and now I may never know the ending to life on Wisteria Lane.

And what an adventure it was!!

I said I was ready for new adventure, and what an adventure it was!!


Hubby left with fil to pick up mil from the nursing home while the boys and I finished getting ready to go.  We were standing in the driveway with the car running when they pulled in.  I glanced over at the pasture and saw a hoof wiggling around in an odd fashion, just behind a cow.


Sugar was down.  She slipped on the ice a few days ago, and has a bad limp.  I think she laid down on purpose, but she couldn't get back up on her own.  We got her back up on her feet and walked her over to the milk room to spend the night.  Gave her fresh hay, some oats, and horse aspirin.  As soon as she got inside she started the crazies, which may have helped with her recuperation.  Sugar was probably kept in a small stall in her former life.  When we tie her up to saddle her, or in this case, lock her up for the night, she starts swinging back and forth, making huge circles with her neck, staring into space.  The crazies kept her on her feet and got the blood flowing again.  All good.


So, we finally left, an hour or so late, and now out of gas, because I don't stop to worry about silly things like shutting off my car when I have a horse down.  We also had to stop at the store to pick up a new magic bullet (yes, it truly died this time) and salt for bil, who's driveway is reportedly a mess.  We left fil on the highway, and we turned off to go into Kirkland Lake.  Quick run through Canadian Tire, and we were back on the road.  Hubby calls fil to see how far they've made it, and we'll catch up in 5 minutes.  OMG!  He is driving like a loon.  Right by a cop.  Oh joy.  20 minutes later we are on our way again, $53 poorer.


We get off the highway and start down the crazy ass long, windy, hilly road to bil's place.  Hubby starts picking up speed again.  He drives me crazy.  There is a moose walking off the road as we round the bend.  We just catch his rear end in the tail lights.  A sane person would hit the brakes.  Slow down.  Give the moose lots of room.  Not my hubby.  He speeds up and aims for it.  'Cause, you know, he wants to get a better look.  And it's already off the road.  You stupid ass.  That's all I can think.  Very lucky that the moose didn't decide to play who's the stupidest with hubby and head back toward the road.  Damn city slicker.


It's about this time that my car starts making clunky grinding noises at every bend.


It's always good to make sure Mama's in a good mood before asking her to spend the evening with the in-laws.  'Cause if Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy...


We finally arrive.  About three hours late.  Bil's house is on a hill, but down hill from the road.  Down, then up.  The whole thing is an ice rink.  Seriously.  I should have brought my skates.  Hubby backs fils car in, and it slides back down the hill after he put it in park.  Oh joy.  Bil takes a stab at it, and manages to back it far enough onto the 'lawn' to keep it from sliding away.  Another hour or so, getting mil out of the car, into the wheel chair, up another hill, through the snow, and into the house.


Everyone is finally in the house, and my heart breaks as I watch my two nieces who haven't seen their grandmother in a couple of years, trying to talk to her and show off their babies.  One handles it ok, the other is visably distraught.  It's hard to explain mils condition to people who haven't seen her in a long time.  She stares into space, ignoring the babies plopped in front of her, mumbling incoherently.  It's horrible.


Sil, who has been cooking for two days- two turkeys, all the trimmings, pies, etc., apologizes for everything being cold.  As if she planned it that way.  On the one hand I feel bad because her meal was all but ruined, on the other hand, I think they finally understand what I go through every time they come to spend the day at our place.


I got mil's pills ready for her and niece 2 of 6 attempted feeding her.  She has no teeth left, and difficulty swallowing, so all of her food has to be ground up.  Her pills are crushed and mixed with a bit of apple sauce.  She takes one mouthful, gets the horrible taste, and refuses to open her mouth again.  Bil takes over.  He gets two more spoonfuls into her.  Niece 6 of 6 tries for a bit.  No luck.  Bil again.  One spoonful left.  She won't take it.  They threaten her.  They try to bribe her.  They give up.  It is my job to sit and wait and make her eat it while she stares at me hatefully.  I guess I should be grateful, because at least with me I know she's still in there.  She doesn't stare into space and ignore me.  But she does hate me ever so much more than she used to.  She knows I will not give up, I will not go away.  I will sit there as long as it takes holding that spoon in front of her mouth.  She finally does.  She gets to eat her supper.


An hour later she is drifting off at the table.  We have to get her back to the nursing home.  The procedure to get her loaded into the car starts again.  Another hour and we are on our way.  Hubby drives them in fils car, because he can't see well enough to drive at night.  I get to enjoy a peaceful ride home by myself, my children all sleeping.  Just me, the radio, and the grinding clunk of my car at every bend.                                                                     

The Return of The Parents

My parents, that is.  They're back, to spend the winter in their cabin, on our land.

They told us they were coming on Thursday.  No problem.  I had planned to go down to the cabin on Thursday, light the fire so things could warm up, and shovel the snow away from the door, to the woodshed, and the shop.  They called on Wednesday night.  9:30pm.  We were in town.  The boys had cadets.  They were at my house.

Why do they do that?  They think they can do whatever they want, because they're the parents, and they can look after themselves, and we don't need to worry about them.

They couldn't get in the trail to the cabin.  The snow plow had filled it in since hubby last cleaned it out.  Dad walked in to light the fire.  The door wouldn't open.  There was something wrong with the deadbolt.  That's when they called.  Not when they left home.  Not when they got here.  Not until they were stymied.

Lovely.  My house is not really very welcoming to visitors.  It's a small house.  Three bedrooms.  Small living room.  I only have a love seat in there, not even a couch, let alone a fold out couch.

Four boys.

Four dogs.  8 puppies.  And a cat.  Who all have fleas.

My mother, the clean freak, who does not have any pets at all, who gets eaten alive by fleas, was going to have to sleep in my house.  This was not going to be pretty.

Husband had an idea.  Take the propane heater down to the cabin, and heat the porch.  He figured the dead bolt was probably frozen.  I tried calling my parents.  No answer.  Now what's going on?  I'm driving way too fast for the snowing and blowing.  Someone hit a moose.  They seemed alright, already butchering when we drove by.  Tried calling again.  Still no answer.

I got home about an hour later.  They weren't here.  I called them again.  My mother answered the phone.  And she's cranky.  Because she's having a bad day.  And she's cold.

Dad broke the door down.  They were in their cabin.  Things were heating up.  Fine.  Good night.

Why?  Is it really that hard to tell us that they're coming a day earlier?  What's with the surprises?  Some days my parents drive me crazy.

They're here now, for the winter.  They'll be working on getting their new place ready to move in.  They're our new neighbours.  They bought the "camp" next door.  It's two house trailers, an out house (no plumbing), and two small sheds.  There's a natural spring, but no well, and no house hook up.

They'll be hauling drinking water from our house, and melting snow for washing, the same as they do at the cabin.  The first job is to install their septic tank.  #2 was busy over there digging them a big hole before the ground froze up.  It's not quite ready, but low enough that Dad can attach a pipe to the tank for this year, so at least they can use the toilet when they're there.  In the spring they'll have the well drilled.

For now, they'll be moving a closet from the master bedroom into the small bedroom behind it, so it'll open through the wall.  Fixing some minor issues.  Painting everything.  Replacing the kitchen floor.  Installing the wood stove.  It'll be busy.

Through the summer they'll be building an add a room and a deck.

The second trailer has mostly been gutted already.  Dad will be turning it into his work shop.

Another busy year to look forward to.

Painting

We have a lot of out buildings built out of press board, most of which were never painted before we moved in. Since the sun shine tends to be in limited supply around here, I tend to go a little overboard when I see a week with no rain in the fore cast.
This is Pop's little house that we built for him. It looks much better with a coat of paint.  It still needs some work around the edge of the roof, and then I'll be able to finish the paint job.

This is the generator shack. It also stores buckets of sand for winter cat litter.

This used to be the work shop. The garage didn't have hydro when we moved in. Now I'm using it to store farm supplies that aren't tack. Rabbit cages, water heaters, feed dishes, etc.  My second batch of chicks also started off in here.

This is my garden shed. It used to be an extension of the chicken coop. We moved it over to the garden since we weren't using it for chickens anyway.

If you're wondering why most of it is pink, it's really not that I'm a girly-girl. I'm just cheap. I'm not fussy about colour, but I am fussy about price. I watch for mistint sales all the time. Some places will sell mistints as low as $2/gallon. The town also does a paint swap every year, so I go late on the last day and pick up all the leftovers. I buy all sorts of colours, and then mix them together in 5 gallon pails. Whatever colour they turn into is the colour I paint. I do try to keep similar colours together, so everything doesn't end up brown or gray, but that's the limit. As long as it's all latex anyway. I don't like oil paint. Too much work and waste for clean up- I reuse the same rollers and paint brushes all summer, sometimes longer. I also don't think they mix as well, not to mention the smell. To be honest though, the pink was an excellent deal- $25 for a 5 gallon pail of mistint.

 We did the garage and the entrance way to the house the first summer here.  It was leftover brown from our last house.  It was kind of a mistint too.  We knew the base paint was for a dark tint, but it was really cheap, at $15 for 5 gallons.  I bought three of them, and tried to get them tinted as light as we could.  I ended up lightening the brown as we worked our way through that house, adding white after each room.  Still had about 8 gallons left when we moved here.

 The garage was actually the beginnings of a small house that the previous owner got from the guy who was building it.  He had it moved here to be a garage, but never did anything with it.  My dad and hubby put the big doors in the front of it.  Then hubby reinforced the floor. 

 There were a couple gallons of brown left afterwards, so I added all the latex paint that the previous owner had left in the basement, to create this greenish-beige.  Unfortunately 5 gallons only covered one side of the barn.  The older and more weathered press board gets, the more paint it takes to cover it.  It chips and bubbles and falls apart while you're painting.

My bedroom and living room are both painted from the same bucket of mixed mistints. The computer desk was a gallon of mistint that I had set aside.  I love the chocolate colour. 

I'm hoping to get pop's place and the barn finished next summer.  And then there's always hope that I might get the trim done all the way around the house, too.