September 29, 2006

Ok, so it's been a long time since the last update. Go ahead, and complain.

Much has happened since last year. A most near and dear friend has re-entered my life. Two, actually. And I'm delighted about both being part of my life again.

A long time dream came true when B-Mark joined our farm family in May 2006, a 7 year-old thoroughbred gelding - a bit of a fire cracker to ride, but with a good heart. He figured out that the kids were no match for him quickly and 4 weeks into horse ownership I fell off of him and broke my arm ( a 4-months+ affair). Shortly after that, our beloved Codi dog died:( Within 6 days he went from perfectly fine to being in agonizing pain (muted by morphine) and absolutely terrified. There was no choice, we had to put him out of his misery. I was quite inconsolable for a while; God, I so loved that little cuss.

We then went to the local animal shelter and found Shelby, a Chow/Collie mix 5 year old male, who captured my attention and heart from the second I set foot in the room. He is a good boy; herds the horse, doesn't bother with chickens or rabbits, and pretty much sticks around the house. In July we had Kathy here for 3 weeks, a 14-year old family friend from Germany.

Now, it is September (Matt just turned 14) and we are awaiting the arrival of our second horse (Melissi's horse, this time). Her name is Sophie, and she is an older (and wiser) mare, who won't ever do anything unexpected and is genuinely easy going and mellow. She looks a bit rough around the edges right now (much like Mark did) and is in desperate need of some TLC. So, naturally, this is just the place for her to get fattened and loved up:) The nice thing is, that I won't have to worry about letting Melissi go on a ride by herself. Also, this horse will enable me to hone my riding skills (aka, rebuild some of those muscles that haven't been used for centuries) so, come next spring, I'll be ready for Mark again. As it stands right now, I'm scared. My last surgery on the broken wing was last month and I really don't want to do anything stupid now.

So, currently, we are trying to build a make-shift winter home for the horses. Most of the building materials come from the property (many a cedar tree had to fall). Hopefully, the two will get along and be able to stay warm and dry this upcoming winter.

June 22,, 2005

Ok, so today isn't really an update; just a RANT! I like guest books for the fact that (in an ideal world, anyways) friends as well as strangers can say hello and as a site owner it's nice to see who's stopped by and visited for a while. I AM TOTALLY DISGUSTED in these %$&^@ spammers, both human and automated, cluttering up a perfectly nice and well-intended guest book with stupid, irrelevant messages and links to their more than questionable websites. Hmmpf!

I spent a good hour this morning cleaning up that mess, getting rid off almost all messages (if I deleted any legitimate messages I apologize) and modify the program to no longer accept any links whatsoever. Which really isn't right either; there may very well be people signing the book whose site is worth visiting.

May 12th, 2005

It's been a very busy first quarter; sorry (again!) for the long periods between updates and pictures. It's finally Spring (although you wouldn't know today, it's barely above 0) and the gardening has begun! Yahoo! Now, finding time for playing in the dirt is another issue:)

I am totally blown away by how much business has picked up; it's really quite awesome. Mind you though, I wouldn't mind if the summer slowed down a bit.

We've had all sorts of things happening in the first few months of the year: We have 6 little bunny babies, which are ready for new loving homes (ANY TAKERS????), we ended up taking in Deb's bunny Shadow and losing her 3 weeks later to illness:( and Melissi is currently raising 5 new little chicks (which are still in the house, NOISY & DIRTY! hmmpfh). Matt is in the process of rebuilding his tree house - HUGE improvement over last years' version; so nice in fact, that a porcupine decided to hang around and attacked Matt the other day. Earlier this week I spent the morning trying to wake a skunk that had made himself a cozy little bed in the chicken coop. I finally blasted him out of there with Melissi's stero! :LOL There's always an adventure around the corner here:)

Well, this has got to do for today but I'll try and get some new pictures up this weekend.
Happy Spring, everyone!

January 13th, 2005

Happy New Year! I hope you are well and well into an exciting and successful 2005!

It's been terribly busy here; hence the long update intervals. We finished (well, almost) the downstairs projects for this year - new floors, took out the wall between living/dining room and built in shelves around the wood stove. Oh - and we painted. And since I like painting so much I'll get to do it all over again - the paint I bought ended up being a mistint and I HATE IT! *sigh

GAWD has also kept me on my toes (which is a good thing - I'm not complaining).

Spending new years eve with Debbie, Greg & the kids has been a tradition for the last 6 years or so but unfortunately Greg came down with something awful and they didn't make it up here this year (well, technically last year, I suppose). GUYS, WE MISSED YOU! However, Barbara, Dave & Masi (Masi=furry friend) kept us company and we had a fun night and morning. Codi even (somewhat) tolerated having Masi here!

Well, and that's it for news - there are some new pictues; Enjoy!

September 07, 2004

Ok, I've been slacking off with updates here - I know.

So, let's see then what has happened here since May...
Well, we finally got the pool up (ahem - on September 01st) and our garden turned out great. We are harvesting the last of the potatoes and our corn should be ready for picking in a week or so. I was able to freeze a bunch of beans and broccoli and I've got cucumbers coming out of my ears. Oh- and our pumkin patch is looking fantastic; as a matter of fact those pumkins are threatening to take over the garden!

Today, the urchins are back to school (thank you, there IS a god) and as of this morning Matt's bunny Velvet is a mommy. Not sure exactly how many little ones are there - hard telling. She had escaped last week and was gone for about 4 days but we managed to fetch her back last Sunday - just in time! Of course, Codi was responsible for finding her - don't know what we'd do without our little hero.

Next week Melissi is getting 5 more chickens (5 hens and a rooster) to make up for the loss in the spring. She now counts 2 Bed & Breakfasts in Lion's Head as her egg customers and has had more demand than eggs all summer.

And that's all, folks! We were very busy with several new clients and 2 big projects and tried to enjoy what little summer weather we had. Fall is definitely on the horizon although the last week has been gorgeous and warm.

May 14, 2004

Boy, it almost looks as though we have skipped spring and went straight to summer! Within 11 days we went from snow on the ground (May 02nd) to a heat/air quality advisory (May 13th). The trees filled out within 3 days and Alan is cutting the grass (well, weeds) every other day. Amazing!

Well, the month of April has brought many tears and losses for everyone here. Of course, there was my grandmother passing away, then Melissi lost 6 chickens to a fox who managed to finangle himself into the chicken coop. I ended up having to finish off one of the roosters, the poor thing was left half dead/half alive:( What really kills me about animals is that they seem to KNOW what you are going to do to them and they don't struggle. It was similar with Maxi - everytime she went to the vet she put up a glorious fight - except for the very last time. Same with the rooster - he HATED being picked up - yet held still and even seemed to relax when I lifted him out of the coop (and to where I had layed the axe). *sigh*

Then Matt's bunny Honey died just last week. He had developed a growth, like an absess which didn't seem to bother him much - well, until it did - and then he deteriorated very quickly. Thankfully, just a couple of weeks earlier I had gotten Matt a baby rabbit girl, her name is Velvet. Since one of the dogs we had here last year killed the first female bunny, we had never been able to find another. Until now:)

For Mothers day Alan built me some HUGE flowerboxes for the windows at the front of the house. Of course, this prompted a trip to the local nursery (not the one in the backyard - that's not open for business yet!) to pick up some flowers:) Now I have even MORE planting to do!:) Apropos planting: This years' garden is 10x the size of what it was last year and a whole bunch of stuff is already planted. Let's hope it doesn't freeze anymore, I don't quite trust this heat wave yet.

As for projects for this spring/summer - we are planning on putting up the pool this year (I'm hoping to convince my neighbour Rick with the tractor to help with the levelling) and of course, I'll have to continue painting miles of fence. But that's pretty much it, I think. In June my mom and dad will be visiting, so I'll take a tiny 'holiday' and before/after their visit we need to concentrate on the business.

Well, folks that's it for now - Enjoy this wonderful season!

April 01, 2004

Today, April 01st 2004 - 3 days before her 90th birthday, my grandmother passed away. I am sad and wish I could have seen her just one more time. But I am ever so grateful that she got to know her great grandchildren enough to leave a lasting memory for both her and the kids. I am proud and happy that both my dad and my aunt took the news well and viewed it as a blessing for my grandmother.

Her last months barely deserved the term 'living' and frankly, she just didn't want to be around anymore. I just hope that I will be as strong and unselfish when it is time for me to loose a parent.

My grandmother was quite a wonderful woman. The 'strong and silent' type, with an open door and heart for anyone who needed it. She suffered the loss of an infant during WW2 and witnessed the total devestation of both her birthplace (now Poland) and the city of Hamburg, where her and her husband made a home for their family. Her compassion and understanding for other people's struggles in life made her a confidant for so many. In spite of heartship, she was a happy woman, content and thankful for all she had. She taught me to always look for the light at the end of the tunnel, to try and see beyond the obvious and most of all to treat others with respect and love.

Good-bye Omchen - You have been a wonderful influence in my life and I love you.

March 08,, 2004

Yahoo! Spring is coming! Last week we enjoyed 5 days of sunshine (no pun intended) with temperatures well above freezing:) On Saturday me and my trusted snow shovel went out once again to clear a path around the house - after which I could sneak out and have a coffee outside. God, I've missed that! Then, on Sunday the kids and I went out for a semi-long walk (if you want to call what we did walking - up to our knees in snow most of the time) and admired baby buds - YES, BUDS! - on the trees. We then grabbed Melissi's GT and Matt's snowboard and took to the hills - we had a very fun, very wet and very tiring afternoon:) Good thing, too because at the rate this snow is melting there won't be much left soon (hopefully).
Yesterday Melissi went to the 'Outdoor Education Center' with a few kids from school. It was just a day trip and she was asked to come along because she had missed last years' Grade 6 trip in March. (Remember, we didn't move until the end of April). Anyways, she had alot of fun, went snow shoeing and played survival games all day. Some rough school day. Today, Matt is on his way to the same place, but for 3 days. He's really never been away from home for more than one night, let's see how he handles it:)

February 13,, 2004

Well, here we are again...the kids are staying in town again, there's no way to get them home. I actually went to Lion's Head this morning - against Alan's bitch...ummm advice:) - and ended up in a fender bender. The winds and resulting white outs were just horrible and I got rear ended. No real damage done though, other than a bit shook up and awfully glad to be home. From what I heard pretty much all the nearby roads were closed by mid-afternoon. Boy-oh-boy, we picked a fine first winter for our northern adventure!!

January 29, 2004

Wow, what an adventurous week we've had! I had to abandon my car at the top of the driveway and the kids had to stay with people in Lion's Head on Tuesday night....

After my ill fated attempt at keeping the driveway clear last weekend, we got dumped on again on Monday and Tuesday (and Wednesday and...) Well, our neighbour Rick came by with the tractor on Tuesday morning and cleared the driveway again so I could get out to the store. Thankfully I got there and back alright although it was the worst white-out I've ever driven through. Trying to get back into the driveway and the safety of the garage however proved to be a task bigger than me. I ended up stuck with the back half of the car in the middle of the road with snow blowing so hard I couldn't see 4 feet in front of me. Praying that nobody would come by because they'd surely plow right into my car, I fought my way back to the house and got Alan to come help. He managed to finally move the car a few feet, so at least it wasn't in the road anymore. So then, we got to carry the groceries back to the house....real fun in the midst of a blizzard!

Then, around 3pm I get a phone call from the school....there's no way the school buses are going to make it through all of this and "please don't try to come and get them, we've got cars stuck everywhere!" (Who were they kidding, I can go neither forwards nor back in my own driveway?)! So, now what? Well, one of Matt's classmates' parents offered a helping hand and took both Melissi & Matt in for the night. Phew.

The next morning at 8am, my other neighbour Dana (who happens to be smart enough to drive an SUV) went into town to pick up her own kids who had spent the night with relatives in Lion's Head and brought mine back as well. By this time, I hadn't been outside yet to assess the snow/car situation. When the kids came in Matt said to me: " Gee, I didn't realize your car was out there....I almost stepped on the trunk!" WHAT!!!!!?????????? I SO hoped he was kidding....but no such luck. My car was indeed just about gone. So, we called Rick to the rescue again. With a good old-fashioned snow shovel, the tractor and some chains he pulled the car out and then went to work on finding the driveway again.

Ya know, I'd hate to see what it's like when we have a 'normal' winter where the snow starts in December....I mean, it's only been 4 weeks since the first REAL snow....and there's still a good month and a half to go....

January 25, 2004
Another week has gone by and that white stuff is STILL coming down like crazy....Poor Codi had a panic attack when he hopped onto a snow bank and sank in...and Alan just laughed at him instead of helping him out! Anyways, the pooch made it out on his own, eventually.

Then I had this brilliant idea to shovel my drive way this weekend to save some money. Hmmm....4 and a half hours later I wasn't so sure it was really worth it. I'll be hurting for a week, I just know it....

I'm sad to report that we lost one of Melissi's banty hens....the maternal one who took care of all the little chicklets:( Trixie was my favourite, so petite and funky looking.

Still on the subject of chickens...we've got the second rooster in the basement now...took the first one back to the coop after he had recovered; In fact he recovered so well that he got into a major scrap with the other rooster and just about ripped him to pieces. So we took that one into the house to give him a break but one of them will HAVE to go...Alan and I have a very simple solution to the problem but Melissi won't hear of it. And here I already made room in the freezer:(

January 15, 2004
News from the 'veterinary files': The cold spell took a toll on our fine feathered friends and left one of the roosters with frost bite and bleeding profusely from the dangly thingies under his beak (that's poultry-latin). Alan brought his axe and offered to perform emergency surgery but Melissi declined. So we brought him in the laundry/egg-washing/animal treatement room to have a closer look and clean him up, etc. We managed to stop the bleeding and (kinda) stuck a bandaid on the patient and then kept him in the basement for overnight observation. Anyways, here is a picture of D.J. and his visit to the resident vet:)

January 07, 2004

Hah! When winter comes up here it comes with a vengence! It is January 07th and we are snowed in! At the moment I can barely see the road and the snow is coming in sideways. Kids are home from school and I can't even get out of my garage. Guess I'll have to bite the bullet and get my neighbour to plow the driveway. Oh well. We're OK for food for a few days, but are running short on coffee and cigarettes (the REAL essentials). Aside from that though, I really don't care too much...as long as we have power I can still work and when the power does go out we'll just have to curl up by the fire:) Country life is rough, I tell 'ya!

January 03, 2004

Ahhh, yes - I was going to report on the New Year's eve celebrations:)

Well, the weather didn't quite play ball (or puck) with us....we had planned on a skating party with a big fire, etc etc. Somewhat difficult with temperatures above freezing but Greg and Matt strapped on some skates and smacked a puck around regardless. The dinner/fondue however turned out nicely although I must have ate enough to last me a week or so...I can't remember the last time I felt that stuffed! (Oops...yes I do...that was Thanksgiving)

Needless to say the kids got bored of video games, TV and computer games and when they weren't trying to kill each other the adults were contemplating doing it for them:) All in all it was fun though, it's always great to have good friends around and we did actually get to spend some really relaxed time. Much needed by all, I'm sure.

After Debbie, Greg, Adam & Alissa left Melissi also departed to spend the weekend with her friend. Therefore the weekend was incredibly quiet and Alan, Matt & myself cought a couple of great movies. There. That's about it - not terribly exciting, I'm afraid.

And Monday, January 05th it's going to be back to school for the urchins and back to work for me. I thoroughly enjoyed these 2 weeks off but I'm also ready to get back to some routine. Must be the german in me:)

Happy New Year!
Well, here we are again....a new year, new resolutions, new hopes and dreams and new plans to fulfill them.

We've had an amazing 2003 with more changes than we had ever thought possible and we hope the coming year will be just as awesome. For me New Year's (rather than Thanksgiving) is the time to reflect, take inventory of my life and thank my lucky stars for all I have. And there certainly is a lot to be grateful for. 2 great kids who are loving even as they approach the dreaded teenage years(Yikes!) and a partner who loves and supports me in all my blonde adventures and whose company I truly treasure - in short a family I adore and couldn't imagine living without. Then there is our new home - a true home, warm and comfy, set in a stunning landscape and which will keep us busy for years and years to come. And last, but not least I get to work from home, doing what I love to do...that's hard to beat.

As for plans for 2004? Well, there are tons of projects lurking around the house, there are new sales to be made for GAWD Productions but the most important task is to stay happy!

Wishing you and yours a wonderful, successful and rewarding 2004,

sunshine.

December 30, 2003

We've had a quiet very nice Christmas with very little snow. We did have some snow the week before though, the kids got to go snowboarding and we all did some skating on the rink (glorified puddle, right now) in the backyard and practiced our shots on goal:)

The urchins got most of what they wanted and Alan and I got carpet for the upstairs (gotta keep them tootsies warm!). I also got myself a fondue set which we will put to the test on New Year's eve when Debbie, Greg & the kids come to ring in the new year with us.

Since I have taken time off over the holidays I spent an awful lot of time in the kitchen and we caught quite a few good movies. All in all a great, relaxing holiday - probably a good thing too because in January I will have to really get moving on that big project due the end of February.

Oh - while I am resting I am also redoing this site (obviously). Basically all of the components are the same, just the layout is a bit different. Also, for all of you, who come in to scout out new pictures, you can go to the latest photos from any page without having to click through God knows how many windows. Hope that makes it easier.

And that's about it...will report on the New Year's eve celebration once we've all recovered:)