Bugs, bugs and MORE BUGS!!!

Our summer has finally arrived, hot and humid! On the other hand, maybe it's just warm and I'm in a sweat all the time because of hot flashes---hmmm, wonder which it is. Whatever the case, the warm weather has brought out the flies and my poor Sierra and Ambra are going crazy. A few days ago, I took their halters off at the pasture gate, and later, noticing that they were galloping back and forth in the field, I went out to discover that they were being swarmed by a couple dozen great big,brown deer flies. They were so frantic I could hardly get their halters back on so that I could take them into the barn. Poor girls. You know, when all the transplanted easterners used to tell me how beautiful Nova Scotia is, not one of them ever mentioned the flies. Anyway, at this point, I'm thinking that I will have to buy full cover mesh fly sheets with a belly bank and a neck cover so that they will be able to graze at all. Even if I leave them out at night, right now the mosquitos get them after dark. They are loosing weight because their grazing is being affected and they are wearing off the calories just be trying to evade the flies. I am going to measure them tomorrow for sheets and we will see.

Who is he?

Last week, a terrible thing happened and if you are a follower of Kims blog you will have already heard but for those that aren't, a quick lowdown. Kim and Oliver had two little dogs, one named Boo and the other called Griffen. To make a long story short, little Griffen, who by the way was the dearest little fellow, was killed. We've all been devastated by his passing (our family is very, very, very attached to our little mutts, thinking of them as family, not pets). Anyway, Don thought that a new puppy might help ease Kim and Olivers grief, so he was looking on Craigslist and found several that he subsequently called about. And as you might know from Kims blog, she found a little merle puppy, four weeks old, that she decided to buy. Even though he is with his mom still, he now has a name and it is Mr. Bingley.

In the meantime, a lady who Don talked to during the search, finally sent Don a photo of her little guy, and to make a long story short (again), we now have a new little charmer too. We haven't decided on a name yet, we have a harder time with names than Kim does, but so far the choices are Patches, Digbey, Bingo, Smudge, Little-bugger-peed-on-the-rug-again, and my least favorite, Bytore. He is very different from Diese,l who was born old. Diesel never, even as a puppy, knew how to play. He is very serious and awkward and fearful of getting hurt if he attempts to climb over anything and I could never get him to chew on acceptable toys which is supposed to be good for their teeth.. This little fellow on the other hand, is fearless, and likes to play whenever he isn't sleeping, and chews on whatever fits into his mouth and some things that don't.

Sitting here discussing names, we got to talking about Diesel and came to realize what a good little dog he is. He has never chewed on anything and destroyed it, he is very quiet, put him on the couch and he's stuck there, you can keep him from escaping by simply putting a six inch board across the doorway. But now I think we will have to exchange the 6" board for a 6' fence , possibly with rolls of barbed wire on the top. Yes indeed, things will be different around here.

Holly, I didn't want to tell you because I know how much you want a dog but your life is in such a place right now that it just wouldn't work. I knew how sad you would be sweetie and I feel bad for you, but your time will come, it will.

Anyway,here are a couple pictures of this new member of our family.

We had the nicest day today. We played hooky from renovating and instead, we went to a yoga class together in Pugwash. Yes, can you believe it, yoga! I thoroughly enjoyed it and the lady who teaches is a tiny, and very nice lady named Mary. She is very good at helping you understand the movements and their benefits and how to achieve them and she makes you feel very comfortable even if you are only a beginner. And at the end, during the time that you lay quietly and let your muscles all relax, she play some beautiful music made up primarily of gongs. Very melodic and very spiritual sounding. I am looking forward to Monday when we go again. Don decided to give yoga a try because he always has such stiff tight muscles, especially in his shoulders and neck. He thinks that might explain the frequent headaches he was experiencing. Anyway, after going once, he suggested I might like it so I decided to come along and I'm so glad I did.

But enough of that, the other thing that I have lately been renovating is my horse stalls. Did I mention that yet? I can't remember. Anyway, I had two smallish box stalls and one standing stall. The boxes were too small for a horse Sierra's size and because she is a bit nervous she is inclined to pace and circle and this just makes a horrible mess of her stall. So I've changed things to two very wide standing stalls where they will be tied for the night and this will keep their business ends in one place so they won't be eating their hay out of the manure, and they will lay down and sleep on a clean area. I'm almost finished with it and when the rubber mats are delivered, I'll build the mangers and then I'm done with that. And one more thing to check off on the To Do List. Hmmm, what can I add on to fill in the newly opened spot then?

Racing against the calendar....

Yes I know---it has been a long time since I wrote anything here, but honestly, the summer has arrived and it seems like I've been waiting since forever to be able to be outside in the sunshine! I need my garden time, or Debby becomes a dull (and cranky) girl. So sorry, just can't help it. Mind you, we are still working on the Stanley Street house for Kim and Oliver so that has kept me hopping too. But it is coming along and before you know it, I'll be putting some before and after pictures on just to impress you with the hard work we've been doing. Just think, in the course of one year, we will have upgraded and renovated three, count 'em, three houses! I am looking forward to retirement.


I have so many projects that I want to accomplish and I feel like I am in a race against the clock (or should I say calendar). Don and I have started a garden area, but that won't get planted until next year. But at least the sod has been removed. We need to get a rototiller as the next step is breaking up the hard packed ground before we add back a some topsoil. We also would like to get a start on a new roadway up into our woods and extend the walking trail. The original roadway was also a natural low spot on the hillside, so in the spring, it becomes a trickley little stream and as a result is not an easy or comfortable stroll. And I want to put some fence posts in so that I can leave the horses in the field when we go to town. I just don't feel comfortable leaving them inside a temporary hot wire when we go away from the property. I have visions of lawsuits dancing in my head I guess (should they decide, for some unfathomable reason, to walk through the wire and go for a stroll up the road). And of course, there is always the yardwork that I love to do....just not enough time, that's all I can say.

Giant babies and visitors!

It has been an awful long time since I wrote anything here and I am sorry for that, but I've just been so busy----when will it all end?!! Kim and Oliver and Liam got here the day after Mothers Day and since then we've been working like crazy to make the little Stanley Street house ready for them. We'd quit working on it at all because we decided to focus on our place and make it livable, but of course that meant that now, almost everything needed to be done at Stanley Street. So busy, busy, busy. At some point I will put on some photos of that place too because the change has been dramatic there let me tell you.

So Kim and Oliver got here, their trip was pretty uneventful except I think they did sleep one night in their van. I guess Oliver likes to drive long spells and when he finally got pooped they weren't near a motel, so they just tucked themselves into their seats for the night. Must have been tough, all day in the van and now the night and then the next day. Yechh. But they got here and having them stay with us has been nice. And Liam has had the chance to get to know his grandma and grandpa gradually and easily. For the first four or five days, we didn't even touch him, just said his name lots and played peek-a-boo for a moment or two over and over. He would always "hide" behind his hand initially. And gradually he started looking back at us, although still from behind his hand. Then one day, when Kim had to go out of the room for a second and he started whining, I scooped him up, quickly threw a sweater around him and we headed right out the door to go look at the horses. He hardly had a second to think about what was happening before he was distracted by Ambra and Sierra. So we stayed there for about five minutes and then came back in and from that moment on you could see him beginning to thaw. And now he smiles at us and is happy to come into the kitchen (without his mommy or daddy) and shows us things.

You can see by the photos, that he is a big boy (or maybe I'm just smaller than I thought?). Kim said the last time they weighed him he was about 31 pounds (at 15 months) and that was about a month ago. His head is as big as Kims. Kim was a little, skinny baby so this size comes from his father that's for sure. Now that he's comfortable with us, it is easy to see how lucky Kim and Oliver are as parents because Liam is a sweet, happy little boy and very affectionate. It's so nice to be able to get to know him this way and it will be fun to watch him as he grows up. I think that he might grow up and be very chatty because he chatters away like he's having the most important conversation. It is very cute.

While Oliver will be going off to work in town on the house, Don and I are going to get busy and do some work on my barn. We've lost the last sawdust supplier in this region (owner of the mill died and family shut the business down) so I have to re-think my stall situation for Ambra and Sierra. I have two small box stalls and while Ambra's isn't too bad because she is smaller, Sierra's becomes a cesspool, because she paces in it, scattering the mess overall. So I've decided to remake the stalls into two largish standing stalls so the mess is only at the business end. It's not ideal, but if I am going to have to buy sawdust in bales during the winter, then this will use less. I will be putting rubber mats down too so that they can lay on them comfortably. And in short order we'll be in fly-season full throttle so I may be stabling them during the middle of the day to keep them away from the flies. So that is my plan for the day. And now I'm done, but I'm thinking about all of you each and every day. Love to you all.

Ran out of room for pictures on the last post so here are some more to look at.

The hills are greener today than yesterday and I can see a soft green haze of new leaves on the tree tops. Even the tiny bushes have fat buds about to burst open. But neither Don nor I have had too much opportunity to gaze out at the landscape because we've been working feverishly to get the kitchen done before Kim and Oliver and Liam arrive. I just don't want them to walk into and have to live in a mess here with us. At last though, it's done (mostly) and we are ready for the unveiling. Try to remember the pictures that we posted here a while back that showed things in disarray and see if it looks any better!