Three Amigos

Only three left of all the kittens born here this spring. They're getting brave, making their way toward the house. Last night I stepped out after dark and found them galloping across the lawn.

I go to the tractor shed every morning, scoop out dry food for them, carry a gallon of water to the electric bowl (there was ice on the water not long ago, so...) and cuddle them all. Not just these three. There are also four adults that insist on their due.

Ducky, for Danielle

Ducky Doodle is shivering, but does he want to come in? Hell no. He insists on being outside where he can keep an eye on the yard and the other dog (one of his girlfriends).

He is attached to a cord so that he and the old dog won't gang up on a kitten, and so that the two of them don't go a-wanderin' down the road and get run over. They take turns being tied up when they're out there together and no one is around to keep them in line.

He is wearing his fall jacket.

Sometimes when we've no plan to clip his collar to the cord, he runs over there and sits as if waiting for us to do it. So it doesn't seem as if he minds.

*** This has been a family service announcement for my niece Danielle, who raised Ducky Doodle from a pup.

Nuthin at All

And the sun, she is a-shinin'!
I have nothing to say. Nothing! But am looking forward to my walk.
First, to put in an hour's work. Toodle-oo....

Snow on Ground

Since it's snowed, I'd best show you the last of the photos taken on my walks.

Occasionally I venture across the road for a stroll. It's Scott's dad's family's original homestead quarter, and they still farm it, but the old yard remains.

I like it over there, but am also nervous, probably because I've gone off-road into bush and long grass. You'd think I was a deer keeping her senses peeled for the presence of a cougar.

Speaking of which, one was spotted in the farmyard of friends just a few miles from here. I need to start carrying a shilele (sp?) with a spear that pops out of the end if needed. Or a rifle over my shoulder.    Moose don't unnerve me, but the thought of being attacked by a large cat is another story.

Clocks Postcard

Click to Enlarge

The work of F.L. and Jos. Bily, Ridgeway, Iowa, Route No. 2. A collection of clocks which took over twenty years to construct. Some of the clocks stand ten feet high. The clocks are carved in different kinds of wood, some imported. Some of the clocks play chimes and have movable figures carved in wood. 

Flannel Shirt

The best thing about ten-dollar flannel shirts (I bought one for Scott when they were on sale at the local hardware store) is that after two washes they don't fit him anymore and I get 'em. This is my latest snuggly warm one. Just in time for snow.

My face is not happy. Since this morning it's missing its last wisdom tooth and is still half-frozen. Feels like a block of plasticine sitting on my neck.

I laid down when we got home but Scott woke me before he left again, as I've an appointment for a haircut in town in a half hour. Thought of cancelling it but hey, why screw up someone else's schedule just because I'm a bit achey? Off I go, over the wild white snow-covered roads.

Beautification Station

Saved from the frost and now happily in sunlight streaming through my bedroom window.

This corner of our house also happens to be the prosperity bagua (fengshui-speak), where it is wise to add purple.

It was impossible to resist these guys either, so they are parked in the kitchen for now:

They sure brighten up the place.

Amnesty Merchandise

Amnesty International's quarterly newsletter offered long-sleeved cotton T-shirts for $10 apiece. I stocked up.

To see the merchandise catalogue, CLICK HERE. Your purchases help support Amnesty International's work in the world. It is extremely important work. You want to help in any way you can.

Woman with Flowers in Pots

Another old picture of an unidentified woman. Who is she? Whose house is she kneeling outside of?  Why do I find this photo so striking?

Fall 2012

I often walk past the ravine.

On the west side of the road, the water has all but disappeared (click image to enlarge). Look at the trees it has drowned in the past few years. Someone left a couple rifle shells on the road yesterday. Probably shooting at a muskrat or maybe even a beaver. 

Oh these colours!!!!!

Sunlight warms a battered pail in the bush near our house.

What is not to love about Fall! We've had a beautiful one.

Question for Reta & Joanne

I am the keeper of many old photos from both sides of my family. There are quite a few in which the people are not identified.

I love some of these particular pictures though, and have kept them out to be framed and hung. Not that I have any space on the walls for more pictures, but ...

Above is one of them. I don't know either of these two ladies, but can't help thinking of Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas whenever I see this photo (although my girls here are better looking). Isn't it lovely? They look so perfectly comfortable together, as if they've been friends forever. I'm not suggesting they were a lesbian couple, like Gertrude and Alice.

The handwriting on the back identifies one of them, and I am hoping that Reta or Joanne or anyone else can tell me something more.

Little Free Library

Reprinted from this week's issue of the Wadena News.

Good Teeth

Looks like a cosy place for a mouse family

Finally the weather seems normal for this time of year: cold.
Tuesdays are one of my regular walking days, so out I went yesterday, and made it to the end of the driveway before coming back in for more clothes. Brrr! When I got into the warmth of the porch I thought "The only thing warm enough for a three-mile walk will be my ski pants and winter jacket." Then I couldn't make myself put them on and go back out.

It happens. Today is not a regular walking day for me, but I'll go anyway.

The dentist discovered I've chipped a molar and decay has set in, so I need a filling. Which he can't do till next Tuesday. Fortunately for me, I've had no toothache for the past three days, and today looks promising as well. I hope my luck holds.

Still some colour in the trees around our place

Moonscape around house

We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Wynyard! I've had a toothache -- or something -- going on for the past week, though it's been gone the last two days. Like magic, I figure, or a miracle. However it took a week to get this appointment with a dentist so I'm taking no chances. Toothaches are the suck! My body has been fighting the discomfort like a trooper, but obviously so, because fatigue was my constant friend till bedtime Saturday. A clove (thanks for that reminder, Shelly) held in the mouth was helpful when 500 mg Aspirin wasn't doing the trick on its own.

"Too nice a day to work!" one of these gents said as we pulled into a parking lot in town Saturday morning. Of course the first order of business had been breakfast, but once that was out of the way Scott had places to go, people to see, things to do. So did these other guys, but that didn't stop them from taking a few minutes to jaw in the sunshine while I sat in the truck and started my new library book, Water for Elephants.

Yielding to part of a convoy of combines coming along the correction line.

 It has been extremely dry and dusty.

The joke is that now we've done all these big jobs to hold back the water, next the well will dry up.
Heh heh.

Last Flowers of the Season ... Surely

Helen's Flowers

Warm, even hot, days. Still I thought I'd best get out there and take the last bouquets of the year.

Sweetpeas and Lupins

Today I took pity on those left in the garden, and watered them. Watering flowers at the end of September -- it's just not done! But it seemed cruel to leave them thirsty, even if they are going to freeze black one of these nights.

Sweetpeas

While On the Road

A bald eagle rests in a field of stubble, and I pull over to snap a photo of it. Sightings of bald eagles and moose are not rare in this area anymore, but here in the parkland their appearance is still worthy of mention.

More frequently spotted (I swerve to avoid them while walking) at this time of year are these:

I nudge garter snakes with the tip of my shoe and tell them to get off the road, but they only curl up and stay put.

Salamanders I tell the dogs not to bother. 

The gravel road is covered with these little guys: woolly caterpillars looking for warm winter resting-places.

These are out in force too, but I don't know what beasts they will become.

Or these. But I am curious and will do some research.

Day of the Dig

Get a roast into the oven first thing.

It begins.

Meanwhile, back in the house...

Front step out of the way, weeping tile & insulation unloaded.

Cut styrofoam insulation to fit.

Need to get the leaf into the table.

Weeping tile ready & waitin.

Laying down the weeping tile.

Back of house.

Yer basic veggies.

Filling hole.

Wow he manoeuvres close to that window.

Weeping Tile

The next step in the problem-solving for this disaster we call a house: the front step is moved away so the big machine can dig all around the foundation today. Weeping tile will then be laid in, and rock.

My part? Making lunch for several men, and then supper. Right now I'm trying not to think about all the dishes. Or I could always go out there and wield a shovel with the rest of 'em. Think I'm better off staying in the kitchen; at least I won't get a migraine from that.

It's the second beautiful day in a row ... and I mean beautiful. Like, no wind, and warm. Hard-to-stay-in-the-house beautiful.

Scott is on the run. He's supervising the work outside, fielding calls from buyers interested in the grain in the bins, and then as always there are clients calling with requests for him to go do estimates for construction work, or wondering when he will get to their place or get their jobs done, and so on. I would be stressed to the max if I was in his shoes.

Perhaps he is stressed to the max. He woke me up last night, screaming with pain, when a charley horse knotted up his leg. Oy.

Off I go to wash lovely potatoes from family friend Sylvia's garden. Thank goodness people always plant too much! My sister Karen has a big box of roma tomatoes for me, so Scott will have his winter supply of homemade salsa after all. His sister gave us a bag of green peppers. We've been given zucchini and beets and carrots. See? I don't need to plant veggies. People are generous and we are very grateful.

Note to Aunt Reta: 
Received your card and cheque for flowers, thank you kindly. Will try to keep the blog up better, knowing that you are checking for new entries every day.

Stubblejumpin' Time o' Year

The sun is shining on the stubble (one of my favourite colours but this pic doesn't show its brightness) and I'm just returned from a walk across the field under all its sunny gloriousness. Gloriosity. Glory-illiance. Whatever. It's nice out. Oh I wore a heavy plaid jacket and had to take it off and put it back on a hundred times when the cold wind would come up and bite, but still ... as fall days go, this one is turning out to be a treat. Not shorts weather, but close enough.

Oh, am I boring you? So sorry. I should talk about how my husband is drinking, chasing women, and beating me when he rolls in with a hangover the next morning — something a little more dramatic — but since none of that is happening, I can't. Or maybe I should tell you about the life-threatening disease I've just found out I have? Can't, healthy like horse. Or maybe how sick I am of doing all the dishes by hand and by myself -- which would be true -- but no less boring for you. Besides if I put on good music I can actually enjoy the time spent with my hands in the sink. If I don't pressure myself to hurry up and finish, it's relaxing and pleasant.

Sigh. It's not that I don't have my frustrations, believe me; or that I don't think folks of a certain political or religious bent aren't complete nutbars; there are disappointments in my life, of course, and people are usually the cause of them, and I do talk with my close friends about them, get things off my chest that way.

But damn, it's turned into a gorgeous day out there and at the moment I'm just feeling pretty darn lucky.

Till Next Time

Scott with his son Gunnar and Gunnar's girlfriend Melissa

Scott is shy and I may be asked to take this down, so have a gander while you can! I know some of you are his relatives and would like to see a pic of him now and then.

The kids left late this afternoon and Scott went directly out to the field to help with the combining and grain hauling. It's nearly 10 now and surely going to freeze tonight so he'll be in soon.

Tomorrow's a walking day so it had better warm up.

Extra Dog

Had extra company for the walk today. Gunnar's dog Tank, the English bulldog, made it the first 40 minutes before turning into our driveway as I passed it in order to continue on my merry way with the usual companions. He seemed to enjoy the space and freedom outside the city but was tuckered out and chose not to proceed with the pack.

Glad I went around noon when the sun was shining and there was some heat, because as the afternoon ended a wind came up and I've been unable to get warm. The thermometer claims it's 72F in here but I don't believe it. Might have to climb into bed just to conserve body heat!

It doesn't help to be sat on my butt all afternoon to work. I put a heating pad, set to low, on my lap. I know, it's ridiculous. I do it on hot summer days too; our house remains cool. I think it's just me — have a hot drink, all the extra clothes and the heating pad come off instantly; a cool one, and I have to add layers.

Would be nice to maintain an even, comfortable body temperature. Maybe if I started taking ginseng capsules or something?

The Hard Life of a Holidayer

Holidaying is hard work. 

Gunnar, our eldest boy (Scott's son), arrived from Calgary around suppertime yesterday with his girlfriend Melissa.

They didn't sleep all afternoon; just a catnap.

I was busy chatting with my server's tech support guy because, as seems to happen so often with computers, all of a sudden everything goes to the dogs and you wonder why and it takes a while to figure out the fix. I  had to call twice and bet it wasted two hours of my working day. So here it is, almost 10 p.m., and I've just finished my work for the night.

Scott and Co. took supper to his grandma in Kelvington and I stayed here to make up my hours. Next: whip through the kitchen so I don't wake to a mess in the morning. And when they get back, I'm betting it will be movie time.

I'm told that at 6:30 this morning there was heavy frost on the ground. By the time I dragged my sorry ass out of bed around two hours later, none of it was visible. Most of my flowers still look perky. But it's been cold out there. I went and fed the cats, and that was the extent of outdoorsing, for me.

Tomorrow, a three-mile walk.