We're going to be taking a little holiday this summer and Dh has been trying to find us just the right camping spot that will keep all of us happy. Sand and water, maybe a little bit of grass, not to far from town or more specifically not a million miles from civilization! Did I ever tell you where we honeymooned? *grin*
Well this time our detour took us about 20 minutes out on the logging road to Mohun Lake in the desert heat and flying dust :) But the view of the lake was like a diamond in the rough! Look at the absolutely stunning view of Mohun that we got to glimpse from the road into the lake.
And the densely treed lane into the area is truly beautiful to :) There were portions of it that were quite narrow though and being the overthinker in the family I questioned Dh as to how we would ever pass another camper with our 23 foot travel trailer in tow behind us! Of course I got the manly answer of don't worry so much, we'll make it one piece. *grin*
All in all the views and the journey were nice but we weren't quite sure about the sites and the boat launch area that someone had said was fantastic was so so. I think that Dh was a little disappointed to since this was nice and close to home but he had a very different picture in his mind :) The quest continues....
We've been watching the bear trap like hawks. We didn't want to miss Dennis the Menis coming back :) It took a couple of hours but he finally showed up! You would think that he would go straight after the food since he's been searching for it in full force but he was quite cautious.
He circled the cage quite a few times, even ran away from it once and then decided that he needed to get a much closer look at it *grin* climbing right up on it licking at some of the syrup that the conservation officer had poured on it :) You can see that he was quite tall!
That's it! Go on in :) Nope, he decided that he just wasn't falling for it and went right out again! I actually thought that he was going to eat all of the bate and then take off again, but he went in once more to check out the bucket of sardines that was hanging on the trip latch and that did it. As he pulled at it to see what was inside the latch let go and the door slammed behind him. He didn't even fight it, instead he sniffed around and fiddled with the door for a bit and then resigned to laying down and waiting :) See he really wasn't that bad after all, or is he?
I got a couple of little videos of Dennis the Menis in the trap for the kids and for the most part he is really sedate but watch and see just how quick he can turn!! Turn up your volume to high so that you can hear him! The claws on his paws were close to 2 inches long so I'll leave it to your imagination just what power and destruction he holds in them, he could snap his jaws together really loudly to!
Goodbye Dennis the Menis :) We'll miss you.... sort of. *grin*
After the conservation officer relocated the bear he had trapped the night before he returned with the now empty trap so that he could set it up in hopes of catching our bear, Dennis the Menis. He parked it right underneath the apple tree where his favorite napping spot is not even 15 feet from the house, right outside of our bedroom windows :)
He then preceded to set up a bear friendly buffet. *grin* Apparently you've got to feed them right!! He got a smorgy of sardine sandwiches, peanut butter, chocolate and pancake syrup and some more sticky sweet treats :)
The final touch was the Hansel & Gretel type bread trail leading away from the trap to his napping spot, laced with even more chocolate syrup and pancake syrup. LOL. If that doesn't call him over I don't know what will :)
This is a homeschooler's dream come true!! Minus the looking in my windows portion of his visits. *grin* First we got to watch Dennis the Menis doing his thing searching for food, doing his daily activities, digging up roots and plants to eat, and grazing in the fields and now we get to observe him as he follows the scent of food straight to our trap *grin* Now we wait..... next we get an up close and personal interview with 'Dennis'. *grin*
Who said you need bear bangers and air horns to spook a bear!? Give one mad mama a couple of frying pans and let her loose! *grin*
Dennis the Menis was at the chicken pen again so I flew into action grabbing whatever I could get my hands on out of the pot cupboard and ran out the door. No hesitation this time... I've had it! I slammed the pots together at such a force I wrecked the one pan. The bottom of it as you can see above is now bubbled upward as high as the top rim of the pan! LOL. There I am smashing a crashing, my moms yelling from next door, "Is he back??" and I'm chasing the bear. Literally, I flew after him with the pots banging above my head giving chase after him down the field. *WARNING* Do not try this yourself!
The conservation officer showed up just after lunch today with the bear trap in tow behind him so that we could get a look at the one he had caught last night thinking that it was our bear. It wasn't of course but he did say it was one of the meanest bears he had encountered! Maybe that's the one that has been digging up and chewing holes in the water line up the mountain, bending trail signs and throwing my dad's chainsaw around like a chew toy. No kidding!
Here he is close up. Previously to taking this photo, I had been going in for a closer look to check the markings on him so that I could explain why he wasn't Dennis the Menis and he charged the steel mesh, blowing spit and boogers all over me as he clearly told me to 'back off'! After taking the officer around to see all of the damage and the window the bear had been pawing at he told us that he would be back with the trap so that he could catch Dennis the Menis. He's going to park it right outside all of our bedrooms where we had watched him napping the other day. This is super exciting!
Want to read more about our bear drama? Then check it out HERE & HERE :)
GRRR!! That pesky bear was back again last night, and this time he was right outside the big picture window in my family room. There he was with one paw up to the window!! So immediately I made another call to the wildlife hotline because they said that I should update them every time I saw him to keep my complaint current. Of course we went over all the things that he would be coming for and livestock is the main reason right now because of the smell of their feed, but I can't stop feeding my animals so it's a bit of a catch 22. The one thing that he said that I should start looking into is electrifying all of the fencing which is easier said than done when they are not close to any electrical outlets :(
So he lodged another complaint and dispatched the RCMP *grin* Yup, I had the 'fuzz' show up last night. LOL. They thought that if they happened to run across him on their way over and as they drove around the property they would be able to turn on the lights and sirens and scare the living daylights out of him :) Guess what? They never saw him, but they did set a bear trap down the road and they caught one in it! I'm just waiting for the conservation officer to come and check out our property damage and show him a picture of our bear so that he can identify if it is the one he has.
My guess is it's not him though :( When I phoned up to my mom to tell her they caught one she said it wasn't Dennis the Menis because he's been grazing all morning in the field next door.
Generally I love to see the bears, but this one is really trying my patience! He attacked the chicken yard again and has broken into the goose pen twice. *sigh* What once was a good sturdy fence is now stretched and broken and he has taken to napping in the garden outside our bedrooms. I really want him to move on but he has some sort of strange fixation on our house right now. He's circling around it all day long and he's not even startled by my yelling at him.
I phoned the Wildlife Conservation hotline and put in a report but they only have one guy for the entire north island, a ton of phone calls each day and guess what? He's just doing regular bear stuff *grin* Yup, I'm just going to have to put up with him until he tries something more dangerous I guess. Tomorrow I'm off to take all of the bird feeders down because they may be one of the reasons he's getting so close to the house and we haven't been giving any scraps to the animals so that there isn't any fresh food scent for him to come calling for. I guess I'll just cross my fingers he'll find someone else has a nice little cache of food for him! I spoke with Dh tonight and apparently when he went to work the other morning he had a chat with the neighbor down the road as he picked up his trash from his yard. I guess he forgot to put in his garbage can.
You see that cute little furry face up there!? That's Dennis the Menis. Guests at mom's B&B said every bear should have a name, well he's got one now *grin*
The dog was going crazy out in his bed by the chicken yard a minute ago and I could hear the rooster squawking like he was dying!! From the house I can't see the chicken yard or their house so I was a little scared to go outside! We have our resident black bear here again right now and he is very owly so I wasn't going to rush out just in case I came face to face with him, but it finally quieted down and I just finished creeping out to find the fence torn down :(
Whatever it was (I'm assuming it was the bear) crashed through the corner of the pen taking the fence post and wire down with it and crushed another section to. Luckily I was able to pull the post back up and put it in the hole, so for tonight it is up enough but will need repair and Dh just left for work again :( All of the girls appear to be there still so it wasn't trying to eat them.
UPDATE: Just as I was finishing this post I heard terrible crashing out the front of the house towards the vacant property next door. There he was!! It was the bear. He's sooo early this year :( Usually he doesn't show up until the apples are half grown on the trees in the orchard. He's getting more brazen this year to by storming the yard in the daylight. Yesterday my mom watched him come down her garden path on the hillside garden so I guess I won't be letting the kids out alone during the daytime anymore, and I better stash the garbage can to. He LOVES my garbage can *grin* Found that out last year when my can disappeared and there was a trail of trash a mile long :) Hmmm, I'm not happy about this.
This afternoon we brought the little play tent out for Baby M to nap in while mom and I worked on cutting brochures for her gardens. It was perfect and he was so good about it :) He had his blankie, a book and a toy truck to look at while he got sleepy and he never whined to come out once!
We were having some fierce winds though and every once in a while when it gusted really hard it would pick up one end of the tent and send it upwards *grin* We were worried at one point that he was going to flip right over but he was loving every minute of it! I wish I would have had the video camera though because when the wind blew exceptionally hard once, both of the tent doors blew wide open while the end lifted like the above photo and it nearly blew Baby M right out! LOL. There he was sitting up right one minute and then hanging on like he was white water rafting the next! Never phased him, just went on playing. Me on the other hand, I laughed so hard I cried *grin*
Here he is peeking out. Every once in a while had checked to see that we were still close by. Needless to say not much sleep went on with all of the windsurfing and door flapping! LOL.
All aboard the flower express :) With an abundance of flower petals every where these days, Baby M put them to good use today by collecting them and stacking them on his little fisherprice train. His little train is actually the exact one that I played with when I was his age *grin* My mom saved everything we had as kids. Some days I love it because we have all of those great toys and funky clothes from yester year, and other days it's like a curse because I have an entire attic full of nearly 40 years worth of STUFF!! I'm hoping that one day we'll find something super unique that we'll be able to take to the Antique Roadshow and it will be worth thousands! *grin* Hey, you just never know :)
On Monday my mom held a mystery garden tour for 14 members of a seniors group in the neighboring town :) They had no idea where they were going and when they arrived they were all so happy that they got to make the trip up to see her gardens and it turned out to be a perfect day.
The weather was scorching hot so some of the ladies took refuge underneath the willow tree and umbrella alongside the waterfall.
To wind up the tour they had tea and goodies in the gazebo and we got them to stand for a group photo *grin* Hopefully next week we will be able to take this picture to the newspaper and have them run it with a little caption about the mystery garden tour. It will be good advertising for mom's gardens and the ladies were all excited that they would have their photo in the paper, so it's a win win situation :)
We have been enjoying many afternoons lazing around at Omi's house sitting outdoors at the patio tables drawing, reading and laughing :) Ahhh, the lazy days of summer!
Baby M has finally graduated from crayon munching maniac to budding artist *grin* He is loving every minute he gets with his new crayons, with the emphasis on CRAYONS.....
markers are strictly off limits for obvious reasons! LOL.
Blessings,
I feel like Lightening McQueen (Cars movie) when he goes flying over the bank and down into the cactus patch :) I can just hear Doc yelling above me "was that floating like a cadillac.... or stinging like a beamer!?" Life has temporarily derailed my daily routines and I've fallen off the edge of the cliff *grin* Thank goodness my safety harness is firmly attached the Lord!
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Phillipians 4:13
Those are 2 of my favorite verses right now, knowing that I can go to Him and He will shelter me through this storm :)
The weather has been very unpredictable around here the last couple of days going from warm sunshine to rain and hail. Saturday is supposed to be an awesome day of full sunshine so I'm hoping the weather man keeps his promise *grin*
I've been a little scarce around the bloggy world for the last 3 or 4 days and I'm hoping that maybe on the weekend I'll be able to catch up with some of you :) I'm finding it difficult to find an even balance between my family (especially with Dh home), blogs and community commitments that have found their way into my lap. During the day I spend most of my time with the kids either doing some sort of learning project or just doing stuff together and I pop on and off of the internet looking for things or checking my mail and then usually in the evening after the kids have gone to bed I'm free to read blogs for a couple of hours if I have time :) But with Dh home I want to spend my evening time with him so I find I'm rushing to get my photo on or answer a couple of emails before spending my evening with him and still trying to squeeze in the website work and membership updating I'm doing for the local business association and trying to find volunteers for the Canadian Cancer campaign for our area since last years volunteers have opted out and I'm scrambling for new ones, along with the work I've promised to do for my mom on her business site :( I'm burning the candle at both ends and it's going to burn me, I just know it!
Okay enough stuff about my chaotic life. I know there's a good verse or 2 or 3 that I should find to read but I'm at a complete loss as to where to find them. They're floating half jumbled in my bungled brain *grin* Maybe you can point me in the right direction? I would appreciate it :) Things will calm down at the end of the month and then I've got some serious prioritizing for the future to smooth things out :)
What do you do when you're outdoors and you need to contain the little one for a couple of minutes? Why you turn the box of your pick up truck into a playpen! LOL.
Baby M actually enjoyed stomping around in it and big brother and sister thought it looked like good fun to so they all ended up in there together :) How convenient, all 3 in one place at the same time *grin* Gotta love that :)
Well, when it rains it pours :(
Yesterday when we went into town for L's swimming lessons we noticed that there was a bit of steam coming off the hood of the truck which was a little odd but it was raining and we thought that it was just from the cold rain hitting the warm truck hood and when it stopped raining we didn't see it anymore, plus the gages and everything looked good. Well today Dh decided to have a look under the hood and just check things out and he found that the radiator has 3 cracks in it! It was definitely on it's way out and thankfully we made it home without breaking down. So after phoning around to different parts places he finally found one that had a rad for his truck in stock.
So out came the old one in preparation for the new one. He was contemplating whether or not to take it with him just in case he needed it to compare to the new one so that he got the right one and I thought that would be a good idea since we just went through the wrong parts deal with the brakes for the car which took 2 trips into town to resolve. By the way the car just got finished this morning when he found out the truck needed repairing *grin* Luckily both vehicles weren't broken down or we would really be stuck 45 minutes from the parts shop! Well to make a long story short, he just phoned me from town, the radiator he though he was getting for just over $100 was indeed the wrong one (good thing he took his broken one) and now it cost $100 more :( We were hoping to get away for an overnight trip this week but pretty much all of our spending money has gone on vehicle repairs and Dh has spent the first 3 days of his time off monkey wrenching Oh well it could have been worse. It could have been broken bones and hospital visits or something. LOL. At least we're healthy and all together :)
I've been transplanting my little rock birdies that I made around the house each day and today this one was visiting my wheat grass planter and I just love the vivid green color! So springy, just what I needed on a dreary rainy day :)
L had her final swimming lesson today and unfortunately she hasn't passed for the 3rd time. No biggie though, she has shown so much improvement this time around that she may has well have passed in my books! For the first time she has been voluntarily getting her head wet. Her pre-school group has little watering cans that they use for getting themselves wet when they first get in the pool. They fill them up and then water themselves like flowers. Well today she was repeatedly pouring tons of water over the top of her head and down her face.... she never does that! She used to be terrified if the water got in her eyes or even splashed her in the face so this is a giant step :) She still needs to be able to submerge her face for 3 seconds to pass but I think that one more round of lessons just might get her to finally do it :)
My car is still dismantled after spending the afternoon in town with Dh. He did get the right brakes though :) He's hoping the get it finished tomorrow so hopefully the rain co-operates and it will be dry enough for him to do it *grin* He's as sweet as sugar you know... he might melt in the rain. LOL.
Or no repair should I say *grin* Dh pulled the front wheels off, took apart the breaks, removed the calipers and rotors only to find that he had the wrong break pads! Arrgh. There always seems to be something mixed up when we buy parts and of course the nearest parts store is nearly an hour away. When Dh phoned to the parts dealer for the breaks he thought that the fellow was going to ask him for the measurement of the caliper or the rotor (I can't remember which one) in millimeters which he always has to do since there are 2 sizes for our car that can be purchased. Well this time the fellow said that there was only one size and Dh thought that was strange since there are always 2 but the fellow assured him that this now there wasn't so he just took the one he gave him. Well, of course today they didn't fit and the store he bought them from was closed on account of Sunday. So he phoned another place that is open on Sundays and they of course asked him about the measurement because there is 2 different sizes!
So for now I have a nice new pair of shiny rotors on and the wheels are just propped against the car awaiting different breaks hopefully tomorrow :) Good thing Dh isn't heading back to work tomorrow or I'd really be in trouble without any wheels for a couple of weeks!
Yippy skippy! Dh is home :)
Not to much to share today. I spent the morning doing laundry, vacuuming and just general tidying so that the house looked all nice for hubby when he came home. We had a nice chicken dinner and now that the kids are in bed we're going to watch a movie. Catch you all tomorrow hopefully *grin*
Primroses are one of my favorite flowers, especially the doubles :) I finally got my car into the service station today and it turns out that there was a mount for the exhaust broken that was replaced easily but I also have a broken spring in the back and they said I could really use new shocks :( I'll have to wait for Dh to come home so that we can discuss what we're going to fix (both sides or just the broken side), whether we can get cheaper after market parts of just VW parts which are always pretty pricey and so on. I don't think he will be doing it himself but I could be wrong. Right now we have all new rotors and calipers for the front wheels as they are sticking and in pretty rough shape from our salty winters here so I'm not sure he will have enough time to do all of the work before he heads out to sea again *grin* I think he'll definitely need more than one night at home to do it!
I'm about ready for it to stop anytime now.... it was a wee bit difficult to breath outside today if you happened to get caught in the smoke when the wind blew your way! All of our clothes smell like camping to. You know that smoky campfire smell from sitting to close to the fire when roasting your marshmallows *grin* I've been assured by the pyromaniac himself that it will only be one more day and then we will have clean air to breath again :) I can't wait. *gasp, cough, choke* LOL.
We have been waiting for the frogs to lay their eggs and today we hit the jackpot when we went down to the pond to have a look. K was able to reach far enough out into the water without falling in to collect some of the frog spawn for us so that we can hatch tadpoles again this year :) Head over to my nature blog if you want to see some photos of our outing and close ups of the frog spawn. Everyone had to touch it and hold the eggs of course.... good clean fun you know *grin*
Today we started to burn some of the fields to clean up the old dead grass and hay that was laying on them. This will let the fresh new growth spring up and in a couple of weeks you'll never know that it ever looked black and charred :) My sister gave the kids an outdoor game kit with badminton, lawn darts, nerf balls and some other things and we have been having lots of fun using them. K loves to play badminton so this afternoon we must have spent over an hour batting the bird back and forth while L amused herself with the lawn darts. They make those much safer now I might add to. Do you remember the old ones? They had steel tips and looked like an over sized arrow, well at least ours did and of course kids being kids goofing around someone threw one straight up in the air (no it wasn't me *grin*) and it landed straight down on my cousins head! I don't know how she made it without cracking her head open but she didn't die *grin* Anyways these ones have big rounded balls on the ends so that at least you aren't in danger of loosing an eye if it bonks you :) You never know what might happen with these ones when mama isn't looking. LOL.
I think I was more concerned for Baby M than the cat (see those ears flattened right back against his head!) even though it looks a little precarious for poor old kitty. *grin* This was actually the release. LOL. He had just finished pulling him in for a big smooch while the cat tried to wriggle free :) The cat had been stalking him all afternoon coming in close for love and then just out of reach when Baby M wanted to pet him, so I guess Baby M won in the end *grin*.
Today when we went for L's swimming lesson there was a very interesting class going on in the lap pool. At first I wasn't sure what exactly they were up to *grin*. Being nosy and all I had to photograph it for you to so that I could show you just what I was so interested in! LOL. They would load two people in crash helmets and fully clothed into the little cage, strap them in, sometimes with a door on the sides and sometimes without and then they would brief them on something. But wait it gets better!
Once they finished their little chat about what to expect I presume they flipped the cage completely upside down and waited!! Waited to see if anyone would surface, which they did of course. There were a few close calls though. One fellow couldn't get his seatbelt undone and you could see and hear his runners above water squeaking on the floor which was now the roof of the cage. He did finally manage to get free but was coughing, sputtering and obviously a little shaken looking when he surfaced.
I still wasn't sure what the purpose of this was. Was it for mariners to learn what to do if their boat capsized? Was it for dare devil drivers that wanted to know how to get out of their vehicles if they plunged from a bridge into the icy waters below? Boy does my imagination work good, doesn't it! LOL. Well I finally got an answer to my query :) The fellow sitting next to me was telling his young son about what was happening and I asked if he would share with me to. They were in a flight crash simulation course. It was to prepare all of the aviation students for what they would expect if they crashed their airplane into water and most likely they would be upside down so they needed to know how to keep a cool and level head while completely submerged! A good thing to learn I guess but I sure hope that none of them ever face it in real life!
It was a gorgeous day here today! Everyone is over their colds to just in time to be set free in the crisp air and sunshine :) We have been collecting rocks for a fun rock sculpture project and today we glued and painted our creatures, well not all of them were creatures actually. Above is K's sailboat that he made. Check out his seascape and their other animals over at my nature blog ~ Nature Notes From Above :)
It was a rather gloomy day here for most of the afternoon and I couldn't find anything stunning to take a photo of *grin* I did find a cork line from one of the fishermen's boats laying on the dock though so that will have to be my photo for today :)
I spent the day looking for cement glue and Fimo, took my camera card in to the photo store to develop school and nature trip pictures (130 of them dating back to last fall) for K since we are waaaay behind on printing them and came out of there with a much lighter wallet and no photos! I left town and completely forgot all about my pictures :(
Next time I think I'll have to pin a note to my coat with a safety pin just like my mother did when I was little and had to give the bus driver a note letting him know that I wasn't getting off at my usual drop off spot. Mine will read 'Please remind me to pick up my pictures!' LOL. That way some nice citizen will read it and remind me. *grin* Do you think it will work?
I just love all of this funky garden stuff that is out right now :) Wouldn't you just love one of these snails hidden away in your flower bed somewhere? And even better, these ones won't eat anything *grin* The sun came out this afternoon and took care of all the snow that was on the ground this morning but we're due for more tonight and tomorrow morning. I'm prepared now though *grin* No double takes tomorrow morning. LOL.
My car started to make some funny clanging noise a couple of days ago and today my dad had time to have a look underneath to see why it was doing it. Of course I had to drive the car up onto the wheel ramps which I really don't like doing! First I had to go up them forwards....
and then he made me do it backwards to :( I made it without driving right off the ends *grin* It's so low underneath that in order to see both the front and back ends of the car both ends have to go up so you can fit underneath. It's pretty close quarters even with it up. On complete inspection he concluded that a little piece of one of the brackets that holds my exhaust pipe up has broken off and that there is more play in the pipe now which is causing it to rattle around when the car hits any bumps. He has assured me that nothing is going to fall off *grin* but I guess it will have to go in to the service station. I'm sure that if it rattles around long enough it will cause something else to break and in turn cost more money. So better safe than sorry and get it done now.
I don't know about you but this little guy is absolutely adorable! Those big wide eyes are just begging to be taken home *grin* I resisted though, taking a photo instead :) Well our visit with Dh was very short lived. He got called last night and headed off at the crack of dawn :( One day just wasn't enough for any of us but I guess we need to be thankful that he is working though in such uncertain times. The next town over is closing the doors to its sawmill in a month putting close to 300 employees out of work and the pulp and paper mill is scaling back quite a few jobs as well. This will create hard times for a lot of families. We have been trying to decide on where to take a family vacation this year. Dh has never asked for holidays and this year he is going to try and make it a priority to spend a week somewhere close to the beach. Sounds so fun but finding a suitable place isn't quite that easy! He would love a cottage on a lake somewhere but can't find just the right one *grin* We have been looking at Salt Spring but have never actually been there and the internet photos are a little vague so I'm thinking we might take a little side trip soon and hop over there for the day to check out some of the places first hand to help with the decision making :) We better hurry though or if we procrastinate long enough everything will be booked! LOL.
Not much happening here today. Daddy's home so it's been family time most of the day and this afternoon we went to have our taxes done. All done up and good for another year *grin* I thought I would share some pictures of L's new fairy Playmobil she got for Easter. It is adorable.
They're gardening fairies so they have flowers and gardening tools and she pretends they're working in the garden with her. It's sort of a trial run to see how she does with all of the little pieces that need taking care of. So far we have lost 2 pieces but hopefully that will be it! If not then we will wait a while before she gets anymore :) Do your kids play with Playmobil? We had friends that gave us some for birthdays and it has caught on like wild fire around here. Lego and Playmobil.... gotta be some of the greatest toys going *grin*
We had a lovely day here today :) Mostly sunshine with a few showers intermingled. The kids spent some time outside running around and riding bikes while I caught up on some housework that needed attention *grin* I don't know how the laundry pile got so big but it took a small army to fold it today. LOL. Dh came home this evening and hopefully he will be able to spend a couple of days with us before he has to return to work again! I know the kids would love to take him prisoner *grin*
This afternoon after we had our Easter brunch the kids had an easter egg hunt up the mountain :) It's a yearly tradition. We send my dad out into the gardens that go up the hillside to the top of the bluff and he hides little goodies along the way with a gift at the top. The weather cooperated long enough for us to have it and above is K and L getting started :)
BINGO! The first goodies have been found. They had lots of fun and it's always a good laugh watching them run up and down passing by the treats a dozen or so times. LOL.
We went for a late night ride just before dark to the wharf. I love how everything was a beautiful blue hue :) We had the strangest weather today. It was sunny one minute and then hailing, snowing and raining the next! Our space tomatoes are growing great. They're in need of transplanting so we are going to have to do that in the next day or two. I bought some potting soil but I just need to find my pots in the garage :) I think we are pretty much over our colds now to. Yay! No more runny noses *grin* Tomorrow we are having our Easter meal and hopefully an outdoor hunt if the weather cooperates :)
Yes to both *grin* We have a pair of binoculars tucked in the pocket of the door at all times right next to my camera (never leave home without one, LOL) ready for any nature spotting events we might come across :) I'm not sure how much nature spotting was actually going on in the back seat though. I think they were inspecting each other's nose hairs!
Did you know that this is the earliest Easter we have had in nearly a century. The last time it fell on March 23rd was in 1913. It won't be this early again until 2160! This is the first year that we don't have daffodils in bloom even. It's sort of weird. I guess we'll have to cut some of those beautiful crocuses I've been photographing *grin*
These adorable little Easter treats were at the bakery today when we were doing our grocery shopping and I couldn't resist picking them up for the kids :) We're getting a jump on the Easter goodies *grin* Actually we don't really do to much candy. I try and keep it to a bare minimum and instead get them some sort of toy or kit that they can play with and not just gobble, get a sugar high and go bonkers! Grandma sent them $30 for Easter and I put it to good use getting each of them a Playmobil gift. L has been eying up the new little fairy ones which are just adorable and since she doesn't have anything like that I got her one :) She is going to be so excited. Now isn't that better than a disappearing chocolate egg? What about you? We participate in the Passover at our church and read about the resurrection of Jesus and the eternal life that was granted to all that believe in the Lord, but we do still enjoy having an egg/toy hunt *grin*
Let me introduce you to my rebellious child Baby M. He is hard of hearing, refuses to talk, screams a lot and as of late runs... fast in the wrong directions :( The above photo was a re-occurring scene today no matter how much correction I gave him. It was always me chasing him. *Sigh*
Lord grant me strength....
L found herself a comfy little chair on the root of one of my mom's rhododendron plants and a little one on one time with the kitty :) K's been learning division and yesterday we started long division. I'm please to say that it is going smashingly *grin* All those multiplication drills have paid off and has transitioned into it perfectly! Both he and L were working on a play today in his room about a knight and his dog. They made a paper castle and pasted it up on the wall and then used the bed as their stage. Not a bad play but next time I think he needs to work on using more dialogue and not so much mime work. LOL. He already has another one in the planning stages about vikings!
So now that my mom has all of that mulch she's got to put it to good use and has enlisted the help of K :) He used the pitch fork (which is the best for moving mulch around) to shovel it into the wheel barrow...
and then he rolled it over to the area she was working on and dumped it on the landscape felt. The felt works as a barrier to keep the grass and weeds underneath from growing up and through the mulch later. And the best part is.... she pays him really well and he always come home smiling *grin*
You know I was really crossing my fingers that we weren't going to get anymore snow, but I should have know better *grin* We've had a dusting in early May before! This morning it started coming down like crazy but luckily it didn't amount to much and has stopped for now. We're supposed to get more again tomorrow :( The temperature dip has made the house much colder so I've really had to step up my wood burning regime. Dh won't be happy that I'm emptying the wood shed faster again after we just restocked it with a fresh 8 cords of wood :)
Maybe I should get one of these guys to stop by with another load to buck up. Then again maybe not.... last time they crushed the drain pipe resulting in flooded basement problems :( I think we'll be fine for a while *grin*
Last time I shared a picture of the mulch pile down at the sort I didn't truly capture the immense size of it. Today I did! It is massive. K (up on top) and my dad look like dwarfs *grin*. He was running up to the top of the pile and yelling down to dad "I'm the king of the castle, and your the dirty rascal" LOL. I remember doing that when I was his age, how slick you thought you were when you were taller than your parents :)
How do you like my dad's parking job? I'm not sure how exactly he got himself in there! Apparently that is the only spot to get the mulch that isn't cedar. The guys have gone and pushed all of it together so it is mostly cedar on the top and it is no good for the gardens or the animals so he's got to do a little digging :) Good thing no one was around though to see him wedged in there like that though! He made it out, so all is good *grin*
We've got another night of howling winds ahead of us tonight. The house is groaning and creaking, you can hear the wind whistle around the chimney, the bird houses are swinging wildly towards the window, and the screen door keeps blowing open :( Puts me on edge when it storms like this, need Dh on nights like this but he's still up in the inlet. We haven't had phone contact for 5 days now, hopefully he'll be out soon and we can catch up with each other :)
I didn't really have a good photo opportunity today *grin*. So I'm pulling out the big guns and sharing a big truck. LOL. Hey it made my boys jump up and down in excitement :)
I got a call last night asking if I could run into the next town and cover one of the fisheries validator's shifts because she wasn't going to be able to make the offload time so I said yes. I could use a little extra cash, and I get good bucks for traveling 140 kms! So we were all up at the crack of dawn, actually I think it was before dawn. At 5:30am it was still pretty dark and there definitely wasn't any light peaking over the mountain yet :) I got everyone fed and dressed and out the door by 6:30 and up the road to Omi & Opa's house. I am so thankful that my mom babysits for me when I do my teeny tiny seasonal job *grin* Thanks mom! Without you it wouldn't be possible. We were all done weighing and loading urchins by 9:30am and boy does it feel great to go to the bank when it first opens and there isn't a rush. And I can't remember the last time I grocery shopped all by myself either! Yup, gotta be about 9 years ago. LOL.
I got back home at 11am and found a house full of sickies :) All 3 of the little monkeys have runny noses and coughs and my poor mom caught it yesterday :( I took the booger club back home and there we rested for the rest of the day *grin* We're just about out of kleenex and I've washed my hands so many times they're starting to chap. Maybe I should just give into the germs and get it over with! Then again, maybe not :)
because they may be one of the reasons he's getting so close to the house and we haven't been giving any scraps to the animals so that there isn't any fresh food scent for him to come calling for. I guess I'll just cross my fingers he'll find someone else has a nice little cache of food for him! I spoke with Dh tonight and apparently when he went to work the other morning he had a chat with the neighbor down the road as he picked up his trash from his yard. I guess he forgot to put in his garbage can.
Oh well it could have been worse. It could have been broken bones and hospital visits or something. LOL. At least we're healthy and all together :)
