The Lost Lawn part deux

Remember last fall we got someone to help us with one raised bed?

Well spring is here and Jamie and I planted in that bed.

OH MY WORD!!! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my raised bed.

So I had to get some more before the real planting season began. 

So I commandeered my father to come and help me build them.

I really wanted the entire lawn filled, ( had enough wood for at least 2 more) but I can't afford anymore dirt right now. That stuff is expensive! Phew!

I paid $120 for a load of mink composted dirt.

At least mink are good for one thing. Their carcasses make excellent planting soil!

The soil might be rich and fertile, but it's kinda creepy. Look what I keep finding in it. Mink jawbones, pelvic bones, leg bones and ribs. Ick.

One load filled two beds.  I might have enough for a third bed if it's not too big. 

But it had started to rain, so I let me "help" go home.

So my lost lawn is slowly becoming more lost. 

Soon I'll have veggies and less gas used to mow the lawn.

It's a win/win situation. Well not completely...Jamie loves moving the lawn. 

He's not impressed. But he did love helping me plant in the new bed.

My only issue is that the cats love the beds also, and I don't need the extra manure ( if you know what I mean). Plus the chickens are no help.

So what to do.

Well Dave the hubby might not be able to use his brawn at the moment, but he's still using his brain. Here was his idea...

Jamie's old trampoline is just sitting there rotting away, so I took the netting off the darn thing and put it on the bed that was planted. It's got enough holes in it to let sun and rain go through, but annoying enough so the cats and chickens will leave it alone! Muahahahahaha!

I also have enough for two beds. It's also black so it'll retain the heat.

Necessity is the mother of invention!

Have a Blessed evening

Lisa

Les P'tits Bois

Methinks I should pay more attention to my house plants! This plant was doing wonderfully but I would water it and the next day it would be bone dry! I couldn't figure out why, till I decided to re-pot it yesterday.

Mmmmm...ya think she was root-bound?

I could just hear the sigh of relief when I put her in her new home.

But I have a question for all of you...where did all the dirt go?

The pot was full of dirt and a little bit of roots a few years ago, so where the dirt magically disappear to? Hmmm?

Behind the local university the summer students have built paths through the woods and along the beach. It's really beautiful. They've name sections of it after the Canadian Provinces. We call the entire area

 Les P'tits Bois, The little woods.

They have feeders for the birds everywhere where people put bird seed and come to watch them eat.

So needless to say, with all those people coming through for leisurely walks, the squirrels and birds have gotten pretty tame.

If you bring seeds and go slowly, they will eat out of your hand. 

So my parents, Jamie and I decided to give it a go last weekend. 

We loved it! I also got excellent shots.

This is my favourite shot. I think this little guy was getting full.

Jamie and a black capped chickadee

Hmmmm....looks kinds good.


At the beginning of the winter I read lots of blogs talking about eating to the bottom your freezer.
Well that's kinda hard to do here since we have 4 freezers. But I was determined to get to the bottom of one and have it unplugged to save on hydro.  Well we succeeded!!!We ate through the whole thing.
I'm so proud of us! It's unplugged!!!And clean. Hmmm...maybe I should sell it and we'd have to make do with only three freezers. But in my defense, one is full of goat's milk for my soap.
Have a blessed day
Lisa

Weekend in Review

I cannot believe how fast time flies. It's been so long since I blogged last. So many things have been going on. Some good, some bad.

There has been one major thing that I would love to blog about, but I can't. I know if I could get it off my chest I would feel so much better, but for now this part of our private lives must remain private.

Maybe in a few months or so I'll be able to share the hardship we have been going through. 

Right now I just ask for prayers....and lots of them. 

Because of this issue it's really the only thing on my mind and I know I have to trust that God will take care of us, but like a  friend and fellow Christian once said, "Is anxiety a sin or a sickness?" 

She suffers from anxiety and I, myself, the older I get, the more I suffer from anxiety. I have good days and bad days. I'll call Dave from work and I'll say, "I'm having a bad mental day."  So am I suffering from a sickness or sin? I could debate this till the goats come home. But I won't.

It doesn't help that my mind doesn't stop running. It's not just the usual woman thing. I honestly believe that I've got Adult ADD. But that's another post.

So let me bring ya'll up to speed on what's been going on in our lives that I CAN share with you.

This past Easter weekend was filled with sorrow and excruciating happiness! (does that make sense?)

Good Friday didn't start off all that well.

If you remember the two cats we had rescued Slate and Pico.  Well Slate got run over that morning. I found him when I brought Emilie out for her walk. I ran in the house bawling and then Jamie was bawling. So we had a funeral. 

Even though Slate and Pico didn't like it in the house which is why they were outside, we brought Pico in the house. He's under house arrest for the foreseeable future.  Mind you he doesn't seem to mind the inside now.

Slate R.I.P.

Pico now enjoying the indoor cat life.

After we had calmed down a bit we went to watch the annual canoe trip. 

This canoe trip is a two day event. Every year on Good Friday, thousands of people and their canoes  or ATVs (to follow the canoe trip) show up between 7 am - 10 am at a certain place.

The amazing thing about this event is that it's been going on EVERY year since 1972 AND  it's not organized by anybody. It's not a canoe group, organization etc... that takes care of it. 

It's just that every year, it just happens. People come from all over.

It's like someone said, "la Clare Canoe Trip held each year on Easter Weekend since 1972! Nobody organizes it, starts on time, 1000s participate! Incredible really!"

Here's a few pictures I took , really the pictures don't do it justice.

This was the second stop. Called "The Ferguson's"

Someone seems to have a little bit too much water in the canoe.

A few spectators.

Later that day we went geocaching with my mom. We were looking for one of the caches when Jamie yells ,"SNAKE!" we're like ya, right. You don't find snakes in March in Nova Scotia.

Well I guess we have global warming to thank for this!

It wasn't big, but it was there. Thank goodness I'm not afraid of snakes...my mother on the other hand.....

Sunday was Easter and it was one of the best days of our lives...Jamie gave his heart to Jesus! We were so excited!  He's been talking about it now for weeks. Then he made the decision. I'm glad he didn't take this lightly. He's serious about it.

I've been taking care of a friend's orchids for the winter. I started with three orchids.  I killed one. (yes, he knows), but I actually got one to bloom!

Ain't it perty!

I know, I know...I'm a sucker for punishment.  Last year I put some eggs to set in the incubator...TWICE! and I got squat.  I said that was the end of my incubator days.  Well I'm giving it another go.

I'll never learn.

I've also started tomatoes and pumpkins from seeds.  Well I stuck them in the dirt anyway. Whether they'll germinate or not...well that's another story.

It was such a beautiful weekend weather wise that we let all the goats out.

Maggie sticking her tongue out at me!

But we think Maggie and the kids got into something that isn't agreeing with them.

Maggie's stomachs stopped working. The vet was over today.

She's got a fever, diarrhea, won't eat and just moping around. Not a good thing for a lactating goat.

So we have to give her Kaopectate, glycol and penicillan. 

People know me now and don't think it odd if I ask for all the bottles of Kaopectate they have on the shelf.

I have to give Maggie 60cc's of Kaopectate 4 times a day. So needless to say a bottle doesn't last long. I have to give it to the kids to.  I have to give them yogurt also, to kick start their rumens.

The funny thing is that according to goats glycol and kaopectate is akin to fried kaka is to humans. Not very good.  But Maggie is like her mama, Febe, when it comes to taste buds. She loves nasty tasting medicine. 

This is how the conversation went between Dave and the vet.

Vet:  The goats don't like glycol and Kaopectate. You're going to have to force it in her.

Dave: No I don't, she loves it!

Vet: What?! That goat is really sick!

Dave: Yes, I know she's really sick. She's got a fever.

Vet:  No, no, no..she's sick if she likes that stuff.

Dave: Oh.

So he also gave her intravenous. But that didn't work well. She still wasn't eating.

So by the time I got home she needed some more glycol and Kao.  So I gave it to her. Sure enough she wanted it so bad she was eating the large syringe I had the meds in.

Then I try and give her kid some Kao well wouldn't you know it!....Maggie comes at me and bites my finger and actually draws blood! I was bleeding like a stuck pig!  Who would have thought a goat would try and bite your finger off!? But my fingers were full of kaopectate!

Good grief!

Hopefully they'll all get better and life can go on like normal...whatever that is.

Azelle and her kids

Have a Blessed Day!

Lisa




 p.s. Try as I might I cannot get my blog to look nice. I've lost my title and I can't get stuff where I want it. It's driving me nuts. So bear with me.  I don't know when I'll have more time to spend on trying to fix the issue. Hopefully Blogger will fix it. yea, right.

So just enjoy the lovely photos and written content. LD