Summertime! Summertime!!

Summertime is almost over. 

Yup. 

It's gone before it even begun.

It's been a pretty good one so far.

We haven't climbed Mount Everest or anything spectacular like that

but we've done lots of things as a family and just as a couple.

Jamie is 16 now. Yup. 

How did that happen.

So he's got a part time job and his motorcycle licence.

And yes I constantly worry. I'm a mother, that's my job.

But because he has his motorcycle licence he's free to roam where he wants as long

as he's off the road before dark.

So that leaves Dave and I with more couple time.

That's the perks and downfalls of having kids.

You hope that they'll grow up healthy,happy and independent and 

when they do, you're like "What the heck!? Where'd you go?"

But I'm happy for him.

As long as he stays safe.

He's already learned that other drivers are crazy.

I wont go into that.

The gardens are growing well. I feared for the tomatoes since only tiny little green things were growing. But after Saturday night's rain, they seem to have gotten bigger. Which is strange since I know that tomatoes are picky when it comes to watering, so I water them regularly.

They must prefer the rainwater.

It's been a strange spring and summer. It was a cold spring and a hot summer for a few weeks and now it's a cold summer. Some mornings it's only 8 degrees Celcius. Brrrrr

I've had to plant my yellow beans THREE TIMES!!!! Finally they're growing okay.

Rain has not been plentiful, but it's better than last year.

The garlic is doing well. As you can see. I picked some more tonight. It's a smaller, different kind.

Sadly both of Dave's parents passed away this spring. So we had some family business to attend to in Ontario. We also turned it into a family vacation. We stayed with his cousin and did a few touristy things. But mostly it was to relax after the stress of everything that had gone on.

The day before we left to come home we spent it in Toronto. I've always wanted to go to Kensington Market. It's a real hip, funky place. And they had a car on the side of the street planted with trees, grass and flowers. How cool is that!

We also went to the Warsaw Caves in Peterborough. We didn't go to the caves, but took a nice walk in a cedar forest that had kettles and strange rock formations. That's Jamie at the bottom of the kettle.

We also got stuck in a thunder, lightning and downpour on our walk. Memories!

I've also been doing lots of jams and jellies. Here's part of my strawberry freezer jam stash!

The Acadian Festival was on last week. This is my table at the bazaar.

I also visited a quilt expo. Mind boggling! Just mind boggling.

We were actually thinking of selling the camper because by the end of July we hadn't gone once!

But one night there, and we changed our mind. We're staying. 

We camp what's called seasonal. We just park the camper at one campground and leave it there for the entire summer. We prefer it that way. I guess it's like having a cottage.

The girls are happy about the decision since they love camping.

Then a few weeks ago I had heard about low tide kite flying. 

So I decided to go and get pictures and information to talk about it on 

CTV Morning Live.

Here's the short (very short segment) I had on CTV Morning Live

Well by the time I left there, I was hooked!

Not only do I love it, I bought a kite!

Think about it....kite flying while you're standing on the ocean floor. It's just wow.

That's Nova Scotia living! 

That's me, Dave took my picture while I was flying the kite yesterday.

I turned 50 this summer also.

And I have so many things to be grateful for, one of them being my health. I've noticed that, except for my heal spurs, I'm in excellent health. I'm on no medication, no health issues whatsoever.

So I want to keep it that way.

So I'm going to go in le grand fondo

I'm not totally crazy, I'm just doing the little one. 35km.

That's enough.

Tonight I started training. I almost did 10km in 40 minutes and didn't need resuscitating. 

So I think I'll be ready by the end of September!

Well I think that's enough news for today. 

Have a Blessed Evening

Lisa

New Beginnings

It's come to an end.   Well the chickens anyway.  After researching online and talking to other people we decided there was only one thing to do with the "mitey" chickens.  Ok, well only one legal one.  Slaughter them all and take down the coop.  

What I really wanted to do was burn the coop, but that's slightly against the law here at the moment with the fire index at "extreme". Even with a husband on the fire department.

Plus it's waaayyyy to close to the other barns and the house! 

So last week we sent them off to the butcher.  The entire 38 of them!  I sold several to friends and then kept the rest.  Even though they had mites they were still fine to eat.  

Then the issue with what to do with the coop.  It's an old, old building and I wanted it gone! It was really an eyesore and rickety.  Dave wasn't into demolishing it too much.  

We called several people that do such things, but they want $500!!! To tear down a chicken coop and cart it away! Come on now.

Dave still figured he could clean it up enough to put new chickens in there.  I wasn't so sure about that. Then when the vet came over last week to look at Susie the donkey's foot.  I asked how to get rid of the mites.

His answer.....kill the chickens and burn the barn!

So we were half way there.  

Today when I left for work this is what I left behind....

A rickety but serviceable chicken coop/barn.

This is what I came home to......

Since Dave can't use his arms too much, he decided to see if he could demolish it with the forks on his tractor.  I guess he succeeded.  He said it just came down like a house of cards.  In other words it was ready to fall down.

Tomorrow someone is coming with a dump truck to cart it away.  

We have a cute new "house" for the new pullets.  After the old barn is gone completely and the area sanitized, we will have the new "house" moved to the same spot.  I can't wait! Neither can the pullets since they are pretty crammed in the goat barn.

Last week and this week is  the Acadian Festival.  One of the activities is the Métis teepee. Dave and J. went several times.  They had some drumming, food, drum making demos etc....

 I guess that just about all Acadians are Métis since our fore fathers would intermarry with the MicMac.  So that means, yours truly with-the-fishbelly white skin is Métis.

Just the thought of that makes me laugh!  I mean...come on...do I look even slightly native?

Or French for that matter.  The single drop of Irish blood in me is very prominent.  

Have a Blessed Evening

Lisa