Hurricane Earl update and autumn update.

Well, well, well....It just amazes me how fast the temperature can turn. Last week it was so hot and muggy you could have steamed carrots in the greenhouse. A week after "Earl" went by, God flicked the switch and it's now freezing out. We actually had to start the furnace tonight.

First day of school.

Mind you the first day of school it was still hot and the kids actually went in shorts. That's the first time ever. I don't even remember going to school in shorts. Some schools in Halifax let the kids go home because of the heat. See the schools around here don't have air conditioning.

The pastor we met on the ferry actually called us on the Sunday after the hurricane to see how we had fared. It's nice to know that there are actually people out there who honestly care.

Hurricane Earl. It was low tide. The wet part on the wharf is when it's high tide.

The funny thing is that Hurricane Earl turned out to miss us and hit Halifax. We were prepared and they weren't. Bummer for them. Good for my sunflowers. A few fell but most stayed up. Nothing was damaged around here either. Mind, we had strapped everything within an inch of it's life, so short of a tornado would have moved anything. It was actually anti climatic. On that Saturday morning we sold out of batteries. Funny. But I guess it's better to be prepared.

There are so many things I love about having animals. But there is one thing I really despise about having them and that is BUGS!! Oh mylanta! The last few weeks every time I leave the chicken coop I have a little bug or two on my arm. Nothing serious. It kinda looked like baby spiders. I can handle that. Then Friday night I stuck my hand in the hen's nest. I took my arm out and it was full of bugs!! UGGGGHHH. Oh my, oh my, oh my! I brought the eggs in the house and they were crawling with these little buggies also. So we went out with the Raid. Now 99% of the time I do e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g organic. But when it comes to stuff like that, I whip out the Raid can.

When we got to the coop we opened the lid of the nest and it was teaming with crawlies!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't think it was baby spiders. I think it was a kind of mite. What ever it was, they is dead! Saturday I Raided that coop. I'm amazed the the hens are still alive. What saved their butts is that I let them loose outside. I never suspected anything since the hens weren't scratching. Oh well. We should be fine for now. I hope.

My mother and J. at the picnic

Today was the second annual Meteghan Family Picnic. We were asked to bring Cindi Lou Who for the kids. It went well. Well kind of. I brought her in the back seat of the car. (uhmmmm didn't I say in a post somewhere, that I would not bring a goat in my car again...) She wouldn't lay down, sooo you know what they say...a goat won't poop or pee if it's laying down. Well, she pooped in the car. Dangit! At least I had the dog cover on the seat. Phew!

J. and Cindi Lou going home from the picnic

But the kids loved her. But again, most kids had never seen a goat other than in photos and a few adults asked if it was a dog. Huh?

On the way home we stopped to get an ice cream. Again...not a good move with a goat in the car. I'll never learn, will I.

My tomatoes that I found in the weed garden and the little ones from the greenhouse

Guess what I found in the weed garden a.k.a the veggie patch. Tomatoes!! Beefsteak tomatoes! I'm so impressed. It was hard to find them in all 2 foot high grass, but I found them.

12.8 oz!!

The greenhouse is almost over for the season. I figure by next week I'll be cleaning it. I have been forbidden from making anymore pickled beets. Like I've said before I hate the darn things, but I love making them. But that is one thing that actually grew well in the garden this year. I still have a row of them left, but Dave won't let me pickle them.

Little does he know, I'll get to them eventually. Muahhahahahahaha!!!

Tundra the amazing growing dog!

Tundra is growing like bad weeds. She's almost 40 lbs now.

I just had to leave you with this parting shot. One meeeeaaannnn panther. Or a sleepy one caught in a yawn.

That's it for this week. Have a Blessed Day.

Lisa

Growing up.

Upside Down J. on the monkey bars

I was pondering on this past summer, when I realized how much my baby has grown. Not only physically but emotionally and spiritually. He's become more responsible.

As much as I hate him growing up, it's also kinda neat. It's amazing seeing this little life you brought into this world, nurture it, love it, teach it, feed it, clothe it, pray over it and hope for the best. Then you see it blossom into a beautiful,God-fearing, God-loving, caring, hardworking person. Raising a child, you see the world through new and amazing eyes. You now see that a daisy is not just a pesky weed anymore, but a thing that houses little bugs (yuck), or a way to see if that little girl in your class loves you, or not.

Checking out the big toys at the breakwater they're building.

This summer I noticed that J. will get his snacks ready by himself, like using the microwave. Taking a shower and actually getting clean! Dave thought him how to drive the ride-on lawnmower. He now loves to bring in the firewood, because he gets to drive the tractor with the trailer. He's doing an excellent job and he's so proud of himself. We're so proud of him to. He goes to pick up the mail by himself.

First time driving the tractor

So proud and grown up!

There's so many little things that are too numerous to mention and yet some days you wonder if he's not reverted back to being 3 years old. But all in all my baby is growing up! Sniff..sniff...

Tomorrow is the first day of school. He's going into grade 4!! When he left for his first day of school in grade primary, I told Dave, "You watch, we're going to turn around and he'll be graduating from high school." Dave told me I was nuts. Well guess what...It was just yesterday that he started primary. Well that's what it seems like.

Time marches on. Things still need to be done like pigs need to be mucked out, goats need to be milked and puppies need to be taught potty manners.

Tundra on the trampoline!

Tundra is also one that is growing like a bad weed. The flea meds we gave her when we first got her stopped working, because she outgrew it before the other dosage was due! She gained 10 lbs in 2 weeks!

J. jumping on the beds at the hotel. Another little ritual we have in hotels. Can you tell we don't get out often? You can dress us up but you can't take us anywhere!

We all went to New Brunswick a few days ago for Dave's arm. We needed to wait over a year for a specialist's appointment here in Nova Scotia. Only a few weeks in New Brunswick. He got a few injections and we are hoping they are going to work. We crossed over on the ferry. It's a long 3 hour ride. But on the way back we chatted with two couples on the boat. They were great. One guy was a Bible thumping, fire and brimstone, Harley Davidson riding,Southern Baptist preacher! Another lady was a dog trainer. The ferry ride, just flew by! We have photos of them, but I didn't ask their permission to put it on my blog, so I won't. But that's what I love about travelling. It's not seeing new places and different things, which that is all fun too, but meeting new people. That's the exciting part!

Well we are battening down the hatches for Saturday. Hurricane Earl is going to hit us head on. Crud. We do need the rain, just not the winds. This is a picture of my sunflowers before hurricane Earl. I'll post another one after hurricane Earl on Sunday. I waited and waited and waited for blooms on my sunflowers. I finally got them this week and now Earl's going to show up and razor them. Oh I'm not impressed!

Dave and the sunflowers

But don'tcha find that they grew tall! Dave is 6 feet tall and they are dwarfing him. The heads are supposed to be giants, but I guess they put all their energy in the stalks.

Six little piggies and their momma.

Since there's only 6 piglets in this litter they are growing fast, fast,fast! They've been going outside now for a week.

Ginger

Oh and Ginger passed away this week. She survived the great mink massacre, but she couldn't escape old age. I had had her for over 4 years and she was old when I got her. I don't even remember where I got her from. She had also survived being almost pecked to death by her fellow hens.(Nasty things) But we had nurtured her back to health a few years ago. But old age marched and took over.

Well that's it for this week.

Have a Blessed day!

Lisa