Dear Dad......

Dad

Aug 28, 1925 - November 29,1986

I sure wish you could have stuck around longer. Sixty one years seems such a short life as I get closer to that age.  You missed meeting five of your six wonderful grandkids.  They missed you being a part of their lives as they were growing up.  You didn't get to take them fishing, or out in your sailboat, or show them how to 'throw' a pottery bowl.  And I know how much you loved kids.

On this date, 24 years ago, my Dad passed away of a massive heart attack while out on his sailboat.  He was alone, and a friend out sailing spotted his boat drifting aimlessly.  

It was completely unexpected, although there was a real family history of heart problems.  He thought his issue was a stomach ulcer, but now I have to wonder how much of what he thought was ulcer pain was actually heart pain.

Here's Meredith and her 'Buppa', a few months before he died

A friend of mine said her dad had said he would give five years off his life to die quickly like my dad did, doing something he loved.  In reality though, I'm not sure that he would.  Five years is a long time in a child's life.

We love you and miss you Dad

Rabbit Hunting

Our poor deprived dogs.  I'm not one of those owners who makes lots of visits to Petsmart or the like to buy dog toys.  Many of the toys they have are ones that some poor dog has lost, and Jake or Luna has found.  We have bought lots of those orange street hockey balls over the years, and Jake has added multiple tennis balls to the collection.  

Yesterday I was in the pet thrift store, and this poor little rabbit cried out to me to be taken home.  He knew we could give him a good home with lots of attention, affection, good food and love.  I thought about it...no, we really didn't want any more pets...but then I was in my favourite kind of store, and it was half price day.....so what the heck, I plunked down my 50 cents, and the rabbit came home with us.  I didn't name him though, because I knew that the home he was coming to really wasn't what he thought it was, and that his life might be short.

Like many siblings, Jake and Luna had a bit of a spat as to who got to play with the new toy first.  Once the novelty wore off, they shared, well sort of.

First off, he met Smudge.  Poor Smudge, between a rock rabbit and a hard place  Luna.  She didn't know which way to turn

Hmm, a new friend, for us?

Luna is much bolder

Come to meeeeee, little bunny.......

Look, this is my 'sit like a bunny' trick...

Will it get me the bunny back?

That is one tough bunny, and did we get our 50 cents worth?  

Well you be the judge.

Unfortunately the music I added to this was disallowed by Youtube, so I had to pick something else.  Well they gave me a ton of options that they could add right there and then, so I picked something pretty random.  This isn't what I picked, not quite sure how it ended up there, but here you go....

Okay, that's really weird.  When I go to the preview, this IS what I picked, but when I go to Youtube's website, the video has a different soundtrack, at least for me, right now.  So why is it when I copy and paste the embed code, I get different music on the blog.  Clear as mud I know, but it is really weird.

PS  Monday morning --- I'm not getting the same music that was playing here when I posted this last night, but am now getting what was playing on Youtube's website.

And who really cares, you are thinking?  Well I just find it all very odd:)

A Luna(tic) Moment

It was a pretty decent day today.  Hey, at this time of the year, any day that it isn't raining, snowing or below freezing is a good day.  If there is sun, well that's a real bonus, and if we get sun and freezing weather, they can cancel each other out and make it a good day.  We did start out with a bit of sun this morning, but it didn't last long.  The chickens were pretty happy that the snow is disappearing fast and it was warm, well relatively.

They love pecking on the grass

The sheep were happy with the grass too, until Luna interrupted them to practice her driving.  

Luna though is easily distracted, and was thrilled to discover her long lost soccer ball.

She wasn't looking very elegant though

Mmmmm, I think we just rolled through some sheep poop....(licks lips, and ball)

There, it's all cleaned off now

Jake just wanted to play fetch.  I still am not very good at throwing and clicking at the same time.

And this afternoon I managed to catch the last few seconds of a Luna(tic) moment, which ended with a nose print on the camera lens. Check out that tongue. Sometimes I think it's an alien life form.

A Blogger's Worst Nightmare

Okay, I'm being a little overly dramatic, but when you've been 'internetless' for more than a day, you start to feel a bit antsy. 

Oh, I'll just check the weather report.....

I'll reverse look-up that phone number....

I'll look for a recipe for that....

I'll just check my email.....

Kind of like when the power goes out and you automatically flick the light switch when you go to another room.  Sometime after lunch yesterday the phone line, along with the internet, went out.  We didn't realize about the phone line at first, as I can't even remember the last time the phone wasn't  working.  And then David asked me  if I had paid the phone bill lately:(  I'm notorious for not paying bills on time, and I must admit that we did get a final notice on our hydro bill once, yeah, kind of embarrassing.   And, since there was no internet, I couldn't even check to see when I had last paid it, but I really didn't think it was that long ago, I hope.....So naturally when the phone came back on in the evening, we expected the internet to as well.  No such luck.  The family techy guy, David, fiddled around, but didn't have any luck.  We have had issues before with the router.  Today I clicked this and that, unplugged this and that, but really was just waiting for David to get desperate enough to call someone up, which he has had to do before.  Anyway, this evening when he came home, he had some sort of brainwave and we were back up and running.

Yay!!!!

Add to that, my camera is having 'issues'.  When I turn it on, most of the time I am getting a couple of beeps and the lens doesn't extend, and I'm getting the message 'lens error, restart camera'.  Usually with a few more attempts I can get the lens to work, so was able to get a few pictures yesterday.

We did get our predicted snow.  As I was heading back into the house with a load of fire wood after the morning rounds, I passed this. 

I'm sure Jake thinks he is part husky.

He was quite happy curled up in the snow, and didn't want to come in.

Calli can't get inside fast enough, and Luna is usually more than willing, but Jake doesn't look very happy that he got 'dragged' back in

Can't I go back out there and curl up in the snow?

The hens weren't very happy about it though.  

The odd one got brave enough to come out, and then hung out underneath the coop.

They didn't want to be in the snow, but were happy to have it delivered to them

And one foolish, or brave hen, plodded up through the snow to the spot at the top of the field where she normally lays

I carried her back down to the coop, and she left me a present:)

We got about four inches of snow, and then it started to rain in the evening.

Today was lovely and mild and hit 10  C and the air felt soft and moist, and I could feel my wrinkles just plumping right out.  I'm sure I looked much younger:)

A Day Late and a Dollar Short

Well that's me, not being organized and actually being able to wish my daughter a Happy Birthday in front of  the world   my ten readers, on the day of her birth.  

Meredith though, was not a day late, but was 10 days early, and cost me a week's work.  So I guess I'm more than a dollar short.  Oh, but she made up for it....I think:)

All 8 lbs 3 1/2 oz of her then, (thank goodness, at that weight, that she was early)

and all 5'10" of her now.  I'll leave off the weight part, she'll love me more if I do that.

She loved to read at an early age.  And speaking of reading, did you know, Meredith, that we incurred some library fines due to your early birth?  We were occupied with things other than returning library books.

She started to drink at an early age, but we put an end to that.  On the bright side though, due to those early experiences with alcohol, she mostly got turned off the 'demon drink', and can now be counted on to be the designated driver.

And speaking of drink, what goes in, must come out.

She could be a bit of a princess sometimes

Meri, Meri, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

With silver bells and cockle shells, 

and the corn all lined up in a row.

And I don't think I was ever able to convince her to do any gardening for me again.

She was an animal lover

Bridie (Lab) and Megan 

And she started riding at an early age, shown here with cousin Daniel

Sorry Daniel, I don't seem to have received my pay-off.  I do have the full monty picture too.  Just saying....

I think this photo was taken the day we made the HUGE mistake of taking her into Vancouver with us to do another tour around Expo 86.   How hard could it be, we thought, we'll take the stroller and she can ride in that.  After all, she had been a pretty easy baby, and wasn't a difficult toddler.  Well it was hell!!!  I can't remember too many details, other than she insisted on pushing the stroller around herself, wouldn't take a nap, and can't remember anything about the exhibition, other than how awful the whole day was.

Smudge , oops, age related memory loss, that's Muffin above and 

Mama Pussy below.

Yeah, it was kind of embarrassing to have to give that cat's name at the vet's. 

She was a stray that showed up and had three kittens, so we took her to be spayed.

And since you are such a cat lover, Meredith, it's real handy to remember that in cold weather like this, when we have to put out a litter box for Smudge, that she really is your cat. 

Enjoy your birthday present.

Happy Birthday!  Love Mum xxxxxxx

Another Cold One.

A little chilly this morning.

Yep, I really need to wash the window now.

There was the promise of sunshine, but it didn't last long, and it has turned into another of those cold, grey, windy, wintery days

Some creatures are spending 95% of their time doing this.  And when she does get up, and you put her outside the door at the front of the house, hoping she will do her thing out there, well by the time you are back upstairs she is already clawing at the back door, 

Let me in, let me in, don't you remember what that thermometer said....

There were a few accidents, which Luna was happy to inform me of.

Crunch, crunch, crunch.....kitty roca, mmm good.

Most dog owners can relate.

Not exactly what I want to hear as I'm sitting here at the computer

So that means we had to resurrect the dreaded litter box

.  The litter box is in an awkward spot, but that's were Smudge has chosen, so to make sure she uses it, that's where the box has to go.  You gotta do what you gotta do. 

My apologies to all the really responsible cat owners out there who keep their cats safe inside all the time, and deal with a litter box 365 days of the year.  It's just not my thing.  Maybe it's just that there never seems to be a good place to put the litter box.

Here's Jake and Luna keeping themselves warm yesterday, which wasn't as cold as today.  After watching it a few times, I noticed a difference between Jake and Luna's tails.  Jake's tail is in a 'softer' position more often than Luna's, and it is Luna that is making all the noise.  She is playing, but she's taking it pretty seriously.  It's interesting though, if she gets a bit too rough, Jake will get after her and she'll go down and he'll grip her muzzle a few times.

And yet, I've seen Luna move Jake off a bone from 10 feet away with just a look. 

The relationship between two dogs can be a convoluted thing.

Baby, it's Cold Outside

Us wimpy west coasters are still complaining about the weather.  Every day when I check the forecast on the computer, the cold weather seems to extend one more day.  Now they are saying Thursday before we get an above zero temperature.  At least the wind seems a bit less this morning, although at the Abbotsford airport the wind chill is -9.  It just looks kind of drab and frozen out there, with a dull grey sky.

The hens breakfasted on some frozen kale this morning

And it was frozen grass for the sheep, although they are getting some hay too.

Doesn't seem to bother the dogs though.  Here are Jake and Luna ready to spring into action at the gate to the bush field this morning.  Hard to tell in the photo, but Luna was like a coiled spring

And Calli is kind of .....la, la, la, oh...whatever....I'm going to do my own thing anyway, doesn't matter what you say...

Are you ready? On your mark, get set, go....

And they did, and I shoved my thick gloves on as fast as I could because my fingers were numb.

When we came back, silly Jake laid down on the driveway and told us he'd keep watch over everything, but we made him come in.