Who can catch the wind?

Well, Xena is trying to. I particularly like how she runs full out without being able to see where she's going!

The buzz is back

The hummingbirds are back. And they brought their appetites with them. When they all disappeared back in May, I thought it was because my feeders were empty for too long, but was told that, no, they'd just gone to nest. I have 6 feeders out around the house and yard, and I'm needing to refill them all every day and a half. I actually ran out of sugar and had to go to town to buy a 10lb bag. The other feeders (with seed) are getting gobbled up pretty quickly, too. I still have a lot of cowbirds, redwinged blackbirds (which both have sweet voices that I can now recognize) and sparrows coming around. I even had a couple of visits from this guy .... a purple finch.

.... oops .... I have a picture somewhere. Just can't find it right now. Here's a cowbird instead ....Still on the subject of hummingbirds, there was one trapped in Art's workshop the other day. It didn't look like he was going to find his way out again and was getting pretty tired buzzing and chirping against the window. I was amazed that he allowed Art to clasp his hands around him and carry him outside. I'll bet he had a tale to tell around the sugar-water cooler later.

We also have many, many, many swallows and swifts with nests in the open roofed buildings. One keeps trying to build a nest on the side of our house, just under the roof peak and we keep knocking it down (with a VERY long stick). Every time we do that (which is almost every day .... you'd think they'd get the hint) there is a great hullaballoo as the whole flock bands together to fly around giving us "what for".

I finally retrieved, from the nursery, those hanging baskets I made back in April.She was keeping them safe in the greenhouse until all danger of frost had passed .... which, by the way it isn't quite yet. Some of our neighbours have lost their gardens because 2 nights ago it froze. Because of our location at this higher elevation and on a south facing slope, it is warmer on cold days and cooler on hot days. In winter we are 9C warmer than our neighbours and on days like yesterday, when it was 34C in the valley, we were 6C cooler. Yup, freezing by night, blistering by day. No wonder the gardens are having a hard time. I guess what they lack in heat is compensated by more daylight hours. Right now we are getting only about 3 1/2 hours of total darkness each night. The sky is still glowing at midnight and bright again by 3:30am.. Makes it hard to come in for supper, so often we don't and are still in the garden or out playing with the dog at 10:00pm.

Because we have fenced the house and yard area off from the cows this year, the grass is getting quite high within "the compound". Over by the barns it is particularly tall.I think this must be some kind of hay because it's different than the rest of the yard. It is quite a beautiful sight to watch when a breeze is blowing .... like an ocean of green with waves rippling through.

And how's this for living the dream? The ultimate electronic cottage!

cute doggie

The novelty of this puppy still hasn't worn off for me, so I guess you may have to put up with lots of pictures of her for a little while.




8 weeks old





11 1/2 weeks







And here she is mugging Art for his creamsicle. Does he look impressed, or what? Xena LOVES creamsicles (shhh... don't tell the vet).

Xena's growing like mad

Look at these two cutie pies. Everyday Xena looks bigger and bigger. We took her for her first vet visit last week and the best guess is that she's Golden Retriever crossed with Husky. The vet said that her ears would start standing up and sure enough, they are. One more than the other so far, so she looks kind of like Nigel in Farscape (I just hope she doesn't develop Nigel's other characteristics .... for those unfamiliar, he could pass gas that would knock you out).

I haven't forgotten

I've just been too busy to update my blog. I promise to real soon, though.

Today was a very good day

All in all, some nice things happened today. Art found a contraption in the barn (I call it that only because I have no clue what it is) that I think will make a nice planter.I put some plants in this old wheelbarrow we found out in a field.The fields of dandelions have turned to puff-thingies.I found a 4-leaf clover, and I wasn't even looking for one.Found a ladybug in the garden. With all these good luck omens, I thought I should check last night's lottery ticket ..... won $5.00.

Walter & Audrey, their daughter Shannon and son-in-law Russell, came up to collect some of their cows. Now, I know this is nothing new to those cow-pokes, but it is very exciting to us recently defected city slickers. I was all prepared to make a little movie .... had video camera in hand .... and then got busy talking and missed almost all of it. Audrey stayed behind with Art and I, while the other 3 got on their horses and went looking for the particular cows they were after. Next thing I know there was a lot of yelling in the distance and then the small herd came a running, cowboys in hot pursuit! By the time I got to a spot where I could get pictures, all there was to see was everybody's rear-ends as they headed into the trees at the bottom of the hill and out of sight. Dang, dang, dang, DANG!!!

Anyways, here's the best of what I was able to get. Audrey promises that there will be more opportunities. I hope so. It's not like I've never been around cows, or horses before, but this was right in our front yard!



Shannon bringing up the left side .....



Russell bringing up the right .....
Walter going down the centre .....and Audrey heading to meet them at the end of the road.Oh ya. And to top the day off, I got an invitation from Lane (Shannon and Russ's son) to come to see him perform in a school play tomorrow. It is either Hamlet or MacBeth (I can't remember) and he has the lead role. I told him I'll bring my video camera. He is graduating from Grade 7 to High School. I remember that transition. Seems like forever ago ..... seems like yesterday. Anyways, I'm honoured, Lane. Thanks for the invite.

Dadd-burned cows

Now I'm even talking like a farmer. Sheesh. But, really, they are dumb beasts. I think Moo-dini has been teaching the kids some tricks (Moo-dini is the name Art gave one of the cows last year, that could pirouette her way around the cattle guards to get into where she shouldn't be). Over the last couple of days there have been two calves getting through the fence. Or maybe it's the same one both times. I just don't know. What I DO know is, there'll be hell to pay if that new garden gets trampled.

And you've heard of "fraidy-cats"? Well, they're nothing compared to "fraidy-cows", I'm telling ya. When I went out to shoo that calf back through the fence I caused a veritable stampede. My God! Take a pill, you stupid cows.

Even so, they do provide some nice photo ops.

My black cat

Some of you have been asking after Blackie. I'm very happy to say that he is back to his old sweet self. I hate how scared it made me feel, though, when he was sick that morning. I love my puddy-tat.

Bird bath

Art made a bird bath for me from an old satellite dish. It works very well, and looks kinda neat, too.

Paintin' Fools

Our neighbour, Audrey, got a new greenhouse and we went over to help her stain it before the plastic went up. It's been a very stormy few days, so we got rained out yesterday. We finished the job today under the constant threat of more rain.




Even Xena got in on the act. She hasn't gotten the jist of looking before drinking and dove her face right into the first can of stain that Art opened. Thankfully he had a big bucket of water right there and was able to wash her mouth out right away. What a goober. Today, she still couldn't stay away ..... note the little white Charlie Chaplin moustache.We got about 1/2 the garden planted day before yesterday, but Art can tell you about that.

I have been taking little video clips of different things, with the idea of posting them on my blog, but I can't figure out how to do it. So, Carol, the blogging queen, came to my rescue ..... sort of. She didn't teach me how, but she did post a couple of my clips on her blog. Please do check them out ..... http://www.carolbrowne.com/ . Thanks loads, Carol.

I had a bit of a fright this morning when I found Blackie (my big kittykat boy) feeling quite under the weather. I gave him until the afternoon to show improvement or it was off to the vet. Thankfully, he has recovered. I was very worried, though. He may have gotten stung by a wasp (or maybe even ate one). I have found about 6 in the house over the last few days.

Happy B.D.

I have a younger brother and sister named Dennis and Denise (they are twins). Today is their birthday. Because they are younger than me, I won't tell you how old they are.

Happy Birthday, brats. Love ya lots.