Saturday, May 23, 2009

I'm smiling again

Well, I survived my dental crisis.

Not a single one of the horrible scenarios running through my brain came to fruition (my brain is NOT my friend).

In fact, I was very impressed with the attention and care I received. They got me in almost right away and glued that little sucker right back on. After Art's tooth emergency last year I've been dismayed about what services are available in this area. Vanderhoof sucks pretty bad and Prince George is not much better. Their dentists are part-time and I was told by one place that they only take emergencies on Mondays and you need to book an appointment for that. What the ????? Fraser Lake has a dentist but he's closed for vacation (or something) and his office is a couple of trailers hobbled together, which does not exactly instill my confidence. On the verge of tears, I stopped to take a few deep breaths as I looked at the lone number left in the phone book. It was in Burns Lake. That is such a one-horse town, my expectations were pretty low. But I was in for a very pleasant surprise. It is an actual proper clinic with a wonderful staff. Not only did I not have to wait til September to get in, they are a full-time operation. Not 2 days here and 2 days in Smithers, like some of the other "professionals". The dentist himself was a bit scowlie-faced, but had a very gentle touch, so I'll give him another chance. Art and I are both booked for cleanings and checkups next week. Of course, I'm nervous all over again because those are not pleasant for me either, but it's one of those grin-and-bear-it things.

Now that the weather is finally turning nicer (still close to zero at night, though) green is popping up all over. And outside projects are taking precidence. My genealogy and other computer related things are having to wait for a rainy day.

Snow tires can be stored for the summer .... That tree that fell down got all chopped up and cleared away .... this would be why it fell down .... Before .... After .... Now that we actually own our driveway we are planning to build a nice entrance. Art's going to build an archway and a bit of decorative fence. The lumber is now in place, ready for construction.We've been continuing to bring gravel, sand and topsoil over from our newfound "pit", for use in the garden and yard. Here we are giving the dogs a ride.It's not quite so squishy in the skidsteer. I had a lot of downtime when Art was cutting up that tree, so I really did bring my knitting along. Quite a versatile gal, dontcha think?Went for a walk the other day. It was snowing.I had to put these on. No kidding.By the way...those socks are the best! They are the nicest ones I've ever found. Cushy, soft and stretchy (perfect for my tootsies). So, if anyone is ever wondering what to get me for Christmas....these are the ones.

I've got quite a nice hummingbird commune going on here now. I'd say about 15 that hang around the front of the house and about 8 at the back. They are especially active at dusk and last night, as I was taking this feeder down to refill it, about 6 birds hovered around me. Three stayed sitting on it while I carried it away. I asked Art to take a picture, but then they all got scared. Just this one guy stayed.Xena and Cleo are enjoying themselves.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

dental distress is mental distress

I have a fear of dentists and having problems with my teeth. Does the fact that I have 16 crowns tell you anything? This is one of them..... It has no business being in my hand. It should be securely glued to a tooth .... in my mouth! Yesterday I bit into a ju-jube and out it popped. If I was in Vancouver it would be no problem to get in right away to see the dentist I've grown to trust, but up here is a different story. I did find a place that would take me today, in Burns Lake. I'm way stressed out. Will report back later.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

work, play, relax

We are taking today off because it's kinda stormy outside. Rain and hail and COLD.Even the hummingbirds are looking like they need parkas. I'll bet they're wondering why they ever left Mexico for this.But don't worry. I won't embarass you by crocheting silly little outfits like someone did for this poor fellow. How undignified.... c'mon.Mind you, I don't know what this person was thinking. Maybe it was really cold that day. Makes you go hmmmmmmm, though, doesn't it?We bought Cleo a new ball. It's actually a horse ball, but we gave one to Xena and she loves it more than any other toy. So we thought Cleo might like one too.The handle makes it easy for her to carry and easy for us to throw. But Cleo doesn't quite get it."don't need no stinkin' handle....gnarrr, gnarrrrr"

We're doing a lot of work around the place, with the use of Tom's skidsteer. I'm really getting the hang of driving it. I feel a little guilty (but not too much) doing the easy part while Art slaves away with all the manual labour. I should take my knitting with me, for the times that I'm sitting inside the cab with nothing to do (wouldn't that be a picture?). But I always have my camera, so tried to be creative.


I wonder what the bunny symbol stands for ....



Art and Tom dug a Walipini and Xena is proudly overseeing the operation.She just looks so gorgeous sometimes.and when she's not supervising the hired help, she is scanning her domain.The cats, on the other hand, like to nap ..... a lot ....On our way home from town yesterday, we stopped to say hello to this guy.He was just down at the bottom of our property. When we were walking the dogs the other morning, we could hear him calling in the not too distant distance. That's when we want to keep the dogs close.As well as getting ready to plant the garden, we've had the odd home repair. Like this ........ danged thing came off right in my hand. We purchased one of those fancy-schmancy number keypad ones a while back, but do you think we could find it? No. Anyhow, this one does the trick quite nicely.In the Fall, we bought a really nice new window to replace the drafty, broken one in our kitchen. It arrived at about the same time as the snow, so the job had to wait for Spring. Unfortunately, it got damaged in a windstorm. I was very sad to see one of the panes all shattered, but Art says it can be repaired. I couldn't get a picture because of the glare, so put my polarizer on. Then it all turned pink. Kind of cool.

Monday, May 04, 2009

driving a skidsteer is FUN

I guess I had to post this after all the hints that Art was dropping on his blog. We had the loan of his brother Tom's skidsteer, so decided to haul a few loads of gravel from up the hill and put it on the driveway. I had my choice .... drive Betsy Ford (which is a standard, and I DON'T like to drive standard) .... or drive the skidsteer. EEK! I'd rather walk. We did a trial run with Betsy. Art put it in 2nd gear of "bull-low" and it was no big deal to drive, really. No shifting involved. Then I got brave and thought the skidsteer might be less intimidating. Once I was in it I was scared poopless, though. Did ya know those things don't have BRAKES?! ...... (of course, I found out later, that's because they don't need them)Well, after I'd asked Art 100 times exactly how to STOP and then practiced for a little while, I actually began to have fun.Then the only thing that got me out of it was the sun going down."See Mom, we told you it would be fun!"

Speaking of the sun going down ... a couple of days ago someone was doing a lot of slash burning to the west of us. A LOT. There was no breeze to blow the smoke away, so it just hung in the air. Made for a pretty spectacular sunset over our tire garden.And speaking of fire .... now that it's warming up a little we ALMOST don't need to light our woodstove as often. Pretty soon we'll be putting these away.We've been going for daily walks with the dogs. It's a nice way to start the day and Xena and Cleo love it. Have you ever seen a 100 pound dog bounce like a pogo-stick? It's pretty funny.Xena has been showing Cleo where all the best mouse holes are.She rather enjoys trying to get them to come out.I'd much prefer she chomp those than these.We took Cleo to the vet yesterday for her first checkup with her new "doc". It went pretty well until she tried to chomp the vet. That didn't win her any brownie points. It scared the poor woman, and us too. I guess more care will be required on future visits. We did ask about the whole "rock carrying" thing she does and were told that it's definitely a Rottweiler quirk but we should discourage it as her teeth are starting to show wear and dental repairs on a Rottie are extremely expensive (Art thinks the vet just doesn't want to get close to the jaws of death again).

I almost came home with another cat from the vet. There was an absolutely ADORABLE little guy hanging out in the office and I just fell in love with him. He is about 6 months old, all white (just like Ewie) and just kept cuddling me. And he had a sassiness that made me smile. I really wanted to bring him home. And guess what his name is .... Huey! Yup, it would be Ewie and Huey. Too cute! But, alas, I didn't bring him home. Three house cats is probably enough .... right? .... right?

Besides, look what I already have to contend with.He has figured out where I keep the stash of catnip and if I forget to close that cupboard door, Ewie actually goes and gets it. Finally, I sprinkled some on the carpet for him.Oh ya, here's one last pic of all of us crammed into the cab of Betsy Ford. The dogs were getting quite the workout following us up and down the hill about 8 times, so we decided to give them a ride. This picture definitely looks like there's more room than there actually was. I was hanging out the window trying to get pictures.