lumpy landings

Yesterday did not get off to a good start. I stepped outside to check the dogs and went airborne off the stairs. I landed just outside the left frame of this picture.How nothing got broken I don't know. Just some scrapes and what I suspect will become a lot of stunning bruises. I'm feeling pretty stiff today. note to self....don't wear Crocs on wood that has a layer of dry clay topped with some fresh rain. It's like snot.

It was not a good "dog" day, either.

Now, on to more fun stuff.

While we still had the use of Tom's skidsteer last week we continued some cleanup and various projects around the place. One job was the revamp of the fuel shed. Amongst the junk we removed from it was this old brass fire extinguisher. Too cool to throw away.As I took pictures of that job...Art took a picture of me taking pictures.Job done. Take me home, Jeeves.This is one of those "oops" moments. I'm far from being a master of the skidsteer and sometimes a sudden jerk can make an entire load slide off. I was attempting to move this pile of OSB and .... well .... it's slippery stuff.Art was annoyed, but after I got out to assess the situation and pause for a moment, I said "well, there's only one thing to do at a time like this" and pulled out my camera. He wasn't quite so mad after that.

The local arena is being renovated and they were throwing away all these heavy duty doors. Art has just the project in mind for those, so we made a pretty good score.Did I mention the cows are back? Well, with them comes a LOT of dung which Xena thinks is okey dokey. Not only is it green and smelling fine, but it can be very becoming when worn just right!After the skidsteer was gone, it was time to get ours going again. It's been dead for awhile. Art rebuilt the carb (I helped) and installed it (I helped).Note how Cleo is right there, underfoot?She does that alot we've noticed. She's not as equipment savvy as Xena, so we have to be careful to not run over her. But at every job we're doing she's right there. The drilling of post holes (picture on my last post....which I can't believe no one commented on, by the way), cutting wood on the saw ..... Don't fall for those sad eyes.So, our skidsteer started up right away after the new carb was put in. Yay! All that's left is this grease spot where it sat for the last long while.Unfortunately, it's now up on blocks again because the chain that drives the wheels on one side has broken. That repair should only take a day or two and this time it's not blocking the driveway.

We've been getting some rain (and cold) lately along with booming thunder and lightning. When it really crashes, the dogs bark, like they can chase it away.After a good rainstorm (and it's dried a little), the dirt is like a fresh layer of talcum powder. Animal footprints show up really well. When we went for our morning walk, we found these tracks leading all the way down our driveway. They look a lot like human barefeet. They are from a black bear.The next day, after seeing these, we were on our walk again and my heart lept into my throat when I saw something big and black in the trees not far from us. Turned out to be a cow, but boy did it give me a fright!

Speaking of going for walks .... look what I dug out of storage.10 years ago I used to run. I miss it. Sara has inspired me to be more active and I'd like to work towards getting back to running (don't worry, I'll walk a little more first).

I had occasion to do some sewing the other day, so pulled this out.It used to belong to my Mom. She was a pretty accomplished seamstress and made many of our clothes when we were kids. The sound of it whirring brings back many memories of her working through the night on some project or other. And it used to mess with the TV reception (in the days of rabbit ears, before cablevision) so she could only sew during the commercial breaks of the Saturday night hockey games or my Dad would be yelling. Anyhow, when she wanted to trade it in on a new one, with fancy zig-zag stitches and all, I begged her to give it to me instead. I'm glad she did.

This is a spider plant that my friend Rhoda gave me. It used to look so much better. Ewie has taken a sudden interest in it and keeps chewing bits off. Years ago, Chickie used to go crazy for one of these and I had to hang it where she couldn't get it. I did some research to see if it was poisonous and learned that for some cats it is just like catnip. Chickie seems to be over that fetish and for months this plant has been undisturbed. But now Ewie is after it.I found a suitable substitute for my favourite coffee, Starbucks French Roast. At least it'll hold me over until our next trip to Costco.I've tried several of the dark roasts they sell in the stores here and they are all crap (in my opinion). Too acidic. This may seem extreme, but I don't brew it like Espresso. I just use it as I would normal coffee and it is quite wonderful. Wonderful indeed!