Today

Dreaded Doctor's appointment today....uggghhhh   and on monday a potentially horrific dentist appointment...tell you about them later in the day...gotta go.

The Number you Have Dialed has been Disconnected

I was woken up this morning from a lovely sleep by the phone ringing, it was our neighbour telling us that some of our cows were out and were in his yard..... oh yes...it was going to be one of those days....

Have you ever had one of those days when you give serious thought to pulling your phone line out of the wall. I know right now some of you are giving yourself whiplash by your head having reversed direction so fast to re-read what I just wrote...Me, the person whose phone rings so rarely that R and I both look around sometimes trying to figure out where that annoying noise is coming from, actually got phone calls today, yes in the plural form. Uggghhh, why couldn't they just be good ones...like " Mrs. Makepeace we would like congratulate you on winning the super 7 loto"  or My bank calling " Mrs M, we made an error on you account balance and you are not 30k in the red but 30k in the black....yippppeeee... but alas, I never get calls like that... I just get the ones where someone is yelling on the other end about their life being a shit hole blada, blada blada aaaaaaaaa. What the hell do they want me to do about it...I have trouble keeping my own life out of the crapper most days...  I want to be perfectly honest here...I have....seriously.....given thought to ....not having a phone...seriously...R uses his cell phone outside so that I don't here him talking to his friends, long distance during the day....and I am fed up with having to pay for a $100. per month land phone bill when the land phone only rings maybe 6 times in the month...hahahaha  I guess I am not as nice a person as I like to think...or more people would call me...

Don't be confused...I hate my cell phone too...if I could work up the nerve I would toss mine out the window of our truck as we sped down the highway... I hate paying the bills, when we barely have the money, for something I never use.... actually that reminds me...have I ever written about one of my favorite dreams ?

oHHHh you'll like this...  See, up until very recently one of my fondest daydreams was me and my hubby (this includes the first one since I used to have this dream even before I was ever married)  would buy a piece of property back in the wilds, there would mountains within sight and a river..

lots of trees and maybe a lake....  we fell enough logs to build our own huge log house with all the appropriate outbuildings to accompany it. In the summer fishermen would fly in to stay at our lodge.

 We would live totally off grid, using solar panels and wind turbines but we would be healthy and happy...lots of hard work but it would be all we had to do..we, no, I would hunt for food. My dad and I used to talk about this place...he would be our fishing guide. I would write the book that has been floating around in my head for years now and paint when I was tired of writing... BLISS....

but then reality steps in and now I sometimes think about my dream but shake my head and let it go...I have to let it go...I am not healthy enough to live in the bush...R would have to do all the work...and that's not fair... besides where can you go that "LIFE" wouldn't find you... sounds like I want to run away...doesn't it...maybe I do, maybe I do...or I did...huh...interesting...

 So R and I are watching a movie on Pay Per View tonight..."It's complicated."....we didn't think it looked good enough to bother going to the theatre...but okay for PPV... we do that a lot...  and I am shutting the phone off so I don't have to take anymore of THOSE calls.

Time to go make the snack plate for our movie experience...hahahaha fruit and crackers...and maybe if we feel really risque a diet soda....

Mind Games

Why can't people just say what they mean, do what they say and and tell the god damned truth.  I am so tired of people I know playing mind games and being passive aggressive about the stupidest mundane shit. So, I can't keep secrets, so if there is something that you are about to tell me that is like a national defence secret keep it to yourself...it is not that I am a huge gossip, I mean I do my share of talking but it is never vindictive, it is just that R and I live a very simple life...without a lot of family nearby and the typical family political intrigue, so we are woefully out of practice.  An example of this that I can share is this...

One year I was in Victoria visiting my niece and her daughter...This was quite some time ago...and I had planned to visit there a few days then head up island and cross on the ferry to visit my sister in P.R.  It was decided that I would take my great-niece (she was about 8 yr then) she and my niece had used to live in PR and she missed her auntie P. It was to be a surprise my niece and I agreed that afternoon...and then I promptly forgot...  when I walked to my great-nieces school to pick her up we were chatting away and out came the whole story how we were going to up island to see auntie P.. good god I hadn't even made it a day before I let the proverbial cat out of the bag...hhaahhaha intrigue and secrets are just not my thing...
R and I don't keep secrets and are so used to just saying what we mean that it is hard for me to be secretive...anyway I spoiled the surprise....she spent our whole trip shaking her little 8 yr old head and tisking me....like I was some backwoods moron...and I was. Not very worldly even to an 8 yr. old. Well she is 16 now and every last one of her family members are nothing but a huge embarrassment to her...ahahahah and we revel in publicly knowing her...much to her shame....ahahahahah

So I just wish people would be truthful.  Life is too bloody short and frustrating to spend energy on things that are going no where....

and now completely out of left field....wow what an oil spill in the gulf...BP is in deep shit over that one.  and I think Mikail Jean should get another 2 yrs at least as Governor General...she does a good job...and anybody is better than William Shatner...hahahahahaha

Tis the Season, I guess

Wow, I could be really busy this summer if I wanted to be. ahahahaha  In the past month several invitations have come for us to attend this summer.  The problem arises with the timing of these events...see, the summer is the time when 90% of farming takes place: seeding the crops, working the cattle to pasture, cutting the crop, harvesting the crop, fencing,fixing our antique equipment and gardening. We used to be able to squeeze a weekend away about once a year, with R's parents to keep an eye on the house and garden and pets, and our old retired cowboy to look after the cattle end of things, we could slip away between seeding, haying or harvest. But now the in laws have both passed and the old cowboy has moved closer to the city we don't have anyone to help out.  We did try a couple of years ago to have my adult son come each day to at least feed the dogs but he didn't listen to our instructions about how to do it...( I know what you are thinking, how hard can it be to feed 2 dogs, but they fight, you see, when food is involved so you have to separate them and stand there while one eats...he is slow and intimidated by his brother so is afraid to eat...when his brother can see him and stare at him until he is shaking like a leaf...he would sooner go hungry than have his brother attack him over his food) but that is what happened.. they had a row, probably after going without food for a couple of the days we were gone and starvation drove him to ignore his brothers warnings and try to eat...the yellow dog attacked and when we got home two days later....the brown dog had gashes that were festering and had lost weight...when we asked my son what happened he admitted he didn't know because he had fed them the first day and then passed it off to his girlfriend,   who just threw the food in one dish and left....so we don't ask them anymore...not that it would work out now anyway since they live farther away now. All the neighbours have jobs in town or too many chores of their own to bother them with doing ours, even for a few days...

When it is so dry as it is now, we are very hesitant about leaving home anyway... the cows are constantly walking the fence looking for food and the dug outs did not fill up this spring since there was no run off. Last year two of the 5 dugouts we have dried up and are still dry.  So water may become a big issue. hard to ask someone to haul water every day to the cows while you are off gallivanting... so at this point I would say we will not be attending the wedding, the makepeace reunion or the anniversary party at Lake Louise either.  Maybe if they were taking place in the late fall but even then one of us would have to stay home.   That's the thing about farming, you have to make hay while the sun shines...hahahahaha

Well the trees are leafing out finally and even some of my perennials are showing signs of life.  I hope to clean my pond today and run some fresh water in it...get it ready for my toad to take up residence again this spring and keep us awake with his croaking. I don't mind because he keeps the slug population down, although that is one of the perks of being in a drought....less slugs. This toad creeps me out sometimes...especially when my mind is on other things and I am on my knees digging dandelions out of the beds...and he hops onto the sidewalk beside me from seemingly out of no where.   uggh. little bugger. 

Our next door neighbour had a farm sale yesterday and sold all his equipment and livestock handling equipment.  He had quite a turn out given the amount of traffic there was on our gravel road and the dust was horrendous.  We had to lock the gates on our drive way because people kept driving in here. The dogs were going crazy barking because our road is normally very quiet. This neighbour sold his cows the year BSE hit and has worked off the farm since then...and he was over last month moaning about how farming is so shitty he just hasn't had the chance to get back into it. so he is going to rent his land to some big corporate farm and just continue to work off farm. He and his wife hope to go to Arizona this coming winter, they are both big casino fans and ask us, or they used to to until they got tired of us refusing them, to go to the casino in the city with them.....I always gave the same reply, why the hell would we want to do that when farming is enough of a risk as it is, I couldn't tolerate any more risk...the stress could kill me.  Anyway, today we are watching his lifetime accumulation of farm equipment and tools pass by our place.  Kinda depressing. I wonder how long it will take them to spend the pathetic amount of money he would have gotten for everything, in the casino... We didn't go to the sale since we had to make a flying trip into Costco for some more sheet protectors for this genealogy project but I am finishing it today....yah....got a barbeque to go to to night....sweet....any time I don't have to cook is a good thing...

Boy oh Boy

Wow, it's been a while since I was last on here... sorry about that..I am in the final push to complete this genie project and deliver it.  I am convinced now that I will never volunteer my services again...unless I get paid better...I am already in the hole for materials alone so at this point my services are probono.  

Crazy weather here...so warm last week this week near freezing and back into hoodie weather.  My greenhouse is coming along, with R's germ testing completed and out of my hair..I have more room for flowers now...but things are a wee bit behind where they should be, probably a good thing we are in for a late spring, my plants should be ready when the weather finally turns nice in late may....hahahaha

I am urging R to get into farmer mode...get your grain cleaned, service the field equipment...I am that little voice in his head....that just won't leave him alone...ahahahhah he tells me to hound him like that so he remembers...I never used to be a nag, really !

I am heading to bed, my eyeballs feel like my eyelids are lined with sandpaper. too much ready...

Stupid Award of the Month !

Everyone has heard the saying that alchohol impairs your judgement..well here is a perfect example.  Friends of ours have recently loaned their 49 yr old son close to a hundred thousand dollars (nearly their entire life savings) to bail his failing landscaping/backhoe business out of receivership. I have issues with adult children bleeding their parents dry...but we won't get into that right now. 

So his business relies on his ability to drive himself to the jobsite...so one would think that he would be extra careful not to jeopardize  his drivers license in any way, right.
Well he and his wife were at a house party a month ago and both of them got very drunk...now any person with a little forsight would have forseen that very thing happening and made contingency plans...like one of them not drinking, or having a sober friend drive them home...or this would be my plan....take your holiday trailer and just stay overnight...that way you can enjoy youself to your hearts content and just sleep it off...but ...they didn't have a plan...well...no not really...In the wee hours of the morning..they realized shouldn't drive all the way home...so they tried to call a cab....with no success...so the dumb ass leaves his wife staggering around at the party...and drives into town to look for the cab....(small town, only one cab)  and surprise, surprise...he got pulled over and arrested for drunk driving...they drove him to another small town...to have him blow the breathalizer...(not sure why another town) and it was way over....so automatic 3 month suspension...(not the first time either)  and because he gave a lot of lip to the cop...it may be longer.  Now he has had to hire someone and pay them 12.50/hr to drive him from job to job....and apparently it is not going so well...personality clash with the guy he hired...  Stupid, Stupid....Stupid... You know I have said a lot about my son's inability to think far enough ahead to the consequences of ones actions but in comparison, my son is an Einstein....ahahahaha  Sorry Rob for all the trashing I did.  You're a good man.

We had a bit of a shower the other day, just enough to cut the dust for a day but the grass has got a bit of a green tinge to it now and some of the trees leaf buds are swelling, so maybe in another week we will see that light lemony green of spring foilage showing itself. I love all the shades of green in spring. 

I think I may have R convinced to buy our first barbeque next week after having steak off the barby last night at our friends on the lake....it was very good...we usually only get barbequed steak once a year...when we go to their house...so we shall see if he takes the plunge and we buy a barbeque...mmmmmmmmmmmm

I had greenhouse envy yesterday after seeing her new greenhouse and all her lovely plants growing in it....makes my greenhouse look like a shanty shack...oh well...it would just mean more work...if I had a better one...I would have to plant more things...ahhahaha I am sure getting lazy in my middle age..

well I am off to stick the chicken in the oven....R brought a roasting chicken in from the freezer this morning and asked if I could cook it for supper....how do you say no...I was just going to give him leftover pizza ahahahahahhaha  now I have to work...

ODD

Huh, oddly enough I have spent all day waiting for something else to happen and even though I realize it is completely twisted, I have to admit to being a bit disappointed...ahahahaha Oh My God, I have become addicted to the roller coaster ride again !!!!  I hate the roller coaster....the ups and downs...sounds scarily like Bi-Polarism to me...

R was kind enough to help me in the yard this morning...I have had to dig up and divide these damned Iris's for the past two years...last year they didn't even bloom and they are so much work...cutting off the dead grassy leafs, cutting off the seed pods before they split and spill the seeds...and then the dividing every two years..

 I decided I hate them and wanted them removed...well...what an episode that was...we had to spades and an axe but we got them out finally and R didn't want to just throw them away...so we planted them along a row of lilacs...

While R was digging the holes for the plant balls, I was throwing a stick for the dogs and I threw it a bit high this once and by some fluke came very close to a mother squirrel we didn't realize was in the tree above us...the first we knew of her being there was her coming screeching down the tree trunk...chattering away and she ran straight at our yellow dog....it was hilarious (I can say that since it wasn't me she attacked)  he ran, his ears pinned back on his head and his tail tucked between his legs...then the other dog clued into what was going on (he's pretty not smart) and gave chase...dog, squirrel and another dog...hahahah quite a sight. R was laughing too. Soon the dogs both realized that it was a squirrel, after all, and both started chasing, it ran up a conveinient tree and made her escape...I threw the stick again but she had had enough..and soon was making her way, via the trees to another part of the yard...the dogs following on the ground...but she eventually gave them the slip..

It is another crazy windy day here...and the grass is getting browner if that is possible...usually it turns green for a bit but barely a blade of grass has turned green so far ..the air is filled with smoke from the huge grass fire on the Paul Band native reserve I told you about before just west of Edmonton...the fire there flared up again yesterday and is still burning...they have lost a dozen or so homes and buildings.... and are using water bombers today...  I started a bunch more seed for R this morning and my greenhouse has officially been taken over by germination tests....he says just think of the money I am saving doing them myself...and I say just think of the flowers I could grow in their place...

Yesterday I discovered that the deer were in the yard this spring and ate the ends off of every branch on my favorite shrub...a purple leafed sandcherry...i actually got a couple of cherries off of it last summer and they were delicious...

I had high hopes for this year..but now...???? I am going to move my chive plants closer to the door nearest the kitchen tomorrow..so that I remember to use them.hahaha

I want to paint so badly that I dreamed about it last night...it has been nearly two months since I even held a brush....it is a craving now...I must paint...