Back Off, Dementia!!

They say that one way to prevent "old-timers" is to keep firing up the ole brain cells.
Learn a new language. Take music lessons.
Do crossword puzzles.
Basically the theory is "If you don't use it, you lose it!"

If you are always doing everything the same way and have set daily routines, switching things up should help as well.

Like try moving and living in a trailer for awhile.
Re-learning all your daily tasks should help keep dementia at bay!
Fixing up an old house while on a tight budget might also help.
Geoff and I shouldn't have to worry about brain-cells-being-stuck-in-a-rut for some time.

Like last night......Geoff and the kids head out of the trailer after supper to work for a bit and when the dishes are done and the kettle is boiled we'll all make tea and then wrap up in blankets to watch a movie in the house.

The kettle is almost to a boil when it starts to POUR rain.
No little sprinkle. Buckets coming down.
I radio the house and let them all know that the kettle is almost ready but because of the rain I will now be having my tea in the trailer whilst reading a book. My rubber boots were in the house or else I might have wrestled with an umbrella and tea, but between the house and the trailer is a bit of a ditch, and since it quickly fills up I wasn't going to try to deal with a full mug, umbrella and slippery crocks in the mud. No, siree. Didn't need to see a movie that bad!!

Well, Geoff my-knight-in-shining-armor shows up with an umbrella he bought a few years ago, bless his heart. This umbrella is one notch down from qualifying as a beach umbrella. It's colourful enough for the beach and to be truthful my pride wouldn't let me use it for years. Honestly, it made you feel like a one-person parade to use it in town.  Anyways, it's plenty big enough to keep two people dry. But he isn't just coming for me or a cuppa, he wants to switch over the propane tank so that we are insured heat all night. I'd help hold the flashlight and umbrella if I had my rubber boots, so he made the trip back to the house to retrieve them.

Well, if it had of been daylight and we had neighbours close enough to watch we would have provided a little entertainment. POURing rain. Rainbow umbrella big enough to be spotted by Google Earth, flashlight needing to be in three places at once and threatening to die, two sizes of propane tanks one small, one massive, needing to be connected together requiring one to be raised up.
(Just cause we weren't facing enough challenges).

And you know, I could just feel the wind blowing those brain cob-webs away. :)

I am not sure if it's cause it's still all new, or if our determination to have a positive attitude and faith in God is helping, but we are having fun.
We really are.

Yes, we get tired. Yes, some days have headaches and goose-eggs.
Sometimes the tool you just put down gets up and walks away.
Sometimes you cut a little too close to the electrical socket with the wall-paper razor and you get zapped and have the blade blasted out of your hand in a shower of sparks, and those around you don't know whether to laugh or check for your pulse.
(Note: I'm not saying this happened, but it could, if you weren't careful ;) Safety first!!)
Days are cold. Nights are long.
Wood stoves don't come when you expect them.

Life happens 
even when you 
are pursuing a dream.

So not only are we thankful that we are finding the journey enjoyable but we are happy to report that (most likely) we won't be suffering from old-timers any time soon. :) 

** Please know that I am not attempting to make light of Alzheimers. It is a dreadful disease and far too many lives are ruined by it. There are many factors involved, including diet, use of aluminium and vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Hopefully more can be learned about this disease so that we can all avoid it's horrid effects. 

One Too Many.

It makes logical sense that there are only so many coats of paint that will go on cupboard doors before it impedes their ability to close and stay that way.

We bought the house one layer too late. Agh!

So I mentioned in a previous blog that the upper cupboards were SOLID and only needed some scrubbing and painting and I'd be happy to have them over "new and cheap", cause if they've lasted this long they would last just as long again.

They are solid alright and all but one door stayed closed.
We fixed that one errant door by moving the magnet to a different spot and TA-DA, just the magic it needed, all six doors snug-as-a-bug.

They got washed and scrubbed a few times. Goodness, but I didn't realize how much time and effort that would take. Seemed like I was always missing a shelf, the front of a door or a section of wall at the back. It took several sessions and many fresh buckets of warm, soapy water before the day arrived that I declared.........

"They are ready to be primed!"

Priming was almost as tricky as the washing part. You would feel like you covered every inch and then get off the step stool and "Blah, missed a whole section"

Of course the doors stayed open in the hopes that the space heaters would warm up the room enough to get all the wet spots dry and I have a wee, and very tender goose-egg to prove that we did due-diligence to help that paint dry!  Open cupboard doors and myself are like magnets and metal. If they are close they will connect. It was almost the straw that broke the camel's back, but I'm still here and trying to avoid touching the left side of my forehead.

Anyways........so the primer dries and I start to apply paint, but Geoff began to notice something I had failed to spot. (I blame the "Blow to the head") ....... with the ONE extra layer of paint.....

NOT a SINGLE cupboard door will close all the way.
NO way! Are. You. Kidding. Me!
Nope.
No moving of magnets will help this problem.
The doors have to come off and be stripped.

Grrrrr. Frita-frat,

Of course every screw, all sixty of them, have just as many coats of paint on them as the wood does. Just a wee inconvenience.

Some "sprinkles" in the whole situation....

Flat-headed screw drivers and hammers and two hands that can use the two together....making paint chips fly, unveiling the screws......

An ancient tin of paint remover in an out-building that was still usable.

Old paintbrushes (the paint remover practically melted the paintbrush, it would have been painful to have had to use a new one!!)

Rubber gloves!!  Skin is not over-rated!!

Scrapers - dry-wall putty knife worked like a charm.

Re-cycle cans and containers to hold the corrosive stuff.

Turns out painting the cupboards is a whole lot easier with the doors off!
My head is feeling a whole lot safer too!!

Took one of the doors, after I was finished scrapping and it fit like a glove into the opening. So, it was worth it I guess.

Yes, it was kinda annoying, that with so much to do, this extra step needed to be taken. 

But oh well, the end result will look much better and in the long run, no one is going to know or care that the doors were a "pain in the behind". I mean pain-in-the-head ......myself included.......once my goose-egg is gone that is.

Thar She Blows!

One thing has come as a bit of a surprise to us...and that's how windy it is most of the time and the strength behind the wind.

We'll have to come up with a new line since...."Look what the wind blew in!!"

......... is getting a tad worn out with constant use. 

It's been difficult getting to sleep some nights in the trailer, with the rocking and swaying. Geoff said we couldn't be in a better spot though since we are protected by the house. 

That's good, I wouldn't want to be some where un-protected!

Hopefully as we live here and fill in all the cracks and replace more windows the whistling will stop.

Honestly some days it sounds like someone can't be bothered to get up and take the kettle off the burner. And I wonder why I am always wanting a cup of tea?  

The young people have both said they think it's someone screaming, so I'm thankful I am thinking tea-kettles and not wondering if someone is getting murdered!! 

I have to admit, I'm a little afraid of what it'll be like when the temperatures drop for real and stay there, I think the whistling and blowing will be a little harder to joke about. :P  

I'm just thankful that our stove will be here before too long!

On laundry day I use every peg I have, putting five or six on towels and sometimes they still come half off!! But they do dry quickly and are fairly soft!! :) So I can't complain! 

It is going to be interesting to see how high the drifts of snow get this winter.

I can see it now.....

"Geoff just where DID you park the van yesterday?" 

Would the City Girl Please Stand Up!?

There she is Ladies and Gentlemen, A city girl.

Yes, I had a city girl moment this week but thankfully none of the village folk noticed. I don't think.

So the other day I'm heading to the village and when Geoff realizes where I am going he asks me to pick up something for him at the hardware store. 

I can do that.

My moment started long before the hardware store. I forgot my purse at home. Drove that day without a license. Oops.

And a debit card. Alright, well scratch that off the list, and that too. Need a debit card for those.  

Guess Geoff's item will have to wait. But I can still get paint swatches for us to ponder over and vote on. 

Thankfully there were enough loonies in the van to get the load of laundry washed, the main purpose behind the trip in the first place. So while the washing machine did it's thing I headed to the Hardware Store.

Now I'm thinking this happened cause I was pretty sure by this time anyone who looked at me would be able to see that I was driving without a license. but whatever, I tried to act "normal" even though I was obviously lacking a purse and marched up to the store doors.

They didn't open. 

"What!? They are closed on a Wednesday morning?!?!"

I stepped back to check for an open or closed sign.

The OPEN sign was lit up.

I checked the hours.

Yep, they opened a couple hours ago.

I moved towards the doors again.

Nothing.

"Great, how was I to get their attention that the doors weren't working and I needed in!?"

Then the awareness swooped in like a flood and I was standing there with my city-girl showing.

The doors needed my help to open.

Oh. My. Goodness.

Years of automatic doors have dumbied me down to this....standing stupefied outside of a building with manual doors.  

Thankfully there wasn't the usual five-six people chatting by the front cash, Phew, I grabbed my swatches, and got out of there before anymore city-girl slipped out. Well, part of me is city-girl... I guess, there must be some red-neck in there too.......I mean, driving without a license?!

I'm not really sure who I am anymore. haha

Hopefully I'll grow into my farm-girl boots.

It was those actual-for-real, rubber boots that helped me figure out what direction to go.

I began to realize in Penetang, that I was happiest when I had my rubber boots on. That meant I was outside working in the dirt. 

For some reason, unknown to me, I really like soil. I like working with it, improving it, making compost for it, growing stuff in it.

As weird as it sounds getting my hands into the earth levels out my soul.

I guess you could say it grounds me.

It's good to be grounded. 

Especially after moments that find you lingering outside store doors unsure why they won't let you in.

Time to get back home and put on the rubber boots!!  :) 

November the Eighth.

The eighth day of November, 2016.
It's gonna be a big day for us.

First off, in the wee hours of the morning, we'll need to be at the Moncton airport to pick up The Man-Son as he arrives back from his visit to Ontario. (just a wee bit jealous that I don't get to go!!)

But we had better be back here by 8:30 a.m.sharp or maybe it'll be 9:00 or 9:30.... since that will be the day our wood stove arrives!

It was only supposed to be a 4-6 week wait. You see, I guess there is not a HUGE demand for wood cook stoves, so they wait until there is an order before making one. Well, either business is going really good right now, or many employees were off sick, but whatever the reason.....
It's been an eight week wait.
Sigh.
It's not getting any warmer either!

East neighbour is pretty confident that the snow will arrive before our stove does.

I have mentioned it before, but it bears repeating........
This is (well actually ISN'T yet) our only source of heat.

We do have four small space heaters. One for you, one for me, one for the "bathroom" and an extra just in case.

When we heard yesterday that the stove wasn't coming until AFTER the snow arrived, I called the oil tank people.
The basement has an oil tank, furnace and duct work. The living room has a thermostat and every room has registers.
Maybe they could work a little magic and warm us up while we waited. Besides a secondary source of heat would be a good thing right?

They could work some magic to be sure. But to the song of about six thousand buckaroos. Maybe you've heard that song before? It goes like this..."Six thousand buckaroos! They're mine now, but used to belong to Youuuuu. To you,,...humm, hum, hummmm. la, da, dah, da, da"

Like we thought, the oil tank was beyond use. An important piece was laying, busted off, on the floor.
And although we were right in thinking that the furnace looked in good shape, there was a vital piece missing.

The chimney.

Oh! that's why there used to be a hole in the kitchen floor?! Ooops, that hole is now plugged and covered with b-e-a-U-tiful ceramic tile. Not that we wanted an oil furnace chimney running up beside our wood stove and it's chimney. Best the fellow could figure was they most likely had the two joined together, not the most legal set up. But John Smith wasn't going to let "legal" slow him down!!

So our options? Well, make that one. Option. We gotta scrap the whole enchilada and start over. New tank, new direct vent furnace. Oh, we could keep the duct work if we really wanted too. Awe, thanks.

Well, guess we'll have to count the pennies in the cookie jar and make up our minds.
That is if the cold doesn't make it up for us.

Good job we have that extra "just in case" space heater!! It will come in handy for such times as these! :)
Guess it's also a good job we all seem to have our Adventurous spirits in-tack!
Hummm...I wonder what low temperature they hold out until?  
Stay tuned, we'll let you know. :)

They Came, They Saw, They Helped.

We had company coming!
My mother and her sister.
It was time to "pull up our socks"!!

We set up the living room for visiting and having tea in. Turns out the house was never warm enough for actual sitting down and chatting but Hey! the motivation got the job done anyways :)

For some reason this is the only picture I took before throwing sheets all over the furniture so we could sit down in work clothes etc.  (as of today the floor trim is up). 

It took two trips to the dump and some re-bagging (the dump won't accept stuff in black bags, first time we "got away with it" since we didn't know better) but the pile of garbage got whisked away before the company arrived. 

Not sure that the burned away grass looked any better than the pile, but it is nicer using the clothes line without it there. And it will be a lot easier getting the wood stove in when it comes.

It was wonderful to have family come to see "what we have gotten ourselves into"! 

Gave them the fifty-cent tour for FREE, of course! haha

Went to the Farmers Market. Their being here was the motivation I needed since I hadn't been able to tear myself away from the work long enough to go check it out before now. 

Also checked out a Sheep Farm and Shop that I have been wanting to see. Really cool place!

The cottage they rented was SUPER sweet. Beautiful place where we ate all our big meals and for us "deprived folks" enjoyed the use of the shower. :) 

We even put them to work priming clapboard that the neighbour brought over for us. Just enough to replace some rotten pieces. (In picture above you can see the one white strip, where one is replaced)

Now we have some colour swatches here to mull over. We aren't 100% sure what colour our house is going to be, we just know it won't be yellow when we are finished with it. 

We waved good-bye yesterday morning. :( 

A sweet but kinda short visit.

They still had three days of travel ahead as they had driven here, but the holiday was over for us, no more goofing off! 

Back to work, 

wallpapering, 

painting, 

caulking, 

trimming,

cleaning the basement,

.....preparing for winter. (which is another blog but entailed, calling the oil furnace people, bagging sawdust and digging away rocks.... among other things) 

We are pretty sure winter will be here before we are quite ready for it.

So the adventure continues! Gotta find blog material somehow!! 

Thanks Mom and Aunt Diane for coming to see us. We appreciated your enthusiasm and encouragement, not to mention all the thoughtful gifts and suggestions! Safe travels! xo

Biggest Puzzle Ever!

I've always loved doing puzzles.The whole family enjoys them actually. The bigger the better. Challenging? Bring it on!  3-D? Best give that kind to our eldest son!!
In Penetang we enjoyed a unique library. They had puzzles. One long winter we signed-out two or three at a time.

Then we moved to a farm where we plan to heat and cook with wood.

Thus began the "fun" of working on the biggest (and heaviest) puzzle we have ever done!

I can't exactly say I am having fun. But I am finding it enjoyable. Well, the first hour is enjoyable. It changes to something different after the body starts to wonder about your sanity...."You thought we could handle all this physical labour did you?!" haha.  After a bit you start encouraging your inner self to do just one more wheel-barrel load. And so one load, one chunk at a time the shed slowly fills.  

This is the pile of green wood that came first. All six cords came off our friend's property. He later came to chunk and split it. It would be up to us to stack it. 

In case you are wondering....A cord is stacked wood measuring four feet wide by four feet high and is eight feet long. Total volume of 128 cubic feet. 

A friend from Ontario sent us a link about stacking wood in circles.....we haven't any good, bad or otherwise wood-stacking habits to break, so we thought we would give it a go!

THE HOLZHAUSEN, A EUROPEAN METHOD FOR STACKING WOOD

How pretty is that!?

It’s a self standing structure which does not need to be braced or stacked in a wood shed.  The technique is simple, and built in a circle format allowing for the wood to support itself.  Stacking wood in the traditional fashion ~flat stacked upon each other~ does not give it enough room for airflow to pass through, therefore not allowing the wood to dry quickly. The holzhausen method has plenty of airflow, and it is said that wood can dry up to 2 times faster.  

(borrowed both the idea and the above paragraph from ....... afarmgirlinthemaking)

Here is a different six cords! Dry wood dumped at the front, wet at the back.

 Yep, like we don't have enough to do getting the house livable. We are also needing to stack two years worth of wood. 12 cords. Twelve!!!   

I keep wondering if it's because we are so new at it or if we are being too particular about where to put each piece..."Hummmm....where should I put this piece?" ..but it seems like such a slow go. The Man-Son and I spent about five hours at it today and it looks like we might have moved a third of the pile?. 

Looks so nice all stacked up though.

Geoff our "skilled worker" is doing things like replacing windows etc. while the manual labour of wood stacking is being left to the less skilled workers. ;) But being he is the only one in the family with any kind of experience (grew up with wood heat) he does check in once in awhile to see how we are coming along. Today we lined two walls of the wood shed and Geoff's comment was.......

"Good! you got two tiers up!" 

"Tiers?"  

"That's what we called stacked rows" he said.

"I was thinking "tiers" with a different spelling" I responded.

"Like blood, sweat and tears?" he asked.

Yep.

Maybe the "romance" of heating with wood will kick in when we can gather around the heat of the stove watching the flames flicker. But right now, highly aware of muscles that I wasn't noticing yesterday, all I can think about is how it would of been done 170 years ago before chain saws, gasoline, log trucks and wood splitters. 

And when you think of that....

trees cut down by axe, dragged out by horse, chunked by hand sawing, split by axe.....

well, you gain a whole new level of respect for our ancestors.

Truly, it's some kind of miracle that we are all here. Sheer determination and plenty of 

real blood, buckets of sweat and bottles of tears.

And that's the truth.

Well, hopefully by the time our wood stove arrives sometime in the next two weeks all that wood will be tucked away nice and dry in the wood shed. (which incidentally used to be a house that sat across the road, was dragged over here to be become a work-shop/wood-shed and looks every bit as old as our house) Then I can get busy gaining a new respect for our great-great-grandmothers who kept all our kin folk alive by cookin' on wood stoves!! :) 

Phew. How do you spell MAJOR learning curve ahead!?! 

As Promised

Been posting a lot of inside pictures. Which at the moment are rather unbecoming.
I had mentioned that outside pictures would be posted at a later date.
That date has arrived!
Between fall colours and the loveliness of the day I was compelled to take the camera for a walk.

May we introduce, Henry.

Sticking out "like a sore thumb" like that one odd-ball tree, has probably saved it's life. That tree is now a "named tree". And when things have names they become part of the family. 

We don't chop down family members now do we?!

Always wanted a weather vane. 

Now I have one, but I am unsure if it works except in gale force winds. And in winds that strong I'm not out having a "look-see" at which way the ole weather vane is pointing!!. :)

Tight.

We bought us a TIGHT house.

At least according to John Smith it's tight.

When we asked how many cords of wood he burned in a winter, the answer was eight. (EIGHT!?!)
"Cause it's a tight house", he added, "never feel a draft."

Another time I mentioned to John that I had bought mouse traps to get ready to catch the little stow-aways.

"Oh", he boasted, "you won't need those! Rarely see a mouse in here!"
"It's a tight house!"

Funny, but he kept calling it a tight house. He really thought it was I guess.

We have now lost count of the mice that have succumbed to the lure of peanut butter. When you reach ten you stop keeping track. There have been a couple times where all three traps have been licked cleaned without being set off!!

I said to The Youngest, "How small is that little ball of cuteness that is able to get it licked clean without triggering the trap!?

"EXACTLY, Mom!! And that's what you are trying to kill!!" (I think if I remember correctly she added something about us being "baby mouse killers") haha. But she does get that we don't want mice in the house. The smell wafting down from the open attic access, of mice "relieving themselves" for years, is enough to make anyone become a "baby mouse killer". Yuck!

We now know why John burned eight cord. Stand anywhere in the house and you feel a fresh breeze. Even with windows closed! We are wondering how he stayed warm with only eight!!!
But we can deduce, from the stories we've heard of John, that he stayed warm and didn't feel "any drafts" cause not only did he burn piles of wood, but kept a "pint of anti-freeze in his radiator"

I'm thinking it was that same "anti-freeze" that prevented him from seeing the mice and their calling cards.

After a month of working in this house we have concluded that if THIS house is TIGHT....

Than so is ......

......a braid whose hair band has fallen off.
......a six year old's front tooth with a gap beside it!
......a moored boat with a hole in it.
......a toilet seat with loose bolts.
......an antique piano stool that has been spun a few too many times.
......an aging deck that hasn't been water and weather proofed.
(We had a "tight" deck as well! Wanna come for the bon-fire when we have it?!)

But each day it gets a little tighter... for real. Almost emptied a whole package of pink insulation into holes here and there. Three new windows are in.

And repairs to a basement window, which required a trip to the hardware store for a glass cutter are done and the install will happen today. (see picture below)

You just have to laugh when the word "tight" is used and you walk around the perimeter of the house and see this.....

.....the basement "window". Opening is a more correct term.
No glass, no screen.
Just lovely, fresh country air where all the cute, country mice are welcome to enter.

Biscotti

That's the name of the paint that the living room is now covered with.

Biscotti is really code for "Newborn Poop" haha. 

Funny that isn't what came to me when I looked at the swatch! But the first swish of the roller and that's all I could think of!!

Mentioned it to a family member and they had the same impression.

Oh, well...here goes. It'll look better after the second coat I kept telling myself.  Another thought I comforted myself with..... "It'll look fantastic with our navy-blue furniture" 

But another voice was saying "Why didn't you stick to light grey like before?" 

"Grey is safe." Grey would have been safe but I'm so done going with "safe".

I think I was inspired by the use of colour here in the East. Bright colours are everywhere. Whole buildings are purple, red, royal blue, sunshine yellow! Seems like the favorite roof colour is Fire Engine Red.

I love deep colours and I figured that if there was a safe place to be bold, where neighbours wouldn't judge you on your bizarre paint choice, it was here. So I plugged my nose and jumped off the diving board!!

Well, second coat is looking much, much better....  I'll keep you posted on the compatibility of walls with couches :)

Here's a peek....

One room...almost....down......

Several.

More.

To.

Go..........

Here's the "make-up" stash...hopefully it's enough to freshen the place up a bit!! 

 

Settlin' In?

We have been asked that a few times.

"Are you settlin' in"?

Um. We are settling into some kind or routine. In the trailer. And when it comes to getting up, eating and getting our butts to work. :)
But no, we are not even close to being settled into the house.

Thought I'd post some pictures for those of you who have never been part of a complete home renovation.

There is no room untouched. Tools, ladders, drying paint, ceramic tiles or drywall mud. Gaping holes where windows used to be. (those are usually filled in the same day). The dirt is being replaced with dust, sawdust, trimmings, bits and pieces always needing sweeping up.

It's one of those things, where when you want to do one thing, you realize something else needs doing first. One must go backward in order to go forward.

I can't get the pictures up quick enough before changes happen. These boxes are now stacked in the hallway and other rooms, since the living room is getting painted today. This means the couches can come in from the barn soon!!. Hopefully no little furry things have take up residence in them and we'll have one room "settled" at least 

Kitchen window being replaced. What a windy day that was!! Blown insulation, blowing all over the place. To be expected since I had just shop-vac'd the room out the night before! Blah. :)

Tool Central. Where did I put the........?

Thought that the Man-Son would be settled in this room by now. We were halfway done the papering when the window was replaced. The newly painted floor? 

It DID look fantastic!! 

Here's hoping that soap and water do the trick!!

Cutting a new attic access, since the new chimney will be going where the old access is. What a dreadfully, messy job that was. Poor Geoff. :(  Raining insulation and mouse poop all the while. Do they sell hazmat suits at the store? We should invest in one. Could of used one here and need one when we tear out the washroom.

Counter top and cupboards almost tore out. Need some water shut-off valves installed before we can go any further. Flooring waiting for it's turn to shine.

 

This is another old picture already. ALL the wall paper is down, most of the glue is washed off the walls. Just need some taping and mudding, then we can slap some paint on the old cracked walls. This is The Youngest's room. She didn't want wallpaper. 

Thank heavens! Got six rooms to wallpaper as it is!! 

The Youngest is helping me "paper"  to preserve mine and Geoff's marriage. Haha. 

Although who knows before we are done, one of us might be hitching-hiking back to Ontario!?! :) 

If only we had a Princess who relished the cold!! 

And a pea. 

Mind the itchy insulation when you crawl out of bed though!!

This will be the dining room .....eventually..... 

Other side of dining room. There is no ceiling, and now we know why. No "breathing room" was made for wiring. Notches are needing to be cut to make sure that the drywall doesn't press it tightly against the beams. Is there a Chiropractor in the house!?!  Over-the-head work is hard on the neck. Pacing yourself is the only way to do it. Just a few cuts at a time.  

As I type, the men folk are discussing getting 1x1's to nail on the beams instead of continuing with the neck-busting method of cutting notches...... 

This is where the boxes are now. The window is out of the way, since it was installed in the kitchen. YAY!!! We ARE getting stuff done! Boxes are on the right side, 12 foot counter top on the left. (picked up in town for us by the West neighbours. Thanks!!!) Geoff wanted to put it in the living room to get it out of the way....

But we are painting the living room today remember? :) 

As of right now, there is no place that would be out of the way. 

So we continue to learn, on whole new levels, lessons in 

grace, patience, and strategy.

Shots in the Night.

In all honesty it was shots in the day.

But blogging tips suggest that your titles be catchy. You must reel your readers in with intriguing titles that compel them to read on...."Shots in the Night" must have worked, you are still reading. ;)

Shots did happen this week.
But "Shots Mid-Day" didn't have the same urgency to convince you to read the rest. :)

We'd been warned that hunting season was beginning Oct 1st, but it was two or three days before hunting season was to begin that we heard shot blasts echoing between buildings and trees.

Was there a poacher hiding in the woods to shot a deer feeding on our pasture?

I ignored the first one. But when the second one boomed across the fields I had to go have a look.

Not a thing to be seen.

Later in the day East neighbour came by walking her dog to do "some 'splainin'"
Coons were hanging around. Coons bring mange, rabies and are a general nuisance etc.
Her husband was going to shoot the two that were in the tree and barn, but she asked him to wait until she warned us new folks.
She was only half way to the house to phone us, she said, when "BANG!".
Never mind then.

Guess there are some things about country life that we will grow accustomed to.
And in the not-too-distant-future guns, licenses and LESSONS will be bought for this place as well.

It's quite likely that if coons don't already live somewhere on one or two of our acres and are getting shot next door they'll want to find a safer place to live!!!
And as of this gun-less moment, our property is looking pretty darn-tootin' safe!! ;)