The Adventures of Papergirl...

Meditation...

2011-01-23T09:50:00.000-08:00

This morning in church the pastor mentioned meditation - the Bible says we're to meditate on God's word, His wonders.... I leaned over to Tim and said "some call it meditation, I call it hunting". I can't spend those hours in the woods without thinking of God and being in awe of all His creation and thanking Him for allowing me to be out there experiencing the cycle of life first hand.

New job!

2010-09-29T19:41:00.000-07:00

I started a new job this week! I've been applying for different jobs for the past few months but haven't had any success. A couple of weeks ago I came home to a message on the answering machine asking if I'd be interested in working 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. ARE YOU KIDDING? Those hours are PERFECT! I won't need to pay someone to watch Ben before or after school and the additional income would sure be helpful. It really seemed like a "God thing" - just the right thing for this time in my life. So... this week I rejoined the working world. I'm doing very basic admin. assistant work, but I'm just glad to have an income again.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the business world, everyone is paid in two coins: cash and experience.
Take the experience first; the cash will come later.

~Harold Geneen

I'm still alive!

2010-08-16T08:46:00.000-07:00

It's been ages since I've blogged. Seems like Facebook has replaced blogging for the most part. It's certainly much easier to post photos and interact on Facebook than here. But here I am!

We're in the last couple of weeks of the summer months and with it being as stinkin' hot & humid as it's been, I'm really looking forward to fall!

Just found out that Tim & I both managed to score doe tags for the Huntsville area this season (doe tags are assigned by lottery and they are pretty stingy about handing them out). Last year Tim and his pals were tripping over does but didn't have a tag between the 4 of them, so our doe tags this year (and my involvement in the hunt) should guarantee that we don't see any deer at all this season. Which would be the same as my dismal local hunting was last year. One of these years I'll shake the monkey off my back! lol

In spite of the heat, the summer has flown by! As soon as school was over, Ben & I joined my mother for a quick drive to visit my brother's family in Alberta. Four days on the road, 4 days in Edmonton, 2 days in Jasper, 2 days in Radium Hot Springs, and then 4 days to drive back home. Ben called it a "Stop-and-Sleep Trip" - we'd told him that Uncle Mark and his family live so far away that if you wanted to drive there you'd have to stop and sleep a few time before you arrived.

I'll post some photos and comments about the trip in the future, but for now I'll leave you with some photos of Ben's first fish. He'd decided he wanted to try fishing so we took him to the local stocked trout point (Trout Springs) and he pulled out a couple of dandy big trout!

Another deer season is over...

2010-01-05T14:57:00.000-08:00

Well, 2009 is over and along with ended the archery deer season for us. I was skunked again. It was looking like such a good year - we had less people tearing around through the woods, we put up treestands which let us see further and get our scent off the ground. But, the deer just weren't there.

I've heard from others that saw less deer this year. We've had several longer, snowier winters in a row which means higher mortality rates, especially for fawns. Corn crops were up late as well so deer could live in the crops and never be seen.

We're not without venison in the freezer though... A couple of friends who had success earlier in the season dropped off some meat and sausages. Then in November, Tim went up to Huntsville with a few friends for a the last weekend of rifle hunting and came home with a BIG buck.

The guys didn't have a single doe tag for the area up in Huntsville (you have to apply for them by lottery), and they saw plenty of does. Tim shot the only buck he saw... and it just might be the buck of a lifetime. 11 point rack (the 12th point didn't quite come to 1" so it doesn't officially count), HUGE browtines, and that grizzled roman nose of an old buck.

I know it might seem a bit morbid for some of you, but this is one of my favorite photos of the buck - taken where it fell. I love the way it is surrounded but it's woods, and leaves, and sky....

One of Tim's friends had an ATV along, but it got bogged down in the mud hauling this big boy out, so our new neighbour came to the rescue with his bulldozer!

A photo of Tim and his buck once he got it home:

With it being an old buck we decided to make a pile of sausage - our first attempt at homemade. We had a friend (Kevin) help out and guide us through the first batch. Here is Kevin working the sausage press - filling the casings:

Here is another friend Mary-Lou who also helped with the butchering and sausage making. That huge bowl in the foreground has 17 packages of sausage in it - about 1/3 of all the sausage we made that night.

We couldn't afford to get a full mount done of this gorgeous deer, but Tim picked a really nice kit to mount the rack with. Here is the finished work:

Tim placed it in near his chair in the living room, right over his reading lamp... we were surprised by the cool effects of the shadows cast on the wall and ceiling!

So, we celebrate the circle of life. It's an honour to be able to bring home good, clean, organic, free-range meat. It doesn't get any healthier than that! It's also an honour to be able to take the meat from the woods, through each necessary step, and to the table. It sure beats paying someone to present hormone-injected, colour-treated meat on a styrofoam tray wrapped in cellophane.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Edible, adj.: Good to eat, and wholesome to digest, as a worm to a toad, a toad to a snake, a snake to a pig, a pig to a man, and a man to a worm.

~Ambrose Bierce

Getting high....

2009-10-18T15:23:00.001-07:00

Those of you who know me, know that as I've gotten older I've become less comfortable with heights. This year we decided to put up a couple of 15' high ladder stands on the one farm. The first time I tried to climb up one I got 1/2 way up and came back down. The second time I tried I got all the way up, but was pretty tense about it. My hands were sweating and I couldn't let of of the little bit of metal at the seat. I have to add that we bought the cheapest, smallest stands they have - just a little seat and a small place for your feet. Not much to them. When you're up there you can't really see the ladder below and it's a pretty freaky feeling... well, for me anyways. In fact, my hands are all sweaty just typing about it. lol

The 3 of us have had the nasty bug that's been going around and it cut into our hunting season. So far neither Tim nor I have been able to go out. Yesterday was our first day in the woods - Tim was out in the morning.

In the afternoon I climbed up into one of the stands and tried to make peace with my fear of heights. At first I was awful. Being attached to the tree by the safety harness helped though. After a while I found it easier to look down and not have to fight the feelings of queasiness and vertigo. Eventually I could look over at the other tree trunks moving in the wind and not feel that extra surge of fear when my tree moved. By the time I climbed down I was feeling much better than when I first climbed up. There is hope.

Here's the view Tim had when he was out hunting yesterday morning from the stand at the other end of the woods:

Here I am in the other stand once I got my heart rate down and felt comfortable enough to take some pictures....

In my face net:

My Excalibur Vixen xbow is ready for action:

This is the view through the scope. It's only 2.4 x magnification but it has calibration for various yardages which makes for more accurate shot placement. It's a little tough to hold the bow level and position the camera for a picture at the same time so yeah, the bow & the crosshairs are canted.I'm sure you'll notice the absence of deer pictures... that would be because I didn't see any. I did see 3 noisy riders on horseback coming through the woods which I'm sure didn't help the deer situation any. I pulled up stakes and headed home before dark yesterday because my brother flew in from out west and we were to meet him at my Mom's in the evening. I didn't mind leaving early as it was getting plenty chilly up in the tree and I'd started shivering pretty hard. Still, it was absolutely wonderful to be out in the woods again. Even just walking to the stand wearing my camo and carrying my bow felt so very right. The few short hours in the woods left me feeling like a totally new person. Therapy of the best kind! I'm ready to climb back up for another hunt again and tackle that fear monster.

Hopefully those deer photos will be coming soon. :)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Fear is the father of courage and the mother of safety.

~Henry H. Tweedy

WOW weekend

2009-09-22T08:19:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago my friend Mary-Lou and I attended the WOW weekend put on by OFAH (Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters) just for women. Check out the website:
http://www.ofah.org/wow/index.cfm

Was a beautiful weekend at the camp up near Minden:

We were divided into smaller groups to rotate through a variety of activites, including shotgun & rifle shooting, bass fishing, canoeing, archery, survival skills, high ropes and the climbing wall, carving, among others.

Our group the range preparing to shoot shotguns:

The archery range:The canoes at the lakeside:

Practicing bundling a hypothermia victim for transport:

Fire starting - this one was using steel wool and a battery:

Wonderful pork roast on Saturday night:

Had fun carving a whistle Sunday morning:

It's neat to go to these all-women events and realize that there are more women that enjoy some of the things I enjoy! Makes me feel a little less like a square peg in a round hole.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels.

~Faith Whittlesey

First REAL school day...

2009-09-22T07:28:00.000-07:00

A week ago Ben went for his first full day of school. Just over 6 hours in class. He was cheerful as we left the house.
Holding tight onto my hand, but still smiling! :)

As we got to the school he was overwhelmed when he saw the playground full of kids playing noisily. Then as we waited for the teacher to come open the door, he was put off by several parents trying to introduce their own scared kids to him as they'd be classmates... and for some reason they seemed to think that if they spoke louder it would be better. Argh.

By the time the teacher opened the door he was crying and clinging. He didn't want to go and certainly didn't want me to leave him there. I walked him down to his classroom and waited until the teacher was there. In the end, the teacher had to pick him up and hold him to keep him from following me out the door. Afterward she told me that he "worked it out" and settled in a bit. Being the cruel, scrapbooking mom I am, I took pictures....

"I want to go hoooooome!"

Here he is AFTER school - just as the teacher let them out:

He was very happy to see me waiting for him, and eagerly told me all about his day.

Today he's back for his 2nd full day. I left him sitting on the carpet in the middle of the room crying, but not clinging too me like he was the first day. He kept asking if today would be shorter than the last time. I tried to explain that it would be the same amount of time. I told him that if he has fun that it would seem much quicker... but that if he cried and was sad it would seem longer. He'll have 3 days this week. I'm certain by the end of this week he'll be used to the routine and be more independent.

Now... I need to find a paying job for those hours that he is in school!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.

~Aristotle

First day of school... sort of.

2009-09-08T10:26:00.000-07:00

Today was Ben's first day of school. Sort of. They book each of the new JK kids in along with the parents for a separate 20 minute orientation to help transition the children to the new routine. So we set off to find Ben's classroom and meet the teacher:

There was rain in the forecast so we brought umbrellas along just in case....

Crossing at the proper school crossing....

Walking through the doors....

The first thing the teacher did was to ask Ben to draw a picture of himself. Being the independent and somewhat random child he is, he decided to draw this instead:

When he was asked what it was he was drawing he said: "an animal, the kind that we hunt." Oh boy. What a great first impression!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.

~Mark Twain

The Vegetable War.....

2009-07-11T15:58:00.000-07:00

Ben sometimes doesn't want to eat any of his vegetables. There are days he won't eat any of his food that has even touched his vegetables. Typical boy, I guess.

The other day was one of those Vegetable War days, when no amount of bribing or coercing was helping. Tim got creative and did this with some of the vegetables:

Ben wasn't sure what to make of this at first...

Wasn't long before he decided it would be kind of fun to eat the "eyes"...
... then and "nose"...

Dad reloads/rebuilds:
Ben deconstructs again:

Soon Ben decided he needed to make his own vegetable face:

It's not as easy as it looks... lol
He did it!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Vegetarian - that's an old Indian word meaning "lousy hunter."

~Andy Rooney

A bit of pink....

2009-06-28T11:40:00.001-07:00

Am posting this layout here for my scrappy friends. I ventured out of my comfort zone with this one and used a bit of pink. Hot pink. Discovered that the pinks and oranges work well with many of my photos and have been using more pink ever since. Maybe it's hormonal? Menopause waiting in the wings? LOL

I choose the title because in my life I've come across people who have told me that although they think it's OK for guys to hunt, women shouldn't. (If course I whole-heartedly disagree with them! lol)

Another reason my thoughts have turned to "pink" is that another one of my dear friends is struggling with breast cancer. We'd hoped she was in remission, but new spots have showed up in other areas and she's undergoing treatment again. We hope and pray that she'll be healed!

Stay tuned, more pink to come! :)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult.

~Charlotte Whitton

Hitting the Beach!

2009-06-16T19:48:00.000-07:00

Ben and I took a road trip to Goderich today with my friend Mary-Lou and my Mom. The weather was perfect - not quite warm enough to make the water tempting, but sunny and pleasant.

Looking forward to spending a few more days at the beach this year!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken.

~James Dent

The tale of the tail...

2009-06-14T07:36:00.000-07:00

Turkey season is over for this spring and I was lucky to be able to take a nice tom. Although turkeys are sort of ugly birds, their feathers are irredscent and gorgeous! I gave away the wings and most of the feathers to people who use them for crafts, but I kept the tail, beard and spurs to mount to commemorate my first bird.

Here is the tail - a work in progress:
The white stuff in the middle is Borax - the laundry soap. It helps dry and deodorize what little flesh is left still holding the fan together. The fan is pinned to the cardboard to dry in the open position. It was quite a bit of work to get all the flesh and fat off the base of the quills, then wash rinse, wash, rinse, wash, rinse and rinse and rinse and blow it dry while shaping it, but it was immensely gratifying to do the work myself and know it was done right.

I'd called a taxidermist who wanted $100 to do the work - including a wood wall mount. I would have considered it, but he seemed to have a huge attitude about it, and being a gal I took it personally. It made me even more determined to do it myself and to do it right.

The next step will be putting Bondo in the area where the Borax is now to provide durability and stability to the fan. That part will be tucked into a wooden holder which will hang on the wall to display the fan wall along with the turkey beard and spurs. A friend of ours has offered to make the holder, which will make me treasure the mount even more.

I won't do this with each bird, but I thought I should do something special for my first one. I'll post more pictures once the mount is completed!

Updated:
I didn't have to do the Bondo treatment as it fit quite snugly and securely into the holder. I still want to attach a brass plate onto it with the hunt date and bird details engraved on it. Here's the finished mount. To give you an idea of the actual size the beard that is hanging from the bottom of the holder is 9 1/2 inches long.

Song dogs...

2009-06-03T07:37:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I dropped Ben off with a friend and went to join Tim in the woods to try to call in a turkey for him. As we were sitting on the ground in our camo hoping for a tom to respond to our calls, Tim suddenly told me to stop calling. "Coyote." I listened, expecting to hear the coyotes howling as I so often do at that farm. Nothing. Instead Tim pointed to his left and there was this coyote watching us intently from just 20 yards away:

Coyotes have been epidemic in that area the last few years. The landowner is uneasy about letting her young children out to play in the backyard because of them. Although it briefly crossed our minds to pull the trigger, we weren't sure that the turkey load would get the job done humanely so we pulled out the camera instead. The songdog was quite brazen - didn't seem the least bit shy even as we were whispering and taking photos. It was probably thinking it was going to score an easy meal of turkey and because of our camo and positions on the ground it didn't recognize us as humans. We've since found out from others that the turkey load at 20 yards would have been enough, but that day we just enjoyed watching it watch us.

I love dogs, I love hearing coyotes, wolves, foxes yipping and howling... but it's gotten out of hand these last few years. I think some population control measures are in order.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Good decisions come from experience, and experience comes from bad decisions.

~Author Unknown

3Ds

2009-06-03T06:15:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago Tim and I shot in a 3D archery tournament. It was Tim's first and my second (my first was 2 years ago). 3D shooting involves traveling through stations on a course through the woods where life-sized foam targets such as deer, bear, turkeys, javelina, and other animals in different poses are situated. The targets are marked with the animal's vital areas with scoring rings like a bulls eye target, but not necessarily concentric - for example, the outside ring might be the shape of the animal's lungs, with the inside rings corresponding to the heart area. We shoot 20 targets in the morning and another 20 in the afternoon. We travel through the stations in groups of about 2-5 people - it's sort of like an archery version of golf.

The challenge isn't just to aim and shoot as best as you can, but also to properly estimate the distance to each target. Accurate range estimation is essential in archery and is probably the most critical part of the challenge. By the end of the afternoon, most people find it gets tougher and tougher just to cock the bow and hold it steady. It's a great way to improve your shooting and hunting-situation skills while engaging in competition.

These photos are from our last shoot in Elmira - we had a good turnout of over 50 archers, of those 12 shot with crossbows.

A turkey that's not going anywhere:

Our whole group shot well on this alligator - almost too well, as when this happens sometimes arrows are ruined by another arrow hitting it.

Early in our afternoon round we heard crying in the woods between stations and we all thought it sounded very much like a fawn. Sure enough, in the cover just off the trail we found this fawn bawling for it's mother, which had abandoned it while the groups traipsed through. We'd shot the same course in the morning and hadn't been there, so we figured it must have been born during our lunch break. It was still damp on it's flanks and struggled to walk on its wobbly legs. We tried not to let it touch us and get our scent on itself so that it's mother would accept it again once we left. It tried to follow us, probably imprinting and thinking that we were it's kind. One of the members of our group used doe bleats (the same sound we use for calling deer in the fall hunting season) and led the fawn off the trail into some thicker foliage were it's mother hopefully returned for it. We found out later from another group before us that had found the fawn still partially trapped in its sac. It was such a neat experience!
We decided the best thing to do would be to shoot our rounds and move out of the area as quickly as we could. Here the fawn is trying to figure out if I'm it's mother as I'm shooting:
Here's the group of shooters that we were in with one of our last targets. We enjoyed a lot of joking around and laughing together - good people, good times, good memories.

One of the guys in our group, (Kevin, who took me turkey hunting) took 1st place in the crossbow division. I came in 3rd and was pretty pleased with the results since I'm relatively new to the game and was the only gal shooting a crossbow that day.

This Sunday we're traveling to the London area to shoot again. Am looking forward to the event and the camaraderie that goes with it.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nature takes away any faculty that is not used.

~William R. Inge

Bird Down!

2009-05-16T16:41:00.000-07:00

Been sneaking out for a turkey hunt when I've been able to these last few weeks. Last Monday a friend of mine, Kevin, offered to take me out to a location out of town. Tim took the day off to stay home with Ben and I got up at 3:00 a.m. to join Kevin and his Dad for a turkey hunt. Was wonderful to hear gobbles and to watch a bird come in, great to see how it all comes together, and to be part of the excitement of a successful hunt even though I didn't pull the trigger on a bird that day.

Tim has been off work all this week so yesterday I got up again before daylight and went up to the same out-of-town woods to watch the sun come up and wait for the birds. After getting off night shift Kevin drove up and met me in the woods around 6:30 a.m. Not hearing any turkeys, he decided we should try another spot. At the next location he left his gun in his truck and just walked with me and called to see if he could get any birds to respond. After a while in the woods we heard a gobble. That was the end of the leisurely walk in the woods. Kevin raced off to a clearing where we could sit and he could call the bird in. Seems like we barely had time to put our backs to a tree before the bird gobbled again, much closer this time. Soft calls from Kevin. More gobbles. Safety off. Then Kevin spotted movement and saw the bird coming in from my right. A few seconds later I could see him too. His head was brilliant neon blue with bright white and red. He was looking for a date. He had his tail fan up and was displaying as he moved closer. A beautiful sight. I would have enjoyed watching the show go on for a bit, but decided it was better to take the next good shot he offered. BOOM. Bird down. From first gobble to the shot was probably less than 5 minutes - it all went very quick. The hunt was over by 8:00 a.m. What a rush! Definitely was worth those 3:00 a.m. mornings! :)

Kevin said it's a nice 2 yr old gobbler. He weighed in at 22 lbs, with 3/4" spurs and a 9 1/2" beard. A respectable sized bird.

The iridescent beauty of the feathers, the size of the wings, and the displayed tail fan amaze me:
Putting the tag on the bird:

Kevin with the bird he had just called in a brief moment earlier. I think he was just as excited as I was...maybe even more:

The carry out shot:

Guide Kevin and I with the gobbler:

Thanks for taking on this rookie, Kev!
Kevin insisted I called home right after we shot the bird. Tim had this waiting for me when I got home and walked through the door:
Ben loved the turkey. He said it was cute and he wanted to keep it for a pet. Here he is hugging it. No fear of him supporting PETA though, not long after this he wanted to help cut the meat with his own knife:

Thanks to Kevin for taking the time to drive to the woods after being up all night working. He's been patiently answering all my rookie questions and I've learned a lot from him these past weeks. While Kevin has always been a gentleman, he's never patronized me or made me feel like I wasn't capable because I'm not a guy. I really appreciate that!

Biggest thanks to Tim for always supporting and encouraging me... even when I drive him crazy practicing turkey calls. He's always been happy for me every time I've headed out to hunt even when I go without him. At this point in our lives we can't hunt together very often as someone needs to stay home with Ben (it's tough to find a good sitter for 4 a.m.), but Tim is never jealous and doesn't begrudge me the time in the woods. He often helps me gather my gear the night before and also often looks after my gun after the hunt. He often sets his own alarm so he can wake me in case I sleep through my alarm. When I'm out early in the morning he keeps the phone by his bed hoping that I'll call and tell him the hunt was successful. I'm a very lucky woman!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.

~Henry David Thoreau, 1854

Hitting the Turkey Trail...

2009-05-12T08:15:00.000-07:00

Tim found these tracks yesterday. Look closely and you'll see raccoon, deer and turkey tracks all within an inch or two of each other. Now if only we could find the turkey that made those tracks!

Here I'm posing with a turkey a friend shot (and a decoy):
Starting some turkey leg stew - with wild leeks, potatoes, carrots and other good stuff:

This has been our first season trying to connect with these big birds. It's been a fun and interesting learning experience. What a treat to be out in the woods during spring, watching the landscape come to life and turn green right before our eyes. In the past I've spent far more autumn hours in the woods sitting still and watching. It is so different: In fall the birds are migrating to warmer climates, the voles, mice and squirrels are frantically trying to hoard away food for the winter, the leaves are changing colour and dropping from the trees, dawn comes later every day and the sun sets earlier each time I'm out... but spring,... spring is the opposite. In spring the woods seem to be bursting with energy and joy! And as I've discovered this year, there's nothing like the gobble of a wild turkey to get my heart pounding faster. (Except for perhaps the chorus of coyotes singing that I enjoyed yesterday morning. LOL)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma.

~Eartha Kitt

Hunting with Ben

2009-05-02T07:01:00.000-07:00

Thursday I packed up a pop-up blind and Ben and we spent a rainy afternoon sitting in the woods listening to turkeys gobbling. Although none came into our decoys we still enjoyed the day out!This excursion marks the beginning of being able to take Ben along on our hunts again. In the long-gone days before he could walk we would sometimes pack him along, but these last few years we couldn't count on him to sit quietly long enough to join us. This Thursday we were out for several hours and he was really good for a 4 yr old boy. He had his goofy, restless moments, of course. He also enjoyed drinking all the water we brought along so that could enjoy the novelty of peeing in the woods often, but all in all he was good.

He brought along his own "gun" and from time to time he would tell me to cover my ears as he was going to shoot a "deer" - he was so serious that I had to fight to keep from smiling while listening to him.

Here he is trying to "smile" for the camera, but it came out looking a bit ferocious instead! It was exciting when after a few hours out we actually got to hear a turkey gobble - it sounded like he was getting closer. Unfortunately because of all the rain these past weeks, a good bit of water is pooled in the woods. I suspect the bird didn't want to come to us and risk getting his feet wet. Still, it was great to hear the gobbles on and off for over an hour.

We used decoys to try to lure them in - 2 hens and a jake (an immature tom). It was interesting to watch Ben try to wrap his head around the concept of what a decoy is. I thought he had a grasp of it until at the end of our afternoon when he looked up at me very seriously and said "we're having decoys for supper"... I almost fell off my chair! In case you're wondering, "decoys" taste a lot like mac & cheese... :)

In spite of the rain (we were pretty dry in the tent-like blind) it was a great afternoon. On the walk out across the field into the woods we spotted deer & raccoon tracks, turkey poop, worms trying to get out of the rain, corn cobs that had been scavenged by the coons... all interesting stuff to investigate and talk about. As much as I often miss the days of being able to hold little baby Ben in my arms, this age of questions and discovery is wonderful and I really enjoy being able to share the things I love so much with him!

Tim was up well before daylight to go hunting this morning but he had no success. In a few days I'll be getting up shortly after 3 a.m. to meet a friend out of town for a morning turkey hunt. I'm not a morning person (the understatement of the century) but since I'm a turkey-hunting-rookie I'm excited about getting out for a turkey hunt with someone who knows what they're doing. I'm sure I'll learn a lot. In the meantime, I'm going to see what I can do on my own this afternoon. No matter what the outcome, it's wonderful to be out in the spring woods, to see the lilies coming up, the trillium blooming, the wild leeks everywhere, the birds singing. Venturing out to sit quietly in the woods is never disappointing!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

You will find something more in woods than in books. Trees and stones will teach you that which you can never learn from masters.

~St. Bernard

Scrapbooking and WHAT?!?!?

2009-04-23T18:03:00.001-07:00

I know my mother will be appalled, but I just had to share this here for all those who haven't seen this clip yet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51wYM9CYz_A&feature=channel

A little humour.... :)

Road Hammers

2009-04-16T11:29:00.001-07:00

Went to see The Road Hammers at the Dallas Night Club (the former Stages) with a dear friend who happens to get out just a wee bit more than I do and YES, she was right, we should have been there 1 hour early! :) Doors opened at 8 pm, The Road Hammers went on stage at 10:45 and played straight through until after midnight. THEY WERE WELL WORTH THE WAIT! They put on a great show and I thoroughly enjoyed it. They're a rockin' country-ish band and they know how to connect with their audience. Great fun to watch them perform. (The Road Hammers are: Jason McCoy - guitar/vocals, Clayton Bellamy - guitar/vocals, Chris Byrne - bass/vocals, Corbett Frasz - drums).

I bought the first Road Hammers CD a few years back when Ben was a baby - I'd noticed that when the Road Hammers played on the country music station in the car he really enjoyed it. Now, a few years later it's "the" CD that he insists on listening to whenever we're in the van. He sings along and probably knows the songs better than I do.

Wish I'd have remembered to bring my camera. Got a few pics with my cell phone, but they're not very good:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"More power to ya, if ya do what ya love..."

The Road Hammers, from "Keep on Truckin'"

Parade of Bugs

2009-04-14T11:12:00.001-07:00

Ben & I spent the morning in pajamas creating bugs and more bugs from a little package of pipe cleaners, pompoms, and googly eyes. It was fun to put them together according to Ben's directions and listen to him explain what each of the bugs did, and what parts each one would need. Here are some of the results:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

We hope that, when the insects take over the world, they will remember with gratitude how we took them along on all our picnics.

~Bill Vaughan

Happy Resurrection Sunday!

2009-04-12T09:29:00.001-07:00

Easter Weekend!

2009-04-11T14:13:00.000-07:00

Here is an awesome clip for this Easter weekend:

"It's Friday, but Sunday is Comin'!"

Great to know that know matter how dark our lives may seem at times.... Sunday is coming! Because of Christ's resurrection we have hope!

Wishing you all a blessed Easter and a wonderful relationship with our Creator!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naajYZSbWdw

Scrap the Long Gun Registry!

2009-04-08T16:45:00.000-07:00

Most of you are aware that the current Long Gun Registry here in Canada is not doing anything to prevent crime. The only people being punished as a result of this registry are legitimate, law-abiding gun owners who have to register each gun they own as well as keep the paperwork with each gun, including taking it out into the woods (which in my humble opinion is a royal PITA).

Please take a moment and sign this petition to scrap the Long Gun Registry. Lets start directing the money into law-enforcement where it can make a real impact on gun crimes:

Scrap The Long Gun Registry ( http://www.scrapthelonggunregistry.com )

Crop For The Cure is back!

2009-04-07T07:30:00.000-07:00

My friend Tracey is organizing the Crop for the Cure again this June.

She says: "the crop for the cure is organized and hosted by Nan's Boobsters: a group of sisters and their wonderful mom who have been participating in Kitchener's CIBC Run for the Cure for the past five years. Our family team is dedicated to the cause in memory of Ila Rutledge, our beloved Nan.

All of the money raised at the crop for the cure supports our team, Nan's Boobsters, and is donated directly to the CIBC run for the cure, which ultimately benefits the canadian breast cancer foundation."

Click the logo above or HERE to find out more about the upcoming crop or if you're able to sponsor.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Coming together is a beginning.

Keeping together is progress.

Working together is success.

~Henry Ford

Creating from the Heart - CuttleBug Giveaway!

2009-04-06T09:26:00.000-07:00

Check out this great give away on Melissa's blog:
Creating from the Heart!: My BIG Giveaway!

Long-distance friends...

2009-04-05T20:37:00.001-07:00

Last week I received 2 parcels in the mail from a dear friends who I've never actually met.

The first parcel was from Ray, in North Carolina, who sent me a red dot scope for my shotgun. I was hoping to buy a set of used fiber optic sights somewhere, but out of the blue Ray offered me one of his red dots and in no time it arrived in my mailbox. It's now on my Mossberg dailed in and ready for turkey season. (Now I just need to find a farm with some turkeys on it...)

The second parcel was from Lydia, a friend in Seattle. I got to know Lydia through our common love for Airedales and support of Airedale Rescue. We've never met, but somehow it seems like we've always been friends. She'd seen my note about my recent miscarriage and wrote to let me know that she was thinking of me. In her parcel she included a gift for Ben as well as a candle in a holder for me. That candle and the sentiment that accompanied is something I'll always cherish.

It's amazing how many new friends the internet has brought into my life. Some I've met and others I may never meet, but it makes no difference. It's also been wonderful to reconnect with old friends that I've lost track of over the years. I realize that the internet can be both a blessing and a curse, but for me personally it's enriched my life and I'm grateful for that.

Thank you to all of my friends out there in cyberspace whether we've met or not... thanks for meeting me here!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

We cannot hold a torch to light another's path without brightening our own.

~Ben Sweetland

Ben-isms...

2009-03-27T17:13:00.000-07:00

Just a sample of little boy words:

Break-fix = breakfast
Choc-lick = chocolate
ick-gusting = disgusting

Some expressions:

"morning sleeps imunity" = G'morning Sleeping Beauty (from the Cars movie)
"bigger than Omi's house?" = Omi lives in a large apartment condo so it describes anything big, or a large quantity such as how much he loves us. It also describes time, how long something will take.

There seems to be no end to the capacity for making up words - just a few that come to mind at the moment:

Urrn = potato soup - don't ask me why!
Zarf Board = wooden puzzles that fit in a board. When asked why he called it a "Zarf Board" he replied with "because you have to Zarf it before you can make it". Apparently "Zarf" means turn it over and dump the contents.

The Zarf Board...

Zarfing...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

If everyone is thinking alike then somebody isn't thinking.

~George S. Patton

A Boy and a Girl and their vacuums cleaners....

2009-03-23T09:47:00.000-07:00

I have a friend who has a little girl a bit younger than Ben. She recently blogged about spring cleaning and posted pictures of her adorable girl excited about doing her chores and helping with the vacuuming - read her post by clicking HERE.

In contrast, this morning Ben had one end of the hose off our vacuum and was explaining to me how the dogs needed more gas to make them run and how he was going to fill them up with the "gas hose" from the "gas pump". Apparently the brown spots on Rusty are where we can fill him up with fuel. Tim and I played along and had a good laugh.

After refueling the dogs Ben told us that Rusty needed to have his oil checked. We asked him where we check the oil on a dog, expecting to hear him explain how one or another of Rusty's brown spots was for the oil. In a most serious tone of voice he went on to explain to us how the dip stick goes in right under the tail. EEEK!!! I think he got the idea from going along to the vet when we've taken dogs in for check-ups. We quickly explained that only vets "check the oil" (take rectal temperature readings).

I have this little fantasy about a chore jar and how Ben will someday actually use the vacuum for the job it was intended for. Hey, everyone needs a little dream!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Housework, if it is done right, can kill you.

~John Skow

I'm blessed!

2009-03-20T19:39:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to say how very fortunate I feel to be surrounded by so many friends who walk this journey of life by my side. This past week has been a pretty tough one physically but I've felt incredibly supported through it by people who care and who have been praying for us. This was my 3rd miscarriage - the most painful one physically, but the most peaceful one emotionally. I know it's because people prayed for us. I'm a pretty tough cookie, but this one just about knocked me off my feet. Thanks to all who sent emails, wrote notes, sent Facebook messages... it means a lot to have you walking by my side.

I am indeed very blessed.

Here are a few pictures of one of the biggest blessings in my life:

Playing with his Tonka Airplanes...

These last two pictures are for my Tante Elfriede in Germany, who checks my blog from time to time. ("Tante Elfriede loves us!") We've got a old trunk from my Mom's side of the family sitting under the window in Ben's room. Ben's got a nap blanket on it and enjoys sitting and reading there from time to time. Last week he was going through some books and I took some pictures. Today my Mother saw the photos and told me that she and her sister had been talking on the phone last night and Tante Elfriede had mentioned "Haeschen Schule" ("Bunny School") - the same book that Ben is reading here in this photo. It was such a coincidence that I just had to post these photos here for my Tante Elfriede. :)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.

~Albert Schweitzer

Tanner update...

2009-03-19T21:10:00.000-07:00

Just found out that the adorable little Airedale puppy that came into rescue in early January didn't make it. He couldn't overcome his bad start in the puppy mill. His kidneys failed and he had to be helped over the bridge today. He seemed to be doing OK, but he wasn't thriving quite as well as he should have been, and it seems his little body was too damaged in his early life. He was 4 1/2 months old. Look for a bright new star in the sky tonight.

It's not looking too good...

2009-03-13T07:17:00.000-07:00

We're just about at 8 weeks and I have started experiencing bleeding and some pain. From past experience I'd guess that we won't be looking at any cute ultrasounds. I haven't miscarried yet, but it feels pretty inevitable. I hope I'm wrong. It's a waiting game right now...

Here we go again!

2009-03-07T08:34:00.000-08:00

Yup - we're pregnant!

It was a complete and total surprise to us, to say the least! We're at 7 weeks so it's still early. I have had 2 miscarriages since having Ben and I'm "well into my 40's" so I'm not holding my breath, but who knows?

This was going to be the year that I get myself back in shape, have been going to the gym, been enjoying skiing again, was hoping to get a job to help pay the bills... but it looks like God might have other plans for this year. We will wait and see what the future brings. For now, we're taking it as it comes, one day at a time.

Will keep y'all posted!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on.

~Carl Sandburg

Pet Rescuers Voicemail

2009-02-25T14:27:00.000-08:00

I received this in an email from a friend who also works with rescues:

Pet Rescuers Voicemail

Hello, You have reached 123-4567, Tender Hearts Rescue. Due to the high volume of calls we have been receiving, please listen closely to the following options and choose the one that best describes you or your situation:

Press 1 if you think we are veterinarians and want free medical advice.

Press 2 if you know we are a rescue organization but want to save money and have us give you free, untrained medical advice anyway.

Press 3 if you make $200,000 a year but still want us to pay to spay the "stray" in your yard (house).

Press 4 if you have a 10-year-old dog and your 15-year-old son has suddenly become allergic and you need to find the dog a new home right away.

Press 5 if you have three dogs, had a baby and want to get rid of your dogs because you are the only person in the world to have a baby and dogs at the same time.

Press 6 if your dog is sick and needs a vet but you need the money for your vacation.

Press 7 if you just got a brand new puppy and your old dog is having problems adjusting so you want to get rid of the old one right away.

Press 8 if your little puppy has grown up and is no longer small and cute and you want to trade it in for a new model.

Press 9 if you are elderly and want to adopt a cute puppy who is not active and is going to outlive you.

Press 10 if your relative has died and you don't want to care for their elderly dog because it doesn't fit your lifestyle.

Press 11 if you are moving today and need to immediately place your 150 pound, 8-year-old, unneutured, aggressive dog.

Press 12 if you want an unpaid volunteer to come to your home today and pick up the dog you no longer want.

Press 13 if you have been feeding and caring for a "stray" for the last three years, are moving and suddenly determine it's not your dog.

Press 14 if you are calling at 6 a.m. to make sure you wake me up before I have to go to work so you can drop a dog off on your way to work.

Press 15 to leave us an anonymous garbled message, letting us know you have left a dog in our yard in the middle of January, which is in fact, better than just leaving the dog with no message.

Press 16 if you are going to get angry because we are not going to take your dog that you have had for fifteen years, because it is not our responsibility.

Press 17 if you are going to threaten to take your ten year old dog to be euthanized because we can't get to your house in the next hour.

Press 18 if you're going to get angry because the volunteers had the audacity to go on vacation and leave the dogs in care of a trusted volunteer who is not authorized to take your personal pet.

Press 19 if you want one of our perfectly trained, housebroken, kid and cat friendly purebred tiny dogs that we have an abundance of.

Press 20 if you want us to take your dog that has a slight aggression problem, i.e. has only bitten a few people and killed your neighbor's cats.

Press 21 if you have already called once and been told we don't take personal surrenders but thought you would get a different person this time with a different answer.

Press 22 if you want us to use space that would go to a stray to board your personal dog while you are on vacation, free of charge, of course.

Press 23 if it is Christmas Eve or Easter morning and you want me to deliver an eight week old puppy to your house by 6:30 am before your kids wake up.

Press 24 if you have bought your children a duckling, chick or baby bunny for Easter and it is now Christmas and no longer cute.

Press 25 if you want us to take your female dog who has already had ten litters, but we can't spay her because she is pregnant again and it is against your religion.

Press 26 if you're lying to make one of our younger volunteers feel bad and take your personal pet off your hands.

Press 27 if your cat is biting and not using the litter box because it is declawed, but are not willing to accept the responsibility that the cat's behavior is altered because of your nice furniture.

Press 28 if your two year old male dog is marking all over your house but you just haven't gotten around to having him neutered.

Press 29 if you previously had an outdoor only dog and are calling because she is suddenly pregnant.

Press 30 if you have done "everything" to housebreak your dog and have had no success but you don't want to crate the dog because it is cruel.

Press 31 if you didn't listen to the message asking for an evening phone number and you left your work number when all volunteers are also working and you are angry because no one called you back.

Press 32 if you need a puppy immediately and cannot wait because today is your daughter's birthday and you forgot when she was born.

Press 33 if your dog's coat doesn't match your new furniture and you need a different color or breed.

Press 34 if your new love doesn't like your dog and you are too stupid to get rid of the new friend (who will dump you in the next month
anyway) instead of the dog.

Press 35 if you went through all these 'presses' and didn't hear enough.
This press will connect you to the sounds of tears being shed by one of our volunteers who is holding a discarded old dog/pig/cat while the vet mercifully frees him from of the grief of missing his family.

WE SALUTE YOU RESCUERS, VOLUNTEERS and SUPPORTERS!! !

4 year old boy teaches about rocks...

2009-02-24T08:27:00.000-08:00

This is from our breakfast conversation this morning:

Rocks have mouths underneath them.
They eat all kinds of yucky stuff.
They drink water.
They live in gardens.
They eat leaves and eat mulch.
They eat plant food.
They eat grass.
They eat dirt.
They eat spider webs.
They eat plants.
But rocks have teeth.
They eat spiders.
They eat branches!
They eat sticks.
They eat other rocks.
They eat trees.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Many things grow in the garden that were never sown there.

~Thomas Fuller

Happy Valentines-Schmalentines Day!

2009-02-14T09:21:00.000-08:00

It's Valentines Day!

For some reason in our family we used to say "Valentines-Schmalentines". Silliness! :)

Ben and I baked cookies to share with friends and family:

Ben & Daddy went to buy flowers. Ben picked some out for me. He said he liked them because they smelled nice. :) All the way home from the store he and Dad practiced saying "Happy Schmalentines Day" - the first few times it came out "Happy Smelly Times" !!! Too cute!

He was so proud of the flowers he picked out for me!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

We are all a little weird and life's a little weird,
and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours,
we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.

~Author Unknown

My little boy is 4 years old!

2009-02-10T08:01:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday we celebrated Ben's 4th birthday - hard to believe he's already 4!

He had balloons:

He had a cake:

He had dinner and good company - both Grandmas, Uncle Steven and Tante Julianne:
He had lots of presents to open!
,

Lots of hugs and kisses!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Childhood is the most beautiful of all life's seasons.

~Author Unknown

Rambling thoughts about relatives and heritage...

2009-02-09T07:57:00.000-08:00

I have no relatives outside of my immediate family here in Canada. All the other relatives from both parents' sides are in Germany. It's been a bit strange not to grow up with aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents around, but we did visit Germany a few times, and some relatives also came over to visit with us. Naturally the ones that visited us we came to know a bit better than the others. I feel somewhat disconnected from my extended family and from my German heritage, which, incidentally, is far more than beer and bad polka music.

Yesterday I had a surprise phone call from a cousin I haven't spoken to since we last visited Germany in '86. Actually, I'm not sure if we even met up back then? We chatted a bit and it was interesting to hear that some of my cousins actually follow this blog. So here's a big "shout out" to all my relatives who lurk here! :)

Since my father died just over a year ago I feel the loss of a whole mountain of knowledge about his side of the family. I recently had a friend request from a person in Norway who shares my former last name. I know that my father's side is likely of Swedish or Norwegian background but I wasn't aware of any close relatives in Norway. It turns out that an uncle of my father's immigrated to Norway in 1910 and this FaceBook contact was a grandson and so we are in fact related after all. My father likely would have known more about that part of the family but he's not around to ask about it anymore. He was also the last of his 5 siblings so much historical knowlege has been lost. Unfortunately my contact with his side the family is even less than my mother's side.

On my mother's side I'm aware of 2 of her uncles that immigrated to New Jersey in the early 1900's as well. My mother had contact with them, but I don't think any of their families would know me, or even of me. I have a steamer trunk that is currently in Ben's room as a window seat. My mother brought it over when she arrived from Germany in Canada in '58. It has ocean liner decals on it from my great grandfather's visits in the 30's, as well as decals from my mother's trip, and since then several other labels from various moves in the US and Canada. Although it's just an old trunk that we store videos in, it's of great value to me.

I cling to the very few things I have from my Grandmother "Omi" - she was a saint and we have wonderful memories of the precious visits with her. Incidentally, the cousin that called yesterday morning now resides in Omi's house so it has stayed in the family. Omi was a seamstress and used her skills to create works of art out of items that we would have discarded today. Nothing was wasted, stitching was carefully undone and thread was reused. Worn bedsheets were turned into embroidered tablecloths and intricate doilies, parachute cloth was unravelled and knitted into delicate tableclothes. It amazes me that in such poverty and through the crisis and devastation of two wars (including the bombing & destruction of her house) she would create such beauty. From my father's side I have a costume jewerly brooch and a shred of fabric with my Grandmother's embroided initials - likely from a set of bedding. I know some of the stories of my grandparents but I also know that the physical distance has limited much of the familiarity and the flow of history and knowledge.

My husband's family has lived here for generations. His families were early settlers in the region, rich in history. Seems like he has relatives in just about every cemetary in the area. Such a contrast to my own family.

There is a sense of disconnectedness, a loss of heritage. As younger person I envied friends who knew where they came from and who they were. To say I was German was to be associated with the "bad guys" of war movies - always portrayed as ignornant and evil. Either that, or the local Oktoberfest - a mockery of German culture poured out in excess of beer and bad music.

In thinking about my true heritage, I have come to connect my love of water with my father's side - there were several navy men and the more ancient family history likely associated with the northern waters. I've learned that my Omi on my mother's side loved horses and would likely have enjoyed riding if she had been given the luxury to pursue it. In my younger years during visits, my Omi tried so hard and with great patience to teach me sewing, knitting, crocheting and other "Hardarbeiten" but I always would rather spend my time outside. When I finally discovered these crafts she wasn't around to teach me anymore. Now I think of her whenever I create. When I hunt I think of the ancient Viking and Norse blood running coursing my veins, that I'm being true to some genetic heritage, influences programmed into my DNA from far beyond grandparents and great-grandparents. Thinking of it this way makes it much more natural to accept my desire to be out in the woods with a bow. I don't have to make excuses for being "different". :)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

We all grow up with the weight of history on us.
Our ancestors dwell in the attics of our brains
as they do in the spiraling chains of knowledge hidden
in every cell of our bodies.

~Shirley Abbott

A quick Tanner update!

2009-01-12T13:34:00.000-08:00

Just heard from Tanner's new family - he's now 5.4 lbs! That's 1.4 lbs gained in a week!!! That news made my day. The weight gain is an indicator of increasing health. He's making friends with the resident cat, sleeps through the night, his eyes continue to become clearer, and he's starting to attack toes. All good news for a pup that was so close to not making it.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I have been studying the traits and dispositions of the "lower animals" (so called) and contrasting them with the traits and dispositions of man. I find the result humiliating to me.

~Mark Twain, Letters from the Earth, 1907

The Starfish Story

2009-01-09T08:47:00.000-08:00

Today I am contemplating Tanner's life story so far: the injury, the infection and illness, the lack of care, followed by his rescue from the mill and well-intentioned but inadequate care... to the point where he found his way to Airedale Rescue (www.airecanada.com) and into the vet's office where he received the life-saving medical intervention.

I thought about how many others like him are languishing and dying in puppy mills, or have made their way to pet stores with underlying serious health issues that aren't apparent to buyers. How many had a good start in life but due to unfortunate circumstances aren't getting the care they require. As the economy falters many people aren't able to spend the money on veterinary care. We receive dogs in rescue which have old fractures which were never treated and set. We often see mange, intestinal parasites, leaking bladders - conditions which can usually be resolved fairly easily and with minimal cost, but people just aren't taking their dogs to the vet. We see dogs that have never enjoyed the comfort of a house or real companionship, banished to living under a porch or in a dog house no matter how awful the weather. It breaks my heart. I wish we could save them all.

Today I looked up a familiar story to give me a better perspective on why we do what we do:

The Starfish Story
Original Story by: Loren Eisley

One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean. Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?”

The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”

“Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can’t make a difference!”

After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said…
"I made a difference for that one."

If you are interested in making a difference, in helping with the costs of caring for these "starfish", please contact me or check these websites:

www.airecanada.com

www.aire-rescue.com

We rely on donations and the proceeds of fundraisers to be able to provide life-saving treatment to dogs like Tanner.

Click HERE to read some happy endings.

Tanner is with his new family.

2009-01-08T17:35:00.001-08:00

Tonight Tanner when to be with his new family. They are lovely people and I know he'll be loved and fussed over and cared for just as he should be. We're all going to miss the sweet little guy, but it makes it easier knowing that he's where he should be.

Here are few more photos:

Yesterday:
Rusty reclaimed his bed from the youngster. When Tanner realized that he wasn't going to get it back, he settled himself on top of the warm heat vent:

Nice warm air!

Today:
Getting a bath this afternoon. He is so awfully skinny under his bit of puppy fuzz, it's heartbreaking....

In the bathroom sink getting his hair styled (blow-dried) after his bath. More nice warm air!

Sitting on Tim's lap staying warm while waiting for me to pack his bags for the trip to meet his new family:

In the van on the road to his new life:

A few more pictures from yesterday (sorry about the order, but Blogger is not letting me move them around today for some reason.)

Tanner spent quite a few hours being loved on by the staff at Chicopee Ski Club. They gave him what he needed most, when he needed it most: body heat. Because he was so sick he needed people to keep him warm, as he didn't have the health or energy to stay warm himself.

Here he is with Ski Patroller Kelvyn. Kelvyn would take him for walks tucked in his jacket. The two of them made an adorable pair:

Showing some AireAttidude and biting the zipper. Shark teeth! We were happy to see him start to display some of this typical puppy behaviour.

Tanner, may life treat you well. After all the awful things you've been through in your short life, may you thrive, and live, and return the love of your wonderful new family. I thank God for our brief time together.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Happiness is a warm puppy.

~Charles M. Schulz

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.

~Roger Caras

Puppy is going to have a home.

2009-01-08T06:22:00.000-08:00

Someone wants to give Tanner a good home. I'm happy for them, happy for Tanner, but at the same time I'm a bit sad. I would have loved to have watched him continue to improve and grow and turn into a "real" Airedale pup myself... but that would take a few months and that would just not be reasonable or fair to Tanner. He deserves to be in his forever home as soon as possible as he's starting to bond. I will miss him when the time comes.

We haven't set a time or date to meet the new owners (they're from out of town) - that will likely firm up later today.

I promised more photos. I have some still on the card in the camera, but here are some from the day before.

Here he is being loved on by my friend Mary-Lou who has been co-fostering him. She's been taking him overnight and I've been taking him during the day. That way he gets the attention he needs and it keeps things a bit saner here during the nights.

Here you can really see his full tummy!

Wanting to help Ben do the dishes:

I'm going to miss this face!

Puppy is improving!

2009-01-07T07:52:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post to let you know that the pup, now known as "Tanner", is improving! I'm co-fostering him - I have him during the day and my friend has him overnight. It's a bit crazy, but it's the best we can do right now.

The meds are definitely helping! He's more active, alert, hungry. Skin tone and coat is improving. Just a few days have made a big difference.

Am headed to the vet with him this afternoon for another check-up. We have a potential forever home interested in him, but they want to chat with the vet first. He's still need to continue with his meds and follow-up fecal tests (and possible re-treatment) for the giardia, but I think he's turned a corner.

The last time the vet saw him she said that he would have died in 48 hrs without medical intervention. Scary. I'm looking down the road and hoping that once the pup is in a new home I can follow his full recovery and the adventures of his growing up. :-)

Thanks for all your prayers and good wishes on behalf of "Tanner".
Will keep y'all posted and will post more pics soon.

Mo

Puppy needs help!

2009-01-05T07:22:00.000-08:00

I took in a 9 week old pup on Friday. He'd come to us from a puppy mill, via rescuers. Heartbreaking. Cute beyond words. All skin and bones under that fluffy fur. Lethargic. Cuddly and snuggly. Totally adorable. Vet visit confirmed lung and bronchial infection, severe dehydration, and giardia. Not good, but the pup has survived to this point so I'm hoping that with medical intervention he'll fight and improve. He improved once he was needle-hydrated at the vets, and seems to be a bit better again today. He's now starting to vocalize and wanting to walk a bit instead of just wanting to be held and sleep. My friend Mary-Lou has been fostering him over the weekend as I wasn't able to be around for the pup. Once she's back at work tomorrow I'll be looking after him during the days. Am hoping that a suitable permanent home becomes available soon, one that will be able to continue nursing him until he's healthy. If he stays here too long I won't be able to let him go!

Contact me for more info on Airedale rescue.

Tim helped....

2008-12-14T12:30:00.000-08:00

Tim helped decorate the tree yesterday....

Yup - that's a quiver with 3 arrows in it... and yup - they've got broadheads.

Ben also helped by hanging some ornaments...
.... on some other ornaments...
...then a couple more on that ornament....
we laughed when we discovered this arrangement hanging from the tree - 4 in 1!

"You can't make me smile Mommy"

Oh yes I can, Ben!" :-)

Perhaps the best Yuletide decoration is being wreathed in smiles.

~Author Unknown

Boy + Markers = Laundry

2008-12-11T11:24:00.001-08:00

ALWAYS worry when it's too quiet!

It's December!

2008-12-09T08:34:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago Ben & I dug my mother's Christmas tree out of her basement storage locker (Ben calls it "The Cage") and we put it up and decorated it for her. I think it's the earliest tree I've ever put up, but with all the early snow we got it didn't seem out of season. :) Ben was excited about it all and really helped put on the ornaments. It's so much fun watching his enthusiasm!

A few days after we got Mom's tree put up. I walked into the living room at our house and saw this:

Ben decided to decorate "our tree for Christmas"! Pretty creative, huh? LOL

A couple of weeks ago we were invited to participate in a pheasant hunt. As I was up late cropping the night before, I stayed home with Ben while Tim took Rusty out and spent a day in the woods. I love this photo of Tim, Rusty and their new friend.

Usually pheasant hunting is done in fields, but this is a local place where they make use of the property they have and they release (more like "place") the pheasants in these woods. Rusty wasn't instictive at first. I don't believe he's hunted pheasants in the past so the scent wasn't familiar. By the end of hunt Tim thought he was figuring it out, but still kept him on a leash as he was prone to range too far. Hopefully someday Rusty will actually be useful for birds!

Between the 3 guys they took 6 birds, so we enjoyed some pheasant the next day.

Tim's mother's house is sold and will be turned over to the new owners in less than a week... YAY!!! It's just about empty now too - the most of the work is done.

Lots of changes these past 18 months!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When you are through changing, you are through.

Bruce Barton

I'm still here!

2008-11-18T22:43:00.001-08:00

Sorry I've been a bad blogger lately. Lots going on and too little time to blog. The months of Sept. through Dec. are usually our busiest months, when we try to make up for the stuff we don't do the rest of the year like camping and hunting.

Some quick updates:

It looks like Tim's Mom's house will be sold soon with a one month closing date - YAY!

No deer yet - some close encounters though. More another time.

We're cropping at the church this Friday night - feel like ages, maybe because it has been! LOL

Enjoyed a wonderful visit with dear friends from Chicago - Sonja and her mother. I've known Sonja since we were born, practically and she was my Maid of Honour. We're just about totally opposite in so many ways and yet we're good friends. I think we have fun because we're opposite - she laughs at my redneck stuff and I laugh at her city-girl and pink stuff. Was great for Ben to get to know these two very special people in our lives too. He had no memories of the last time they visited 3 years ago, but now he loves his "Tante Sonja" and "Omi Henny". Here's one of my fav pics of Sonja and Ben together:

And here's an amazing cake we made together from a recipe she suggested. Carmel, custard and chocoate... Mmmm!

Tim was off work for the last 2 weeks and we spent the better part of the first week deer hunting as it was the local shotgun hunt. Here are some photos a beautiful foggy morning that first week:

The view down the barrel of my Mossberg from my blind:

Now shotgun and rifle hunts are over and our only hope for venison in the freezer is archery.

Here's a pic of a new decal I had made for the "mommy van" - love it!

Saturday...

2008-10-06T08:49:00.000-07:00

Tim went out with Ben on Saturday to put up a couple of the hunting blinds at one of the farms we hunt. The fields are thick with tall corn and it was tough to walk as it's planted right to the field edges. Ben was a good hiker, but in some spots the weeds were just too tall and thick and Tim had to carry him. They enjoyed their adventures together!

Tim found that in one of our favourite spots to put a blind there was a larger area of corn that was down and damaged by either deer or raccoons, likely both:

Saturday would have been my Mom and Dad's 50th wedding anniversary so Mom and I decided to leave town and take a road trip. After stopping at the cemetery, we headed to Stratford and took a little stroll at the river. The swans posed for us:

Then after going out for supper, we headed west and arrived in Goderich just in time for a gorgeous sunset. What a work of art! These pictures don't do it justice at all. After watching the sun go down, we turned around and headed back home. Was really nice to spend so much time together!

~ ~ ~

A happy marriage is a long conversation that always seems too short.

~Andre Maurois

Autumn is here!

2008-10-01T10:45:00.000-07:00

Lots of changes. Summer to fall, warm to cool, longer days to longer nights... Tim's mother has also decided to make some changes and has made arrangements to move into a retirement home. So things have been busy with cleaning her house out and getting it ready to sell. It's listed this week and we hope it sells quickly.

Today is the first day of bowhunting season. Neither of us are planning to hunt until the weekend at the earliest. Will see what the days bring. The rut won't start for a few weeks yet and the bush is still pretty thick with leaves - I'm not in any big hurry.

Tim was up north last weekend with some friends to do some trail clearing and maintenance on the shack. One the guys just bought a nice ATV and they made good use of it to get work done. I picked up a foot-operated log splitter at CT this week (on sale!) so that should help with the firewood up there. Am hoping that the next trip they'll be able to enjoy less drudgery and more sitting in the woods.

Peter, who went along, is an amazing cook. Have a look at the feast he made for them on Saturday night. Tim said that Peter just about wore a trail back and forth between the shack where he had the stove going and the fire pit where the meat was grilling. They were joking about having to put an addition on for a kitchen for Peter. He made slow-roasted ribs, bacon wrapped venison tenderloin, the roasted veggies and garlic were for bruschetta bread... a far cry from the usual canned fare!

Cam also bagged a couple of grouse.

Am hoping that perhaps this fall I'll be able to sneak in some hunting up there too. It's been 3 years since I've gone. I have to admit though, that I've come to enjoy the local hunting just about as much.

Tis the season!

Still around!

2008-09-15T19:01:00.001-07:00

Sorry for not posting for a while! We were away for a few days of camping the first week of Sept. Now that we're back we've hit the ground running as Tim's mother is going to sell her house and move into a retirement home and we have one more week to get the house ready to list.

Some photos from our camping trip at Point Farms:

One of the beautiful sunsets that Lake Huron is known for:

Tim & Ben in the tent in the morning: :-)

Time at the beach:

Heading out for a hike:

Hot dogs around the fire:

Friday was a rainy day so we took a road trip along the "coast", exploring the other parks and checking out the other beaches up to Sauble Falls:

Unfortunately the last night Ben's chair tipped as he sat down near the fire and he fell into the coals and suffered some burns. Fortunately we were only a few minutes from the hospital in Goderich. The nurses and doctors looked after Ben and after a few hours of treatment and painkillers we were able to return to our campsite. Although Ben had some quite nasty burns he didn't complain once after we left the hospital. Well, actually he DID complain once we got home, but it was about the fact that his bandage didn't allow him to push his toy lawnmower with both hands. After we got back home the next day, we checked in with emergency at St. Mary's where they rebandaged and arranged for Comcare nurses to come in to the home to do dressing changes until Ben healed. He's been healing AMAZINGLY quickly! A week after the incident his face looks great and his hand is much improved. It looks like later this week we will be able to discontinue the bandages as the healing will have progressed to a point where infection is no longer such a risk. We thank God that things weren't any worse.

Just a note to all the parents out there: even if your child is supervised and behaves safely around a fire, be extra vigilant about the possibility tripping and falling or of losing balance on a chair (especially the collapsible ones or ones where they might lean on the arms).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

No man needs a vacation so much as the person who has just had one.

Elbert Hubbard

All is well again!

2008-08-24T16:17:00.001-07:00

I'm relieved to say that the plumbing in our house is functional again!

It was a clog in the main cast iron drain. Apparently the flushable wipes we use for Ben aren't so flushable. Our older cast iron drain is not as smooth as the newer ABS drain pipes so things get caught more easily. Ben will have to use regular TP like the rest of the world now. Oh well! :-)

Tim started work on a new shed for our back yard yesterday. My brother Steve (a.k.a. "The HammerMan"), and a friend of ours, Gregg, came and helped with the framing. Our house came with a metal shed which we outgrew that as soon as we moved in and we don't have a garage so we decided another shed was in order. It will be handy for the items that have had to spend the winters outside up until now, like tires, Ben's outdoor toys, patio set, etc. Will post pictures of the progress soon.

Talk about not having a pot to pee in!

2008-08-22T20:44:00.000-07:00

I’m up with a leaking basement ceiling tonight. The only toilet in our house is out of commission. :-( Not sure what the problem is. At first we thought it was the wax seal around the toilet, but now it looks like a blockage down the 4" drain somewhere as the sink isn't draining either. Perhaps trying to plunge the toilet broke the wax seal too? I have no idea. It's midnight and Tim's trying to figure it out.

Why does stuff like this always happen on weekends?

Am supposed to be at an all day crop tomorrow. Tim & Ben were going to start building a shed tomorrow. They'd picked up the lumber tonight and lined up some help. Not sure how our Saturday plans will work out now!

Talk about not having a pot to pee in... Maybe we'll all use Ben's potty? LOL

A sweet surprise!

2008-08-13T10:23:00.000-07:00

Tim's Aunt Ruth & her daughters Liz & Lorraine stopped by last Wednesday. They had travelled up from the Windsor area to visit Tim's Mom. I'd had one of those mornings where one thing had led to another, it was almost noon, I hadn't made it to the shower yet and was still in my nightgown; Aunt Ruth came the the door and didn't bat an eye at my appearance. She told me that Tim's Mom said I still loved daisies and so she picked up these adorable petit fours for me at Vincenzo's.

Aren't they just the most adorable? Far too pretty to eat. I spent the next few days going to the fridge just to peek in the box at them - just looking at them made me smile. To borrow from Sue's blog "Daisies make me happy". :-)

Thanks so much for thinking of me, Aunt Ruth! XOXO

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

How beautiful a day can be when kindness touches it!

George Elliston

Rain, rain, go away....

2008-08-07T08:02:00.000-07:00

We were planning on going camping this weekend.
It' s raining.
And raining.
The forecast is for more rain and thundershowers.
Phooey.
It's going to break Ben's heart if we cancel, but it will be no fun for him (or Tim & I) if we go.

Oh well. Things are just the way they are. We'll try to find some fun things to do around town instead - maybe the Butterfly Conservatory, swim at the Rec. Centre...

Last weekend we had perfect weather. On Sunday we met some of Tim's family at his Mom's place for BBQ'd burgers.

We had fun watching Ben and his cousin Wesley play together. They found a monster squirt gun at the neighbour's place and couldn't resist filling it up. We got our own puny squirt gun (we use it to discourage the dogs from barking) and the game was on. It was the first time Ben had been "allowed" to point anything resembling a gun at another person. He caught on fast. In no time both he and Wesley were pretty soaked. :-)

Wesley was the perfect playmate. He kept exchanging Ben's empty gun for his full one, and kept pumping Ben's gun up for him:

Thanks, Wesley, for being so good with Ben. We really enjoyed watching you play!

---

For those who are wondering about Trudi, she's been doing fine every since that scare last week. I'm very grateful!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There is little chance that meteorologists can solve the mysteries of weather until they gain an understanding of the mutual attraction of rain and weekends.

~Arnot Sheppard

Trudi

2008-08-01T04:27:00.000-07:00

My dear Trudi woke me up this morning panting. She was obviously distressed. I thought perhaps there was a thunderstorm coming by the way she was panting. I thought I'd try to let her outside, but she wouldn't come downstairs. Finally I got some treats out for Rusty and then she tried to come downstairs. Then I saw that she had trouble walking. Her back end didn't function very well. I carried her the rest of the way outside where she was able to do her business. Then I showered and dressed. When I checked on her again she was still in distress. I sat outside with her a while and she seemed to improve a little bit. Her tail wagged when I spoke with her and rubbed her ears. But when she went to "shake off the loving" she nearly tipped over. She had to scramble to get her keep her back feet under her. She managed to make it up and down the deck steps, trotted unsteadily to the back of the yard where she barked enthusiastically at the neighbours dogs. I called both dogs in and she trotted in - wobbly, but pretty bright-eyed. She went to the basement, (her happy place) and is resting in Rusty's crate right now.

I'm going to take her to the vet as I'm worried about her. She's always been a very healthy dog, but I know that she's getting up in years. We have no idea how old she is as she was a rescued stray. I'm a bit afraid. This is exactly how Tim's last Airedale Teddy was in his last days.

UPDATE: Two hours later you'd never know that there was a problem with Trudi! She's right back to normal - normal for an older Airedale anyways. I`m suspecting some kind of seizure or stroke. Am just glad I don`t have to explain to Ben what happened to Trudi. Am grateful that we seem to have a bit more time with her!

Help...

2008-07-30T07:10:00.000-07:00

Whatever I'm doing, Ben wants to "help". Although it often makes things take twice as long, I try to indulge him when ever it's reasonable. Makes for some great fun and some great learning opportunities! :)

Ben has his own wash line and hangs out some of his own laundry:

Is it any wonder that I run out of clothes pins?

Helping Tim put a railing on the deck. The nails fit perfectly between the deck boards.

"Painting" the deck. Give Ben a brush and some water and he'll be occupied for hours!

Cutting up a broken branch he and Tim found in the school yard:

Serious stuff.
Once it was all cut up, they burned it in the outdoor fireplace. Good practice for cutting firewood for our shack up north.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The true way to render ourselves happy

is to love our work and find in it our pleasure.

Francoise De. Motteville

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

2008-07-28T21:43:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to wish my wonderful husband Tim a very happy birthday!

There are so many things I appreciate about you, Tim... that after 8 years of friendship we can still talk for hours, that you're so wonderful with Ben, that you surprise me with mopped floors (much more appreciated than flowers!), that you "let" me do my own thing and the way you're willing to include me in everything, that you're a man of integrety. You're my favorite redneck and hunting partner, my confidante, my support, my fearless spider-slayer, my sanity when life gets crazy. I love the way you can make me laugh... and laugh... and laugh. I'm so fortunate that God brought you into my life! Thanks for being you and for being with me! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soul-mates are people who bring out the best in you. They are not perfect but are always perfect for you.

~Author Unknown~

Safari!

2008-07-23T22:26:00.000-07:00

It rained today, but we decided that since it was Tim's last day off we'd make a trip to the African Lion Safari anyways. We were not disappointed! Lots of great things to do there even in the rain. It was the first time any of us had been there - we were pretty impressed!

Lions:

Cheetah:

Zebras:

Giraffes:

Rhino:

Warthog:
Baboons:

The elephant show:

Ben's favorite activity of the day:After a while it cleared up a bit and Ben got to spend some time in the awesome splash park too:

All in all it was a great day! Didn't take long for Ben to fall asleep with his new giraffe pillow on the drive home.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children."

~Native American Proverb

Hot, hot, hot!

2008-07-19T10:33:00.000-07:00

It's HOT out and officially pool weather... except that we don't have a pool. Well, not unless you count Ben's little inflatable pool which he's been enjoyiong these past few days.

And nothing like a Freezee to help cool down on a hot day:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it.

Russel Baker

Mom's new place - photos

2008-07-18T22:48:00.001-07:00

The kitchen table with flowers from my brother & his family out west :

Another view of the beautiful basket of flowers - I especially love the daisies! :)

The dining room - more daisies on the table along with batchelor buttons - another favorite!

The living room with the dining room in the background:

The view of the driveway coming up to the building:

Ben enjoying being spoiled by his Omi:

Tomorrow it's over!

2008-07-16T10:59:00.000-07:00

The keys go to the lawyer today and tomorrow the house changes owners - YAY!

Yesterday we took the couch out of the living room and moved it to our place. It was quite a job getting our old couch out and the new couch in. I'm very grateful my brother stopped by on his way home from work to give Tim a hand. The "new" couch has two recliners in it and weighs a ton - I struggled with just getting it out of Mom's old place and into the van.

I feel a huge sense of relief, like I have a whole new lease on life. Yesterday I snuck in a visit to the Turtle. Might even crop there this Friday. Before Tim & I moved the couch out of Mom's place we indulged in dinner at Anna Mae's - a really nice treat! Nice not to be rushing off to meet some deadline all the time.

Now I'm off to get some new tires put on the van. The old ones are downright hazardous. They're starting to separate at the tread - what little tread is left. We've been holding our breath driving on them these past weeks. Canadian Tire is right across from Mom's new place - handy! I'll stop in there and see what I can accomplish while I'm waiting for the car.

Tim's got a few days off starting tomorrow (it's a "brown shutdown" at work so he had to take some vacation). We're looking forward to enjoying some family time and getting some stuff done around the house too.

Still moving!

2008-07-14T20:57:00.000-07:00

We thought we'd be done by now, but it was another day of shuttling stuff to Mom's new place. She bought a little freezer this morning so we picked that up, set it up, and then transferred food from the old place. We also dumped, I mean, DELIVERED, the rest of my brother's stuff to his place (where it should have gone months ago)....

The house is pretty much empty now. It's amazing how little sentimental attachment I have to it now that it's been emptied. Through the almost endless process of moving out I've even come to dislike the house... it was big enough to have too much in it. LOL

There's still a couch at the old house - it's going to come home with us. It's waiting for me to find a new home for the pull-out couch I have in my house now. (If you'd like to have our couch let me know ASAP - I'd like to give it away Tuesday if possible.)

The new place is looking pretty respectable. We unpacked many of the boxes and set up the furniture and bookshelves. There will be lots of reorganizing to do, but we have lots of time to get that done now that we're pretty much down to just one location.

Will post some photos soon!

Mom's move....

2008-07-10T18:17:00.000-07:00

Well, most of the stuff has been moved to Mom's new place. It was a long, hard day. The movers were late, sent 2 guys instead of 4, complained that there was more stuff than they thought (maybe if they'd listened to me?!?!?)... So instead of finishing around 1 p.m. we were at it until after 4 p.m. - that's with my brother and I slugging right along side the movers. Of course it ended up costing more but I still think it was worth it. To their credit, the movers called in a couple of extra guys 1/2 way into the job, so we eventually had the promised 4 guys. Once we got over the initial logistical snags with them, they were really good to work with. They had a sense of humour and kept up a seriously good pace right through the 4 hours that they worked. Certainly not slackers!

There's still stuff at Mom's place that need to be taken to the new place, so we'll have plenty to do on Saturday, but MOST of the biggest, baddest stuff is done. Now for all the unpacking and reorganizing.... more funfunfun!

Mom`s staying at the new place tonight already. I hope she`s able to enjoy a good night of rest. I would call her but Bell hasn`t hooked her line up yet. It was supposed to be done between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. today. They sure were quick to disconnect this morning, apparently reconnecting has (much) lower priority! Hopefully that will be sorted out tomorrow - I miss being able to check in and see if she`s ok.

Tonight we were invited out to dear friends' place to celebrate some good news. After such a full day, it was absolutely WONDERFUL to sit down and enjoy dinner together after such a full day. (Hey Trish - we wish you all the very very best as you travel west! oxox)

Well, I`m off to put my aching feet up for a bit. Am looking forward to booking a visit with my reflexologist Jenn soon! :-)

Move day!

2008-07-09T21:01:00.001-07:00

It's a minute past midnight so it's officially "move day" for my Mom. It's my Mom's last night in the house. The movers will be there in 11 hrs and we weren't anywhere near done packing all the boxes. Oh well. Whatever the movers don't take we can putter over to the new place ourselves.

Mom and I were over at the new place for a while tonight working on putting up the borders. Looks good, I think. Earlier today we also bought and set up a kitchen table and chair set - used, but in nice condition. Will eventually post some photos.

My brother finally showed up at my Mom's and started packing around 10:30 tonight. Hopefully he gets some stuff done! It's about time he stepped up to the plate even if it's just for the final inning. I'm beat. So tired I can't see straight. Off to try to get some sleep before another fun-filled day....

Angel

2008-07-05T20:27:00.001-07:00

The other day I was out shopping with my Mom and decided to stop in at the garden decor store on Hwy 8 across from Costco. I was looking for a stainless steel gazing ball and a stand for my garden. My previous "fake stone" (plastic) stand was broken this spring and the reflective surface on my glass ball was completely faded, so I was hoping to find a more durable replacement.

I have a thing for gazing balls. When I was young and we were still living in Chicago several dear friends had them in their beautiful gardens. I have many fond childhood memories attached to them.

So Mom and I looked around for a while and almost bought a stand and ball. But.... at the last moment we convinced each other that this beautiful angel was even more perfect for my garden. Mom insisted on giving it to me as a gift. When I got home it just seemed right to put her beside the daisies - my favorite flowers. Thanks Mom! She's beautiful and she makes me happy every time I look at her!

- - - - - -

Angels descending, bring from above, echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

~Fanny J. Crosby

Time at the range!

2008-07-03T21:11:00.000-07:00

Finally indulged in some time at the range. My first time out this year. On Tuesday of the long weekend my Mom had a "date" with Ben, while Tim & I headed out to Elmira.

Here are Tim's first shots of the season - it's been about 7 or 8 months since the last time he shot his crossbow. Great shooting!

One of his shots wasn't quite so perfect - he pulled just as he shot and barely missed the bottom target mark on a 40 yard bag. There is an arrow somewhere in this photo - if you can spot it in this picture let us know. We looked for over 1/2 hr with no luck (although we did find someone else's lost arrow).

The back window of our van: :-)

Our awesome Excalibur crossbows (made in Kitchener!) Tim has the Phoenix in the foreground, I have the brown Vixen behind it.

We always enjoy being out at the range together!

After some time on the archery range, we moved to the gun range where we shot some clays. Tim made out much better than I did, as he usually does. I was using my "Squaw Gun". I bought it last summer and still haven't quite found the sweet spot. It came with a double bead and I think that's what is messing me up. After we got home Tim removed the extra bead and I look forward to trying it again soon. Here's Tim with his side-by-side which he purchased last year after selling some of his other guns. He's very happy with it!

Tim laughed at me while I was taking this next photo. I love daisies and the are blooming prolifically all over the range right now. Tim found it too funny that I was juggling a bag of ammo, a shotgun packed in a camo case, water bottle, other gear... and trying to take photos of these daisies. I guess I'm a bit "girly" after all? LOLIt's probably a bit tough to tell in this photo just how many daisies are blooming right on the range, even between the baffles and at the berms - just beautiful! They were icing on the cake and made the day even more perfect!

- - - - -

"Bread feeds the body, indeed, but flowers feed also the soul. "

~The Koran

Our pups...

2008-06-27T08:39:00.001-07:00

This week Rusty got a haircut! Thanks to Christine at Laurelwood Veterinary Hospital in Waterloo. He looks good in his short summer coat and he won't pick up as many burrs when Tim works with him in the fields.

Trudi is still continuing to come out of her shell. She's been with us for 5 years, we figure she's about 10 years old, and she's still "learning new tricks." I think having Rusty around has helped. Rusty is an extremely extroverted, high-energy dog and it seems to be rubbing off on Trudi. She's actually even sitting for the camera! In the past she used to hide from the camera and most of my photos would be of her back end.

Here are the two pups playing biteyface. It's such a joy to see them interact like this. They really are good for each other.

Then there's Ben - the sometimes-puppy, sometimes-boy:

Tim with his sucky, lap dog, I mean, rugged, manly hunting companion:

--------

Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened.

Anatole France

School's out! Painting and some rants.

2008-06-23T21:12:00.001-07:00

Tonight I wrote my final exam for the Medical Transcription course. I'm done! Well, for now, anyways. That frees up a whole lot more of my time.

I've been working at my Mom's new place, mostly painting, while Mom watches Ben. A dear 78-year-old friend of hers from church has been helping a lot too. It's been nice to have the company. Unfortunately the rest of my family isn't being very helpful. No real surprise I suppose, but I have to admit I'm still a bit ticked about it. I mean, it wasn't that many years ago that Mom cleaned in their new house for them while they were out busy pursuing recreational activities. Three words: Rude. Selfish. Lazy. I have no use for slackers when work needs to be done - totally makes me furious. I guess some people just don't "get it".

Mom's new place was an awful shade of pink throughout. Most of you know that I'm not a big fan of pink, but this shade was particularly nasty.... it had purple-grey undertones. Ugh. Even with good quality paint we had to use 3 coats in places.

Here is a photo - although it's tough to really appreciate the awfulness of the pink:

Mom's moving into an apartment condo up on one of the higher floors. The view is really nice. I'm looking forward to being able to enjoy it once she's all settled in. Here's a view of the driveway up to the building - there's a pond beyond it, and another little pond hidden in the trees, I think.

Here's the sign on the house Mom is moving out of. It only took a week to sell, but it took several weeks until all the conditions were met and it was official - YAY!

Tomorrow Mom and I are headed back to the flooring place. Although we were told that the flooring would likely be installed early next week, it's now been pushed to the end of the week at the earliest. ARGH! Perhaps the salesman told us what we wanted to hear just to get our business? Worse yet, although we booked the job 10 days ago, it was TODAY that Mom was told that the carpet she chose (after many hours of painful deliberation) is on back-order and won't be available until July 12th! Why did it take Mr. Sales Guy 10 days to figure that out?!?!? (Hmmm... yet another slacker?) Anyways, that date isn't going to work for us with the house closing so, we're headed back to the flooring place to pick another carpet. They have our downpayment, but we'll jump ship and demand a refund if we find another place that can do the job on schedule. The salesman's sloppy error has cost the shop it's credibility with us.

Enough whining. 1:00 a.m. and it's one of the the earliest nights I've been in bed in weeks. Sweet dreams, everyone!

A few random things...

2008-05-22T10:00:00.001-07:00

Had to share this bit of art. I was hanging up clothes and wasn't really paying much attention to what Ben was doing until I turned around and saw that he'd put all these clothes pins up around the door. He told me they were his "pin lights" and that they would come on when it was dark out.

Picked up a family-sized griddle at Wal-Mart last week. I was tired of juggling 3 frying pans at once in an attempt make pancakes or grilled cheese. This grill worked beautifully! One of the best investments I've made in a while.

Love seeing laundry on the line on a sunny day. Love the smell of line-dried clothes. Love that I'm not using the dryer. Was inspired to get a photo of the "Bob the Builder" undies on the line. (They're Ben's, not Tim's... although Tim has commented about how it's too bad they don't come in adult sizes.)

This is one of my favorite things - a garden sculpture that Ben and Tim gave me for Mother's Day last year. Ben's not big on giving kissies, so I guess this little statue is supposed to be a "stand in'?

These last few days I indulged in a novel - something I allow myself to do only a couple of times a year, if that often. I love reading and would happily spend most of my days lost in a book. The problem is that once I start a novel I usually don't stop until I'm done. I enjoy archaeologically based and historically based novels the most - usually about North American aboriginals. Westerns are also a favorite of mine - I'd have trouble parting with my collection of Zane Grey paperbacks.

No time to read today, I have to buckle down with my school texts and prepare for a midterm tonight. FunFunFun.

Mom's house is listed!

2008-05-21T09:12:00.000-07:00

My Mom's house has listed! YAY! She even had her first set of people tour through yesterday night. Here's the link to the listing:

http://www.prudentialgrandvalley.com/listings/view/9005

Here are some photos of the cleaning up process:

The living room with all the bedroom furniture in it while the bedrooms were being recarpeted:

Tim, Mary-Lou and Ben filling up a second bin. Ben insisted that everyone had to wear their "Bob the Builder" hats...

Tim tossing my brother Steve into the bin....

Tim & Steve looking tough and determined to get the job done:

Am looking forward to posting some before and after photos of my Mom's new place soon too. :-)

Growing Old with Dogs...

2008-05-15T08:47:00.000-07:00

This was posted on an Airedale list I'm on - thought I'd share it here:

Grow Old With Dogs

When I am old... I will wear soft grey sweatshirts,

and a bandana over my silver hair,

and I will spend my social security cheques on wine and my dogs.

I will sit in my house on my well-worn chair

and listen to my dogs' breathing.

I will sneak out in the middle of a warm summer night

and take my dogs for a run, if my old bones will allow...

When people come to call, I will smile

and nod as I show them my dogs,

and talk of them and about them......

the ones so beloved of the past

and the ones so beloved of today.

I will still work hard cleaning after them,

mopping and feeding them and

whispering their names in a soft loving way.

I will wear the gleaming sweat on my throat,

like a jewel, and I will be an embarrassment to all,

especially my family...

who have not yet found the peace in being free

to have dogs as your best friends.

These friends who always wait, at any hour, for your footfall,

and eagerly jump to their feet out of a sound sleep,

to greet you as if you are a god,

With warm eyes full of adoring love and hope

that you will always stay.

I'll hug their big strong necks,

I'll kiss their dear sweet heads,

and whisper in their very special company.

I look in the mirror... and see I am getting old.

this is the kind of person I am, and have always been.

Loving dogs is easy, they are part of me.

Please accept me for who I am.

My dogs appreciate my presence in their lives,

they love my presence in their lives.

When I am old this will be important to me.

You will understand when you are old....

if you have dogs to love too.

- Anonymous

----------------------------------

"It came to me that every time I lose a dog they take a piece of my heart with them.

And every new dog who comes into my life, gifts me with a piece of their heart.

If I live long enough, all the components of my heart will be dog,

and I will become as generous and loving as they are."

---Unknown

So behind!

2008-05-08T09:41:00.001-07:00

Just a post to apologize for not blogging in ages... I've been so incredibly swamped in the rest of my life that I just haven't even really thought about blogging.

I've finished one of my school courses and am pleased with my marks. Now I've still got one course that runs two nights a week. I'm struggling to keep up right now, but I am hoping to be able to spend more time at it and get caught up soon.

We've been frantically trying to get my Mom's house ready to sell. It's been a lot of work. Decided to put in some new carpet - the old carpet was gross when we moved in back in '90 and it was never changed. We had to strip some wallpaper in the room that was Dad's study and it's turned into a nightmare. It seemed like no matter what we did we couldn't get all the glue off the walls. We thought we had it all off and then tried to paint, only to have the paint bubble and peel. So we scraped it off again. Then we tried primer/sealer and had the same experience. More painting, scraping, painting scraping... over and over.... until it seemed like the walls finally seemed to be running out of glue to seep. We were hoping to get it painted before the new carpets were in, but they're going in this very moment. After last night we had to leave the walls primed and hoped they'd dry well enough to paint in a day or two. Tonight we'll be moving furniture back into the rooms, setting Mom's bedroom back up again. Hopefully the 2nd dumpster will also arrive today and we can continue cleaning out the garage. More painting and packing on the weekend.

I really look forward to visiting Mom in her new place in a few months. It has a gorgeous view and the building is beautiful. The unit needs paint and new flooring throughout, but it will be so nice to do it for a place that Mom will enjoy. Once it's all done I'm sure it will be therapeutic after all the upheaval Mom has been going through. I'm so very proud of her - she's making huge decisions and figuring things out all on her own. Not a small feat after almost 50 yrs of always having my father to take the lead and the responsibility.

Well, I'm off to hang clothes on the line, pick up some groceries on the way over to Mom's.

I'll leave you with this photo of a '84 VW camper van that we're trying to sell in case you know of anyone who would be interested:

Sportsmen's Show in TO

2008-03-27T10:20:00.000-07:00

We were at the Sportsmen's Show in Toronto a couple of weeks ago. Always fun going to see all the "stuff". Lots of boats, campers, dogs, tackle, guns, and bows. Didn't buy anything this year, but enjoyed looking around. Ben enjoyed visiting with the different dogs, but I think the highlight of the event for him was being able to explore inside all the different campers and trailers.

Here are my two men walking around the area where they have the elephant and camel rides. Ben was the most handsome guy there in his awesome camo blazer from his Tante Sonja! :-)

This photo was taken for my brother Steve who enjoys doing a Thomas Pigeon imitation at the Sunday dinner table. Tim and Ben standing by a photo cut-out of Thomas Pigeon, the host of "Canada in the Rough" http://www.canadaintherough.com/ T. Pigeon was there in person too, but, although I think Canada in Rough is great, I'm not a fan of T. Pigeon and wouldn't flatter him by asking to have a photo with the real deal.

With a stuffed moose...

I had tried out this climbing tree stand. We have a slightly smaller and lighter version of it - the Summit Viper. Instead of installing steps in a tree to get to a stand, you use the stand itself to sort of ratchet yourself up the tree. Very comfy to sit in. Ben had to try it out too. His blazer really blends in! LOL

-----

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.

Albert Einstein

Happy Easter!

2008-03-22T19:26:00.001-07:00

Easter is almost as exciting as Christmas. Actually, it should be more exciting as it's the fulfillment of the meaning of Christmas. Christ's reason for coming to mankind to save us from our sin. A chance at renewal, a fresh start - we long for that as much as we long for spring and all the newness it brings with it.

Bunnies, eggs, surprises, hiding-and-seeking, Easter baskets lined with grass fill with treats... What fun ways to celebrate a bit of the renewal that Easter represents.

Tonight after baking bunny cookies we coloured Easter eggs. Ben enjoyed it! He probably would have enjoyed even more if we would have let him get in and play with the dyes. He was also really interested in drinking them. I guess they do look like juice!

We wish you all a very happy and blessed Easter Sunday!

---

"Upon a life I did not live, upon a death I did not die; another’s life, another’s death, I stake my whole eternity."

Horatius Bonar

3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months...

2008-03-19T10:53:00.000-07:00

It's been 3 days since Rusty joined our household and last night was the first night we weren't serenaded to sleep by his yelping in his crate. I was starting to despair of ever getting him to sleep in his crate and was ready to let him sleep in our room, but the 3 day rule kicked in. YAY. We were told that Rusty was crate trained and having lived with dogs that will injure themselves to try to get out of a crate, we didn't want to give up too easily. Having dog that is crate trained is a blessing. It's safety and security for the dog and owner. It always makes it easier to travel and camp with the dog.

Rusty is fitting in very well. Trudi is starting to show signs of recovering from her initial overly enthusiastic welcome which left her worn out. Rusty is barkier than Trudi, but I don't really mind knowing when something is out of sorts.

I've noticed that while Trudi's hair shows mostly in our kitchen and bath on the white floors, Rusty's hair shows up more everywhere else. He's far more social than Trudi so he also spends far more time in the bedrooms and living room with us. I'm vacuuming every day and still feel like I can't keep up. Good thing they're both so cute! :-)

Our three "pups":

Rusty is sure that if he tries hard enough he'll be able to climb the tree and get at that squirrel:

----

Properly trained, a man can be dog's best friend.

~Corey Ford

New addition!

2008-03-16T18:47:00.000-07:00

We have a new addition to the family! Yesterday we picked up "Rusty", a Brittany Spaniel. He's going to be 2 yrs old in June and is a bundle of energy. He's house-trained and fairly well-behaved. His former owner had hunted with him, but his training is quite, um.... "rusty" (pardon the pun). Rusty gets along very well with Trudi and is good with Ben. Ben is thrilled to have another dog for him to imitate. His first words when he woke up this morning were "Rusty is still here!" - that seemed to start his day off right. :-)

Tim has wanted a Brittany for years and we didn't think we'd be able to afford one for quite some time. Rusty's former owner left the continent and didn't want Rusty anymore so we jumped on the opportunity. We're hoping that someday Rusty will be an upland bird hunting companion, but there's lots of work in store for us and Rusty before that dream can be realized.

Poor Trudi wore herself out playing with Rusty yesterday in the deep, wet snow in our backyard - today it seems like she's aged 10 yrs in 24 hrs. She's moving much slower and being much mellower than ever. She's going to have to learn to pace herself. It's nice to have 2 dogs in the house again. It's also wonderful to see how very happy Tim is over this unexpected blessing.

Just a little over a year ago...

2008-03-09T19:01:00.000-07:00

This was last winter - just a little over a year ago. As long as he could still get outside and walk, my Dad rarely missed an opportunity to go around the block with Ben. They loved to explore and discover together. Dad especially enjoyed introducing Ben to the joys of a sled, just as he did his own 3 kids over 40 yrs ago.

So many times a day I wish I could still share things with Dad - especially about Ben. I wish Ben & Opa could have had just a few more years together. Am grateful that my Dad made the most of the time they did have.

I have a friend who lost her Dad just over a year ago. She was telling me about this song a few weeks back. I hadn't heard it then, but the other day it came on while I was in the car. I couldn't listen to it. I can't even read the words now. I know some of you will feel the same... but here it is:

You Can Let Go

by Crystal Shawanda

Wind blowin' on my face

Sidewalk flyin' beneath my bike

A five year-old's first taste

Of what freedom's really like

He was runnin' right beside me

His hand holdin' on the seat

I took a deep breath and hollered

As I headed for the street

You can let go now, Daddy

You can let go

Oh, I think I'm ready

To do this on my own

It's still a little bit scary

But I want you to know

I'll be okay now, Daddy

You can let go

I was standin' at the altar

Between the two loves of my life

To one I've been a daughter

To one I soon would be a wife

When the preacher asked,

'Who gives this woman?'

Daddy's eyes filled up with tears

He kept holdin' tightly to my arm

'Til I whispered in his ear

You can let go now, Daddy
You can let go
Oh, I think I'm ready
To do this on my own
It still feels a little bit scary
But I want you to know
I'll be okay now, Daddy
You can let go

It was killin' me to see

The strongest man I ever knew

Wastin' away to nothin'

In that hospital room

'You know he's only hangin' on for you'

That's what the night nurse said

My voice and heart were breakin'

As I crawled up in his bed, and said

You can let go now, Daddy

You can let go

Your little girl is ready

To do this on my own

It's gonna be a little bit scary

But I want you to know

I'll be okay now, Daddy

You can let go

More....

2008-03-09T08:23:00.000-07:00

Hibernating sounds like a good idea...

2008-03-08T12:53:00.000-08:00

We're getting snow...
Lots of snow....
More to come....
Merry Christmas....

Tim and Ben did some snowblowing earlier. It's coming down even heavier now and they'll have to do it again later. Whee.

An exciting morning for a little boy...

2008-03-07T08:29:00.000-08:00

It was a pretty exciting morning for Ben.

The neighbours were having their tree trimmed. One guy on ropes in the tree with a chain saw and another on the ground picking up the branches and stuffing them into the wonderfully loud wood chipper.

That's a pretty good morning when you're a 3 yr old boy!

Winter continues.... There's more snow on the way tonight. I'm going to cancel tonight's crop. Even if the drive is good going there, I'm afraid that by the time we're done it may be a much different story. Ben will be happy - more snowblowing with Dad!

When Ben wants to go outside and play in the snow he asks to "get all BUNGLED up".... it so cute that I'm not about to correct him. :-)

-----
Don't limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time.

(Rabbinical saying)

2 down - 2 to go.

2008-03-05T12:42:00.000-08:00

Wrote another test for my class last night. I have one more test and then a final to go. I also have to hand in a project which I should probably start to work on sometime soon! This last test was tougher than the first one and I felt less prepared, but I think I did OK. I've also signed up for the next transcription course - it runs two nights a week and will start 2 weeks before I'm through this course so things will be a bit busy for a while. After that I think I only have one more course to complete and one other course to challenge for credits. Then I need a job. :-)

We've had yet another snow storm - although at the moment it is beautifully sunny outside. More to come later today, I believe. Driving home from the college was interesting last night. Sure was grateful for the snow tires on the car (Thanks Dad!) It's become a bit of a standing joke in our class about how it seems that every Tuesday we have miserable weather - last night was par for the course.

Won't be long and the season of mud will be upon us. I keep reminding myself of how much nicer it is to have clean snow tracked into the house by Ben and Trudi rather than mud.

With all the snow this winter it's been tough to keep up with the dog poop in the backyard. Most other winters the snow has melted often enough for me to get at it, but I must say I'm dreading the clean-up once the snow melts.

Just a moment ago my instructor emailed my test results. I'm pleased and did better than I expected! (Thanks for praying, Mom!)

Some photos of Ben enjoying the new snow today:

-----

To shorten winter, borrow some money due in spring.

- W.J. Vogel

Croppin' on Saturday!

2008-02-25T16:22:00.001-08:00

I'm going cropping on Saturday! It’s a fundraiser organized by a church youth group for a trip to attend a conference.

Here are the details if anyone wants to join me:

Scrapbooking & Card Making Extravaganza

Bethany Evangelical Missionary Church
160 Lancaster St E, Kitchener, ON
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

$30 - includes lunch, snacks, refreshments

Register by calling the church: 519-745-0151
Or email : lcurl@bethany.on.ca
Link to a map of the location:
http://www.bethany.on.ca/Location+and+Directions.aspx

SuperSupper

2008-02-21T12:44:00.001-08:00

Pulled a deer roast out of the freezer a few days ago and marinated it in the fridge for 48 hrs.

I tucked some bacon slices around it, added chopped garlic, red wine & sauces on top, apples alongside... Here it is ready to go into the oven:

Our Resident Inspector/Moocher:

-----

“Vegetables are interesting but lack a sense of purpose

when unaccompanied by a good cut of meat.”

Fran Lebowitz

A little bummed...

2008-02-20T13:24:00.001-08:00

I called to see what happened with the job that I'd applied for, the one that seemed so perfect.... and... it turns out they re-posted it with different hours and then filled it with an internal applicant.

Phooey. I'm a bit disappointed. Guess it wasn't meant to be.

Guess I'll keep looking....

Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-14T18:12:00.000-08:00

Ben helped with some baking for Valentine's Day...

He thought the idea was to roll the flour onto the floor:

Ooops! A bit too many "sprinklers" (sprinkles) maybe?

"Looks fine to me, Mom!"

- - - - -

Forget love - I'd rather fall in chocolate!

- Sandra J. Dykes

Parcel for Ben arrived today!

2008-02-13T22:19:00.000-08:00

Today a parcel arrived for Ben from a very dear friend of ours - known as "Aunt DeeDee" to Ben. You'd never know it, but it's a woman we've never actually met. We became friends through Airedale Rescue. We've only known each other though the internet - sharing stories, ideas, photos, joys and frustrations. Aunt Lydia lives in the US near the west coast - I hope we'll travel out there someday and finally meet in person. Although she's a very busy person she never misses the chance to send a card for an occasion - or just to let us know she's thinking of us. She also sends the most incredible home-made doggie treats for Trudi. Since Ben has come along she's been an adopted Aunt and has spoiled him rotten. We are very blessed!

I hope each of you has at least one friend as dear to you as Aunt Lydia is to us!

MANY, MANY THANKS, Auntie Lydia!

------

How beautiful a day can be when kindness touches it!

~George Elliston

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

2008-02-08T14:21:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to wish my Mother a very happy birthday!

I was just at her place and she had the house full of wild, partying ladies fueled by herbal tea, decaf coffees, "oh-I-couldn't-eat-a-whole-piece-myself" sized pieces of Hazelnut-Mocha Torte and Frankfurter Krantz.

Her dear neighbours saw all the cars parked out front and asked if everything was alright! I was very happy to tell them that yes everything was very alright. Thank God for surrounding my Mother with so many wonderful, caring people.

----

Mom, I know this past year has been a tough one. You`ve gone through so much suffering and so many changes. I look at you now and I`m amazed at your strength, grace and courage in the face of the difficulties you`ve experienced. More changes and challenges lie ahead of you this year - I pray that through it all you`ll be reassured by God`s guidance and peace. May He give you the strength & wisdom and, most of all, the necessary sense of humour!
Love ya lots!
Mo

----

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord,

“plans to prosper you and not to harm you,

plans to give you hope and a future.”

Jeremiah 29:11

A little sick, a little tired...

2008-02-07T17:41:00.000-08:00

A little sick, a little tired, and a little whiny. I have a cold. Wah. I think it's going to be a short one, but for now I'm sniffly & whiny.

On a cheerful note though, I just have to post a photo of these beautiful roses my mother brought over for me on Ben's birthday - they're gorgeous! THANKS MOM!!!

Tomorrow (Friday)- is my Mom's birthday. She's got friends coming by to help celebrate and so Ben & I were over there today getting a few things ready. It's always fun messing up the kitchen together with Mom. Right, Mom? :-)

I guess I should let y'all know that the exam the other evening went OK. I made some stooopid mistakes that I'd love to blame on the cold medication - except that I wasn't on any at the time. Maybe if I were I'd have done better. Who knows. There were a few things that took me by surprise, but all in all I'm sure I did OK. I'll know better what to expect for the next couple of exams from this instructor.

On the Ben front (I know most of you read this blog for the Ben news): Ben is starting to "get" the idea of photos. He's also learning to do the fake smile for the camera. Here he was having a blast building a tower with his Tante Julianne, but he stops smiling for real to give me this look. I guess this phase is inevitable, huh?

The other thing he's starting doing is insisting on taking a photo of me everytime I try to take a photo of him. I suppose that's only fair.

-------

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

The morning after the night before...

2008-02-05T12:36:00.000-08:00

It's the next day and the newly 3 year old boy is down for an afternoon nap... I think he's a bit "hungover" from his party last night. Ben was in his glory! Surrounded by love, chocolate cake and lots o' presents he made the most of it!

"Finally! My Cake!"
He's at that age where he's figured out what he's supposed to do with the candles.
"Nooooo PICTURES!"
"Well, maybe just one with Tante JuJu?"" Thanks, Gramma!"

All together now: "NO PICTURES! "

"More presents!"

Balloons from Dad!

----------------

Childhood is the most beautiful of all life's seasons.

~Author Unknown

My little boy is growing up!

2008-02-04T11:14:00.000-08:00

It's Ben's 3rd birthday today! We're having family over for a little birthday party tonight. It's hard to believe it's already been 3 years since the first time I saw him. My first memory of him as he was being born is seeing the doctor lift him up and think "WOW - what huge feet!"

Tomorrow night I have my first exam for my General Anatomy and Physiology course. I'm stressing a bit because I haven't studied much. It's a wonderful, interesting course, but I haven't been as diligent with it as I could have been. So... I'm off to cram a bit right now!

Will post some birthday photos tomorrow - for now here is Ben's birth announcement done by my friend Zelia of Zelia Bester Studios:

Tagged!

2008-02-02T19:16:00.000-08:00

I was tagged by Tracey and I'm tagging Kyla, Mindy and Jo-Ann :-)

1. Name your two favorite scrapbooking topics: Ben & our outdoor adventures

2. Where are the two best places you’ve been to? (Only 2? - that's going to be tough!)Killarney Provincial Park, Rocky Mountains

3. Name two things you do every day: Read the paper, check email

4. Tell us two things that pretty much everyone knows about you: I hunt and I scrapbook.

5. Tell us two things that everyone DOESN’T know about you: I'm an American, I'm very much an introvert at heart.

6. Tell us two things that got you into the hobby of scrapping: Kyla's CTMH gathering in 2005 and my desire to put together a book for my father about our Ontario father-daughter camping trips.

7. Tell us two things that you want to accomplish in the next six months: Lose weight , get Ben to use the potty!

8. Name your two favorite scrapping tools: My Crop-A-Dile and my corner-rounder punch.

9. Name your two favorite sources of scrapping inspiration: Magazines and friends at crops.

10. How has your scrapping changed since you started? I'm more comfortable doing single page LO's, I've become comfortable with stamps, paints & inks, and I create altered objects, board books, etc.

11. What scrapbooking project have you not tried but would love to? I'd love to try to make an "exploding box, or a star board book. I'm also really looking forward to the new black board chipboard coming out.

Snow, snow and more SNOW!

2008-02-01T10:54:00.000-08:00

It's a Winter Wonderland out there today! Snow has been falling steadily all day with more to come. It's getting deeper by the minute. What a wonderful day to be a preschooler in the snow!

This morning Ben enjoyed watching the snow fall. Now that our couch is under the window it's a perfect spot for him to watch "live TV" (the best kind of TV!) I love watching him when he's like this!

One of my all-time favorite stuffed animals - "Freeway" the dog: :) Ben has adopted him.

New Face?

2008-01-31T17:54:00.000-08:00

I'm hosting an Aloette gathering on Saturday afternoon. Aloette offers skin care regimes, spa products, and cosmetics.
http://www.aloette.com/
If you're interested let me know and I'll give you the details.

We're in for a snow storm here tomorrow. I'm sure Ben will be thrilled to see all the snow in his backyard. He'll have to fire up his "snowblower" (toy lawnmower) and make "big hill for Trudi". These are some photos from December - he just loves being outside!

I'm still here!

2008-01-30T20:15:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've posted (as I've been reminded by several others - you know who you are! LOL)

We're well into the new year and it feels like Christmas was ages ago already. As we put away our Christmas tree and decorations, we rearranged the living room to accommodate the piano that we'll be getting from my mother's place sometime soon. I have a keyboard that I sometimes play now, but I'm looking forward to having a real piano. I'm also hoping that Ben will enjoy playing it as he gets older.

These days Ben is into colouring and painting. His imagination is in high gear and he loves to play pretend and drawing fits into that game quite nicely. Here are some photos from a painting session last week. He had paint brushes - it wasn't supposed to be finger painting! :-)

You just know these are going to show up in a scrapbook page sometime...!

Ben's nativity

2007-12-15T18:22:00.000-08:00

Ben's nativity scene often involves his favourite toys. The other day he was introducing his "silver car" and a Little People mechanic to the scene. He said that there was room for them in the stable.

It's been neat watching him grow to understand the Christmas story events & their significance. It's also eye-opening for me to see him explain to his toys how there is room in the stable for them. It makes me think that so often the world seems to have no room for us either, but there's always room in the stable for us too!

Canadian, eh?

2007-12-12T10:18:00.000-08:00

Got this from a friend this morning:
----
Forget Rednecks, here is what Jeff Foxworthy has to say about Canucks :

If your local Dairy Queen is closed from September through May, you may live in Canada .
If someone in a Home Depot store offers you assistance and they don't work there, you may live in Canada .
If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you may live in Canada .
If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you may live in Canada .
If 'Vacation' means going anywhere south of Detroit for the weekend, you may live in Canada .
If you measure distance in hours, you may live in Canada .
If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once, you may live in Canada
If you have switched from 'heat' to 'A/C' in the same day and back again, you may live in Canada
If you can drive 90 kms/hr through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching, you may live in Canada .
If you install security lights on your house and garage, but leave both unlocked, you may live in Canada .
If you carry jumpers in your car and your wife knows how to use them, you may live in Canada .
If you design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit, you may live in Canada .
If the speed limit on the highway is 80km -- you're going 90 and everybody is passing you, you may live in Canada .
If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow, you may live in Canada .
If you know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter, and road construction, you may live in Canada
If you have more miles on your snow blower than your car, you may live in Canada.
If you find 2 degrees 'a little chilly', you may live in Canada
If you actually understand these jokes, and forward them to all your Canadian friends & others, you definitely live in Canada!

Pageant!

2007-12-10T07:02:00.000-08:00

We went to the Nativity Pageant at Bethany Missionary Church in Kitchener on Sunday night. We try to go every year. Ben is at that age (a few months shy of 3) where he can really enjoy it. We've explained the Nativity story to him, the circumstances of Christ's birth and he seems to grasp most of it ("no room in the inn" "born in the stable") . He really enjoyed seeing the story presented in real-life. The donkeys, the sheep, the goats, the calves, the horses & chariot, the soldiers with their torches, the camel, the big star that moves across the scene, the music, the incredible amount of people involved in the drama.... it's really a wonderful production!

Sharing a laugh with the camel!

Love is blind!

2007-12-05T07:08:00.000-08:00

I left my men alone for a few hours last night.

As they walked around the block together Ben said "Mommy's gone hunting".

Tim corrected him: "No, she's gone to the gym to work out. She wants to get skinny."

To which Ben responded: "Mommy wants to get MORE skinny?!??!"

What a sweetie pie! LOL I just melted when Tim told me about their conversation.

Thanks Mom!

2007-12-01T09:16:00.001-08:00

I've been wanting to put together something like Jenn's decorative porch urn since she posted the photo on her blog . The other day my mother gave me a little planter and some decorations she was parting with and it worked well for a little arrangement. The photos isn't the greatest (and the snowbrush isn't part of the arrangement! LOL) I hadn't even spoken to Mom about it and when she offered me the items she said she thought I'd want to use them for exactly what I was planning. Great minds think alike!

Here's Ben playing with the little moose/reindeer and tree thingie we have. He loves it. He's made it his job to make sure those lights are always on.

Poor guys is getting more molars and seems to always have his hands in his mouth right now. I thought he was done teething but I guess I was wrong.

Charms

2007-11-30T10:30:00.000-08:00

I have a favorite charm that I wear on a necklace - it depicts our little family of 3.

Lately I've been looking for some way to honour the 2 other babies that I lost to miscarriages in the past 2 yrs - I finally found a little charm that expresses how I like to think of what might have been Ben's siblings.