Fun with my doggies

Tyler was at work today, leaving me, Lucy, and Brady alllllll alone.

So, we played outside together! YAY!

Lucy: "Hey... I don't play. I watch. I'm dainty, remember?"

Me: "Fine, whatever... where's big dumb Brady? She'll chase a stick."

Brady: "This one mom? This one, this one?????"

Me: "Yeah, that'll work."

Lucy: "I'm just going to sit over here and watch. Don't want to break a toenail."

Brady: "I'll make sure it's dead!" *crunch, crunch*

Me: "Don't swallow any bitties! I've seen enough dog barf this year, thank you."

Brady: "Yay for sunshiney days! WHEEEEE!"

I've been tagged.....

By my mom. Is that allowed?

I'm totally pulling an Adeena and not tagging other people. Why? Because I don't know anybody! It's too bad. People should really reach out to me, get to know me a little. C'mon, all you friendless lurkers! I could be your friend!

LIKE MEEEEEEEE!!

Okay, I'm done with the patheticness. (For now.)

Now for Six Random things about me:

1. I'm afraid of moths. Big moths especially, but even the little ones make my skin crawl.
2. I love dogs, and if my husband let me, I would have adopted six more by now.
3. My favourite tea is Rooibos, steeped strong with a teaspoon of honey, a sprinkle of cinnamon, and vanilla almond milk. Nothing beats it.
4. On both my feet, my second toe is longer than my big toe. (Is that an indicator of fertility or something? I'm not sure.. I know I read something about finger length having to do with all that, but I don't know about toes.)
5. I would LOVE to live in mountainous region of the world someday. It's a dream (a lofty one!) because my husband will never, ever want to move away from here. Sigh.
6. My favourite card game is Spoons, and I once won an entire "Spoons Tournament" against 40 other people. I am so the champ.

And that's it.

Happy (day after Trenton's) Birthday!

I totally would have posted this yesterday, on Trenton's real birthday, but blogger was not working for some reason, so I couldn't.

Sigh.

But anyways, Happy Birthday to my second oldest nephew! Goaty!

He sounded like a goat when he cried as a baby. Baaaa! Baaaaa! Baaaaaaaa!

Hehehe. It was hilarious.

9 years old, and just as ugly as the day you were born. Congratulations.

Love you Trenton!

Just because....

Mmm... sunshine. So nice.

Uh oh... caught in the act! Nasty.

I love their expressions!

I love my babies.

It just wasn't the same.....

Without the Horses.

The field seemed empty, barren, devoid of warmth....

Until yesterday!

Cara has such pretty eyes.

Linda, making her run in the field.

Heather, with her gorgeous boy Pax.

His bridle says "I love my horse".

They are matched bays, both ex-racers, and they are lovely beauties who stand quietly next to you in the field, content to be in your company. I think they are wonderful.

I am an awful sister

Because I didn't phone my baby sister on her birthday.

Oh, quit booing. Like you've never forgotten to do something.

I did email her....

Anyways, my beautiful Elena is 14 as of yesterday.

She is a quirky, funny, gorgeous little sprite,

with a temper as dark as a summer tempest,

a mean streak a mile wide,

but a great big heart that is full of passion.

She's definitely a keeper.

Don't you think?

Happy Birthday, E!

I spy....

With my little eye.....

A network of tunnels chewed through a tree in order to provide a home for a million ants!!!

Cool, eh?

But that's not all I see.

Do you see it?

One of the little buggers!! Carpenter ants are industrious, and at times irritating little creatures. They live in old, rotting wood, so if any beams in your house are getting a little soggy, they'll move right on in. Those tunnels they chew out make those beams very rickety, which could cause problems with the stability of your home.

Just to let you know.

But these guys weren't invading anyone's home. They were living quite peacably in an old, dead tree in the bush. Tyler's dad cut it down, and Tyler went to cut it up a few days later, and was surprised to see little black things flying up along with the pieces of sawdust from his chainsaw.

There were MILLIONS of them. You couldn't possibly count them all. They swarmed everywhere, out of every cut in the massive trunk, and in the straw of the field around it. A few of them climbed up my legs, which I did not appreciate very much.

We rolled the rotten tree into the bush, because we didn't want to take the whole colony home. A few days later, the ants had vanished, leaving only a ghostly ant town behind.

Except for that lonely drone. Poor little thing.

I'm learning to be a Woodsman

By watching my dear husband, of course.

Tyler, being a good role model for safety with his super-cool ear muffs and protective eyewear. It's all about the PPE, people!!!

(PPE = Personal Protective Equipment)

Tyler had his dad's tractor for the day, so we could drag the hay wagon to different piles of cut wood and load it up.

That is TOTALLY ME!!! Running the chainsaw! You bet your sweet bippy it is!

Sure, I only held it long enough for Tyler to take the picture, but still! It was RUNNING! I even cut some!

Tyler finished it off.

I like this picture of Ty dismounting the tractor. It's like... handsome man in motion.

This is the beautiful sky we had while we were working in the bush.

These are a few of our many piles of cut wood.

Tyler is either throwing that block, or he's catching it from someone really strong on the other side of the wagon. You decide.

Tyler, standing atop the fully loaded wagon! YAY!

The tractor and loaded wagon, ready to be brought home.

And that was what took up my days for the past little while!

That and a nasty bout of sickness (stupid cold, stupid sore throat....)

I spy with my little eye....

Something shy.....

and green and spotty!

He spies you too.

He was afraid of me at first, but I was very quiet and very still, so he grew more comfortable with me hanging around him.

Very comfortable.

Isn't he precious? I saw him yesterday, hopping bravely along, dodging the tractor and hay wagon as Tyler pulled it up to the pile of wood. I think he's a leopard frog, but I'm not sure.

Does anyone know what kind of frog he is?

It's September!!

Ack, it's well into September.

I've had a really, really, really busy week so far. Labour day was just that... a day filled with labour.

Until you've spent a day in the bush, cutting wood, lugging wood, throwing wood, piling wood, stacking wood, rolling logs, clearing brush, and picking little chips of wood out of your bra (because of COURSE they fall in there... they get everywhere!!!) you will never, ever appreciate your couch appropriately. Because OH my GOODNESS, it's an incredible feeling to collapse onto the couch after a long day of work.

That being said, today we are going to put a load of wood onto my father-in-law's hay wagon to be brought home. That won't be so hard, though, we'll be done by lunchtime hopefully. And today isn't supposed to be as scorchingly hot as September 1st was.

It's all worth it!! I love my wood furnace. All of you people with your natural gas, or oil, or oil/woodstoves, you all are missing out. There's nothing like the pure, all-through-the-house heat of a wood furnace. You're warm downstairs and upstairs! You're warm in the bathroom, the living room, the kitchen, and the back room! I love it.

So the hours and hours and hours of work is worth it.

By the way, getting up at 4:00 in the morning after being up until 12:30 sitting around a campfire with family is not a good thing when you have a funeral to go to in the afternoon. It makes you very sleepy.