Oh yeah...and the upstairs tub finally arrived...just in time for long hot soaks after days of bending, lifting, pruning, sawing, hoeing and planting outside.
Our first grass fire was last Friday and we found out just how out of shape we are...and old! We wear hard plastic backpacks filled with 50 lbs of water and then jog over uneven ground through brush to spend 15 minutes of hand pumping the water along side the fire. Then back to the truck for a refill and do it again. and again and again...Who needs "Good Fitness" gyms? One or two of these a week would whip us into shape in no time!
But it's hot, smokey and tiring. And funny enough it's only the rookies who showed up!
Refilling for the next fire
Our Chief, Brian McKeil and rookie Laurie
And further to the fire commitment...we have a test and practical training this week and a 3 hour exam on 6 chapters...this volunteering is hard work!
Yes the tub arrived (on order since August?)...and it was worth the wait and has turned out to be as I imagined. Deep and big enough for a long and leisurely soak while admiring my gardens...and waving to the neighbours!
The taps were delivered by an armed Brinks trunk that, according to the banker who found them to be a tad expensive. I found them to be cheaper the 50 acres!
We now need to seek and buy a mirror and some lights...oh yeah and the electric fireplace...(banker rolls eyes up)
The lobster boats are running and although prices are predicted to be down even more than last year, they're a bit pricey right now. But ooooohhhhh so good! Notice how the banker has no problem forking out when it comes to food?
He loves to phone / skype everyone to let them know he's having a feed of lobster...and they're not!
The Murphy's got together this last week at Lynne and Peter's for dinner and trip planning. They are all off to Ireland for 2 weeks this summer and have graciously invited Jim and I to go as well. I declined as a) been there b) all the logistics around Bijou c) I'm back to Ont July and Aug and finally d) they're staying in the south - Montgomery's are northerners!!
Jim is conflicted as he has always wanted to go, but not alone (read... me at his side!)
And so, I wore a message t-shirt to encourage Jim to take the trip...
The front...and...
...the back!
I love this family as if they were my own; funny, sarcastic, playing jokes on each other and slightly dysfunctional...again, just like my own.
Country attire for Jim from Peter - the hat has lights in the brim for? hunting up dew worms? walking into the light?
Kevin and Carm telling a story on someone
And then came the moose. We were sitting in the dining room on Sunday, entertaining our friends Jim and Kathi, when this moose came trotting down the driveway, past the dining room window and off into the back field toward the bush.
Not sure how I got even these poor pics as Bijou was howling and running from window to window, Jim was screaming like a girl "moose! moose! moose! as if none of us had seen it and I was just trying to get outside to get a picture...he/she did pass by me about 20 feet away, but the camera didn't fire up in time.
About 200 yards away
the print in the garden
Kathi said it was only a yearling and about 1/3 of it's full size...this was good enough for me!
And the other sign of spring? I can now hang out the wash without climbing over the 12 foot snowbank. I'm beginning to think that winter is like childbirth...we quickly forget the trials and pain of it all, until January of course...so enjoy!
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