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Some days just don't go the way you plan them. Sometimes you can roll with the punches, but sometimes you just want to get into bed and pull the covers over your head.Yesterday fell somewhere in between. The day definitely didn't go as planned. But, there was good along with the bad.
good....I got my allium bulbs planted in the garden, so I'll finally have some early spring flowers to add to the handful of daffodils we have.
bad....Seems my digging woke up a tick and he thought he'd take a ride with me.
good...I found the tick before he latched onto my hand.
bad...one of our dogs treed 2 very large porcupines which we had to "deal with".
good....she managed not to get any quills on her.
bad...yet another porcupine was discovered by Cassie at 11 last night.
bad...3 porkies were shot out of our apple trees...it wasn't a good day for porcupines around here.
bad...this time, Cassie got a mouth full of quills before the porcupine went up the tree.
good...we were able to rush her to the emergency after hours vet at 11:30pm.
bad...we got home at 1:30am, $300 poorer.
Ahhh....life in the country!!
So...all this good and bad got me thinking about doing one of my inspirational posters. I'm trying to think of the right thing to add to the sunset photo above. Any thoughts? What goes through your mind at the end of the day?
We like to eat at the Changing Tides diner. Last time we were there, the tide was out. You can see the stilts that the buildings rest on....the Fundy Tides are the highest tides in the world.
Bear River Farms is the first (and only) certified biodynamic mixed farm in the Atlantic provinces. Biodynamic takes organic one step further, and I found the tour really exciting and interesting. (John could not believe that his city girl wife was beyond thrilled about riding around on a hay wagon hearing a farming tour and lecture)
They are also establishing a cooperative, where outside people can invest in the farm and then share in the food products grown on the farm (eggs, cheeses, grains, bread, meat...chicken, beef, pork). This is a way of ensuring you know where your food comes from...literally straight from the farm to your plate. The idea really excites me, but I don't think we live close enough to them to make it practical for us.
Skylights in the coop!
On a biodynamic farm, the cows must have their horns intact. The farmers think it is inhumane to cut off their horns, and they say that it is a proven fact that the milk from cows with horns is much healthier to drink.
But with a view like this, who could get any farming done?
Loved the sound of the waves crashing, and the rocks jostling as the water pulled back out. The beach is not a good walking beach...and I sure wouldn't want to be surfing....but it was lovely to sit on the rocks in the sunshine and listen and watch.
And of course, I always get distracted by the real estate!
And this one...
A little further down the road is the lighthouse. This seagull (can you see him?) seems oblivious to the spray crashing around him:
Next day: we headed to the other side of Nova Scotia for "Open Farm Day". (photos coming soon)
I have received my test copy of the 2011 Paws For Charity calendar and it is fantastic! Packed with 72 images of dogs and cats supplied by photographers and artists around the world, and all proceeds from calendar sales go directly to The Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Crusade, a registered charity with programs in over 50 countries. This charity also carries the Humane Charity Seal of Approval.
Following the recommendations of a couple of our participants, I created the calendars on Lulu.com. The quality of the printing and the paper is top notch....very heavy duty paper (100 #) with a glossy type finish. The quality is so much better than the company I have used in the past to create my own calendars that I'm switching to Lulu for my photo calendars this year.
I also chose Lulu.com to produce the calendars because they print calendars "on demand". This means that the calendars get printed as they are ordered, and we don't have any worries about unsold (and unpaid for!) calendars. Lulu looks after the printing and the shipping....and they will be sending all the proceeds directly to the charity (Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Crusade).
Let me know what you think of the calendars...this is the first year that Paws For Charity has created one.
In the stillness, you can feel your heart.
Every dawn is a new beginning.
You can order by clicking the "Buy Now" button at the bottom of this post (hopefully this works...it's the first time I've used this feature!) You don't need a Paypal account to use this button, and you can pay by credit card. Or you can always send me an email. I'll be ordering the calendars on September 30th, so make sure you put your order in before then!
I do make mistakes sometimes...like on Sunday when I thought I was bidding on one thing, but was actually bidding on something else! Good thing no one else wanted it...I got my surprise item for $5! (it was a wooden box painted a rusty red...about 2 1/2 by 3 feet). But it was a lovely day by the ocean...this auction was on Indian Point Road (just outside Mahone Bay). 
We lucked out big time in the house we bought two years ago...I don't know if they had hurricanes in mind when the built it, but we couldn't ask for a better home to ride through a hurricane in. The house is "ICF" construction...don't ask me what it stands for, but basically it's built from styrofoam forms and filled with concrete. The walls are solid concrete, one foot thick. The house is also wired into a propane powered generator. Every time the power goes out, the generator automatically kicks in to give us power. This comes in quite handy, especially living in the country where we depend on electricity to run the well...which means we can have running water (and therefore flushing toilets) when Nova Scotia power isn't functioning (a common occurrence).But, back to the storm. Earl hit land not too far from where we live. This gave us the rare privilege of going through the eye of the hurricane (which had turned into a tropical storm by this time). It was quite eerie for a while...no wind or rain. When the wind started up again, it came from the opposite direction. Bridgewater had the heaviest rainfall in Nova Scotia...we figure we got about 2 1/2 inches of rain. The whole system moved through in about 6 hours. This is what it looked like by 4:00 Saturday afternoon: 
We were so very lucky. No damage to the house, shed, or coop.Our power flashed off and on a few times, but never went out. A few tree limbs came down, and we lost our 9 foot high sunflowers. Here are the sunflowers before the storm: 
And during the storm: (it's raining here, but you can't really tell by the photo)
The lone sunflower on the morning after...broken, but still standing:
Like I said, we were very lucky. Who can complain when we only lost a few flowers?
The day after Earl was sunny and clear...a gorgeous day. It's funny how quickly things get back to normal. All our chairs and "stuff" are back where they belong, and life gets back into routine..jpg)
According to the newspaper, the water around here is 3 or 4 degrees (celcius) warmer than usual. This fact is causing some concern about the predicted hurricane...apparently the warmer water might make the storm more severe. But it sure did make great swimming! After my swim(s) we headed over to Green Bay for some fish and chips at MacLeod's Canteen. In my opinion, the fish and chips was so-so. But the view...while dining on the beach... just couldn't be beat: .jpg)
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How can you end a day better than this?.jpg)
