Hot, Hot, way too Hot

What a terrible hot summer we are having.. oophs that reminds me… got to go change the sprinkler on the veggie gardens… be right back…(3 hours later)… forgot i had started this… read Louisa’s blog and she mentioned dehydrating cherries,… good idea, i had a bowl of soft cherries… hate soft cherries…like nice firm ones… so i cut them up, don’t have a cherry pitter… and put them in the dehydrators… filled the whole thing up…

L and i have been up early.. 5 am… and started butchering the meat birds… got 32 done yesterday and today… took longer the first day, as we weren’t into the swing, today we finished an hour earlier..so we are getting faster…not sure how as my hand was really sore.. well the thumb… put some emu oil on it, and that seems to help..nice sized birds… they are averaging about 4.5 pounds..very nice looking..they are only 7 weeks old… just have 11 left to do, lost 10 over the last 7 weeks..so will be up early again in the morning, but should be finished in an hour or so… and then just the clean up..it takes me a couple of weeks before i can eat chicken again…keeping 25 for ourselves and selling the rest to friends and family… will see how they like them…might do more next year…will get them earlier next year, probably in April and have them in the freezer in 7 weeks… then the summer is free…

Larry’s garden is doing well, we had beets and beet tops last night… things are a little late as we changed the soil in the boxes this year…. beans are blooming.. peas are getting there, cukes are flowering, and of course the zucchini are growing..I pick about 2 cups of raspberries a night… i need to start on the currants… have black and red ones, and i prefer the red jelly, but not enough this year… so will have to settle for the black… might try and dehydrate some as Mom really likes currants…the branches we put in for the peas to grow up have sprouted, all 6 of them… they were just plain old willows, but we need extra trees around here as we have to cut down the bug killed pines…sheep need shade, but they also like to eat them… got the fibre spun up for the show at the art gallery..got 600 yards from 250 grams… will take a picture as soon as my batteries are charged. 

My columbine as gone wild in their bed… they bloom all summer long..and smell quite nice too… better go charge the batteries… think i need to get some new ones, these ones don’t seem to hold a charge anymore…. have a great day, and drink lots of water…. hugs

What a beautiful Day

What a truly beautiful day… slept in this morning… both Larry and I were awake at 4 AM..not too sure why, but he got up about 5, and i stayed in bed, finally fell asleep about 6, and woke up at 8:30…it has been ages since i slept in that late… I usually phone Mom at 8, so i was a little late this morning… got my coffee and sat out on the deck and phoned her … it was a beautiful morning… finally got out and feed the chicks at 9, they are growing so fast… we have lost quite a few… about 5 or 6 in the last two weeks… no idea why… could be the heat…they don’t do well in really hot weather…that is the main reason i get them earlier in the year, usually about April, and then they are in the freezer by the end of June..but we had to wait for the new Chicken house this year… turkeys are doing okay… we have to get them moved soon… they are getting too big…

I have been picking raspberries from my small patch.. and there is lots left to ripen…  Larry’s garden looks good… he is too funny, he checks it out several times a day..also checks on the bee hive… yes Gail, i plan on checking out the Bee place in Cloverdale when i am down in August, will buy him a book to answer his many questions about bees, they also have classes during the winter, so i am hoping that he will go down and stay at Mom’s to take the classes…someone has to stay home to look after the critters…

Yankee bird is talking up a storm, he is out on the deck in his summer cage… a friend of ours (one we play cards with) started teaching him to say “ a card laid is a card played”..Yankee has got it down pat now, he even laughs like Dave after he says it… Dave has a very deep voice, and his laugh is very deep…so now Yankee says “a card laid is a card played, ha ha ha ha…”  makes us laugh every time he says it..we are not playing cards this weekend, so they will have to wait to hear it…he is trying to whistle the commercial for Toyota.. they whistle ‘what the world needs now is love’,he is working at it… neither Larry or I whistle so we can’t help him…

Well i had better go do some spinning, we are having a Show in the Art Gallery in October, and we decided to spin up skeins for sale..I am spinning some fibre from Andrea… ‘Paua’… pink, blue, green, and teal, and light blue… I don’t like to spin a mix, so i have separated it into colours… should be interesting when i ply it…this will be our contribution to “International year of Natural fibres, or what ever it is called..  have a great day….

Where did summer go

Hi…. just where did the warm weather go… it stayed warm last night, but the wind is blowing today and the temperature is the same..cool…

Jesse and I went to our last  summer trial on Saturday in Kelowna, and boy was it HOT… we ran a team run with Denise, we did okay, but Denise and Pip messed up… but team titles are hard to come by, so we will keep working at it..then Jesse and i ran a Snooker run..that one is like the pool game snooker, a red jump then another obstacle, and then a red jump and then another obstacle… you have to have 37 points… and lucky for us we got 39 points… i was just happy we ‘Q’ed, i am not good at this game..bet i have run 8 games of snooker, and just haven’t had enough points…Denise wasn’t feeling good, and Pip hates the heat.. so we left early.this is PIP.. .and then on the way home, that @#$% SUV heated up coming up the hill out of Kelowna… so we stopped let it cool off, made it another 15 K and it heated up again… we finally made it over the top and then it was down hill all the way home… took us 3 hours for 1.5 hour trip… Larry has taken it in to get it fixed… they figure it is the radiator…we had a real hassle with it over Christmas, but we figured it was fixed… seem when we put the AC on that is when it heats up… hopefully they will finally get it fixed…i hate it when my transportation isn’t dependable…

Garden is growing, slowly, but finally growing.. beets are all tops, so think i will thin them and have them for supper… our new Neighbor brought down a bee hive last weekend and he was down checking on it yesterday, says it is doing fine… Larry spends hours watching them..think i will get him a gift certificate for a hive for his birthday… it will take a year or so to get it producing, but the fruit trees should benefit..I took bee keeping classes 35 years ago..and he keeps asking me questions that i have no answers too… so will buy him a book, and see when their bee classes are over the winter, and send him down to learn bee stuff…

We had a guild meeting at Andrea’s last week… we are having a show at the Art Gallery in October, so we had to make some decisions… (what a bonus having Andrea live in our Valley, we have our own personally store)…we decided to spin up some skeins for sale… and put them into 100 yard skeins, and then supply patterns for 100 yards of yarn.. only problem with October is that it is our retreat weekend..but there are a few girls not going so they will babysit the display that weekend…sun is finally shining so i will go thin the beets and carrots… talk to ya soon…….. silk

Happy Canada Day

This is ‘JESSE’  ADC  (agility dog of Canada) we finally Qualified in 3 legs of our Starters Standard… so now we move up to Advanced.., we have two more legs in games, Snooker, which i am not good at.. and then we have our Starter Games title..We went to Lavington, near Vernon, a truly lovely park.. huge Maple trees, and lots of green grass..we parked in a far corner under the Maples.. there were 6 RV vehicles of us camping out there..we had a good time.. spent Friday evening visiting, and then we all had a great day on Saturday, and the Dog O Pog O Agility group(organizers) had a pot luck supper on Saturday nite… we didn’t stay long, as none of us slept well on Friday nite, we never do the first night away..the weather was great, and we all did well…

We have had some sad news, oldest son and his wife are separating..they have been together 8 years, 5 married… a real disappointment..but it is their life… mind you he has phoned me every day since he made the decision, he must need someone to talk to… Youngest son Matt is coming up for supper tonight…3 hour drive for supper, can ya imagine… he is bring his cousin Kerri Ann for the drive..had hoped for a quiet day today… but it will be good to see them both..

Chicks and turkey poults are doing fine… growing like weeds, we will move them on Friday as Larry is away tomorrow… that means i have a whole day BY MYSELF… whoopee…not sure what i will do… just stay home and spin, knit and spin some more…better go and get living room vacuumed and the bath room cleaned up….talk to ya soon…….. Sheila