Remembrance Day 2011

Today we were able to attend Remembrance Day ceremonies in Norton. Sometimes our workload has kept us home as we thought we didn't have time, but as we get older we realize the importance of honouring the sacrifices of so many. After the service, we met Grandma at Fernhill, to lay our poppies on Grandpa's grave, and Great Grandpa's too.

This is Jessica's 2cd year coming with us, and Mariah's first. Thanks for coming girls. Carrie knows her way around Fernhill better than I do, so if anyone needs a tour?

Before I move on to yesterdays news, I'd like to share a picture of Willard, upset with me as I had shut all  the barn doors. It is raining, hard...He came right to the kitchen window...

Yesterday Carrie got her drivers license. Here she is getting her first taste of freedom. But she did find out that it costs a bit to put the gas in.

Only other news this week, is the arrival of flock number 4. When they arrived late Wednesday night, we all pitched in and got them settled into their cages.

We had several escapees, I think we found them all...

 Glad Jesse kept things straight.

Randoms...

 

We got a call from a couple that had a few alpacas. They were looking for a home for them, and wondered if we might be interested. We were, but didn't figure we had the extra room. But we knew someone that might be, Lisa. Sure enough she was. They spent a few days here while she got her barn fixed up, and then she took Molly and the little one home in her car. 

Lyle was lucky and got to stay on for a bit. Well, he thought he was lucky until he saw Brian coming towards him with a scalpel. Here he is after the procedure. 

 

One event that I failed to recognize, was the marriage of Sarah's nephew Scott, to Ariane. The wedding reception was on Thanksgiving weekend in East Bay. I took Sarah and Carrie down on the Thursday, and returned home on Friday to spend the weekend doing corn silage. Stacy and Gilbert and kids went down for the reception and  brought Sarah and Carrie home. Apparently everyone enjoyed themselves at the reception, especially Gilbert. I left the camera with Sarah to get lots of pictures, which she did, but I was hard pressed to find one of Scott and Ariane.

On October 22, I met Sheila and family to celebrate her birthday. With Peter home, it was a good time to get a family picture.

Here she is with Arla and Katelyn, and one big cake.

Lisa had promised to take me kayaking, and the next day the weather was quite nice, so we put in the Kennececasis River at Bloomfield, and paddled as far as Hampton. I thought the kayak was pretty tippy at first, but Lisa was right, I guess it was not as tippy as a canoe. You sit a lot lower in the water. We had a good time, and I'd like to do it again. Thank you Lisa.

Peter met us in Hampton, and Lisa took him out for a hour or so. 

That same evening, Peter and Grandma came over for a bonfire and I got to enjoy some of Peter's beer.

Keep in mind that these last few pictures were taken on October 23rd. This next one was taken exactly one week later. I had given the dry cows a piece of woods to go to in event of bad weather, but they decided to tear the fence down and go everywhere else. That is Jesse in the middle of the field chasing them towards the woods. We have been gradually bringing them in, there are only 5 left outside, not including Billy and Bobby. Willard is still wandering around outside too.

Halloween 2011

As Carrie is in grade 12, and just might be off to some sort of post secondary education next year, this will likely be the last year we have a child go out for Halloween. About time some might say, but it is somewhat sad as we realize our kids have all grown up. But, We have grandchildren! Here are Emma, Madilyn and Sarah.

And Stacy with Kara, Bradford, and Cecily.

Hailey is all dressed up and Chloe is just looking cute at 10 weeks old.

We only had 4 kids at the house collecting treats, until Carrie and her friends came back for the night. Here is Sammi, Mariah, and Jessica. And Daniela, Carrie, and Emily. Smile Jessica!

Sarah took a bunch of pictures of the girls, and as I was going through them for this post, I noticed a common theme.

Happy Halloween!!

We Painted the Lower Barn Roof

I shouldn't say "we", because Marty did it pretty much all by himself. He was looking for a project, so I suggested this, and the rest is a really good looking job. We also did the machine shed roof, because it really needed it, and for practice, as it was not nearly the challenge the lower barn roof was. Sarah bought us a pretty cool paint sprayer at Home Depot, and we found the paint in 20 liter pails at Dulux paints. Ryan gave us a gas powered pressure washer, and we borrowed Everett's hose, and pressured washed all the old paint and birdshit off first. Then a coat of primer and a coat of paint. Being very safety conscious, we tied Marty to the Gator while he was doing the top half of the roof.

We had tried to rent a thingy to lift Marty up, but that was a no go. Way too much money, and you needed a course and licence to operate the thing, so we made our own. A 110 liter barrel, a set of come alongs, and the old excavator.

Just got going good, and Workplace Health and Safety flew over.  Actually, it was a fellow taking aerial photographs. He came in the next day and offered to photoshop the finished job in. He might of had a deal if he'd offered to photoshop in green grass and all new tractors too. How about a new barn and an extra silo?

The excavator was fun, but you couldn't beat the good old ladder. We finally found a good use for that 40 foot ladder we bought back in '98.

Good job, Marty!

Happy Thanksgiving

We finished up the corn silage today. Best run ever. No breaks for rain, just straight ahead chopping corn. Crop was better than expected, except for one field that I don't know what the hell happened to it. But I knew it was awful, so I guess it was good as expected too. Four days of going back and forth. We had postponed Thanksgiving dinner until we we were done, as Sarah was away, and we were waiting for Grandma and Peter to arrive home from Montreal. So it seemed proper to have it when we could be thankful that this years crops had all been harvested. So after we all shared what we were thankful for, we ate a fabulous turkey dinner. Thank you Sarah, and thanks to everyone that were here. And here is the last load!

And here is the dude that trashed our corn behind Taylors. Thanks to Tommy for the pic.

 

I should set up one of these trail cams in the corn field. Yes, that's a dead chicken hung up there as incentive.

Aunt Joan

Chris called this morning with the sad news that his mom had passed away shortly before. So many memories, old and new went through my head all day as I chopped corn. One is of her sending me a picture of our cow named Joan. She took this on a visit here, not long after we had bought the farm. After learning we had a cow with the same name as her, she waited in the milking parlour with Sarah to take it's picture. Just as she snapped the picture, Joan the cow stuck her tongue up her nose. Joan the aunt was very impressed, and had been trying to do the same ever since. This was one of her memories we talked about when Grandma and I visited her in the hospital in Halifax just over a week ago. I'm happy that I saw her then, and talked with her again Wednesday night. Really glad that Grandma spoke with her yesterday. RIP Aunt Joan.

Billboard

Moove over Carrie, your parents are pictured on a billboard on the Rothesay Ave. exit  into Saint John. Just us and all the other NB egg producers. Excluding Tanya, TJ, and Stacy. Gilbert is there, but it was a timing issue last March. These pics were taken just 2 days before Sarah and I drove across Canada last year.

Here is a close up of the picture they used on the billboard. Gilbert is on far right.

And for those interested, a closer up of Sarah and I. Can you tell I'm excited to be pictured on a billboard?

Hands up to anyone else that has had their pic on a billboard...

Carrie

Thought I should change up the blog. Trust Carrie to have a picture for me. What do you suppose she is preparing for?