I went to BBQ pizza a little while ago. The boys and I made dough in the a.m. so I was all ready by dinner. I strolled over to the BBQ to light er' up and found this....
I proceed to yell at Dave... what kinda crap have you put in my BBQ? To which he gives me one of those .... "I have no idea what you're ranting about" looks.
Then it all became clear...
Now I can hear the question rolling around in your head... did she light it? The answer is NO. We removed the herd, had a nice little talk about appropriate nesting areas and I pulled out a cast iron skillet and made skillet pizza. We ate a little later that night.
I guess the moral of this little story is if you don't use your stuff... somebody else will.
July 10, 2010
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For all those coming to visit... I have some excellent news. Our outdoor shower is set up, so no fears of spotting naked bathers on the driveway if we don't know you're coming. The local wildlife is also pleased with our new found modesty!
So grab your favorite biodegradable soap (or borrow some of ours) cause' there's nothing like showering with the birds chirping and the sun shining.
June 28, 2010
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A magical entity that depends on the glow of another... reminds me of us, reflecting back the things that are projected towards us. Challenged me to only project that which I would want bouncing back.
This past week was the full moon. I have a new appreciation for the moon now.... when you go outside late at night it's the difference between needing to light the lantern or being able to see everything as clear as daylight! I never used to know the phases of the moon but now I keep a close eye.
These are some of the moon pics Dave has taken recently.
November 06, 2009
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BEFORE
AFTER
AFTER
Well we have owned our 76 acres for one year now! The time has just flown by which is suprising considering how time seemed to just creep while we were searching for property. We have made lots of changes like adding a garden, a teepee, a treehouse, built a mud room, a fire pit, installed a wood stove and painted. Here are a few before and after pics of the main room... it's amazing what a little colour will do!
October 18, 2009
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Life up north seems SOOO quiet now that the Youth Builder team has left. We had this very cool group up to our property to talk about Simple Living & Sustainability. Dave also took them to Tyendinaga to speak with some Elders about First Nations land rights, justice, and culture. We had an AMAZING time with them. Dave fixed up two traditional native structures for them to sleep in and to their credit they used them. The group of guys actually slept in the teepee every night! Tom & Gillian lead the group last summer and this year.... and we can't wait until next year to do it again!
Most of the tarps used were free from the local lumber yards, we love a good deal!
Most of the tarps used were free from the local lumber yards, we love a good deal!
September 08, 2009
1 comments
Well, I have discovered something so relaxing, yet rejuvenating and thrilling that I have to share. I fear that my city friends will not be able to participate in this activity without getting arrested, so I am going to caution you that this is not for everyone.We have found a way to have showers up at the property.. the catch.. you have to have them outside.
I was pretty skeptical at first. Dave is already a seasoned professional at it (the white water rafting base camp has outdoor showers) and I was finally filthy enough to get past any phobia. Because we have kids it does require a "guard" until we get the shower enclosure built. I have posted a picture of an outdoor shower from one of the hundreds of properties we looked at before purchasing this one. We plan on doing one very similar.
In closing, my deepest apologies to all the wildlife who were out that day up near Bancroft. I hope no permanent emotional damage was done.
June 16, 2009
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Well I am currently in a fight against nature... or more specifically with raspberries. We have millions of them in front of our place. The problem is it's a flat area that is perfect for playing but pulling a soccer ball out of the thorns is proving a bit frustrating for the younger generation.I took this picture of Ty surveying the landscape, I can only imagine what philosophical conclusions he must be coming to.
SO... I am engaged in a battle, I am pulling them up by the roots. In order to appease the gardener within me I am offering these plants to anyone living in Bancroft, Kingston, or points in between. Just comment that you want some and I will bring them when I come through. This makes their sacrifice a bit easier for me to justify.
Wish me luck...
May 29, 2009
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When you have two boys you do laundry... a lot of laundry. To try and cut down the sheer volume we went to a second hand store and bought both boys a pair of jean overalls 2 sizes too big. They can wear them over other clothes and mom doesn't care what happens to them. (When they turn to dust I will just fork over the $4 for another pair.)If you are looking for an easy way to do some laundry without using any electricity.... and even better if you have some cheap (free) labour to exploit..... here is my method......
You need two big containers and a NEW (and I can't stress this enough) toilet plunger. You might want to mark that puppy LAUNDRY ONLY on the handle.
We have been taking water from the rain barrels to fill up both our containers. The big tub has biodegradable laundry soap (available at the Bulk Barn or health food store) and the little
tub is for rinsing. The bonus is you can water your garden once you have finished the laundry and return all the dirt from which it came! The boys love using the plunger and it's amazing how it forces the water through the fabric. I would NOT recommend this method for anything marked Delicate but we don't own anything like that so this works for us. So far my biggest issue has been keeping the black dog out of the cool water.
tub is for rinsing. The bonus is you can water your garden once you have finished the laundry and return all the dirt from which it came! The boys love using the plunger and it's amazing how it forces the water through the fabric. I would NOT recommend this method for anything marked Delicate but we don't own anything like that so this works for us. So far my biggest issue has been keeping the black dog out of the cool water.You can also do a bigger load in a bath tub and then just rinse everything. Kee
p this in the back of your head for the next power outage and you will be sporting some clean cloths while everyone else is scraping the bottom of the closet floor for 
something clean to wear!
p this in the back of your head for the next power outage and you will be sporting some clean cloths while everyone else is scraping the bottom of the closet floor for 
something clean to wear!
May 08, 2009
1 comments
On April 14th we went up to the property to see how winter had treated it and were surprised to see not much had changed. Everything was where we had left it. The Tipi was the only thing that was a little worse for wear as you can see. We spent just over a week getting things cleaned up, cutting wood, making tipi repairs, and trying to make small improvements to the inside of the "house".
Putting in the garden proved more labour
intensive than I had originally had in my head. In the city you dig up the grass, turn over the earth, add some compost and Bob's your Uncle!! (I use that expression simply because it drives Dave crazy.... ironically he HAS an Uncle Bob.) Sorry.... back to the garden. Rocks. A lot of Rocks. Rocks requiring sledge hammers and pry bars to remove. So my morning project turned into the days project and I have some decent arm muscles for my efforts, and a kick butt sized garden. Ty even helped by piling all the rocks I removed around the border to make it pretty for me.
I have been asked what the hardest thing is about being up there and I would have to say bathing. We don't have a well yet so we have to conserve as much water as possible, and we don't have a tub. So between our once a week visit to the Heathcock shower stall in Bancroft we endeavor to keep ourselves from getting too disgusting. As you can see, Dave has mastered the art of grooming in the great outdoors. All I can say is a hot soapy bucket of water on top of the woodstove can bring more joy than all the luxury in the world.
The pups have been enjoying themselves although we have to constantly remind them that they are very OLD. The first night they were almost crippled from all the running so we gave them each a baby aspirin and put them to bed for 14 hours. Samson Heathcock (pictured below) and his owners came for a visit which is always fun for everybody.
Dave did an amazing job repairing the tipi (below) and has started a number of other projects. One interesting one is a Native food storage platform, which looks suspiciously like a tree fort to me. However all the men have informed me that it is much more advanced than that and I wouldn't understand all the engineering involved. So to sum up, things are going great, we are headed back up sometime this week and will keep y
ou posted on all the new projects and plans we have. So far my biggest challenge has been keeping everybody on solid ground. And keeping mice out of the toilet paper.
Putting in the garden proved more labour
intensive than I had originally had in my head. In the city you dig up the grass, turn over the earth, add some compost and Bob's your Uncle!! (I use that expression simply because it drives Dave crazy.... ironically he HAS an Uncle Bob.) Sorry.... back to the garden. Rocks. A lot of Rocks. Rocks requiring sledge hammers and pry bars to remove. So my morning project turned into the days project and I have some decent arm muscles for my efforts, and a kick butt sized garden. Ty even helped by piling all the rocks I removed around the border to make it pretty for me.
I have been asked what the hardest thing is about being up there and I would have to say bathing. We don't have a well yet so we have to conserve as much water as possible, and we don't have a tub. So between our once a week visit to the Heathcock shower stall in Bancroft we endeavor to keep ourselves from getting too disgusting. As you can see, Dave has mastered the art of grooming in the great outdoors. All I can say is a hot soapy bucket of water on top of the woodstove can bring more joy than all the luxury in the world.
The pups have been enjoying themselves although we have to constantly remind them that they are very OLD. The first night they were almost crippled from all the running so we gave them each a baby aspirin and put them to bed for 14 hours. Samson Heathcock (pictured below) and his owners came for a visit which is always fun for everybody.
Dave did an amazing job repairing the tipi (below) and has started a number of other projects. One interesting one is a Native food storage platform, which looks suspiciously like a tree fort to me. However all the men have informed me that it is much more advanced than that and I wouldn't understand all the engineering involved. So to sum up, things are going great, we are headed back up sometime this week and will keep y
ou posted on all the new projects and plans we have. So far my biggest challenge has been keeping everybody on solid ground. And keeping mice out of the toilet paper.
April 28, 2009
5
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Well, Holly has requested the re-telling of the SWAT story.. so here it goes as I remember it! We purchased our acrage this past Fall and took possesion on a Friday. We signed our papers and went home to pack up some supplies. Dave went up to our new place on Saturday to get some wood cut for our firepit and to set up the tents.Our friend Steve came over on the Monday to help Dave. The plan was that I would be there by dinner time with our kids, and Steve's family would
come down at dinner time too for a little cookout.Here's where Dave takes over the story because he was there:
With the fire going for the cookout, Steve and Cheryl said they had a surprise for their kids and they walked around the corner and down the driveway to their van...a couple seconds later they came back looking a little freaked out. At their heals was a team of OPP and RCMP Swat cops...and I mean swat cops with machine guns and everything. All the kids took one look at them and went "COOL!!" thinking that was the treat.
The head guy walked up to me and handed me a "search warrent" to check the property for drugs and weapons that were supposed to be hiden around on the land somewhere - this explained very quickly the good deal we got on the land purchase.They explained that they knew we were the new owners and not responsible for anything they would find - here's where all the adults finally "exhale" and start to breath again. They had just found out that we bought the property which explained the automatic weapons....I think they might of been expecting some sort of gun fight - thank God they could recognize a family firepit when they saw one and quickly relaxed.
In a way it was both disturbing and comforting...disturbing that all the kids thought we would surprise them with a potential gun fight and comforting to know that Canada's best is hard at work.
As we made small talk, and I quickly reassured them that my tie-dye shirt had nothing to do with the drug sub-culture of Canada and more to do with environmentalism. They checked the property for any "stashes" of drugs or guns...did I mention that we had unknowingly bought a property that might contain guns and drugs - holy crap!!
(How can you not trust a face like this........ )
Anyway, they explained how they already had numerous officers hiding in the perimeter of the property ready to pounce had we given them the reason. After a short discussion, and our complete cooperation they left as orderly and efficiently as they arrived...and here's where Steph comes into the picture.
Ok (steph talking now), so I arrive at the turnoff to our property and notice a large collection of police vehicles, from unmarked sedans to a very large Paddy Wagon parked on the side of the road. Here is where I think to myself, wow, something big is going on around here! Glad I don't have to worry about such things!
I arrive at our driveway and drive in. I am greeted by 3 dogs, 1 husband, 2 good friends, 4 kids, and a whale of a tale! That's when it occurs to me that the BIG event had happened right here! I always miss ALL the good stuff!!
So there it is, the story of our fist days at our new digs. As a side note I will mention what occured a few days later....
Cheryl works in the public school system in Bancroft and as she arrived for work there were some officers at the school to do an anti-drug talk with the students. As she walks up to the front door one of the male officers says "How's the weather in Coe Hill?" She stops and in a bit confused... until it dawns on her... he looks a bit different in street clothes and not carrying a weapon. So our humble apologies to Steve and Cheryl for any rumors that might be swirling around Bancroft about our upstanding, non-drug taking friends.
March 20, 2009
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