Friday, September 13th - as if that wasn't enough to mess with our day..

...we're also waiting for the side affects of Hurricane Gabrielle. Shouldn't be too serious an event, but heavy rain and maybe some wind could make for a pretty messy time. It's 19' that feels more like 25' at 5:00 in the morning! Later it will only rise to 21' but still feel like 28' but maybe 50 mm or more of rain will fall throughout the day, depending on which part of the island you're on.

 Oh well, at least I don't have to be worried about the poor chickens out in the severe weather. They are now safely tucked into the freezer. Good thing we bought a larger freezer because there's no way I could have found enough room in my other freezer.

Some of them had gotten very large and once killed and cleaned, and put into a plastic bag, the largest bird weighed 11.8 lbs and a couple more were just a little less than that.The smallest ones are in the 7 lb range, not too shabby either. We have a total of 94 lbs of chicken in the freezer - that should keep us stocked up for a little while! I think we'll do this again next year, although there are a couple of small changes we'll make. It was truly a learning experience.



 And speaking of a learning experience. I'm a big fan of the old fashioned press back chairs - something you really don't see anymore other than the odd one here and there in antique shops. I decided I would like to replace my dining chairs with old press back ones but I'd like to know a little bit about them so they each have their own story. I have one I picked up at friend Richards garage sale. I'll have to ask him about that one. It needs a bit of gluing but I love the designs on it and the colour of the finish. I was on Kijiji the other day and found this one over in Stratford. I stopped in on my way home and purchased it after seeing it.

  I asked the owner if she knew anything about the chair but she admitted she didn't as it had been bought at a local antique store. Not to worry. Then I carried it out to the car and when I turned it on it's side to place it carefully in the back seat, I noticed something glued to the bottom. I bent a little closer to take a look and it's a hand written note regarding the chairs history. Oh my gosh, what a great thing to find. The note says:

"Chair was purchased for the new home by Clair and Laura Dunn- 320 Bain Avenue, Toronto. Married July 18, 1919. It serviced their lively 5 kids - Marjorie, Leonard, Ruth, Victor and Alonzo. Dad painted the table and chairs numerous times with numerous colours. Walter worked hard to strip the old paint off to reveal it's beauty"

 I can only assume the note was written by one of the two daughters, either Marjorie or Ruth and that Walter was her husband?  What an interesting find. Now I suppose I'll have to do the same thing with each chair, add a note of my own as to where I acquired the chair and when.  (James (who enjoys history,  is going to love this story.)

And one final bit of great news - Lloyd has been offered a full time job. He still has to go through the hiring process and obtain a security check from the RCMP but it's in the works. He's going to Ontario next week and will be back to start his new position the following week. It will be a bit of an adjustment as he'll be working from midnight till 8:00am but if he does it all the time, hopefully he'll get used to the routine. He'll be working at a men's homeless shelter. I think he'll be good at that, as he's a very kind, caring and compassionate person.