Tuesday, June 21st - Goats can be crafty - literally!

Lloyd is still working slowly on his barn. It's not always easy with the help he has. There are three goats who hang around and tend to steal things and walk away with them if they can get them into their mouths.  In fact the whole weekend was all about the goats, but not necessarily in a good way!  Saturday was an absolutely beautiful day. It started out great with Lloyd and I meeting the flying club in town for breakfast. When it was time for me to go to work, I dropped him off at the bike shop where he picked up my little yellow beast and rode it home for me. She's now running like a charm, unfortunately I didn't have a chance to get out on it over the weekend. But there will be other opportunities.

Always looks so nice right after mowing the lawn

After work it was home to help out with some yard chores. I cut grass while Lloyd continued on with
his project.  We finished up the day with a quick but tasty supper upstairs on the garage sun porch. I put the card table and chairs in one corner and it makes a lovely spot to eat supper - not too sunny, nice breeze (if the wind is the right direction), great view, and best of all, NO BUGS!





Everything seemed in order until I later went upstairs to go to bed. I looked out the back window just in time to see three goats strolling down the lane away from the garage. This can't be good! So it was outside for Lloyd to round everyone up and get them back It seems the little beggers didn't mind going between the strings on the fence to go for a walk regardless of how many volts of electricity runs through them.

Sunday morning we were up early to try to figure out something for the fence as well as continue with

Watch for an update next week!

yard work.  We really needed to cut the grass behind the house but a collections of large rocks that had been hauled out of the cellar, was kind of impeding progress. I had glued some ceramic numbers into one of them and wanted it moved to the end of the yard. (We had picked up the numbers back in 2010 when we were in Arizona and still hadn't done anything with them.) Neighbour Frank to the rescue. He happened to come over early in the morning as he needed Lloyd to give him a hand with something. Then he came over with his tractor and bucket and moved the rocks down the
lane.


We still had several large boulders that needed to be moved, but to where? Problem solved. We have a large hole in our front yard that was one time a well. It's sunk down over the years and is now quite a size. So we placed the boulders around the outside and then Frank brought over a bucket of dirt and we filled it in. Instant flower bed!All it needs now is some flowers...



After working all morning., we were ready for a break. It was a beautiful hot sunny day, just begging for us to go for a drive. We put the top down on the little car and headed into town. Lloyd had a couple of things to pick up at Canadian Tire and I wanted to get some flowers for my new plot.  We stopped first and had some lunch, then headed to Canadian Tire. When we finished there we left town and stopped at Jewell's for some bedding flowers and ice cream, before heading back home.

You can imagine our surprise when we got back home to find the gate open and no goats to be seen (except Eddie, as he has his own little yard).  We were afraid they had gotten out on the road and wandered off. We searched everywhere and then Lloyd asked if the door was open at the top of the stairs in the garage. Sure enough, there were the three of them wandering around upstairs in my craft room!  I know they're curious but seriously???  Good thing one of the items we had purchased while out was new latches for their gates.

It's never boring at our house, I can tell you!

****************

Had a great time on Wednesday evening helping celebrate Meghan's birthday.  A good time was had by all and it was specially nice for the VanGaal family to have all the kids home at once, something that doesn't happen too often anymore.  (Hopefully someone got a photo without the demonic looking eyes!)

****************

Meghan (2) and her friends returned safely home from a school trip to Ottawa, which was not without it's excitement. They truly enjoyed the city and have brought back many memories including the Great KD Caper (and that's all we're going to say about that but they know the story!) Glad to hear that everyone had a wonderful time visiting our nation's capital.

****************

And finally, after returning from my brief visit to Guelph, I saw this post on the dance schools page. I hope they don't mind that I copied it.  I found it very inspirational and a great answer to that age old question frequently asked of dance parents - or any other extracurricular activity their kids might be involved in...

                                                                                                                           FROM A DANCE PARENT:

• One of my friends asked "Why do you pay so much money and spend so much time running around for your daughter to dance ?" Well I have a confession to make: I don't pay for my daughter's dance lessons. Or her pointe, Jazz, or tap shoes. Or her hundreds of costumes.
  
  So, if I am not paying for dance , what am I paying for? - I pay for those moments when my girl becomes so tired she feels like quitting but doesn't.. - I pay for the opportunity that my girl can have and will have to make life-long friendships. - I pay for the chance that she may have amazing instructors that will teach her that dance is not just about movement but about life. - I pay for my child to learn to be disciplined. - I pay for my girl to learn to take care of her body. - I pay for my daughter to learn to work with others and to be a proud , supportive, kind and respectful team member. - I pay for my child to learn to deal with disappointment, when she doesn't get that score she hoped for , or fell during a move she has practiced a thousand times, but still gets up and is determined to do her BEST next time... - I pay for my girl to learn to make and accomplish goals. - I pay for my daughter to learn that it takes hours and hours and hours and hours of hard work and practice to create a champion, and that success does not happen overnight. - I pay so that my daughter can be in the studio instead of in front of a screen... I could go on but, to be short, I don't pay for dance; I pay for the opportunities that dance provides my child to develop attributes that will serve her well throughout her life and give her the opportunity to bless the lives of others. From what I have seen for many, many years, I think it is a great investment!
  
  Author : S.Martin