Tuesday, March 29th - Dear Mother Nature - What the heck????

I know the calendar says it's spring but what's with the blizzard???
Patti and Tristen arrived on Monday afternoon, planning a short visit till Thursday. Wednesday morning we wake up to a blizzard warning? The decision was made to try to get them out on Wednesday afternoon or evening. In spite of the bright sun that was streaming through the windows at the airport on Wednesday, we were able to get them to Halifax and then to Toronto before midnight. We've had several false alarms with expected storms that this one was hard to anticipate with the beautiful evening on Wednesday. But this time they were right. I'm so glad our guys got home.They would have had a hard time getting back  in time for the weekend  commitments.
Patti got home in lots of time for Meg's dance competition on Friday and Saturday.  Meanwhile James was at a Field Training exercise with the air cadets. They are indeed a very busy group of people!

On the bus to camp - looks like too much fun!

Tristen fell in love with Barney. But apparently they will come from far and wide to see him. Tristen came all the way from Ontario and a relative of our neighbour's from the Azores couldn't help stopping by to feed him his bottle.  He's doing so well after his very rocky start and everyone who meets him just loves him.  I'm  hoping to find him a really great home. I have a lead to follow up on - more on that later

Tuesday morning we went into town and had a tour of the Culinary Institute. Tristen is toying with the idea of a possible career in the culinary field but it's a long way off. He'll probably change his mind at least a dozen times. But it's never too early to explore your options.

Brenda and Bernie were away for the week so once the family went back home I've had to entertain myself.. Needless to say it was a pretty quiet week. I even brought Celery out to the kitchen to keep me company one morning (there's no wires near the floor in this room). She wasn't so fond of the tile floors but as soon as she stumbled upon Coopers nice soft cushion in front of the wood stove, she made herself at home, much to the disgust of the dog.

Told you it's a zoo around here sometimes!

Lloyd was hoping to move the big giant convection oven in this weekend but the piece of equipment he needed to do the job wasn't available. He may try one day this week.  Once that's in I can get really into cleaning. Not much point in doing a lot out there till EVERYTHING is in place.
I still have a hard time believing this is all happening...


...and speaking of food - last summer when I was in Ontario I visited my friend Helen. We had a lovely lunch at her apartment and shared some nibbles outside on the balcony. One of the things we had was a Melton Mowbray Pork Pie. This was totally new to me so I had to research it when I got home. I found a recipe and some pretty specific instructions on line and set them aside. One day the week before last, I finally got around to giving it a try. Mine didn't come out quite as pretty as the one I had at Helen's but it was mighty tasty. I will definitely be trying this one again.

... and finally, even though it may not LOOK like spring, I happen to know that it is officially here! Yesterday, Lloyd and I were driving into town via the highway and what did we see coming in the opposite direction?  The one true thing that has always says Spring to me - not tulips or daffodils or robins, oh no, not for me - it was a burgundy coloured Miata!!! Spring has truly arrived! Can't wait to get mine out of storage...but I'll have to wait till some of the snow has melted out of the lane and the mud ruts have smoothed out.  But it's coming!!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, March 21st - Spring is now one whole day old! YAAAAY

There's an old saying - be careful what you wish for, it might come true.
Well, I suppose we wished for a commercial kitchen out in our garage and it seems to have actually come true. We're not up and running as yet because some things still need to be installed and hooked up. Spring (once things thaw and the mud has dried up) will see digging and plumbing installed but for now most things are at least in place.

 Not so long ago, this was what the space looked like, at least once all the junk was cleared out!

But just look at it now! Welcome to a sneak preview of the kitchens of :

Wee Bee Bakery, Catering and 
Country Culinary Experience

A very large convection oven is going into the space to the left of the stove but that's going to take a bit lot of effort to move. Some modifications need to be made as well but that will come. For the time being at least, everything is finally in it's place - and out of Lloyd's workshop!!There's an awful lot of cleaning to be done to some of these pieces but my labour is cheap and I have the time

Well, maybe next week I'll have the time. This week I'm thrilled to have Patti and Tristen visiting. He worked all through March Break so his mom is letting him take a few days off school.
Tristen brought me a very nice hand made sign for the kitchen.. The door has been taken off at the moment but as soon as it's back on I'll post a photo of his creation in it's proper place!

He couldn't wait to meet Barney when he got here yesterday afternoon. They hit it off right away so now I'm relieved of my bottle feeding duties for the rest of the week!

 We're going to have some fun in the kitchen this week as well as a tour of the Culinary Institute of Canada. I want him to see just one of the educational opportunities he might be able to take advantage of when he graduates from high school. I can't believe I'm helping my little baby grandson plan his secondary education! I know it's a ways off and he will likely change his mind several times before he gets to that point but he's here and I had the connections to make it happen. I think I'm more excited about it than he is!



This week is March Break here on the island so friends Brenda and Bernie got a bit of a breakaway and are gone on a road trip. No particular destination in mind - the best kind of trip. Hope you guys are having a great time and finding some weather maybe a little warmer than here.

Yesterday at 7:20 was the start of spring, so message to Mother Nature - bring it on!

Tuesday, March 14th - waiting for the annual St. Paddies Day Storm

I've been told several times that we usually get a storm around St. Patricks Day and it looks like this year is no exception. We're expecting a nor'easter to strike Tuesday night and may be followed by rain on Wednesday. Dear Mother Nature - if we aren't going to be able to use the snow for anything useful, then we don't need it!




It's been a busy week feeding baby goats. Little Barney is doing very well in spite of his rocky start in life.  He's being bottle fed three times a day and he's getting along famously, although I think he believes I'm his mom! We had to move him in with another mom because his was being pretty mean to him. His adopted mom isn't feeding him but at least she's keeping him warm on cold nights, which I was really concerned about. The feeding I can take care of. When I go into the barn he starts calling to me and when I let him out of his pen, he follows me all around. He's just too darned cute.

Our friend Jens came over on Saturday to see how he was doing and he was really happy to have the chance to give him his bottle.

 The fun just never ends!





Other than that it's been a bit of a quiet week. I enjoyed an evening out on Thursday with Brenda and Meghan. An enjoyable meal and a concert at the Mack made for a great night. Thanks ladies!

It was a really freezing cold weekend so good time to work inside. Our neighbour Frank came over on Friday afternoon and ended up staying until at least 7:00 helping Lloyd with the grout. After a couple of drinks and a turkey dinner, we sent him home. We really appreciated his help.( I certainly did because it would have been me out there all those hours!) 

Saturday was a quieter day with some odd jobs around the place. Sunday Lloyd and I did a bit more on the grout. One more bag of grout should pretty much finish it off. Then we can move things in and see if the plan on paper actually works in real life.

I spent some time on the weekend planning our trip to Britain. James and I are traveling in July to celebrate my 65th birthday. Did I mention that I wanted to go to Liverpool for my birthday? It's that whole Beatles thing, you know......
James is going with me so my few days trip has expanded somewhat. Now we will be touring some of Scotland as well, before heading for London to finish our trip. We're traveling on Britrail passes so we're planning our trip accordingly.  Half the fun is the planning but I'm really looking forward to it. There's still lots of details to be worked out but we've got lots of time.

And lastly, I read my email after doing the blog last week and missed a message from Patti. So,
Where in the world is Patti?  Last week she was in Copenhagen. She tells me she went for a walk and got lost but eventually found her way back to the hotel. She says there are a lot of people who use bicycles over there, in spite of the cold weather.  

Lego were invented in Denmark.. who knew?

Did you know? Lego makes more tires than any other company in the world!

Tuesday, March 7th - that's farming, or so I'm told!

Well another crazy week in the books. It was really busy on several fronts.

Wednesday I worked at my new job and it went well.  Thursday Lloyd and I attended an Entrepreneur Forum in Georgetown, where we met some interesting people and made some great connections. Then Friday I was off to Island Hill Farm to help prep for their Winterlude event, later that evening. Lloyd was planning to meet me there when it started at 6:00 but it was after 8:00 when he finally got there. Turns out Annie decided to give birth to her babies just as he was doing chores and getting ready to leave.  Of course the best news is we have 2 more little boys. It's a little hard to increase your milking herd with 5 new boys but as a very wise man tells me, "that's farming!"

Friday night's event at Island Hill was a great time in spite of the very cold temperatures (albeit not quite as cold as last year).  I was fortunate to spend the whole time in the house helping in the kitchen. Warm and lots more fun!






By Saturday afternoon we weren't sure that little Barney was going to make it . But after feeding him with a syringe a couple of times, and bringing him into the house where it wasn't quite so cold, he finally got the knack of drinking from the bottle. He spent the night in the dog crate in the living room. (well, most of the night). By the end of the evening he was somewhat stronger and by morning, he was up and walking around and ready to go back to his mom and brother, Byron  (whom I realize I don't have a picture of - he's all white, just like his cousins Billy and Benjamin)

  Our house on a Saturday night - curled up in front of the TV with a baby goat snuggled under a blanket, a cat on my lap and the dog beside me. It's certainly never boring out here on the island.

 Turns out Mom's not feeding him, much like Amelia and Billy the Kid. That explains why he was so terribly weak. So now I've got two little ones to hand feed. But I guess if you have to feed one, it's not that much more to feed two. 







Sunday was again very cold and extremely snowy and windy so the bulk of the day was spent inside. Besides Lloyd had a wicked tooth ache that still continues. He went to the dentist on Monday but after x-rays he was given some antibiotics to get the infection under control. He sees a dental surgeon on Thursday. Hopefully that will take care of the pain he's been in for some time.

Monday I took Barney and Byron into town to get them de-horned. I had a lovely chat with the Vet there, who's done all the work on all our goats so far. Really nice fellow and a pleasure to talk to.
When we got home I brought Barney inside for a minute while I got his bottle ready before heading back out to the  barn. He found the tile floors very slippery and was pretty comical to watch trying to stand up.




We're expecting some more milder weather later in the week but hopefully we won't have the flooding we've had over the last couple of weeks. Freezing temperatures at night may be a big help.