ANOTHER BUSY BEAVER

Came across this beaver dam last Sunday while out hunting with Ron and Mary. It was quite the sight. When you stop and look at the structure, you can see all the work and how many trips that beaver has had to make in order to build his pools. Hense the phrase Busy as a Beaver...

POWER IS BACK ON

On Wednesday morning we woke up to no power.  It wasn't windy out so there must have been an accident.  Up here you get used to being without power more than a few times in a year.  I called Hydro One just in case no one had called it in.  I actually got a live person - you usually get a recording saying it has already been reported and the anticipated time of restoring power.  She indicated there had been an accident and, according to her records, we should have power - I set the record straight and she said she would check into it.  When Rejean called, they said they would try and have it restored by that evening. 
We had to run into town for our flu shots and in travelling down highway 129 south, came across the accident at the bottom of the hill by the 554 cutoff.  A big semi had taken the corner too fast and flipped into the ditch spewing his load of 2 x 4s into the ditch.  He had also taken out the hydro pole and a fibre-optic cable was running across the road.  They had to call a truck from Manitoulin Island to help in the repairs.  Long story short, we didn't get our power restored until 8:30 that evening. 
It's funny how you forget you don't have power - we were still flipping on the light switches all day long. I took advantage of the outage and packed for Florida. 
Thank goodness for modern conveniences...

FINALLY, A DIAGNOSIS

I had my doctor's appointment this morning about my toe.  I have had a pain in my left big toe for over a year and being me, I put  off having it looked at.  I always figure it will just go away.  But it didn't.  And it has been interfering with my exercise routine.  I couldn't do my half marathon this year because I couldn't get in the training because of the pain. And I had to buy an exercise bike for my cardio because I couldn't do my treadmill.  My doctor sent me for x-rays and I got the results today.  I have osteoarthritis of the base of my big toe!!!  I asked the usual questions such as what can I do about it and if it will get worse or if I will get it in other joints.  I said I don't take any pain medication for it as it is really not that hard to live with but she wants me to "manage" the pain by taking extra strength Tylenol 500 mg every 6 hours.  Ugh.  She says it will take care of the inflammation and in doing so, prevent it from getting any worse.  I can see her reasoning.  But I don't like the idea of taking any medication (except my miracle drugs estrogen and progesterone) but I do want to be able to function as a human being in the future so I am taking her advice.  I took my first Tylenol extra strength tablet at 4pm today.  I can still feel the pain in my toe but it is not as bad.  The miracle of modern medicine.
See Ya Bye

CREATURE SIGHTING

From my front room on the second floor I could see ripples in the water close to shore. I snuck downstairs and out the door and crept towards the edge of the hill for a good view. There were 3 otters in the water. They were hissing at the decoy in the water we use to mark the water pump. Then all three crawled out of the water onto the swimming rock. I stayed very still because they were looking over towards me so I knew that they knew I was there. It was a mother and her 2 babies, altho they were a good size. They shook themselves off and were licking each other and rolling around on the warm rock. It was amazing to watch these good size creatures doing what they do in nature. And me without my camera!!! When will I learn!!! I watched them for about 5 minutes and they soon wandered away on shore somewhere. I came back inside as it was a bit cool and I wasn't really dressed for being outside. But what a treat.
They have been around our lake for a number of years - every once in a while you catch a glimpse of them but never that close.
See Ya Bye

FINALLY DONE

We finished the wood yesterday - we had 5 3/4 rows -28 feet long and 4 feet high - we figure about 20 cord. (if someone wants to do the math and let me know if that is correct). There's a lot of work in this picture. The only thing we didn't do was take the trees down - we had some left over steel roofing that we placed on top and put rocks and cement blocks on it to keep them in place. We went over this morning after the big wind/rain storm we had and had to replace a few rocks. We lost a tree in the front by the big rock where Susan parks her 4 wheeler. A hemlock - not real big but enough to keep us busy for a few hours cleaning it up. We also lost our power this morning from about 7am until 11:30am - you can almost count on losing power when it is that windy out. The rain has brought up the lake levels just when it really doesn't matter.
I have started getting my clothes ready for Florida - that is coming up quick. I will need some sun and blender drinks right about then...

GIRLS RULE!!

My friend Debbie and her wonder dog BoBo came over to the hall today in her 4 wheeler. It is hunting season and she hadn't got any birds so she brought her gun along. Good thing she did because she spotted this baby on the way over and she got it!!! It was a nice big one, too. She was very happy with herself - as she should be.
I haven't been out yet this season so maybe after all the wood is done and the weather holds, I should be able to get out and try my luck.
It is quiet during the week in the bush so maybe I'll get lucky...
See Ya Bye

SCALLOP POTATOS

The scallop potatoes turned out so good at the dinner, I decided to make some today at the hall with the leftover stuff. I did it all by myself and they were good. Vickie and I each took some home for dinner - I also took a hamburger pie home - I think they are my favourite of all the pies we make. Just ground beef, shredded carrots and onions and Vickie's gravy. Vickie makes all the fillings for the pies and Phyllis makes the dough - I just fill the shells and put the "lids" on the pies then keep an eye on them baking in the ovens. I also put the ridges on the edges of the pies - I used to think it was such hard work to do that stuff but now - not so much - easy peasy.