A quiet but lovely holiday week

Some nice views on a drive.

Our New Tattoo Wedding Rings

We found a lovely icecream/bubbletea/sushi shop and brought home some kimchi.

Did some baking too. More details HERE and HERE.

Holly Jolly Holidays

Dec 18th

Dec. 19 morning

Dec 19 evening

So.... that didn't last... Arg. We were pretty sure the problem was having it partially done all the time and IF we could get the whole thing up on a low wind day, the anchoring straps and solidity of the structure would make it stay put..... So we worked out ASSES OFF into the night on Dec 22 to get it DONE. 

By the end, Hugslut had to point headlights at it so we could see the nuts & bolts.

Getting there...

Almost...

Done!

One of the hunters who park on our property to go hunting stopped by around sunset that night with a thank you gift of a goose and 4 lobsters. We needed to stop for dinner and decided that surprise lobster was much better than the original plans for dinner. :-)

After dinner, and after going back out to finish, we went for a congratulatory drive around and saw some lovely lights on the houses. This was the best I saw. Very festive. :-)

Next morning Dec 23rd, even though the wind picked up over night, The greenhouse was still standing!

The keen-eye'd can probably tell it's not perfect. The fact it got so mangled means things did not line up properly and actually made it really hard to make the panels go where they needed to. The ceiling of the greenhouse is not sealed. Many of the panels were not lined up with the ribs so the straps can't actually overlap the gap. This means the greenhouse will be less good... but less good is still much better than bad.

The 23rd was kinda busy for me. The little fridge and freezer we ordered a while ago were delivered, so I set those up and I canned up some split pea soup. 

Not too surprising in this roller coaster life... The greenhouse didn't hold. The last two panels that were the most crooked and therefore under the most pressure, popped overnight so the morning of Dec. 24th Hugslut and I hurried out to take them off all the way so they didn't damage themselves or anything else anymore than they already had.

I am just done with this greenhouse. I'm gonna cry and idk what we're actually gonna do about it but this is not functional. I can't make do with something that can't keep it's walls on. This likely means no greenhouse this upcoming season. No tomatoes, no peppers. . .  Maybe next year we can get some pros in to do up a new one.  Makes me sad because I had PLANS. 

I know, I know, Don't count your chickens before they're hatched. Don't mentally can salsa you haven't even planted the ingredients for... but it still sucks.

After that disappointing morning I decided to cheer myself up by doing some kitchen work. Washed a lot of dishes, canned up some Mock Pineapple, cooked up scalloped potatoes to go with the ham for dinner, made some lobster shell broth, and baked some sausage rolls so they'd be ready and appropriately refrigerated by the morning.

Dec 25th - Our traditional xmas breakfast plus music this morning. That's about all we do about xmas. We also tend to watch a themed movie and/or have a dinner with family at some point in December, but it's not a guarantee.

Happy Holidays to You & Yours.

 

Goodness! It’s been two weeks already?

So what have we been up to?

I started a fermenting project with some beets to see how we like fermented pickled beets. 

I also started a crochet project. I haven't done crochet in a while so I'm getting used to tension and such again.

Hugslut and I fought tooth and nail with the green house to get the first panel on in the barely sub-zero temps Sunday. Turns out the biggest part of the problem was the fact the bolts are just BARELY long enough to go through, and flat out are not long enough to leave them loose enough to fit the side panels in like you're supposed to be able to. 

The other part was that I had accidentally stuck one of the metal pieces on the plastic panel upside down so the holes were not lining up with the holes on the support struts. All of that was of course even worse because the metal was burning cold.

The collapsible dog kennel I ordered has arrived. This is intended as a chicken hospital. 

I know we don't have chickens yet, let alone ill chickens, but I'm doing my best to learn from the mistakes of others and I promised myself I'd make sure I had all the necessary/recommended equipment for any animal before we bring the animal on the farm. This means I'm planning to have everything(coop, fencing, hospital cage, first aid kit, food, grit, etc) ready by March so I can order(and hopefully receive) chickens in April without worries. 

Hugslut went on a work trip to Toronto for a couple days so I was left rattling around this big ol' house by myself. For first time since she started that job three years ago, we were actually away from each other overnight and it sucked. I missed my wifey.

This weekend we stopped off at the hardware store and got two more panels on the greenhouse. It's amazing how much easier one extra cm on the bolts, plus 5 extra degrees warmer, makes things.

Hugslut putting on a show when I asked for a pic.

Wind Finally Died

Random photo across from the post office because the sky looked cool.

 

This week started on a scary note with the chair I was sitting on giving a loud CRACK as the bolts connecting the back and back legs to the seat and front legs tore out of the solid metal taking a chunk with it. Hugslut said "You shared the skit out me!"(not a typo) and all I would say was "me too".

The chair now gets  to sit in the naughty corner until I figure out what to do with it. We clearly need a better dining room set.

Been eating sprouts on sandwiches and started making smoothies when we want a sweet treat. 

The amount of veggies going in our bodies has increased. This is likely a good thing

That said, I am not immune to the call of fudge. :-) Made up a tray and wrapped up lil pieces. 

Some went to a friendly neighbour, but most stayed with us. 

The wind FINALLY died down today which means the lobster boats got to start their season. Hugslut and I went down to the wharf to see them off with a friendly neighbour first thing in the morning. The boats got to leave the harbour at 6am so we got up at 4:30, got dressed and caffeinated, witnessed our first "dumping day", and then crawled back in bed for an hour or two before really starting our days.

The fact that the wind died meant that I could finally get back to the greenhouse. Poor thing is so bent.

I did manage to get the handles/latches on. Hopefully the panels will be up soon.

Please enjoy, some of my neighbour's chickens.

Let's Go to the Beach-each!

This week I made sure our stairs were a lot less slippery. It was 10C out so I got the no-slip tape solidly on the stairs before the rain and lower temps kicked in again.

Also did some canning this week. Baked beans in 3 different flavours. Hopefully we'll like one of them well enough and I'll have a solid recipe for the future.  I also started a "ginger bug" which is a fermented ginger syrup for cocktails and apparently makes a very nice drink all by itself if you add some sparkling water. I'll tell you how it is in a week or so when it's ready.

We have a new plant! One of the peach or plum pits has sprouted so I planted it in some soil I put in a icecream bucket with holes and I hope it doesn't take off too much before spring.

This week was also the lighting of the tree..... except the tree here is a pile of lobster traps. :-)

The lobster trap tree is not just for fun. 

It's also a memorial as the decorations have the names of folk who were lost at sea. 

Xmas events happen really early around here because a large portion of the population are lobster fishers and they'll be leaving on their boats to drop the first traps any day now. They'll be working into the spring. 

It was VERY windy today when Hugslut and I went to the beach. It was so windy that the tops of the waves were blown clean off to make rainbows. I want to make an effort to get out in nature every month or two so I can get a real feel for the seasons here. 

November has been VERY windy but otherwise not too cold.

Cake and Tea

Time has been flying past. At the same time I look around and see everything that's changed and I'm amazed we managed to do so much already.

I made a carrot cake Sunday and it was REALY good. Made way to much cream cheese icing for it and the carrot cake itself was HUGE. I could probably make half the recipe next time. :-)

Sunday night while we were on the phone with mum I went to the kitchen to start dinner and I looked out the window to find... 

Ouch. The rough winds seem to have not only shoved the whole thing across the lawn, but also completely mashed a corner that had dug into the ground, which wrenched a bunch of the connecting bars into different shapes.  

I sat down and cried for a bit, and then rallied the plan to fix it. 

Hugslut would only be able to help during her lunch break so I decided to be brave and... ask a neighbour who had flat out offered to help if I needed a hand with anything. 

She agreed to help the next day and I went to bed knowing I had a lot of work to do Monday. 

After straightening out the metal legs, tightening them the best I could, and bending the support beams back into almost the right shape, we got to work digging the holes for the legs. 

There's a LOT of rocks of various sizes fairly close to the surface. It seems the whole area was filled in with rocks to make it level, then random clumps of clay and sand to fill the gaps, and then covered with about 6" of topsoil. 

Good thing I don't plan on putting a rototiller through it..

With the greenhouse firmly planted and no longer in danger, we went inside for carrot cake and tea. We had a nice long chat and got to know each other better. When she had to leave to pick up the kids, I made sure she had a couple more slices of carrot cake and some jars of preserves.  

It's such a nice change to have friendly and helpful neighbours.