Fall update

It's hard to believe that summer is now officially over and we are enjoying some fabulous fall weather - sunny, cool days and crisp nights - Gary make our first fire of the season last night and, I must say, it felt pretty good! We have our 6 1/2 cords of wood tucked away so we should be nice and warm, no matter what the winter brings - ugh!

Hi, back again - I just had a drop in - a German woman and her mother staying tonight and possibly tomorrow night as well. So, we are still having some business, but things are slowing down.

This hornet nest was found next door to us in Upper Clements Park's apple orchard. It's huge!

Another view.


Since people go into the orchard to pick apples, Gary made this sign as a warning - as it is a really active nest and we don't want anyone getting stung! Since our graphic designer has moved to Halifax, we have been forced to try and do this stuff ourselves - I think Gary did a fine job on this.


Working on some other fall projects, since the slate work is done, we decided to put some nice, white vinyl lattice to finish off under the deck.

I guess this picture should have come first, as Gary measures for the last panel. Since we don't want the bunnies going back and forth through the lattice holes, Gary had to put chicken wire on the back side - you would be amazed at the small hole those creatures can get through!

In other news, Brenton has a new job at Geox - a shoe store in Park Lane Mall, which is a 4 minute walk from his apartment. This new job will save him a 1 1/2 hour bus commute (each way!) every day so he is happy about that. The experience that he gained at Golftown was helpful in getting this job - thanks big brother Jay! Jason is about as good as me at updating his blog. For those on facebook - Jason has a bunch of pictures from his summer vacation with Shannon and some fall pics of doing a corn maze with Shannon and her two children.

I know Frank and Cathy are on a trip to see Joseph and family and Michelle and family so I'll be anxiously awaiting some photos from that trip.

What kind of bird is this?

I know, it's been forever since I've updated my blog; however, I LOVE FACEBOOK! So fast, so easy! Anyway, we are having a great summer - full every night since July 5th - yeah!! We have good staff and everything is going really well - I should knock on wood or something, right? This is our first summer as 'empty nesters' - Brenton is enjoying his apartment and Halifax and his job at Golf Town - Thanks big brother Jay! B is getting used to all the things that come with living on your own - buying groceries, dragging them home, doing laundry, learning the bus system, etc.

We have a new added attraction this year - the 8:30 p.m. feeding of Sprocket. It has become a favorite with the kids. Here's a new batch from last night - a group of folk who have adopted little girls from China - they are so cute! Some nights we have about 15 kids and Sprocket eats fast - so it's about 2 sucks per child! It's a great photo op for parents and will probably make the kids want to come back next year, eh? And of course the bunnies are a hit as usual and we have more than ever!

We need some help identifying the bird in the following photos. We were eating lunch yesterday and Gary noticed it on the clothesline - a strange, big, bird. Of course, his first thought was, "I wonder what kind of bird it is?" and then, "I must get the camera!". My first thought was, "I hope it doesn't crap on my sheet!!!" So, I guess that makes me the practical one - yesterday was a 42 sheet day, so I guess that's allowed. Anyway, thought that maybe Joseph or Frank may have any idea of what this bird is . . .

Pics from the dining room window.

Spreading it's wings.

Flying away - from inside, I thought it was flying right at Gary - like attacking! LOL

Any help will be appreciated!

Oh, one more picture!

This is what Brenton has designed for our new road sign. Very simple and classy, I think. I'll take pics of the real thing when it is done!

Finally . . . an update

I know it's been awhile - time just seems to go so fast these days - not enough hours to get everything done! So, what's new? We moved Brenton to Halifax on May 26th and he is busy looking for work and setting up his great bachelor apartment - prime location on Spring Garden Road! He'll be home next week for graduation and Prom - where did those years go? Seems like just yesterday we were at Jason's highschool graduation.

We're busy getting ready for the 'busy' season. There's always lots to do - Gary is making a new road sign this year as our old sign was a victim of the high winds we had here this winter. Brenton has designed the new sign and Gary is constructing it. Gary's been working on the pond as well - the goldfish are in and this year we have a couple of turtles so the pond must have a fence. Here's the temporary fence.

Our new hibiscus bush - it's such a pretty color. Oh, a bonus to having the fence is it will also keep the bunnies out!

Our calla lillies - donated by Karen's Mom, Marilyn. I think they make a nice addition and the black bunny (Scooter) is just trying to figure out how to get in there and taste them . . .

Sprocket continues to do well - he's such a baby - he still like to have a little 'baba' at night before he goes to bed - only a couple ounces of water, but he still enjoys some cuddle time. Here he is playing with Gary - oh, am I that bald? - yup, you are honey, you just don't get to see that view of yourself!

Well that's about it for now, guests are checking in - we only have one cottage vacant tonight - neat for this time of year. And, on tourism being down and the recession and all - we are 83% booked for July already! So it looks like we'll have another great summer!

An unusual visitor at Upper Clements Cottages!

We had an unusual visitor today - Pepe the peacock from Upper Clements Wildlife Park decided to drop in for a visit. Gary's brother, Eddie, is the manager of the wildlife park and last evening Pepe was sighted on the other side of the road so Eddie & wife Evelina picked him up and , before taking him back to the park, dropped in to visit us. I guess he liked it here and decided to come back today by himself! Here he is up on the railing of my clothesline deck.

What a tail - even when its not open!


You can't tell by this picture, but the colors are spectacular! He put on quite a show for our guests from the U.K. and their children. The children had never seen a peacock before, much less one up so close.

Eddie says that Pepe loves to show off at the park - we figure that since the park isn't open yet, he figured that he'd come here where he would have an audience - LOL!

The backside is quite spectacular too!

Pepe's so tame . . . Gary is petting him here.

Later in the day, we drove Pepe back home safe and sound. Hope he watches out for the cars if he comes back for another visit.

Another critter from Upper Clements Park. Eddie just got a delivery of a bunch of baby chicks - too cute!

Farm up-date and boys and their toys.

Friend Manfred rented this little digger to do some work on his property and we have two Linden trees that we want to move next year, so Manfred brought the little digger over to dig around the trees. Apparently, if you dig around them and fill in with sand and leave them for a year, they have more of a chance of doing well when moved. We'll see . . . . . Here Gary gets a turn with the digger - what fun!

Manfred digging. I think the bunnies could have done the job with a little instruction of where to dig. There are tunnels around the foundation of our house thanks to the avid diggers!


Sprocket is now a barn goat but still enjoys his bottle - just water now. We're trying to get him to drink out of a bucket - no luck yet! Lexi waits for her turn.

Lexi has had an amazing turn around. In my last post we were so frustrated trying to feed her and then on Tuesday, she decided she would take the bottle - no problem. Our vet told us that sometimes the preemies don't do real well until they get to, or close to, their real birth date. So it looks like Lexi was at least 2 weeks premature, or more. On Saturday morning, she wouldn't take her bottle and we wondered, could she be nursing from Mama? I went out a little later and sure enough, she was happily nursing from her Mama! Yeah!!! What a victory!

Gary's brother Eddie holding Gizmo, Sprockets twin brother. He's quite a bit bigger than Sprocket - you can't really tell from the pics, but trust me, he's much heavier! Ah, life on the farm!

Lexi update and Happy Birthday Gary!

Happy Birthday, Gary! 53 years young today! I tried to scan a picture in but, alas, Brenton is still sleeping and I am hopelessly inept at scanning and sizing and such!

On to an update on Lexi, who is 9 days old now and such a cutie but such a trial to us! She is so lively and spunky but she doesn't want to eat! We have been bottle and tube feeding her as she doesn't seem to be able to latch on to Momma (vet confirmed mamma's udders are way to big for our little preemie!), but Lexi fights us at every feed. It's unbelieveable how strong a little goat that is less than 3 lbs can be. It takes 2 of us to feed her and 3 if Brenton is around to refill the tube. We have had our lactation consultant in (friend Karen who is the retired 'baby' nurse) and have tried every trick in the book and multiple types of nipples - preemie nipples, silicone nipples, playtex 'easy latch' nipples - all to no avail. We rub the roof of her mouth to stimulate the sucking reflex - and she can suck - just doesn't want to! Ugh! Sprocket was so different - he wasn't very old before he would hear the microwave and get excited or if we would say, 'Do you want your baba Sprocket?' and he would run to his feeding spot on the couch. Maybe its because she is a preemie - not sure. Anyway, she started off weighing 2 1/2 lbs, and we had her up to just over 3 lbs yesterday, with a little slide back to 2 lbs 14 oz this am.


Lexi in the kitchen - we are amazed that she doesn't hold a grudge about us forcing her to eat. As soon as were're finished, she's happy as a clam and running around again.



Lexi checking out Pip - he's 3 times her size!

So we have a new baby goat & NBGB Luca's birthday

On Friday night our second female, Willow, gave birth to a set of twins - a little boy (who died shortly after birth - farming is not for the faint of heart!) and this little girl, Lexi. She was unable to stand and at 2 1/2 lbs is very small. Our vet confirmed today that she is premature but he's happy with how she is doing. We (and by we, I mean Gary) has been feeding her with a tube as she is too small to nurse from her mom and we are starting her on a bottle but she gets tired easily and stops sucking. On day 3 she started standing and now is walking really well so we just have to get her a little bigger so that she can nurse from her momma. We have worked really hard to keep her in the barn - she was in the house (pic below) for 2 nights to rest and then back to the barn. She is so tiny and so sweet!

To get an idea of how much Sprocket has grown, he was only a pound bigger than Lexi at birth and now, at 7 1/2 weeks, he is a whopping 12.5 lbs! We are hoping that tonight will be his first night in the barn - we've been intoducing him gradually and things have been going well.


Sprocket loves chewing - on anything - clothes, hair, whatever!



My two babies - Sprocket is a little jealous - especially when he sees Lexi's bottle, so now when Gary is feeding Lexi, I feed Sprocket his bottle. Get a visual on this - Gary has 2 patio chairs in our little barn and he bottle feeds Lexi in his chair and I bottle feed Sprocket in my chair! Do we sound just a little bit crazy???

The proud momma, Willow and her tiny Lexi.

On to other 'kids' - yesterday was Luca's 3rd birthday. He's playing with his new tow truck here.

Big brother Aaron (5.5) an birthday boy, Luca with Luca's birthday balloon. My non-biological grandbabies are growing up too fast!

Happy Birthday Jason!

So I fibbed a bit - about no embarrassing pictures or stories! Anyway, I don't think this one is embarrassing - it's cute! Have a great one, Honey! We love you!

Our amazing vacation!

I can't believe we've been home since Tuesday and I'm just getting around to posting some pictures! We had an amazing time at the Occidental Grand Flamenco Resort in Punta Cana. I didn't mind the flight down or back, so it looks like my fear of flying is a thing of the past - yeah! The resort was beautiful, the beach amazing, the pools fabulous - it was like being in a different world where the most pressing decision of the day was 'should we lie out at the beach or a the pool?'

View from the Sports bar - which had a swim up bar in the bottom - too cool!



The beach - warm water and gentle breezes.

Our room.

I have posted alot more pictures on Facebook - 'cause it is so easy and so fast so be sure to check those out too. We are already talking about going again next year - we had such a great time.

An up-date on Sprocket - he now weighs 6 1/2lbs. and is 'potty' trained to puppy training pads - he never misses. It is too cute to watch - he gets in this stance, and stares straight ahead and doesn't move until he's finished. We've been reading up on pygmy goats and everything we've read says it is difficult/impossible to house train them - go figure! Gary's brother and his wife looked after Sprocket while we were gone and B helped out too. He did great - oops, he is crying for his bottle right now - time to go feed him - he's up to 5 oz a feeding five times a day.

Our new house pet

This post is for those of you not on Facebook - not mentioning any names here! And I can't believe that I am saying this, but Facebook is so much easier and faster to post pictures on! Anyway, as most of you know, last Sunday, March 1st our goat went into labor - Gary (who has developed such good instincts for this) decided to go out to the barn around 9:30 to check on the mother goat, and sure enough, she had just delivered the first baby. He then came in to get me and Brenton and by the time he got back out to the barn, she was delivering the second baby which was in distress and not breathing. Gary immediately went to work on the baby (even doing mouth to mouth!) and got the little guy to come around a bit. It was very cold, so we brought him in the house to warm him up and to make a long story short, he is now 6 days old and he is still in the house - though now he is running and jumping around! His mom doesn't want anything to do with him, and in fact, she is quite nasty to him when we try and put him in with her and the other twin. So we are doing about 6 bottle feedings a day, etc., etc. ! Having a newborn is tiring!

Pip looks a little indignant here, but he is really good with the baby and even plays with him.



Looks like Sprocket is going to try Pip's food here.



Cuddling with Papa on the couch.


My attempt at a diaper - a newborn Pamper with a hole cut for the tail.


'Our' goat on the outside, and Will - the other twin in behind.

This one is for Michelle!

I know Michelle will appreciate this story. When we shop here at Sobeys, you are automatically entered in a bunch of contests. I never pay any attention to that since I never win. Well today I got a call from Sobeys in Greenwood and they said that I won (for using my Airmiles card) a 6 piece serving set. I thought it was pots and pans, and Gary thought perhaps it was a set of utencils - you know the soup ladle and egg flipper, etc. Since it was a Campbells soup contest, I thought he might be right. However, when I stopped in to pick them up - imagine my surprise when I saw a 6 pience Le Creuset set. Now, the only time I have ever heard of Le Creuset is when Michelle mentioned it on her blog and I looked them up - pretty fancy and expensive stuff! That box is so heavy I couldn't carry it to the car. I was so excited. I just looked this set up on the internet and it seems the value is between $600 and $700 US! Wow. Gary is excited thinking this is the first in a winning streak for me - start buying the lotto tickets!

Pretty neat, huh?