Happy Birthday Frank!

Who is that boy
standing next to me?
Could it be Frank
who's 53!!!!

I know, lame poem, but don't we look cute? How much do you want to bet that Mom made those little coats for us? Do you remember the squirrel lamp? Anyway, hope you have a great brithday tomorrow!

Some Christmas pics

We had Christmas dinner with the Lewis family again this year - our new tradition since our family is getting smaller. There were 11 of us for dinner including Karen's parents, 2 of her aunts and her uncle and Karlea. Brenton was obviously taking the picture.

Me and B making cookies a few days before Christmas.

We had the Jonitz family over for supper yesterday - a few hours with the NBGBs! Here mama Silvia, Luca and Aaron play with some toys.

Me and Luca at the supper table. Luca is 20 months old now and loves eating!

Some winter stuff

I know I said that I don't like snow; however, our snow is getting a little 'dirty' and we could use some fresh stuff to clean things up a bit. This pic is taken out our diningroom window after I threw some bread out for the bunnies. Notice all the little round bits of 'dirt'.

Woke to this view this morning when I opened the bedroom blind. The fog on the river is so pretty.



Half an hour later (and 3 kms on my treadmill!) the fog is starting to clear a bit and the sun is coming out.



Farmer Mailman finishing his morning chores.

Happy Days

Gary took this pic of me and Aaron reading - I think this is about the 8th time I read the new 'Thomas ' book to him on Wednesday - he loves that book.

Last Sunday we were invited to the Jonitz house for supper and I got the special treat of reading Aaron and Luca their bedtime story. Me in my glory - a NBGB on each knee!

Oh No! It's the ladder thing again!

So we put up the Christmas lights last Wednesday and Gary has another helper for ladder duty. No kidding - Aaron would have gone to the top if we would have let him! This little monkey has no fear of heights at all.

Gary really did put the lights up himself and just in time - we are getting a pretty good dumping of snow today. It is kind of pretty, but, Frank can still have it all until Christmas Eve.

Welcome baby Athena and Happy Birthday Mike!

Welcome to the family baby Athena! Congratulations Michelle and Kurt and big brother and sister Kaeden and Ellia! Also congrats to Frank on grandchild #5!

Happy Birthday Mike! I tried to scan a baby pic but my scanner and resizer is at school (Brenton) so I had to go with Angel Mike! I think this is number 42?? Have a great one!

Aaron meets Reilly

Aaron met Reilly (we named our new goat!) for the first time. You can see a hunk of bread hanging out of Reilly's mouth. Aaron says Reilly is small (compared to Clyde!!) and he's a nice goat.

Aaron explaining to the bunnies that he has no more bread left.



Aaron swinging - oops, sorry Mama, we got a little dirty playing in the sandbox. Aaron was 'Bob the Builder' and I was his friend Wendy.



Well we woke to snow yesterday morning. I thought I took a picture of it; however, it seems my camera hates snow too and decided to delete it. It was quite windy and some folks lost their power - not us this time. Last weekend we lost our power for about 9 hours - yuck! I hope this is not how the winter is going to go. Oh, Frank, we saw your old friend Rick White last Saturday night at the Legion - we went there for a supper/dinner theatre. Rick has bought a house in Phinneys Cove - I haven't seen Rick for years and years but still recognized him - even with a busy beard!

On hurricanes and new additions and other stuff

Well it looks like we are going to get slammed with Hurricane Noel. Gary has the hatches battened down and all light things packed away. Brenton, who is in Quebec representing Nova Scotia at a student biligualism conference, will not be flying home today as scheduled. Their (he and a female student and their french teacher) flight has been cancelled and the next flight that they could get on is Tuesday (!) so they are taking the train home instead. He will be arriving home tomorrow night instead of tonight. I guess their trip will be more of an education then they planned!

Last weekend Gary and I had a short get away for 1 night and we went to Lunenburg and stayed at Lunenburg Oceanview Chalets - the owners stayed with us in the spring so we did the reciprocle (?) thing and stayed with them. Lunenburg is such a gorgeous town and, as you can see, the weather was fantastic! It was so nice being a tourist for a change and we were almost giddy when a shop owner asked where we were from - when we left the shop Gary and I both said simultaneously - "We look like tourists!" As you can tell, we are not used to being on that end of things! The next day we went to Mahone Bay, another pretty town, and then headed home. It was only a one night getaway, but what a treat!



In new news, I'm not sure if we reported this or not, but we sold our male goat, Clyde as we discovered he was not a pygmy goat at all - just undernourished when we got him and so he grew to be quite big (and stinky). So yesterday Gary and brother Eddie went to Oaklawn Zoo and purchased this little fellow. He is so sweet - almost like a dog. He puts his front paws up on your leg so that you'll pat his head. Now we have to come up with a name for him. Looking for suggestions . . . . Also, this little guy is not stinky which is such a plus. Gary picked him up yesterday to put him in the pen and we don't have to burn his clothes!

The Garage addition project nears completion!

With the help of Gary's brother Eddie (far right) and good friend, Tony Pye (center) the garage addition is nearly complete!

Tony and Eddie attaching the fiberglass panels - so it will be light and bright in the addition.


Tony & Eddie again - notice a theme here - Tony and Eddie up the ladder and Gary on the ground! Oh well, someone has to supervise and/or hold the ladder!

Some miscellaneous Fall stuff

Today was Aaron day so we decided to go out and blow some bubbles. What a change in temp today. On Monday we were out washing the vehicles in short sleeves and today we needed coats and hats. Bubbles in the air are fun, and so are bubbles on the patio table!

That is a huge bubble!


Last week all the baby goats went to their new home. Gary gives one last cuddle to one of the twins.

Clementine, Willow, Billy and the girls.

Gary making Million Dollar Relish. Hey - I helped - I cut up all the cucumbers, and the peppers.

Apple picking time at Upper Clements Cottages.

Russets anyone?

Neat visitor . . .

We have a neighbor up the road whose father owns this gorgeous helicopter. Since we have this nice, open field, the neighbor asked if her Dad could land here from time to time to pick up his grandson, or drop something off for her. Since Gary is nuts for anything that flies, of course, we said 'Yes'. He hasn't been around much lately, but he dropped in twice on Tuesday - once to pick up his grandson, and once to drop him off - lucky kid! About 2 years ago, Calvin (helicopter owner) gave Gary and Brenton a ride so that we could get some aerial shots of our property. A thrill for both of them and a nice pic for our website (on the 'pictures' page).

Going, going,


Gone! (Gary, Lealand, and Calvin's daughter watching the take off.)

A little more baby news (I'm not allowed to say 'up-date'!)

I talked to Tim and Melinda/Miranda last night at the hospital. Mother and baby are doing well and are hoping to go home today. I guess Coleman has lots of dark, curly hair. It may be awhile before we see any pics as Tim and family are moving around the end of the month so will wait until they move to get their internet hooked up. I wonder if the baby will look like his Dad, a little angel?

A new family member!

Congratulations to Tim and Miranda on the birth of their baby boy born yesterday and, apparently, sporting the "Brown" nose! He weighed in at 9 lbs and I can't wait to see some pictures!

Finally an up-date!

I know, I know, I've been remiss in updating! Does anyone else find that time is flying? We are still somewhat busy and it seems that there is still not enough time in a day to get the things done that we want to get done. I just finished painting the house foundation, shutters, window boxes and front step railings - a project that I had planned to get done in the spring. I've started my next project which is re-decorating the bathroom. This is becoming a little more work than I originally thought - I have some pealing paint on the ceiling (due to a poor bathroom fan?) so this requires some sanding and repairs - ugh! I just want to get to the fun stuff of painting the new color, new light fixture, new shower curtain, etc. etc. This sanding stuff is not fun. Anyway, enough raving. Gary has started a new project. His new tractor requires a home before winter. Since it is bigger than his old tractor, it won't fit under the deck. Hence, an addition to the lovely garage. Here he is framing up the new addition. You can't see his legs digging into the ladder - he hates heights - strange for someone who loves to fly!

We finally got a new (used) car. The Taurus wagon is now being retired to cleaning duties on the property. The new Escort will be our little run around car and Brenton will be insured on it as well (waaay too expensive to insure him on the van!).

Gary's Arm up-date

As you can see, Gary's arm is healing quite well, though it is still not pretty. He says his career as an arm model is now out of the question! We still haven't heard any more about the dog, but now that things are slowing down for us, we should have some time to persue this.

Side view - there is quite a lump under the skin - you can see it a bit in the pic below. It makes me feel queasy to touch it - yuck!

Pictures

First, for the FIRST TIME EVER, Upper Clements Cottages has reached ONE HUNDRED PERCENT occupancy!

Car shopping can be dangerous!

The pictures below are very graphic - caution should be used in viewing!
We recently found out that our second car, the Taurus wagon, needs alot of work to pass the safety inspection in October so we are thinking of keeping it on the property for cleaning the cottages and buying a little car for a second vehicle - something easy on gas. Brenton and Gary decided to go car shopping on Tuesday and at one of the used car lots a Boxer/Pitbull dog, which was tied to the office door, attacked Gary. These pictures are at the hospital where Gary needed a tetanus shot and a number of stitches to close the wound. The dog owner's comment on seeing the bite was, "He got you pretty good!" Needless to say, this matter is under investigation and hopefully the dog will be put down.


As you can see, one of the wounds is quite big and deep and then there are the puncture wounds on the side of his arm.

Congratulations Clementine - Twin Girls!

Yes, Grasshopper, Clementine finally had her babies. Twin girls born early Tuesday morning.

It's been a long wait, but very much worth it. Clementine, despite her rather nasty nature, has taken to motherhood very well and is doing all the right things with these two cuties. We've decided to name them 'Charlotte' and 'Nellie'. We're not sure who is who yet . . . Brenton is hoping to have better pictures soon. This working thing of his is taking up alot of his time and not leaving much time or energy for other things.

Guests from Lake Tomiko

I know this doesn't compare to the huge potluck suppers at Lake Tomiko, however, we enjoyed Gary's chowder and strawberry shortcake with Grasshopper and Linda. Cathy and Linda actually picked the strawberries on their way here! Good food and great company!

Video: Baby Billy

Here is a video of our new baby goat who we have decided to call Billy.

Some exciting news from Upper Clements!

Well, believe it or not, I was going to update my blog today with no pictures and just talk about what we've been doing lately. Things such as house cleaning 7 cottages, cleaning windows (48 of them!), mowing lawns (7 1/2 hours each week to do all the lawns!), painting picnic tables, etc. getting ready for the July 1st weekend. Kind of boring, but that's what we've been up to. Then, Willow gives birth early this morning and suddenly I have some exciting news and pictures! Here is the precious baby boy, weighing in at 4 lbs 2ozs, with his proud Mama. We haven't named him yet - any ideas for cute boy goat names? Brenton is doing a video which we will post on UTube and let you know how to get to it. Our other goat, Clementine is due any day now, so we may have more news shortly on that!

Gary always says that there is nothing cuter than a baby bunny, and that may be true, but a baby goat is sure a close second!



I think it's love at first sight for Mama!