Snow

Hi!

Sorry I haven't blogged in awhile! Sadly, my power is so limited right now that it's difficult to spend any time on my computer :(. I did get a new generator, which is a huge help, but with zero solar power all month, I'm running it 4-5 hours a day just to maintain enough power to run a light, modem and my tablet (I finally got a cheap tablet so I can at least check my emails)

Monday overnight we got a shit load of snow, about a foot. It is incredibly beautiful! However, it was a serious task shovelling the driveway!

So here are some lovely pics of the area ...

First Snow Fall

Well, it finally happened ... it snowed. I went to bed Friday night to no snow and awoke Saturday morning to about an inch of it.

It snowed off and on all day, all together we got about three inches of snow. I'm not the biggest fan of snow, but you gotta admit its awfully pretty!

It's suppose to be +7 in a couple of days, so thankfully won't be staying long.

The snow is very nice for the Winter Solstice, which is on Monday.

I hope you all have a most wonderful Holidays! Hugs!

Raspberry Pi

In an attempt to lower my energy use, I purchased a Raspberry Pi. Well, technically, I gave the money to a friend who ordered it, set it up and then sent it to me. It's nice to have such great friends!!

I'm sure many of you are wondering what the heck a Raspberry Pi is ...

Basically it's a super small, super efficient computer tower. It cost about $80 and uses about 5 watts of power. I got it to replace the computer tower that was hooked to my TV to play downloaded movies and TV shows.

So, this photo is of the Pi all hooked up ....

This pic is of all the stuff my purchase came with

This photo is of the Pi in it's box. As you can see it's pretty damn small!

I could get another Pi to replace my main computer tower, but I would have to get a larger size as the one I got does not have the memory/ram for all my art programs.

So far, I'm impressed. It works great, was easy to get going and takes almost no power. However, if I had gotten it myself, I would of been horribly confiused as you have to set it up yourself (and I'm not the best at that kind of stuff). It does come with lots of directions.

You can buy a Pi on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.ca/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=raspberrypi&tag=googcana-20&index=aps&hvadid=89307221849&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3875158643383683144&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_3kollhp7lp_e

Here is the link for the Pi site:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/

If you are trying to save power or just looking for something small to replace your tower, I think a Pi is worth checking out!

Lung Infection and Herbal Remedies

Hi! Hope everyone is well! I've been having a boring blah week. I unfortunately have a lung infection again :( and am stuck sitting around being very bored.

Boy, I tell ya, the solar sort of sucks at the best of time, but damn it really really sucks when you are sick. I can't move around, so I'm stuck sitting, and without limited TV and computer, there is not a lot to do.

I've read two books already this week and did some painting and other art, but it gets really boring after awhile.

It doesn't help that I haven't been able to work doing dances all week. It really adds to my boredom. I normally have 1-2 nice fellas to chat with daily. I'm also a little bummed as I had planned to treat myself to a tablet this week with my dances money (So I can go online easier), but that didn't happen as I have been too sick to dance :(

I've been getting slowly better every day. I'm taking some herbal remedies. However, if I'm not significantly improved by Tuesday, I'm going to stop in at the walk in clinic when I go to town.

So, here are a couple of good herbal remedies for chest/lung infections and bronchitis:

Bronchitis Shooter

1. One shooter glass of tomato juice
2. 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
3. 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
4. a clove of garlic, minced

Add the spices to the shooter glass of tomato juice

The shooter should be taken twice daily for two days. It BURNS A LOT! Be prepared. Have a glass of milk or some bread for immediately after doing the shooter.

~~~

Tea Tree Oil Steam

Fill a bowl with hot boiling water, add five drops of tea tree oil. Inhale the steam for about 10-15 minutes.

The tea tree oil will help kill any infections in your lungs.

~~~

Honey and onion cough syrup

Take a cup of honey and finely chop in an onion. Put in fridge and leave for a day. Take a tablespoon like cough medicine when needed.

The onion could be substituted with cinnamon; it tastes better than the honey/onion, but I didn't think it worked as well.

~~~

Of course whenever you are sick, you should increase your vitamin C and adding a little extra garlic to your diet always helps.

I look forward to being back to my normal self soon and I hope you are all staying healthy! Hugs!

Lend a Helping Hand

This Go Fund Me page was started by one of my very very best friends, Stephie. Her and her love are trying to have a baby, but sadly need some extra $ help as OHIP doesn't cover everything they need done (Stephie's love has some serious health issues)

If you are looking for a random act of kindness to do, here a great one!

The link below will take you to her Go Fund Me Page and I copied and pasted her story below.

https://www.gofundme.com/6he8fjr8

"Hey everyone ! Our story is a little intense! My hubby and I would love to have a baby of our own. Unfortunately we were not blessed in having one the natural way. My hubby Mike was born with a rare syndrome called Prune Belly Syndrome. He was born with a pile of problems, too many to list them all but just a few are he was born with only quarter of a kidney, no plumbing and undescended testicles to name a few. he's had over 40 surgeries lost his quarter of a kidney plus two transplant kidneys. Needless to say he's had a rough time. But he's strong and positive. He's always helping others. But now we need help. We went to the doctors because we want to have a baby of our own. We knew it wouldn't be easy but we are determine to do it. We went through tests to make sure I was good to carry a baby and went onto Mikes testing. We are down to having a doctor extract semen to test to see if it's viable and freeze it,if it is. OHIP doesn't cover this cost of testing nor does it cover ivf therapy. For the extraction it's $2000 plus tax. Mike cannot work a regular job because he has dialysis every other day day to having no kidney's so no company will hire him :( I work as a cleaner at the hospital and I work my butt off. But bills are bills and we would love nothing more then to get this test. So we are asking our friends and family and everyone that can for help. It would mean the world to us!"

Dwindling Power

As each day pases we are getting less and less power ... it's not pretty. At this point the solar power is making enough to power a light at night and to power a laptop/modem for a few hours a day ... that's it.

 Back in August, the solar power, powered my computer, plus a laptop and the modems all day (I had to run the generator 2-3 hours a night and that kept my computer etc going all day/night), now I can no longer use my main computer (the one I make art on) unless the generator is on.

So, basically I won't be able to make any online art now until I moved in March .... what a big bummer. (I'm planning on buying a cheap tablet next week I can use for my emails and other online work )

There are only four solar panels here and they are placed in a very bad location; they do not get any sun until at least 11am or so and are back in the shade by around 2pm. With the sun being less strong, the constant overcast skies, the poor location, and too few solar panels, it simply doesn't work well at all.

The generator was giving us problems again last week. It still keeps leaking oil and the air filter is constantly getting clogged by it. It's very frustrating.

The whole situation is frustrating.

Oh well, such is life.

Like everything in life, it's been a great learning experience

The woodstove has been working great, the coldest temperature we've had so far is -8 and it's kept the house wonderfully warm during that. I still cannot get the temperature read out thingy into the white, but I'm getting damn close! I had a nice fella (Thanks Brian!) write me and tell me the read out thingies don't always work right, so perhaps it's not me :)

My house hunting is going ok. I had two people respond to my "wanted" ad over the weekend. One person offered me a house right in Coe Hill (I turned it down as it's right in town) and the other offered me a 3 acre place near Belleville, but it was more expensive than I had in mind. My friend Carol is still working hard to find me a place in the Chatham area and I'm looking around the Coe Hill area, I'm sure between the two of us we'll find something great before March :) Honestly it can be a bit hard to find what I'm looking for; a country home that is very cheap that allows a pile of critters, so it can take some time.

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Hugs!

The Woodstove

I gotta say "I love the woodstove!"; however, it is a bit difficult to get it as hot as it's suppose to be!

The photo below shows the read out thingy that is on the chimney inside the house. The arrow should be in the white ... I have no idea how to get the damn arrow into the white!

Right now, the fire is not hot enough and is creating creosote which means the chimney will need to be cleaned more often and can increase the chance of a chimney fire. Creosote is also a problem caused by burning soft wood (Hence why pine shouldn't be burned)

I am using a variety of wood; birch, cedar, elm and maple. The birch and cedar I am using for starter (it's soft wood, so not good to use a lot), while the elm and maple I'm using as the major fire fuel.

But, yet, I cannot get the damn thing hot enough to get it into the white!

What am I doing wrong?

I'm making sure there is lots of room for oxygen and the wood is all dry. In the entire month of November I've managed to get it into the white once!

If anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to comment on this post. I'd love to hear them!

Thanks much!

First Snow

Its been snowing here very lightly off and on since Friday, so five days. The ground is very slowly starting to turn white.

Thankfully it's suppose to warm up tomorrow and it should all be gone by tomorrow afternoon! I don't mind the snow personally, but it makes it hard on the hens and I get less work usually, so would prefer minimal snow.

My wee boys, Taco and Budha are enjoying the woodstove. Buddha loved the snow, but Taco was not a happy camper :(

The woodstove is warming the house up well; however, I think it's going to be too chilly during the cold of winter for my work, so will have to use the propane heat. I plan on calling the propane company tomorrow to find our pricing and delivery. Having the house warm enough for work is a priority and worth the extra money. 

Hope you are all having a great week! Hugs!

4 Shirts for $20 with free shipping!

One of the sites I work on has an awesome sale going on- 4 shirts for only $20 with free shipping! $5 a shirt is damn hard to beat!

My son and I have spent the last two days putting all my designs on the shirts they have on sale (There is only a couple of styles included in the sale). The front two pages of my Cow Cow Imphavok Impressions store is filled with on sale shirts! Don't forget to check out all the shirts on the second page!

You can check out my store here: http://www.cowcow.com/IphavokImpressions

At the check out, simply add the code: STUFFER

Great Yule gifts!

The pic below shows a pile of the shirts we have on sale!

More Generator Problems, Friends and Dogs

Hi! Sorry I haven't blogged for a few days. I had some more generator problems and had no hydro, and then had some dear friends over for the weekend.

So, after the generator problems I had a week and a half ago (With it seizing and not being able to pull the cord), on Wednesday night last week, the generator died again. This time the cord pulled so it obviously wasn't the same problem. We took it apart, cleaned it and then tried it, and nope still wouldn't start. After several hours of cleaning and tests, we found it was the spark plug; it was dead.

Ok, so we need a new spark plug, that's easy, right? Yep, the feed store in Coe Hill gave me one for free. Damn nice people around here. Got that and then realized we needed a socket wrench to get the old spark plug out ... well, damn, we didn't have one of those. Made a few phone calls and one of my Cameron Road neighbours had one; however, he was out of town until Friday.

So no generator Wednesday night and all day and night Thursday, and no sun Wednesday and Thursday :( I was out of water (No generator, no water pump to fill up the water for the house) and only had enough hydro to keep a light on and to keep my cell phone charged.

Friday around 3:30pm the neighbour finally made it here with the socket wrench and bang! the generator was up and working in five minutes! Yeh!

So, the generator is working again, it sounds smoother than it has for the last month. Hopefully that takes care of all my generator problems!

A photo of the dead spark plug ...

I had a great weekend. My best friends, Stephie and Ruth came for the weekend, plus Stephie's love Mike, our friend Samwise, friend Isabelle and her new love James. Stephie and Mike have two wonderful dogs, Sheba and Mac. All the dogs got along wonderfully and had an amazing time running through the forest

Those be some very happy doggies :)

Generators and Moose

What a weekend!

Saturday, my son Travis was walking home from Coe Hill and he got chased by a moose! He was walking down Lower Faraday road, texting me to let me know he was on his way home, looked up and there was a male moose standing on the road about 30 feet ahead of him. The moose stamped his foot and charged! Travis did exactly what you are suppose to do when a moose charges you, he ran like hell! He ran into the woods, weaved around trees and slid down a steep incline. When he looked up the incline the moose was looking down at him, but thankfully didn't chase him further. What an exciting, but scary adventure!

~*~

Sunday morning we had to put the generator on as the batteries were low, it ran for about ten minutes and then died. We tried to restart it, but the cord wouldn't even pull out! Oh Gods! That's not a good sign at all! I had work, so we figured we'd take a look at it after my work was done.

Later Sunday afternoon and all of Sunday night, we worked on it. We took the whole damn thing apart, cleaned it and tried to figure out what was wrong. We were in a panic, no generator means no water and of course, the water tank was low. No generator means VERY limited power and it means I have to call our friend/landlord Claudia and tell her that the generator is dead. Not cool at all.

We took off the crank and manually turned it. It didn't want to turn at first (which made us more worried), but we kept trying and finally got it to turn. We turned it and turned it and turned it some more, and then put it back together (we manually turned it about 20 times). We took it back outside, tried to start it, the cord pulled once and then it froze again! The starter cord would not pull out!

We went to bed Sunday night with very worried heavy hearts.

Today, Monday morning we tried again. We removed the crank and manually turned it. We turned it 100 times (seriously, we counted!). We put it back together and took it back outside ...

We pulled the starter cord twice before we turned the gas on, everything looked good, we turned the gas on, and then pulled the cord again. The fourth pull it started!!!

We ran it an hour, filled the water tank and got the batteries charged up.

Thank the Gods. I was ready to cry, I was so upset!

I'm sitting here right now with the loud hum of the generator in the background ... what a happy sound :)

Not sure what happened, but we seem to have it fixed. It's actually running smoother now than what it was before.

~*~

Living off grid in the forest is always interesting, sometimes a little scary, but always interesting!

The Pros and Cons of Off Grid Living

I've been living "off-grid' for three and a half months now, so have a pretty good feel of the good and the bad. I constantly see people on Facebook posting articles about how great it is living off grid, and I groan and sigh at the fantasy many of these articles portray. I did a LOT of research before moving here, so honestly, the whole off grid thing was better than I expected, but I gotta admit, I cannot wait to get back to having "real" hydro and that Hydro One bill doesn't seem so bad anymore. Don't get me wrong, I'm not moving in March due to the hydro, I'm moving because of difficulties with my landlord/business partner, the off grid thing is totally do-able, but it's not all good (it's not all bad either!), and it's NOT saving me money.

So, for all those considering moving off grid, here's my honest opinion on it:

SOLAR:

We have four solar panels and I think six batteries. It is enough to keep the computers going all morning and afternoon, IF there is at least 4-5 hours of sun on the panels. If it is a cloudy/rainy day and the panels get only a couple of hours of sun, well, guess what, the generator will have to run for an hour or so in the afternoon.

Even on a sunny summer day, the generator still has to be run 2-3 hours a night (to top up the batteries), and of course if you want to watch TV, do laundry or fill the water tank, you gotta put the generator on. Solar simply cannot run really high powered stuff.

The solar batteries have around a 5-7 year life span and cost a couple hundred bucks each, so are a continuous expense.

If I had a couple more panels it would help a lot and it doesn't help that I'm running a desk top computer all day. However,even with a laptop and more panels, I'd still have to run the generator a couple hours a day and would still need to run it for the TV, washer and to fill the water tank.

The solar hydro also has a loud hum when in use. You don't notice it when music is on, but if you turn a light on in the middle of the night, it's loud and irritating.

GENERATOR:

I have a 3500 Briggs and Stratton generator. It is enough to power the whole house and fill the batteries. However, it eats gas like crazy, needs it's oil changed regularly and is noisy as hell. It's also a temperamental bitch.

We run the generators on average 3-4 hours a day. It's costing me about $40 a week, plus about $10 in oil a month. So, I'm paying about $170 a month for about 15% of the hydro I got from hydro One for $200 a month ... not a great deal at all.

Generators also only have a 5-10 year lifespan.

PROPANE:

When I moved in I got charged $600 for the two full tanks of propane. The propane is for the fridge, stove and hot water heater. I've already gone through about half, so it looks like it will last about seven months. Add the basically $75 a month in propane to the gas bill and now I'm paying about $245 a month for hydro ... and again for about 15% of the hydro I use to use

WOOD STOVE:

I LOVE the wood stove! it's awesome. The wood was free as there was piles of dead trees around here that I got to use. However, it wasn't really free as it cost me many many hours of work to gather, cut and stack it. It also cost me $40 for a used chainsaw, at least $40 in gas for the chainsaw, $10 in oil, and $10 for a sharpener. That's WAY cheaper than paying for oil; however, if I gave my family each minimum wage for the hours we spent gathering, cutting and stacking wood, it would easily add up to more than what I would of paid for oil for the whole winter. The time I spent gathering wood, was time away from my online work, whch cost me money ...

The wood stove takes a fair amount of work and dedication. Wood needs to be brought in every day and the fire needs to be tended regularly. It's not something for a lazy person that's for sure. You have to be very careful with the ashes and always ensure they are safely stored.

WATER

I like the well water and don't mind filling the water tank every couple of days, but I hate the ridiculous amount of noise it makes when you use the water; it is loud enough to wake up other in the house if you flush the toilet or run the water at night.

~*~

What I like about off-grid living:

1. Not paying money to big money grubbing corportaions

2. having hydro during power outages and emergencies (come zombie invasion, off-grid living is definitely what you want!).

3. The wood stove; the heat, the wonderful wood smell, and no heat bill (I'd rather pay for my heat through hard work than money)

4. No fluoride in the water

5. No water bills.(though if the well runs dry, it will cost about $5000 to drill a new one, so for a home owner that would be a big expense)


What I don't like about off grid living:

1. The noise; the noise of when the water is used, the constant irritating hum of the solar hydro and the horrible loud generator noise.

2. The price; paying more for hydro than my normal Hydro One hydro bill while only getting to use about 15% as much

3. The constant fear of the generator breaking down or the batteries dying. I don't want to have to tell my landlord that the $500 generator broke down, that would not be cool at all!

4. The constant maintenance: Changing oil in the generator is a pain in the butt, the floor is constantly a mess due to the wood, constantly cleaning out ashes etc etc.

5. The propane fridge; I hate it, it's so crazy small inside, you cannot fit anything in it. It also doesn't get as cold as an electric fridge (I like my Coke ice cold!)

6. My computer constantly shutting down every time we switch from generator to solar and back again. It makes it really hard to work on art (Since being here, I've made three new art designs ... that's horrible, I would normally do that in a week)

7. The crazy limited power; I miss binge watching TV and I hate that if I cannot sleep or I'm feeling ill, I can't curl up on the couch and watch TV all night

8. The propane stove; I prefer electric, though that might change with time. Right now, I tend to burn a lot of stuff as the propane heats up faster. I also hate having to light the pilot light when it goes out.

9. Batteries; I am constantly buying batteries for flashlights to use while reading in bed (so I don't use the solar power up) etc. I'm going through $10 a month in batteries easy.

All in all, living off grid is not horrible, there are definitely some great things about it. However, it is not bill free as many articles imply it is. I hope everyone who is considering it does careful research. I am super glad I had the opportunity to try it, it has been a great experience and a fabulous learning lesson. I am looking forward to March and having normal hydro back, I'm going to binge watch some shows and make a pile of art!

Shameless Self promotion

Well, it's time for some shameless self promotion! Lets be honest, writing this blog sure isn't paying the bills :)

Cow Cow has some great sales on right now and if you buy a product with my design on it, I make 10% of the sale price

Cow Cow has both their small and large memo pads for sale smile emoticon We've been working hard making a great selection of both sizes!

$0.99/ea Small Custom Memo Pads with Free Shipping
$1.99/ea Large Custom Memo Pads with Free Shipping
Unique Coupon Code :Z099MEMONZYVD 
Expiry Date : 11/18/2015

Cow Cow also has 30% off everything with free shipping!

Take 30% Off Sitewide with Free Shipping
Coupon Code :GDHUNT
Expiry Date : 11/24/2015

Please check out my Cow Cow stores! I have been making memo pads like crazy and have put them all in one section so they are easy to find.

Find my Large memo pads here

Find my small memo pads here

I have two Cow Cow stores, Imphavok Impressions and PugWiggles:

http://www.cowcow.com/IphavokImpressions

http://www.cowcow.com/PugWiggles

I order from Cow Cow all the time, they have good quality products, great prices and super sales. The stuff comes from China so it takes about a month to get to Canada, so order early if you are ordering for Yule.

Beautiful Weather

Wow! What beautiful weather we've been blessed with this week! Yesterday and today, we've had +17 temperatures, sun and clear skies. What a true delight in November!

The back forest is starting to look barren. it's sort of sad, death is everywhere, but yet, there is a peacefulness that is comforting.

Here's some photos I took today while out walking the dogs.

It's deer hunting season here; it lasts for two weeks. So,we are keeping the dogs on leash and wearing bright colours. Technically, no hunters should be on our property hunting, but it's important to be very careful! That's my son Travis in the photo (wearing a crazy combo on colours, LOL)

March Move

Hi!

Hope everyone is having a super great week!

I know some of you who follow my blog have been wondering (and for some worried) about our moving plans for March. So, I thought I'd take a moment and update you.

After much family discussion and discussion with our dear friend Carol, we have come to an equable arrangement with Carol so will be moving to the rural Chatham area for at least a couple of years.

We are a little disappointed as we were really looking forward to living in a different province; however, the deal with Carol is too good to resist ad makes moving back to southwestern Ontario worthwhile.

So, we are looking for a country homes somewhere around Chatham (preferably towards London). We'll be moving back sometime in March. ext summer, we'll be back to hsoting mini fests and the Naughty Nymph Charity Party

Hugs!

Welcome November!

Well, October is over and November is here! I LOVE November because it is the best month of the year for online art sales. It makes me feel super de duper happy to make sells! I always think out of the hundred thousand designs someone picked mine! What a great compliment! So far today, I've sold two memo pads on CowCow and 24 cards on Greeting Card Universe.

My friend Betty shared this on my Facebook wall today. very cool! I read an article saying that chickens evolved from the T.rex several years ago.

Talking of evolution, the turkey is said to have evolved from the raptor. Here's a couple of pics taken yesterday. The flock of about 30 leisurely walked in front of my house and down my driveway.

Very cool, eh? Wild turkeys are awesome. :)Interestingly the cats and hens simply ignored them. as you can see in the one pic, my cat Rollie slept through it on the porch.

I hope you are have a great day! Hugs!

Bantams, Chatham and Samhain

Happy Halloween and Blessed Samhain! Big hugs and love to all my pagan friends who will be honoring their ancestors and remembering their dead this weekend.

Myself, I lost my favorite relative, Uncle Gord this year, my very first and favorite hen Poppy and possibly the best cat ever Ripley, plus seven other beloved hens. It was a rough year. :(

The little hen, Peepers from the group of chickens my friend got almost two month ago, is doing well, but damn, she is small. She is obviously a Bantam (or at least a bantam cross). A bantam is not a breed of chicken, it's a size ... a very small size. They lay small eggs, about half as many yearly as a standard size he does. Not a size I would ever buy and one of the big reasons the other little hens got killed when my big ladies landed on them. :( When I buy hens I look for breeds that are big, sturdy and ornery.I think that's important for free range hens.

The hen in the pic below is Peepers, she the Bantam, the two hens on the other side ares standard sized hens, they are Orpingtons. They are pretty well the same age ... big difference in size.

Moving plans for the end of March are going along well. I've been talking to one of my best friends in Chatham and may be moving there. Not sure yet. My friend and I are talking a bit of a business deal, so it may be worth my while, although I would still really like to move to New Brunswick or Nova Scotia. I guess we'll see how things work out. If things work with my dear friend than back to southwestern Ontario I go. If not, off to New Brunswick or Nova Scotia I go.

I would really love to move to a different province, but I do have lots of great friends in southwestern Ontario and some really awesome regular customers that I would love to see again. 

I guess we'll see what happens. I'm an easy going person and always up to doing something new.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Hugs!

A Bright New Week

Greetings merry friends!

I hope you all all doing fantastic!

It's a brand new week, full of possibilities and opportunities!

Things are going well here in Coe Hill. The leaves are falling and the trees are slowly starting to become barren. It is very beautiful and a little sad.

Here's some lovely pics from my latest walk to the mailbox ...

We had a pretty big rain storm Saturday night. There was some pretty serious downpours and wind. A old dead tree fell down at the revel fire area ...

On good note, nobody was hurt and the tree will be easy to cut and stack for next years festival fires. 

I have been doing a lot of research on both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and it looks like we'll be moving to New Brunswick at the end of March. New Brunswick offers extremely cheap rural homes (Some as low as $400a month rent), less snow than Nova Scotia (as long as you aren't in Moncton NB), oceans, mountains and vast forests, lots of seafood, and a very friendly laid back environment. My son wants the ocean, while I want mountains and forests, so NB is a great compromise. New Brunswick is also 4 hours closer than Nova Scotia for Ontario friends. 

I am already planning a "Friends Fest" for summer 2016; a week long fest where ever other day those who want will go do something cool such as whale watching one time, visiting the Bay of Fundy one day, visiting and hiking the mountains one day. We could go out on a Zodiac and see whales; that would be epic!

We are super excited for the end of March and are really looking forward to moving! Since giving our notice last week, things have become more positive and upbeat. It's like a cloud a negativity has lifted. I love my landlord/business partner very much, but just because you love someone doesn't mean you can happily work with them. I'm positive they will find someone to replace us that will work better with them. 

Our countdown has begun ...only five months to go!

Hi!

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Mine so far has been pretty crappy, but I'm sure it's going to improve.

Yesterday, when I went to let the hens out, I found poor Ivan the rooster dead on the coop floor. I cannot be sure, but it looks like one of the large hens landed on him when they flew down off their perch in the morning. Very sad. It breaks my heart to find another little one dead :(.

We are sadly not getting along the best with our landlords/business partners. We have different ideas on how things are done and we constantly feel like we are being micro managed, critiqued and sometimes even belittled. So, after much much discussion we gave notice today that March will be our last month here (This is a decision made after two months of discussion). We love the property, but the constant negativity is just not worth it. Being happy and free to do our own thing is most important to us. Do we regret moving here? Nope, it has been a great learning adventure and another step along our path, working with others that have different opinions on many things is just not for us. We were much happier on our own. We are super glad that we were able to help get our friends started in their new home and business, and wish them all the very best in their future.

So now what? Hmmmm, we haven't decided yet. We are seriously thinking about moving to the East Coast. We have always wanted to live near the ocean and experience a different province, and rent prices there are quite good (for rural homes). We are of course still planning on living in the country! We have no interest in ever living in a city again.

We considered moving back to south western Ontario, but honestly, we've had enough of it. We would stay in the Bancroft area as we LOVE this area, but rental prices are outrageous and we like to keep our bills as low as possible. So, we are thinking Nova Scotia.

We have five months to find a new place, lots of time ;)

Mailbox Walk

The mailbox is about a 30 minute walk from my home (thanks Canada post for stopping home delivery, you suck). It is at least a beautiful walk (at least till winter!). The trees are so beautiful this time of year!

I took a few pics on my walk to the mailbox yesterday ...

This is Cameron Road (the road I live on). It's a winding up and down road, surrounded by deep forest and about 10-15 houses.

And the mailboxes! They are at the corner of Lower Faraday and Cameron Road.

Bears and Fishers

Over the last week, we have seen a huge increase in the wildlife around here. It is pretty awesome! We've seen bears, deer and a fisher, and have heard both moose and elk.

The cats, Mo and Jo, chased off a fisher earlier in the week. They are ferret-like creatures that are downright nasty. They are a serious threat to the chickens and are known for killing cats. Mo and Jo are Bengal crosses and are brothers. They worked as a team and sent the predator packing.

The bears around here are getting bold. I'm told by the locals that there are a couple hundred bear in the area and that there is a bit of a bear problem here. Bears are awesome, but at a distance! It's about a 30-45 minute walk to get the mail; I have started taking Skully with me just to be extra safe (Skully is a Rottie/Shepherd). I'll take some pics of my mail walk tomorrow (I'm expecting a parcel, hopefully it will be there!)

When I go out for a walk in the woods, I always sing this :)

Thanksgiving day

Happy Thanksgiving Day everyone! I hope your harvest was bountiful!

I don't really celebrate Thanksgiving. I figure as a Pagan, I have eight Sabbaths and 13 Esbats celebrations each year, and that's more than enough. 

Today, the weather here is fantastic! It was about 20 today, nice bright sun.I worked for an hour in the morning (doing dances) and then spent the afternoon cutting and stacking wood, and taking some pics :)

I am almost done my winter wood! I'll be done by the end of the week at the latest. I had a bunch of negative people say we couldn't and wouldn't get it done in time ... well, poop on them. They obviously don't know us well and should keep their negative opinions to themselves. For those who were actually concerned and not just being mean, thank you for your concern. We are all good. :) We'll be toasty warm all winter. 

Next, we gotta start collecting wood for the maple syrup boil down in March. Thankfully, that will be done outside so we can use pine, which is plentiful

Now for the photos!

Here's my Puggy Buddha, looking awesome as normal! He's such a handsome guy!

It's a nudie pic! Ha ha! You can't see anything :)Yep, that's me laying on a big boulder. I was trying to get some good pics for the Faerie calendar I'm working on, but sadly the pics didn't turn out very well.

and of course a pic of the hens; Stella is the big one and the three little ones are Poppers, Peepers and Ivan the Terrible.

Wishing you all the very best! Hugs!

Woken by the Sound of Gun Shot

Well, it's 7:30am, I've been awake for about an hour, I was awoken by the sound of gun shot breaking the beautiful early morning peace. It is a disturbing sound and every time a gun goes off, I cringe and my heart is saddened as I know another sweet animal is being killed. :(

Hunting ... that's a pretty controversial topic.

You've probably noticed, I'm a pretty opinionated person and yep, I have strong opinions on hunting.

My opinion, hunting is far better than factory farming, and I'm ok with it IF the hunters are hunting to put food in their freezer to feed themselves and their family. Hunting for "sport" pissing me right off; I don't think the killing of anything should be "sport".

We are omnivores. We are suppose to be omnivores. That is how we were made, how we evolved. Unless we are going to take a vitamin supplement, we actually need meat to survive; our bodies need B12 to make new blood and the major source of B12 is meat (particularly red meat), without B12 we don't make new blood and eventually we die.

I totally get that hunting is more humane than factory farming is. However, it still breaks my heart to hear the gun shots ringing through the morning air, knowing that some dear animal is now laying dead on the ground.

I totally admit I'm a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to meat; I like to eat it, but I need some serious separation between me and my meat source. If I had to kill my on meat I would have to be a vegetarian.

Well, the sun is completely up, it's a cool, but bright morning. The gun shots have ended and things are back to their normal calm. Time to get ready for work. Have a great day!

A Lovely Autumn Day

It was a lovely day today. The weather was beautiful, a perfect Autumn day. 

Cool stuff of the day :)

Cool hoofprint down at the revel fire! Not sure if it's elk or moose, but it's too big to be deer. I asked the Facebook hivemind, so I'll tell you tomorrow what they say.

Cool rooster - This is Ivan the Terrible, he's a hoot and a little too friendly! We'll have to teach him to not fly upon people! (If you don't know, that's my cool son Travis!)

This is also very cool; an awesome Autumn photo of the revel fire area. There is a lot of evergreens here, so things don't completely lose their green :)

Chainsaw and an Axe

We got a chainsaw and a good ax this week. I paid $40 for the Chainsaw, it's a, Echo 14inch, so not big enough to cut the big tree trucks, but big enough to cut our firewood. I paid $20 for the axe, it's an Estwing.

I'm feeling pretty good about my purchases :)

Tomorrow we start cutting wood

I had been watching Kijiji and other classified sites for a cheap chainsaw and ax, but in the end did better simply asking the neighbors if they had an extra they wanted to sell. Much easier and cheaper.

We WILL have our winter wood done by the end of next week.

I'm super excited to be warm and toasty this winter!I love the woodstove :)

Once we get the winter wood done, we still have lots of other getting ready for winter chores to do, such as wrapping the well pipe that comes into the house, gathering wood for the outside woodstove for maple syrup making, putting plastic on many of the windows, etc.

Right now the days here are average around +15 and the nights around +8, so winter is still a few weeks away!

October Election

So, it's almost election time again. Anyone who knows me knows I will NOT be voting Conservative. Harper and his gang of Conservatives have done more than enough damage to this country!

Please take the time to get out and vote this October, it is really really important. Please help return this great country to the country it once was; to a country that cares about people and the environment.

For all the woman and men who care about equal rights: Shush baby! Just look pretty. 17 ways the Conservative government has controlled you like a terrible boyfriend.

For all the fellas who like to see sex workers; the Conservatives made it illegal for you to see a sex worker! (it's not illegal for the sex worker, it's illegal for the person paying for the services now)It has never been illegal

For all those who care about our environment; Harper wanted to dump nuclear waste in our lakes!

Shall we talk about his disrepute for our veterans? ...

Seriously everyone, please vote this election and please please please vote any party but the Conservatives! Harper needs to go!

All these memes were on my Facebook feed today (plus the article I posted the link too)

A Successful Day Freeranging

I am happy to report that the little hens had a successful day freeranging!

A couple of the big hens were pretty mean to them, but they eventually hooked up with Alice (shown in the pic below)and she helped take care of them

I was a little nervous about the cats (cause they are so much smaller than the older hens), but the cats completely ignored them

Cause I have been feeding them for the last four weeks they have gotten super friendly with me. I leaned down and they all came rushing over the see me. They also follow me around like baby ducks :)

The white one is the rooster. It's very important that he gets tamed so he doesn't get aggressive with people.

 The photo below is of Stella, she is a Welsummer. She is a beautiful bird and has perfect camouflage for this time of year.

The little hens went back to the coop by themselves at dusk and are not safely locked away for the night. I pray that when I let all the ladies out tomorrow everyone will be alive.