Post-hike malaise

I did go on the hike I mentioned in my last post and it was pretty grueling. Hapi and I both survived it, but only just barely. The pace was being set by a couple of younger people and Hapi and I were the slowest. The first half was all uphill. The hike leader realized how far I was lagging behind so he chose to stick with me and let everyone else go ahead. I was grateful for that but at the same time it didn't feel great to be the slowest person.

On top of that, I was overdue for visiting B in the hospital and I thought I wouldn't be able to do it the next day due to various other commitments, so barely I got home and I turned around again to go to the hospital. Not a great visit, B was crying and trying to plan a way to escape the hospital. Since she's on oxygen and can hardly make it from her bed to the toilet with her walker it was all very hypothetical but I went along with it.

After all was said and done, I had cold symptoms a couple of days later. Great. Meanwhile the world is going crazy over covid-19 and since the overlap between flu, cold and covid-19 symptoms is pretty fuzzy, there was the additional anxiety of maybe this isn't a cold. I couldn't tell if I had a fever or not. Turns out my thermometer is well past its best-by date and you can't get a thermometer for love or money, anywhere. A little more anxiety.

This morning I woke up feeling hellish. Hapi spent the night in the basement because of the wind and rain (she doesn't like it) and sure enough she had peed the bedding so I had to get up to let her out and start a laundry. A few hours later the wind had diminished somewhat so I drove her to the Reservoir for a walk. I photographed some tiny new "birdhouses" hung in the bushes. Very brightly coloured, like Easter decorations.

And so it goes.

I think it might be Spring

This is the frustrating part of Spring, still lots of ice and the temperature swings wildly between below freezing and almost-T-shirt temps. Snow flurries, rain and sun. I can see funny little soil bumps in the garden where tulips are about to push through and the birds are not visiting my birdfeeder near as much (they're too busy nesting). On nice days I've been doing a bit of yardwork in preparation for gardening season.

I've been thinking about preparations for Hapi's demise. My son told me a couple of things about Hiro's last days that made me think that I should be prepared. One is, Hiro spent his last days on my son's bed, Hapi cannot do that because my bed is too high for her to get up on. So I have spent the last few days figuring out how to lower my bed so she can get up. Not that she cares, she has never expressed an interest in sleeping on my bed, but maybe that will change. Another is, I realize that taking a very large dog in pain to the vet's office for euthanasia is just not realistic, I need to talk to the vet about house calls.

Not that I am expecting this to happen in the near future, but the time from my son realizing Hiro was in trouble to the time of death was only a matter of days, I need to be prepared. Most of Hiro's early symptoms were simply signs of old age: stiff joints, increasing lack of energy, and the occasional falter in gait. Hapi has all of those on occasion, but I'm still thinking it's just old age. Another vet conversation. I've decided that I won't be taking heroic measures, but comfort is important.

And I have a kayak expedition coming up in May, very exciting. Already have Hapi's dogsitter lined up, he lives just around the corner so Hapi can stay home while I'm away. This time we won't be camping but rather staying at a lodge on a lake at a seriously discounted price ('winter season'). Hopefully we'll be out there before the black fly become awful but after the ice is gone. So exciting!

I've been off Facebook for a month now. I thought I'd pop back on briefly to let my Facebook friends know what I've done, but every time I think of doing that I just don't feel like it. I was talking to another son over the weekend and he mentioned that he had told my DIL that I was off FB but still on Instagram. I had told him previously that the one thing I miss from FB is that DIL's posts about her kids. So she has decided to move her activity to Instagram, and sure enough I am starting to see her posts there. Sweet!

Two of my grandsons have Instagram accounts so I see their posts as well. One of them is very quirky, as only a 12/13 yo boy can be. I was supposed to Skype with him on his birthday recently but he was having a serious meltdown so the Skype got postponed to the next day. I've never seen a kid who could throw a tantrum like he could when he was a toddler, apparently he has honed his skills in that department now that he is officially a teenager.

Bees and Blooms

This is my vegetable garden. To the left of it is a lilac in full bloom that wafts a wonderful perfume toward my house in the evening. Behind it is a horse chestnut tree in full bloom also, very pretty.

But it is full of bumblebees. I mean full. As I leave my back porch to go to the garden to pick greens for supper, the buzz of the bees becomes louder and louder. By the time I am in my garden I feel like I have walked into a huge bumblebee nest.

Lately the bees have been exploring the yard. They've found my porch. So far no stings but I am wary around them. Everybody says how bumblebees are not vicious, they only sting in defence, but I have been chased out of my garden by a very determined bumblebee who stung me as I was running away from it. Got me on the face near my right eye. So I'm wary.

Last tulips

These are the last tulips from my garden. This photo is a few days old and the tulips are still in the bottle on the wood stove, but they are a little the worse for wear now. I took this photo because I like the way they look there.

It's been a stressful week. My youngest son had an unfortunate mix of bad choices and bad luck leaving him in rather a depressing and depressed state. We communicated via Facebook and I guess you never stop being concerned about your child's welfare. If I could have fixed things for him I surely would have. The situation is still unfolding and I still want to know what is happening now and that is the stressful part. As a result I have not paid attention to much else. I went to play bridge in Windsor on Thursday afternoon and had an awful time of it: lousy hands and complete inability to remember what cards had already been played, distracted. Somebody brought rhubarb coffee cake and I ate too many pieces. I blame it all on "the family situation".

The lilacs are in full tilt. I take Hapi for an evening stroll around the block just to breathe in the perfume, it seems strongest in the evening. This is surely my favourite time of year, I love lilacs.

However this seems to be a bad year for ticks. I have removed three from myself and two from Hapi. Hapi's ticks were fully engorged, otherwise I never would have seen them in her thick fur. I took one of them to a local vet who identified it as a deer tick, the kind that carry Lyme disease. They won't test or treat a dog for Lyme for a minimum of 60 days, they say it takes that long for the antibodies to show up in their blood. Unless of course the dog comes down with Lyme disease symptoms, in which case they will test and treat. Those symptoms are lameness, lethargy and lack of appetite, kind of like an old dog with arthritis. Which Hapi is.

I am keeping the two ticks in separate pill bottles: Tiki and Tiki Too. I think Tiki has laid eggs. If the eggs hatch I am probably going to have to get rid of them, don't think I want a pill bottle full of hungry ticks. Tiki is the one identified as a deer tick, but my guess is that Tiki Too is a dog tick. The vet technician said they live forever so I don't even need to feed them. Of course they are full of dog blood anyway. I was joking around with a friend about my pet ticks, she suggested we go shopping together next week and I can bring my pet ticks along for the ride. Easy to do, they live in pill bottles that fit in my pocket.

Moving right along

Spring proceeds apace. Today it is snowing but it is just little flakes that melt when they hit the ground, no accumulation. Supposed to stop soon, then I will take Hapi for her walk and go for lunch with a neighbour. I think we are going to a Korean place, which he says his daughter turns up her nose at because where she lives there are lots of Korean places and many are way better than our one Korean place, but it's good enough for us country bumpkins.

I've got crocuses and hyacinth in bloom, tulips up but not blooming. All the bulbs got moved twice in the last couple of years, the first time so one wall of my basement could be dug up and waterproofed, and the second time to move them back after the work was done. They seem to have survived nicely. I had transplanted them into my vegetable garden and some got left behind in the second move, so there are now flowers in amongst the garlic which is also emerging. I'll try to get the flower bulbs moved after they finish blooming.

Most of the male goldfinches that come to my bird feeder are now in their summer colours and swarming the feeder. Lots of activity. I have to double the amount of seed I put in the feeder at this time of year, and then as soon as the maple that it hangs from leafs out they stop coming. All the birds stop coming then and I take the feeder down until the fall. One squirrel tried to take advantage of the feeder but I tapped him on the back with a broom stick and he was so shocked he leaped ten feet down and six feet away from the tree. I haven't seen him since.

Hapi is no longer limping. I think when she realized that she wasn't going to get a walk until she stopped limping she decided to fake it. There was one day for sure that I saw her limp when she thought I wasn't looking, but as soon as I appeared with leash in hand she was jumping around like a puppy. Managed not to limp for the entire walk. Well, if she wants to fake it then I suppose she deserves it.

The dog that I have been dog sitting for (Hapi's admirer) on the other hand is not doing well. He now has two legs not working properly and both on the same side. I think this might not bode well for him. Fingers crossed though, he's a sweet dog. His owner has an appointment for him to get X-rayed next week if things do not improve.

I have been reading a book called Becoming a Writer, written by Dorothea Brande in 1934. She was ahead of her time I think, I've seen bestsellers published more recently that give the same advice as she did then. But she has one piece of advice I've never seen anywhere else. In her chapter on Writing on Schedule she gives two exercises. The first is to set a time of day and write for 15 minutes at that time every day. Doesn't matter what you write, the point is to create a habit not produce a handwritten gem. The second exercise is to get up early and write for 15 minutes then, also every day and in addition to scheduled writing time. OK, that sounds like common enough advice. But what makes it different is that she then says:

"If you fail repeatedly at this exercise, give up writing. Your resistance is actually greater than your desire to write, and you may as well find some other outlet for your energy early as late."

Way to up the ante!

In other news, the American couple made an offer on a house not far from where I live and it was accepted, they take possession at the end of July. They are back in the USA now scurrying around I presume to get themselves moved.

Ah spring, things are stirring!

Limping along and happy returns

Twice this past week the hottest place in Canada has been right here. We're basking in it. It is definitely spring, we've had sun and warm weather for a week, flowers are up and grass is starting to turn green again. I wanted to do some planting today but a young woman digging in her garden down the street advised me not to, there's at least one more night of frost in the forecast.

Hapi has injured herself and is now confined to barracks. This has never happened to her before. On Tuesday I noticed she was limping slightly on our way home from the Reservoir Park (the picture above), I could only see it when she walked fast and I couldn't tell which leg she was favouring. The next day she seemed fine and we went to the ravine with a friend and her dog, there was still ice and snow in the woods there. Hapi ran around as if there was nothing wrong (perhaps showing off for the older male dog), but had a bit of difficulty jumping into the van for the trip home afterward. When we got home she was obviously in trouble, hesitating to jump down from the van and then obviously limping into the back yard. When I put her dinner out for her she was trying to figure out how to stand on three legs and eat at the same time. I thought she would have trouble getting down the basement steps that evening and might sleep on the main level instead, but she carefully manoeuvred down the steep steps to her basement bedroom. She hates sleeping upstairs!

So on Thursday as she hobbled back upstairs in the morning I decided she couldn't go walking again until the limp was gone. I massaged the leg she was favouring but could not see anything obvious and she didn't have any tender spots. She enjoyed the massage though. I found out in the process that her toes are webbed, I never knew that before! I guess it helps for walking on snow. So I don't know what the problem is or where, and I am reluctant to give her anything for pain because I don't want her running around making it worse. Just keep an eye on it I guess.

Two years ago an American couple who had moved here and gotten permanent resident status decided to move back to the USA. They had been here for a few years and had a lot of friends here, they are very nice people who make friends easily. But for a bunch of reasons they thought it made sense to go back. They still owned a house in the US and all their family was there. They sold their house here and moved back, but kept in touch and visited several times after they left the country. They're visiting now. House hunting. After two years they admit their mistake and are putting the US house up for sale. Going back "home" (well, at the time they thought it was) turned out as the old saying goes: you can't go back home again. They were used to the great social life and numerous friends they had here and going back just wasn't the same. No friends, no social life. Their family is scattered so it didn't really help that they were in the same country. Everyone who knows them here is delighted that they are coming back. They thought we would laugh at them. Well we are, but we are happy they are back too.

Refuge vows

It was my birthday a few days ago. I was not looking forward to it, if anything I was quite depressed about it. Funny how some birthdays mean nothing, some are happy events and some are dreadful. This was in the last category. My parents died in their 70s, neither saw their 79th birthday. I am now 10 years from that date with posterity, feeling my mortality in a big way. I know it's not rational, but it takes little excuse to get depressed. And it's not something one wants to talk about because everybody piles on with how silly you're being. Doesn't help, only makes it worse: not only am I depressed but I am also silly for being depressed.

Just so you know I am not depressed now, so I am not looking for advice.

A couple of days before my birthday I had a really bad dream. Trapped in a small fenced yard with someone shooting a gun at me. The bullets were really spots of grey-coloured liquid but I knew they were poison and the deadly effect would kick in very soon. Needless to say, I woke up breathless and stressed out. Went to the bathroom, got something to eat, had a drink of water and went back to bed trying not to think about it. Instead, I thought about all the things I'd ever failed at in life, all the things I had abandoned--you know--all the negative thoughts that come to you in the middle of the night when you're a little stressed out.

So one of those abandoned things was having taken buddhist refuge vows years ago and then promptly abandoned them. Supposedly lifelong vows, abandoned for something more interesting I guess. I tried to remember what they were. I spent a few minutes on that distraction and did manage to remember them. Thought about what they meant. It occurred to me that they weren't gone for good, I could always go back to them, if I so desired. That thought was actually comforting and shortly I was back to sleep again.

Next day I was supposed to go up the mountain to dogsit overnight. I thought I would just spend the time hanging out with the dogs and reading, so I looked through my books for something I haven't read in a while and might like to read again. In honour of the abandoned vows I chose a book about Buddhism that I remembered having enjoyed the first time but couldn't for the life of me remember the content. It was Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist, by Stephen Batchelor. Turned out to be a very good choice. So good in fact that it snapped me right out of the depression within the first couple of chapters.

In the evening the dogs and I sat out on the deck in the dark. One of them had a bone, the other just watched and listened. I tried to listen too, I don't know what she was listening to because I couldn't hear it, just silence. I felt alive.

The next day was my birthday and I went to an art show with a couple of friends and then to a local restaurant for a burger; April is Burger Wars month so a lot of restaurants are featuring hamburgers in a competition and a portion of the cost is donated to a children's charity. I think. Then we went to a pub for chocolate cake and wine.

I've been avoiding my writing group because the depression has stopped me cold. But the morning after my birthday one of the writing group members texted me to say she'd be walking by my house to go to the meeting and she'd knock on my door. I texted I hadn't written anything and she replied she'd knock anyways, I could come and critique. So I scrambled out of my PJs and brushed my teeth and was ready at the door with my jacket when she knocked. The sun came out and it was the warmest day we've had since last fall, and Environment Canada says we were the warmest place in the whole country that day!

Finally, winter is over. Even if it snows again, it's over.

Snow

It is still snowing, I am so tired of it.

Saps the energy right out of me, no motivation to do anything.

Hapi likes it though.

Tiptoe through the tulips

Their Last Stand

After they finish blooming they will be dug up to repair the basement wall.

And still snow!

Mostly gone though...

My birthday, still lots of snow...

Queen Victoria does it again, hip hip hurrah

Ah Victoria Day, glorious Victoria Day! Apparently a Canadian tradition since before there was such a thing as a Canadian tradition.

Here in Nova Scotia the Victoria Day weekend is notorious for rotten weather, but this year it fails to live up to its reputation. Warm, sunny, even hot. My lawn is overgrown again, the chestnut is in full bloom, the entire town redolent of lilac and cherry blossom. And the mosquitoes are just starting.

The heat is too much for Hapi, she is very grumpy with every dog she meets. In a couple of days though she goes to the groomer to lose as much of her fur coat as possible without turning into a whippet. Hopefully her mood will improve. 

The garden is mostly planted, I put my transplants into the ground before the Victoria Day weekend, which is verging on sacrilegious but they were getting awfully leggy, I had to do something. So I am past the hard work part of spring gardening. I could be doing more, but I won't. Most of the transplants are OK, a couple of tomatilloes keeled over. I am now trying to start some morning glories and climbing nasturtiums to grow around the garden fence.

On Friday we went to the Kentville Ravine just in time to meet up with 4 or 5 dog walkers and their dogs, the dog pack romped through the brook and the trees and had a lovely time. One walker who lived nearby talked about how he thought about forming a group to take care of this lovely spot, but then he thought about all the people who would be attracted to the ravine if it was cleaner and safer, and how they would not be happy about all the off-leash dogs, and how they would insist on the enforcement of dog leash bylaws, at which point he abandoned the idea.

Later in the day I went to see the movie The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which I loved. The music and cinematography were quite wonderful and the story lovely. Actually several stories but all linked. You probably have to be over 50 to appreciate it though.

On Saturday we went up the Gaspereau River. The mosquitoes were out in force. I brought along Off Botanical repellent---it is supposed to be based on an extract of lemon eucalyptus rather than DEET---and tried it out. I got one mosquito bite before putting it on, and none after. It is supposed to be only good for a couple of hours and that was how long our walk was, so I pleased with that. The woods of course were lovely, the ostrich ferns (that's the fiddlehead fern that you can eat) were almost fully unfurled and quite pretty. The trilliums are done but the trees are all leafed out now and we walked through a kind of meadow along the river that was so full of violets that I could not step anywhere without crushing one or two.

On Sunday I went to see the Anne of Green Gables musical playing at the ATF. My friend Carolyn had a starring role as Mirella. She's been involved in local theatre on a very amateur basis up until recently, this year she is taking on more challenging roles and is just fabulous. She had one song in Anne that brought tears to my eyes, and I am not a terribly sentimental type. There were five performances over the weekend and they sold out every one, which is excellent. Even so they probably only broke even, the costs of mounting such a production are quite high. Carolyn said it was such a privilege to be in this production, she was so impressed by the talent surrounding her. 

Today Hapi and I walked over to Carolyn's via the reservoir to congratulate her on her performance, on the way I met up with another dog walker and we chatted our way around the reservoir. I mentioned that I was going to get Hapi a wading pool and she told me she had one in her basement she'd like to get rid of so would I please come by on my way home.

At Carolyn's Hapi stayed in the fenced backyard with Carolyn's dog Ava. Ava has had the experience of Hapi digging up one of her bones so she kept a very close eye on Hapi, following her all around the yard. If Hapi squatted to pee, then Ava moved in to do the same. Hapi did check all the places Ava usually buries bones, but did not find any.

Carolyn's backyard is full of forget-me-nots, one of my favourite wildflowers. We sat in the sun and admired the flowers. She won't mow her lawn until they are done flowering so the grass is pretty high. fortunately the forget-me-nots are higher, the backyard is a sea of blue with ribbons of green and dots of yellow (dandelions).

I had a significant computer mishap this past week, I won't go into the details suffice to say that I am quite annoyed with Microsoft and the store I bought the computer at. Carolyn's son is enough of a geek that he thinks he might be able to come up with a partial fix, even though I have been categorically told by Those In The Know that it is not possible. Well, at this point the computer and its contents are a write-off so anything he can do will be a bonus and if he fails I am no deeper in trouble than I am already. My one dilemma is that I probably need to buy another computer and there aren't a lot of choices here of places to do that. I may be forced to deal with people I really don't want to. We shall see.

I am sitting on my back deck gazing at blue sky and flowering chestnut, it's hot but I am in the shade and there is a breeze and the scent of lilac. Hapi is under the deck lying on the cool earth there. A little female goldfinch just flew onto my deck looking for food, it left again after a few moments. The birdfeeder is out front.

It is just a gorgeous day.

Which I am soon going to disrupt with my lawnmower. the one downside of great spring weather, it necessitates lawnmowing.

May be...

The kayak trip was scheduled for this week, from Tuesday to Saturday. I bowed out, I did not want to leave Hapi for that long. This would be the first time, and I just felt it was too long for a first time. However, I was not the only one who could not manage 5 days, only two women went. Looks like they are getting good weather for the trip.

Instead, I am planning to go on an all-day trip with a couple of the women who could not make it for the 5 day trip. We intend to cover the same route, but much faster obviously. And, as luck would have it, we might get some rain. I have a dogsitter lined up for Hapi, she will take Hapi for a full day and one night as a trial run. Michelle runs a doggy daycare and also keeps dogs overnight as needed. She does not have a kennel, she just keeps the dogs in the house with her own dogs. Some friends of mine use her doggy daycare service and are quite happy with it. I am kind of looking forward to this, I am hoping it works out and I can do it again sometime.

The route we are kayaking will be about 16-18 km, paddling with the current along a canal and through two lakes. One lake is long and narrow and we might encounter wind in the wrong direction there, but hopefully not. We will leave one car at the end so that we can drive back to the start to pick up the other car. The black flies are just starting to make their presence known, but not too bad yet. I was walking in the woods with Hapi near where we will be kayaking the other day and I did not encounter any.

One of the places we walk regularly, the Acadia woods, has a small pond with four goldfish in it. The pond is actually an old well, so it is steep-sided and you can't wade into it. Hapi is totally fixated on those fish. Whenever we go to the woods she has to go to the pond, and when I get bored of watching her pacing around the pond staring at the fish, I have to drag her away. I think she hopes that if she waits long enough one day a fish will jump right into her mouth.

Hapi...

The fish...

The garden is now fenced and the paths between the raised beds mulched with the remains of the spruce trees.I had to fence because Hapi likes to dig, and she thinks the manure in the garden is tasty. She was already digging up the peas before I got this fence up. It takes up a lot of space, it seems to dominate my backyard now. But of course, besides the grass the other plants are only beginning to emerge.

Speaking of, I have to mow today, the grass is getting quite long. I seem to have done something to my ankle, I think I have tendinitis in it. Which is bad, with a big dog I can't stay off of it and of course that is how you treat such things. Also fence-building, mulching and mowing are not things I should be doing either.

Kayaking should be good for it though.

April flies by...

Wow, time flies when you're busy!

Have not had a lot of time to sit down and blog, I have been busy doing stuff around the house.

I built my garden frames, hauled a whole lot of horse manure and filled the frames up. That was two days of back-breaking labour over Easter. I had to get it done in two days because a snowstorm was forecast and I wasn't looking forward to hauling wet manure.



I did a bit of planting, some indoor transplants and peas, greens, onions and garlic outdoors. Three of the eight garden frames are mostly done.

I had the spruce trees cut down. That was a bit traumatic, I miss the trees. I have to keep reminding myself of the benefits of their absence, but still, I miss them. A lot. I am hoping that as everything else greens up I will get over it, and I will be grateful for the sunshine in the winter. But in the meantime I try not to look at where they used to be. My neighbours think it's great that they're gone.


The black dot at the top of one of the trees on the left (below) is a crow. Wouldn't you know it, a pair of crows started building a nest in the trees the week before they were felled. I hope they didn't lay any eggs.


Two left (the crows' nest is about 10 ft down from the top of the tree on the right)...


...and all gone (this pic conveys very well how bleak it looks without them).


I started digging up the grass overgrowing the slate pathway to the front door. More back-breaking labour, and I am maybe half done. I think it will look good when it is done but it sure is hard. The slate path in the back yard is in a little better shape, but part of it will need digging up too.

All the grass sod that I am digging up I am transplanting under the pine trees on the north side of the house. I don't really expect it to survive there, but one can hope.

The boys that cut down the spruce trees turned the branches into mulch. They took most of it away but I kept a pile that I have used to mulch around the garden frames. There is about 30-35 wheel barrow loads that I kept, I used around 25 barrow loads around the garden frames and am stockpiling the rest. There was close to two cord of firewood when they were done, but I let them haul it away because I am reluctant to burn softwood in my woodstove. In any case, I still have more than two cord of hardwood firewood left over from the last two winters.


The fellow who owns the field behind my back yard mowed it the other day for the first time; after he was done I raided his pile of clippings to use as mulch on the garden. I figure that an April mowing is not going to have much in the way of grass or weed seeds in it. Some of his clippings from last year are well on their way to being compost, I took some of that as well.

Hapi and I have explored some new walking places:

- the gravel pit on the dykes in New Minas

- the Gaspereau River west of White Rock

- the dykes between Wolfville and Port Williams

- a trail through the woods up Gaspereau mountain to the new Wolfville reservoir (the old one is in town, just down the way from my house).

Hapi loves the Gaspereau River, I am pretty fond of it too. I don't know how far the trail goes, after an hour I turn back. I suspect that it goes a lot further and maybe one day I'll pack a lunch and see just how far. On the return walk Hapi crisscrosses the river because it is shallow enough for her to wade across. By the time we get back to the road where we started, she's on an island in the middle of the river at a point where it is too deep to wade to shore.

The first time she stood in the middle of the river waiting for me to rescue her; when that didn't happen she returned to the island and proceeded to hunt for critters. I guess she figured she'd just have to make the best of it. I walked up river to the back end of the island and called her to a point where she could wade across. Twice now she's done that, you'd think she'd learn.




Hapi also loves the muddy ditches out on the dykes; she goes down into them to hunt for critters and comes out absolutely covered in black stinky mud. She even buries her snout in the mud. All her white fur turns black. It's a good thing she doesn't come indoors is all I can say.

Today we went out on the dykes and she didn't get quite so muddy. Then we went up to the Acadia woods and she romped in the brook to shed what little mud she had picked up.


Here's a picture I took of some posts out on the salt grass. You can just make them out, they stand about two feet above the mud (you may have to click on the pic to see a larger version).


There used to be a lot more of them all along the dyke, they were for drying hay. Back in the day farmers harvested the salt grass out on the tidal marsh beyond the dyke, they put it up on the posts to dry and I guess they fed it to livestock. I don't think they've done that in at least 40 years, probably longer. I remember seeing the posts when I first arrived here in the early '70s, but they weren't being used then. Some people around here still use the salt grass as mulch in their gardens.

We go walking in the Acadia woods several times a week. We check on the fish in the pond at the south end. They've been there for several years and all four of them made it through this past winter. Hapi caught a glimpse of them last fall and has been keen to look for them ever since. But since she can't wade into this pond the fish are safe.

Some time this spring some students at the university started building a structure in the woods under a fallen tree. Every weekend they do a bit of work on it, so it is fun to go down on Monday to see what they have added.



We had one last April snow storm on Easter Sunday, but it was pretty much gone by Monday night.

(my lettuce in the snow)

Since then it has been quite dry and warm, people are actually looking forward to a good week of rain that is supposed to start today. I've had to water my seeds outdoors.

Tomorrow we are having a meeting to discuss the annual spring kayak-camping trip. I am not sure if I will go or not. We shall see.

Early spring playtime

This past week has been record-breaking warm here, downright hot (break out the shorts and T's time) on Thursday. Silly Nova Scotians who went south this week regretted it, the best of Florida was no better than here. Although I bet you could go swimming at the beach there; I don't think I would have chanced it here. We are almost back to "seasonable" now though, big high of +8C today ("seasonable" is +5C). For a couple of days it was cooler indoors than outdoors, I didn't run the furnace or light the fire for several days because the house never cooled off overnight.

I've been getting estimates on cutting down some trees on my property, a line of spruces along the south side, because they block the sun. It turns out that my neighbour on that side is very keen to see those trees gone and has gone so far as to offer to pay part of the cost. However most of the work will have to be done on their property, it is harder to get at those trees from my side than their side, so I am giving them a few days to think about that.

I am actually sitting on the fence on this issue, I like the trees and like the sound of the wind in them and the way that birds can hide in them. I have a feeling that if I cut them down I will discover that they contribute unforeseen benefits by their presence. Will I miss their shade? But having uninterrupted sun all summer long on my garden area would be nice. Presently no part of the back yard qualifies as "in full sun". I wish I could just trim those trees down to half-size, but that is just not doable. In the summer they provide shade for my house during the first half of the morning, I don't know how much of a difference that makes to the heating up of the house then. They don't provide any privacy.

Last night four of us went out for dinner and local theatre: a lovely little restaurant called Pizzazz Bistro and then on to Centrestage Theatre to see "Twelve Angry Jurors", a take-off on Twelve Angry Men. They had a mixed-gender jury.

The restaurant was truly excellent, we all ordered different things and we were all pleased with our food, we would have ordered different wines but ended up drinking the same wine, an Argentinian Malbec. For dessert two of us had cheesecake and two of us had apple cake. The desserts were all circular, and you could order a half-piece and get a semi-circular dessert instead. So many times I have split a dessert with someone that it is kind of nice that the restaurant provides half desserts.

The play was great, they did a great job of adapting it I thought. But I am not one to judge, having never seen the original. The theatre is tiny, I don't think it seats more than 80 or 90 patrons. It is very much a local theatre operation, the theatre staff, actors and many of the audience know each other and joke around (the instructions in case of fire were half serious half silly). All in all it was a most pleasant evening out: good company, good food, good theatre.

Earlier in the day I took Hapi out on the dikes and we met a lady walking her golden retriever. The retriever was young and wanted to play with Hapi, but she was all aloof and growly with the young dog. The woman recognized Hapi and told me her dog's name, Duncan. I remembered meeting her and her dog in the Kentville Ravine several months ago, before winter. Duncan was smaller then, not quite his full size. But I remembered that Duncan and Hapi had very much enjoyed each other, in fact it was the best dogplay Hapi had had since Hiro left.

After 20 minutes of ignoring Duncan Hapi suddenly decided she was ready to play with him, I think she even took Duncan by surprise since he had kind of given up on her by then. But they took off, chasing each other and running through the mud of the tidal flats and drainage ditches. It was a pleasure to watch, although Duncan's owner was concerned about having to load the muddy stinky dog into her car afterward. I suggested we take them to the "Duck Pond" in a nearby park to wash off. The pond is posted with No Dogs Allowed signs, but at this time of year I doubted anyone would accost us.

We got the dogs to the park and they leaped into the pond and had great fun play fighting in the water. They got so hyper that it was near impossible to recapture them and get them leashed up to go our separate ways. Afterward I realized I should have got contact info to organize future play dates for the dogs. Oh well, hopefully another time. At his full adult size Duncan looks smaller than Hapi but he weighs as much as she does. His coat is not nearly as fluffy as hers.

In spite of the wash in the pond, Hapi still stunk of the dike mud. It's not as bad as rolling in manure, but close. Good thing she is an outdoors dog.

...and the snow geese are flying

I saw snow geese the other day, another sign of spring. They say spring here is 2-3 weeks early. They've started sugaring off already. And all the snow around my place melted yesterday, I see bulbs sprouting. Somehow they got dug up last year and are sitting on the ground surface, not sure what they are yet but they're too big for crocuses or snowdrops.

I went to the Harbour because it was such a gorgeous day, sunny and warm. Ruth is off work for a week after surgery (good news surgery) and Nancy had the day off too (she does shiftwork). We sat on Nancy's deck, Val came by and we walked the dogs. Val's dog Phoebe narrowly missed getting a snout full of quills when she discovered a porcupine under a tree. The porcupine slowly climbed up the tree and I desperately started calling Hapi because she was off in the woods somewhere and I did not want her discovering that porcupine when it was right about her nose-height up that tree. We avoided disaster.

Last year when the time changed it felt way too early, still winter. But the clocks change this weekend and I don't think it will be too early.

Rainy and windy today but tomorrow will be sunny again and wHapi and I are going back to the Harbour for a walk on the beach with beachcomber. Also, the Women's Day Cafe is tonight, local musical women performing, a bunch of us are going to that.

The smelt are running

Today I was shopping at Sobey's, I went because they had my favourite chocolate bar on sale but I also checked out their seafood counter. They had smelt. I asked about them, the fish lady said this was their first batch, the run has just started. Smelt from Sobey's is not quite the same thing as eating them fresh from the river, but still, I asked for one meal's worth.

The best way to eat smelt is right by the river, fresh caught and fried up in butter. They are small enough that you pick one up by the tail and just eat it from your fingers. There are hardly any bones. When they are running, there are so many of them in the river that you can catch them in baskets.

Sunday night we were supposed we were supposed to get 5 cm of snow, but by morning it was obviously a bit more than that. More like 15 cm. It looked beautiful, light and fluffy, piled up on all the tree branches. Monday afternoon we got another 10 cm. but it didn't get much deeper because it was fairly warm and the snow was damp and packing down.

Today I took Hapi down to the Kentville ravine. We haven't been down there very much lately because the one public trail in has been a sheet of ice. It is so steep that it is impassable when it is icy. There is another trail, an 'authorized-personnel-only' trail which is not so steep or icy, but on weekdays the authorized personnel are out in force. I've gone down that trail on weekends with good luck.

Anyway, today the ravine was beautiful in the snow. Hapi ran through the snow looking very happy. She does figure eights around me and I swing my walking poles at her; she ducks and swerves and disappears into the woods, reappearing suddenly a few minutes later running straight at me.

A young couple with three pre-school-aged kids followed us down the trail into the ravine. The oldest girl was nervous of Hapi and kept her mother between her and the dog, but the littlest boy, just barely walking, marched up to Hapi and said, Woof! Woof! Hapi backed up and looked at me, uncertain whether she should be scared of him or not.

After the walk in the ravine and shopping at Sobey's I took Hapi to visit her little admirer, Sidney the King Charles Cavalier spaniel. Sidney is so funny, he really is completely enamored of Hapi and Hapi hardly knows he exists. Today Hapi was lying on the floor and Sidney came up and was sniffing her ear. He was literally blowing in her ear and she kept shaking her head and looking at him, What are you doing!?! She can't figure him out.

I've been having trouble with my knee lately. It started some time ago, I noticed that my knee hurt going up the basement stairs with a load of firewood. Then a couple of weeks ago it got worse, a really sharp pain that was there all the time. So reluctantly I went to the doctor. She thought it might be a meniscal tear and ordered X-rays, although she said if it was a meniscal tear it would not show up in the X-ray. However the X-ray showed significant arthritic deterioration which probably better explains the pain. So I've been on anti-inflammatories to bring down the inflammation and I am now on a wait list to see a physiotherapist. I don't know how long that will take.

The anti-inflammatories are tricky, either they are too weak to have any effect or they are strong enough to make the pain go away but they give me heartburn. There doesn't seem to be a happy medium. The latest anti-inflammatory I am barely tolerating, I will take it until the end of the week and then stop; hopefully the pain will too. At least it does not interfere with walking too much, climbing the basement stairs is the main problem. I've decided that it is because the stair risers are too steep and the treads too narrow. There's really not enough room to redesign them, more shallow stairs would just bring my head closer to the edge of the ceiling going down.

Really the only way to fix the problem is to put the stairs back where they were originally, but that's a major renovation I don't want to do. The only other alternative is to not put firewood in the basement. Have to think about that.

But the main thing is, the smelt are running, spring is just around the corner.

Three things and a beer

Yesterday I got two things accomplished, well three actually.

1. Went to the new Market.

Our local farmer's market has its own building now, yesterday was the official opening. Up until yesterday the Market was held in a parking lot in the summer and at the university student union building (the old Sub) in the winter. On the one hand it is great they have their own digs now, and appropriately in an old apple storage warehouse. On the other hand it is dark and echo-ey. It was packed and the crowds and noise were quite overwhelming. Several regular vendors were notably not present, for a variety of reasons.

2. Assembled my new lawnmower.

Jeesh!! Took almost the whole afternoon! These days, everything comes in a box, unassembled. And to read the instructions you'd think every purchaser has a fully-equiped workshop to hand.

It was cold and rainy and I was trying to assemble the darn thing in an unlit shed with a collection of scrounged tools. Five different sizes of wrenches required!! I have the most mismatched collection of wrenches imaginable, it was painful just putting the required tool list together, never mind actually assembling the darn thing. Instructions called for securely blocking the chassis while working, I balanced it precariously on an assortment of firewood logs.

There were two sets of instructions, one for putting together all the bits and pieces and one for preparing the gas engine for use, each published independently of the other. Having once made a living writing instructions for a variety of machines, processes and procedures, I will restrain myself from huffing and puffing over the inadequacies of these two sets of instructions, but I am offended that after centuries of work on improving such things, abominable instructions are still the norm.

3. Made a to-do list.

I make these things when I am overwhelmed by how much there is to do, somehow putting it in writing makes it feel like I have some control over it. Unwritten if feels like an amorphous weighty black cloud hovering somewhere above and behind me; I know it's there but I can't really see the extent or urgency of it. Once written it looks sort of manageable. I blithely attach "By When" dates (knowing full well it will never happen, but hey, we can dream) and feel like I have A Plan.

The list goes in my List Book, a notebook dedicated to this activity alone. It contains to-do lists dating back several years and over several home locations. Kind of funny reading all the things I thought I would do, but a lot of it actually got done. The big things anyway.

Sell condo.
Move.
Build kayak.
Buy house.
Pack my stuff, over and over and over.
Fix the truck, again and again and again.

On my current list I thought that after I got the lawnmower assembled I would then bake some cookies. However, it turned out I didn't have one key ingredient for the chosen recipe and had no desire to pick another recipe, so I have left that to-do undone and added "Go Shopping" to the list. Maybe tomorrow.

As my reward for accomplishing two---maybe three---things, I went to a play in the evening, a local production of Oliver!

In spite of some of the characters in that story being familiar to me, I did not know the story itself. I have avoided all things Dickensian (with the possible exception of the Alastair Sim version of A Christmas Carol) since my first encounter with David Copperfield in high school. Anyway, I quite enjoyed the production even though it was incredibly schmaltzy. It did nothing to convince me to rethink my attitude toward Dickens, but the players were good and community theatre is A Good Thing. They even managed to recruit some three-year-olds to participate in the production and they were quite hilarious.

After the show the entire cast quickly moves from the stage to the theatre lobby so they are there to greet the audience as we emerge from the theatre. It's quite nice to be able to see and talk to all the players, congratulate them while they wave at and greet the audience they could not see while performing.

My friend and I checked the time when we were outside in the parking lot, the night was still young, so we went to the pub for some music and beer. Thugs@Bay were playing, we got seats at the bar in view of the band and spent the remains of the evening listening, drinking and chatting with friends. There is no dance floor in this pub but some young folks were dancing in the narrow floor space between tables and booths, even one waitress danced around with beers and bills. We were so close to the band that between sets we chatted with them as well. They commented on the music scene in this town, how it was such a great place for a young band to get started, and how much musical talent there was in the area.

Next on the list is "Mow the lawn". If it warms up, maybe later today...

The sun appears, full-on summer has arrived

This post would enormously benefit from photos, alas, I have not taken any. It's been a bittersweet few days, on the one hand recovering emotionally from Sam's departure and on the other hand wallowing in the pleasure of sunshine after a month of rain. Please excuse the rambling nature of this post.

~~~~~~~~

Within minutes of Sam's flight taking off to return him to the west coast, the sun broke through. The rest of the day and all of the next was sunny and blue-skied. Just about every lawn in the entire province got mowed in those two days. It was the background hum everywhere you went. Fields of yellow dandelions, orchards full of dandelions, all were mowed from brilliant yellow back to vibrant green. Actually I kind of miss the dandelions.

Well no I don't. I didn't mow my lawn and it is full of dandelions so I still have lots of yellow. I spent the last three days weeding, pruning and seeding but not mowing as my lawn is still soaking wet. Today was supposed to be rainy---stormy even---but I think someone must have slapped the Weatherman around a bit because all we got was one very light shower.

Two of my four garden frames are now planted. The other two have no soil in them yet so instead I have piled them high with all the weeds I pulled; I am hoping to kill them and use them in my compost. Or maybe as mulch. Anyway, a couple more sunny days should do them in and dry them out nicely.

I pruned several bushes and the lowest branches on a blue spruce so the lawn mower can get around them easier. Two shrubs are in flower right now, a forsythia and something I don't know the name of, I will wait until they have finished flowering before I prune them. Three lilacs got pruned and a bush that has no leaves yet so I have no idea what it is. I pulled up a tonne of very tall grass that has invaded the large garden area on the north side of the back yard, and deadheaded all the tulips that are finished blooming.

I wanted to prune the grape vine, but I am unsure what I can do with it. I look at the vineyards around here (this is great wine country) and it looks like they prune the vines back to almost nothing, but I just can't tell what is dead and what is alive on mine. So I will wait and see, maybe next year I'll get it right.

My neighbour has chives and lily-of-the-valley to give away, I'd like to ask her for a cutting or two of her periwinkle too. I've got some lawn patches I'd like to convert to periwinkle so I don't have to mow it (slopes, and the area under the pines). She told me that the previous owner of my place went a little nuts buying plants and sticking them in the ground.

He'd plant them and forget about them. So the place is full of stuff that has never really been taken care of, and some stuff is planted in odd places. Like the line of tulips in the grassy strip between our two driveways. It makes mowing difficult. And the plum tree on the north side of the house between two big pines, it gets hardly any sun.

There are hosta, solomon's seal, forget-me-nots, lilies and irises coming up. There's one, possibly two, peonies. Some strange flowers by the deck that I have never seen before. When they first came up I thought they were grasses, I almost pulled them out but there was something just a little odd about them.

I am watching the cedar out front closely, it does not look healthy. It was just a little bush when I lived here before, now it is tree-sized but not particularly healthy. Maybe it needs fertilizer? I don't know what its problem is. It'd be a shame to lose it, the birds like it. On stormy winter days it gives them shelter from the wind.

The horse chestnut in the back is about to flower and I believe there's a dogwood in the front. In the field beyond my yard are two trees that might be maples, but they have not leafed out yet. Which is good, I still have a view of the Minas Basin and Cape Blomidon which will disappear when the two trees are fully greened up.

While I was away kayaking last week a friend picked up a lawn mower for me that was on sale. It is still in the box so I have to assemble it before I can mow. I am planning to do that Sunday or Monday. Also get more horse manure for the two empty garden frames. And supposedly I can take possession of my own plot on the Acadia Community Farm this Sunday, although I am not holding my breath on that. Everything has been delayed by all the rain.

I haven't decided yet what I will plant at the Farm plot, but I have a lot of seed packets to try. Squash for sure, probably beans, maybe brussels sprouts. Potatoes? I want to start a herb garden but not sure yet where. I also have some asparagus and strawberries to plant, I think they will go into the big garden on the north side but first I have to take out all the grass and weeds there. I am about one-third done with that.

Thursday was such a gorgeous day! Everybody around here was in such a good mood, the first full day without any rain. It was even hot! I think we all could hardly believe our good luck, it was starting to look like the rain had moved in for good. In between weeding and seeding and pruning I also got two loads of laundry out on the line, I believe this is the first time in a month I've been able to get even one load out there.

Today I put up screens on the windows to keep the black fly out, and I am grateful that the maple in front of my west window has leafed out because it blocks the sun there. It is now hot enough to actually prefer not to get sun coming in the windows. I don't remember there being black fly in town when I lived here before, but they are certainly here now.

Can't work in the garden without a bugshirt and bugpants, but I have to take frequent breaks because it is so hot. I also have to wear rain boots because the lawn is so wet. When I was planting one of my garden frames I could hear the water running under the grass!

There is so much birdsong now too. I never used to like starlings but they are quite musical here. And of course the robins. Yesterday I heard a red winged blackbird in the field behind my back yard, that was great to hear. I love them. I don't see much of the cardinals these days but I do hear them a lot.

I watched a pair of blue jays getting it on in my maple a few days ago. They are cute together. One of them goes into the birdfeeder and gets seeds which he (she?) puts in the other one's beak. Ah, spring.

The Weatherman is still forecasting rain for the next week or so, this may only be a brief respite, we shall see. It sure has been nice though.