Brody and Treu

Posted on November 9, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

I’m starting off the week with a post from Sarah in Illinois. Today, she’s introducing us to her two dogs. You all know how much I love our Baxter, so I’m very happy to get to know Sarah’s two furry fellows.

Treu and Brody looking out the window

I have really struggled with coming up with something to write about this week. I feel like we are in the eye of the storm here. The hustle and bustle of harvest is over. Steve comes home at regular hours again since all the crops are in, and he has all of his ground work done. But I am fully aware of how busy we will be in just a couple weeks. Between both of our families, my work party and the kids’ schedules we will have something to do every weekend in December.

This weekend we took advantage of the fact that we still have great weather here. We mowed the yard for the last time, brought in all outdoor decor, the grill and garden hoses so they don’t get damaged when it starts to freeze. We even hung Christmas lights on the house. However we won’t light them for a couple weeks.

I don’t want to rush the holidays at all, so we are just relaxing and enjoying the calm. Of course, that doesn’t make a very interesting blog post. When I said aloud that I didn’t know what to write, Steve’s daughter said that I should write about our pets. So this week I will introduce our dogs.

Brody the chocolate lab

Brody

Brody is Steve’s 10 year old chocolate lab. Brody has a very interesting background. He is retired from the US Air Force! We don’t know a lot about his time in the Armed Forces, but we know he was stationed in Alaska.

Brody has multiple health issues, and it makes us wonder what he has seen and what type of things he has been exposed to. About two years ago he started losing his eyesight and he is now completely blind. But that doesn’t stop him from getting around the house and finding his chew toy to bring to us.

He is very talkative. I think because he is blind he struggles with not knowing exactly where we are sometimes and he “yells” at us, which is a harsh bark. We laugh because he doesn’t seem to need anything; I think he just wants to know where we are.

Treu the German Shepherd

Treu

Treu is my 12 year old German Shepherd. I got Treu when he was 6 weeks old. He is an outside dog, but there were many times when I lived alone that I would bring him in with me to keep me company or to make me feel safe.

When we moved in with Steve, Treu got a really expansive pen with shade trees and access to his own section of a barn. Besides his foam bed and heated water bowl he has a “deck” that Steve built and he spends a lot of time laying out on it.

And of course any time we are out in the yard where we can watch him, he has free reign.

Treu is starting to show some hip problems that are slowing him down. However, I don’t think he knows that his hips are failing. He still tries to run and chase the cats. It’s just his legs don’t always get the message.

Both of our dogs are getting up there in age. We joke about how high maintenance they are. We are constantly buying special food, medicine, supplements, and vet visits. But they are a part of our family. They are waiting on us when we get home with smiling faces and a wagging tail. And we treasure every moment that we have with them.

I know exactly where you’re coming from, Sarah. I can tell Brody and Treu are well-loved. Brody’s history is so neat. I had no idea you could adopt a dog after his tour of duty.

Spooky Hallowe’en mantel

Posted on October 30, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

As cute as the pumpkins were on the fireplace mantel, I had a different idea for Hallowe’en decorations.

It’s a little bit haunted forest with all of the twisty branches.

And it’s a lot haunted forest with my collection of skulls.

I had the idea for a little while, but it really came together when Matt’s Mom brought home these silver candlesticks for me. They used to be Matt’s grandmother’s (the same grandma that had the piano). Their tarnished finish was perfect (although I’m sure not up to Mama’s standards–and I’m sure she never thought they’d be displayed with skulls either).

It looks extra spooky with the candles lit (although it doesn’t translate in pictures very well).

Happy Hallowe’en, everybody.

How are you celebrating? Have you decorated for Hallowe’en? What’s your preferred Hallowe’en style: spooky ghouls or cute pumpkins? Does anyone else have a creepy collection?

A post about a post

Posted on October 26, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

I’m a little bit geeky when it comes to my birdfeeder. When I first built it, I was super disappointed that it took a whole month for the birds to find the feeder. But when they finally did, I spent a lot of time watching them through the dining room window. And the novelty hasn’t worn off yet. It’s become a winter tradition for me.

This year, I wanted to make installing the birdfeeder just a little bit easier. Unscrewing the feeder from its base and hammering the pole into the ground was a bit too much effort–and we ended up breaking one of the brackets off the post last year.

Not the best approach. So the post went to my cousin’s for repair, and I went to work.

I found a length of pipe–because we just happen to have things like that lying around here–and cut a 16 inch section.

Then, I used a very narrow shovel–since we don’t have a posthole digger lying around–to dig a 16 inch deep hole.

The object of the game was to have the top of the pipe level with the ground so that the lawnmower can drive right over it.

I carefully backfilled around the pipe (not in the pipe), and then my sidekick inspected to make sure everything was as it should be.

When the repaired birdfeeder post returned to the farm, I slid it into the sleeve–perfect fit.

I screwed the feeder into place, stocked it up with seed and waited for customers.

This year, it took just a couple of days for the birds to find the feeder. The chickadees were first as usual. I’ve also seen juncos, a woodpecker and a pair of blue jays (small consolation for not seeing the other Jays now that they’ve been knocked out of the baseball playoffs 😦 ).

This post has the story about where this birdfeeder design came from–and plans to build your own feeder.

Who else enjoys bird watching? Do you have a feeder at your house? What birds do you see in your neighbourhood?

Birthday birdbath

Posted on October 19, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Everyone who guessed last week got it right. Our new addition at the farm is our birdbath.

As usual, when it came to my birthday last month, my wishlist was pretty short–as in there was only one thing on it. This year, what I wanted most was a top for the birdbath.

The base has been here at the farm all along, but we’ve not seen any sign of the top. It probably broke sometime ago, so we resigned ourselves to having a new top made.

A house down the road has a sign out front for pre-casting and a yard full of concrete animals, fountains and birdbaths. They said yes, they could cast us a basin.

I picked out a design that I liked and that I thought would work well with the base. About a week later, they delivered the birdbath (delivery was so helpful, as it weighs about 3 tonnes).

It’s obviously the end of birdbath season here in Canada. So we’ll be tucking this away for a few months, and I’ll be getting my morning bird-watching fix from the birdfeeder.

Nonetheless, I’m thrilled to finally have a complete birdbath. Thank you, Matt!

Do you have a birdbath at your house? Have you ever had anything cast in concrete?

Birthday presents previously:

Praying mantis

Posted on October 7, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

The other weekend, while working outside, I felt a tickle on the back of my neck. I craned my head around and managed to catch a glimpse of the tickler: a praying mantis.

Because of course. Out of all of the vegetation available on the farm, why wouldn’t you land on the human?

I think praying mantises (plural?) are really neat insects. Sightings are relatively rare, so I’m always happy to see one.

Eventually, it flew into the garden where the camouflage was much better. Just look at how it blends in with this lily. The brown and yellow and green tones are so similar.

Nature’s pretty cool.

What insects and animals are you seeing around your house? Who else likes praying mantises? What’s the best example of camouflage you’ve observed?

Happy birthday, Baxter

Posted on September 7, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Baxter turned 5 on Saturday.

We gave him our best helicopter tail. (This video isn’t quite the best example, but it gives you an idea of his very special wiggles and wags).

We went for a hike with his furry friends.

He got lots of scratches from cousins, aunts, uncles, grandmas and grandpas.

And we didn’t laugh at him too much when he got ice cream in his eyebrows.

Happy birthday to our best dude.

A buzz in the back meadow

Posted on August 31, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

The meadow behind the barn has popped out in a mass of wild flowers.

Baxter and I enjoy walking the path that Matt keeps mowed around the edge of the field. With the flowers blooming, the air is filled with the sound of buzzing bees.

Now if only we could find their honey… I love comb honey.

Matt and I have talked about adding hives to the farm. That’s definitely a someday project though. For now I’ll enjoy the fields and the flowers and the bees and the wonderful walks.

Do you have wildflowers blooming at your place? What’s your favourite walk in your neighbourhood? Do you have bees flying around? Who else is a honey fan?

Cool dude

Posted on August 3, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Today’s Civic Holiday in Ontario, so I’m taking it easy (thanks for understanding). Be cool, dudes.

Uncovering a favourite perch

Posted on July 29, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

So you have a spot like this in your yard, right? Somewhere that you just let things go a little bit?

My pledge this year is to not worry about the yard and focus only on the vegetable garden. But this clump of overgrowth at the edge of the south lawn finally got to me. My inner Edward Scissorhands came out (along with a pair of clippers, since I don’t actually have blades on my hands).

Who knew there was a dead curlicue bush, a mostly dead catalpa, a huge flowerpot and two stone benches hidden in there? (Well, we did, since we’ve seen them before… and put some of them there during our previous yard clean-up episodes).

The bush and the tree froze to death last winter. The big flowerpot is a gift from previous owners that I haven’t bothered to get rid of yet. The benches? Well, the benches belong to Ralph.

While she didn’t express gratitude (are cats capable of gratitude?), I think she appreciated our work.

The benches allow her to ascend to the perfect height for convenient scratching.

But most importantly, the benches allow her to assume a superior height over her brother.

So our landscaping meets with the cat’s approval, if not the dog’s. Now to convince Matt to get out his chainsaw and deal with those dead trees…

Do you have an overgrown spot at your house? Does anyone else’s animals “help” with the yard work? What furniture belongs to furry friends? Who’s the boss, your cat or your dog? (I think I know the answer to the last one… in my experience that relationship only goes one way).

Gotcha Day 2

Posted on July 6, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Tomorrow is the second anniversary of when Baxter came to live with us. Since he joined our family, I’ve become a complete dog person–as demonstrated by the number of dog blogs in my reader.

One of the blogs I enjoy in particular is Oh Melvin and Yo Jake (what Tracey and Jake went through with Melvin–and are still going through–is amazing and heartbreaking, and I can’t even think of it when I think about Baxter). But anyways, Tracey has a tradition of writing a letter to her dogs on the anniversary of their gotcha days. I love that idea, so I’ve copied it for Baxter.

Dear Baxter,

It’s been two years since you came to live with us, and the novelty still hasn’t worn off. Sure I don’t love it when the alarm goes off at 5:45am (and I know you don’t either), but I do love our morning walks together. We see so many corners of the farm when everything is still quiet. We sometimes see the deer eating their breakfast in the back field. I get to see you finding all the new sniffs and enjoying the morning. Starting the day with you is pretty special.

You’ve done so well this year as you’ve learned about off-leash hiking. I am very proud of you, to see you walk without the long line dragging behind you. I admit, I still get a little nervous, but I know you’re working hard at remembering to stay with me.

Getting to know our hiking group has given you a chance to spread your unique brand of love and wiggles around. It makes me happy to see how much everyone loves you. And I’m happy too to see how much you love hiking. Watching you dart to the car and hearing you urge me to go faster as we’re driving to meet the group are part of the fun.

You’ve learned so much about staying close when we’re working outside, being calm when you say hi to Ralph, hitting Grandma and Grandpa up for treats. We’re going to keep working on coming when you’re called and that little people are okay–they’re weird because they’re as tall as you and they’re very grabby, but you’re a very gentle boy and you can teach them how to be polite to doggies.

Matt and I both love coming home to you every night. You give us such good wiggles and tell us all about your day. Watching your tail go around in circles never gets old.