Once upon a time, I went insane

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Back in September, I lost my mind. It was just for a moment, but it was a definite psychotic break. And it’s taken me until now to talk about it.

In my normal state, I don’t

Shop online
Make impulse purchases, especially not over $20
Buy much decor

These aren’t formal rules. I’m just very frugal and tend to avoid purchases that I view as “frivolous.”

Well, in a moment of insanity, I whipped out my credit card and bought something that is the very definition of frivolous.

Behold my papier-maché goose head.

Goose Faux Taxidermy wall decor by Macheanimal

I first saw it on Lindsay’s blog, and it was pretty much love at first sight. Although, in all fairness, the goose wasn’t a complete impulse. I did think about this purchase for 24 hours before I finally pulled out my credit card and logged in to Etsy.

When the box came, I couldn’t even tell Matt what was in the package. And once I opened it, he still didn’t understand why I had to buy it (and Matt knows my history).

And I think it’s time you know this bit of my history too. Next week, I’ll share the story of Bill.

Tips for renovating with your dog

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Hello everyone. Holidays are officially over and it’s back to the regular routine.

Except, that is, for today’s blog. I have a different type of post for you.

As you know, before Christmas we redid the fireplace at our house. Today isn’t the full project post, but that’s coming, I promise.

As part of the renovation we had to make some special considerations for Baxter. Today, I’m sharing some of my tips for renovating with a dog over at ThatMutt.com.

Baxter and I would both appreciate it if you’d click over there to read today’s post.

And for That Mutt readers who are dropping in, welcome. My husband and I live on a 129-acre farm in Ontario, Canada. I blog about our adventures in country-living and DIY renovating, which of course includes our favourite furry fellow, our dog Baxter.

Here’s some links to help you get to know us:

More posts featuring Baxter
All of the fireplace posts (except for the final reveal. You’ll have to come back again if you want that one 🙂 )
Top posts of 2014

Thanks, Lindsay, for featuring Baxter and my reno tips.

Cats and dogs and grass stains in the dark

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

It was late Wednesday night. I was getting ready for bed. From outside through the window I heard a terrible yowl. It sounded cat-like, so of course my first panicked thought was, “Ralph!”

I ran for the front door calling for Matt as I went. Baxter had heard the yowl as well, so he was right with me. I snapped on his leash and we dashed outside. Matt headed for the barn, Ralph’s usual hangout. I realized that neither Baxter nor I had thought to grab a flashlight, so I ducked back inside for one. Then Baxter and I headed for the back of the house where the yowl had originated. Despite my best whistles and even with the flashlight there was no sign of Ralph.

I was thinking clearly enough to realize that our puppy is a pretty sniffy guy, so when it seemed like he’d caught a scent, I trotted along behind him, holding tight to the leash. Down a little hill, up a couple of steps, across the patio, over to the stand of pines and then in the weak beam of the flashlight she was there. A grey furry ball huddled at the base of one of the big trees.

Between the dark and the yowls and the scents, Baxter was a bit excited, so he forgot about all of the good lessons he’s learned over the last little while. Specifically, he forgot:

Cats are boring.
We don’t chase kitties.
Ralph is Julia’s and Matt’s cat. I have to be gentle with things that belong to Julia and Matt.

I’m sure you can guess what happened.

As Baxter took off after Ralph, he pulled me off my feet, down a hill–a little one but it was steep, and towards a thicket. It was only a second or so, but it’s one of those moments that seems much longer than it actually is. All I could think was, “Holy cow he’s strong. I can’t stop him. How far is he going to drag me?”

Baxter did stop before we got too far into the thicket. I had dirt under my fingernails, mud on my palms and grass stains and a scratch on my knee.

Oh, and did I mention I was wearing my pyjamas? Ten minutes ago I was headed to bed! How do things like this happen?

Matt, who was on the opposite side of the thicket, was unsure who needed help most. Remember, this was in the complete dark and even with my flashlight we couldn’t see very much. We determined that I was okay. Matt should focus on convincing Ralph to come out of the thicket, and I would deal with the moron dog.

Okay, he’s not a complete moron. He did find the kitty.

Baxter and I went the opposite way around the house to walk off some of our excitement. Matt has a better whistle than I do, so Ralph eventually came to him. He checked her over, and she seemed to be fine. We have no idea whether she yowled or she made someone else yowl.

My grass stains and I finally headed to bed. Baxter was too restless to sleep. Eventually he convinced Matt to take him outside again for a final check to make sure all was well at the farm.

By the next afternoon, Baxter and Ralph were calmer, but not entirely easy with each other. (And by the way, this picture is incredible progress considering that a year ago Ralph couldn’t stand the sight of any dog, and Baxter’s reaction was to pursue her (literally) even more aggressively).

Oh the adventures of country living.

Have you ever ended up with grass stains on your pyjamas? Has anyone else ever tried to teach a dog and cat to get along?

Happy Thanksgiving

Posted on October 13, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Hey y’all. Baxter here.

Julia and Matt decided to take Thanksgiving off. So, with them turkey-digesting and one-room-challenging, it’s been left to me–the dude without any thumbs–to handle today’s post.

Even though I’m a Canadog now, it seems weird to be celebrating Thanksgiving in October. But there’s some perks to the weekend.

Road tripping (I’m a very good backseat driver).

Dog parking (I’ve been to a dog beach, but never a dog park with a dog beach).

Y’all want to know what else was special about this dog park? It wasn’t just for dogs. Although this guy wasn’t really into playing. I walked around his tree five times and did a special dance. I finally got so frustrated I just gave up and barked at him. That’s when Julia told me I had to leave him alone.

There were three special dinnering (two were turkeys and one was the bird of my homeland).

So that’s how I spent the Canadian Thanksgiving. If you’ll excuse me, I have some turkey and chicken and squash to sleep off now.

Hope y’all had a good weekend. Did you do anything special? Or make any new friends? Or eat any good foods? For those other Canadians and Canadogs out there Happy Thanksgiving.

The Monarch Project

Posted on September 17, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Have you heard of the Monarch Project? Karen at The Art of Doing Stuff launched it this year.

A couple of years ago, Karen posted a five-part series on how to raise a Monarch butterfly. This year she’s raising more butterflies herself and encouraging her readers to as well. Last week she posted a video of a Monarch emerging from its chrysalis. It was absolutely amazing. Seriously. Go watch it and come back. I’ll wait. It’ll make your week.

As a kid, Matt and his brothers would raise Monarchs every year. It was just something they did, catching the caterpillars, putting them in a bucket, feeding them fresh milkweed, watching them form their cocoons, watching them hatch and then releasing them.

I, however, have never seen anything like this. Karen’s video is amazing. I so want to see it in real life.

I’ve seen more Monarchs around the farm this year than I have in past years. Unfortunately, more means about two. Remember that milkweed post that I did earlier this year? It took me most of the summer to get that one single photo of the butterfly. And he was the only butterfly I saw that year.

We have milkweed everywhere on the property, and I check it often for caterpillars. So far, I haven’t found any.

A couple of weeks ago Baxter and I found a Monarch when we were out for our walk (the guy pictured in this post). Unfortunately, he seemed to have a broken wing. We carried him home and set him on some milkweed behind the barn, but I don’t think he’s going to be one of the guys that makes it to Mexico.

The Monarchs are a simple example of why I’m glad that we bought the farm. Maybe we can protect a little bit of their habitat. Maybe we can help raise the odds in their favour. Maybe we, and Karen, and the people participating in the Monarch Project can help to keep the Monarchs flying.

What’s the Monarch population like where you live? Have you ever hatched a Monarch yourself?

Happy birthday, Baxter

Posted on September 8, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Baxter turned four on Friday. For our lazy guy, the very best gift is a good nap. And that’s exactly what Matt and I tried to give him. However, things didn’t work out exactly as planned. I’ll let Baxter tell the story of what happened.

Hey y’all. Birthday Boy Baxter, here.

I knew something special was up when I was invited onto the couch. You see, I don’t get to sit on the couch hardly at all. And to be honest with y’all, it’s kinda hard to get comfortable when I know I’m not really supposed to be there. It just feels wrong.

Plus, Matt and Julia are usually there with me, and they always want to give scratches and kisses and snuggles. I mean, I like them alright, but a dude’s gotta have his own space sometimes.

Well, Matt not only invited me onto the couch, but he and Julia let me have it all to myself. Y’all, it was luxurious.

So much better than my chair. I didn’t have to fold my feet up to my chin or hang my head off the edge.

I stretched myself right out on that there couch and had a little doze.

Now I knew for sure something special was up when I was invited onto the bed. I get invited onto the bed more regularly, but it’s usually just to help Matt pick out his socks (I can’t see into the dresser drawer when I’m standing on the floor). But this time, when I was invited onto the bed, Matt helped me lay down, and he even tucked a pillow under my head. I didn’t just doze. I had a full on sleep! Talk about a birthday present!

I was an hour or so into my dreams when it happened. All of a sudden the pillows jumped me!

You see them in that picture up there how they’re all just sitting there on the bed? They look all proper and stuffy, don’t they? Well, don’t let them fool you. Pillows have a twisted sense of humour. They thought it was a great birthday trick to jump on an unsuspecting dude while he was sleeping.

I bow-wow-wowed and bow-wow-wowed and bow-wow-wowed. By the time Julia came to the bedroom, the pillows and I had all collapsed from exhaustion.

As soon as Julia saw us sprawled all over the bed, she knew exactly what had happened (she knows how weird pillows are). She gave me lots of pats and told me how brave I was for battling the pillows. She told the pillows they had to leave me alone because it was my birthday. We managed to go back to sleep, but I slept with my eyes open, just to be safe.

Aside from Julia: He actually does sleep with his eyes open. It’s creepy.

The rest of my birthday was more naps, lots of scratches, some good walks, a phone call from my Uncle Greg, a visit from Julia’s Dad (who shared his peanut butter sandwich), some chicken, sweet potatoes and cheese. And no more pillows. All good stuff.

Happy birthday, dude.

Fields of beans

Posted on August 25, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

It’s been nearly three months since our fields were planted with soybeans. Well past time for an update, Baxter informed me.

Hello y’all. Baxter here. I went on a detailed inspection of our fields this weekend, and I’m here to share my report on the state of our soybeans. I can’t believe Julia’s let it go this long without showin’ y’all what’s been going on. I’ve decided to take care of this myself. A farm dog’s responsibilities never end.

First off, our soybeans are tall. As tall as me. Some spots are shorter, but most are growin’ pretty well.

Baxter in our field of soybeans

Second off, our soybeans are not real sniffy. They smell mostly like green.

Third off, our soybeans are fuzzy. Not furry like a dog. Just fuzzy.

Yup. We’ve got actual beans, y’all.

I haven’t tasted them yet. I’m waitin’ ’til they get a bit riper for that test. I’ll keep y’all informed.

Baxter’s crop report is turning into an annual occasion. Click here to read his last one from a year ago.

Battling the annual moth invasion

Posted on August 13, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Not to gross anyone out, but we have a bit of an infestation at the farm. (Seriously, if you’re eating, you might want to come back later).

It started the first spring that we lived here. On Easter weekend, the moths arrived.

The first year, I had just brought in a big bouquet of forsythia branches, so we thought the flowers must have been the source.

We spent all spring and most of the summer battling the moths. They were dusty creatures that left behind a smudge when we squished them. Our ceiling, which was so disgusting before we painted it, was mostly marked by moths.

I emptied cupboards and closets and sprayed insect killer. We vacuumed webs. And nothing changed. The moths just kept coming.

Finally, the weather turned cold, and they stopped.

But the following spring, they were back. There was no forsythia to blame this time. It seemed that the moths were somewhere in the house. We smacked and squashed and slapped. We were both disgusted and resigned.

They didn’t seem to be the types of moths that threaten wool clothing. Instead, they seemed to congregate in the kitchen. They liked crackers and rice and cereal. They munched on our food, spun webs and occasionally we spotted their maggot-like larvae crawling around. It was totally gross. But we had no idea where they were coming from.

Then this spring, we decided we had to try something new. We found some moth traps and hung them around the kitchen.

Our goal was to kill one generation before they had a chance to reproduce. We were vigilant about killing any that we saw. To avoid putting more smudges on our freshly painted ceiling and walls, we kept our handheld vacuum handy to suck them up. The traps filled up, and we deployed fresh ones. They’re basically a sticky sheet of cardboard with little scent capsules that go inside.

The traps seem to work. Although I don’t think we accomplished our mission of killing a whole generation, there have been slightly fewer moths this year than previously. I feel like they live somewhere in the kitchen, within the walls, behind the cabinets. I don’t think the moths will truly go away until we renovate the kitchen.

And as much as I want that project to happen–for more reasons than just the moths–it’s probably at least a few years away still.

I realize that creepy crawlies are part of country living. However, the moths can move on a n y t i m e.

Anyone else ever dealt with moths? Any tips to share?