Ice capades

Posted on January 27, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Our January thaw from two weeks ago gave way to a deep freeze last week. The result was a thick covering of ice on the pond, and the result of that was skating!

We’ve been keeping an eye on the ice all winter, and it was finally thick enough for skating. We headed out with shovels to clear the snow from our own private rink.

Shoveling the ice made us realize how big the pond really is. Matt finally resorted to just clearing paths around and across the ice. Fortunately, the snow was thin enough that we could skate right through it.

Some coyotes had tested out the ice early in the morning.

Here’s Matt’s version of an action shot:

Matt’s skates hurt his feet, so we reenacted Rocky’s and Adrian’s first date, making a circuit of the ice arm in arm, Matt in his boots and me in my skates. By Sunday, though, he decided to give his skates a try, using the “learn-to-skate” technique of a chair for extra support.

If I’m being honest, the chair got more use as an actual chair, as the skates were still pretty uncomfortable.

Another warming trend is forecast for this week, and it may be awhile before we are able to skate again, so Matt’s feet have plenty of time to recover. Sore tootsies aside, we each still enjoyed checking off another new experience at the farm.

Did you have a new experience this weekend? Have you been out skating yet? Any tips for finding comfortable skates? Did you push a chair when you were learning to skate? For those non skaters out there, what animal tracks are you seeing at your place? For those that prefer indoor sports, who else is a Rocky fan?

The doughnut tree

Posted on January 24, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Outside the front door, what looks like a regular maple tree is not. It is a doughnut tree.

Doughnut trees are sneaky. Under the canopy of leaves in the spring and summer, you forget that they bear a remarkable fruit. However, as the tree sheds its leaves in the fall, the doughnuts become visible again.

The question is though, how does one pick a doughnut?

Any suggestions?

January thaw

Posted on January 13, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

A thick fog on Friday night made for a hazardous drive home, and heralded the arrival of warm weather. Saturday afternoon found us outside without jackets. Saturday evening as we walked down the driveway in the dark we could hear water flowing in the creek.

Where the creek enters the pond, the ice has nearly disappeared.

In the rest of the pond, the thin layer of ice that had formed on the surface has receded.

We’ll have to put off skating for another while yet.

To do: Relax

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

As sad as it may seem, I put “hike” on my holiday to-do list.

Yes, I have to actually make plans to relax.

However, it wasn’t as hard as I thought it might be.

Beginning on Christmas Eve, Matt and I ended up taking near daily walks across the fields and through the forest.

I snapped this shot back in the woods late one afternoon.

This is exactly why I wanted a large property.

I hope that you have a relaxing weekend.

Wiley gets blinged out

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Remember how I said Wiley likes to accessorize? Well, our little tractor is in heaven with a brand new bauble that arrived last week. And it’s a big one.

Subtle is not in Wiley’s vocabulary.

In case anyone doesn’t know what they’re looking at here, this is our new snowblower.

The sales rep from our tractor dealership goes for the first test drive (normally we will not be blowing 2 inches of snow)

Over the weekend, we got Wiley all set for winter, disconnecting the mower and hooking up the blower.

The mower deck has been scraped and scrubbed and tucked away for the season.

We even broke out our new grease gun and lubed up all of the fittings. Wiley’s affection for accessories became even clearer when he grabbed onto the grease gun and wouldn’t let go. After wiggling and jiggling and yanking Matt and I were starting to envision plowing snow with the gun dangling from the side of the tractor. However, through a combination of vice grips and pliers Matt was able to detach the gun from the fitting.

Sorry, Wiley, but sometimes less is more.

A new look

Posted on November 25, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

We had a new arrival at the farm this weekend: our first snow.

Flurries started on Friday night, and by Saturday morning we had a light dusting over everything.

Our new landscape drew me out of the house first thing, just adding snow boots to my pyjamas

At the front of the house, I had an open view over the fields to the farm across the road.

Even the burrs look photogenic when they’re wearing a cap of snowflakes.

Behind the barn, the lane to the back field and the woods also look particularly photogenic under a blue sky, bright sun and fresh snow.

At the bottom of the meadow, the creek was flowing into the pond amongst the snow-covered boulders.

Back up at the house, our cozy abode under its first dusting of snow.

Temperatures dropped over the past few days, so the snow stayed over the weekend. I’m hoping to have a true Canadian winter this year after a snowless season last year, so I’m happy to see the early snowfall.

What would be your reaction if you woke up to snow? Would you be outside in pyjamas and boots too? For some of my more southern readers, I expect a snowy morning would be a bit unexpected. Anyone from more northern climes, have you had your first snowfall yet? What type of weather are you hoping for this winter?

Friday night lights

Posted on November 15, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

I’ve mentioned before that the farm is a wee bit dark once the sun sets. Well, since the time change a few weeks ago, things have been extremely dark out here in the country.

This is not just a black square. I actually went outside and took a picture for you to show how dark it is.

Arriving home had gotten a bit hazardous between stepping on cats and randomly jamming the key in the general direction of the lock on the front door.

The time had come for a call to the electrician.

After a quick rewiring of the driveshed, an installation on the barn, relocation of a timer and a new circuit panel–also in the driveshed, the top of our driveway now looks like this when we arrive home at night.

Exterior lights on the barn and driveshed

Let there be light! This image was taken from roughly the same angle as the one above.

We had lights on the driveshed and barn already, but neither of them were working. In the driveshed, we’d killed the power because of sketchy wiring and an obviously unsafe fuse box. On the barn, the old light had a blown transformer, and ultimately the whole light had to be replaced.

Thanks to a timer we already had in the basement of the house that the electrician was able to repurpose outside, the lights come on automatically before we get home and then go off before we go to bed. The new barn light also has a photocell that senses darkness, but we decided we don’t need to see what’s going on outside all night long, so we let the timer shut everything down around 9 o’clock. We may adjust that, but for now it’s working well for us.

The lights are also working well for the cats who no longer have to worry about being stepped on or run over. Up until now, our only way of seeing them when we come home was watching for the glow of their eyes in our headlights.

As much as I’m thrilled with our new exterior lights, I do have to admit that I’m looking forward to being home during daylight this weekend. I’m starting to forget what my property looks like outside of the lighted sphere of the barn, driveshed and house.

Growing free

Posted on November 1, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

When we had the nephews at the farm two weeks ago, the tall one and I went to work on task #10 on the fall to-do list: remove stakes from established trees and stake the new trees that we planted this spring. The first step was to unshackle the trees from the cuffs that were wrapped around them. Some were tied with rope, some had sections of garden hose, some had wire. All were snug. Some were strangling. It was quite an arboreal torture chamber we were running here.

No tree emerged unscathed. Some are simply scarred.

Others are permanently deformed.

We cut the wires and hoses and ropes out of the trees as best we could. Where we ran into trouble was the stakes. The nephew and I did fairly well on the first few trees rocking the stakes back and forth to loosen them up and then pulling them out in a coordinated effort. However, after he left and it was up to Matt and me, the rest of the stakes held strong.

We must have been missing the magic touch, because no matter how much we wiggled the stakes we couldn’t get them to budge.

In desperation, Matt went and got Wiley, and I found a rope. We tied the rope to the stake and attached the other end to Wiley’s loader. Then Matt raised the bucket, the rope snapped, and the stake stayed where it was.

I went and got a chain. We hooked everything together, and Matt raised the bucket again. And the front wheels of the tractor lifted off the ground.

We spent a while adjusting the chain, adjusting the tractor, tugging on the stake and only succeeded in bending it.

The conclusion I came to is that the stakes have been in the ground so long that the tree roots must have grown around the metal. I don’t think we’re going to get them out. Above ground, the trees are free. I can only hope they survive their ordeal and continue to grow. Matt, however, is a bit traumatized from his wheelie on the tractor, so we’re calling this job good enough for now. The rest of the stakes–removing them from the older trees and adding them to the new trees–can wait until spring.

Adventures in babysitting

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Saturday was nephew day at the farm.

The festivities started with a tractor ride.

The two nephews in the tractor's front end loader

Two nerds in a bucket

Followed by a hike.

Three nerds in the forest

A lesson in talking to turkeys.

Calling all gentlemen turkeys!

And a test drive of a couple of the deer stands in the back forest.

Two deer were actually sighted in the woods

We also took advantage of having two extra pairs of hands around and put them to work on our fall to-do list.

The task of burning up the massive brush pile we amassed over the past two weeks of tree trimming (to-do #16) took pretty much the whole day.

The uncle seems to be putting more effort into tending the fire than the nephew

Also on the list was freeing our trees from rope, twine and stakes that have been tied around them (#10).

I am not sure who had the bright idea to tie metres of binder twine (and hang a plastic plant pot) in this tree, but my bright idea of a solution was an almost 13-year-old and a Swiss Army knife.

And finally picking up metal from the driveshed floor (#7).

Two particularly big bolts snagged by the magnet

We don’t want to be the completely uncool aunt and uncle, though, so we made sure they had time to have some fun too.

Including building (playing with) fire,

There was perhaps more smoke than fire, although they did eventually get it going.

Making new friends,

The cautious feeling each other out phase

The bonding phase

And setting off firecrackers.

Separating some Black Cats

We even enjoyed an alfresco lunch altogether.

Cats and kittens included in the feast.

Pulling out all the stops for a hot gourmet feast.

A mighty pot of KD, kids’ favourite food

So nephew day can be summed up by child labour, knives, firecrackers, lighters, axes, fire and fluorescent fake cheese pasta.

Matt’s brother may never let us have the kids again.

Staking our claim

Posted on October 11, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

When European explorers first landed in the new world (including Canada), it was customary for them to plant their flag as a symbol of ownership.

I think this latest development means the farm is officially ours.

Please ignore the overgrown mess that is the turnaround. Past owners dumped heaps of dirt and rubble here that made mowing impossible. Landscaping is next year’s project.

This project also means that Matt and I have officially started in on the fall to-do list. Planting the flag pole was #11.

I had bought the pole second hand on kijiji back at the end of June with the idea that we might be able to install it for Canada Day (July 1). That didn’t happen.

We drilled a hole for the pole back in August when we had the auger, and I tried to convince Matt that installing the flag pole would be a good birthday present for me at the end of September. That didn’t happen.

Finally on Sunday morning, we dragged out the wheelbarrow and a bag of concrete and made it happen. It took all of a half hour to mix the concrete, place the pole in the hole and pack the cement around it.

The hardest part was making sure the pole was plumb and holding it in place with ropes and stakes.

Our mini-circus tent… or the bottom third of the flag pole braced in place while the concrete sets.

Our flag pole came in three pieces, so it was very easy to wrangle one 7 foot piece into place, rather than a long 20 foot pole.

By Monday (I love long weekends by the way–we get so much accomplished) the concrete was set.

Set, secure and straight!

While Matt and his dad were working in the back bush clearing the trails, I went to work wrangling the rest of the pole into place. If you’re ever looking for a laugh, watch a 5’4″ woman staggering around with a 12 foot flag pole–to which she has already attached the halyard (or rope)–trying to keep it perfectly vertical so she can set it in place on top of another pole that’s as tall as she is. It took two tries, and the cats were absolutely no help.

Once the pole was fully assembled, it was a simple matter of attaching the clips to my rope and hoisting the flag.

Matt’s comment when he returned from the bush and saw the flag was, “I think we just improved this property more than any other owners. Except for maybe the guy who built the barn.”

So yes, we are both ridiculously happy to be flying the flag at the farm. Sometimes it’s the simple things.