The 2 week countdown

It's now 2 weeks until we move permanently to the farm. And the weather has finally taken a turn for the better. No more snow and heavy rain. The fields are drying out although some still look like lakes and even have ducks on them right now.  But as I type this I'm flitting back and forth between the computer and the deck. There's a total lunar eclipse happening and the moon is a beautiful reddish orange. I tried taking a photo but I think those are going to have to be left to the professionals with good cameras.The roosters are crowing so it won't be long now until dawn and the rest of the country will have to watch it without us maritimers.

I haven't written anything for a couple of weeks so I thought I'd catch you up on all that's been happening with our family. Our wiring is complete and passed it's final inspection so now we're waiting for Nova Scotia Power to come and hook us up. We chopped down some branches and they put in a pole. The funny thing is that you'd think we'd notice a 35 foot treated pole 20 feet from the front door ... but apparently not. We're so used to trees that we didn't notice and must have just dismissed it as a naked tree or something subconsciously. I only noticed it because the ground was disturbed around it, lol. Anyways every morning I go up there and hope to see the wires attaching us to the grid, but not yet. I wonder if I'll get as excited to see us get unhooked from the grid again in a few years time? Probably, I don't get out much, LOL.

The sheep are moved back to the farm. And Steve got a new storage shed built (for storing our boxes) just in time for me to use it as a lambing pen. It's currently home to Dolly and her triplets plus our soon to be re-named lambs Merry and Pippin. One of Dolly's lambs is an interesting guy who was born very weak so we took him off her and he's bottle feeding. I wasn't sure he'd make it but he's now strong enough that we moved him back outside a couple of days ago and now he's threatening to jump the row of bales we're using to keep him in his own little area. So far Merry and Pippin can hop back and forth and I guess he wants to try too. Our best ewe Freckles unfortunately had 5 lambs born, that's a litter!!, but none of them survived. Angel may be expecting, I'll need to go check her udder to see if it's full at all, but we have 2 ewe lambs so far and 3 ram lambs. All Cotswold crosses. And so far all are doing well. It'll be so nice once the power crews and the septic guys are done because then we can turn them loose to graze on the grass that will hopefully be appearing soon now that the freezing weather is over.

Just went to check the eclipse. Alas, the day dawn is breaking and a cloud bank has moved in so that's it for this one. It's still nice and warm out though so I'll just enjoy that while I can. It's supposed to be much closer to seasonal temperatures as the week goes on and that's okay. But it does mean I'm going to try and get some painting finished at the house while it's warm enough to wash walls and dry paint.

It looks like we'll be moving into the house with power (hopefully) but no septic. It's just been so wet and freezing that the ground isn't good for heavy equipment to be working it. We're looking at having a composting toilet and just roughing it for a little while. Steve's going to run the water lines above ground until we can get the appropriate trench dug. We already have a pump and the pipe. It just needs to be plumbed and wired and have power so that's obviously his department. It seems there's always something holding us up. But in the meantime we're still trying to get a zillion things done so we're keeping busy. And we're 2 weeks away from moving so the pressure is on!

Our lovely cat Mandy was hit and killed instantly by a neighbours truck the other day so we had a small funeral and then she was laid to rest beneath a weeping cherry tree near our farm gate so that her spirit of love, welcome and fun can live on. See you in Heaven Mandy, we'll miss you. The girls are still sad but time heals and they're being kept busy.

And the man to really tell you about is Steve. He's keeping super busy as usual. So much so that he took a nap Sunday evening and I could hardly get him up to eat supper. Now most of you know he's a very practical guy. And you also think of him as being very reserved if you meet him in person. But here's a look at his farm side. In addition to moving trailers and building buildings he had to move the old broken down addition out of the way for the septic guys to be able to eventually get in with their equipment. So he jacked the whole thing up and placed logs under it for the building to skid over. When it didn't work to push it along he simply resorted to the more aggressive ramming method with his tractor. I'm not sure if you can see his grin in the video but trust me, it's there.

We'll get the walls painted this week and then the counters and cabinets in their final resting places this weekend so that my kitchen reno will be complete. Well, so I'll actually have a kitchen I guess. It requires lots of plumbing and wiring as well as the other things you'd expect so Steve and I will be doing that while the kids pack the house. Did you hear that kids? You're packing! It's going to be a crazy busy couple of weeks but I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful it will be to never have a landlord again.  My kitchen may be small, recycled and used but it's still going to be terrific. Steve even got me one brand new item, an Over The Range microwave. It was actually cheaper than most of the hood fans I was looking at and we needed a new microwave anyways so it's brilliant and we're hoping it fits in perfectly with our high cabinets.