Chip wagons, the sure sign of spring!

Yes spring is here. How do I know...the warmer weather..no....the appearance of rain and not snow...no...the greenery and flowers...no.....THE CHIP WAGONS ARE OPENING...YES! What is a chip wagon you ask? Well it can be anything from a shack to a converted bus to a converted RV that sells at least poutine and as much as a whole meal depending on the place. We have gone through withdrawals so it is good to see them open again.

Well, I haven't blogged because I haven't had much to blog about.  It has been very very rainy.  It has been so rainy that everything seemingly turned green overnight.  There were no leaves and then there were lots of leaves.  The problem is that everything is growing super fast.  So I mowed on a Saturday...remember I have 2 acres to mow and only about 1/3 of that is doable with the lawn tractor the rest is old fashioned push mowing, anyways...mowed on Saturday and by Monday...it needed it again.  Well our brush cutter wouldn't work so there are parts that can't be push mowed due to rockiness so those parts are super long.  I got the brush cutter fixed and now just need a day with no rain to mow again.  I would love to mow before my mom comes tomorrow but we will see what happens weather wise. 

I have been very pleased that so far everything that I planted last year is alive and well this year, except one bush that I have not given up on yet.  I have filled up my planter with strawberries and flowers and I have flowers in both pots by my garage.  I got both of my Victorian baskets back and they are really starting to look nice and even a patch of winter pansies came back from last year.

I had a large 20x30 garden area for flowers and such but as I started working on it ...I decided to turn it into a rock garden.  We have an unlimited amount of rocks on our property so why not use them, plus I can make it a little lower maintenance as far as watering also.  So, I got 10 cubic feet of soil delivered to make my rock garden and so I am also trying to get that moved into the garden.  I tell you, that is a lot of soil.  I have been working on it a couple hours a day and am whittling it down but whew...it will feel good when it is done.  I have most of it outlined and now it is just moving the dirt into it and then planting plants.  I think I will have mom help me plot it out next week.

I am still getting alot of joy out of watching my birds.  I even get a couple new birds occasionally.  Yesterday I got a red throated grosbeak...very pretty but didn't get a good pic and then this little guy was on my porch a couple days ago.  Very pretty head.  He is a white throated sparrow and the picture doesn't do hip justice.   I see red winged black birds, blue jays, juncos, mourning doves and grackles on a daily basis.  We have lots of robins but they don't feed from the feeders.  I see them all carrying stuff for nests so we will have lots of babies some day.  They eat and eat and eat...it is amazing how fast they empty my feeders but it is fun.

Tabitha has been part of the drama group at SFDCI and this week it will all come together and they will have their performance.  I am so excited to see the culmination of almost a whole year of practices and my mom will be here also to see it so that is cool.

Tiana is hanging in there...last week I got to go see her play flute in a mini band concert.  As most of you know she play french horn for 1 1/2 years in Colorado well, she had a 6 week rotation of music and decided to play saxophone...didn't quite catch on so she switched to flute.  That was exciting to me.  If you know me, you know I played flute for 5 years and was first chair for all but one year.  So it was cool.  I don't think she will ever pick it up again but it was fun to see her try and even enjoy it....although she probably won't admit it.  She is struggling with high school and all of the drama involved and is looking forward to school being over and getting back to Colorado for a visit.

Wil is in BC.  They did a two week turnover training run at sea and he was busy, busy, busy.  He said before he left if he was going to be away from home, he wanted to be busy, well be careful what you ask for.  LOL.  The question I hear most is where is he going?  Well he doesn't know yet.  So we will just patiently wait and see.  He does have access to email and there is an address to the ship so if you want it, let me know.  I am sure he would love to hear from you.

Mothers Day was nice.  I woke up to lots of mirrors and windows written on.  The girls hung out with me and we watched some movies.  Overall a very nice day.

I am getting ready for our family reunion.  Wil got me a membership to ancestry.com for while he is gone...so I am working on research on our family tree.  If you have been on...you type info in and then if they find information to match you get these little green leaves...those little green leaves are addictive.  I have had to limit the time I work on it but I need to work on it harder so I can get it ready for the reunion.

My mom is coming tomorrow for her first visit.  I am very excited to show her around.  I am hoping that the sun peeks out to help with the sight seeing but it will be fun.  We will try to get her to the Parliament buildings, to some antique places, some scenery, maybe the thousand islands, the cheese curd factory and some other fun places.  She has been sick so we don't have anything firm planned and we will play it by ear depending on how she feels.  We will get her some poutine of course, and do lots of talking.  It will be nice to see her again.

surgery cancelled

Quick update:
Well we went prepared.  Tiana hadn't eaten or had anything to drink all day and we were ready for surgery.  Then the surgeon called us in and after talking to Tiana briefly he told us that he didn't feel it was a good idea to proceed.  He said that the piece of glass was so small on x-ray that he can't even know for sure it is glass and he didn't want to make her worse by cutting open her foot.  So he said that the pain should go away on its own and to just be patient.  Tiana was very disappointed by this because she is really having a hard time walking on her foot but I tried to explain that not having surgery is a good thing.  I have to trust the surgeon, which is hard when I don't know him but we will pray that the pain will go away quickly.

and the drama continues...

Well, after having to put Molly down on Wednesday, I was really hoping that the drama would calm down but then Thursday came.  We had a horrible, horrible wind storm.  I am guessing from the same system that caused all the tornadoes.  I sat in the house doing paperwork and stuff and crying on and off about Molly and watched the cedar trees bend farther than they should.  I kept watching our flag poles and they seemed to be doing ok but then they bent.  We lost power a couple times but only for a couple minutes so I didn't think much of it.  As I went in to Perth to pick Tiana up from track, I started seeing the damage.  The first thing I saw was this:

This is actually a house that we looked at last year and we loved this tree but obviously didn't get it....well so much for the tree.  This was a common sight, huge trees pulled up by the roots.  The ground is so soft from the enormous amounts of rain that we have had that the trees didn't break they just gave up.  Then as we drove home we saw this:

If you look closely you can see the snapped power pole to the right of the tree.  This one was right on the side of the road.  Tiana and I were just amazed at what we were seeing, then we got home and I couldn't get the garage door opened.  As I was sitting there saying ...REALLY...it breaks now.  We went in the house and realized..we have no power.  Then it hit.  Tiana was supposed to be getting ready for a dance...hmmm...no shower...no hairdryer...no straightener....she started stressing.  Oh, and I can't fix dinner.  OK,plan B.  I had to go pick up Tabitha so after I did, we stopped and got some bottled water for a makeshift shower and we picked up Subway for dinner.  Then we came home, we ate, Tiana "showered" and we plugged our phones into the car to charge them.  Tiana was going to straighten her hair in the car but for some reason her straightener wouldn't work in the car..still no clue on that one.  We dropped Tabitha off at youth group and then I headed in to drop Tiana off at the dance.  She looked so beautiful.  Then I was going to go to a movie but decided to go to Canadian Tire and get some batteries for the radio and a couple nice new flashlights to be prepared for the next time.  Then I went home and hung with the animals and watched it get dark.  It was quite peaceful, no internet, no cable, no TV, just me and the animals and a radio.  The hard thing was, that being rural, there isn't much local news so I had no idea what was going on outside.  I heard stories from Ottawa about people being trapped under falling trees, being knocked off motorcycles with debris and such.  The interesting thing is ...in our neighborhood..when there is no power...it is eerily dark.  I did call the power company and their machine basically said we're too busy to answer your call, call back later.  So as I was getting ready to go get Tiana, I saw the Hydro (utility) truck roaming the neighborhood.  When we got back they were at the end of our driveway and they hollered..."we're hoping to have you back on in 5 minutes" and I said "Thanks".  Then about 5 minutes later, the power came on.  The girls were so excited and I sent them out with cookies for the Hydro guys.

Then came Friday...crappy day at work but no mishaps.  Saturday, we went to the festival of maples in Perth.  A neat outdoor festival selling all things maple and other things.  It was nice to get out of the house.  Then I worked on some yard stuff...cleared the last couple of rocks that I will have time to do...the grass has grown so quickly with all the rain that I need to start mowing.  I am also working on getting quotes on some soil for my gardens.

Sunday I went to church and really missed Wil.  I have enjoyed having someone to go to church with for the last 3 years.  Then I came home.  I should back up a minute.  On Thursday night after the power came on, Tiana came upstairs and asked if I would take some glass out of her foot.  She had stepped on some glass in the basement.  So I pulled a shard out of her foot and we bandaged it and went to bed. Well she continued to have problems with it and Sunday we decided it was time to go get it looked at.  So we headed to emerg.  The doctor looked at it and sent for xrays.  Well the xrays showed that there is still glass in her foot and instead of digging for it, the ER doctor said she should just have a surgeon take it out sooooooo....she is scheduled for surgery today.  She went to school and I will pick her up at 2:15pm and we will head to the hospital to have a surgeon remove the glass.  She is a little nervous, we have been blessed that she has never had surgery for anything so this will be a new experience.  So the drama continues.  It is not the best timing, Tiana and I are going to see BonJovi tomorrow night but I have a pair of crutches so we will carry on.

Wil did make it to Victoria.  He arrived last Wednesday.  We still don't know where Wil is going.  He heads out to sea today for exercises to get the ship and crew ready for the real mission.  He will be gone for 2 weeks.  Today is election day in Canada and whoever becomes the new Prime Minister and whichever party comes in may determine where he goes.  I know he is excited about being busy and it looks like he will be busy.

Well I need to go get some groceries and get things done before Tiana's surgery and I just found out that Tabitha won't make the bus after school so I will add picking her up after Tiana's surgery to my list. 

I could use some prayer, I am not feeling well, I think my allergies are flared up.  I have a sore throat and just feel crappy, last night I had a fever.  Also pray for Tiana that God will give her peace and that the surgery will go well, they will find the glass and there will be no side effects and very little pain.  I will leave you with a picture of the wind damage to our neighbors pool and a picture of Tiana before the dance.  Love you all.