trailer home

 It was not without incident… but the trailer is home in it’s winter berth. We picked it up from Kirsten’s on Thursday: Carm wiggled the truck into place and we got hitched; we backed out past the giant red shed and after a quick run for the dogs were on our way…

At the halfway point the truck threw a check engine light. Oh oh. Pull over on a narrow road with a crumbly shoulder as wide as a tootsie roll, bounded by a deep ditch. No weird noises, no smells, oil pressure good, tranny temp fine, so we started down the road. It may have been a miracle but we got home safely with the truck running fine. Carm put a code reader on it and the code suggested that the air filter needed changing… at least we hope that’s what it is!

The final challenge was backing into the laneway - this is fraught with fight at the best of times and yesterday was not the best of times. In the end, Carm did get the trailer into place and we are still married.

new grow lights

Friday was sunny but cold so I bundled up to empty the trailer of freezable goods and of course all the food. Anything that we will need has been brought inside; anything that we might need over the winter (i.e. the next 6 months) is stowed in the trailer in accessible spots.

The house will be a shambles until everything finds a nook or cranny. Ugh.

Carm picked up a 20kg box of chicken wing tips on Thursday, so as soon as we were home with the trailer we got busy with baggies. They will be awesome for bone broth, or at least I hope they will be. My other option was chicken necks, hummm, maybe they would have been better as there’d be no skin to deal with. 

Friday night Trudie & Leo came by for an after dinner drink. As usual we covered every topic for an interesting evening.

Today (Sunday), Jo Ellen and Don came for a mid afternoon lunch - Sunday dinner at my great grandparents was always in the afternoon and I was actually thinking that it might be nice to reinstate that tradition.

So now it’s time to get into winter hibernation mode. This year should be easier than last but I’m still going to have to make a concerted effort to stay out of the doldrums. I worked really hard at it last year and managed to pass the winter without any depression. I’ll take the same tact as last winter: cooking and baking, nice suppers at the table with a bit of dress-up, and lots of music. There should be more friends over this winter. Depending on the covid situation I may even start taking Adia to PetSmart for a bit of training.

I might even get on the treadmill on a regular basis.

Awesome!

“trailer safely backed into its spot at the side of the house”

“a bit of sunshine for our trip”

“Adia did a long sit, stay while Carm unhitched the trailer”

“a bowl of ramen noodles - Costco’s brand is my favorite”

“trying Trudie’s butter”

“making my own butter”

“Sunday dinner”

10 down

 Holy shit… excuse the language… I just got off some random anti-vaxxer/anti-masker’s facebook page and I’m freaked out! Like passing a particularly gruesome car accident I couldn’t take my eyes off the bullshit that she had linked on her page. Disbelief that people could think like that and sadness that our education system is so lacking had me shaking my head until I was dizzy… Perhaps the worst of it was her proclamation that women are too stupid to work!!!! Stay out of facebook Laura! 

We got a new internet yesterday hurrah! Faster downloads and better still faster uploads for improved virtual visits will be welcome this winter.

Yesterday a cold rain fell from the sky, today photons from the sun rain down upon us, blessing us with light and warmth. Carm’s taken advantage of one the few nice days left to have a golf game… perhaps his last for the season although I suspect he’ll be able to squeeze in a few more.

I took advantage of a day to myself to make evil rice krispie squares and listen to wild music. I didn’t get on the treadmill but did get myself out of breath a few times by flailing around in a tempo that may have matched some song in another dimension. Adia even got into the action a few times. I was dancing to ‘Rasputin' when she tried to walk between my legs. Then she threw me an uncontrollable backup as well as some pretty good spins. I grabbed a handful of kibble and we practiced a few things. 

Awesome!

“Adia being polite with the internet guy”

“all my battery candles working for winter night tub soaks”

“Adia getting in on the dancing”

“Grace bobbling her head in time to the music”

“a giant pile of parsley tucked into the freezer - lots more to harvest”

“my honey coming home after a day away”

lingering over the last days of camping

 Summer is quickly coming to an end. I know it ended officially a month ago but for us living in our villetta is a summer pastime. One that we will miss when we put it to bed this week. It feels like a whole lifetime ago that we took the beast to Kirsten’s but in reality it was just 5 months ago. Even through Covid, it was a wonderful summer.

We got to the villetta on a cloudy Friday afternoon, quickly settling into our second home. We had a short visit with Kirsten, Shawn, and Shenna before Shawn headed off to see Olaf. That left Carm surrounded by silly girls - he didn’t seem to mind 🤣. We had a fun evening eating huge sandwiches at Kirsten’s then tea in the villetta. 

Friday night was a horror with Spike… he was disoriented and stressed late into the night. It was after midnight before I was able to get him into bed where Carm pinned him down with his arm until Spike finally relaxed and went to sleep. 

I had a glimpse into our future decisions that night. 

He was better on Saturday, going to bed at the right time and sleeping through the night. Daytimes don’t seem as traumatic for him, perhaps because he sleeps so much. I read a bit about sundowner syndrome for people and it seems that dogs can get it too. We’ve noticed that he becomes more confused after 6:30 so we’ll have to make sure to help him through that time. So far he still has good quality of life for the most part. He’ll have a winter at home with no changes which should help.

Sunday was gorgeous! Cold but the glorious sun blazed in the sky. Carm and Shawn went to the movies - the new movie Dune was playing so they were both keen! Our original plan was to bring the trailer home on Sunday, but the lure of the big screen was too much for Carm.

So now it’s Monday and we are home without our giant home away from home. When we got up this morning the cold rain sent us looking at the long range forecast - later in the week will be perfect for dashing over to Kirsten’s to get it.

Awesome!

“a cold rainy day snuggled with my honey”

“sun shining into the trailer, warming the air”

“little dog coming over to see me”

“Kirsten laughing about something”

“a roaring fire in the fireplace warming the freezing house”