Just another Day on the Farm

22 years ago Dear Hubby and I got married in front of family and friends, we had flown down from Yellowknife NWT to get married at the town my mother lived in (around 2.5 hours or so from hubby’s mother) in alberta..  We got married the day after boxing day because coming from a mix of pipelining and military family members it was the only way to have them all there including my dad and big brother.

I got to meet a number of Dear Hubbies family that flew in from Ontario mainly with one family from Sask.. my own family came from B.C. and across Alberta, with my dear bridesmaid also flying down from Yellowknife to be at the wedding..  It was as small as we could make it.. and I wish I had broken the rules, it was said that I could not invite X cousin’s without inviting them all.. but if I could have, I would have said.. set 5 more plate and called my closest cousin’s and told them to door crash..  Its been 22 years and I still regret that some of them were not at my wedding day..

It was a beautiful wedding in its own way, I still love my purple/white colored flowers and my mother got to have her dream come true in the sense that she went with my step father and tried on white wedding dresses (I really pushed hard for cream, not white but in truth I wanted velvet royal forest green lol!) My mom found a truly beautiful  white wedding dress..  and I know it made her heart sing to see me wear it..

We both pushed hard that it was a non-church wedding as I was expecting Maeve and while we had both been brought up in the same church, we both felt that while we had the standard wedding vows ( plus we did a lovely celtic hand binding in the middle of the more tradional wedding.. which most of my family thought was just “me” having a lovely wedding poem being read and followed.. it was far more)

I am glad that I pushed for that for while the bonds and promise to state can be broken with a filing of paper, the bonds set forth that day between us as a couple and between us and the Spirit that day have held us in good stead.

I will tell you a truth I have learned over the years, if you are lucky, you will always love your husband or wife but you fall in and out of love over and over again..  this can be said in many ways.. you grow at different speeds, you are walking different paths at the moment and so on..  If anyone tells you they loved their mate the same in every moment, in every day the same.. well, I call BS..

Some moments we feel so full that it feels like a warmth spreads though us, some times you cry with the joy of being lucky enough to share this world with that person.. and sometimes we know that we love them but “life” is right in front of us and must be figured out..

I remember being in my mid 20’s and knowing that I was strong and that if my marriage did not work out that I would be ok, that I could and would deal with it and get on with the next chapter.  Now 22 (almost 23 years) later with my husband and I know that I am strong, and I would carry on but that I would be broken to the end of my days..

Not Broken in the sense of never to love again or find happiness but that there would always be a wound, a weight, a carry of all the dreams, hopes, memories.. that their weight would always be with me till I crossed over.. and I consider that to be a amazing blessing indeed..  how lucky have I been to have lived a life that created that weight..

In 2020 there was a moment where I watch them take him away from the farm racing to the ER, where I stood there humbled, shaking knowing that I might lose him and that I could not even go with him or be in the hospital with him.. (MotherBleepingCovid) meant that I spent days waiting in the parking lot of that hospital, waiting for news, waiting with prayer.. Waiting to see if I would get to see him alive once more.. waiting for what the call would bring me in regards to news..

My 22 year happy anniversary would have come this year regardless but it was not a sure thing that we would be sharing it together and it shook me.. shook me hard.. the past year has had a crazy amount of learning curve to it.. so many changes, and I am grateful for needing to make each and every single one of them because it means we are both here, in the now.. together!

The past two years have been hard and the ones coming are going to be hard as well.. so hug your loved ones, pray (if you do so, in whatever way connects you to spirit) because today is never promised and it can change in a moment..

The Boys are crazy good at telling me if anything comes on the farm.. so when they have access to the front pasture, this pose tells the watch dogs to alert, it also tells me something is happening by or on the farm and I should go have a peek. 

So its boxing day and that means sales.. 24 wild horses would not drag me off the farm and into stores but thankfully do to modern magic, you can sit at home, track and get notice when what you are watching for goes on sale.. 

We are upgrading our camera’s..  we have used hunting trail camera’s on the farm for years and they will continue to stay employed.. they are hidden and mobile and I love that I can shift them around based on needs..  I have a number of them..  highly recommend..  they are for more then hunting.. 

But its time to upgrade to more active ones.. one of the things that has held me back from a number of systems is that they are all shipped to the cloud, which means everyone along the way, in storage and so on has access to them..  This makes no sense to me.. I mean its fine if you live in the city and you have a porch camera on a street that already has street camera’s.. its just part of your life.. 

However where I live in the rural,  I have been waiting for 5 plus years for a update on the google view above and there is still no street view available on my place lol.. 

Having said that I want to have more access and I do want alerts to the phone.. and I found the system I want.. the hub can run up to 10 camera’s but you have a choice.. push the button and it punches it to the cloud, push that button off and plug in a big old usb and you can have it all sent and kept in house.. 

this is mass for our data use and trust me with hubby working from home, me working from home on my side gig also using data, the last thing we need is a data sucking hog of a set of cameras.. 

Which brings me to the second feature of the camera’s I like.. the programs allow you to set and turn off grey zones and to put it into low mode..  so while I will be setting up a number of them, I can when we are home, turn all but one off, again saving on data, where if we are working in the back barn, I can flip on the notices to my phone and get notice if anyone pulls in.. 

Same if for some reason we are leaving for a short time, I can turn them all on and flip on the cloud as well, so that no one can break in and take the in house gear, because I will have all the info on the net etc..  it also means I can then check on them on my phone while I am out traveling and or get notice 

I honestly think it might be total overkill but I like that I will have the ability to add extra’s on the system like on the geodome or in the gardens or ?  So that’s my boxing Day buy winging its way to the farm in very short order..  

Ps, please do not ask me for the system name or model or make etc.. because i am not going to put that here on the post lol 

My family and farm would like to wish you and your lovely family the very best Holiday season covering a host of different days and for those of faiths that do so.. Merry Christmas!

I offer a selection of my finest Christmas Photography for you! Many Blessings over the next days!

and just for the fun of it a few bloopers.. lol..

Why would I sit on the suitcase if I can crawl in it and then push it open?

Let me get this right, I am get in the box??

Ok I am in the box, now let me knock down this empty box , whack! haha.. No.. that was not what you wanted?

I think I got it this time.. sit in the box, paws in front please and pose.. eyes forward.. I did it! purr. purr

and Voila, with a little photo magic… the finished photo..

Bells Kitten hopes you find just the present you want under your tree!

In the mental words of my big boy, my watch dog Remington..

“You best be keeping close watch on things”

I will fully admit that I really did not want to write anything on this subject before Christmas, I wanted my posts to be filled with sweet imagines and thoughts like this one.

However C-21 (aka the Omicron Version of C-19) has come in like a lion in march, we will see if it ends up going out like a lamb (I have my doubts it will)..  I live in Ontario as so we are still more open then Quebec, which is a hop skip and jump from the farm.. honestly I could ride to the border on my horse (but good luck crossing the river without bridge or ferrier)

None the less, things are being closed up, moved back to smaller numbers, no food or drink allowed, we have always kept the masks indoors for most things but now even more have limits..  I would say its a only a matter of time before its fully closed again..  It will have to get a lot worse.. they will close the schools before they close up the 50 or 25% in store again.

We had notice and time,  a month ago it was easy enough to upgrade the masks (even buy them on sale and Canadian made) order the test kits in blocks of 25 on the christmas sale of 30% off..  and everyone went fa la la..  and made their holiday plans safe in the knowledge that they “the majority” of Canadian’s and those in Ontario were all double vaxed

It did not matter that we tried so hard to share the information that the “Vaccine” does not prevent getting or passing on C-19, that it NEVER WORKED THAT WAY.. nope, I have had those talks till I was bang my head in a wall..  that it was clear as a bell that it was to keep peaple out of the hospitals and ideally to keep the death counts down..

The second one is that we are all about us.. what is happening in our community, our province, our country, everyone EVERYONE knew that the varients would come..  and they have by the thousands.. most of them are minor.. a few certainly have not been.. and still the world chugged along making sure that we continued to have for the first time in Human history the fastest means possable to share them all..

So here we sit.. today we broke the single daily record, smashed it at 5, 790 cases in the past 24 hours.. with a active case count offically as of today or 42,000..

If you want to believe them, they say that on the average its 5 to 10 times higher in the population so..

Low end 28 950 new cases yesterday in the province.

High end.. 57 900 new cases yesterday in the province

Current active cases in ontario today 42 000

lets be nice and use their own 5 times.. 210,000 active cases in the province of ontario..

Everyone is very clear that Omicron has a rate of 4 to 8.. so for everyone on person that is actively shedding in infection, they can and are easily spreading it to another 4 or more..

We have hit the point that they are saying point blank.. if you are sick stay home, if someone in your household tests postive the whole house needs to stay home and assume they have it..  No walk ins..  only booked tests and they are giving the booking testing first and formost to those in Essential services or family members who work in Essential services to get the tests so they can continue to work..

I will give them credit on this, that is smart..  if you are vaccinated, its mild.. STAY THE Bleep home, but if you work in Essential Services, be it health, be it police, fire, be it power or heat or food or shipping etc.. they are getting the first pick and spots on the testing.. Its one of the few things they are doing that makes sense to me

However there have a been a few things happening in the past week that have caught my eye..

First we had a gentleman stop his car at the end of my driveway to see if we could lend him gas, he left something to prove he was coming back, and he did etc..  I made sure he knew we had the DOGS big time.. but what really struck me is that he ran the car so low on gas that he needed to borrow.. you only do that when its hard to keep the tank full due to lack of $$

Then I started getting the notices from friends as more and more have been exposed and are being placed on the “high risk” lists.. Some are prepared, many others are not.. all of them are having that internal war.. if its mild and we are all going to get it.. then just get on with it..  at the moment 43% of folks in repots taking in the past 3 days say they are still going ahead with all their current get together plans..

IF this is right and I expect its higher to be honest.. then we can expect Jan case counts to be wild! and Feb will tell the truth in regards to what is going to happen to hospital needs and death rates.

This morning as I was sitting in my normal work space, slogging my way though a lesson on line for a course I am taking, I saw a black/grey full bottom half mud covered truck come zipping up to my drive way and come flying in..  I was up and to the door with the dogs and the moment I opened the door and stepped out in bright red jacket.. one look.. straight into reverse and back out as fast as they came in and took off down the road..

Two mens with scruff, hats pulled low, hoodies on, even if I had my camera nothing to see or read due to the full mud job on both front and back plates (hmmm)..  that was a planned fast grab and go if I ever saw one…  shakes head.. sign of the times.. in need of quick cash..

Stay safe out there! In all ways..  Remember that no matter how cold and bitter the winter is.. the seeds are waiting.. that’s how I feel to a point.. hunkered down, fluffed up and grit in my eye.. but the seeds are there waiting.. waiting..

Winter is HERE! in the now.. the darkest day has come, and the wheel is turning.. it will be a slow turn and time will feel fluid and it will flow to fast and move far to slow at times..

Hold.. hold..  the seeds are waiting..

Hello December, Where has the year flown? 

We set a goal of 365 declutter for the year and its been both a very good thing and a challenge.. a good thing as it means I have been very aware of things coming into the house and I can honestly say that we have bought or brought in maybe 10 to 15% of the amount we do in a normal year (I do love my second hand shops) I have spent most of the year saying, use what I have or do I really need 6 of those, when 4 will do..  I am certainly NOT throwing away things unless they are damaged so badly that parts can not be used and or they should not be reused.. otherwise, they have found their way to new to them second hand homes or placements.

With a month to go, even though I have meet my goals for the year already, I am going to get a box or two and I am going to challenge myself to see if I can lean down another 31 items a min of one each day for the month of Dec, with the overall goal of 1 to 3 each day or 7 to 21 per week.. 

Ps, Uther says, I am the best! nicknac, can’t get rid of me ma.. me for life!

Poor Faith, such a freak way to be hurt, I am not going into details but it was truly a HOW did this happen and we were hopeful that maybe we could get lucky and we would lose a leg and get to have the sweetest three legged indoor house kitty..

She always followed us everywhere we went..  If we were on the deck, so was she, if we were in the gardens, so was she, if we were working in the pasture/big gardens, on a fence post, or a rock or a higher spot.. faith would be talking up a storm and making sure you did a good job and maybe had time to give her a pat..

Faith loved her yard time and the small croft by the house yard, she was always a indoor/outdoor kitty and would turn into pretty much a indoor winter kitty..

Sadly, it was worse then we first thought and that very hard choice had to be made..  The only good thing I can say is that we got to say goodbye and that she seems to understand that it was time to go..

We were able to give her a final resting place on the farm by one of her favorite spots.

Lift a glass to the prettiest, sweetest, Fluff you would ever meet, she was shy as heck with peaple she didn’t know.. but for her peaple, she was the most gentle, loving, purrpot you could ask for..  I can not even get to the point of saying gone to soon.. because it does not fit..  I am still in shock..  Its going to take time to wrap our heads and heal our hearts.