Blueberry Fields

Charlie, Marlene and Jack - Charlie's feet are SO dirty from the red dirt!

Hi Everyone! Happy Sunday! 😊😊😊

I nearly forgot what day it was...time is flying by, we've been really on the go! Despite the busy schedule, I find time at least twice a day to walk the dogs on the logging road. I bumped into one lady and her dog yesterday. It's funny, she said "are you the new neighbour?" I said yes and she told me she lives a ten minute drive from my place. People here consider you a neighbour if you live within 20 miles of them!

I met another neighbour who's been living in this area for 40 years. He told me that all of the land that borders the logging road is acres and acres of blueberry fields. 

Every other year, the company that owns the land brings in their machinery for 3 weeks to harvest blueberries. They were here last summer, so there won't be any harvesting this year. That leaves lots of snacks for the deer and coyotes.

Speaking of coyotes, I decided to get some pepper spray. I'm armed now to the point of feeling comfortable. That same neighbour who told me about the blueberry fields also told me that he rarely sees a coyote, just hears them and that I'd be very safe walking the dogs along that road. That gave me comfort! Becki, I have more protection now!! 😊  Becki was concerned about the gunshots I mentioned that I'd heard last Sunday. I want everyone to know I won't be walking the dogs in that direction anymore. One neighbour told me who it was and that he lives quite far up the road, so I am safe from any stray bullets! Thanks for caring!! xx

Bill and Mike came by the other day to finally haul away that ugly staircase! They were going to do some work, but discovered Bill's backhoe had a flat, so he had to bring the tire with him to get it filled.

More bad luck...Mike started sawing down the cement wall and his saw crapped out! They'll be back another day with a more powerful saw to finish removing that wall.

We had an electrician come in to install the dryer outlet - we officially (FINALLY) have all of our appliances set up and running!! While he was here, we asked for his help to put up our ceiling fan. This beast has a diameter of nearly 5 feet and weighs a ton, but boy does it move air! It'll be very helpful in the winter to keep the house toasty!

Alex and I were supposed to treat ourselves to the entire weekend off, until we saw a wasp nest in one of the maple trees in the backyard. We didn't have wasp spray so yesterday we had to go to town and get some. Alex sprayed the nest last night. I hope that did the job, we'll have to knock this down when we're sure the wasps are all dead/gone.

When I got back from walking the dogs this morning, Alex was up making us brunch. We never eat in the mornings, we're just hot beverage people, but this was fun. Alex said he woke up with a memory of summer breakfasts at his grandparents' cottage. We really are living a rural cottage life...I love that!

See you on Thursday for our art date! The theme is Descent.

By the way, I'm back on Instagram if anyone wants to follow, and I'll follow you back. I have two accounts:

RainFrancesGarden: this will be my personal account where I post photos of my life in rural NB; and Rain.Frances.Art: this will be my artsy account. 

Thursday Art Date: A Face On An Object

Mount "Sass"more

Hello Friends! 😊😊

Welcome to Thursday's Art Date, today our theme is A Face On An Object. This week's theme was a challenge for me! Firstly, none of the Looney Tunes wanted to pose for very long. We've been in a heat wave and they were complaining the entire time about it being too hot! 😊 

Secondly, I only had a few hours this week for my art - not having time to paint and draw, or even think about my art...it kills my creativity instantly. I tried my best though, I can't wait to see what you came up with! It was a little challenging wasn't it??

By the way, the power company came by on Sunday afternoon and fixed the defective water heater. We have hot and cold running water now! I feel as though a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders...we've been struggling with our water for over 2 months and it's finally all in place, I feel so grateful! 💐

Here is my "Face In The River" watercolour painting. This piece started off as a cloud shaped as a rabbit actually! I hated it and decided to paint over it and let the watercolours do their thing...I'm pretty happy with the result!

These are my haunted potatoes from last year's Halloween dinner! I already have ideas for this year's Halloween feast!! 🎃  Here is a selection of photos I've taken over the years that show faces on objects, all trees and clouds! Do you see what I saw?

Bear Face

Evil Grin

Eye On You

The Grinch

Peak-A-Boo!

Moss Mask

The Scream Tree

Laughing Zeus

Frugal Landscaping:

Alex and I have been walking around our acreage searching for spruce saplings that we can transplant along the front of our property for privacy. We were so pleased to find a few dozen blue spruce saplings scattered around the acreage! We marked each one and when the time comes, we will transplant them. 

I'm imagining a line of these beauties bordering our property...they grow about 1-2 feet a year.

Time to put on your glasses lol! This is an example of what I see each morning when I walk the dogs on that logging road - a family of deer. Hard to see but there is a mom and her two fawns. They prance about in the pasture, it's such a beautiful sight!

Last month I contacted a food distributor in a town about an hour's drive away. I asked them to save me some of their food-grade barrels that I could use for harvesting rain. They have a waiting list, lots of people want these barrels! They sell them for $5 a piece. The other day, the lady at the company told me there were four barrels waiting for me! Blue is food-grade, white is cleaning-agent and black is toxic stuff. I think these had some kind of barbecue sauce and maybe vanilla extract in them. We just have to clean them out and prep them for rain harvesting. I feel so lucky to have these. I put myself back on the waiting list for four more.

That's all for now folks! Please check out the link widget below for more A Face On An Object artwork!

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Looking at the tree tops under my feet as I descended Mount Orford by ski lift back in 2009.

July 30th: Next Thursday's theme is Descent. Click on the link for ideas and inspiration! Remember it's all about creating. You can showcase your paintings, drawings, photography, sculpting, baking, poetry...whatever you like! 🎨

Thursday Art Date With Rain. Click on the link for a description of the art date as well as a list of upcoming themes. 

Don't forget to add the URL link to your post (not your blog) to the link gadget below to share your wonderful creations! The link gadget expires Sunday at noon (EST).

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Cold Showers - But At Least We Have Water!!

I have my front lawn back!

Happy Sunday Everyone! 😊

I hope you're all doing well and having a nice weekend. The well trench has been filled in!

Here's the "before" photo.

Bill came by the other day and filled the trench. Now I just have to figure out what to plant here, or if I even have time this year. It may go to next spring actually. I like the idea of a bed of chamomile flowers!

The cement-wall-to-nowhere was causing too much pressure on the foundation of the house. The whole basement wall was warped. Bill and his friend Mike jacked up the side of the house then used the backhoe to push that cement wall over. My video editing skills kind of suck, but at about 8 seconds into the 10 second video, you can see the house settling down off the jack. It's kind of weird when your whole house moves like that!  Mike fixed the crack in the foundation and it will take another afternoon some time this summer to saw that cement wall down. The house needs to settle a little first, we're getting it done slowly but surely! Bill said he moved the foundation wall about an entire inch, which is very good news! (Here's the You Tube link in case the video doesn't show up.)

Alex saved another terrified little critter who was trying to hop out of the trench!

Well friends, are you tired of hearing about my bad luck?? Our water heater stopped working a few days ago - this was during the time we were shocking the well. We had to turn off the heater for a few days and the darn thing never turned back on. We had an electrician come by yesterday morning and he said it was the top heating element. Luckily we are renting the water heater from NB Power so they will fix/replace it for no charge, but they are only showing up sometime this afternoon to fix it.  Susie, you are still the front runner for a string of bad luck, but I think I'm a close second these days! I'm trying to stay very positive despite the struggles and challenges! But I have to say, cold showers are not welcome...we've been boiling water and using my watering can as a shower head. I never intended to be SUCH a pioneer woman! Hopefully we'll be able to take a hot shower tonight and fingers crossed our water woes are DONE.

We used our burn barrel for the first time two nights ago! I made a gif from photos I took. It was nice and warm by the fire!

My container basil and buttercrunch lettuce is growing very well. I can't wait to eat some fresh, homegrown lettuce!

The potatoes are going gangbusters! I don't have any more planks of wood, so I won't be able to add more height to the raised beds to "hill" them further. The last few years, I grew my potatoes in garbage bins and stacked tires, I was able to "hill" them (add dirt) to about 3 feet high. These are only half that, so it'll be interesting to see what kind of crop I get. The radishes are starting to bust out of the soil as well.

I discovered an old logging road right across the road from our house. I've been walking here with Charlie every morning. The "return" trip is about a 45 minute walk. I've seen all sorts of critter scat along this logging road. We've seen deer every morning during our walks.

(Please click to enlarge)

Here's a panorama photo I took near the end of the logging road. It's so peaceful here...I never see a soul. But...I have heard gunshots every morning. I don't think we're in danger walking here, the gunshots seem to be coming from a neighbour's house far down the road - target practice maybe?

The "Twins" - Marlene and Jack

I don't take Marlene and Jack on the logging road walk because they are both getting older...we figure they are both about 14 years old. The terrain is hard for them (lots of rocks and gravel); and if we ever ran into a coyote, moose or a bear, I'd prefer to have Charlie with me. She's still a pup at 6 years old and she's more intimidating than the two oldies! Plus she and I can run faster if we have to! 😊 

I don't want to worry anyone! Safety is a very important issue for me when I walk the dogs. I know that we are living rural, I know that there are large critters sharing this land. I carry an air horn with me at all times. I also carry my cell phone. I know how to make myself look large and I know how to look submissive if I have to and walk gently away. In my life, I've encountered wolves, coyotes, black bears and wild turkeys (one chased me back in 2005!!). It's scary but I know how to handle myself. Moose though...that's a new one for me. I've seen them, but never encountered one in the woods. 

I've been looking at ideas for a decorative well pipe cover, here are some I found online:

I'm kind of partial to the lighthouse! Whichever decoration I choose, I'll build it myself. I'm aiming to get this done before the winter. Which one do you like best, or do you have any other ideas? I also need to build some kind of cover for the septic tank opening. Right now there is a large piece of sheet metal on top of it...I'd like something a little nicer! Maybe the mini outhouse would be appropriate for that! 😁

Thanks for reading Friends! Please join me on Thursday for our art date, the theme is A Face On An Object.

Thursday Art Date: Two Colours

Hello Friends! 😊😊

Welcome to Thursday's Art Date, today our theme is Two Colours. For my cartoon piece, I decided on green and black for Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny. Bugs liked my creativity but Daffy was a little annoyed because I made him pose too long to get the right shades of green! Though...he could have been green with envy that Bugs was at the forefront of the piece, sorry Daffy! 😊

I followed a graphite pencil tutorial for this falcon. It was fun to do, the tutorial was 3 hours. Having an art day was definitely something I needed after the weeks of stress I've endured lately. Sitting in my studio, creating art and seeing the woods out my window...I'm definitely feeling life's gratitude! 😊

This is how it looked after I shaded in the background and before I started the detail work. I don't use graphite pencils very often but I enjoyed drawing this piece. I used a gray-toned textured sketch paper.

To qualify for my two colour theme, I used two different shades of graphite, 2B and 4B. 

The lower the number, the darker and softer the shade of black. 

"Hidden Pond in the Woods"

For my watercolour, I used Cobalt Turquoise and Pthalo Blue - two lovely colours that really compliment each other. I'm a sucker for blue watercolours!!

Speaking of blue, Alex pulled off our $100 blue well cap (I still can't get over how expensive all this was!!) and poured 6 gallons of bleach down the well. This is called "shocking" the well. It gets rid of bacteria and makes the water potable. This was advice we were given by both Mike (the well driller) and Dave (the pump guy)...Jo, you also sent me an email to advise me on bleaching the well, thank you so much. 

After letting the bleach do its thing for a day, we flushed the well out last night (basically let the water run in all faucets until we could no longer smell bleach). It may take up to a week before we can really stop smelling the bleach and try tasting the water. During that time we'll be sending a water sample back to the lab for testing. Many people say you don't need to shock your well, your body will build up an immunity against any bacteria hanging about. We will be shocking the well yearly and getting potability tests just to be safe, we prefer to err on the side of caution.

More blue and white: I wanted to share a frugal tip. When you get to the "end" of your toothpaste, it ain't the end!!! Cut it open! The amount of toothpaste at the base of your tube will give you a week's worth of brushing. We do the same thing for shampoo containers and body lotion. 

That's all for now folks! Please check out the link widget below for more Two Colours artwork!

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Old Man of the Sea - I took this photo off the coast of Prince Edward Island back in 2010 - Do you see his face?

July 23rd: Next Thursday's theme is A Face On An Object. Click on the link for ideas and inspiration! Remember it's all about creating. You can showcase your paintings, drawings, photography, sculpting, baking, poetry...whatever you like! 🎨

Thursday Art Date With Rain. Click on the link for a description of the art date as well as a list of upcoming themes. 

Don't forget to add the URL link to your post (not your blog) to the link gadget below to share your wonderful creations! The link gadget expires Sunday at noon (EST).

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