2012 in Review

January

- Zim's birthday
- We bought our first brand-new piece of furniture: a sectional couch with a hid-a-bed for company.  Likely not a big deal to anyone else, but as we've both moved so much in the previous 4  years, it gives us both a feeling of permanency and domesticity.

February

- Mandi's birthday
- Big snowstorm; we got the truck stuck in a 4-foot high snowbank at the end of the driveway.  Oh my, what are we going to do when we don't have a landlord to clear the driveway in situations like this...
- Project: We dehydrate some apples with our new dehydrator.  Mmmmmmmm, delicious!

March

- Project: Mandi creates a reversible wallet.

April

- We start seedlings for the garden.  These end up being planted in pots and buckets.

May

- We decided to go see a mortgage broker, "just out of curiosity", which set of a an unexpected chain of events.
- Projects: Fleecy bunnies for Mandi's goddaughter and her siblings and a ring in a box for their Mom; a pallet becomes a tool organizer.

June

- Our first wedding anniversary
- Jordan's birthday
- Projects: a new easy-pour lid for the baking soda jar; a wallet for a friend; a collar for Mander; rosebud earrings and ring, and holder, for the Rescue's silent auction.

July

- We bought Lone Pine Farm!!!!
- Mandi's been volunteering for one year.
- We headed off on a three-week vacation, stretching well in to August, to visit family in Alberta and Ontario.  This vacation was planned waaaaaay back in February, and there was no way we were going to postpone it.
- Projects: clothesline in the barn.

August

- Molly and Anomander's birthdays
- Jordan's brother Aaron comes home with us; we break the trailer for the quad so we buy a new, hardier one.  Aaron spots a beautiful double rainbow over the barn - I run out to take photos.
- We start a blog to keep our friends and family up-to-date.
- Projects: we start excavating the crawlspace with Aaron's help.

September

- Mandi makes a quick trip back to Alberta to see Linkin Park in concert :)
- We find the stream, complete with beaver dam and fallen log.
- Doodle comes out for their first playdate!
- Projects: Jordan starts painting the stalls side of the pole shed; Mandi builds a shelf for food storage; the garden is harvested; the roof of the vestibule for the root cellar is replaced; Mandi's parents come up and many things get done: the grass is cut and raked, the drawer fronts are routered, the dryer vent is hooked up, the hot water tank is installed, and new roof vents are installed as well; Mandi later installs another vent.

October

- We've now known each other for 13 years.
- It's cold enough that we turn on the fireplace.
- Projects: Jordan paints some fences; Mandi bakes some pies and crochets some dishcloths; we install a makeshift soffit to add more ventilation to the roof and a better outside light; Mandi installs some sink-front storage and builds a shoe shelf.

November

- Let the baking begin!
- We attend the Barnyard Business session, and meet Tessa.  This session will change our lives.
- Projects: Jordan starts organizing the shop by emptying out and reorganizing the toolbox; we prop up the back corner of the roof; Mandi's friend comes out and helps with the electrical.

December

- We meet with Tessa and Matt to chat about farming

- The roof starts to leak during warmer weather.
- Projects: Mandi bakes cookies; we set up the bookcases; we make some plans for the chicken coop.

Cookies!

Hi everyone :)

Sorry for the lack of posts, I have been enjoying some extended time off from work by being uncharacteristically lazy.

Here's what we have accomplished since I last posted:

- We measured a possible yard site for the chickens, as the current coop is unsalvageable (and unsanitary!)  Based on our calculations, we can have 36 chickens in 4 runs, or 32 chickens in 6, if we do a permanent, year-round coop with rotating runs.  Next step: plan the coop.

- We measured the 'dip' in the yard for a potential garden: 30m by 55m, which works out to about 0.4 acres.  I thought it was bigger than that!  No biggie though.  New we'll just watch in the spring and see if that area drains well enough to feasibly put in a garden.

- I rotated the bins for the worms (yes, we have worms, for vermicomposting, they work quite well although on a very small scale).  Luckily, they're nearly indestructible - feed them, ignore them for 3 weeks, come back and feed them again.  My kind of pet :)

- I did more baking - three batches of cookies!  At my work, we do a cookie swap for Christmas (instead of trying to purchase little trinkets for each other), so I did 2 dozen for my coworkers in my department, with loooooooooots left over to give to others, and for us to eat!  In my opinion, these are the best oatmeal cookies ever - I usually make them with cranberries for the fruit and white chocolate chips for myself and for others, and with just semi-sweet chocolate chips for Jordan.  The recipe is below.

- We also have Doodle for an extended playdate right now!  He and Zim are having a blast running around outside, wrestling over the toys, and chasing each other through the house.

Zim and Doodle, wrestling in the snow

Other than that, it's been a quiet Christmas.  As it was just us two here, and we're not terribly big in to Christmas, we've just been hanging out and being lazy.  Jordan has had the sled out a few times, and we let the cats go outside Christmas day - something that they've been asking for for a while.  Mander was happy to sit in the snow for about 10 minutes, but Moly was thoroughly unimpressed and wanted to go back inside after just a minute.

Clockwise from top left: Jordan on the sled - that black blur right behind him is Zim; The kids curled up on the bed after we rearranged the bedroom so we could turn on the electric heat; Measuring the garden site; Mander quite happy in the snow; Molly wants in!  She's growling by this point; Zim is perfectly fine outside, of course.

Anyway as promised, the recipe:

Awesome Oatmeal Cookies!

Ingredients:

1 1⁄2 c flour 

1 tsp baking soda 

1⁄2 tsp salt 

1⁄2 tsp cinnamon 

2 1⁄2 c old fashioned oats 

1 c unsalted butter, lightly softened 

1 c light brown sugar, packed 

1⁄2 c granulated sugar 

2 lg eggs 

1 Tbsp honey 

2 tsp pure vanilla extract 

1 1⁄3 c dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, blueberries, apples, etc.) (optional)

1 c chocolate chips (white or semi-sweet) (optional)

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

2. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper (or use non-stick cookie sheets). 

3. In medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and oats. Set aside. 

4. With an electric mixer, beat the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. 

5. Beat eggs in to the sugar mixture one at a time. 

6. Add honey and vanilla to the sugar mixture and beat until blended. 

7. Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture in two batches, beating each time until well combined. 

8. Stir in the cranberries and chocolate chips. 

9. Drop heaping Tbsp of dough on to baking sheets about 2 inches apart. 

10. Bake until the centers of the cookies are soft, about 9 to 11 minutes. 

11. Let cool for five minutes on the cookie sheets, then transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

This week at the Rescue

This week, I had a nice, busy afternoon at the Rescue.

I started off with mixing the evening rations for Darcy and Fin.

Then I got to hang out with Hamilton for a bit, and feed him treats.  He continues to make progress: he let me touch his cheek without losing his mind!

Hamilton scoping out a treat

After chilling with Hamilton, I headed out to trim Jack's bridle path (which involves trimming a small section of his mane to allow the halter or bridle to fit properly).  When I finished Jack, I led Delta out for a tail wash and braid, and mane detangle, and a new bridle path for her as well.

Delta, who is one of the bigger horses at the Rescue.

Then I got to bring Shaw out for a quick groom and some treats :)

Looking handsome!

Snowfall Warning!

Yesterday, we had a surprise snowfall warning for 10-15 cm.  I say 'surprise' as I didn't know about it until I woke up yesterday morning and saw 3 inches of fresh snow on the car.  As we had already had a previous 3 inches on the road, I skipped breakfast and headed out to make a few quick passes with the plow.  This was not nearly enough to adequately clear the road, and I nearly got stuck leaving for work.  Jordan also almost got the truck stuck coming home, and he was in 4x4!  To top it off, I had accidentally brought the quad key with me to work, so Jordan couldn't plow.  As the snow continued to accumulate, I called a local gent who owns an excavating company and arranged to have him come out with his loader in the afternoon.  While yes, we could have cleared the drive with the quad, and yes, me pocketing the keys cost us at least $75 in loader costs, I'm kind of glad that we got the loader out, as the road is still just as wide as it was, and now I know not to make that mistake again!  I still had a bit of clearing to do when I got home, as the loader didn't go all the way to the shop (and I don't mind that he didn't - we now have 3 logs lost in the snow over there, and I would have felt terrible if he had hit one and damaged the loader in some way... we'll have to mark them this weekend), but it only took about two hours, including replacing one bolt and four nuts that hold the snowblade on the quad.  All in all, better than the likely 4 hours it would have taken to do the road and the shop.  On the bright side, now we get the pleasure of watching Zim leap through the snow and sink up to his shoulders - he's never had the chance to play in snow this deep, as we very rarely used the 'backyard' in our previous house since it was so small and riddled with trees and random divots, and it was easier for Zim to play in the driveway (where there was enough room to throw the ball without it going over a fence or getting lost in the bush).

So, what else have we been up to?

Two weeks ago we finally unearthed the bookcases and books from the longhouse, and brought them in.  Last weekend, I got the last of them filed properly, so we now have access to our books again! We have three shelves: the large 5-shelf bookcase is fiction; the medium three-shelfer is movies, games, and some non-fiction (biography, trivia, artsy stuff, etc.); and the final 2-shelf bookcase is the rest of the non-fiction (cookbooks, household and health, home improvements, homesteading, gardening, farm tales, and animals).

Of course, there's nothing going on at the moment for farming, but we're hoping to sit down over Christmas and figure out what we'll do next year, including where we'll put in a bigger garden.  Gee, that sounds familiar; didn't I say that a few weeks ago?  We've been busy running around in town, cleaning, trying to get the house a bit more organized, and generally enjoying our few weekends off together.

On the agenda for this weekend: make dog food, a Christmas party with coworkers, cleaning the workout room in the longhouse, and baking lots and lots of cookies :)

This week at the Rescue

This week was all play and no work!  Nicola and I went for a nice ride through the bush, where I actually trusted Delta to not buck me at the slightest provocation (not that she has the gusto to toss someone anyway - she's pretty chill, and is a verrrrry slow walker).  Thus, I actually gave her rein to move, and did my best to steer her so she couldn't scrape me off on a tree (though she tried twice anyway).  I even got her to trot a few steps without me falling off!  Ha!  That's progress, friends :)

Anyhoo, as promised, daylight pictures:

Darcy.  Isn't he in much better shape?!!  What a fine looking fellow :)

Finigan, who must be part Arctic Hare - he's got a white undercoat and a brown topcoat.

Darc and Fin

Gracie, who can smell treats from 200 paces

Two of the llamas: Bailey on the left and Sarah on the right.

Amy, who continues to make amazing progress.  She let me hold her halter twice, and pet her neck once.  Fabulous girl :)  Nicola has been working with her twice a day, and she gets socialization with us volunteers too.

John Boy, still feeling sorry for himself after being gelded a few weeks ago.

This guy has the coolest eyes I've ever seen....

... his left eye is both brown and blue!  It's split pretty much perfectly down the middle... awesome :)

Random How-To: Making binder dividers from file folders

My Dad is a mechanic and a pretty skilled backyard handyman, and my Mom is good at various needlecrafts (sewing, embroidery, crochet, and knitting, among others - she once sewed zippers into the sides of Dad's coverall legs so he could take them off without getting hung up on his boots - what a clever couple!), so us kids grew up getting involved in projects to create something needed and useful out of whatever we had on hand, or with minimal purchased materials.  I've always enjoyed doing this as well, and it's come in very handy; I got 100% on a Hamlet created out of welding rod and a brake rotor for my English class in high school (though I'll happily admit that Dad and Bob did all the welding, while I was "creative designer").  Every now and again, I'll try to showcase some of my upcycling and transforming as a Random How-To.

This project grew out of a lack of binder dividers at work.  I was trying to organize a large amount of paperwork and information on copyright one day, and the only dividers left in the supply cabinet had been cut out of cardstock.  I was totally fine with this, but I discovered that the four in there were not enough for my project.  I had noticed a few file folders in the recycling earlier in the day, and I decided to improvise some more dividers out of those.  When I recently decided to reorganize our recipe binder, I knew I would need more dividers.  I have found that mass-produced dividers, especially ones big enough to use with page protectors, are very expensive (to me, anyway).  So I headed to our local Value Village to see what I could find.  Being November, they were pretty short of office supplies, but I was able to find one package of regular dividers accompanied by about 8 manila folders for $1.99.  Perfect!  Here's how I turned those folders into binder dividers:

Supplies needed:

Cutting mat and knife (or scissors, if you have the patience!), ruler, hole punch, folders.

Note: I am right handed, so in every photo, I will be cutting on the right side of the ruler.

Line up the folder along one of the lines on the cutting mat, if yours has a grid.  If not, measure the distance along the shortest side from the folded edge to the top of the folder.  In this case, it would be the top flap of the nearest edge in the picture above.  Mark that measurement on the other edge of the flap, and line up the ruler.

Cut the top part of the folder off.  You should now have two straight edges.

Place the ruler diagonally across the folder.  Cut.

Now take the section with the folded edge, and cut off the fold so you now have two loose triangles of manila, just like the other side.

Line up the right angle in the hole punch, and punch some holes :)  These dividers need only two holes (not three) to work.  If you want reinforced holes, simply add a piece of packing tape down the edge to be hole-punched before punching the holes - this will eliminate the need for paper reinforcements in the future.

Using a piece of paper (or a page protector) as a guide, determine how long your tabs need to be.  They should be at least half an inch longer than the paper.  Cut off the point of the triangle.

Here's the finished product!  These tabs were made using a page protector (while the ones made in the tutorial above used a sheet of paper) as a guide, so they stick out far enough to read and grab.  Simply alternate their direction - one tab at the top, one tab at the bottom.  Here I've used colour-coded sticky notes as labels.  These are inexpensive (especially if you can find folders at a local second-hand store) and are fully customizable - doodle on them, write on them, cover them in pictures, use different coloured folders - the options are limitless :)

Recent weekends

I'm not someone who often sits still.  My hands like to be doing something, even if it's just holding a book so my mind can do most of the work :)  As such, I usually have a project or two planned for the weekends - here's what I've been up to for the last two weekends while Jordan was at work.

Fixing

I have a friend/coworker who is an electrician (with two bachelor's degrees, and a master's degree, and she's worked a bunch of different jobs, I keep saying to her, "I would honestly not be surprised if you started telling me about that time you walked on the moon!") and she's pretty darn awesome.  I asked her very nicely if she would come out and take a look at the wiring in the house, as the house inspector had a few concerns.  She agreed, and one Saturday we spent 2 hours properly re-identifying the breakers.  When we moved in, the breaker list was a disaster:

You can see that stuff has been crossed off, written over, written upside down, changed.... and there were a few troubling blank spots.  It was also 'mirrored' - the left side of the list was the right side of the breaker box.  So very confusing!

It was two hours of *click* "Okay, which lights are still on?" as my friend turned off breakers and I flipped switches, plugged the radio into various sockets, and felt radiators for heat.  When we were done, the new breaker list looked like this:

Renumbered and properly labelled

We still have one mystery breaker, and Jordan and I will hunt around to determine where that one goes this weekend.  And we were able to identify one breaker which had three baseboard heaters on it, which was the inspector's concern.  We'll have to try and deal with that in the spring.

My friend also put merrets on some loose wires we had in the shop and the longhouse, ensuring that we won't electrocute ourselves - not on those wires, anyway!

Crafting
Nicola and her friend Deja invited a bunch of women over to the Rescue for an evening of wine, food, and wreath making.  After having some great food, much of it supplied by Deja, she led us through making wreaths with nothing but a clothes hanger, paper, tape, wire, and pine and spruce boughs.  Then we got to decorate them!  Deja and some of the other ladies had brought assorted Christmas decorations, and we got to work with the wire and glue guns to pretty them up :)

Giant wreath and modest wreath.  Same size hangers underneath them, I promise!

It was great fun, and I got to hang out with some awesome ladies :)

Baking
This past weekend, I decided to do some baking to try and use up an overabundance of eggs.  I spent 4 or 5 hours on Saturday afternoon whipping up goodies to keep my sugar tooth satisfied until Christmas break.  There was no yeast involved in any of these, and everything except for the pie shells and tarts is found in the Company's Coming Muffins and More cookbook.

From back to front: Left row: 1 regular loaf of cinnamon-topped bread, 2 small loaves of orange cranberry bread, 1 dozen easy cinnamon buns, and one dozen coffee cake muffins.  Right row: 2 pie crusts and enough dough for 4 more crusts, 8 mincemeat tarts (homemade shells but store bought filling), and 2 small loaves of lemon bread.

Most of this went in to the freezer so it can be easily defrosted and devoured :)  The two pie shells are in the oven right this moment to provide us with quiche: one to eat, and one to freeze.  Easy peasy!

This coming weekend, I hope to bring in the bookshelves and unpack our books (as there's been too much to do outside to worry about it until now) and hopefully identify that mystery breaker.  I also have a few weatherproofing projects in mind, one for the house and one for the pumphouse.  Here's hoping those get done!

At the moment, we're also puppy sitting - Doodle has joined us again for a few days.  The pups are happy to see each other, and they have already greatly enjoyed running around outside.

This week at the Rescue

Due to recent scheduling weirdness, I missed two weeks at the Rescue :(  I don't like it when I can't volunteer, as I find that being at the Rescue and working with the animals really calms my mind and greatly reduces my stress level.  Needless to say, I feel much better after visiting with everyone last night.

I started with cleaning the pig's stall.  It turns out that his name isn't Evan, it's Winston.  Oops!

Nice and warm in the straw

Winston is getting much more social - he barely hesitated to eat out of my hand this time!  He's still not keen on people attempting to pet him, but he's still improving in leaps and bounds due to the dedication of Nicola, her adorable daughter, and the other volunteers.

Next, I mixed up feed for 2 meals for Darcy and Fin, who are still on special diets to help them gain weight.  One meal stayed in the feed room to be put out the next morning, and I took the other meal out to them.  Darcy is looking much better (though it was dark out) - his winter coat is coming in and his hip bones are much less pronounced.

Here's Darcy when he first came to the rescue:

Image from the PGER website

And here's Darcy at the beginning of October, a few weeks after he arrived:

And he's even better now, but I can't get a picture because it's usually dark when I'm there.  He's been wearing a blanket since he got to the rescue, but he's now gained enough weight that the blanket is less important - he wasn't wearing one last night, and it was about -6 out.  (Plus the blanket would discourage the growth of his winter coat.)  I'll try to grab a photo of Darcy when I'm there during the daylight, hopefully next week.

After I fed the boys, I walked John Boy, who was gelded recently.  He came in from a property down the road where he has lived with a rotating cast of caregivers for the last few years.  He hasn't been moving around as much as he should be in the last few days, so I grabbed his halter and headed out to take him for a stroll down the driveway.  On the way, I passed a wagon with one and a half square bales of hay for the pigs.  On top of the bales, I saw this:

Rawr!

Just in case my night wasn't already awesome, that was the icing on the cake :)

I woke up John Boy, and took him for his walk.  He was well behaved, if a bit slow and cautious.  I don't blame him!

Then I got to pick who I groomed.  One horse that used to be a favourite was Dominic, and I was sad to see that he has returned to the rescue after a failed adoption.  He came when I called him, and while he had a bit of a fit while I brushed him down (the kids were playing nearby, which may have startled him), he was otherwise just as sweet as I remember him.  Poor guy, it's unfortunate that his adoption didn't work out (though I'd rather he be at the Rescue than in a situation where he was not receiving proper attention and care).  Hopefully he'll find another great family soon!

"Barnyard Business" - A farming mentorship session

Last week, Jordan and I were lucky to attend a session called Barnyard Business: The Real Dirt on the Farm organized by the Beyond the Market.  This session was organized to start a dialogue between new, young farmers and the pros with years of experience.  There were about two dozen people there; some were students interested in Northern farming, some were new farmers like us, and some were  successful farmers from our region.

Before the session, I was a little reserved and hesitant.  We are still not exactly sure where we are going with the farm.  I have absolutely no experience with anything agricultural - I've only sort-of planted two gardens, and while we got food out of them, it wasn't much and neither were what I would call 'successful' (although we are still eating our potatoes, some of which I planted in buckets this past spring).  Jordan grew up on a farm, but it was a larger farm (a quarter section, which is 160 acres), and it was a combination of cattle and wheat, neither of which we can turn a profit on with only 40 acres.  I also generally dislike 'networking' - I don't want to be tossed in a room full of strangers and forced to talk to them.

As the session got underway, Jillian from Beyond the Market got started by reading this article about a thirteen year old in Denver, CO who has started a 'mini farm'.  It gave me a good perspective of just what goes in to running even a small farming operation and some of the challenges that farmers encounter.  Of course, one farmer's experience is in no way representative of the majority, and as the session progressed, we got more insight from a panel of five farmers from three different farms.

All the farmers were there because they want to help young farmers get started and are interested in becoming part of a mentorship program that Beyond the Market is in the process of setting up.

David and Karen Kellett from Northern Farm Products Ltd. run a conventional farm that supplies 6 local grocery stores with beef, carrots, cabbage and rutabaga, and they also have a u-pick berry operation as well.

Walter runs a cow and calf farm in Vanderhoof.

The farmers that most caught our interest were Garry and Wendy Lowe from Twin Meadows Organics.  They are growing organic heirloom veggies in nearby McBride, and selling them to the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge and many citizens of Jasper.  They have apparently gotten many requests to extend their produce to the Prince George market as well, and thus they suspect that any small organic farm in our area will be very successful.  They are farming the way I would like to farm - organic heirloom veggies in beds prepared by horse-drawn implements.  Based on their discussion during the panel session and the conversation that we had afterward with Wendy, I feel that we can learn a lot from them, and I would like to head in that direction.

During the panel discussion, the farmers provided us with some insights into starting and running a successful farm.  The main points that I took away were:

• Be passionate about what you're doing.
• Understand your market, but be aware that it may change or evolve over time.
• Find out what makes your farm unique, and capitalize on it.

We were also given some tips on how to get started.  These included: leasing land and implements to avoid prohibitive start-up costs; setting up an incubation farm by partnering with an established organic farmer; and starting small, with one person working the farm and one person keeping a job in town.  As well, Beyond the Market has many resources and is willing (and hoping!) to help young farmers get their farms off the ground, including creating a business plan and becoming self-employed.

At the end of the session, I was thinking "Okay, we should be able to do this!"  I feel that the task is less daunting now, especially as Wendy and Garry are excited to mentor young farmers and help to get them started.  We have lots to think about over the winter!!

And, as a bonus, we also met a student who is interested in following our progress over the long term (hi Mike!) and another young couple who have their own 40 acres nearby (hi Tessa and Matt!).

So.... what have we been up to?

It's been a while since we posted a proper post, and I'm sorry for it.  Between busy weekends, winter weather and early nightfall, I haven't had a chance to sit down and keep you up to date.

So, just what have we been up to?

The biggest news is that I've built another shelf.  Previously, we had no footwear storage in the house; we had a black metal shelf outside the front door where we stowed our shoes, farm shoes and rubber boots.  But with winter settling in for a good long visit, this outdoor storage wasn't going to work.  So I made some measurements and headed out to the barn to plug in our trusty circular saw.  (There's a bit of a story to the circular saw... but that will have to wait for a future post.)

Measuring and planning

Ideally, the shelf would have been 35.5" long, but as I had some 3' boards hanging around, I decided I could just move the shelf over that .5" so I wouldn't have to trim the existing boards or worse, cut new ones.

Hooray for previously unfinished projects!

I then completed the measurements on the 2x4s and got them ready to cut.

Awaiting the saw

 After everything was cut, you guessed it - I screwed it all together!  When I was building the big shelf, I had screwed the shelf supports to the legs before I had screwed the shelf boards on.  This meant that I had to use a ratchet and a driver socket to screw the shelf boards to the supports.  I learned my lesson - this time, I attached the boards to the supports before attaching them to the legs.

Piled boards - the boards in the nice pile will be for the top shelf, while the uglier boards will become the lower shelves.  There's method to my madness, I promise :)

 And, ta-da!  Here's the finished product, complete with shoes and baskets full of small tools.

The large box on top holds all our outerwear accessories, such as scarves, toques and gloves.

 This past Wednesday, Jordan spent most of the day in the shop trying to make sense of the mess in there.  The place is a disaster, and it's a challenge to find anything in there.  So a good part of his day was spent cleaning out and organizing the toolbox.

Sockets, in their traditional place - the top of the toolbox.  Now they're even in size order!

Wrenches - we have 7 or 8 9/16 wrenches, so if you need one just give us a call :)

We also propped up the back roof.  While Mom and Dad were here, Dad noticed that the roof seemed to be sloping to one end.  So we're hoping that this will get us through the winter and hopefully we can investigate the cause of the poor slope next summer.  You can also see the support I had to install under the deck - that was barrels of fun to do on a day after we'd had a record-breaking snowfall that decided to melt.  I spent an hour under the deck in the mud, with water dripping between the deck boards into my ears and down my neck.  I'm glad I'll only have to do that once.

Supporting the roof.  Ignore the logs, they were the base for the bottle jack during install.

You can see that the roof is still sloping quite badly from the right side to the mid-point.  From the middle to the left is now level, at least.

There have also been a few puppy playdates.  I promised pictures in my last real post, but any pictures I tried to take come out showing two blurry black blobs - the pups move too fast.  Luckily, there's a solution to this - video!

When Doodle barks in this video, he's not barking at Zim; he's barking to tease the dog next door.  Apparently this is a regular occurrence - Doodle will be calmly chilling in the yard, then will suddenly bark, then the neighbour dog will bark, then Doodle will go back to what he was doing before.  What a goofy pup :)

Doodle had a set of booties that outgrew him (or Doodle's feet shrunk, one of the two!), and Doodle's awesome humans gifted them to Zim to try and curb the iceballs from forming in Zim's feet in the snow.  Zim wasn't too sure about them when he tried them on...

Once he got to wear his booties outside in the snow, he was fine with them.

So that about brings you up to date on our super-fantastic-fun activities lately.  For the rest of the night I'll be cleaning the house and making cookies.  They're the best cookies ever - I'll post the recipe soon :)