My Element...hmm...

hahaha! A beauty, I am - surrounded by wood!

I did my best today at trimming. My wrists were not at their best. I had to stop and let noisemaker take over.

He has his tests yesterday, geez - I really hope everything will be ok - I am not secure with this medication. He goes kind of lulu...like he is not on the earth. There were complications with his tests.

We actually talked this morning about how it would be for me alone on the mountain side. It will not happen, I will not do this without my Noisemaker, no matter how many times I would like to throw a flinger at him, we both realize and understand, the mountain side is not accomodating for a 93 pound woman.

On a lighter note, don't you just love my ensemble? *mega laughter*

Photo - Thank You - Noisemaker

Guess Who I Met Today

Officer John! teehee, he pulled me over, knew right away who I was. I rolled my window down and told him...Officer John we do have to stop meeting like this. He laughed. I was not doing anything wrong and I did have my seat belt belted on me correctly. They were looking for . . .

I did four hours worth of wood work this morning. God, I am certain my bust size is going to increase. Noisemaker now has his work cut out. I separate the wood into piles of:

- this is to be placed into the woodshed wood
- this is for the fire pit
- this is in question
- this is too short
- this is too long
and this little piggy went wheeeeewwwwwheeeeww all the way home.

I had three pieces of wood to deal with from the cord. I took one piece to the woodshed pile and my lord underneath it was this big toad. Holy heck, I ran and I told that toad to run, run run...run under the wood. I do not fancy on up to toads/frogs/snakes/fish - any reptile.

My Noisemaker has to go to the hospital tomorrow, for tests. I hope all goes well for him. I cannot deal with the wood on my own. You know, I kinda of need him ;)

I am registered and I visit many websites. Good grief, I have much time on my hands. It was brought to my attention that the photograph I was using on one website was 'not'. Funny as it came to me, because I did not place it - they knew I liked John Prine and gave me the avatar. Unfortunately, I did not research to whom place the photograph on the internet. I, generally do that here, but I did not do that there.

The photographer of the photo advised the administration of the website that if I did not change it, the website would be should down. I changed immediately and opted for this 'oh Johnny - this is you and I' photo. They are so and far between. One in the collection - but counting.

Odd as it is - when I look at the photo I see just how focused I was. I have my hand there so Mr. Prine can autograph - I see he has two pens in his hands - mind is the silver one (thank you Skunkeyejan)- he was getting ready to sign the Hatch Print (thank you - Charlene).

The greatest odd thing, I never got to give him the big northern hug. Perhaps, another time - you know - when he and his family come to visit the mountain!

Mega laughter and Paradise Wavin'

Forest Fires

Fraser Lake forest fire.

Photo courtesy of B.C. Forest Service (I think).

The province is burning up, smoke fills the air.

Where I reside, we have heavy smoke, we also have a forest fire burning 10 miles down the road from our home. It is a low keyed forest fire meaning only 50 acres. Growing and no fire fighters are currently attending. There are far too many major fires to attend to. I think there are near 1900 people fighting the fires. I thank them.

Forest Fires

The picture says it all.

Photo - courtesy of B.C. Forest Service (I think).

Fire located near Fraser Lake, B.C.

Neil Young and The Bat

I recently received from my brother - Neil Young - Under Review 1966-1975 and I was able to watch it this morning. I did want peace to watch it however, Noisemaker saw to it; that was not to be. Where are those flingers when I need them!

Under Review is good, a good documentary. I was impressed to see the Canadian Flag flying at the beginning of the dvd. Neil has had many dark side moments/hours/days/weeks in his life, this tells of them; it does not hide the dark side of Neil Young. It portrays the intensity Neil has for his music; how Neil never wanted to be 'with the crowd' but rather explore other avenues ~ as he does today.

~~~

Generally in the evening between 8 and 9 p.m. I will stroll on out to the porch to have my last cigarette of the evening. Last night, on my routine of the day, I stroll porch side. Calmly I sit and have a cigarette, I was not aware of anything unusual. I came into the house and went off to bed. About 10 minutes later, I hear all this commotion happening. I go out to the living room find Noisemaker flappin' about - arms a-wavin' but not saying anything. I asked, what are you doing? He says - there is a 'fn' bat in the house. I covered my head immediately and said where...here - he says. It was on the chimney. Lord have mercy, I closed all the doors and Noisemaker opened the door to the outside. He (Noisemaker) danced trying to shoooooshoooshooo the scared, little frightened bat away. The bat flew out the door, he was happy; so were we. Apparently, when I opened the door, I brought the bat in with me.

One BAT in the household is enough. That BAT being me. B.A.T. are my initials.

Wildberry Tarts/Wild Dreams

The tarts I made for tonights' Bingo at our Community Hall. Wildberry Tarts - filling is a combination of raspberry, blueberry, and strawberry. I hope they sell out! The ladies appreciate what I do to make the baking look inviting; easy to sell. I love to do it; I enjoy to bake.

My dream of last night, holy smucksville. I was in Chicago - going to see a baseball game. Steve Goodman was going to sing and we had to have these special badges to get in. The badges, well, they were like a blue ribbon you would win at the fall fair. They were red, white, and blue - threaded, hand sewn. I remember, when I received mine, I could see the letters 'B' and 'A'. There was a harley, Tom Reynolds came and got his badge; music was playing. I can remember thinking there is so many people. Then, I awoke. I thought to myself - geez, I didn't get to see the first pitch - I did not hear the anthem...maybe I should go back to sleep and try to recall it. No, no, no, I have tarts to bake today!

This Morning Around 6 a.m.

Here is where I reside with my Noisemaker - well, actually about 1/2 a block away. Smoke filled today, forest fires raging all around us with no containment in sight.

Photo was taken near 6 a.m. this morning. Yes, I love to wake up early and enjoy the peacefulness that surrounds me.

I think to myself, holy - eh, wow - Bev - be strong, gain weight, and prepare for winter. The bucket list has changed to a bucket full of whipped cream. Whipped cream that being the industrial strength - 36% fat. I need it - desperately.

and, John Prine - come and visit the moutain next summer ~ hahaha! We have beautiful, multi million dollar homes that are Bed and Breakfast places - they would not serve you mushrooms!

Think on it for all who visit this blog - come and visit the mountain side. I can cook, bake, and sing John Prine! Geez, what more do you want! :)

Summertime...and the livin' is easy...

Saskatoon berries abound! We have millions. I have three huge bags frozen, so the rest are for the animals that we live with.

A saskatoon berry is similar to that of a blueberry only not as sweet, therefore, you add more sugar. I made a topping for a cheesecake with saskatoon berries - oh, delicious.

Our forest fire situation - we are still surrounded and the hot weather is not helping. We had a downpour of rain the other day which did wonders for the forest fires, however, containment is a not - but getting there. I am so thankful for all the workers fighting the fires. We have fighters fighting the fires from Alberta, Ontario and many from the U.S.A. In our region alone, there are 1,500 fighting forest fires. We are burning up.

My Noisemaker is out there tangling with the John Deere, I am inside singing John Prine - Storm Windows. Don't you just love how he says the word 'windows'. Sounds to me like you are going to win something. I hope I do win something. I went today to the general store to buy my lotto ticket for tonight. Just prior to that, I found a four leafer - eh, how lucky can one woman get...eh, how lucky...

My Wrists/Medication

Oh for the love of god...this medication the doctor is dosing me up with; it is not doe-see doe-ing with me. I read an article whereby a study was done stating the medication is heart risk territory. I smoke cigarettes, I do not need double, double. I have an appointment 9th of September to have the doctor/myself come clean on the medication.

Due to some stupid, idiotic belief that flip into my mind yesterday, I took to the vaccum. Oh lord, mistake - big mistake. My wrists turn to unuseable. Actually, the left - the broken one, was better than the right. The right, I burst a tendon. I have a huge lump where the tendon burst....so one day the right gets the wrap - the next day the left.

I have been lip flappin' with my seasonal neighbor - oh, how I enjoy that. I miss lip flappin', I forgot how much I missed laughing and lip flappin'.

Now, John Prinein' that comes natural. . .

It Has Been Awhile

Oh my goodness, it has been awhile since I last posted. I have been busy lip flappin', toe tappin', and cow chasin'. My seasonal neighborette was to visit; we had such a good time drinkin' beer on the porch, giggling our silly heads off. I have not giggled that much in a long, long time.

The cows have had me our guard for days. Smucksville, one afternoon Noisemaker looked out the front room window, lordy there must have been 25 cows out there. I was closer to the door, so I went running and yelling, with stick in hand. No movement did the cows make. I only had my slippers on; Noisemaker came to take over. Too funny, just as he got them all to move along the big black one took the biggest dump. Thank god it was Noisemaker out there chasing, because I would have been a goner. That crap was everywhere, it was flying. The cows, finally crossed over, up the hill, - have mercy I have not seen one today.

Of course, with all the cow sh*t, the damn crows come. I chase them too. With the crows/birds come the two domesticated cats. I chase them too. Just when I return to the home and get myself sat down, a knock is at the door. I look out the window, my word - it is Chris, my fine neighbor. I told Noisemaker, it is Chris - you deal with him and I fled the scene.

After Noisemaker dealt with the heathen of Chris, he came back in the house. I said to him, you know Noisemaker, we have the 4 C's. We have crows, cows, cats, and Chris and god knows, we chase them all.

Many deer have been around, but geez, they are not well in the head - they seem to have lost some marbles up there. I think they are skittish due to all the forest fires we have surrounding us. One day a nice looking doe came up the path, she stopped dead in her tracks and snorted. I never heard a deer snort in my life. I thought it to be unusual and unsafe, I went back to the porch and watched. She stamped her feet and snorted again. Then, she raced about 30', stopped dead in her tracks and did the same thing; and bolted.

Because I have never seen deer do this, I researched it. The articles I read claimed the doe was alerting other deer, other animals of immediate danger. The only thing out there was me - and I swear, I pose no danger to anything. The only thing I can think of was prior to the doe coming across the creek, she met up with a cougar. Just above our property is a ridge, it is called Cougar Ridge by the locals; a route to which the cougars have taken for years.

The other strange thing that has happened in the past two days is the amount of birds that have had a collision with our windows. Not one died, but stunned for about twenty minutes.

Last but not least, John Prine is in Canada. He performed at the Regina Folk Festival and on the 8th of August will be performing at the Edmonton Folk Festival. I gave him the Paradise Wave and will do the same tomorrow. Oh Johnny.

The Bird House Hotel

The Bird House Hotel has risen and is vacant. Geez, it was a tough go trying to raise it yesterday. The darn thing weighs about 125 lbs. Noisemaker and I gave it whirl, hell - I would have rather danced then to tangle with it.

We lifted it up, what Noisemaker was thinking, I do not know. I think he was trying to kill me, I was on the top end and I am not top heavy. Good grief, I could feel myself giving way to the load and the dam bird house came crashing right on top of me! Lord have mercy. I thought of Jesus on that cross, holy smucksville, they must have been tough on up guys to load him, nail him to the cross...way out of my jurisdiction!

I was afraid for my wrists, I was afraid for the birdhouse. Nothing was broken, all was intact and secure.

I went over to the seasonal folks and asked for two strong men. They came, it is raised.