snow, snow beautiful f#$@$%@ ing snow!!!!

jambaloney here!

sorry i haven't been around a bit - december was, uh, abnormal.. the first 3 new year's days that we were here were snow-free - but not this year..

okay i am pretty robust, but even i have a limit - cold blizzard with blowing snow AGAIN last night and i am sore... i only did cat paths and entrances today... and i have the dreaded driveway to face which is daunting because the darn atv is on the fritz.. here is its last know operation, dec 16:

 after which it was up to me to shovel...130 plus feet is pretty brutal!!!

down the hill before..

and after...

after trying for 2 days to start the atv, including using cleaning the air filter, using carburetor cleaner etc. i was pretty sure the carb needed help... when i stared the bike while spraying in the cleaner - it would run for 2-3 seconds.. symptoms plus advice help from w and h sealed the deal..

i am NO mechanic and this is not the time of year to do this kind of work, but... off it comes!!! i will be honest, i don't know anything about this..

but i do have this plus a pdf from a different publisher..

screw heads were stripped but i DID get the float chamber off, i could not remove the screws for the baffle chamber... this means i will eventually have to buy a new carb, so i went on ebay and ordered one for a good price.. still it will be two weeks away and i need to get the thing working plus i have to learn this stuff sometime...

hey - i'll bet that green stuff doesn't belong there!!!! from what i can tell there has been water in the carb that is reacting with the brass nozzles!!!

float assembly out...

and wrapped for cleaning in one package..

i did the same with whatever i could take apart - thankfully that was most of the pieces most likely to be gummed up - i didn't take pics as i had to do it in the basement and my hands were all gunked up - it is k's camera after all, plus, i am NO expert so i don't want to provide advice i am unsure of...

but time is of the essence as... hey this is this morning!!!!

buried AGAIN!!!

where is the driveway???

where is the front step??

what is in the back of the truck???

nooooooooooo !!!!!!

*hands up in the air*

nice pattern, i guess - no really it is beautiful, but still snapping cold today... tomorrow will be around freezing...

 so this afternoon i sat at the kitchen table...

and put it back together...

 HOPEFULLY it will be the thing that i needed to fix and i fixed it properly!


 I will put the atv back together - carb, air filter chamber etc. the battery is charging and temps tomorrow will be favorable for starting... i keep the atv under a tarp which is less than optimal. i was planning to have a shed built for it by now, but it didn't happen.

the lesson here is ....don't rely on last year... i thought i had time to build an atv shed ... winter arrived and stayed way too early..

the other lesson is get equipment ready and serviced when conditions are favorable and you aren't relying on the equipment, next fall that atv will be ready to go!!

cheers all - happy new year!!!!

Welcome 2014!

but first we must say goodbye to 2013! here's our sunset on December 31, 2013...very fitting i think!

we watched the whole sunset from the kitchen window and it was very beautiful...we felt like we were saying goodbye to a truly wonderful year here...it was like the sunset knew that it had to be spectacular!

and it really was!

2013 has been very good to us...not to say that we didn't struggle or run into obstacles or need to find nifty solutions to problems - all of that happened to us, too!  but for the most part 2013 was another year living our dream, here on our land that we love so much. we strengthened our friendships here in our actual community, as well as with our internet community! and met some new friends along the way! thank you 2013!

and then we welcomed 2014!

you may think the above pic is another sunset. nope - that's the middle of the afternoon on January 1, 2014! a nice, foggy, gray, flurry kind of day! we took that as a sign that 2014 wanted us to start out with a flumping day, reading our books, napping, resting, discussing the upcoming year and watching a movie - i think it's a great way to start a new year!

today it is sunny and bright and clear - but really freakin' cold - no hottub dips until the air warms up a little more! and then tomorrow we are expecting 20cms of snow - bahahahahahah! we'll be snowed-in again! no worries there, though, we got a lot of inside jobs to keep us busy!

we hope that 2014 will be good to all of you and wish you continued good health and happiness!

boy..when it rains - it pours! (or i should say "snows"!!!)

my goodness we got belted with the snow! and we normally don't have "staying snow" until at least mid-january! not this year tho...not only were we snowed in...but that dang atv/plow needs a complete overhaul. no worries...jambaloney has spent our snowed in days learning exactly how to fix it!

with the atv/plow not working...he did what any good prepper/survivalist would do...he shoveled us out by hand! my goodness he makes me proud!

his tools of the trade:

keep in mind that before he even started shoveling the 130ft driveway, he had to clear off the roof of the plastic-wrapped porch, the greenhouse and make cat-paths all around the house. and clear off the deck. and clear off the truck.

he did all of this by himself as i was down with a migraine. it was a bad one. i got the beginnings of it on tuesday but i tried to hold it off for Christmas. it didn't matter as we were snowed in on Christmas and boxing day. by boxing day, i was a little rangy and crazy so jambaloney made me take a migraine pill - i hate them as all that they do is knock me out! for 12hrs at a time! but i knew that even if we weren't snowed in that i would never make it to our friends' places. so down i went...under the influence of heavy narcotics knowing that the maniac would do this:

by freakin' hand! and that's why i didn't want to take the pill!

he shoveled all of that driveway by hand! all the while looking up how to clean the atv to get it to run. and asking one of our dear internet friends what to do to fix the atv - thank you so much W!!!

he has printed off and read a million things in order to clean the carberator - that's his tomorrow job! again - thank you W - he took the carberator out today and has it soaking!

my poor man works his butt off and i am down for the count for 3 entire days - arghghghgh!

on saturday afternoon when he had shoveled us out - my big worry was to get the gifts out to our friends. so after all of that shoveling, me being down and not knowing if he even ate - he drove around delivering our gifts to our families. they gave us gifts and a pile of food in return...he came home with 2 big bags of gifts and 2 big bags of food - i know that he ate yesterday. i ate a big pile last night. we are so grateful to have such caring friends!

i managed to get up for a little while yesterday and make him some butternut squash soup with broccoli hearts and cilantro.



he doesn't eat if i don't feed him and after all of the shoveling he has done - ugh!

my migraine seems to be waning...i pray it is...i missed all of our Christmas dinners...heck, i missed Christmas period! i hope to get some more rest today and tomorrow in order to make it out to our New Year's Eve dance tomorrow night...i simply cannot miss that after missing Christmas.

but to be honest, i feel like a bag of poop. but i am happy that my beautiful angel, my jambaloney is still in bed. the cats wake him every night at 3am, 4am, 5am and then he usually gets up at 6am. i have been up since 3am...so the cats have not been bothering him...and he is still sleeping. i hope that he sleeps til noon...he is so tired. even in my bleary-eyed migraine state i could tell how tired he was. i can't believe he shoveled the whole driveway by hand!

i am tired and want to get back in bed but can't...not until he wakes up. we just got a ton more snow, followed by a ton of rain...i'm not letting him go back out there to shovel! it's another real mess out there and i just don't want him to see it! i think i might break down and call some friends to come and help clear us out.

i hope that you are all safe where you are..and on behalf of the both of us, i wish all of you a very Happy New Year!

Christmas..a little postponed!

we woke up early...expecting a bit of snow...but not 7 more inches!

it's pretty - but now we have a little over 15 inches of snow in the past 2 days alone - that's more than we get over a normal entire winter - holy moly!!!

you gotta admit that it's pretty!

here's out back....that gorgeous blue cape breton island sky will get you everytime!

we were supposed to be at our fouchu family's house for noon. poor jambaloney was out clearing the 7 inches of snow off of our plastic-wrapped porch for a goodly while and then had to do the greenhouse! he tried backing the truck up before plowing...look at the horrible ruts that were created!

after spending most of the day yesterday shoveling and plowing our 130ft driveway...he had to go out and do it again. that's when he started up the atv/plow and it ran all of 3 minutes before the plow died. the battery needed re-charging. so he shoveled 35ft of our driveway by hand and that's when i said "enough"! we weren't going to make it out today to visit our friends!

we don't take missing Christmas with our friends very lightly. my crazy man was ready to shovel the next 130ft by hand - have a gander:

no way on earth i am letting him shovel that by hand! the grade of that 130ft driveway is 15degrees!!! there is no way i am letting him shovel that - BY FREAKIN HAND! - and there is no way that i am risking our truck going down that! even if the truck got down....i can't promise it can get back up!

my man had spent all day yesterday shoveling and plowing - you have to remember that he shovels cat paths all around the house as well! and then he went out again today to do the same - he spent 4 hours out there doing the porch, the deck, the cat paths and the greenhouse! then he tried to do the driveway! then he tried to use the truck as a plow....look at the ruts that were caused on the flat part of our driveway:

i am a woman who knows when to put her foot down and put her man first - there was NO WAY IN HELL that i was letting him try and shovel the rest of the driveway!!!!

i called our friends, i told them that we simply couldn't make it for Christmas dinner...they were very very understanding...our friends here are like that. our truck is our lifeline...we cannot make stupid mistakes like getting the truck stuck halfway up or halfway down the driveway.

the crazy thing is, we got enough food stored that we can be stuck up here all winter and never have to leave. we hated not getting out to see our friends...but we are very serious about survival. and the number one, most important thing about survival...is safety.

we spent Christmas day eating left over rabbit pie that our friend e made for us...we ate half of it last night right out of the pan - we're pretty fancy as you all know! i ate a big honking chunk for breakfast and we shared the last of it for lunch! then we ate left over boiled-dinner for supper and we got plenty of snacks for watching movies tonight.

here's our gorgeous Christmas day sunset:

we'll dig ourselves out tomorrow and be late little Santas delivering our gifts. we had a wonderful Christmas Day...and we hope that you all did too!

thank you all for the lovely Christmas wishes that you left for us....sooo very nice! i promise to hit up your blogs tomorrow morn! i hope you all know that sent our best wishes to all of you today.

Merry Christmas 2013!

it looks like it's going to be a white Christmas this year!

all of the kids around here are loving it as we haven't had a white Christmas in 6 or 7 years! it sure is pretty!

our dance card for tomorrow is full - first the full-meal-turkey-deal with our fourchu family... and then off to our friends' e & d's place for an encore - woohoo!

from both of us to all of you - we wish you a very Merry Christmas. be good to each other and hug everyone, especially the children.

and remember, and reflect upon, the reason for the season.

toodles!

a beautiful full moon, a nice bright day and seeds!

this is a pic of the full moon last night....so pretty eh?

here's a good supper when it's cold outside and the wind is howling - some fried eggs, some avocado, our fried homegrown potatoes and some beans - can't beat that to fill your belly when you're hungry and it's cold - teehee.

(seriously tho - i loooove having breakfast for supper. but then, as most of you know, i have always been a rebel - bahahahahaha!)

here is a pic of the sunrise this morning - so pretty....but dangnabbit cold as heck!

it was probably about -9C....pretty dang cold! but it warmed up this afternoon and i got another pretty shot:

it was about -7C or maybe -6C this afternoon. a little too cold for any serious yard work but jambaloney went out and fed the birds and did some odd jobs. it was a perfect afternoon for this, tho -

that's a bunch of more seeds that we gathered during harvest season and then let dry in our pantry/hidey-hole. i don't think that there is anything that we love doing more than saving seeds...well, except naked gardening, hot-tubbing, swimming in the river, swimming in the ocean, fishing, reading books, napping, spending time with our friends and family here, emails with our bestest internet buddies, petting and kissing cats...you get the drift. we really like saving seeds.

we have a very technical seed-saving set-up. it's because jambaloney is an IT specialist and because i have OCD!!! i should have taken a picture of our set-up for all of you to follow - i promise i will next time.

copy and print this next section if you are serious about saving seeds:

1. gather your dried seeds with stalks at harvest time, put them on a screen on your plastic-wrapped porch and then forget what each screen holds.
2. once the seeds are dried, try and figure out what they might be, dump the seeds and stalks in a paper bag and then scribble something on the front of the paper bag that you won't be able to decipher 2 months later.
3. 2 months later sit with your husband on a beautiful winter day and gather some of the bags. don't do all of your seeds at one time or else what will you do on the next beautiful winter day? you're welcome.
4. try to figure out what each bag of seeds are, using all of your skills trying to decipher what is written on the bag. i am a trained linguist....just not trained in egyptian hieroglyphics.
5. once you have both agreed that those look like daikon seeds and those look like oregano seeds, get each of you a dinner plate and separate the seeds from the stalks and or/casings.
6. make little bags like those pictured above, tuck them away into your pantry/hidey-hole and salivate every time you walk by knowing that you have a ton of seeds for next year!

we need to purchase very few seeds for this upcoming year and those are luxury-type items. we have saved almost all of the seeds that we will actually rely upon/depend upon for food already! saving seeds is a great way to save money...and it's fun!

after all of this hard seed-saving work, we are getting ready to make a salad for dinner and jumping on the couch to watch some movies.

i hope that all of you are warm and well (and saving seeds!).

snow day update

here's what we woke up to this morning:

 

a brilliant blue sky and about 10cms of snow...15cms in some places!

here's some really yummy pizza that we made yesterday during the blizzard:

that's your standard combination with a firm homemade crust, homemade tomatoe sauce with a ton of our own dried oregano, a ton of pepperoni, green pepper and mushroom - deelish! oh ya, and a ton of mozzarella!

we also made what i call kymberz mediterranean pizza:

the sauce is garlic-infused olive oil and a ton of oregano. the crust is super thin and crisp. on top is thinly sliced tomatoes and sliced black and green olives. finished off with feta cheese, mozzarella and parsley - yummeh!

after we ate our pizza, jambaloney headed out with the atv/plow to start clearing the driveway. but then the darn thing stalled halfway down the driveway. jambaloney was then going to get a chain and attach it to our truck to haul the atv/plow back up the driveway but our dear friend d was just driving by. our friend d has a winch on his truck and offered to pull the atv down the driveway and over to his place next door - his son is an atv genius and could take a look at it and fix it for us. jambaloney came up to tell me what was going on, i threw some pizza into a container for jambaloney to give to our friend d and his wife e and they were off. they got to our next door neighbour's house and between jam, d, and his son n - they got the atv/plow off the truck and into the shed. we were expecting that our neighbour's son n would come into town in the next day or so to fix the atv but this morning at 11am we get a call from our friend - she says come and get the atv as it's fixed already!!!! jambaloney called back and apparently our friend d got up this morning and started working on it and got it all running tickedy-boo. jambaloney headed over to pick it up with a bottle of rhum as everyone here seem to be rhum drinkers! the only prob was, last night i made jambaloney a hot toddy and used an ounce of that bottle of rhum....normally we have a few bottles on hand to bring to people when they invite us over!!!

anyway, our friends didn't seem to mind that an ounce of the rhum was missing and they thanked us for both it, and the pizza last night. it gives you really good piece of mind to know that your friends will drop anything to help you. our friend d had been working in the woods for probably 10hrs yesterday, and on his way home when he stopped to help jambaloney with the atv/plow. and i just know that he got up this morning and went straight out to the shed to see if he could fix our atv/plow right away. and he did.

i hope that he and his wife e enjoy some of that rhum tonight when they both get home!

anyway - here's the maniac out plowing the driveway on our fixed atv:

he loves that thing! i guess i can understand why!