October 24, 2009 - August 9, 2010

This happened and yada, yada, yada, eight months and sixteen days later, this happened .

birdie action

cardinal virtue

This is not the best photo in terms of focus and composition but I want Kim to see the cardinal who visited the bird feeder today. It is a great photo for sharing excitement over the visit from a pretty bird who gets a rare chance to snack while the squirrels are otherwise occupied. Apologies to my Dad who was a bit startled when I shrieked and ran upstairs to get the camera. I think he might have recovered now :) I gave him a chocolate cookie.

acrobat

This grey squirrel has never gone for the suet before -- until now he? she? has been a seed-only squirrel. It seems that the seed barrier is working and, necessity being the mother of invention, grey squirrel is learning to love suet. I wonder how eating while hanging upside down affects squirrel digestion. [I am pretty sure I mean affects and not effects but I am having a serious bout of grammar doubt. Kim will know. Maybe she will tell us.]

unfoiled

foiled?

I squirrel-proofed the birdfeeders with frisbees. So far it seems to be working. The squirrels are a little miffed but do not worry about them. I put out some seed on the table as a peace offering and lots of seed falls to the ground and they seem to enjoy that. Perhaps I should get them a new corn chair.

raiders

The squirrels love the new food source. This guy had his body wrapped around the seed feeder and was gorging on the BIRD food. He is a bit of a showboat. When I got the camera, he clambered up the tree to pose in front of the window.

birdfeeders

Kim bought these two birdfeeders.

changes revised

Our garden has not fared too well under the new regime. The new owner took possession 2 weeks ago and already the fence side flowers have been replaced with garlic plants, our community garden has been turned into a garbage dump - gasoline containers have been flung on top of our unharvested herbs rendering them toxic - and our tools have put out of their storage space and left to rust in the rain.

hanging with callum

woodpeckers

Two woodpeckers came to hang out under the pear tree today. They were remarkably relaxed and did not seem to mind us getting quite close.

sold

The new owners take possession of our house today.

happy birthday kellie

Kellie's birthday is actually on August 5 but all the BC folk were leaving August 3 (at 6 a.m!) so we had a party on the 2nd.

tea time under the pear tree

influential friends

Julie brought sockmonkeys for Liam and Dylan.














These sockmonkeys do not always set a good example for the children.














I hope the glowing owls she gave to Christian and Amanda are better behaved but I think it is a good thing that Auntie Bettie is keeping a watchful eye over them.

children who whomp too much...

layers

Tonight was an exciting night for many reasons. One reason was that it was the first time that the Schumacher cousins (Christian and Amanda) and the Vancouver cousins (Liam and Dylan) met.

Another reason was that Christian decided to dig up the Sophie Setnyk memorial onion to put on our pizza.

You can see Christian at work in these photos. The last picture shows Christian and Amanda with the onion -- Liam is standing behind them. Not pictured here is the goofiness of the first annual cousin whompfest.