After Dinner Walk

Smudge was here for a sleepover, and as usual we took her out for an after dinner walk to get the wiggles out before bed time. She looks so cute walking with AC, along the path...
or on the grass. She likes to get the feel of all the different surfaces, and of course jump in the puddles that you see on the road just ahead of them.
We have to make many stops along the way so Smudge can say hello to any garden ornament we pass...
or inspect bugs on the sidewalk.
Then it's time to walk again and this time she wants to hold Buppa's hand...
or help Amma push the stroller.
It takes us quite a while to reach the park which is only around the corner from our house, but we don't mind the starts and stops along the way. It makes for a very interesting walk with lots of opportunities to make a memory. Ah such sweet times with this little munchkin.

More mowing.

Oops, I forgot we had this video. What a hoot. The tractor was so loud I could hardly hear what AC was saying to me.

Yes, I mow meadows but I don't do preserves!

More fun at RW

Not only did Farmer Tuck let me try my hand at riding the lawn tractor, he let me work on a project in his workshop too. What fun!
Here we are conferring on the proper distance for the holes needed in a block of wood to hold my watercolour pencils.
Once we knew where to place the holes and how deep to make them, Farmer Tuck let me operate the drill press...
while he held the wood firmly in place.
I now have this handy dandy pencil holder that will hold 30 pencils and keep them organized while I work on a project.

This is what it is replacing - the contraption on the right in the pic below. I made it out of egg cartons, and it did the job but kept ripping and the pencils were hard to get in and out of it.
The holders on the left in the pics above and below keep all my storage colours grouped together, but I needed something to keep the ones currently being used separate, and right at my fingertips, when the pigment is wet and I need to grab different ones quickly to blend colours on wet paper before things dry out.
It is the BEST! Thanks Bri I love it. I had fun working on it with you too.

Helping Out

There are over 120 acres of land at Riverwood, mostly forest, but a few acres around the house and barns are grassy and need to be mowed. When Farmer Tuck was out cutting the grass the other day I thought it looked like a lot of fun and asked if I could help. He said sure, and after a few instructions on how to operate the riding lawn tractor, I was off and running, and had a total blast!
I wore a hat for protection from the sun, but soon realized that I needed it to protect me from the low hanging tree branches too.
Look out, here I come.
Oh no, I have to go even lower!
Whew, that's better.
The dogs kept me company from time to time...
and Farmer Tuck gave me some guidance in some of the tough areas...
but I was soon on my own again and doing just fine.
After I made a few circles of the yard and driveway, I let AC have a turn on the mower, but he soon gave the job back to me, because he could tell I was just itching to get back at it. I think I was on the tractor for about two hours just mowing the back yard, and I enjoyed every minute of it.
Farmer Tuck had spent hours on the tractor the day before grooming the walking trails, so he was glad to take a break with Zeus, while AC and I mowed the yard and driveway for him.

Thanks Farmer Tuck for sharing the fun with me. It was a blast!

Had a great time...

We had a great time at the farm this past week and, wonder of wonders, didn't get a speck of rain! How neat! Now that we are home it is pouring, but the sun shone brightly all week while we were away, so we won't complain about the rain today. We did have some cold nights and rather chilly mornings though. AC has posted a couple of funny pics on his blog here. This is the sight that greeted me when I toddled into the kitchen to get my coffee early one morning. Too funny.

Once the guys warmed up they got busy in the kitchen and made us a delicious breakfast. The RW rule is the guys do most of the cooking at the farm. Gloryoski!
Sunny mornings and afternoons were spent out in the yard with a good book and a dog or two for companions.
Or, we might walk down to the swimming hole...
and then over to the Playner Mill with a bag of books or art supplies to while away the afternoon there.
It is hard to get anything done inside the Playner Mill though because the view from each window is so beautiful I just want to sit and move my gaze from window to window to window.
It is open to breezes and nature sounds, but all screened in, so biting bugs can't get atcha!
Many hours were also spent in the back yard, reading, drawing, writing and gabbing, gabbing, gabbing.
When my sister needed en elevated footstool for her weary feet, BIL was glad to offer his services.
Zeus, the dog, seems to be saying - "Don't even think about using me for a footstool".

More pics to come tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Feeling better today

Makes an Amma's heart feel good to know that the sick little munchkin in better today. Here's hoping Jboy stays healthy and doesn't pick up his sister's flu bug.
We are heading away on a little holiday this week, and we won't have internet access, so the blogs will be silent for a few days. Talk to you all again next week.

Swine Flu?

Smudge was a sick little munchkin last night and today. Poor little chicken! She was up most of the night up-chucking and the whole house was dead tired and worried this morning. She wouldn't eat or drink and had been throwing up all night. She had a terrible cough, fever and cried every time she coughed as if her throat was very sore. Was she showing signs of Swine Flu? What should we do?

Mommy called the doctor's office first thing this morning and wouldn't you know the office was closed for the day. The ER was called next to see if I could talk to an ER nurse. All I got was a recorded message telling us to stay at home if we had flu symptoms, and call our family doctor. Great. Now what? The message did give me a Swine Flu hot-line number to call, and as soon as I hung up the phone I dialed that number.

Ahh, sweet relief. I got to talk to a real person. She was very calming and reassuring. She listened to all Smudge's symptoms, gave me a list of things to watch for and actions to take if I saw any of them, and told me to take her to the ER if my inner voice told me Smudge just wasn't right as the day progressed. I felt much better after talking to her, and felt like we had an action plan to follow. After I talked to her, we sent Daddy off to work, Mommy off to the drug store for meds, and Buppa rocked Smudge while I tended to Jboy. It was a family affair, and we all made it through the day just fine. A tad tired, but fine.

The above picture showed how Smudge spent most of the day, but by the time we left around supper time, she was up watching TV and had a bit of her old sparkle back. Amma and Buppa came home for a much needed rest. Smudge had an egg and toast for dinner and kept it all down. Yahoo! Let's all celebrate.

Here's hoping she has a much better night tonight. We could all use a good sound sleep.

Birthday Breakfast

We all went out for a Birthday breakfast the next day before Grandmaman set off for home in Montreal. Smudge sat beside the Birthday Girl...
and Jboy looked on from the other end of the table.
Both munchkins kept us entertained...
and were good as gold during the whole meal.

Happy Birthday to you...

After the presents were opened then it was time for dinner and BD cake. Smudge did a fine job helping to blow out the candles.
That fine job deserved a round of applause.
Jboy is right up on the table looking so innocent, but before we knew it, he bent over and got his fingers right in the cake.
That sure made every one laugh, and got Jboy safely locked away in his Bumbo chair. Smudge is so cute now, the way she holds her little hands up to her face when she is enjoying a belly laugh.

Grandmaman's Birthday Party

Sunshine shone all day for Grandmaman's birthday party. It was too hot to celebrate outside, but Smudge brought the sunshine indoors in fine style. Here she is helping Grandmaman open her presents. Oh tissue paper, how much fun is that?
Smudge kept busy moving the paper from one location to the other. Barley giving Grandmaman time to see what was inside each piece.
Time to stop for a second or two to re-group...
then she is off and running again.
Jboy sits with mommy and watches sister, but you can tell he is itching to get his feet on the ground and give Smudge a run for her money.
Here he is kicking up his heels and having a great time at the Birthday breakfast.
More pics to come tomorrow.

A Champagne Toast

A Champagne toast to good times spent with family.
I'll raise my glass to that.
Brother Dear will raise his glass even higher.
Sister Dear was flying the highest of all.
Goodness we had fun. Thanks guys for such a good time.