It's Christmas time again!

Another year is drawing to a close and as usual I wonder where the time goes and what has actually been achieved.

It feels like it's been another busy year but once you put pen to paper it never looks like much. I am really looking forward to chilling and having no deadlines or plans for the next couple of weeks. I still have a mountain of baking, cleaning and wrapping to do but I do feel like I'm getting on top of everything at last.

David had big changes with his job this year. He moved to Introhive a much smaller tech company. He found it strange at first not having the same pressures he'd had before but now it's getting busier he's settling in much more. The rest of Davids year has been working on the farm, fencing, building, chasing animals etc. Also working on getting both our houses sorted, both have made progress but never as much as we would have liked! The farmhouse still isn't livable in but we do have water, electricity, windows, doors and walls framed out so you need a little less imagination to see it as a potential home.

I have had a fun year at work. I get to travel quite a bit, sometimes just for the day which involves lots of driving other times I fly like when I get to visit Montreal or Toronto. I deliver 5 conferences a year and many more talks and events as well as doing all the admin for our summer camps and filling their freezers with homemade treats.
I am often asked how I'm doing and to be quite honest I feel great. I am on daily medication which I will have to take for about 8 more years and I still have a port in my arm so I have to go once a month for it to be flushed out. I see my surgeon and oncologist once a year each and have a mammogram once a year too. I am being well looked after. In fact the most frustrating thing to happen in 2017 health wise was when I slipped backwards on ice and chipped my elbow. That hurt and took weeks to heal.
I really miss working with special needs kids so when I was asked by a family at church if I'd consider giving their son respite care I was very happy to take it on. He comes to stay one night a month and loves to be around the busy farm and especially loves our crazy dogs. He certainly adds another dimension to our unique family life!

Isaac works pretty crazy hours as a HVAC technician. He is just winding down for the year now and is going to do his 2 month studying in St Andrews after Christmas to get his block 3. He got to visit New York with his work this year. He was the best man for his friend Sam and he decided to buy himself a puppy which he called Badger. Badger has his crazy moments but on the whole is quite a cute, friendly dog. His best friend is Max and they spend hours play fighting, Shadow is just far too mature for them!

Josh has done 2 coop work placements this year, both with Bluespurs, a local tech company. He had one semester in University, he is returning to University in the New Year. He also got to travel with his work to the US. He has started playing in Warhammer tournaments this year as well as participating in all the other games he plays. He is very busy with his volunteer firefighting, he is on the exec committee and attends quite a number of calls.

Harriet is now in her last year at high school, grade 12. She has offers from UPEI and UNB to do science or pre vet science next year. She is waiting to decide which one to accept once she starts her coop work placement with a local vet practice for her final semester at school. She works all summer at Green Hill Lake camp which she really enjoys. During the winter she works at our local gas station in Harvey. Her and Shadow still do dog agility but not as much as Shadow would like!

We are part of Christ Central Church in Fredericton and between us all we do sound, kids church, youth work and lifegroups we are kept pretty busy and are very blessed to be part of such a vibrant community.

David's brother, Stephen  got married to Jan in Norway in May. David, Harriet and myself had a weeks vacation in the UK before flying out to the wedding. Isaac and Josh flew in just in time for the wedding itself. It was a really good but tiring time.

David and I along with Rich and Jen and my brother David spent over a year planning a surprise visit to my dad on his 70th birthday in November this year. We also managed to surprise many other people on our visit as the only people who knew we were coming was David and Kathryn. All the flights were on time and everything ran like clockwork. We arrived during the evening before his birthday, he was out so we surprised Mum and surprised him when he came home a short time later. We spent a great weekend together and celebrated David's birthday too while we were there.

It’s now Christmas Eve and I still haven’t published this blog. We had an ice storm yesterday so had to spend a long time chipping ice off the vehicles this morning. We are expecting a big storm on Christmas Day, with up to 30cm of snow coming, so it’s safe to say we will be having a white Christmas. My mum and dad are expected to arrive on Boxing Day and they will be with us into the new year.

All the best for 2018. Remember we love to have visitors!

back to school for the last time

Harriet going back to school for her final year, in my new car!

Progress on the house

Shadow and Harri at agility trials

it's hard work having a puppy!

Badger

We blinked and summer came and went, and once again the list didn't come anywhere close to completion.

When we returned from our England/Norway trip in May we were all ready to get going digging ditches, putting in fences, moving animals, renovating the farm house etc but the weather was not our friend. It rained and poured and was cold and was generally very unpleasant to work outside for what seemed like every weekend for about a month.

Thankfully it cleared up and since then we've had pretty much hot dry weather all summer, in fact even though it's cooled down on an evening we are still enjoying hot sunny days. We have to check during the summer months on a fire watch website where each day they post if you are allowed to have camp fires or if there are any restrictions in place for your area. By mid summer they didn't just introduce a province wide burning ban but also restrictions on anyone working in the woods that could cause any sort of spark.

During this summer David and I celebrated 24 years of marriage. We as a family celebrated our 7th anniversary since moving to Canada with our usual ice cream cake. I had my 2 year follow up appointment with my surgeon and all is good.

My car was one of the ones in the VW emissions scandal so it was bought back from me and I now have an old silver Honda. I wanted a little brightly coloured car which I can find in a car park, I guess I'll just have to decorate it with flowery stickers!

Isaac enjoyed lots of time with his friends, camping, wheeling, skidooing and climbing a mountain as well as working full time, working at the farm and being best man for his friend Sam. He also drove to PEI a couple of weeks ago and bought himself a puppy! He's called Badger and he's a nearly 10 week old Blue Heeler. He is very cute and is getting pretty good. The other dogs are getting used to him!!!

Josh did courses in the summer and has now gone back to Bluespurs for another coop placement. He still enjoys playing games with his friends, going to the gym and volunteer firefighting.

Harriet worked hard at Green Hill Lake Camp all summer and is now back working for the local gas station. She is now in her final school year at Harvey High. She is trying to fit in some agility trials with Shadow before the season ends.

David is still enjoying his new job and then comes home to his full time farm job! He's raised lots of chickens for meat this summer and turkeys for Thanksgiving. The cows are nearly ready for the freezer and we still have rather a lot of pigs of various sizes. We also have chickens for egg laying.
The farm house has made some progress recently with the electricity mast being moves and a new circuit board added and interior walls throughout. In the next few weeks we need housewrap, insulation and the last door and window to go in.

I've had a summer of working. I looked after my works camps from afar by doing all the baking, shopping, admin etc, ran a conference and then enjoyed a week off last week to get my garden etc in order before the winter.

Holiday, family, wedding, friends and lots of fun!.

I'm guessing this will be quite a long blog post as I realized it's nearly 4 months since I last posted!

Lots has happened since February, thankfully the snow has melted and spring is here (as are the bugs!). The flowers are starting to bloom and my vegetable plot is mostly planted out and starting to come alive. School is out in a few days and everyone is gearing up for summertime.

Our pigs have had piglets, the cows now have lots of grass to keep mowed, we have an abundance of kittens (free to a good home in about 3 weeks time!), our chickens, meat chickens and turkeys are all arriving in the next few days, so if anyone wants eggs, chicken or turkey this year message me with your orders. It's BBQ season too so our roaster box is beginning to get bookings, let me know if you want a hog roast for your special event this summer.

David changed jobs last month, he now works for Introhive as a technical support engineer, he is really enjoying his new role and the challenge of learning a new product.

I chipped my elbow when I fell on ice in the winter and though it's now healed and I've had physio on it I still need to continue the exercises to strengthen it as all my favourite pastimes like gardening and DIY still aggravate it. I've had a busy year at work with lots of travelling including trips to Montreal, Toronto and PEI. Now it's camp season so my time will be filled with menu planning and filling the camp freezers with lots of food.

Isaac has bought himself a new car as his old one was never quite the same after an altercation with a deer just before Christmas. He's completed his block 2 of his HVAC and is busy working on his hours towards block 3 which he should be doing next winter.

Josh is back at UNB for the summer after completing his second coop placement at Bluespurs, he will be returning to Bluespurs in September for his 3rd placement. He is busy with his volunteer firefighting and has been called out a number of times recently, the latest was last weekend for a search and rescue.

Harriet is revising for her exams next week and she finishes grade 11 the week after. She took Shadow for his first dog agility trial this year and he did really well, he got a second 'Q' in gamblers which means next time he runs he can move up a level. She is working at Green Hill Lake Camp for the summer again so we will see very little of her till the end of August. Actually we don't see much of her anyway as she usually persuades one of us to loan her a car and goes out to youth events or just socializing with her many friends and her boyfriend, Charles!

We just got home last week from a wonderful holiday in U.K. And Norway. David, Harriet and I were able to take an extended holiday so we flew to Gatwick a week earlier than the boys. We travelled all over the UK visiting family and friends. Sorry if we didn't get to see you this time our itinerary was jam packed as we drove round the country for the week starting and finishing at Gatwick where we met Isaac and Josh before spending the day in London then flying to Norway for Steve and Jan's wedding.

It was a fantastic trip and the wedding was certainly a highlight of the trip. We felt very much at home in Norway even though we didn't understand a word of Norwegian!

So now we're home we are in for a busy summer with renovations, all the animal chores, fencing, building, working full time etc etc... we are not expecting any visitors this summer as we have already seen most people on our trip and my mum and dad are coming across at Christmas instead. So if you fancy a rustic working holiday in sunny New Brunswick feel free to give us a call!

Here are a few pictures of our trip.

Sightseeing in Toronto

My second car was just like this only red and called Rosie!

The poppies in mums garden

dad and his tree

We visited Jimmy's farm.....

...and met one of the celebrities, Dolly.

Buckingham Palace

Beautiful Norway

The farm house we stayed in

Our kittens!

Mega Storm

Winter 2016/17 was forecast to be really bad, that didn't stop everyone hoping we would get off as lightly as last year!

Our first real snowfall was November 30th and since then we haven't seen a blade of grass.

Most of the storms so far have been small 10-20cm ones and a couple of really bad ice storms. Up till yesterday we had maybe a couple of feet of snow still laying and much more in drifts and snow banks.

As I write this blog we are well and truly snowed in. New Brunswick is closed!! We have been hit by a Nor'easter the worst sort of storm. Winds are gusting up to 50km/h and up to 80cm of snow is being dumped on us . There is a travel ban at the moment with only emergency vehicles allowed on the roads.

Isaac has been plowing out our drive this year with his 4 wheeler mounted with a plow but even after going out 3 times to keep on top of the snow accumulation there is no way he can plow us out today so we've ordered in the heavys with a tractor and snowblower attachment.He will probably come in the middle of the night when the snow stops so we can get to work tomorrow.

This all makes for a fun February day!!!

It may take a while to feed the pigs tonight!

Isaac having fun plowing