Waxing moon

Winter is holding off for the time being despite a few snow flakes that appeared at the end of October.  Harley and I noticed them as we were leaving Blind River to go to do Magical Paws therapy work.  Needless to say the flakes all melted away, for now that is.  A new activity for me for the week was working on the first in a series of correspondence courses.  I am studying to register for a real estate sales licence in the spring and have lined up a brokerage to article with.  The bed-bale-breakfast plan is slow coming together, so I thought that I would branch into a related field.  So far the first course is interesting and the self testing is not too difficult.  I am looking forward to meeting lots of people and having the opportunity to see local houses and properties.  Bob may be concerned that this will add ideas to the to-do list....??? October closed with an early evening waxing moon and I dedicate this photo and post to Alan Moore, a dear former colleague (and recipient of this letter series) who passed away suddenly on Friday evening.  I'll miss his witty insightful comments, as well I will remember fondly the more than twenty years that we worked together.

Indoor progress

A little progress was made indoors this week.  Bob constructed the stud framing for the wall that is to go behind the wood cookstove.  It is a partition to make a visual separation between the kitchen/dining area and the living room, and is just over six feet tall so that the view into the vaulted ceiling and loft is not obstructed. This will cause the rooms under the cathedral ceiling to remain airy looking but also a little tidier.  Theoretically that is. The wall will be clad on the cookstove side with non-combustible cement board for a later masonry and stone siding.

Mago tried to help with carpentry

 We worked this week on outdoor cold weather preparation and a few repairs.  One of the jobs was to fix a large bale hay feeder.  This was of no interest to the three mares, but Mago stayed the whole time and was fascinated by the portable drill, saw, ratchet and hammer.  He kept a close watch on Bob and followed me back and forth to the barn to get extra supplies.

The second shot of him was taken by me from inside the feeder.  I was trying to use the ratchet socket wrench to tighten the bolts when I snapped a picture of him investigating the cordless drill.  This was just before he stole the paper bag full of nuts and bolts and emptied it out.  This was followed by moving other tools around while we were not looking.   Fortunately he believes that bringing things might get him a treat, so he generally brings things back.  He did find a couple of broken plastic pieces that Bob missed on the ground and he kindly brought them to me.  Now there is something useful!  The only catch is if he finds something quite edible, he'll tend to munch it instead of returning it.

Angara is watched over by not only Harley the Wonder Dog, but a few scarecrows and pumpkins too.  The pumpkins were grown by and are the courtesy of my trail riding chum Elaine, after today they will retreat inside and become pies.  Needless to say, although I stocked up on goodies for treat-or-treater's, none came to the door.  We shelled out some to Bob's granddaughter Olivia yesterday when she visited for her birthday, plus to her brother, Mum and Dad too.  The rest will have to be nibbled on by Bob, which should be no problem as it seems that I stocked up on his favorites.

Enjoying the fall

George and Harley the Wonder Dog are pictured checking each other out after gazing from the porch into the bush and autumn colours.  George is eager to go out when Harley is out, but he sticks pretty close to the house and cries at the french doors to come in if it is too windy or cold.  A cat thing as any other cat caretaker will tell you.  George is restricted to going out only briefly in daylight and when protected by Harley. In the continuing adventures of Harley, he tried to make a breakaway to follow Nikki when she visited with her horse Rio on the weekend.   After they left he picked up their scent when I walked with him toward the barn, so he took off to go for what he thought was a requisite ride.  This is the first time she has been here since Elaine and I have been taking Harley with us on our trail rides, so he will have to learn to distinguish between the horses that need escort and those that don't (he has not followed her before!).   Although I was already about to get in my truck to go and retrieve him, Niki kindly called on her cell phone to tell me where to rendezvous with her.  Bad dog.  More communication is clearly necessary with Harley on this matter.

Last up is a little more fall colour from a week ago, already the wind has whisked away most of the mantle of red and orange.  Only the oak trees are holding on to a few leaves.  The deep green of the pines and hemlocks now peek through the white of the birches and brown of the other deciduous trees.   Sure enough, this is a sign that moose hunting season has opened and the deer season is just around the corner.  From now on I will be wearing my fluorescent PINK reflective clothing in the bush, not much of a chance that hunter will mistake anything that large and that pink for game. Mago has learned to cope with this great indignity, as he has learned to cope with my other embarrassing behaviours.

Snooze in the sun

The next photo shows Belle (right) and Mago (left) lounging sleepily in the afternoon sun at the barn.  This week we sealed up the eavestrough over the run-in opening for the shed with a few more aluminum sheet metal nails and some Gutter Seal. The latter is an incredibly sticky product that has excellent adhesion and flex properties.  Fortunately it is dispensed from a caulking style tube, so contact with it is minimized (or mostly minimized??##!!).  Mago will be happy to have that nasty bit of drip line eliminated as he seems to always be the one left standing in it.

Feeder research

It seems that the way our hay was baled last year, I did not have waste problems using our Duplessis feeders, but this year the horses insist on pulling out too much hay at a time and wasting it. Angie and Princess demonstrate in the next photo how they are making a mess for me to clean up.  I have to stay on top of this or the hay makes a mat and mulch layer that causes the area around the feeder to become terribly mushy.  I have been researching a type of "slow feeder" for the Duplessis's and sure enough there is such a thing.  It is made by a company that sells the so-called "Big Bale Buddy".  The big bale slow feeder is a very tough giant bag with a draw cord closure and is made of a hockey net style very tough netting with 1-1/2 inch diameter openings.  The horses have to work to pull the hay out in small tufts at a time.  This has three benefits, it slows down their rate of eating the bale, it prevents them from pulling out large clumps causing waste and it keeps them entertained in a more natural "foraging" manner.   I am thinking of trying one out, savings should be about $80 per month, so it will take about three months to get a payback for the cost of the feeder.   This venture is a work in progress.