The veggies are all in now

With the cooling temperatures comes the threat of frost, and that means that our garden is now free of any veggies that might get frozen before we want them to. When they were brought in we had a little traveller along for the ride - who has since been returned to our flower garden.

The vegetable garden was successful in providing a live example of what growing your own food means in terms of space. To feed a family of any size, even 1, would require a considerable piece of property and work. There was a suggestion, as the garden was going in, that we should plan for 2 crops of some of the quicker growing plants. We were lucky to get 1 batch of anything. Our tomatoes are still green, now inside to do the final ripening, and we didn't get a single ear of corn. So, next year we will be planning on the need for frequent trips to the grocery store, even in August and September.

Some subjects beg to be aged

The end of our street is an interesting spot to wander around. There are majestic horses grazing in the field behind the community centre, which overlooks an aging barn on the other side of the street. These scenes were beckoning to me this morning, so here they are, aged for effect.

In the country the stars are so much brighter, they say.

I don't know who they are - possibly our neighbours - but they sure are right about the stars and the night sky. It's hard to not look up and stop for a moment as you realize how many little lights there are up there. Each one represents a solar system, or some cosmic region full of planets. Takes the breath away, and makes the brain hurt just thinking about it all.

These shots were taken this evening looking straight up and towards the ever present barn. There are so many more stars in the photos than you can pick out just looking up there.

Yellow is the colour of the day

Shooting in the garden yesterday resulted in some interesting shots that begged for some treatment in photoshop. The shots here are a few different treatments of the more colourful shots.

Our garden is coming back to some degree, with a harvest of Zuccs and Cuccs yesterday, and some tomatoes are still putting up a good fight. The nights are getting cooler, and in preparation for the inevitable, wood is being chopped and piled high, and electric blankets located, just in case. There's always the furnace too, if we get really cold temps at night.

Busy shooting

It's been a busy month for shooting, and I haven't updated recently because of scheduling issues, so here is a starting point for coming updates.

With a near full moon tonight it was possible to get a fair bit of detail from an otherwise pitch black scene. Taken with a 5 minute exposure this shot reveals some details of the field and the barn, with the clouds being light and dark streaks in the night sky.

Play misty for me

The weather has been quite nice the last few days, but we are still having misty mornings. They really give a different mood to the scenery, and make it difficult to tell where you are when you're driving on the highway with no view either side. It can make the trip go very fast, but be careful not to miss your exit - I haven't done that yet, though I have been surprised to find that I am closer than I thought.

BTW - the subject is the title of a Clint Eastwood film from the 1970's. Really good 'I'm your biggest fan' thriller. Highly recommend it if you can find a copy.

Mix your own drywall, in the comfort of your own home.

It turns out that gypsum is quite good when you want to make drywall. It's not so good when you want to make highways.

There are 2 large deposits of gypsum on the new section of the 101 between exit 4 and one the many exit 5s (5a, 5b, 5...well, you get the idea). In order to complete the lane addition project it is necessary to remove the gypsum and cart it off somewhere. ??? Not sure where, but somewhere (with the reduction of gypsum processing at the local gypsum factory it may not be there).

In the meantime, there is this drilling machine taking to the task of breaking up the deposits so that it can be carted away. A dustier job would be hard to imagine.

Happy Natal Day!

Here in Nova Scotia we have a long weekend in August to honour everyones birthday. In other provinces it's a holiday, but somewhat nebulous in its reason for being one - its called a Civic Holiday there.

So, to everyone who has a birthday, Happy Natal Day!

It's never too late to learn

Logan will be 3 in November, but so far he's never had the opportunity to learn to swim. We decided to fix all that yesterday by taking him to a local swimming hole - yes, I said swimming hole - at the local Provincial Park and campground. I wouldn't say that he took to it like a...well...you know...a duck to water, but he did seem to enjoy himself once he got over the initial panic of "Are you trying to drown me or something?" and realized that there were little bits of land that he could take refuge on.

The beauty of the late day sun

Travelling around the area means seeing things that might make nice photos. Waiting for the right moment, and being in the right place at the right time aren't always easy things to do. Every now and then they do come together.

We live in the country, and that means there are plenty of rivers, ponds, farms, and the like to focus on (no pun intended, really). With the sunny afternoon today it meant a drive was definitely in order, and I've passed by this pond numerous times, but never had the chance to get out and capture it. Because it sits next to the road, on a long corner, it's not always easy to just stop and get a few quick shots. Today I decided to spend some time there and got to capture more than just the pond.

There's nothing like the taste of fresh vegetables from the garden

It's surprising how much stronger radishes are when they are picked from your own garden. It would seem that the trip from the farm to the warehouse to the grocery store really knocks the stuff out of them. So now that we have truly fresh vegetables all that work that Jeannette put into preparing and planting the garden has paid off, with the exception of the lettuce - the deer ate all of that. I gather it was as good as the radishes.

A new view of the world 2

Armed with a wide angle lens I wandered around looking for things to take pictures of, and Logan was a perfect subject (all photographers find their pets to be perfect subjects).

He sat patiently waiting for me to get the shot then wanted little more than a scratch behind the ears and "good boy". Ya gotta love that.

A new view of the world

It's been pretty rainy here for the last few weeks, so a little sun is definitely something to smile about. We've had lots of flowers, even though mother nature hasn't been providing much in the way of light to help them grow, and the varieties have certainly been interesting.

So here are a few shots, without rain drops on the lens, to carry us through until we get a bright sunny day again - hopefully tomorrow.

I think they're serious

If you don't get the first hint, or the second, maybe you'll get the third. Reminds me of the old saying, "Do I have to draw a picture for you?"

Summer's hair finally

Logan has been a little lethargic lately, due mostly to the heat. He loves to be outside, but with all that hair he would only have a few frisbee throws in him before he was laying in the cool grass panting. Not anymore. Now he's aerodynamic and built for speed.

Gizmo looks a little jealous now and then, but he would look too weird with 1/4" long hair. Besides, he can find cool places to hide a lot better than logan ever could.

This is a flight of a different type

I've been trying for a few weeks now to get a shot of the elusive, and very cautious, hummingbird. We have had the feeder out since late May - early, I thought, given the distance that they travel - and we had our first sighting shortly after putting it out. Since then I've been sitting on the porch trying to capture a half decent shot. Unfortunately they tend to move extremely quickly when they are feeding. This meant many a blurry image or no image at all, they move that fast.

This morning I was lucky though. This one stayed long enough for me to snap a few high speed shots. They are awesome to watch.

How long will your business be in business?

It's great to see that in these tough times some airlines are offering fares for the average businessman. This airline is obviously not one of them. For a meager $18075 you too can fly on the new Airbus A380 from Toronto to London, England and enjoy all that business class has to offer. For that price I would think that you'd be able to drive your car on board, ride up front in the cockpit, and get a commemorative Rolex watch on departure.

BTW - there were no Economy seats available for that flight, and for those of you who just can't fly anything but 1st class you better get another $9000 out of the bank - yes, just $27000 will get you a 1st class seat for the trip.

For comparison purposes you can get a flight covering the same distance on British Airways, in Business Class for $1998. You'll have enough left over to buy your car while you're there, and stay in a castle.

It's a pretty good life

Being a dog has its benefits.

If you build it, the cows will come.

HWY 101 is being expanded to allow for 2 lanes in either direction, and a median or ditch in between. There were some photos on this blog last summer of the bridges that were waiting for a road. This would be the road.

The new construction is located right next to a cow pasture, and the cows seem quite interested in the whole process. Just look at them. They're riveted on the scene. Wondering just how many loads of dirt will it take to fill the entire road-bed, and what kind of aggregate material will they use to ensure proper compaction? Inquiring cows want to know.

BTW-that dirt hill will be gone when this is all finished. The highway goes through there as well.

A year ago you might recall...

there were pictures on this blog that looked very similar to the ones posted today. A year from now you may be recalling back to around this time and recognizing flowers like these. That's because they are the flowers in our garden, and when a few minutes of sun presents itself and I have a moment with the camera I'm inclined to jump in and capture them in their glory, because they don't last long.

The weekend has proven to be a mixed bag of weather. Saturday was very nice, and Sunday not so much. We do need the rain for the above mentioned flowers, so without Sunday we probably wouldn't have today (that makes philosophical sense, doesn't it?).

The new week has begun, and we are fast approaching the time to plant in the garden. Jeannette is very excited about the little plants sprouting up in the sunroom, and moving them to the garden is going to be a very big event around here. Soon. Very Soon.

A bit of nostalgia

You may recall seeing the St Croix Hydro Plant in previous posts, but I couldn't resist going back and taking a few more shots with a lens that I borrowed from a friend of mine. It has a really wide angle of view and provided a great tool for getting these shots, which I felt deserved to be presented in Black + White, since the building has been standing since 1935.

It supposed to up as high as 30C over the next few days, so it looks like we're getting an early jump on summer. At this rate we'll be wishing for the cold again by mid-July. Ya just can't keep us happy, can you?

The garden hasn't sprouted anything yet

We're waiting patiently for the first signs of life from the various pots that are on the go in the sunroom in preparation for the first full moon in June - that's when you're supposed to be safe to plant to prevent frost from killing off the seedlings.

In the meantime, we've got new tools to help spruce up the flower gardens, and get the rest of the grounds looking well groomed.

Gizmo has nothing to do with the garden, but he was willing to sit for me this evening so here he is.

We have the power.

Not far down the road is a power station that is fed by the river seen in an earlier entry. It's been around for quite some time, but still seems to be in pretty good shape. I stopped by this morning since it was a nice sunny start to the day and get a few shots. I'm not sure we get any benefit from it, but it's cool to have so close to home.