The Inverted Cow

Time has come for another post of the Inverted cow. Where did the time go it was jut yesterday (or so it seems) that I posted the last one. The new year is upon us and I think that since the last post was a look back this post will be a look ahead. Hopefully, some of the ideas posted here will happen this year.

Marianne is visiting Calgary this week so I have not had the camera to fill the world with pictures. It also means that She cannot be here to help with my proofreading. So please forgive the grammar and typographical errors that I may have missed.

Stories from the Cheese Wagon.

School restarted here back on the 9th. I am covering a route for driver from the town about half an hour north of here. He is ill and they are waiting on a doctors report to see if he can come back to work. Even if he does not I will most likely be only driving this route until another driver can be found. So far it looks like Feb 1st I will know.

The first day on this route I missed a turn, the little darlings let me drive a mile and a half past it before they told me that I missed it "way back there" . I had to do a turn around on a frozen country road and head back to find the rest of the kids. A few more missed turns and I made it to school.

Then on Wednesday I had one little darling fall asleep on the bus. Now I am completely befuddled as to how she did this as I have all grades from K to 12 on that bus. She had 2 siblings who got off at her stop and neither one woke her up and the other kids let me drive the majority of the rest of the route. I got the radio call about 10 minutes after her stop.

I was lucky as the last two stops on the bus were not on so I was able to turn around and head back to drop her off. We got to her home I drove into the yard and she was still sleeping. I started to worry that she was dead or something because most kids, if they doze off, wake up when the bus stops or turns or something. Her dad came on the bus and had to get her up.

I then saw something that makes me wonder and will probably haunt my imagination for some time. After he got her awake and off the bus rather than go into the nice, 2 story, big, farmhouse they loaded into a small ice-fishing shack/sleigh thing. I thought this was a decoration or something, but like I said the mind wonders what is really happening. Since I never saw dad come out of the house I can only guess that he had been sitting in the "sleigh" and they were going to get something that he had in there. But if I ever find out otherwise...... I will say no more.

I have never had a kid fall asleep on the bus before, not after a 15 minute drive. So this was all a new one for me.

Dreams for the new year.

Since I know the yard sale is a total waste of time and money, this year I plan to do away with the old camper. I have been planning on turning it into a chicken coop for some time. This will be one thing that I hope to get done this spring. It also means the old one that Marianne's folks had built will be torn down.

Also being torn down this year is the old outhouse. I still will need to fill the old hole but I am thinking of using that as a spot for the burned garbage from the dump. In addition the small blue shed is slotted for demo, but that means I will need a new storage place first. So a shed may be built and the other will come down before it falls in.

I am hoping to move my shed and the one usable work shed together on the yard. This will include me finishing the tool organization and getting a few more things put away and unpacked. (was supposed to be a winter project)

I am hoping to remove the layer of black dirt from the garden spot where the chicken coop will be as I will be turning that area into a chicken yard. Yard clippings and chickens will make short work of filling the hole back in.

I also have to remove the remainder of gravel from the first garden spot. Somehow I think me and a spade are getting a workout this summer. (remember the Kubota I want for last Christmas/ birthday?) Also in the digging department. I have to start digging the trenches for the basement foundations for this place before it collapses under its own weight. I sill am looking for rail sleepers (rail ties) that I can use to build the walls. But at this time I may as well be asking for moon rocks.

Last fall Dave (one of the cow guys ) gave me some "firewood" these are nice heavy logs is about 7 foot lengths. I am working on finding a way to make a sawmill to plane them on two sides so that I can stack the logs into a planter box for in front of the driveway parking pad.

Marianne also gave me an idea for a hydroponic planter system. It uses old rain gutters (something I have lots of) and runs water through them with the plants suspended in them. I like the idea, especially for the lettuce that I seem unable to grow here. All I need is a solar pump for the rain barrels gravity does the rest.

Lastly I would like to get started on building an anabolic digester for the septic tank but it requires more digging and work than I think I can do this summer. As if I have enough time to do any of the work I have listed.

Well there is my dream list for the year. Lets see if anything can get built!
Cheers!

Sorry for the quality of the clip,

I am still learning to use the new camera that Marianne bought

and I suggest turn off the sound as

I have not been able to edit out the background noises.

Bet you thought I was going to say world. Well although the signs are there, no it is the end of 2011 and I figured I would do a look back.

The last 2 weeks we, here at the home of the Inverted Cow, have been visiting the family. I helped Kyle out on his trap lines a bit and basically just have been sitting and watching the year wrap up and end. It is nice being Semi Retired as I get to take a 2 or 3 week vacation and no one notices, even me.

But this is the Year of The Inverted Cow, 2011 Final post.

I stole this from comics.com this morning.
© Brian Crane, dist. by The Washington Post Writers Group - All Rights Reserved.

January;
January started off with a deluge of problems. The first being the deal in Calgary with Sam going sour. A lawyer will sue her on our behalf IF I can pay them a $5000 retainer fee up front. I can't afford to pay attention let alone a 5k fee. Small claims is about half that but, I can only max out at about a third of the value of the house. Either way I am attempting to get money from a person who has none. At the same time she has no morals either but that is between her and God.

On the plus side we did give the house to the nice people at the Street Church Ministry and they restored it inside to something along the lines of what I was hoping to do. When I was in Calgary in the summer however the outside was still left mostly unfinished. We ended January with hurt feelings and loosing a big chunk of our dreams.

February;

Almost a year later and I still cannot believe it!

February started off with SNOW. Here at home we were dealing record snowfalls almost every day. I spent the majority of my time on the business end of a show shovel.

The other fun thing that happened was we went to Toronto so our old roomate could get married. It was alot of fun and really cool. I also got a chance to meet with Marianne's long time friend Carolynn. But I am not a people person, so back to a place where you can count the local population on your fingers.

March;

Don't forget the small gas price increase
Wasn't it only supposed to be temporary?

March was the month that the crap hit the fan for everyone. Japan of course was the biggest news as it got hit with the first of several earthquakes, but the real damage was the Tidal wave. I still remember the video of it on the news it was like watching a toy village get flushed by a wall of mud and water. But they were real people getting killed there.

This was and is unbelievable. But it seems every one had water problems this year.
But this was in my opinion the worst overall.

Here I was hip deep in snow and attempting to relocate it before it melted. All winter of shoveling and now I had to also wheelbarrow it off the yard and into the ditch on the other side. Eventually it started to melt....

Snow? I got snow, lots of snow! You want a load or two?

Not necessarily in a good way

April;
April became a month of water issues. The road washed out just as Marianne was driving home and it almost ate her car. The yard flooded over, along with the septic field and the well, which also became contaminated.

Our Place <== The rest of the world ==>
no problem just wait a week or so

But it was also the first month of life returning to our little corner of heaven. The Killdeer were out in force, as were the garter snakes we have in the back. Unfortunately, also the first of the woodticks made their appearance. I love April, everything comes back to life. Even if it is yucky, April always seems to cheer me up.

The killdeer working on my garden.

May;
May was continued with April's water issues, but now the whole province and even some of the states were getting flooded. Things just kept getting wetter and worse.

Remember YELLOW tap water is not good to drink.

May was also supposed to be the end of the world, oops guess not it is still here. But gotta give him a "E" for effort. He swindled allot of people out of allot of money and now he is where???

This was also the month that Kyle's father died. We became the babysitters for Tanner dog. I can't help but wonder what would have happened if we had gone over to find out why the dog was at our door in the middle of a rainstorm. Bill may still be with us today and I wouldn't have a guilty spot on my heart.

Tanner, working on a itchy back, on my front lawn?

Finally we started with the yard sale that would eventually chew up my entire summer for almost no return. (I think I was able to afford a cup of coffee after it was all said and done.) Yard sale this year? Not flippen likely!

This sign should read "the end of Art's fun"

June;
June saw one major change here on the Inverted Cow Blog. I started to experiment with posting twice a month, In fact it became every two weeks. I like the change because it give me more opportunity to express myself and you the reader, a better chance to peer into the insanity of my mind more frequently.

We still were babysitting Tanner, and for a moment also Sasha, the two dumbest dogs I have ever met.

Dumber and dumbest (you pick who is who)
They are looking at a bug or a piece of dirt or something.

Killdeer and ladyslippers were everywhere. I love wildflowers, always have. In the city you get 2 kinds of wildflower, one you buy at the store in a pot and hope it lives in the garden and two you try to kill relentlessly. (dandelions)

I love them but Marianne seems to react negativity to them.

We tore into the shed cleaning for the yardsale with a vengeance. Soon the yard was all set up for the sale. The routine became set up deal with tightfisted tirekickers who want the world handed to them and change with that. Then tear down, cover up and pack away for the night, setup the next day. Remember I HATE PEOPLE! I had to be nice to people that I would rather have run off with a pack of rabid, hungry wolves, just to enjoy the fun. The fuzz faced longhair was NOT amused.

By this point the nice bugs and things that I liked back in April are now pestilences I also have bears and other critters poking around.

Bear print, Ok out in the woods,
not so much in my back yard.
I wonder if I could hire them to help with the yardsale

July;
July we finally began to get a handle on the pests, both 2 legged and multi-legged.

Fence around the garden,
It actually worked to keep out the deer!

We did a dinner with the family. There was a trip to Oak Hammock Marsh with the folks and the nieces. We also had a fight with the family as well. I blogged about my past and growing up and how I do not do mind games anymore.

The first fruits were showing off the garden, wild strawberries, raspberries and other natural goodies were in abundance! As were the deer, they liked my salad bowl. I don't particularly care for them.

Fresh wild strawberries, and rhubarb
Soon to be a crumble then to only be a fond memory.

The swallows on the side of the house had a little construction accident. One of the babies did not survive the fall. Marianne tried to nurse him back but we ended up burying him. It was sad, but by the end of the summer I had almost a dozen of the little buggers flying around. Boy did I notice it when they left, Mosquitoes in abundance!

The nest came unglued. If you look there
are babies right next to it, only one did not make it.

The Yard Sale also got a heat wave, we had quite some time with plus 40 C (100F) degree days. It made yardwork almost impossible and with all the floodwaters everywhere the humidity was unbearable.

No matter how you look at it this is damm hot!!!

August;
August was a month of watching the dreams here gasping for their final breath.

Marianne went to the cousins reunion and apart from her sister no one showed up, even though about 20 or so had said they would definatly be there.

Apparently this fellow came to the picnic
because he liked buns.

We began working on "plan C" the idea to move back and turn this place into a summer cottage thing. Marianne became almost obsessed with the idea and I trudged along hoping to get something worked out before hand.

Marianne also found a creative outreach that was allowing her the chance to get some of her pent up energies working in a constructive way. It was called Baby Layette Love. They make baby layettes for the Crisis Pregnancy Center.

The first of several stacks of handmade blankets
and things for Baby Layette.

The garden started to come off, some of it was good others, compost. I really had no in between.

Sink full of beans! Guess what I got to do for 2 days.

I also started working on getting hired with the local school bus company. (Anti Plan C program). I finally gained an understanding of what I have come to refer to as "Manitoba time." 'Immediately' could be within the next two weeks and 'as soon as I can' could be the next six months.

We also had a little excitement when a lightning strike started off a small brush fire down the road from us. The local fire department did something about it and we all watched it burn itself out.

Just sitting here watching the forest burn.
Don't worry I still have 3 miles of flooded
swampland between me and the fire.

September;
September happened to have one blog post land on the 11th I did a commemorative to the events ten years ago. Some pain is just too harsh.

Even now I have a hard time comprehending the ramifications of this day.
The generation before me remembers JFK, THIS was my JFK.

The garden got pulled off and tilled up. The yard work got all caught up and we geared up for Plan C

Plan C took off in the second half of the month, got a good running start, built up to full steam, them tripped over its cape, and fell flat on its face. We ended up back where it all began and then back where we were a few weeks earlier. Life is still crawling along.

We came, we saw, we went back home.

October;
October saw a new beginning come to this place. It started with Marianne realising that the dozen or so cans of paint we have here on the yard might actually be able to add some color to the house. Painting bug followed by the reno bug.

New Paint!

I stripped the plywood from the windows for the now dead plan c and made stairs for the front door. It is nice now to actually be able to walk in and out of the house and not fear that you are going to be having a sudden and abrupt stop three feet down.

New Stairs

Kyle and I got working on hauling firewood out of the brush so that I could have enough for winter. It was more I was hauling firewood out and Kyle was using the tractor and my gas to go cut trails in the bush and was looking for excuses to spend time playing in the woods.

New help

We also gained a new addition to our little family out here in the form of a tiny grey kitten who we named "Hope". She is now thriving and driving everyone crazy.

New Hope... Oh wait that is copywritten by Lucas Arts,
umm New family member

November;
November quietly slipped by. Winter made a few feeble attempts to get started but for the most part it is just a little cold and annoying.

I was very focused on getting enough firewood, I think we may have it but I would still like to get back out for a few more loads. It is a perhaps later thing now. Winter sucks.

Wood Need more wood.

My birthday is in November, but nobody remembered. At least this year I did not have a nasty insulting letter sent to me for my birthday. So I guess it is an improvement.

Marianne was working the pre Christmas craft sale circuit out here in never never land.

Any one who ever worked retail knows how much fun it
is to do a show all day on your feet with a nasty flu bug.
Note the cold medication on the counter behind,
and the bottle of medication in her hand.
Made for a couple of ROUGH days.

She also caught the flu bug going around and missed a very important appointment because of it. Now she is back on a waiting list and I have to deal with the constant worry that her health will take a turn for the worse. I told her that next time she is going and I don't care how flippen sick she is.

my actually very sick wife.

I also began working occasionally for the bus company, now if I could only be paid less occasionally

The cheese wagon, or big yellow limo.

December;
December, now it brings us back to where we started on this entry.

In the end of November Hope went into heat. She also got 'fixed'.

We finished converting the storage room into a spare bedroom. Marianne attempted to run a Fifth Ave open house and used the room as her show room she had.... wait for it.... three, yep that is right three whole customers! Since that we have fixed it back into a bedroom, it is also Marianne's own workroom, sewing room and everything room.

The 5th ave open house. Would have liked to see less
bling under the tree when it was all done.

Last thoughts.

Please enjoy the new year, and whatever you do do not drink and drive. I hope and pray that I will continue to have all my faithful followers here on the Inverted Cow still around this time next year.

Happy New year and please enjoy 2012 with us.