photo of the day

Around outside

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A last post about my walkabout in our yard.

spruce.grove.canopy

The spruce grove next to the house might be what’s preventing us from being able to get more stable internet (with better data plans!), but it sure is beautiful.

spruce.grove.from.garden.view

This view is from the end of our garden near the road to our driveway.  As you can see, there are quite a lot of downed trees in there.  Quite a few dead trees that we will eventually need to cut down, too.

Well, we’ll have plenty of wood for our fire pit, when the time comes!

shed.wall

In a corner of the yard, near the fire pit, is one of several old log cabins on the property.  The wall facing into the yard has vertical boards for siding.

There used to be a gooseberry bush at the opposite corner.  I used to love picking the juicy, tart green berries and eat them when I was a child.

Years later, I discovered that they were supposed to be eaten after they turned red and soft.  I’d always thought that was when they’d gone bad, because they tasted so bland. :-D

I don’t know what happened to that gooseberry bush.  It’s not there anymore, and other trees are growing near where it was.

This wall here faces what used to be an open area where my late brother had his “bike shop.”  There were all sorts of bike parts and pieces that he would use to cobble bikes together.

Quite a lot of those parts and pieces seem to still be there, rusting away.

shed.corner

I’ve read that this type of corner joining for log buildings is a style mostly unique to our region.

This old shed was used for storage for as long as I can remember.  I don’t know what its original purpose was.

shed.inside

This is part of the inside.  The roof is collapsing on both sides.  The rafters are full of all sorts of things.  I have no idea what that machine is, but it looks like it runs the length of the building.

The stuff jammed into there is amazing.  An old wringer washer.  An electric stove.  What looks like a very, very old washer and drier set.  Pieces of antenna.  Head and foot boards.  Old window frames.  A bike that I think used to be ours.  Tires.

I don’t think anything in there is salvageable.  It all just got shoved in there and forgotten about.

old.chicken.coop

This old log building looks to be in better shape.

That’s a relative statement.

This is actually outside the fenced part of our yard, but is still part of the larger yard that includes the barn and various outbuildings (and cars, trucks, tractors, hay rakes, fuel tanks… ).  Before my father bought the property, this was the “summer kitchen.”  There was a wood stove and the cooking and canning would be done in here in the summer, rather than in the main house, so the house wouldn’t get overheated.  I imagine it reduced the risk of burning the house down, too. :-/

We used it as a chicken coop.  There was a walled in area around two sides of the building for a chicken run, though we would let them out during the day in the summer.

I briefly considered going over to look inside.

I changed my mind.

old.chicken.coop.burs

I just didn’t feel like working my way through the barrier of burs!

church.bird.house

We’re back in the yard, next to the house again.

My late brother built this bird house for my mother, and it can be seen from our dining room window.  My mother is a strongly religious person, so he built it in the shape of a church.

It still gets used by birds every year.  I am hoping that we will have a chance to take it down and fix it up this year.  Maybe prune back some of the branches around the post, too.  Once we have a better idea of what’s actually growing there.  It’s in what was one of my mother’s many little flower gardens around the yard, but it seems to be all bushes now.

What I would love to do is have a deck built along this side of the house, with a ramp leading to the end of the house where the current main entry way is, and the direction we need to go to get to the van, so that my husband doesn’t have to fight with the door while trying to get his walker up and down the steps.  Then we’d also be able to start using what is supposed to be the front door.  If that happens, this garden bed will likely need to be taken at least partly out.  Which would not be a bad thing, I am thinking.

The Re-Farmer

Happy Trails

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As I went out to empty our kitchen scraps onto the compost pile at the edge of the garden area, I paused to look around and noticed something interesting.

There were trails, everywhere.

And not one of them made by human feet.

They were all deer trails.

They all lead to our feeding station!

deer.trails.garden

This is by far the most well worn trail of them all, cutting through an old section of the garden that hasn’t been in use for some time.

deer.trails.maple.grove

This pathway runs between the maple grove and rows of spruces that were planted much later.  You see that post in the mid-ground?  That’s where there is a water tap.  When I was a kid, the walking path around the edge of the garden was right up to that post.  All those trees to the right are growing in an area that used to be part of the garden.  Same with the apple trees in the opposite direction, near the spruce grove.  As big as the garden area still is, it is much smaller than it used to be.

I made my way through here, having to wind around broken branches and dead trees all over the place.  There don’t seem to be very many maples left in our maple grove. :-(  We’re going to have some major clean up to do in that area.

deer.trails.gate

This is one of the furthest ends of the garden.  This gate is where we could drive into the garden itself.

As you can see, it is no barrier for the deer!  Their tracks look as if they can walk right through the gate, as if it’s not even there!  I know they’re jumping over, but it doesn’t look like it from the tracks alone.

Going through the maple grove was a bit of an eye opener.  We have got SO much work to do to clear that area out!  It’s a lower priority over working on the house itself, of course, but I hope we will be able to do at least some of it over the summer.

At times like this, I think my family and I really got the short end of the stick with this deal we made with my mother to live here for “free.”

Ah, well.  We came here expecting to have work to do, even if we didn’t expect quite this much.

The Re-Farmer

The Things We Find – outside

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As I trudged through the snow around our yard, there were a number of times I found myself pausing and just wondering…

Why?

Why is this here?  How did it get here?  What purpose did this serve?

And I have no answers.

Like a post turtle.  You know it didn’t get there by itself, you don’t know who put it there and you know it doesn’t belong there.

Here are some of the things I found.

things.we.find.wheels

Take these wheels, for example.

These are in our spruce grove.

Not along the edge of it.  IN it.  I had to make my way past various things at our old wood pile spot and through some underbrush to get to it.

Look at those.

Meditate on them for a moment.

Someone took those wheels from… somewhere.  Then brought them to this tree.  Leaned them against the trunk.  Then left them there.

To rot.

Clearly, they have been there for many, many years.

Why?  Why are they there, and why has no one, in all these years, taken the time to just… throw them out.  Or something.

things.we.find.harrower

As I walked along the edge of the spruce grove, I found this, half hidden under the branches.

It appears to be a harrower.

Now, I know why there would be a harrower.  The garden is still big enough that my brother would come in with a tractor to plow it, then disc it, then harrow it.

But this is just a little piece of harrower.  There might be more hidden by the snow, but it’s still not of a size I am used to seeing around the farm, dragged by tractors.  In fact, there is a rope on it suggesting it might have been pulled manually.

Why is it hidden under the branches?  Why is it left here to rust away?

Someone had to deliberately drag it under the low hanging branches to leave it there.

To rust.

things.we.find.cardboard.box.in.apple.tree

Here we have a cardboard box.

Stuffed into the trunks of a crab apple tree.

Okay, I can see someone having the box handy to pick apples.  Tuck it in there, so it doesn’t blow away.  Perhaps.

But why is it still there?

things.we.find.wagon.remains

One last odd find.  The remains of an old wagon.

I don’t recall we ever had this type of wagon.  At least not in working order.

This is in a corner of the yard, near the fire pit and an old, collapsing log building.

Under tree branches.  I had to reach around the branches to get this photo.

Someone had to go out of their way to drag this there.

Okay, so judging from the condition of the remains, it may well have been dragged here before the trees were big enough to have branches hanging over it.

Which brings me back to…

Why?  Why put it there?  Why leave it there?

At least the brightly coloured thing in the background, I think I can figure out.  It’s a giant wooden spool used for electric wires.  You know, the kind or heavy wite that goes on the poles and to buildings.  A lot of local people get these to put on their ends and use as patio tables.  As this is next to the fire pit, I can picture it being brought to use as a table, then rolled under the tree to make way for cutting the lawn.

And left there.

To rot.

I suspect we will be finding many, many things like this as we work on the place that will leave us wondering…

Why?

The Re-Farmer

Sourdough Rye Bread

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Recently, I was finally able to find a bag of rye flour.  Of all the things I knew would be harder to come by after moving here, rye flour was not one of them!

In anticipation of baking day, I got a rye sourdough starter going last night, using 2 cups rye flour, 2 cups warm water, and about 1/3 cup of our usual starter.

Allow me to introduce you to…

Overnight Rye Sourdough Starter

…The Rye of Sour-on.

My kids are hilarious.

Sourdough starter

Sir Sour Alot is looking good!

Because our original starter has aged so well, it can be shared or used as a base for “overnight starters”, which some recipes call for.

The girls didn’t bother looking up any rye bread recipes.  They just modified their usual Quick and Easy Sourdough recipe (minus the optional garlic and Parmesan with herbs).  With their usual double recipe, they used 2 cups of rye starter, substituted the sugar with molasses, and added 3 cups of rye flour before switching back to all purpose.

Rye sourdoug bread loaves

Rye sourdough bread

The result was a denser bread that didn’t rise as much during backing.  Which is good, because it means they slices will fit completely in the toaster, unlike our usual loaves, which sometimes need to be flipped. :-D

Slices of rye sourdough bread

Still warm from the oven!

Hearty and delicious!

I like the idea of using multiple kinds of flour when baking bread, but that requires having multiple kinds of flour on hand.  Which we really don’t have the space for, anyhow.  So we usually just use all purpose flour, since it gets used for so many other things as well.  I think I’ll make an exception for rye flour – which was only available in a small bag, anyhow.

It looks like we’ll be maintaining two sourdough starters now; Sir Sour Alot and the Rye of Sour-on.

The Re-Farmer

Out Our Window this Morning

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Things got busy quite early this morning. :-)

After putting out more feed, the grosbeaks, redpolls and chickadees were in in full force.

Then they all disappeared, en masse.

Why?

Hmmm.  Could be the big orange Rolando Moon that came sauntering by.

Followed by Nasty Crime Boy.

Then Beep Beep.

Beep Beep

Beep Beep was kind enough to pose for a picture.

Butterscotch came by, too.  For a while, we had at least 3 or 4 cats, just hanging around.

It didn’t take much for the birds to come back.

Including this beauty.

Male Downy Woodpecker

Male Downy Woodpecker

male downy woodpecker

Male Downy Woodpecker

I finally got some good shots of the male downy woodpecker.  Look at those bright red spots!  And those fuzzy little bits at its beak.  So pretty.

He would be on the tree trunk (that tree is dead and among the ones we need to clear out out our spruce grove), drilling away, then he’d go down to the seeds, pick up a few, fly back to the tree trunk to peck away some more, then back to the seeds.

He was soon joined by the other birds.

Male pine grosbeak

Male pine grosbeak

It wasn’t long before the birds were chased away again, this time by Hungry Girl and Barbecue.

They are still really skittish, but have calmed down enough that I got a few good photos before they dashed off.

I think they have opinions about that.

white tail deer

Hungry Girl, sticking her tongue out at me again!

*giggle*

white tail deer

Barbecue, licking his chops

E tu, Barbecue?

*giggle*

I’m such a child.

The Re-Farmer

One Step Closer

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In my search for the contact number to Vital Statistics, I found something better.

It turns out you can fill out a Marriage Certificate Application Form online.  It then needs to be printed out and signed, but one of the options to send it in is to scan the signed document and email it.

Which I just finished doing.

It costs $80 for one copy.  It also takes 6-8 weeks for it to be processed.  Unless you pay an extra $40 for rush service within Canada, at which point it will be processed in 5-8 business days.

I had to suck it up and check off the rush service box.  This whole debacle is already taking too long!

The site also had a link to a sample image of a marriage certificate.

Apparently, I’ve never had one.  It’s the same design as a birth certificate, but a different colour.

In filling out the form, though, it had the option of a large, framing size certificate, or a certified copy of marriage registration.  So I think what I have that I can’t find is a framing size.

I included copies of my and my husband’s birth certificates, just in case.

I hope it is acceptable.

I foresee problems for my husband, too.

He took a photo of his birth certificate with his phone, used his phone’s editing software to clean it up, emailed the clear image to me, which I have printed off to send with our health care number application form.

The problem?

His name doesn’t match his ID, either.

You see, my husband is from the East Coast.  As is common among French Canadians, he has 4 names – a first name, two middle names and a surname, but uses his second name.  It’s the only name that was ever used for him. I knew him for years before I found out I didn’t know what his first name was.  In fact, no one in his family uses their first name.  I don’t know the first names of my in-laws.  I’m not sure my husband even remembers them anymore! :-D

It became a bit of an issue when he was in the military, because they kept wanting to use the first name on his birth certificate on various documentation, but he never used it, and they are required to use the name the person goes by, which meant they couldn’t use his first name, but had to use his second name, but they couldn’t use his second name because it was not the first name on is birth certificate…

It was a very circular problem.

In the end, they reversed his first two names on the paperwork.

So all my husband’s ID uses his second name and surname, his birth certificate has his full name, but his military record has his full name with the first two names reversed.

Oh, and I looked it up on the Vital Statistics website.  This is what is says about surnames “after marriage or entry into a common-law relationship”.

As a married person or a person living in a common-law relationship, you have a number of options for choosing your name.

  • You may retain your present surname;
  • You may assume your spouse’s surname or common-law partner’s surname;
  • You may combine your present surname with your spouse’s or common-law partner’s surname, with or without a hyphen (it does not matter which surname you use first); or
  • You may assume your spouse’s or common-law partner’s surname and retain your present surname as a given, middle name.
  • All options apply equally to men and women.
  • If you were born in [province], your birth certificate does not change to your married name or common-law partner’s name.

If you are living common-law, it will be necessary to file a declaration with Vital Statistics in order to change your surname.  You will be charged a fee to obtain a certificate of Election of Surname that will provide proof of your new name.

Now, I can see the need for proof of marriage for someone who has just gotten married and wants to change their ID to reflect their chosen new surname.  But once that’s been done, that should be it.  It’s done.  They should not have to prove it all over again, decades later, when absolutely everything that person has is in their legal, married name!

And it’s costing me $120 to get that proof, so I can get a $20 driver’s license.

What a pain!

The Re-Farmer

 

 

Daily Deer, and marking an achievement

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Getting any photos of Hungry Girl and Barbecue this morning was more difficult than usual.  They were extremely nervous today, but I couldn’t see why.

White Tail Deer

White Tail Deer

There was also the issue of glare on the window, which you can see some of in the picture.

Partly, I’m sure there must have been some cats going along the house.  Something was certainly there to catch their hoof stomping attention.

I also think the light hitting the window meant they could see us, and our movements, more, too.  I could barely get to the camera, take off the lens cap and turn it out before they’d dash off.  Even my husband raising his arm to reach for something seemed to startle them more than usual.

Very high strung and nervous.  It wasn’t long before they simply took off and, from the looks of the feed outside, they have not come back.

Perhaps later.

Meanwhile, some time during the night, this blog reached an achievement.  Fifty followers!  So I wanted to say thank you to those of you who have decided to follow our crazy lives through this blog!  It is much appreciated, and I hope you continue to enjoy visiting. :-)

And now, back to trying to figure out where to call to get a copy of my marriage certificate so I can finally get my ID.

The Re-Farmer

And now for something more pleasant

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Critter pictures.  Great for de-stressing.

I didn’t get any photos of deer today.  In fact, the only time I saw them was when I scared them off, returning from one of my outings today.  I just caught the sight of a flashing white tail, disappearing around the house.

My husband sees them more, when the pain has him up much earlier in the day.  At the very least, he saw Hungry Girl and Barbecue come by.  Not sure if it was them I chased off, or Mama and the twins, later on.  None came back while I was at home.

Here are some of the photos of other critters I got today.

Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel

I haven’t been able to get many photos of the squirrels, but I got a couple of good ones today.

Red Squirrel and Chickadee

Bombs away!

Not the best of photos, quality wise, but catching the chickadee looking like like that is pure gold!

Female Redpoll

Female Redpoll

I love how the little birds are so light, they can sit on the very top of twigs and seed pods.

Male Redpoll

Male Redpoll

Focusing past the twigs is always a challenge.

I’m not sure why that purple is there, on the twigs.  It’s in the raw image, and not a side effect of post processing.

Any camera techies that can explain it to me?

The Re-Farmer

 

 

Are You Kidding Me?

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Finally sitting down to my first cup of tea today.

That’s right.  It’s been one of those days where I haven’t even had tea until evening.  ;-)

Green tea with chamomile and honey.

I’m definitely going to need me some chamomile!!

Okay.  This morning, I headed out to the post office, remembering that they close at noon on Wednesdays.  The postmaster was there, so I started off letting her know I had an odd question to ask her.

Did she know me?

She kind of hesitated, with a “not really… I mean, I remember you, but I remember your daughters, more.”

Which was fine.  She could confirm my identity.  She remembered me well enough to remember what house we lived in before leaving the province, how many kids I had, and so on.

I was rather impressed, really.  I barely remember any adults from when I was the age she was at when we left the province!

Anyhow.  I explained why I asked and what I was hoping she could do.  She didn’t have to know me well.  She just had to know me.  After looking over the form, she confirmed that she could sign it for me.  I filled out my part (it specifically states that it has to be filled out in front of the person confirming my identity), then she did the rest, while I regaled her with the problems I’ve been having with updating my ID.  I thanked her profusely.  I could finally go and do my driver’s license!  The first step in a series of steps.

I went home first, to take care of some things, like calling my auto insurance company that I got a letter from, saying my file was “incomplete.”  Talking to the guy on the phone, he explained that my coverage was coming up for renewal and, with my new address, they wanted to confirm it should be renewed.  I explained the situation to him.

Apparently, quite a few people are having the same problem.

As it stands now, my auto-renewal kicks in after March 30.  It would be really good if I can get this straightened out before then.  Not because I’ll lose my insurance, but that if I have to cancel soon after, I will be charged a cancellation fee.  If I cancel before March 30, there will be no fee.

Nice of them to consider that.

Meanwhile, he attached notes to my file about my transfer being delayed and why.

That done, I headed into the next town with all my paperwork to get started on updating my driver’s license.

There was a different woman at the counter this time, so I explained from the start why I was there, and what I had to confirm my identity.

Well, it turns out it didn’t matter.

They still need my marriage certificate.

She even phoned the main office to confirm.  She even gave them my name and information, and they found me in their system from when I last had a license in this province, back in 2004.

Yes, they have me on record with my hyphenated name.

However, because it’s been so long, they have to start over (if I’d moved back within 2 years, it wouldn’t have been an issue).

A marriage certificate is the ONLY document they will accept to do that.

Ugh.

After getting home, I started going through a bin I hadn’t finished unpacking yet that had papers in it, hoping that it might be in there, but nope.  Nothing.

There’s really no point in trying to find it.  I’ll have to phone Vital Statistics and get a new copy.

Who knows how long that will take?

I had even asked her if I should drop half my name and go back to using just my birth name but, as I expected, it would still be the same problem, since my current ID is all in my married name.

I just can’t get over what a pain this is.

At least it’ll be easier for my husband and daughters!

The Re-Farmer

Un. Be. Lievable. Part Two

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Drove out to get the mail today.

First, the good news.

Our daughters now both have their new medical care cards.  Yay!

The bad news.

My husband and I got our forms and photo copy of our birth certificates back.

Two problems.  They want a more legible copy of my husband’s birth certificate.  His had gone through a wash in a back pocket many decades ago, so it’s in rough shape, but still readable in its plastic holder.  Apparently, the photo copy wasn’t good enough.  I was able to read it, but whatever.

I’m thinking I’ll take a very well lit photograph of it, use software to bring out the text even more, then print that out and see if it will be good enough.

Then there was me.

Guess what they want from me?

Yup.

My marriage certificate.

Keep in mind that until 2004, I had a medical card in this province, using my married name.  I still have the darn thing.  But if I want my card to have my married name on it, they want a copy of my marriage certificate.

So not only can I not get my driver’s license transferred because my birth certificate doesn’t match my hyphenated married name, I can’t get my medical card, either.

And the 3 month limit is up.  They’re still billing our previous province, but how much longer can they do that?

And how much longer can we drive our van with out of province plates?

I was thinking I need to call my insurance company again and let them know what’s going on.  Turns out, I got mail from them, too, with a letter saying my file is incomplete.

No kidding.

So that’s on the to-do list for tomorrow.

I can’t believe that after using my married name for almost 30 years, this is now suddenly a problem.

I’m starting to wonder if I should just stop using my hyphenated name and go back to using my birth name.  But then, that name won’t match my current driver’s license or vehicle registration.  Even our content insurance, which I was able to update to our new location, has my hyphenated married name on it.

Un. Be. Lievable.

How is anyone supposed to be able to wade through all this in only 3 months?

The Re-Farmer