Expanding the family again...

But this time in the more conventional way. We are expecting baby #2, the final addition to our human family.

All I can say to that right now is WOW! I'm still in shock I think. I know it will become more real as the barfing goes away and the baby gets bigger... yikes. 2 kids!!! Yeowzers :)

In other news... we have bears. Lots of bears. It feels like they have us surrounded. They know enough not to get into the live trap (filled with oh-so-yummo rotting meat) and they know to hide when people are crashing around in the woods with guns.
Last night I heard the loudest ROOOOAAAAAAARRRR outside. Man, I've gotta tell you, there are few sounds I like less. That sent chills down my spine. Scenes from 'The Ghost in the Darkness' have been flashing through my mind.
Right now it seems that there is a mama and cub (grizzly) and also a large black bear.

Unfortunately our baby llama was killed. I'm SOOOOOOO angry about that. The other llamas obviously put up a huge fight, but couldn't save her. I have a huge hate on for these bears right now. I want to kick some bear's asses.
The conservation officer they sent could be the twin of the Kokanee Ranger in looks and personality. He hasn't been the most helpful guy either. Diiiing Donnnng!
Yeah, the dude even told MEEEE to get in the trap to smear bacon grease on the rest of the rotting meat. H'mmmmmm how about a big ol HELLLLL NO! What a charming guy.

Anyway, I'll keep updating as updates happen.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-CHANGES!

Well, life on the farm is a little bit more interesting. A baby llama was born 2 days ago. Holy crap those little dudes are cute!
Nyla, being Nyla thinks its a good idea to run at the baby screaming in her high pitched excited squeal 'bbbbaaaaaaaabbbbyyyyy llllaaaaammmaaa, come here!" I'm spending more time being a Nyla wrangler than a llama wrangler. Another baby should be making an appearance any day. I'll be posting pics as soon as my dumbass computer will comply with my wishes.

Now that things at home have settled down a bit (as far as Darryl's health is concerned), I've been taking some personal inventory. A lot has happened over the past year, some great some... super shitty, but all in all, I think life is good.

I think I've been realizing more and more that I am who I am, and I'm happy with who I am. I don't feel the need to change for anybody, its a nice place to be.
Now, obviously I know I'm not a perfect person, not even close. I've done some incredibly stupid things... but who can live life saying they didn't do anything stupid? How boring would that be???
I don't regret any 'mistakes' because the mistakes are just part of the journey.

I don't like knowing that my actions have ever hurt people, but sometimes people go out of their way to be hurt, stay hurt and continuously re-live the hurt so that those around them suffer as well, so all I can do is wish them well in their journey and hope that they can eventually find peace within themselves.

There are 2 quotes I love:

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. ~Dr. Seuss

It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for something you are not. ~Andre Gide

I make a few posts about friendships and how amazed I am by the people I call friends. Life is a cycle and things happen to either pull us closer or bring more distance (physically and emotionally), but regardless of where we are in that cycle, time, distance, circumstance... whatever, every person I call a friend will have a place in my heart forever.

I know this doesn't make much sense... I guess its just my rambling for the day. Self discovery is interesting indeed.

I really really REALLY hate dial up...

So, I've been trying to post pictures for AGES but unfortunately my stupid dial up has a very snotty attitude... Hopefully I'll eventually be able to share pictures of our crazy farm.

We have all but one of the llamas here with us now. The last one pulled a Houdini while getting loaded into the trailer, so we decided to give it some time and bring it home next week.
Hailey (our first llama) is sooo much happier having buddies around. They all decided to have a spitting war when they first met, but thankfully the spit did eventually stop flying. Nyla thinks its funny to spit at the llamas. She actually does a great llama spitting imitation :)

They're still a bit pissed that they all got re-located, and since they're new to us its going to take a while for them to trust us.
Now, I look at all these llamas and realize that I'm a freaking llama farmer... my next duty is to SHEAR them... YIKES. I'm starting to think I should practice on my fluffy cat in order to get into the shearing mood.
Llamas who don't quite trust you tend to spit a lot. I have to admit I'm nervous about this process. I have a feeling its going to be a huge gong show... I foresee some half shorn llamas and some patchy llamas and me completely covered in nasty llama spit. ugh. Thankfully we have a chute which should make it a bit easier. My mom is here visiting so maybe I'll convince her that shearing some llamas would be a great opportunity for her :) mwah hahahahaaaaaaa!

We're still going to bring some other animals onto the farm, but we want to make sure that we've got the llamas handled first. I'm waiting for some laying hens...
We don't want to transport a zillion animals across the province either (Llamas are incredibly easy to transport in case you're wondering).
Yeah, everything I talk about now seems to revolve around the farm... I'm lame.

In other news, Darryl is in the midst of his CPAP test (treatment for sleep apnea). I'm extremely happy to report that it really seems to be helping him. Those of you who know Darryl know about his sense of humor (super funny). For at least the last4 months (closer to 6 or 8) he's been so different... no sense of humor, generally grumpy... it was amazing to have that part of him back. I think we laughed for 3 days straight. It really felt like he was gone, and now I have him back. Hard to explain, but still AMAZING.
I know that when he gets his own machine it will make even more of a difference.
So, all in all things here are pretty great. I'm loving the farm life... its scary sometimes because we're learning on the fly, but I have to say that I'm more at peace now then I have been in years. It feels very me. Or I guess I feel very myself... h'mmmmmm, either way it doesn't' make much sense, but I'm sure you get what I'm saying.

Now, if anyone needs some knitted llama gear let me know. I'm going to send the wool away to get spun as soon as I get these beasts sheared.

That's all for now!

Llama spit and other fun things...

So, we picked up Hailey Llama... So far she's ok, but pretty lonely. I'm sure most of you will think we're crazy, but we're making room for 5 more Llamas. Some or all of them might be pregnant, but hey... how much trouble can a baby llama be??
I'm going to send the fiber (wool) away to get spun and some of it dyed, then I'll be knitting for the rest of my freaking life. (yeah, I'm a dorky knitter).
I have to admit that I'm excited about the new arrivals. The woman we're getting them from is going to teach me how to shear them and clip their creepy toe nails... ewwww. I'm ok with shearing, but Llama feet are creepo in my opinion.
The llama is afraid of Nyla. I don't really blame her though. Nyla screeches at her at the top of her lungs... I'd be scared if I were a llama too. She was so scared she spit at us (the llama, not Nyla). That is another kind of creepy altogether...

We had some visitors last week. Kelsey (a friend from massage school) and AJ (a guy we just can't get rid of no matter how hard we try... KIDDING! He's a friend from Smithers).
We had a great time. I know that they both LOVED the farm life and wish they could have stayed forever (heeheeeee), but they're welcome back anytime.
I'm going to post some pics :) I'm sure they'll both be thrilled.
H'mmm, well my internet connection is freaky, so I can't do pics today. I'll try again soon.

Our family is expanding...

Next weekend we will be welcoming...

An Alpaca

A Llama

A cutie pie dog (Great Pyrenees cross)

And about 25 chickens
We had decided not to get any animals until after we move to Smithers, but then all of a sudden in ONE day we found out that all these critters need a home. We have the space, the barn and the chicken coop so why not??? They can all move with us when the time comes :)

We're not 100% sure that the dog will be coming to live with us. We need to make sure she's kid, cat and other animal friendly first. What a cutie though eh??

We need to re-name the Alpaca (Hailey) and Llama (Midnight Silk) because I don't like giving animals human names, and who the hell names a Llama Midnight Silk???? CRAZY people that's who. Poor Llama is probably TOTALLY embarrassed...

Feel free to leave your name suggestions here or call or email me.

If anyone wants to come fix fences or help clean out the nasty barn and chicken coop we'd love the company :) I'll even provide food and beer (Darryl explained that those are the two necessities for this kind of work).

I'll take some pictures when our new family members arrive.

Perfect outside day

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet

and the winds long to play with your hair.

~Kahlil Gibran

Yeah yeah...

Yes, I realize my last post was complete bollocks. Everyone is entitled to a bit of bollocks now and then. So, this post is another complete bollocks post... JUST BECAUSE I CAN!

Crispy fried Anita

I have a sunburn :) That means that the sun was out... yeeee hawwww!
We have been spending most of our time outside trying to clean this insane yard up.
OH and we had a disturbing event... Somehow some critters got into the cistern (water tank) and... well, they are critters no more.
We had to drain it (a couple thousand gallons were still in there) scrub it and bleach it... lets just say it was NOT a party. It reminded me of Anne of Green Gables when Anne finds the dead mouse in the pudding. Yucko.

I also heard that one of my all time favorite TV shows that was cancelled after only 2 seasons is making a movie. It's a straight to DVD movie, but I'm excited.
The show was called 'Dead Like Me'. It is incredibly funny, if you happen to share the same humor as me. It's pretty dark comedy... anyway, its a great show.

There's something else I was going to write about but I can't remember, so I guess I'll leave it at that for now.

Nyla and her Daddy

I've been talking a lot about Darryl's illness and how it has caused difficulties, but now I feel like its important to share more about Nyla's Daddy.
Regardless of how ill Darryl has been, how he feels or what's going on, he is always 100% Nyla's Daddy.
The way they giggle together, or sing, read or play together, the way they look at eachother, and the patient way Darryl teaches Nyla countless things... well, let me just say that this little girl has the kind of Daddy that a lot of people REALLY need/ed or want/ed.
Her Daddy will love her, teach her, comfort her, protect her and will be there to share her joys and her pain. He is completely and utterly devoted to her, he completely and utterly loves her, and he truly does cherish his time with her.
I know that a lot of children don't experience this, and it makes me so grateful for the man that Darryl is. He was made to be a Daddy and I'm sooooooo incredibly lucky/blessed/grateful that he is MY daughter's Daddy.
I guess I just realized that even in the middle of craziness there can still be fairytale moments. And this is one of the best fairytales I have ever seen.

You sir, are truly amazing.

How time flies

Today was our 5th anniversary... how the heck did that happen?? The last 5 years have flown by!

We've had a tough year, but we're looking forward to better things now that we know that Darryl will be ok.
The last 6+ months have sort of been like living with a stranger. I'm looking forward to having my wonderful husband back :)
(Again, cross your fingers that the damage that has been done is reversible!!).

It's so nice to see Darryl have some excitement about life. I know the past year has been very hard on him, but now that he doesn't have to keep wondering and worrying its like a weight has been lifted from him and he's starting to enjoy things again.

Thankyou to our friends and family who have helped us get through this year.
Thankyou for listening to my ranting and sobbing, and sharing my fear and grief. There is absolutely no way we could have made it through this year without you!

So, here's to a new year full of great things!

We spent the day at a park out of town. Here are some of the pictures.


Nyla spent most of the day chasing the ball around.





Another one of her favorite activities... getting flung into the air :)


She went crazy for the swings.


Trying to blow bubbles (me trying to keep bubble goo out of my eyes).

Smoothie face :)

The Diagnosis

We found out that Darryl has severe sleep apnea. We're not sure what kind yet, but he has a week long test (CPAP trial) that will figure all of that out.
He'll most likely be on a respirator at night, and may need surgery to help open his airway, but that's really nothing compared to what he's already been through.
We're pretty happy since they kept hinting it was cancer. I just can't believe it took this long!
So cross your fingers that the damage that has been done to his brain and body (they have been finding increasingly large amounts of tissue death in his system) can be reversed and that he'll be back to normal Darryl SOON.

These boots were made for walking... or actually for hiking...

I'm antsy for a really good hike.
I blame it all on Kieran (my little bro). He's gearing up to start working again (hunting guide), and every time he starts talking about it I get all jealous and antsy. He has the most amazing job (except for the actual hunting part). The good thing about his job is that he has access to parts of the country that most of us don't (ie: fly in, completely secluded camping places with amazing hiking etc, etc.) So, anyone interested in some real backwoods camping, let me know. I'm going to organize a get- away... but obviously it won't happen til we actually MOVE there, so now is your chance to think about it. I'm pretty excited.
Here are some pics Kieran took at work last season. They aren't of the waaaaay backwoods place, but they're still pretty cool. I'm still jealous...

My little bro.

Imagine waking up to this every morning??? Geez... lucky bum.

This is one really good thing about moving to Smithers. I can hike a lot and generally be outside a lot. (I'm tired of living in the land of red-necks).
After much consideration I've decided to invest in some good snowshoes for winter hiking. Now I need some winter hiking buddies (Jenny and Joni, I'm counting on you!!!).

So, all of you who live in the Smithers/Terrace area, do a great hike for me. Take some pictures too...

Good thing I live in the country...

Yesterday I decided to spend some time in the millions of flower beds around this house. They have all been left to grow over for god knows how long, so I was just ripping everything that looked weedish out.
I uncovered some snazzy stone work under the layers of dead stuff, so I was happily cleaning it all up when all of a sudden I felt a bit tickley on my leg. I looked down and found I was being swarmed by ants. Not just a few ants... probably every ant on the planet.
This is where I would like to say that I calmly handled the situation, unfortunately I'm not so calm when I'm being swarmed by ants... In between running far away, jumping around like a crazy person and swearing like a sailor I managed to rip my clothes off and kill all the ants that had managed to crawl into my hair (yes, by repeatedly slapping myself on the head).
When I had calmed down enough to survey the situation (apparently the stone work is in the middle of a friggen huge ant hill), I realized how crazy I looked (jumping around, yelling and slapping yourself in the head are not 'friendly' qualities) I realized just how lucky I am to live in the country where there are no witnesses.

I now have a deeeep hatred for ants, and a new vendetta --- to track down every one of those little bastards and make them pay. Now, the only question is, do I go with a commercial ant killer or do I unleash hell on them with gasoline and a match on top of their stupid hill???

I'll be sure to post pictures of the carnage...

Holy crap I'm in!

I haven't been able to get into my blog lately, so this is a happy surprise.
I'll do a quick update since I have no idea how long this shifty internet connection will actually last.

Ok, where to start...

Imelda, Brad and the kids were here for Easter. We had a freaking great time with them. I made up some nutso stories about the easter bunny, not really thinking they would be taken seriously... apparently kids do believe everything you say :) So now, in case you're wondering, the easter bunny looks like a lumberjack (hat boots and suspenders) drives a little car made of rabbit fur, and comes to have tea with me because we're good buds.
I'll post pics once I get the ok from Imelda (dont' want to post pics of her kids without permission).

Next... Joni is a super cool cat! I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was missing home made chai. Joni send me a wonderful little package of all the bits I need to brew up a pot. So thanks to Joni (and Inderjit's secret recipe) I am now enjoying chai on a daily basis. She also sent some of her Garam Masala (which Nyla LOOOOVES... me too) and the bits to make more when we run out. How cool is this cat??? Pretty darned cool. Thanks a million Chickie!

We've all been sick with what I think is the plague, but is more likely a 'super' bug. (That's what the doctor told us, but we all know how shifty doctors are these days. They probably don't want to spread mass hysteria by admitting that it is in fact the plague... jerks).
I sincerely hope that none of you get this monster bug. It's like the energizer bunny, it just keeps going and going. Apparently some people are sick for 6 bloody weeks. I say HELL NO to 6 weeks... we're on week 2 and I've decided that its going to be over. We will be sad sacks NO MORE. (come on, you know you want to chant with me...)

Our snow is quickly melting away. There is no hope for fixing the bridge now that the river is mongo huge.
One interesting surprise left behind in the snow, is piles and piles of deer and moose crap. NICE. Nyla sees the deer crap and says 'YUMMY'. UUUUUGGGGHH. The day she pops one of those turds in her mouth is the day I start leaving my peace loving ways behind and kicking those deer's asses from here to... somewhere else where they can crap in peace (this is of course after I re-gain consciousness from passing out due to complete gross overload).
Now they'll all probably come back and leave their crap behind just to spite me... OY!

I think that's all for now. I'll add a couple pictures of the cutie pants (Nyla... in case you're thinking I mean myself ;) )
There are bird feeders all over the deck, so she spends a lot of time spying on the birds and squirrels. And the other one is just cute because it is. Her hair is no longer frazzly, I had to do some frazzle management. I'll send pics after she's feeling better.




I hope you're all doing well!

St. Patrick's Day!!!! My favorite day!

I love St. Patrick's Day. It's the top on my list of favorite days. I'm looking forward to reviving our St. Paddy's celebrations... ah, the fun of it.

"Anyone acquainted with Ireland knows that the morning of St.Patrick’s Day consists of the night of the 17th of March flavored strongly with the morning of the 18th."
- Anonymous

I'm going to add some pictures to this post, mostly because our site survey revealed that highspeed is out of the question out here. Sigh... so I just have to get them posted, even if it takes a bazillion hours.

This one makes me laugh every time. She comes by her dorkiness honestly. I had just taken off the glasses and hat...


Our first day in the new house Darryl decided to bubble wrap Nyla for safety :)


Now, in other news... Darryl has chosen the location of our next move... It won't be Terrace. Close but no cigar... have you guessed??? Smithers. That's right, I said Smithers. I was very unsure about this move at first, but I'm starting to get used to the idea. It's a town focused on the outdoors, so how can it be bad right? AND we're finally going to build our dome house!!!!! I'm beyond excited about that.
Laurie (Darryl's sister) is moving there in June, so we're looking forward to some hang out time. Nyla is excited about seeing her Aunty 'Gogeeeee' :)
Now we're going to start working on getting Kevin (my bro), Ashley and their cutie pants Devlin to move to the area.
Speaking of Devlin, he's doing well. Still waiting for a brain scan, but they think they can hold off on the surgery for his kidneys until he's a year + old. I'm hoping he'll end up not needing it at all. He's still going to be in PG for a month... we're missing the little dude... and Ashley too.

And here's a long overdue picture of Devlin (with Darryl and Nyla...)


That's all for now. I couldn't post this last night due to dial up reasons, so now I'm going to go be nice to my aching head. Hope you had a great St. Patrick's Day!

Another Update

I just heard from Ashley (sis in law). Devlin has bacterial meningitis caused and problems with his kidneys.
Due to the meningitis there is a chance that he could have suffered brain damage. He'll have a brain scan next week. It won't be able to tell them for certain one way or another, but it might be able to give them an idea. They'll have to wait until he grows up to see if there are any effects.
His kidneys aren't functioning properly. They'll inject him with some dye sometime in the next week or so to see what exactly is going on. I can't remember exaclty what she said is wrong, but they'll find out if he needs surgery after that test. Thankfully they can do the surgery with a scope thingy, so it would be much less invasive.
They'll be in PG for at least another 3 weeks. Its already been a long hard process for them and its still just beginning!
It really sucks to not be able to do anything to help. Please keep them all in your thoughts.

PS: Yes, we're all getting juiced up with anti-meningitis meds.

Yikes!

So, they've discovered that Devlin (my nephew), has meningitis. He's very sick and will be in PG for at least another week. I'm not sure if he'll be moved again.
I'll keep you posted.

PS: I have tons of pictures to post, but its maddening trying to do that with dial-up, so they'll have to wait.

Poor little dude :(

My little newborn nephew, Devlin, was airlifted with Ashley to PG tonight. Nobody is sure what's wrong yet, but we're hoping they can get it figured out there and not have to send them on to Edmonton or Vancouver. Kevin and Ashley are understandably pretty upset,so keep them in your thoughts!

Things here are moving along. I still have a mountain of boxes to unpack (how did I accumulate all this crap???)but there are millions of better things to do, so I'm procrastinating on going through the stored boxes. If I survived without it for this long I sure don't need it now!

The bridge I was so excited about fixing is now kaputz... Stupid beavers decided to gnaw down a tree and let it fall on the remainder of the bridge... I'm not so happy with them right now.

We've decided that our little farm needs a couple of Alpacas. We've done some reading and found that they're really pretty neat animals. They're protective like dogs, smart, and I can get the fiber (that's what they call the wool) spun into actual wool. Yes, I'm a nerd who knits... and alpaca wool is apparently as soft as cashmere and warmer than sheep wool.
There's a woolen mill not too far from us that I can send it to (totally don't have the patience to do it myself...) Be expecting toques (Translation for my american friends: toque = winter hat) ;) mitts, scarves... I'm especially good with scarves :) I'm going to start some Irish cableknit patterns for sweaters... this is all if I have some time next winter. And YES, if I send you something I DO expect you to wear it... even if it looks funny and has ear flaps. GOT IT!
I've also been making things out of old barn wood, but I promise not to make anyone take any of that stuff... yet...

Now, I'm going to share a story that makes me look like a total hick, but it makes me feel a bit like MacGyver... I was trying to find a way to haul wood to the house without having to do a zillion trips because I usually have Nyla with me, and gathering wood from the woodshed is not one of her favorite passtimes...
One day while Nyla and I were exploring I found half of an old car hood. I tied some rope to it and made a wood sled that works like a hot damn. I can load a ton of wood on that thing and it just zooms along on the snow. I feel like a superstar... a nerdy one, but still a superstar.
Unfortunately it doesn't pull well over grass, so I'm now the proud owner of a wonderful, bright red wheelbarrow :)
I feel like a total hick, pretty soon I'll be asking "Do you and the missus want to come on over with those cute little tater tots of yours and deep fry us a turkey??"
Someone save me from myself...

Alive and well

Our move went surprisingly smoothly. I'm sooooooooo happy to have it behind me and now can enjoy our new home. I LOOOOVE it out here :) Nyla and I have spent hours exploring outside and trying to get things organized a bit (I'm so happy that she's an outside kid... she hates being cooped up inside). We're working on the chicken coop now so when spring finally arrives (please please!!!) we'll have a happy little house for the chickens. There isnt' really much to do to it, it just takes longer with a little one helping out.
There's also a really great barn... so I'm trying to convince Darryl that a really great barn needs to be filled with some really great critters. I'm not sure which critters yet... I'll let you know what we decide.

I was finally able to go take a good look at that little bridge. Unfortunately, during the last storm we had, a tree crashed on top of the rest of it. I've decided to cut that one up for firewood and start again. (NOt like I have much choice after it has been crushed...)

Now, for some exciting news... Kevin and Ashley's baby was born at 11:10 pm on February 28th (almost a leap year baby). His name is Devlin Adam Leach, he was exactly 7 lbs and was 19 inches long. I'll post a pic once I get the ok from them.
I have never been so proud of my big bro. He was giddy when Devlin was finally born, and he is quite the proud Daddy. He had an unfortunate experience involving diaper changing and explosive baby poo (sprayed the wall and Kevin happened to be in the way)... but he has a great sense of humor about it all. It's been pretty great to see him so happy.
I have to say that he handled being surrounded by Ashley's family very well too. (Even I had a fight with her grandma...)

Kieran and Dawn came to visit to celebrate my Dad's birthday with us. It was really nice having them here. Dawn and I went exploring places on the farm that I can't take Nyla. We found some treasures, and some super creepy crap too... I'm starting to wonder about the people who were here before us...

I think that's all the news for now. I'm stuck with dialup since we still haven't had the site survey done...hopefully it will be possible to get wireless because dialup sucks ASS! I can't believe how AWFULLLLL it is. I really don't have much time to be online anyway, so its not the end of the world, but cross your fingers for us.

I hope you're all doing well!

See ya later!

We're officially, sort of moved :) We will be completely moved tomorrow. This is my least favorite part of moving... being half here and half there. BUT it will be over soon!
We still don't know when the site survey dude is going to show up, so who knows how long we'll be without internet.
Next time you hear from me I'll be in full farm mode. Up to my knees in chicken shit... or horse shit... or bull shit :) bahhahaaaaa. I know I'm not funny. I'm just tired.
See ya later alligators!