Aar, you dear liddle toads missed me! Oi'm as pleazed as can be to be talking to you agin though Oi has been busy of late as we has Springtoime chores to be seein to. Oi loves the Springtoime, Oi truly does. Moi liddle maids is all in calf, they liddle sweethearts. So too is Angela, not calf of course, that would be roight daft. She's in pig Angela is and proud of it! Her liddle tackers will be here roight soon, an Oi for one, is lookin forwaard to they bacon. Roight tasty our Angela"s liddle tackers is. Course we has to fatten they up first. Then we eats um!
We alzo has the spring lambs a gambolling in the medders. They's roight good too with peas, taters and mint sauce. Mother does a loverly lamb paasty. Makes moi mouth aal awatter it does to think on Mothers paasties. Now! now! we'll has none of they smutty thoughts on Mother and her paasties. You townies need to get your moinds out o' they gutters and your hands on some good 'onest Devon muck!
Hoi! Oi hears my Buttercup bellerin! Must be er time. Oi'm comin moi liddle maid. Farmer Giles will see you through moi pet.
Oi has to go. Been roight pleazant talking to ee. Oi'll be back never fear! Oi am roight fond of you liddle toads, even if yez aare lazy city buggaars! Taaraa!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Sugaring Fini
Well the great sugaring adventure of 2009 has come to a gentle halt. The sap was rising all right. It was a full time job getting the buckets empty, strained into the pot, on the stove and back out again. All the while keeping the squirrels at bay as they thought I had kindly put up the pails for them in which to store their peanuts, which I had kindly given them.
Sadly the maple was not a Sugar Maple nor a Norway either. I looked it all up on the Internet and the bark , the sap and the leaf all looked like our tree. However no amount of boiling could alter the fact that what we were producing was a faint whiff of the real deal. It turned into sugar so I have a very small amount to show for all my troubles. It tastes sweet but not mapley. I am sure it is packed with minerals and is very healthy so it will, tiny bit by tiny bit, get licked off a teaspoon but it is a little disappointing...
If and when I do leave Aurora it will be to a home that has Sugar Maples. I have the spiles and buckets and the patience. All I need is the tree.
Sadly the maple was not a Sugar Maple nor a Norway either. I looked it all up on the Internet and the bark , the sap and the leaf all looked like our tree. However no amount of boiling could alter the fact that what we were producing was a faint whiff of the real deal. It turned into sugar so I have a very small amount to show for all my troubles. It tastes sweet but not mapley. I am sure it is packed with minerals and is very healthy so it will, tiny bit by tiny bit, get licked off a teaspoon but it is a little disappointing...
If and when I do leave Aurora it will be to a home that has Sugar Maples. I have the spiles and buckets and the patience. All I need is the tree.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Sabi
I don't know what made me think of her but our dog of long ago was in my mind this afternoon so here she is once again. In print this time.
She was, we think, a Basque Shepherd. Fairly large and all black, with a lovely gentle nature, though she shed like a buggar. We found her abandoned in a parking lot near the nuclear energy plant in Pickering. She was approaching every white car that arrived and came to us. Someone had been feeding her peanuts as she had been there for days. As soon as I heard that I was on to the local animal shelter who had no idea when they could rescue her as there was nobody free to get her. Great! The poor beast could not be left, so home she came. The young'uns were thrilled! She rode in the back seat between them being adored, though she ponged like you would not believe. We gave her a bath; more thrills! The cat left home in a huff; consternation!
He came back of course. Never met a cat who was unaware of a good thing when he saw it. We wrapped her up in a pink blanket and laid her on the carpet in the living room with a kiddiwink on either side petting her and she started to cry. I hope I never have to hear such a thing again.
It has been over 30 years since we found Sabi and remembering her crying has me upset all over again. What is it with animals? People can die all around us and yet a pet goes west and we are unglued. Sabi was with us for a good long time and kept us all safe. She wasn't above nipping an ankle or two if she thought her charges were getting out of line. She ended up at the vet's for the coup de gras one sad day as she had developed doggy Alzheimers and began to snap and snarl at the new arrival. New arrival was sadly held to blame for the death in the family by one of her siblings. For a while at least.
Dogs have come and gone since. The last one was a doozy[ he deserves a blog of his own some day!] but none were as sweet as our Sabi. I have no need of a dog but were I to find one again like her I would be sorely tempted. And of course, the cat would leave home!
She was, we think, a Basque Shepherd. Fairly large and all black, with a lovely gentle nature, though she shed like a buggar. We found her abandoned in a parking lot near the nuclear energy plant in Pickering. She was approaching every white car that arrived and came to us. Someone had been feeding her peanuts as she had been there for days. As soon as I heard that I was on to the local animal shelter who had no idea when they could rescue her as there was nobody free to get her. Great! The poor beast could not be left, so home she came. The young'uns were thrilled! She rode in the back seat between them being adored, though she ponged like you would not believe. We gave her a bath; more thrills! The cat left home in a huff; consternation!
He came back of course. Never met a cat who was unaware of a good thing when he saw it. We wrapped her up in a pink blanket and laid her on the carpet in the living room with a kiddiwink on either side petting her and she started to cry. I hope I never have to hear such a thing again.
It has been over 30 years since we found Sabi and remembering her crying has me upset all over again. What is it with animals? People can die all around us and yet a pet goes west and we are unglued. Sabi was with us for a good long time and kept us all safe. She wasn't above nipping an ankle or two if she thought her charges were getting out of line. She ended up at the vet's for the coup de gras one sad day as she had developed doggy Alzheimers and began to snap and snarl at the new arrival. New arrival was sadly held to blame for the death in the family by one of her siblings. For a while at least.
Dogs have come and gone since. The last one was a doozy[ he deserves a blog of his own some day!] but none were as sweet as our Sabi. I have no need of a dog but were I to find one again like her I would be sorely tempted. And of course, the cat would leave home!
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