Summer Time and the writing has slowed ....

Just saying... I have a really good reason for not posting any notes. Frankly I've been having far too much fun to be sitting down in front of my computer. I have however, been taking photos and such so I can recount the activities. I'll try to summerize things.

Sailing on Monday and Wednesday evenings has become my constant, the rest has been an exercise in adaptability of scheduling. I sometimes don't know what I'm heading for next and therefore, tend to be going where the winds blow me... LOL but, they have been great winds.

Let's get started. Sailing Regatta at the Ch'town Yacht Club was a blast. For 3 days we sailed and in the end we won 3rd place in our class, and 3rd place in another standing... which I don't understand yet but hope to by this time next year!

Tree Go zipline adventure

This is just one of the many things I've enjoyed this summer. It is just 2 hours from Ch'town. Located in Moncton NB and it's the best $30 dollars I've spent all summer. It took three hours and never boring or dangerous. Then again... I'm sometimes referred to as a monkey when I'm working up high. Someday perhaps I'll act my age, but not for this point in time. LOL http://www.treegomoncton.com/english.html

Check it out. Can't say enough good things about the experience, the people running it, or the people we met while playing in the trees.

Aside from really making the package look good (sorry ladies.. it reallllly does!) the equipment (their's not our's) is top notch as is their course. There were NO weakness or questionable aspects to the entire experience. I always felt safe and ready to experience the event without any fear of injury. On the down side, after three hours of playing in the tree tops, it's wise to take in some water. We didn't realize how dry we were until we completed the whole course. Just like kids playing in the rain.. too involved in the event to pay attention to those minor things like.... thirst. :P

This weekend I want to spend some time working on my stream bridge, make it to Blooming Point for an afternoon, attend our friend Wayne's summer party, as well as go Kayaking with my man. All in all.. a nice PEI summer weekend. I'll take pictures along the way to post.

Once my friends come over from Sackville NB for the weekend, we'll spend a day exploring the clay roads around my neck of the woods. That will make for an excellent photo session.

To my friends on the sailboat, it's been a great summer so far and thanks for including me as one of the crew. To our fiend Allan to went zip-lining with us, had a great time and can't wait to make it the four of us. To all of those who want to join us the next time or come out on the boat... let me know and we'll make plans. Our summers are too short to not take advantage of them at this point in time.

As you may have guessed by now, my partner and I aren't your normal everyday gay couple... we lack the ... hmm how to put this... refinement necessary to run in the other direction when wild animals show up at our back door!

I grew up in NB and for the most part, think of wild animals as wonderful additions to the forest area but had not related to them as anything more than a possible road bump to avoid.. okay.. I've not been a great animal activist in my past.

Darrin on the other hand, can have his day go to hell in a hand basket with a bird dive bombing his car in a suicide act reminiscent to the Japanese fighter pilots of old movies... only in this case, they are much smaller and are of the red breasted species!

Together we rival the Sigfried and Roy status in our little world of South Melville. It started with me making friends with the birds at the feeders and then making a bet with Darrin that I could have them feeding out of my hand if I wanted.. it went rapidly downhill from there! The birds were easy, the squirrels were more difficult but then.. Oh My Gawd.. the raccoons were beyond easy to have hand trained. I felt like we were in a smaller version of some Disney reality show where others saw what was happening, but we were oblivious to the events surrounding us.

Needless to say, Darrin's love of animal life and my desire to control things have ended us up in hot water. We have named all of the squirrels Sherylie because... well.. you really can't tell them apart. The humming birds have names, but, and make a note of this.. all four of the raccoons have specific names. There was Scrapper, Miss Pittypat and one more who's name escapes me at the moment, whom Darrin named when they stared showing up in early March.

Not to be outdone, I wanted to name one so the next new addition I got to name and the only thing I could come up with was TammyFaye because of the darkness around the eyes.. sad .. but that was my best. In the end, all of the raccoons have ventured away over the last few months and we're left with TammyFaye showing up at least once a night. She is the BEST FED animal in our neck of the woods and yes, we do know you shouldn't feed the wildlife.

TammyFaye is no longer 'wildlife' as it's defined in Webster's Dictionary. TammyFaye is a Disney version of wildlife. She has her own dish, a special menu of dry cat food, peanuts, dog treats, trail mix, and at times Ritz cheese and crackers. We've justified feeding her now because she's obviously a mother of several kits based on the sagginess. The girl just needs to take care of herself.. she'll never get her girlish figure back.

So, TammyFaye comes when you whistle for her and she'll sit up on her bench.. yes.. she has a bench for her food. You don't expect her to sit on the ground like the common animals do you?

Once August hits we'll start cutting back on the food in the dish, but I doubt it because that's when I suspect she'll bring along the irresistible babies for us to go ga-ga over. It's inevitable and we all know it.

For now, this is fine with me. It keeps us from wanting to replace the dogs in our lives we lost, both over the last year. Our misfortune will be TammyFaye's good fortune. At least until the fall when we move back into town and she goes into her winter sleep.

Sailing with friends

You may not have guessed this but I'm sometimes a little difficult to peg when it comes to what you think I'd be up to. As a transplanted Islander, CFA (come from away), I'm without borders. I can choose to be as off-the-wall as I want. You may catch me sewing a button on the shirts at home, chopping wood for winter heat at the cottage, programming spreadsheets or out sailing. Hell.. I sometimes thing I'm multi-polar when it comes to my activities! I don't just think about it, I tend to go out and do it. Sometimes it wears me down too much, but it's better than sitting back and being bored and wondering what might have been.. as the saying goes.

Tonight, for example, we went out sailing even though it was a very cold, wet and windy evening. The sailing has never been so exciting. We were being pushed beyond our comfort zone and at one point we came about 4 feet away from another boat in a tight cross-over. The whole thing was frought with "edge". Liza, Mary's partner agreed to fill in for another person who couldn't make it tonight. All in all.. great time, great memory of the night.

I can't wait to take visitors out with us sometime and share the experience.

History in the making on PEI

Well, today I was part of something that really didn't register in my mind until someone pointed out the obvious. We have just formed the legal entity called the PEI Gay Tourism Association. The coolest thing of all was that it was pointed out by a straight person who stated "We're witnessing history in the making and now maybe things will get shaken up a little". How fantastic was that to hear!

To everyone who has been part of this, thank you for including me and for those who are just reading this for the first time, Welcome to PEI's Gentle Island where we do indeed include all.

http://www.arcofpei.com/reviews.html

Pride listing for 2009 on PEI.. just one of the things you can look forward to.

Pansies and Gay Gardners go hand in hand

To those who don't find my title funny... too bad! My blog, my thoughts... you are not in the driver's seat. :P



I'm feeling a little empowered today. The weather is showing promise, the plants in the greenhouse are actually growing, and the dirt lanes are now open and the freshest of greenery has exploded across the island. All good things have come to those of us who have waited.... and whined.



With the summer months, the returning of the Tourists, and I'm out and about with a renewed sense of drive. I also have several coffee in me at the moment as well.

On the weekend I created yet another plant bed with the assistance of my father-in-law's tractor. I'm glad the guy I love happens to have a farmer dad up the road. Anyway, the island stone raised bed now had the beginnings of giant pumpkins along with watermelon plants. I have to be careful with the plant side of things. Last year my tomato plants took on a life of their own. I didn't know a tomato plant could grow over 7 feet high... and all those tomatoes... OMG ... everywhere.

This year I've scaled back a lot. I'm going with Grapevine slips to see if I can begin a small vinyard of my own over the next few years. With 10 acres to play with.. I can do just about anything I want... so why not.

I've got some handyman jobs for friends, one being the renovation of a cabin near the Confederation Bridge. He wants to rent what used to be a family cabin so that it's suitable for vacationers. The difference between a 'Family' cottage and a 'Rental' cottage is about 6000 worth the work! In the end, he's got a new 12 x 25 ft deck, new floors, refitted bathroom, new paint and tongue and groove trim, and trimwork.

I'll have to get pictures and insert them into this posting later on. I've already got one friend who is going to sail up the straight and take the cottage for a weekend. All-n-all... a nice little get away plan.

Everyone is now out and about

It's now the time of the year when the whole Island comes to life... soon the elusive "Tourist" will return from where ever they winter! LOL



Right now we have wildlife such as raccoons and foxes passing by our cottage door at all times of the day and night. Lucky we don't have anything larger than a dog that is wild on PEI.



Every day something else happens to reinforce that summer is truly upon us. Mind you, be careful for what you wish. You just may get it. Only last night I was told that instead of going to see the latest Star Trek movie out, we were instead heading to S'side to pick up a 1/2 ton of dirt for the front flower garden!



I'm not sure where the love of summer also meant I'd want to give up a movie night out with my partner to play in mud. Perhaps I should check into just where it slid off the rails in order to avoid future occurrences from taking place.

Showers followed by Rainbows!

It is amazing what living on an Island offers that perhaps not many other people can experience. Because we're more 'flat' we can see forever and with rain and sun often always within eyeshot, rainbows are a common sight. Even double rainbows from one end of the arc to the other. Gotta love it!

It has indeed been a very rapid change in surroundings in just two weeks. The grass is now very green, the fresh new leaves are opening and the birds.. wow.. the birds have just landed. Our feeder, although only showing one here, has a full house of feeding birds and some in waiting.

Welcome to the end of spring and the launch of the summer... NOW.. you can enjoy our Island.