Labour Day home treks

It's now the weekend following the Labour Day Weekend. I have to tell you, the short week seemed longer than the regular week.... and I love my job! LOL

Last weekend I jammed as much into the period as possible. It was my so called Line in the Sand, for the summer's objectives. For all the days I said I'd go kayaking, working on projects and just plain old relaxing... I did in 4 days. I swore I'd enjoy local opportunities if it killed me. Well, it didn't kill me. Just the opposite as a matter of fact.

I started my weekend by working from home on the Friday morning just to get a jump on the resting. I'm an odd duck.. no need to point out the obvious. I started by getting the yard work out of the way. Mowing was first on the list since it really isn't a chore now that I have a ride-on mower.

Next came the planting of the trees we purchased early in the summer. Yes, you are reading that correctly. We bought trees early in the spring/summer and I still hadn't planted them. I could say it was because I was trying to place them for the optimum effectiveness, but that would be a lie. I lied a lot to a great number of people this summer. Matter of fact, any time someone asked why I had a beautiful Japanese Red Maple sitting in a pot next to the front walk. I'd say "oh, I can't make up my mind where to plant it so I'm just trying it in different locations". I ended up planting it in the last spot because I got tired of moving it around so it wasn't obvious I was just being lazy. I hope it lives at the end of the house. I hope I can find some way to explain the awkward angle it seems to have ended up having when I stomped the dirt in around the tree.

By the way, a word to the wise, don't throw away the tag that goes with the tree. Apparently it has valuable information on where to plant the tree and if that burlap wrap should stay on or come off. I opted for stay on in the hope that the roots would eventually work their way through. If not, I mark it off to Gawd's Will! It had nothing to do with sitting in that pot the whole summer. Besides, what kind of tree survives a whole summer in a pot with less watering than a cacti in the Sahara Desert, only to end up dieing once it's placed in real earth!

That Saturday morning I did do some work on my bridge to finally, once and for all, finish something I started. Well almost. It is technically finished, but I'd like to do more to it. As you can see here, it's a nice traditional bridge. It spans 25 feet across and is a wood clad metal frame to give the impression that it isn't too sturdy. It WAS intentional. I didn't want the local ATV users to think it was their way across the water. In essence, the bridge is made for ME to be able to cross the water, once I can afford an ATV. :P

On Sunday morning my friend Elly came over and we borrowed my partner's dad's 1/2 ton truck and took off with the kayaks down the Bonshaw river. The day was perfect. Elly had never been down this river before it was my first time taking the river out into the larger river area. It took about 2 1/2 hours but it was breathtaking. I'll have to do it again in the fall when the leaves have changed.

The rest of the weekend was spent just enjoying the weather and puttering around. I did PUTTER more in the tree planting activity on Monday. I now have over 30 new young trees planted around the yard. Darrin helped by pointing out that my arrangement wasn't natural enough so he strategically arranged them in 'natural' formats so as to look natural but good. Lucky for me Darrin is able to improve on Mother Nature's trade. Not many could get away with showing up Mother Nature, but he does! LOL

This weekend I have my grandchildren out for the night and tomorrow morning we're off for a breakfast with friends just before we all go out sailing. I'm holding off posting this until I bring back pictures of the day. I hope there are some keepers out of it so they'll have precious memories for a lifetime.

Waterworks works!

Great times on the Water and in the water

Last week we had a fantastic time on Wednesday evening. The weather was perfect, warm but the wind was a tad bit too low for strong sailing. That was just fine with me because I'm learning the process for flying the Spiniger Sail. I'd rather learn to do it with less wind and gradually move into stronger winds with more confidence.

Hope, Mary and myself were able to pull it off together even though we were missing Elly for that night. All went well and no major issues other than my ability to figure out where all of the sheets (ropes to the sails) were coming from and going to!

On Friday night we had my partner's mom and dad, plus his sister, join us for fireworks in the upper part of the yard. It's our way of celebrating when my grandchildren come out for the night. The evening found us sitting out in the lawn chairs in a semi-circle as I managed to set the fireworks off without burning my finger tips! It lasted for about 30 minutes with the amount I had on hand. After our little light show, we had a call from an appreciative neighbour who also had grandchildren visiting. Fireworks go a long way when set off in the countryside. LOL.. we warned the neighbours first just so as to not cause issues.

We filled the short stay at the cottage with a lot. I taught Theresa how to use a ride-on mower... somewhat!, we had fireworks, played in the yard with watersides, watched some movies, had great BBQs... a very fun time.

This weekend my partner Darrin and I are supposed to go hiking but due to work demands he'll not be joining me. I'll just go into the back fields and explore the old clay roads for a spell or head out for a sail up the coast to a little village call Victoria.

It's kept it's country charm while addressing the tourist market..it's a busy little spot as far as what they offer. I'll have to get more pictures of the surrounding area but here are a few.

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.