I know you are out there ... Leave us a comment, a praise, even a critique. We would like to hear how we are doing. Do you like the one long paragraph or the three parts ??? Would you like us to put pictures on here or save them for FaceBook ??? By the way ... we are starting a FaceBook page for the Big Red Beharrell Farm.
Check it out later this weekend.
Thanks for reading and welcome to our barns,
The Lims
Thursday 27 September 2012
Wednesday 26 September 2012
A Hitch and Another Tractor ???
Rusty Bolts and Popped Hitches
To continue the Tale of Chilliwack we must add a little information about our knowledge about hitches. A few years or maybe 5 years back ... The Lim Family (including Kenny ... Dada Bear {daddy to his 3 little mice} and Peach {soul mate to Mama Bear}) decided to take a trip across Canada with our 19 ft travel trailer "Mama Bear's Den". Many long hours of driving in a hot car with 3 kids, a dog, and 2 grumpy parents doesn't always make for the best of trailer and hitch experiences. We would park after a long day ... backing up, fighting about backing up and crashing into things with the trailer while backing up. Finally we would get parked and often we would barely have the energy to unhitch, eat and get ready for bed. The better mornings were when we were able to leave the truck hitched to the trailer for the night. The insane mornings were the ones when we would have to unhitch the trailer at night and re-hitch it in the morning. Our trailer was old and so was its hitch ... we would generally line it up approximately then kick it or jump on it to get it to attach. We only lost the connection once over the whole trip and thanks God it was not while we were driving. We had parked and it rolled backward into a tree. Whew.
The Hitch Experts
Okay all this being said about hitches ... Mama and D-Y knew a little about faulty ones. D-Y used his skills and lowered and raised the trailer many times in order to change the tire. The true fact was that the bolts were rusty and hard to loosen. Mama and D-Y had to work together to get the old tire off. Boy we sure were glad for the "Tire Jack Thingy shaped like an X" (more commonly known as a "Lug Wrench") The Ditch jokes continued as D-Y jumped on the wrench while Mama leaned on the trailer with all her weight in strategic locations. Finally when we got it changed, the hitch decided to give us trouble. We knew it fit before we changed the tire ... so what the heck was happening now? We tried to roll the trailer back and forth on the ball ... no connection. We tried to back into the trailer with the truck ... no connection. We tried to jump on it ... a slight connection. Mama was losing it so we, (mostly Mama) decided to just hope it slipped into place while we were driving. We took off down the road from Chilliwack to Yarrow which isn't quite as close as you might think. Mama and D-Y were giggling again and fighting over sunglasses when Mama decided to hit some railroad tracks doing 50 km an hour. Okay maybe it wasn't a decision so much as a brief glance away from the road. Naturally the "slightly-Hitched Trailer" bounced off of it's small connection point and dragged along the road. Laughing and saying "of course" ... Mama pulled over and we assessed the damage. Surprisingly not much damage ... some more dents in the trailer front ... some twisting of the attached jack unit and some bending of the hitch itself. As we stood there checking it out ... a nice couple stopped and asked if we were okay. Apparently they had been behind us and watched the sparks fly. We told them we were fine and by jumping up and down on the hitch harder this time ... we got it connected. Really connected this time. By the way ... if any of you are wondering ... metal gets very hot when dragged along an asphalt road. Mama knows this cause she grabbed it to lift it onto the ball hitch (or hitch ball ... whichever that is).
Just drive across the Lawn
Through the rest of Yarrow ... Mama now drove at a slower pace. We arrived at a house with a bunch of Wooden Planter Wheelbarrows out in front. Wagon wheels, Milk Cans, and Watering Can planters were Mama's objects of desire at this location. We knocked on the front door and waited ... A big friendly dog came up and slobbered on D-Y. We heard a voice of welcome and waited a little longer. A heavy set man with a cane ambled over and greeted us ... Mama gave her usual greeting of "Howdy ... Cynthia from craigslist" D-Y isn't sure whether Mama thinks that she works for craigslist or are they just good friends? The man opened up his garage and Mama fell in love with some Amish Wagon Wheels. The difference in the Amish buggy wheels and the usual wagon wheels are the size and the materials used. The Amish wheels are almost double the height of the others and are made of Iron. The usual wheels sometimes use some iron in their construction and are mostly made of wood (which rots and decays quicker). 2 water-can planters, a wooden wheelbarrow planter, an old red milk can and two Amish buggy wheels later ... D-Y is loading up the trailer and the car. Mama barters a bit on pricing and the guy even throws in a free hanging planter full of purple petunias. D-Y continues to load everything up ... saying loudly for Mama to "really hear him" ... "We are all full up". The guy says to Mama come on out back and just look at what else I have ... maybe for next time. We amble off down a slight hill into the backyard which is full of old farming equipment (some rusty ... some painted Green and Yellow >>> John Deere colours?) Mama tells him she loves the Rusty old Equipment but our acreage is just too small. "Oh I have just what you need ... a Tractor" says the guy ... Didn't Mama just say that the property was "too small" ..... We come around a corner, and huddled under a tree are three little folk art tractors. Orange, Brown and Red ... they look like little lost orphans, and it was all Mama could do not to take them all. She chose the biggest, scruffy looking red one and back up the hill they went. Have to say though ... D-Y had been a little nervous to see Mama wandering off into the back acreage with some crazy looking guy who had just told us he was "on medication" and smelled a whole lot like Marijuana. Mama told D-Y later that she "figured she could take him because of the cane". Just as we are about to take off and were assessing how to back the trailer out of his driveway ... the guy says "just drive across the lawn ... I have to dig the whole thing up next week anyway" What a huge contrast the day had been .... from pristine driveway to "just drive across the lawn". Boy we love the country.
Thanks for reading and welcome to our barns,
The Lims
To continue the Tale of Chilliwack we must add a little information about our knowledge about hitches. A few years or maybe 5 years back ... The Lim Family (including Kenny ... Dada Bear {daddy to his 3 little mice} and Peach {soul mate to Mama Bear}) decided to take a trip across Canada with our 19 ft travel trailer "Mama Bear's Den". Many long hours of driving in a hot car with 3 kids, a dog, and 2 grumpy parents doesn't always make for the best of trailer and hitch experiences. We would park after a long day ... backing up, fighting about backing up and crashing into things with the trailer while backing up. Finally we would get parked and often we would barely have the energy to unhitch, eat and get ready for bed. The better mornings were when we were able to leave the truck hitched to the trailer for the night. The insane mornings were the ones when we would have to unhitch the trailer at night and re-hitch it in the morning. Our trailer was old and so was its hitch ... we would generally line it up approximately then kick it or jump on it to get it to attach. We only lost the connection once over the whole trip and thanks God it was not while we were driving. We had parked and it rolled backward into a tree. Whew.
The Hitch Experts
Okay all this being said about hitches ... Mama and D-Y knew a little about faulty ones. D-Y used his skills and lowered and raised the trailer many times in order to change the tire. The true fact was that the bolts were rusty and hard to loosen. Mama and D-Y had to work together to get the old tire off. Boy we sure were glad for the "Tire Jack Thingy shaped like an X" (more commonly known as a "Lug Wrench") The Ditch jokes continued as D-Y jumped on the wrench while Mama leaned on the trailer with all her weight in strategic locations. Finally when we got it changed, the hitch decided to give us trouble. We knew it fit before we changed the tire ... so what the heck was happening now? We tried to roll the trailer back and forth on the ball ... no connection. We tried to back into the trailer with the truck ... no connection. We tried to jump on it ... a slight connection. Mama was losing it so we, (mostly Mama) decided to just hope it slipped into place while we were driving. We took off down the road from Chilliwack to Yarrow which isn't quite as close as you might think. Mama and D-Y were giggling again and fighting over sunglasses when Mama decided to hit some railroad tracks doing 50 km an hour. Okay maybe it wasn't a decision so much as a brief glance away from the road. Naturally the "slightly-Hitched Trailer" bounced off of it's small connection point and dragged along the road. Laughing and saying "of course" ... Mama pulled over and we assessed the damage. Surprisingly not much damage ... some more dents in the trailer front ... some twisting of the attached jack unit and some bending of the hitch itself. As we stood there checking it out ... a nice couple stopped and asked if we were okay. Apparently they had been behind us and watched the sparks fly. We told them we were fine and by jumping up and down on the hitch harder this time ... we got it connected. Really connected this time. By the way ... if any of you are wondering ... metal gets very hot when dragged along an asphalt road. Mama knows this cause she grabbed it to lift it onto the ball hitch (or hitch ball ... whichever that is).
Just drive across the Lawn
Through the rest of Yarrow ... Mama now drove at a slower pace. We arrived at a house with a bunch of Wooden Planter Wheelbarrows out in front. Wagon wheels, Milk Cans, and Watering Can planters were Mama's objects of desire at this location. We knocked on the front door and waited ... A big friendly dog came up and slobbered on D-Y. We heard a voice of welcome and waited a little longer. A heavy set man with a cane ambled over and greeted us ... Mama gave her usual greeting of "Howdy ... Cynthia from craigslist" D-Y isn't sure whether Mama thinks that she works for craigslist or are they just good friends? The man opened up his garage and Mama fell in love with some Amish Wagon Wheels. The difference in the Amish buggy wheels and the usual wagon wheels are the size and the materials used. The Amish wheels are almost double the height of the others and are made of Iron. The usual wheels sometimes use some iron in their construction and are mostly made of wood (which rots and decays quicker). 2 water-can planters, a wooden wheelbarrow planter, an old red milk can and two Amish buggy wheels later ... D-Y is loading up the trailer and the car. Mama barters a bit on pricing and the guy even throws in a free hanging planter full of purple petunias. D-Y continues to load everything up ... saying loudly for Mama to "really hear him" ... "We are all full up". The guy says to Mama come on out back and just look at what else I have ... maybe for next time. We amble off down a slight hill into the backyard which is full of old farming equipment (some rusty ... some painted Green and Yellow >>> John Deere colours?) Mama tells him she loves the Rusty old Equipment but our acreage is just too small. "Oh I have just what you need ... a Tractor" says the guy ... Didn't Mama just say that the property was "too small" ..... We come around a corner, and huddled under a tree are three little folk art tractors. Orange, Brown and Red ... they look like little lost orphans, and it was all Mama could do not to take them all. She chose the biggest, scruffy looking red one and back up the hill they went. Have to say though ... D-Y had been a little nervous to see Mama wandering off into the back acreage with some crazy looking guy who had just told us he was "on medication" and smelled a whole lot like Marijuana. Mama told D-Y later that she "figured she could take him because of the cane". Just as we are about to take off and were assessing how to back the trailer out of his driveway ... the guy says "just drive across the lawn ... I have to dig the whole thing up next week anyway" What a huge contrast the day had been .... from pristine driveway to "just drive across the lawn". Boy we love the country.
Thanks for reading and welcome to our barns,
The Lims
Tuesday 25 September 2012
There and Back Again: a Lims tale
A Chilliwack Tractor (ok mini-Tractor)
Mama and D-Y decide to take a "quick" trip out to Chilliwack to pick up a Lawn Tractor (Kinda like a John Deere Mower without the mower blades underneath). We get out the usual GPS app on the iphone and truck off to Chilliwack. Mama's phone ... like much her world is not updated so it takes us along a back route and away we go. We brought our "trusty ... new" trailer to pick it up. We pull up to a spotless clean driveway with our "hunk-a-junk" converted tent trailer and dump out our old rusty 8 foot ramps (we sure could've used those ramps when we picked up the JD). The rusty old ramps scatter bugs and bits of wood all over the "way-too-clean" driveway. D-Y and Mama amble up to the front door and a nice 30 ish year old guy tells us to wait by the garage door. We step back down the stairs and stand in front of the garage doors. When this garage door opens ... We gotta say ... it was so clean in there ... everything was in it's place and there was a place for everything. You really could've eaten off of this floor. The guy takes a tiny screwdriver out of the drink holder on a little orange tractor. That alone should have set off bells, but Mama just made a little joke about it being "stolen if you have to start it with a screwdriver". The guy tells us that he has called the company and they no longer make keys for this model. "I was just kidding" Mama says and the guy wheels it out of his pristine garage onto the once pristine driveway (remember we have just dumped rust, dirt, bugs and wood chips onto it). He shows us how to start it ... with the mini screwdriver ... how the gears work etc. We listen intently (NOT) ... and he helps us load it up onto the trailer. Afterwards he runs into the garage ... takes a broom and dustpan from their forever homes, and cleans up the big mess we have just made with our ramps. Mama offers to sweep up while DY straps the tractor onto the trailer with bungees. The guy just waves her off and tidies up quickly. Mama and D-Y drive off knowing that he is going to run out 2 mins after we are gone with his power washer to clean up after "those hick suckers" who bought his re-built tractor without a key.
Chickens, Signs and a Horse gate (much too small)
Never wanting to waste a trip to Chilliwack ... Mama has one more pick-up planned. Onto the trusty GPS and we turn around and head off to the next stop. We arrive down a cul-de-sac where people wave at you from their front stairs and chickens pretty much run loose in the neighbourhood. We go around back of a lovely house, surrounded by friendly dogs and chickens. We hear a saw at work and hope we are heading in the right direction. We meet up with a friendly guy (of whose nationality we will later ponder), who is refinishing an old oak barrel ... the kind that whiskey or wine used to come in. He greets us with a big smile and shows us the "horse gate". Mama can see it is much too small for the pasture, but since she has already talked him down $15 in price ... we take the gate anyway ... maybe we can use it somewhere else. He walks us back out and I ask him about the "free range chickens" in the hood. He happily explains that he has chickens and so does the guy across the street. As long as they each have the right amount of chickens when they close their coops at night everyone gets along. What a contrast to the too clean ... don't talk to your neighbours yard we had just been in. Well D-Y is hungry, but Mama is nervous to leave the little orange tractor in the hunk-a-junk trailer. We pull up to a Tim Horton's where Mama can still see the trailer from the window. Mama checks her email on her phone with Tim's free wifi, and she has 2 more responses to emails. She calls one back and it is just down the road. Off we go and pick up a sign from a lady. The sign says what most women's hearts say "Chocolate doesn't ask silly Questions: Chocolate Understands" ... Am I right ladies or am I right ?? Mama is actually getting pretty good at handling the trailer, because of a trick that a guy taught her at the dump. "Watch your mirrors and whichever way the trailer turns ... turn your wheels the same way". It isn't fool proof but it works a lot of the time. So backwards and forwards a few times and we are out of there ... just one more quick check of the email and off to Yarrow we go. "Wait what ??? I thought this was just a quick trip to pick up a tractor?" asks D-Y as we pass the same Canadian Tire for the 2nd time. Nothing is ever quick with Mama at the wheel.
A Flat Tire and a Corn Field
Mama and D-Y eat some more of their Timmie's and down the road we go. After driving for about 10 mins, crossing a little bridge and stopping at a stop sign ... Mama notices the people in the car behind us are waving at us. They yell something about the trailer and Mama pulls off into the next field at the side of the road. They pull up next to us and yell "You have a flat tire on your trailer". Of course we do ... everything had gone too smoothly until then. D-Y looks up the nearest gas station on the GPS and we dump the trailer in the field and away we go. Not sure what we were going to get at the gas station ... maybe "canned air or sealant". We get to the station 10mins later and realise that it is a holiday Monday. Back to the trailer we go. We decide to go back to Canadian Tire that we had passed once or twice along the journey. We go back to the trailer, re-park it, farther into the field, out of view (like anyone would steal it, but Mama is from East Vancouver). While D-Y writes down the info from the tire, Mama drives down the road to the house that she assumes belongs to that field. She parks the truck, and knocks on the front door. As the dogs inside the house start barking .. Mama thinks OMG ... "what if this is a grow-op and they come out and shoot me just for being on their land". (Again ... remember ... Mama grew up in East Vancouver). No one answers the door and Mama waddles back to the truck and drives back to pick up D-Y. Back up the same road for about the third time .. do all roads lead back to Canadian Tire in Chilliwack? Mama comments that she is soo lucky that she brought D-Y on this adventure, cause all of the corn fields were starting to look alike and she never would have found the flat-tired trailer again. D-Y explains that all the corn fields do not look alike and the one beside us looked shorter because it was in a "ditch". So the Curse Word "Ditch" was born ... apparently "Ditch" is the Male version of a "B*tch", and D-Y and Mama got a whole lot of crazy giggles out of it being said. It couldn't have been that they were overtired and silly ... No ... it was just funny. We arrive at Canadian Tire at 5:50 pm and it closes at 6:00. Mama sends D-Y off on a wild goose chase for a "Tire Jack thingy", while she lines up to buy the tire. The three people in front of Mama are arguing about whether or not they should buy this part that the shop guy has taken about 15 mins to find for them. They find out that the piece is $13.00 and now we have to learn that the guy's car is a POS and probably not worth the money. They take the part anyway and wander slowly towards the cashier. The part's guy finds the right tire and then explains that the other "thingy" I am looking for is called a lug-wrench. As we wander off to find the lug-wrench and D-Y, Mama sees the guy put the $13.00 part back on the parts counter. (What a waste of space they were ... really). D-Y arrives back in time to find the lug wrench and off to the cashier we go. Buying a few pop, a pair of Sunglasses for Mama, a new trailer tire and oh yeah ... a lug wrench ... has just turned Mama's trailer into not quite as good a deal as it was before. When we get in the car, D-Y says "How did you explain the Tire Jack to the part's guy?". Did you say ? "Tire Jack Thingy that is shaped like an X to take off bolts?" I couldn't believe that he had explained almost word for word what I had said. Mama asked D-Y if he was "standing right behind me" when I said it. He said "I was on the other side of the store looking for the Tire-Jack" Giggling and calling each other ditches ... we drove past Canadian Tire for the 4th or was it 5th time that day. Hopefully D-Y's GPS pin would lead us back to the Flat-Tired Trailer ....
Thanks for reading and welcome to our barns,
The Lims
Mama and D-Y decide to take a "quick" trip out to Chilliwack to pick up a Lawn Tractor (Kinda like a John Deere Mower without the mower blades underneath). We get out the usual GPS app on the iphone and truck off to Chilliwack. Mama's phone ... like much her world is not updated so it takes us along a back route and away we go. We brought our "trusty ... new" trailer to pick it up. We pull up to a spotless clean driveway with our "hunk-a-junk" converted tent trailer and dump out our old rusty 8 foot ramps (we sure could've used those ramps when we picked up the JD). The rusty old ramps scatter bugs and bits of wood all over the "way-too-clean" driveway. D-Y and Mama amble up to the front door and a nice 30 ish year old guy tells us to wait by the garage door. We step back down the stairs and stand in front of the garage doors. When this garage door opens ... We gotta say ... it was so clean in there ... everything was in it's place and there was a place for everything. You really could've eaten off of this floor. The guy takes a tiny screwdriver out of the drink holder on a little orange tractor. That alone should have set off bells, but Mama just made a little joke about it being "stolen if you have to start it with a screwdriver". The guy tells us that he has called the company and they no longer make keys for this model. "I was just kidding" Mama says and the guy wheels it out of his pristine garage onto the once pristine driveway (remember we have just dumped rust, dirt, bugs and wood chips onto it). He shows us how to start it ... with the mini screwdriver ... how the gears work etc. We listen intently (NOT) ... and he helps us load it up onto the trailer. Afterwards he runs into the garage ... takes a broom and dustpan from their forever homes, and cleans up the big mess we have just made with our ramps. Mama offers to sweep up while DY straps the tractor onto the trailer with bungees. The guy just waves her off and tidies up quickly. Mama and D-Y drive off knowing that he is going to run out 2 mins after we are gone with his power washer to clean up after "those hick suckers" who bought his re-built tractor without a key.
Chickens, Signs and a Horse gate (much too small)
Never wanting to waste a trip to Chilliwack ... Mama has one more pick-up planned. Onto the trusty GPS and we turn around and head off to the next stop. We arrive down a cul-de-sac where people wave at you from their front stairs and chickens pretty much run loose in the neighbourhood. We go around back of a lovely house, surrounded by friendly dogs and chickens. We hear a saw at work and hope we are heading in the right direction. We meet up with a friendly guy (of whose nationality we will later ponder), who is refinishing an old oak barrel ... the kind that whiskey or wine used to come in. He greets us with a big smile and shows us the "horse gate". Mama can see it is much too small for the pasture, but since she has already talked him down $15 in price ... we take the gate anyway ... maybe we can use it somewhere else. He walks us back out and I ask him about the "free range chickens" in the hood. He happily explains that he has chickens and so does the guy across the street. As long as they each have the right amount of chickens when they close their coops at night everyone gets along. What a contrast to the too clean ... don't talk to your neighbours yard we had just been in. Well D-Y is hungry, but Mama is nervous to leave the little orange tractor in the hunk-a-junk trailer. We pull up to a Tim Horton's where Mama can still see the trailer from the window. Mama checks her email on her phone with Tim's free wifi, and she has 2 more responses to emails. She calls one back and it is just down the road. Off we go and pick up a sign from a lady. The sign says what most women's hearts say "Chocolate doesn't ask silly Questions: Chocolate Understands" ... Am I right ladies or am I right ?? Mama is actually getting pretty good at handling the trailer, because of a trick that a guy taught her at the dump. "Watch your mirrors and whichever way the trailer turns ... turn your wheels the same way". It isn't fool proof but it works a lot of the time. So backwards and forwards a few times and we are out of there ... just one more quick check of the email and off to Yarrow we go. "Wait what ??? I thought this was just a quick trip to pick up a tractor?" asks D-Y as we pass the same Canadian Tire for the 2nd time. Nothing is ever quick with Mama at the wheel.
A Flat Tire and a Corn Field
Mama and D-Y eat some more of their Timmie's and down the road we go. After driving for about 10 mins, crossing a little bridge and stopping at a stop sign ... Mama notices the people in the car behind us are waving at us. They yell something about the trailer and Mama pulls off into the next field at the side of the road. They pull up next to us and yell "You have a flat tire on your trailer". Of course we do ... everything had gone too smoothly until then. D-Y looks up the nearest gas station on the GPS and we dump the trailer in the field and away we go. Not sure what we were going to get at the gas station ... maybe "canned air or sealant". We get to the station 10mins later and realise that it is a holiday Monday. Back to the trailer we go. We decide to go back to Canadian Tire that we had passed once or twice along the journey. We go back to the trailer, re-park it, farther into the field, out of view (like anyone would steal it, but Mama is from East Vancouver). While D-Y writes down the info from the tire, Mama drives down the road to the house that she assumes belongs to that field. She parks the truck, and knocks on the front door. As the dogs inside the house start barking .. Mama thinks OMG ... "what if this is a grow-op and they come out and shoot me just for being on their land". (Again ... remember ... Mama grew up in East Vancouver). No one answers the door and Mama waddles back to the truck and drives back to pick up D-Y. Back up the same road for about the third time .. do all roads lead back to Canadian Tire in Chilliwack? Mama comments that she is soo lucky that she brought D-Y on this adventure, cause all of the corn fields were starting to look alike and she never would have found the flat-tired trailer again. D-Y explains that all the corn fields do not look alike and the one beside us looked shorter because it was in a "ditch". So the Curse Word "Ditch" was born ... apparently "Ditch" is the Male version of a "B*tch", and D-Y and Mama got a whole lot of crazy giggles out of it being said. It couldn't have been that they were overtired and silly ... No ... it was just funny. We arrive at Canadian Tire at 5:50 pm and it closes at 6:00. Mama sends D-Y off on a wild goose chase for a "Tire Jack thingy", while she lines up to buy the tire. The three people in front of Mama are arguing about whether or not they should buy this part that the shop guy has taken about 15 mins to find for them. They find out that the piece is $13.00 and now we have to learn that the guy's car is a POS and probably not worth the money. They take the part anyway and wander slowly towards the cashier. The part's guy finds the right tire and then explains that the other "thingy" I am looking for is called a lug-wrench. As we wander off to find the lug-wrench and D-Y, Mama sees the guy put the $13.00 part back on the parts counter. (What a waste of space they were ... really). D-Y arrives back in time to find the lug wrench and off to the cashier we go. Buying a few pop, a pair of Sunglasses for Mama, a new trailer tire and oh yeah ... a lug wrench ... has just turned Mama's trailer into not quite as good a deal as it was before. When we get in the car, D-Y says "How did you explain the Tire Jack to the part's guy?". Did you say ? "Tire Jack Thingy that is shaped like an X to take off bolts?" I couldn't believe that he had explained almost word for word what I had said. Mama asked D-Y if he was "standing right behind me" when I said it. He said "I was on the other side of the store looking for the Tire-Jack" Giggling and calling each other ditches ... we drove past Canadian Tire for the 4th or was it 5th time that day. Hopefully D-Y's GPS pin would lead us back to the Flat-Tired Trailer ....
Thanks for reading and welcome to our barns,
The Lims
Saturday 22 September 2012
Bats, Trailers, and Boxes ... Oh My
Delving Deeper into the Valley
Out in the Valley ... we have alot of mosquitoes. Some are small and some are almost the size of bats or it would seem like it when they eat you alive at night in the summer. A little known fact it that "bats can consume up to 1200 mosquitoes in an hour"... reading this fact we decided to encourage our little black bat (that Akita called to the barn) to stick around. Onto craigslist again ... we found a guy in Dewdney who built bat boxes! We drove out there by Lougheed Highway because we were on our way to Agassiz to look at nesting boxes for chickens. A tough looking tattooed guy came out to meet us when we got there ... he was great ... taught us all about; how to paint and where to hang our bat boxes and even how high to hang them. Never judge a book by its cover. He told us to email him anytime if we forgot what he had told us. On to Lougheed Highway we continued our journey towards Agassiz, it is a loong way when you take the back Highway. We decided to stop into a Deli on the main strip for lunch and then we discovered ... STROOPIES. For all those non-Danish readers and eaters ... Stroopies are syrup-soaked waffle cookies. OMG they are Delicious ... we bought 2 cases of packages. I guess we should say who is on this adventure ... Mama, D-Y and Akita. It's D-Y's fault that everyone who tries Stroopies is instantly addicted ... apparently he had something like these "cookies" in Europe. After lunch we headed off to meet up with the coolest chicken lady (the woman selling the nesting boxes). She gave Akita and Mama a quick tour of her little hobby farm. She showed us her chick nurseries, her heritage chickens and her very fat goats. She told us a couple of funny stories about her goats magically escaping the fences ... how one minute they were in their yard and the next thing she knew they were eating her rosebuds behind her in the next section of the yard. That's when Mama decided it was time to start getting goats. This story however is about nesting boxes and chickens ... (goats come later). She finally showed us the nesting boxes and like usual Mama had no spacial skills and thought that this huge wooden box would fit into the back of our SUV. D-Y and Akita knew that it wouldn't fit but dutifully carried it out to the truck. When Mama and the chicken lady got the huge box all the way across the yard to the car, they decided that it wouldn't fit. We put it off to the side and the lady offered to deliver the box with her pickup truck the next day. D-Y then offered the lady a Stroopie (another victim down). Oh that generous mischievous boy! We left Agassiz by the no. 1 Highway this time. We drove about a third of the way home when we got a phone call about a utility trailer ... if we came tonight to get it ... we would get it cheap. We did a U-turn on the Freeway ... no just kidding ... we took the next exit, turned around and headed back towards Chiliwack. True to form .... nothing goes smooth when it comes to The Lims. We arrive at the people's house and the ball on our hitch is the wrong size. We head off to the nearest auto part store to get a smaller hitch ball. (The truck had been too small for the chicken boxes and now its ball(s) were too big ... we will let you come up with your own jokes about "size mattering"). We arrived at the store just before it closed ... whew ... another close call. Back to the couple's house and the guy attached the new hitch-ball. The trailer now cost us almost what we had saved by coming early to pick it up. We hitched it up and off down the Freeway we go. We had to take it slow, annoying a few drivers along the way. This was not the usual utility trailer ... this was an old renovated tent trailer. Nothing normal for The Lims. We toyed with the idea of going back to pick up the nesting boxes but since we had already arranged delivery, we decided not to. Our 2 hour nesting box pick up had now taken 6 hours and we arrived home with 2 bat boxes, a utility trailer and no nesting boxes. Another day on the farm well spent ... Teehee
Thanks for reading and welcome to our barns,
The Lims
Out in the Valley ... we have alot of mosquitoes. Some are small and some are almost the size of bats or it would seem like it when they eat you alive at night in the summer. A little known fact it that "bats can consume up to 1200 mosquitoes in an hour"... reading this fact we decided to encourage our little black bat (that Akita called to the barn) to stick around. Onto craigslist again ... we found a guy in Dewdney who built bat boxes! We drove out there by Lougheed Highway because we were on our way to Agassiz to look at nesting boxes for chickens. A tough looking tattooed guy came out to meet us when we got there ... he was great ... taught us all about; how to paint and where to hang our bat boxes and even how high to hang them. Never judge a book by its cover. He told us to email him anytime if we forgot what he had told us. On to Lougheed Highway we continued our journey towards Agassiz, it is a loong way when you take the back Highway. We decided to stop into a Deli on the main strip for lunch and then we discovered ... STROOPIES. For all those non-Danish readers and eaters ... Stroopies are syrup-soaked waffle cookies. OMG they are Delicious ... we bought 2 cases of packages. I guess we should say who is on this adventure ... Mama, D-Y and Akita. It's D-Y's fault that everyone who tries Stroopies is instantly addicted ... apparently he had something like these "cookies" in Europe. After lunch we headed off to meet up with the coolest chicken lady (the woman selling the nesting boxes). She gave Akita and Mama a quick tour of her little hobby farm. She showed us her chick nurseries, her heritage chickens and her very fat goats. She told us a couple of funny stories about her goats magically escaping the fences ... how one minute they were in their yard and the next thing she knew they were eating her rosebuds behind her in the next section of the yard. That's when Mama decided it was time to start getting goats. This story however is about nesting boxes and chickens ... (goats come later). She finally showed us the nesting boxes and like usual Mama had no spacial skills and thought that this huge wooden box would fit into the back of our SUV. D-Y and Akita knew that it wouldn't fit but dutifully carried it out to the truck. When Mama and the chicken lady got the huge box all the way across the yard to the car, they decided that it wouldn't fit. We put it off to the side and the lady offered to deliver the box with her pickup truck the next day. D-Y then offered the lady a Stroopie (another victim down). Oh that generous mischievous boy! We left Agassiz by the no. 1 Highway this time. We drove about a third of the way home when we got a phone call about a utility trailer ... if we came tonight to get it ... we would get it cheap. We did a U-turn on the Freeway ... no just kidding ... we took the next exit, turned around and headed back towards Chiliwack. True to form .... nothing goes smooth when it comes to The Lims. We arrive at the people's house and the ball on our hitch is the wrong size. We head off to the nearest auto part store to get a smaller hitch ball. (The truck had been too small for the chicken boxes and now its ball(s) were too big ... we will let you come up with your own jokes about "size mattering"). We arrived at the store just before it closed ... whew ... another close call. Back to the couple's house and the guy attached the new hitch-ball. The trailer now cost us almost what we had saved by coming early to pick it up. We hitched it up and off down the Freeway we go. We had to take it slow, annoying a few drivers along the way. This was not the usual utility trailer ... this was an old renovated tent trailer. Nothing normal for The Lims. We toyed with the idea of going back to pick up the nesting boxes but since we had already arranged delivery, we decided not to. Our 2 hour nesting box pick up had now taken 6 hours and we arrived home with 2 bat boxes, a utility trailer and no nesting boxes. Another day on the farm well spent ... Teehee
Thanks for reading and welcome to our barns,
The Lims
Wednesday 19 September 2012
Violent Violet ... now a MOM
Never a Dull Moment
Lisa C (Mama's adopted little sister), and her family came out to visit and check out the BRB. We had a great BBQ thanks to the Boy Child and his cooking skills. They spent the night and we all had a fun evening. The next morning following many coffee ... Akita ran downstairs with exciting news. It seems that our now newest resident of Akita's space had figured it was about time to pop out those kittens. Violet was crying and fidgeting and trying to find a safe space in the room. Apparently she thought that a safe space was in behind a pile of moving boxes. Mama grabbed her and placed her in the box of towels that DY and Akita had prepared for her. She settled into the box and Akita and Sierra (Akita's adopted twin) settled down to wait like expectant fathers. It wasn't too long til No. 1 was born, a little grey tabby who looked alot like Mom. Lisa C. was in love with this kitten instantly. Violet didn't seem to have much trouble with the birth and knew exactly what to do. We will spare you the details cause they really were kinda gorry. No. 2 was more painful ... she cried out as a larger black kitten pushed into the world. We (now Lisa C, Sierra, Akita, and Mama were in the room) made a few jokes about it being a Jamaican Kitten named "Hey Mon". No. 3 entered the world when no one was paying attention ... A tiny little runt with orange and brown colouring that Mama thought might be a Tortoiseshell. Violet took a break right after No. 4 was born and Mama was a little worried that Violet wasn't going to break open the sack. At the count of 22 seconds ... Violet bit the sac open and a larger gray kitten mewled into the world loudly. Violet looked so very tired ... we spent time encouraging her and didn't even notice as No. 5, a small orange bundle entered the world. Although it didn't seem that long for it all to take place ... the whole miracle or the 5 little miracles took about 5 and a half hours. DY and Azad (one of DY's buddies) had peeked in once or twice. Geoff (Lisa's guy) had brought Avery (Mama's Godchild) in and out a few times, but every time he cried ... Violet became very Agitated. Lisa had kept everyone fed and comfortable ... so that Mama and Akita could nurse and watch their "little mama" give birth 5 separate times. Aren't all you Mother's out there glad you only had one or two at a time. Whew ... we were exhausted just watching.
Washing in an Extreme Way
DY put it together, figured it all out and so of course we had to try it. We dragged it out to the barn, hooked it up to the power and the hose and OMG Power washing is addictive and soo much fun. We all (DY, Akita & Mama) took turns power washing the "Chicken Coop" area and the two smaller stalls of the Barn. WOW were there ever a lot of cobwebs and mashed in animal leftovers. Akita and Mama worked on lists of "too do" things of what to fix etc. and swept off the floors. DY dragged the junk out of the barn by the side door. We continued to take turns with the Power Washer until none of us could lift our arms without pain. We finished up ... thinking to ourselves that we were finally getting some of the outside stuff done. Mama closed the barn door and Akita said "I saw something fall as you closed the door" DY came to check it out and it was a bat ... a tiny little black bat. Mama knew there were bats ... she had seen them fly past the front room windows ... in the early dusk but seeing it soo little and cute was yet another new experience to chalk up to "Farm Living". Pictures were taken and Akita jumped as the bat flew towards her, bounced off of her and flew away. Those animal whisperer powers at work again. Being exhausted ... We never so happy to have a Hot Tub to get into afterwards.
Thanks for reading and welcome to our barns,
The Lims
Lisa C (Mama's adopted little sister), and her family came out to visit and check out the BRB. We had a great BBQ thanks to the Boy Child and his cooking skills. They spent the night and we all had a fun evening. The next morning following many coffee ... Akita ran downstairs with exciting news. It seems that our now newest resident of Akita's space had figured it was about time to pop out those kittens. Violet was crying and fidgeting and trying to find a safe space in the room. Apparently she thought that a safe space was in behind a pile of moving boxes. Mama grabbed her and placed her in the box of towels that DY and Akita had prepared for her. She settled into the box and Akita and Sierra (Akita's adopted twin) settled down to wait like expectant fathers. It wasn't too long til No. 1 was born, a little grey tabby who looked alot like Mom. Lisa C. was in love with this kitten instantly. Violet didn't seem to have much trouble with the birth and knew exactly what to do. We will spare you the details cause they really were kinda gorry. No. 2 was more painful ... she cried out as a larger black kitten pushed into the world. We (now Lisa C, Sierra, Akita, and Mama were in the room) made a few jokes about it being a Jamaican Kitten named "Hey Mon". No. 3 entered the world when no one was paying attention ... A tiny little runt with orange and brown colouring that Mama thought might be a Tortoiseshell. Violet took a break right after No. 4 was born and Mama was a little worried that Violet wasn't going to break open the sack. At the count of 22 seconds ... Violet bit the sac open and a larger gray kitten mewled into the world loudly. Violet looked so very tired ... we spent time encouraging her and didn't even notice as No. 5, a small orange bundle entered the world. Although it didn't seem that long for it all to take place ... the whole miracle or the 5 little miracles took about 5 and a half hours. DY and Azad (one of DY's buddies) had peeked in once or twice. Geoff (Lisa's guy) had brought Avery (Mama's Godchild) in and out a few times, but every time he cried ... Violet became very Agitated. Lisa had kept everyone fed and comfortable ... so that Mama and Akita could nurse and watch their "little mama" give birth 5 separate times. Aren't all you Mother's out there glad you only had one or two at a time. Whew ... we were exhausted just watching.
Washing in an Extreme Way
DY put it together, figured it all out and so of course we had to try it. We dragged it out to the barn, hooked it up to the power and the hose and OMG Power washing is addictive and soo much fun. We all (DY, Akita & Mama) took turns power washing the "Chicken Coop" area and the two smaller stalls of the Barn. WOW were there ever a lot of cobwebs and mashed in animal leftovers. Akita and Mama worked on lists of "too do" things of what to fix etc. and swept off the floors. DY dragged the junk out of the barn by the side door. We continued to take turns with the Power Washer until none of us could lift our arms without pain. We finished up ... thinking to ourselves that we were finally getting some of the outside stuff done. Mama closed the barn door and Akita said "I saw something fall as you closed the door" DY came to check it out and it was a bat ... a tiny little black bat. Mama knew there were bats ... she had seen them fly past the front room windows ... in the early dusk but seeing it soo little and cute was yet another new experience to chalk up to "Farm Living". Pictures were taken and Akita jumped as the bat flew towards her, bounced off of her and flew away. Those animal whisperer powers at work again. Being exhausted ... We never so happy to have a Hot Tub to get into afterwards.
Thanks for reading and welcome to our barns,
The Lims
Tuesday 18 September 2012
Living in BRB ... or are we?
Ahhhhhh soooo easy
On a Friday afternoon 4 storage Pods arrived full of more of The Lim's hoardings. We had a visit from Malika and Kurt (Malika's long term beau) to help rearrange and empty part of the garage. Thank God for Malika's spacial skills. We emptied two Pods in one afternoon and then Kurt had to go back to city living and his real job. The next day mama was sick and asked us to rearrange the two remaining Pods. When we were done we told mama that we moved some things around but what she didn't know was that we emptied one and a half of the Pods. When mama felt better she went to see what needed to be done and found that the Pods were almost empty "oooo I love my children" yelled mama. We finished emptying the half Pod and the garage was full again. Tuesday morning the 4 empty Pods were picked up by the company and they asked us how our move went. Akita and mama cracked up and told them about The Move From Hell. They said "guess you didn't use us or it would have been ... Ahhh sooo easy".
Akita The Animal Whisperer
Awhile after moving out the old owners of BRB arrived at the door ... the husband needed a place to stay for a few nights while they emptied the rest of their belongings out of BRB and into the machine shop. It was kinda nice inheriting a guy to fix things for the first little while until we found our way around the place. The first day Rich (The husband/ old owner) brought a frog to Akita and said "ever since I have been hanging around i have never seen one of these here". Akita and Dragana's boys Milan and Charlie (mini warriors) created a habitat for the frog out of our old pond with water, leaves, grass and dirt. Dragana (coolest woman ever) sat and had coffee with mama. The next day Rich arrived with a salamander and said "wow you really are The Animal Whisperer!". About a week later while playing with our barn cats (of which we inherited 7 of) Akita noticed that the young kitten was hogging all of the food and might be pregnant. We were told before moving in that the SPCA had done a TNR (Trap Neuter and Release) program in the neighbourhood with the barn cats 2 years ago ... guess they missed a few. so now we arrived with 2 dogs, 4 cats and two kids (not goats they come later). Here we are with 1 toad, 1 salamander, 7 barn cats (possibly 1 pregnant) plus all that we came with. Akita goes to a sleepover and mama arrives home to find another toad in the garage ... "her powers are working even when she isn't home" says mama.
Saphron and Emmie Kitty switch Roles
Saphron has always been Malika's cat ... she was supposed to be Akita's cat (thus the name ... Saphron ... a yellow spice), but cat's choose their slaves. So Saphron choose Malika ... sleeping on a pillow next to her head in the old house ... Malika's loft bed. Yes it killed Malika's allergies, but still she slept where she wanted (Cats have Slaves ... Dogs have Masters). Saphron has always been a social (talks a lot), easy going (when she gets her demands fulfilled ... "OUT ... NOW") and sometimes even downright cuddly.
Emmie Kitty was pretty much the opposite kind of cat. She sat above Mama's bed at night mumbling demon incantations (mmmnnnn munumba grrba grraa or some such things). Mama would often have to ask Akita for help as she woke up to Emmie's claws in her throat ... "Emmie ... down" was all Akita had to say and down she would hop and under the bed she would hide. To save Mama's life ... The vet allowed Emmie to have her front claws removed. (the vet's office had been caring for her through all her psycho-fabric-eating-demon-incanting ways). the vet's office used to put up a "caution" sign in her kennel whenever she boarded there. Following her declawing ... Emmie started to slowly change her ways. She began sleeping in Mama's bed more and more often (usually on Mama's pillow - above her head). She also started "teaching sock school" .... she would carry a sock around in the bedroom and often make small piles of socks and "talk to them". "Nooo Nooo Ohh Nooo" she would recite ... when no one was looking.
Moving to BRB has had an interesting effect on both these cats. Saphron now fights with all the other cats in the house, talks a lot less and really does not enjoy cuddles. She even peed all over DY's bed when Malika slept over to show her displeasure at her "bringing Kurt here". On the up side ... Shauna (longtime forever friend) suggested "Calm" cat food for Saffy and it seems to be helping.
Emmie walks around the entire house (in the old house she hardly left Akita and Mama's Bedroom) and hisses at all the other animals to tell them she is boss. She comes downstairs at around 10:30pm to bring Mama to bed or stands at the top of the stairs and yells "Mamma, Mamma R u?" (we think she is saying Mama where are you?) or "Nooo Mamma Nooo". And the vet's office didn't even have to use the "Caution" sign on her last visit.
Thanks for reading and welcome to our barns,
The Lims
On a Friday afternoon 4 storage Pods arrived full of more of The Lim's hoardings. We had a visit from Malika and Kurt (Malika's long term beau) to help rearrange and empty part of the garage. Thank God for Malika's spacial skills. We emptied two Pods in one afternoon and then Kurt had to go back to city living and his real job. The next day mama was sick and asked us to rearrange the two remaining Pods. When we were done we told mama that we moved some things around but what she didn't know was that we emptied one and a half of the Pods. When mama felt better she went to see what needed to be done and found that the Pods were almost empty "oooo I love my children" yelled mama. We finished emptying the half Pod and the garage was full again. Tuesday morning the 4 empty Pods were picked up by the company and they asked us how our move went. Akita and mama cracked up and told them about The Move From Hell. They said "guess you didn't use us or it would have been ... Ahhh sooo easy".
Akita The Animal Whisperer
Awhile after moving out the old owners of BRB arrived at the door ... the husband needed a place to stay for a few nights while they emptied the rest of their belongings out of BRB and into the machine shop. It was kinda nice inheriting a guy to fix things for the first little while until we found our way around the place. The first day Rich (The husband/ old owner) brought a frog to Akita and said "ever since I have been hanging around i have never seen one of these here". Akita and Dragana's boys Milan and Charlie (mini warriors) created a habitat for the frog out of our old pond with water, leaves, grass and dirt. Dragana (coolest woman ever) sat and had coffee with mama. The next day Rich arrived with a salamander and said "wow you really are The Animal Whisperer!". About a week later while playing with our barn cats (of which we inherited 7 of) Akita noticed that the young kitten was hogging all of the food and might be pregnant. We were told before moving in that the SPCA had done a TNR (Trap Neuter and Release) program in the neighbourhood with the barn cats 2 years ago ... guess they missed a few. so now we arrived with 2 dogs, 4 cats and two kids (not goats they come later). Here we are with 1 toad, 1 salamander, 7 barn cats (possibly 1 pregnant) plus all that we came with. Akita goes to a sleepover and mama arrives home to find another toad in the garage ... "her powers are working even when she isn't home" says mama.
Saphron and Emmie Kitty switch Roles
Saphron has always been Malika's cat ... she was supposed to be Akita's cat (thus the name ... Saphron ... a yellow spice), but cat's choose their slaves. So Saphron choose Malika ... sleeping on a pillow next to her head in the old house ... Malika's loft bed. Yes it killed Malika's allergies, but still she slept where she wanted (Cats have Slaves ... Dogs have Masters). Saphron has always been a social (talks a lot), easy going (when she gets her demands fulfilled ... "OUT ... NOW") and sometimes even downright cuddly.
Emmie Kitty was pretty much the opposite kind of cat. She sat above Mama's bed at night mumbling demon incantations (mmmnnnn munumba grrba grraa or some such things). Mama would often have to ask Akita for help as she woke up to Emmie's claws in her throat ... "Emmie ... down" was all Akita had to say and down she would hop and under the bed she would hide. To save Mama's life ... The vet allowed Emmie to have her front claws removed. (the vet's office had been caring for her through all her psycho-fabric-eating-demon-incanting ways). the vet's office used to put up a "caution" sign in her kennel whenever she boarded there. Following her declawing ... Emmie started to slowly change her ways. She began sleeping in Mama's bed more and more often (usually on Mama's pillow - above her head). She also started "teaching sock school" .... she would carry a sock around in the bedroom and often make small piles of socks and "talk to them". "Nooo Nooo Ohh Nooo" she would recite ... when no one was looking.
Moving to BRB has had an interesting effect on both these cats. Saphron now fights with all the other cats in the house, talks a lot less and really does not enjoy cuddles. She even peed all over DY's bed when Malika slept over to show her displeasure at her "bringing Kurt here". On the up side ... Shauna (longtime forever friend) suggested "Calm" cat food for Saffy and it seems to be helping.
Emmie walks around the entire house (in the old house she hardly left Akita and Mama's Bedroom) and hisses at all the other animals to tell them she is boss. She comes downstairs at around 10:30pm to bring Mama to bed or stands at the top of the stairs and yells "Mamma, Mamma R u?" (we think she is saying Mama where are you?) or "Nooo Mamma Nooo". And the vet's office didn't even have to use the "Caution" sign on her last visit.
Thanks for reading and welcome to our barns,
The Lims
Monday 17 September 2012
Welcome to the Middle
Welcome ... our story starts in the middle where all good stories begin. Crazy happenings are constant at the Big Red Beharrell.
This is the beginning of our farm adventure ... The Move From Hell,
Thanks to the old owners of Big Red Beharrell (BRB) we were allowed to move a few things in earlier than our possession date of July 2nd, 2012. Otherwise we would still be moving in. 2 huge truck loads later ... our house still has a ton of stuff to move. Because of all their moving company screw ups, Malika (the first warrior child) went all "Georgia girl on their Donkeys" and got another truck for cheap. So one more large truck full and many many many small truck loads later we finally have most of our stuff (minus four storage units) into the building ... well mostly the garage. No thanks to the moving company that moved it ... or to the 5000 dollar moving bill ... arrrghhh. We do however want to say a real thank you to all those who came to the rescue and worked up until our 12 o'clock deadline on July 2nd, 2012. The backyard was full of stuff, but at least the Big Blue House was empty. Well at least it wasn't raining .... and then it did.
And now the fun begins
Akita (youngest warrior) and Cynthia (mamabear) decided that 3/4 of an acre needed a John Deere ride on mower ... so mama got on craigslist and found one in Langley. We rented a UHaul trailer and went off to pick it up. The guy detached the blower unit and his son drove it onto the trailer using their ramps (their ramps ... that is important). Akita and mama merrily drove it home ... then we realised that we had no ramps to take it off the trailer. We tried to rig some up with planks of wood which slid sideways as we reversed off the trailer. We then tried some wooden ramps we found on the side of the shop ... they slid backwards from under the trailer of the John Deere ... almost taking mama and the JD sideways off the UHaul. We then detached the bagger unit from the JD and retried the planks of wood and the wooden ramps together. Mama drove in reverse at top speed and we finally made it off the UHaul!!! Round 1 complete ... we have a mower! (but it is now in pieces and we have no idea how to put it back together).
Next adventure: D-Y gets home
D-Y (middle boy - 2nd warrior) decided to spend our move in Ontario (lucky him). On the day he came home Akita and mama decided it was time to mow the lawn. After a struggle putting the mower back together we finally started to mow the lawn. We stalled it ... couldn't figure out how to raise and lower the mower deck ... never mind how to turn on the mower option. We finally got it figured out and mama saw a screw in the front tire (thinking in her head ... don't pull this out) she pulled it out. Akita took a turn and the JD was not responding to her skills. So mama took over and promptly crashed the JD, with a now flat front tire into the raspberry bushes. Akita got D-Y and he lifted the JD off the first wire and raspberry bush and got on and crashed into the next bush. So the lawn had a bad haircut for a week until we got a chance to mess with it again. One new tire and a fix up later ... we mowed the lawn a better haircut.
We hope you have enjoyed our first few adventures ... more to come very soon.
Thanks and welcome to our barns,
The Lims
This is the beginning of our farm adventure ... The Move From Hell,
Thanks to the old owners of Big Red Beharrell (BRB) we were allowed to move a few things in earlier than our possession date of July 2nd, 2012. Otherwise we would still be moving in. 2 huge truck loads later ... our house still has a ton of stuff to move. Because of all their moving company screw ups, Malika (the first warrior child) went all "Georgia girl on their Donkeys" and got another truck for cheap. So one more large truck full and many many many small truck loads later we finally have most of our stuff (minus four storage units) into the building ... well mostly the garage. No thanks to the moving company that moved it ... or to the 5000 dollar moving bill ... arrrghhh. We do however want to say a real thank you to all those who came to the rescue and worked up until our 12 o'clock deadline on July 2nd, 2012. The backyard was full of stuff, but at least the Big Blue House was empty. Well at least it wasn't raining .... and then it did.
And now the fun begins
Akita (youngest warrior) and Cynthia (mamabear) decided that 3/4 of an acre needed a John Deere ride on mower ... so mama got on craigslist and found one in Langley. We rented a UHaul trailer and went off to pick it up. The guy detached the blower unit and his son drove it onto the trailer using their ramps (their ramps ... that is important). Akita and mama merrily drove it home ... then we realised that we had no ramps to take it off the trailer. We tried to rig some up with planks of wood which slid sideways as we reversed off the trailer. We then tried some wooden ramps we found on the side of the shop ... they slid backwards from under the trailer of the John Deere ... almost taking mama and the JD sideways off the UHaul. We then detached the bagger unit from the JD and retried the planks of wood and the wooden ramps together. Mama drove in reverse at top speed and we finally made it off the UHaul!!! Round 1 complete ... we have a mower! (but it is now in pieces and we have no idea how to put it back together).
Next adventure: D-Y gets home
D-Y (middle boy - 2nd warrior) decided to spend our move in Ontario (lucky him). On the day he came home Akita and mama decided it was time to mow the lawn. After a struggle putting the mower back together we finally started to mow the lawn. We stalled it ... couldn't figure out how to raise and lower the mower deck ... never mind how to turn on the mower option. We finally got it figured out and mama saw a screw in the front tire (thinking in her head ... don't pull this out) she pulled it out. Akita took a turn and the JD was not responding to her skills. So mama took over and promptly crashed the JD, with a now flat front tire into the raspberry bushes. Akita got D-Y and he lifted the JD off the first wire and raspberry bush and got on and crashed into the next bush. So the lawn had a bad haircut for a week until we got a chance to mess with it again. One new tire and a fix up later ... we mowed the lawn a better haircut.
We hope you have enjoyed our first few adventures ... more to come very soon.
Thanks and welcome to our barns,
The Lims
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)