Summer, Thus Far

It goes without saying I've been a crappy blogger.  Without further ado,  here are some photos:

It's been hot and dry.  Unlike many areas of Canada and the US, we've always had a good dumping of rain just in the nick of time, each and every time.  This hay was cut and baled on the same day, a rarity around these parts, where hay normally needs to dry at least a day or two before baling.

You might be able to make out the huge light-standard on the left-hand side of the photo.  This is the new extension of Highway 540 south, AKA Highway 30.  We don't call it the "30 in 30" for nothing - we've been waiting since the 80's for this highway to be built.  Work began in earnest three years ago, and this part of the highway is slated to open this December.

I'm not sure I'm eager to see just how much light those light-standards are going to give off, though.

And because I can't get enough of round bales of hay, here's the field on the other side of the road.

I'll say it again:  the weather this summer has been perfect.

No. Let me take that back.  We've had a lot of tornado warnings this summer, and a lot of wonky radar images that proved a bit troubling, but our general area was spared from really high winds and hail.  This time.

We have a new little JD lawn tractor.  I call her Fawn.  (Get it?  Baby Deer?)  Apparently, Fawn is my birthday present, but I'm still not buying that little gesture.  Ain't.  Buying.  It.

Fawn makes it possible, though, to make the grounds look semi-clean in record time.  Little Fawn is like a go-cart, but with the added bonus of blades.

I get excited about a cut lawn, okay?  Since Fawn's arrival, we were doing the lawn with the big JD and the bush-hog attachment, or my trusty walk-behind Eastman lawnmower.  I love Fawn.  Just ain't sure it's a good birthday present, Eric.

I caught a shot of this turkey vulture sunning himself on the roof of the barn.  The wingspan on these birds is from 63-72" if you believe everything you read on Wiki.  I don't need to believe it, I've seen it.  These birds are impressive.  This vulture sat there for a few moments, completely undisturbed, and then flew off, circling the farm on a thermal.

Because I am an idiot, we have a new cat:

Eric named her Capucine, which is french for nasturtium.  I don't agree on the name, so I'm calling her Cappucino.  Mostly I call her Cappie though, as a sort of compromise.  She's terribly cute and needy.  A real snuggle-muffin the likes of which this house hasn't seen in years.  She gets in my face (literally) and meows when she wants something.  Her meow features a little lisp, her tiny tongue covering her teeth in this adorable baby-cat kind of way.  Check out the hairy-ear action.  Eric always wanted a Maine Coon cat, and this is the closest we're going to get having anything pure-bred around here.  I'm all for mutts, cats and dogs and people alike.  Cappie was part of a stray cat's litter a friend was feeding, and our friend got terribly attached to her.  He couldn't keep her and suggested we take her in.  Well, twist my rubber arm.  I've got sucker written all over me.

The Bobberizer went missing for 5 full days.  I canvassed the neighbourhood, scoured internet missing pet boards, when low and behold, there he was, his little face in the window of the front door.  I haven't been that over-joyed in eons.  My Bobby, back home where he belongs.  He ate 2 tins of celebratory cat food upon his return, which led me to believe he'd been caught in a garage or shed somewhere.  At least he didn't smell of Bounce dryer sheets and cigarette smoke, and he wasn't wearing a flea collar...

Now, every time he comes into the house and I don't roll out the red carpet, he looks at me with disdain.  Sorry Bob, it's back to the mediocre dry food for you.  For some strange reason, he's actually spending the nights inside again, (albeit until 3:34 AM last night).  At 3:34, Bobby got all passive-aggressive, tap dancing on the dresser, and jingling the little pull-rings that open the night-table.  Bob has passive-aggressive down to a fine art, dontcha Bob?  Just another furry monster who has yours truly wrapped around their little paw.

Here's a double-rainbow for your viewing pleasure.  This is the view when I open up the Velux window in the master-bedroom, hence the corner of the roof in the picture.  This happens on a regular basis, so it's not that remarkable to us, but one of the rainbows was so bright I couldn't resist the photo.

Here's more proof:

See?  Awesome, isn't it?

That's been our summer in a nutshell.  I've got so many projects on so many burners that I hardly know where to start.  Stay tuned.