Life, Just a Different Location

How many of you out there think I am on a three month "vacation"?   I would have been tempted to agree with you, until  last week.  Some time between the several drives into town to take care of business (i.e. pay bills, fight with the tax office)  and the hours I spent riding a lawnmower, I realized this is not really a vacation, it's just life in a different location.  My suspicion has been confirmed today as TJ is working in the home office and my list of things I need to do gets a bit longer.  The wind is howling and the sun is shining and we are inside "working". 

Owning a property up here comes with it 's own blessings and curses. Mostly blessings. This year a good friend, I'll call her Curling Queen, became a home owner up here. She previously rented a place every summer and had lots of free time because she did not have to do all the jobs that come with owning a property.  "Who cares if the garden is not weeded and those walls need to be painted?...it's not mine...I think I'll go read a book on the beach." This year is an exciting year for her family as they make their new house a place they will enjoy for years. First, there is a lot of fixing up to be done though. Fixing up time conflicts with sitting on the beach time. Fixing up time also makes us very tired and consequently conflicts with going out at night time. Fixing up time can take over what used to be vacation! I have fallen victim to this same phenomena ever since we started working on the farmhouse.  Fixing up time can also be very rewarding though!

Curling Queen and her daughter are smiling because they are enjoying a little down time instead of shoveling or painting!

There are people who come up here for a week or two, rent a place and aside from a few mundane chores they spend most of their time sitting on the beach,  reading, playing golf and hanging out with friends and relatives.  They leave their responsibilities for a bit and go on "vacation"!  Before I go on too far,  I am not complaining!  You would know it if I were complaining!  There are times up here that seem more like vacation than others.  The next few weeks will seem like a stay-cation!  After a month of relative quiet and plenty of time to get those annual fixing-up-things-without-missing-too-much-fun done, we are entering the busy time at the shore.  The fixing up will just have to wait a couple of weeks. 

This candidate for "deck of the month" will have to wait until the Games are over for it's facelift.

On a completely unrelated note, this summer has been a summer of wildlife and I'm not talking about staying up all night drinking and dancing.  Along with the skunk, fox and racoon sightings on PEI I have seen a bear crossing the road and a deer right next to the road (alive) so far.  There was one unfortunate wildlife sighting in my yard this summer.  A baby deer (dead) was deposited in my yard by some mean animal.  It was a very small baby deer and I did not have the fortitude to remove it myself so I decided I needed to find a man!  This proved to be harder than I expected.  I must be losing my touch!  I had to call three! men before Georgia John came to my rescue. He removed the baby deer and drove it back into the woods and dropped him into the cirlce of life.  I have been relatively unsuccessful in luring the elusive yellow finches to my bird feeder but the hummingbirds are zooming in and out gulping the sugar water in the feeder on the window.  Sadie continues to stalk the squirrel that lives in the tree next to the shed.  They hold daily staring contests.

This is what Sadie does all day!

This is what the squirrel says all day...."You will never get me, sucker!"