Another lovely day, but definitely feeling like fall.  Considering we are still in August, this seems a tad early, just as summer came rather late this year, like the second week in July!  Is this a trend?  2013 is the year for solar maximum so does this mean we will have more warm weather?

After peeling, cutting, preparing jars and lids, this is the result of my efforts:

28 pints (500 ml) of beets.  That means we will have to eat one pint every other week.  I guess we can do that.  I have boiled up the mouse-chewed beets and will make beet jelly from that.  Eeewww, you say?  Not so, it tastes like grape jelly with all the nutrition of beets.  Great on toast!

I'm late up this morning.  Dennis left at 4:30 a.m. to drive Susan's goods and chattels to Kamloops where she will start the next chapter in her life.  Good for her, I say!  She is tired of the long winters and loves the heat, so without having to leave Canada she has chosen a mighty fine place to be.  A condo overlooking a golf course - sounds lovely, especially when I am looking at all the work one must do to prepare for winter where we live out in the boondocks!  Ah well, it is a lifestyle not suited for everyone, clearly, because hardly anyone lives here!

You can tell I'm running on very few hours of sleep.  A power outage last night kept me awake wondering if Dennis would get up on time.  I should know better because he has a built in alarm clock it seems.  He was up and at 'em at 4:00 a.m., along with the 3 border collies who were raring to go.  After he left I brought them all and their beds into my room, ordered them to their beds, and got a few more hours sleep.  Today is bean picking day.  Plus, I noticed my vehicle insurance expires today so I am forced to go to town to renew my insurance.   I have been meaning to go to the bank and get my hair cut so this will be a good day for that too.  I also have to check under the hoods of the Landcruiser and the van for rat or mice nests.  We seem to be over run by the little creatures this year.  I hate driving along and having mice run across the dash.  It is startling and unnerving because you never know if they are going to run over the back of the seats and over your shoulders and up your neck.  It is also difficult to drive with mouse traps set inside the vehicle. 

Enough of this musing.  I had better pick beans while the sun shines and before I have to make myself presentable to the public of Burns Lake!

For whatever reason, my brain wouldn't shut off last night, so sleep was minimal.  You wouldn't think that picking and cleaning beets would be that stimulating that it would keep me awake!  Who knows?

Speaking of beets and gardening, the mice have been very well fed at my expense.  They have sampled many of the beets and peas.  Each fat pod I went to pick had been hollowed out by mice.  About a quarter of the beets were gnawed down.  There is a sample of the chewed beets in the picture above. 

Dennis still has a mouse living inside the cab or under the dashboard of the pickup.  He trapped one but it appears there are more.  I just removed a nest from under the hood of the landcruiser.  And a packrat has once again moved in to the attic above the shop.  I think I will borrow our neighbours jack russel Lilly to at least sort out the rat! 

Today I can beets.  Usually I pickle them but I have lots left from 2 years ago (no garden last year as we raised pigs there) so will can the beets and see how we like them.  I don't think they will be any different that regular cooked beets.  Well, since this sounds rather boring here is a picture I took a few weeks ago.  This is the view from one of my kitchen windows.

When I get time I will send it to the Cloud Appreciation Society, of which I am a proud member!  The sun is out and the wood furnace is belching heat.  This does not bode well for a day of canning!  The house was 15 degrees this morning so I was happy Dennis lit the furnace.  This is typical weather around here.  It was cold and very cloudy this morning and now the sun is beating down.  The lake is calm.  A good day to be in the garden picking beans, which is exactly what I will do once the canning is under way.  Time to get at it.

Hi Everyone!  This is a blog about life on our farm, Dogstar Farm.  I have started this blog as an alternative to being on Facebook.  Facebook just didn't work for me, so this is for those who are interested in what is going on in Dennis' and my world. 

We have 5 dogs and 17 sheep.  9 of the sheep are lambs and will be sold, one way or the other, this fall.  Our dogs are Crystal, a 14 year old Akita x, Bridget, a 14 year old blue heeler x, and three border collies, Finn (shown above), Rhaq, and Niko.  We also have, until September, Matthew, our 17 year old grandson, staying with us.  He was here for the summer. 

A few items coming up in our lives:  Dennis is moving daughter Susan to Kamloops, leaving tomorrow.  Dennis will also move grandson Matthew to an apartment in Houston for the school year in September.  Dennis is also building a barn for the sheep and our equipment.  We are showing 3 sheep, our breeding ram and 2 of his sons, in the Burns Lake fall fair on the weekend of September 7th.  This will be a first for us.  The garden is demanding attention so I will be working on that from today until it is done.  Of course the other fall things needing doing are firewood getting, yard clean up, equipment readied for winter.

I will leave it at that for now.  I will add things as they happen so this doesn't turn into a boring epic of sorts.