It's been a very busy few days.  Over the past days I managed to pick another batch of beans, ending up with 18 lbs more to add to the 13 lbs in the freezer.  I would say we have enough beans to last us the winter - and then some! 

The mice have been busy in the garden also.  My carrots are having their tops chewed off and any potato that dares sit too close to the grounds surface gets chewed also.  The cabbages and broccoli are also being attacked so today I will try to retrieve the cabbages and kale.  I picked the broccoli on Sunday.

Yesterday we butchered (cut and wrapped) our poor lamb that died.  I am unsure whether or not the meat will be edible.  I talked to Lois, our vet, who said the meat won't harm us, but it may have a very strong or unpleasant taste.  It also may be tough.  If the lamb is distressed the meat quality can be affected.  We cut and wrapped it anyway as we wanted to practice cutting it up properly, following a book we bought.  I photocopied the pages we needed, slipped them into plastic sleeves, then we proceeded to saw away with the reciprocating saw.  It all looked rather good by the time it was all done.  I meant to take some pictures for you, but it was so unseasonably hot that we didn't stop until it was all cut and inside sealed tubs.  The flies and wasps were fierce so moving fast was imperative.  At any rate, we will try a roast later on.  If it doesn't taste or smell good, it will all become dogfood.

Our phones still are not working.  I have spent 2 days back and forth on chat lines and email with Telus.  Last night I sent in a complaint to the CRTC.  Telus tells me they will try to "squeeze" me in on Wednesday.  What they didn't tell me was that all the residents to the east of me (I went as far as 10 km from me) have the same problem!  The manager told me they would try, but not promise, to work on my line on Wednesday.  He never indicated there was a large outage.  I visited 4 separate homes to the east of us yesterday.  Each person had a dfferent story that Telus had told them.  Each had a different date for repair.  I don't understand why Telus doesn't see a large equipment failure, such as we are experiencing, as an emergency.  No, they just schedule it into their regular service date. It - my keyboard just broke.  The caps lock key was stuck, then when I tried to un-stick it, it went flying across the room.  I lost my train of thought along with my caps lock key!

I had better get on with the day.  We have huge fires to the north of us and to the south of us.  The smoke here is thick and disgusting.  As both fires are in parks, the government people are letting them burn, as they are natural events, they say.  Fine, except for the fact that I was up all night coughing with asthma.  It is hot, dry and incredibly smoky now.  If you dropped a burning cigarette in the grass we would have a forest fire in a flash.  We desperately need rain but none in the forecast.  Our sheep should be able to graze for at least another month, but the grass is hardly worth eating now because it is so dried out. 

Today we will bring the ram lambs down from the large paddock.  A cougar has been heard in the area by several people.  Ben, our ram, is desperate to get to the ewes.  He popped all the staples off  one post so the fencing was wowed out in a big bow.  It would just be a matter of time before he had it flattened and we had lambs born in February!  I noticed the ewes were behaving as if they were in heat so we make sure they have 2 fences between them now.  And, the more I think of it, I think it was Ben who harmed Red, our lamb that died.  I think he was doing what rams do, and that is fight for the ewes.  Ben has to be separated from all the sheep now, ram lambs as well as ewes.

I promise to post more pictures tomorrow.  bye for now.