October 24, 2010

View of the week-Yes, it's come to that...weekly. Al is getting the holes lined up to get the dozer blade on the tractor...it's now ready for it's winter job.

We have been going hot and heavy, trying to get everything cleaned up and put away for the season. Marilyn has been slaving away in the camper, getting everything moved into the house and getting it winterized and spotless for the new owner...whoever that might be.

Al decided to get the snowblower working before we got a dumping of the white stuff...a novel idea. A belt had broken, so we had to split the machine to get to it, and after finding the right one in town, we got it back together and it works like new. Bring it on, Mother Nature!

Al got to work for a day driving a pilot truck for Kardynal Transport, who he had driven truck for a couple of winters ago. They were moving a New Holland tank and drill from Saskatoon to Swan River, MB. They had to stop in Elfros for the night because it got dark and Al took the last leg of the journey from Elfros to Swan River...about 190 miles one way...top speed of 30 mph.

Marilyn has been recruited to help out with the production of Macbeth that is being performed Halloween weekend and is trying to get up to speed with a play she has not even seen at rehearsal...that makes it interesting to figure out where she has to move things. She will be back working at Staples for a few days, filling in at the last minute for a co-worker...got to get back into it slowly, before going back full time Nov. 8.

Al just found out about a toy show in Regina, so he decided to get a few tables to try to make some extra cash for our trip to Dyersville, IA for the National Farm Toy Show coming up the first week in November. He had to get the cargo trailer of toys out of storage at his brother Jeff's place so he could reorganize it for the upcoming toy show season. They are even thinking about having an auction before the Yorkton Toy Show, so he will be busy getting that up and running.

It is now eight years that we have been living in this house and it is the first time we have ever had a mouse in the house...must be the season for them what with Al trapping 12 of them in the General and two in the Freightliner. Marilyn was in the laundry room when one went scampering by...they have no fear the little buggers...two minutes later in the kitchen, he was making a return run back into the laundry room. He ran along the wall and took the corner so fast on the lino floor, he was just pealing out...right out of the cartoons...before hightailing it down the heat register. About a half hour later he was out making the rounds again, so we brought a couple of traps in and set them along his run.

While Al was watching his Sunday NFL games, he notice the little bugger on the top of one of the 3ft vases Marilyn had made that were filled with layers of combined grain from different states. Marilyn went in for a closer inspection and discovered that he had chewed a hole in the plastic cover and had lifted the first divider...and was actually enjoying the flax underneath it. He took off in a hurry and we changed the trap line so it would be on his run under the fireplace...when he came out he was running all over the trap, but smart enough to miss tripping it. We put saucers on top of the vases, and while we were in there with the lights and TV on, he was up there trying to get back in to the flax. Needless to say, the rest of the traps have come in out of the trucks...we will be waiting for the SNAP tonight.

We couldn't get close enough to mark it, so we hope there is only one...