Hunting

I am sure you are all wondering about my hunting habits. This blog is to enlighten you. =)

Carefully placed footsteps echoing thunderously on crunching leaves.

Sharp eyes scanning for the elusive doe...

Until they glaze over as my brain starts to think about a picture I should take for my blog and how should I write...

I had a wonderful day last weekend. You can all admire me in the picture... if you can see me =) I'm below the orange hat.

I spotted a deer from 200m down a pipeline and proceeded to creep along the edge of the forest quieter than the dozen voles I spotted. After about 100m I could no longer see the deer and thought they had run off... buy my pal Rich was still sitting where I left him... so I kept going. Finally I stood up to take a better peak and stepped on the loudest twig of the day. Up popped a head 20 meters away... Rich could see me and the deer in his binoculars at the same time. WOW!!! Anyways... I hesitated... I've never taked a head shot... needless to say I startled it and two others... =(

My heart racing from the excitement I turned back to meet up with Rich. I had a good time.

I did shoot an 18 month old deer and had some wonderful garlic sausage made up at Victoria Meats - they don't use MSG!!!

Ecologically Minded

I am watching the history channel and it is telling me what would happen to earth if all the humans died... it is very interesting.

It is sad the number of animals that would initailly die. Pets trapped in houses, pets hunted by packs of dogs, domestic fenced in livestock... They say that the last reported serious dog packing was after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Large zoo animals may be okay as they can escape once electricity fails. But they will need to migrate south to find sufficient food and not freeze come winter.

But in the long run, the Eiffel Tower will rust and collapse. And although the Statue of Liberty's skin is copper, its skeleton is iron the the arm holding the torch will detach from the shoulder and fall to the ground to be admired only by the local wildlife.

The spillway of the Hoover Dam will eventually erode and fail and the power of the water rushing down river will supposedly demolish any dams blocking the way to reach the ocean and allow fish to once again swim upstream.

Oh... and the spent nuclear waste stored in buildings for cooling will heat up after electricity fails and evenually cause an explosiion spreading nuclear waste and killing surrounding life... I missed how long it will take to recover.

But without all our body heat, the temperature of the globe is supposed to decrease!!! WOW!!

Eventually the show says we will have another ice age in 25000 years and any remains of the Statue of Liberty will be wiped out.

The good news is that in the end the earth will clean up after us... by degrading anything degradable and burying everything non degradable... though it will take a really long time.

So if you want to leave a mark... put something on the moon as most artifacts and craters are preserved there. =)

Oh right... but what struck me is my admiration of stainless steel, which is long lasting so I won't have to replace my cookware... environmental I thought... well it will still be around centuries after I die!!!

Blind Date

Okay, I have a cute, happy story. The photo is of me at work. Notice the sign in the background =)

I went biking with my friend Val on Sunday and she had just bought a new tire pump. Well needless to say it came without instructions and we thought we set it up right but it didn't work. As I have become lazy and don't carry my biking bag at the moment we did not have another pump. But there was this guy across the parking lot who looked like a serius biker so I went over introduced myself, explained the problem and asked if he had a pump we could borrow. Of course he did but the offered to look at Val's pump first. He was cute, had a beautiful smile and was a friendly biker. WOW!!

So after biking, his truck was still there so I left a note...

"Thanks for your help today Chris. If you're single and interested in going fot a hot cocoa call me... =) Nicole"

Well he called me later that day!! WOW!!

Turns out he loves hot chocolate. So we talked a bit and I found out that sadly he was not single. But he was flattered by the note and thought if I was brave enough to leave a note, that I might be brave enough to go on a blind date with one of his friends... ... OK. So he told me a bit about his friend... single, never married, no kids... he sure knows the words that warm a woman's heart. =)

I'll keep you posted. He still has to ask his friend if he's interested in going on a date with me.

Nicole

Dating Blunder

You'll be happy to know I went on a date with someone new last night. Here's what happened. He suggested we go for a bike ride. As he was picking me up and I called him to let him know I was ready, there was really no excuse for me to be late or not ready. So of course I was ready. He showed up and was surprised that I was ready and said, "Don't you want to have a drink before we go?" Of course, how silly of me. =)

So we stood out on my deck drinking water and watching stars. He pointed out the Big Dipper. I geekily replied, "Actually that's Pegasus, not the Big Dipper. You can tell because... The Big Dipper is hidden..." In hindsight, telling him he was wrong the first time we met was probably not the brightest idea I have ever had. But really who wants to live with the misconception that Pegasus is the Big Dipper?!!? What would you have said!?!?

He also really doesn't like plants. =(

Cheers. Next date with someone new is on Saturday night.

Corn in Pots

Here's what I heard about growing corn in pots.

I am not sure of the pot size, but I assume it should be fairly large to hold sufficient soil and water for the corn. I have some old tree pots (16" dia.) I'll be using for the first summer, if it works then I'll invest in prettier pots... eventually.

Corn likes well drained soil and full sun and shelter from wind. I'm planting the corn off to the west side of my yard where I don't currently have anything planted because it floods every spring. I figure I'll start the seeds inside so they have a head start and then transplant them out in late May after the last frost. Hopefully by then the water will also have drained out of my yard.. I think it drains by mid April. The corn will add a decorative touch to my yard by covering the fence and looking pretty, but I'm expecting it will taste delicious too.

When planting them, it is important to have the corn growing in a clump, or a block if you like an organized garden. Read the seed package for the appropriate spacing, but I think it would be good to plant in a block of 4x4 to 6x6. I think not less than 4x4 because I seem to recall my friend Joanne mentioning that one needs to plant at least 4 rows of corn for successful polination. She had really nice corn plants when I last saw them.

I understand corn is wind pollinated, not insect pollinated. By planting the seeds in close proximity the corn will touch each other as they mature thereby facilitating fertilization by neighbouring plants when the pollen falls down. I am going to try this next summer!! =)


Also, I was informed Borche is spelled Borscht. I knew I should have used the spell checker. =)

Also, I did not get any tickets on Saturday morning. The officer and I had a discussion about where I lived, that I just finished playing hockey and needed to go home to bed, and that I should roll down my windows and drive home safely. Yes, I am a mix of humbled, embarassed, and thankful.

Garden Harvest

I hear that September is the time to pull the garden... now when in September is the tricky part... before the frost. Why don't I read the farmer's almanac!!!???

Well, thankfully the weekend I chose to pull the garden was the right choice. Last weekend I pulled my garden in, Tuesday it froze.

I dug the potatoes, pulled onions, ate the last strawberries, picked tomatoes, picked the immature zucchini and carrots... next year I may plant my garden a little earlier =) So what can I do with a zillion pinky sized carrots? Wash them, shred them and make carrot/apple/chocolate chip/flaxseed muffins of course. YUM!! But then I ended up with twice as much carrot as I need, and still had to deal with the 4 inch long zucchinis... heck I can make zucchini/ carrot/pecan/milk chocolate nugget/chocolate muffins. =) Okay, I admit I did miss supper, I ate two muffins at 10pm instead. They were really good!!! YUM!!! Yeah, baking is best started early in the evening or on the weekend to prevent missing my bedtime.

And if you are wondering about the tomatoes... no I still don't like fresh tomatoes, I thought they might be good for salsa or pasta sauce.

I still have lots of carrots, so today, if it works out I am going to make soup... but I have four soups to make. Borche, butternut squash, carrot and stew... well stew may not be a soup. I made borche for the first time about a week ago and wow! I make good borche. I only made a small batch in case it didn't turn out, but now that I know it will turn out, I'm going to make some and freeze it for lunches. I love warm soup lunches. But borche everyday would be tiresome, and thus the need to make a variety.

Next year I want to plant corn in pots, heard about it at Hole's. That would be so beautiful! I have the spot selected, I just need to modify it a bit next year... remove some grass. At the rate I'm going I may not have much grass in five years. Why did I buy a lawn mower?

Well, since I played hockey last night I'd best go lay down for a nap so I have energy to make soup later today. =)

Acupuncture and Late Night Hockey

Let's start with some handy advice. If you play hockey late at night and then go out for food when you know you are really tired and should go home, but succumb to peer pressure because you don't go out that often... it is likely that when you start to drive home and doze off at a set of lights next to a police cruiser, that the police cruiser will pull you over and ask what's happening. Today if AMA is open I am registering my car and updating my driver's licence address. Not to worry, I did make it home okay.

But on to acupuncture. A few years ago I had heard that acupuncture could be good for my allergies!! WHAT!!!??? WOW!!! So I found an allergy specialist and made an appointment. He refused to treat me if I didn't stop drinking milk and eating dairy products. Needless to say, I still drink milk and eat cheese and yogurt frequently.

I was at a party a few weeks back playing guitar hero... when I was persuaded to try acupunture again. I was recommended to a lady here in Edmonton and I made sure she was okay with me drinking milk. HURRAY!!! She said my diet seems fairly decent, but to avoid raw vegetables and salads. You can stop your laughing. I only eat popcorn for supper occasionally, it's just you remember when I say I ate popcorn and not when I ate that marvelous butternut squash soup with ravioli.

So I am super excited to be trying acupuncture to desensitize me to my allergies. If it all works out I may be visiting you indoor pet lovers for longer than 5 minutes!! =) So far I've noticed my lungs were more open, my nose was stuffy and I sleep really deep.