So Much To Say, So Little Time & Energy!

So much has happened since the last post. Where to start?!?!

My parents and Jess arrived last Saturday around noon, in spite of the threat of the big snow storm... it didn't get started here til Saturday night and mostly happened Sunday. They arrived safe and sound and we had a great visit. Daddy could only stay til Monday as he had to get back to work on Tuesday.. wish he could've stayed longer, but we had a pretty good visit even if it was way too short.

Mom stayed on with us until yesterday and then flew back to Toronto via Westjet. We enjoyed having her company for a few extra days and were sad to see her go too.

The big storm brought us 37 cm of snow and actually caused our furnace to quit. Not the best thing ever when you're entertaining guests in the middle of a near crippling storm, lemme tell you. It wasn't long after the heat quit that I realized I hadn't checked the intake / outtake pipes for the high efficiency gas furnace and figured they were likely blocked from all the snow fall.

Shawn went out to check them and sure enough they were blocked. He set to cleaning them and then we tried the furnace again.. .still no go. Figuring it was likely some safety switch that was activated when the pipes blocked Dad, Shawn and I went down to the furnace and poked around, took both covers off it to see if we could find some reset switch.

I ended up calling the company that installed the furnace 2 years ago (their sticker was on it) and left a message with their answering service (it was Sunday afternoon) and was told they would call back within the hour. A service technician called about half an hour later and I did my best to explain what happened.

He told me that we could try a couple things on the phone, but that if they didn't work, I'd be out of luck as the company's owner was not allowing the techs to go out on calls due to the weather. They had already got the service vans stuck a few times and he was calling it a day. Mostly the fix in the end was just to shut off the power to the furnace and then power it up again. The important part is that it WORKED! We were only without heat for about an hour or so... not bad!!

I was thrilled with the tech for helping and he seemed pleased that he had helped me and didn't have to feel bad about not being able to go out in the storm.

Monday morning we started digging out... the snow removal guy we hired had come Sunday night, but it had drifted back in over night and covered the driveway and was about knee deep. Shawn, Daddy and I went out and started cleaning... Shawn and Daddy started with shovels while I got the snow blower out... the snowblower needed a bit of help from a bucket of hot water to get the tines turning and that took some time but we got it going and then it worked wonderfully.

After we cleaned out enough to get out, we all headed into Kanata to Cora's for breakfast. We were all starving after all the work! From there, Daddy headed home.... we took Shawn to work, even though he was late... and Mom, Jess and I went to Farm Boy.

So far this "winter" (umm, isn't tomorrow the FIRST day of winter??!!) we have received 75 friggen cm of snow. Crazy... and apparently not typical which is kind of a relief really... but then again, why did it have to do this the first winter here???

Jess has been trying to make friends with Ernie and Bert and they are starting to believe maybe she's not a predator after all! ;) They are not always the most friendly and forth coming with people they don't know. They aren't mean or anything... just stand off ish. They were much better meeting Mom, Dad and Jess than any of the other people that have come to see them before... they didn't just behave like livestock, which was nice!

Today, Jess helped me muck out the goat shelter and made many trips with the sled to the manure pile. It hadn't been cleaned right out in about a week and was overdue for a good stripping and rebedding. We also went out and did some Christmas shopping, but I can't post details, I don't want to be the Christmas ruiner!! ;)

Tonight, we went out to Carleton Place to the Eating Place for dinner... twas very good... Shawn and I had the turkey dinner, Jess had spaghetti. It's always a little like going home... not quite as good, but also not quite as far! All the trees lining the main street have lights on them and it looks very pretty, almost magical.

Shawn is now done work until Jan 7, 2008... he's pretty happy about getting some time off for Christmas this year... its pretty neat!

Not sure what we're up to this weekend yet... something, I'm sure, I just haven't gotten quite that far, yet.

We're looking forward to Kyle's arrival next Thursday! That'll be awesome :) It's an extended Christmas this year... having Christmas with my parents early and Christmas with Kyle late! :)

We've all been wiped out tired the last few days and Jess and I both napped yesterday afternoon. She slept in big time today for the first time since she arrived home.

I know I've glossed over and missed stuff that happened this week. There's just too much to say! :) Anyhow, now I'm tired and I still have to feed my goats their last meal of the day and all the other things that happen before bed! Busy busy!