July 15, 2008 

 oday I am introducing a couple of items of interest. I have been seeing someone since March (although I usually have to haul him to work with me in order to see him) and today he bought us a present. 

This afternoon he called me and told me I was the proud new owner of a tractor. He bought us a brand new New Holland tractor. He had been lusting over a Kubota for years, as that is the tractor brand he grew up with. So after him talking to me about a Kubota for months, imagine my surprise to see blue instead of orange. All the bells and whistles come with this beauty. A tiller, a backhoe, mower, bucket and a few other gadgets. It will arrive sometime next week I think he said. Later we will get haying equipment for it. 

If you do not understand the New Holland versus Kubota thing, think of a discussion between two guys over which is better, Ford, Chev or Dodge, and you will get the idea. Some families are just one brand specific/loyal. 

He will be using it for now in his backyard as he is remodeling his yard and house. He lives on a hillside so his yard was pretty sloped. He is moving dirt from the high side and putting on the low side and has gained 60-some feet of usable yard. He has been using a bobcat for this and as a bonus, he got the two stumps he loathed out of the yard. However, he has lost all of his green grass. He will be finishing the yard with the new tractor. As soon as the yard gets done, we are building him a skookum greenhouse.

A bit about my new guy to introduce him. He was born in British Columbia and grew up on a small farm in the beautiful southeast section of BC, however he has lived in Europe and Japan for many years as well. Due to living in other countries he speaks many languages and has a cultured background. Loves all sorts of music. He likes to travel. Very artistic in many mediums. Great wit and sense of humor! One of his hobbies is collecting British cars. He is also quite the fine cook, especially Japanese foods. He grew up with horses and enjoys riding, although he is not too sure about my western saddle yet (as he is used to English), but he likes riding my horse. He loves cats. Likes fishing for trout. For work, he is the general manager for a log home company and he is a certified master woodworker/joiner-fitter, specializing in amazing windows, doors and stairways. Never married, no kids. He told me recently, "I have been all over the world, and you are adzactly whom I have been looking for". How sweet of him to say that!

Picture Above: No, that is not the new tractor, that is him in a bobcat he brought home from work the other day before he bought the tractor.

The first of the magazines went out today. More will go out tomorrow. I think the rest of them will get mailed on Friday if the post office is not too crazy. The annual town festival is this week and it can be insane downtown. It feels so good to have them done. I plan on having Fall 2008 mailed from the States in September as not only is postage cheaper, but more reliable in getting the mail to its destination. Canada is reknown for having a horrible mail system.

I mailed a package of 4 to a man in Canada, just one province over. I mailed them in March and he received them in June. So if you are waiting for yours and you do not see it in your mailbox within 14 days, email me!! Thankfully this doesn't happen often, but it happened to Pat in the US, a lady in Australia, the man mentioned above and two other people over the last 4 years. Then two full bags of mail were lost a couple years ago and still have never shown up anywhere. Apparently Canada cannot track its own mail unless you attach a $15 tag to each package or letter.