Autumn Hollow Art

	Autumn Hollow Sanctuary Animal & Earth Rescue

Auntie Autumn's Diary

Twyla and Autumn

June 23, 2008

It's been insane the past three weeks! Preparing for the open house, Twyla's final exams and about a million other things on top of all the regular stuff takes it out of you. Took Twyla to Jasper this past weekend and hung out with all the like-minded hippy types. Twyla had to be dragged away from the hotsprings! It was a great time. I wish I had more than one day a year to get there. It was like the critters were having a Mardi Gras this year or something - from bull elk lounging around in the town of Jasper to bears wandering along the road to Miette. It's like that here too...as I write this out in rough I'm waiting for twyla to finish her piano lesson. I'm watching a large toad exploring a flower garden. Every bird in the neighbourhood is out. At home yesterday I filmed a little skunk that was on my back deck feasting on cat food. Our family of foxes is getting big and we see them out quite a bit. We had a wold drop by recently as well as the usual gang of coyotes, a black bear along with about every deer and moose in the county. It is such a blessing to live here. There are a few things missing - but I never lose hope for the things I want - even when they seem to be far out of reach.

Friday, May 30 2008

It's been awhile but there has been so much happening that can be summed up to Twyla's great grandmother passing away and all the things that tie you up at funerals, trying to get a very large garden planted and making a lot of adjustments because of rising costs to...well...everything. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I'm not one of Ed Stelmach's evil cronies and I can't just give myself a 34% raise so things are changing around here and being a bit streamlined. I keep myself sane with the realization of how beautiful it is out here now that everything is green. Te lilacs have finally started to bloom and the scent can be intoxicating at night. We are busily getting ready for tyhe ope house in a couple of weeks and hope lots of people come out to visit. It will be pivotal in deciding where we go from here. Hope to see you all soon!

Tuesday May 6th, 2008

So I spent the day cleaning and building cages. Actually, I started the building and ended up mostly cleaning. That always seems to be the way it is. I used to have quite a bit of help in the form of my sister and niece but since she (my sister) has been ill it’s been a much longer chore. At least I have the encouragement of my brother Jim who is a mountain of a man but terribly afraid of spiders. There’s an awful lot of them around here so encouragement is about the only thing I can hope for at present from him. Twyla and my sister, Ali, are afraid of them too. It’s grasshoppers that get me. I absolutely lose my mind if they get anywhere near me. Yar! Took a rare break on Saturday to see Ironman. There was no way I was missing that and it was great. Indiana Jones, Hulk and X Files are high on the list too. I was telling an old friend what a big mouth I have these days…politically speaking of course, and they didn’t say much in reply. I think I took him by surprise. I haven’t seen him in a long time and I’ve…um…evolved a bit. Still as loveable of course…just a little more outspoken if that is at all possible. Anyway, I think I said something along the lines of how I thought Ed Stelmach ought to take a Syncrude tailing pond dip along with his contemporaries Bush, Cheney and Harper. Apparently it makes no nevermind to Eddie S. that a large number of waterfowl have died after being treated to bathing in Syncrude’s poison soup. After all, ‘30 000 birds die in American turbines every year’. What that has to do with anything is still a bit beyond me but that’s just me. I suppose he’s trying to say that the number of birds killed here is nothing compared to the turbine thing. That, of course, is true, yet completely irrelevant in so many ways, not least of which is that things that happen in Alberta are his responsibility. You could say that far more Americans die of cancer every year (because there are more Americans). Does that mean that we shouldn’t bother ourselves about the whole C word thing here because the numbers don’t compare? Anyway, I guess I have revealed myself now. Not that my many pointed views aren’t pretty much public knowledge. I was feeling fairly crabby when I was talking to my friend. We were quite close at one time and shared many of the same views but he moved away and we sort of lost contact. I think he was expecting the same old girl. He has more or less stayed the course where I have veered wildly. Some people hang on to Gordon Lightfoot while others decide Ludo is more to their liking. But hey…I’m all for change…in most things anyway. There are a few things that will always be the same. My friend knows that…or at least he should. Twyla is sitting here chuckling and saying…”Yup…some things will never change.” I’m going to put dogs to bed now and watch ‘So I Married An Axe Murderer’…one of the best ever and still one of my favourites. Some things really don’t change.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

I can appreciate the fact that any moisture at this time, Spring having been so dry thus far, as being a good thing. I think I would appreciate it even more if it were a warm rain. Snow covering the ground again is a little disheartening. Whatever you may call May 1st…Beltain, May Day…the fact remains that my mind keeps wandering back to times when May began with warmth in the air, green leaves on the trees and bonfires being lit for celebration rather than warmth. We all look forward to the warmth of spring because before you know it, October will return…and though October is my favourite, I am gaining a greater and greater appreciation for July and August.

This weather just makes me want to curl up under a blanket with cocoa and a book. Unfortunately that scenario is a rarity. Spent yesterday building cages and my arms look like I’ve been dragged down a gravel road from the chicken wire scratches. We are also building a new showroom downstairs for the Open House in June so time is pretty much tied up. My day generally starts at around 7am and doesn’t end until well after 1am. It catches up sometimes but there is always so much to do. And it’s time I got to it.

Monday, April 21 2008

Welcome to the first entry of what you would call a blog (I just don’t like the word ‘blog’, so I will call it a diary). Don’t expect too much just now. We are still hammering out the rough edges of this new site so daily updates are a little ways into the future. Still, I thought I’d try to say something profound. Actually all I can think of, as I look out at the “worst April blizzard in 20 years” is how much my parka needs to go into the washer. It tends to be very quiet out here when the weather takes a turn for the ugly. All appointments tend to be cancelled and not too many people are on the roads. I, of course, still have to venture out today to get water and a few odds and ends at the over-priced mini grocery in the ‘Beach'.

Dawson (a lovely, bald African Grey) heard me up very early this morning so he has been chatting in his strange dialect that is half English-half squawky Parrotese with a little chicken thrown in. He gets louder and louder as the morning progresses until he has everyone up and I suddenly find I am sitting in the middle of the Amazon jungle during a very boisterous monkey fight…or at least that’s what it sounds like. I’m afraid that profound thoughts will have to wait. Slightly amusing anecdotes will have to do. It’s time for the phone to start ringing and for animals to start demanding breakfast. Twyla has Sonic blasting now so the day is officially started. We’ll talk again soon. In the meantime give your furbabies a hug for me!