I was lying on the couch today looking out into our yard when bang!, a bird flew into the window. I slowly crept up to the cill and there it was sitting on our cement patio. I closed the blinds to prevent another accident. The bird was totally still. Tyler thought he was either dead or dying but I refused to believe it. Not this bird, not when it looked like it had flown straight off of the birthday card I had received earlier in the day. It has to be a bad omen for a beautiful bird to die before one's eyes on one's birthday, right? I sat by the window and spied through the blinds for what seemed like an hour. First I noticed him breathing. Then slowly he started to move his head. I swear the thing looked right at me.

I waited.

And then he flew away.

This blog sort of got sidetracked with the opening of our shop. From now on information regarding new items for sale in the store will be posted on the All Citizens website and I'll get back to posting about rural life here. What better way to get back to the nitty-gritty than a photo of a dirt/tar/asphalt covered Tyler? He quit his carpentry job in Saskatoon and started helping a local carpenter part time. His first day was 12 hours of shingling. I took this photo right after he walked in the door in between snorts of uncontrollable laughter.

We've gotten in some new items by local artists including summer knits by Ross Nicholson, woodwork by Marcel Prefontaine and vinyl bags by Rosie Lines.

We've added a new member to our family: Terrence the dog! He came from the Humane Society in Meadow Lake and he is incredibly friendly. Our cat isn't too impressed but slowly seems to be warming up to him (i.e. on occasion allowing Terrence to cross his path without swatting him). It also happens to be this blog's 1st birthday. We've been in Saskatchewan for a year! Hard to believe we came out here with nothing but a truck, a tiny uhaul trailer and Booboo, Booboo. We’ve gained a house with a store and a yard and a dog. Yup.

The mayor kindly congratulated us on the opening of our shop in the Bruno newsletter.

Business has been good. New faces appear every day. Young children drop their bikes out front and come in by themselves for their sugar fix (our caramel hot cocoa is quite popular). In an attempt to attract even larger packs of children we will soon be serving ice cream cones. Tomorrow is the town wide garage sale, a day which starts with a pancake breakfast at the senior citizens centre. Tyler is taking the day off work (his carpentry job). We are STOKED.