March Break Photo Recap

"Ummmmmm, take a picture of us Mom, we're mendatating."

My mother, my sister and a couple of friends were over, but Shrek may have snorted a few too many Guinness that night.
The next day Shrek went to the Sportsman show and look at what followed him home...

It wasn't actually a spur of the moment decision. He took all of the courses last fall, waited for his license to come, installed a gun safe, pored over hunting websites and then made a shopping list. Have you ever seen a boy more pleased with his toy? I love the way Kira jumps in there.

Problem, nothing is going into the septic. At this point we have a bathtub full of sewage and a toilet that is overflowing onto the floor. When Matt and Damon dig up the septic tank lids, we think we might know what part of the problem is...groundwater.

Saved by Larry the Septic Guy. The septic tank was indeed full AND there was a clog in the main sewer pipe that comes out of the house. but as soon as it is pumped out, it fills with ground water. The septic field is draining back into the tank! So now we have to watch what is flushed until the spring thaw is completely finished.


Hanna and her cousin play with Lily.

There were also some hockey games, afternoon of horseback riding, a train ride and 3 day in Hamilton and a daytrip to Picton that weren't caught on camera.

Goats are the best patients!

The snow has been replaced with mud, but I found this photo of Daisy on my camera and thought it was cute.

I was dreading giving the goats their Ivomec today. I was planning to do it last week, but thought it would test my patience, during March Break, so I waited until today when the children were at school. I had visions of squirmy goats, maybe a horn or two in my leg, maybe some nipping, I would have guessed that it would end with goat saliva and liquid dewormer being spit up on my sweater. I had a tainted view of giving liquid medication because of all of the nights I wrestled feverish toddlers just to give them a tiny squirt of liquid Advil. It always ended with me wearing it.

The goats couldn't have been easier! They practically lined up waiting for their turns! They stood still and let me open their lips, I squirted the dose into their mouths, tilted their heads back, they swallowed and then licked their lips and went back to eating their hay. Lily wanted more when I was done.

I adore my children, they bless and enrich my life, but my goats are better patients!

Tomorrow I will spend the day starting seeds indoors.

40 Bags in 40 Days: Days 1 & 2

So far so good, this is only my bedroom closet and my desk!


The homemade detergent is great!

The supplies I bought were less than $15, and I only used 1 cup from a 3 kg box of soda, and 1/2 cup from a 2kg box of borax. I couldn't believe how fast and easy it was to make and the recipe made 10 gallon-sized jugs of detergent. That should last us for more than 2 months and it only took m0e about 1/2 hour of work. I did a load with it last night and it seem to be as clean as usual and has a light lemony, soapy scent to it. I still want to add some scents like lavender, so I think I'll go visit Prince Edward County Lavender.

40 Bags in 40 Days

I came across a brilliant idea through my online friend Melanie. She shared a link to a post at Clover Lane Blog. The idea is that for the 40 days of Lent (not counting Sundays) we declutter one bag every day. Then when Easter comes, we can celebrate it with lighter hearts, clearer minds and cleaner houses.

On another note, with a bit of trepidation, I am making my own laundry detergent for the first time. I am trying the recipe from the Duggar Family's website.

The bar soap I have smells great, so I assume the laundry soap will smell nice. But I'm on the lookout for some essences to add. I'll let you know how it goes.

Spring?

I was going to blog about some signs of spring that I noticed today, but then I came inside and the TV was saying that Environment Canada forecasts colder than normal spring. BLAH.

Eggs

It has been about 2 1/2 years since I found the first egg from one of our hens. I was giddy. I still smile when I look into a nest box and see the multi-coloured eggs lying in the straw.

Yesterday when I fed the chickens, I collected 17 eggs, today there were 19. A sign that the days are getting longer. I rinse the eggs in tepid water, then I let them dry before I put them into their cartons. Today, I took photos of the eggs drying.

Each hen's egg is different, like a signature. I can't say I know everybody's signature, but I know a few.

After a chaotic morning of getting kids to the bus, somehow the subtle shades and smoothness of the eggs comfort my soul.


This week I will be selecting some of the Ameraucana hens that lay the green eggs and putting them in a pen with Snowman (Ameraucana rooster). Then I will collect some eggs and put them under my Silkie hen, Jill.

Sad day

This morning I made a sad, but not shocking discovery. Combs, my Buff Catalana rooster, had passed away in the night. He had suffered from frostbitten comb and wattles from a couple of weeks ago when the overnight temperatures here broke records at -30 celsius without any windchill. Normally he would have been warm enough in the coop, if he slept up on the roosts as usual with the others. That evening something must have happened between him and Sandy and Rodney (see previous post) and when I was locking up the barn, I found him huddled in the northwest corner of the coop, cold and with a big wound on the back of his head. I grabbed a dog crate and placed it close to the heat lamp and put two hens in it to keep him comfortable. By the next day, I could see that he was going to lose some of the tips from his beautiful comb, and possibly part of his wattles to frostbite. He still seemed to be huddling a lot and I worried about his survival, but over the next few days he seemed to improve. He enjoyed the cuddles and attention he got when I put ointment on his wounds and as horrible as frostbitten combs look, he seemed to be healing. Last night I noticed that he started huddling on the floor of the crate again, but he was still close enough to the heat lamp that I figured he would be fine. The temperatures dropped down again last night to -20 something. I'm not sure exactly what it was, the cold, maybe infection.

Frostbitten extremities are a risk that chickens in cold climates face, and a good reason for choosing breeds with smaller combs. Because they are a spanish breed, Buff Catalanas are a very poor choice for our climate, but this is the first winter we've had any problems with frostbite.

Combs was my absolute favourite bird in the coop. He was the classic rooster in looks, but his personality was very sweet. He was a favourite of the hens. He loved to be held by people.

View from here

Here are Penny, Lily and Daisy with their visiting buck, Sampson (he's third from the left). He will stay with them for about another month and hopefully in June we will have kids. The girls have gotten to be quite big, Lily is even larger than Penny now, but rounder and fatter.

Puck, true to his breed, sniffing out something.

Most of the flock. These days, they usually only venture out when I am dumping table scraps into their yard.

This is Sandy, he's the lone surviving chick who was hatched in a nest behind the mock orange bush in my front garden last May. His mother was a barnevelder hen, named Brownie, but he is the spitting image of his father Rodney. The two of them have been getting very close lately and Rodney seems to be grooming him as his successor. Rodney is top rooster, and it is the first time he has ever seemed to promote another rooster as his equal. Do you think he knows that Sandy is his son? Hmmmm. I have trouble believing what I see in the barn sometimes.

Happy Birthday Griffin!

We blink and it's time for another birthday. Griffin turned 2 today! Griffin is an awesome boy. Very entertaining, sweet and clever, he is so much fun to be with.

Happy Birthday Damon!

Today we have another teenager in the house! Damon you are growing into an amazing and wonderful man and we are all very proud of you.

Feathers

For Christmas, a dear friend bought a "feather" for each of us. It is part of a fundraising campaign to replace the large goose that overlooks the TransCanada Highway. The idea is you put your name on the feathers as John Doe did and they will put them on a goose to display in the Visitor's Centre. Our friend, knowing us, suggested that we didn't need to feel restricted. I brought out my acrylic paints and look at what happened. I wonder what Wawa will think of these.

They all have stories of course. Matt's is a scene from the beach where we vacation. Mine is a blue jay feather which is meaningful for a couple of reasons. Patrick's is a bald eagle, a bird we see frequently when we are in Wawa. Damon's moose is like one he saw on Griffin's t-shirt. Campbell painted a camping scene complete with blackbear eating blueberries. Kira painted an Osprey feather, because she likes the Osprey that fly over our house and has even found a feather that one dropped. Hanna painted daisies because she likes the wildflowers she can pick in Wawa. Griffin started off painting water, then he painted a boat (in the far left) and finally he painted "rocks". The kids had so much fun they even proposed that instead of "Family Game Night" we have "Family Arts & Crafts Night." Perhaps.

Happy 7th Birthday Kira!

I can't believe that it has already been 7 years since our daughter Kira came roaring into the world! Kira is a beautiful, intelligent and strong girl and we are all very proud of her. For her birthday she chose for us to do "make your own" pizza night. The kids had a great time and the pizza was very good too.

See the face? With spinach hair and a bacon necklace?

STILL in Post-Christmas recovery mode

I realize that I was a very bad blogger this Christmas season. I hope to get back on track now that life is slowly returning to the normal chaotic pace. I usually make it a ritual to get all of the Christmas decor down by the time I go to bed on January 6th. When I reminded the kids that we "undecorate" the Christmas tree, Hanna was in tears. Kira asked me "Please please, can't we keep it up until my birthday?" I was really not feeling up to staying up late, so I relented. The decorations stand today. But trust me, but Monday at noon, they will all be packed tightly in their bins and stacked in the furnace room.

Baby Jesus' heavenly condo

Hanna: Did Baby Jesus die?
Me: Well, he did, but not when he was a baby, when he was a grown up man.
Hanna: No, Baby Jesus died.
Me: No, he was an adult, and then he rose to heaven.
Hanna: Is Baby Jesus in his condo right now?
Me: Condo? No, he's not in a condo.
Hanna: Didn't you know that heaven has condos?

An Idiot's Cat Tale

Sorry I haven't been blogging much lately, a recent wave of blog comment spam has been irritating me. That and sick kids. Kira was off school for more than a week with croup. Griffin started acting sick on Tuesday, his eyes were producing more snot than his nose! By Friday, the 2 girls and I took him into town to see the doctor, who pronounced that he had an ear infection, a sinus infection and even pneumonia. Hanna was just happy that Griff used up all of the appointment time and there was no chance for her to get her vaccinations. Then I picked up the boys from school and then we all came home. It was mayhem when we got here.

Here's the part where I feel like an idiot.

With the subzero temperatures we've been having lately, we've been bringing Wicket, the outdoor cat, indoors at night. When he wants in he puts his face against the window in our front entry. He always comes running to the door when we call him, even when he's over at the graveyard, he'll leave what he's doing and come. Better recall that most dogs I know (Puck, I know you always come EVENTUALLY, but Matt and I don't appreciate the extended early morning excursions). So early yesterday evening, when the snow was coming down sideways, I called him in. He didn't come. I asked Damon to try calling him. Nothing. We tried several times over the next few hours. Damon checked to see if he'd been locked into the goats' stall, the garage, the breezeway. I finally called the neighbour across the road to see if he had taken him in for us. "Haven't seen him. He'll be fine." Bedtime came, and still no Wicket.

When I woke up in the morning and he didn't have his face pressed against the window, I started to have a sinking feeling that something had happened to poor Wicket. On my way to tend to the goats and chickens, I checked the garage one last time and found that a chicken had strayed in and couldn't figure out that she couldn't get out through the window. When I was leaving the garage, I noticed something on the dashboard of my minivan. I looked over and there was Wicket, desperately trying to get my attention. I was relieved that he was okay, and even more miraculously, he hadn't used the interior of my van as a litterbox!


weird

For Grandpa

Hanna: Mommy, I really want you to get a race car. Daddy can get one too.
Me: What would we do with race cars?
Hanna: You could race. When you are driving on the road, you could go faster than the other cars. You know, like Grandpa does.

Happy Birthday Patrick!

Wow, that was quick. My firstborn turns 15 today. Sniff. Patrick is such an easy going guy, he's always been such a good kid. As he gets older, he makes us proud every day. He is smart and extremely compassionate. Sometimes I feel like he is my own Jiminy Cricket. And he's developed a great sense of wit.

His birthday began with a lot of pain (much the way my day began 15 years ago). He had a headache and sinus pain but he seems to be feeling better now. Still not much fun though. It is a night of hockey practices (practices for him, Campbell and dryland for Damon) so we won't have much time to have a meal together as a family so we are postponing his birthday dinner until tomorrow. I'll make him a little carrot cake with caramel drizzled over it, just so we have something to stick a candle in.

Scenes from the barnyard

Dear old Penny, such a sweet quiet goat, so easy to take care of. See how fat and round her daughter have gotten. Thanks to Bernie's generous offerings of Swiss Chard and brussel sprouts, she has gained some weight too, but she is so saggy that the fat never covers her bones, and she just collects her fat around her belly and around her ribs. Gravity is not kind to goats either.


Of course what you won't see is what I missed when my camera battery died. The goat and the cat sniffed, then the cat rubbed his head against the goat's head. Typical of a cat. So then the goat did what is typical goat behaviour when something touches their head, headbutt it. Pop. Luckily Wicket is a pretty quick guy and mostly missed it.

Remembrance Day

This is a photo that I am guessing my great-grandfather sent to his future wife at home. On the reverse of this photo, it says,"Heavy Marching Order. We have to carry this outfit on Route Marches. It only weighs 65 pounds. Nothing when you get used to it. Taken after 20 mile route march."

The kids' school is doing a slideshow today, we had to submit photos of family who had served. Because we live in a community that is home to a military airbase, many of the children at the school submitted photos of their parents who are currently serving, and many had photos of generations of family members who have served. Damon really wanted to participate and since he has a newfound fascination with the history of WW1 and WW2 he wanted to show his family's participation in both of those wars, so he among many old military photographs chose this photo of my great-grandfather from WW1, and another one of 3 of my great-uncles, brothers (another of their brothers served in the marines and can be seen in a separate photograph)from WW2. Luckily all of these men returned safely, while others did not.

Late last week, I made a small donation at a store and picked up some poppies for the kids coats. Now keeping them on their coats is another story.

This morning, we had another chaotic morning of trying to get 4 of them (Hanna doesn't go to school today) out of the door to meet the bus at the end of our driveway by 7:20. Kira was up and ready with plenty of time. She went out and waited by the road with her older brothers. Griffin and I closed the door relieved that they had all made it to the bus in time. I turned my mind to changing Griffin's diaper. Then Kira came running up the driveway and knocked on the door. She was in a panic, "My poppy came off, I need to find it. It's Remembrance Day and Mrs. M told us we needed to remember our poppies." She ran around looking for it, while I went and grabbed the poppy from my own coat to put on hers. As this was happening, the bus arrived. The boys got on and with Kira running down the driveway the bus pulled away. One of the cars stopped behind the bus started honking it's horn, but the bus driver didn't notice and continued on. Kira came into the house with tears streaming down her face.

"This is the worst day EVER. It's Remembrance Day and I missed the bus," she wailed.

"I told her, it is a great day. It's Remembrance Day and YOU remembered to wear your poppy. I can drive you to school," I told her.

I started walking down the hall to get Griffin, Hanna and myself dressed for the drive into town, when somebody knocked on my door. When I open the door, it's Kira's adorable teacher, Mrs. M. She was the one honking her horn for the bus driver's attention. She offered to drive Kira to school. Kira adores this teacher, so I knew that she would love driving in to school with her. I explained that Kira was ready for school on time but had run back in to get her poppy. She laughed and said, "I have poppies to give out to all of the kids."

Kira hopped into the backseat of her teacher's car just beaming. I realize that now Kira's teacher (who I should note is a tiny adorable thing dressed up in heels and stylish business attire, a perfect makeup job and her long blonde hair has been styled in loose curls) has just seen me in my pyjamas, my hair to my waist hasn't been brushed and I've got a poopy baby on my hip. *sigh*

Happy Birthday Hanna!

My sweet baby girl turned 4 today.


Hanna is growing up much too fast. For such a long time she seemed like the baby. Even after Griffin was born, she just seemed much more needy than him. I even worried that she might not be ready for school this past September. Even though she could write her own name, she wasn't toilet trained and couldn't put on her own shoes. That seemed to change overnight and suddenly she's an independent little girl. She is shy, but very bright and artistic girl. She loves to dance and draw and lately she has been a bit obsessed with letters and reading. She brought home her school photo a few days ago and immediately named every child in the photo and told me each of their first initials. "That's Karissa, and it is with a 'K' not a 'C'. And Bradley, he's got a 'B' and 'R' together, like 'br'."

Every year we ask the kids what they want to eat for their birthdays and they get to choose whether we eat at a restaurant or at home. Hanna was very specific this year. She wanted homemade macaroni with ketchup and a cake. And the cake was to be a chocolate cake in the shape of a heart with white icing and a rainbow on it. While she was out picking out a present with Grandpa, I iced the cake, with 3 very willing icing assistants.

She is going to have a friends' party another day, but she is having a hard time understanding that day is not the day of her birthday.

Kira could not stay out of the photos! She wanted to model one of Hanna's costumes.


I hope all your wishes come true!

Git it

Most of us expect dogs to be protectors of homes and families, and playmates to our children, now Puck goes over and above. He's taken on the role of mouser. Cold weather is creeping in, and a mouse must have come into our house yesterday for warmth and our elderly cat Charlie is no longer up to the task. Puck stalked it for hours. He was sniffing under the fridge and then he would go stand outside the kitchen door to wait for it to come out. He just caught it, killed it and brought it to us to put into the garbage. Protecting our kitchen from dirty little varmints. Good dog. Stay vigilant! Use your OCD powers for good, not evil. He did not sleep much last night. He kept having to leave his bed in my room to run into the kitchen to see if any mice had come in.



He was pretty proud of his kill, I should have taken a photo of him with it. But the disgusting factor of a mouse was too much for me. I face a lot of gross things, but the sight of a little mouse sends me jumping onto furniture. Next time. This is the second time he's caught a mouse. Last winter, Bella woke me up at 3:30 to go out. As we walked by the kitchen, a mouse scurried across the floor and Puck raced in and pounced on it, stunning it. He kept pawing it until it was dead. But that was more of a fluke, what impressed me this time is that he stalked the mouse for a long time before catching it.

With him patrolling the house and Wicket patrolling the garage and breezeway by night and barn by day, I'm hopeful we won't have any mice inside this winter.

"Relatively healthy peanut-free snack"

That was the request from Kira's teacher for their Halloween Party the next day. I wanted to come up with something both adorable and creepy, both delicious and nutritious, but my creativity was all used up trying to take care of 6 kids and our homestead while Matt has been working out of town. I briefly thought of making a fruit tray. I needed a comfort food with a reference to pumpkins and since one of the mom's from Campbell's hockey team recently dubbed me the Cookie Queen, I felt pressure to bake cookies. Maybe subconsciously I was trying to practice a recipe on the schoolkids before I presented it to the hockey parents. So I found and modified this recipe. I thought the cookies turned out wonderfully, soft and mildly flavoured. But I wasn't sure what the school kids would make of them. I think it worked, since 3 teachers sent me requests asking for the recipe. Here it is for the rest of you to try:

"Relatively healthy peanut-free snack" PUMPKIN COOKIES

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine softened
1 cup mashed pumpkin (After our dinner was finished, I cut a pie pumpkin in half, took out the shells and roasted it in the oven at 325 for 1 hour. If you don't want to do that, you can use canned pumpkin.)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Glaze:
2 cups icing sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Grease baking sheets.
COMBINE flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in medium bowl. Beat sugar and butter in large mixer bowl until well blended. Beat in pumpkin, egg and vanilla extract until smooth. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto prepared baking sheets.
BAKE for 15 to 18 minutes or until edges are firm. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
COMBINE glaze ingredients in small bowl until smooth. Drizzle over cooled cookies.

Barnyard rebellion

We have been goat owners for about 14 months now. We have learned a lot, but we thought all of the stories we had heard about goats being trouble were just "romanticized" versions of life on a farm. Penny would just stand there watching us, and the girls were just playful little balls of fur, no trouble.

For the past couple of months, certain young hens have been flying the coop and invading goat territory. It started because they liked the sweet goat feed that would sometimes spill on the ground when the piggies, er I mean goats, were stuffing their faces. At first the goat girls would give them a little headbutt from time to time and the hens would all go back to their yard. Lately it has been getting worse and some days all 14 of our new hens would be in there (and even Sandy, the pesky little cockerel). None of the old hens were doing it though.

Well on Saturday the tables were turned. I looked up from the kitchen sink to see Daisy standing in the middle of the chicken yard. When I got outside I saw that Lily was there too. I'm trying not to anthropomorphize too much, but it felt like the goats were saying, "Lets see how you like us stealing your food and pooping in your yard!" I did a quick fence repair by hammering a few extra staples into the shared fence and attaching a piece of wood to the bottom to prevent them from going under. The next day, it was worse, all 3 goats were in there, even meek and mild old Penny. Damon thinks she only went in to scold her daughters.


Notice in the photo there are only 2 goats in the yard, that's when we figured out that a 100 lb goat squeezed into the chicken coop itself and were stealing grain. I brought my camera, but dropped it in the coop, losing all the batteries in the straw on the floor. By this time both girls were in the coop. I hung the feeder from the ceiling to keep it away from them while I tried to jam one stubborn and horned goat head through the 1 foot square door. While I was trying to shove her chubby body out, the other one opened up the can that we store the chicken feed in. Goats are so much smarter and stronger than chickens! Finally I managed to get them out of the coop and Damon got them through the fence.

Matt repaired their fence with many more staples and released them again. As soon as he let them out of their stall into their yard again, the first thing they did was tested his repair job. So far it's still holding.

As for the hens, there is one in the goat yard today. I hate to do it, but I may need to clip some wings around here.

Gobbled up

I just had to toot my own horn and mention that the turkey was AWESOME! It cooked faster than we had planned so I was worried that it was dried out, but it was still moist enough and probably the best tasting turkey I've had. He weighed about 25 lbs. Here's what we did with him.

Sunday - Roasted Turkey dinner with Moist Bread Stuffing, Gravy, Mashed Potatoes, Steamed Baby Carrots, Roasted Squash, and Cranberries. Dessert was a choice of Pumpkin Pie with Whipped cream, or Apple Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream. Served 18.
Monday - Pumpkin Pie for Breakfast! For lunch, Cold Turkey sandwiches with Mayo, Salt and Pepper. Served 10. Made 4 litres of Turkey Stock with the carcass.
Tuesday - Open-faced Turkey Sandwiches with Hot Gravy, re-fried Mashed potatoes, and green peas. Served 8
Wednesday - Crockpot Turkey Stew with Dumplings. Served 8
Thursday - Lunch, leftover turkey stew with Dumplings. Served 3.

Now it's all gone. I have one more saved in my freezer, the rest have been traded or sold to pay for the cost of raising turkeys.

There's a word for that...

After watching the turkeys in the yard, I think Ed should add a few more verses...


There's a word for that
What does it start with?
A word for that
I'd sound so smart if I only knew
The word for that
Perhaps you do?


snood [snuːd]
n
1. (Clothing & Fashion) a pouchlike hat, often of net, loosely holding a woman's hair at the back
2. (Clothing & Fashion) a headband, esp one formerly worn by young unmarried women in Scotland
3. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Veterinary Science) Vet science a long fleshy appendage that hangs over the upper beak of turkeys
vb
(Clothing & Fashion) (tr) to hold (the hair) in a snood
[Old English snōd; of obscure origin]

Okay, use it in a sentence.




Within a few minutes a Turkey Tom transforms his snood from a nubby pink bit to a disgustingly dangly thing.

From the orchard

A nest is tightly wedged among the ripe apples

Based on the cherry pits inside, I am guessing that it belonged to one of the robins.

Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go to MEXICO!

SO COOL! It's a boy! Those black oval-shaped things on the lower wings are his "boy parts". They were both boys. We released them into the garden and Kira, Hanna and Griffin danced and sang, "Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go to Mexico!"

Waiting for wings!

Princess Flower

And Tiny

Do you see the changes from last week's photos? The pattern of monarch wings can be seen through the coccoon. It can't be too much longer...