A new job....

Wow, I can't even begin to explain how busy I am. I started working again, at a small yet busy place just the other side of town. It is an industrial sewing place, and because we are in "Gold Country", I think I told you that before, most of the things that we make are all mining related. Mostly miners bags, ore sample, and gold bar bags. It is rather neat seeing the amount of product heading out the doors all over the country from the little city "factory". They also make tents, and I don't mean your little camping style tent either, I mean prospectors tents, and girl guide tents. These puppies are big!! All in all it is a very nice job, I work inside, its warm, the people are even warmer, and it is just a fascinating job, never a dull or boring moment, and as of yet, for a newbie like me, sewing these bags together is still a daily challenge.

So the boys get on the bus at about 8:05 every morning, and I basically leave at the same time. Passing the bus as it heads down a little side road off mine. Then I work my little butt off till 5 pm every day. This is the most hours I have worked in a day since the kids were born, so my evenings are crazy busy and I catch us eating at 7 pm and me still doing chores till long into the night. But really, what working Mom isn't??

I went and got grain yesterday, picked up the order sheet for my chicks. I was going to be going half with a girl friend next year and do 50 of them. So I have got to get a hold of her and see if the plans are still the same or not. Either way I will still be ordering another 30 for myself if she has changed her mind. She is a very busy woman, so I could see her finding that late summer butchering a little more of an annoyance. I am definitely ordering more "ready to lay" hens, I have to figure out how many, maybe 10, or maybe 15. I just know that right now I don't have enough eggs to keep up with the friends, family, and neighbours so I need more hens. Either way, I see good things on the horizon for us as a family. I will still be doing my garden, and taking the summer off of work, that be for two main reasons, one being that I simply couldn't afford to work all summer and keep both my boys in day care. The other, much more important reason being that my boys are still young and I so love the company of them, I would feel so bad sticking them into some city day care place, when they have so much freedom and independence out here in the country. This is time that I will never be able to get back, and my boys will appreciate this time that I will be setting aside for them, giving them an extra amount of time and love will only help them in becoming great men. After all, we really do live a life here that I wouldn't trade for any amount of money or things. I clearly have been blessed....

I have been feeding the wild birds this winter, for the first time, and have become floored by just how much food them little rascals can eat. I hang out 2 feeders, each holding a good 12 cups of food, and they can have them both emptied in 2 days. Now, yes there is a bunch on the ground around the feeder, (messy little guys) but they really love to eat. I am not too sure what species the little ones are, but I have seen chickadee's and grosbeaks. The other little bird, small like a chickadee, but brown come in huge bunches, of 25 or 30 maybe even more some days, covering the feeder, and the ground below. They are so pretty, and the bassets just sit at the window watching them, knowing that the next time they go out, they will get to chase them away, and eat any left over bird seed on the ground, and little birdy poops left behind. That folks makes a basset happy!

Spring has not even begun to sprung up North here. It is still snowing, but we can see our days getting slightly longer and our nights not quite as cold as the nights in January. We are easily at about the 3 foot mark on the level with the snow, and the piles in the yard just keep getting bigger, and bigger! The bassets have once again been reduced down to a long skinny trail that leads though the kennel. Neighbourhood roofs have snow drifts up to 4 and 5 feet deep, nearly covering chimneys, and their basement windows are no longer visible from the road, making cellars rather dark and gloomy in the North. This is clearly the most snow we have had since living out here, it seems less drifty, but more snow all in all. I absolutely love it, and I know that we still have more coming, because we usually get up to 30 percent of our winter snow in February and March. So there is a good chance that we still have another 2 feet coming our way! Just so you know, at that point I just might start complaining.... :)