Has spring really sprung??

Well, we are heading into the last week of April in a few days. Easter has come and gone with the spring winds, we are still finding the occasional hidden Easter egg around the house. Time has been going so fast, and I have so much to do that it feels like only yesterday was February. It is cold and lousy weather, we still have piles of snow around the yard, and it snows off and on almost daily lately. But it warms up enough almost every other day to have the fresh stuff melt. What we really need is some sunshine!

We got the hen house reno done, we insulated the floor and painted for all the new chicks. They all arrived on April 11th all 75 of them. 60 are all little fluffy yellow meat bird chicks, and 15 are little black, layer chicks, given free by the fall fair committee, 10 pullets and 5 roo's. One of each to be returned to the fall fair, the rest are ours to keep. They are all so cute, and are growing so fast already.

We have a cold going through the hen house right now. I have no clue where they picked it up, or exactly how severe it is as of yet. I noticed it a week ago now, and I still have some sneezing out there, including Sylvester, my big Polish roo. I am still rather worried about them, when I went and spoke to the lady I buy all my grain from, she just told me to cull the whole flock. She said when one shows symptoms cull it, and burn the carcass, it is the only way to control the spread of the disease. Well, it isn't that I don't think that she knows what she is talking about, but I think that she could be going a little over board. I am not ready for that yet. They are all eating, drinking and enjoying their fresh air. So should they start looking listless, or should one die, then I can think more severely like that. But for now I am going to try to ride it out. I have ordered some antibiotics and they should arrive some time next week, so if they aren't better by then, I will treat the whole flock. A few of the girls have quit laying, and the egg shell colour has faded from a nice brown to a very pale brown. I can't even put into words how much I hope that they recover from this.

My tomato plants are all up, and are about 6-8 inches tall. I started about 100 of them this year, because of being un able to find any last year. I sure hope that we start getting more sun and less cloud, cold, and snow though now because they are getting rather leggy, dispite being right in a South facing window.

The bassets are doing well, Odie is battling yet another ear infection. We just can't seem to get rid of it completely. It doesn't help either that Hoover keeps on licking in his ear. The old guy has an appointment with the doc on the 30th of April and hopefully we can get better meds for his ear and a possible diagnosis for the scabs on his nose. I will be holding my breath that it is not lupus.

The cat managed to sneak outside a few weeks ago, and is being incredibly sly. He refuses to come to us, and if he sees us actually turns around and high tails it as fast as he can in the other direction. Little brat!! We are still feeding him, kid 2 brings fresh food out to the garage every day to make sure that he doesn't starve. Last night however I saw a nice sized black and white cat strutting through the yard, so I think that he might have found a friend out there too!

In other house hold news Pebbles, Luigi, Cledus, and Super frog are all doing great. So is the human family, kid one ended up with the flu the Tuesday after Easter, so I missed work and he spent the day hugging the toilet bowl, poor lad. I slammed my finger in the house door in March and more purple is still growing out from behind the cuticle. I am beginning to wonder if it will ever end. It hurt mighty bad too! Then last weekend kid 1 got his finger stuck in the steering wheel of his go cart, so we had to take the steering wheel off and take the boy with wheel attached to emerge to get it removed! It went well, no wait at all, and no blood or tears involved at the hospital. He was so embarrassed too!

I will try my best to get some pics over the next week or so and do a wordless Wednesday soon. So many new and exciting things going on here every day!

Please don't forget folks, there is NO creature or person that loves YOU more than he loves himself, other than your dog, so PLEASE adopt don't shop!!

Birds of a feather....

Well I think that I can let go of all of the serious stuff for a little bit. Just when it comes to dogs, I don't feel the need to just sit back and watch bad things happen. I will never understand why people do not spay or neuter their pets. More so how people can abuse or abandon such a loving and loyal companion. Just do not understand..... It really breaks my heart.


We have been so busy around here. I have about 30 jars of pickled beats down stairs in the pantry. It looks so nice down there. A whole shelf full of things that I made and grew in my own garden. Really too, it is rather exciting. It has finally been raining here. The pond has come up a few inches over the last couple of weeks. There were puddles all around the yard, and the lawns have all thankfully greened up before the winter winds will settle in on us. We are in the midst of a beautiful Indian summer. It has been wonderfully warm outside. Into the mid 20's and high teens nearly every day. Gives us plenty of opportunity to get all of our outside chores done before we wake up to snow, then get stuck in a rush to get it all done in a hurry. The yard is now all tidied up. Flower posts emptied, humming bird feeders washed and stored away for next summer. The outside chicken feeders and waterers are all washed out and put away till spring, even though all of the ladies are still out nearly every day. The pig went to the slaughter house today, I am not too sure when we will be getting the call to go and pick up all of the pork. I will go out to the back yard tomorrow afternoon and take down all of her fence and posts. Store them nicely in hopes of getting a few more piglets next spring.

The majority of the potatoes are still in the ground. I have just been digging as we need because the cold room isn't really cold enough yet because it has been so warm out. They have been rather nice sized so far, and not too bad of numbers to each plant. That is all a good thing. It is looking like we will have a few hundred pounds again this winter. We usually share some with a few friends too. I mean who really doesn't like fresh potatoes, and even better when they are FREE!

The firewood is nearly complete, the woodshed is filled right up to the top, and there is all ready a whole pick up truck load tossed into and piled neatly in the basement. I felt so relieved when we finished up that shed, knowing that we are finished. There is just a little more out there in the back yard to be cut and split. A pick up load is going to a good friend of ours, they are planning on supplementing their heat a little this winter seeing as out electricity is so expensive up north here. The last will either be tossed into the basement again, or just piled out back for next years long cold winter.

As I had said, the chickens have still been out nearly every day. The 3 chicks left that Momma had hatched off have taken to the trees and are refusing to come into the chicken house at night. We found them out there a few nights ago and they are sleeping a good 20 feet up the tree and have no plans of sleeping inside what so ever. We don't know what exactly we are going to do about them out there, if they will have to be caught and put inside, eventually come in on their own, or if they will end up staying out all winter! My rooster has a new home as soon as I find the time to get him out to his new place. I am sure that he will be happy there too. My polish chicks are free running now with all of the big hens, and are doing better everyday. Growing really fast now that they are able to get outside. They don't seem to be getting bullied too badly, and are doing a great job of sticking together. A few of them are looking so good too, with huge puffs on their heads. They are turning into stunning birds. The 2 bigger silkie chicks are getting big and fluffy now, the 5 little ones, even "crooked feet" are all getting big and are loving all of the space that they have in their half of the chicken house.

The houndies are doing really good, they love this fall weather, well that is if its not raining, especially now because we have filled the woodshed, which was their hiding place out in the yard when it rained. But they love the warm days, the flocks of birds, and all the fancy new things to smell. Pebbles is a "rockin' and a rollin'" I haven't seen the lynx in days and days now so she has been allowed to accompany me for walks to the back yard again. She loves that, and becomes a puppy again in an instant.

The kids, hubby, other critters and myself are all good, we had a virus come through the house, Big Daddy was the only one lucky enough to avoid it. But we are nearly 100% again. We found the boys old scooter and skateboard a week or two ago and they have taken up both activities with a vengeance. My little guy built a post to skid on and alley oop over. We have just a gravel yard, and the road in front of our house has too much traffic so they just practice in the garage. The men of the house have good plans on finishing their go-cart this winter, they have an engine and are waiting on a clutch. We will have to go out of town to get the clutch because we aren't sure on the size to just order on line. Apparently they are not all the same. They will go out early on a Saturday morning and light up a nice fire in the garage so that it will be nice and warm to work all day, and those 3 can usually get a lot accomplished in an afternoon out there. They will also begin working on the old beater snow machine soon too. It belongs to a friend, but he hasn't used it in years, so said that if hubby and the boys want to fix it up and use it they are more than welcome. They all enjoy the time spent together, and the boys are learning how to weld and fix engines. All talents that will be appreciated when they are adults. I, myself am not missing my job in town, I have been so busy here that there is just no stopping long enough to get bored! I like that too!

Time, Time, Time.....

Sometimes time just has a way of catching up to us. You know what I mean, that day when you realize how fast time goes, and how every year that ticks by is faster than the year previous to it. That has been happening a lot lately here at the farm. From the time that seems to skip by years at a time to the only weeks at a time. My precious Pebbles turned 10 this past spring, when I look at her greying face I wonder just where the time went, and realize just why she has turned into such a great dog. Its because she is getting old, I know that she still has a good 5 years or more left in her, she has bad knees but her health is beyond superb and so is her spirit. My Baby turns 9 this Christmas, and the Hubby and I have been together for 12 years. Time really does fly when your having fun. The days are shortening, the bugs have slowed down and its nearly time for our annual corn roast, all signs that our great Northern Summer is coming to an end. The biggest sign however is that my boys return to school in 2 weeks, and we are left wondering where the heck summer went. I mean we got a lot accomplished and all, but still, come on we're not done yet.

As the holidays are drawing to a close we are realizing all the chores that aren't yet completed. So we have to diligently set our minds to completing a task or two each day. The garden doesn't get put on the schedule, it tells us when it needs to be done. Yesterday we picked 2, 5 gallon pails of peas and beans, so today I will be blanching the peas and tossing them into the freezer, and pickling the beans. I have 2 nearly dead 5 foot cedar trees that need to be planted, and a little bit of painting left to do. The back to school shopping is nearly complete, the last which might be finished up this coming weekend. We have plenty of firewood that still needs to be cut, then split and piled into the woodshed, eaves trough to be put onto the front of the house, and a HUGE pig that needs to be slaughtered before the winter winds settle down on us. Oh, lets not forget a chicken house reno somewhere in there as well. I am glad that all my meat chickens have already been put into the freezer.

But anyways, back to passing time. Its great too see my boys grow more independent and knowledgeable, no more tying shoes, or pouring milk, they even scramble their own eggs. They are learning things to pass on to their future children and even I hear them talk about something that happened "years" ago. This fall it will be 6 years since we lost my Mom to cancer, and my boys will soon have no memories of her at all, unless I keep her spirit alive in their hearts through stories and sharing my memories with them. Odie turns 7 this fall, which also explains his greying face, and less bouncy step. When I look at my husband I see a few grey hairs in his beard, greys that show he works hard and loves harder. I no longer see that 20 year old face when I look in the mirror, I see a Mom, a wife, a farmer, a hard worker, and a woman who loves to laugh and tell a good story. I see a woman who looks like her Mother and is a little afraid of that. We all must age though, I guess its just how we take it.

So as we enter into another fall, with my little boys entering another grade higher, and one less year at home hugging them goodnight, I am going to hug them a little tighter perhaps, and tell a few extra stories about my Mom, Granny, and even "Oscar" the first basset we owned. Maybe I can complain a little less and hug a little more, maybe we all should. Before we know it, and before we are ready or even aware of it, we are all going to be old, and wondering where these days went. My in-laws have a sign hanging in the cottage that states it perfectly "These are the good old days"........

A Follow Up.

Well it has been a few days since the dog attack, everyone is settling down, even still getting a few eggs a day. A neighbour way down the road stopped by Thursday evening to ask me if I was missing a chicken and a turkey. I basically shouted "YES" to them. I brought them out to the coop and showed them my ladies and my female guinea, and they said that yes, they had her mate, but he was a sight for sore eyes. Well it seems as though the two birds were just out pecking on his back lawn when a lynx came out of the bush and attacked the guinea. Thankfully the man of the house was fearless and attacked the lynx and saved the poor bird, then his little wiener dog attacked the guinea. But he is OK, less MANY feathers, but doing just fine. How do you thank them people enough, I mean they gave me back 2 of my birds and stopped the yearning from a hen that was missing her mate so much... I gave them the 2 dozen eggs that I had in the fridge, and thanked them profusely, to the point where they surely thought I was crazy to be so excited to see a couple of birds. When I jokingly told them that the male guinea is one of the few that has no name, he stated that they have been calling him lucky, and I mean seriously he survived a spaniel, lynx and a wiener dog. So "Lucky" it is.

Now however, I am even more edgy, first that that dog might show up again, and then what do you do? Secondly that the lynx, might show up, at least with a lynx, I know that it will only kill one, then take it away and eat it. It is making me very tempted to get a bigger guard dog to protect my flock, even I suppose that the ducks even need protection. But I think that for the time being, there will be no convincing my hubby, but however I am going to keep watch for a Newfoundland Hound for sale on our local classified website. Great family dog, loyal, and trustworthy, protective with its life for the family it is meant to protect. So I will watch for the next year or so, until I find one, and if I don't I will go to a good breeder in Southern Ontario.

So I have a sick duck in the house, I don't have the slightest clue what is wrong with it, but it seems to have picked up a lot over the last day, compared to the first day it came in, very lethargic, and awful looking. My youngest has taken a shine to the little thing, so has Hoover actually, Mothering the little thing when ever the opportunity arrives, licking the little guy constantly. My little guy has named him Cujo, as odd name I thought for a duck, and we don't even know its sex yet. The duck is still quite young, and is NOT a runner, but some other breed of duck, but it sure is cute, I hope it makes it. I took "Steve" my big dark duck, and put him in the storage side of the chicken house, where Luigi (the rabbit) lives. So "Daffy" was lonely and I put him in with my lonely little white runner duckling, they seem to be getting along rather swell, and have bonded out there in the pond. Maybe tomorrow I can introduce this other duck to them two then let those 3 back with Steve. A rather long and complicated process, just to have everybody get along.

Been busy around the "mini farm" lately, we had a tier of firewood delivered about a week ago, so that all needs to be cut with the chain saw, then split with the splitter, then piled in the woodshed to dry. It will dry in there until we need to start bringing it in somewhere around Thanksgiving, (the second weekend in October here in Canada). We already have a few cord split and in the woodshed, and a few more cord to be split and brought up. Basically that will be left to the boys and I during my summer away from work. Hubby does the chain saw and then the boys and I are supposed to split it all. Most likely what we will do this afternoon, seeing as it is a bit of a cool windy day, a nice day to be out doing firewood.

I still have lawns to mow, gardens to till, potatoes to hill, a basement to finish painting, trees to be chopped down, there really isn't a day of "boringness" around here, because if it happens to be a cool and rainy day, there is always laundry and other housework to be done! Everybody in the house is living happily and harmoniously, well as happy as Pebbles can be living with Bassets. We took her to the Cottage on Sunday, and boy does she ever shine out there, she loves it, no bassets around at all, a big lake, with more duckies than she can count. She is a free spirit, and is wonderfully obedient and quiet when there. I think that the cottage is her place of "Zen" as it is to most people. Look at your dog, they really do have this living in the moment thing figured out, I think that we all need to take a lesson or two from our furry friends. Peace Out!

A Girl Can Dream...

As a young lady I was always amazed by the guy walking with the dog that wore no leash. You know the kind of guy, he is nearly always middle aged, often even riding a bike, with his faithful friend trotting along beside, unbound, often even collarless. That dog was generally a Border Collie, Sheltie, even sometimes it might be a Rottie. But that man, with the "perfect" dog always made me want a dog like that. So faithful....
Well my Mom raised Pekingese, and we went through numerous big dogs over the years, one in particular that I remember well was a big Newfoundland Hound. These small dogs always had their own large fenced in run while the large dogs were generally tied up in the yard, and on occasion were untied to run a little when we were outside playing. Now none of these dogs were ever purposefully walked, they generally got their own exercise by playing and wrestling each other in their designated spaces. When these dogs were out of their fenced yards they would take off like a rocket, never returning to our calls and offerings of treats. They would return from the bush hours later covered in burs, twigs, and small pine branches, with a huge grin knowing that they were in trouble but satisfied none the less at the adventure they had been on all afternoon. Try as we might as children, those dogs wouldn't stay, they would take off after cars, squirrels, rabbit, basically anything that moved was fair game to them and were beckoning them to come for that elusive romp in the wilderness.
So when I was young, whenever I saw the man with his untethered dog I watched with envy and curiosity as to how he taught the dog to stay so obediently beside. Through stop signs, passing cars, and even passerby's would only receive a slight tail wag but the dog would not loose a step in the greeting. I always wanted a dog like that, and knew that one day I would have a dog trained that well and that I would know the trick of the man to get his dog to stay close.
Well here I am now, grown, and still envious of the man on the bike with his faithful sidekick. I happen to have one of these such man/dog friendships just down the road from me. I see him coming to get his mail everyday, the dog is never on a leash. I even see them zip by my drive way, man on bike and dog trotting ahead, not blinking an eye towards my noisy house and yard full of dogs, chickens, and ducks. I am still envious.....
But not as much I suppose, because I do kind of own one of those dogs. No, not one of the hounds, Pebbles of course, faithfully follows me all around the yard, and even down the road to neighbours houses should we go for a walk together. She just loves being with me, she likes being the "perfect" dog in the house. As we walk out together to the back 40 she faithfully trots ahead of me ready to protect me with her life, should the need arrive, and she would too, there is no doubt about that. If she sees a bird or rabbit, she takes chase, and sometimes I let her because I see the thrill in her eyes. But, if I don't have the time to wait for her while she is off hunting I will just tell her nope, not this time hun. She understands I suppose, and returns back on to the task of escorting me to the back yard to feed the pig. She always has the best manners should a neighbour stop by to buy a dozen eggs, or stop to chat about the weather or bear problems. But however, should that neighbour bring a dog with them, then all is lost and hell breaks loose in my own yard. There is no calling her off, no telling her nothing, she only wants to defend her property and territory. So although she really is close to being perfect, she isn't and never will be there. I am OK with that though, I mean really we are all a little messed up and protective in our own way. She is an excellent companion for me at chore time each night, and she knows that the birds here belong here and she never chases my ducks or chickens, she is an excellent little farm helper. If only I could teach her to herd!
With that I say pfffft to those darn bassets. Useless critters they are, don't get me wrong I really do adore them dearly. They keep the bed warm after my hubby gets up for work, they give me unconditional love, and plenty of entertainment. But lets face it, you sure as heck ain't gonna see me out on my bike anytime soon with those two yahoos tagging along with me faithfully. They make good companions, on leashed walks....

Not too punctual.

So apparently I am not so good at keeping this up. Wishing that I had more energy or more time or both would be even better. Time just really gets away on me lately. Running the farm, working all the time and taking care of my hounds and boys seem to often get the best of me.
The bassets are doing really well, Pebbles too, she turned 9 this spring. Time goes too fast, it seems as though it was only a year ago that we got her as a little fluff ball and she was getting pushed around the yard in the back of a Tonka truck. Her health is well, she is beginning to have troubles with her knees, and a few problems with her teeth, so most likely she will be going in for dental work this fall.

Hoover is still silly, and rather bad.... Just never a dull moment with that hound around. He will still sneak and steal a roll of toilet paper if given the opportunity. Will still let out a little pee on my floors here and there too. Not very impressive at all I must add. Odie though has fit in really well. He is still a clown and still likes to bark. I think that he has put on even more weight, so he is currently on a little bit of a diet to thin him out a little. It is raining here at the moment, and the smell of wet dog surrounds me. Nice, Welcome spring!

The farm has expanded, we still have 3 ducks, all males. Dang, not impressed at that at all. We will hopefully be able to get a female this summer and possibly set a few eggs. We have 11 nice big laying hens, a few that have been named, 3 bantams (one of which is our rooster who goes by the name of "Foghorn"), and 2 guinea fowl. Also have 4 black layer chicks, all due to begin laying around the beginning of September. We are getting a dozen eggs a day and even managing to sell a couple dozen a week. I can't even begin to explain how nice it is knowing that we are eating farm fresh, with no chemicals. Let alone how the hens, have became such pets. We also ordered 20 meat chickens, they arrived on April 13th as little tiny things, about as big as a bunch of golf balls. They have now grown into relatively large white chickens, nearly 4 lbs each already.

My garden did surprisingly well last fall. We got tons of fresh veggies out of there. Made plenty of zucchini recipes from breads to casseroles. Did canning after work for a good month straight. Almost to the point of having too many veggies to handle. Due to the fact that I changed jobs as well, there just wasn't enough time to get everything done. So the blog suffered. Then once a habit it becomes difficult to get back into. So here's to hoping I can get it made back into a habit once again. Well thats about it for today, will post again really soon...