Ringing in the New Year... in comfort

Here we are on the Eve of a new year. Amazing how fast a year goes, isn't it? Lots of great things have happened around our little farm in 2010 and we have many great memories to reminisce about. I have big plans for 2011! Big plans!

My chickens are well on their way to buying me an egg incubator so that I can raise chicks from egg right here at home. We are looking to hopefully acquire another Dexter or two to add to our herd which will mean beef sooner rather than later. I am also interested in a pig or two for meat for next Fall. The kids and I are looking forward to spring and gardening again. Although I'm still enjoying Winter and our lovely snow, I do look forward to the warmer days of spring.

So what are my plans for this New Years' Eve? Well... I am lounging comfortably in my husband's new Christmas pajamas that he left me for safekeeping while he is in China. 'Eat Pray Love' is spinning in the DVD player waiting for me and there is a big bowl of popcorn to go along with it. And while many people are out getting slobbering drunk right now, I however, am drinking iced tea out of my beer glass. I would hate to wake up to a new year with a hangover!

Wishing you health, happiness and prosperity in 2011!
See you next year!

Quote of the Day

I really, really, REALLY should not be awake right now! I should be slumbering like my children who will more than likely wake me up far too early tomorrow morning! I was up and at 'em at 4:30 this morning as it was back to work for my husband K today *sigh* I really do get used to having someone else around that I can split the house work/child rearing/etc with!

Anyway, the Quote of the Day is from yesterday and as my mind is exhausted I can't remember the conversation that brought on the Quote. We were in the kitchen finishing dinner and I made a joking reference to K being a redneck(which he is anything but... if anything I'm the redneck!)

F picks up her plate from the table and as she is bringing it to the counter she says, "Daddy, you're not a redneck... you're a skin-colored neck." Kids. What can I say?

Pupdate Week 1

The puppies have passed their one week birthday and they are all still alive and kicking thanks to my husband K and I and our countless rescue missions to save pups that Zama has sat on or laid on or pinned up against the kiddy pool that they will call home until they are big enough to climb out of.
They are awfully cute, aren't they?
And they sure are growing fast!

I was going to try to get a picture of the pups with Dexter, our 3.5 pound Chihuahua, but Zama wasn't all that excited about the prospect. Maybe next week I will try for that!

Christmas Puppies!

On Sunday night we were finishing up dinner and I mentioned to K that we should start being on the look out for signs of labor in Zama. I figured she would be having her puppies some time towards the end of the month or early January.

I let the dogs out and tidied up while K got the kids ready for bed. Indi and Dexter came back in when I called but Zama didn't. After the kids were tucked in, K and I put on our boots and coats, armed with a flash light and headed outside to look for her. I told him I wanted to check under the shed because if she was going off to give birth that would be where she would go.

Sure enough, upon calling her name we could hear her tail wagging against the underside of the shed.

This is the hole she had squeezed herself into to get under the shed.
K and I tried to coax her out with cheese but in the end he got the shovel and the six foot pry bar and made the hole bigger so that between the two of us we could drag her out by her hind legs. It took almost an hour. Had we left her under there, her puppies would have succumbed to the elements as it was -20 the next day.

She labored all night and into the afternoon yesterday before giving birth to her first pup around 1pm. The kids came in a got to see her have the next four pups. She did great other than being exhausted. I thought she was done after the fifth pup.
This is the eighth pup being born. My friend K requested the gory shots.

I helped with the last two pups as Zama was too tired. This one I had to break open the sac and lift its face to hers so she could lick its mouth and nose.
Here's a pup next to good old ET on VHS just so you can see how big they are.
Zama on guard with her nine pups. Risky and Dexter had come into the room and she was making sure they didn't get too close!
Risky and Dexter wondering what the heck is going on!
Mama and pups are doing well. Zama got up this morning when she heard me doling out kibbles and then she went outside which gave me enough time to change all the bedding and put the pups on fresh towels. The next task is to try and find out who the heck is the father!! We thought we had that figured out until the pups came out all black! Oops!

A little Christmas Song

Last night on our way back from the city we came up with a little song to pass the time. Here it is in all its glory!

You know Indi
And Zama

And Dexter
And Risky
Puss
And Chocolate
And Vanilla
And Sir Loin

But do you recall the most famous farm animal of aaaaaaaaall?


Cornelius the Red Combed Rooster
Had a very shiny comb!
And if you ever saw it
You would even say it glows!

All of the other animals
Used to laugh and call him names
They never let poor Cornelius
Join in any Hobby Farm games

Then one foggy Christmas Eve
Santa came to say
"Cornelius with your comb so bright
Won't you guide my sleigh tonight?"

Then all the animals loved him!
And they shouted out with glee,
"Cornelius the red combed Rooster
You'll go down in history!"

This is the thanks I get?

As you may recall, Indi was off Guard Dog Duty a while back due to an altercation involving a barbed wire fence. Well being the sucker that I am, both her and Zama never really got put back outside and have been enjoying their days and nights in the toasty warm house.

This morning I headed downstairs to make sure my computer hadn't died in the night and I found three little gifts from one of the dogs. I'm going to assume it was Zama but neither of them are talking...

And no, they didn't leave me Hershey's Kisses!

An 'EGG'-cellent day!

The chickens produced a 'personal best' today with a whopping 24 eggs plus a duck egg as well! Last year at this time I wasn't getting a single egg. It was a long dark eggless winter! ;)

So what have I done to improve laying? More birds=More warmth in the coop and a 60 watt light bulb shining for 14 hours a day to replicate the long sunny days of summer. I know, I'm sneaky like that!

Ready for the Holidays!

I know, I know I've been a little slack in the blogging department lately but I won't bore you with the excuses.

We're down to the last 11 days before Christmas and now that I'm completely ready(other than the fact that we have yet to find a fresh tree for upstairs and I haven't yet received my partridge in a pear tree) I don't have to worry about last minute shopping or the craziness that comes with it!

I got my parcels shipped yesterday which left me feeling a bit Scrooge-ish due to the astronomical expense of sending things! I was so pleased with all my gift baskets that it was a bit of a downer to have to fork over $80 to send two parcels. Needless to say I'm still happy that I sent everything and am looking forward to my family and friends receiving their goodies!

We decorated our downstairs tree a while back and its beautiful. I'm glad we have that tree up if nothing else!
On Thursday I will be baking again as I want to make up little baskets for F's bus driver, teacher and the neighbors around here that we actually like(he he.) Oh and we finally got our family picture done for our Christmas cards after three attempts. Its not that easy beating last years picture which in my eyes has been the best one yet! But I'm not posting the picture until I know that everyone who is supposed to get one already has!

Hope you all are enjoying the exhilaration leading up to this wonderful holiday full of family, friends and joy!

Quote of the Day

S: Does sugar make hairs?

Me: What do you mean?

S: When you eat sugar does it make hair grow on your face?

Ha ha! When I was a kid I was told that eating spinach would put hair on your chest(I think it was spinach any way) so I hope that this generation doesn't think that eating sugar will put hair on your face!

The Woman Cave

I have been holed up in my computer room for a better part of the afternoon wrapping Christmas presents. I actually enjoy this task. More than that I enjoy the room that I am doing the task in. Like I mentioned before, we had a day of 'musical rooms' on the weekend so my computer room is now downstairs. I brought my yoga mat and weights down as well as most of my crafting stuff has made it in here as well. I have been spending the evenings working on my Christmas cards at my desk and its a lovely place to get away from the rest of the house and have some peace. Even if the room still needs some work!

My husband K knocked on the door earlier and upon my opening it he glanced around and said, "how's the Woman Cave?"

The Woman Cave is awesome! So if you have trouble finding me, I'm sure that's where I am!

My week in a nutshell

I know, I haven't blogged for ages! I've gotten a few complaints about it actually (*ah-hem* You know who you are!) but to be honest there really hasn't been that much excitement around the 'farm' to blog about. We haven't really been here that much as a matter of fact.

Last Sunday, the kids and I trekked to Edmonton because my husband K was flying in from his month away in China. Edmonton was a total gong show and I was in a rather heinous mood by the time we got home. Driving home in fog as thick as pudding and almost hitting a deer 100 feet from our range road didn't help the situation!

Monday was too long ago to remember whether I did anything worth noting... Tuesday same deal. Wednesday however we went to Sylvan lake to our rental house because although I didn't blog about it, I had to evict our tenants. They were losers and didn't want to pay us the money they owed so I had to give them notice. They were gone, thankfully but left the place a total mess. I mean seriously, they were there for a month, I don't know how someone who cooks out of boxes from Wal-mart could make an oven so dirty but she did. We did a bit of work around there but nothing major and left with plans to return on Saturday to do the cleaning.

Thursday I believe I scooped some poop from the cow field into my compost... I know, very exciting! Oh and put a coat of paint on F's room!

Friday- put a second coat on F's room...

Saturday we went to Sylvan Lake and spent the entire day cleaning up after a couple of filthy slobs. There were cigarette butts every where, cigarette ashes in the kitchen cupboards, broken glass in the dishwasher, closet door to replace, gross gross gross! I don't like other people's dirt! Especially washing the floor by hand beside the toilet- that is just nasty!

All four of us ate pizza, while sitting on the nice clean floor, for dinner. The kids watched movies on K's laptop all day. If we hadn't been cleaning up after other people it might have been a great day! We got home late, the cows were starving to death; positively wasting away so I had to feed them before anything else. We went to bed with plans to have a nice relaxing Sunday... HA!

Yesterday I spent the entire day moving furniture from one room to another. F decided she wanted to move back upstairs so we moved her bunk beds on Friday but the rest of it yesterday. Her new room used to be my computer room so we were moving that downstairs to what was her room( are you following?) Well the computer cabinet was too big to fit through the door so we had to move the spare bedroom into what was supposed to be the computer room and move the computer room into what was the spare room(I'm doing this on purpose I hope you know!) And after all that... I don't get very good wireless service way down here at the end of the hall! Bah!

Well now its Monday so you are all caught up on the last week of my life! Hope you enjoyed it and I promise to try to blog about something that is actually worth reading one of these days! Have a lovely day!

Dear Santa...

Quote of the Day

If you don't like 'potty-talk' perhaps you should skip over this particular post but I just can't help sharing this with you. It is, like most of these 'Quotes', from my darling 3 and half year old son...

S: "Mom! I pooped!! ... The big one is the mom and the little one is the baby... see?!"

Life's a Beach

It was beautiful, sunny and warm yesterday so the 'girls' were out soaking up some rays. In order to keep them off the patio so that I didn't have to look at their pitiful faces looking in at me saying, "let us in because we're pathetic" I moved their chair cushions out to the sunny south side of the house and there they stayed all afternoon warming their cold blood!

Quote of the Day

The boy and I went to town today to do a bit of running around...

S: "Hey! I wanted to listen to that song!"

Me: "I didn't touch it, the song was over."

S: "No it wasn't!"

Me: "Yes , it was."

S: "Liar, Liar fur on fire!"

Hahahahaha!

Quote of the Day

"I don't want to eat the pasta! I just want to eat the vegetables!" S said at dinner tonight.

Fine! I can't keep up with this kid's likes and dislikes!

Brrrrr!

When F got off the bus yesterday her bus driver said there was a chance school would be cancelled due to the expected overnight low of -33. Well she was severely disappointed when school was not cancelled because it was only -28!

We get this funny patch of frost on our dining room window when its really cold and F stood there this morning scratching a picture of a mad girl and a school with an 'X' through it to show her disgust with having to get ready and go.


The herd waiting for their breakfast. They were actually shivering. I feel really bad for them! It is positively nasty out there!
And yet... so beautiful at the same time!

Hope you are warm where ever you are!

Millet Flat Bread

I bought Millet flour for this recipe months ago in anticipation of trying these but never got around to it. Today I made them and was happy I did because they were so good!

The recipe comes from a little booklet called Whole Grains in Motion that my mom picked up for me at her local health food store. It has lots of great recipes in it including a granola recipe that my kids love!

Millet Flat Bread

2 cups millet flour
1/2 cup stone ground whole wheat flour
3/4 to 1 cup buttermilk or water(depending on desired consistency)
1/2 tsp cumin seed powder
1/4 tsp turmeric(optional)
2 TBSP sesame seeds
1/4 tsp red chili powder
Black pepper to taste
1 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
3-4 TBSP Olive oil for frying

Mix together Millet flour, whole wheat flour and buttermilk or water. Let batter stand for 2 hours. Add spices and mix. Warm oil in a non-stick skillet on medium heat. Cook batter in pancake sized pieces for about 3 minutes or until golden brown on both sides. Let cool. Serve with yogurt or chutney.

I ate mine with a dollop of mango chutney! Yum!

Old Man Winter has arrived

Old Man Winter has arrived in a flourish of white and freezing temperatures! Only last Saturday were we enjoying 9 degrees, today it is -15 plus wind chill. Not that I'm complaining though, I was ready for winter to be here any way.


Both Guard Dogs have decided they are off-duty.
Cows in my neighbor's field; sometimes they are spread out like this, other times they look like a group of Emperor Penguins huddles together against the elements.
My own girls. They don't seem to mind especially since I'm feeding them hay and they don't have to walk anywhere to find food.
Braving the cold to see if it has stopped yet... nope not yet.
The rest of them hanging out inside the coop.

Dexter is wondering what possessed his Chihuahua ancestors to leave Mexico.
At least I'm still getting lots of eggs! Hmmm eggs for dinner? I think so!

Guard Dog Off Duty

Indi is off Guard Dog Duty these days on medical leave. A couple days ago I noticed she had some red on her belly and I made her lay down so I could take a look. She had a gash by her back leg that was clearly an injury from trying to gallop through the strands of barbed wire that line our property. She's pretty well been on bed rest since in hopes that if she stays still it will close up on its own.

She kind of looks like she's enjoying bed rest doesn't she? Eyes bright, tail wagging. She also likes to go to the sliding glass door and stick her tongue out at Zama and say, "na na na na na naaaaa!"

Christmas Craft Project # 1

The kids and I had planned to go to Sylvan lake today to deal with some issues I'm having with our new tenants(that's a whole other story) but this morning plans changed leaving us at home instead of on the road. After all the craziness I've been dealing with the last couple days I decided that it would be a great day to do some crafting. Unfortunately we don't do a tremendous amount of 'crafting' in this house so we needed to make a trip to Walmart to pick up a few things. 'A few things' turned into $31.00 worth of pipe cleaners, candy canes, googley eyes, foam paper and ribbon.

But it was worth it because not only did the kids enjoy this little project but I had the added bonus of them being 'hopped up' on candy cane sugar well into the evening!


F working very hard putting the stripes on her candy cane cats.
The finished product

The cats are made by cutting circles(body) and cat heads out of foam sheets(we used Elmers foam sheets.) I placed a foam square in between the head and body to make it stand out. The candy cane is hot glue gunned to the back of the cat. A red ribbon adds the finishing touch. Super easy and pretty cute if I do say so myself!

Painting

As of December first we will have been in this house for two years. In those two years we have accomplished quite a bit. And by 'we' I mean 'me' of course as the guy who wears the pants around here is wearing them in China.


Last year I vowed to finish painting the upstairs of the house by Christmas so there I was, Christmas tunes blasting while I rolled paint on the walls. This year I vowed to get the rest of the downstairs painted by Christmas. I am so happy to see the disgusting faux finished walls gone. You find me a person sound of mind that thinks this faux finish is nice and I will give you a medal! I had a plumber walk into the house the first winter we were here and look around the back entrance before asking, "is this your handiwork?" in a voice that suggested he thought it was as disgusting as I did!

BEFORE:

(Don't mind the look on the boy's face, he was just as repulsed by the faux finish as the rest of us!)

AFTER:

I'm so glad that project is done! Now what to do next? Hmmm...