On my way...

The kids, Dexter and I are headed to the Coast tomorrow. I have been frantically cleaning and packing and generally getting my life organized to live out of a suitcase for the next 10 days. This is my first time flying with the kids as we normally drive. Not this year, no sir, I refuse to drive! So I will attempt to get myself, two kids and a chihuahua onto a plane and not rip all my hair out in between take off and landing. Thank goodness the flight is only an hour and a half!

So I don't know how much posting I will do while I'm away but you can be sure that you'll hear about it when I get back. Big plans! My friend K and I are spending all of Saturday together getting pedicures, having sushi and enjoying a few beverages! Sunday... well Sunday I turn the BIG 3-oh and I'm hoping, because I will be surrounding myself with family and friends, that I won't be one big blubbering, snotty, crying mess! I'll keep you posted...

Anyway I have a floor to wash and packing to finish! 6am is going to come bright and early! Toodles!

Remember when...

Remember when you were a kid and the simple things were the most fun?

My kids sat up on the top of the hay bale playing for nearly two hours this afternoon while I worked on the fence. Why is it that when we grow up we forget about the simple things?

Easter on the farm

The kids woke me up at 6:55 this morning to inform me that the Easter Bunny had indeed stopped at our house while they were sleeping. We donned our winter coats and boots(still pretty nippy in the morning) and headed outside to see what the Rabbit himself had left.





After all the goodies were found we set to making Hot Cross Buns. I've never made them so we were all looking forward to seeing how they turned out.
The kids with their gardening kits that the Easter Bunny left for them. They were busy planting pumpkin and sunflower seeds that had come in the kits after they helped with the buns.
Pretty yummy!
I'd say the buns were a success! F liked them anyway. S "wasn't hungry." Big surprise. He'd eaten half a pound of chocolate by 9am.
Hope you have a wonderful Easter! We are off to deliver some Hot Cross Buns and Easter goodies to our neighbor.

Who's yer Daddy?

My friend K has been asking for a picture of 'Joe.' Joe is my neighbor's dog up the hill and Bjorn's Daddy. His is the big white thing in the picture looking for some ear scratching from F. The collie is Fly who is a super sweet boy and the more likely father seeing as Bjorn is 95% black but Fly is 'fixed.'

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree...
Do you see the family resemblance?

An Easter Chick

Back in early March my daughter F brought home a note from her teacher requesting $3 to help pay for the cost of making Easter Chicks. At the time I was thinking that $3 had better make one heck of an Easter Chick!

F brought her little project home today that she has been diligently working on almost every day since then. It's positively adorable!


If I don't talk to you before then, have a Happy Easter!

Maya Milk Maid

Last night I checked on Beauty after I put the kids to bed. She wasn't looking so good. She did just drop a dead calf on Sunday after all. I climbed through the fence and quietly walked up to her to check to see how full her udders were. They were full but not hot or hard so that made me feel a bit better. But being the suck that I am and having experienced first hand what it feels like to be engorged after having a baby, I decided to see if I could relieve some of the pressure off the poor girl. I was hoping too that if I was able to empty her bag a bit it might stimulate her to uterus to contract and expel anything that might still be in there.

My first attempt at getting anything to come out was fruitless. She was such a good girl though, just standing there pleading with me with those big brown eyes that I help a girl out. I'm so glad that I became a mom before deciding to get into this otherwise I'd probably be clueless. I ran into the house and got a bucket of nice warm water and a rag and ran back. I rubbed her down with the cloth and then set to work again. It was fairly dark at this point and I was concentrating more on whether she was planning on kicking me rather than whether there was any milk coming out. I looked down and saw milk all over her leg. Success! I milked her only to the point that I had given her some relief and lessened a lump that I had felt. I don't want her to make more milk I just want her to be comfortable. But if I wasn't leaving for the island next week I probably would keep going with it.

My neighbor has a couple of calves that we might see if she will surrogate. I don't know if she will but it's worth a try anyway.

So that's my milking story. I milked a cow for the first time in my life and managed to not get a hoof in the forehead!

One is the loneliest number

Bjorn is all by himself with the big dogs. The last three girls went to a home for dogs to wait for their forever homes. He seems a little lost and sad. Poor boy. But he is a surprisingly mellow dog when he isn't with a bunch of crazy girl puppies!


Isn't he a sweet and adorable boy? I think so. Clearly I didn't stand a chance!

Watch it, Buddy!

Uncle/Grampa Rooster has a problem with my son. Perhaps he doesn't like that S changed his name? I don't know what it is but this afternoon he attacked S for the second time. I didn't see it happen as I was filling the chicken feeder but heard S crying and turned to see Uncle/Grampa with his neck feathers up in 'fight position' pecking at S's boots. He told me the rooster had jumped up and clawed his leg. Well, Uncle/Grampa rooster got a taste of my boot!

This could cause problems this summer when kids and chickens are running freely about the yard. I don't need any one being traumatized over a rooster attack so...

I hope it doesn't come down to it but Uncle/Grampa rooster might end up hanging from his feet missing a head.

No good

I came home from a trip down to Sylvan Lake, to check in with the new tenants today, to find that Beauty one of our new cows had dropped a stillborn calf sometime while I was out. We weren't supposed to see calves until mid to end of May. It was a pretty tiny black heifer calf. Poor baby. Hoping that the rest of the girls manage alright. Not a very good start to my first calving season. *Sad Face*

Support or Oppose?

I got a phone call from one of those survey companies last night. Generally when a call like that comes in, I tell them right off the bat that I'm not interested and hang up. Well I guess I was feeling generous so I let the guy do his thing. This survey was about issues in Alberta and seeing as we have a Federal Election(I hope you all are going to vote!) coming up in May they wanted ask a few questions. So I humored him.

After telling him that yes I was planning on voting and no I would not tell him which party I was voting for because it was none of his business, he asked me if I was aware of the project in Alberta for Carbon Capture? I said no. He told me that it was a project where the government planned to capture carbon dioxide, put it into tanks, pipe it and then inject it into the earth. Would I be opposed to the project? I couldn't help laughing and told him that that was just about the stupidest thing I had ever heard. Inject it into the earth? Why don't they just shoot radioactive material into the sun? Stupid. No, I would not support the project and told him that maybe the government should get on board with Organic farming seeing as organic soil absorbs and holds carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Sounds like a better plan to me.

This is what the government does with our tax dollars? Seriously? Seriously?! I guess I should have been a politician as well as a vet!

What's the magic number?

Four hundred sixty seven dollars and eighty eight cents.

That is what it cost to have Zama spayed, vaccinated and dewormed today. Wow! I should have been a vet!

The old girl is resting peacefully if not a bit on the sore side. Once she rests up she will be cruising the classifieds looking for a job to pay her vet bills!
But at least there will be no more puppies for this household! I still haven't gotten rid of all the ones I have.

What a mom

On the way to the bus this morning Zama came prancing down the driveway with a nice fat field mouse hanging from her jaws. (Her and Indi both are very good mousers.) And instead of devouring it herself, she saved it for her half grown children who, despite the grotesque weather we are having today, fought tooth and nail in driving snow for the little morsel. What a mom!

Now if only I could catch nice fat field mice for my children to make them happy!

Conversations with a 3 year old

I started out this post as a 'Quote of the Day' and part way through realized that perhaps it needed a different title. Thus we have 'Conversations with a 3 year old' which I think may prove more fitting for some of the things that come out of my son's mouth... this one is for Grampa.

S and I were heading up to the chicken coop to check for eggs this afternoon and stood watching 'Uncle,' our Rhode Island Red rooster scratching in the dirt.

S: "Can we change Uncle's name to Grampa?"
Me: "You want to change the rooster's name to Grampa?"
S: "Yeah. Can we?"
Me: "I suppose."
S: "Okay, do it."
Me: "Hi Grampa."

A fine day for a bath

Now that a lot of the snow has melted the chickens and ducks have been keen to get out of their yard and start free ranging again. Yesterday was the first day I opened the gate for them. Although this afternoon was a bit on the cool side, they poured out the gate and headed for puddles and dry dirt.


All the run off is making for some nice puddles for the puddle ducks to bathe in.

Although Beauty is not bathing, I couldn't help taking her photo. She is the picture of relaxation; black eye lashes fringing half closed eyes as she contentedly chews her cud and soaks in the rays.
And the chickens found a patch of dry dirt in which to dig and peck and bathe in. After going all winter without a dust bath, they seem to be relishing it!

Bag o' cans

The kids, dogs and I went out for a walk after dinner. The road is finally dry enough to walk without sinking up to your ankles in muck. We always keep our eyes open for cans when we are out and tonight we hit the jack pot. I didn't think to bring a bag along but after having to make two piles on the side of the road to come back for afterward, I figured I better carry a shopping bag in my pocket from now on.

Whatever we manage to collect, the kids return and put the money into their piggy banks. Here in Alberta, our pop and beer cans are worth 10 cents each and anything 1 litre or over is 25 cents so it really adds up.

This was what we managed to collect tonight.

The kids were pretty excited about finding all of these. This will go towards their spending money for our trip to the island at the end of the month. The only down side to all these cans is that they are mostly beer cans and that means that there are an awful lot of people drinking and driving on our road.

Quote of the Day

S and I were driving to town today and on the radio there was a mention of Grey Poupon...

S: What's poupon?

Me: It is a type of mustard.

S: Does it have poop in it?

Me: No(giggle)

S: I don't think I would like that kind of mustard.

Morning in the country

There is something so satisfying about a crisp spring morning. The ground is still frozen but the sun is warm on your face. The cows munching happily on their morning ration of hay, puffs of breath filling the air as they chew.


The geese are on their way back from their winter in warmer climates
The ducks quack happily as they waddle back and forth from food to water enjoying the sun's warmth on their feathers
Watching the chickens as they scratch in the straw
My Bjorn at my feet
And dogs, always dogs. What can I say?
A lot of people don't like the sound of a rooster crowing, I for one love it especially when it is coming from Cornelius
My boy on the trampoline surrounded by ridiculous amounts of snow
It's not very often that a person can say that they are living the life that they have always wanted. I love my life and wouldn't change anything about it.

I hope the sun is shining where you are and you too can take a minute from your busy life to feel the warmth of it on your cheeks.