Lamb sitting

My neighbor asked if I would feed one of his lambs for a couple days so the kids and I headed up this morning armed with our beer bottle 'bottle' full of milk replacer that had been provided and set to work giving little lamb his breakfast.

The little guy made short work of the bottle and then enjoyed a little bit of affection from the kids.

                                                                       
I'm sure you can guess what the kids want now?  I suggested maybe we could ask if we can feed him every day until he doesn't need a bottle any more instead.  We'll see how that goes!
                                                            

Quote of the Day

F:  "THE TOOTH FAIRY DIDN'T COME AND TAKE MY TOOTH!"

Oooops!  The Tooth Fairy was very busy last night making cupcakes for the kids at school and kind of forgot.  Tonight!  She will remember tonight!

Bull on the Loose

Sir Loin found the weak spot in the fence this morning.  Typical.  My husband K is away right now and I'm not particularly fond of Sir Loin.  Which is probably why the bull gives me a hard time!  I was headed for my shower this morning when I looked out the window and saw this...

I grabbed the lead rope and my camera and ran outside.  He was not really all that interested in being caught but the way to a bull's heart is through his stomach or at least it is in Sir Loin's case so I managed to get the rope around him while offering him a handful of grass.

So I thought I had everything under control.  I led him back towards the open gate crossing my fingers that we would get there before he decided to pull anything.  How convenient that my other cows chose that precise moment to make their way up from the bottom field.  "Hellooooo Ladies!" he called ripping the rope from my hands as he went bucking and kicking across the lawn, through my raspberries and strawberries to greet his girls by the fence.  Then following them up and around the fence line put him right into my newly planted orchard.  Maybe you don't know this about me but things that I work hard on like gardens, trees etc are kind of like my babies.  I get a little emotional when someone or something messes around with them.  

I followed Sir Loin into the orchard hoping to get an opportunity to grab his rope but being that he is a bull and locked away from his girls I was a little reluctant and hung back a bit.  As he was trolling the fence he came upon an apple tree, and deciding that his head and horns were quite itchy and in need of a scratch he used it as a scratching post.  Oh look!  Another apple tree!  That one looks like it might work even better.  By this point I left to call my husband in China, where it was 12:30 in the morning, to cry that his stupid bull was busy trying to destroy my newly planted orchard! 

To make a long story short(er) I got on the other side of the fence, grabbed his rope and tied him to a fence post while I went to get the lawn tractor to tow him back to the gate...

After he was locked safely back in his field I realized that I had left the green man gate open!  Thankfully the brain of a bull is hanging between his legs rather than behind his eyeballs other wise he might have seen that open gate and made a run for it.  Luck was with me and I managed to get to said gate and close it before having to repeat the entire morning!
 

My 2011 Model Chicken Tractor!

As you may recall, I made an attempt at building a chicken tractor last year. It was a sad, monstrous thing that was near impossible to move and collapsed under the weight of a hail we got in mid July. Lesson learned.

This afternoon I started work on the 2011 Model. I only had intentions of building the frame but one thing led to another and four hours later a chicken tractor was born! Thank goodness my kids are old enough to entertain themselves because when I get on a roll with something I really do hate to stop(hence my kids eating mac and cheese for supper...at least it was the organic stuff!)

The base frame. This time I used 1x4x8's instead of 2x4's which is why it was so heavy last year.

The finished frame.
The little house half built. F is demonstrating the top hatch where food and water will be put through.
My little photographer wanted to make sure you knew I actually built the thing. I got over my fear of power tools and used the skilsaw!
Putting the front on the house.
The tractor is done, all it needs is the chicken wire.
Ta Da! Now all it needs is chickens! Tomorrow! I'm too tired to do anything else!
I may put wheels on it for ease of movement but I haven't gotten to that yet... oh and handles too. I'll do that part tomorrow!

So there you have it! What do you think? If you were a chicken would you like to live in there for the summer? ;)

What is that giant yellow orb in the sky?

Yesterday the sun made a brief appearance which sent me running out the door in my gumboots to get a few things planted. The soil is like wet cement and digging in it isn't the most fun thing but I got a good sweat in at least! Afterwards, I grabbed my camera and took a few pictures of the flowers that are in bloom right now. My veggie garden isn't worth looking at, it's drowning in water which is terribly disappointing!

Lilac
Anemone
Jacob's Ladder
(Can't remember the name of this one)
Bleeding Heart
And the next storm front moving in
Today it is back to rain. Yet another inside day which is just as well I suppose; both my kids have the flu.

Ever heard of sportsmanship?

Not much new that I can say about last night's hockey game other than give my opinion on the whole thing. The Vancouver Canucks lost 4-0 to the Boston Bruins in Game 7. Kudos to the Canucks for an amazing season and a wicked run through the playoffs. Yes, it's sad that the Canucks couldn't pull a win out and bring the Stanley Cup home but the fact that a bunch of people felt the need to start a riot in the streets just like in 1994 is appalling. Who pays for the damages when a few jackasses start throwing things through store windows? The tax payers of course. Money better spent on something worthwhile will now be filtered through to fix up the damages caused by a bunch of young people that don't know the meaning of sportsmanship.

With that said, I think the Bruins played an amazing game. Their goalie Tim Thomas was nothing short of stellar. He won the game for the Bruins by far. As well as that, there are 14 Canadian players on that team. 14! So even though the Canucks didn't win it, Canadians still did. Mark Recchi of the Bruins is from Kamloops, BC. where he has a road named after him. He retired after last night's winning game. What an amazing time for him, his family and our country that we produce amazing hockey players!

So, to the asses who tore up downtown Vancouver last night: shame on you! Your behavior is so un-Canadian! To the true Canucks fans: they did it once, they can do it again! Better luck next year! You just have to keep on believing!

The Honeymoon Suite...

For chickens, that is.

I ordered my egg incubator last week so I figured I had better get Uncle and a few of his lady friends set up in the small coop so as to not get eggs mixed up with any that Cornelius might have anything to do with. I want meaty chickens, not miniature! So far I've managed to get four hens in there but the rest of them are steering clear of me wondering warily what I am up to. I think I will grab them while they are sleeping. You know, a bit of stealthy fox in the hen house kinda business.

Rain, rain go away...

They forecasted a long, wet spring. Whoever 'They' are, they've hit the nail on the head. Rain, rain, rain. All it does is rain! The only thing thriving in my garden is the onions. My pea seeds needed to be pushed back in the ground and I suspect after today's deluge, my bean seeds will need it too! Bah!

And unfortunately, there is no end in sight. The forecast for the rest of the week? Rain.

Cute as a button

The kids and I hit the road today and made a trip to Edmonton to escape the grey clouds and threatening showers that were hovering over our house this morning. Of course duty called before all that and I had to chase one of the neighbors (giant) yearling bulls out of my field first. He decided to plow through two strands of barbed wire in order to either a.) say hello to my girls b.) eat the greener grass on my side of the fence or c.) all of the above. Never a dull moment around here. Anyway back to the point... we went to the fabric store and I found some ADORABLE fabrics in which I plan to make a couple of summer dresses for F. That is if farm duties don't prohibit me from doing so. I will post the finished product as soon as its... er... finished. Hehe.

Conversations with a 4 year old

S and I were in Wal mart today(I hate that I have to shop at Wal mart but my small town doesn't really give me much in the way of choice) and I decided to stroll through the bathing suits to see if anything caught my fancy. Not that there is any sunshine to wear a bathing suit in but here's hoping!

S: "What are we in here for?"

Me: "I wanted to look at the bathing suits."

S: "Why? You have a perfectly good bathing suit at home."

Well, he told me, didn't he! I can't imagine where he gets that from! *wink wink*

It's green at least

The garden is growing like crazy(so are the weeds) with all this rain we have been having. All we need now is a bit of sun so the soil will warm up and my seeds will germinate!

I went gung ho weeding my front garden but as you can see the grass and dandelions are ever so sneakily moving back in! It's hard to motivate one's self to go out in the rain to weed!

This is my recently renovated herb bed. I dug my chives and thyme out(they are the only herbs that survive the harsh Alberta winters to come back in the spring) put a whole bunch of cow manure, topped with a layer of spoiled hay, then a layer of compost and raked the soil back over. In addition to the chives and thyme there is now lavender, rosemary, oregano, dill and fennel. And my lovely bleeding hearts in the foreground.
The vegetable garden. In May I dug out all my perennials, rototilled the garden into two strips and it is all dedicated to vegetables. My rhubarb is now in the bed at the front of the garden along with saskatoon berry bushes and day lilies.
This is where I moved my raspberries to at the far end of this row. This strip is all berries. Raspberries at the south end with strawberries on the east side, then two red currants, a patch of grass that wouldn't allow itself to be rototilled and four blueberry bushes snug amongst the chicken litter.
Garlic in the foreground that I planted in the fall. I was so pleased to see that 10 cloves sprouted even though I planted at least twice that. Next is three varieties of potato- red, white and purple. Then snap peas around the teepees, four rows of onions, more pea teepees and then five rows of carrots- purple haze, king midas and a mix variety of orange, yellow and purple. Lastly is four rows of beets- baby ball and golden.
The other row of the garden isn't much planted yet. There are broccoli seedlings, kohlrabi, and brussels sprouts and hopefully if the weather improves and the soil dries out a bit, I can get in my beans, cucumbers, zucchini and whatever else that's left to plant!

Happy Gardening!

It happened

Early this morning white stuff was falling from the sky. Most of it has melted except for this patch in the field.

So not impressed!

What a big boy!

Well it happened... my baby boy turned four earlier this week. My how time flies! And he's so mature now too *chuckle* it was almost like he woke up that morning and decided he was a big kid!

Seeing as my husband had to head back to work early we celebrated S's birthday twice; once on the weekend and then again on the actual day just me and the kids. Originally when asked what he wanted for his birthday dinner, S had said Uncle(as in, the mean old rooster) I told him that we couldn't eat Uncle because I needed him for breeding stock. So he settled on just a regular old roasted chicken for dinner with rice and broccoli and cheese sauce and a raspberry cake for dessert.



The actual birthday came along and while F was at school, S and I made the batter for vanilla cupcakes. A birthday just isn't a birthday if you don't get to lick the beaters!
S and I spent part of the day in town together. We went to the Farmer's Market, played at the playground and went out for lunch. After a simple supper I put the finishing touches on S's vanilla cupcakes with chocolate butter cream and blueberries and home made vanilla sandwich cookie ice cream. Yum!

It was a wonderful day for a wonderful little monster boy! xoxo