day old piglets

This is a litter of 11 piglets that are only one day old. They were born on our friends' farm, to their sow, but they were sired by our boar.... Polka Dot.

so many white dogs

Back in April, we adopted Snow (a Marama) and her two pups.

Over the months, she has put on some weight and her long, coarse coat has changed to silky soft with a little bit of wave to it.

The pups, Daisy and Mae, are growing like mad and are now nearly 5 months old. Their father was a Blue Heeler, and slowly the blue spots are coming out on the pups. Kinda unique looking.

They are all lovely dogs and it's been hard to make the decision to let them go, but it's time to find homes for them. Especially now that we have adopted a young male Great Pyrenees. This was what we wanted from the beginning. We would have preferred a puppy, but they are not easy to come by unless you want to pay ridiculous amounts of money. No disrespect to dog breeders, but c'mon!

Our new boy is named Hurley. He might weigh 150 lbs and can rest his head on the kitchen table without even trying, but he is still just a pup at 1 1/2 years old. He's a handsome devil and has personality plus. I'm hoping the mindless barking is just a phase. I know the breed does that, but continously? Give me a break. I've been told he will calm down as he matures a bit. Snow, after all, only barks when she's patrolling, but she's a few years older.

This is Hurley on the left and Snow on the right

And Xena on the far left.

With the help of the Burns Lake Vet Clinic, we may have found a home for Snow. About 100 acre farm near Burns Lake. I talked to the prospective new owner on the phone for half an hour and I got a very good feeling that this may be a great home for Snow. We're going to meet on the weekend.

As for the pups, one person has expressed an interest, so here is a little video clip of Daisy and Mae taken over the last few days.

Here is another video of all the kritters hanging around together. In the middle of it, you will see Snow. She's more aloof and just observes activities from the perimeter. A very common trait for her breed. Hurley's a goof ball, but Xena doesn't take any of his guff, as you'll see in the clip.

And lastly, there's one little bit in there that is just for you, Bubba. It was a hot day when I took that video and Art is explaining to the dogs how later we'll get a refreshing cool drink and "take a Barb". That's in your honour. When we take a break in the shade and turn the tunes up, it is now officially called a "Barb".

the cows have arrived

This is looking from the veranda of our house, looking south over the valley. The cows have arrived for the summer. This pic even made it on the TV news a couple of Sundays ago.

springtime visitors

This cow moose and her new calf trotted right across our front yard, but by the time I got the camera they were almost gone. Because the power line is between me and them, that is what the dumb camera is focusing on, so sorry it is not clearer. I'm just glad the dogs didn't notice them or they would have been chased off for sure.

catch me if you can

Xena is so full of joy. I love to watch her having so much fun. The lambs seem to be enjoying getting in on the game, too. Once again... please ignore the soundtrack in the background.... Art was watching TV as I filmed through the kitchen window.

For Shane

This is mainly for Shane, former owner of Snow and her pups (whom we've named Daisy and Mae). It was taken on May 9, approx a month after we brought them home. We know you care about Snow very much, so we wanted you to see that she's well and happy. Don't mind the soundtrack in the background.... Art was watching TV as I filmed through the kitchen window.

Solar Storm

We are supposed to be in the middle of a massive sun storm today. You'd never know it.

Might not be seeing any Northern Lights tonight.

just another day at Savory Farm

This is our boar, getting ready for Art to give him an apple. He doesn't have a name, but I've always called him "polka-dot-boy".

4:00 am feeding

Xena

Attempting to feed the cats, but the lambs are very interested. The cats are getting used to them being around, though, so it's not a problem. You can't see Blackie very well against the black background, but he's in the middle, between Chickie and Kermit.

a lamb video

Baba and Louie.... 2 days old....

Baba and Louie

I'm gonna make this quick because I have homework to do, but also need to start boiling water on the stove so that I can wash the mountain of dishes that is taking over the kitchen. This is day 3 of having no water and it's just a terrible thing to deal with. We're buying drinking water in town and Art is bringing containers up from Tom's to give the animals. Art put a heater on the frozen pipes up at "gramma's", but the water has yet to flow. We may be past the worst of this cold weather, so in a couple of days when it's above zero again things will be melting and I'll be complaining about THAT. Why can't there just be a nice middle ground? Is that too much to ask?

Here's what it was like this morning. Thankfully, no wind.

Other news is that the Jeep has broken down.... yet AGAIN. This time it is the water pump and what seems to be gelatinous anti-freeze. I guess a 50/50 mix is not enough when it gets this cold.

Enough of all that griping.... onto FUNNER stuff! We are now the proud parents of twin lamb boys. They were born yesterday morning on a farm in Vanderhoof. Their momma is unable to care for them, so they need to be bottle fed for awhile. When we went to get them, there were 2 more... also brand new.... that we could have taken. We were so darned tempted, but felt it might be best to break ourselves in with two for now. We are interested in getting a couple more later, maybe. I really like the black ones. Anyways, we took these two brothers and named them Baba and Louie. Baba has a black nose, Louie's is pink. One of the first things we did was skype Sophie to show her the babies. I think she got quite a kick out of it. And then one bleeted and the look on her face was priceless. It was perfect!

Because it is so darned cold outside, we made them a temporary home in a big dog kennel and put it in our living room. Art slept on the floor beside them last night and we both got up every 2 hours to feed them. He was getting up to stoke fires anyways. Now, get ready for cute overload because here come a bunch of pictures.

cold enough for ya?

Things are a little nippy around here lately. This was our house this morning ....

Look at this crazy forecast! For those that don't speak celsius, minus 47 is minus 52.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

I don't know if it will actually get that cold, but at minus 30 our water has frozen up. Art put a heater on the pipes, so hopefully things will be flowing again soon. There are a lot of things I can do without, but running water is not one of them.

So, there are 3 fires burning right now....the house, the greenhouse and the barn. Art goes out and stokes them every 4 hours. Even during the night. The water has frozen in the greenhouse and the barn, too, so we really need to get the house water going so that we can get some to the animals. In the meantime, though, Xena and Cleo think it's all just fun and games.

Hey, where did everybody go? Who wants to play red ball?

The cats have different ideas.

Jack is such a clown

I have a question about chickens. What would make feathers curl like this? This pullet is a Rhode Island Red and looks like she's been using a curling iron. She's not sick or anything, just has this whacky "do".

Here's me plowing the yard. I'm in there, waving at you.

We went to Prince George awhile back and look what we found! I've become quite a maniac for this hot sauce, which up until now we've only been able to find in Chinese stores in Vancouver. That's one big YAHOO from me!

And Art found one of his favourite teas. Very thrilled to have found this store.

Time to hunker down and get warm.

Which way did they go?

I ain't gettin' outta the car

and this is before it became glassy EVERYWHERE....

a new year

Our dog, Xena, is very much a social butterfly. She loves when company comes over and is sad to see them go. After Mike and Dyanne went home on Sunday, she had this "hang dog" look.

While they were here, Dyanne tooks loads of pictures. Her photography style is much like Carol Browne... very artistic. I lust after her camera. Here is one of her shots of our boar pig.

While on the subject of animals, some of you know that we are supposed to be getting a couple of goats. Before Christmas I found a farmer in Smithers who was giving away two goats. I had email conversations with him and we made a deal to go and get them after the holidays were over. One goat is pregnant and the other "might" be, so we would have a kid or two running around in a month or so. We were quite looking forward to it. Art was excited about learning to make cheese and got the barn all prepared for their arrival. We even borrowed a livestock transporting thingie from a friend. A couple of days ago, I sent another email to the farmer to make a date for picking up our new pets and he informed me that he gave them to someone else.

I have to say, I was a bit taken aback. We had built up a bit of a rapport. I invited him and he went onto our blogs to see the new home of his goats and he seemed to approve. So, this turn of events is quite a surprise.... and a disappointment. More than not getting the animals we were looking forward to, I feel very let down by someone going back on their word to me. It says volumes about he type of person he is. Maybe it's a blessing in disguise. So, if you are thinking of dealing with a farmer in Smithers, and you wonder if he has any integrity, let me know and I will tell you his name.

To switch gears, I have been making hats lately. Some were gifts for Christmas. This one is knit and the tie undoes to allow it to open up and slide down to be a neck warmer.

This one is also knit and I was intrigued by the design. It is made as one long tube, then twisted and turned halfway inside out and sewn closed (sounds confusing, doesn't it?). This causes it to be open at the top, but the folds keep it closed. If you get too hot while wearing it and don't want to take it off, you can open the vent a little.

And it could get too hot, I suppose, because it is double thickness... and reversible.

This one was for Sophie and is crocheted.

Another knit one....

this one is crocheted...

All those hats were fun to make and are cute, but this one seems to be the favourite. Not only does Art love to wear it, I enjoyed making it.

For those of you who know about knit and crochet, the very cool thing about this one is that it looks like knit (and is stretchier than knit ribbing and springs right back), but is actually crochet. I love the result of this technique so much that I'm making socks right now just to see how it turns out.

Look what I found in the grocery store yesterday.

Check out those flavours! YUMMMMMmmmmm!

Here's a sign that's up for interpretation. I'm curious ..... what do YOU think it says?