I'm pretty sure I saw mouse go in that hole

You're not doin it right. Here, let me show you.

I survived another year

Yesterday was my birthday. When I was a kid I loved having birthdays. Couldn't wait to be a grown-up. I've been here awhile now. Not such a big deal. I had to renew my driver's licence and was glad for the 50 lbs I've lost. That's a good thing. Maybe the new picture will be more flattering than the last. But, as this birthday was approaching I was feeling pretty blah. Didn't even want to acknowledge it. Then I decided that that was stinkin thinkin and maybe I should celebrate it instead. So, I changed my mind. It turned out great.

Art knows how to show a girl a good time, too. We took the day off from chicken coop building, went for a little drive to Burns Lake, disassembled a computer, ate some great meals (and a lot of junk food....diet be gone...for one day), fell asleep in front of the TV. All in all a super time. Art might not want me to tell you this part, but I'm gonna. Because it was my day, I got to hold the TV remote for the evening. I watched "Dancing With The Stars". And Art watched with me. He didn't go do something else, or read a book or surf the internet......he sat and watched with me. Maybe he was waiting for a glimpse of Pamela Anderson, I don't know. Doesn't matter. I thought it was pretty sweet of him.

Can you follow what was going on here?





Don't worry about that last photo. He's just joking.

My computer has developed a nasty habit of heating up and then shutting itself off. Blasted thing. Of course, HP wants nothing to do with you if you are not running Windows so they were no help whatsoever. I think I'll save that rant for another post, though. I was pretty nervous when Art started removing the million screws and peeled open my laptop. Unless you are adept as such things, I would not recommend doing this. He gave it a good cleaning and removed quite a lot of cat hair. Even so, the fan is not running properly and more repair will be required. Until then I can at least work on it for a few hours at a time. For what you pay, computers really are just pieces of junk. But again.....a rant for another post.

And speaking of cat hair. We have 6 cats....so that's a lot of hair. 4 in the house, 2 in the shop. Can you count the cats in this picture?or from another angle.... Here's Blackie, Ewie and Jack.....wait, where's Chickie?oh, there she is. What is she doing there?Well, that would be my computer she's sitting on. Also known as a "magnificent butt-warming device". She can be found there often.she even helps with my genealogy researchMight explain a few things.Blackie likes to play freecell. Has also been known to write emails that look like gobbledy-gook to me. Must be secret cat code.

Earth Hour

turn off your power tonight

from 8:30 to 9:30, local time......

acrobatic cats

You can see where this is going. He stuck his head a little farther into the jar and then lifted it up and was swinging it around. I had to put the camera down and help him. He went right back to it, so wasn't too traumatized.

I thought I was so clever teaching one of the other cats to shake-a-paw and high-five, but that's nothing compared to these guys.

weekend warriors

We've been spending our weekends lately out in the bush bringing in firewood. Our friend has a woodlot and a one-man logging operation. What he can't sell to the sawmill is considered scrap and he gets charged for leaving it laying around, so we are more than happy to go in and help him "clean up" by bringing the wood home to burn in our furnace. I think we've gathered about 9 chords so far. We've got close to all of NEXT winter's supply in, but if we're going to keep a chicken coop and greenhouse going we'll need plenty more.Art cuts it, I load it. Either I'm getting stronger or the wood's getting lighter because I can really fling that stuff around. Mind you I usually need an ibuprofen before bed and can't stay awake much past 8:00pm, but it's a really nice kind of tired.

On the drive to and from, it's nice to have a cup of coffee. Around Christmas time we got a taste of some sugarfree syrup from Starbucks and boy is that stuff nice! Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) it's a 400 km roundtrip to the nearest Starbucks so we had to get creative. A good strong cup of coffee, 3 spoons of Splenda, 2 spoons of vanilla extract, a little whitener or skim milk....voila! Way, way yummy.All that wood cutting wears down the teeth on a chainsaw.While Art was doing a little on-the-spot sharpening, I took the pocket camera and shot some pictures.

Here's an ice caterpillar....



...and some other pics....

I love the wintertime, but we are now back into a "false" spring. It really is weird. I'm not ready for spring yet. Want to get out on these a few more times.I am. however, placing the seed order today. Want to be prepared for the biggest, best garden ever this year. So, as much as I'm not in a hurry for spring to arrive I do need to look in that direction a little bit.

been doin' a little knittin'

A dickie for Sara.....a dickie for Kevin.... well, I had to present it to him half done,but eventually I did get it completed.It looks gi-normous, doesn't it? I don't think it's supposed to be quite that big, but hey, it should be nice and warm.

Then I got a request from my sister. Would I make one of those Lucha Libre masks for her son, Cody? Black and fire engine red.It's an amazingly quick thing to make. A lot quicker than a dickie for some strange reason.He received it in the mail today and sent me this picture of him wearing it. Looks awesome, I think!Now I'm working on a sweater for Art. It is about 3/4 done, but is crocheted, so should be finished fairly soon. I'm WAY better at crochet than knitting. I'll post pics when I'm done. Between that and the online genealogy course I started this week I'm keeping myself busy.

Happy New Year

Xena and I out on the "trail" yesterday. We have almost completed the circle route of our property. Today will be the northeast section, but would you believe it has warmed up to zero and is RAINING! That'll be enough of that, please. I'm not ready for winter to be over just yet. Now that I've gotten my snowshoe "legs" back (my first day out after something like a 25 year hiatus was neither fun nor pretty) I don't want to stop.

deep freeze

I know this is downright balmy compared to what you prairie folks are experiencing .... .... but after a certain point cold is just COLD. Sun's shining, though, and it sure is purty.

Went to the big city the other day and found these. Sweetened with Splenda and NO SODIUM. Score! (yummy, too)

the day the crowing stopped

It's a sad day here on our little hobby farm. Our rooster died. No....he didn't just faint....he really did die. For those that don't know, he was a bit of a sissy and when confronted with a potential disaster, he ran into the bushes and fainted, leaving his harem to fend for themselves. But where he lacked in bravery he excelled in handsome good looks and a lot of crow-i-tude-e-ness. I will miss that serenade. (I stole this picture off the internet....can't find any that I took. But it looks just like him)
We are now left with 5 hens and one of those is pretty crippled up and can't get around very well. I have a feeling that these birds were a few years old when we bought them, so as sad as I am to say, I think it's time for the stewpot. They've not been laying well for awhile now and Art wanted to slaughter them earlier. My only concern was the rooster. Didn't seem fair to whack him because his girls weren't producing. Well, I guess that problem got solved, didn't it?

You'd never know that I grew up on a farm. That I belonged to 4H poultry for years as a youth. I have partaken in the raising, slaughter and butcher of many a barnyard fowl (as well as beast) and never batted an eye. So, why am I crying now?

frosty the snow girl

Which thermometer to believe? One says it's minus 26, one says it's minus 11. All I know is....when my moustache freezes, it's COLD!

winter's here

This arrived about a week ago.There have been a few snowfalls, but this one's here to stay. It was time to put the plow on the skidsteer.After a little swearing and a little bashing, it was ready to go.Art was busy clearing the driveway and the yard...... and a nice flat parking spot. You know....just in case we get company for Christmas (wink, wink, nod, nod, say-no-more....)