Snippets

As I was desperately busy working out daily lesson plans today, Jude commented to me that he wished he and Noah were starting school at the same time as Jabin. (Originally, I thought we might wait until mid-September, a week or two after Jabin begins kindergarten in town.)

"Well, you're going to pretty much do that, now," I commented back, relating the change in schedule. "Why?"

"I want to get it over with," he replied. I choked back a guffaw of laughter at this unexpected response.

"Only nine more years, buddy... And that's just high school."

He didn't seem that phased by the number. Maybe, since that is longer than he has currently been alive, a scope of time that long has no meaning for him. Kind of like I can't grasp the scope when I say "a billion dollars."

It's just too much! Well, in Jude's case, it might be best to keep it that way for a while. No need to overwhelm the little guy.

-----------

"I wonder if Nala's pregnant?" I pondered aloud to Jason. I was doing evening chores, and he was outside building a compost bin. Nala was being very affectionate and hinting that she would like to go indoors. (She hints at that frequently. She hasn't yet figured out that she is now an outside cat.) I picked her up and noticed that she was starting to get rather thick in the middle--considering that she is normally a little raily, this is worth noticing. I flipped her over and felt around some more--swollen pink nipples, round abdomen. A quick Google search confirmed it. Pregnant.

I have no idea when she is due, but I'm guessing not for another month. So, uh... anyone want a kitten in November?

------------------

My 12 three-and-a-half-month-old chicks (10 Red Rocks, and 2 Ameraucanas that I just bought) all went into "The Big Coop" tonight with my older birds. It is just getting to be too much to move them and feed them as much as they require, and I am fairly confident that Koda will leave them alone, now. (Well, as long as he is tied up while they are out, as is his usual state in the afternoon.)

One of them has a gimpy leg as a result of getting it hurt during a move of the chicken tractor when she was 10 weeks old, and she limps around on the top of her foot on that side. I'm just glad she survived, but needless to say, she is at the bottom of the pecking order. I hope that she and the smallest Ameraucana (also low in the social order) are still alive in the morning.

I am thinking of moving two of my teenage "boys" into "the small coop" by themselves until I get to butchering them, so that my young and adult "ladies" aren't kept quite so busy (if you know what I mean), but that would mean they wouldn't be able to free range--which equals more work for me. And more chicken food that I have to pay for. I'm just excited that as of tomorrow, I will have twenty-two free-range birds, instead of only ten. And none to move around!

Also exciting on the chicken front (at least to me!), we are now up to six hens of laying age, averaging about four eggs a day. Considering our family usually consumes between four and six dozen eggs a week, it is pretty thrilling that these birds are finally starting to "earn their keep!"

Well, that's about it for today, folks. Y'all come back now.

It Was a Dark and Smokey Night...

I have just been outside to do my evening chores, and even though it would normally not be dusk for about another hour, the thick haze of smoke filling the air makes it feel like one is walking through the pages of a ghost story, or maybe "the mists of time." I was amazed by photos of Edmonton (5 hours south-east of here) this week, with smoke so thick that public health officials are warning people with respiratory conditions to stay indoors. I have not yet seen photos of the fires in British Columbia, but if it is this bad here, the source must be completely devastated.

I have actually been wondering if that is part of the cause of the very cool, fallish-feeling weather we have had here this week. Despite the contents of my last post (the photos from which were actually taken in July), every day this week has felt like "pants weather," and it has made me start thinking of digging out my fall wardrobe. Or making a new one. Either way.

I have had the sewing bug pretty bad, lately, but I am currently still working on a rather summery design. For some reason, it feels a little inappropriate at the moment!

Part of the reason my current piece is taking so long (over two weeks, now), other than that I am making it "from scratch" (drafting the pattern myself), is that I got several new books from Amazon.com this week, one of which was Claire Schaeffer's Couture Sewing Techniques.Have you ever wondered how haute couture pieces could be valued at such crazy prices as $10,000 for a day dress, or $20,000 for an evening gown--or more? I have. Now I know. Besides the fabulous fabrics they use in high fashion, almost all the sewing is done by hand!! Not only is it done by hand, the garment is draped, and basted, and ripped apart, and fitted (often on a custom dress form padded just to your measurements) over and over again during the process of making it. That is the secret of those beautiful clothes that fit so amazingly. So, now I know why they are worth so much--but I am still a little amazed that there are people who choose to pay it!

Anyway, I do not intend to start constructing everything I make by hand, but I have found the techniques in the book to be helpful, and I will definitely use them judiciously to construct better clothes. And since the dress I am currently working on is meant to be a "practice piece", I have been using several of the hand-sewing techniques I have just learned on it. Needless to say, this has slowed down the construction process quite a bit.

It occurred to me today that Jabin will be having his orientation day for kindergarten in only nine more days. When I told him that, Jabin was thrilled. "Yessss!!" he shouted, making a fist and drawing his elbow back in the commonly-used gesture of excitement that looks like you are pulling the bus bell. (Where did that come from, anyway?)

Mommy is a little less excited. This is my last "baby", off to school, after all. *pouty face*

The kids have been begging to go mini-golfing almost every day this summer, so today we finally took them. The winners fell in the same placement by score as by age--Jason creamed us all with a 60 (on a par 54), and Jabin took home the "booby prize" at 122. The rest of us fell in line between there. (Okay, there wasn't really a prize. I made that part up.)

Well, that's enough rambling for one night. Back to my needle and thread...

Gotta Love Summer

Take 22

Yesterday, on our walk to the market garden at Dunvegan, there was a rather interesting maple tree that I thought provided the perfect opportunity for a picture of my three boys together.

It was a bit tricky getting into position.





Twenty-two shots, and this is the only one where they are all looking at the camera, posed semi-decently, and no one is making a goofy face.



Well, I guess goofy can be fun, too.

The Fantastic Mr. You-Know-Who

Today, we decided to go on a picnic. We didn't hurry there, but managed to arrive at Dunvegan in time for supper.

Dunvegan is an historic site and beautiful provincial park on the Peace River about an hour's drive from here. We had not been there before, despite having driven the bridge over the river at that point every time we go to Grande Prairie. Mostly, we go to G.P. in the off-season, but honestly, a family day trip like this isn't something we do a lot of.

We ate our sandwiches and drank our lemonade. The boys made friends with some extroverted campers and played "Hide-and-Seek Tag" in the playground. (I never quite caught on to how the rules for this version worked, exactly.) Can you see Jude in his hiding spot?


Koda got to practice staying, when he would rather be running around checking out everything he can see and smell. (No dogs off-leash in the park, of course.)

The boys tried to build a new bridge across the river with rocks.


We walked the 1 km. to the market garden, where they also had some very picturesque flower gardens. It was a good time had by all.


We were almost home, about 1 1/2 miles as the crow flies, when we saw two interesting little fellows in the ditch just ahead of us. We stopped to look at them, and one of them came over to look at us.

He was rather obliging about having his photograph taken, sitting not ten feet from my van window for several of them, actually.


The kids were thrilled about seeing a red fox so close up.

Meanwhile, I was secretly terrified that they were just looking around for dessert after a nice chicken supper.

I had left my older chickens (6 mo. to maturity) ranging around our yard when I left, but of course, we took the dog with us. He usually spends the time when they are free ranging tied up under out step. I don't know why I wouldn't trust him, or anything, but so it is. Actually, he is so hot most days that even when he is not tied up, he still just sleeps under the step, so this is not really a sacrifice on his side, just peace of mind on mine. (Koda is definitely a snow dog.) However, even tied up, he would most likely bark if he noticed a fox in the yard. However, with no such canine in the yard to bark at them, there would be nothing standing between two young foxes and poulet al fresco.

It was with trepidation that I looked around as we pulled into the yard. Of course, it was empty--it was already nearly 9 p.m., which is when my chickens head in to roost.

"Well, either they are roosting, or they are all dead," Jason said cheerfully as he turned off the van's ignition.

"Thanks for that, honey," I replied, shooting him the evil glare. Apparently, my poker face needs some work.

Fortunately, I soon ascertained that all of my poultry were snug as bugs in their coop.

This does exonerate Koda from the attempts at breaking-and-entering I found around my smaller coop yesterday morning. I had already suspected it to be a fox, but there were no clear indicators.

I still don't trust him, but he really does seem to have learned at least a partial lesson after his poultricidal day.

Maybe we can start to relax the security protocols on him soon... but not too much!