Showing posts with label Adventures. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Adventures. Show all posts

Thursday, June 12, 2014

New Arrivals

Look who we picked up yesterday... our 13 baby chicks! 


So begins our newest adventure. Right now they are happily chirping away in the brooder we built them in our basement. It will be their home for the next 8 weeks, until they are big enough to move to their permanent home in the barn. 


That gives us plenty of time to get the barn ready for them. One of the previous owners had chickens, and so we were left with a lot of chicken keeping equipment - 2 large waterers, 2 large feeders, and the heat lamp we are currently using in the brooder, all of which were properly cleaned and sterilized. Next on our list is a major cleaning of the "chicken room."



The room is huge, so we're going to partition off a section for the coop. We're also re-purposing an old, water damaged shelving unit for nesting boxes. Like the equipment, this room needs a good deep cleaning before the chicks can move in. Fortunately, we have 2 months to do it in. We'll keep you updated!

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Unplanned Blog Sabbatical...

Apparently, in my world, having a toddler and blogging don't go hand in hand. Has it really been almost 2 years since my last post???

Aside from our continuing baby adventure, which is a never-ending, always surprising, and forever amazing, not too much has been going on. The gardens we spent so much time working on fell to the wayside, aided by the fact that all the grasses and weeds we so diligently removed came back with a vengeance. I managed to rescue some Hostas from the wilderness, and moved some wild roses to the garden bed next to the garage. Our address post near the road received some daylillies, as did the front of the barn. We also managed to enlarge our fire pit last summer, and have yet to have a single fire in it. Our bonfire pile has been accumulating for the past 2 summers, and we can't wait for a great excuse to light it!

In other news, our household grew with the addition of 2 new feline members. Finnegan came to us during a deep freeze in January. Figuring he lost his way, we gave him lots of food and water, a cardboard box home with plenty of towels to curl up in until the cold snap broke and he could head on home. After a couple of days of relatively "warm" weather, Finn was still hanging around, so we welcomed him in. The vet estimated that he was around 18 months old.

 

 The next addition was found next door to our daycare. A family's cat had had kittens, and they were up for adoption. David couldn't resist this one, and we called him an early birthday gift. He's has quite the personality - he'll follow us around the yard, loves playing fetch with sticks, and jumping out to surprise you if you happen past one of his many hiding spots. We named him Quicksilver, but call him Silver for short.



Although we are still lacking in land (and funds) for our alpaca dream, we have finally started work on our hobby farm. We have begun work on our new vegetable garden, plants have been purchased for converting a currently weed-filled garden into a butterfly garden, and our biggest project for this year: preparing for the arrival of 12 day-old chicks, which includes not only preparing a space for them to grow for the first 6 weeks, but also getting the barn's chicken room ready, and fencing in a chicken run for them as well. 

In other news, we saw one of our wild neighbours yesterday evening. This coyote passed through our yard, stopping briefly when he (or she?) heard us go out onto the deck to take some pictures. He stayed for a minute or two before crossing our border into the woods behind us. What an amazing encounter! Of course, our next step of action is to install a motion sensing security light on the back of our barn, and increase the amount of lighting we have on the property to discourage our canine friend from coming closer to our home, cats, and future chicken home.

Since we've taken an unplanned sabbatical from blogging, let's try this again, shall we?

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Newfoundland Vacation (Photo Heavy!)

Emily and I have been away for the past 3 weeks - David sent us off to Newfoundland to visit my family. My dad calls his parents every evening, and since Emily was born my Grandmother instructs my dad to "give that little girl a kiss and a hug for me!"

It took us 3 days of driving to get there (with lots of breaks for Miss Emily), but she was such a good little traveller!

She got to meet most of the family, as everyone was there for my grandparents' 71st wedding anniversary.

We also helped celebrate my Aunt & Uncle's 50th wedding anniversary. I got screeched in at the party (but got to drink Purity Syrup rather than screech, as I'm nursing), and am now an "honourary" Newfie.

We had a great time at a Mussel boil on the beach...

Emily's First time on the Beach!

And Emily had a bath in her Great-Great-Grandmother's bowl (she was a midwife, and most of the children born in Bonne Bay were washed in that bowl, including Emily's Great-Grandmother and Grandmother). She had a great time, splashing water all over Grammy's floor!


We had a great time, and finally after 3 weeks it was time to say goodbye...


Rocky Harbour, Newfoundland
... and head home.

Friday, June 17, 2011

Bike Ride

A couple days ago, David and I went for a bike ride. This was the first time I had ridden my bike since we moved here (sad, I know). We were only gone for an hour, and managed to bike approximately 8 km. We passed a dairy farm, vineyard, a horse boarding stable, and many, many corn & hay fields. It was a beautiful day for it!