Sunday, June 7, 2009
Mother's Day
Mother's Day was a beautiful day here. We did some yard work in the morning. Cocoa supervised my weeding/mulching of the raspberries. There's an elm tree that sprouted up, and we're just going to leave it, so that when all the ash trees (which we put in because of Dutch elm disease) are overrun with emerald ash borers, we've got something else in the yard. Dan & G spent the rest of the day with me doing household errands and then fun shopping.Update
Farnsworth usually showed up in the front yard in the morningIt's been a while since I posted because we've been busy around here. Here are the headlines ... "Swine Break '09," as it's know around here, was a bust. The protocol for quarantine was changed and the kids were called back to school on Wednesday the 6th, much to everyone's chagrin. ... The pheasant, who I named Farnsworth, continued to make his home here until about two weeks ago, when, after a kind of crappy day as it was, I came home to find that he'd been hit by a car in the road in front of our house. There was nothing I could do for him and I was beside myself. A few days later, G & I spotted a new pheasant, who, though not a beautiful as Farnsworth, has taken up residence here. I am allowed to listen for him (he's not as bold as Farnsworth and doesn't come into the yard), but I am under strict orders not to name him. ... Dan, G & I jockeyed to read yet another book -- The Sorceress, the third in the series The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series. ... Only four more days of school -- YAY!
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
SC Day 5: The Last Olympian
Dan, G & I have been eagerly awaiting the release of the last Percy Jackson book. I was at the book store when it opened at 8 a.m. so that I could pick our copy up.
When I walked into the house, I promptly handed it over to G, who immediately delved into it. At my 11:15 check, she was more than halfway through it, so I may get to start it before Dan gets home tonight!
(1:15 p.m. Update: G is finished and has passed the book to me!)
SC Day 4: Bees
Dan & Jamie put the new bees in yesterday. We had to replace both our colonies, because one did not survive the cold weather and it looks like the other one may have succumbed to Colony Collapse Disorder. Jamie had better luck and only had to replace two of his six. I didn't get more pictures because after six months of going strong, the battery on my new camera finally died.
Ready to go with a new colony
SC Day 4: Potting Plants
Our "gardening" has evolved into a rooftop garden, ever since cats and chickens wouldn't leave our flower boxes alone. Instead of buying everything at once, G & I are going to plant in phases this year. Since it was a beautiful day, we decided to visit the garden center to start this year's garden.
A start on the season
Monday, May 4, 2009
SC Day 3: Hiking
We hiked part of the Ice Age Trail, which included exposed Silurian Dolomite of the Niagara Escarpment, a geological formation that runs from New York (and Niagara Falls) through Ontario and Michigan to Wisconsin and Illinois.SC Day 3: Geocaching
We went geocaching with friends on Sunday. One of the caches included a Big Chicken as a clue. It turned out to be more of a Wild Goose. We ended up ditching the search to go for custard at LeDuc's, which was conveniently nearby.SC Day 2: Four-Wheeling
We took the RAV4 four-wheeling into various corners of the farm. Here's a view of our cows on the ridge.
SC Day 2: Yard Work
I finally feel comfortable letting G use the rider. With an assist from Dan, we got most of the yard done in two hours.
School Closed Day 1: Incubator
Grandpa has been collecting eggs from the yard hens. On Friday G put them in the incubator. In 21 days we'll see how many of them yield chicks.
Friday, May 1, 2009
H1N1
We got a robocall around 11 a.m. today informing us that three schools in our school district, including G's, were being closed because of a confirmed case of Influenza Type A H1N1. All middle and high school students now have a week-long holiday thanks to HHS. Since we've been instructed to limit social contact during that time and it's still too cold to open the pool, I'm not sure what we'll be up to. G's default mode is Gilmore Girls and Webkinz. Thank goodness we have all those new Scholastic books piled around ...
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Book Fair
Didn't do much of anything but the Spring Book Fair this week. The Twilight and Diary of a Wimpy Kid series were the two big sellers -- we couldn't keep them on the shelves. G and I managed to keep our tab under $200.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Ring Neck
We've been hearing this pheasant's vocalizations for about three weeks now. While there are wild pheasants around, we think he is an escapee from either a stocked hunting ground or a farm that raises them for restaurants, both of which are in the neighborhood. During the past week he's started to come into the yard and to shadow our chickens as they make their rounds. Maike doesn't seem perturbed by his presence and the rooster hasn't run him off yet. It will be interesting to see if he sticks around.
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