Monday, December 14, 2015

Wintery farm

New view south with the chicken barn gone

Irene's tree
Jon clearing snow
Samson watching


Nova Scotia cranberries!  Made a batch of sauce today.



Thursday, December 10, 2015

Chicken Processing II

 Mom came over today and helped dispatch 8 of my 12 remaining hens.  We'll keep the other 4 until right before we leave for Christmas, this way we still get a few fresh eggs.
It's snowing heavily today and finally starting to look like December.  If we had done this yesterday, we could have been outside, as it nearly got to 10 degrees!  We set up the cone beside the house and I carried the girls over one at a time, and then the rest was done in my kitchen (which was way less gross than it sounds).  I don't have a problem killing chickens at all, but it's a task I always build up to be more than it really is.  I have been intending to get at this for some time now, but both Mom and I were shocked at how quickly it went!  We did 4 birds each in 3 hours total, including set up and clean up-- and neither of us profess to be fast. 
Not very often that we budget a day to do something and it only takes half a day, so we are excited to be able to get some other things done this afternoon! 


Friday, December 4, 2015

Christmas Tree salesman

Jon is enjoying work at Patmore's-- mostly selling Christmas trees right now.  Here's one of my first photos and my first post from my new iPhone.  I didn't want to be a carbon copy of everyone else, but finally succumbed.  I've never had a proper smartphone which can help a lot with all the online things I do.  So, I'm excited to have a tool that will make things easier!

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Samson the Fearless

Dear house tiger Samson got into a fight yesterday.  We think with another cat, but not Roseanne as she seems fine and is suspected sleeping in the barn at the time.  Samson is terrible with other animals, super aggressive and not friendly, even with baby kittens!  He was in pretty rough shape when I got home-- it was 6 pm and he was hiding in his kennel and wouldn't come out all night.  I cleaned up his wounds (a few punctures through the ears, a tail bite, and a big gash above his right eye) and treated them, his eye was swollen shut!

This morning I came down as soon as I woke up and he was eating at his bowl (his favourite pastime).  He's doing better today but still in pain and hiding lots.  It's funny how one day can make you realize what creatures of habit we are.  Samson is constantly underfoot looking for kibble, but not last night.  He also sleeps beside me and hogs the bed (not last night, I actually had the best sleep ever, lol!).  And we have a nightly tradition: kitty cuddle time, where he sits on my lap all night long, every night.  I missed him so much last night, even though he was sleeping 10 feet away!  Pretty attached to the house tiger, hopefully he pulls through without any abscesses (a very common issue with cat on cat violence, or even cat on people violence, for that matter-- dirty bacteria-full cat mouths!).  Will continue cleaning his wounds and keeping a close eye on them.

So, provided he heals up quickly, hopefully this will be a lesson to Mr. Aggression, don't try to stake your territory in the farmyard, it's already claimed!  Poor Sammy.  :(