Knatolee's World

Feeding time!

2012-02-02T19:07:00.002-05:00

What's Tristan looking at?

Why it's KITTY FEEDING TIME! From left to right: Julius, Naomi, Alex and little Emily.

He loves to sit on the stairs to our bedroom and gaze out over the kitchen.

"Don't you have some food for me?"

"Hmmmmmmmmm?"

"I'll just act all nonchalant, like I don't really care. Cats schmats!"

As you can see, the cats are getting along well and enjoying their new raw diet.

"Naomi? Is there any left for me?"

(For the record, I am not responsible for ANY of the wallpaper in this house, and it's all going to come down. But this is the least offensive of it!)

And we got a mini-egg yesterday from one of the young hens....

I think the shell was a bit thin as there was a dent in the side!

Wee!

Kitty Kraziness

2012-01-31T21:28:00.002-05:00

Here are some photos from the catnip-induced shenanigans that occurred last week after the delightful Katnip Loungers sent us a parcel o' FABULOUS cat goodies....

After getting a little stoned on 'nip...

...everyone wanted to check out the new cube!

"WOAH! What the...?!"

"Oh, Naomi, it's just you!"

Kitty triangle. Not unlike the Bermuda Triangle except that instead of sucking in airplanes...

...it sucks in DOGS!

Wildness ensues! Kitten fangs!

Naomi and Emily are best buds these days! They hang around with each other all the time. I think Alex is a bit put out, since Naomi has been his girlfriend for the past three years. They usually sleep together, groom each other, and hang out. But now Naomi is always with Miss Emily!

Still, Alex is good-natured and always ready to join in the fun!

"Catnip and valerian root, my favourite combo!"

"MMmmmm... valerian root. Mmmmmmm!"

"Hey Naomi, can I get me some of that?"

Look who crashed the party again!

Sophie has mixed feelings about cats but she loooooves Alex. She likes to come up and lick his face, to which he responds with a look of utter disgust.

Lucky kitties! Look at all these great toys!

Every cat has checked out and snoozed in this cube. It's very popular. I should get ten of them and scatter them around the house.

My sweet Tortie girl, all blissed out!

Thanks again for the bundle o' fun, Katnip Loungers.

Ski day!

2012-01-31T14:22:00.001-05:00

On Sunday, we went cross-country skiing with our friends at the beautiful Upper Canada Migratory Bird Sanctuary.

Near the sanctuary, there are lots of ice-fishing huts on the the St. Lawrence River...

Yes, people drive their pick-up trucks onto the ice and yes, I think it's crazy, and yes, every year, somebody's truck goes through the ice. This happens all over Canada. Like this. And this. And this. And, oh wait, this.

If you don't have your own ice-fishing hut (like this deluxe version we saw on the highway outside Montréal), you can rent one in Long Sault:

I'm guessing "collette" is French for ice hut. That's one word I don't have in my French vocabulary!

No thanks!

But back to skiing...

The bird sanctuary is a beautiful place.

The snow was pretty slippery though, and I should have put more wax on my skis...

...because I fell flat on my back three times! I was quite comfy lying in the snow, and the view was pretty, but people kept offering to help me up!

There were lots of animal tracks in the snow. These ones belonged to a raccoon!

Looks nice enough to skate on!

There is a little chalet and outhouse halfway through the ski course. I took pictures of tree graffiti while the girls had a sit-down.

I am wondering if that says Hope & Todd forever, or "Hope", "Love" and "Todd Forever." I wonder if she still loves Todd? That graffiti is deeply ingrained has been there for a very long time.

GOrdon and our friend Jim skiing under the afternoon sun.

There are a lot of tame birds at the sanctuary and this little White-breasted Nuthatch was looking for a handout. I didn't have anything on hand, but...

...later we found a few peanuts, and fed the chickadees near the main building. They are exceedingly tame there!

How can you not smile with a chickadee in your hand?

Here comes Gordon!

And this is weirdness...

pussywillows in January?! Too early!!!!

We had an excellent day and I hope to get out skiing again soon. It's snowing right now but we're due for up to 12 hours of freezing rain tonight into tomorrow. That will make for a big mess. I just hope our power stays on! I didn't live here during the Ice Storm of 1998, but this farm was without power for over two weeks, and all the hydro poles along the laneway had to be replaced after they collapsed!

Have a happy winter day!

My favourite day!

2012-01-30T10:33:00.000-05:00

Today is my favourite day of the year, the day I get another year older! On Saturday, we had a dinner party at our place to celebrate my and Gordon's birthdays. My friend Ronna made me the most wonderful cake I have EVER seen! And it was delicious, too... chocolate cake with chocolate chunks and ganache.

It's me and Gordon snuggled up with all our pets! Yep, two dogs, four cats (including kitten with tail-tip snapped off!), a gecko, ducks, ducklings, chickens, honeybees and two mice. It was a chocolate cake and all the decoration was done with fondant.

We were beyond thrilled! What an amazing cake.

I am lucky to have such a great, talented friend.

Gordon looks almost as happy about his cake as he did about his kitten!

Isn't it fabulous? For more pics and details, visit Ronna's blog!

And to see more of Ronna's artistic cakes, visit her Facebook page. Please "like" it so we can get her up to 400 likes!

This morning, Gordon brought me toast cut into the shape of a crown (pictures later.) Then I got apple pancakes and bacon, earrings, a new purse, jelly beans and an i-Phone, which means I can finally retire my eight-year-old monochrome cell phone!

We are going snowshoeing today, then Thai food for dinner! Eases the pain of edging ever-closer to the half-century mark. :)

Clean up!

2012-01-29T08:58:00.002-05:00

So after 24 hours, I did manage to get my car out of our laneway. Things froze up just enough for me to get some traction under the drivewheel on the east side of our laneway.

Then Bernie, the farmer who clears our laneway, came over and "disced" the ice surface, breaking it up so tires can get some traction.

My knight in shining tractor!

The discs are far using on fields, but hey, they work great on laneways too!

Bernie took two runs up and down the laneway.

And off he went...

into the distance...

...and back to his own farm. That's our red car parked up by the road. After I got our car stuck on Wednesday while Gordon was, he didn't drive back down the laneway until we got the ice surface sorted out.

The joys of winter!

Kitty Kraziness at Knatolee's World!

2012-01-27T11:53:00.001-05:00

Yesterday we got a parcel of goodies in the mail from the Fur-a-licious Felines at Katnip Lounge.

So I made a video to thank them! Photos to follow soon...

And just in case you have trouble viewing my videos on YouTube because of music copyright malarkey, here's a lower-res upload:

Stuck!

2012-01-25T20:24:00.000-05:00

We've been having weather with temps that go up and down and hover around the freezing point, with snow, freezing rain and rain. Today with the sun shining, things melted just enough to turn the laneway into a skating rink.

And my car...

...is stuck! I couldn't make it up the hill to the road (which doesn't look steep in the pics, but is), and I couldn't back up the other hill to the garage (also steep.) My poor little car kept sliding backwards down the hill, snowtires and all.

After a half an hour of trying, I gave up. Gordon got out fine this morning, but bad things happened to the ice surface in the afternoon. So tonight his car is parked up by the road, and mine is marooned in the laneway. Our first winter here, we got stuck in the laneway three times but it hasn't happened since then. It's only a problem when things turn to sheer ice. Then you get stuck in the "dip" of the laneway. The car slid backwards from the road end today!

We'll figure it out tomorrow. I can call roadside assistance to come tow it (we have a plan), or call our neighbour with his tractor (he gave us a tow strap for Christmas in 2007!), or wait for the ice condition to change and try again. I did lay down a track of wood ash today in a tire track, but I need to put down more if that's going to get me anywhere. I'm just hoping we'll get a bit of snow tonight and that will provide some traction. The joys of country living!

Meanwhile back in Kittyville...

Emily was trashing the joint and having fun with Naomi. She keeps knocking over my framed cat and dog photos!

Butter wouldn't melt!

"I am innocent, INNOCENT I tell you!"

"If I can't see you, you can't see me!"

As soon as I left, they went back to their naughtiness.

Meanwhile, Naomi has discovered the box Gordon put together for Emily to hide and sleep in when she first showed up...

THere's a cat bed stuffed in there and Naomi just loves it.

And poor Emily! You can just see the end of her tail in this pic. About 3/16" at the end FELL OFF today. For the past week or so, I'd noticed something odd about her tail tip and was afraid she'd gotten frostbite when she was abandoned outside. Sure enough, the dead tissue fell off today and left a little pink stump. It looks to be healing fine. I'm just grateful that's the only frostbite she got when she was alone outside. Her ears and paws are fine!

Look who had to insert herself in this picture of Naomi! Peek-a-boo, Emily! (And that wallpaper is scheduled to be burned. The floor will be stripped too.)

Cross your fingers that I can get the car out tomorrow. I'm pretty good at getting unstuck from snow but sheer ice is a problem.

Emily and Alex get jiggy wit it...

2012-01-24T18:59:00.001-05:00

...or maybe not.

"I smell EVIL!"

"Oh for the love of the Great Cat in the Sky... it's back. Hello, Emily."

"Maybe if I just pretend she's not there, she won't be!"

(Trick of the camera, by the way. Emily weighs about three pounds Alex weighs 14!)

"How can he not find me completely adorable? Everybody else does!"

Alex is actually pretty tolerant of Emily, but I think he's miffed because his lady-love Naomi is spending all her time with the kitten. I am trying to figure out what's going on but it looks suspiciously to me like Naomi is playing Mummy-cat to the wee one. I'll keep you posted.

There, you got your kitten fix today!

PS: I haven't forgotten about judging the duck limerick contest. I will try to get that together in February. It involves a cake and an assemblage of guests, and since Gordon and I both have birthdays this month, I need to space out the cake-related get-togethers! Regardless, winners WILL be declared. I'm just a bit slow!

A post devoid of kitten!

2012-01-23T19:01:00.002-05:00

Sorry, sorry, more kitten action coming, but I have some catching up to do first!

The kitties got a cool toy for Christmas. It clamps over a doorway and a little fuzzy toy hangs down for the cats to bat at.

Naomi loves it!

Two paws up! (Literally!)

Meanwhile, check out the FANTASTIC bargain I got at Sears on central vac bags...

Yes, that's right...

Regular price: $9.99. Deeply-discounted sale-o-rama bargains-galore price? $9.94!

Gee, how will I spend that five cents I saved?

Meanwhile, Julius is calm, cool and collected (and I have since tidied up my desk!)

And here's what we saw Saturday on our way to visit our godson outside Montréal...

Well, no, you can't turn right on a red light on the Island of Montréal, but that's not it.

THAT'S it.

A super-deluxe ice-fishing hut.

On its way to Montréal on a trailer, about eight inches off the ground at the back, with insufficient brake lighting. But hey, it's got windows and a woodstove and vinyl siding and what looks to be a nice kitchen counter and cupboards. I'd say "Only in Canada", but I'm sure you can see similar scenes in colder parts of the USA. Minnesota or northern Michigan, perhaps?

We were peeing ourselves laughing over that one, all while feeling very unsafe being behind it. Gordon passed the ice-fishing hut and we made it to see our godson.

And my friend Ronna gave me the world's greatest lip balm back before Christmas:

Free-range Chicken Poop lip Lip Junk! It's fabulous!

Contains no chicken poop, but does contain:

Avocado oil, jojoba, sweet orange, lavender essential oil, bees wax, and Vitamin E.

That's it for today. More kitten coming soon!

We have another adorable baby!

2012-01-21T21:18:00.000-05:00

Our godson, Benjamin, who is now 11 days old. We met him today for the first time and it was love at first cuddle!

Gordon, Ben and Tusket (the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever) chill out together.

I love this shot that Marie-Emmanuelle took of Gordon and Benjamin. Gordon is smitten.

Godparents, baby and beautiful Maman!

Gordon with proud papa Patrick, who has a very cool thing that lets you "wear" the baby. Things they didn't have when my Mum had me in the 1960s. :)

Benjamin is a very happy, relaxed baby (with his Dad's red hair!) with very happy, relaxed parents. We feel honoured to play a role in his life and are looking forward to our next visit.

Babies, kittens, ducks... so much cuteness in my life these days!

Em-i-lem-i-lem-i-lee!

2012-01-20T20:36:00.000-05:00

Today we had to go to Ottawa, so Emily had her first day of unfettered freedom in the house. The dogs are always shut in my office when we go out, so there are never any concerns about questionable cat/dog interactions. The dogs are very good with all our cats, but Julius raked Sophie's muzzle once (drawing blood and ire!) and kittens seem to have a thing for pestering dogs, so I just shut the dogs away with their big comfy beds while we're out. That way everyone is safe and happy.

I have kitten-proofed the house as best I can. I wondered what damage we might come home to, but the house was in perfect order. Emily looked like she was just waking up from a nap.

After a couple of hours of playing with Naomi, she's sacked out on the couch next to me as we watch the boob tube. I took these photos with the camera on my computer, so the quality isn't great but Emily remains cute.

The only thing I can't figure out is why her head smells like a scented candle. I thought I had put away all my candles (not that I have that many!) but maybe I forgot a soy jar candle somewhere and she stuck her head in it (unlit of course!) Or maybe it's something else... soap? Right now, it's a mystery as to why her head smells so yummy. I'm sure all will be revealed before too long.

Tomorrow we are going to meet our new godson for the first time! Benjamin was born on January 10th. Can't wait to meet him.

Have a great weekend!

PS: The title of the post is one of my pet names for Emily. I also call her "Embolism", but Gordon doesn't like that one. He's okay with "Emmy-licious", though.

The birthday boy, and another lucky cat

2012-01-20T08:00:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was Gordon's B I R T H D A Y, so he took the day off (we always take our birthdays off!) We drove to Perth to have lunch with our friends Willie and Sue. We became friends with them back when we were all living in Nova Scotia. It's great that after we moved back to Ontario, they moved to Perth. It's about a two-hour drive from here, but it's closer than Nova Scotia!

Perth is a beautiful small Ontario town on the Tay River, full of gorgeous stone buildings.

We had lunch here at Fiddleheads Bar & Grill...

...and Gordon got his dessert free because it was his birthday!

Big old water tower!

The courthouse and other municipal offices.

Gordon LOOOOVES to look at real estate listings!

Perth is even prettier in summer, so we will go back for another visit then.

After lunch and a stroll, we went back to Sue and Willie's and met their new cat, Dutch...

Dutch was at the Lanark Animal Welfare Society for 13 months while he waited for his forever home. As you can see, he has now found it and he's happy.

When Willie and Sue went in to adopt the cat, they asked who had been there the longest. That was Dutch. After his adoption, the shelter put a little notice in the local paper...

Dutch is a beautiful, mellow cat and I don't know why no one adopted him sooner. He does look a little cranky in his adoption photo but it's just the funny way his "eyebrows" are. He sometimes looks like he's furrowing his brow.

Hmmmm, maybe the fact that he weighs 20 lbs has something to do with it....

Willie and Sue did a weigh-in so we could check Dutch's heft. he is NOT a delicate flower!

But he sure is happy!

Gordon was smitten. Don't tell Emily!

Dutch kept running at my camera, wanting to head-butt it. He's very friendly and affectionate.

And he REEEALLY likes the propane fireplace!

His fur got very hot while he was lying here but he didn't seem to care.

Gordon has a new friend.

I am so glad there are people like Willie and Sue, who will give a chance to an animal who needs it most. Dutch has become great buddies with their other cat, Herman. Herman is 13 and has always been shy around strangers, so I didn't get any photos of him, but apparently he has been whipping Dutch into shape. ;)

Meanwhile, back at home, the birthday boy had a little cuddle with our kitten Emily...

Two lucky cats! One who showed up in the bitter cold at our farm and was taken in, and another who waited patiently at a shelter for a year until the people he was meant to be with showed up.

A lovely day was had by all! Gordon also got a nice bottle of wine and two loaves of Willie's egg bread. Willie used to own a bakery in Nova Scotia and is a master baker. The last time we saw him, he brought us three dozen of his world famous cinnamon buns. YUM!

Thanks for a great day, Willie and Sue.

Crazy Cat Lady Music Video

2012-01-18T19:46:00.003-05:00

Okay, I don't have a lot of kitten footage yet, so there's some blatant Alex/Naomi/Julius filler in here, but as an official crazy cat lady, I felt compelled to make another music video today! But I need to take lots more Emily footage.

She was running wild and free in the house today. What a good little girl!

YouTube link

And this is for Jams to try watching, as he's having issues with the YouTube version...

Turkey traffic!

2012-01-18T08:10:00.000-05:00

We often have flocks of wild turkeys in our fields, and sometimes they venture up and eat from our birdfeeders (check out this one IN my birdfeeder in 2009!) But it has been a couple of years since we've seen them in the yard, so it was a treat when nine turkeys wandered through yesterday:

The photos aren't great but you get the idea. The birds are huge when you see them up close! They can weigh up to about 11 kg or 23 lbs.

Some people have commented on the amount of land we own. We live on an 86-acre farm, and all the land you see in these photos belongs to us (as well as land you can't see!) We have a great 16-acre pine and spruce woodlot at the back of our property, which ends at the Beaudette River.

And here's a short video with me and Gordon discussing turkeys in hushed tones...

Some dog action!

2012-01-17T09:08:00.001-05:00

But first, some cats...

Do you think Emily the kitten will fit in there?

Lynn from Razzberry Corner wanted some photos of the dogs enjoying the snow, so I am happy to oblige! We took the dogs snowshoeing yesterday. They both LOVE the snow...

Sophie loves to roll in it or just slide along it!

Tristan following the snowshoe trail through the field.

Sophie and her bundled-up daddy!

She always seems to have snow on her nose these days.

Late afternoon winter sun.

Maybe she saw a snowshoe hare! There are lots in our woodlot. Sophie chased one once but had no hope in hell of catching it.

We are trying to figure out what animal scratched up this tree. Skunk? Porcupine?

Sophie is dying to kiss my face. She loves to do that when I crouch down.

She loves a good butt-scratch!

The sun low over the back pasture.

The path through the woodlot.

Intrepid Canadian.

Tristan.

He stood under this snowy bough for a long time.

Then he sat down!

Nobody here but us dogs!

Sophie does this a lot. She loves to stick her head in the snow!

I'll see if I can get a kitten picture up later today!

Egg and kitten

2012-01-16T13:29:00.001-05:00

First let's deal with the eggs. I thought all four of our new "Muff" hens were laying, but today Gordon found a teeny-tiny dark brown egg in the coop....

(The camera is doing weird things to his hands. They aren't short and stubby!)

The other Muffs are laying small white eggs. I'm thinking this was laid by the dark-legged hen. (Leg colour and and the skin-colour around chickens' ears is related to egg colour.)

The white eggs are from the other muffs. Their eggs are quite pointy. The other two on the left are normal large eggs from the Sex-Links hens.

Perfect for a tiny omelette!

Meanwhile, Naomi is appalled at the attention you're all paying to Emily the kitten...

Even though she is great with a dirty look, Naomi doesn't have a mean bone in her body and is the sweetest cat I've ever had. The tiniest, too. She weighs seven pounds. Like Emily, she showed up out of nowhere, screaming her head off outside my bedroom window one late September night back in 2008. She was six weeks old when she arrived. She's a tortoiseshell completely lacking in typical "tortitude!"

Meanwhile, Alex and Emily had some together time in the bathroom after my shower this morning. All the cats LOVE lying on that green bathrobe of mine. (And no, I wasn't naked when I took these photos!!!)

Alex weighs 14 lbs. Emily is 2.5 ls.

She kept slithering up to Alex. He was having a lot of fun with her new pink Kong Kickeroo kitten toy!

He gave her one swat and a few sniffs but mostly ignored her. I think it's driving Emily crazy. At one point she waited until he was busy washing himself, then snuck up from behind and pounced on him. He jumped a foot in the air!

I tell ya, that girl is going to rule the house!

Poor Alex. He needs to lose weight but he's not as Jabba-esque as this photo suggests. I recently started all the cats on a raw food diet and they are taking to it very well. Alex used to eat kibble like it was crack. I have raw-fed my dogs for over a decade, but was afraid to try it with the cats as they have more exacting dietary needs (read: are easier to kill if you screw up.)

Finally I took the plunge and it has been going really well. Just got myself a new meat cleaver! Among other things, you need to be sure cats get enough taurine. Although I am careful about the meat/bone/offal ratio in their food, I sprinkle on some taurine a few times a week for insurance.

I am no zealot when it comes feeding pets. I think you should just do what works for you! I enjoy feeding our pets raw and am pleased with results, but that's just me. As long as your pets are happy and healthy, it's all good!

Hope you enjoyed your daily kitten fix, with bonus full-grown felines!

Daily dose of kitten: the squirmy version

2012-01-15T09:39:00.002-05:00

Emily was spending quality time with Gordon in his home office this morning (I emphasize "home office" so that you aren't thinking he goes to work in his bathrobe...)

Emily showed up January 3rd in our granary. I finally managed to catch her the next day. She is now nine weeks old and has settled in nicely, but boy, can she move...

"Lemme go!"

"But first, gaze upon my most excellent cuteness!"

"Hmm, maybe I can twist out of his hands like a feline corkscrew!"

"Or how about a yoga posture?!"

"Maybe if I limply resist, he'll loosen his grip."

"Argh! Humans are so frustrating!"

"Lemme go! Lemme go!"

"I'm outta here!"

Meanwhile down in my office, Julius was doing considerably less moving...

He turns 12 this year but is still the mousing king. We were woken up at 2:30 am Saturday by ominous feline growling on our bedroom. When I finally flicked on the light, I was greeted by the sight of Julius hunkered down with a mouse hanging from his mouth (back legs still kicking.) Naomi and Alex were facing him head-on, forming a sort of kitty triangle. Julius apparently did not take kindly to their interest in his catch, and was loudly expressing his displeasure.

In denial ("There is no Hammer Horror going on in my bedroom!") I decided to flee to the bathroom and Naomi and Alex tagged along (hoping, no doubt, that I was getting up to give them breakfast. Ha, think again!) The three of us stayed in there for several minutes while Gordon remained in bed. My hope was that it would all be resolved when I got back.

And it was. Julius was happy and grooming and all that was left of the mouse was some unidentifiable offal. Gordon delighted in telling me all about the noisy crunching sounds that had wafted over the bed while I'd been in hiding.

I have been known to rescue mice from cats who are torturing them, but Julius was too fully involved from this one for me to attempt that. Plus we've had a great than normal influx of mice into our century home this winter, and I've lost a certain amount of sympathy.

The amazing thing is that Julius had dental surgery this year and only has of his four main fangs left. Yet he is still a better mouser than the other cats combined!

Never a dull moment around the farm...

The snow was very pretty in the sun this morning:

I took these through a dirty window so they aren't great

Woodpeckers love peanuts!

Hope you enjoyed your daily dose of kitten!

Arctic blast

2012-01-14T10:55:00.001-05:00

Winter is finally here! And I am one of the three people I know around here who are happy about it (Gordon is one of the others.) Visions of cross-country skiing and snow-shoeing around the farm... I hope the snow lasts for a little while.

The white stuff was very pretty yesterday as it fell, and I was glad not to have to be out driving in it (unlike my friend Ronna, who had to make her way home from work in this mess!) Our laneway was snowed in by the afternoon anyway.

A local farmer comes with his big tractor and blower attachments and clears our laneway of snow. He was here early this morning, doing his job so we can go out grocery shopping today!

My mother-in-law has gone into shock. She moved to our area from Toronto last September. She had somehow convinced herself that winters here were no worse than winters in Toronto, despite my having sent her pictures of our snow since we moved here in 2007. This is her first winter here and it has been uncharacteristically mild so far; she seemed to think that was the norm! We kept telling her it wasn't...

The red squirrels really like my "wreath" peanut feeder. I took these photos through my not-so-clear office window, so they aren't as good as they could be.

The White-breasted Nuthatches like the peanuts too. The Downy Woodpecker on the right enjoys the suet feeder.

Arctic air followed on the heels of our snowstorm. Today's high is just -16C/3F with a windchill of -27C/-16F. The ducks are hanging out in the barn. Gordon is finishing up their new duck palace this weekend (putting hardware cloth over ceiling and any gaps) and we need to pick up ten bags of wood shavings today for the floor. Really we need more, but until we get a truck, that's all we can fit in our two cars! Luckily the feed depot is only 15 minutes away.

Meanwhile, Naomi and Alex were very cosy in the piano room last night...

This is how I found them when I flicked on the light!

I bought the fleece they are sleeping on at the pet store, where it was on sale. The cats all love snoozing on my fleecy housecoat, which is made of similar material, so I figured they'd love this throw. I was right!

Stay warm out there.

Finally, SNOW!

2012-01-13T13:26:00.002-05:00

But before we get started on the snow, here's your kitten fix...

Emily bird-watching on my office windowsill.

I lover her markings! I think that's called Classic Tabby... does anyone know? Here's a website on tabby markings.

We had snow and ice pellets yesterday, and now it's snowing like crazy and there's a snowfall warning on. On top of what already fell, we are supposed to get in excess of 15 cm/6 in of snow today. To me, a big snowstorm means a foot of snow, but this winter has been weirdly mild and snowless, so I'll take what I can get. I am dying to get out to cross-country-ski and snowshoe.

The ducks don't seem to give a damn...

Eugenia, the mama duck, went over the wall (well, okay, out the barn door) for a little walk in the snow this morning. She is well camouflaged!

Speaking of camouflage!

Thta's Squishy in front, who like Hannibal has lost his brown head.

I'm letting everyone run around the barn today. It's madness down there. I will be shovelling up duck poop for sure. The "Muffs" are fierce chickens. They booted the ducks out of their straw-filled pool. Gordon calls it the duck playpen. I put it out to give the ducks somewhere warm to nap when they come in the barn.

The temperature is just a bit below freezing, so everyone wanted a bath today. Note middle duck who jumped right into the water bucket!

It is supposed to get quite old this weekend with lows around -19C.

Intrepid Muscovys!

That chicken really bosses them around, speaking of intrepid.

"Snow? I don't care about no steenking SNOW!" She is alone here because she just booted all the ducks out of the bath!

I'll let you know if we get buried alive in the white stuff...

Kitten fix

2012-01-12T16:33:00.000-05:00

My bloggy friend Jams is missing his daily kitten fix, so without further delay...

They look tense, don't they?

Julius says, "Why? Why do you need a kitten when you have cute and adorable 11-year-old ME?!"

"Well, she's not so bad, but you should be giving ME scritchies!"

"That's better!"

But wait...

...here's Naomi checking in!

Sniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniff... sniff!

"Hmmm, let me wash her head a little!"

So far, so good in Kittyville!

Duck fix

2012-01-12T08:01:00.000-05:00

I figured you guys need a duck fix...

We have just finished a new duck palace in the barn. Gordon has to put hardware cloth over the ceiling and gaps this weekend, then the ducks can move in. Their duckhouses are sufficient but if it's really cold and they have to stay in, we want them to have more space. So now they have a huge new home in the barn. (Pics at end of the post) On cold days, we have left the back barn doors open to the duck run, so they can come in and warm up. I filled their kiddy pool with straw and they like to hang out in there while Sophie likes to graze on duck poo (ugh!)

These are the four original ducks: Eugenia, Ronna, Charlie Sheen and MacGregor.

Eugenia (Mama duck) and Ronna enjoy some down time.

This is Hannibal and one of his girlfriends! Hannibal used to have a brown head but it has changed to white as he has matured. He looks a lot more like his Dad MacGregor, but with a very spotty chest. I think Hannibal actually knows his name. I use it all the time with him, and yesterday when I called out "Hannibal" in the barn, he turned his head and looked at me. He knows I'm good for treats!

Hannibal was originally called Brownie. If you want to reminisce about that saga, here's the video!

Here's another cutie girl who needs a name...

And the rest of the ducks were outside, snuggled up in the former woodshed:

This is Warren, the Upper Canada Village duck wintering with us. He's a bit of a loner these days.

That's Moishe in the very front. He's lost his "yarmulke." He used to have a dark skullcap, but now his head is white like Hannibal's. My friend Ronna and her sister Marcia named Moise. :)

Amy (still a boy, still needs a boy name) and Squishy snooze in parallel.

Moishe is a nice boy who lets me scratch his chest and chin.

"Got treats?" Sorry, not this time!

Back in the barn...

Hannibal is on the left, two of his sisters are in the middle, and his mama Eugenia is on the right.

Meanwhile Charlie and MacGregor are getting all excited over something.

Here's the duck palace. This is the duck door...

There is a bigger door at the end for when we need to clean it out:

Inside it's very neat and tidy. That won't last long.

The duck room butts up to the chicken coop (on the right.)

That's the back window of the chicken coop. I can open it up for cross-ventilation, or if the chickens and ducks want to chat to each other through the screening!

That's the chicken coop, with the duck palace just on the left where the window is. I need to tidy up the barn!

We are supposedly getting a big old winter storm today and tomorrow and into Saturday. This has been a very mild winter so far with not much snow. I'm hoping that after this, I can finally get using my snowshoes!

The Chickadees are Branching Out

2012-01-11T16:51:00.001-05:00

Finally got my act together and photographed my chickadee rug properly. I finished this back in June and posted about it before, but wanted to re-photograph it before I put it in my Etsy shop. I am going to re-do all of my rug listings on Etsy. They photograph well outdoors on the side of the barn!

The reverse.

Here's the listing on Etsy.

And here are two cute kitten photos to keep you going until tomorrow...

Emily looks tense, doesn't she?

She napped on Gordon for two hours last night while we watched the boob tube. I'd say she's fitting in just fine!

The daily kitten plus exciting chicken content!

2012-01-10T17:54:00.000-05:00

Let's get Miss Cuteness out of the way first...

On the weekend, Gordon bought Emily the most expensive kitty bed in the pet store!

Only the best for his little princess. Emily approves!

Please ignore hideous decor in our guest bedroom, which is Emily's home base while I integrate her into the rest of the menagerie. I hope all the pink doesn't permanently damage her! Apologies to you pink-lovers out there. When I was a teen, I did have a pink room, but now I'm more of a red kinda gal.

I think these two are both very adorable. Gordon is totally in love with his new kitten.

Can you tell? Hard to believe he's all tough-ass when he puts on his lawyer robes and goes to court.

And now for the chicken content. Here I am with Charlotte and my new great chicken quilt!

Cluck-tastic! (See? I like red. NOT PINK!)

Isn't it fabulous?

This quilt was in the fundraising auction for the Friends of Pets in Anchorage, Alaska. My friend Peg volunteers there, and I have done a few design projects for them over the years, including this fun 2001 Dog Jog t-shirt:

...and the logo for their annual quilt auction:

Something about Friends of Pets obviously makes me think of magenta, purple and lime green! :)

Peg knew that I liked this quilt, so she secretly procured it for me, then sweated buckets while Canada Post took FOUR weeks to deliver it!! But it is here now, and I plan to hang it in a place of honour. Thanks, Peg. It was such a wonderful surprise.

If you are looking for a good cause to donate to, Friends of Pets is very deserving. Click here for the donation form. They do great work way up north.

And if you're looking for a doggy daycare in Anchorage (surely someone out there is from Alaska!) I highly recommend Dog Tired Doggie Daycare. Peg works there and I designed their logo too...

Yeah, there's that colour scheme again. Maybe it's something about Alaska that makes want design in bright colours. I visited in 2003 and loved it. Can't wait to visit Canada's true north some day. We were considering a move to Whitehorse back in 2006. Gordon has been to all three territories (Yukon, Nunavut and Northwest Territories), but Iv'e been to none.

How's that for a digression? From kitten to chicken to quilt to logos to dog daycare to the north!

I need to go cuddle my kitten now...

Mostly, but not entirely, about the kitten...

2012-01-09T10:42:00.000-05:00

For those of you out there who are tired of kitten posts, I bring you...

... White-breasted Nuthatch hanging motionless and upside-down in a wee snow storm.

He was like this for a least a minute.

Then FLOOP! Upright and chowing down again.

Now back to our regularly-scheduled kitten...

Emily squirms a lot!

Kitten in constant motion!

But eventually she needs a rest. We have been snuggling with her on the couch after supper every night, which seems to be her quiet time.

Awake...

...asleep! Zzzzzzz...

Somebody is completely smitten with his kitten!

I predict that this tiny beast will soon be bossing around everybody in our house, dogs and cats included. You mark my words.

Saturday Schtuff

2012-01-07T18:43:00.000-05:00

Okay, for the record, people, we don't have a camera on our bedroom ceiling (which is what a couple of my Facebook friend surmised when they saw this photo.) #1, this is our ugly pink guest room (slated for renos) and #2, MACBOOK AIR with camera! Sheesh! For the record, we don't have a disco ball on our ceiling either.

Emily the kitten has settled right in. I have more than a sneaking suspicion that she is going to grow up to be boss cat. Time will tell! She's got a lot of spunk and attitude, and is also very sweet and cuddly. I keep joking that I don't need to spend money on facial exfoliants now, because her raspy little kitty-tongue is doing a fine job of keeping my face clean. She especially likes to clean the tip of my nose (which frankly I didn't think was all that dirty!) and my ear canals. Eeeeee! She does this when I am napping with her on the spare bed,

Kitten follies aside, it has been a busy and eventful week. She's okay now, but last Saturday afternoon, my mother-in-law fell in her kitchen, onto the hard tile floor. We didn't hear about this until Sunday afternoon, when she told us she had fallen on her side, banging her head on the cabinetry on the way down. She said she'd bruised her hip and hurt her shoulder but assured us she'd be fine. I was dubious.

Long story short, I ended up taking her to the ER on Tuesday. The doctor called her bruises "dramatic" and ordered an xray of her shoulder. Turns out she chipped her collarbone; no wonder it was hurting her so much! She was sent home with a sling and some painkillers and she's been finding those helpful.

Our province offers a free program whereby they'll send someone in to assess a senior citizen's home for safety hazards, and give recommendations for improvements. Mom has agreed to have that done so Gordon's lining it up. We have helped her make some improvements but clearly there is more to be done.

Probably I could do with a similar assessment myself, given my own talent for inuring myself at home. Back in when we lived in B.C., I badly tore a ligament in my ankle while foolishly carrying my cat downstair in a laundry basket. I was so busy talking nonsense to her that I missed that last step and the results were not pretty. I have been more careful on staircases ever since!

I am off to cuddle some kitteny cuteness. Have a great weekend.

Here's the scoop

2012-01-06T09:09:00.000-05:00

Kitten went to the vet for a check-up and deworming last night. Here's the scoop...

It's a GIRL!

She is 8 weeks old and weighs 1.12 kg or 2.46 lbs.

She is too healthy to be a feral cat or stray. Somebody dumped her, in the frigid winter. It's a miracle she survived the -20C (-4F) and LOWER temps we had earlier this week. She was one smart kitty to find our granary and start making a lot of noise. Words can't express my disgust for someone who would dump a kitten like this. We do have animal shelters in this country, if you really need to get rid of a cat.

The vet told me to look for other kittens in case they were all dumped here but I haven't seen any yet. We are about 1 km from the nearest house and well back from the road. Still, I will keep checking.

I am in love. So is Gordon! She is living in our spare bedroom for now.

This is all awfully reminiscent of how Naomi showed up in 2008, although she at least came in warmer September weather.

We are calling her Emily!

More photos soon.

I'm officially a crazy cat lady..

2012-01-04T14:57:00.001-05:00

...because look what I spent the past 24 hours trying to catch:

This little mite woke me up 4:45 yesterday morning, screaming his head off outside my bedroom window. It has been bitterly cold the past two days (temps down to -20C, windchill down to -29C). I ran outside in my pajamas, boots and parka, but the little wailing kitten kept running away from me in the dark. Finally I had to give up and go inside. But I started looking for him again yesterday morning.

I found him in the carriage shed at the back of our granary (smart kitty to find shelter!) But despite much meowing back and forth (I do a fine cat meow), anytime I got too close, he scampered off. At one point he was outside in the snow with me chasing after him.

Later he crawled up under our friend's pick-up truck which is being stored in our yard for the winter. I lay down next to the truck, calling for kitty until I had to go inside because my hands were freezing.

I nearly caught him in the treed area next to our garage, but he scampered off again. I worried about him all last night. It was bitterly cold. We left food in the granary for him.

Here's a size comparsison with skein of yarn from Wandering Cat yarns on Etsy! I find the photos make him look big. I picked up Naomi after this and she felt huge by comparison (she weighs seven pounds.)

Finally this morning our cleaning lady Rosemary helped me catch him. He made the mistake of hiding in a pile of wood in the granary and getting himself stuck. I grabbed his hind end while Rosemary removed logs, and managed to extract him!

He's in segregation in the downstairs bathroom until he gets his vet check tomorrow night, although right now he and I are in segregation in the guest bedroom, having a cuddle.

Gordon caved three minutes after the kitten came into the house. I didn't have to say a word. Kitty gets to stay!

It's love at first sight for all of us. And I am so relieved he's in from the cold. I can't sex cats, but my friends who can think he's a boy! Name to follow. Hopefully he has no health issues like FIV. I'm sure he has worms... pot belly and farts from hell!

With four cats, I am well on my way to crazy cat lady status. Of course, compared to 39 birds in the barn, four cats doesn't sound all that bad...

2011: A Year In Ducks

2012-01-02T21:27:00.000-05:00

My gift to you: a new duck music video!

Welcome 2012!

2012-01-01T19:47:00.002-05:00

Well, I can't quite get my head around that one! 2012, how did that happen? It seems like only yesterday that we were living in Nova Scotia, eating lobster and awaiting the apoocalypse as to we celebrated the arrival of the year 2000.

Regardless, we had a great time over chez Ronna and Richard with our friends Carolyn and Steve last night.

Happy New Year! Ronna's folk-art Mountie was keeping a close eye on my alcohol consumption. Despite appearances to the contrary, it was minimal.

Ronna and Richard put on a fine, delicious spread of munchies...

I love Ronna's coffee table. It is made up of typesetting blocks. Very cool!

Caviar and sour cream, anyone?

Curried devilled eggs, very yum!

Cream cheese, yummy spreads and crackers.

Angels and devils on horseback. The angels were water chestnuts wrapped in bacon; the devils were prunes stuffed with almonds wrapped in bacon. It was tough not to hog them all for myself!

Carolyn and Steve brought along delicious phyllo-pastry wrapped cheese concoctions, and we brought chocolate fondue and maple cream fondue...

I think strawberries are the best for dipping, but the chocolate marbled poundcake chunks were good too!

And Ronna took a picture of me...

..taking a picture of Gordon. Here was my result:

That Mountie just would not let me party hearty!

Oreo got comfy with her mommy by the fire.

I got creative with miniature marshmallows and channelled my inner rabbit.

The masks came out at midnight!

Gordon and I didn't get to sleep until 2:30 am. Considering I've been falling asleep at 9 pm lately, that was pretty impressive. Then this morning we had two phone calls before 10:00 am!! Zzzzz...

We had a great time last night! Thank you, Ronna and Richard.

Hope 2012 is a wonderful year for all of you, and thank you so much for reading my blog and leaving so many great comments. I appreciate that more than you can imagine!

K N A T O L E E

xxooxx

Happy New Year's Eve!

2011-12-31T18:15:00.000-05:00

The ducks would like to wish you all a very happy New Year's Eve!

Please be careful if you're out on the roads, and don't drink and drive!!! (The ducks are all about safety!)

xoxoxox

Need a special calendar?

2011-12-31T09:35:00.000-05:00

If you're looking for a calendar for the new year, might I suggest the most excellent Fancy Chicks calendar put out by the Poultry Club of Great Britain?

They even ship to Canada! (Just email the club to ask for details.) The calendar features 12 lady club members displaying their chickens in the buff (make of that statement what you will!) It goes from weird to wonderful and will definitely get attention if you hang it on the wall of your office cubicle, or perhaps the barn door...

Nice, original calendar design too. Highly recommended, the proceeds go to the Poultry Club of Great Britain. Get your calendar here!

For the record, no, I will not be producing my own calendar although come to think of it, that could be a way for me to raise money for duck feed...

Looking back on Christmas eve...

2011-12-30T08:58:00.002-05:00

(Told ya I was behind on blog posts!)

We have a tradition for Christmas eve: we have cheese fondue and listen to Alan Maitland reading The Shepherd by Frederick Forsyth.

They broadcast the reading on CBC radio's As It Happens every Christmas (unless it falls on a Saturday or Sunday, in which case they run it on the Friday.) I bought it on CD about a decade ago. I don't know what graphic design idiot thought red type on red was a good idea, but he clearly failed his college typography courses.

Gordon usually makes the fondue while I make a salad. It's pretty simple:

Cheese.

Booze (we use wine too!)

I found the fondue very alcoholic this year and couldn't understand why. Gordon was denying my reality! But the next day, said husband found a large chunk of Gruyère still in the fridge. Turns out the chef, aka Captain Oblivious, forgot to mix in half the cheese! I am a very lightweight drinker and wondered why I was getting a buzz from my meal.

Voilà! The cherry tomatoes and salad are missing from this photo. Sometimes we make more dippers but we were lazy this year. Bread, shrimp, and tomatoes, and...

...crushed potato chips. Someone suggested we try this! Roll your cheesy item in the chips. It wasn't bad! Calories don't count on Christmas eve anyway.

And I saved a shrimp for Julius, who is fixated on seafood...

If we are eating fish for supper, he'll sit and stare at us. I always save him a little piece.

For dessert, we had leftover stained glass cake from Ronna's Chanukah supper!

It got a little mushed up on the drive home but was still tasty!

And here are some outtakes from Alex's photo session with Christmas hat...

"*&!@$#!!!*(+!!*?!"

"Hmm, the cord is kind of tasty!"

"Get it off! Get it off!" (Tristan the dog is laughing in the background.)

"Ah, sweet relief! Maybe I should punish you by peeing on something you love. Nah, it's Christmas!"

And this year, I insisted on buying a balsam fir, rather than cutting down some Charlie Brown tree from our woodlot. (Last year's tree set a new record for ugliness!)

We won't get any prizes for tasteful decoration, but the tree itself is lovely and smells good. That's Naomi zooming by on the lower right.

Me, I go for the 2011 manicured balsam fur over the 2010 Charlie Brown white spruce. Balsam smells great. White spruce smells like cat pee.

Tomorrow night is New Year's eve, when we have our traditional CHOCOLATE fondue. This year we're taking it on the road and going over to Ronna's. Stay tuned!

More holiday celebrations

2011-12-29T09:10:00.000-05:00

Last Friday, we went to our friend Ronna's for a Chanukah celebration and meal. Gordon got to light a candle on the menorah...

I had issues lighting mine. Fortunately there is no photographic evidence!

Ronna's cousin and husband drove up from New Hampshire and brought very delicious...

...brisket! Mmmmmmm!

Ronna and Richard made latkes.

I could eat latkes until I explode.

Bring 'em on!

Ronna has lots of cool stuff at her house.

And three wonderful cats! Here's Oreo enjoying the gas fire.

The latkes were not as dark as they look in this picture. They were PERFECT! I like mine with apple sauce AND sour cream.

For dessert, Ronna made a retro Stained Glass cake, from an overly-complicated Ottawa Citizen recipe.

Gordon and I got to take home the leftovers! I loved it. Brought back childhood memories. My mother served a LOT of Jell-o in many variations.

Ronna made us Chanukah gifts, too...

Hand-painted napkin rings with DUCKIES! Lucky us!

It was a lovely mellow evening with great food and great company.

Now we're gearing up for New Year's eve. Last year I fell asleep at 9 pm. I'll try to do better this year!

Chickenly goodness

2011-12-28T11:02:00.002-05:00

The definition of "awesome" is someone who has never met you in person, but has been your American email friend for about 15 years, and knows you so well that she sends you the following PERFECT gifts for Christmas...

A fabulous chicken calendar!

And a totally fabulous chicken change purse...

FABULOUS!

EXTREMELY awesome chocolate, all my favourites! (We don't have Symphony bars in Canada, so Denise sends me some every year!)

And...

...a very cool cigar box from Nicaragua! (Because I like cigar boxes a zillion times more than any wretched cigar!)

And the repulsive but still awesome...

...chicken feet dog treats! (How this got through customs is beyond me!)

It does make me wonder why I spend time in the coop massaging Bag Balm into the legs and feet of chickens with scaly leg mites. I could just perform some amputations and sew these onto the affected chickens instead!

And the pièce de résistance...

Crafting with Cat Hair! I love crafts, I love cats... it's the perfect combo! And the projects are really cute. I laughed my butt off when I opened this on Christmas morning!

Thank you for the GREAT gifts, Denise. You rock!

Quest for Fire!

2011-12-28T07:45:00.000-05:00

On Boxing Day, we went for a nice walk in our woodlot and engaged in a quest for fire. Let's just say that if we ever got lost in the woods in winter, we'd die in short order.

(PS: Like Gordon's Christmas mittens? I got them here, at For My Darling on Etsy!)

Christmas Knittin'

2011-12-27T20:17:00.004-05:00

I have a backlog of stuff to post about. Let's get the knitting out of the way! For Christmas, I knit this scarf for my friend Judy with this pattern and Twinkle Cat yarn from Wandering Cat Yarns on Etsy.

After I finished, I noticed two %$#@!!*! mistakes that it was too late too fix. I doubt Judy will care, but it bugged me. The boo-boos aren't in these photos!

I did block the scarf, but I am far from God's gift to blocking...

Judy was very pleased and I had fun knitting it! It was easy and fast, but still interesting to knit.

We have a winter storm warning on and are supposed to get up to 15 cm/ 6 inches of snow tonight, which is the biggest storm of the season so far, but hardly record-setting for around here. We'll see what everything looks like in the morning! The ducks will not be amused.

Boxing Day

2011-12-26T07:54:00.002-05:00

For you American types, Boxing Day is what we in the Commonwealth call the day after Christmas. It's a statutory holiday here, but stores open and people go nuts shopping at Boxing Day sales. I have a firm rule about never setting foot in a store on Boxing Day. I prefer to relax and enjoy the holiday. Shopping has never been my idea of fun!

We have a very nice Christmas yesterday at my mother-in-law's house, just the three of us.

Here's Gordon carving up the turkey (which led a happy life on my friend Judy's farm until it gave the ultimate sacrifice) with his Mom keeping watch.

Mom's wee Christmas tree in the window! As you can see, we had a white Christmas. It snowed yesterday and the roads were slippery. Yay for snow tires!

Yay for camera timers!

Here's Gordon with the Caramel Apple Trifle we made together. The recipe is at the bottom of this post if you're interested. It was VERY yummy. Gordon made the poundcake from scratch the day before.

Yummy caramel-apple topping on whipped cream!

No pineapples were harmed in the making of this trifle.

While the turkey was being carved, I made use of the fabulous wrinkle-erasing mood lighting in the living room.

Do I look as smug as Santa?

The poor sap driving the salt truck had to work on Christmas day!

Whatever you did yesterday, I hope you had a great time. Santa was exceedingly good to me and brought me a Macbook Air!

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

Caramel Apple Trifle

By The Canadian Living Test Kitchen

Tender apples, enveloped in an irresistible amber caramel sauce, give this trifle a seasonal twist. Golden Delicious apples are ideal because they keep their shape when cooked.

This recipe makes 16 serving(s)

Nutritional information available online.

Ingredients

1/4 cup (60 mL) butter
6 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
Vanilla Custard recipe* (below)
1/4 tsp (1 mL) grated nutmeg
1 frozen pound cake, thawed
1/4 cup (60 mL) Calvados, brandy or apple juice
1 cup (250 mL) whipping cream
Caramel Sauce:
1 cup (250 mL) granulated sugar
3/4 cup (175 mL) apple juice

Preparation:

Caramel Sauce: In heavy saucepan, heat sugar with 1/3 cup (75 mL) water over medium heat, stirring, until dissolved. Bring to boil; boil vigorously, without stirring but occasionally brushing down side of pan with pastry brush dipped in cold water, until rich amber colour, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

Holding saucepan at arm's length and averting face, add apple juice; whisk until smooth. Reduce heat and simmer until reduced to 3/4 cup (175 mL), 3 to 5 minutes. Let caramel sauce cool. Set aside 2 tbsp (25 mL) of the sauce in small bowl; cover and refrigerate.

Meanwhile, in large nonstick skillet, melt half of the butter over medium-high heat; sauté half of the apples until light golden and tender, about 5 minutes. Transfer to bowl. Repeat with remaining butter and apples; let cool.

Strain any juice from apples; stir juice into custard along with nutmeg. Set aside 8 apple slices in bowl; cover and refrigerate. Slice cake into generous 1/4-inch (5 mm) thick slices. Line bottom of trifle bowl with one-third of the slices, overlapping slightly; drizzle with one-third of the Calvados. Top with one-third each of the apples, caramel sauce and custard. Repeat layers twice, ending with custard. Cover and refrigerate for 12 hours. (Make-ahead: Refrigerate for up to 2 days.)

In bowl, whip cream. Spread over trifle. Garnish with reserved apples.

Reheat reserved caramel sauce in microwave at High until runny, 10 to 15 seconds, or in saucepan over medium heat, about 2 minutes. Drizzle over trifle.

Source: Canadian Living Magazine: December 2003

-----

Vanilla Custard

By The Canadian Living Test Kitchen

Alone or with a flavour add-in, this five-ingredient custard is the delicious, creamy base to all our trifles.

This recipe makes 5 serving(s)

Ingredients

8 egg yolks 4 cups (1 L) milk 3/4 cup (175 mL) granulated sugar 1/2 cup (125 mL) cornstarch 1 tbsp (15 mL) vanilla

Preparation:

In bowl, whisk together egg yolks, 1/2 cup (125 mL) of the milk, the sugar and cornstarch.

In heavy saucepan, heat remaining milk over medium heat just until bubbles form around edge; gradually whisk into yolk mixture. Return to pan and cook, stirring, until mixture is thick enough to mound on spoon, 3 to 5 minutes.

Strain through fine sieve into clean bowl; stir in vanilla. Place plastic wrap directly on surface. Refrigerate until cold, about 4 hours. (Make-ahead: Refrigerate for up to 24 hours.)

M E R R Y • C H R I S T M A S !!!

2011-12-25T11:13:00.001-05:00

Alex would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas!

Alex would like to wish ME dead. :)

Secret Kiss Cookies

2011-12-24T07:23:00.000-05:00

Now, we really now how to start December 24th in style. Our new dishwasher was delivered at 6:30 a.m.! Gordon was still stuffing his legs into his jeans when the truck came rolling up the laneway. Last night they called to say they were delivering it "VERY EARLY", around 7 am. Then the driver called this morning at 6 a.m. to say he'd be here in 45-60 minutes. Then he arrived 30 minutes later. He said he wants to get home early for his kids! Uh, great. Zzzzzzzzz!

We weren't really in a rush for the dishwasher. The old one is on its last legs but still functioning. We bought a new one in Ottawa yesterday and were surprised when they offered to deliver it today. We didn't realize they'd be coming quite so early! Now I've got a dishwasher sitting in the middle of the kitchen waiting for the plumber to come hook it up sometime. (Gordon does electrical stuff but stays away from plumbing.)

Last night I went to an awesome brisket-and-latke-filled Chanukah dinner chez my friend Ronna! Photos on that later. First we'll deal with cookies!

What would Christmas be without baking? I managed to bake a few things this year, including these easy "Secret Kiss Cookies."

How can anything with half a pound of butter be bad?

This is basically a shortbread dough with pecans in it.

Butter, nuts and Hershey's chocolate kisses. Yum!

I like all kisses but chocolate ones are special.

The "secret" in these cookies is the chocolate Kiss wrapped up in the middle.

Voila!

The tired and unglamourous baker!

And the finished "Secret Kiss Cookies"!

The recipe is below.

I'm happy because yesterday we got SNOW, so we're going to have a white Christmas!

I was getting pretty worried there! This has been such a mild December.

Happy Christmas to all of you who celebrate it, and Happy Chanukah to my Jewish friends, and Happy Whatever to everyone else!

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

Secret Kiss Cookies

Cookie dough is wrapped around chocolate candy kisses to make these kiss cookies.

Ingredients:

    * 1 cup butter, softened
    * 1/2 cup granulated sugar
    * 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
    * 1 3/4 cups flour
    * 1 cup finely chopped pecans
    * 1 bag chocolate kiss candies, unwrapped (7 ounces)
    * powdered sugar

Preparation:
Cream together butter, granulated sugar, and vanilla. Blend in flour and
chopped pecans. Wrap one tablespoon of dough around each chocolate candy
kiss. Bake at 350° for about 15 minutes, or until dough is set but not
browned. Roll each cookie in powdered sugar while still warm.

More bits and pieces

2011-12-22T20:42:00.001-05:00

One of this week's toast creations, courtesy of Gordon!

My friend Judy made me this awesome vine Christmas tree, complete with white lights. I need to get a pic of it at night!

We got this very cool "Fresh eggs from happy chickens" sign from Bainbridge Farm Goods on Etsy. Drill Boy attached it securely to the garage!

Meanwhile, I am not particularly hopeful for a white Christmas. But you never know. Stay tuned!

Feline elf

2011-12-20T07:02:00.000-05:00

Julius gave me a hand, er, paw, wrapping Christmas presents the other day...

As you can see, he was absolutely no help!

Kitties do love bags!

I think he heard reindeer on the roof!

And now for something completely different. Anyone know what kind of tree/shrub this is? They are thorny and have sprung up along the drain (creek) that runs through out property. I thought they were hawthorn but I think I am confusing them with the ones that have bigger thorns.

Maybe the pea-pod things will help with I.D. And there are little thorns all over these!

I got all my Christmas cards and gifts mailed out yesterday. If any of them actually arrive before Christmas, it'll be a miracle...

Fluffing up for winter

2011-12-19T08:24:00.002-05:00

It was a duck-a-licious day yesterday (and no, I don't mean Duck a l'orange, or Peking Duck, or whatever the men out there are champing at the bit to suggest!)

Amy doesn't mind being picked up, probably because of all the nursing he received as a young duck, when he had one near-death experience and one beak-savaging. We named him "Amy Winehouse" because of his self-destructive tendencies. Alas, "Amy" has turned out to be a boy and needs a new name. "Amos" doesn't do it for us, so we're working on something else.

Sophie is nosing me because she gets jealous when I pay attention to any pet other than her, and will jog my arm with her nose until I scratch her butt. She has me well trained!

That's Hannibal getting a chin-scratch from me. I think he will be head duck one day.

I am still working on names for everybody. I have been able to tell them apart, but now all of a sudden everybody seems to be getting a lot more white in the colouring on their heads! If they lose their distinctive head-colouring, I am going to have a helluva time telling most of the apart!

That's Ronna on the lower right, one of the four original ducks. She and the other ducks have really fluffed up for winter with lots of extra feathering. Sophie is in the background grazing on duck poo. Ugh.

A boy, his dogs and his ducks.

Two cutie girls who need names.

Despite the cold temps yesterday, everybody seemed to have a bath, which resulted in some frozen feathers and punk hairdos. Apparently they ducks can deal with this (bathing in the cold) but you have to watch their feet in the cold. They can get stuck to ice and things like that!

I wonder what they were saying to each other? That's Amy, Ronna, and Danger Duck.

Cute little girl!

Moishe checks me out for treats. My friend Ronna suggested his name, because he has a little brown skullcap on his head. Sometimes I just call him "yarmulke duck"!

And this is my big boy Tristan. He is nine years old now and starting to get a little grey in the face. Wah!

Here he is, leading his Sunday flock!

And finally, a couple of chicken shots. I looked out the window last week and saw these two foraging in the garden...

Two of our "Muff" hens (I think they are some sort of English game hen, but they have beards or whiskers around their beaks, aka "muffs.) These two fly out the top of the run every morning, free-range all day, then come back at night. For some reason, their two siblings don't leave the run. Less adventurous, I guess! I've decided to let them have their fun. They are pretty wild and wily and they run and fly like nobody's business, so I think they have a better chance of avoiding predators than the other, fatter, slower hens.

The Muffs have started laying and they make the cutest tiny white eggs!

I am going to work on judging the Duck Limerick Contest in January! There were so many marvellous entries, it's going to take a while. I need to narrow the entries down a bit, then assemble my panel of judges and arrange for the talented Ronna to bake a duck-themed cake.

For those who missed it, this is the fun we had at the Hen Haiku judging this summer. Make sure you watch the video! I can't watch it without laughing like a hyena, which gets confusing because I laugh like a hyena all the way through the video.

And speaking of cakes, I've made it my personal mission to make Ronna's cake page on Facebook get 400 likes. Can you please go "like" her page? And while you're there, check out her amazing cakes!

That's all for now. I have Christmas baking to do this week, a Hanukkah supper to attend (I'm a sucker for latkes), presents and cards to get in the mail (way too late!) and the usual array of farm chores. Have a good one!

Charlotte visits Santa!

2011-12-17T07:51:00.005-05:00

Charlotte tells Santa what she really wants for Christmas

I had to wait to post about this until I got the picture back!

Last Saturday, our local animal shelter (the Stormont, Dundas & Glengarry OSPCA) was holding a "Pet Pics with Santa" fundraiser in Cornwall. I had made a joke to one of the volunteers about bringing in a chicken. I thought nothing more of it until I got an email from Christina last Saturday morning, asking if I was coming down with my hen, because they were all very excited about having a chicken visit Santa!

"Why not?" I thought. So I retrieved a cat crate from the garage, lined it with newspaper, and went down to tell Charlotte we were about to have a very big adventure.

Charlotte is very tame and enjoys being handled. She often sits on my shoulder or perches on my arm. She was good as gold when I slipped her into the crate. I covered it with a sheet in the car, and she was so quiet on the 25-minute drive to Cornwall that I was starting to worry she'd dropped dead from fright.

When I arrived at the pet store where the event was being held, I was pleased to discover that Charlotte was in fact alive and well. I took her into the store and gently retrieved her from the crate. I had no idea how she was going to act; she hadn't been off the farm since arriving in July 2009, and her last trip in a vehicle was on a big truck that brought her from the Frey's Hatchery to here. Day-old Charlotte spent seven hours in a dark cardboard box with her sisters before arriving at our local feed mill that day.

I had brought along a container of cut-up apples, one of her favourite treats. But no distraction was necessary. When I took her out, she acted as if this was something she did every day. Cool as a cucumber, she settled down in my arms and took in the scenery with nary a cluck. One of the shelter workers expertly picked her up to take to Santa and I complimented her on her chicken-holding technique. "I grew up on a farm!" was her reply.

She took Charlotte over to Santa, who didn't bat an eyelash. It was if he had hens in his lap every day! No doubt he gets letters from hens, too...

Dear Santa,

All I want for Christmas is deworming!

Love, Henrietta

Dear Santa,

Can you please bring me a jumbo pack of mealworms?

Love, Anastasia

Dear Santa,

Please can you leave some yogurt and waxworms in my stocking? Thanks.

Love, Charlotte

It was all over in a (camera) flash, and I was inordinately proud of Charlotte for not pooping on Santa's knee. Afterwards, she had a little visit with her fans. An older couple came over to see her. The man looked like a farmer to me and was clearly bemused about me bringing livestock to the store, but his wife asked what breed Charlotte was (Harco black Sex Links) and gave her a stroke or two.

Another shelter worker (a lovely young woman named Sophie who adopted out our three-legged cat Alex to us in 2008) asked if she could hold Charlotte as she'd never held a chicken before. I transferred Charlotte over and after a little "settling-in" flapfest, she quietly sat in Sophie's arms.

Soon it was time to take Charlotte home to the farm. Not a peep was heard the whole way back. There was one little poop on the newspaper in the crate, and a stray feather in my car. I released her from her confinement and took her back to the coop, where she no doubt had many stories to tell her friends.

If anyone is interested in giving me a Christmas present, please consider making a donation to my local shelter. You can do that by visiting the OSPCA "Paws and Give" page. After you have selected your gift (you can donate as little as $10 for a cat or dog toy), you can direct the funds to go to a particular OSPCA shelter as you check out. Just be sure to select the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry branch. You'll be making Charlotte's admirers very happy! They work hard at our shelter, which has always been too small. If I ever come into money, I'm giving it to them to build a bigger place.

Next year, I'm thinking of taking a duck to the event. Squishy is pretty calm, although I suspect he'd have to wear a diaper to sit on Santa's knee!

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!

The last of the Secret Spy Diary

2011-12-16T10:53:00.004-05:00

I am sorry to say that this is the last of my Secret Spy Diary from 1975. Sadly, my devotion to life as a spy lasted only 15 days. How I wish there were more. I think perhaps it's time to start a 2012 Spy Diary!

The content becomes sparser and less exciting towards the end...

March 12: My hair has never been so matted as now now now now!

My hair was down past my shoulders at this point in time and I hated it when my mother brushed it, because she was too rough with tangles. My Dad, on the other hand, made an art form of hair-brushing. When I was at his place, I'd sit on the floor in front of him and he'd go at my hair for 15-20 minutes straight as we watched TV. He used the same square black paddle brush that whipped is own short hair into shape every morning. He was gentle and patient and I have fond memories of the care he took. For a manly kind of man, he had quite the soft spot for me!

March 18: I am exhausted!

March 24: I am BORED!

March 31: Zandra Briggs is a pig.

Exhaustion and boredom do not exciting subject matter make! And poor Zandra. I don't think I disliked her, rather I think I just enjoyed rhyming her surname with "pig." Sorry, Zandra!

I'D BETTER WATCH THIS BOOK!

Paranoid much?

March 18: I am going to spy. Mum gabs a lot. When I go beneath my head, I very often hit my head. 

Sounds like desperation in the search for subject matter to me. Plus I liked to write poetry as a kid.

And so it ended! My career as an eleven-year-old secret spy (isn't that redundant?) was brief and thrilling, but sputtered out like a candle wick drowning in melted wax.

If only I had written more...

Wednesday Wonders

2011-12-14T21:28:00.001-05:00

Okay, well, "wonders" is probably pushing it. But annnnnyway! It has been busy lately but I finally have a little free time so I'm doing some catching up. Here's a little bit of this and that...

Here's Naomi looking ticked off that I am daring to photograph her while she sits on my lap first thing in the morning! (My friend Eugene thinks I sit around in my pajamas all day, but it's NOT TRUE!)

Last week, my friend Ronna and I met up with the rest of the committee that put together the Osteoporosis Canada 2012 calendar for the Ottawa Chapter (Ronna did the illustrations, I did the design.) We had a very delicious lunch at the Fraser Café in Ottawa. The guy across from me had, gasp, pasta with DUCK in puttanesca sauce...

And Ronna took this shot of my photographing the atrocity. For more on our meal, visit Ronna's blog. Speaking of ducks, I have for three days been shovelling duck-poop-coated hay out of the two duckhouses and replacing it with wood shavings. It's not a glamourous job, let me tell you! Gordon helped me finish up this morning. Meanwhile, we're having a large duck run built in the barn so that everybody will have more space this winter. The duckhouses are okay size-wise but we want the ducks in the barn when it's cold, especially if they can't go out because of bad weather.

If anyone has opinions on duck bedding, let me know (I am not talking feather duvets!!!) I was using straw but it seems to get matted, wet and filthy very fast, so I am going to try the deep-litter wood shavings method we use with out chickens, which has worked really well.

Onto other things...

Yesterday Ronna and I lunched at Schnitzels in Cornwall, where I was a big fat hypocrite and had...

...a Cajun CHICKEN sandwich. I really need to go vegetarian. I could live off sweet potato fries!

Ronna had the half pizza/Caesar salad lunch special, which looked yum. They have a wood-burning pizza oven at Schnitzels.

Ronna hadn't been there before. We both enjoyed our meals!

And for dessert, we both had gingerbread gelato, made at the gelato and candy shop a few doors down. The servings were quite HUGE...

I managed to finish it without exploding!

After lunch, Ronna and I went around the corner to the courthouse to see Gordon acting as duty counsel in bail court. I haven't seen him in court since we lived in Toronto about 15 years ago. It was fun to see him in action again, even though he lost! Cameras are not allowed, and neither Ronna nor I brought sketchbooks, so I'm sad to report there are no pictures of the event, although a good time was had by all but the accused, who was led back to the holding cells after being denied bail.

This morning, the wonderful lady who cleans our house came. She followed Sophie into my office to tell me she'd taken an empty paper towel roll off her, and wouldn't give it back...

Sophie has a fixation for all things paper, so I let her chew up the roll.

Julius watched from a distance, oozing his usual disgust for dogs!

At some point, I got more toast art from Gordon. I think this might have been a duck but I'm not sure.

And Julius made his way to the cat bed on my work table, where he promptly relaxed and fell asleep...

Tough life, eh?

And this morning, there were four woodpeckers at the feeders outside my office window, three Hairy woodpeckers and one Downy. I only managed to get on in the picture though!

That's all for today. I have one more Secret Spy Diary 1975 post coming soon!

Wee chickadee

2011-12-12T18:02:00.001-05:00

Apologies if I posted this one already. I spent a few hours today shovelling poopy straw out of duck houses. Not only do I smell bad, my brain is fried. One wagon-load and five wheel-barrow-loads later, here I am with my larger biceps. You wanna be strong like bull? Be a farmer. I went to yoga today too so I'm ready to rock the world. Or fall asleep on the couch with some Advil.

But I digress. Here's another felted piece I made recently and listed in my Etsy shop...

This was inspired by the trip we took to Amherst Island last February, where we hand-fed chickadees galore.

For my British friends, chickadees are very much like your Blue Tits.

I need to crash on the couch and knit. I am making a scarf for my friend for Christmas and uh, I am running out of time. Hope you all are having a most fantabulous Monday, and have done something more interesting than shovelling duck excrement!

Lil' Drac

2011-12-12T17:41:00.000-05:00

Okay, not my video but I am TOTALLY IN LOVE with this teeny-tiny bat!!!

Duck bathing

2011-12-10T20:39:00.001-05:00

I took this a month ago and forgot to post it, probably because it's full of me talking high-pitched nonsense to ducks again. The ducks love their baths, but their water gets dirty four seconds after I give them fresh!

There's some snow on the ground now and it was -10C last night, so the temperatures are finally around what they should be at this time of the year!

Mr. Barred Owl

2011-12-09T07:11:00.000-05:00

More of the new stuff in my Etsy shop. Here's what I wrote about this Barred Owl.

A few years ago, a Barred owl started showing up at night in the apple tree outside our kitchen window. At first we were amazed that an owl would come so close to the house. He would sit quietly in the tree as I took photos of him. After a few nocturnal visits by our avian friend, we realized that the goldfish population in our nearby pond was slowly dwindling! A quick internet search revealed that yes, Barred owls DO occasionally dine on goldfish. This little artwork depicts Mr. Barred Owl scheming on how to procure his next golden meal. Freeloader!

T.G.I.F.!!!!

Secret Spy Diary, March 7, 1975

2011-12-07T18:47:00.006-05:00

Yep, it's back. The continuing (but soon to be ended, because I gave up my spy career after a few weeks of writing) saga of 11-year-old Natalie's SECRET UNCENSORED Spy Diary!

March 7, 1975

Hang on, this is already significant! Little did I know that six years later, on that very day in 1981, March 7, I would be having my first date with my seriously awful, nasty ex-husband-to-be. (Gordon was a HUGE step up from that youthful mistake in love.) I feel intensely sorry for my 11-year-old self. Little girl, RUN SCREAMING when you turn 17 and a tall, blonde, math-loving, D & D-playing, high-school-swim-meet official invites you to downtown Toronto for a romantic shopping excursion to the Toronto Eaton Centre. It is not the start of something good. Darling, do not marry that man! Do not believe him when he tells you he loves you. He is a lying bag of sh*t. Remember, 17-year-olds are not good at spotting sociopaths. Beware the dead fish eyes! Run! RUN!!

Sorry, I had a moment there. I got a little exercised. Back to the diary...

Poor Mrs. Toffolo. No helpers. It's gonna snow today. I wonder what it's like to be a snowflake? Does it feel cold? Do you feel graceful? It wouldn't be fun, 'cause you'd get melted and people would step on you. But if I had to be a snowflake, I'd land on a roof or tall treetop.

Mrs. Toffolo was one of my favourite teachers. As for the snowflakes, I am amazed at what a deep thinker I was at 11...

I'd HATE to be a pencil or pen. People chewing you, and when your (sic) used up, to the garbage pail you go!

If Mummy knew I had written my checklist (checklist for WHAT?!), she'd faint.

This cold is killing me. (Overly dramatic!)

Daddy-o is in a good mood. (My Dad was a pretty cheerful guy. I'm not sure why this was worth noting. Slow news day?)

Nobody shall see this book now. (Only bazillions of complete strangers reading my blog! Okay, bazillions is optimistic. How about hundreds? How about tens?)

If you are looking at this you are invading privacy and I know a number of policemen. (I was always such a law-and-order child!)

POLICE
Mr. Johnston (my friend's dad)
Mr. MacDonald (another friend's dad)
Rob MacDonald (brother of friend, son of previous cop)

I'm quite sure Mrs. Fairfield has a grudge on me. (Another teacher! She had my number.)

Mummy is getting dressed. I am lying in bed. I'm too lazy to get a Kleenex. (So... did I blow my nose on the sheets?!)

I bet if I got a stethescope (SO close to correct spelling!) I could listen through walls. I pray we get the...

...top floor of the Hotel in Florida. (Mum and I had a trip to Florida and Disneyworld booked for June.) Then I can listen on Balcony's! (Apostrophe abuse!!)

I had a nice talk with Wendy this morning (my best friend) When is Mum gonna get home?

The inexplicably, I wrote the name of a classmate:

Clare Richman

Which apparently was the last straw in an exhausting day of spying:

I'm pooped.

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

More to come! I really wish I had more of my childhood writings. The teenage diaries are just full of angst and not as much fun!

Lots of chicken (and other) artwork on Etsy.

2011-12-06T13:54:00.000-05:00

I have been listing leftovers from our show in my Etsy shop. This one is called Penelope Ponders Perdition. Because I loooove alliteration! Here's the link to the Etsy listing. More coming!

And if you're looking for a book for kids, check out the kids' book I illustrated about a snake named Katie who lives in the Sonoran Desert. You can get it here too. If you're in Canada, I can mail you a signed copy for $7.95 postage.

Now I must go walk some needy dogs...

Elephant trekking, anyone?

2011-12-05T17:42:00.000-05:00

I was cleaning out the spare room closet the other day and found this pic from our honeymoon, 1993. We spent ten blissful weeks touring around southeast Asia (Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.) This pic was taken when we went elephant trekking in Thailand. It was in the days before digital cameras. A German couple took photos of us, we took photos of them, and we mailed copies to each other when we got back home!

We thought we were so old but I was 29 and Gordon was 25!!

And that is today's blast from the past.

More toasty creations!

2011-12-05T07:11:00.000-05:00

More of Gordon's kitchen creativity...

Bunk beds? High rise? Intergalactic landing platform? I have no idea.

Uhhhh...

Okay, so, this was supposed to be a bat, but I thought it looked more like an inuksuk.

Other breakfasts in our household are not so attractive. When Gordon got up this morning, he flicked on the bathroom light to find Julius (our fluffy orange 11-year-old kitty) dining on a disembowelled mouse. Gordon turned off the light and used the bathroom downstairs, although he did promise me he'd clean up the bloodshed later. So it turns out at least one cat is earning his keep! It also explains why Julius never seems to have much interest in the breakfast we serve him...

Duck Limerick contest! Enter early, enter often!

2011-12-04T08:14:00.000-05:00

DUCK LIMERICK CONTEST!

Don't forget to enter the Knatolee's World Duck Limerick Contest! I want to see LOTS of limericks before the contest ends December 4th!

Happenings of the cat persuasion

2011-12-04T06:47:00.001-05:00

I moved my enormous Xerox colour printer off my work table to make more space for my work, only to end up filling the gap with a cat bed. It seemed to be the only way to stop Julius from lying on my keyboard for a nap. Occasionally Naomi sneaks in and makes use of the bed...

As you can see, she gets very tense. Not.

And the unflattering shadows make her look fat!

Meanwhile, Alex and Julius, who had not been getting along particularly well this summer (after co-existing peacefully for four years), have apparently reached detente. Thanks be to the Great Cat in the Sky!

Alex is four and Julius is 11. I think the kitty dynamic has been shifting as Julius ages and gets a bit crankier. The loveseat is covered with an old comforter because Alex PEED on it this summer. Although repeated applications of Odormute seem to have removed the stench, the thing is scheduled to be burned. It was just a very cheap Ikea loveseat we bought to sell our last house (that's another story) and I never liked it anyway, but still! We have only recently moved the kiddy-gate blocking cats from entering this room. Let's hope that nasty chapter of cat life is over. I've had pee wars erupt with cats before and it's never pretty. Feliway and Odormute are helpful tools. We did have all the cats checked by the vet and they were fine, so this summer's eruption was strictly behavioural.

We have lot of furniture-shopping to do. This year has been too damn busy.

Note the open eye, making sure I'm not up to anything sinister!

If you're getting the sense that cats rule this house... you're right.

Duck ducky duckies!

2011-12-03T09:32:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow is the last day to enter my DUCK LIMERICK CONTEST!! I can't see that sucker getting judged until sometime in January, but please do enter. I have had a great time reading all your fantastic limericks. I still don't know what prizes will be awarded, but you'll get something! :)

To inspire you, here are some duck photos I took the other day.

Handsome Hannibal, who now gets it on with my arm on a regular basis (or my back, if I make the mistake of squatting down with him anywhere behind me!) These attempts make me laugh uproariously, which no doubt damages Hannibal's self-esteem. C'est la vie!

They always run to me when I show up in the barn, because they hope I'm packing treats.

Amy Winehouse, of the cracked beak, who needs a new name...

...because "she" is huge and there is no way she's a girl!!! Love that white ruff.

This one is huge too and unnamed as of yet. The purple on his wing is Blu-Kote (gentian violet) from a couple of weeks back when his pinfeathers were being gnawed. I am afraid to say this for fear of jinxing things, but we've now gone two weeks without any cannibalism.

Love that "Soon to be renamed" Amy! A very sweet duck.

And here's Squishy, aka Squishamaroo, who survived being stepped on by Gordon as a wee duckling. I think Squishy is a boy, and I still think he deserves a better name. He's doing well but to be frank, his whole body seems a little "off-axis." I think the near-death incident left him a little deformed, but he seems healthy and happy.

Here's Hannibal again. His markings are very similar to Squishy's. I have a feeling Hannibal is going to end up as top duck.

He is super handsome and he knows it!

The ducks LOVE a treat of scratch feed. I spilled a bit on the barn floor and they quickly cleaned it up.

They are voracious eaters and Gordon figured out today how much we are spending on organic duck feed. Let's just say it costs more to feed 17 pet ducks than it does two large dogs!!! (Our dogs are on a raw meat diet.) Still, I couldn't bear to turn any of them into Christmas dinner, even though our local farmers' co-op is selling ducks for Christmas for $37.50 a piece! (I expect Andrew, who regularly salivates over duck delicacies, to chime in here.)

Happy weekend!

Another pic from the show

2011-12-02T08:22:00.001-05:00

Our friend Margaret took this pic of me and a customer. My chicken photo cards were hot sellers but I still need to unload that chickadee wall-hanging!

That's Gordon back in the kitchen, watching Richard work!

PS: One of the most popular search keyword phrases on this blog right now is "dead teddy bear drawing." Really? REALLY, people?!!

PPS: Don't forget to enter the DUCK LIMERICK CONTEST! Deadline is December 4th.