Chicken Update

This is Joniah.

Joniah is a year old Special Dual Purpose Meat Bird.

The reason she is not in my freezer,

is that a certain son tamed her,

and she became a pet.

She is very much like a dog.

If we come out of the house,

she comes running.

When we get home,

and drive into the drive-way,

she comes running.

Now, to be fair,

I do believe it's because in both cases she is after food.

Sadly enough,

when we open the van door there is very often chip crumbs,

or other such goodie that she can glean.

Being as she's tall enough to reach the floor of the van....

Here she is next to a regular size laying hen.

(Lucky that butterfly was flying by... Ava had forgotten a certain item a clothing...)

Ava loves Joniah...

so she will live out her days here,

eating loads of food, begging for more food,

and providing me with nothing....

WHAT!?  Nothing?!

Oh, sorry.

Joy and love for my kids.

This is Howard.

He is an almost mature Barred Rock Roo.

His crow still sounds like a croak.

Isn't he pretty?

"Why yes, thank-you.  I am."

"Here. Get my good side."

"Did ya get it?"

Yes, Howard.

You look great.

Okay, that's enough of talking roosters.

Why do I want a rooster, anyway?

Well, I like the crowing.

I do.

And the protection of hens.

But most of all I like the thought of a sustainable flock.

And so, I have a rooster.

See?

Do you see the little chicks?

These were free.

Hatched out by chicken on the right in the above picture.

Chicken on the left was also brooding,

only she was about 4 days behind Mama Red.

So, when Mama red's babies hatched,

brain-dead chicken on the left ABANDONED her almost hatched eggs,

and tried to take Mama Red's.

There were originally four chicks,

Mama Red kept these two,

Brain Dead took the other two.

Brain Dead lost her two,

no idea how.

But now she "helps" with these two.

Mama Red beats on her a little, I think.

But BD just won't quit.

So, long story short,

these two baby chicks have 2 Mama's.

Oh, and their Daddy?

Remember Ninja Roo,

the Special Dual Purpose who got away?

He is.

And for the record,

he is now in my freezer.

No more siring of little cross-breed chicks.

They are cute, though.

The end.

"Hey, what about us?  We do all the work around here, laying eggs and all."

No.  I said no more talking chickens.

The real end.

For real.

Blah

That's how I feel.

I haven't mentioned it,

'cause I think that if I don't talk about it,

and I don't acknowledge it,

maybe it didn't happen.

But it did.

Winter is...... back.

Argh.

I went to bed the other night,

and it was Spring.

No snow on the ground,

birds back and chirping,

the barn was finally drying up....

and woke up to a snowstorm.

We already had a foot of snow everywhere,

and it snowed and blowed all day.

Sideways snow.

And since then,

it's been freezing.

It's not back with a mild -2, oh no.

It's back with -14.

Last year was an early Spring.

I checked back,

and this post was from March 19.

I remember.

It was warm.... sweaters only.

And winter did NOT come back.

But I do also remember,

in 2002,

we had snow the weekend of May 16.

'Cause my oldest son turned 2, so we had a party.

And it SNOWED.

I guess this is life in Canada.

But seriously.

A little Spring, Lord?

Please?

I also have a wicked bad cold.

You know how some colds aren't that bad and you can still function?

Not this one.

My brain doesn't work, and I feel in a fog all the time.

And what my body tends to do with colds,

is turn them into pneumonia.

I felt it coming on strong yesterday,

it hurt my lungs to swallow.

But my Mom took my kids for the afternoon, and I slept.

And slept.

Got a good 3 hour nap.

And woke feeling better.

Even made it to Nathan's final Hockey practice/ party.

I can swallow and talk without my lungs hurting.

I hope I'm on the upswing..

things are not right when Mom's are sick.

Here's what it looked like today:

On the right is bikes, on the cement pad.

Ha.

I tell the kids that's why winter is back....

because they got their bikes out.

Pax is wearing his blanket again...

and dealing with frozen water.

Notice no chickens?

That's right.

They are back to being stuck in the shack.

They don't like cold feet.

The wind is howling outside,

and I have to bundle up and head out to care for my animules.

I do have one thing, well a couple things,

that tell me Spring has got to be coming....

I went for 10 Barred Rock Layers,

and 1 Barred Roo.

Came back with 23 chicks.

I ordered another 10 layer variety while there, and apparently they threw in another 2.

So, in a few months,

I will be selling fresh, delicious, free-range eggs.

Get your orders in now, people.

Ava Grace

She makes me laugh.

Of course, if you've read my blog at all, you know this.

But seriously.

She's like me in many ways.

One of which being that she's not a very "girly" girl.

Unlike her older sister, who is the girliest girl there is.

Ava likes to be pretty...

and sometimes likes her nails polished....

And that is the extent of her girl-i-ness.

She doesn't care about clothes, or shoes.

Hates her hair being done.

Doesn't like playing with dollies or Barbies.

Doesn't like wearing jewelry.

For Christmas I got both girls a little bottle of perfume for their stocking.

Emma would spritz a little on every day,

and beam when she was told she smelled beautiful.

The most fun Ava had with her bottle was chasing her brothers with it,

threatening to "Mate you smell lite dirls..."

(make them smell like girls)

Wanna know what Ava's favourite toys are?

I'll show you.

These are it.

A broken Swiffer Sweeper handle,

and her Dora garbage pail she got for Christmas from her Granny,

that she never uses for garbage.

'Cause using a Dora garbage pail for garbage is completely wrong.

She's a knight.

In case you couldn't tell.

She walks around like this for a surprisingly large amount of the day.

She peeks out the bottom to see where her feet are going...

but I still don't understand how she navigates around without bumping into everything.

Excuse the dirty (filthy) clothes.

This is my real life.

Every so often she lifts her "helmet" to see what's going on.

But being a knight is not the only thing she does with her toys.

Oh no.

Here she is in her ship.

She doesn't sit for too long, 'cause she says it "Hurts Ny bum."

So then she stands, and rows.

And sings, "Row, row, row your boat."

Another favourite toy.

An old pair of sunglasses.

She's a bug.

I asked her if she was a Ladybug,

and she said,

"Ny HATE Ladybuds."

So then I asked what kind of bug she was.

She thought for a bit.....

Then said, "Otay fine.  Ny'm a Ladybud."

A Ladybug face.....

A Ladybug Fail.

I want to keep her three forever.

I have a pretty good chance, 'cause she doesn't want to grow up either.

She still says she's my baby.

And she is.

The end.

Champeens

Nathan and his Novice Rep team made it to the OMHA finals.

They were pitted against Blyth,

and it was to be a best of 3 series.

It is the equivalent of the Stanley Cup Finals for this age group.

The two teams are pretty well matched,

so I knew it was going to be a good series.

They played game one in Blyth,

and won 1-0...

and, as Daddy said, "I didn't care for the reffing." 

Seaforth played the last 6 minutes of the game short-handed,

due to some questionable calls,

and one ridonkulous bench penalty.

But the boys pulled it out,

and gave it their all.

Game 2 was last night in Seaforth.

Because of the "donk" bench penalty, they were short one of their coaches.

Nathan was pumped for the game.

He wanted to WIN!

He had been bugging me all through the play-offs to dye his 'hawk green.

So I finally did.

This is in the change room before the game.

He wanted a picture from every angle.

I think it pumped up his team mates pretty good.

soooo.... yeah....he rocks.....

(I took a bathroom break, came back and found the above written in... courtesy of Quin.)

Anyway.

So, the game started.

There were a lot of fans out to watch, and every one was pumped.

The most cheering I've heard all year.

Seaforth started out kinda slow.

I don't know how to explain it, but they just weren't "on."

(Except for 2 defence-men, and the goalie.  They played their hearts out.)

(And yes, Nate was one.)

It definitely looked like Blyth wanted it more,

and it ended up being 2-0 going into the 3rd.

Long story short,

we tied it up with just a few minutes left,

and we went into sudden death overtime.

Now it was on,

and the excitement,

and nerves were going crazy!!

There was a shot on net, with a juicy rebound,

and Raymond tucked it nicely into the net.

They WON!!

It was exactly like the Stanley Cup finals.

Sticks and gloves went flying,

and all the players piled up on the ice, hugging each other and cheering.

The crowd went wild.

I was too busy going wild to get a shot of the initial celebration and hugging,

but here's the aftermath.

Then it was time to line up and receive their awards.

One of the coaches talking to Blake, in the red helmet,

who scored both goals to tie it up.

Nate on the far left.

Our goalie, who played a great game,

receiving his hat and medal.

Nathan getting his.

And cheering for the rest of his team-mates.

A few players accepting the trophy's.

There is two, because they finished first during the season,

as well as winning in the finals.

Out of all the "CC" centers, they are the best.

The winning team!!

A very happy boy.

I am SO happy they won, 'cause Nathan's never been on a winning team, unlike his older brother.

The celebration continued in the change room...

it was awesome.

Each boy had a turn drinking out of the cup..

Nates turn.

A few of the players...

The trophy's.

There is a tradition in Seaforth,

that if a team wins a Championship,

they get a ride through town on a Fire Truck.

Seriously.

Quin did 2 years ago,

and Nathan did last night.

I think it was what Nathan wanted most...

Here they are lined up to climb up on top.

Up high on the top of the truck.

Nathan's not a big fan of heights,

even though he wanted to ride the Fire Truck more than anything.

The fire truck drove all the way through town,

(didn't take long)

lights flashing and siren blaring,

and all the parents drove behind honking horns and cheering out the window.

I think we woke up the whole town.

The parade ended at the Fire Station,

and here's Nate climbing down.

Posing for more pictures...

The local paper was there,

so the kids made the news!!

Tired and happy boy.

Not sure why the peace sign......

He's still wearing his hat and medal today.....

The coaching staff.

I have to say,

I could not have asked for, or gotten, better coaches.

They taught the kids,

encouraged them,

made them work,

but made it fun too.

The improvement of the team from the start of the year to the end was phenomenal.

Best coaching I have seen in all the years my kids have played hockey.

And that's it.

So proud of Nathan, and how he played.

I've said it here before,

but the kid plays with such incredible heart....

he holds nothing back.

And I'm glad that all his hard work was rewarded.