Dead Birds...Rainy Weather

I am down one bird.  The hubby found its lifeless body down along the boundary of our property.  No signs of violence, no blood, just a dead bird.  It is frustrating to say the least.  I don't know how many months it has been since I got them, but I have spent a lot of time trying to make sure they survive.  Then suddenly....just like that...a dead bird.  Sigh.  Goodbye Ranch, if you were Ranch.  Poo Baby has turned into Low Man and remains identifiable but Twinkle, and all the rest have become just one amorphous lump. As promised here are a few pictures of the girls? boys?

 New home at three days old.

 A week later.

 Three weeks old. Sprouting feathers and everything. 

 First day in the coop.

 First day outside.

 New flag pole flies above Kitpu Estates.

 Following the leader.

 The leader.

 Zombie adults.  Icky.

 Checking out the hot dude in the mirror. 

Which brings us to today. 

Such a rainy day.  Such a good day to hang around in the house and enjoy the fire.  I wish I felt better so I could get into some serious writing and or painting.  At least I managed to drag my sorry butt into town to get groceries. 

My Bad...

Wow it has been awhile.  Can I use the excuse that I've been busy?  Because that is the truth.  Although its not like I've been so busy that I couldn't take a few minutes to sit down and do some blogging.  Those free moments when I could have been blogging I have been wasting my time surfing the net, playing games, or just plain old watching stupid things on Youtube.  I admit it.  My bad...I suck...life goes on. 

This summer has seriously been a crazy busy summer though.  I have spent far more time mixing concrete in these last three months then I have ever done in my entire life.  And the shitty thing is that we aren't even finished.  We still have one wall left to pour, and three, possibly four, footings.  It is never ending, most especially when you happen to be married to someone who doesn't know the meaning of build to code.  His idea is build to a code which will make the structure last until the next ice age.  And based on how quickly the world is warming that isn't going to come any time soon. 

But the good thing is that I'm getting to be quite the expert at mixing concrete.  Four parts sand and gravel, one part cement, add a little water, mix to the consistence of cookie dough and Bob's your uncle.  Yup you heard that right, mixing concrete is like baking.  Add a little bit of this and a little bit of that, salt to taste.  And always wear your safety glasses...you have no idea how many times my sunglasses have saved my vision this summer. 

Have I mentioned my birds?  No...well I got myself some birds this summer.  Six guinea fowl.  I got them when they were three days old and grew them into big, fat, seriously ugly birds.  Wowza but they is ugly.  They went from cute(ish) little brown fluffy things to big, grey, things with heads that look sort of zombie like.  But of course I did not get them for their aesthetics, nope there is a method to my madness, I got them for their tick consuming powers.  Have wood ticks, will eat, is their motto.  Apparently one hen will rid one acre from the blood sucking little bastards, and...this is important...not ruin a garden.  Had they been garden destroying I think our neighbours might come looking for them with a shotgun...and possibly us.  At first when we let them go free it seemed like they were not holding up their end of the bargain because they were having issues eating enough, but that problem has gone away.  Unfortunately I haven't a clue at how well they are doing on the "tick front" because tick season was over pretty bloody quick this year.  But they are getting bigger and fatter so they must be finding enough creepy-crawlies to eat.  So fingers crossed that they will survive the winter and that they will bring their super powers into full strength next spring. 

 
I'll post some pictures when I find my camera.  Anyway I best head out to the Wookie Cave and start a painting I promised to someone.  Hopefully I'll get back here a little more than every six months. 

What a difference a day makes...

This week started out as a typical week in the early springtime of the eastern part of the western world.  Cold and windy but nice enough to go for a walk/run.  But the weather network and the radio people were all freaking out about the coming storm.  One thing I have learned since moving here is to believe these people about the big storms...ie - hurricanes, nor'easters, drought, etc.  So the kid packed up all of her stuff, left masses amounts of food for the cats, filled her bathtubs, and moved out to my place.  After all, Nova Scotia is the land of the power outages.  We went for a nice enjoyable (slightly chilly) walk in the afternoon, talked about the wonderousness of sunny weather and the fact that apparently we were in for a big one on Wednesday. 

On Tuesday the weather was even nicer...iffin you can believe it.  Sunnier, warmer, and less windy.  No snow was to be found anywhere.  It was bee-YOU-tea-full.  Wednesday dawned cloudy but relatively benign.  I had a few doubts about the storm as it had been predicted to start the night before.  Still no snow on the ground.  Then the wind started to pick up...

By the time five o'clock rolled around we had a four foot snowdrift in our back yard.  You could not see across the driveway.  That is when a little one decided that she wanted to go outside to play.  After about a half hour of showing her what it looked like outside (horizontal snow) and opening the door (keeping a shoulder against it so it wouldn't get blown against the wall and create major damage) she still wanted to go out.  So we packed her up and headed out the door with her.  (Not we...her grandfather did) They tried to walk across the driveway but couldn't see because the small ice pellets were stinging their eyes, so she opted to try to "play" by sitting on a tree branch close to the ground and hang on so she wouldn't get blown across the yard.  That is when she turned to her Papa and said.  "Papa I think I made a bad decision.  Can we go back in the house now."  Sometimes you just have to experience things in order to really understand the ramifications.  Ah youth. 

The storm continued to rage into the night and the next morning the neighbour's cottage had a ten foot wind drift behind it.  But the temperatures warmed up and by the next day...we were back to no snow.  Today the weather network had these words...I shit you not.  "Rain this morning with the possibility of turning into rain this afternoon."  And yes, it is raining.  And craptastic out there.  March came in like a lion and seems to be heading out like a tyrannosaurus rex.  Perhaps if I make a sacrifice to the weather gods they will take pity on us in April.  (In other words let up on the fucking April showers will you!)

Rock Solid

Well it looks like the world decided to slow back down and turn into a place that doesn't want to spin me off.  Yippee!  It has been almost 16 hours since my last tiny dizzy spell, so it looks like I may be over my inner ear thing.  You have NO idea how wonderful it is.  I have a hard enough time concentrating these days without having to endure spinny, dizzy, puky, barfy times. 

The very strange thing about this episode came in the way of me finding out that pretty much everyone I've talked to about it in the last week either has, or knows someone who has, Benign Positional Vertigo, a condition I didn't know about until last month when I read a book where one of the main characters helps someone out with this problem.  At the time I didn't think much about it because a) I actually didn't know if it was true or not, c) it wasn't a major story plot, and b) my world hadn't started spinning yet. 

If you've ever read this blog you know that I live in the sticks.  Like deep in the sticks.  I have one neighbour then you have to go about three kilometers before you run into another neighbour, so not exactly in the middle of the Manhattan if you know what I mean.  Anyway a day or two after I got my sea legs back I went for a walk and ran into the neighbour from three kilometers away.  Normally I run into her about three or four times in a winter, we both walk every day, but typically not at the same time.  Anyway it turns out that her husband has had BPV for over 20 years.  Then I find out that a relative (the littlest bro) just found out he has it.  Then I went to my writering class and the guy who sat down next to me says he has it.

WTF?

So what is this?  Is it the universe trying to tell me something?  Like - when you read a novel you should take better care to believe shit written there.  Or - guess what...the world has shit going on around you all the time and you are just an oblivious dork.  Pay Attention! 

I do want to say that I am very, very, very glad that the world has stopped spinning.  I am grateful that I don't have to put up with that for 20 years.  And I would be very happy if it never happened again.  Now I have to make some tea...yes you heard me - tea.  And sit down and do some editing on my story and enjoy what the rest of the day will bring.  I guess I did name the Old Shoes and Tea Society well...seeing as I on occasion can enjoy a cuppa. 

Blue Skies and Spinning Worlds

So yesterday and the day before wasn't fun, even a little tiny bit.  You see for the past four days or so I have been getting these dizzy spells which kept getting worse and worse.  Finally I got to the stage where even if I moved a hair then the entire world would go into overdrive and I would fall down.  Not fun...in fact it sucks the big one.  So I ended up in the ER, where they were nice enough to put an IV thingy into my arm and pump some anti-world-spinning medication into me.  It didn't stop the world from spinning, but it did stop me from wanting to projectile vomit.  It turns out that I have a wee bit of an inner ear infection which is playing wonky-nuts with my head.  Today is the first day where I don't feel the need to chuck my cookies.  This might be because of the medication they gave me, or perhaps it is because I am actually starting to get better.  Either way, I am joyful that the world is keeping solid. 

The fact is that it is a lovely day...in the pluses...and I feel so good that I want to go out and partake.  Hubby thinks that this is a bad idea (seeing as I was full of needles in the ER just yesterday morning) and has given me the hairy eyebrow look.  So I will be a good girl and sit here and type.  The dog says, "get off your lazy butt and take me for a walk."  But what does she know?  After all she goes around sniffing dead things and poop. 

Another Day Another Snowfall

Well this is the second go round for my Internet connection saga.  Today the tech guys came back and reset my thing-a-ma-jig to the who-lanny-bob.  So far, knock on wood, fingers and toes crossed, hell and even eyes crossed, it looks like I am once again up and running.  If I can go another year or so without having to call those guys in I will be a happy camper. 

Things here at Kitpu Estates are rolling along with little dips and bumps, but most as status quo.  Which means that not much is going on.  My studio is within a hairs breath of being finished, the only hold back is the flooring at this moment.  It has been a long time in the coming so I may have to cave and put something on credit.  I hate buying stuff on credit. 

I have this daydream where I get up in the morning, pour myself a cup of joe, and then wander out into my studio and create amazing works of art, astonishing bits of creative writing, and have some serious deep intellectual thoughts which will revolutionize the world.  Just image that...have flooring...will fix the world's problems. 

Connection badddddddddddddddddddddddd.....

My internet connection is still fubared.  The tech guys are coming tomorrow.  Maybe then I will have more than five minutes at a stretch to do stuff here.