Makes me happy.....

First stop, major grocery store.  Afternoon on a Saturday.   So it should be packed, right??  It was empty, and I walked right up to the cash.  ok, that was odd.... but good timing.

Second stop, W*lmart.  picked up some medicine for the boy.  Went to the cash, thinking 'this is stupid, one item and I am gonna have to wait for stinkin' ever to get out of here......'  Again, no line.  Walked right up to the cashier.

Third stop, local apple farm.  All the close parking spots were full, so I had to park in the overflow.  Line up a mile long inside.  Got my half bushel, and had to wait to pay.  Then wait for someone to help me take it out to the car.  Of all my stops, that one was the busiest.

That makes me happy.  I like to see people supporting the local guy.  Definitely no impatience needing to wait there!!

Pumpkin Patch

No matter how hard I tried to steer him towards the $3 pumpkins.....

 

 

He liked the knobbly deformed $1 ones best.

Who am I to argue????

Oh, and we have squash in the cold cellar now too... $15 worth of squash & pumpkins, all from the local farmer, who's son goes to school with Chuck. I think that the squash traveled three km to get to our house. I dunno if I can handle the pressure....

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

Afraid of Bears?

The other day I could hear the boy in his room.. saying "light.... dark!. Light.... dark!" And went to investigate.

I found him in the closet, closing the door (dark!)

And opening it (light!!)

And yet, when we put his to bed at night.. he screams that the "Berr got meeee... Berr got meeeee!!"

Now tell me... how can a boy who's favourite hiding place is the CLOSET be afraid of BEARS!!!






Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

Helping Mommy

Washing the Pears to make the jam.....

A constant phrase in our house these days "I hep you!!! I hep you!!"

Out of the basket.... and under the tap....

Then into the bowl!!

Buddy's Boat

While cleaning the house / folding laundry / etc a few weeks ago, I heard Buddy yelling "lookit my boat!!  lookit my boat!!"

Chuck went and got him the broom, so that he could have a mast for his boat too.. just like Daddy's Boat!!






Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

Local Fair

Way back, in early August (yes, I'm a bit behind. Ok, maybe a lot), we took the kids to the local fair.

The plan was to check out the animals mostly, to see HOW this whole "entering a chicken in the fair" thing worked.

But you know, when you take a 13 year old to the fair.... There are a few stops you need to make first:
Like, so she can take her brother on the Merry Go Around:

Or on the baby Coaster:

(which he absolutely loved)

And so he could drive a car:
(Both boys had to drive the yellow car. No idea who the other child is)

And, so she & her Dad can face off in the bumper cars:

While her brother looks on:

When the bumper cars ended, there were two older boys lined up behind him.  When the ticket taker motioned them forward, they waited for Buddy to go ahead, and when I said "come on Bud, let's go" to move him out of their way, they said to me "um, I think he might be too little."  I was very impressed by their manners, they didn't try to push ahead of him when they thought he was in line but not moving, and were quite concerned that we would be dissapointed that he couldn't go!!

And then go on the swings, while he stood on the ground and yelled at them "My Turn Now!! My turn!!" (he was WAY to little for this ride):

Then, we got a chance to visit the home crafts, which were few (small fair), and a couple of the cattle shows.

We happened to run into a pony ride, where Chuck wanted to take Buddy:

And then into the petting zoo.... Where he poured his little cup of food on the ground in front of the first animal that came up to him. I guess that way his hands were free to visit the rest of the animals?

Um....

Email received from Prospector, who is home sick today, with Buddy, who is also sick:

"At least it was a penguin he dipped in the toilet, but I'm still trying to figure out how his head got wet. Buddy's head, not the penguin's."

In The Coop

We now have (after sending a few roosters to freezer boot camp):

• 1 Chantecler Rooster
• 3 Chantecler Hens
• 1 Americauna Rooster
• 1 Americauna Hen
• 1 Chantecler Hen that thinks it's an Americauna.  Apparently, the Chanty's play too rought for her. 

Where's Waldo?

If you look very, very carefully.... yes, there is a boy in there too!!

(And Teddy Bear, and Carlton, and the Monkey, the Camel, Giraffe, and at least three babies)

On our Way to the Fair

On our way to the fair, the puppy needed a pit stop.

so we pulled over at a gas station.

Daddy got out with the leash & a baggie.

opened the sliding door (where the roosters are).

Hauled the puppy out, and took her to the grass, leaving the sliding door open.

And the guy who was pumping gas..... Did a double take to look at the van...you could see the look of "WHAT the HECK!" go across his face.

But at least he had a good story to tell when he got home that night.... "Honey, when I was getting gas, this mini van pulled up...... full of CHICKENS!!!!"

How DO we take our Chicks to the Fair?

We are not farmers. We don't have any farm vehicles, pick up trucks, or any of that.

And, this was the first time we had to bring the Chicks anywhere since we brought them all home in a teeny tiny shoebox. We couldn't even fit one in that shoebox now, let alone all nine.

So in our brainstorming, we came up with:

Disclaimer: No, we would not have used any of these options. It was just a silly conversation around the dinner table!!!

• Have them roost on the roof racks at night, then tie their feet down so that they can't fly off. It would help our gas mileage if they flap on the drive
• Chuck suggested putting them in Girl Guide cookie boxes... um.... "Hi, would you like to buy a box of.... CLUCK CLUCK CLUCK"
• We have two 2-drawer filing cabinets that we aren't using. we could stick them two to a drawer, and just stack them in the mini-van
• Let them loose in the van. They would get exercise flying around on the way to the fair
• Fly birdie, fly!

In reality, we put the two Americauna's into a cat carrier that we use to transport the rabbit, the three female Chanty's into a Rubbermaid, and the four male Chanty's into the dog's crate.

The only downside to this was that the dog crate fit, but Chuck's knees were right against it (it's a good thing that the drive wasn't very long)

We had no where to leave the dog now... so she had to come with us.

so we crammed Mom & dad in the front.

The dog crate full of roosters in the middle

The two kids and the dog in the back row

And the Americauna's & Hen's in the trunk.

It was a very, very full mini-van.


To come home, we decided that the dog crate was not very practical, and that the birds were able to move a bit too much in it. There was too much 'cubic' feet.

So, we put one Americauna into the cat carrier

A rooster & a hen into the Rubbermaid that the hens had come down in

A rooster, a hen, and an Americauna into an old vacuum box, taped shut

A rooster in a banker's box, taped shut

And a rooster & a hen into another Rubbermaid


So again, Mom & Dad in the front

Two Rubbermaid's & two boxes in the middle.

Two kids and the Americauna in the back seat.

And the puppy got to stay home.


Some of the boxes were shaking. I think if we start doing this on a regular basis... we're gonna have to get some proper chicken transporting devices!



And as for winning... well, us silly city folk apparently didn't know what classes our birds were, and so unfortunately, they were all disqualified. We entered the Chanty's as AOV Standard (All Other Variety), when they should have been entered as AOV Standard - American.

And the Americauna's we entered into the Americauna - Bantam category. Our Americauna's are Standards, and there wasn't a category for Standard Americauna's. They should have been entered as AOV' - Standard.

BUT, we did have a five day break from needing to take care of them, which was nice.

HOWEVER... there was ONE other Chanty entered, and NO other Americauna's. If we had entered them correctly, we would have won between $40 - $42, depending on where the other Chanty placed.

Oh well.  It was our first fair, live & learn.  Next time, we know better!!