All in a morning's work...

Some exceptionally bad photos to update you on the comings and goings at Occidental Acres.

Apparently chickens truly are the "gateway" livestock, because we've now got 14 Meaties, 11 Layers (of course some of those will turn out to be male) and four Buggers - read: Guineafowl.  By all accounts, they are the absolute best insect tick control. Not only is this a pesticide-free method of keeping ticks down, but it's also organic, lays edible eggs and doubles as a watch-dog.

 Super cute as babies.

 

 Super hideous as adults.  Ours will be this plain grey/white, but there are several colour varieties.  "They eat lice, worms, ants, spiders, weedseeds, and ticks while on range" - wikipedia.

Oh yeah, we'll also be getting four Muscovy ducks (slug eaters) from Mooshum and Kookum.  Their ducks are the most beautiful colours and I've never seen another Muscovy like them - we'll be getting a brown female, a white with faint buff female, a beautiful black/green female with golden lacing on her neck and dark male.  I'll post photos when we bring them home. 

To that end, it looks like we'll be processing the meat birds next week while The Boy is at day camp, but before I leave for Regina.

Another exciting development this morning entailed Aida and Truman cornering a young squirrel in the tomato boxes.  You can't see it, but in the bottom of that square zinc container is the answer to every one of Aida's dreams. You might, however, notice that she's a bit fuzzy in this photo. That's because she's trembling... and drooling... with excitement. Like somehow she's going to reach in and toss that little squirrel right down her gullet.

I started to feel bad for her, so I removed the tomato planter from the box.  Here she is trying to taste the squirrel through the wooden grill in the bottom of the box.  Before anyone gets upset, I eventually put her in the house and let the poor little thing go. Aida is 10 years old, going blind and deaf and slowly becoming incontinent.  The least I could do is let her have some fun - the squirrel was perfectly safe under wooden slats.

Last Saturday we went down to Annapolis Royal for the weekly market.  As is our habit, on the spur of the moment we decided to head cross-country and ended up in Liverpool in search of a nice sandy beach.  After Laur stopped in at the local tourist info centre and got directions, we made a pit-stop at Frenchy's.  Frenchy's is da bamb, b'y!  If you like good quality second-hand clothing, this is the place to go - much of the apparel is brand-new brand-name stuff!

Anyways, it was a wee bit chilly and I'd forgotten a sweatshirt/jacket, so we stopped in.  I happened by the bedding and spied a really neat twin sized flat sheet and scooped it up.  I got a brand-new, Russel, Riot-red sweatshirt and spent 9 dollars all told.

When I showed the sheet to The Boy, he said he'd like it made into a blanket.

So, that's what I did. We went and got a blue $5 twin sheet from Wlamrat (that's what we call it around our house) as our local Frenchy's didn't have any suitable twin sheets for a backing.  While at the mall, I stopped in at the fabric store and purchased some quilted cotton batting.  A few stitches here and a few stitches there, et voilá! A summer weight quilt for My Little Gift from Jesus.

Señior Stinky Pants said his favourite is the blue (of course) guy with three eyes. My fav is the wee brown teddy-looking guy.  Oh, and in case you're wondering, that's Olootee, Tiger, Softee and Frida.  Olootee and Frida are from Raplapla in Montreal - check them out, they have amazing dolls.