Porcupine visit

 

We woke up the other morning to this sight.  The poor dogs got into a row with a porcupine.  This is their second time.  The first time happened about a month ago.  They each only had a couple and they were barely in the skin so London and I pulled them right out.  This time they were not so lucky.  Moses only had a dozen or so but they were in so deep that you couldn't really get to them.  He was just pouting and drooling.  Poor guy didn't even want to get up to see us.

 

Sean got the pliers and I came outside in my jammies ready to pull them out.  We did Cinder first as she is way too smart and if she saw what we were doing to Moses she would have taken off and not come back!   I held her head firmly but she is really strong.   It hurt her so bad and some even broke off as we started pulling.  She couldn't even open her mouth they were so bad. It kind of sewed her mouth shut.  They were both soaked from drooling.  Sean decided that there was no way we could get them out.  So I called the vet and off they went.

 

 

They hate the vehicle.  Both times we have taken them in the car they have thrown up and crapped everywhere.  So we put them in the truck.  Believe me that was no small task.  They weigh a ton, especially Moses.  Sean really had to grunt to pick him up.  Even with both of us we could barely get Moses in the truck.  He fought and fought.  Finally we got him in only to have him jump out again!!  In the mean time Cinder ran away and we had to go around and find her.  Finally they were on their way.

 

 

Both of them had to be put to sleep (anaesthetic, not "to sleep").  Cinder even had to have several stitches.  She was in bad shape and the vet said it was good we brought her in.  $330.00 later!!!  EEK  I hate all these unexpected expenses.  I am just grateful they are OK.  I just hope they have long memories and don't tackle a porcupine again!

 

Weaving

 

Here it is finally done. My tea towel warp!   I put it on so long ago it is embarassing.  We had a crazy year and so I just didn't devote enough time to it. I am part of a weaving group that my friend Peggy introduced me to.  I love weaving.  It is so exciting to think that I can make my own cloth. 

 

I wanted really bright colors for Christmas.  I am putting another one on the loom at my house.  I think when it is at my house rather than at the college it will go much faster.  Whenever I watch TV or have 15 minutes I can work on it.  These tea towels are amazing.  I know they will last for years.  Everyone that has made them says that they are so much better than anything you can buy. 

 

You can't see here but they are wrinkly. That is one bad thing.  After I washed and dried them they really had wrinkles.  Sean teased me that I was going to have to iron them....I sure hope not!

Let summer begin!

Thanks to Pinterest I saw this great idea to welcome in summer.  London took her scooter for school to write her last exam.  So I had her call just before she left and I ran and put this together.  The ink on the sign ran so it was kind of ugly but it was still fun.

Can you spot London?  She is wearing her neon orange and yellow shirt which I make her wear much to her dismay and horror!  I want people to see her so I bought this vest at Costco.  She hates it and we fight about it every time she has to wear it....too bad!  I am the mom!

She stopped and didn't know what to do.  I was sitting to the side and didn't see me.  I told her to back up and drive right through.  I had an air horn and blew that as well.  It was so fun.  I wanted to do something the same for Sam but I wasn't here on her last day so she missed out.  Next year!

We had a huge hail storm and so I took a picture of some of the damage!  It was crazy we were at home without Sean when the storm came and we were scared it was a tornado!  EEk  So we hid in the basement.  Some of the hail was the size of a ping pong.  Very scary my garden (after I had weeded it of course) was badly damaged but you sure wouldn't know now.  We have damage on all out vehicles as well.  It smashed London's windshield and dad's side mirror.  We had it easy compared to others who had it the size of baseballs! 

All good things come to an end (Warning graphic)

Yup it is that time of year again.  I am surprised how well butchering went this year.  Sean is such an amazing guy and hard working I am so lucky to have him in my life.  Last year our chickens were way to big, the size of turkeys so they were tough.  This year it was much much better and they will be tender and good!

The birds were very friendly but I make sure I don't get attached to them.  I get attached to my laying hens and just love them.  It is such a good experience for our kids to see where food comes from and to have meat that we know what they have been fed!

The saying running around like a chicken with its head cut off has new meaning.  It is shocking how long they flail around for!  Here is one mid jump.

My amazing Father-in-Law found us this chicken plucker at a garage sale and it works great!  Some plucking had to be done by hand but the majority was taken off by this guy.

Here are all our helpers.  We hired a crew to help as it makes it go so much faster.  I was planing on doing it but the lady we asked to come brought way to many of here friends.  They don't speak English very well so I have a couple help me wash down walls in the house and I missed most of the action.  I was very sad.   

The Puppies had a blast eating all the chicken heads.  They were in a frenzy.  I was shocked they didn't get sick!  Now our chickens (the laying hens) aren't safe though they want to eat them.  That isn't good I hope we can train them off of that!

It is hard to say goodbye

Well we had Reeko our baby skunk in our house for a few days.  He mostly lived outside but we would bring him in for visits.  We introduced him to our other black and white bundle Blossom.  She loves babies and Reeko was no different.  Here she is sniffing and checking him out.

She cuddled up with him and tried to mother him.  Reeko loved it!

Sam got a bit of time with Reeko but London definitely claimed him as her own.

Reeko got lots of love and kisses.  Every time I looked London was packing him around.  She loved him.  We made her wear a glove in case he bit but he never even tried. 

This is my favorite picture.  Look at the love between them!  Reeko's face is so cute, he is even smiling at his new momma!

London doing her two favorite things. 

We were planing on keeping him.  We called all the vets and none of them would remove his scent glands for us.  They couldn't as we found out it was illegal for us to keep him.  I called fish and wildlife and they said the same thing.  So now we were in a bind.  We loved him and he was so loving we weren't worried about that but when the dogs came around he may be startled and then spray us!!  

I called the Gazoo and they said that they would take him and raise him.  So that was the plan.  We were sad that he was going to have to go.  Then Sean and London were out in the yard and two other baby skunks came trotting out right at Sean.  They must have smelled Reeko so just as he went to pick on up our dog Moses came around the corner and that little skunk turned and sprayed!  Sean got it all over his hand and boy did he stink..and everything around.  So long story short we now had 3 baby skunks and felt that they may be OK if we sent them out together.

We went back to the place that momma was let out.  There was water and lots of protection.  It still was so hard saying goodbye.  London and I cried our eyes out (of course!)

If you look close at the above picture London has a big tear going down her cheek.  Man I wish we could have kept him.  He was so happy seeing his brother and sister again and trotted off never looking back!  We miss you Reeko and hope you survived!

He doth not Stink!

Something started eating our eggs about a week ago.  It took us a while to figure out what could be eating them.  It wasn't until it started pooping in the coop (hee hee) that I knew it wasn't our chickens breaking their own eggs.  I came in and looked up the poop online (Don't you just love google images?)  and figured it had to be a raccoon or skunk.  We had seen a beautiful skunk walking around a few times and found its den the other day. 

All of this happened while Sean was on Mancation and I didn't feel confident taking care of the problem myself.  As soon as Sean came home we went hunting.  London brought her paintball gun so that we could shoot it in the hole hoping to chase out the skunk so Sean could shoot it with the 22.  Well, we went to the hole and I shot it full of pink paint and no skunks appeared!  They must have been out hunting as well.

Here is the den.   It is hard to see but it is in a beautiful spot just right for skunks.  When shooting them didn't work because we couldn't find the skunk we went and borrowed our neighbours humane trap.  The first night we came up empty but the next night we moved and baited it and woke up Sunday morning to a trap filled not only with a skunk but her baby!  I was so shocked. It no longer was an egg eating varmint but a beautiful momma trying to feed her baby.  My protective instincts came out and I insisted on moving and releasing them so that they could live.

After church, we came home and put on clothes we could throw away.  We got some plastic for protection (thanks Jocelyn) and went to go get them.

This is momma and the baby in the trap. It is hard to see them both. She didn't even try to spray us at this point.  We covered the trap and got her moved into the back of the truck without incident.  We drove about 10km away and pulled off to the side of the road.

Can you see the baby at the back now?  Anyway, we got them there and held up the plastic.

Sean opened the trap and she wouldn't go out, so we had to tip them out and encourage her to leave.  She didn't even rush right off and didn't try to spray at all.

Off she goes.

We let the baby out as well and momma just ignored it and moved away to the water.   The little skunk followed her and tried to keep up.  We watched this for some time, watching the mother get further and further away.  The baby was just hanging out on the gravel road.  We were worried he would get run over, so we waited to see what would happen.  Well, the mother was long gone.  The baby came right back to us so we decided to take him home.

This is Reeko.  Doesn't he just look like he is saying hi?  So cute.  He is tiny.  That is part of Sean's finger.  He is so darling.  We are wearing gloves when we hold him but he hasn't really moved much since we got home.  I know people are very worried for our safety and rabies and rightly so, but when you look it up, the fact that they have rabies is greatly exaggerated. 

Can you spot the momma by the water?  Left hand side

Can you see the baby?

Look at the look on their faces....can we keep him?  They are excited now, but wait until they have to go and dig worms!!!  hee hee 

Fooling around

London made Sean some light sabers out of all the left over Christmas wrapping tubes.  She did a great job.  They were covered with packing tape so they were extra Strong.

Let the battles begin.  Of course as soon as Sean touched them he had to make the Star Wars sounds.lol

 Retreat!  Sean has wrestled the other saber away and poor defenseless London heads for the laundry room of safety!

 Victory! 

This whole thing was so funny!  I wonder if Sean will ever grow up? 

I hope not!