Tuesday's Winter Wonderland ... walking on a perfect winter's day

Tuesday we went for a beautiful walk along Forty Foot Road. It was mild (exactly 0 celsius) with huge, fluffy snowflakes drifting down. The road was bare when we started, but by the end of our walk we were kicking snow with each step. We don't have much snow this winter, but today more than made up for it. Alison took this photo of Iain and I up ahead, walking Dickens.

Funny pic from this morning!

Here's Alison with Dickens and Bella. The bird wasn't actually screaming at the dog; rather, she was laughing. She mimics her previous owner's laugh and it's quite hysterical! Dickens appears suitably terrified; he's not sure what to do with this little green puffball creature who refuses to be afraid of him :).

Why Our Family Loves 4H (A Picture's Worth 1000 Words)

Oops! Apologies to those who have tried to visit recently ...

Apparently there is a limit to the number of photographs you can attempt to cram into one blog entry. I posted at least one more than that ;), and apparently destroyed the works! It seems as though all is well now.

Karen

Creative Writing: Alison

Our children were challenged to spend time studying the paintings they had created, and then write up one or two paragraphs describing "the story" spoken by their artwork. I've taken photographs, and I'm hoping that by clicking on the photos the detail will be great enough for you to be able to read.

This is Alison's contribution. The rest will follow at a time when we are not experiencing an ice storm, and alternately bringing in massive amounts of firewood and filling the tub with emergency water!

"It's Not Fair!"

This was an entry from my old blog dated Aug. 1, 2006

"It's Not Fair!"

On Saturday good friends lost a 6 year old Golden Retriever to a twisted bowel, then on Sunday they had to put their chronically ill 17 year old Golden down. What a tragedy for them. My friend said one son spent time screaming that "It's not fair! It's not fair!" You know what? He's right. No family should lose two beloved dogs in less than 24 hours. It is not fair ... although it is life.

I just finished re-reading Anne Frank "The Diary of Young Girl" yesterday. Every fibre in my being screamed the same thing as I read that book. "It's not fair! It's not fair!" I have a harder time justifying the atrocities described within these pages as being life, however. They are the result of nothing more than sin.

My children, when bumping up against boundaries they are less than pleased with, will occasionally pull the "It's not fair!" punch. This one doesn't bother me quite so much. I can be strong here, and guide them into a deeper understanding of why boundaries are important.

But I need God's help and guidance and wisdom more than ever as my children bump into life situations like the first two. It's hard to remain calm, and give guidance, when the sound of my own "It's not fair!" is ringing more loudly than their own.

copyright 2006 Karen Stenhouse

Introduction to the Indoor Menagerie

Here are our house pets, in no particular order :c).

Photo 1 is M.J. (Merlot Junior) and Bella. M.J. came 1.5 years ago straight from her mom, Merlot, a stray at New Life Girls' Home. She is affectionate, adorable, and all that a good cat should be. Her favourite things to do are lay by the woodstove, and cuddle on laps :c). She was a wee tiny thing when she arrived, but immediately put Dickens in his place by hissing and scratching.

Bella arrived this past summer. She is a five-year old Quaker Parrot. She had been posted on an area message board, and I enquired. She had been both spoiled and neglected, eating foods that were not appropriate (for example, Chicken McNuggets and French Fries!!!) and left alone constantly. She had learned to call, which is a particularly piercing vocal habit that is difficult to live with. (Quakers call when they are lonely and searching for their flock; anyone giving a parrot a home, especially a Quaker, should know that they require inordinate amounts of companionship). She has come a long way, is tame with Alison and I, but rude to anyone else. She is fiercely protective of her cage (another Quaker trait), but once off quite an amusing companion. She is here only on a temporary basis, but has been an interesting learning experience.

Photo 2 is Dickens. He is 2.5 years old and is either a purebred Border Collie (according to our vet) or perhaps mixed with Australian Shepherd. He has the Border Collie eye and intelligence (within two days of his arrival at 10 weeks he was crate trained, house trained (day and night), and had learned to potty on command!), however he grew to 72 pounds as an adult which was a bit of a surprise! He was dumped in Benson Park, in Picton, at 9 weeks old, and we picked him up a week later when no one claimed him. He's a very smart boy, but requires constant reinforcement that he, in fact, does not run the house!

Photo 3 is Amadeo. He was our first cat, and he is quite nervous and aloof. He condescends to sit with both Alison and Claire, but will not give the time of day to anyone else. Most people who visit our home have never even met this cat because he has many hiding places and uses them well. He was completely terrified of our dog until our newer cat arrived. M.J. taught him how to hiss and scratch and get the dog to leave him alone.

These are the family pets; the kids also have their own projects. You've met Snickers already in this blog. Alison has a guppy tank and sells guppies to the local pet store as a side income. Iain has a community aquarium which also appears to be making guppies at a mad rate.

Kevin just pointed out to me that I have not yet posted family pictures; this was intentional since initially this was a public blog and I was not comfortable with posting names, photos and personal information. So I'll be updating in these other areas soon!

Why Forty Foot Road?

Our house is not, in fact, on Forty Foot Road. At least, not since the institution of 911 numbers in our County. The powers that be decided a civic address of 641 Forty Foot Road would be confusing, and renamed our road accordingly.

I love the old road name, and have decided to honour it here. Initially, I assumed the road had been named this because it was very short. An old-timer down the road set me straight not too long ago. It seems that when the road was first named in the fifties, there were 20 people (having, of course, 40 feet) living here :).

I don't know whether my neighbour was pulling my leg or not, however this is typical of how roads are named in this county so it could well be. Either way ...

Greetings from Forty Foot Road!

First Knitting Projects

K. inspired this latest hobby by requesting a pair of handknit socks for Christmas. I haven't done a lot of knitting (truthfully I've never actually finished a knitting project!!) although I have a tidy little stack of knit afghan squares that hopefully will become an afghan sometime before I'm 75!

A good friend/knitting enabler lent me her Addi Turbo circular needle, and I methodically looked online for the best way to knit socks. I discovered figure 8 cast-ons (www.knitty.com) and knitting two socks toe up on a circular needle (www.webdesignsbybarb.com). Thanks to A.M. I am now a needle snob and must find my own 100 cm Addi Turbos! They were knit up using Paton's Kroy.

Knit socks are a wonderfully portable project, especially when using a circular needle. They are great for waiting rooms, and as conversation starters! And they are very, very toasty warm, or so my husband says. Over Christmas he was on mornings live at UCB 102.3 with Dana Rogalski, and conversation about my socks made it out over the airwaves!

The first photo is of my second pair, which I am making for myself! Below is a pic of the pair I made for Kevin for Christmas.

Art Project for Today!

Our family is part of a Geography Fair that will be held in March. I'm the primary organizer :). We will be studying France, so for the next few weeks in art we will be studying some of the French masters.

Today, the children and I did acrylic impressionist-style paintings, using Monet's "Wild Poppies" as inspiration. I thought they came out quite well!

We were grateful recipients to about 35 tubes of folk art paints this week, and used many of them in today's art project. Thank you, FreeCycle!

Welcome to Queens!

No, we don't live in NYC. Queen Elizabeth and Queen Latifah, that is!

These two old girls have joined us at our home on Forty Foot Road. They are the last two sheep remaining from the closing of a local flock. The girls were older, not fit to be sold, but faithful ewes that had given their previous owner a grand total of 33 lambs over the last 10 years. She didn't have the heart to ship them, so they (and various loaner stock panels and feeders) have migrated to our rural property.

They were exposed to a ram for a few weeks, but we're not sure if they have caught. We're hoping to have some 4H lambs for A. and C. this spring, or at the very least lamb for the freezer. We shall see.

In the meantime, they are fulfilling my long-held desire for livestock, and they're sweethearts to boot! In addition, my daughter A. and I have a strong interest in fibre and we are looking forward to their spring shear. Spinning, anyone?

Snickers Lives Again

Two nights ago we witnessed a miracle in our family. Not quite a miracle, I suppose, but closely dancing on the edge of one.

My daughter C. came out to inform us that "Snickers", her wee little hamster, had died. We went to her room, and Snickers definitely seemed to be almost departed. His soft brown and white body was ice cold, although not yet stiff. Oddly, he still seemed to be breathing occasionally, albeit in a very shallow fashion. We decided he was likely dying.

Snickers had been a wonderful pet hamster. Good and kind. Not prone to bite. He had been a good friend to my daughter. I suggested that we should hold him as he died so that we could honour him and let him know he was loved as he passed. We wrapped the little guy in a towel and I held him on my lap.

Soon, his whiskers started to flicker. My husband quickly jumped online, and discovered that hamsters can become "torpid"; a pseudo-hibernation that is dangerous as they can become dehydrated, then die. We continued to rub the little guy, feeding him warm water from a dropper and within an hour he was right as rain! It was amazing to watch. One little eye stayed closed until the next morning, but now is he just like new,

The joy we felt over that little guy coming back to life must be nothing compared to God's joy when one of His, dead to Him, slowly awakens to His truth. I wonder if God does the happy dance too!