What I did yesterday :-)

My friend Ann-Marie treated myself and another friend Tricia to a spinning day at her house! Ann-Marie has a wheel her husband built for her, a wheel he found at an antique store, PLUS she had rented a wheel from our local Spinners' Guild for the month. That is the wheel I am using in the above picture; it's a double pedal Lendrum. The guild won this wheel during their last Sheep-to-Shawl competition.

Not only did she provide loaner wheels: she purchased some rovings for us to spin, and also let us experiment with some of her hand-dyed rovings that were for sale at her Etsy shop! Scroll down to the Blue Raspberry Superwash Merino to see the roving she let us play with. She made a nice chili lunch with homemade cornbread. She even washed one of my Shetland fleeces while I was spinning! She is going to attempt to ply what I spun and send me home with a teeny, tiny skein of handspun. (We must wish her luck with this, because my baby spinning was less than consistent and I'm quite positive it will break!). I will add a photo of the final product when I get it.

Anyway, thank you Ann-Marie ... we had a wonderful day and you were a real servant :-). And by the way, spinning is much harder than it looks ;-) !

Here is a short video clip she took ... apparently you must lay down on your side to watch this ;-).

Sorry, our internet has been down for 6 days!

I have many levels of catching up to do, and won't be posting here for a few more days :-).

How just a little bit of code makes the internet a safer place :-), and Prince Edward County's 4H Awards Night

#navbar-iframe {
height:0px;
visibility:hidden;
display:none
}

Yup. That's all it took.

I was checking out the blog last week, and hit the "next blog" bar at the top. A year ago, this was a relatively safe thing to do. Blogger has a feature where surfers can "flag" inappropriate blogs, and 99% of the time the next blog would be neutral or of some interest. It used to be fun, since there are blogs from all over the world and if one actually had the time, it would be informative.

However, last week, I realized that the p*rn-meisters have hacked their way happily into blogland. After "flagging" three blogs, I realized that I no longer wanted the "next blog" feature available on our site. These weren't sites where an individual had posted inappropriate content; these were sites designed and developed specifically to spread p*rn. Sigh.

Thanks to my trusty homeschool message board, which STILL hasn't let my membership expire despite a warning I received in April (insert dancing figure here!), I discovered this site.
And here at this site, it showed me the above code, and where to insert it into the html for our blog. I've actually linked to that page in the archives, for those of you who are also interested in modifying your blogs.

* * * * *

Friday night was the Prince Edward County 2007 Awards Night. It was awesome; much more organized this year and the evening just flowed right along. We stayed right through for the dance; there are not many opportunities for "family" dances these days, and not many opportunities for me to put my old two-stepping shoes back on (thank you, Aggies at the University of Guelph!). This year even Iain wanted to dance, so I spent a good hour teaching my 10 year old how to two-step! The rest of the family also spent lots of time on the dance floor. My favourite moment of the evening was Alison and Iain having a blast trying to two-step together; somewhere in the county is a digital camera with a photo of this moment, which I will upload here when it gets sent on to me!

The Ontario head of 4H once again attended this event; he was full of praise for our club, which apparently is one of the most active and "spirited" clubs right now.

Great group of kids, awesome leaders, and committed families ... this is what 4H is made of.

***Sigh***

One vet appointment, to the tune of $50, for possible urinary crystals in our less-than-friendly cat.

Two medications, including an antibiotic, and a urinary acidifier, to the tune of $62. Kevin not happy.

One cat, who is not personable at the best of times, who has to be pinned down and wrapped and force-fed the medicine. Cat not happy.

One hungry dog, who scarfed the container of medicine no. 2 off the counter, and ate approximately $30 of DL methionine in one gulp. (Just about 8x the recommended daily dose for a 75 pound dog). Dog happy but somewhat short-sighted.

Five frantic minutes of internet search for toxic dose levels of methionine in a dog, then a 7:00 a.m. call to our long-suffering vet. The dog "'should" be fine. Karen happy.

Cat, who is now only has to choke down one medication and should be relieved and happy, bites me in the hand and pees on Claire. Never mind about happy.

Owner only gets one more pill in cat, before cat decides to initiate a hunger strike. If cat doesn't come for meals, he can't be caught. He may have no personality, but he is smart. Cat happy, but certainly hungry.

Rest of expensive medicine sitting on counter, waiting for cat to start eating again, while the little bacteria breed over and over creating resistant strains.

***Sigh***.

Is there a cat whisperer in the house who could possibly convince Amadeo that eating, and being made healthy, is a far better outcome than slowly starving to death whilst hiding under our stairs?

I would include a photo of annoying cat, but he's still under the stairs.

The Gift that Keeps on Giving ...

Kev received a Kelsey's gift certificate from a coworker for his August birthday. Several weeks ago, Alison and I were in the position of having to be in Belleville for lunch prior to her having the last set of braces put on her upper teeth. Kevin sacrificed his gift to the girls :-).

We arrived at Kelsey's at noon. We had to leave at 12:50; all staff said "No problem!" We ordered a large plate of wings, and nachos with cheese. Then we waited ... and waited ... and waited. Finally, at 12: 40, the meal arrived. The wings looked great ... but I noticed a long blond hair on the sour cream. She went to remove the WHOLE nacho dish; I said, sorry, we just don't have time. She grabbed the sour cream and started to head off. Then I looked down at the rest of the plate and there were MORE hairs ... many more. "Someone-brushed-their-hair-hanging- over-my-plate" more. The waitress apologized profusely; I told her to take it and not to return it since we didn't have time. We gulped down $17 worth of chicken wings in and water (mighty boring meal) in 5 minutes, and the manager came by and told us to keep the gift certificate. Believe me, he was good; with all that hair I had been planning no more visits to Kelsey's.

So fast forward to yesterday. Trying to redeem my fun lunch plans with Alison, we again headed to Kelsey's with the same gift certificate. We gave ourselves 15 more minutes so that we would have time to make it to her doctor's appointment. We ordered potato skins and the same nachos with cheese, once again a little disappointed that to make the meal gluten-free we couldn't have the salsa-ground beef mixture. She went back, spoke to the kitchen staff; all was good and the service this time was FAST. Our meal came by 12:15 and we were well into the the meal, which was quite good, when my mouth starting stinging (early gluten radar warning). I called the waitress back, and she looked more carefully at the nachos, and ... you guessed it ... they were covered with the gluten-laden salsa-ground beef stuff. I hadn't recognized it because we hadn't got that far during our last meal. She apologized profusely (we're seeing the trend here) and headed off. I was not upset in the least, but I smiled and said "Good thing we didn't have peanut allergies!" Three minutes later, the (SAME!!!!) manager was out with with a big new plate of nachos, his sincerest apologies, and the same words as our previous visit; "This one's on us; keep the gift certificate". The rest of the meal was amazing; and other than a sore mouth and some trouble breathing (which was likely due to the overdose of cheese on that meal, not the gluten), passed uneventfully. As before, we did leave a full tip for the waitress. She left us with the impression that the kitchen staff were in serious doo-doo :-).

But this is it. We're done attempting to eat at this particular restaurant. The Certificate is now back in Kevin's hands, and hopefully he will be able to use it successfully next week. I feel somewhat bad for Kelsey's, but with our current, very tight budget this has been an unexpected blessing!

"A Pittance of Time"

Coyotes

All week, by about 2 a.m. our local pack of coyotes has been on the move. Unfortunately they are moving closer and closer. I've been trying to remember to leave the back porch light on, thinking that this would help convince them to stay away.

Two nights ago I forgot; by 2 it sounded like there were 15 dogs and pups howling and singing and yelping right in the backyard. I've never heard anything like it. Eerie, haunting, yet joyful. I bounded out of bed, raced to the French doors and flipped the light on. Immediate and utter silence! I guess the light does work!

It seems to be a bad year for coyotes ... okay, good for them, bad for livestock owners. The litters were huge this year! The pups are about six months old now, and are in training to be the good hunters and scavengers they must become. This is the most dangerous time of year for livestock since food requirements for the den are now huge, and their food supply is quite diminished after the crazy dry summer we had. Kev even passed by a dead coyote on the road a couple of weeks ago; this is a rarity. I'm told by locals that once we have snow, the threat from coyotes is much reduced. I'm not sure why. So between now and our first snow, I MUST be vigilant about keeping that light on.

Around here, farmers use either livestock guardians dogs (LGDs) or llamas as their flock guardians. We see mostly Maremma and Great Pyrenees. These dogs or llamas live with the sheep 24/7 and do a fabulous job of scaring away coyotes! Unfortunately, Dickens just doesn't have what it takes in this area, as you can see by this photo :-).


He does, however herd our free range chickens in at night, is a truly excellent watchdog with an uncanny intuition into people's characters, and this summer he learned how to be an efficient mouser, so he is not completely useless! He earns his keep :-).

For now, we'll continue to depend on electric fence and a single light bulb for coyote and fox control!

Alison's Show and Tell Post

Okay, here are a few photos of things Alison has been up to in the last few weeks.

The first photo is a collage that Alison did as one of her first Grade 8 projects. Sort of a "Who I Am" type thing. It's pretty cool; if you click on the photo you can see more detail. I especially like the knitting needle used for reins, and Latifah's fleece used for the horse's mane.



Another school project; this one done last week. It's a model paramecium, made from homemade quick "Quick Clay" (primarily baking soda and corn starch). This stuff dries quickly so you have to know exactly what you're doing before you start! It does not require oven-drying.



Yesterday afternoon's projects; two pies in the oven. She is very adventurous when baking, which results in some "interesting" outcomes. She discovered that trying to put meringue topping on a pumpkin pie didn't work very well. So, no worries, we pulled off the baked meringue and continued cooking the pumpkin pie for a while longer! The other pie is a dutch apple pie. The most incredible thing about this is that gluten-free baking is HARD and FRUSTRATING, and she's got pie crusts down to a fine art.



We had a get-together at our house on the 31st. Some dressed up; some didn't. It was pretty casual. Here is Alison feeding Steve and Janna Cylka's little pumpkin ... er ... daughter Mary.



And here is Alison in her "costume". Mom, notice that she's wearing the custom-made schooling chaps I had made at Bahr's Saddlery when I was about 14? They're long, but they were always a bit long for me too. She has them folded up here. After 28 years, some years of almost constant use, they still look brand new!

I've added photos to Oct. 30 "I Love Horses" :-)

Claire was the "Terrific Kid" for Grade 7 in October!

Her teacher called me two days ago, and invited me to the ceremony during the school assembly. The program is put on by our local Kiwanis Club. October's theme was "trustworthiness", and the principal read aloud a letter submitted by Claire's teacher that was very honouring to her.

Hoping to get the school to send a photo, Mom and Dad, because my camera flash didn't travel too far in the auditorium ... stay tuned for more!

Other family news; Kevin is in Chatham-Kent this weekend for the new station start-up! UCB Canada 89.3 will be transmitting out of Chatham starting tomorrow. The team was pumped when I called the station at noon; they sounded like a bunch of school kids! Very fun.

Also, the shaved head photos are up on the UCB website ... just click on "October 2007 Share-a-thon" for photos of the weekend. Kev and Dana are somewhere near the bottom.

Introducing .... Valley Road Spencer (and why our pasture looks like a singles bar!)

Bill Stearman dropped by this morning with our ram for the fall, Valley Road Spencer. He is a non-fading black registered Shetland, and has a recessive moorit gene. He has also been penned so far this season with a bunch of rams, and I have never seen such a happy guy as when he stepped into our pen today. Unfortunately, none of our ladies are quite ready for him, so he's somewhat frustrated.

You'll notice he has no horns, whereas most Shetlands have a gorgeous, full set. He does have a small set of scurs. I didn't want big horns around the kids, nor the electric fencing, so he is a good match. My plan is one outcross to Shetland this year to add (hopefully) some colour and crimp to the flock, then next year cross back again to a Texel/Arcott cross. I will likely lose some size in our 2008 lambs, but thankfully Spencer is VERY square (especially for a Shetland) and I shouldn't lose too much correctness. This year I'm breeding two young ones and an 11 year old, so breeding to a smaller size ram seemed like our safest option.


Meet Spencer, the one with the gleam in his eye ;-).




In his customary position since arrival ... head low, following the girls. "Pick me!" or, as Iain laughed when watching Spencer put his moves on "Wanna take a ride in my car, babe?".

Just another day at our teeny, tiny farm(ette)!