Wee Bits of Wildlife.

Chick-a-dees and mice.

We have those in abundance.

I am getting used to seeing mice (and now voles) in the house. I'm not happy when I see them, but there is no yelling and climbing furniture at least. There are traps all over the house and one is bound to entice them so it's not too concerning.  But the other day I spotted a mouse the size of a quarter.

A QUARTER!!!!

I was more then just a little unhappy. One, full size mouse, might mean that it came in out of the cold and when you trap it that nuisance is taken care of. But a quarter size mouse, means that somewhere in our house a lady mouse used a midwife!!

A MIDWIFE!!!

You can be guaranteed sure that there are more tiny-wee fur-balls elsewhere and snap-traps are useless at that size. They gotta grow up first!

Everything in the kitchen is wrapped up tight.

The bread is in the bread-box. The staples are in canisters. Every glass and tin container has been called into service so I am not worried about food being ruined, but I may start leaving "crumbs" out to help these little ones grow up faster!!   I think it's this snow-less winter we are having so far. The ancient foundation of our house is uncovered and the cracks are such that even a pregnant mouse can fit through! Grr.

Enough about rodents though, let's talk about chick-a-dees instead. Now they are a lovely treat. It helps that Geoff made me the prettiest bird feeder I have ever seen.

It didn't take long after it was up and seed added before we had "customers". First a wood-pecker. Then blue jays. And although you could see chickadees all over the place they were slow about trying out the new buffet. Once they found it though there was no stopping them.

Except when jays bluster in, then they clear out and either go to the suet ball or ground to sort through the spilled stuff.  There is also a flock of starlings, comical they are, as they aren't worried about sharing, so it isn't unusual to see twelve or more all over the feeder. A single cow-bird visited, who although quite small, was given total, undisturbed access to the feeder, even by the jays!! There have been other birds too, but we weren't able to identify them. (even with Google, can you believe it!?). It doesn't help that they came only one time.They were so pretty though that I sure hope they visit again!

If you are a "friend" of mine on Facebook then you know we have been working on hand-taming the chick-a-dees. I think it has become our favorite part of the day or thing about this property.... the times we go outside to feed those little feathered tufts of cuteness!

We all carry seeds in our pockets since there are times we go outside to do other things but the birds come "asking" as soon as they see you. :) There is no way you can get an energetic power-walk in anymore. Not if you have a heart anyways. They won't land on your hand while you are moving. (except one, young, brave one) So you have to stop often and hold still while they light on your hand and pick a seed or two. The ones that decide to take two are with you a tad longer as they work hard to fit them in "this way and that" and they usually succeed!

Sometimes one will call out a cheery "Chick-a-dee-dee-deee" when it gets to you, before picking a seed and flying away. At first I thought it was a "thank you" but have come to realize they only do it when we are far from the house and feeder. I'm thinking now that the correct translation is "Hey Guys, the move-able feeder is now over here!!!" as it never fails to draw more of "the family" to you.
They also sound out a "peep" when they are approaching you. Well, some do. Sometimes you don't know a "customer" is coming until there are flutterings happening a few inches from your face. My startled hollering only causes them to retreat a little bit away and they watch knowing I will compose myself, reach into a pocket and ta-da seeds will be there.
An extremely entertaining thing to watch is how they will come all the way from the house, a good couple hundred feet, to the road to get seeds from us if we're out walking. They have the cutest way of flying, a serious of dips and ups. Love it! It's crazy but they don't fly out to the neighbours walking by. (I've asked) Some how they know us apart from other two-legged creatures. This was proven in another way when our nephew came over and The Youngest gave him seeds and didn't take any herself. She thought they may only come to her, and she was probably right in guessing that, as they took awhile to trust the "new" human. Once chick-a-dees approached us as we were walking past our neighbour's driveway!! About 700 feet or so away from our place! I was worried that the poor neighbours must be getting swarmed whenever they were out "thanks to us", but no, they aren't. Don't ask me how they can tell us apart, it boggles my mind.

Then a couple days ago something happened at the feeder that was "too close for comfort" but ended up being truly special. It started with The Youngest saying "Why are the chick-a-dees frozen on the feeder?" and sure enough two, wee things were there not moving. If you know anything about chick-a-dees is that they never stop moving. I knew from past bird-feeder experience that meant there was a bird-of-prey nearby. It took a few minutes to spot him, but yes, there it was in the willow that all the birds use to wait in or crack open their seeds. There is a family of voles that live in the adjacent shed (and some grew up and moved into our house!!) and they explore all under that tree, so we knew the hawk was most likely there for them. But since our little friends were out there trapped and terrified I decided to go out and scare it away with the hopes that it successfully find supper somewhere else.
My only fear was that I would startle the chick-a-dees prematurely.
Turns out they didn't move prematurely, but in their frightened state, once the hawk left one flew straight into the window and knocked the air out of it's lungs. Well, at first I was afraid it was worse then that, but I decided that I couldn't let it just die without trying. I picked it up and if I wasn't looking at it I wouldn't have known it was in my hand that's how light it was. Birds fill their lungs by the flapping of their wings, so when "their wind" gets knocked out it takes a fair bit of panting before they can get back off the ground. In which time a predator or in this case the cold can get the best of them.
I took my wee patient into the mud room and kept him warm while he labored to catch his breath. His eyes slowly became brighter, he began to "stand" a little taller so I removed the top, cupped hand, but one wing still didn't look right. I wasn't sure he could fly. I opened the door though so that he could go whenever he wanted, but he stayed where he was for some time, I started to call out to the family inside that maybe a bit of water to drink might help and when the inside door opened and a face peeked out the chick-a-dee took off with both wings working just fine! What a relief. I wasn't really interested in trying to work with a broken winged chick-a-dee, but when your youngest child is like mine I wouldn't of had a choice!!

Later that day we took our "pockets full of seeds" for a walk into the back woods. The chick-a-dees follow us through the trails that Geoff and The Man-Son have cut. The Youngest was getting most of the "customers" (as I call them) since she was in the rear and willing to stop more often. But once I got to my favorite part of the woods I stopped too and held out my hand.  It had to be the chick-a-dee whose life I had saved that morning, cause one landed and stayed on my hand for a couple minutes. Just sat there still, looking at me. No hopping about and checking out the seed selection. No looking over it's shoulder for other incoming birds. Just sitting there comfortable gazing into my eyes.

All three of us stood transfixed waiting for it to take off. Finally it took a seed and flitted lightly away and when I said aloud  "That had to have been the one I saved this morning. It was the same size", (when you play with chick-a-dees every day you begin to see differences), both my walking buddies quickly agreed with me. It had to have been.

And I think that time, in that truly special moment, a "Thank you" was said without a sound made.

Well, thanks for sticking with me on this rather long-winded blog.....stay tuned for more "Feathered Tales" that are sure to come. :)

P.S. And while I appreciate recommendations and suggestions on how to get rid of baby mice please know I won't be resorting to "sticky-traps". In order for me to be able to "live with myself" it has to be either a quick death or none at all.....even then the snap traps don't always work swiftly enough :(
And yes, we will be "investing" in a furry feline.....eventually.

Wash Day.

We found and bought a working wringer-washer!!! It was on Kijiji for $125, which we had as cash in our pockets, but when we arrived to pick it up it had a $75 sticker on it! Bonus!!!
Up into the van it went (on it's back) and when we set it upright and wheeled it to the kitchen door it poured oil all over the mud-room floor. Gasp! Thankfully it leaked onto a floor that will be ripped up come spring, but then we were worried that we had wrecked our "treasure" before we even got to use it! Geoff did a bit of figuring and research, bought some all-purpose grease, managed to get some into the right spot in the washer and "Bob's your Uncle!" we were in business.

The first time we used it it took all four of us to get the clothes cleaned. What a hub-bub and circus we had going on in the kitchen that day! Honestly we should have set a camera up in a corner and recorded the whole event. It would have been hilarious to watch! No instruction book. Old knobs and cords that are a tad temperamental. Not the most ideal set up in the kitchen.  Emergency "kill-bar" that makes a dreadful bang when it's hit. Jeans getting stuck. Water going EVERYWHERE!
But it wasn't the laundry-mat costing three dollars a load and it was a pile of fun!

I can see why pioneer women had each day of the week set aside for certain chores.
When your chores are labour intensive you need to dole out the work.

Using a wringer-washer is many steps up from doing the laundry in the creek and whacking the clothes on a rock. It's better than lugging water from the well, heating it on the stove in a galvanized wash tub and skinning your knuckles raw on the scrub board.
But it's definitely more involved then the big modern boxes the rest of you use. ;)

Monday has become "Wash Day".  Thankfully it gets easier with every use. Although every Monday presents a new challenge to figure out there is a rhythm starting to emerge and I think if you were to sit and watch the process now you would think we flow rather smoothly. Actually the "we" could easily be "me", I only include others so they can take responsibility in cleaning the clothes they dirtied. :) Not to mention, added The Youngest, "Many hands does make the job faster and lighter". Very true.

First up is wheeling the machine to the sink so it can be filled with water. Thankfully we bought one of those slightly-more-expensive but handy pull-out faucets. "Wash-Day" would look a little different if we didn't. Our water pressure is so low that this is the only stage where I can walk away from the process for a bit. While the tub is filling I get everything else ready and then still have time to kill.

Getting other things ready includes - pulling out.....
- the re-purposed rubber-maid container (it is now the rinse tub),
- the baskets (lack of room means some clothes go outside no matter the temperature!),
- the clothes pins,
- the plastic-hanger-drying-thingys
- the rag towels to catch all the stray water.
Also need to sort the week's pile of dirty clothes, set up the drying rack (cause it's winter) and put my long hair into a bun. Gotta be safe around that wringer!!

Here's hoping this video of our "set-up" works so you can get a visual of what we do.

The process is pretty simple. Fill the tub once with hot water, do the whites first. Use the roller-bars to wring out that first load into the rinse water. Put the mediums into the slightly cooler, albeit a little dirtier water. Wring the rinse water out of the whites while the second load is being agitated and hang it up. Wring mediums into rinse water. Add some cold water to the washer to replace and cool down the water, add the dark load and while that is being cleaned, wring out and hang the second load. Wring, rinse, wring out the last load (the one that contains all the jeans and threatens to steal away your "religion" :p) Hang to dry. Pump water out of washer. Wipe clean. Empty rinse tub, one jug at a time. Wheel washer back to starting point. And Ta-da! one weeks worth of dirty clothes, one tub of wash water and one tub of rinse equals three loads of wet, but clean clothes.

It's that easy. Tongue in cheek of course. ;)

Of course there are pros and cons to everything.

Some cons of using a wringer washer are I can't really multi-task. There is no walking away and doing something else while a machine does it all for me. Well, it never does it all anyways. They haven't invented a machine to fold and put away yet have they?!
Weather is un-predictable and hanging clothes that are freezing faster then you can hang them is a bit of an inconvenience. The drying part, at least in the winter, takes up my whole kitchen for the whole day.

You have to tuck away your OCD-self on laundry days. It looks like a clothing store blew up in here on Mondays so expect that if you drop by. My pride is also put away along with my OCD so if you do stop by, I can handle it.

But there are more pros than cons. Not only does it use less water and hydro, making it cheaper and more environmentally friendly, but I no longer "forget" and find musty loads of laundry in the washer a day or two later which then need re-washing. Nor will I ever find a half dry and/or really, really wrinkled forgotten load sitting in the dryer, demanding another go-round using even more energy. When Monday is over the laundry is DONE. It's not in stages all over the house. And while I can't multi-task, I am also not trying to figure out what to do with my spare time! I don't have to decide between activity A or B (or C, D or E either) I know what I am doing Monday and must plan my other tasks accordingly. It's hands on and good for the brain trying to plan out all the steps needed and it's not hurting me physically either. It's more demanding of my muscles and fat-stores, then the "just-drop-and-go" type of machines. And since I can't have a regular washing machine in this house (yet) it saves me running to town to clean our clothes.

I'm glad God provided us this "miracle".  Like who finds wringer-washing machines these days?! God does, that's who! :)

But I have to tell you..... the best thing about Wash Day is Tuesday!
I spend all day Tuesday appreciating how tidy and spacious my kitchen is without the laundry hanging all over it.

To enjoy life's ups you gotta have the downs!! 

I realize that when it comes to the "downs" of cleaning clothes, ours are self-inflicted, but that's OK we aren't sorry about our decision to buy an antique clothes washer.

Well, most of us aren't, The Man-Son still makes comments like.......

"Hey Mom, there's this really great invention they've made......"

What Happened?!

Many of you probably read my post titled "Lot's Wife" on your email, but if you tried to check it out on the actual blog page it wasn't to be found.

Let me explain.  I removed it.  :)

Going cold-turkey off carbs and sugars was much harder than I anticipated. By the end of the second day I was a mess. Massive headache that pain killers wouldn't touch.  Geoff and I came to the decision that I would use the two weeks to wean myself off instead of doing cold-turkey. I already know I eat a diet high in carbs without much meat or veggies. It is time to make changes.

I also plan on finding a place in this area that sells meat with no added hormones.  I have been suffering with hormonal headaches for several years, but while living in Penetang we discovered a small butcher shop that sold local meat without added hormones and after a year of eating meats purchased from there I was noticing my headaches were getting fewer and less intense. 

In the mean time I am still very tired. Many think I am just worn out from our whirl-wind nine month journey in which we put an offer on this place June 4, 2016, spent an intense four weeks preparing our Penetang house for market, sold it July 14th, then began the process of packing up to move across country two months later. Only to move into a trailer, and begin our race against the seasonal clock because we needed to be inside a real house before winter struck.

We did it. Just barely and there is still so much to do.

OK, so maybe I am tired for a reason. Just typing that out makes me feel tired all over again.  haha

Maybe I'll cut myself a break today.

After I get everything done off my list that is. (Don't worry, it's a short list)

Haha, I don't sit well, I HAVE to do something first to "earn" my rest. So if I at least get some food made for meals and the dishes done then I can sit down for a bit without feeling guilty.

I really want to paint and wall paper today. I am having an interview next week with a mom who needs day-care and I would really like the upstairs hallway finished. It's not the looks that I care about, but the railing is missing and isn't supposed to get installed again until the Jacuzzi tub is removed and some painting is done. Well, I can't participate in the tub removal for sure. I would push myself through the painting but a few days ago my right arm became so weak I can hardly use it. I am giving it a chance to correct itself before visiting a "professional" but in the mean time I am limited in what I can do. Guess I will be delegating out some painting work today. I think a securely installed railing upstairs would go a long way in helping a mother feel like this place is safe for a toddler. But maybe she'll be turned off by the table of tools and the stack of insulation in the bathroom. haha. She'll have to really, really like us to think her child would be safe here.  I of course won't plan on letting a little one out of my sight. But maybe it would be best if we just waited to bring day-care here AFTER the renos are done. ( I won't be advertising until spring, but this lady was asking for child-care on the village's Facebook page and when I told her what we had to offer, she said she was very interested) 

One of us has to start working sometime. Child-care is in high demand in this area. I wouldn't need a car to get to work. And the best part is I LOVE little people. So, we have been on the look out for the items I would need to care for children and God has been providing almost everything from cheaper, second-hand sources. :) At least it's something to look forward to and another reason to get myself feeling better and in shape!! 

Well, I had best get to the day, so that I can rest later. ;) 

Have a good one!