Dozens of them are all over the fields. In Ontario I was thrilled when I spotted the first, SINGLE robin of the season. Here, I almost drove off the road when my side-kick pointed out the speckled hay field!! I guess the country has some extra space. The more the merrier! Hearing their cheery songs as I hung up the laundry this week made it seem more like play than work.
It always feels like we are headed in the right direction when the robins arrive don't you agree?
Spring means warmer temperatures.
My summer stove is settling into our kitchen! Kijiji is the best !
We still put a fire in the wood stove every morning, evening and on cloudy, damp days....but once the outside temps began to creep over zero it was getting powerful warm trying to cook meals. There are plans to make, in some distance future, a summer kitchen with a rocket stove and a clay, earthen oven. But let's not kid ourselves, it ain't happening any time soon. So Plan B it is! An electric cooker.
They say that twenty-one days is all it takes to make or break a habit. Guess who is leaving the stove on? Yep! Spent most of November and December looking for knobs on the wood-stove to turn it off whenever I removed a pot or took something out of the oven. Now I just walk away with the food and don't look back! haha. Here's hoping I develop the habit of turning this one off before the electricity bill goes through the roof! Also, guess who puts the kettle on a burner and then wonders why it won't boil? Haha. Gotta get used to the "on and off" thing again!May I introduce Bagheera. (pronounced - Bag-ear-ah)
We named him after the black panther in "The Jungle Book". Hopefully he is a mighty hunter and will keep the mice and vole population down. In the mean time, he's imprisoned in "The Goat Shed" for up to 21 days (14 minimum) until he gets used to us and his new home. He is settling in just fine. We were able to "trick" him out of hiding less then 24 hrs after he arrived and he hasn't "looked back". Two of us went in to see if we could find him....a black cat in a dark shed, well there were times we wondered if he had escaped! Finally, The Youngest (who is enjoying this thoroughly) spotted his glowing eyes behind the left-behind tractor tire. She started tossing in kitty-treats, but it didn't convince him to exit the safety of his hidey-hole. I suggested she leave while I stayed put on the stool. Out she went (which is a noisy endeavor when sliding barn doors are involved) and once he thought he was again the sole occupant.....he popped right up. Haha. You should of seen the surprise etched over his feline features!! I almost laughed aloud. What could he do? The "jig was up" his cover was blown. He decided to sit beside the tire. Then slowly, slowly he made it over to me and before you knew it he was pressing in for rubs and scratches.
Now he is taking all the loving and petting (and of course treats) that we can give him. He didn't start up the purr-machine until the second day. What a comforting sound that was! When you get a FREE cat from the SPCA because they didn't think he would ever make a house cat and they tell you it's wild and scared of humans; well, a cat that comes for loving and purrs while receiving it melts the heart of even a non-cat person like myself. We think he won't need a full twenty-one days to adjust. Most likely we'll crack open the shed door much sooner then that!
Geoff has been making headway on the bathroom!! There have been times during the last six months where the "vision" grew a little dim. For six long months the washroom was the grossest room in this building. Possibly the grossest room I had ever seen and I was living in the same house with it!! It was hard to believe when looking at the disgusting state of the shower, toilet and vanity that it could look any worse, but it did. With the walls stripped down to ancient studs and dirty insulation and a massive hole in the floor because of rotten wood, it was like we took a huge step back. But I've said before and it still rings true.... "Sometimes one must go backwards in order to move forward". Well, I'm glad we took before pictures, cause the transformation is stunning! It doesn't even seem like the same space!
The tile floor before the vanity is installed.
Vanity - All hand-made by the one-and-only, very talented Geoffrey Harris!!
Next thing is to replace the bathroom window, which arrived by courier yesterday. We have quite a few things on order right now, chicken starter stuff, fencing items, vitamins, birthday gifts, so it wasn't a surprise when a delivery truck pulled up our muddy driveway. But when he mentioned it was in a wooden crate? We were like.... Brooding lamp? Fence charger? Chick feeder and watering container? Like, I know we are new at this but CRATE? Turns out it was wooden alright, but a somewhat thin crate.
It was the window for the bathroom.
Time to take out the old and install the new.
Now if only this Spring weather will behave long enough......
