Houdini Chicken and a Construction Project

 I spent a lot of time on Amazon.ca looking at netting. The good kind that I wanted, that I knew would last and the size I needed was, of course, sold out and unknown when more would be in. Why was I looking at netting? Two reasons, well actually the first reason is more like four reasons. We have a resident family of red tailed hawks. Mom and the three juveniles fly over our property, calling out, throughout the day. They sit on top of our neighbour's roof. They sit on the rail fence that borders our property and stare at the chicken run. Mother hawk (I think) took a swoop down at Murphy! (He subsequently leapt up into the air and tried to get her).

The other reason I was looking at netting was a hen I have named "Houdini chicken". In all the years that I have had chickens, I have never had a problem with chickens flying out of our run. The fence around their run is four feet tall. The only one who ever flew out was a nasty little piece of work Banty rooster named Rusty (yes, Friendly Giant reference for my Canadian friends). 

However, one of the "new" hens, a lavender Orpington, has taken to jumping up on a fence post and then jumping down onto the lawn. We corralled her back into the run several times. I worried about her escaping into the acres of weedy brush to the west of us, or being eaten by a predator if she didn't return quickly enough, so I watched some videos on how to clip wing feathers. It doesn't hurt the bird and it makes them somewhat unbalanced in their flight attempts and keeps them more grounded. After one of her escapes, husband and I caught her and I clipped her flight feathers of her right wing (you only do one side). 

Then, a couple of days ago, husband felt generous with his time and energy and began to build a structure over the chicken run in order to enclose it with a chicken wire roof (better than netting). I helped as much as I could.

Here's a progress pic so far. He had previously built (and refurbished) the chicken coop for me as well. 

Much more work has been done since I took this shot a couple of days ago. You can see the hens eating and scratching around. Please note the one whitish/grey chicken farthest to the right, facing outward. She will feature prominently in the rest of the post.

Let me introduce you to Houdini chicken. Here she is frantically pacing back and forth along the fence line. On this particular construction day, she was acting positively neurotic. Her beak was open (no, it wasn't too hot, no she wasn't lacking water), she frequently pushed her head through the openings in the wire fence, and regardless of wing clipping, she was able to do this:

Yup, with some upward estimating and some good knee flexing, she flapped her way up to the top of the fence post. MANY TIMES. I would turn her around and she would jump back down into the run with the other chickens. After jumping up to the fence post maybe four or five times, I actually held her , stroking her little chicken head, feeling her heart beating out of her chest, and asked her what the issue was. She had a good life here, everything she could want, was it because the grass was literally greener on the other side of the fence? 

Anyway, chicken neuroses aside, husband continued to build and I continued to help, and at one point we were on the other side of the run and Houdini chicken jumped up and out AGAIN and I was just too damn tired of her foolishness to go get her, so we finished up whatever we were doing and after a minute, husband asked where she was. I didn't see her but figured she couldn't have gotten far. We started to look for her and in true Houdini style, she had disappeared. 

I have a couple of perennial beds that are parallel to each other and form a pseudo walkway of grass between them toward the chicken coop. I started parting plants and looking to see if maybe she was hiding in there. And eventually, look what I found:

There she was, tucked under a day lily, contentedly "purring" and not bothered by the fact that I had discovered her. Then upon closer inspection, I saw some broken egg shell under the same flowers. This was actually her nest! She laid an egg in there, popped out of the perennial bed and went straight back toward the fence, whereby husband opened the gate for her and she went right back in as happy as could be. There were, in fact, three other broken egg shells in there. Unbeknownst to us, she had been "flying the coop" regularly, laying her egg, and flying back in. (I'm not sure why the eggs before this were broken, either something had discovered them and eaten the contents, or her first few attempts at eggs had brittle shells).

Alas, for those of you forward thinkers, we realize that the chicken run will very soon be enclosed from the top with sturdy chicken wire. I am already anxious about Houdini chicken's future stress levels. (Yes, I know I have a problem). If I am home and in the yard and I see her pacing, I will just open the gate for her, let her out to do her thing, and then let her back in. Others have also suggested I transplant some daylilies in the run for her to lay her eggs in there, but for anyone who has ever had chickens, we know that chickens love nothing better than to scratch, dig dust bath holes and generally decimate all plant material in their runs. Eventually, I suppose, she will just have to suck it up and use a nesting box in the coop like everyone else, but it would seem she has some pretty strong "wild chicken instinct", escaping and finding a protected little hidey hold in which to lay her eggs. Ahhh, my life.

And on a different note, yesterday was my birthday and here is the cake that daughter and boyfriend arranged to me:

Isn't that a hoot! It was delicious! (carrot cake). 

Do share your own neurotic animal stories and the lengths to which you have gone for your own furry or feathered friends. (So I know I'm not alone).

July 15, 2020

'Tis mid-July and another wonderful day on the way. I just grabbed two eggs out of the chicken coop, there are bright yellow flowers on my pumpkin plants, and it's my birthday. 

That makes me a cancer. I think the first two sentences of the image, above, pretty much describe me. I do not have a poker face. I found out that my co-workers enjoy just watching my face during a staff meeting. I don't hide my emotions well. The rest of the description is pretty accurate as well. I am a private person who needs to "detox" after being around too many people or people who create drama or confrontation. I'm fine with my class, however. I am having a low-key birthday (well, that's the only kind you can have during these times). I even find birthday phone calls awkward. I do not like attention focused directly at me.

Everyone in my family knows that I absolutely despise the idea of telling the wait staff at the restaurant that it is my birthday so they can all gather around and sing and clap. It has never happened, thank goodness. I even feel awkward when it's someone else's birthday and I'm watching the whole thing unfold. 

So, I decided to choose 10 questions to answer from a list of "371 Random Get to Know Me" questions I found on the internet. Maybe if you are stuck for ideas for a blog post, you can do something similar.

1. Are you a dog or a cat person?  

Although we had a dog when I was growing up and she was wonderful, I am more of a cat person. I've rarely been without a cat in my life. Sometimes we have had more than one. Also, cats are easier to keep than dogs because you can go away for a weekend and set out enough food and water and they'll be fine.

2.  What was your favourite subject in high school?

I always loved English. I loved the discussions, the analysis of what we were reading, the discovery of a new book that I enjoyed... I loved the writing aspect of it, even most of the teachers were very engaging. 

3. Are you more likely to avoid conflict or engage in it head on?

Avoid!! I will feel physically ill if I think that I'm about to have to deal with a confrontation, angry parent, family blow-up... 

4. If you had more courage, what would you do differently in your life now?

I think there are two areas to address here. I think I might have chosen to pursue writing of some sort and see if I was any good at that. I still have ideas about a series of books directed toward boys who have some difficulty reading. 

The second thing, I wish I hadn't been so afraid of looking foolish or not being good enough or hurting myself at certain activities when I was a younger adult. I think I missed out on some fun times due to my fears regarding things like skiing, skating, (yes, I am aware I'm Canadian), rafting, rollercoasters...

5. Do you have a tattoo?

No. Not my thing.

6. What scares you about aging?

My mother suffered from dementia / alzheimers and my mother-in-law has dementia. I remember my grandfather (this is one of my earliest memories that has stuck with me) in the farmhouse asking about the team and hitching them up (i.e. horses) and my grandmother chiding him and correcting him and explaining him away to me in a rather nasty way (they hadn't farmed with horses for years and years and years). So I hope and pray that I do not end up in a similar way, especially if everything physically is pretty good, but it's just your mind that is slowly deteriorating.

7. Have you ever suffered a fracture?

I have never broken any big bones like arms or legs, but I have had broken bones in my foot and broken toes before. The bones in my foot happened on a New Year's Eve on the dance floor of a bar in the university town where I was living. A girl ran across the dance floor and managed to stomp on the top of the foot with her high heel, and I was also in high heels. The pain was immediate and I still had to get home. I never saw a doctor about it because I had always heard "they don't really do anything for broken bones in your feet anyway". I couldn't really even stuff my foot in a shoe for days and days afterward.

8. What kind of car do you drive?

A Toyota Rav-4. I love an SUV because I like being higher up off the road and I love the security of all-wheel or four-wheel drive. 

9. Do you love your job?

For the most part, yes. I love the act of teaching, I love those special, funny, ah-ha moments with students, I love the co-workers with whom I work, I love shutting my classroom door and doing my own thing. There are, of course, aspects of my job that I could gladly eliminate.

10. Are you named after anyone?

No. Yet, my three older siblings have middle names that are parents / uncles names. I guess by the time they got to me, they couldn't be bothered??

So there you have it. There will be pizza and cake and drinks in the pool later today with husband, daughter and her long-time beau, and son. It doesn't get better than that.

July 15th

I do not have an easy time treating myself. I cut back on myself, I take the broken cookie, I wait for the sale, I do without, I'll make something special for someone else, but not myself. Boo hoo for me, but yesterday (the 15th), I got treated by my own request. It was my birthday and anyone who has been married for more than 20 years knows that buying presents for your spouse is difficult, if not ridiculous. Husband just asks if there is anything I would like rather than trying to pick something out.

I usually say not to make a fuss, no there's nothing I really want / need... but this year I thought about it and said that I wanted a new hair straightener  / flat iron. Not just a new one (as the old one has now rubbed all the paint (?) coating (?) off the flat iron part and is quite frankly a piece of junk), but a better one. I went online and researched and much to my shock and horror discovered that the really good ones run into the HUNDREDS of dollars (i.e. even above $500!!). Now, I have always had what I refer to as, "unfortunate hair", with abundance of frizz, texture, and the inability to lay flat. I have used straighteners, electric round brushes, electric flat brushes, curling irons, argon oil, smoothers, tamers, balms, creams, and serums. Sometimes I just give up and let it dry naturally and end up looking a bit like a Woodstock festival attendee.

I ended up with this little beauty:

The brand is called "Chi" (and no, I'm not getting any money from the company, but hey, anytime they want to contact me and give me some money, I'm game). I got it on sale, yes it was over $100, but not by much. When I used it for the first time, I was so impressed. Seriously impressed, and realized that the crappy last two straighteners I had been using were indeed crappy. I'm pretty sure I never spent more than 39 dollars on either one of them. So, there you go. It is nice to treat oneself (because quite frankly, the purchase made by husband came out of our joint bank account, so I kind of bought it for myself, but he's the one who stepped up to the cash register to formalize it).

So, here's the old girl with husband on the porch before we all went out for supper.

We went to the same place that we went for daughter's birthday in May. Great food, fun atmosphere.

Mom and daughter.

Daughter and son.

Husband and wife.

Because it was my birthday, there was a complimentary dessert which of course I shared with the family, so we all just had a couple of bites. It was so darn good, this is the only evidence that I have that it happened.

Then back home afterwards for my other request: Dairy Queen ice cream cake!! Again, I'm always the one baking birthday cakes for other people, and be darned if I'm baking my own cake, so this year I asked for an ice cream cake.

It was so pretty! Daughter arranged for the colours, which I thought were perfect. Notice the candles? Anyone else have an assortment of number candles in the drawer with the ziplock bags and tinfoil left over from various other birthdays? Ha ha - now you know how old I am, too!

Waterfalls and Wine

Yesterday was my birthday, the big five-two. I'm not much of a birthday person. I don't like get-togethers. I despise birthday phone calls, I don't require presents, and I cringe at the thought of being sung to, especially in public. So... both "kids" were working yesterday and husband and I decided to do something during the day. Our daughter, the communications major, put together a day for me (she's working this summer in tourism), knowing her mother well (i.e. no ziplining, no big city travel, no crowds).

In the morning, we left to drive to a very pretty part of Ontario, to go for a late breakfast. We ate outside in the shade in a little village. I had the vegetarian crepe (not a vegetarian, but the "innards" sounded yummy - onions, goat cheese, mushrooms...). Yes, I took a picture. Note the flowers as decoration!

After breakfast, we drove to a lovely conservation area that includes a waterfall. We've been to this waterfall before but it's been a while. Being in nature makes me contended. It was a scorching hot day, but we were in amongst the trees. And when a hot flash hit me, I just leaned against the stone wall which was nice and cool! (Why, why do hot flashes come back when you are quite sure they were all done? Happy birthday.)

You can see the wall to protect people from their own stupidity. I love the old cedars.

The gnarled root systems with all of their glorious texture and hidey holes make me imagine gnomes and fairies and other magical tiny beings living amongst them and emerging when all of the people go home.

This is one view of Eugenia Falls.

Here is a better view.

This is probably the best view. Don't ask how far the drop was. I read the info, but forget it now and I'm a terrible judge of distance. Suffice it to say that I would not want to look over the edge.

And now for your amusement, here is a selfy (selfie? the ie ending doesn't make sense...). Is there anyone, besides a Kardashian, over the age of 25 who can properly execute one of these things? I ended up looking like an elf and husband looks like he's trying to read the small print. Good god.

Now, onto better things... we then drove a short distance to another waterfall, different in nature and size. This one assumed that you were smart enough to stay away from the edge as there were no walls. We were also in amongst beautiful old trees with limestone rocks and a pretty river.

The river was shallow and there were many, many butterflies flitting around.

After a bit of a walk, we came to the falls. I could have walked right out to the edge if I wished. I did not wish to. I'm not great with the edges of talls things and have these irrational thoughts like, "What if I just inexplicably threw myself over the edge??"

These falls were not nearly as large, or as big of a drop as Eugenia. They are called Hoggs Falls. There was actually a fellow at the bottom fishing. We didn't wait long enough to see if he caught anything.

I'm pretty sure gnomes and fairies live here, too. There is nothing like the sound of water.

After the waterfalls, we were directed, according to daughter's itinerary, to drive to one of the many wineries that are becoming established in the general area. There are also many craft breweries and cideries as well.

This is the view from their parking lot. Just a gorgeous valley and the picture doesn't do it justice. It was so hot, the earth seemed to shimmer.

The winery was named The Roost, because the owners, after being part of the banking / advertising world of the big cities, including London, England, decided to 'come home to roost', establishing this winery on the wife's home farm. They've done a fabulous job creating a beautiful setting in the building itself.

After enjoying a wine tasting, we decided on this red and brought home two bottles.


We shared the charcuterie board in the shade with a glass each. (Isn't the whole charcuterie thing such a trend now? It used to be called wine and cheese. Now it's like a competition to find the weirdest crackers and the thinnest slices of meat.)

We toodled around after that, enjoying the drive and ended the day with a dip in the pool. We had cake with the kids (purchased... oh the horror! But I'm not baking my own cake. I gladly make a birthday cake for husband and kids, but I draw the line at myself). We amused ourselves by noticing the cicadas emerging from their outer shells and then administering to son, as he didn't quite escape from the wasps that he disturbed as he was shooting baskets in the driveway. They had been making a happy little wasp nest in the hollow post that the basketball net is attached to. He's fine - only one sting.

This was the perfect birthday. No party. No attention. I didn't announce to people at the restaurant or the winery that it was my birthday. I was out amongst the trees and the water, and then back in an air conditioned car. As a bit of an introvert, and a private one at that (who has a blog, I know, but I pick and choose what I share), it was lovely.

Fifty-One

Yesterday I turned 51 on the 15th which I thought was a neat twist on the numbers. Both of our kids were working yesterday, so husband and I went for a drive. It was the first nice day in I don't know how long. Husband has recently acquired a little new-to-him convertible, so I pulled my hair back and secured it on my head and away we went.

We were on a bit of a quest for something to put on our den wall. Since I had painted the den a few months back, this one main wall has remained pretty much bare. We had some ideas. I love William Morris designs and we thought maybe a tapestry hung on the wall would be great. I also like botanicals or maybe a nice pastural scene. I don't even mind animals (sheep, a stylized rabbit, maybe some cows?) We travelled about an hour or two from our home, to the east to a few small towns along the lake. Oh my, there were some amazingly beautiful homes. (Who lives in these??? What do they do for a living?) The sun was beating down and there wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was just so nice to be out.

We didn't find anything that really suited us. In fact, most of the art and prints and other wall décor in the shops had nautical/ cottage / wilderness themes to them, due to where we were and that's not really what we were after. However, it was nice to poke around and see what was available.

We stopped for a drink and a bite to eat. Yes, I took pictures of our food and felt a bit foolish because that's not really what I do. ("Here's a picture of my lunch! Allow me to bore you with other details about my life!") The reason I took a picture was that I was thinking of soon to be retired John Gray at Going Gently as my husband ordered a Scotch Egg for the first time. It's not really a common food here, but of course I knew what it was from reading John's blog.

Do not be alarmed by the pink colour of the food. The umbrella over our outdoor table was red and it cast a rosy glow over our food and drinks. Husband declared the Scotch Egg to be "awesome". He was especially pleased that he was able to substitute the side of smoked cheddar with a chunk of blue cheese.

My Caesar salad was excellent. (Real bacon, thank you very much)

My ice cold Stella was perfect on a hot day. Husband had a cider. I really despise cider, but he loves it.

I love the sign for the restaurant. You can't get more Canadian than that!

The drive home was equally nice and I took some pictures on the way. The views are gorgeous.

Ha! Expert photographer that I am, I managed to get myself in the shot!

Back home, the kids got home from their respective work places and we ordered Chinese food (husband went to pick it up, we are too far away from town for delivery) and we sat down by the pool and had supper together. Then, of course, it began to rain, so we went in the house for dessert. I normally bake a cake for everyone's birthdays, but I really didn't expect husband or the kids to attempt a cake from scratch and homemade icing (they did one year with memorable results), so we had picked up not one, but two small cakes (I couldn't decide which one I liked better, so got them both). Here are my kids ready to bring the cakes to the table and sing Happy Birthday after having a little fun with the barbecue lighter.

Not sure what son is doing, maybe he already started singing.

It was all very fun and just the way I like it: low key and just husband and my kids. I'm not one for big celebrations. I don't even like birthday phone calls. In fact, I don't even like talking on the phone. I can't do small talk. In my regular life, I am a true introvert.

As I was reading blogs recently, I discovered that many people have the same birthday as me. So, if I missed out on some of you, happy birthday to all those July 15th babies, or any July babies for that matter. Most of us are probably Cancers, an unfortunate horoscope sign by association, but real lovers of home, security, honesty, and fairness.

So, yesterday was lovely. Ahhh, but Mother Nature didn't want us getting too smug, so here was this morning.

More rain. I took the hanging plants down so they could get a drink, too.

The bird bath stays filled. Birds don't even use it. Those are metal birds that are attached to the bird bath. The cat sat in it once, though, when it had no water in it.

In fact, the power flickered on and off a couple of times this morning. I gave up on writing my blog until now, this evening. It cleared a bit later in the morning but the day stayed cloudy and not nearly as warm as yesterday. We shall see what tomorrow brings.

I'm not really a binge watcher. There are only a small amount of tv shows that I regularly watch and I'm not a big movie person. However, I recently discovered a crime drama on Netflix that I absolutely couldn't tear myself away from. What else are you going to do on a rainy day after you throw in a load of laundry? I am now finished two seasons of "The Killing". It is so good. There are two more seasons and I'm looking forward to watching the rest of it! Has anyone else watched it? Don't tell me what happens, please!

Happy Birthday and the Week that Was

On Wednesday of this past week, we celebrated our daughter's 21st birthday. We went out for supper at a place we had not tried before and it turned out to be very good! The owner was moving around the restaurant, taking part in bussing the tables and checking that everything was good. He sat and talked with us for a while and was really passionate about his restaurant and the quality of what he was serving. We all enjoyed what we had ordered and the energy of the place was pretty great, considering it was just a Wednesday in a small town.

When asked earlier in the week what she wanted to do for a cake, if she wanted to order dessert at the restaurant, if she wanted my usual chocolate layer birthday cake, or if she wanted to try something new, daughter was adamant that it be the "usual". So I baked the cake Tuesday night and on Wednesday when I got home from work, I made the icing and assembled the cake, with daughter and her boyfriend assisting in licking the beaters and scraping out the bowl!

I'm not really one to post pictures of us online, but thought I'd make an exception. Here's daughter and her boyfriend at the restaurant.

She took this picture of her ol' ma and pa.

This is all of us back at the house for cake. Yes, 17 year old son is doing bunny ears behind her head. And yes, that is a lot of facial hair (when did my baby grow a beard???).

This past week was not the most stellar week in terms of the weather. The days have been cool, verging on down right cold, grey, and rainy. The rain continues to fall and we are all getting a little tired of it. I still have much yard work to be done, but the rain is making all of my perennials and bulbs grow very well, so tearing out and cutting back last year's growth is going to be a bit more difficult. I know many parts of Ontario are getting more rain and flooding than we are, so I'm at least grateful for that. Today's plans involve throwing a hunk of beef in the magical cooking pot, and doing a thorough house cleaning. Who says I don't have an exciting life?