Tuesday 24 March 2020

Normal in the Abby...Normal

Welcome to Tuesday. Much like Monday.

The title of my blog is a little shout out to Young Frankenstein, for any fans out there.

Had a late breakfast, which I suppose I could have called lunch. I had eaten almost all of it before I thought, take a picture. Maybe it will be as exciting as yesterday's fried egg sandwich!

Pancakes, fake maple syrup, orange juice. They were made from a just-add-water mix. Still mighty good.

It's amazing what a difference a day can make. Most of yesterday's snow was melted by the time I went outside, opened up the shed and retrieved a rake and some big plastic garden totes. In the fall, I had raked a lot of leaves and spread them on the vegetable garden, added them to the compost, and dumped a ton into the chicken run, but there were still several piles remaining on the "lawn". I took my time and raked up a couple, and took them to the chicken run.

Here are some ecstatic chickens scratching their way through months-old leaves.


They are finding all sorts of treasures in there - little worms, grubs, snail eggs?, little newly sprouted grass and weeds that got yanked out with my raking, decomposed leaves... I'm expecting some good eggs in the next couple of days!

As I was sitting on "the chicken bench" watching them, I saw a chipmunk running away into the pile of split rails beside the chicken run. I do adore chipmunks. I also saw what I think is an odd thing, but maybe you have them too, a black squirrel with a reddish brown tail. We have a bunch of them (or I keep seeing the same one over and over). Do you have these squirrels? I joked with son that they were him - he has very dark hair but his beard comes in quite red, as did my brother's.

I heard the red-winged blackbirds with their unique raspy call which takes me right back to my childhood and really signals the beginning of Spring for me.

I took it easy with the raking. I'm terrible for overdoing yard work and then paying the price later. I raked a pile or two, then sat and chicken-watched. I only did a few piles today. The rest will still be there for me tomorrow, or the next day, or the next...

Here's another reminder that when "those all about you are losing their heads", nature carries on, oblivious of fear / chaos / economic strife.


These will be lovely blush pink tulips in the weeks to come, unless the black red-tailed squirrels have done some landscaping.

And for those of you on the edges of your seats...

the next in the exciting series of puzzle progress pictures!!


It looks like a place I'd like to live.

Take care everyone and enjoy your own personal bunkers. There might be muffin baking in my future!

42 comments:

  1. I'd love to be able to get out and do some more garden work but our snow is here for a few days at least, I'm sure - uggghhh. I love your happy chickens!!

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  2. I appreciate your more frequent posting! And your lovely breakfast, and tulips and chicken watching! Keep well. Keep smiling!

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    1. I've noticed quite a few people are posting more frequently. I like it.

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  3. Without the tower and east wing, the jigsaw puzzle house looks remarkably like where my Grandma lived with I was a kid. She rented space at the front of the house (it was just a bed-sitter, really) but she got full use of the verandah.

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    1. I've always loved yellow brick houses, and we live in one now, but not nearly as fancy, no cute porch like that, and no shutters (but we've talked about how shutters would really add to the house). Verandah - that's a term I haven't used or heard in a while. It makes me think of MY grandmother's house. There were three verandahs on that farm house. Maybe that can be another post...

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  4. Fake maple syrup?! Is one allowed to eat that up in Canada? ;)

    You've made a lot of progress on the puzzle front. Well done.

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    1. Yup, and sometimes we don't wear our plaid lumberjack shirts, too! ;)

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  5. That must be lovely being able to collect your own eggs. I managed to find some for sale in the village a few days ago, there were none on the supermarket shelves.

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    1. I've heard that eggs are a little tough to come by, but I've not been out shopping in quite a while, so not sure what the situation is here, now.

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  6. I like the plate your pancake was in... reminds me of the Blue Willow pattern. And I didn’t know ‘chicken watching’ was so popular. I love to watch chickens. They are so funny...
    Your puzzle is coming along well. Our cat breeds puzzle is limping along... but I did find 5 pieces this morning!

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    1. It is very much like blue willow. Sometimes finding five pieces is an accomplishment!

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  7. I love that the chickens were looking for little treasures.

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  8. There looks like a lot of one colour to finish off on the right hand side of the puzzle! I am doing one. I should publish bulletins of progress. I have an enormous tree to do in mine, all yellow and red leaves! It is a slow haul.

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    1. Husband chose this puzzle for me! You know, I never thought I'd have this many "conversations" about puzzles! I'm also in contact with work colleagues about their puzzles. Life is strange.

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  9. How tubular plants decide it is okay to push through and see the sun. We did a puzzle the other day and I had forgotten how fun it is. Your completed puzzle is where I'd like to visit or stay for a while.

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  10. Thank you for posting more often, it's interesting to still keep in touch with everyone all over the world.
    Cooling down here , next week looks like low 20's so really enjoying my walking 3-4 km nearly every day.
    Stay safe everyone.

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  11. Good, not overdoing yard work. Better yet, muffins.

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  12. I am seeing daffodils & tulips pushing through. So exciting. We have black squirrels with white tipped tails. Yeah for happy chickens. ... Mary-Lou =^..^=

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    1. I don't think I have daffodils yet. I'll have to check on my few little purple crocuses. Hmmm, we don't have any squirrels with white tipped tails. Imagine if my squirrels crossed with your squirrels? Calico squirrels?

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  13. Mother Natures promise. I want pancakes,...gads, reading about food through this ordeal does things to my head, hahaha.

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  14. Somehow, food has become really important to everyone recently! In blogland it always has been to some, but I get the impression that those people were self-isolating years before everyone else!

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    1. We have extra time to be interested in the mundane, I suppose.

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  15. Hope those tulips all come up. We haven't got much colour in the garden just now except green. Green is good here.
    I'm in awe of your puzzle. Must take a lot of concentration, and time of course.

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    1. I've always liked finding things. Sometimes it's like a tiny victory finding that one piece!

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  16. So far, from reading blogs this morning, I've gotten the urge to make , custard, bread, and now muffins.. This could be a very fattening quarantine.

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  17. Wow! I'm really mad I didn't get a puzzle before confinement! Probably a good thing -- I'd never get ANYTHING productive done. It looks GREAT!

    I think watching the chickens would be kind of zen-mesmerizing. I always stop to do that at Southern Exposure. They just kind of make me happy. They look in full glory with those leaves. I'm sure they'll say thank you at laying time!

    Smart move on pacing with the raking. Well done!

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    1. The funny thing is, now that we have a ton of time, I think a lot of us aren't getting anything productive done! I really think it's a processing thing - we're all just trying to let this sink in. Watching chickens is a bit like watching a fish tank. You can kind of zone out.

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  18. Great post! Just the every day things that all of us should take the time to enjoy. Being outside. Watching our critters (domestic and wild), working at a physical task sensibly (ha, sounds like you've learned a lesson many of us haven't!), and taking this time to slow down our minds and maybe just squeeze in some time ruminating. You know, some thinking without it having to be about what we are going to zoom onto next. Yep, good post.

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  19. Big Young Frankenstein fan here! Abbynormal has become part of our vocabulary. I am loving these oh-so-normal blog posts by my friends. We are all in the same treading water state right now, just slowing down and taking stock of where we are and what's next. Kinda fun.

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  20. We picked up twelve inches of snow yesterday. Today the temperature will top near fifty. Strange times.
    the Ol'Buzzard

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  21. The puzzle is gorgeous. Isn't it wonderful that you can get out and watch your chickens. I have some frozen pancakes in my freezer. Maybe I'll have them for lunch. You have a wonderful day, hugs, Edna B.

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  22. This virus mess sure does make you appreciate your chickens and other things outdoors. That's a pretty bunch of hens you have. I do the same thing, rake piles of leaves and dump them in the chicken lot. Keeps the busy scratching for quite a while. Enjoyed your post very much.

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  23. That puzzle looks gorgeous. A nice way to spend time. I wish I had one around here to do. I have seen black squirrel with a reddish brown tail. And I've also seen a golden-coloured one when we were living in Kingston. That was the most amazing sight!

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