Yours 'til Niagara Falls

Everything has Changed and it is All Better than I Could Have Imagined

This is as good a time as any to relaunch my blog. A million nice things are happening in my life. The past is the past and the future shimmers with hope. Here I am:

Back Yard Chores - Missions Accomplished

I has been unseasonably warm today. I have been putting off some vital chores, so today I got the lion's share of them done. I am feeling pleased.
My bike was put away for the winter. I noted with sadness a plant had grown to maturity between the spokes of the back wheel since I last took it for a ride. I will do better next year.
I purchased and installed a heat lamp for the chicken coop. I even installed a thermostatically controlled plug. The girls should be cozy warm when it dips below freezing.
I made a final check of the beehive and wrapped it in tar paper to make it wind proof and capture the sun's warmth on the sunny days. One other thing to be mindful of when winter proofing the hive is taking care to make certain to have ventilation. One of the many things that can hurt a colony is condensation forming in the hive. When I took a peek down into the frames there was enough activity to let me think all is well. Tonight the weather is supposed to change drastically - cold temps and extreme winds. I am so glad I managed to get these items crossed off the list.

Pocket Doll

I made this little pocket doll as part of my attempt to get my craft mojo back. I used die-cut shapes with wool felt. The doll was needle felted and topped with a wooden bead. And let's face it, everything is cuter with an acorn cap.

A Clutch of Eggs

A mystery was solved last week.  My hens had achieved the proper egg-laying age, but no eggs were in evidence in the coop.  I went to trim hedges in my front yard and, lo! What have we here?  My girls have gone broody.  Sad news for me.  I could not let nature take its course and let the eggs hatch out - not a big demand for late-summer chicks.

Now I need to read up on how to discourage broodiness in hens.

In other news...

I took my grandchildren to the Niagara County 4 - H fair.  A good time was had seeing the animals on display.  It made me think about twenty years ago when their mom and uncle were 4 - H'ers.

A Rooster Named Romeo

The adorable spring chicks have thrived.  When I purchased the manditory minimum of six chicks at the feed store, the sign indicated that they had been sorted out by sex and I was getting girls.  Well, Romeo the rooster pictured above is an object lesson in "buyer beware".

He is a handsome boy, and he has a brother in the flock to add spice to the early morning crowing competition.  I have consulted with all my near neighbors and they have all assured me that the serenade at dawn does not upset them.  In fact, two of my neighbors find it evocative of their childhoods as they were raised on farms.

When I was talking it over with my grandson Nicholas who is five, he told me "People should be happy that the rooster is crowing.  Then they know it is time to get up and do something important."

Inukshuk Marks the Spot

On Monday I took my grandchildren to the beach at Fort Niagara.  It was windy and really not warm enough to do anything more than wade. We collected beach stones to use in our new rock polisher.

Before we left, we made an inukshuk. The word inukshuk is from an Inuit language and means "human form".  They were constructed in the frozen wilderness to let travellers know that someone had trod the same trail before.

July is over, August begins.  I am having a wonderful summer.

Enjoying Every Day of Spring

This is only my second spring in my sweet little house.  I am still discovering different plants in my yard.  I really love this tree; I wish I knew its name.

I also have pear, apple and peach trees.  The forcythia was gorgeous this year:

In late March I went to the tractor store to buy chickent food.  It happened to be Chick Days.  I could not resist, I came home with six new members of the flock.  They grew so quickly!

I will update the pictures early this week.

Mother's Day 2013 was great. I had the pleasure of posing for this four generation picture.

Springing Forward is OK by Me

It was a beautiful day here.  I woke up with energy and determination to literally sweep away the cobwebs and start Spring cleaning.  I used my usual technique of beginning in a corner of a room and sorting and organizing my way around the room. Things are also thrown away.  The second trip around the room involves scrubbing every surface in sight.  Step three is vacuuming the floor and the ceiling (remember the afore mentioned cobwebs?) and, because it was a desperate post-winter situation, the livingroom rug got a shampoo. I managed to get the entire downstairs cleaned.

To reward myself for a job well done, I took a walk in the sunshine.  I was rewarded with this:

What a happy moment!  This little crocus really made my day. 

Marvelous March

I like March.  I do wonder how January and February managed to trot past so quickly, but here we are.  On another topic; I am a big fan of Pinterest.  With my currently addled brain and lack of concentration (it is improving) looking at images with minimal text has been just the thing to spark my creativity lately.  But... I am left with a dilemma.  If an image is posted and I want to replicate it in some way, is that OK?  Case in point:  I saw a picture of a cute shamrock pin and I wanted my own version of it.  The original was from someone's now-closed etsy shop.  Should I feel free to use the idea?  Not to sell, just one or two for myself.  Here is my version  -

I made this last Wednesday during my weekly knitting group.  As I merrily applique'd and beaded, the shamrock got got fancier and fancier.  As I was debating how to finish embelishingnthe project, my friend Liz very dryly remarked, "You will have to stop soon".  I laugh whenever I look at the silly thing and remember that comment.