Ann's Weblog

I guess this entry doesn't need much more introduction!

For only a couple of days, I'm taking care of our friends' small assortment of farm animals: the beautiful Morgan horse, the guard dog, a few ewes with their many lambs. There are just three lambs which need a little extra lamb formula morning and night: they are getting milk from their moms but need some extra. In a couple of cases, the lambs are the smallest of sets of triplets.

Other than the "farm chores" elsewhere, I have had a few dogs to groom, a few to board, and the usual tasks of keeping up a home. Nothing else is going on that I can write about in a weblog, but we're fine here.

This is a post that I partially composed on March 10. I didn't realize that I had not "published" it, having been interrupted during its composition.

One of the few problems that had seemed serious enough to keep me awake some nights was that I did not have suitable housing for my daughter's pet rats. I didn't think that they were "happy"! Finally I got busy with the hardware cloth (wire mesh), J-clips and pliers, and converted a larger pet cage into their new home.

The funniest thing happened while the rats had their "freedom" in my pet grooming shop. When I opened, and left open, the rats' old cage... they left, found nesting materials, and returned to the confines of their home. In the past, they had had some freedom around the shop and seemed to enjoy it for as long as it took me to clean the cage. Sometimes I would just sit and watch while they explored the room until I felt I had to get back to some task.

I think that the rats are "feeling their age". They are two elderly males, and they sleep most of the day now; I can't think of another reason why they would leave, find paper towels and scrap paper to take back to their home, only to sleep again in the open cage. I will sleep better knowing that they have a better space in which to spend their "golden" months.

Thank you for reading my weblog.
~Ann

Here are some pictures of our inexpensive kitchen "reno". Perhaps it's the latest in kitsch, instead. However, we are very happy with the workmanship of the local carpenter.

There's a serious "design flaw" in the cupboard that is beside the kitchen range. There is no way to open the doors more than a crack, making half of that cupboard unit virtually unusable. Whose design mistake was this? None other than MINE... both Gary and the carpenter questioned it. In my own defense, I had thought these cupboards would be accessible through the other side of the unit (the right-hand doors), but I didn't realize that there would be a full, sturdy partition in the middle. In my own defense also, I had thought that going around the corner only to abut the chimney would be expensive and awkward, since I had thought we'd be buying "ready-made" cupboard units. I should have let the cupboards come around the corner, and then made the cupboards on the left-hand side of the range be only 2 feet or 2.5 feet. Our carpenter could have handled that. As it is, I guess I will store seldom-used items such as the canner and stock-pots in that cupboard, and I'll move the damned range out when I need those.

Are we trying to make a silk purse out of the proverbial sow's ear? Certainly, but it's OUR sow's ear and we like it.

I have been trying to shake a cold since our first "Hockyville" weekend. While I think that it's nothing more than a persistent cough, I feel run down. The upside of that is that I've shed a few pounds, and that's a good thing.

The Hockeyville challenge is a contest, Canada-wide, which will reward a small town for its hockey support and spirit. Two weeks ago, five hundred people from our town of about 600 showed up at the local arena to watch hockey games and get some pictures taken. It seems that I can't post a live link to the website, but it's www.mcbridehockeyville.com . I'm certain that I'm not well enough to venture downtown to participate in photos that CBC is planning . I'll be so proud if McBride wins the contest.

I can't actually catch you up on all the events of the past weeks that I haven't been writing in my blog. When I read my OWN last entry, I realize that all the worries of the day simply passed (such as the tiff with my friend), and new ones come in to take their place.

The little aunt who I worry so much about (who lost her husband in February) reports that she fell on ice near her home in Edmonton. She says that her ankle was sprained, but thank goodness, not broken, and is getting better. My aunt also claims to be doing well otherwise, "I'm up to 98 pounds again, so that's good".

So, I'll fill you in more another day. Thank you for coming.