Jan 31, 2018

Well, we got a bit of a snow storm yesterday. Not horrible, but a pain in the butt. We got about 20cm of snow with a thick layer of ice on top (cause it had to freezing rain for a couple of hours)

First thing we always do is make a trail from the coops to a cleared food/water/pool area. 

At least I had all my ducks in a row this morning :) 

The ducks don't care if it's -11 and snowy, they still want to splash in their pool. 

We've got our walking path to almost the half way point; the top of Blueberry Hill.

Last year taught us that it's impossible for us to do the entire driveway in a day, so we do the critter area first (done); the walking path to the road second; the top at the road plow pile third; and then we start expanding our path from the road down. (so that way someone could at least park at the top and walk down to the house). Goal for today, get the walking path to the road!

Photos from the Day

Some pics from today; Friday, Jan 26

My Indian Runners had cold feet so came into the house to warm up a bit and get some special treats 

and a bath ... without ice in it! such funny litter buggers

Buddha just not caring that he's in the ducks personal space

                                                                   Ziggy Fluffbutt

                             This poor hen, Anne, has an overgrown beak :( I'm going to have to                                                                             trim it down slowly. Poor thing.

And my silly flock :) I love my feartherbabies!

New Puppy

So, i'm getting a puppy next month. already put a deposit on her. she's a Maremma Sheepdog/Labrador cross. 

I was suppose to get a Saint Bernard/Malamute cross from Ontario, but sadly all the rides I set up kept falling through, so instead I found her a wonderful home in Ontario. 

I really need a large farm dog as my big dog is quite old and won't be with me much longer. I need a large dog to help keep m featherbabies safe, plus one to help keep me safe! Maremma sheepdogs come from Italy and are a very no nonsense livestock guardian. The Labrador in her will help mellow her protective instincts a bit and make her a smidgen more friendly.

I'm dreading the whole puppy thing a bit, but I couldn't find an appropriate adult dog for a fair price here in the province; I'm getting the puppy for less than an adult dog would generally cost. At least with a puppy I can train it as I want it.

My puppy is two weeks old right now, just opened her eyes. I'll be picking her up near the end of Feb.

More Snow Pics

I've been in and out all day shoveling (I shovel for 30-40 minutes than take an hour break and then go back at it), so have been taking loads of pics. Here's a few of my favs!

Here's Nibs in the pool! she don't care if it's surrounded in snow!

And here's Nibs and Pringles

How'd that turkey get in the house?! And what does that cat think he's doing sleeping on the kitchen table when he knows he's not allowed to?! Humpf! How rude!

My chihuahua Taco looking mighty handsome in his snowsuit!

The ducks don't mind the snow much ...

And another one of my handsome Chi! I love my Taco!

And Mindy, my precious turkey!

Hugs and love!!

Snow

Well, it happened. It finally snowed and winter is officially here. 

Between the last couple of days, we've gotten about 25cm of snow. It sure looks beautiful, but dang, it's a serious pain in my butt!

Here's my 1km long driveway- it looks lovely, but it will take us about 6-8 hours to shovel by hand

Many of the featherbabies don't like the snow, so they all sit on the front porch and of course poop all over it ... sigh

However, the ducks don't care how snowy or cold it is, they still want their bath time! Especially molly and Polly, they love water!

And a lovely pic of the front pond. It looks so peaceful :)

Hugs and love!

Muscovy Ducks

I would like to start breeding show quality Muscovy ducks, but that means I gotta learn what a show quality Muscovy duck is! LOL! I've bee researching Muscovy duck show standards and so far I've figured out that most of my ducks are NOT show quality :)  Several of my ducks are pied, which is not an accepted colour here in North America. However, if I was in Australia they'd do great (as Pieds are accepted in Australia)! In the future, I will know more what to look for when I buy new ducks!

A Beautiful Day

It's Jan 12 and it hit +17 here today! I'm loving the warm weather, but it seems a little too wasrm for mid Jan. in Canada.

Here's some pics from around the house!

Jan. 12, 2018

Books

The story starts in 1987, back when the beer in the strip clubs was only $2.85 a bottle and table dances were $5 each. “Memoirs of an Exotic Dancer” is a journey of mistakes made, lessons learned, wisdom gained and growing up in the strip clubs. This true story has friendship and betrayal, seedy clubs and sexy women, heartbreak and happiness, danger and of course dancing! See the human side behind adult entertainment. From table dancing to lap dancing to private dancing at home, “Memoirs of an Exotic Dancer” is an open and honest glimpse of the other side of the stage.

You can purchase it in paperback on LuLu ;

http://www.lulu.com/shop/patricia-cartwright-and-stephanie-mitchener/memoirs-of-an-exotic-dancer/paperback/product-23148147.html

You can purchase it on Etsy in PDF format:

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/541407453/memoirs-of-an-exotic-dancer-pdf-book?ref=shop_home_active_2

I also have a published children's book:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/written-and-illustrated-by-patricia-cartwright/animal-abcs/paperback/product-22169601.html

I am working hard on several other books and hope to have at least two more published by the end of spring. At the moment, I am working on a dog breed book; another children's book; a Faerie encyclopedia; and a fiction novel :) 

Hugs and love!

January

January is off to quite the start around here. We had a big storm here this week.  we had a "weather bomb". We went from -16 to +8 Celsius and back down to +1 in less than 48 hours. We started with snow that turned to sleet, which turned to rain. Here's a pic of my silly ducks out enjoying the snowy part of the storm.

We ended the storm with less snow on the ground then we started :) We lost power for about 5 hours and lost internet for about 7 hours due to the storm.

Saturday morning we got a couple of cm of snow and found some large footprint on the driveway. They do not belong to my dogs!

The prints look canine, but seem too big to be coyote and we don't have much for wolves around here, maybe a stray dog?

My cats killed this monster in the house this week! YUCK! It's a rat that was IN MY HOUSE! How horrible! Praying it was the only one, but realistically probably not :( Thank the Gods  for cats! My Chihuahua would also kill a rat if he saw one. At least I have brave protectors!

To add to the "excitement" of the week, I hurt my arm/wrist. Early in the week, I tripped while carrying the space heater. I crashed down to the ground and hurt my left arm and wrist pretty badly. My arm swelled up pretty bad and hurt like hell. I went to the hospital and they said I sprained my wrist :( Yesterday, Saturday, I slipped on the ice and fell and guess what I fell on ... my left arm/wrist of course! DAMN! My wrist is bruised and swollen.

I'm excited for the weather warm-up next week!Can't wait to be warmer!Hugs and love!

Happy New Year!

Well, another calendar year comes to an end. For me 2017, had its ups and downs, but overall, it was a pretty good year. I hope you all had a great 2017 and 2018 is fantastic for you!

Here in Nova Scotia (and pretty well all across Canada), we've been dealing with an extreme cold spell. Our temps here have been between -7 to -19 during the day for the last week and a half. Much warmer than other parts of Canada, but extremely cold for here. Its been a really tough time for my featherbabies. Several of the chickens have frostbite on their crops and the ducks are seriously missing bath time.Today, we decided to bring them inside, a couple at a time, give them some warm food, treat any frostbite, and let the ducks have a quick dip in the bath tub.

Here's my turkey Mindy, two Muscovys Rocky and Skittles and Wally my senior rooster sharing some grub in the kitch

And some chickens warming up

 Molly and Polly, the Rouen ducks enjoying a swim

And this is poor Heckle. Her and one of the other hens got into a fight this morning and her crop got torn. A torn crop bleeds like a scalp wound on us. She's gonna be inside a day or two till it heals up,

Safe warm! Hugs and love!