Inflatable Raft and a Clutch of Eggs

I was in New Glasgow a couple of days ago and stopped at a new clearance store and found this awesome inflatable boat on sale for $30. Yay! It's two person and can take 520 pounds :)

My Muscovy ducks are of course looking adorable!

Muscovy mom has started a nice clutch of eggs. I have added a couple of Saxony and Indian Runner eggs to her clutch and a couple of chickens have added eggs to it! Muscovies are great moms and can hatch up to four clutches of eggs each year. I've been wanting to add a couple of geese to my flock and had a very exciting offer this morning of seven fertilized goose eggs! I'm a little short on $$ right now (still recovering from having to take the pug to the emergency vet), but if I can make some in the next day or two, I'm going to get them and put them in Mama Muscovy's nest. Muscovy ducks are often used to hatch geese eggs. Fingers crossed it all works out! I'd really love a couple of Buff Geese!!

Hope you all had a great weekend! Hugs and love!

Eggs, Eggs and More Eggs

 I'm drowning in eggs! All the hens, ducks and chickens are laying! At the moment, I'm getting about 5-6 duck eggs and 6-7 chicken eggs daily!

If you've never had a duck egg before, they are much richer and thicker than chicken eggs are. They are awesome for baking as they make everything light and fluffy! However, some people get a sick belly from duck eggs, especially the first time eating them, as they are very rich. Google tells me 2 out of 10 people are duck egg intolerant.

Here's an interesting comparison:

Nutritional Comparison of Duck and Chicken Eggs

Amount of Nutrients in 100 grams of Fresh Eggs

Duck /Chicken (first stat is duck, second is chicken)

Water, g 74.57 /70.83
Kcal 185/ 158
Protein, g 12.81 /12.14
Lipids, g 13.77/ 11.15

Minerals
Calcium, mg 64/ 56
Iron, mg 3.85 /2.09
Magnesium, mg 16/ 12
Phosphorus, mg 220 /180
Potassium, mg 222 /130
Sodium, mg 146/138
Zinc, mg 1.41 /1.44

Vitamins
Thiamin, mg .156/ .087
Riboflavin, mg .404/ .301
Niacin, mg .200/ .062
B6, mg .250/ .120
B12, mg 5.395/ 1.547
A, IU 1328/ 520

Lipids
Total saturated, g 3.68/ 3.35
Total monounsaturated,g 6.52/ 4.46
Total polyunsaturated,g 1.22/ 1.45
Cholesterol, mg 884/ 548

Amino Acids
Lysine, g .951/ .820
Methionine, g .576/ .392
Cystine, g .285/ .289
Threonine, g .736/ .596
Isoleucine, g .598/ .759
Phenylalanine, g .840/ .686

For those that live in near me, we do sell eggs: $3 dozen chicken eggs/ $3.50 for half chicken.half duck eggs/ $4 for a dozen duck eggs.

This is a photo of a duck egg. See how thick and large the yolk is? The yolk is yellow instead of the orange (like the chicken egg yolks)

I got this egg from the chicken coop this morning. Totally freaked me out as it has blood on it! All the hens are thankfully fine and Goggle tells me that it happens occasionally with really big eggs; It is a really big egg, whoever laid it is amazing! It must of hurt!

We all get so use to the perfect eggs from the grocery store, it's amazing how many eggs are NOT perfect!

Hugs and love!!

Snow

We got more snow ... another 25-30cm :( Sigh, 

Such is life and on a bright note, it's good for the water tables!

When we get a bunch of snow, we always clear up near the house first for the dogs and featherbabies, and then we do a path up the center, so we can walk to the road without difficulty. After that we shovel the gift from the plow, then work slowly down the  driveway back to the house. The driveway up near the house gets better sun so melts faster, if we leave it till last, mother nature often does it for us.When you have a 1KM long driveway, you gotta be strategic!

Spring will be here soon! The beginning of April is all nice plus temperatures here!

Hugs and love!

Spring is Right Around the Corner

Spring is right around the corner! I'm so excited! I LOVE spring! I put shelves in my bedroom window so I could start tons of seedlings (mostly tomatoes and peppers). 

This is the scene outside my front door yesterday. Lots of crazy chickens and ducks! I can't wait till the pond unfreezes for the ducks!

And this is Smoochie, my newest rescue dog. She's a beagle/husky cross. 

And lastly, EGGS! Everyone has started laying. This is from the last 4-5 days. The white eggs are from the ducks. As you can see, many of the eggs are different sizes; many of the ducks and hens are first time layers, so the eggs start out small and get bigger over time. 

Happy Saturday friends! Have a great day! Hugs and love!

March 14

Well, March is almost half over. YAY! Spring is getting closer :) Can't wait! 

Here's some pics I took around the house today.

First up is Dexter. He always hangs with me anytime I'm outside. 

And here's a pic of some of my feather babies enjoying the nice weather.

And here's a interesting animal den I found in the woods near the house ... I wonder who lives there?

And here's my Chi, Taco!

And Buddha and Smoochie

I love all my critters :) So excited that the nice weather is coming! 

Making Bags

Hi friends! Hope you are all doing fantastic!

I've spent most of this week making bags on Zazzle and working on my Etsy store:

Bags
by Patricia Cartwright

Hugs and love!

Presents, Books, Tapping and Sun

Like everyone, I love presents! :)Yesterday I was kindly gifted this lovely floor clock. 

and this awesome handmade boat! (The one in the front; the one behind the sweet gentlemen gifted me a couple of months ago)

I got a copy of the Koran in the mail today. I purchased a used copy off of Ebay for $5. I've never read it and as I have a very limited understanding of Islam I thought I should read it. I think we would have a lot less problems in the world if everyone would take the time to learn about other's religions. From what I have heard the Koran has some violence in it, but so does the old testament of the Bible. It was actually reading the Bible that made me change religions 18 years ago. The God of the old testament in the Bible was too scary for me! I'm sure the Koran will be an interesting read.

I started tapping trees today! YAY! I cheat and use 2L pop bottles instead of expensive metal buckets. The sap is running great!

And lastly, all the snow is almost melted! 90cm of snow melted in six days, not bad!

Hugs and Love!