Skunks and Porcupines

Yep, that's poop ... I know how exciting. 

I didn't know what critter was responsible for said poop so took a pic to post on Facebook to ask (cause yes, many of my crazy friends would actually know such a thing)

I'm told it's probably skunk poop. It's interesting that it has some undigested berries in.

I am yet to actually see a skunk but logically I'm sure there are several on the property.

There is an awesome porcupine that has his home on the property. He's a big older fella (or lady! I didn't see balls! LOL)

Porcupines are awesome critters. They are so cute! I googled them this afternoon to learn a bit more about them. I admit I thought they could throw their quills, but that's actually a myth!

I'll try to get a pic of him, but no guarantees!

With fall coming the animals around here should increase, I'm excited! I'll try to get y'all lots of pics!

Hugs!

Mice

My new house has mice. Ok, that's not really surprising as pretty well any country home has mice; however, this one has mice in the walls and in the attic that scratch and chew all night, and are downright freaky!

I slept about two hours Friday night and about an hour Saturday night, Sunday I moved my bed (and bedroom stuff) to the bedroom at the other end of the house.

I have cats; I have three barn cats that are excellent mousers. However, they are more outside than inside. I've started keeping them inside as much as possible and they have killed a few mice, but they really cannot get to the ones in the walls.

My plan for today, is to try putting the best mouser in the attic for a few hours. Hopefully that will help take care of a bunch of the one up there. I'm thinking of doing it daily for a few weeks, maybe an hour or two each day. The biggest problem I see with this plan is the cat certainly won't eat them all, so will the attic (and the house) start to stink from decaying mouse bodies?

I admit I'm a girlie girl and freak out over mice. They give me the serious willies! Dirty disgusting little things they are! I know that is very un-Pagany of me. I love all of Mother Earth's children, I just don't want to share my house with many of them!

Before I moved here, I had a "friend" say I wouldn't need the barn cats cause there wouldn't be as many mice in the forest as there is in the farming community. Pffft! I told her she was very wrong and yep, I think this proves it. I lived in a 120 year old farm house before here and didn't have a 10th of the mice.

I'm sure my cats will do a good job getting rid of the mice, it's just going to take them a few months.

I hope you all have a great week! Hugs!

Public servant being investigated for writing and performing anti-Tory ‘Harperman’ song

If you know me, you know I am not a fan of Harper and his conservatives. This came up on my Facebook feed yesterday and I noticed it spread across the newsfeeds like wild fire.

The song is a hoot (and very true) and props to the awesome folks who put it together. They rock.

I'm sorry the guy who wrote it got into trouble and I'm sure the whole group of them have been labelled "terrorists" now. (cause you know, those little old ladies were awfully scary!)

Harper it is time for you to go! Everyone please vote this coming election and please don't vote Conservative! 

While getting the link for Harperman, I saw this song. Very powerful. I am shocked at how deeply Harper has hurt Canadians.

Piles of Wood

The wood is starting to pile up! I think I've got about 3-4 cords of it stacked for winter now. I even learned how to use the chainsaw today and cut a fair amount of it myself :)

There are two wood stands inside the house, so the first two pics of of them. As you can see one is filled to the top, the other still has more room.

The next two pics are of behind the house. There is a covered area (and I'll be hanging a tarp from the one side to help keep everything dry). The wood is mostly birch, with a bit of oak and maple. All the pine I sent down to the revel fire.

I'm told I need 10-15 cords of wood, so tomorrow, we will start dragging more dead fall (there are piles of previously cut trees) up to the house so it can get cut and added to the pile. We still got a month to go (I figure if we have all our wood by the end of September, we'll be doing great)

I hope you all had a fantastic Thursday! Hugs!

Winter Wood

As I have mentioned on several earlier blog posts, I am in the process of gathering/cutting/stacking wood for the wood stove for the winter. Last night I did some research of what wood is best for a wood stove and found out:

Hard wood burns longer than soft wood and is way better to use. Unfortunately, I only have a bit of hard wood (Maple and Oak). I do have a fair amount of birch here: Google says that birch is pretty good to use. 

I also have a lot of pine here, but Google says it's bad so it's all being sent down to the Revel fire area. Google said that Pine has more sap than other woods which can increase how often you have to clean the stove/chimney. Addition, Pine is said to have more cancerous stuff (in its smoke) and as it burns very hot it tends to spark a lot. 

I think so far I've got about a month of wood cut and stacked, only about 4 more month's worth to go :) LOL!

Have a great night! Hugs!

Summer Ends

Alas, all good things must come to an end; the end of summer draws near. The insect population has decreased by at least half. You can actually go for a walk without being bit!The temperatures are slowly dropping, the night is slowly growing, and death approaches. Mabon will be here soon and before we know it, it will be Samhain!

I'm excited for Autumn. I look forward to the changes in colour and the increase in wildlife. I am planning on getting some good photography done! I'm enjoying gathering wood and getting things prepared, though I do miss the joy of harvesting the garden. I look forward to doing it next year!

I look forward to winter too, though I am a little nervous about getting enough work to keep me from getting too bored. Right now, I'm getting work (dances) pretty good, but come winter, I'm not so sure. I could make enough to cover the bills with my online work, but it'd be tight. I guess we'll see come winter. I am looking forward to the beauty of winter, the solitude of winter, the books I'll get read and the art I'll get done! This year's November-November goals; Illustrate and help right, and publish FAERIE ABCS; Make a Faerie Colouring book; Write a book about raising chickens; illustrate/help write/publish a book of poem for children.

I am actually celebrating a bit tonight. Today, I finish writing the last of the dog breeds for my dog breeds book!

Last November, I took on 3 projects: to illustrate and publish my ABC Animals book (got the done); write my Memoirs of an Exotic Dancer and get it published (It's being edited at the moment): and write a book with all the different dog breed and get it published (I wrote the last dog breed today!.)

Have a good night! I'm off to research firewood to use in woodstoves (which wood is best etc) ... can you guess what tomorrow's blog post will be about? :)

Gathering Wood for Winter

My home has a wood stove. I'm really looking forward to not freezing this winter! I also have propane heat so if the wood stove doesn't quite cut it, I'm all good.

I'm told that I will need about 15 cords of wood to make it through the winter comfortably.

There is tons of cut down trees and dead fall in the forest in front of the house. Way more than 15 cords worth! My plan is to drag it all up to the house, and then cut and stack it all.

I made a path down to the area where all the cut trees are. It made it easier to drag it up

There are so many cut trees just waiting to be cleaned up!

My son Travis working hard bring deadfall and cut branches up to the house

                                                   Our pile of wood thus far

We also put a window in the chicken coop today, I would of loved a bigger window for it, but it was the best I could do for now. At least it's some light for them!

 
We also put what steel with had on the coop to make it harder for predators to chew through