And then there were 10 (chickens that is…not kids)

Downsized the flock of chickens last week. We had 15 roosters to our 10 hens and that was going to be an issue sooner than later. The boys were becoming more and more aggressive so we had to do something.  I put an ad on Kijiji and a few days later someone came and bought all 13 I had advertised.

We kept back 2 roosters to guard the flock and possibly make more chicks in the future.  Two days later both roosters disappeared.  We assumed they wandered into the woods (as they often would) and possibly got lost as they were seen throughout the day.  I hoped they would turn up at 9 pm when they put themselves away in the chick shaw.

The next day, when they still failed to show up we started to search for signs in the woods and neighbouring field.  All we found was a pile of feathers deep in the trees.  My guess is it was a weasel.  The dog is pretty good to keep the larger predators off the property and because the roosters like the woods they made themselves targets.  Fortunately the hens like to stay close to the house and we’ve not lost any (yet).

Things are much quieter, as the boys were getting pretty loud and I miss my buddy.  There was one rooster (one of the ones we kept) that would come over to see me whenever I was outside.  He would follow me around and chatter at me as I worked in the yard.  He would also stand up on the deck outside the door and crow.

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Hopefully we start getting some eggs soon.  I should start happening any time now.  The tomatoes are getting large and the potatoes will be ready for harvest soon.  The corn is over 6′ tall now and we have a monster sunflower that is at least 15 feet tall!

Have a great day!

A Mouse in the House

A bit of excitement this morning before leaving for work.  I was in the bathroom when a mouse came under the door, did a quick u-turn and back out again.  I had to blink a couple of times to make sure I saw what I thought I saw.  We have not had any mice in the house before so I was definitely surprised.

I quickly opened the door and frantically looked about my bedroom for the pesky invader, but to no avail.  He was nowhere to be found.  The commotion awoke my wife and a couple of kids.  I assumed (incorrectly) that he went back down whatever hidy-hole he came from and that I would not see him again.

A few minutes later, as I was trying to take a picture of the sunrise, a scream came from the kitchen window as the mouse darted from under the stove to under the fridge.  This got everyone up and the chase was on.  The cat was brought in to do what we got the thing for, which was mouse duty.

The vile thing made its way back into my bathroom and was hiding under a cabinet when the cat finally got involved.  A poke underneath with the broom handle brought the mouse out and grabbed the cat’s attention (finally, she didn’t understand why we were trying to shove her under the cabinet – she just wanted cuddles).  She caught the mouse under the toilet and headed for the kitchen with it dangling from her mouth by its tail.

We, of course, wanted her to take it outside and I picked her up (with the dangly mouse) and headed for the door.  She, unexpectedly, dropped it before I could go three paces (sigh) and the mouse escaped under the stove again.

One needs to understand that there were seven hysterical children and two adults freaking out, lots of screaming and shouting and running around.  I yanked the drawer out from the stove and the cat dove back into the fray.  The mouse dashed to under the fridge again with the cat hot on its heels.

I pulled the fridge from the wall and it again ran into my bedroom.  It hid in an empty box and confused the cat for a minute before hiding behind the dresser.  Cornered by the cat, it made a risky dash for the bathroom, only to get caught again.  This time we were able to herd the cat out the door with its prize, much to everyone’s relief.

Five minutes later, when leaving for work, I saw the cat under the deck playing with the mouse – which was still alive and trying to escape.  I told her to just kill the dang thing and get it over with.

Here’s the sunrise picture 🙂

Hope you all had a great day!

A Leap of Faith

After months and months of back and forth, we finally decided to list our property. It was a difficult decision and one that we agonized over for quite some time. Ultimately we miss life on the road and being all together as a family.

The kids have all asked me at some point about when we are moving back into the camper and why I keep leaving everyday. I also miss the freedom we had to go where we wanted when we wanted.

We are also attracted to the minimalist lifestyle. We both have a history of maximist tendencies (me more so than Laurel) and the liberty that comes from not having materialistic attachments is awesome. I still have some progress to make in this area, but it gets easier over time.

At the same time having a home base to come back to is nice. As much as I’m itching to travel, I know it is just as important to stop for a while and unwind, re-evaluate and relax.

So now we wait and see. Our realtor was pretty optimistic we could sell fairly quickly, but these things are never certain.