Where did the summer go?

Goodness me, I haven't written a blog post since February.  And now here we are at the end of summer.  Where did it go, and why does summer always have to go so quickly, compared to our interminable winter and not-really-spring-because-it's-too-cold-and-wet seasons.  I've been busy with work all summer, of course, and it's good to have work, but sometimes it's too much.  As always, difficult when one is running one's own business trying to ensure that contracts keep on coming in but also wishing that sometimes there would be more of a break!

As usual, I didn't do any traveling this summer.  I still have significant concerns about covid.  We both had it in April, despite having had 3 shots and wearing masks all the time.  Marc got it at work and brought it home and that was that.  It honestly wasn't that bad for me, but I don't want it again.  In addition, it's difficult to travel when one has livestock - especially chickens that need to be let out and let in every day, and closed for the night to keep them safe. 

I hatched 9 chicks this year and ended up with 6 roosters and 3 hens.  Not a great ratio!  One of the hens had some kind of predator incident despite being in a secure coop.  I think she may have gotten her wing stuck between cage bars, which made it stick out of the pen.  Unfortunately, something (cat?  fox?) came along and took most of her wing off.  I didn't think she would survive, but she has beaten the odds and now she has one normal wing

 and one mini-wing.  

You wouldn't necessarily know to look at her though, and she does well except for flying up onto the roosts.  I will have to make her a ramp.  She might be Winifred, or Wilhelmina.  Or maybe Wren.

I also ended up with a funny-looking bantam rooster, and I can't quite bring myself to send him to freezer camp, so he might get to stick around.

Some things in the veggie garden are doing well, and some are a disaster.  Carrots were dreadful - I did two seedings and the germination was awful, even though I kept them moist and did all the things you're supposed to do.  The parsnips, on the other hand, are doing very well.  I have lots of zucchini and cucumbers to harvest right now.

I've also been trying to get more walks into my week, and have been enjoying time at two local parks.  If it's raining, I don't go, but otherwise, I try to go at least 3 times a week.

That's about all I have.  I really should try to write more often.

Chick Progress

This is a picture-heavy post, but just for interest's sake, I've matched up the pictures of the chicks today with their day 1 pictures.  Some of them are quite firmly in the awkward adolescent stage at which they have lost their fluffy cuteness and have progressed into semi-feathered semi-cuteness, with a touch of teenage angst.  There are some major size differences (which is expected based on the egg sizes they hatched from) and some clear roosters showing up.  I'll give my best guesses here.  I put a mini hand sanitizer bottle in the pictures today for scale.  It's the little travel size.  I realized, looking at the pictures, that I've had it for more than 8 years now, since it's from Walgreens (we don't have Walgreens in Canada) and has no French on the label.  Thus, I must have brought it with me from Iowa!  Amazing how these things are found in the back of the drawer as needed!

Three of the current brood were hatched later than the rest and are still quite small.  They are easy to identify.  It is a bit early to guess on gender but these 3 might be hens if I'm lucky.

Cinnamon Chipmunk, Day 1 (far left)

Day 14, Best Guess: hen

Chocolate Chipmunk, far right, Day 1:

Day 14, best guess: hen

Solid black with white chin, middle, Day 1:

Day 14, best guess: hen

There is a wee bit of brown speckling on some feathers.

Chocolate Chick, Day 1:

Day 25, best guess: hen 

She's a little darker than I expected but has a lovely ring of golden neck feathers.  Her feet and legs darkened a lot.

Day 1: Black with a white eye marking

Day 25: Best guess: hen
She has some white wing feathers and more speckling than I would have expected on her underside.

I think she might have cheek muff feathers, which means she has a bit of Ameraucana in her. I think her mom is one of my Ameraucana bantams.

Day 1, yellow and greyish chick with light beak, back striping:

Day 25:  Biggest bird, very mixed feathers and patterns.  Quite interesting.  Best guess: roo
Definitely at an awkward stage!

Day 1: Pale coloured chick, light beak

Day 25:  Seriously?!  Best guess: Roo
This bird really surprised me with the extent of dark colour in the feathers, including on the head.  I thought it was going to be nearly solid white at hatch time.  It's also very large now.  The slight pink tone to the comb area makes me think it's a rooster.  Darn it!  A pretty bird.

Day 1: Chipmunk with gold tones


Day 25, best guess: roo
This is a really beautifully feathered bird with great colour, but the comb screams roo.  Possible head crest feathers too.  Grumble...

Day 1: Chipmunk chick

Day 25: Interesting!  Best guess: hmmm..... 

Honestly, I'm not sure.  There's a bit of comb swelling, but no pinkish tone yet.  Might be a hen.  Really neat feather patterns and interesting colours.  Quite a stocky bird. 

Day 25:  Sorry, this bird missed its chick pic!  I'm sure it's a rooster though.

Day 1:  Tiny black chick with feathered legs
This one was the smallest of the batch.

Day 25:  Head crest!  Best guess: roo
This one has some grey tones in the feathering and quite a head crest forming.  It has silkie toes, which explains the head crest.

 I'm not sure if it's a roo, but I suspect...

Day 1:  Solid black, including beak

Day 25:  Smallest one (of the initial batch), best guess: hen
I'm not entirely sure, but she acts like a hen and has no comb swelling.  Silkie toes.

Day 1:  Last one!  Black with white shading, dark beak mark

Day 25, best guess: roo
Interesting head feathering.  Again, it has the look of the lacing on my Ameraucana bantam, so I think that's the mom.  No silkie toes.

I just love barnyard mix birds.  They're fun to hatch because you really have no idea what you're going to get.  The feathering is always a bit of a surprise.  I am happy with this set of hatchlings and hope to have some lovely hens.  The extra roosters will unfortunately be for soup stock, but they'll live their first year happily digging in the dirt. So far it looks like 5 roosters for sure, which if that number holds, 8 hens would be quite lucky out of 13 birds.  I'm sure others will declare themselves though!

All the same as usual around here, really

So, the state of emergency continues around here, and I know it probably sounds unusual, but things around here are more or less the same as usual.  I've been working from home for 8 years now, and I'm continuing to work from home.  I haven't lost any clients and I'm lucky to be busy...even though sometimes I'm too busy.  I work 50+ hours a week, and that's more than enough.  I typically shop for groceries once every couple of weeks, and I'm still doing that.  My stores have had most of the things I want, although there was a short supply of toilet paper for a while, but I had plenty on hand already.

My province is in an official state of emergency, with no public gatherings, no non-essential businesses being open, schools closed, and all the other usual things that everyone is dealing with now in 'lockdown' situations.  We also have closed provincial borders.  I can't visit my parents in Nova Scotia, nor can they visit me.  The provinces are like states in the United States.  I'm not sure how many states have their borders with other states closed.  Not enough, I'm sure!

All our provincial efforts are paying off.  We've had a total of 117 cases of COVID-19.  That's across the whole province!  77 of those cases are recovered.  So, we only have 40 active cases now.  A total of 12 people have been hospitalized, but we now only have 5 people in hospital, 3 in ICU.  We have had zero deaths in my province.  Not a single one.  We had an early, rapid shutdown response with fairly consistent abiding by the rules by most people.  We are very lucky, but if everywhere had taken such strict, early measures, things would probably be a lot better all around the globe.

I really haven't been particularly worried or stressed, and I'm still not, especially given how well our province is doing.  We're not out of the woods yet, but they say that the economy may soon start to open up again if we continue to have such low numbers.  For the past couple of weeks, our daily new case number has been 0, 1 or 2.  It goes to show that obeying the rules and acting responsibly really does flatten the curve.  We also have a relatively low density in our urban areas, and a lot of people live fairly rurally, which helps keep distancing easy.

I have been going for walks in the local park (where the trails have been made one-way only to support distancing).  I saw a muskrat on the weekend!

I'm also keeping busy with my usual things around the house, including some crocheting on my Sophie's Universe blanket.


The snow is still in the yard but it's melting and a couple of the raised beds now have no more snow on them.  I have some crocuses that are blooming in the flower bed that gets the most sun.  Some of the other flower beds are still completely snow covered.

I turned 51 last weekend.  It was a bit sad not to be able to visit my parents for my birthday, but it's for the best until things are safer for them and for me.  Marc baked me a cake, which was really sweet of him, and it was extremely yummy.

In other news, I set up the incubator to replenish some flock members, and the first chicks hatched today.  They are darling, as one might expect.  Let's hope for lots of hens!

Also this week, the moths have finally started coming back.  I'm using moth bait this year, which is a mix of brown sugar, molasses, yeast, red wine, and fermented apple pieces.  It's working really well.  So far, I've had a lovely mix of spring species.  I'm really happy to be mothing again.

Wanton pinion moth (Lithophane petulca)


Straight-toothed sallow (Eupsilia vinulenta):  one specimen with orange spots and another with white spots.  I find this kind of diversity within species to be quite fascinating.

Hoary pinion (Lithophane fagina)

Dot-and-dash Swordgrass (Xylena curvimacula)...doesn't it look like it's wearing an evening gown?!

Plush-naped pinion (Lithophane pexata)

So all in all, things are just about normal around here, and I'm really glad I am a bit of a quirky introvert with hobbies that allow me to stay home and amuse myself, and I'm really glad to have a home-based career.  Hope everyone in my blogosphere is staying healthy and calm.  Carry on!