Friday's Hunt v 3.10

Well, it certainly has been a very busy time lately, and the fact that I'm a day late on Friday's Hunt is further evidence of the craziness of my work schedule lately.  I was working until almost 9 pm last night, and by then I was just too tired to write.  So, Friday....Saturday....whichever it is, here's the hunt!

Thank you to Teresa at Eden Hills for our prompts, which are:  Starts with J, Week's Favourite, and Bird/Wings.

Starts with J
J is a bit of a tricky letter.  There aren't a lot of easy topics for photography that start with the letter J.  Perhaps I should show you our cat, Mitten, who was stuck under a box that was overturned, and he sort of looked like he was in Jail!  Don't worry, he gets out quite easily.

My mother helpfully suggested jewelry, so here are a few pictures of some beaded pendants that I've made and sold.  I don't have much time for bead work these days, but I'd like to make some more of these in the future.  I really enjoy the challenge of choosing the right beads to work together into a cohesive look.  The colours make me happy!

Week's Favourite
Pippin really is a very photogenic rabbit.  With the rainbow-coloured backdrop of my sweater, I think this is a lovely picture, so it's my favourite this week.

Bird/Wings
I take a lot of bird pictures, as my regular readers will know.  I haven't taken many lately due to being busy, but also because there aren't many birds around right now.  There are the black-capped chickadees and the red-breasted nuthatches, but I don't see any others on a regular basis, except the pheasants.  I went outside to try to get a good bird picture today and it was bitterly cold.  The wind was blowing, making it even colder.  With the wind chill, it was -25 C, which is -13 F.  I was wearing my insulated coveralls, but I didn't put socks on, because I was still in my pajamas.  You can well imagine how cold my ankles became after a few minutes!  Only for you, my dear readers, only for you!

Anyway, I did manage to get a couple of bird pictures - not great ones.  I really wanted to get a wing picture, but I didn't have as much luck as I would have liked today.  I got a picture of a black-capped chickadee looking like a wee torpedo - just snapped at the moment in flight that his or her wings were folded in, rather than spread out.  It's kind of a funny shot - looks like a wingless bird!

I almost got another good shot but as you can see, the nuthatch was just leaving the frame in the lower right.


The feeder was in shadow and there was bright sun behind, making it difficult to get good pictures today. However, I did manage to get this single decent wing shot.  This is the red-breasted nuthatch again.

 
To make up for the lack of good wing shots, I give you this bonus shot of a ring-necked pheasant in the sun this morning.  His plumage is glorious.  You can see he's been eating a lot of the chicken feed I put out to help them stay warm on these cold winter days.  His crop is quite full!

Bunday Blog Business

Hello again my friends, it is time for another edition of Bunday Business.  Today we are having a very serious business discussion.  I was on a very special course this week.  See all my important course materials?

(Well, it might sort of be that the male hoomin bean was on a course, but I have learned by osmosis, you see, so I don't even need to actually be there, because I am a very busy bun and I can't be doing everything at once. What if I wasn't at home to watch the female hoomin bean?!  Who knows what she would get up to. ) 

Today, we are discussing bunning running your own business.  This is not to be confused with bunsiness.  If something is very bunny-like, it has a high degree of bunsiness.  That is a word for another time.  Today, it's all business.

Business is about your job.  You all know that I am an expert auditor and inspector and general overseer of all the important things.  So, this week I have been taking the course to learn new things to assist me with my career.  

For example, I have been learning about being a buntrepreneur!  As you can see, I have important papers from BDC, which is the Bunnies' Development Corporation. You can see right on the front of their brochure that they are the only bank devoted exclusively to buntrepreneurs.  They are a crown corporation, so they are used to dealing with royal bunnies, such as I am.

In case you do not know, a buntrepreneur is a bunny who runs his or her own business.  Like me.

As you can see, there is much to read about buntrepreneurialism, and I am still studying the details.

For example, here are ten reasons to join the Chamber of Commerce.  I am still considering this option.  I think that the Chamber needs more bunny representatives. Reason number eight is particularly appealing to me.  Recognition.  It is important to be recognized as a buntrepreneur with skills and talents.

As you can see, the Chamber of Commerce has written me a letter outlining the bunefits of joining the Chamber.  Reap the Bunefits!  It says so right there!  

All this information requires a great deal of focus and consideration.  I know I have probably overwhelmed you with this small introduction to buntrepreneurs and bunefits. Really, I'm rather exhausted myself.  I'm just going to sit for a while and contemplate my plans to audit the world, and possibly consult with the wooden duck.

Do stop by for a chat next week, and until then, keep your ears clean!

Friday's Hunt v 3.09

It's time for Friday's Hunt - that little portion of my day when I get to be creative!  I need more time for creativity at the moment, but it's not easy to find it with my current work schedule.  At least I managed to get outside and take a few pictures today.

Our prompts from Eden Hills today are:  Starts with I, Week's Favourite, and Nose.

Starts with I
Today I went outside to give a grain treat to my sheep, Tucker and Twilight, and my goat, Lucky Nickel.  The sheep eat together out of the same dish.  Lucky Nickel is bossy and pushy so she gets her own dish.  She inhales her food, and then wants to go and steal the sheeps' portion.  I have to stand there being a 'referee' of sorts, preventing her from getting to their dish.  This results in one very annoyed goat, and the best word I can think of for this expression is Indignant!  Look at those eyes! 

She is sooooo annoyed at me for not letting her take their food!  She thinks it is rightfully hers.

Fortunately, the sheep are allowed to finish their treat in peace, thanks to my Intervention.


Week's Favourite
My week's favourite actually comes from last weekend.  Marc and I attended a basket-weaving class at Legacy Lane Fibre Mill in Sussex, NB.  We each made a small woven basket that is ideal for a desktop pen and pencil basket or for other small items.  We had a lot of fun learning the techniques and enjoying doing something different.  Here are our finished baskets.

Nose
Rabbits have very cute noses.  Pippin has a fine example of a cute nose.  I've noticed that his whiskers are very short - most rabbits have whiskers like cats - lots of long ones!  I thought, when we first got Pippin from the SPCA, that they had been trimmed or damaged.  However, I noticed over time that they hadn't really grown, so I was motivated to look up the potential reasons for short rabbit whiskers.

Lo and behold, I learned that the rex breed of rabbit has short and/or curly whiskers, and sometimes barely any at all.  I had suspected from Pippin's fur type that he was at least partially a rex breed, and now this is further confirmation that he is a rex rabbit.  I also learned something new about rabbits, so it was a very worthwhile investigation.  Pippin says he likes his whiskers just fine, thanks!

Bunday Blog Business

Oh!  You caught me right in the middle of a nap!  Just give me a moment to stretch, yawn, and get my thoughts in order.

Right, well, it's Bunday again.  The best day of the week, naturally.  You know that I am a careful and dedicated auditor of all things in the house.  It's part of my job as a house bunny.  Today, much to the hoomin bean's surprise, I decided to audit the guinea pig cage, but from a new vantage point.

Yes, I just jumped right on top of it.  From the floor.  Because I am a rabbit of great skill and acrobatic talent.

Hey!  Are you looking at my bum?!  I said it was Bunday, not Bumday!

I did some checking of the overall layout.

Then, because I am a bun of great dramatic talent, I decided to pose like one of those book-ends that the hoomin bean has on her shelf - see them between the green bottles? They aren't holding any books right now because she is disorganized and lazy and hasn't got all her books set up properly yet. She'll say it is because she is too busy, but I have seen her taking time to do things like eat and sleep, so clearly she could be spending more time on her books.  Anyway, I posed...artfully.

All good things must come to an end, so I got down from the cage to continue my day of auditing and other important business that I can't possibly begin to tell you about because it's highly classified.  The guinea pigs were fine.  The cage passed the audit.  

The hoomin bean had some friends come over earlier this week to spin yarn in the living room.  Naturally, I was required to supervise their activities.  You can't just leave a group of hoomin beans alone in the living room.  My primary obsession area of supervision was in the auditing of the treats being offered.  I needed to make sure they were up to standard. They were.  

I also had to inspect the hoomin bean's new Hygge crochet shawl kit.  It also passed the audit, but she has not started it yet.  I disapprove of this continued idleness.

I've been very busy, as you can see.  So for now, it's back to my spot in the sun to relax and reflect upon my magnificence.  

Have a bountiful Bunday, and keep your ears clean.  

Friday's Hunt v 3.08

I completely forgot until about 6:30 pm today, that it's Friday, and thus the day for Friday's Hunt, hosted by Eden Hills.  I am so woefully unprepared.  This week has truly been one work project after another, every day and every evening.  

Starts with H
I decided to join a crochet-along for a specific project and I purchased the kit for participating.  This was before I was beset with some of the contract work that has come my way, so I haven't started it yet.  I'm not sure when I will start it, given my workload, but at least I have the kit.  The project is called the Hygge wrap.  So my H word is Hygge. What the heck is that, you're probably asking.  Well, there is a postcard included in the kit with the definition of this interesting Danish word (pronounced Hoo-ga).  It doesn't really have a direct English translation, but "cozy" comes close.  So, here's to all of us having a little more Hygge in our lives - I think we all need it.

Here's the colours in my kit - those who know me well will recognize these are "my colours" without a doubt!

Here's how the finished shawl will look (although this one is in different colours)

Week's Favourite
We had a lot of icicles this week with all the snow we had, and then some subsequent melting.  I took this picture of an unusual formation in the line-up of icicles.  You can see how at one point, the two icicles might have been connected by the larger flows at the top.  I'm not quite sure how this formation happened, but it was unusual, so it's my favourite for this week.

Chiaroscuro or Shadow
Teresa's prompt was for chiaroscuro or shadow. I confess, I had to Google chiaroscuro. The definitions I found were mostly along the same line - an effect of contrasted light and shadow created by light falling unevenly or from a particular direction on something. As I said, I totally forgot about this blog until today, so I had to think about pictures I'd taken that might qualify. Then I realized that today I took some pictures of Pippin in the living room, where he has taken to finding a sunny spot to relax in, somewhat like a dog or a cat will do. I converted one of my favourites to black and white, to emphasize the shadow aspect. The window outline is transferring onto the carpet, which is reflecting light up onto the underside of Pippin's fur. It's definitely "light falling unevenly or from a particular direction" so I hope this one fits the prompt!

What isn't on the roof anymore

We had two major snowstorms last week, one within a couple of days of the other.  The accumulations were significant, and we were in the bands of heaviest snow in the province during the second storm.  All of this resulted in some very significant accumulation of snow on the steel roof of our house.  Then, we had a couple of days where the temperature actually went above freezing.  When that happens, the steel roof warms up, and the snow starts to melt on the bottom.  That, dear readers, is a recipe for a roof avalanche!  The snow that was on the roof, is now not on the roof.

Overnight, we heard some thunderous noises as huge chunks of snow began to slide off the roof.  In the morning, our usual peaceful woodland view out the living room window had become this:

A little while later, it was like this, as more chunks fell:

The next morning, it was like this, and you can see where a large chunk came to rest against the glass.  I was quite worried about glass breaking, but we seem to have escaped that problem for now.

Likewise, the dining room window went from this...

...to this!  And now we can scarcely see anything out that window except for snow!  As you can imagine, this will take many weeks to melt completely, depending on the type of spring we have.  I imagine it will be at least the end of April, if not well into May before we see the end of this.

Fortunately, the front of our house has little metal ridges that prevent the abrupt drop of snow, so the front didn't have this phenomenon.  The snow has melted on the front, and the water goes into the gutters and is carried away.  We don't have to worry when we walk out the front door, about a huge lump of snow falling on our heads.  When I carry hay to the sheep by going out the back door, I do need to be more careful.  

Unfortunately, there has been some significant damage to the screened-in porch.  It seemed not too bad at the start...

...but by the end, there was some major bowing of the supports on the screening on the front side, and it will need to be repaired in the spring when this mess melts.

Here you can really see where the screen and its framing has been pushed in.

Every winter is different here - some have great heaps of snow and others have limited snow but are extremely cold.  This year has been a mix - some extreme cold, but more recently, extreme snow.  We are not sure how to prevent a recurrence of this problem in another snowy year.

These chunks of snow are extremely large and awkwardly shaped, and difficult to break even with a metal shovel.  Marc has tried, without much success, to move some of the chunks pressing on the screening supports.  This isn't something you can just push out of the way. It's huge, it's heavy, and it's potentially dangerous.

This winter has a been a learning experience in our new home, and we'll have to see what we can do to improve the snow drop from the roof for future years, or at least re-direct it a bit.  

Linking with All Seasons.

Bunday Blog Business

It's me, Pippin, back for the most important day of the week, of course.  Bunday.  This has been a busy week around the house.  Sometimes the hoomin beans don't take time to stop and smell the compost.  This week, the lady hoomin bean went shopping and she brought home some most excellent celery and kale.  Of course, it is my job to check the shopping bags to ensure that there is nothing left in there.

We wouldn't want to waste anything.


After my shopping bag audit, naturally I must do a follow-up audit in the kitchen to make sure everything has been put away properly.

Hmmm....yes, I think I may have to do a closer inspection of those dried cherries.

All that auditing and inspecting can be exhausting, so then I go for a good rest.  Resting allows me to meditate upon my grand plans of building a vegetable farm in the home office.  I still have some work to do on the technology that will make the farm invisible to the hoomin beans.  They do not think a vegetable farm is an appropriate thing to have in their home office.  Such small brains...

Until next Bunday, keep your ears clean!