It's snowy slush today but the days are longer & warmer than last month.
The goat & tulip blocks were added to the chicken & eggs block, I now have the sheep block to work on to get caught up. I still have the Eeyore block to cut & sew together. So far the 100-acre wood quilt has been 520 pcs cut & sewn together!
My Pfaff Quilt Expression 720 sewing machine, which was purchased in Oct 2020 went to have service done to it as I wore the feed dogs down & new ones had to be installed, also a thread shank, check spring, & a bobbin case holder had to be replaced. I've been sewing on my manual Pfaff from 1996 & I'm looking forward to using the newer one again with all the fancy add-ons I've grown accustomed to.
It was a hard week this week as we decided to get rid of Rusty the Rooster as he had grown large and was ruining the girls' backs & heads as he mounted them. The capes did no good with him grabbing their neck to hold on to them.
I saw pink lines going up his legs & thought 'Oh no, lice!' but no it was hormones & this was only going to get worse with spring in the air. Rusty had already attacked Bill several times & I was getting fearful that it might happen to me. So, we made plans to take him to a family that ate chickens & they were pleased to have the gift of Rusty for their deep freeze.
Rusty never bothered with Henny, she has all her feathers & was always with Rusty but is doing fine with him gone & the three Reba's to keep her company.
Rusty grew to be a beautiful rooster, he's 10 months old when he left.
You can see how much smaller the Rhode Island Reds are next to the Plymouth Rock chickens. And how damaged wee Reba was from Rusty's mounting her.
All Reba's showed signs of Rusty's lust for them.
This wee girl is the smallest & survived the winter we had.
Rusty did well through the winter & only had a few frostbite areas on his waddle & comb.
Such a handsome rooster, but he was getting mean.
The Rhode Island Reds are the best layers & in June we will get six more babies to add to this flock.
They're so happy playing & pecking in the leaves from Leslie & Nick's city lawn grass clippings!
Baxter & Bridget went with Bill on the prisoner exchange of Rusty. They waited patiently in the back seat for Bill & me to load Rusty into the back of the pickup.
The late afternoon sun was warm as they took it in waiting.
Rusty was not happy being away from his girls.
A large dog crate was used for the transportation of this large rooster.
I so miss his crowing every morning, it always made me smile & feel the morning sunrise.
He was the first rooster I had ever known & I miss him but the hens do not miss the daily abuse they were going through.
Goodbye Rusty & thank you for being heroic & saving the girls from the eagle last summer. We have deer netting over the top of the outside run & the girls are now protected from overhead predators.
Oh, Rusty, you are missed. In your honour, I'm making a stained glass weather vain for the Chicken Chalet.
Up into the back of the truck you go!
Beautiful Rusty! I hope you taste as good as you look. :(
You were an experience I will never forget.
Rusty the Rooster May 2024- March 2025
The swivel egg tower has been great for the storing of fresh eggs!
The chickens' eggs have such a wonderful colour & flavour to them!
We've egg salad sandwiches once a week to use up the fresh eggs & I give out 1/2 dozen eggs to friends when the tower of eggs gets too full.
The egg shells are rinsed out & dried then I crush them into small dustlike pieces for the chickens to eat for the calcium in them. Leslie & Nick save their shells for us too as those chickens eat the shells like potato chips, they love them! We picked up oyster shells for the same purpose but they prefer the crushed egg shells!
St. Paddy's Day has come & gone...
Those that have come to the house were greeted by the laneway gargoyle wearing his greens!
So stylish in his top hat & bow tie!
The Canadian geese at the front door were dressed in their best too!
Baxter was looking dapper in his top hat & bow tie!
And again in his Irish Anne hat! lol
Bill has been busy making old look like new again!
This is my childhood table, the one that was in our parlour & I would eat my supper with my dad. Dad was in a wheelchair & had his own try, I had this table. Bill is bringing it back to life & making it stronger as its legs weakened over many years. I'll show the finished table next blog when done.
Bill's still working on this labour of love for our family heirlooms that will be displayed safely on the shelves behind the glass doors.
This is the top piece with the shelves & desk shell. When together it is 100 inches tall!
Bill & I have heirlooms from grandparents like this passport photo taken of Grandma with the three children she brought to Canada, my father is the baby in her lap.
They arrived at Pier 21 in Nova Scotia & then went on to meet Grandpa in Guelph Ontario. She was alone and sure had her hands full with this trio!! Joseph, Gaza, & Tebor Mitro.
Dad always joked that his parents' names were Mary & Joseph & he was baby Jesus. lol
This is what it looked like at the auction center from our antique dealer. It came from Fredericton & is around the 1850s. Beautiful piece of workmanship history to have our family history displayed in!
Bill has been rebuilding it & keeping it with the natural materials, it will be gorgeous when done!
I got back to doing some needle felting!
I took a needle-felted mushroom & made it into a Fungi Fellow!
Those of you from a certain age will remember Cat Stevens album Tea for the Tillerman, this little fellow so reminds me of that album, that I had to put a tea set with him! lol
Bridget has been suffering from arthritis this winter & has responded well to the COSEQUIN joint supplement that my girlfriend Sandi gifted me. It took a couple of weeks for her to get back to a more normal state & we're happy that she is! It was hard to knit or do needlework with her needing to be so close to me but I understood she just wasn't herself.
Bridget is back to sleeping with her babies & can get up & down out of chairs with ease.
Many changes are going on these days as we are all aging & moving forward. As Bill's dad used to say, 'It's good being on the top side of the ground & not under it!'
Spring has arrived & it feels so good, there is always excitement & a feeling of new life with spring.
Thank you for this long visit! I will try to do better with not being so absent with spring, I'm out of hibernation now!!
A Janet Clare design that I'm embroidering says it best!
Turn to the SUN and the shadows fall behind you
Have a wonderful weekend!
Hugs,
This is what it looked like at the auction center from our antique dealer. It came from Fredericton & is around the 1850s. Beautiful piece of workmanship history to have our family history displayed in!
Bridget has been suffering from arthritis this winter & has responded well to the COSEQUIN joint supplement that my girlfriend Sandi gifted me. It took a couple of weeks for her to get back to a more normal state & we're happy that she is! It was hard to knit or do needlework with her needing to be so close to me but I understood she just wasn't herself.
Bridget is back to sleeping with her babies & can get up & down out of chairs with ease.
