Band Practice

Tonight I caught Daddy and Sid jammin' in the basement. My how times have changed, instead of playing CSN, we're now playing ABC! We do really need a drummer so I am ok with this brief change in our set list!

Welcome to the Neigh-bourhood

6 years ago when we moved in, there was a small herd of cows in the field across the street. I loved the cows. There was Whitey, Blackie, Brownie1, 2 and 3, ah the memories! Anyhow the neighbour sold the cattle after a year of us being here because it was no longer cost effective to raise them. The fields have been bare since except for the very occasional deer, coyote or fox..... until today!


Sid and I were in the living room reading before nap and I heard a very loud and very clear whinny. I sat up, looked out the window and lo and behold, there were 4 horses in the paddock right across from my living room window. I called Sid over and the dogs jumped up and we all said goodbye to nap time and watched the new neighbours for the next hour. Tonight we took Sid over to meet them and she cried when it was time to leave. We can now cancel our cable. We have live entertainment to offer Sid and the pups!

Left to right, Sid, Gitan, Groovy and Maggie. Gitan is doing really well and is such an awesome dog. If I didn't love having just two dogs, he would stay with us. BUT I know how great it will be for him to have his own family and all the attention to himself, he deserves it. He is hilarious and very much like Groovy. They are half brother and sister. This picture really captures his happy go lucky personality.

Dr. Sidney

For about 3 weeks Sidney has been into taking care of her babies and playing doctor. Her favorite book right now is Franklin goes to the hospital and last week we had to take our foster dog to the vet for X-rays so it was very EXCITING! This morning we made Sidney a doctor prop box so she could fix her babies to perfection. We added syringes, medicine droppers and bottles, bandages, band-aids, a tensor, tape, scissors and X-rays. Her babies are looking so much better.

We are still learning about apples and the letter A we might add the letter X to go with the X-rays this week!

I Made ME!!!

This morning Sidney woke up and wanted to play with her new easel. It was given to us by a friend and has a white and black board and it sits on top of the table or on her lap. She wanted to draw with the marker on the white board and she shocked me with this drawing. She drew it and said "Look I made ME!" She made a point of showing me the drawing of her legs and feet. This is her first drawing of an actual object. I think it is so cool!

Apples, apples, apples

"How many apples fell on Newton's head before he took the hint? Nature is always hinting at us. It hints over and over again. And suddenly we take the hint."Robert Frost (1874-1963)

Our Apple tree has really produced a lot of apples this year. They are still quite tart but both Ken and Sidney love them like this.

We have been working on name recognition with Sidney and she now can pick her name out quite easily and knows the letter S. Our next step is helping her to learn the letters of the alphabet. Since our apples are already ready and we are going to the apple orchard in 3 weeks with our playgroup friends we are doing lots of apple activities. A = Apple! On the rescue front, we have another foster boy. He is the nicest Airedale I have ever had here. He is 6 and was surrendered because his owner was tired of picking up poop. He has some serious hip or back issues so he will stay with us until we know what is wrong with him and can put a care plan in place for his new family. He is our little Gypsy boy and Maggie and Groovy have accepted him right into the pack.

Also, Airedale Rescue has started their 2008 Quilt promotion. As always it is a beautiful work of art. You can see it here: http://www.airedalerescue.net/a_day_in_the_life/

The Wormposter

"Simply put, earthworms are the hardest working creatures on (or under) the earth. They are worthy of our respect and admiration" Loren Nancarrow, Janet Hogan Taylor - 1998




We have been vermicomposting for a month now. What fun!!! It took a few weeks to get the worms settled and get everything in balance but I think we have done it. Our worm bin or wormposter, as Sidney dubbed it, is in our bathroom on the main floor. We save our compost scraps and feed our worm buddies twice a week. The worm castings are quickly building up as the bedding and food disappears. We should have baby worms now who will quickly double our output of castings. The bin smells a bit earthy but doesn't smell badly or stink up the bathroom. We avoid fruit flies by burying the raw compost material under a layer of soil and bedding and we also blend it with our hand blender before we add it to the bin so the worms can make quick work of it.

Sidney coloured and taped the Worms at Work sign on the bin so the worms would feel at home!

The Many Faces of Sid

We were out rollerblading in our neighbours driveway when I caught this clip. Gosh she is a funny kid!

Today we went to the Navan Fair and Siddy went on the ferris wheel and the swing ride. She loves rides and was so disappointed to find out she was still too short to ride the kids dragon roller coaster. Next year!

On an Airedale related note, our foster boy Benni went to his potential forever home yesterday. The family met him at the groomers and they were approved for an Airedale by me over 3 years ago but had not adopted due to the health of their own dog. They met Benni, fell in love and came and got him Saturday morning. Hopefully he is home to stay!

Papanack zoo

Rain AGAIN! We packed our splash suit, spring coat, hat, rubber boots, and sweatshirt not knowing what the weather would have in store for us. It worked out ok as we managed to see all the animals before lunch and then the storm opened up on us half way through our meal. We ran to the van as the lightening lit up the sky and got there safely but very, very wet. We live south of the zoo and by the time we cut across country we hit sunny skies and 26 degree temps again!

Sid love seeing all the animals but most the exciting event was hooking up with her playgroup friends she used to play with every week two years ago. Here is a picture taken at the apple orchard in September 2006 and these are the same three girls in the picture taken today.

So neat to have them together again. It was great seeing the moms, they each have another daughter, a two month old and a three month old. Sid really impressed me today. A little friend from playgroup came up to her and took her hand. Sid turned to her and said "hi, nice to meet you." I cracked up because it was the cutest thing coming from two little two year olds!

At home we have another foster dog which will hopefully be short term. We discovered tonight that he likes cats waaaaaay too much and although my kitty is ok, he is a bit balder than he was yesterday. You can see Benny at http://www.airecanada.com/ I think tomorrow we are going shopping for a muzzle!

Sid Goes Canoeing

Saturday we loaded up the canoe and went to Cassleman to take Sid on her first canoe ride. Like everything she tries, she greeted the new adventure with gusto. "I want to do it!" she exclaims from behind me. I look back and there she is reaching for a paddle.
There were chances of thunderstorms so we stayed close to the boat launch. We paddled about a kilometer and then the rain broke through. We sought shelter under under this bridge during the downpour. The noise you hear in the video is the rain pouring through the drains on the bridge.


We pulled the boat out of the Nation River just as thunder was starting to grumble. There aren't many things more unsettling than lifting an 18 ft aluminum canoe over your head with lightening on the horizon.

Ken quickly tied the canoe back down and we hopped in the van for the 15 minute ride home. Once out on the main road, the sun popped back out and the skies cleared right up. It was perfect timing to stop for ice cream.

I was so pleased when Sid asked for an ice cream cone like the one in the picture. It matched her shirt perfectly! No worries about stains today hahaha. It was such a wonderful family day!