Happy Birthday Carrie

Today we celebrated Carries 14th birthday. She had a couple of friends over to help eat cake. Her friends are not the same ones she had as a kid.

Merry Christmas

Yesterday was another enjoyable Chistmas. Sarah's brother, A J came from Cape Breton, as he has every year. He got to help me clean the chicken barn and gather eggs. Victoria finally made it home from Iqaluit, via Ottawa, Toronto, and Montreal, then a bus to Moncton, putting up with flight cancelations and long waits in airports. Jesse did most of the chores in the barn while we all enjoyed wrapping gifts and going to church on Christmas eve. Then a lovely Christmas turkey at Stacy's.

Getting into the Christmas Spirits..oops..Spirit

Thanks to Jesse & Carrie, we got our Christmas tree up in front of the barn. Frozen fingers were enjoyed by all, including the questions of why we hadn't done this on a warmer day.
Jesse took the pic on his cell phone..looks nice, huh.

Breaking News

Abby is having puppies! ... 4 so far...see that cute little head? Stay tuned for a final count..


This morning, Wednesday, we counted six puppies..Mother and litter are doing fine.

Happy Birthday Madilyn

Madilyn Turns 3 today! Carrie is going up to her birthday party today with Stacy, Kara & Bradford. Happy Birthday Madilyn!
Here is a picture of Madilyn taken 2 weeks ago when she was helping out in the barn, and another taken last July when she was really enjoying her lunch.

Happy Birthday Victoria

Vicky turns 20 today. Happy Birthday Vicky! Have a good day! Stay warm. We are still waiting on a picture of her in Iqaluit, but we have some pictures she sent of her flying into the teaming metropolis.

This one is a little closer up, it might show the apartment building she is staying in. No sign of the golden arches though.

And here is the "team" in the teaming metropolis.

"Where is Vicky?"
And alas, no polar bear, but we do have a picture of Vicky with one of her friends from years ago.

Happy Birthday Sarah

Last but not least, we should wish Sarah a very Happy Birthday today. She got lots of calls and presents, and even had time for a glass of wine.


Oh...930 eggs today!!

New Vehicles

We got 2 new vehicles this week. A new F-350 to take over from my last one (we came ahead 21 model years, and didn't have heated seats in the old one!), and a new Ford Edge (heated seats too).

Victoria goes To Iqaluit, Nunavut

Sarah took Victoria to the Moncton airport last Tuesday, she is now up in Nunavut, with Brad, who is on leave from Afganistan. If he thought it was hot in Afganistan, he picked the right place to go. Stay tuned for pictures of Victoria & Brad with a polar bear.

Last Weekend

Gilbert & Stacy had their open barn last Friday night to show everyone their new barn. It looks great! I'll have to find a picture of it.

Tanya was down for the weekend with Emma, Madilyn & Sarah, and while they were here they did a little dance for us.

Two weeks ago

I had good intentions when I took these pictures two weeks ago, but you know how that goes. We got hammered with our first snow storm of the season that weekend. It is all gone now, but it was a good reminder to get the driveway markers in, and finish picking the junk up.

Egg Shopping

We are starting to get more eggs. 560 yesterday. Gilbert took 7 cases on Thursday, to be graded and sold. We already have more than that in the cooler for this week.

Done Manure Spreading

This past weekend I emptied the manure for the last time this year. My manure spreader is getting old, so I finished up using my neighbours new spreader. It is a little bigger, and a different brand, so it was nice to have it to try while I decide on what to get for a new one.


Here are our brown birds having a snack.


190 eggs yesterday, 275 today.

Carrie made the high school basketball team today! Good for her! One of only 2 Grade nine kids to make it.

Remembrance Day

Today we went to the Legion in Norton for an indoor Remembrance day ceremony. As a cadet, Carrie and one other cadet had the honour of standing at attention at the front, facing us, for the entire service, except for during the wreath laying, at which time she had to move and arrange all the wreaths due to the limited space. We hadn't known she had to move the wreaths, so the first time she bent over to move one, we thought the heat had finally got her and we wanted to go rescue her. She made us proud.
After the service we went to Saint John, and visited Grandpa's grave, and also checked out the repairs to Uncle William's stone, which Mom had noticed was deteriorating a bit. Uncle William would be Mom's great great Uncle, or my kids great great great great Uncle. But Mom has his chair. In storage somewhere. Until her house is ready.
Then we came back to Midland and enjoyed a nice meal at our new neighbourhood resturant.


Oh, we got 112 eggs in our first week as egg farmers, 29 yesterday and 41 today. We haven't sold any yet, but I think I've eaten eggs every day since the hens came.

Happy Birthday Gilbert

Sunday was Gilbert's Birthday, but most of us didn't remember it till yesterday. We hope he had a good day on Sunday, and wore more than those fancy shorts that Stacy finds him so attractive in. Happy belated birthday.

Grandma's House Update

Sarah & Stacy stopped by Grandma's new house yesterday to see how things were coming along.Coming along, don't you think?

The Chickens Arrive

Here is Gilbert backed up to the door passing in chickens. His Dad, brother, and a couple more friends caught them in his barn and came to deliver them.

I didn't figure I'd be able to carry more than one at a time, so everyone else had to carry them, seven or eight at a time, depending on how many were going in each cage.

I opened and shut the cages.


Lisa got into it too! And there is Sarah at the edge of the picture with a glass of wine! Imagine that.

And Carrie did what Carrie does best...hid...

Chicken Barn

This was a busy week. We finished up the chicken barn last week and now we are able to catch up on our fall work. I spent most of the week spreading manure so that the pit is empty for the winter. Jesse worked away at washing machinery and putting it away.
Here is the chicken barn from the outside. All we need now is for Jim to come back and do a little more landscaping.


Here it is on the inside, last Sunday night , while we were waiting for the chickens to arrive.
Nice and clean, but it sure didn't take the hens long to get it dusty.

Here is the temperature controller. You can see that it was cool enough last week when they arrived.
And a few more controls, waiting for chickens to feed, and for eggs to release.

Or maybe ping pong balls, when you are bored and the hens are not there yet.

Pheasant Hunt

This weekend I was invited to go pheasant hunting at a pheasant preserve up near Perth Andover. We just happened to have the chicken barn ready, and the chickens were not coming till Sunday night, so I went. We shot skeet, and went on 2 hunts. I was a terrible shot but did manage to hit one skeet and one pheasant. I brought a few home, and Sarah wrapped a couple in bacon and cooked them tonight. Yummy.

Chicken Barn Roof Deleaking Extravaganza

The roof in the new chicken barn has been leaking a bit all summer as we worked in it, but it leaked like a sieve when the last 2 hurricanes passed through. Tanya had to listen to me grumble about it when she was down helping with corn, so she invited her siblings to a roof deleaking party, to coincide with our Thanksgiving meal plans. One of them forwarded the invite to everyone in the facebook world, but only the Fav Five showed up. No pics of them working, but after they were done they definitely wanted their pictures taken. A light rain last evening didn't show any leaks, so hopefully when the next hurricane passes by, my hens will stay dry. Thanks guys! Afterwards Grandma and Gilbert came and we enjoyed a great turkey dinner, with turnup, squash, potatoes, sweet potatoes, dressing, apple and pumpkin pie. And wine & beer. And we all told what we were thankful for....