goodbye, Edwina.

Edwina,
You won' be forgotten. The first time I saw you, you were squirming in the feedstore man's clutches. We didn't ask for a leghorn, but you were such a wonderful mistake.  We would have never know what an amazing bird you were if there hadn't been some mistake. The last time I saw you, alive, you were trying to escape from the run so you could come say Hi to me. The final time I saw you, you were laying in the grass, sacrificed for the others. You always stood up and when the time came you protected your flock, you did one heluva job. I was so scared you were a rooster and we'd have to re-home you. Then you laid an egg and proved me so wrong! You knew just because you're the best egg layer doesn't mean you can't crow too. You were so clever and always escaped, but all while keeping an eye on the flock. You showed me what an attitude birds can have. When you were little I'd have such a time chasing you around the yard just for you to escape from the run again, but as you grew up whenever you saw a human, you were always there asking for treats and coming to greet us. You were such a sweetie and always tolerated those ridiculous neighbourhood kids. Your eggs always tasted best. The moments with you sitting on my lap were so special and I know I'm never ever going to find another hen like you, and we'll all miss you dearly. You gave your life for theirs, so thank you. You had a good 6-month life but you met a terrible end.
Visit me in a dream sometime soon, TheWhiteOne. Rest In Peace and fly high at the rainbow bridge.♥

"Nugget" was the snuggliest. Moments after this she escaped.

'Weena was always there, even when I was looking terribly un-photogenic.

Whitey was always on top of things.

"Snowy" in the garden. I hope there's a garden full of rhubarb for you in heaven.

"Foghorn Leghorn" was always the leader, despite Frederica.

I hope there's a dustbath for you in heaven, little "Fluffy".

"Edi", you had the most beautiful, understanding eyes. 

"Mr. White", you always stood up for Stitch.

You've grown, Edwina. I wish you could have grown even more after this picture was taken.

...You weren't "just a chicken", my leghorn. Rest in peace, my chicky♥

Prematurely Spring

it snowed on Sunday, so now it's melting of course; yuck! But hey, it feels like spring, which is quite odd because it's not winter yet!... although I HAVE gone sledding, and had a snowball fight AND took my dog dog-sledding all before Halloween. You know you're Canadian when!
I also started a flickr account. I've always like flickr. So here's some pictures from today!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/69321013@N04/6303196341/


http://www.flickr.com/photos/69321013@N04/6303190555/



http://www.flickr.com/photos/69321013@N04/6303710740/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/69321013@N04/6303183857/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/69321013@N04/6303713134/

You know, earlier I was thinking of how sucky today was. Looking back... frig, I have it pretty darn good! The great outdoors, good friends, a nice family, a bit of cooking, and lots of pets. It's silly how there's still things I want.! Score: 1 happiness - 0 gumpiness. Also did you notice the lil blog revamp? I'm still not sure if I like it or not, but I think yes I do! It just needs some personalization.. hmm...

And a special thanks to my lovely blog followers for listening to me and looking at my photos :-) love you guys!


***I am SO sorry the pictures aren't showing up right... I guess I am still figuring out flickr! It'll come to me in a lightbulb moment. 'till that moment, please click the links :-)***

The Animal Rescue League. *Adopt-A-Pet*

When I was younger, I watched Zaboomafoo. Maybe that's what grew my obsession with all things alive? ...There was a segment in each episode called the "Animal rescuers" or something like that. They took care of lost baby birds, groomed stray cats, nursed roadkill back to health. You know, all these super-hero type jobs. I always dreamed of becoming one of these. I'm pretty sure I asked my Mom how I could get on that show more than once, and I went out into the woods praying there would be an abandoned puppy crying out for me!
Alas, none such happened, obviously. I lived in a small town where all the animals were quite well-kept.
I always figured I just wasn't cut out to be part of the Animal Rescuer League. I eventually gave up and continued begging my Mom for a puppy. After years of asking, Mom said yes! so, Before we got Piper (my pup) we actually did go and look through the SPCA's selection. From my memory, there probably wasn't more than maybe 20 dogs. Most of them seniors or small yappy dogs. Nothing really suited us, and we did look through more than once! So we got Piper from our lovely breeder friend. I got my fish the from local LFS. I got my hamster (he was on dicount! Nobody wanted him)": ) from an adorable small-town pet store. I got my chickens from a reputable breeder. None of those would be considered rescues, but I guess they are better than where a lot of people get their animals.

I've always thought "rescuing" an animal was doing undercover missions in labs and freeing all the skinny pigs and rats. I've always thought it was racing into abusive pet homes and courageously ripping the animal away with a gun pointed at your head. I've always thought it was going on the side of the road and rehabilitating a run-over animal.

Nope. Lately I've realized... there are millions of animals, of different breeds, waiting for their hero, Waiting for their second chance. There's nothing special to it. Choose the Adoption Option. Don't breed and don't buy: Go to your local shelter. Must you irresponsibly breed, please do it virtually, using Pure Felinity or a similar game :( ! There is no shortage on homeless animals of any breed. In my local SPCA, they have everything from pitbulls, to hamsters to siamese kittens. If you think they don't have the animal you're looking for- oh yes they do! guinea pigs, rats, purebred dogs, rabbits, kittens of every colour.. oh, and there's more! Maybe I've never adopted a pet before, but I assure you: I am going to from now on. I see their faces and they're calling out to me!

Perhaps one day I'll have my own rescue called The Animal Rescue League: be your pet's hero.
I really hope so. Wouldn't that be wonderful.

I've added a petfinder search bar to your left. If you're looking for a new family member- why don't you do a quick search? Save a Life.


SAVE A LIFE <3

Another "first egg"!!

Courtesy of Edwina, my Leghorn pullet.. I mean HEN :)

Before she laid her egg, I heard her crowing... I was so scared she was a rooster and that we would have to get rid of her! I was nearly crying. I went online looked up 24716545172 different results for "stop rooster crowing". Most of them were "butcher it.", so I went outside to take a picture of her to compare it to Leghorn Roosters. When I was out there, fearing my lovely lady was a man....
She dispersed my worries with the most surefire way....

an egg!

Since then, we've had a carton at least half full of eggs every day! 2 eggs a day is a great number. I can't wait until Stitch and Lou start!!

Chickens shows and apple cookies. A great combo.

Last weekend I went to a poultry show. From meters away, you could hear roosters and geese and smell dung. It was awesome!

Here are some of my favourite poultry from the show.

modern game, such loong legs!

pretty roo! 

 Archangel pigeon. Lovely colors, nice crest!

Another pigeon. Egyptian something, I think...

Everybody's favorite, the silkie! Nice afro. 

Check out this guy's wattle!  

This pretty orange roo was nearly as big as my dog. I'd guess 20 pounds and very loud! 

Nice, clean looking boy. The breed name is on the tip of my tongue!

This duck was incredible! Black with a wonderful sheen.

My mom was fascinated by the indian runner's upright body! 

This goose looked so bored. 

This duck had wonderful speckles. 

Looks very debonair, doesn't he?

Hissing! 

A cute lil canada goose. Looked kinda scared. 

Wattle! Looks like a beard, no? 

The only turkey. Right beside his cage were BBQ's... -.- 

Button Quail! So puny! 

Another pigeon. 

Archangel pigeon, once more.

^Dream barn!!^

Now, the apple cookies I made to use up the extra caramel sauce from the Cupcakes. They had the texture of a molasses cookie, and had nice apple chunks. Not bad! (recipe below.)

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/grandmas-apple-cookies/detail.aspx

First Egg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday, My little brother's friend was over looking at the chickens. He was asking, "when will they lay?" when he looked into the coop and said, "There's an egg in there right now!!" and I, assuming that it was just an extra-large gob of poop, double-checked. Sure enough, there was a large-sized egg in there! Holy Chicken Wings! There was actually an egg! So, this morning I cracked her open. Double yolker!! Good job, Frederica[?]! I wasn't expecting much of a difference, because we get free-range organic eggs from a local farm. This egg had a harder shell, a stiffer white and an incredibly rich yolk! So delicious!
So, without further a due, *da-da-dumm* the very first egg!

 I came out of a chicken's rear end. How appetizing.

Yes, VERY appetizing!!!

Welcome to my blog!

I've been meaning to start a blog for a while. Here goes♥

I am me. I'm not going to go into a long descriptive description, because thru this blog you will get to know me.

I have an Aussie-dog who is crazy, brilliant and I love very dearly. Piper, who I am forever training.

I have four dorky chickens.(in order of appearance) "Edwina", the clever white Leghorn. "Stitch" the brown commercial mix dope with a big wattle and her sister, "Clover", who is like all the chickens combined in some ways. Then Frederica, the Motherly grump who is almost a Rhode Island Red.

Next is my very charming male Syrian hamster, Snoopy. Such a sweetheart.

Last, but not least are my fishy friends. I have a 16g paludarium with betta imbellis and a 20g community with tetras, harlequin rasboras a clown pleco and livebearers! I need more recent pics.