On cats

I don't think it is so much the actual bath that most cats dislike;
I think it's the fact that they have to spend a good part of the day
putting their hair back in place.
~Debbie Peterson

Is July already over?!

How is this possible?

Only one more month of "real summer" and it's over?

!!ack!!

I'll try to set up the tent in the back yard today since the weather's still nice and cool... Of course I can't do it without the help of my lovely Vegas so I hope he's in a good mood...

See, my hubby is actually two people so things can go either way.

You have the sweet, poised, well-behaved Vegas:

...and then you have the real cave man aka Smokin' Vegas:

He likes to burn BBQ our dinner to perfection:

He hunts, I gather (and shuck and boil and serve):

Well that was last night's yummy dinner... Miracle of miracles, I actually got my ass in gear and baked us a lovely batch of chewy spice raisin oatmeal cookies for dessert - treeeeeeeeeat! And yes they were very nummy :-)

What? They're healthy cookies: home-made, no preservatives or artificial anything, full of oat fiber goodness, farm-fresh eggs and raisins - I also cut the fat by substituting half the butter with unsweetened applesauce.

Très bon!

Because I'm nice I'll send you all a full virtual cookie tin, but not to Prin because she doesn't do raisins. More for me, yey!

PS: Prin I'll save you some eggs ;-)

/end of All About Food post/

My new favorite thing

If you don't already know, I love peanut butter.

Love it.

I have it about 360 mornings a year, on toast.

But now that I've discovered this jar of awesomeness, I just may have to have it 365 breakfasts a year - like, haul it in my suitcase if I travel anywhere because it really is that freaking tasty.

Kraft Whipped Peanut Butter.
It's all that and a side of spectacular.

What happens when you have it all?

Summer's finally here, a truly beautiful one: warm, dry, breezy, sunny, happy blue skies with skipping clouds, singing birds and raucous crickets, cool at night... The horses are happy out in the fields, the dogs are happy out on the deck, the chickens are happy in their runs, husband is happy doing whatever it is husbands do...

And yet here I am, feeling bleh-ish.

I get it that PMS hormones are mostly to blame, but still!

What the hey?

I've got a million fun things to do and take great pleasure and pride in crossing things off my list - I'd be lost without my daily list, don't laugh! - so what's the matter with me?

It's those stupid TV ads: win a contest to hot exotic vacation destinations! Travel here! Eat this yum yummy yum! Go skyjumping! Buy these awesome lipsticks! Come fly with us!

Hot dang, am I missing out on life?

To say I don't go out much is an understatement. I'm not complaining - I've built this life of my own volition - but sometimes I get wanderlust... I do miss seeing new places, living new adventures and seeing old friends...

Sigh.

Need to shake myself out of this cloud of negativity - things will perk up this autumn. I've promised myself a trip to Nashville to see a dear friend come October, I need to get out of this place at least once a year to keep my sanity.

Dear lord I haven't flown anywhere in two freaking years! Ack!

Vegas and I are planning to see Inception on the big screen in a few days (last movie date was Avatar and there was snow on the ground!), my mom & stepdad are visiting for a day next week and I hope to arrange for my old friend N to come over for a girl's weekend in August or September - I haven't seen her since I moved here last year, that's just nuts!

Oh, and I'm setting up the tent in our back yard by early next week, you can't have a real summer without a few nights under the stars. Hellz naw.

It might be just me and the sleeping bag in there but dammit, I'm doing it!

Makes happy.

Anyone else want to come for a visit?

/end of I Might Fold And Have Anti-PMS Chocolate And Wine Tonight post/

The fabulous 60's

Don't dig your grave with your own knife and fork.
~English Proverb

You want fries with that?

I'm on a "no junk food" diet for the next few weeks.

Sucks.

I overdid it for most of the summer and I have to be reasonable now. I don't like sweating salty oil every time the temps spike - stupid summer, where did the warm dry breezy days of our youth go? What the hey is this muggy sauna crap?

OK, that's withdrawal for you right there.

I want my chocolate cake dammit.

And my cheesy poofs.

Sigh.

I don't want to sport a double chin or a spare tire around my waist, I don't want high blood pressure, high cholesterol or blocked arteries - gawd, getting old is hard enough with the wrinkles and grey hair, now I have to snack on tofu and orange peels?

*cries*

Oh, ignore me.

It's just the PMS talking.

/end of Whingefest post/

All about Big Daddy!

Raise your hand if you want an update on Big Daddy!

Woo! Look at that crowd :-D

I took some quick pics yesterday of the boys getting to know each other, my friend and I are thrilled that they're getting along so well! Black is 18 years old and has been here 10+ years so we assumed he would be the boss, but after studying their dynamic it seems that Big Daddy, who is only 6 years old and quite submissive - has stepped up to be the leader! Size does matter?!

(all pics click bigger, LOL)

Hi mom! OooOOoooO a camera!
Can I eat it?

The current paddock, complete with shelter and annoying flies!

Nom nom nom!

I love my mommy!

Big Daddy will be as sleek and shiny as Black by next summer!

Small hand, or big head?
I had to special order his fly mask, can't wait for it to arrive-

The skies were gorgeous yesterday:

When Big Daddy wants to go in the shelter,
he bumps Black out of the way :-o

Funny how he manages to dwarf that huge shelter...

The farrier came by today to trim Big Daddy's feet but had very little to do - he said our boy was in excellent health with sound hooves, straight legs, a very good coat, etc - estimated his age to be between 6 to 8 years old, if even that. He should put on weight nicely now that he's pastured but he's not that bad at all - so we're on the right track!

He had seen the news report on TV when the horses were seized, apparently many dogs, cats etc were also pulled from that situation... and that this was not the first time this individual has had to surrender abused animals :(

I'm glad all that is in the past now.

Time to bring big boy his lunch (cooked barley with a bit of oats with chopped apples and carrots) before returning both horses to the paddocks - after the foot trim he got brushed (oh how he loves being brushed!) and got another anti-fly treatment applied to his coat.

Farm life, never dull! ;-)

/end of Horse Mama post/

Sip it slowly

If soup isn't hot enough to make a grown man wince,
it's undrinkable.
~Grey Livingston

Happy Monday!

The holiday is over... My stepdaughter flew home last night, hope she got there OK... Her arms must be very tired! Teehee!

Yesterday was for hanging out and doing fun stuff and chilling out, Canadian-style:

Vegas spoiled her with a giant slushie:

They got artsy with modeling clay:

She's a camera-ham!

I had forgotten to show you the most wonderful gift she brought me from England, isn't this the craziest roo you've ever seen? I LOVES HIM!! He's big and wiggly and responds to the name "Timmeh" so far... LOL!

Thank you Farley!

Today is for catching up on a million things... The weather's finally broken and it's just fantastic: dry, sunny, nice breeze - perfect for mowing the foot-high lawn! Our neighbor's going to help us as the job is just too huge so it should be fun. Ish.

In other news Big Daddy is now out in the pasture with his new friend, Black, and it's going very well - they're already inseparable so that's a huge weight off our shoulders.

We need help training him though - it's a delicate balance between not spooking him, not getting hurt, getting him to trust us and not letting him get away with disobedience just because he's so huge. The lady who did his transport offered her assistance as she trains horses so it will be one great adventure.

Life, never boring!

Gotta run, errands and housework are shouting out doooooooooooo meeeeeee!!

And I listen well.

/end of Finally Summer post/

Giggles

To make up for my bitch-rant from earlier this morning,
a giggle for you guys :)

WTF - gaaaaaaaaah!

You know when you dislike someone and then they go and do things that just reinforce their dickheadedness?

Yeah, well.

My friend has her horse (Black) boarded here and since you cannot leave one horse alone, we agreed with our property's former owner - well her then-boyfriend actually, aka RICK THE PRICK - to leave one of his eight horses here so that Black would have company. Once we had either another boarder here or got a horse of our own, he would come get his mare to clear the space.

Well.

Thirteen months later here we are, we have a horse that needs access to the paddocks and he won't come get his mare. He's been notified five flippin' days ago and is "too busy" and not returning calls.

In the meantime my horse has nothing to eat and is just pacing and waiting to get on our property, lonely and stuck.

I'm about to blow a gasket on this asshole.

*screams*

So what am I supposed to do in this situation? :(

/end of Once A Dick, Always A Dick post/

Happy Birthday Farley!

It's my stepdaughter's birthday today so we went out this morning to do girlie things: mani & pedi, shopping for sweet-smelling bath & body products, lunch at Burger King - we had a blast and will make it a tradition!

Lookit the nice feeeeeeeeets!

There are lovely thumb flowers to admire, too:

She's now going to the cinema with her dad (Vegas) while I stay home and tend to the critters, laundry, all that fun stuff. Not. In any case...

Everyone give a shout-out!

On poverty, part II

Society comprises two classes:

those who have more food than appetite,
and those who have more appetite than food.
~Sébastien-Roch Nicholas de Chamfort, Maximes

Title-free post!

Well, that's a relief!

Click here for a sweet update on the techno-chikkins, because I'm too lazy to type it out twice. Well not so much lazy as e-fish-ent.

We're looking to re-name Big Daddy so if you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them! Needs to be a super sweet yet strong name, one or two syllables max. Any ideas?? He's doing superbly well, btw - every day he amazes us with his awesomeness.

Otherwise all the poop shoveling would be a nightmare, LOL!

It's still hot and muggy, we've got clouds of flies everywhere and I haven't mowed the lawn in ages - kinda gave up on keeping the place pretty. Luckily none of our neighbors are named "Jones" so why stress?

It's just grass!

Time to make more iced tea (steep black tea, blackberry herbal tea, fresh slices of ginger and sugar in some boiling water, then strain, add filtered water and freshly squeezed lime wedges, lemon juice - recipe of the gods!), throw some laundry in the wash and get to the paddocks with my stepdaughter to tie ribbons on the fencing since Big Daddy is getting access this weekend and we need to make sure he sees the landmarks since he's new to the terrain.

Wow, that was a sentence and a half - LOL!

Happy Friday, peeps!

/end of Busy Dizzy post/

Yey Helen

That is all.

Summer fun :)

I'm doing very poorly with time management lately and have no clue why.

Hours, days are slipping through my fingers, I wake up blink and bam it's time for bed again. I have a pile of half-started projects collecting virtual dust, I've no time to be social or work on long-overdue renovations and forget about cooking or anything fun. I'm not spending enough quality time with my loved ones, let alone the furry fluffy and feathered ones.

Me is tired.

I need a break.

A vacation.

As I told Vegas today, I had more "me" time when I was working 8 hours a day in an office, sitting in front of a computer. Maybe I've bitten off more than I can chew here?

*ponders*

Nah, I just need to be better focused. This week is special since my stepdaughter is here so we get to do fun stuff, I'm lovin' it (sans Big Mac) and just need to breathe, stuff can wait for a few days. Such as sleeping.

So... Yesterday afternoon was for splashing about in my friend's pool - her niece and nephew were visiting so she invited my stepdaughter to join in the fun - I got to dip my toes in the beautiful water and take tons of pics of the kids playing:

That's my super mermaid! :)

This morning we went horseback riding, that's Vegas in the background on Monica - she had such short legs it's hilarious! Farley rode Absolum, he's old but he's sweet with kids. And sweet on eating all the grass he can get, LOL!

Giddyap!

The rest of my days are spent shopping for things, hauling things, cleaning things, shoveling things, collecting things, washing things, and most of these things involve poop, pee and flies.

I know you're all super jealous but I assure you it's not that glamorous :-D

Gotta go, I have a ton of pics to work on... after securing the four flocks for the night and de-worming Big Daddy. And taking a shower. And cleaning the chicks' dirty brooder box. And! And! And!

/end of Goodnight, Peeps post/

The sweetness of home

Home, the spot of earth supremely blest,
A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest.
~Robert Montgomery

Sleep, glorious sleep!

Thanks to cooler night temps, I finally managed to get a bit of sleep last night - oh, I want more! One could get greedy on such a lovely thing...

Still sore from unloading 320 bales of hay on Monday - I cannot imagine doing that back-breaking job with less than 4 people - OMG! Hell! Yuck! And pass the advil, please.

OK actually I'm not as sore as I thought I would be.

Like, 5/10 instead of 8/10.

So yay me!

Break for random smilie-time:

I never saw this day whooooosh by... Just taking a breather now while Vegas is gone to get chinese take-out, my stepdaughter is crashed out on the sofa after an afternoon in my friend's pool - oh boy did the kids ever have fun, LOL! I knew she'd be tired but this is special :-D

In condensed form: We ended up with 19 chicks but one had to be put down this afternoon, she was born with a malformed hip and we couldn't fix it... Super sad... The rest of the flock is doing well, Big Daddy is doing well beyond anyone's expectations, the doggies are fine and I'm starving. Vegas! Hurry! Feeeed meeeee!!

And before you ask what am I ever going to do with so many chicks, no worries: they're going to good homes, by Thursday evening we'll only have two or three left (the chosen ones, LOL).

There you go.

/end of Zippity Doo Dah post/

The circle of life...

I lost a beloved friend today... My eyes are bruised from hot tears and my heart feels hollow, I am trying to find joy in all the beautiful little babies hatching right now and I just feel numb.

Our little Phoenix, aka "retard" has crossed the bridge today...

Fly free my sweet, beautiful boy...

I selfishly wish he would have held on a bit longer, but I know he had been suffering and in pain since he was born and it was only a matter of weeks before he passed away... He had lost his joie de vivre lately, he had been lethargic and his liver finally just quit. We found him with a fever this morning and there was nothing we could do to save him.

All I could do was show him how much he was loved and that he was not alone, I would not abandon him in his final moments. Sitting on the front stairs in the sun next to Vegas, I held his hot, limp body in my arms for an hour while he struggled to breathe, stroking his small emaciated body, kissing his head, hoping he knew how much of a difference he made in this world.

Because of him, a big chicken mill operation got shut down.

He saved thousands of other birds from suffering the same fate as he did, the neglect and cruelty and abuse - it's just disgusting what some people can do to animals. Zero consideration for life and it's all about the money.

I hope that asshole rots in hell.

All this comes at the tail end of a sleepless week and helping to unload 320 bales of hay into the stables at lunchtime. And now babies are hatching and I am too tired and heartbroken to find much joy in their arrival.

I just want my Phoenix back :(

Thank you to Vegas for being my rock, for helping me through these difficult times. Thank you to my sweet stepdaughter for being so understanding and so helpful.

I cannot imagine being alone in all of this.

Life... gives, and takes away.

I just want to sleep.

/end of Empty post/

Here is is, folks!

Big Daddy is hooooome!

The transport people said it was one of the smoothest, easiest experiences they've ever had with a horse - how amazing is that?

Here he is, fresh off the trailer after an hour-long bumpy ride...
He was shaking like a leaf, poor thing!

Yet despite his fear of the great unknown,
he behaved like a true gentleman.

He is a bit shy and hesitant but still impressively trusting of people,
a miracle after all he's been through.

He's a beautiful belgian but needs to put on a couple hundred pounds of muscle mass, the poor thing. He's been eating and drinking non-stop since he arrived yesterday afternoon and I can't blame him! He should weigh around 2300 lbs once he's in top shape - no more protuding ribs and hipbones.

Can you imagine what he must have looked like 5 months ago when he was pulled from misery? Soooo sad... His hooves will definitely need to be shoed and we'll be fattening him up with fresh field grazing and grains. For now he's on hay until his system slowly adapts, too much rich food without proper introduction will lead to colic, which leads to death.

Can't have any of that!

So... true story. This morning I got up at 5:30 to go check on him (this is from a lady that normally sleeps till 8) and he had eaten every scrap of hay and drunk every bit of water in his box - he must have been up all night eating! :-o

I decided to let him out to the tiny pasture adjacent to the stables so I could muck out his stall and refill his goodies, that way he would have 15 minutes of fresh green grass for breakfast. He followed me very easily and went crazy on the greens so I left him there to tend to the cleaning. A few minutes later I couldn't see him anymore, so went out to check - stupid me had forgotten to close the fence between paddocks and he had gone off wandering and exploring, he was quite a bit far off too!

I was afraid he'd bolt if I ran after him or worse, get into trouble with our two resident horses who could see him now from the 3rd paddock... I called out to him "Big Daddy! Come here! Good boy!" - and the most amazing thing happened. His head perked up and he started trotting full speed towards me!! I kept encouraging him and he came right up to me with a look of relief on his face - "mom! i was lost! i found you!" and I clipped on his lead and brought him back inside - whew, disaster averted!

So I learned my lesson to secure the premises AND it's official, this horse has adopted me.

Once back in his box, I gave him a good deep scratch on the chest and front of neck with a rubber brush and he did the neck stretch, sighed with contentment and then laid his head on the crook of my shoulder and breathed in my neck.

I am in love.

/end of A Dream Come True post/

Today is the day!

Woooohooo! The big day has finally arrived!

My lovely stepdaughter arrived safe and sound from England last night so she will come with me to get Big Daddy this afternoon - we're all so very thrilled!

Even Mother Nature is excited, celebrating with violent thunderstorms and pouring rain - LOL! I hope the weather settles down a bit, we don't want a huge horse spooked during transit...

I'll be sure to post photos and an update on Big Daddy this weekend :)

Gotta run, but I'll leave you with a gem that is absolutely fascinating if you're into innovative design, furniture and space-saving gadgets - trust me, it's worth the watch!

Have a great Friday, everyone!

On men

The tragedy of machismo is that a man is never quite man enough.
~Germaine Greer

Eeeeeeeeeee!

Time's a flyin' by!

My stepdaughter arrives from England tomorrow night for a 10-day visit, we go get Big Daddy on Friday to bring him home, chicks are due to start hatching as of Sunday -

*eeeeeeeeeeee!*

Who the hell has time to weed gardens, scrub floors and iron clothes?!

I suppose I could fit all those things in if I were organized enough. Bah. I'll leave the superwoman challenge to those who can wear a cape and fly.

Hope you're all having a fabulous week - the weather has actually been nice today for a change, I loves it!

Two notes:

1 - Do go check out this post in The Chicken Diaries - Prin, there's something in there JUST for you!

2 - New poll is up... give it a whirl, girls!

/end of Oooo Oooo Ooooooo post/

Oddities, in point form

I sometimes think my brain's developing holes, tiny vortexes where all common sense flies out the window when I'm not looking.

Is this aging, or I am just "special"?!

-This morning, I wrote a list of meals for the week on the fridge's whiteboard and only noticed later that I had written quiche "quish".

-I'll put a pot of whatever to cook on the stove and if I'm not standing right next to it the whole time, I'll forget it's there and everything will boil over into a giant mess on the stove top. Every. Single. Freaking. Time.

-I've been known to leave a load of clean, wet laundry in the washing machine for days.

-Leftovers as well as a large amount of fresh produce will rot in the fridge as I forget we even have the stuff.

-Did I take my birth control pill or not last night? Dang! Not again! You'd think I'd have the routine down pat after a couple of decades...

-Gosh, I really should empty those garbage bins that are in the stable... Every week I remind myself to do it on trash day and every week, I forget.

-etc, etc, etc, etc... etc.

Don't laugh, I have legit cause for concern... Ever since I was little, my maternal grandmother would always laugh and say "oh it's alzheimer's!" when she forgot or misplaced something. I used to think it was cute until we realized she really was going senile. She barely remembers how to butter her toast now and has completely lost her short-term memory.

It's scary.

/end of Eat Your Fish! post/

Treasure

We never know the worth of water till the well is dry.
~Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732

The Big News!

When I said "big", I meant it in all kinds of ways - LOL!

Vegas and I are going to foster a horse!

And not just any horse... A huge, gorgeous belgian gelding :-D

I saw the plight for help on Facebook yesterday morning via a friend of a friend (isn't that how these things go?!), seven beautiful belgian horses had been seized from an abusive situation about five months ago and needed to be evacuated from the premises where there were being held and rehabilitated - yesterday.

Yep. Talk about fast.

I spoke with the SPCA volunteers who said I had to come make the decision right away or the horses were being hauled back to Ontario to be placed in foster care... So of course I did what any sane person would do, I grabbed my horse-expert friend whose boy is boarded here and off we went! And oh, what a dream come true...

Here is our new boy, Big Daddy!

Funny how these pics don't show relative size,
he's a mastodon!

These horses were apparently starved, beaten and neglected for months, if not years... They were found shoulder-deep in filth, their legs covered in sores and insects, bone-thin and dirty, dehydrated, skittish, no muscle mass due to being boxed in small dark quarters for god knows how long...

How people can do this to animals just blows my mind. If you can't take care of them, sell or re-home them but do something!! Don't shut them in dark box with no food and water for months of suffering after having beaten them!!

It took a long time for the SPCA to be able to pull them (it went to court and everything) but thankfully these beasts are in good hands now... They were all vetted many times - one horse had a heart problem and had to be put down - vaccinated, dewormed, hooves trimmed, fed and nourished and finally given a gentle human hand...

Through all of this they remained gentle noble creatures despite the scars on their coats and sores still needing to be tended to. Five months after their ordeal, some of the younger horses are still very thin, hip bones protuding and hooves split and rotten from standing in piss and shit for years.

I named our boy Big Daddy... and HE chose ME.

As we approached the herd who had seeked shelter from the heat under some hilly trees, all I could think of was a scene in Jurassic Park: being surrounded by giant creatures, feeling the thud and whomp of hooves hitting the ground in an attempt to get rid of tickling flies - it was surreal. They were so freaking beautiful!

I then felt a gentle nuzzling in the palm of my left hand, turned around, and was met by the most beautiful, soulful and saddest eyes I had ever seen... I knew then that this was Fate.

Big Daddy is perfect. He let us check his teeth, lead him around, lift his feet, scratch his head and kiss his muzzle... a true gentle giant. I am so smitten it's ridiculous.

We think he's around 10 years old but nobody knows for sure. I'll be getting his medical records this week and have to organize transportation to get him home in a few days. It should cost around $150 to $200 but as foster parents we get to keep him as long as we like, hopefully forever - this boy deserves to be loved and spoiled!

I don't know who the lucky ones are, him or us :-)

Funny thing, the woman who's been rehabilitating the horses the past five months said that Big Daddy has lost all confidence, he's wary of humans and quite skittish - neither my friend or I noticed anything of the sort, on the contrary. He was the most quiet, trusting and respectful one of the gang, the one who cuddled up to us the most. But then again we're not men with loud voices, sharp hooks and whipping chains...

Do you ever want to kill people for what they have done to innocent animals?

Yeah, me too.

OK time to go mow some lawn before the outside temps reach broiling point - wishing you all a very happy Monday!

/end of Dream Come True post/

Oh my gosh

Um, I can't divulge the Big News right now (no, not pregnant so don't even go there, LOL) but please stay tuned because if all goes well I'm going to have a HUGE surprise for you all by tonight!!

So! Excited! :-D

/end of Life Happens In A Heartbeat post/

I like it :)

Finally a day of respite from the grueling heat!

Yeah it's buttcrack humid and still stinking hot but a few degrees cooler make a big difference. We're going into another heatwave as of tomorrow or Monday so Vegas and I rolled up our birthday suit sleeves and tackled some way-overdue chores.

He hoovered and dusted the house while I fixed a leak in the stables and cleaned out three chicken coops (oh, did you see my new babies in The Chicken Diaries?).

We're such a modern couple! :-D

I made a new batch of iced tea and have to get laundry out of the way, feels really good to not live in a pigsty - it had gotten baaaaaaad.

So, on a scale of 1 to 10, how do you rate this photo?

I'm trying to settle an argument...
This is not me btw!

Hope you're all having a wonderful weekend, are any of you on vacation yet? Family, friends, frolicking, funking around? Fifa! Woo!

/end of What Do You Think! post/

Egotastical

The young always have the same problem -
how to rebel and conform at the same time.
They have now solved this by defying their parents
and copying one another.
~Quentin Crisp

Blabbidy bla bla

Well, it's still boiling hot and muggy outside but I've bitched and moaned enough about it here so I'll just skip it for today... Sigh.

Need. Sleep.

Need. Cooling. Off.

My lovely stepdaughter arrives next Thursday and I hope the heat wave will be over by then or she'll be melting, poor thing! Days like this I really wish we had a pool... hmm. Wonder how much it would be to get one installed... hnmm! But they're so much damn work for just a few weeks of enjoyment every year :-/

We'll get central AC installed instead, it's much more useful.

I've got to run and meet a guy about some chickens... Ah yeah, my little roo Tyler aka Mister Macho Macho Man is finally getting a couple of girlfriends! He's gonna be so chuffed, LOL! Two sweet little partridge bantam cochins, 3 months old - yey! I have to quarantine them for a week or so first, hope they don't suffer too much in this heat...

And don't even think about buying a fan right now, the store shelves are big blank echoing spaces of NONE! It's crazy!

OK so I did end up blogging about the heat wave anyways.

Whoops.

Happy Fry-Day, peeps!

/end of I Will Never Be Tropical post/

'Nuff said

Get the spatula, she's melted to a crisp on the floor!

Holy shit this weather is brutal.

Like, I don't mind an "extreme hot and muggy" day or two here and there throughout the summer but for days and weeks on end? Christ! This isn't India, we (and our housing) are not equipped to endure such sweltering hell!

We're living in an oven dialed to "broil".

Things we can't do this week:

• Walk the dogs or play outside
• Garden or mow the lawn
• Enjoy a good book in the shade
• Wear the same clothes for longer than 2 hours
• Wear makeup or have any kind of hairstyle
  
• Do any housework or laundry
• Drink hot tea or take bubble baths
  
• Have a BBQ or any warm food
• Sleep
• Breathe

Things we can do this week:

• Endure heat-induced and-sleep deprivation headaches
• Take cold showers five times a day
• Drink liquids until we look and feel like beached whales
• Bitch and moan about being hot
• Sweat buckets
• Stink
• Spend the day hosing down the chicken coops
• Pray no chickens die of heat stroke
• Look and feel like shit
• Gaze longingly at photos of snow

Hands down I'd rather be cold than be hot. It's a lot easier to warm up than it is to cool down (just ask the panting doggies!). How I wish we had friends close by with a pool! I guess it's the lawn sprinkler for me again this afternoon... and then maybe a nap in the basement, I feel like passing out and it's not even 11am.

And yes I had my coffee.

I am never, ever moving to a tropical country, screw that!

PS: remember to vote on the new poll and check out the latest dramah in The Chicken Diaries!

/end of I Want To Die post/

I have no words for this besides "gimme a slice of that fiber made of awesome"

That, and WTF were they smoking?

The ultimate definition of "random".

Thank you Prin Boo for this gem!

Definition of ridiculous

Our summer is a pile o'crap.

Hot, steaming, muggy miserable crap.

I had to set up a make-shift bed in the basement last night to get any sleep and this is where we (the dogs and I) will be hiding out for most of the week. It's still bleddy hot down here, just less hot than anywhere else in the house.

Utter crap.

The dogs are miserable, the flocks are on the verge of heat stroke despite my best efforts to keep them cool - it's 35C (95F) with humidex right now and as of tomorrow it's climbing to 45C (113F). No relief at night either.

We're just not equipped to handle this crap. No AC, no pool, nothing. I can endure a day or two but a solid 10 days straight? WTF?

Chickens are fragile and can die of the heat, I'm terrified of losing any of them.

My poor babies!

I had to move one of the flocks from their sweltering coop to a corner of the stables, where it's a tiny bit less hot. In the process of hauling birds from one place to another (7 trips, tiny plastic dog carrier, bla bla bla) I got heat stroke myself. Vegas told me to get in the cold shower cuz I was looking kinda bad. Boiled tomato kinda bad, pissing sweat everywhere.

Yeah, the expression shouldn't be "I don't feel so hot" because hot damn, I do feel hot.

Hot enough to self-combust.

Out of desperation, we got a sprinkler and I hope it'll cool us all down a bit... the dogs need to be hosed to get them through the day, ugghh. Wet stinky dogs, that's all we need!

Is it autumn yet?

/end of Sheer Misery This Weather Can Piss Off post/

So! Much! Fun!

I had a blast yesterday chez my brother's place!

It was my niece's baptism & family pool party, the weather was glorious and it was just that kind of perfect day, you know?

I wish I could have stayed longer but I had to be somewhere else late afternoon, but I managed to snap so many photos my SD card was almost full. Yeah, that rarely happens!

Today's quite busy but I'll try to edit and prep pics today as I promised the family copies of everything - yey for digital technology! - and for sure I'll post a few gems on here asap, ooo must share the love!

Hope my American friends are enjoying the long celebratory weekend, as for the rest of us: don't forget the SPF!

Cheerios!

/end of Gotta Run Will Post Later post/

The last embrace

Oh, for the time when I shall sleep
Without identity.
~Emily Bronte

Pet peeves

It's a gorgeous, hot and sunny Friday, peeps! Woo!

I've got a to-do list that's a mile high but meh, sitting here on the couch letting the morning's coffee go down while watching the latest footie match on TV is taking precedence.

Oh, the laziness! :-D

Casper's leaving us this evening... it's a bittersweet moment. I posted the story in The Chicken Diaries if you want cute photos and stuff. It's a strange endeavor, this flock keeping business...

So yeah, I have a couple of pet peeves swirling around my mind and need to let out some steam, bear with me here:

1) People who don't return phone calls, specially when you request a call-back on their voice mail as you are waiting for answers or whatnot. This forces you to call AGAIN. These are not calls to strangers either, they're to family and friends - rude!

2) Stale cereal when you just opened the family-sized box 10 days ago. Waste!

3) Having to remind people they owe you money, after you've waited patiently for months for them to say something. Super rude!

4) Full kitchen trash bins, quasi-empty milk containers in the fridge, food crusted in the bottom of the sink or on the stove top, crumbs on the counters. Yeah OK I might have a slight case of OCD but merrrr! (no attack on you Vegas, just a general gripe!)

5) Walking out of the grocery store with a full cart and THEN remembering you yet again forgot to use those valuable coupons that are in your pocket. Fail!

There, I feel better now :-D

Hope you have a wonderful Friday, anybody celebrating the long weekend in a special way?

/end of Debbie's Not A Downer post/

The loss of innocence

The end of childhood is when things cease to astonish us.
When the world seems familiar,
when one has got used to existence,
one has become an adult.
~Eugene Ionesco

Where is everyone?!

Is my blog getting boring or do people just not bother commenting anymore? Besides my few faithful feedback-givers, of course - I love you guys!

As for the lurkers... who seem to be the bulk of my readers judging by the blog stats... are you just shy or are you lazy? Could it be that *gasp* I'm getting that dull?

NooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooo!

OK, maybe you're right.

I rarely talk about sex out of respect for family members that read this blog (ah-hem), I don't do drugs so no two-headed pandas doing the shimmy on my front lawn, I bitch and moan quite a lot about the weather and talk too much about chickens.

Just the way I like it! Yey! :-D

*pause to finish coffee*

So Vegas got himself a new toy (a Playstation 3) and, being the good wife that I am, I just smiled and nodded and let him do his thang - if you know what I think about video games, you'd see this was a grand gesture on my part - LOL! - yeah, I love him that much. Plus, he encourages my crazy chicken hobby and - wait, am I being manipulated here? :-o

*pause to finger the small chip in my front tooth. stupid weak teeth. yey for an awesome dentist who is fitting me in his full schedule on Monday for an emergency repair!*

Getting old sucks, what can I say?

PS: There's a new post in the Chicken Diaries, for those who care.

/end of Where Is This Week Flying To? post/