The (Not So) Invisible Dog

I am invisible, right?  Like, you totally can't see me.  At all.  

I'm not here.  I'm not here.  I'm not here.

Oh wait.  I'm back!  Here I am.  Good trick, huh?  Got any treats for the amazing invisible dog?  You know...trick then treat?  I LOVE treats.  And, you have to admit, it WAS a pretty good trick.

Soap Shavings!

Made a huge mess today cleaning up the edges of all the new bars of goat milk soap.  Everything is looking and smelling lovely!  Time to start packaging.

I will post photos of the finished products later this week and will be doing a round of local porch drop offs this Sunday December 12th.  If you get your holiday orders in soon, I can drop them off right on your doorstep.

Before the Birthday Blizzard

I was able to sneak out of the house this morning while the pre-birthday party chaos was in full swing to spend some time preparing our barnyard family in advance of the coming winter weather.

I got the barns all cleaned up and fresh straw put down for warm, dry bedding.  I refilled minerals, changed the wood shavings in the nest boxes, added a new salt block, filled up water pails and topped up food bins.  Everyone is clean, dry, fed, warm and ready for the coming blizzard.

When I finally arrived back inside things were ready there too!  Ian and the boys threw me a lovely birthday brunch of eggs Benedict with homemade Hollandaise, maple lattes, and chewy marshmallow and Coffee Crisp brownies for dessert.

They sang me a perfectly lovely rendition of Happy Birthday and fun was had by all.  A quiet family celebration was exactly the right way to ring in my 40th.  I am now official old.  My bones are already aching just thinking about my new geriatric state.  Sigh.

Thank you my lovelies for an
excellent birthday party.

Sublimate Those Suckers

Honey bees have lots of foes.  One of the worst is the varroa destructor mite.  Varroa are to bees like ticks are to humans.  They feed off the bees while transmitting deadly viruses.  Imagine having ticks living in your house, reproducing in your bed and feeding off your young.  Ugh.  Disgusting.

Unless you live in Australia, mites are a reality for every beekeeper in every hive.  We treat honey bees to reduce the mite loads in their hives in many different ways and this weekend was the first of our winter oxalic acid treatments.  Oxalic acid vapour is more toxic to mites than to bees so it is a good option for keeping varroa mites under control during cold months when we cannot open up the hives.  Using a heated tray, we cause oxalic acid crystals to sublimate into vapour inside the hive.  The vapour is not good for humans to breathe, hence the PPE.  The bees did not seem to mind it at all, they got a bit buzzy inside the hives right after the treatment but it seemed like no big deal to them.  Hopefully it was a big deal to the mites and they all died - not likely but here's to hoping.  Jerks.

Unfreeze Please!

One of the most annoying things about cold weather is when my outdoor taps freeze up.  Lugging buckets of water sucks but I cannot for the life of me pinpoint exactly which set or sequence of winter conditions causes the freeze up.  It seems to be different every time!  

I was devastated when the chicken coop tap froze up last week (the earliest ever) but very luckily, with the rainy weather, it unfroze!  I was determined to do everything in my power to prevent another freeze with the return of today's subzero temperatures so I went all out in the barnyard tap weatherproofing department.  Ian swears that I am nuts but I really, really hate lugging buckets of water.  Like really, really.

A Carrot Growing Snot Bot

Alistair is still growing carrots in his garden.  He is a bit of a snot bot lately (the big boys' nickname for him and since the shoe fits...) but he is our carrot-growing snot bot.

December's Here Spreading Cheer!

Nothing says "December's here!" like warm oatmeal, hot coffee and the very first little chocolate snowman from my Advent calendar.  Happy December 1st!