The Good & the Bad

Someone once said that in order to appreciate the good, you must also experience the bad, or something along those lines.  Even if this is true, somehow really good goods do not make really bad bads any easier to bear.

Today we celebrated Seamus' six birthday.  He had a space-themed party with strawberry rocket pops, galaxy popcorn and real astronaut food - freeze dried fruits and ice cream sandwiches.  We made homemade pizzas and watched the movie Space Jam.  He had a great time.

The only damper on the day was me noticing that Charlie was lying down outside in the sun like she was dead.  I happened to look out the window when putting Alistair down for nap and nearly had a heart attack that she somehow died.  I rushed outside only to find that Charlie was not dead but that something was not right either.  When she had trouble standing up to greet me, I called the vet.

For the past week and a half, I had noticed that Charlie was lying down occasionally.  I mentioned to Ian that this was odd because in the seven years we have had her, I have never once seen her lie down.  My google search indicated that she either had sore hooves and needed a trim or she had an upset tummy (called colic in equines).  I could think of no reason for her stomach to be upset so I had scheduled a visit from the farrier.  Our farrier came last Friday and noted that Charlie's hooves were in pretty good shape.  Immediately following the farrier's visit, Charlie was lying down again.

Fast forward two days later to today (Sunday) when the vet did a full check up and reported that Charlie is very, very ill.  The vet's best guess is that Charlie has a blockage in her intestine.  She thinks that over the past seven years Charlie has been ingesting small amounts of sheep wool which has formed a ball in her stomach.  Despite this longstanding problem, Charlie is only now showing any symptoms of being sick and unfortunately, the changes of her getting better are very slim.

And so, Seamus' birthday party day concluded with me making hourly trips out to Charlie's barn to feed her warm water through a syringe to try to loosen up the ball of wool in her stomach enough for her to pass it.  Good goods and bad bads, indeed.

Up With the Sun & Outside Before Even One Cup of Coffee

We were up with the sun this morning intent on beating both the snow/rain forecasted for today and any potential crowds at the local toboggan hill.  The boys received brand new sleds for Christmas and were super eager to test them out.  They had us up at 6:30 am.  We were the only crazies out on the hill less than an hour later.  I still cannot believe that I was whizzing down a gigantic snow hill before I had even had a cup of coffee.

After many very fast and very, very bumpy rides rides down and a lot of crawling back up, we headed home for a quieter rest of the day around the farm (including naps - thank goodness for afternoon naps).  

What exciting things did you get up to today?  I hope you at least got to have your coffee first!

Winter Wonderland

The winter weather might have been late arriving to Gael Glen Farm this year but it is certainly making up for lost time.  We have a lot of snow!

Sunrise

Ah well, there is not much to be done but to get out and enjoy it before it all melts away!  

Today we explored the South March Highlands.  Liam planned our 5 km route and the kids loved all the specially signed spots.  Seamus was our alarm for mountain bikes and kept a branch handy to sweep away any trolls we might encounter along the way.  Luckily there no trolls to be found loitering under the Troll Bridge today but at least we were well prepared.  By the end we very good at moving off the path for the many, many winter mountain bikers who passed us by.

Sunset

We were busy from sunrise to sunset.  We had a wonderful day outside in the February sunshine.

A Warm Welcome Home

We happily welcomed Ian and Liam home from their socially-distanced vacation.  They rented a shack on Lake Temagami for three days of ice fishing for lake trout.  They didn't see a soul but did have visits from lots of yummy fish.

On the very first night Ian got himself in a bit of a pickle by accidentally dropping his headlamp down the fishing hole at 4 am.  During his attempt to reach down into the lake to retrieve the lamp before it sunk into the black abyss, he also accidentally smoked the bridge of his nose on the floor of the hut.  Once his nose stopped bleeding and his headache subsided, both Ian and Liam had an excellent time (in spite of Ian's black eyes - at least there was no one around to see them!).

They did lots of fishing (obviously), Lego, reading and chatting.  It was a perfect off grid father-son adventure amidst this seemingly endless pandemic.

Unfortunately, they had to drive through a blizzard to return home.  Upon their safe return, the rest of the family happily devoured their plunder.  We had baked lake trout with lemon for supper!  Yum.  Yum.

The Elusive Kizell Goulbourne Loop

Seamus, Alistair and I have been exploring a new local forest with questionable success.

We found what looked like a good hiking trail on Google Maps (called the Kizell Goulbourne Loop).  In reality, we have done a terrible job of actually locating it.

On our first attempt, we found the start of the trail but then just ended up wandering aimlessly making random loops along trails in the forest bordering Kizell Pond.  It was a nice forest walk but we definitely did not find the loop from Google Maps.

We headed out for attempt #2 this morning before the snowstorm hit.   At least we managed to make one large loop today, though we spent a long time walking along roads instead of on forest trails so we will not be taking this route again.  Upon comparison, this is obviously still not the correct loop.

Our post-exploration consensus is that the Kizell Goulbourne Loop no longer exists.  There is absolutely no way that we missed it twice.  We think Google Maps needs to be updated.  On a happier note, we found some new trails to try through Monk Environmental Park and Trillium Woods Park.  These wooded areas warrant further research and exploration sometime soon.

The past two days have certainly been an adventure and we have gotten some great exercise.  We got caught in the beginning of the blizzard at the end of today's hike.  We each ate more than our fair share of super fat snowflakes on the way back to the car.  Luckily Seamus does not look too upset about the falling snow or the fresh air.  He does look tired though.  Woohoo!  Afternoon naps, anyone?

Bad Banana Reborn

I am not sure why I never thought to try it before but yesterday I rather unceremoniously chucked a very old, bruised banana into my yeast bread dough.  I cut out the worst parts but this banana had clearly seen much better days.  It was either into the bread or into the compost, so why not?

Oh my goodness!  The result was magic.  I created the most delicious banana-flavoured bread ever!

I ate my slice warm and lightly buttered, while Seamus and Alistair slathered theirs in Nutella.  Needless to say, we are currently on the look out for more almost bad bananas ready to be made over into a loaf of artisan yeast bread.  An old, mushy, bruised banana never tasted so good!  

Negotiating a Day of Seamus

I predict that my middle child is going to grow up to be a negotiator of some sort.  Mark my words.

With Liam getting to spend some time fishing with Daddy, Seamus is "stuck" at home with Mama and the baby.  As such, Seamus declared today that it is only fair that he should get to choose today's activities to make it an extra special day for him.  Well, who can argue with that?!  I did stipulate that home schooling time was non-negotiable, but after that he could plan the day.

And this is how I found myself tobogganing, eating pizza (for the second time in a week!) and milkshakes for supper, and watching a Spiderman movie.  Could you say "no" to a face like this?  Obviously, I couldn't.  I got nothing on my to do list accomplished today but Seamus had the best afternoon.

So snowy and so, so happy.

My extra adorable negotiator.

Seamus took Ali for his first ride of the day down the hill.
After that, Ali was all "I do" and insisted on going down solo.

Ali: "I think I can.  I think I can. I think I can."  The whole way up the hill.
I bet you can guess what train book we have been reading lately.

Does the salad make the pizza any healthier?
Debatable, certainly.

Pot 'O Gold Milkshakes.
I made the "healthy" version (if that is a thing).  I replaced the ice cream with homemade ice milk (made with half the amount of sweetener).  I used our homemade maple syrup instead of white sugar.  I used left over Lucky Charms cereal from the cottage and blended it all up into a milk shake.
It really was delicious.

Seamus looks so tired but swore that he
was definitely not too tired to watch Spiderman.
And so we did.  He enjoyed every second of it.
I hope he sleeps in tomorrow!

Sometimes "Normal" is Weird

My baby is growing up.  Well, yes, Alistair is growing too but I am actually talking about my baby turkey.  I noticed for the first time this morning that everyone's favourite turkey, Pecky Becky, is growing a beard.  See that black patch in the middle of her chest?  Yep, that's her beard growing in.  

I know that beard growth is part of a male turkey's normal development at about a year of age.  Many hunters actually keep the beards of the wild turkeys they shoot as trophies.  Ian has several.

I know all this but it is still disconcerting to see a bristly patch of super coarse black hairs protruding from between Pecky Becky's silky soft chest feathers.  Like I said, totally "normal" but still super weird.

You know who is not weird?  My other baby - Alistair.  Thankfully he is not growing a beard of any sort and is still as cute as a button.  Ali is getting heavier though.  He better learn to hike proficiently on his own soon because I am not sure my back is going to consent to my carrying him around on 7.5 km hikes for much longer.

We've Got our Goats in a Row

Ducks in a row?  Nah, this morning it is all about GOATS here on Gael Glen Farm.  Our goaties are happy, healthy and more than willing to stand in a row if it means not getting their delicate footsies snowy.

"Farm-ercise"

On this busy day in the farmyard, we mucked out all the barns and moved a fresh load of hay into the loft.  We were definitely sweaty and stinky by the end.  Tired muscles and happy animals; that's just how we roll here on Gael Glen Farm.  Happy Saturday!

Halfway into the hay loft.
Keep going!

Lying in Wait

When you are so over the snow and have decided to just lie down and wait for spring.

I hear you, Charlie.  I hear you.

Some of This & That

We started out the day with a loaf of my 48 hour fermented multigrain bread.

We did some schooling, played dress up with some summer hats, and got creative with some homemade play dough.

We then went on our most challenging hike to date.  While not intentional, we ended up doing 4 km, much of which was breaking trail through fresh snow.  There might have been one set of tracks in front of us but the prints we were following were much too often (for our liking anyway) covered up by deep snow drifts.  The trek left us all completely exhausted, except Alistair, of course.  He offered the welcome distraction of a special toddler rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (on repeat) sung with gusto from his baby carrier.  He was also sure to ask, "Okay?  Fine?  I'm fine.  Stop?  Why?  Okay?  Go! Go! Go!" every time I stopped walking even for a second.

We capped our day off with a pizza delivery and a big homemade salad.  This dinner was a well deserved treat, indeed, after such a busy day.  

I promised the boys no hiking tomorrow so we are on the look out for something else to do.  Shovelling snow?  Ice skating?  Barn mucking?  The sky's the limit!