Wednesday, January 24, 2007

January 24, 2007

The weather here in Cooks Creek is mild for this time of year but it is chilly in our home. We had an accident. I came home from work yesterday and as luck would have it I ran over and killed my youngest daughter's kitten. My youngest daughter is a tough yung un. I know she was feelin bad (as anyone would) but she knows how I feel about animals and she kept it in. There were tears but she never let me see them. I went up to her room and gave her a hug and told her I was sorry and she said that is ok Dad. The wife ain’t so tough and had a hard time with it because she actually saw me run over the little guy and watched him die. My up bringin is animals are animals. They are not one of us. I have animals around for a purpose. The cats are there for mouse/rat control. I never have/will put a human spin to pets or animals but my wife is more of a pets are part of the family type of deal. Anyway we are down to 2 cats now. What’s done is done and we move on.

On a brighter note, I had a great Monday. My youngest daughter had to go into the city to see a sawbones about gettin her tonsils out. They are huge (tonsils) and have been causin her no end of grief for some time. I have a mess of vacation time I have to use up before the end of March so I took a vacation day and picked her up from school and took her to her doctor’s appointment. We made the appointment and when we came out my first instinct was to get her back to school so she wouldn’t miss much class time. As we were headin back to the truck I saw a Sals restaurant. It was lunchtime so I asked her if she would like to go out for lunch or have her bag lunch Mom had made her. She said she would really like to go out for lunch. So we did. Just me and her. We ate the most greasy unhealthy hamburger and french fries you could imagine but it was great. We talked and I had a big time (I think she did too). She is 12 years old and I don’t think we have ever done something like that before. It is a real fine memory and one I will never forget. Best 12 bucks I ever spent. Ya all are probably thinking, what’s the big deal; ya went out for lunch. The lunch was lunch; the memory is the time I spent with my youngest daughter. Just me and her talking and such. Life is getting away too busy around here. Got to get more and bigger and better and more and sooner. It is time to start goin out for lunch more around here.

Something that has my interest for awhile now is home schoolin. I have read some on the subject over the last two months. One of the negatives to home schoolin is, yung uns that are home schooled lack social skills. I have read this many times and the public school system seems to hang onto this belief and preach it every chance it gets. Let me tell ya about an experience I had on the same Monday my daughter and I went out for lunch. After I took my daughter back to school I went to pickup my beautiful wife (just in case she reads this deal) from her job. She works at the high school cafeteria. I think I have mentioned that before in a previous post. Anyway, back to my story. I got there about half-hour early so I went in the cafeteria and was settin and waitin. Now I experienced/witnessed the most interesting social behavior since I was knee high to a grasshopper and visited the monkeys at the zoo. I watched a yung lady with a handful of pennies throw them at yung fellas as they walked through the cafeteria. Not every yung fella was pelted with coins, only certain ones (not sure how she decided who received the attention). On more than 4 occasions a yung fella would come through and make a noise that was similar to noises gibbons make. One of his buddies would return the call with a similar noise but in a different pitch and tone. I have no idea what it meant but they seemed to be communicating with it. I watched 6 yung fellas standin on the tables and lift the suspended ceiling tiles in and out. Not sure why but they did it for the whole half-hour I was there. Another yung lady must of got a late start in the mornin because she came to school in her pajamas. I’m not yankin your chain. Saw it with my own eyes. Another yung lady must have got her little sisters clothes and hers mixed up because the shirt she was wearin only half covered her. The public school system is right. No home schooled yung un is goin to learn these social skills at home. I have not been in a school for 30+ years. I don’t remember it like that but then again much of my time when I was that age was spent on the business end of a pick and shovel. Still shakin my head.

Wife is at the church tonight. First nite of the dinner theater. Deal goes for three weeks, 4 nites a week. She is goin to be tired when the curtain goes down on this deal. Late nites and early mornins are goin to catch up on her in short order.

I’m goin to say good nite and go read for a bit. Talk to ya all real soon.

Friday, January 19, 2007

January 19, 2007

Friday evenin in Cooks Creek. Wife is sick and has gone to bed. She has been feelin poorly for a couple of days now. Needs a good nights rest. Durin the week we don’t get enough sleep. Try to be in the sack by at least 10:00 (but doesn’t always happen) then alarm goes off @ 5:00. Put in a full day from 5:00 am to 10:00 p.m. That’s only gives 7 hours sleep if we are lucky. One thing I am sure of it is, sufficient sleep is one of the most important things you can do to keep yourself healthy. Eventually it all catches up with ya. God says “Your too stupid to get the proper rest, well I’ll give ya something that will put ya down and make ya rest. There ya go. I guess if there is one thing we (whole family) should be doin this year is makin a real effort to get proper sleep.

The oldest daughter has taken my truck and is off on her first solo trip. She has gone off to church to help with the play. Am I nervous? Darn tootin. It’s the only truck I got. 

Last week took our burn barrel to the dump. Son is with me and wants to go to the saw dust pile they have there and get some bags of saw dust for his cat’s litter box. We get a couple of bags of saw dust and I gets this bright idea that I will fill up the now empty burn barrel with saw dust and use it for beddin in the chicken coop. So I do. Take it over to the coop when I get home and start puttin it on the floor. Stupid chickens make a bee line for the other side of the coop and bunch up 4 or 5 deep. I knew what was goin to happen instantly. I ran over and tried to get them seperated but as fast as I was pullin them apart they were bunchin up. So I ran and got a feed bin and brought it into the coop. That got them apart but too late. 4 dead chickens. What can I say. I’m still learnin. Chickens didn’t go to waste. They are in the freezer but they were good layers. Full of eggs. Man, was I mad at myself. Live and learn.

We were sellin eggs to the canteen in the high school where my wife works. Health Inspector comes in this week and sees the brown eggs and asks where the eggs are comin from (you know where this is goin, right). Lady says, Cheryl’s farm. Are they graded? Nope. Get them out of here or I’ll shut ya down. So no more sellin eggs to the high school. 6 feet from those eggs is a slushy machine where they sell a crushed ice drink deal with flavored sugar syrup on it. Nutritional value of that stuff is nil. That stuffs ok but farm fresh eggs had to hit the road. I’ll never figure this deal out.

I have started the construction of my Wizbang Chicken Plucker. In a previous post I mentioned I thought I could build it for $200. I may have been a little off. I thought I had a good motor. Turns out it is junk. So I will need to buy a motor. Some of the parts are pretty special (not stuff you would have layin around). I think I will buy that sstuff from the Wizbang Chicken Plucker Company. It sounds like it is a family run deal. I like dealin with those kind of outfits. Support what we are all tryin to do here. My new prediction is $500. Exactly what the book said it would cost if ya had to buy evrything new. I may even have to go a touch over 500 bein here in Canada. Everything is a bit more expensive do to extra shippin costs and our lower dollar value. Will let ya all know how it goes. I’ll get er done. May take a bit longer cause I’ll need to saveup a little more but my days of hand pluckin chickens should be over. Maybe I’ll take my plucker on the road like the old threshin gangs in the old days. Make me a sign. Chickens Plucked, two bits each. Says it can pluck a chicken in 15 seconds. That would be a dollar a minute. I could make 60 bucks an hour pluckin chickens. I’ll be rich! If I build 2 pluckers, I could make………. Wonder if the bank would lend me some start up money? ;-)

Man, I am lookin forward to Spring. There is goin to be a ton of work to complete this year but it is what I call fun work. Workin on farmin stuff, buildin chicken pluckers, buildin stalls in barns and pig pens ain’t work at all. That kind of stuff makes me want to get up in the mornin and get goin.

Everyone is plannin or have been of a warm holiday. I wonder what is wrong with me? I have no urge to go away on a vacation. My vacation time (from my away job) is spent right here at home. Not because I have to but because I want to. No place on earth I would rather be than at home doin what we are doin. People ask, Are you goin someplace warm this winter? When you tell them no, they look at ya like they feel sorry for ya or something. Don’t feel sorry for me. I like stayin at home with my family and doin what we are doin. I feel sorry for you that ya all got to go lookin all over the place and spend a wheelbarrow full of money tryin to find some contentment.

Well as Bugs Bunny says, ThThThThThats all folks! Talk to ya all real soon. I want to blog a little more regular so to keep a better log on stuff.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

It's CCCCCCold

Sunday evenin in Cooks Creek. Weather here is cold. Very cold. Everything is suffering. Animals, machines and people. I said I wanted it to get colder to put an end to all the flu bugs and such that are goin around and guess what? I got my wish. I feel sorry for the animals in this weather. All ya can do is make sure they get lots of food and some shelter if ya can swing it. They need the food to give them the energy to keep themselves warm. I give them all they want when it is like this. All the wild critters just hunker down and wait it out. Ya don’t see any wild animals when it is like this. They are all hold up deep in the bush or their dens. We need to take a lesson from Mother Nature. There are times it ain’t fit to venture out so ya need to hold up and relax until things get where they need to be again. There was no school on Friday because of the weather. Think it was –48 with the wind-chill. Buses aren’t too dependable when it is that cold so they just shut the school down. Kids thought it was great and because the wife works at the school too, she also got a long weekend out of the deal. I know it is cold when the first thing the kids do when they get up is turn on the radio. They turn the radio to CJOB. Then they listen for the announcement the school division is closing schools. If their school isn’t mentioned it is sad sacks all around. If it is, ya never seen a happier bunch. Things are sure different now than when I went to school. I can only remember one time we didn’t have to go to school because of weather. That was a big blizzard in the 60s. 1964 I think. Whole South part of the province was shut down for days. I’m not so lucky. No day off for me because of weather. Just the opposite. When it is that cold and ya work in a vehicle repair shop things get a little goofy. We were busy and will be until the weather takes a break. I had to open a lock on a big gate on Friday. I couldn’t do it with my mitts on so I pulled them off. They were only off for about 15 seconds and handling that cold steel I froze my fingertips. Talk about burn.

Other than the weather the New Year seems to be off to a good start. I don’t know if it is wishful thinkin or my imagination but I think the days are getting a little longer already. Hard to believe half of January is gone already. Wife and daughters have gone to church to work on the play. Just me and my son at home here tonite. I have some snow to clean up but I don’t want to run the tractor when it is this cold. I also don’t want to sit on the tractor when it is this cold. The wood pile is goin down a little faster than I planned. Hope I don’t run out before the end of winter. I split a little wood yesterday. Sure splits nice when it is this cold. Hardly no effort needed at all.

On Sundays at noon there is a show on TV called Church of the Rock
(www.churchoftherock.ca/ChurchOfTheRock/). The pastor is the best. Man, can that fella hammer out a message. His name is Pastor Mark Hughs. We don’t attend a church so we have our own little service here at home and listen to Pastor Hughs. Today he was talkin about old time religion. Sins, Righteousness and Judgement. I got to admit when most of those preachers get to talkin my eyelids get heavy. Not with this preacher though. I’m awake and listenin and can even relate/understand what he is sayin. If any of ya have a chance give him a listen. They have a Saturday evening service. I was teasing the wife I was goin to take her out on a date and we would go into Winnipeg to the evening service. Actually that ain’t a bad idea. Maybe go out to dinner too. Have to give that a think.

I will leave you this evening with something that I read today and really hit home. “Good food may be more expensive but it is sure cheaper than doctors and hospitals”.

Stay warm.

Saturday, January 6, 2007

New Driver in the Family

Hello all, Warm record breakin temperatures here in Cooks Creek this week. The snow was meltin yesterday but today it has cooled but still nice for this time of year. It felt like spring but I am not foolish enough to fall into that trap. Winter will come. Although I have been sayin that for 2 months now and we really haven’t seen any signs of it yet. I have mixed feelins about the warm weather. It is sure easier to do your chores and is easier on equipment and all but it is hard on people’s health. Colds and the flu are everywhere. People hacking and coughin. I put it up to the warm weather allowing the germs to survive and get hold of everyone. Seems once the deep cold sets in the rate of illness goes down big time.

I received my Wizbangchickenplucker book in the mail this week. Something happened with this company, Cumberland Books that I am still shaken my head over and really can’t believe it happened. I have been waitin for these plans to show up all week. Felt like that little kid in that movie The Christmas Story who was waitin for his package from Ovaltine with the Magic Decoder Ring. Everyday I would stop at the mailbox hopin it would come and late this week it did. I opened the package and there was the book and a handwritten letter. It said “Dear Guy, Here is your copy of the book you ordered but the credit card number you supplied would not go through. Please give us a call when you can so we can straighten this out.” Those weren’t the exact words but it went something like that. Can you believe that! I got to tell ya, I have never been treated like this before. They trust me completely! Here’s your book, even though you haven’t paid for it but we trust you will. You can’t even get most companies to ship COD anymore. I gave them a call next mornin and everything is straightened out. Still can’t believe there is still a company out there that treats people like that. I thought those days were long gone. The more I hang around this bloggin thing the more good people I meet. Does a body good to be involved with people like that. Cumberland Books you are good people in my book.

We have another driver in the family. Oldest daughter finally got her driver’s license Friday. Third time a charm. She was sure getting discouraged. She did her driving test twice and had failed. I think she kind of went with the feelin she was goin to fail again so she would just go and get it over with. Man, she was one happy gal. Dad and Mom are happy too. No more havin to drive her to work and such. She took the truck to work this mornin and she was proud as punch. Everyone at the stable were high fivin her and congratulatin her. They knew how much she wanted it. A lady phoned her this week and asked her if she was interested in lookin after some polo ponies for her while she was away. She wants to do this real bad but the place is too far to walk and it is too dark to ride in the evening. I told her I wasn’t drivin her so if she can get her license she can do it. First thing she did when she got home was phone and let that lady know she was interested in the job.

Wife and daughter are goin to be busy for the next month doin sets and props for the church play. Church puts on some dinner theaters to raise money. It’s a big deal around here. I think they do 16 shows and everyone of them is sold out months in advance.

Well it is getting late so I will say good nite. Keep your stick on the ice. Oh yea, Who won the Junior Campionship this week? CANADA. 3 in a Row. Sorry, Just had to brag on that a little.

Monday, January 1, 2007

New Years Day and We Got some Snow

New Years Day here in Cooks Creek. Happy New Year to ya all. Hope your last year was a good one and this one comin up is just as good or better. We got some snow. Man, did we get snow. Over a foot of the stuff Saturday nite. Imagine my surprise when I opened the door Sunday morning to do chores and walked into snow up to my knees. Our famous Environment Canada said 5 to 10 cm or 2 ½ to 5 inches for all us old folk who grew up with normal measurement units. Good ol Environment Canada. A government funded organization that is wrong over 80% of the time. Well, shouldn’t complain they are doin better than some of the other government departments and agencies. They are right 20% of the time. What do ya all think would happen to ya all if for every 5 things you did at work or on your farm you made 4 mistakes. Twister killed a lady this summer just North of here. Twister hit, Environment Canada issued a warning 10 minutes after she was dead and dozens injured. Even I can predict somethin after it happens. Well enough about that. They ain’t goin to change cause some hick in Cooks Creek ain’t happy with their ways.

A New Year. What am I lookin forward too. Spring, days getting longer, my daughter’s 18th birthday (where she officially becomes an adult) and my other daughter’s 13th birthday (where she officially becomes a teenager). Not sure which one has me most bothered. Funny how bein 18 gives you all these extra rights and freedoms. I know some that are 14 I would trust with my life and some that are 34 that I wouldn’t trust to let them use my wheelbarrow. Age doesn’t mean a whole lot when it comes to maturity. I’m not big into makin promises to myself to try and do this better or that different. If those things need doin I will have done it before now. Don’t need a specific date to spur me on.

This weekend and New Years Day (today) found us shovelin and blowin snow. Big job when you have that much snow at one time. We all dug in (so to speak) and got er done. I bought a blower for my tractor last fall. As of today that may be one of the smartest purchases I ever did make. That thing is as slick as snot on a door knob. Biggest problem was havin the snow blow back in your face when you can’t blow with the wind. The corrals had to wait until today because we had a North wind yesterday. South wind today, went in there and had everything cleaned up lickity split.

Back to work tomorrow. I am finding it harder and harder to go to work everyday. I want to be home here and work at farmin. Work in my shop on the equipment, makin stuff, raisin stuff and getting on with our dream. I don’t much like how I am feelin about work but I can’t help it. First time in my life I am not enjoying my job. Maybe it is just the winter blues.

As I was typing this blog, wife hollers up to me that I got to come watch a movie called Super Size Me. My oldest daughter had watched the show in her biology class and said it was something we should see. The show is about this ol boy who eats nothin but McDonalds food for 30 days. It describes what is in the food and how it effects his health. Doctors can not believe the effects it has on his liver (life and death stuff). The show is a must see for the whole family. At one point it gets a little unfamily rated as it describes what effect the food has to his marital relationship but once you get by that it is very educational and ok for the whole family. A must see. The kids watched it with us and they were askin questions which means they were thinkin. Describes how the diet was givin him mood swings, less energy and short bursts on energy. This guy was very healthy at the beginning of the experiment. In 30 days of fast food he was in such poor health his life was at risk. If ya get a chance have a look. Educational but scary. Tells how these corporations have paid lobbyists in Washington making sure the lawmakers support their cause. Makin Money!

Getting late, need some shuteye. Talk to ya all soon.