Death of Cocky

Today marks the death of Cocky the rooster. He was just too cocky for his own good.

Yup. Today I witnessed my first chicken killing. Gulp. Let's just say, the
ax wasn't the sharpest and Cocky just couldn't let that head go.

Chickens are starting to enter the picture of my daily life. Yoko and
Renae leave in less then 2 weeks, which means that I can no longer
escape chicken duty. It will be my job to collect the eggs each day and
tuck the chickens into bed each night. Yoko informed me that they will
expect me to say "Nighty, Nighty" as well.

I'll be quite honest...I am very nervous about this new responsibility. As most of
you know, I am not an animal person. I don't like things that flap, and
I'm really not a fan of small feet. Yoko and Renae say this will change
and I will soon fall in love with the chickens as well. I'm not so sure.

I woke up in the middle of the night last night from a nightmare about the
chickens. They had all escaped their coops and were terrorizing the
farm. This probably wouldn't have been too scary...except for the fact
that they were giant sized...huge! Ahhhh! Luckily, the dream ended with Yoko saving the day. Aye! I'm still freaked.

Think of me when you eat your eggs and chicken legs.

I'm alive!

I'm back! Wow. It's been awhile, and a lot has happened.

For one...Lilli came for a visit! It was wonderful to have an old friend around to laugh, talk, and reminesce. She was put to work for the majority of her stay, but luckily she made it in time for Canadian Thanksgiving! My cousin Sadie, her husband Andrew, and their baby Kohen came for the celebrations. We planned and prepared a wonderful 100 mile Thanksgiving dinner. It was pretty cool to brainstorm how to do it, and it really brought to light how much we take for granted the transportation of the foods we eat.

Let's see other things that happened...hiking in East Sooke park...spending an evening listening to a wonderful jazz singer with Lilli and my new friend Tracey (she's the coolest girl ever! and my first urban friend!)...went to the Wailin Jenny's concert...and last but not least! CONTRA DANCING!!! That's right folks, I'm an addict and that was the first thing I looked into when I moved here.

Contra dancing is pretty new here...which is made apparent my the size (not even 1/4 the size of atlanta) and the very basic dances. But! It is a great place for beginners to learn, and I am very proud of the fact that 9 of the dancers there last Saturday were there through me. The first thing I ask each new person I meet is if they like to dance...then I get their email address so I can bug them about it later. My plan is to get tons of young people into it so that the dance will have to be moved to a bigger location. Then, I need to somehow lure contra dancers from the states over the border to really show these Canadians how it's done. Unfortunately, since most everyone is fairly new to it there is no one to advance the group to the next level of funness. Hopefully, it will come with time.

Other things...I moved into the trailer! I finished painting before Lilli came and this past weekend my wonderful aunt came and helped me cover the love seats with this awesome colorful fabric. It is nice to see it really become my place. There are still a few items I need to make it feel really comfortable...cookware...curtains..and such. But soon I will be as snug as a bug. Speaking of bugs...I have totally taken over this giant bug haven and turned it into a Natalie friendly habitat. There are still some persistant bugs that made it through the devestation, and I'm thinking I'll keep them. But they can't have babies! No. I already see a spider egg sac forming and I'm going to have to thwart that effort...mama can stay but she's gotta find a new home for her babies.

So, because all of this has been going on...and I've had to figure out the farm computer to where I can get my blog on...it has taken me a long time to get caught up. But I'm back! Thanks to Terez for keeping the blog alive in my absence...even if he did to it with greasy fingers.

(grrr...still having trouble uploading the photo...annoying old macs....)

Bloggers Block

Sorry all. I am currently experiencing a case of bloggers block. I have many thoughts rolling around in my head from the past week about the frustrations and joys of being on the farm. They are thoughts that require a good amount of energy to express with eloquence. It will come.