The Duck Report
More news from my 70 year old mother in the hinterland...
DUCK REPORT 143 14th February 2016
Today we are on our second unbelievably cold day. I went out this morning to do the barn and did not think it was too bad, but by the time I was finished my fingers were on their way to being frost bitten. It took 10 mins to thaw them out. On top of this the water buckets were full of ice so deep I could not break it out but had to bring them in to thaw. I think Ralph was the only one who felt OK in the weather, his coat is about ¾ grown, and some 6 ins thick.
On Friday on my way home with the bus I stopped and picked up my new toy, a chain saw, lithium battery powered. Sydney at the Mennonite store had never sold one before, and wants to know how I get on with it. Yesterday I powered the batteries, and today I added the chain oil, so I am all set to go. I had Sid show me how to sharpen the chain, but hopefully that will not be for a while, mind you I have lots to do so it may be sooner than I think.
DUCK REPORT 144 16th February 2016
We have a snow day today so no bus to drive! It only started at about 4:00 am but we already have 8 ins. I read the instructions on the chain saw hoping to get out today but I don’t think that is going to happen, just too much snow. I have to get started soon on the dreaded taxes, but I think I am going to chicken out on that too for today.
DUCK REPORT 145 25th February 2016
What a month February has been! Today we were cancelled for ice as we were yesterday, and Monday is a PA day, so between holidays, teachers professional development days, and ice days I think the kids have probably gone to school for about 15 days. I actually went out and started the bus this morning prepared to drive. The road was well sanded and should have been no problem, but the bus was covered with about ¼ in of ice which would have been hell to scrape off as all around the bus was ice and all I could do to stand up was hold on to the bus.
This last 2 days has given me the time to do the taxes. I started yesterday and spent the whole afternoon getting no were so went to bed in a funk. Today I sat down and produced both our taxes in less than 2 hours. I find you just have to be in the right mood and everything works.
Yesterday I zoomed over to Wally’s and talked maple plantations, I think we have a plan well worked out for our spring planting. I think I shall be tapping maple trees either today or Monday. Many people have already started but as I only need enough for us I don’t need to get a long run. In my Maple research I found that there are 3 kinds of maple tree which produce syrup. I have one red maple near the house which I will try this year to see if it is much different. The ones I have been tapping are either sugar maples or black maples, or possibly a hybrid of both. Can’t wait to get started!
We had an incident on the bus last Monday. I had to pull over and go see a kindergarten student who was in tears. He did not like his seat mate’s music so decided to hit him. This did not work so tears were the next step. This pint-sized prowler has been moved 5 times because he attacks his fellow students, pinching, biting or hitting. He was having trouble sitting on the seat as his neighbour’s back pack was in the way, so I helped the other little boy take it off. All settled we proceeded on. His siblings seemed to have thought I did something to him so went to the headmistress screaming bad bus driver. What a kerfuffle. I was eventually exonerated, but it is amazing how easily one can be accused when actually innocent.
DUCK REPORT 146 April 6th 2016
Lots of news folks. I am having great fun with my chain saw. It is light, no problem to start, and big enough to cut most branches, which is what I bought it for. I need to trim my tree lines so the tractor can work underneath them. I have been practising around the wood shed cutting up kindling.
I am just about to book my flight to Australia. I asked Erica if she would like to come and she said yes, so there will be two of us. Erica has air miles which she should use, but I am not up on how that works so am waiting for instruction. On further consideration Erica changed her mind and is going to Switzerland to see relatives.
This month we go to see Carmen, an opera I have been looking forward to for some time. I hope it meets expectations.
I have given up on making maple syrup for this year. The weather has been so crazy that I got tired of rehanging buckets, (the wind just blows them off when they are empty). I did get some sap which I froze in anticipation of more, so this I boiled on the stove, forgot about it and burned it. So the whole exercise was a bust.
One of the students on my bus lives on a farm and has had 3 litters of little pigs. I went to see them last weekend and will pick up two little pigs on Saturday. This week I have to ready the barn for their arrival. Speaking of which I decided the barn really needed to be cleaned. This operation has not been done for several years and the dirt and cobwebs were starting to get me down. I have done a lot but still have some repairs to finish, just the cleaning took 2 days. Twix’s stall floor had to be re-boarded, and a nasty spot of diarrhoea cleaned up. I don’t remember when I last cleaned the windows and window tracks, which were full of dirt blocking the window operation. Now they work and I can actually see out. The tack room was a real mess so I took up the carpet tiles, swept it out and beat the dust out of the tiles before replacing them. I still have to replace the hinges on one of the cabinets, stain one wall, re-staple some electrical wire, finish trimming the wood paneling and make a gate for one of the stalls.
I have decided to plant a maple bush this year as my main project. At least I will get it started. To this end I went down into Paul Martin’s bush and dug up maples. There are literally millions of them down under the trees most of which will not survive, so I liberated 30 of them and potted them up. The instructions I got from the agricultural department said dig up before the buds break, which is what I have done. I also have my eye on some larger ones under my maple trees, but for these I think I shall have to wait till the ground is a little softer. With this being such a crazy spring I am not sure if I shall plant anything this spring but maybe wait till the fall. My Ag man wants me to photograph the peach tree farm, in Australia, with the onion crop growing under the trees. I just hope they still grow onions under the trees? Or some other commercial crop.
DUCK REPORT 147 April 16, 2016.
We are finally getting nice weather and things are starting to grow, so like a complete fool I decided to start my veggie patch. I threw in a row of peas and dug up some onions and spinach which had self-seeded and planted a row of each. Before this I went visiting all my farmers to talk lambs, pigs, and when we can get on the land. The only person in was the sheep man who was watching one of his ewes lamb. In February he had had a ton of bottle lambs, but then it was too cold and I did not want to put them in my barn when it was so cold. At the moment he only has one lamb bottle fed but there are many more to lamb, he will call me when he has more.
DUCK REPORT 143 14th February 2016
Today we are on our second unbelievably cold day. I went out this morning to do the barn and did not think it was too bad, but by the time I was finished my fingers were on their way to being frost bitten. It took 10 mins to thaw them out. On top of this the water buckets were full of ice so deep I could not break it out but had to bring them in to thaw. I think Ralph was the only one who felt OK in the weather, his coat is about ¾ grown, and some 6 ins thick.
On Friday on my way home with the bus I stopped and picked up my new toy, a chain saw, lithium battery powered. Sydney at the Mennonite store had never sold one before, and wants to know how I get on with it. Yesterday I powered the batteries, and today I added the chain oil, so I am all set to go. I had Sid show me how to sharpen the chain, but hopefully that will not be for a while, mind you I have lots to do so it may be sooner than I think.
DUCK REPORT 144 16th February 2016
We have a snow day today so no bus to drive! It only started at about 4:00 am but we already have 8 ins. I read the instructions on the chain saw hoping to get out today but I don’t think that is going to happen, just too much snow. I have to get started soon on the dreaded taxes, but I think I am going to chicken out on that too for today.
DUCK REPORT 145 25th February 2016
What a month February has been! Today we were cancelled for ice as we were yesterday, and Monday is a PA day, so between holidays, teachers professional development days, and ice days I think the kids have probably gone to school for about 15 days. I actually went out and started the bus this morning prepared to drive. The road was well sanded and should have been no problem, but the bus was covered with about ¼ in of ice which would have been hell to scrape off as all around the bus was ice and all I could do to stand up was hold on to the bus.
This last 2 days has given me the time to do the taxes. I started yesterday and spent the whole afternoon getting no were so went to bed in a funk. Today I sat down and produced both our taxes in less than 2 hours. I find you just have to be in the right mood and everything works.
Yesterday I zoomed over to Wally’s and talked maple plantations, I think we have a plan well worked out for our spring planting. I think I shall be tapping maple trees either today or Monday. Many people have already started but as I only need enough for us I don’t need to get a long run. In my Maple research I found that there are 3 kinds of maple tree which produce syrup. I have one red maple near the house which I will try this year to see if it is much different. The ones I have been tapping are either sugar maples or black maples, or possibly a hybrid of both. Can’t wait to get started!
We had an incident on the bus last Monday. I had to pull over and go see a kindergarten student who was in tears. He did not like his seat mate’s music so decided to hit him. This did not work so tears were the next step. This pint-sized prowler has been moved 5 times because he attacks his fellow students, pinching, biting or hitting. He was having trouble sitting on the seat as his neighbour’s back pack was in the way, so I helped the other little boy take it off. All settled we proceeded on. His siblings seemed to have thought I did something to him so went to the headmistress screaming bad bus driver. What a kerfuffle. I was eventually exonerated, but it is amazing how easily one can be accused when actually innocent.
DUCK REPORT 146 April 6th 2016
Lots of news folks. I am having great fun with my chain saw. It is light, no problem to start, and big enough to cut most branches, which is what I bought it for. I need to trim my tree lines so the tractor can work underneath them. I have been practising around the wood shed cutting up kindling.
I am just about to book my flight to Australia. I asked Erica if she would like to come and she said yes, so there will be two of us. Erica has air miles which she should use, but I am not up on how that works so am waiting for instruction. On further consideration Erica changed her mind and is going to Switzerland to see relatives.
This month we go to see Carmen, an opera I have been looking forward to for some time. I hope it meets expectations.
I have given up on making maple syrup for this year. The weather has been so crazy that I got tired of rehanging buckets, (the wind just blows them off when they are empty). I did get some sap which I froze in anticipation of more, so this I boiled on the stove, forgot about it and burned it. So the whole exercise was a bust.
One of the students on my bus lives on a farm and has had 3 litters of little pigs. I went to see them last weekend and will pick up two little pigs on Saturday. This week I have to ready the barn for their arrival. Speaking of which I decided the barn really needed to be cleaned. This operation has not been done for several years and the dirt and cobwebs were starting to get me down. I have done a lot but still have some repairs to finish, just the cleaning took 2 days. Twix’s stall floor had to be re-boarded, and a nasty spot of diarrhoea cleaned up. I don’t remember when I last cleaned the windows and window tracks, which were full of dirt blocking the window operation. Now they work and I can actually see out. The tack room was a real mess so I took up the carpet tiles, swept it out and beat the dust out of the tiles before replacing them. I still have to replace the hinges on one of the cabinets, stain one wall, re-staple some electrical wire, finish trimming the wood paneling and make a gate for one of the stalls.
I have decided to plant a maple bush this year as my main project. At least I will get it started. To this end I went down into Paul Martin’s bush and dug up maples. There are literally millions of them down under the trees most of which will not survive, so I liberated 30 of them and potted them up. The instructions I got from the agricultural department said dig up before the buds break, which is what I have done. I also have my eye on some larger ones under my maple trees, but for these I think I shall have to wait till the ground is a little softer. With this being such a crazy spring I am not sure if I shall plant anything this spring but maybe wait till the fall. My Ag man wants me to photograph the peach tree farm, in Australia, with the onion crop growing under the trees. I just hope they still grow onions under the trees? Or some other commercial crop.
DUCK REPORT 147 April 16, 2016.
We are finally getting nice weather and things are starting to grow, so like a complete fool I decided to start my veggie patch. I threw in a row of peas and dug up some onions and spinach which had self-seeded and planted a row of each. Before this I went visiting all my farmers to talk lambs, pigs, and when we can get on the land. The only person in was the sheep man who was watching one of his ewes lamb. In February he had had a ton of bottle lambs, but then it was too cold and I did not want to put them in my barn when it was so cold. At the moment he only has one lamb bottle fed but there are many more to lamb, he will call me when he has more.