Good Morning! 2019

[ross]

I guess even a broke watch is right twice a day Baron .

[WLLady]

guess what??! the starter arrived. DH installed it, and holy moly we have a tractor again! YAY!!!!!!!! soooooooo exciting! i cannot tell you! no more moving hay by hand! whoohoo! and we'll need to move hay tonight, and with freezing rain coming, oh yay...
anyways, it fired right up better than it has for YEARS! so here's hoping we can get out and get some wood cut for the fireplace this weekend. and move hay tonight. whoohoo!!!!!

[TomK]

Doncha just love when a plan comes together, Kathy?...

[WLLady]

hahaha. Okay, mental note to ALL YOU OUT THERE! do not buy a universal tractor. i don't care how good the deal is for it! starter from "foreign tractor parts" whitby or somewhere like that. thermostarter plugs i do believe were from the UK?? and some part for the fuel delivery system also from some other country. ha ha. at least i can claim all the parts against the farm income. our can post guy even left the box with the starter on top of the parcel box (it's heavy....i have no problem with that) but in the pouring rain....argh! anyways, it worked, and the invoice is still readable so....at least this time we didn't have to fabricate parts like the last time....ha ha
i still want the expensive green and yellow paint tractor. there's a dealer about 3 miles from here....we could tow it that far if needed ha ha

woke up to an inch of ice on everything! it's pretty, but....a total skating rink. opp saying stay off the roads please, and all schools and busses are closed or not running and it's a mess! DH headed out here and phoned and said the road is sheet ice....so. got some salt down on the walkway....i heard him banging on the barn door to get it to actually open. guess i should see if the chickens even want to try to come out. the turkeys are out, and don't care about the weather at all. dog is sleeping in front of the fire place.

and in other good news, after going through 3 different kinds of mouse traps in the kitchen, i finally caught the mouse living in the stove with a tin cat trap with sunflower seeds! yay! got home yesterday to a cat trying to pry open the trap. secretly i think the cats have been freeing the mouse so they have entertainment. so. mouse got fired out the door with a cat in pursuit. i do believe the mouse got into the fire wood before the cat got it. but at least it's out of the house! and thankfully it was a male mouse, so hopefully no little mouses to deal with.....phew. and in my inpatience i candled the turkey eggs i set on saturday. it's what...wednesday? day 4. yep. i need to wait a little longer.....not much visible....

[Ontario Chick]

Good morning,
Skating rink down the driveway and more freezing rain coming this aft and tomorrow.
Luckily got a "home delivery" of lovely turkeys and other goodies by KB and her brave partner in crime feel like I am all set for rest of winter and do not have to come out until around April.
Interesting story in tho Ottawa citizen today, frankly if I had a Lazuli Bunting land in my back yard I would just shut up about it.
https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-ne ... s-backyard <https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-ne ... s-backyard>

[Killerbunny]

Had a lovely time with OC & her DH. It was Vians birthday so he took a day off work.

[Jaye]

woke up to an inch of ice on everything! it's pretty, but....a total skating rink. opp saying stay off the roads please, and all schools and busses are closed or not running and it's a mess! DH headed out here and phoned and said the road is sheet ice....so. got some salt down on the walkway....i heard him banging on the barn door to get it to actually open. guess i should see if the chickens even want to try to come out. the turkeys are out, and don't care about the weather at all. dog is sleeping in front of the fire place.

Our driveway is a skating rink too, and it looks like more of the icy stuff on the way this afternoon and this evening along with the colder temperature. We've been using crushed lava rock as traction the last few years, and although it's expensive, it's reusable (if you remember to sweep it up in the spring lol) and easy on the dog's feet. It is effective, but you need to be really liberal with it in these weather conditions.
I had to really work at convincing the man door to the coop to open wide enough for me to squeeze in this morning. There's a big slab of ice in front of the door that got there during the last flash thaw two days ago.
Walking the dog was especially fun yesterday evening, and I'm sure it will be loads of fun tonight again too.

[...] and thankfully it was a male mouse, so hopefully no little mouses to deal with.....phew. [...]

Newbie question here ... how can you tell it was a male mouse?

[Killerbunny]

Hold said mouse up by tail and if female there will be 2 orifices there, anus and vagina. If it is a male you will see the anus and often a quite impressive bulge where the testes are.

[Jaye]

LOL, thanks, KB. And here I thought it was going to be something less obvious. Like length of tail or size of feet.

[Killerbunny]

Well they do say that in a male mouse the size of feet is a measure of virility - or do I have that wrong?
Anyway it's only really easy in an adult mouse.
Here is some more info
https://www.wikihow.com/Tell-if-a-Mouse ... -or-Female
Be sure with a live mouse the little bugger doesn't turn around and bite they are very flexible. This is another of those "how do you know that" moments!