Today and yesterday and tomorrow are warm days. The snow is melting rapidly and where it was cleared, it is almost gone. Yesterday it was 7 degrees above zero. The animals are so happy to be roaming around again, not fighting the bitter cold, but apparently, it is coming back, though not for a while. 

The tom turkey began to strut his stuff for the ladiees. i tried to get a photo of him, but he was being shy and closed his tail when I took the camera out. Later, when he is strutting for real, he will strut around the farm and make a drumming sound by expanding the air in his chest quickly. The turkeys have a bunch of coarse feathers that stick straight out of their breasts, called the brush, which the Scots modeled the tassel after. 

The ducks were mating today as well and the rooster was asserting his dominance over the other roosters. A few of the chickens need to be put down due to frozen feet. One poor hen has lost her entire foot at the knee joint and quite a few others have lost toes, including the young Muscovy duck. Once the Muscovies started to sleep in the chicken coop, which is insulated, they were faring much better. 

The guests at the Inn left this morning after two weeks with me. I saw them every day for breakfast and again for most suppers. I am very tired today, not from doing the work, but from having to get up so early because I am not a morgning person. I tried to nap this afternoon, but Sofi was whining and would not shut up. I have no idea what she wanted or needed, but she would not be quiet. She is not in my good books. 

I found a new used desk that I will pick up this evening to replace this old office desk. This desk is an oak model that had the typewriter bolted right in and for the night, the typewriter turned upside down leaving the  desk clean. The trouble is with the apparatus to flip the board where the typewriter was, there is no leg room and only two small drawers. The new to me desk will have 5 drawers and lots of leg room. I should be able to put the printer on the desk as well and free the floor space in the living room. When I can wrangle some one to help me bring it into the house, I will get it unloaded from the truck. 

After I return tonight, I will read a bit from my new herbalist books and study more aromatherapy, even possibly watch a movie. I have been looking at the classics and enjoying them. 

And that was the beautiful day. The only drawback is that ice forms overnight making the whole yard a skating rink by morning…dangerous! But then the day comes and the sun comes and it warms and is glorious. Sunny Alberta!

What happened? I just don't know. She was recently dead, with not a mark on her. She appeared to have just fallen over. There were no puncture wounds, swelling or abberations on her body, so I opened her up to take a look inside. Nothing. All appeared and smelled normal. Smell is important when reviewing causes of death or possibilities. She had urine in her bladder and feces in her colon and food in her stomach. 

The French Lop, Cindy Lop Ear, was a stunningly gorgeous rabbit. I had always hoped to find her a pure bred boyfriend. I tried to breed her to the Flemish buck, but in two years, she had not produced a litter. Well, that is not entirely true. She did have a litter, but the other rabbit threw the babies out of the den so she could put her babies there. They were only a few days old. That was a very sad day, but not as sad as today. 

Good bye Cindy Lop Ear. You were a very sweet gentle soul and will be missed. 

Sofi lived here for a year when I first moved here. At that time my daugher was in transition and going to university and keeping a dog was an albatross for her, that is, renting with a dog in tow was ten times as hard than without. Becuase my daughter, who owns Sofi, lived with me quite a few years too, Sofi also did. But the last three years , she has lived with Brianna and has been spoiled as an only chlld often is. My dogs are not spoiled, just well loved and cared for. 

Sofi asked to go outside this morning and I did not go with her. Brianna said that I should always go and encourage her to do her business, otherwise she will simply hold it. But this morning Sofi asked to go out, came in and asked to go out again on her own. She was exploring and she was fine. It is also snowing lightly, so she was chasing snow flakes. This is a huge improvement from just the last few days, when she whined after a minute outside. Yesterday she played with a stick for the entire time I was doing chores. She has no understanding of not being ableo to spend every minute with her. She will learn. 

Then when Sofi was ready to come in this morning, she howled at the door, as she always does. Finally, Sofi feels at home enough to not need me by her side for every moment and that is freeing for both of us. It is 22C on the Gold Coast in Australia this morning. Taking a dog along, once again, would complicate finding rental units and working hours too, so Sofi is back with me for her next 3 years, when she will be 11 and ready to retire from the farm. 

Sofi is home in her heart now and that is a great thing. 

The rams have supposedly done their breeding now as they have been in with the ewes since December. A ewe cycles every 18 days during breeding season, so that is longer than 2 cycles, long enough for the ram to do his job. There were two Babydoll rams in with respective Babydoll ewes and ewe lambs. I don't think the ewe lambs are old enough to breed so I am not expecting them to be pregnant. There might be the off chance that the Icelandic cross ewe lambs would cycle though, since Icelandics breed as early as 5 months and they are almost 7 months. The new Romanov ewe lamb most certainly appears to have been bred by the Babydoll ram. Next year she will be bred by the Finn cross ram. Both Finn sheep and Romanov sheep have litters of lambs, four being very common. 

Walter was moved also, leaving the Cotswold ewe with the little heifer calf, Kylie, for company. Quinn, the Blue Faced Leicester was moved out of the main ewe pen as well. The only rambs left to move are the ram lambs born in May last year. They are in with the Nubian and Angora goats to keep them warmer in their barn. The Nygerian Dwarf goats need to be moved after February and the little Pygora and Angora bucklings moved in with the rams for the summer. Ideally they should have their own pen since they require higher amounts of copper than sheep. I do have a pen they could go in actually, so maybe I will do that. 

I tried to put the heifer calf in with the donkey, but he bit her neck and tried to breed her, so that did not work at all. Poor little baby girl! The donkey is not full sized, but not miniature and is bigger than the calf by half again. 

Travis helped with the moving of the rams. When he is not here any longer, I will have to hire some strong young teens to give me a hand moving the rams in and out of the pens, in the fall and out in the spring. Then after that, I spent some time cleaning the hay and manure out of the sheep pen and Travis finished that job since he has tons of experience and is a much better operator than I am. 

Then I went over to the Inn and fed the guests a supper of spiced lentils, baked ham, beaans, okra and broccoli. They particularly enjoyed the ham and the lentils. I brought some ham over for Travis since he worked a little harder today moving the rams and cleaning the pen. It is only 9 pm, but I did not sleep very well last night and I think I will turn in early tonight. I do have to be up at 6 30 again to make breakfast for the guests. They are here until Friday and are actors working with the school at Frog Lake. 

Who would have thought moving the rams would be so tiring. Zzzzzzzz…..

Ofcharka is a big, big black dog. He scares a lot of people because of his size and his colour. It is funny that the big white dogs are not so fear inducing as he is, because they are actually bigger. Ofcharka is submissive and friendly, except when he does not want to do something. Then he will not do it and would bite me if I tried to make him. I will have to find a muzzle for him so I can get him into the truck if need be. Either that, or throw a sack over his head so he cannot see. The problem is, that the one time I muzzled him or put a sack on his head might be the last time. 

Ofcharka and Jade have a love for one another that is evident. They often cuddle together and he licks her ears. She stand there and loves the attention. They sometimes sleep together too. Jade is a Maremma dog. Lately, though, Ofcharka and the cats have become quite friendly and they are often near him or cuddling with him. For a while he just ignored them, but it seems that now they are friends. Today, the cat was up on the fence as usual when I was doing chores and Ofcharka jumped up to say hello. I tried to get the shot of the cat cuddling him and rubbing her face on his muzzle, but missed it. It was so charming. The cats are always about when I do chores. They come for a drink of water and follow me around, along with the dogs, hoping for a morsel of attention. I don't know quite why they are as friendly as they are towards me, because I show them very little love really, only a pat here and there. Cats just aren't my animals. They do have a job on the farm and of course, that is to hunt mice and I don't see many mice around, so hopefully they are doing their job. Maybe they will teach Ofcharka to hunt mice? 

Sofi has come to live at the Fat Ewe farm again. She and Robbie are the privileged dogs that are allowed in the house. Both are good house pets, but Sofi has been spoiled by her owner, so she whines if she does not get attention. She is going to get better eventually, but it will take a while for her to get the idea that whining is not permitted here. 

Robbie is good with Sofi for the most part, which is surprising, because he is agressive with most of the other dogs (not Harley, though). He allows Sofi to get the stick once in while, which makes her happy, and he even played tug with her today. Robbie found his tug toy on the snow and brought it to me. He is extremely strong and it takes all my energy to keep from falling over when I tug with Robbie. Not fair, it isn't, because he has four legs and I have only two and am tall while he is close to the ground. So, Robbie allowed Sofi to play instead. 

She is only half of Robbie's size and definitely not nearly as agile, nor fit, having been a city dog for a long time. Within a few seconds Robbie pulled the tug away from Sofi and she would not grasp it again. It was cute to watch them play for a bit. The other dogs are livestock guardian dogs and they do not play ball, stick or tug, so Robbie is enjoying having some one to play with. Now, if he could only teach Sofi to pay attention when the stick is thrown, so I don't have to go show her, that would be great. I am not sure what the chances of that happening at her age, which is 8 years old, but I can always hope. Want to come and play with them?

There are so many interesting people to meet and spend a little time in conversation with. As the owner/cook of Moose Hills Inn and the Fat Ewe Farm, I pride myself in taking a little extra time to learn about the guests. 

The Prospero Theatre group is here for a few weeks. They are wonderfully accomplished in the theatre arts, very skilled in their craft and have a host of other experiences to help them in their work. One owns a professional stilt company, teaches stilt walking and has a lot of performing experience. One is Inuit/Dene and comes with  a skill set exclusive to having been the child of a trapper in the far north, then in mid stream, changing paths to become proficient in using theatre as an outreach tool for other First Nations children. The third member of this party is a gifted Shakespearean actor and businessman and is the impetus behind the group's success. For these two weeks, Prospero is working with the students at Frog Lake, a venue they are finding equally rewarding as it is challenging. 

I am privileged to speak with these folks as I serve them breakfast and supper. For them, I try my best, do my utmost and create tastes that please the palate and the senses, or so they have told me. For that I am grateful and I am grateful for the opportunity to learn more and get to know them as individuals. Each is unique and I am humbled to be in their presence. Moose Hills Inn is indeed happy to have made their acquaintance. Watch for their interactions in your community somewhere in Alberta. They bring humour and openess to the children they expose to theatre, with a flair I can only imagine based on the personality of each of them. 

And that is what I love about being the hostess at Moose Hills Inn! 

My daughter's dog has come to live at the Fat Ewe Farm for the next three years. She is already 8 years old, but is a small border collie, so should live well into her teens, except for a possible problem. She has a growth on her neck. My daughter has chosen not to do a biopsy of the growth since there are two options. If it is cancerous, the cost to remove it and have a chance at a longer life, is prohibitive and to let it be, thinking it might just be a fat deposit as some older dogs develop, means not knowing. But the options are not good, so she simply does not want to know. Sofi has had a great life so far and is enjoying her days on the farm now. She goes out with Robbie to herd sheep and is better at it than he is because she is not aggressive and does not bite the sheep. Robbie is cattle bred and they do bite the cows and bulls to get them going. Cow bred border collies do not make the best sheep dogs, however; because they are not to bite the sheep and pull the wool. It is hard to break him of that, but I am trying. 

Sofi likes to fetch a stick and loves playing with a ball the most of all. She can entertain herself for long periods chasing her shadow or a reflected light. She is good at night and sleeps in her kennel. 

As a gift for my daughter, I plan to photograph Sofi every day and send her that photo, so she will have three years of daily photos of her beloved pup. Today is day 1. Brianna left the farm for home yesterday and leaves the country to abide in Australia for three years on Sunday. Sofi will miss Brianna so much and I will do my best to care for her and love her. Welcome to the Fat Ewe Farm Sofi!

I have had the pleasure of visiting with my beautiful daughter at the farm for the last week, but today I saw her off to the airport with tears in my eyes. She is off to Australia for three years to become a midwife. Most likely she and her partner will not be able to come back to Canada, because they will need to be working as much as they can to sustain themselves while there. I may not find a farm sitter to free myself to go and visit them either, but time will tell. 

It is always a pleasure to spend with my children. They have become wonderful adults in their own right and are making their way in society and beginning to impact the world in their own ways. For the next three years, I will have Sofi, Briann's little border collie. She is a spoiled dog, since my daughter and her partner have no children and Brianna loved the little dog to bits. Here she will not get that attention and her wiley ways may have to change somewhat as my time to overindulge dogs is rather limited. She is sleeping in her kennel in my living room currently, though as the weather warms up, she will be in the porch with the other dogs, if I can stand her howling of dissatisfaction with not being in the human space. 

Three years will pass quickly. Saying good bye is only a time of not being able to hug or hold one another or see the smile in the eye. I hope to be nearer to my personal goals on the farm and the Inn should be well established and be known to the locals. I am working very hard to make it a wonderful place to stay and so far, that hard work is paying off. When she returns I will have only a few more years at the Fat Ewe Farm before retiring. Plans are in the works to learn more about subdivision of the land. 

Although it is hard to part with a loved one, it is my pleasure to see her follow her dreams and I will do all I can to support her in that endeavour. Still, a little tears don't hurt, do they?