Baby birds

I have been bad about keeping up with the baby birds.

Here they are on day 11...almost ready to fly the coop!

We hear them now, flapping their wings in the nest and practicing using their voices. Mama isn't in the nest at all during the day now and just hunts and brings food. She spends the night in the nest with them and is gone by about 8am. I can't imagine how 3 of them would have fit!!!

Check out how they looked in the beginning....pretty cool that these changes have happened in 11 days!

Boys will be boys!

Our weekend was full of 'boys' stuff! The boys started with Spiderman 3-Imax on Friday, continued with air hockey, pool and video games on Saturday and on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, we all spent the day fixing the fences at my parents. What fun!! Truly!

When we arrived for a visit we thought we'd stay for a bit and then head home for dinner. Dad needed me to pick up some posts in the truck and when we got back we all decided to get to work installing the posts.

A couple of years ago, a large storage container blew over from the neighbors and broke off 15 fence posts that have since been resting on the page wire. Dwayne dug the holes and installed new posts, Cam and Grandpa (John) drove tractor and mower to rid our paddock of buttercups, Sarah and Grandma(Judy) provided us with water and food and I did re&re'd the wire and insulators and electric fencing. Our fencing finished with the install of our usual spring fence to keep the horses out of the back field (easier on their waist lines!!).

Mom made us a lovely dinner at the end of the day and we sat down and iced our respective sore parts (you know--shoulder, elbow, feet etc).

Sarah even got to ride for 45mins and that made her smile!!

And then there were two.....

Sadly today, we when we checked our little nest, there were only two babies. Curly and Laurey are left as we think Jet was just too far behind in hatching to be strong enough to fight for dinner. Check out our picture today....amazing!! The birds are 7 days old now and will ready for flying lessons in 4 days. There voices are now being heard quietly and eyes are beginning to open.

Lonnnnng Weekend Fun!

So this is the weekend that symbolizes the beginning of summer, the planting of many lovely little annuals and the celebration of a dead Queen!!

Dwayne has been away (more on that later) so I have been trying to come up with fun things to do with the kids. Last night we went to Earl's for Chili Chicken and Caesar Salad and then off to Castle Fun Park for fun and candies. Today was the May Day Parade in Fort Langley. I thought it would be a fun idea to go and watch the festivities.

We started earlier than normal because Dwayne was supposed to be coming into the Abby airport. When we found out that he had diverted to Qualicum Beach we headed to the parade route. We got premium parking and very good seats...all of that didn't matter with 1 1/4 hours to sit and watch cars go by!!!

The parade was great and we had found a spot in front of a church that had a real potty and even provided free hot dogs and pop for lunch...SCORE!!

When the parade was finished, we headed to the airport to pick up Dwayne.

Alright now the deal with Dwayne. You see, a couple of years ago I gave him a flying lesson for his Fathers Day gift. Chilliwack Flying school does it for $50 and includes a 1hour class instruction and 1 hour in the plane... what a deal! Well, he was hooked!!! So I suppose, it's all my fault (is that what the good wife says!?!).

He left on Mothers Day morning for London Ontario to pick up his new plane...yes you read right! He will be a 1/3 share in this plane but, he was the guy to go and pick it up as he was the one that ordered and started the process. On Friday, the 18th, he left London bound for home. We expected him in late Saturday but weather was not on his side. I will post an email he sent regarding Devil's Lake, North Dakota. After overnighting in Devil's Lake, then in Lethbridge, then in Kamloops, he headed for home this morning. With a call at 7:30am that said "we'll be in at 9:00". The kids and I headed off as I really wanted to get pics of the first flight into Abby. They had to bypass and searched for a hole to come through the clouds (he is currently visual, not instrument flying), they ended up in Qualicum Beach.

It was a very long wait for him to get home, but he's here now and I have time to sit and watch tv...it's so good to have him home!!

Dwayne's Story!!

Let me tell you a little bit about Devil’s lake.

If you find yourself flying at 4500 ft past Grand Forks North Dakota, and you see a line of thunderstorms on the XM weather, and you hit NRST, up will pop KDVL Int, with 2 runways, and friendly people.

We landed here, and then while I fuelled up, Jim went and introduced himself to Connie, who is a local pilot, and just so happened to be at the airport at 7:15 at night. She very kindly hooked us up with the keys to the courtesy van, located outside the gates. It had not been driven since Bush was first elected we think. It literally had cobwebs on the mirrors and wheels.

Of course it did not start, so Connie took off and eventually came around with Frank. Frank had a portable booster kit that worked great. We are off. Where to? Well there are several, by that I mean 3, motels in town, and we figured the one with the “Casino” was the best bet to have internet. Well turns out that in their King rooms (fancy schmanzy) they have “DSL”. Do you have a cord we ask, but of course, there is one per hotel. Okay, so we share the cord. It’s my turn as I write this.

Then we go to the Casino, Bar and Lounge. This is a scene directly, I mean actually stolen, from My Name Is Earl. The waitress is very nice, in a manly sort of way. We order 2 Corona. These bottles have a best before date of 2005. Okay, so this is not the local drink of choice. Onto the nachos, which come covered with 1’ of lettuce and tomatoes. Okay.

Jim says, do you have any hot salsa. He likes it a little spicy, she returns with a full bottle of Dave’s Insanity Sauce. You know the one, we have one bottle that has lasted since the last house. Now in her defense, she said add a couple of drops to the actual salsa. I get curious about the game on TV and look away for the 5 seconds that it takes Jim to liberally apply Dave to his actual nacho. Nacho, singular.

So while Jim uses up all of the sour cream trying to put out his tongue, lips, etc. I enjoy the atmosphere. Close your eyes for this. Well, perhaps read this first, then close your eyes. You are in the bar from My Name is Earl, facing from the bar towards the pool tables, now just add the following: to the right hand corner we have a blue permed 60 plus lady working the blackjack table, and in the other corner we have some sort of spinning wheel that people bet on. This is the casino. There are 4 customers. Enough said about that.

So then the tornado warnings come up, and we find out from local Jim, whose Dad was raised in these here parts, that the roof of this building was ripped off one time in a twister. Great. We are staying in the only mobile home like quasi casino pub in town.

So after some fun in the hail, and lightening etc. (Video pending) We try to start the car again to go check on the plane. Dead, naturally. So we ask Jim if he can give us a boost. Sure he says, “ I got me a jumper cable at home, and I am 1 block away”. We never saw Jim again. I hope he is okay.

So the next morning, today, I get up at 6:00 am, shower, pack what little I have unpacked, call AAA for a boost, and make sure Jim is ready to go.
F&*^%. It is 35 degrees F, windchill of 27F, and an 800 ft ceiling. We are not going anywhere.

Off to see the plane anyhow, she’s certainly cleaner, and most importantly, she is still in one piece. So off to breaky.

Well let me tell you, that was a blast into the past. We saw Connie again, naturally, and enjoyed the atmosphere with every local over the age of 60 filling the place talking about the weather. Jim and I walk in, and you literally could hear a pin drop. Like we were from Mars. Conversation picks up, because once Connie saw us, we were clearly were not here to sell them anything. After our serving of grease, well done, we stood in line behind a nice lady who used her personal cheque book to pay for her $23 breakfast bill (table of 8). Wrote it out right there she did. I thought of paying with loonies, but thought that might not go over well.

So I have plenty of time to kill. I was thinking about taking up Pike fishing, but it’s too cold. We might go over to the tractor dealer 3 doors down and sit in tractors for fun, not sure what else to do.

Curly, Laurey and Jet

It's been a couple of days since our last post and the babies have changed so much.

On Friday when we looked the babies had begun to lift their heads and open their mouths for food. What a surprise! When the mirror first went up to have three little silent open mouths begging...very cool!! Curly is the most persistent as his mouth is always open!

Saturday saw changes in their appearance with feathers starting and on Sunday even more strength and little feathers.

Today, their coloring is noticeable as little robins. They have reddish feathers and dark brown ones. Their eyes are more visible but they are still covered in the membrane. It continues to thin out and we can even see slits starting where they will begin to open their eyes, from what we have read it'll be a couple of days until they are open fully. If you click on the newest picture, you can even see that their beaks are forming properly.

Curly, Laurey and Jet are now five days out of their eggs and will likely begin to fly around the 11th day. Can you imagine...they are growing so much each day!!

This has been so much fun for us and all of the kids that rotate through our doors to check out everyday.

Three little Robin Red Breasts

And this morning there are three little wee tiny teeny babies. The blue egg hatched at some point and we have THREE!!

Sarah and I have named them Curly, Laurie and Jet-as she is currently dancing in Oklahoma and they are the main characters.

They are quite ugly with hardly any feathers...more like hair.

Little Robin Red Breast!

For a couple of months a Mama (to-be) Robin has been building and tending to her nest. Amazingly, she chose her nest to be at our back patio door where there is a lot of activity. The kids and I have watched closely to the going's on and Dwayne makes sideways comments every chance he gets about her. You see....for the past couple of years this Robin (we think it's the same one) has built a nest on top of our speakers outside and with the slope the way it is, the nest always slides off as she gets to the end of it. This year she built on top of a support for an outdoor light. Dwayne hates her and the mess she left while building, but she persevered!!

Today our little birds emerged from two of the eggs. A third egg has yet to hatch but we are awaiting the little arrival. Mama Robin has been very good at sitting on her eggs and tending to her new babies. This has been so much fun for the kids and I to learn about birds and their breeding, incubation and impending rapid growth. I will post the pics every couple of days to show the amazing growth of the birdies!!

PS. We used a mirror above the nest to get the pictures....no birdie was injured in the taking of these pictures!!

Happy Mother's Day!!

Happy Mother's Day to all you Mom's!

Today, we started early with breakfast and gifts. How early you ask? Well, our alarm went off at 6:24 AM....WHAT??? Dwayne got up and started breaky and then got the kids up and we all ate together. Kids gave me beautifully made cards and a new movie and cd. Then we all got dressed and got in the truck. You see, Dw had to be at the airport in Abby at 8:30. Yes, he is off to Toronto today and not returning for a week. Soooo, we got home and did dishes etc. We also started getting ready for dinner at my parents tonight. Sarah made the fruit salad and Cam made Chocolate Chip cookies. I got the Chicken and Beef Satay's skewered and seasoned.

When the cookies were done, I made homemade ice-cream sandwiches....YUM! They look so yummy, can't wait to try them. I bought an ice-cream sandwich mold last year from a chef party, thinking I might use it one day. Today, I actually used it! It works so well. They are going to be soooo gooooood!

Then we went to our usual Mother's Day thing. Each year at Ravine Park by McKee and Old Clayburn, there is a giant Coho fish release. They release 10,000 little fishes and you get a bucket each with 5 fish to take down the trail and find a nice quiet spot to let them go. It's so much fun running up and down the trail. With not many people knowing about this, we usually do 10 or so buckets each so there is lots of time spent giggling as we try to come up with new names for each fish. We met Kathy and Jeff, Ren and Wayne and all the kids at the fish release. There were 6 kids running up and down the path today...so much fun...really!!

We ended the day with dinner at Smith's. Stu and Carlie played soccer with the kids and the little ones enjoyed biking around the driveway. It was a great day but I'm sure glad it's over!!!

History....add-on from our precious boy!

A teary eyed boy (Cam) called me to his room this morning. I hugged and loved and then asked what was wrong. He said "this weekend was so great and I really want to write about it in my journal, do you think that would be alright?". I didn't understand why he was asking though so I told him it was always great to write about our fun family days (we have a rule about what is said in our house, stays here...must be my upbringing in politics). He started to get agitated and said that I would have to write him a note to say it was ok. I still was puzzled but agreed and he reached over and put his hand on my cheek and told me he was afraid of going to the principals office for writing Hell's Gate, "cause it's a swear word Mom"!! I had to explain the reason for the name and that if it wasn't Heaven then it was surely Hell (as written by Simon Fraser in 1808). A bit more of discussion on names etc and he started to get dressed.

He was fine in the end but I sent the note anyway just so he would be fine writing about the day. He is definately my soft soul!!

A day of History

To follow our Historica Fair with an educational day, we travelled to Hell's Gate today. I had read in the paper that this weekend is Canyon Appreciation Day (now a weekend). Tram rides were free, usually $15 per adult and $9 per child...WHAT A DEAL!!

We started with a breakfast in Chilliwack and then out to Yale area. The drive was beautiful with loads of waterfalls. Hells Gate was busy today but was not as busy as we thought it would be. The tram was fun and we headed for Ice Cream and Fudge to snack on while wandering around...the waffle cones were dipped in Fudge...oh my! Sarah, Cam and I attempted to strike it rich Gold Panning, but alas, the nuggets didn't materialize.

After trekking the suspension bridge, checking out the cement spawning ladders and the band, we decided to head for the car. Up the tram and to the car in the nick of time as the rain started falling.

A great day with everyone learning lots!! I'll put this in my calendar for next year!!

History

For the past few months, Sarah (and let's face it....me) has been working on a project for the Historica Fair. Kinda like science fair but we didn't have to try to invent something that hasn't been done, instead we had to do research about our family history. Sarah decided to do her project on the Kettle Valley Railway because her great-grandfather worked on the KVR from 1919 to 1921. It was an amazing process with alot learned about Dwayne's family and the railroad. We did a backboard and Sarah and I did a model of the rail through the mountains and over a river. I did a powerpoint and we even found a group called the Kettle Valley Brakemen who sing songs about the KVR. The powerpoint played at the same time as "Climb aboard the Kettle Valley Railway". Very cool!!

In February she competed at her school and was chosen as a delegate to compete in the Regional Historica Fair at UCFV yesterday and today. We won't know until May 11 how she did and if she'll go on to the Nationals but today she won....People's Choice for her project!! We are so very excited for her! It's great to see my work....um our work.....um her work, didn't go un-noticed!

This is the group of winners from Abbotsford Traditional Middle School, they took 8 of the 14 awards. Not bad for our little group!!