Peace and quiet

There is just something about living in the country that appeals to my soul. At night it is pitch black outside and we sit in our chairs in front of the woodstove listening to the fire popping and read an article in a magazine or a book about homesteading. We have dreamed of doing this for so long and now that we are, it is a dream come to life. On this world, this is our little piece of it and we can do pretty much as we wish and I am satisfied. There will be lots of work to be accomplished and to some it may seem like it will never end but for me and my wife, it is a life worth living.

P.A.L. and R.P.A.L.

Last spring I took my wife shooting at a range for the very first time. I grew up around guns most of my life but my wife was uncomfortable around guns. Knowing that we would eventually be on an acreage she decided she had to try to get over her fear of firearms. Have I ever mentioned how strong my wife can be when she puts her mind to something. Well I should have. So after getting to shoot a 22 caliber hand gun in a controlled environment we decided to get our P.A.L. and R.P.A.L.'s. We both took the courses and passed but decided to wait to see if we would finally get our property before we sent away for them. After moving onto the acreage and we had a little extra time we have decided we need to send away for them. so hopefully we will get them in the near future.

P.S. I wonder how many brownie point I am going to get?  

Critters

We have mice. The property had not been lived on for close to a year before we bought it and we knew there was a mouse problem when we moved in. We set out mouse traps and caught a few but there seemed to be some fairly smart mice that evaded the traps and we were seeing signs of them before I left for work. After I left for my second hitch at work they got into a brand new package of toilet paper in the bathroom and destroyed it. My wife had had enough and did a little research online and built a mouse trap from a 5 gallon bucket, a old pop bottle, a stick and some peanut butter. It seems to be working quite well as she has caught mice in it almost every night since she started using it.  

It's a stand-off!!

One thing I love about being here is all of the wildlife we get to see.

I get a real kick out of sitting at my desk and watching the squirrels run through the pine trees outside.  I don't get much work done but they are fun to watch.

Vixen has also been enjoying the visitors on the homestead.  Mostly she just barks at them and tries to chase them, with no success of course.  This morning I put her out on her tie-out.  Yes, she's a farm dog now but hasn't always been one so she has to be on leash or she will take off.

Anyway, she was awful quiet so I went to check on her.  I always keep the camera close by and this time it was on a small table by the door and I was very thankful for that.  When I looked out Vixen was posed ready to strike looking down the hill.  When I looked up to see what she was checking out I seen two mule deer not far off.  I stepped back inside and grabbed the camera.

I was lucky enough to get this shot.  Vixen and the mule deer were on a stand-off checking each other out.  I was amazed that they stayed like this as long as they did.  Vixen was so quiet like she was frozen in place.

This minute and a half stand-off made my day! I wonder what they were both thinking?

 

~Sue

 

Got Mice?

I have just posted an article on our Homesteading Alberta web-site for a humane, natural trap for catching mice.  If you have a mouse problem this is the best method we have found for catching them.  This trap can be used with or without water.  It depends on whether you are in to catch and release or, how to say this nicely, disposing of them immediately?

Here is the link to the article:
Mouse trap on Homesteading Alberta

Happy hunting!
~Sue

Tractor shopping

Home for days off. I barely managed to get in the drive way with my 3/4 ton 4x4 pickup. Boy we sure have gotten a lot of snow it is no wonder my wife has been so concerned. I found a flyer for a gentleman who charges $55 an hour to plow driveways. So after 3 hours of plowing with his skid steer the driveway and parking spots are free of snow. Off tractor shopping! We are going to look at Case, New Holland, Kubota, and John Deere. We did get a recommendation for Mahindra but as they do not have a dealer near us we ruled them it out. I do like to shop local when ever I can. After comparing features, H.P. and price we decided to go with John Deere Green. It is a 1025R has a front end loader, mid mount pto driven mower, and a 3 point hitch with rear pto. The tractor has 25 H.P so it should be big enough to do everything we need it to do. We are adding a rear blade for plowing snow, chains, and a soft cab. The salesman took my wife into the parking lot and let her drive a model that was close to the one we were getting. We take delivery of it next week.

With all of the snow we have gotten the wood pile is getting to be very difficult to get at as the tarps are weighed down to the point it is very hard to fold back. We managed to get a 12 X 20 portable garage from Canadian Tire on sale for almost 60% off. After getting the tarps off and restacking some of the wood, we were able to erect the shelter around the wood pile fairly easy. Now it is just a matter of making sure the snow doesn't pile up to much on top of it and collapse it.