Twinkle's Foaling Journal: Page 1 - MOVEMENT!

Twinkle is due in May, and that's all I know about it! So, I've picked May 10 as her foaling date so that I can schedule her care according to that date.

The most amazing thing is that I FELT THE FOAL MOVING! I was SO EXCITED! Poor Twinkle was eyeing me when I draped myself over her, hugging her belly, trying to feel the foal move! When I run a shedding blade over her belly, the foal moves like CRAZY! It was so cool!
Above is a comparison of her belly in the last month. Not much different. But I notice the difference in her. I see her laying down more often. She is slightly relucant to move. And she waddles! LOL!

New Addition

Introducing....

Smokie!

She's 3 months old and hopefully is our new outdoor kitten. Of course, it's too cold outside (-10c last night!), so she's actually an indoor kitten until it warms up.

Deck Cover

Here is the before picture of our south facing deck. It was much too hot and sunny to use much in the summer. I tried to put up a cloth sunshelter last year, but the wind totally wrecked it.


And a few thousand dollars later, and one day's work by one guy, the deck is covered!



The deck will be much more useful now, and the cover will keep the kitchen from getting so hot in the summer as well.

Seed Starting Light Stand

I found the plans to built a lightstand for seed starting at Localgardener.net.

And then I also found this one at Mother Earth News.

And the result is a combination of the two.


It is HUGE! But fits nicely along a side wall in basement. It's 66" tall, and about 53" wide. The shelves are 20" apart. I used a 1x11 laminated board on special at Rona. Stephen cut them to length for me (thanks!). I stained the boards and topped that with an indoor/outdoor clear sealing paint. Two of lights came from Home Depot, one came from our garage, and I bought a new one for the garage.


It cost a little over $200 to build, but these cost nearly $600 to buy. I used Airmiles and Petropoints and got $150 of gift certificates to Rona and Home Depot, so it didn't cost much overall.


The lights hang on chains, so they can be adjusted depending on the size of the plants. I'll be able to start 6 trays of seeds on it. Last year I started 2 trays under 1 light!

Leah's first birthday party with friends

Leah turns 4 on Sunday!

There is the birthday girl! We had 3 friends from school over, plus the 6 year old from next door.

There is Leah blowing out the candles on her cake.

Leah and the 4 princesses (and one "Canada" prince!). I smudged out the faces because my mom is freaked about me putting pictures of other people's kids on the internet.