"Eat To Live"

I promised when I posted about the new diet plan I was on that I would keep you updated with my progress.  Well, I'm happy to report that I've lost twelve pounds!  It's been no effort at all (except a little more time in the kitchen, but it's fun!), and I will venture to say that I feel somewhat more energetic.  I'm learning new things about foods and it's fun making smoothies every day and testing them on the kids.

Picture TWELVE of these!
That's how much weight I've lost so far!!

I like to think of weight loss by visualizing pounds of butter.  I can't believe that I've lost twelve of those!!!  As I said when I initially posted, I'm not trying really hard, nor am I being REALLY strict about keeping on the diet.  To me, it's a lifestyle change, not a diet.  Of course, when DH brings home TWO dozen Krispy Kreme donuts one day last week, what is a person to do?  ;-)  I DID partake, and I DIDN'T have just ONE, either - LOL!  I'm noticing the weight loss so far around my "spare tire" area.

I'm absolutely LOVING my new Vitamix blender!  They are selling them at Costco (Langley) for 11 days right now (July 4-15), and my sister and I went to see the demo today.  It was awesome!  The fellow made soup in it and it was SO delicious, I couldn't believe it!  I had seen the demos on YouTube, but it's different when you are actually there.  The amazing things you can do to eat healthier - absolutely incredible.  My sister bought one, too - way to go, sis!!!!!

In my previous post about the diet, I mentioned the book I am following.  It's called Eat To Live, by Dr. Joel Fuhrman.  I am so glad that I found it!  What could be better than to have good health?  I can tell you first-hand, that if you don't have your health, you have NOTHING!

So, if you have a bit of spare time, check out your local library or the web for Eat To Live (now a NY Times best-seller!!).  You'll be glad you did!  And no, I'm in no way affiliated with Dr. Fuhrman or Eat To Live - I'm just a believer!

We Thought Of You Today

Life is starting to settle back into a new "normal" after losing Dad on June 9, 2012.  After going through all the things that are necessary when losing a family member, the emotions seem to catch up when life carries on.  I find myself checking to see if Dad's lights are on when I get up through the night, only to realize that he's gone....  It seems like such a hard blow when I realize it, but I was there when he left us, so I know it's true.  Why do our minds play such awful tricks? I guess all this is normal, but I just can't seem to REALLY believe he's gone.

Bye, Dad - I miss you! 

We Thought Of You Today

We thought of you today,
But that is nothing new.
We thought of you yesterday
And will tomorrow, too.

We think of you in silence
And make no outward show.
For what it meant to lose you
Only those who love you know.

Remembering you is easy,
We do it everyday.
It's the heartache of losing you
That will never go away.

In Loving Memory Of John Ronald (Ron) Tapp

June 18, 1930 - June 9, 2012

 

It's here, it's here!!!!!!!!!

Just out of the box - my NEW Vitamix!

After what seems like forever, it's finally here - my VitaMix!!!  I haven't unpacked it yet, but I can't wait to begin making smoothies and dressings and many more exciting things to help me on my way with the Eat To Live diet by Dr. Joel Fuhrman.  I will keep track of my progress here.  I am going to be starting S-L-O-W-L-Y, but hope to be fully on track soon.

Tonight I had a smoothie for supper along with a nice salad with romaine, papaya, tomatoes, green onion, celery, orange peppers, snap peas, mandarin orange segments and a few other things I can't remember.  Anyways, I hope that I can get healthy and my new Vitamix is going to help me!!!!

One of Dr. Fuhrman's recipes includes an "Anti-Cancer Soup".  Can't wait to try that one!

Today marks what would have been my Dad's 82nd birthday.  He missed making it by NINE days!  Happy Birthday, Dad!  We miss you a lot!  :-(

On a little happier note, we have a new furry member of the family.....her name is Maybell.  Isn't she CUTE???!  Maybell needed a new home, so...... Not sure that hubby is too impressed, but..... LOL!

Bye, Dad

Saturday, June 9, 2012 is the day my father took his last breath here on earth.  It was nice that his three daughters were able to be by his side.  Luckily, my sister, Janet, was able to make it and arrived at 11 p.m. Friday night.  Dad passed away the next morning at 10:55 a.m.  Two of us were with him from when he was admitted to hospital on the Wednesday morning.  Dad would have been 82 on June 18.  It all still seems a bit surreal. 

This Father's Day will be a tough one.  We will take DH's father out for lunch or dinner to celebrate him.

Enjoy your fathers this weekend, everyone.

Abby's Special Egg

So, Abby (our resident feather plucker) has decided - along with every other bird in our household - that she is hormonal. What a FUN time of year!  Instead of actually LAYING an egg, she has chosen a substitute - a small plastic mug for the birds - a foraging toy.  This is Abby's "egg of choice"!  Pretty cute to see her on it, but I can't help but wonder if it isn't uncomfortable! Here are a few pics of her last night. 

"This is MY egg - even though it doesn't LOOK like an egg!"

"I DON'T appreciate the intrusion!!"

"I LOVE my green egg!!!"

It's really fun trying to change her paper as she is so protective!!  Cute, hey????

Springtime Easter Bunny Giveaway!!

Angi over at Drakestone Primitives Country Cabin is having a generous giveaway!  She is offering the sweetest little primitive Easter bunny holding his own Easter egg - he is just SO sweet!  Go to Angi's blog and check it out! 


Sweet Bunny giveaway at Drakestone Primitives
Country Cabin - SWEET or what????

Good luck to everyone who enters and thanks Angi!

A Sunday Morning Surprise

I love having Bantam hens around the farm.  They are SO cute!  We have a Bantam (meaning SMALLER) hen on the farm currently - her name is Molly!  She's VERY cute!  She came to live with us back in the fall.  She found a friend in Reuben the rooster.  He's a very handsome guy and easy to get along with.

The only BAD thing about Bantam hens is this.....



Molly the Banty hen and one of her brand new babies


I looked out the laundry room window this morning to see Molly with EIGHT of these!!!!!  It certainly WAS a Sunday morning surprise!!!!!

Clear The Roads

DS got his "L" today.  In British Columbia, we have a graduated driving license program.  The "L" allows people to drive only with supervision for the first year.

 

The "L" is a magnet that is issued by the Government and it MUST be displayed on the back of a vehicle that is being driven by an "L" (learner) driver.

So, my friends, be forewarned!  The roads will NEVER be the same!!! 

The Seasons of Life

I had a pretty yucky flu before/during/after Christmas.  With the cough that was one of the last "stages" of this flu, I was affected for almost 8 weeks.  It was a doozy and many people I have spoken with have also been down for several weeks with this one.  My 81-year-old father lives with us in a mobile home on our property.  He is able to be independent and we each have our privacy, but are close enough if need be. 

Well, the nasty flu bug caught up with Dad.  He went downhill pretty fast once he caught it.  He also has prostate cancer, so is somewhat immune compromised with the meds he is on.  Well, within 10 days, I ended up having to call an ambulance for Dad. He had pneumonia. It was a particularly snowy night and he had fallen and was not altogether coherent, so I called because I certainly was NOT comfortable taking him into the hospital by myself.  He was in the hospital for six days and never left the emergency department of the Abbotsford Regional Hospital the entire time he was there.  That is how BUSY our hospital is!  After six days, he was released.  My sister, Karen, brought him home in a very weakened state.  I was out of town that weekend helping a friend move. 

Long story short, Dad is recovering, albeit slowly.  It turns out that he has never been truly sick in his 81 years on this planet!  Can you believe that?  He was nauseous in the hospital for several days and had never experienced that sensation before - almost impossible to comprehend for the average person!!! He is NOT a happy sick person (of course, who is??).  We have HomeCare coming in to assist him once a day with dressing and bathing.  I am helping where I can with meals, meds, etc. and my wonderful sister, Karen is helping me when she can.  She lives 45 minutes away, so it's difficult, but she is always there for me if/when I need her whether it be for physical or mental support!! Thanks, Karen!! Y

So, my life is not quite my own right now.  DS turned 16 on Saturday the 4th.  DD is 13 and they both are really becoming mature young adults.  I guess that's why they call us the "sandwich" generation - finish with the kids and then help care for the parents.  "Seasons of life".  I'm certainly not complaining, but it's not easy!

My dear friend, Connie, lost her Grampie at the age of 91 years on Saturday.  I will forever remember that date as that was DS's 16th birthday.  I had the priviledge of meeting Connie's Grammie and Grampie in 2008 when she and I went back to visit with her family in Ontario.  My thoughts and prayers are with you & your family, my dear.  I know how much you loved your Grampie and how special he was.

Blessings to all!  Have a great day!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to those in blogland.  It seems like time goes so very quickly and other things take priority over blogging.

2011 ended with a bit of a flop in that I had a pretty awful flu through Christmas and the holidays and wasn't feeling too good.  Thankfully I'm on the mend now with just a residual cough.  My 82-year-old Dad has the flu now, though, so hopefully he will be able to fend it off - I'll be keeping a close eye on him.

We did have a wonderful Christmas dinner on Christmas day at my sister, Karen and her hubby Allen's house.  It was really wonderful to enjoy Christmas dinner with family even though I was feeling under the weather.  A very special time, for sure.  Karen, your house looked beautiful and the dinner was AWESOME!  Thank you for having all of us and I'm sorry that it's so much work and stress for the hostess.

Here's hoping that 2012 is kind to everyone. It's like a clean slate and a fresh start, isn't it? 

I'm off tonight to join one of my "other" daughters (Connie's daughter, Tianna) in picking out her wedding dress for an upcoming August 2012 wedding!!  How exciting!!!

Bird count: 2 Greys, 4 Quakers plus 2 foster Quakers plus visiting Lucy Quaker plus 2 Society Finches

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all our neighbours to the South.  I hope you have a wonderful celebration and enjoy your friends and family and lots of turkey and trimmings.



Update is Due...

Well, I'd say that an update is due.  I've been very busy with life things and well, sometimes there just aren't enough hours in a day.  When life is busy, blogging is what suffers.

I'll be back tomorrow with a few updates on life in the past couple of months.  Thanks for your patience, bloggy friends!!

A Bloggy Giveaway

Linda over at Sewfine Quilts is having a giveaway!  You can get in on the fun, too - just visit her blog HERE, leave a comment asking to be included, then do a post on your own blog about her giveaway!  Pretty easy and she's got a lovely table topper and a couple of other neat things that you could win!  Good luck everyone!!!

Rueben the Rooster

We've had Rueben the rooster for almost two years now.  He was an SPCA seizure and I adopted him from them when I was in picking up some budgies for Greyhaven.  He had been tied BY HIS FOOT (!!!!!) and seized in a cruelty investigation.  They treated his foot and I adopted him when his foot was well again.
 

Well, Rueben now has a thing called Bumblefoot.  It's a relatively common occurence in chickens/roosters caused by staphylococcus bacteria.  If the bird gets an open sore in the foot, the bacteria can enter and cause the infection which can include redness and swelling with pus and can be very painful for the animal.  Rueben has been hiding up at the far end of the pen for a couple of days.  He was fighting with Roscoe, one of the other roosters last week, and was knocked down in the pecking order.  I suspect it was because his foot was sore.



Rueben the rooster

I have now isolated Rueben in a large cage in the barn away from the other chickens.  I have treated his foot with some (believe it or not) Preparation H to reduce the swelling.  Tomorrow I will head to Langley to get some antibiotics and proper treatment cream for him.  I have done some research on this condition which, in 20+ years of poultry keeping I've never seen, although I HAVE heard of it in parrots. Poor Rueben.  Hopefully he will be back in action soon.  When we put his food and water in his cage tonight, he seemed very thirsty.  Good thing we noticed him up at the far end (it's over 100 feet long and the weeds are very long right now).  So, he has nice clean water and fresh food now, and a safe, clean place to sleep tonight.  It's always a bit stressful treating the outside animals because we don't see them all the time like the inside animals.  Rueben is used to being handled and fussed over, however, and he's a very good patient, thank goodness.  When I picked him up at the SPCA, the girls there had grown very attached to him.


I have to be very careful in treating Bumblefoot.  The staph or other bacteria that cause the abscess can infect humans.  Best to wear gloves in case of any open sores or nicks on your hands.  It also can be transmitted to the inside birds.
 
Hopefully Rueben will be back to his old self in no time. I'll keep you updated!



I Won!!!

I won a bloggy giveaway this morning!  Janet over at Olde Crow Primitives had an Awesome Autumn Giveaway.  Her DH drew the names this morning and I came in second place!!  The autumn header that you see above was my prize!!!!  I'm SO excited!!!  Janet even put a parrot on it (I think that is my Maya) - how thoughtful!!

Thank you so much, Janet - I just LOVE it!

If you have time, go on over to Janet's blog and have a look around.  She has some fun stuff for sale, too!!

When Depression Wins

Monday brought with it a sad story from the hockey world.  One of the Canucks' (our home team) previous players was found dead in his apartment in Alberta - apparently from suicide.  Rick Rypien was a gritty centre for the club for six years.  He had signed with the Winnipeg Jets for this upcoming year.

Vancouver Canucks'
Former Centreman
Rick Rypien
1984-2011

Depression affects everyone.  As a fellow sufferer, let me tell you that you CANNOT judge anyone unless you've walked a mile in their shoes.  It's a horrible affliction (a chemical imbalance) - one that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.  My heart goes out to Rick's family and former team mates and I really feel for what he may have been going through.  Apparently he had suffered with depression for a decade or so.  Perhaps he couldn't get it under control with medication, or the medication wasn't right for him, or didn't take his medication - no one will ever know now.

A seemingly bright light in the hockey world in the form of talent and the result of many years of hard work.  What a shame that the light has been snuffed out.  Depression has won again. He was only 27.

My thoughts and prayers are with those Rick left behind.  Their questions will never be answered.  Rest in Peace, Rick.

Awesome Autumn Giveaway at Olde Crow Primitives!

My sister, Janet, over at Olde Crow Primitives is having - well, just like the title says - an Awesome Autumn Giveaway!!!  Go on over to her blog and check it out!  It's a great giveaway with some great stuff!!!  You must be a follower of her blog, but all the rules are posted oh her blog,so go check it out right away!

Thanks, Janet!

Treasures from Craigslist

I love Craigslist!!!! I have found many treasures on Craigslist over the past several years.  I have two foster birds that came to me through Craigslist.  Our livestock guardian dog, Jake, was posted on Craigslist.  Our two new rescue goats were posted on Craigslist.  And so it goes....

The other day, I took Dad with me to North Vancouver, where we picked up my latest Craigslist treasure.  It's so lovely and I have been looking for one like it for YEARS.  I have a couple of places in mind for it, but can't decide quite yet.  Here's a photo (courtesy of Moe, as you know my camera is MIA).

My latest "Craigslist" treasure!!

This cabinet is taller than me!  It's solid pine, and has SO much character.  I got it for a great price, too!  Thanks again, Moe.

I LOVE Craigslist!!!

Proud As Can Be - A Corby Starlet is Born!!

I have a sister back in Ontario.  Her name is Janet (you can visit her blog HERE) and she's married to an amazing man named Stan.  They live in a hundred-year-old farmhouse and they farm the land (can't remember right now how many acres they have).  Stan also has an interest in aircraft - namely, homebuilt aircraft!  I have visited a couple of times over the years and seen Stan's project in the big shop, but never dreamed of all the time it REALLY entailed to complete such a thing.  We got an e-mail a couple of weeks back from Stan telling us that his project was complete and that it just needed some tweaking and fine tuning.  Here is his e-mail dated June 27, 2011......

A Corby Starlet is Born

Howdy Folks,

Just thought I would send you some pics of the birthing of my brand new Corby Starlet that was 10 years in the making. Well actually some parts are ten years old and and others are every where in between. It was moved from the shop to the hanger today and I am starting to get used to the idea that this thing may actually fly! Kinda like a flying sports car and should be fun to fly once I stop my knees from knocking. Lots of testing to do yet and then will see if this thing can defy gravity.

Cheers

Stan (photos below)

I am just so proud of Stan and Stan, I can't imagine how proud YOU must be - congratulations!!!!  What an accomplishment!!  Hard to fathom the magnitude of such a task.  Can't believe it was TEN years in the making!  What dedication and determination!!!!!  We will be waiting for updates on that Corby Starlet. 

Shower With a Friend?

Today I showered with two friends. Now, before you go thinking that I'm some weirdo, let me explain.  Birds need showers.  Humans need showers.  I have two shower perches in my shower so that I can take one or two birds into the shower with me to get their showers.  This helps to (ahem) "kill two birds with one stone" - if you'll pardon the pun!  :-)  It's pretty easy to just put each bird on a perch and go about having my shower.  I don't have any RECENT shower photos (only the birds, only the birds, don't worry!!! LOL), but I have a couple of old ones that I'll post.

The last three days, I've showered with 6 birds - today it was two African Greys, yesterday it was two Quakers, and the day before that, it was three Quakers.  Bella & Bobby share a perch.  My cockatiel, Cheek, does NOT like to shower nor does Elmo, another Quaker.  Elmo will sit on the top rail, though, and tell us all how it's done!! He looks so tough up there, but if I go to pick him up and put him in the water, he's bound and bent to get away - he's such a cutie-pie!

Here are the pics I promised.  They are a few years old, but at least you can get a feel for showering birds.

Maya in the shower

Maya again

Bobby (middle) & Bella and Maya in behind BEFORE getting wet!

Maya & Theodore

Most of the birds enjoy their showers.  Maya actually squawks if you hog the water - LOL!  She likes a nice, solid spray of water and turns back and forth.  Theodore doesn't really care for his showers - he keeps his feathers tight to his body and the water rolls off so he looks like he hasn't had a shower when we're finished.  Abby has no tummy feathers (she's a plucker), so she gets wet whether or not she wants to. 

So, save water - shower with a friend today!!