Moose in the neighbour's yard!

As we headed out on Sunday to the 4H public speaking competition, we saw quite a sight in Solar Neighbour's yard:
Quite something to see moose up close like that!






At the public spekaing competition, The Boy did an amazingly good job with his presentation on Alternative Energy. He had to write and present a speech that was 3-5 minutes in length, on any subject he chose. He talked about solar and wind power, including how we use solar power at our place and how we would like to add a wind generator to get power when there is no sun. He also had to do an impromptu speech where he gets a topic picked at random, he has one minute to prepare, and then has to speak for one full minute on the selected subject. In the end, he and another boy (a year older than he is) tied for second place and they had to do a *second* impromptu speech as a tiebreaker! The Boy came in third of seven competitors in his age group, but it was a very close call. He did an excellent job and was complimented by the judges for his delivery, research and the 'personal angle' he brought to the subject. It was a very exciting day, if a long one.

The baby bunnies

The baby bunnies are growing and doing very well ...

This is one of the black ones, sitting on the couch with us. They're quite friendly and inquisitive!

And for those of you waiting for updates ... nope, no lambs yet.

Let the trumpets sound!

When my sister and her husband departed for Lithuania, they left behind a few things that needed to find new homes. Among these were two trumpets.

I was surfing through Freecycle one night and saw a post from someone was hoping there might be an old trumpet sitting around that wasn't being used. It could be battered and worn, she knew someone who did repairs, but she couldn't afford one and really missed playing.

Of course, I emailed her. She emailed back, as happy as a kid who has just been told they're going on a trip to Disneyland.

We arranged a meeting at the mall. When she saw me coming with a trumpet case in my hand, she could hardly stand still! She oohed and aahed and hugged her new trumpet. Then she hugged me too!

It was fun to make someone so happy. If you have things you aren't using, I encourage you to share them: try Freecycle, or the bulletin board at the mailbox, or just ask your friends. It's a lot of fun making someone else happy like this!

More surprises

I did some work around the acreage on the weekend, piling hay up by the fence line feeder so that it's easier to do chores during the week (getting hay loose from the large round bales is quite a job), mucking out the chicken coop, and checking on the bunny's food stash.

When I went to refill Blizzard the bunny's dish, I noticed that the pile of fleece she'd made in her hutch was moving! I pulled some of the fleece aside ... and lo and behold, there were six baby rabbits in there!


This, of course, explained why Blizzard had been chasing the cats away from her house earlier in the day.

I called for The Boy and we relocated the new family indoors where the new bunnies are safe from curious cats and other dangers.

We belive they were born right around Christmas: I remember looking into the hutch on the 23rd and asking The Boy if he'd put the fleece in there for his rabbit's comfort, or if she'd done it herself. I should have realized that rabbits only do that sort of thing when they are nesting, but I just thought, "well, if I were a bunny and I saw sheep's wool lying around I'd take some and make a bed out of it for myself!"

The babies have their eyes open and are making efforts to hop around and chew on hay and even pelleted food. Judging by the pictures in The Boy's bunny book, they are between two and three weeks old. We have four solid black bunnies and two gray: they are so small it is hard to imagine that they were even tinier (and hairless, and unable to move or open their eyes) at birth.

Clearly, they are the offspring of the black rabbit we took in awhile back - he had been found abandoned in the city and we happily adopted him, but sadly, he managed to escape after being here only a few weeks. We have since tightened up security in the bunny pen, and it would appear that we will have some reminders of his short stay with us. :)

Some of these babies will no doubt be adopted out to new homes, and some will stay here to enliven our chicken/bunny pen. The Boy will be phoning the vet next week for more information on the costs associated with rabbit population control measures: it was part of the deal we made when we decided to try keeping more than one bunny.

Things are never boring around here, that's for sure, but I think that I'm okay with the sorts of surprises we've been getting lately!