Jest Another Day in Pear-A-Dice - Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm in Alberta

[CanuckBock]

Hey, before I forget...gonna buy a sewing machine to do up some dog show outfits amongst other silliness.

My last machine was a Kenmore and to be straight up...I do wish it HAD sew STRAIGHT...har har. Tension was never right (top thread would pull the bottom stich thru and vice versa) and even then...stich size was all over the place. Kinda hard to do a seam when the machine would not sew evenly.

Gonna try out maybe a Janome 625E that a friend that does mega sewing with likes and has had for three years now without any hiccups. Anyone else got this machine and can comment on it. I have heard Singer, Janome, even Brother is good. I believe the Janome 625E is pretty nice with ability to sew a variety of fabrics with thicknesses like denim, dress leather and yet good for quilting fabrics (cotton and poly/cotton mixes). The one mandatory thing I want is that it be mechanical. I have no patience for computerized machines as basic and mechanical should last me what is left of my lifetime. Price wise thinking about $400 would be OK...and not in the market for ones that are like thousands...no thanks.

I was looking at western styled shirts and noted they are running about $85 and never fit me well...I did ace one white one for like $20 and that is a steal of a deal because who wants to mess with even buying just the material when twenty bucks gets you a whole shirt.

Threads...pros and cons on 100% poly versus cotton or a mix of these? I truly got no thread here now so gonna need to get some notions and whatnots now.

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

Beauty day indeed...

Nov 22, 2015
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Put up the winter covers on the Taj...

Nov 24, 2015​

Ever so happily, there is more snow...Alberta dog snow...time to play new games that only can be done in SNOW!

"OK Lace! You ready?"



"Yeh, READY!"​

"OK, follow the tail...this is the direction you wanna go as directed by my tail! Begin to sniff..."



"OK...I will follow yer lead!"



"OK...change course!"



"Done!"​

"We're SUCH a team!"​

Not sure what the pair of puppers were hunting but it was quite a serous endeavour that required TWO inputs.

Eddie Murphy winning the Mark Twain Prize was the highlight on TV last night...so much so we watched it TWICE! The one clip, Saturday Night Live, October 17, 1981 where Eddie plays Mr. Rogers and ransoms Mrs. Green's dog (he ran-some dog outta a yard!), it had me in tears, both times laughing. The first time he appeared on the Tonight Show in 1982...siblings named after breakfast cereals...oh good gack...I couldn't even BREATHE when he mentioned "Special K"... Yeh, comic genius like no other! He's still raunchy to the core...wanting to rename the Twain prize as a SURprize cause there's no paper...hoot and a half.

Photos for DD...remember this one? Five days here and Em already tenni retriever dog for Rick!

August 10 2015​

So yesterday morn...took clicks for Diva...

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Bigger pups...

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Bigger tenni...

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Yesterday morn, I made a crock of chili...delicious...garlic toast and tonight, add a beef steak for each of us and voila, easy peasy yet pleasing din din!

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Dinner for dawgs...yup!

We got kibs, natural yoghurt, peas and carrots (cooked you get more vits from), egg and chicken meat with soup stock, some mashed potato...YUMMY in the tummy of the dougals.

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Cooked up a whole chook...which of course, gave me chicken broth to heat up the dog kibs AND made four servings of Egg Drop Soup, one helping for Rick and I last night (tonight the other half)...tis cold weather we be having and hot warm comfort foods are most welcome!

Parking Building this morn...those tarps are working perfectomundo! AWESOME!!! ​

Y'all know how much I adore all my oldsters...zero predation and then you get to see how very strong your lines are...how good you got longevity in the genetics.

Nov 22, 2015 ​

Well here is Medusa (delightful Red Chant hen I made that won the cushion comb contest here on BYC this year). Hatched in 2009...she looks all purdy feathered out and ready for winter. I love how she is a proper Chantecler BLOCK...the breed has been described by Jeffrey's as a brick with rounded edges, like a Rhode Island form. So block they be!

Nov 22, 2015​

Another of my charming oldsters...here is the oldest and MY very FIRST BUFF Chantecler...Chantelle...hatched June 2008...she might sorta look like Yoda at 7.5 years of age...hee hee. She has a very sly eye but hey, if I was this as old as she is in chicken years...I'd be a bit wise on myself too.

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Four of my absolute fav Chantecler large fowl hens...Chantelle, Medusa, Bertha and Oreille...all me old ladies of the coop! How can you tell I have tormented these ladies previously? By the looks on their faces, "OK ladies...just sit here and comply to her wishes to click pics...sooner she gets some she figures she likes, the sooner we go back to being unpestered."

Say CHEESE! ​

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Hauled out some of my Chanti boys too...these are youngsters...well OK...these boys are heading on to three years of age but since we breed here for longevity and disease resistance...three years old PROVES they must be well suited to our conditions and thriving with whatever haunts our yard and coops, eh. NO breeding of future generations based on cockerels and pullets! By breeding from only cocks and hens, you dodge SO many issues from what persons that use one year olds replicate...I replicate birds capable of living long healthy happy lives...and if they kick before they make it to their second year...GOOD...could be a health issue, could be they were just bad doers...they never had the tenacity or vigour...whatever...if they LIVE to be at minimum of two years of age...then they deserve to be replicated from to make more and more of the same. Or so I figure.

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For a person that don't pay much attention to comb and wattles...I figure these boys have some pretty nice head gear for Chanteclers. You can always tell a person not too educated on the Chantecler breed when they get all hung up on the Cushion Comb and small Wattles. Yeh, you cannot show a Chant that lacks a Cushion Comb (disqualification not to have proper comb type) but you never use the same criterion in the breeding pen you do when you choose them for the exhibition pen. Never one and the same.

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Lot of persons figure NO wattles is correct and desirable in Chants...NOPE...nada...must have some wattles which are smallish, smooth and round.

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Differences in sizes of wattles in these males but all have cushion combs with WATTLES as wanted in the SOP.

Here are three bantam project Chantecler Buff hens I have been making from real Chantecler blood...all are like peas in a pod.

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Success in a firmer feather in the Buffs (way way too many Buff Chants are soft feathered like Orpingtons!), I'd like to see a tad more wattle in the hens but as said, there are persons in the Chants (some Quebecer friends of mine) that swear the NO wattle Chants are really desirable. Oh well...smidgen more of wattle and I'll be happier...but does beat having too much head gear which may freeze and hurt them bird birds. Always something or other in the pursuit of perfection, eh.

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Two pairs of bantam Partridge Brahmas...my own creation from our own stocks here. Going into their third year of life, so ready to work on breeding more from this line.


OK...since I so love to post pics of the pups...here is what happens when you do unto others and they happen to involve FEMALES....ladies NEVER forget a wrong doing and many of us females also know that revenge is sweet when delivered COLD!

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Yesterday, out in the Ram Pasture, there was Emmy having a lay down when Lacy decided to ATTACK...full speed hoppy bun buns away...

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Lacy bowls Emmest right over...

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And when Emmy tries to rise up again...a solid good BITE to the EAR...

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Lacy is quite proud of herself...grinning from ear to ear...she is quite pleased at her successful ATTACK!

And Emmy whispered in her ear...yeh...

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"Lap it up Lacy...you mighta got to be top dog this day, eh...but there is always, another day...another day here in Pear-A-Dice..."

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So today...top dog wrestling matches continue, time to make another score...points to get even...

"Hey Lacy...Emmy giving you the raspberry here...I still remember from yesterday...

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"Yeh LACE...remember yesterday barrelling down on me, bowling me over, and then biting my ear when I tried to get up...REMEMBER??"
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Pay back time Lace--score to settle on out!

"I am SO smushing your face in the snow...deep soft powdery snows...take that with my one paw to yer throat! "



"Yup...Emmy got even this round for today...but there is always, always tomorrah!"​

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[drumstick diva]

Those super puppers of yours are totally exhausting - just looking at their fight photos. I always feel so warn out but, they do the same things over and over and nobody seems to be injured or bleeding. Or do they bleed off camera? With your narration I seem to feel every blow and tumble - I need a nap now.

 

[bamadude]

Hey Tara! Love the chicken pics

 

[CanuckBock]

Those super puppers of yours are totally exhausting - just looking at their fight photos. I always feel so warn out but, they do the same things over and over and nobody seems to be injured or bleeding. Or do they bleed off camera? With your narration I seem to feel every blow and tumble - I need a nap now.

Young stuff HAS to get that energy burned up...I think the two girls look very nice with all the exercise they are getting.

Nov 11​

This pic shows the muscling they have in their shoulders...that comes from giving it their all every day.

The fights are never that serious...but also why we never leave them alone...the ACD nature is to be more like a wild dog and there are some rather awful pack situations with any wild canines left to their own devices. Dogs settle disputes by fighting and it can get nasty quick.


Lacy is more a love bug and will back down to the more serious Emmy. When tired, I could see their fights getting way out of hand and why we humans are here...to keep the peace and let them play nice...well OK nice for ACDs that is. Sometimes the dogs remind me WAY too much of our own human kids...tired kids act badly...tired kids are good though too like the dogs...just make sure not to leave them to their own devices because someone is gonna end up in a cone (or ER)...run the gauntlet but chaperone them back for nap time to recharge and regain the good attitude a rested being is more likely to have.

The girls playing looks savage in some of the clicks and makes me grin. THAT is part of the breed we love...they are not pushovers...not poof poof pups but keeners. Savage dogs indeed.

To date...neither pup has ever broken skin and bled from their play sessions. Not saying it could never happen and why they need to be supervised. The breed plays hard and if you left them to their own way of dealing with things...for sure you would have carnage. I have seen ACDs with missing portions of their ears...moreso the females can have the worst fights of all the genders. I think if the dogs ripped each other up like that...it would be very heart wrenching on us because just looking at the dog would remind you how you were not there to intervene when you might have should have.


Keep in mind the snow acts like a great welcoming cushion...falling into a fresh fallen blanket of snow is dreamy. The pupper play sessions ramp up even more so with the cush cushy snow to make the rompings all the more intense. With a great winter coat and knowing full well they will get towelled off when we go inside and a hot meal awaits...who would not love snow play days.


Ah yes, so I make for good bedside reading, eh...

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz....

Hey Tara! Love the chicken pics

Hey Bam...glad the chook pics amused you!

I get distracted by the dogs and often forget that there are OTHER creatures here to photograph too...even if it requires a nice sunny day in lesser winterish conditions to have them look a bit chipper.

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[Bunnylady]

Yeah, frosted/soggy chickens just look kinda sad, don't they?

Love the romping dog pictures - they remind me of a couple of dogs my husband and I rescued many years ago. We think they were Belgian Shepherds; both male. Those two only got in serious fights once in a great while, but they tussled all the time. We hardly ever get snow here, but one time when these guys were with us, we got a good storm - about half a meter by the time it was done. Hubby and I took our dogs out for a walk through the neighborhood. The little dogs stayed with us, walking down tire tracks on the road, but Bunsen and Cisco were rompin' and wrasslin' all over the place. At one point, they went tearing off into an empty lot that was used by one of our neighbors as a garden. There was a fairly good ditch between the lot and the road, but you couldn't see it for the snow, and by sheer good luck they had hit the driveway access to this lot on the way in. On the way back to us, they were not so lucky. Now you see them and . . .PLOOF! now you don't!

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

Extra cute story Bunnylady...dogs and snow.

Not enough snow here to go PLOOF! in but enough to play in.

Photos taken yesterday...

Lotsa blue skies!

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Pups on the hunt...playing stalking predators...

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and running prey... ​

Guess Em drew the short straw...she's the prey today, eh!

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Extra funny because when one dog catches the prey, suddenly the prey forgets it is suppose to be PREY and goes predator mode! So that's when the prey BITES BACK!​

Just like wild beasts...the girls are practising all sorts of TECHNIQUES to add to their hunter dog skill sets.

Rick has labelled this move the SPINE BITE!

This one is the Throat Latch Attack. ​

Followed up by the Miss Piggy Karate chop!
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The Extended Front Leg holds the toothy grin at arm's length (can y'all see the set of pointy gnarly teeth of Em's...hilarious!)

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Which all sorta works for as long as your opponent pretends not to know the counter move to the MPK & EFL,.,.,

Same as the last move, extended front leg (EFL) to the throat (luv the straight as an arrow Em tail)...pups are a quick study, eh!

All this rough housing is good so long as the pups have a joint safe word in place...

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Nice, nice puppy play goes quickly all to heck when...

One pup goes below the belt...and instigates trouble by acting VERY UN-lady-like!

Sitting on your opponent and FARTING...is never received well!

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Lacy; "Guess what I had for breaky!!" Emmy, "oh Yah...Someone's gonna get a real bitin' NOW!"

Uh, Lacy, you so overstepped the boundaries thar!

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But they always seem to make up...play again--even if Emmy has a Hyena back of fur on the go thar!

Told the girls that DD was concerned about their play times and the photos I as posting on here...

"Hey Girls!," I say..., "It is these kind of situations that get you into trouble!"



Both Lacy & Emmy are laughing...LOL indeed!​

"Tell DD we are always gonna be BEST GIRLFRIENDS...BFF's...furever and EVER!"

Thar they go...off to play some more...is Lacy being the prey then or??​

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

Ready, set...SEW!

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Yeh, Rick took me to city to get me stuff this weekend...lots of sewing crazy like stuff...

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Cutting tools (yeh, yeh, there's scissors there and they let me buy the pointy ones too)--lotas cutting & ripping tools...and clean up tools (mini vacuum, lint brush too)...and uh, the first aid kit is not pictured (yet!) for when I cut meself and not the item intended...

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Needles and foots for sewing machine...again, clean up, aisle nine--no sleeping beauty tho!

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Once again...lotsa pointy sharp thingmabobs (and thread...thread can be used to slow down the blood letting, yes??)...

Hmm...am starting to wonder...was this such a good idea or??

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Lace, zippers, Velcro, elastic...some metal studs for some historical Australian ACD type collars I plan on fashioning fer the gals.



Fabric...only bought just a smidgen.

Fer the dogs...you'll all hafta wait to see what me making, eh!

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I doubt anyone could guess what me be making for them dogs!

Got five meters of this one...a satin crepe...swanky er what!

Not pictured, five metres of black denim and three meters of a black dress cloth.

Emmest the percher...Nov 27, 2015​

Maybe perhaps she bin watching these ones...

Woodpecker a perchin' too
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Dog Play...

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Peek a boo sneak attacks...
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Chore time...dogs in tow.

Kissy kiss kiss?​

Dogs playing with ruminants...

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Not so sure the ruminants think of this as "playing"... Lacy giving the wether the dog play bow...cautiously tho...

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Dogs trying to KISS faces???

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Best to stick to the more receptive beasts...eh!

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[scottcaddy]

My Dear Tara, Are you really going to make Blue Satin sheets to sleep on?

Scott (who's mind is boggled at all the sewing stuff)

 

[CanuckBock]

My Dear Tara, Are you really going to make Blue Satin sheets to sleep on?

Scott (who's mind is boggled at all the sewing stuff)

Hmm...in Pear-A-Dice's part of the Great White North, we welcome items like "flannel" sheets. Somehow, I doubt you'd hop into bed especially in winters here if you were to find satin sheets on the bed (hop in and find yerself slid over upon the floor!). Even Egyptian cotton, to me at least would not harbour the warmth one might prefer for sleeping on up here!

This country mouse loves flannel sheets...as practical and mundane as that sounds I know lotsa persons that would look ravishing adorned in a backdrop of FLANNEL...patterned even in PLAID! When you got it...you got it forever, eh!

After a long day of work, snugging into flannel is way more welcoming than thinking of cold, slippy satin--wrong climate for that kinda ritzy livin' I guess and the thought of having to dry clean them or hand wash and dry...satin sheets ARE reserved for persons with the luxury of having a listing of house staff to keep things in order.

Gonna leave the crepe satin material for sewing up a fancy outfit for wearing to fancy do's.

What's dat song line..."satin sheets?" Something about satin pillows to cry on... Nah...bring on the FLANNEL!! Even Sears (nfi) sells flannel sheets and labels them COZY, eh!

http://emmaonesock.com/guides/crepebacked.asp:

Pretreatment:
Most crepe-backed satin will need to be hand-washed or dry-cleaned, to retain the luster of the fabric. To handwash, use a few drops baby shampoo in cool water, rinse well, then roll in a towel to remove excess moisture. Lay flat to dry.

Needles and Thread:
Sharp (quilting) needles are preferred for use in satin fabric. Use the smallest needle you can see to thread (70/10 is a good starting point). Cotton, cotton/polyester, all polyester, or silk threads are all good choices for construction.

Seams, Seam Finishes, and Hems:
Standard straight seams, 2.0-2.5 length, are good for most construction. If the garment is cut on the bias, use a small zigzag, 2.0 length, 1.5-2.0 width, to stretch with the bias of the fabric. Hems can be hand or machine rolled, machine topstitched, or hand blind-hemmed. For seam finishes, think thin. Use a 2 thread serged stitch, rayon seam binding, or tiny French seams for the most elegant effects.

Interfacing:
To maintain the softness of the fabric, use a third layer of the satin as self-interfacing. If you prefer a fusible, use the thinnest possible, such as Touch-of-Gold. For a thin, crisp, sew-in interfacing, use silk organza.

Pattern Suggestions:
Blouses, skirts, dresses, quilted garments, dressy tanks and tees, full pants, evening wear, scarves, stoles, camisoles, bridal wear

Creative Possibilities:
Use both sides of the fabric in the same garment; the body of the garment in the shiny satin side, and any trim in the crepe side. This is an elegant, upscale touch, and the trim is a perfect match!

Additional Tips:
If you have rough hands, wet them and rub salt or sugar over your hands, then rinse and dry. This will keep your hands from snagging the satin fabric.


Now in regards to the sewing notions...no bogging the mind Scott...

Jest need to set the playing field level by telling you to think of the "hand tools" a man would want to acquire to complete his handy dandy "to do" lists on an acreage. This is how sometimes the women perceive the magnitude of TOOLS that men collect to seem unwarranted. I tend to lean towards that if a man is given free reign (which Rick is) to buy whatever his heart desires in the "getting it done" department regarding the tools...he then has no excuse that he cannot perfect whatever he thinks up that he wants to do--given the correct tool for the job of course (which keep getting better and better with technological leaps like improvements in say portable batteries, etc.).

How many basic materials get ruined when having to use something less than adequate in the process of making something wonderful? Hand saw versus motorized one...screwdriver versus screwgun...how long do the hands hold up and the work zip on by efficiently. Projects get completed in style and finesse when outfitted with the correct gizmos. I sewed some 30 years ago...new fandangled things like rotary cutters and mats are new things for me but I am willing to adapt and learn new tricks to make the processes go along alot better.

The same pink faze for women is sewing notions as to what blue faze is for men regarding hand tool requirements.

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada