Black Creek Pioneer Village: Revolutionary War Re-Enactment

What a thrilling day we spent at Black Creek Pioneer Village. There were skirmishes, a mock battle, encampments, and even homemade ice cream.

This was the first 'skirmish' in the village. The men on the left are loyalists and the men on the right are soldiers. It was very exciting seeing the history we have been studying and reading about come to life before our eyes.

Here the soldiers forcibly break up the loyalist settlers meeting. Lots of adrenaline and excitement.

In the second skirmish the soldiers came to remove a family from their home because the husband was fighting in the war on the other side.

It was quite dramatic. There was shoving and pushing, yelling and shooting. The little old lady who lived in the house was quite spunky and began beating the captain with her broom. Eventually, after pretending to leave and then returning suddenly, the whole battalion of soldiers entered the home and secured it.

The last excitement of our day involved a mock battle. We had a lovely time learning about this war, and also got to wander through the soldiers encampments. We learned about everything from making canvas water buckets to why soldiers hats had three sides (so their muskets wouldn't knock them off).

But by far our favourite part was....you guessed it....

The horses!

DMC

Archaeological Festival

We are so lucky. Last weekend, in our local area, there was an archaeological festival. The location was a conservation area that was a homestead in the late 1800's, where a blacksmith lived with his wife and 16 children! There were many exhibits and some entertainment, including musicians and a blacksmith. Our favorite activities were the horsedrawn carriage rides to and from the dig site.......
and of course the dig site.....
We dug up some cool artifacts including a button, a large square headed nail, and pottery. It was really fun, and something my daughter has always been interested in.

We tried two ways of digging for lost treasures: shovelling and using a trawl. We had to scrape the surface in thin layers, then put the dirt into a pail. After the pail was full, we put the entire contents into a sifter and shake-shake-shake until all the loose soil was gone. Then we searched for treasures.

It was a fun day, and one that my daughter (and I) will always remember.

DMC

Caterpillar Update

This has been a wondrous journey. Our three tiny little eggs have gone through some amazing changes. They began as teeny tiny caterpillars that could not be seen with the naked eye. They had white splotches on their backs and knobs all over their bodies. They ate and ate and ate...

Then they changed. We didn't even notice the change until we looked back at the pictures. The white splotches were gone, and they took on this new colouring, and grew enormously in just days...

Then, when they had gotten extremely big and plump, they attached themselves to the stalk of the plants (or to our kitchen cupboards) by a tiny silk thread. They stayed like this for about a day and then suddenly...

They changed. This is a chrysalis. Isn't it beautiful? Inside wonderful amazing things are happening. What a wonder it all is! So exciting.

The caterpillars began their transition into chrysalises while we were away for two days. One of the little fellas left the aquarium, and found a different place to settle. Can you tell what's different about him?

His colouring is grey to match his surroundings (the other two are both bright green). Amazing!

DMC

Caterpillars are Larva

The caterpillars have grown considerably. They have tripled in size in just one week. All they do all day is eat and eat and eat. We spent some time in our yard reading about complete metamorphasis and creating accordion booklets about the lives of these caterpillars. This will be our very first experiment with lapbooking.

DMC

Priming the Drywall

I finally got around to priming the new drywall in the basement today. I have already learned so much about hiring contractors (the hard way) and priming new drywall (the easy way).

Priming new drywall:

- use a good quality primer specially made to cover new drywall, otherwise, your new drywall will suck up the ordinary primer and you will end up using twice as much. Luckily, I did not have learn this the hard way, I learned it from a helpful salesperson in the paint department at Home Depot.

Hiring contractors:

- Don't choose the contractor with the cheapest quote--usually you are not getting a deal. Get the estimate and all promises of work quality and materials in writing. Make sure you hire a reputable contractor who has references which you check. Keep an eye on the work while it is being done, no matter how awkward you feel. Be careful that your contractor isn't hiring another contractor to do part of the work. It will be hard to decide who is responsible when the work is not done properly. These things I learned the hard way. I find myself saying "I wish I had done this differently" or "if I only had it to do over again" you get the idea.

To finish the room I still need to install quarter round at the ceiling to fill the gap, and baseboards at the floor, to cover the gap and to cover where there are screws that are not covered and some globs of mud.

One of their guys offered to do this work for me.....for another $175 plus materials.

Ah well, live and learn.

DMC

Three Mom's are Better Than One

We had four of our cats fixed. It has been about 10 days now, and my house no longer smells stinky from the boys marking their territory. I am so pleased. There has been another aspect of this that is just so amazing and adorable that I must share it.

We had two female cats fixed (and two males). At the same time, their mom, Miss Mew, was nursing a batch of kittens that were born April 23rd. This is the amazing thing....The day after we brought the newly fixed kitties home, Miss Mew allowed Bella (mostly white kitty in above photo) to come into her box with the kittens. A few days later, we found the kittens under my dresser with Blackie, our other female kitty.

Now the three moms care for the kittens together. All sleep in the box, watch out for the kittens, and even allow the kittens to suckle. It is so touching.

And then there's William. Here he is in the box with the babies, Bella and Blackie. I think this is adorable and very unusual. This is the cat who, two weeks ago, was spraying all over my house. What a sweetie.

DMC

Baby Caterpillars

These baby caterpillars are about .5 cm in size.

A while back I mentioned that we saw a butterfly laying eggs while we were walking in a natural area. We picked a small section of one plant on which the butterfly alighted and brought it (very carefully) home. There were 3 tiny balls on the sprig, each one a tiny butterfly egg.

About a week later, we looked and the tiny balls were split, and there were tiny grey/black things on the leaves of the sprig. They were so tiny we could only see them with a magnifying glass (I also needed my reading glasses).

Now, about a week later, you can discern what they are with the naked eye. Aren't they cute?

DMC

First Horse Show

On Mother's Day my daughter was in her first horse show. This is her, just before entering the arena. She had a great ride, and looked very sharp in her new outfit. She won one ribbon.
In the end we were somewhat disappointed in the way the show was run and judged, but overall it was a good experience.


DMC

McMichael Gallery

We have just been so busy. The day after DD's horse show, we were scheduled to take our 4 kittens (10 months old) to the SPCA to have them all spayed/neutered. We had to take them in at 8 am (1.5 hour drive from home) and pick them up at 5pm. So we spent the day at an amazing art gallery in Toronto.

Here I am with a beautiful carved boulder.

During a nature walk we observed a butterfly laying her eggs, and took home a piece of plant with 3 eggs on it. If this turns out to be something wonderful (like baby caterpillars) I will post it here.

It was a good day, but it turned out that getting the cats fixed entailed more than just an operation....but that's another post.

DMC

Taming the Beast

Finally this messy monster of a pantry turned school closet is all neat and tidy. I am so relieved and it makes homeschooling run much more smoothly.

Before....




After....

Marvelous Mother's Day

I got spoiled for Mother's Day. Because D.D.'s horse show was on the real Mother's Day, I got spoiled with a morning movie and breakfast in p.j.'s on the couch one week early. My wonderful daughter made this yummy breakfast.

I feel so special...

DMC

Note: I have been extremely busy, so this post is from an earlier date.

Drywall Installation

Suddenly it was time to drywall the basement. We had to rush to get the panelling off. There were two layers of panelling, so it was a bit tricky to remove. We had to get everything ready for the drywallers to come the next morning. The drywallers had all the drywall up in 2 hours. Seriously. It was amazing. I can't wait until it is all done.
You can see the drywall dust in the air.
The guys came back another day to tape and mud it. That was the messy part, because they
had to sand the plaster. I will be priming it this week (another post about this soon, to let you know what I learned about priming new drywall), and that is when I will be able to tell if it was a good job. Pray, pray, pray....

DMC

Nice Clean Tub

Let me just say that we moved into this condo some time ago, and had to redo everything. We took possession about two weeks before Christmas, and rush, rush, rush to clean, paint, replace carpets, etc. So the drain on the bathtub got overlooked (I didn't do the bathroom, so I didn't know.) Over time the black stuff just started to spread around the tub.

I was able to pull off the old caulking without the use of chemicals, just using a razor.

After I cleaned it with soap and water and dried it, I applied the caulking, which was really fun.

This is the finished product. What an improvement!
I can't believe the difference, or how easy it was. I enjoyed this job so much that I also caulked around the toilet, and am planning to redo all of the caulking in the bathroom.

DMC

Springing into Spring

Today is a beautiful warm spring day here where we live, so we are going to take this opportunity to enjoy it. Off we go, out into the warmth.

Have a good one.

DMC

Warning: Disturbing Sludge

This is my bathtub. See that black stuff all around the tub? I think I know where that came from...


I decided to clean the overflow drain thingy. Innocent enough. It had a little gray stuff on one corner. So I removed this screw, and off came the cover....
This is what I found....THIS is what I found. Try clicking on the photo to enlarge it.

This is what it looks like now after a little cleaning and scrubbing.

DMC

William

William, has begun marking his territory. He has sprayed inside my closet, marking two comforters and all of my dresses that were long enough to catch it. Last night he sprayed behind the couch where I was sitting. This is a new and deplorable experience for me, and I am at a loss as to what to do. The boys (cats) are scheduled to be "fixed" in May, though, so there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

This is William...

Off I go...

DMC

Cleaning the Fridge

This is morning I have been cleaning my fridge. I took out all the shelves and drawers and washed them with hot water, vinegar and dish soap. I also washed the inside with hot water and vinegar, which dries really quickly and is a natural germ killer.

Now, on with the rest of my day.

DMC

A Case of Mistaken Identity

This is so cute. Miss Mew, who just had a litter of kittens this morning, also had a litter of kittens last July, nine months ago. We kept all four kittens, because, well, I am soft, and because we fell in love with all of them.

Today, Miss Mew kept trying to pick up her nine month old kittens by the scruffs of their necks and carry them back to the box where the tiny little kittens are. The nine month old kittens are bigger than she is(she was brought into the Humane Society when she was a couple of days old with her brothers and sisters but without her mama. So she is quite small compared to other cats.)

Here are some pictures...

I didn't get enough done today. No shopping, not done the basement, no appointments for estimates, and no closet cleaning. Oh well. I did make a cool schedule form on microsoft office..?....

Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

DMC

"Kitten Day"

We have officially called this a "Kitten Day," similar to a snow day, but with kittens.

Today I would like to....wash my kitchen floor thoroughly, since that is where the kittens were born. Call the contractors to come in and give me estimates on the basement drywall. Finish my pantry/school supply closet, and finish getting all the stuff out of the basement. I also need to do the grocery shopping I did not do yesterday.

That's not too tall an order for the day.

Happy Kitten Day,
DMC

Daily Dose of Drama

I got up this morning and had to push a box out of the way so I could sit down at the table, but it was kind of heavy. I turned the box toward me, and there was Miss Mew with one tiny kitten between her front paws. She immediately began having contractions, so I raced upstairs to get Emma, who told me last night she didn't want to miss it. That was at 6 am. This little one in front was the first born.

This little guy was born second....

Followed by a third, whom Emma thought looked like and Oreo cookie, so his name is Cookie. (He/she is the black and white)

This little one was still born, but I include her in memorium. We would have called her Ginger.

This was the last one. Another Oreo cookie look alike, so he is called Oreo.

They are so sweet.

DMC