This past couple of weeks have been both busy, interesting, and yes, too, exciting, for me. Spring is always an interesting time. It’s a time of new growth, new births, and the time of year that seems to inspire new energy. I have been busy all through most days and I have been busy, busy, busy, well into both ends of the dark part of night.
Seeing as my Little Lady is no longer physically by my side, and before urban minds all fill with gossipy, weird, wonderful, and possibly colourful, false assumptions, perhaps I should explain my activity. Especially during the time between the setting of the sun and early dawn.
First let me explain that I do have one of those gizmos that automatically answers my phone. This is good because when they leave a message with ample information, I can make sure I have the information they need before I call back. That I usually do in the early hours of the evening; most can be reached at that time.
Secondly, I raise canaries, individually paired, in rather large numbers. That usually starts right after Christmas and ends mid- June. Because young birds are fast growers, from hatching to full size in only 14 to 16 days, ample fresh food of high quality must be fed or replaced, often. This I usually do on a non-flex, two hour schedule from five in the morning till lights out at about 9:30 at night.
Thirdly I have a computer, on which I field anywhere from a dozen to 40 emails each and every day. That I usually do later in the evening, as it disturbs no-one and it gives me time to sort my thoughts and gather whatever information I think they may need.
Fourth on the list would have to be that I have an incubator in which I hatch eggs for both myself and select others. That involves the checking often of humidity and temperature and also turning of the eggs, much more often than normally thought. I usually turn them nine, 11, or 13 times each day. This I have learned from watching and counting the times turned by birds that incubate natural.
You will note that my total number of turns is in odd numbers only. The reason so being, is so that the hatching chick does not end up on the exact same side, night after night, after night, during the long hours in which I catch some shut eye and the eggs are not turned. Most think this is insignificant, all the while complaining that their hatch was less than 50%, while my last two successes were 14 out of 19 and 10 out of 13. Little things, in all of life, do make a difference.
Then, I have this weekly article, one of which you are reading now, which seems always to be running close to deadline. Though I will be starting my 25th year beginning the second week of this coming August; it can quickly eat up three, four, or five hours, just sorting the vocabulary suitable to the understanding of those not familiar with the subject so prattled. It is not always as easy as one would think, which accents a favourite coinage of mine: “I’m not sure you heard what I thought I was saying.”
In the meantime, I dicker around growing a few orchids. I water them thoroughly every week to ten days by ducking their containers completely in non-chlorinated room temperature water. In between times, they are misted once or twice weekly. Orchids are fun to grow, but they refuse to thrive on neglect.
Then there is this here book that I happen to be working on. It happens to be my fourth book, but is actually the third of The Best of Bits and Pieces, I hope to have it hit the deck just prior to Christmas. Then, of course, I do mundane things, like clean house, do laundry, and waltz with the vacuum cleaner. Other than that I just sit around doing nothing.
By the way, this is the weekend that I’ll be parking my butt, 10am to 5pm, Saturday and Sunday over at the Elora Centre for the Arts. Roxanne of Reflections will be there to assist. We’ll have both Book One and Book Two available there. Ideal gifts. I expect to see each and every one of you there.
Take care, ’cause we care.