Monday, March 24th - could be an interesting week with the weather!

It's sure not feeling very springlike this morning, after a fairly mild and sunny weekend. It's currently -13 but with a wind chill of -23. We're only going up to -9 that will still feel like -18 so it's going to be chilly all day. 
 The big news over the weekend and will likely be for the next two, is the coming of a nor'easter on Wednesday. We are being told to expect maybe 20 to 30 cms of snow with very high winds and storm surges - a weather bomb in the making. Who knows - perhaps it will be one more snow day for the season!



We had a great weekend.I met Lloyd in town after work and we toured around the motor cycle show that was going on
at the East Link Centre. Then it was  off to visit Charles and Laura and catch up on their little flock of sheep. When last we met, they had two new lambs, and now the total of furry little babies prancing around is 7. Oh my gosh, they are so cute! And did I mention how tasty they are going to be? We enjoyed their father, 'Ramsey', for our dinner. He was slaughtered a short time ago and is now residing in the freezer. Laura cooked some chops for supper in an herb laden sauce and they were just delicious. Along with some rice and roasted carrots and parsnips, it was a great meal.

They have lots of baby chicks that they've hatched, at various stages of growth. Can't wait to hatch our own. They have some eggs that are the same as our rooster, Oscar,  so Lloyd is going to pick some of those up later this week. They are really nice birds. They're called Austrolorp - The Australorp is a chicken breed of Australian origin. It is a large, soft-feathered bird, with white toenails, black legs and beak, and a moderately large and upright single comb, with five distinct points. The Australorp is hardy, docile, and a good egg-layer, as well as a meat bird. Our eggs will be a cross with Rhode Island Reds but the eggs from Charles will be pure Austrolorp so we'll have some of each.

Sunday morning I baked some cakes for an upcoming benefit this Saturday that we will be away for. I can still participate by baking something for the cake auction. Look for photos on Friday morning when they come out of the freezer and get their final decor added!  I'll drop them off to Brenda to deliver for me, on my way out of town.

In the afternoon we decided to try a bit of cross country skiing. It was a beautiful day once you were out of the wind, but the snow was a little too sticky and the crust underneath the light snow kept breaking so one foot would be several inches higher or lower than the other. Not ideal. Instead we opted to return home. I got back in time to help Lloyd unload some firewood and then he returned to visit with our friend Richard, while I had a nice hot bath and got changed to go over to the VanGaals for another delicious supper. When we were done cleaning up it was time for Will to head out for his week on the road. His truck was in the shop so Brenda was dispatched to drive him out to Borden to his big truck. I went with them so she would have some company coming back (any excuse for a road trip!)  The weather was clear and the roads were mostly dry except for a few patches of snow that had blown across the road. On our way back we passed one motorist who was not quite so lucky - it looks like he had skidded off the road and the car was lying on  it's side in the field beside the road. There were several cars stopped so we kept on going. Hopefully no one was hurt.

I just had to "borrow" this piece from the Cambridge Speedskating Club's website ( who borrowed it from the local paper!).  Our kids were there to skate with two skaters just returned from the Sochi Olympics - Richard Shoebridge, who is a past member of the club, as well as John Eley, who was the flag bearer for the British Team. . What a great inspiration for our young skaters! 

Posted: March 18, 2014 -
Leading the Way
Olympic speedskating Richard Shoebridge skates with members of the Cambridge Speed Skating Club Tuesday night at the Hespeler Memorial Arena. He was raised in Cambridge but represented Great Britain in Sochi.

Richard tweets: 
Thanks for an amazing reception @CSSC11! I'm so proud to be a member, made me feel really special tonight.
CSSC tweets back:
 Thanks for skating with our young athletes. You've just inspired them to reach for the stars!