My box-eating cat:

He rips off a piece then spits it on the floor.

He's worse than a beaver.

Hey, who made the mess on the floor?

I haven't caught him at it again but I've cleaned up two more messes and the gnawed scoop in the box is halfway down the side.
He also shreds paper.
Wha??

It's been a busy week! The eggs we put in the incubator a couple of weeks began to hatch Tuesday night, four days before their due date, which is today.
So far, we've hatched out eight chicks successfully, are looking at five eggs not doing anything, lost 2 chicks to bleeding, have one - Twoonie, the second "born" -- that may not survive because of wonky legs (if it can't feed itself, it won't survive).
Here are some shots of Dwayne, our resident chicken obstetrician, assisting with a birth:

Our birthing room gets kind of messy:

Our nursery is filling up! Sometime today, these little chicks will be let loose in the big pen.

We didn't have much luck hatching chicks out of green-shelled eggs (in order to fulfill my need to have hens that lay green eggs); the disabled chick and a chick that died last night came out of green shells. But these guys are cute and noisy and active and it's going to be fun to watch them get bigger, just like the older chicks in the pen next door:

We started with five -- one died, and three of these are roosters!!
Aren't chickens fun?

Friends and enemies of our sunflowers:

Found this photo of Dad and thanks to a lovely slow first day at work, was able to scan it and Photoshop it.
This is going into my opening slide show for my Alz. conference presentation. Love it.
Now I really want to learn to drive our same-era tractor!

I just realized I hadn't posted a photo of our dinner with the Beers, and niece Emily, from Cobourg. The day they were going to be passing through our part of NS coincided with our anniversary so it was lovely to have a dinner party with people enthusiastic about eating lobster. 

Considering we've known Susan and her parents -- her mother is Colleen Ross, dear to my heart -- it's like we were celebrating with family. 

Just returned from an overnight stay in Victoria by the Sea, PEI, where I was interviewing people for an article for Saltscapes. Went very well, met lovely people who gave great quote, and a nice balance -- not all "This is a perfect, quaint village." Real village life stuff for a perfect, quaint village!
I can see why people love travel writing; it was fun to meet people and talk to them. This is good for me; making me more confident since it gives me a reason to strike up conversations with strangers.
I'll be posting photos about my little trip tomorrow on the work blog so check that out -- check out what I had for lunch !!

My friend and colleague Jane begins her holidays tomorrow so for the next two weeks, I work every day at the paper. Ugh. And I'm having trouble with my back from too much sitting so this is not going to be good. I have to make sure I flip over on the inversion table every day to offset the stress on my left leg and lower back from sitting all day in my awful seat (don't have the nerve to ask my boss for a new one although I'm entitled to one since I did have an OT assessment on my work space).
I don't anticipate work being slow since I will do all my work writing there instead of at home. Lots of people to talk to, always.

Chicks are growing. Five new hens haven't realized they can go outside here. Gardens are full of flowers. My echinacea are blooming! August is my favourite month -- even though I work non-stop for the first two weeks!