State of Emergency in Peachland, BC!!!

I have some friends that live right in the midst of this State of Emergency in Peachland, BC, a 200 hectare wild fire out of control!!! My heart is breaking for them. I know they have been safely evacuated, but have just found out it was a case of GET OUT NOW, not in an hour or whatever!! They have a beautiful home and a LOT of rare, valuable, vintage motorcycles!! I just pray all is still standing when this is over. So far 4 homes have burned and I pray theirs is not one of them. There have been 1500 people evacuated from their homes!!

See the CHBC TV video report on this fire!!

Very GROSS and Upsetting!

WARNING: What is about to follow is very gross and you may not want to read it. I feel I must write it, but that doesn't mean you have to read it. It is part of my life's journey, something for me to understand why it would happen in my life. I believe that we create everything in our lives through the Law of Attraction, so therefor I must have somehow created this. How I created it is for me to figure out and to make sure I never create such horror again.

If you are regulars here at my blog, you know I had a roomer/tenant living here for the winter, you know he left suddenly without telling me he was going, and he took some of my keys as well as owing me money. You will also know that I allowed someone else to move onto my property with his own travel trailer. You also will know that I recently had to have a talk to him about his dog. He was letting his dog run free in the yard after I'd told him not to, due to the dangerous highway I live along. I also had to point out how unhappy I was about having to pick up his dog's feces in my yard. I had also previously told him that he was responsible for picking up after his dog. Well, today I discovered several piles of feces in my yard, just out back of his trailer!! I am SO GROSSED OUT!!! No, it is not dog feces, it is human, complete with toilet paper. It was all I could do to not throw up right there and then.

I am going to take a few days to calm down, and to possibly see if I can lay any charges against him for this. Then I will tell him he is to move off my property. There is no excuse or reason good enough for this.

EARTHSHIP

Today, I got my daily email from DailyGood and really found it interesting. Not only did I like the quote (which I will post later this evening) but also I followed a link to some very interesting information about Earthships. An Earthship is a very environmentally friendly home. Michael Reynolds created these homes and has built a lot of them now, using things that would otherwise end up in the landfills and such. Here in BC, Canada, we get paid to return aluminum cans such as pop (soda) and beer cans, though I know that many of the states in the USA don't do this. It 'slays' me each August when I go to the Omak Stampede in Washington state and see all the cans laying all over the ground and in garbage cans. Now when I see them this year I will likely be wanting to collect them for building an Earthship type house rather than for selling them. Either way, it will 'slay' me just as much or more than usual to have to leave all those cans behind... sigh.

These Earthships are totally 'off grid', using wind and solar for electricity and they use water 4 times. Yup. Catch the water from the sky (rain and snow) and save it in cisterns, filter it to drink, use it for bathing and all the other stuff like that... the 'grey water' goes to water all the inside plants that are being grown for food and is filtered to be used for flushing the toilets. From the toilets, the 'black water' goes to a regular type of septic tank, and the overflow from there is used to water outside plants. It's really incredible. I want a home like this!!!

So go check it out. Here are a few links to go to. AOL Video where you can see several videos about Earthships. This is where I went to first with the link from the email I received. CNN, a link I also got from the email. I was also led from one of them to the Earthship website.

Are these the homes of the future? It wouldn't surprise me at all.

Mother Nature's Smile

I got this in an email today. I wish it said the name of the photographer because s/he deserves credit for this once in a lifetime photo.

SURPRISE!!!

For the last while there has been a pigeon sitting on a nest in my chicken house. It was in one of the 5 nest boxes I provide for the hens, but not a surprise as I've had pigeons nest there before. I was expecting to see some new baby pigeons one day soon.

Earlier today (Saturday Jan 20 - it's now after midnight as I type this, but to me it's still Saturday, haha) I went out to do "chook chores" and noticed something black on the floor, then realized it was a dead chick. Now that was really odd as I didn't know I had a hen nesting... hhhmmm. Then I noticed the pigeon wasn't in the nest and there was a second dead chick in it. The one still in the nest was still warm as I picked up the tiny black body, then I picked up the one on the floor and as I did it's eyes opened just the tiniest bit. Or had I imagined it? I looked real closely for any sign of life at all, then the beak opened... just a tiny bit. OMG!! this chick is still alive! Not by much, mind you, but there is the smallest spark of life in that cold wee body. I quickly stuck in inside my shirt, right against my skin so it could get some warmth while I finished my chores and got into the house.

Once in the house I grabbed a basket that was handy (was waiting for me to plant some plants in it), a light fixture I previously have used for raising orphaned chicks in the house, put a new bulb in it and hung it on the handle of the basket. Then I found some raw sheep fleece for a bed, dug the chick (the chooklet, haha) out of my shirt and put it beneath the light where it was nice and warm.
It was just laying there at first, then gradually I could see it breathing... and eventually it let out the teeniest of peeps. Over time it grew stronger. It got strong enough to stand up peeping... no, YELLING for attention and possibly food. I was having rolled oats for my breakfast and gave some to the baby too, mashed up a bit with milk added. Baby ate.

I later tried to put Baby back in the basket, but he/she got out and dropped to the floor from the stand the basket is on. I was in the other room, could hear Baby yelling, came in and found him/her on the floor some distance from the basket, tottering along as if on his/her way to find me. Needless to say, Baby spent most of the day tucked in my shirt, or beneath my chin. I had a nap this afternoon with Baby tucked in under my chin, and Shadow (cat) on the bed too (as usual).

I know that I can't sleep all night with a chick under my chin. It was okay for a nap, but I will turn over and such in the night and am afraid I would roll over on the chick and squish it. So I bug out my spare bird cage and put the light and sheep fleece into it... and the chick who is not all that happy about it. There has been a lot of yelling, but the baby is settling down more now and will be just fine. I give regular feedings and have now left it's food dish in the cage in the hopes it can feed itself overnight if it gets hungry.

I don't know how to sex baby chicks, so it will be awhile before I know if it is a boy or girl. Roosters/cockerels show their combs sooner and different than hens/pullets do.

I figure this little chicken needs a very special name. It came back from the very brink of death and is now strong and seemingly healthy. At one point this evening I thought of my pen pal friend, a man I write to through my church. He is in a prison in the US. At the top of every page of every letter he sends, he writes Bismallah. Though he is studying what my church teaches/believes, his first religion is Islamic/Muslim, and thus Bismallah.

What Bismallah means, in a nutshell, is:

- By means of the very essence of God
- For the glory of our Creator
- With the light of the One
- With the guidance of The Divine
- As an instrument of the One

The central idea here is that whatever we do, every step that we take, every breath that we breathe, is done for, because of, and through the essence of, the One who has created us.

It is not us that does the work, it is not us that makes opportunities appear, it is not us that produces fruits from every action. We alone are powerless. The Creator has given us life and given us the ability to move and think and feel. We are totally dependent upon the Creator for the very essence of life itself.

Thus, this beautiful word bismillah is a magnificent reminder of our relationship to our Creator and our relationship to all of creation.

In one simple word bismillah expresses our wonder, awe and thankfulness while it also expresses our innermost prayer that we may have the blessing of another breath and that we may walk on a path of truth and understanding.

To say bismillah is to humbly offer one's self as a vehicle for the glory and majesty of The One.

http://wahiduddin.net/words/bismillah.htm

I think Bismallah is a beautiful sounding word, and it's meaning is very powerful. I think it is a name fit for this chick. Boy or girl, it is now named Bismallah. If I had gone outside just 5 minutes later than I did, it would have been dead. If I hadn't decided to pick it up, or if I hadn't noticed that ever so tiny flicker of life in what I thought to be a lifeless body, it would now be dead. If I hadn't known to put it into my shirt against my bare skin it would likely have died. If God (as I know it) hadn't lead me to do what was needed, this baby would be dead. For this and other reasons, I call the chick Bismallah... to honor the essence of God.

Eggs

Cousin Helen sent me these pictures in an email this evening. I just had to share them with all you other chicken people... and all others too, haha.

Painted Floor

Click on the picture to get a larger view of it... it's pretty cool.
This was emailed to me some time ago and I just had to save it.