The last days in the east

It’s Tuesday, August 5, 2014, and I’m in the Kitchener airport, early again, with a 2 hour wait for the plane to Calgary.  I just found out that I won’t have to change planes there for the flight to Kelowna, so if the plane stays on course and in the air and Mo and John make it to the airport to pick me up, I should be back in the Okanagan before peach season is over. 

The VIA Rail trip from Ottawa to Kitchener was uneventful this time.  Cathy picked me up and my stay with the Walkerton Van de Vyveres began with a glass of red wine, a chat with Brian and Cathy and a good night’s sleep.  From that time ‘til this, I have been surrounded by lush green fields and woodlots, high corn, waving grain and the 3 generations of VdeVs who live here.  They’ve had a cool, wet summer so far.  I experienced some of that, but the weather was fine for all the main family gatherings.  I swam in the Saugeen River, although only once.  We went for drives and walks and ate Bruce County beef tenderloin and standing rib as well as Mark’s fresh fish.  For the first time in ages, I experienced the fun and fatigue that goes with being in the company of young kids.  This was my first visit since Brian and Cathy moved into town and David and Dana took over the country house.  I wasn’t deprived of farm experiences however.  Cathy still takes an active part in the garden and barn activities.  We picked beans until my back ached and ate fresh beans, peas, beets, potatoes, lettuce and tomatoes with almost every meal.  The roosters came close to providing my stay with its only catastrophe.

 Just before I arrived, Cathy had noticed that one of them wasn’t moving and had a purple tone to its skin.  She had killed it and what she found inside wasn’t pretty.  Google searches and calls to the vet. boded ill, and a decision was made to kill the flock 2 weeks early to eliminate the infected ones and save the healthy birds, if there were any.  Monday was chosen as the day for the slaughter of the infected.  The birds didn’t seem to be getting any worse on Sat. and Sun., but the date was not postponed, so I was there for the event.  David and Cathy went to the barn alone that morning to prepare everything very carefully because they would be killing, plucking, cleaning, bagging and freezing all the birds that were fine and burying the infected ones.  Mark was going fishing in the morning and would join them at noon.  I stayed at the house with Dana and the boys until I got the call that all was well at the barn.  Dana called Dave on his cell to see if things were fine, and he replied, “K”.   That was all he could manage because he had to open his phone, and answer the message with his nose; his hands were covered in blood.  I went out and became a chicken plucker.  I hadn’t done that since I was about 8 years old and my friend Sue Peters’ mom’s chickens arrived unexpectedly just as Sue’s birthday party was beginning.  They had to be plucked immediately, so those of us who wanted to helped with the plucking.  I liked doing it and told my mom what fun it had been.  She was horrified that anyone would make kids pluck chickens at a birthday party.  This time, I hesitated for a minute because the hot, wet feathers were dirty and their smell was not inviting, but then I plunged in with both hands and it was fine.  We worked well as a team of 3 and faster as 4 when Mark joined us.  We  had fun in fact, even indulging in some slaughter house humor once it became clear that we would not need the deep whole that David had dug for the infected birds because there weren’t any.  Near the end, David came up with a system of stuffing the chicken into a feed bag with a hole cut into a bottom corner so that only its head stuck out and the body was confined, keeping the wings from flapping and legs from kicking as it was being held for its head to be chopped off.  It seemed to be fitting that the feedbag that had held the bird’s food should do double service as the container that carried it to the axe.  The day ended with a gathering in the back yard of Dave and Dana’s house and a dinner of pizza that had no chicken on it. 

The waiting room is filling up and the flight to Calgary will leave in about one hour.

Sunday dinner with the Baughans and Danbrook,  Ken, Sarah (Geoff's girlfriend), and Megan 

Carolyn and Geoff

Sunday dinner with the Walkerton Van de Vyveres, Cathy with David and Dana's youngest, Zak, on her knee

Brian with Dana, Alex and Zak

Mark blowing bubbles for his daughter Emily ( Jen is sitting in the background)

Alex and Evan, Mark and Jen's son, playing with water in the back yard at Brian and Cathy's

David happily feeding his goats down on the farm

Cathy and David less happily chopping the head off a rooster, take one

take two

Cathy and Mark preparing surf and turf, Walkerton style