Chicken Love

We've had chickens for many years now, but mostly they're John's chickens. I like to watch them, and occasionally throw some corn at them, and (of course) eat the eggs. But John has always been the one who takes care of them. 

But this winter, I was home without him for about a week, and so, for the first time, I took charge of the daily chicken chores: feeding them, letting them out, collecting and washing the eggs, locking them up each night, and with the freezing temperatures, replacing the frozen water in their jug each day. 

Each morning, they clucked wildly around their frozen water dish until I came to replace it. And when I let them out of the hen house, they charged me like a pack of feathery velociraptors hungry for cracked corn. At night, I'd slog out through the dark and the freezing mud to lock them in away from predators. I woke up in the night to google chickens in freezing temperatures to make sure they'd be okay.

These aren't difficult chores, but they are absolutely vital to the dear little chickens. And there is a rhythm to these chores, that settles you and softens you, and re-connects you to the external world that central-heat-and-air so often hides from us. I have been grateful that John did all the work... but now I wonder if I wasn't missing out on something?

Love begets love, and today I love these chickens.

Nature Table

I've been arranging furniture for our new house in my head. I've decided to use our old tv cabinet by the front door as a catch-all for bags and shoes that usually get left by the door. And the top will be a little nature table. In my excitement I told L about the nature table, and somehow in her excitement my side table turned in to a nature table right now.

baby pine trees, rocks with moss, honeysuckle, sticks, cork, dried worms, and oh so much more.

Half the fun was organizing everything into little pots and jars. We discussed how to group things together logically, but also which things were more valuable for keeping. L and I might disagree a bit on the curating.

organized

Cicada Shells

John and the girls pulled a bunch of cicada shells (skins?) off the trees last week and they've been shuffled around quite a bit before finding their home in our nature display. J calls them "monsters." I'm proud of them for not being squeamish of bugs, but that doesn't cure me of my squeamishness.

Our phone line was struck by lightning last week, and we've been picking up bits of the insulator for several days. L also found a spark plug, a moss covered rock, and some bumpy rocks that she's pretty sure are meteorites.

We also have a decent collection of sticks, bark, moth wings, and pine tree seedlings. We even have a dish just for toys found outside, and its interesting to see how being left outdoors has changed them. I haven't figured out what these burr like plants are yet, but I think they're my favorite.

Initially, I was afraid our nature table would be made of gravel from the driveway and smooshed pine cones. But now I see I underestimated my little archaeologists. We're still on the hunt for fossils. No telling what will turn up next!

And we haven't even set up our table yet!

I'm always gonna hafta know...

I was going through some old files today and came across this video.  John made it for me when we were dating, and I think it played a big part in keeping us together.  I couldn't resist sharing it, sorry, John. 



Music: Important in your Life by Jonathan Richman

Birthday

Being a parent on birthdays is so rewarding.  I can't believe how big and cute and sweet my kid is getting!

I decorated last night, so that it would be birthday time from the minute L got up.  I made a quick pink banner, laid out a table cloth, her birthday crown, and some nice flowers that John brought in.  I love these banners, and there are tutorials all over for them.  This is the second one I made, and I realized after my first banner sat on a shelf for 8 months, that it isn't really necessary to do all the fusing and hemming.  So this pink banner is just triangles of fabric with raw edges.  Hopefully I won't ever need to wash it, and it will be just as cute for the next pink occasion (ahem, in two weeks?).

I got the birthday crown idea from this sweet blog Skip to My Lou.  I just made mine up after seeing hers, but I love the shape of her crown!  After she put it on, L started waving her arms around saying, "Just like a princess!"  I'm not sure what these princesses are doing, but it was sure cute. 

We had a big breakfast followed by our little party.  We had birthday cookie instead of cake because I thought it would be more likely to get eaten.  The pink icing was a hit.  Who knew I could throw such a pink party?

The play food has been a huge hit, she's been playing with her kitchen and food all afternoon.  Along with John's super cute contribution of this sweet little wooden, rubber band, banjo.  It makes a neat, funny sound.  John thinks he might add some frets so you can make different chords, and just to make it even more banjo-y. Yeah, he's a cool dad. 
 

L's Kitchen

I labeled this under "stuff I made" only because I don't have a category for stuff John made. Perhaps I should.


We talked this out together, but John built it for L for Christmas with very little help from me. My contribution was the little curtain, potholders and apron.


He used an old picture frame for the oven window, and made little shelves to hide all the kitchen toys.


The oven rack slides in and out. He made it from dowel rods.


I forget where we got the idea of using a mixing bowl for the sink, but I think we saw it done several places. We have a bunch of milk glass knobs we're saving for our house that worked nicely here.


John, with his affinity for gadget making, made little fire bits that come up on the stove when you turn the knobs - using dowel rods, paint sticks and hinges. L was very impressed - and so was I.


I found an old set of kids tupperware at a rummage sale and was giddy with excitement. I like to arrange the dishes and food neatly on the shelf, but L likes to throw it all in the sink. I get to play with it my way during nap time.

We have some plastic dollar store food, but really L likes to make rock and money soup. I've ordered some lovely play food for her that I'll share soon...

Romanian Cheese and Ethiopian Coffee

The first year we were married I asked John what was the best thing he'd ever eaten. He told me that when he was in Romania many years ago he had some really wonderful fried goat cheese. Thanks a lot, I thought to myself. But after a little googling and a trip to Ada's, it turned out to be a simple recipe - now our Valentine favorite. The recipe is below.

But what is in my lovely Hazel Atlas mug? African Skies fair trade coffee from Just Love, a company that uses proceeds to help an Ethiopian orphanage and families adopting not just from Ethiopia, but from anywhere in the world. If you buy from this shop, you can support our friends in their Ethiopian adoption.

Romanian Fried Goat Cheese
11 to 12 oz Goat Cheese, chilled
1 tsp garlic
1/4 tsp rosemary
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup flour
1 large egg beaten
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs (I always use the cornflake kind)
1/4 cup olive oil

Our cheese comes in wedges which I sliced into about 8 or 9 thick slices. Mix the garlic, rosemary and salt and pepper. Put this in a bowl, and then put the flour, egg, and bread crumbs each in their own bowl. Dip the cheese in the garlic mixture, then the flour, then the egg, then the bread crumbs, coating evenly with each. Chill in the refrigerator.

Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a skillet on medium high heat. When heated, cook the goat cheese about 2 minutes per side or until a pretty golden color. It's best to eat them hot, but they reheat pretty well, too.

Mild Mannered Super Hero Flip Doll

Here he is.

Years ago, I drew a doodle of John as super-librarian, so I like to think of this guy as a mild mannered librarian rather than reporter. Although, with the mustard shirt he kind of has a Dwight Shrute thing going. He can be whoever you like. But, if duty calls, with a quick change (or flip) he'll be a super hero!

He is made mostly of new linen. The librarian's pants are made of a re-purposed wool blend, and Super guy's cape is made of re-purposed cotton knit (super heroes have no time for ironing - he needed something to accommodate his active lifestyle). He is stuffed with new sheep's wool, and his face is hand embroidered. He's got blue eyes and sort of big ears (some of us do, you know). I think he's much cuter in person - I was having a weird photo day.

He flips a little more snugly than my other flips, and I haven't decided if this is a good thing or not. Frankly, I had to take him apart so many times, I'm glad to be done with him! It's time for him to fly on. He's in the shop now.

Someone mentioned wanting a pattern for him - if there is enough interest, I may try to put one together - although, I didn't take process pictures... let me know what you think.

We've Landed

Wow, that giveaway day was something, wasn't it? I had no idea how many blogs were involved. Pretty neat, not enough hours in the day to visit them all though. Thanks for everyone who participated here. I enjoyed reading about all your favorite windows, but the randomizer especially liked number 2 (no kidding!) which is Aunt Lolo. Congratulations! I'll be sending an email and two fat quarters shortly!

We spent this week celebrating for a couple of reasons. It was L's birthday (although NOT, unfortunately, J's - we're still waiting on that), and... we closed on our land! The pictures are us celebrating at Besso's after the closing with some gelato.

What land, you ask? John and I have been looking for land (not "looking to land" as our local paper misprinted our ad once) for about 3 years. We've changed our minds several times about what we actual want, and where we want it. But we finally found a lovely piece of land, in a good location, with great friends for neighbors. And now we're finally ready to pursue the next phase of life - building our home, planting trees, raising animals, and enjoying all those other aspects of country life. I'm sure you'll hear lots more about it.

Belgian Waffles

I helped John make Belgian Waffles last weekend for a party. This is one of John's specialties, although I've never had them before.

I'm sold. These are wonderful. Unfortunately, I'm not sure where the recipe came from, so I'm not going to share it (mine is photocopied from a Belgian food cookbook, and my recipe is called "Sugar Waffles from Liege"), but I'm sure you can find one at the library or online.

It's a pretty odd recipe, with two batters that you mix at the last minute. It doesn't feel anything like waffle batter, instead it makes a really sticky goo. But it bakes wonderfully, and tastes perfect. No syrup needed. The only unusual ingredient is pearl sugar, which John ordered online, but you might be able to find if you live in an urban area. Definitely worth a try.

Chicks...

Well, the great chick adventure has taken a disappointing turn. On Friday, we were ready to move the chicks outside, and boy was I glad. John set up a temporary coop for them to stay in for a little while - they need to be bigger before they can move in with the older chickens. The weather outside was gorgeous and they now had room to move about and fly a little. We were all very excited.

But, unfortunately, tragedy struck on their first night out. I guess the temporary coop was a little too temporary, and we were perhaps too optimistic about their survival. Some animal was able to break into the coop and caused a little bit of a ruckus. When John went to check on them in the morning, four of the five chicks were just gone. The remaining chick, who we call Top Hat (she's of the "top hat" variety - weren't we clever with the name?) was outside the coop, hunkered down nearby. She's the one you see in the last picture with the funny feathers on her head. We couldn't find the others, but we didn't find any remains either - so maybe another one or two will come wandering back. I'm sure they'll come along any minute, along with Franny... we're holding our breath.

Halloween

I got a pumpkin for us for Halloween, and (I think this was Sunday afternoon) Laura felt well enough to carve it. We roasted the seeds with some wershteshier sauce (that's how it's spelled in my mind) and butter.

For Halloween we bought some candy, just in case some kids came by. We placed the lit pumpkin precariously atop a bale of hay on our front porch as a beacon to any candy-searching youngster and their suv-driving parents who happened to be tearing past our house at 79 miles an hour, which is the usual means of travel round these parts. But nobody came. Gary, our pumpkin, was noticeably saddened.

Green Eggs

Thursday night I was up late, and at one point I went outside and I could hear the chickens squawking in the woods, which usually means something's out there. I ran out to the woods to see what was up, only to realize that it was night and I couldn't see anything. I went back for the flashlight to find the chickens pacing around the coop, anxious and nervous. But I didn't see anything. I trained the flashlight all around the coop and under the hen house, and then I heard a snap on the other side of the pen. It took me a while, but eventually I started pointing the flashlight in the trees, and that's when I found a large possum about 12 feet up a tree next to the pen.

Laura won't let me have a gun in the house, so that's when I went back for the baseball bat.

It took two throws, but then I connected. The next day I went out to check on the chickens, and that's when I discovered that our second hen, "Penny," had just started to lay eggs. And they're green.

Really the two stories aren't related, except that for the briefest of moments, when I first saw the green egg, this thought went through my mind: "Maybe the it's the possum's."

Subbing for Laura

Laura has had the pukies for a couple of weeks now and hasn't been able to post much; or eat, go to town, juggle, speak French - though some of those things she couldn't do before the morning sickness, in all fairness.

We got prescription medicine for her yesterday, and so far it's been promising. In the meantime, I (John) am subbing for her on our (Laura's) blog. This is a picture of me at my desk doing just that.

What's so great about Northern Exposure, you ask?

John and I have been buying the DVD's as they are released, and we've recently just gotten Season Four. Before season four arrived, when we had watched all the others, I began to feel a little homesick for Northern Exposure. Not that I need a tv-fix everday, John and I try not to watch too much tv.

But the characters in the town of Cicely, AK are very endearing. The whole show is about Joel's growth from a neurotic, modern, scholastic, New York doctor to a man in tune with irrational possibilities and the natives' sensibilities towards nature. On the episode John and I watched last night, titled "Revelations," Joel faces a slow couple of weeks at the office and is unable to deal with the quiet. As Bernard puts it, Joel isn't dealing with his existential angst, and needs to be willing to embrace the big nothing.

Joel asks Marilyn how she is able to just sit in the office for hours, "What do you think about?" he asks incredulously. In her calm, self-assured way she answers,"paper clips."
"Paper clips? You think about paper clips all day?!"
"Not all the time. Sometimes I think about colors. blue mostly. and beige."

I cancelled my class today (it's Makin Music week... don't get me started), so I am sitting in my office all day, with no specific time schedule - trying to be productive.

We modern westerners think efficiency is one of the highest values - so that we might fill our time with as much high quality output we can.

I wonder how different my life would be if I were able to just sit.

Oh the Last Bumper Sticker

So, as I mentioned, our last bumper sticker gave us away. Here are some of the variations we considered. John made all of these; however I made him go with the one you see first because I was afraid the others would make Warren realize it was us. I guess I didn't worry enough.

Warren cut off the tip of his pointer finger in his food processor a year or so ago. (He's actually a really good cook, and has lots of fancy kitchen gadgets such as this apparently sharp food processor.) The irony is that he regularly teaches wood shop safety to art students. (I think Chara can relate to sticking her finger into a kitchen appliance.)

We had some other ideas, but I'm not sure we'll use them now...

Straw Structure

Over the break, John built this lovely structure to house our straw (no it isn't a straw-bale construction, fooled you didn't I?). We have straw for the chickens and John wanted a place to store it, out of the garage, off the ground, and out of the rain. So he chopped down a tree and built this structure only using wood from this one little tree (Isn't he cool?). He then put a tarp around it, so it's a little teepee-like. But the front side is flat so that he can also use it as a target for his bow and arrow. The dog is Sam.)

Yarn, Photos and Juggling

John and I waited to open our gifts until after we got back from visiting family. So we had Christmas last night. John got me this old puzzle of a DeKooning painting. He also had prints made of a bunch of our pictures. I've been saying all year how, though I love digital cameras, I feel bad that we don't have any pictures to put in albums and show people. So he had 250 of our favorite pictures printed, from while we were dating, the honeymoon, our road trip and birthdays. It was great. And if you ever come visit us, expect to have to look at them all.

Also, on our way home we stopped at a yarn shop in Brentwood. It was kind of small, and of course pricey, but I thought you have to buy really great yarn occasionally. So here are my new yarns. (After having fun with Haydn's stuffed fruits and vegetables, I decided to make a large stuffed carrot.)


And finally, John is selling his juggling clubs online since he doesn't use them much, and they're large. But first we got some pics and videos of him in action. If I knew how to put a video on here I'd show you, but if you just look back and forth between the two pictures really fast, you'll get the idea.

JOHN is 30 MILLION YEARS OLD

We stayed in for John's birthday yesterday (which is what quiet people like John and I like to do - stay in). There were some gifts and some pie. And of course, new flannel pajama pants.

Super John