Feathers

2011-04-24T17:47:00.000-07:00

Had one pretty exciting week. Got in to a nasty accident on the freeway on Tuesday. One of those almost have your life flash before your eyes kind of things. A car on one lane swerved in front of the car in front of me that car hit the brakes and swerved a little to the right and I tried to stop and swerve to the left but wasn't very successful. I'm pretty bruised up and have a brace for my left hand for a little while.

Above is my 99 Hyundai just a few days before at a clients house when a cat came to visist it and below are all that was left.

I really liked that car,and am pretty tempted to get my self anotherone since this one was offically totalled.

I didn't make it into work that day but found out when I did return to work that I got promoted to a full time position. So now instead of 2 part time jobs I have one full time one and one part time one.

2011-04-06T13:47:00.000-07:00

Nothing new going on really, looking for job # 3 these days..the two I have aren't quite up to full time. Bf is just getting over a nasty cold now I'm having my turn at it.

The cable man was here today to install zippy new internet Jasmine is a pretty friendly cat, she really felt the need to thoroughly inspect every thing he did. He probably has this image burned into his head today..

2010-12-19T15:10:00.000-08:00

Meowy Christmas!

Now get me the hell out of this travisty you call an outfit!!

2010-11-23T11:04:00.000-08:00

Snow!

Got ourselves something of a little blizard here in the PNW

We got about 3 inches or so here yesterday and with record low temps a lot of people had a real nasty commute last night. I played it safe and didn't go in to work as my shift is 4.45 to 8.45pm. Found out they closed early so I didn't feel too bad.

Been keeping the backyard critters fed through the cold snap. Lots of bird seed and suet cakes and peanuts. The Stellar jays and the local squirrel family really like the peanuts. We have one squirrel who seems to have hogged all the food I put out as he is really obese, I mean this is one fat squirrel. Better call Jenny Craig!

They are becomming pretty tame too.Yesterday Bf was able to walk right up to a squirrel raiding the birdfeeder and touch him.

We have been privvy to several hummingbird aireal dogfights. I have two feeders out there but everyone wants to "own" just the one. They are fearless little guys. I've seen them divebomb birds 10 times their size, ( chickens) squirrels and even boyfriends.

I've been into crocheting lately, mostly just to use up the giant yarn blob in the closet. Seems like every time I sit down to work on it something seems to get in the way...

2010-09-30T14:02:00.000-07:00

Behold, the best tasting carrots in the world!

For the first time I grew backyard carrots ... and I have to say they are delicious. I wilwas worried they would be woody but they are really very tender and sweet.

With the help of the new garden beds most things I attempted this year have turned out pretty well. I have huge beautiful tomato plants loaded with green 'maters. I'm really hoping that our sunny fall weather will help them along.

For some reason the zukes and squash didn't do to well.

Bf finally got his boat in the water and it floats! He said it did realy well. We're waiting for a time when we bot have a day off together and the weather is good.

2010-09-08T11:45:00.000-07:00

The garden is winding down even though I wish it wasn't. Got lots of big breen tomatos, corn that's not quite ready. So far I have harvested quite a few peas,a few pounds of taters, lots of apples.
There are some squash and zukes but unless we get some more days of sunshine I don't hold out much hope.Seems like winter is on it's way.

The Bf gave me a neat camera for my birthday, you can set it to take a still frame picture every minute or 20 seconds or once a day if you like. It's water proof and ment to be used outdoors. Then you can play it like a video using some software it came with. If I get any that are intersesting I'll post them.

Now for the really big news...the BF boat is almost finished! He's got ther trailer all set up and I think all he needs are oars and life jackets.

It is a sailboat but he will work on putting in the mast and daggerboard over the winter so it will be ready to sail next summer but for now it's a snazzy big rowboat!!

A Short clip pf some backyard squirrel mischief. We seem to have about 4 that raid the bird feeders now

2010-08-23T14:23:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we took a trip down to Fort Vancouver and here are some pictures..

The fort fence The red door...

And the old privy....I really wondered about the double hole there..was there some kind of bathroom buddy system?

It was a neat place to visist. There were actors in the fort kitchen makinf bread in giant ovens and a blacksmith explaining the forge.
Soon I'll update here with the latest garden news as well as some boat progress pictures

2010-08-01T12:48:00.000-07:00

DEJA VU???

So are you now reading this blog experiencing Deja Vu? Think you've sen these very pictures on here before?

Well your not far from the truth! Belieive it or not, this is or second Mountain Beaver..I'ts been a couple of years since the last Operation MB took place.

Since then I had been lulled into complacency, what are the chances of ever seeing another Mountain Beaver again, much less have another one move right in ..again.

At first I noticed chewed corn stalks, then a rather large hole..a stripped branch on the apple tree. Then the tell tale pile of freshly chewed branches and corn stalks left outside of the old MB's den entrance.

I don't know where MB the 2nd could have come from. Maybe he had heard tell of a Mountain Beaver Shangri La....where lots of juicy fresh plants and vegtables grew in abundance and there was manna in the form of bread to be found.

Either way this newcomer was a youngin', at least compared to his predecessor.

He had no knowledge of people traps thus making him very easy to catch. In my previous battles with these prehistoric rodents I learned their secret weakness and how to use it to my advantage.

Mountain Beavers get most of their moisture from the leaves and plants they eat, I guess they aren't big on drinking water like other animals. So what then, could be more temping then a big watery cucumber?

We caught MB 2 within a day of his discovery and BF relocated him to a very nice park with lots of ferns.

This leads me to wonder what on earth is in the earth in my backyard. How many tunnels are down there? Is there another universe or something? Have I got prime MB real estate here?

Mb's are cool, just because of what there are, a really really old rodent..but very very distructive. So again he must be evicted.

With the goofy weather my garden is doing much of anything really. I did have a very nice raspberry harvest and lots of frozen berries for future cobblers. Everything else is trying the best it can. The corn looks good an there might be a tomato out there.

I have been busy working two part time jobs. Gotta have the benefits! I can usually get close to a 40 hour or more week between the two.

BF has been busy hosting on the Arthur Foss.

2010-07-11T15:12:00.000-07:00

Pictures from the Wooden Boat Festival!
Bf did his usual stint as a host on the Arthur Foss and I went down to see the sights and visit. There were some good tall ships there, The Lady Washington ( used in the Pirates of the Carribean movie).the Hawaian Chieftan in the pix below

Here is a nice picture of the Arthur Foss, notice he crooked bow from years of use. It was very popular as usual and it was a treat to see the big diesel engine running. It's not as loud as you might think. The steamer Virginia 5 gave short cruises and docked with her steam engine running also.

I was suprised to find my favorite boat there. I had seen it before at the Port Townsend boat festival. It's called the M.V. Lotus. It's a luxury Edwardian yacht and is on the national register for historic places.

This thing is so cool...when you step on board you step into a beautiful Edwardian parlour. It has several bedrooms, a good sized bathroom with a tub and a kitchen and a working fireplace!

The picutre above is of the upper deck, a view of the back deck, the fireplace

Here's the kitchen

For more info on this boat see this site http://www.mvlotus.org/

2010-07-08T15:50:00.001-07:00

Berries and Cherries!

Here's the first lot of berries from the garden ...picked abother load today after freezing this lot for future use.

Been busy lately working the second job but will get this thing updated wih Fourth of July fun photos at the wooden boat festival on LakeUnion soon!

2010-06-28T12:44:00.000-07:00

Oh no! Someones at the door!!!!

This is my second worst fear....next to Jellyfish

2010-06-24T12:50:00.000-07:00

I wish I could have seen this......
Driven to distraction: 15 cats in car is too risky

From Associated Press

June 24, 2010 1:17 PM EDT

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — The South Dakota Supreme Court has ruled that a police officer acted correctly when he seized 15 cats from a woman who was driving with the animals running free inside her car.
In a 3-2 decision Thursday, the justices ruled that the felines were a distraction and interfered with driver Patricia Edwards' ability to see where she was going.
Chief Justice David Gilbertson said Edwards nearly backed into patrol car at a convenience store parking lot in Pierre, S.D., because of the moggies in her back window.

The court said Edwards and her cats presented a significant risk to the public.

Edwards was appealing a lower court ruling that transferred ownership of the cats to a humane society for adoption.

2010-06-22T21:28:00.000-07:00

Miss Lily says " Wake me when summer starts"

The weather here lately has been just plain old depressing. All cool cloudy and rain.

This slow summer has reeked havoc with my garden, the spinach, broccoli,Brussels sprouts have all bolted already. Even the turnips have gone all twisted!

I'm trying to be positive and looking at all of this as an experiment. I'll just replace the bolted stuff with something else. So far the potatoes, corn, soy beans,peas, and various other veggies are looking pretty good.

Fruitwise all the trees are looking pretty good. Noticed some cherries getting red today and the raspberries are going crazy. I'm going to have to be on the ball to pick them before the birds notice them.

The BF has been busy with his volunteer work at the Northwest Seaport with the boats.

In other adventures I managed to take a spill at a clients house chasing off a racoon. Twisted my ankle pretty good. It hurt like the dickens and got all bruised and swollen and I couldn't walk on it for a couple of days.

I guess this was some kind of racoon revenge from skirmishes of the past : )

I've had some good news lately, I finally got another part time job (with benefits!!!) to add to my existing one. Can't seem to find full time work but this should work out pretty well for me since the new second job is very close to several of my existing clients. Plus what I've been doing can be very flexible

It will be such a relief to have descent health insurance again

YAY!

2010-06-16T15:41:00.001-07:00

Thought this was wonderful..
Australian 'Angel' Saves Lives at Suicide Spot

Tuesday June 15, 2010

SYDNEY - In those bleak moments when the lost souls stood atop the cliff, wondering whether to jump, the sound of the wind and the waves was broken by a soft voice. "Why don't you come and have a cup of tea?" the stranger would ask. And when they turned to him, his smile was often their salvation.

For almost 50 years, Don Ritchie has lived across the street from Australia's most notorious suicide spot, a rocky cliff at the entrance to Sydney Harbour called The Gap. And in that time, the man widely regarded as a guardian angel has shepherded countless people away from the edge.

What some consider grim, Ritchie considers a gift. How wonderful, the former life insurance salesman says, to save so many. How wonderful to sell them life.

"You can't just sit there and watch them," says Ritchie, now 84, perched on his beloved green leather chair, from which he keeps a watchful eye on the cliff outside. "You gotta try and save them. It's pretty simple."

Since the 1800s, Australians have flocked to The Gap to end their lives, with little more than a 3-foot (1 meter) fence separating them from the edge. Local officials say around one person a week commits suicide there, and in January, the Woollahra Council applied for 2.1 million Australian dollars ($1.7 million) in federal funding to build a higher fence and overhaul security.

In the meantime, Ritchie keeps up his voluntary watch. The council recently named Ritchie and Moya, his wife of 58 years, 2010's Citizens of the Year.

He's saved 160 people, according to the official tally, but that's only an estimate. Ritchie doesn't keep count. He just knows he's watched far more walk away from the edge than go over it.

Dianne Gaddin likes to believe Ritchie was at her daughter's side before she jumped in 2005. Though he can't remember now, she is comforted by the idea that Tracy felt his warmth in her final moments.

"He's an angel," she says. "Most people would be too afraid to do anything and would probably sooner turn away and run away. But he had the courage and the charisma and the care and the magnetism to reach people who were coming to the end of their tether."

Something about Ritchie exudes a feeling of calm. His voice has a soothing raspiness to it, and his pale blue eyes are gentle. Though he stands tall at just over 6'2 (an inch shorter, he notes with a grin, than he used to be), he hardly seems imposing.

Each morning, he climbs out of bed, pads over to the bedroom window of his modest, two-story home, and scans the cliff. If he spots anyone standing alone too close to the precipice, he hurries to their side.

Some he speaks with are fighting medical problems, others suffering mental illness. Sometimes, the ones who jump leave behind reminders of themselves on the edge - notes, wallets, shoes. Ritchie once rushed over to help a man on crutches. By the time he arrived, the crutches were all that remained.

In his younger years, he would occasionally climb the fence to hold people back while Moya called the police. He would help rescue crews haul up the bodies of those who couldn't be saved. And he would invite the rescuers back to his house afterward for a comforting drink.

It all nearly cost him his life once. A chilling picture captured decades ago by a local news photographer shows Ritchie struggling with a woman, inches from the edge. The woman is seen trying to launch herself over the side - with Ritchie the only thing between her and the abyss. Had she been successful, he would have gone over, too.

These days, he keeps a safer distance. The council installed security cameras this year and the invention of mobile phones means someone often calls for help before he crosses the street.

But he remains available to lend an ear, though he never tries to counsel, advise or pry. He just gives them a warm smile, asks if they'd like to talk and invites them back to his house for tea. Sometimes, they join him.

"I'm offering them an alternative, really," Ritchie says. "I always act in a friendly manner. I smile."

A smile cannot, of course, save everyone; the motivations behind suicide are too varied. But simple kindness can be surprisingly effective. Mental health professionals tell the story of a note left behind by a man who jumped off San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. If one person smiles at me on the way to the bridge, the man wrote, I will not jump.

By offering compassion, Ritchie helps those who are suicidal think beyond the terrible present moment, says psychiatrist Gordon Parker, executive director of the Black Dog Institute, a mood disorder research center that has supported the council's efforts to improve safety at The Gap.

"They often don't want to die, it's more that they want the pain to go away," Parker says. "So anyone that offers kindness or hope has the capacity to help a number of people."

Kevin Hines wishes someone like Ritchie was there the day he jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge in 2000. For 40 agonizing minutes, the then-19-year-old paced the bridge, weeping, and hoping someone would ask him what was wrong. One tourist finally approached - but simply asked him to take her picture. Moments later, he jumped.

Hines, who suffers from bipolar disorder, was severely injured, but eventually recovered. Today he says if one person had shown they were not blind to his pain, he probably would never have jumped.

"A smile can go a long way - caring can go even further. And the fact that he offers them tea and he just listens, he's really all they wanted," Hines says. "He's all a lot of suicidal people want."

In 2006, the government recognized Ritchie's efforts with a Medal of the Order of Australia, among the nation's highest civilian honors. It hangs on his living room wall above a painting of a sunshine someone left in his mailbox. On it is a message calling Ritchie "an angel that walks amongst us."

He smiles bashfully. "It makes you - oh, I don't know," he says, looking away. "I feel happy about it."

But he speaks readily and fondly of one woman he saved, who came back to thank him. He spotted her sitting alone one day, her purse already beyond the fence. He invited her to his house to meet Moya and have tea. The couple listened to her problems and shared breakfast with her. Eventually, her mood improved and she drove home.

A couple of months later, she returned with a bottle of champagne. And about once a year, she visits or writes, assuring them she is happy and well.

There have been a few, though, that he could not save. One teenager ignored his coaxings and suddenly jumped. A wind blew the boy's hat into Ritchie's outstretched hand.

He later found out the teen had lived next door, years earlier. His mother brought Ritchie flowers and thanked him for trying. If you couldn't have talked him out of it, she told him, no one could.

Despite all he has seen, he says he is not haunted by the ones who were lost. He cannot remember the first suicide he witnessed, and none have plagued his nightmares. He says he does his best with each person, and if he loses one, he accepts that there was nothing more he could have done.

Nor have he and Moya ever felt burdened by the location of their home.

"I think, 'Isn't it wonderful that we live here and we can help people?'" Moya says, her husband nodding in agreement.

Their life has been a good one, they say. They raised three beautiful daughters and now have three grandchildren to adore. They have traveled the world, and their home is decorated with statues and masks from their journeys. Ritchie proudly points out a dried, shellacked piranha - a souvenir from their vacation to the Amazon, where he insisted on swimming with the creatures (to Moya's dismay).

Until about a year ago, the former Navy seaman enjoyed a busy social life, regularly lunching with friends. But battles with cancer and his advancing years have taken their toll, and now he spends most days at home with Moya, buried in a good book. His current read: the Dalai Lama's "The Art of Happiness."

Every now and then, he looks up from his books to scan the horizon for anyone who might need him. He'll keep doing so, he says, for as long as he's here.

And when he's not?

He chuckles softly.

"I imagine somebody else will come along and do what I've been doing."

He gazes through the glass door to the cliff outside. And his face is lit with a smile.

2010-06-15T18:20:00.001-07:00

2010-06-01T19:31:00.000-07:00

Pretty Pink Paws

Here are little Miss Lily (Munster) paws. She now has pretty pink cat claw caps on her tootsies. She was a good girl about having them put on and doesn't seem to mind them at all.

2010-05-31T18:40:00.000-07:00

Boats and Radishes

Here is the latest photo of the boat. He has the seats in and not much more left to do. Right now he's thinking it will be seaworthy in a month or so.

Here is the first offerings from the garden. A few hot days made my broccoli and spinach bolt, but I have potatoes a-plenty and lots of corn doing well

2010-05-26T17:24:00.000-07:00

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

by Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound's the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

A lovely lady I worked with passed away last night. She told me once this was her favorite poem.

2010-05-21T19:57:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos of the garden.

Above one of the lilacs, below, 2 of the raised beds I put in this year. In the one closest to the fence I have onions,carrots,celery and fennel. The one in the forground has radishes,pumkpin,zucinni,turnips,leeks,broccoli brussels sprouts and some peas.

The 2 black tubs are potato growing bags. This is my first time trying these.I think you are supposed to be able to re-use them year after year. So far the taters seem to growing well in them.

Above on the left is the apple tree and some blooms from the cherry tree. It looks like we may be in for a lot of cherries as well as raspberries this year.

Miss Hannah is doing well. Her wound seems to healing well and she continues to soak up all the extra attention.

The Bf continues to work on the boat,hang on I think I have a recent picture

Well, he's done more to it since I took this. Every time I go to take a picture it's at another stage of developement. Now he has the seats in, the daggarboard trunk done, I'll try to get up another even more recent pix soon.

My work is ok, sure would love a regular full time job with regular hours though lost track of how many jobs I've applied for, Bf's work has slowed a little too.

Tomorrow we are off the the see Bullriding. We went a couple of years ago and had a good time, thought we'd go again.

2010-05-18T18:31:00.001-07:00

2010-05-17T17:54:00.000-07:00

Poor Miss Hannah is Frankenbird

Miss Hannah had a mishap and wound up needing about 7 stitches on her neck.

Fortunately she has a great vet and he thinks she should be ok.

2010-05-12T17:00:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of my favorite local beach, the tide was way out and there are lots of interesting things to be found by the remains of an old dock. Someone had the idea of putting lots of bird houses way up at the top of the poles.

2010-05-07T19:00:00.000-07:00

Couldn't resist this one...instead of a tweet it would be a sqawk

2010-04-15T19:37:00.000-07:00

The Arthur Foss needs your vote!!

The Tug Arthur Foss is in the top 25 places to get a grant of some much needed money from the National Trust so please follow the link and vote for the Foss!

You can vote once every 24 hours, this is the Tug my BF volunteers on and also did some repair work on the engine.

http://www.preservationnation.org/partners-in-preservation/seattle/

For info on Bf 's work see here

http://www.nwseaport.org/docs/arthur_09DET_cylinder4.pdf

(Hint Bf is th bald guy)

2010-04-13T12:27:00.000-07:00

We are back from out trip down the Oregon Coast. We were lucky enough to nice weather the whole time.

We went down to the Surfrider resort in Depoe Bay. On the way down we stopped at the Tillimook Cheese factory, kinda interesting just how interesting making cheese can be!

We also went to the Haystack Rock at Canon beach, looked for puffins but didn't see any. Made up for that by seeing them at the Aquarium though.

Here is the Devils PunchbowlHaystack rockA couple of Japanses bottles we found on the beach.They even had barnicles! Didn't find any seaglass but these bottles and some pretty agates made up for that.

The view from our room.

2010-04-08T15:16:00.000-07:00

Miss Hannah decided to make some cookies today, she likes to get her claws into any baking going on in the kitchen

Meanwhile Bubba helps clean out the fridge....

2010-03-30T19:08:00.000-07:00

Here is Miss Jasmine helping again with the spring cleaning. She goes in to open cupboards and "dusts" for me

Ever hear that expression Madder than a wet hen? The girls got soaked the other day with one of our spring storms we've been having. Got a couple of garden beds al ready to go so now I am just waiting for the rain to stop so I can start planting! I'll updat with bed photos soon

2010-03-20T14:50:00.000-07:00

Moore boat in progress pictures

2010-03-19T20:38:00.000-07:00

Ahoy!

Here is the Bf's latest project, looks like he put the bronze furnace on the back burner for a while. This is a Chesapeke Light Craft Skerry sailboat.

He ordered the plans from the company and cut out all the peices himself and is now putting it all together. It uses marine grade plywood and resin and fiberglass stuff.

I'll try to keep the blog updated with picture as much as I can.

Hopefully there will also be raised garden bed photos too.

Holy Bird Balls Batman!

Yep, birds do have em. Gentleman Bubba had a check up at the vet and then a couple of days later he went back after he had a fall.
(Yes, birds are clumsy and can and do fall off their perches sometimes)
Anyway the vet took some X-rays to check him out and it was discovered that due to being hormonally imbalanced Bubba has enlarged testicles. It's not life threatening or anything and he is now getting medicine to help balance out his hormones. Still, I have to say it, my Bubba bird has big balls.

2010-03-12T16:10:00.000-08:00

Spring Cleaning

Here is Miss Jasmine helping with some spring cleaning

At least she thinks she is. Finally had a day off today. The job continues to go pretty well.The hours are pretty wacky but still work is work. With the weather being so nice lately I have been trying to get my butt in gear to get the garden together. Planted 5 tubs o' potatoes today. Dug a up a couple of interesting things when doing so

Above is a toy horse I apparently buried at some point during my childhood, a very old bone one of our dogs must have buried at some many years ago and a very rusty big pipe thingy that I seriously hope hasn't served a purpose for many years as well. Now I really hope I had the forsight to bury some of my allowance when I was a kid : )

Miss Lily taking a nap earlier

My Bro and Sis in law gave me a really cool Cast Iron enamel dutch oven and I have been having fun trying different things with it. I have done Coq Au Van and today we have Braised Beef short ribs. Ribs and homemade beef stock courtesy Pavorotti Cow

2010-03-03T14:58:00.000-08:00

Eeegads The Plague!!

Mice infest UK's Westminster Palace in London

From Associated Press

March 03, 2010 5:38 PM EST

LONDON (AP) — The House of Lords has a momentous decision to make: Should it get cats to chase the mice that have infested one of Britain's most famous buildings?
London's Houses of Parliament, also known as Westminster Palace, has rodents, and the peers aren't exactly sure what to do about it.

Ivan Anthony Moore-Brabazon, the House's administration chief, on Wednesday turned down suggestions to acquire cats. He says the felines could ingest mice poison or wander around the chamber and disrupt business.
He favors the current tactic of using poison and mousetraps
Parliament staff have reported daily sightings of the rodents in the palace's restaurants and bars.
The performers' union Equity says nearby theaters in London's West End are facing similar problems, with three-quarters of actors and stage managers reporting infestations of mice, rats and fleas, according to The Guardian newspaper.

2010-02-27T10:08:00.000-08:00

Things have been busy. I seem to have gone from professional yakker to professional listener. My new part time job is working out pretty well, all though nearly full time I am still considered part time since my hours aren't guarenteed. All in all it's good experience and I can be pretty flexible with when I work.

The BF has been very good about putting various critters to bed when I am working overnight. Once again BF has taken over the garage with a project, this time he is building a boat. Yep a small sailboat. I say small even though it will be able to carry up to 3 people. So far he's got all the wood parts cut out and curing. When I get some "In progress pictures" I'll post them.

With the weather being so mild it has been hard for me to resist messing about in the garden. Got lots of potatoes ready to go, just need to get the ground ready, started some zucchini and corn.
Once again I am going to try to simplify things this year. Stick to a few basic vegatables (ones that we like and will actually eat)
I'd really like to get some raised beds set up this year too.

So shortly the chickens will find themselves back in thier own run.
I stumbled upon this neato product at my local feed store, it's called the Flock Block. It's a big ol' chunk of seeds and good things for poultry. All you have to do is dump one on the ground and let them at it. They really seem to like it, as do the wild birds and the squirrels. It's handy becuase I can just look out the window and see the block status rather than have to go down to the coop and check.

Flock Block SunFresh® Recipe

HOME>OUR PRODUCTS>PRODUCTS>FLOCK BLOCK SUNFRESH® RECIPE
What it is...

Whole Grain Enrichment Supplement

For free-ranging poultry and game birds
Encourages natural pecking instincts to help reduce cannibalism

Contains oyster shell and grit

And here is another thing of interest. I don't normally pay much attention to these kinds of things but I do think it's important topic that deserves attention.

http://restbreaks4safety.com/More-Information/

2010-02-13T17:13:00.000-08:00

Tsk Tsk Tsk....Some people are just sooooooooooooooooooooo rude!

Miss Jasmine commenting on my car. The other day while at work at a clients house somebody whacked my car pretty good and took off without so much as a note or anything. Funnier still it happened in a VERY afluent neighbourhood, maybe they just didn't recognize a Hyundai as vehicle,especially if they were driving a Hummer..
Still giving this new job a shot.I'm really not sure of all of this last minute driving all over thre freakin' place is worth all the wear and tear on my car. Oh well time will tell.
Not much else is new these days. I took some classes and am now certified in CPR and First Aid.
and am contemplating wether or not to pursure further schooling as a CNA.

The Bf has got the Boat Building Bug again and we picked up some tools and saw horses today. He's already got the plans and we will be getting the wood probably next week.
I'll keep the blog updated whaen that project gets started.

2010-02-07T13:54:00.000-08:00

Bubba here is making sure the fridge is well stocked for Super Bowl Sunday.

Well last year I was all gung ho in the garden and then as usual life kinda got in the way and I let things go to the chickens so to speak. I had forgotten some Brussels sprouts I had planted around in the side yard.

With the weather being so warm I had pretty much given up on them since I know there are supposed to really prefer cooler weather. So went I went to check on them I was dissappointed to see that there had in fact been some sprouts, but they had all already been eaten!

As you can see the sprouts have been eaten right off the stalks. I am going to place most of the blame on the chickens. I can see them standing around pecking away. Either that or one of the many squirrels out there had a nice salad bar.

With the weather being so mild here I am already planning the garden for spring. I'd really like to get some raised beds in and try some square foot gardening.

In other news I have started a new part time job.I work for a company as a caregiver for elderly clients. It's pretty different from any kind of work I've done before, lots of driving here and there and navigating large assisted living complexes. So far so good though, I have met some nice people so far.

All I can say is thank God the BF gave me a Garmin GPS system for Christmas, I would be so screwed without that.

2010-01-24T20:54:00.001-08:00

2010-01-17T14:48:00.000-08:00

Just a little update. Once again I find myself unemployed, the temp gig was up right after Christmas when things slowed right down.

Really hoping something better comes along soon.

Little Miss Hannah is recovering from a stay in the birdie hospital. She had somekind of stomach infection but is doing much better now.

Bf's Grandpop was dong well and in rehab but a low grade fever sent him back to the hospital for now. We went to visit him today and he seemed to enjoy it.

The Bf kindly took me to the movies recently. We saw the new improved Sherlock Holmes. Granted I will always be a Jeremy Brett fan from my London days...

The new Holmes, Robert Downey Jr is excellent. The movie was very good and I highly recommend it. Jude Law was also good as Watson. This Watson was more than a sluggish notebook toting Dr. This Watson can kick some serious ass right along side Holmes.

There's a lot of action and just enough humour to work without going overboard. The chemestry between Holmes and Watson really is wonderful.

We also saw the famous Avatar. It's hard to describe this move other than simply stunning visually. The plot is nothing new...at all. But still a pertinent message all the same.

Someone said to me awhile ago that I wouldn't believe the movie remakes they are comming out with these days. Seems we have reached the time where there really is nothing new under the sun.

If they're remaking Clash of the Titans, (and they have) we are scraping the bottom of the barrel.

"Release the Crakken!!!"

I can't wait...

2009-12-31T16:15:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas. The BF gave me a Garmin GPS. Since I am so directionally challanged that' s a good thing. He also gave me and his Mom a set of cards that helps you identify different kinds of sea glass.

Bf's Grandpop had a spill and had to go to the hospital for awhile. He's doing much better now dispite a few broken ribs and will be going to rehab soon.

Our little Miss Hannah also had a bout of illness with a diguestive system. She had to spend a few days at the vet hospital to get her weight back up through tube feeding and she now has to have medicine twice a day. This consists of showing her the syringe with medicine, she starts to scream and then shooting the medicine into her. She's everyones darling down at the vets. They say they look forward to having her visit, I think they're disappointed when I bring in Bill the screamer and not her. Even though I know she likes the people there I think she'd rather not have to.

I am still work the temp job and continually being suprised at the stupidity of people.

She is now back home, and pretty much back to normal, screaming and all.

Last weekend Bf and I went to a beach near Port Townsend to go beachcombing. The picture above is of the haul. We had lunch at a place called The Public House, Bf had oyster sandwitch and I had some very nice crabcakes.

It's New Years eve, I am hoping that this year will hopefully bring some nagging issues from the past to an end and I hope to find a good steady job. I'd like to wish everyone peace,health and happiness in the new year!

2009-12-19T18:27:00.000-08:00

"Even cannibals can learn to recite the Apostles Creed"

Stephen King,
Geralds Game

2009-12-13T13:55:00.000-08:00

Yes Virginia,There is a Santa Claus!!!
Check out the opening scene from my new fav Xmas movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKrsAFWPnl4

Nothing much new going on. Still working at the temp job...so at least I have a paycheck for now.
We are just taking it easy this weekend waiting to see if it will snow or not. Hopefully not, had plenty of that last year.

2009-11-22T17:03:00.000-08:00

Potatoes!!!

Here is my tater harvest this year.This is just a part of the whole harvest as I dug some early ones up already.

Nothing too terribly exciting going on. I am working as a temp for an online retailer. It's ok, at least it's a paycheck for now.

The Bf has been busy with his hobbies. So far he's got some home brewed hard apple cider that should eb ready for Thanksgiving. Plus he's made a bronze melting furnace from scratch. Not sure what he's going to be doing with that.
Today we went to the Seattle Art Museum. They had an exhibition of some of Michaelangelo's sketches for the Sistine Chapel. I had known of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel but had never seen all of it.
They had a few panoramic pictures of it.
I was very interested to see that along with the Theotokos, Jesus and various other saints and people falling into hell there was one saint who appeared to be holding something familiar to me in his hands.

After closer inspection I saw he was holding wool combs, just like mine at home. So a little research led me to this Wikipedia article..

Saint Blaise (Armenian: Սուրբ Բարսեղ, Sourb Barsegh; Greek: Άγιος Βλάσιος, Agios Vlasios) was a physician, and bishop of Sebastea, Armenia (modern Sivas, Turkey). According to his Acta Sanctorum, he was martyred by being beaten, attacked with iron carding combs, and beheaded. He is known as San Biagio in Italy, and San Blas in Spain.

In iconography, Blaise is often shown with the instruments of his martyrdom, iron combs. He blessed throats and effected many miracles, according to his hagiography. The similarity of these instruments of torture to wool combs led to his adoption as the patron saint of wool combers in particular, and the wool trade in general. He may also be depicted with crossed candles. Such crossed candles are used for the blessing of throats on the feast day of Blaise, which falls on 3 February, the day after Candlemas on the Roman Catholic calendar of saints. Blaise is traditionally believed to intercede in cases of throat illnesses, especially for fish-bones stuck in the throat.[1]

Indeed, the first reference we have to him is in manuscripts of the medical writings of Aëtius Amidenus, a court physician of the very end of the 5th or the beginning of the 6th century; there his aid is invoked in treating objects stuck in the throat. He cured animals and lived in a cave. Before being killed, he spoke to a wolf and told it to release a pig it was harming. The wolf did so. Saint Blaise was going to be starved but the owner of the pig secretly gave him food in order to survive. After a while, he was tortured because of what he believed in but did not give up faith. He died in the year 316.

Wow, to be tortured with wool combs is pretty darn harsh!!!

Yep, those are basically nails with handles..so if you happen to get a fishbone stuck in your throat while your combing your fleece...St Blaise is for you

2009-10-17T14:06:00.000-07:00

Changes.....
Well after an illness I returned to work only to find there was no work to return to. Somebody up there must be lookin' out for me becuase I was offered the very first job I applied and interviewed for. It's not too far away and seems like a good company.

Not been up to too much lately. The Bf rented a cider press and made a trip over the mountains to get several pounds of apples. Here are some pictures of us grinding and pressing the apples.
Right now the cider is fermenting in some buckets,he thinks it should be ready by Thanksgiving.

The garden is winding down. The chickens are being let out on a daily basis to clean up for me.
I still have several squash and pears, most of the tomatoes have been eaten and I did harvest some potatoes and have more that aren't quite ready yet.

2009-10-01T11:45:00.000-07:00

Possibly the funniest parrot clip of all time...
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/09/30/video-stephen-fry-s-photographer-gets-humped-by-a-rare-parrot-115875-21712427/

2009-09-08T19:59:00.000-07:00

Wow! look whats new. Seems they found several new animal species in Papua New Guinnea. One of them is this adorable Buff faced pygmy parrot! Yea! A new parrot!

I can't help but notice how much he looks like my own Bill

Here's the link for more info

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/07/discovery-species-papua-new-guinea

2009-08-23T15:09:00.000-07:00

Nothing much new to report. Here is a cute chicken BF's Mom gave me for my bday

Miss Lily taking a seista

We have an occasional visitor in the back garden. If you click to enlarge this picture you can see little mister brown bunny.

Miss Lily again waving to her adoring fans

Hopefully soon I will have some more pictues of lots of squash, apples and pears from the yard

2009-07-29T10:44:00.000-07:00

It's so hot my cat has melted!!
We are in the midst of a monster heat wave here, I think we are supposed to reach 100 today.
Haven't been up to much lately, it's just been too hot!

All the critters are doing thier best to keep cool. Bill took a bath in Hannahs water bowl.

I'll admit, I went a little overboard with the garden this year. If there was space, I stuck a plant there. So far I have harvested 3 zuccini, a couple of squash and lots of peas and green beans.
With this heat wave, the squash is growing like crazy out there.

Lots of pears coming along

And apples.....

Usually I have a few "suprises" in the garden. Things that I didn't plant and just pop up on thier own. Last yeat it was the mysterious monster squash. This year I have quite a few sunflowers that were planted by the birds, and a mystery tree that I keep having to prune back.

There were a few even more suprising suprises this year. I have quite a few pots of things on the deck and I notice that my swiss chard has migrated over to my pot of basil and there is a baby tomato plant sprouting in the rosemary pot.

Well, I'm off to water the chickens...keep cool folks

2009-07-08T19:39:00.000-07:00

Well friends...interesting things afoot in my world these days. After a brief visit to the Evergreen emergency room I am on a little furlough from work.
Hannah birds dream come true!!!!

With these recent developements I am glad that I am pretty much done with planting in the garden. So now it's just a matter of maintenance and waiting for stuff to grow.

Here are my potato tubs. I had bought a special potato growing thingy that was basically a plastic tube with holes in it. Wanting to grow more I decided to cut the bottoms off a couple of old garbage cans, buried them about half way into the ground and planted some taters.
It's looks a little odd but seems to be working

These are the hanging baskets, I cut a hole in the one on the left, stuffed a tomato in it and planted the top with parsely,basil,oregano and some nasturtiums for color.

Some pretty flowers from my sis in laws Mom's greenhouses

Here you can see the very nice birdhouse the BF gave me. It has a camera in it that we can watch on out TV. However the birds have ignored it so far and opted for the $5 Rite Aid model

The Bf's Mom makes a very nice peanut butter cream pie. It has been dubbed "High Pie" by the niece.
Of course Miss Hannah wanted ot help supervise

Too many fingers, or claws in the pie will inevidably lead to lockdown

2009-06-22T19:33:00.000-07:00

Seriously weird shit!

I went down to my sis in laws family farm yesterday and had a very nice visit. My big bro graduated college and we threw a little get together for him as well as celebrating fathers day.
There is always something interesting going on down at the farm.

This time I got to play with a baby goat, eat honest to goodness home churned ice cream and meet Skully the wonderchicken.

Poor little Skully somehow got cornered or trapped in the chicken run and the other mean chickens began to peck her head. They pecked and pecked until she had no feathers, they kept pecking until she had no scalp...

The farm folk took her in and helped resusitate her and gave her a little pen of her own. So far she seems to be doing pretty well, aside from the completly exposed cranium!!

She is a really sweet rather tame chicken and seems to like people ( who would blame her?)
If you click on the photo below you can see her skullcap!

2009-05-13T15:49:00.000-07:00

Greetings kiddies

Nothing much too exciting going on these days. Bf and I spent a very nice Mothers Day with Bf's Mom. We went for a nice hike out at Lords Trail out in Snohomish. It's a great park, not too hilly, ponds with beaver dams and a fantastic view point with wild strawberries and lots of wildflowers.

After our hike we did lunch at The Cabbage Patch, which is always good.

Been busy in the garden. trying to stay on top of things this year. Lets's see, so far I have planted

Brussels sprouts

potatoes

spaghetti squash

Cucumber

Mustard Greens( the parrots love these!)

Zuccini

2 different kinds of pumpkin

Several kinds of tomatoes

A few different kinds of lettuce

Swiss chard

strawberries

Raspberries

Beans

Peas

corn

I still have some cabbage left to put in,

The fruit trees are doing well so far. No sign of those annoying apple aphids I had last year. It looks like we night actually get some cherries this year too. I may even get to use my fancy dancy cherry pitter thingy ma jig and make a pie or something.

Added some herbs this year too, basil, couple kinds of lavander,thyme,oregano, chives, rosemary,mint and some other ones that I am still not quite sure what they are. I had pulled up a dying rosemary bush and a tarragon plant that was fading and found what I think is a marjoram plant and a spearmint that had been quitely living under the other two old

plants

Got a giggle out of this ; )

2009-04-27T18:54:00.000-07:00

The absolute cutest picture ever!!

Here is the Bf thumb/foot wrestling with his little niece Leah

Leah is a real sweetie, She's just learning how to streach and grimace!

What's all that stuff on the sofa?

There's no room for us
Being bored I got the thought in my head to organize all my handspun yarn.
(yes I know insanity) So gathering up all I could see I managed to hide the sofa. Now all of this is just what I can see in baskets in the living room. This does not include the stuff I can't see in the fiber closet and storage boxes

So now I have taken a moment to admire them all and then place them back into the baskets by color this time. I still won't know everything I have but at least now I have a pastel basket, an earth tones baskets, blues baskets....

The BF set up the birds nest with a camera he gave me awhile ago. There has been a chickadee popping in now and then cheching out the diggs.
It's pretty neat,he stops every now and then and gives the camera the eye.
I had an old bird house over on the fence that I thought no one was interested in. I took it down becuase there were wasps essing with it and found this old abandond nest. I know it's old becuase it had some old silk fiber I had put out a couple of years ago for the birds.
That's the white fluffy stuff around the top of the nest

2009-04-16T15:03:00.000-07:00

Family Traditions,

The Bf and I had a very nice Easter with his family. Grandpop and the nieces Emma and Leah were there. Emma looked lovely in a very pretty easter dress and little Leah was happy to sleep most of the day away.

At one point everyone was filling up thier plates with ham and bf's moms famous deviled eggs Emma's Dad had placed an egg on his plate and then turned around. Unknown to him the egg then flew off his plate and landed directly on Miss Emma.

Miss Emma took this undignified assult very personally and took some convincing that Dad did not throw the egg at her on purpose. Needless to say everyone had a good laugh and the tears didn't last very long.
So now the family has a new Easter tradition of pelting small children with deviled eggs.
My chickens must have heard this story because the other day I found this new aerodynamic streamlined torpedo egg along with a rounder bomb egg.

In other news I have been spinning and knitting some, Here are Lily and Jasmine modeling a couple of scarves I made from handspun.

And here is the big backlog of spinning drying in the sun.

2009-03-29T14:16:00.000-07:00

Sunny Sunday..

After a cold and rainy week we finally had some sun this weekend. I actually felt well enough to get out and do some work int he yard.
First off was tackling the chicken coop. With this winter being as harsh as it was I had given the girls lots of extra straw to keep them warm and they have been fertilizing it al winter long.

They weren't too happy about me messing around in thier house and every time I left to get fresh straw they ran in to check everything out only to panic and make a ruckus when I returned to throw in new straw.

All the girls seem happy and healthy, I think all 6 are laying now, as I get a half dozen nearly every day.

The back yard is starting to come back to life. The Lilacs are budding as are all the fruit trees. I can see some bulbs had tried to come up but the chickens have been nibbling on them. So it won't be long before the girls will be quarentined back in thier run so things can have a chance to grow.

Hannah got a rare treat. I pruned a couple of branches from the apple tree and she really enjoyed chewing up the bark.

Nothing much else going on. Bf made some wonderful french bread the other day

2009-03-21T19:45:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday

Leah Nicole!!!

Today the Bf's little sister had a beautiful baby girl just before noon today. The Bf and I happened to be out and about when the call came. She a few days late but she eventually decided to make an entrance.

Big sister Emma was very happy to meet her little sister and check all her fingers and toes.

CONGRATULATIONS MOM AND DAD!!!

2009-03-18T17:44:00.000-07:00

Found A Few Dollars...

Well I had taken this week off with the hopes of working in the garden but the weather had other ideas. So The Bf took a day off yesterday and we took off for the ocean.

We headed out to West Port.

Since we got an early start we were the only ones at the beach when we got there. The weather was a little stormy and we got a little wet but it wasn't too bad. We walked along the beach and on some of the trails leading up to the Grays Harbour lighthouse.

Usually when we beach comb I look for seaglass and the odd pretty shell. To find a sand dollar is a rarity...usually they are already broken but for some reason on this beach there were tons of them.

After wandering around we went tot he town. Most of the shops were closed for the off season but we found a really good restaurant called the The One eyed Crab. The food was delicious.

If your ever in West Port, check this place out, they have crabs ; )

2009-03-14T13:36:00.000-07:00

Hello Kittens,

Nothing much new to report. I am taking a week off work for vacation. Don't have any plans to go anywhere but since I seem to have my usual balance issues this time of year I knew I'd need to be making the rounds with the Dr's again. Both the BF and I have been working odd hours with both our employers cutting back a little.

Below is a picture of the Arthur Foss, it's a tugboat down at the Northwest Seaport. Bf and I were kicking around there a weekend or so ago. It seems they are going to move the MOHAI museum to a cool military building down there. There are a bunch of different boats there, the BF is going ot be taking a class in a month or so here where they teach about working on the diesel engine of the old tugboat. Plus is going to be taking some sailing lessons this spring too.

I was hoping to work on fixing up the garden but so far the weather isn't co-operating.

I'm thinking to try to go all out with lots of potatoes. I already have a special tater barrel thingy, so I am goiing to poke a bunch of holoes in a couple of old plastic garbage cans and see if they will work just as well.

2009-03-13T18:31:00.000-07:00

If you think you've had a bad day....
Just how much can a water buffalo take?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU8DDYz68kM

2009-03-03T20:30:00.000-08:00

I know I did!!

2009-02-22T17:59:00.000-08:00

Bf and I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and go on a day trip this weekend. We drove up to Vancouver BC and spent the day in the city.

We went to the Vancouver Maritime Museum where they have the RCMP St Roch
http://www.hnsa.org/ships/stroch.htm

It was a nice museum and the best part was that you could walk around on the boat. We then went to the Vancouver Museum. It was pretty good. Reminded me of the Museum of history and industry here is Seattle. No where near the caliber of The London Museum or The Royal Bc Museum, but then again I am a confessed museum snob.

After the museums we went to Granville Islands Winter-ruption festival. It's a cool place, lots of shopping, art and street entertainment all surrounded by a marina. After lots of walking and dinner at a lovely restaurant we headed back to the car. It was then my yarn radar went off. I saw a yarn shop.. I wish I could recall the name but I was in such a state of surprise I just ditched the bf and made a beeline for some fiber I saw through the open door. It was a nice shop and had an extensive selection of fiber dyes, most I've seen anywhere. Of course I had to take some lovely Merino home, its called "Schoppel Wolle, Fitzwolle ombre kommzug wollefelting" So I got some wool from Germany in Canada It was such an unusual colourway I am anxious to see how it spins up.
http://www.granvilleisland.com/en

2009-02-14T14:46:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines Day!

And I got something I have always wanted, yep a ceiling fan\light. The Bf picked out a really classy looking one and installed it today. It sure is a heck of a lot nicer than what was already there. It was so old and crappy I don't even know how to describe it.

Now when the weather warms up we have a nice cool quiet breeze!

I also got homemade muffins for breakfast and See's candy ( what a combo!)

This year I got the Bf the gift of protein, a gift certificate to the Buffalo guys website. The man likes his Bison.

With all the snow and work and life in general getting in the way we weren't able to get together with my bro and sis in law over the holidays so we finally went out to a Christmas,birthday Valentines Day dinner at Red Lobster last night. I hear that My sis in laws Mom had a scare on vacation. Her folks and sister went on a 2 week cruise through the Panama canal and her mother came down with a fever. It turned out to be ok but I guess the ships Dr quarantined her to her cabin and they called in a Hazmat team to wash all their stuff!! She's doing fine now and from what I hear managed to en joy the rest of the cruise.

In other news Bf's work layed off two people and there is talk at my job of asking people to volunteer to cut hours. Looks like there will be a recession after all I guess! Better get started on my garden.

2009-01-31T14:58:00.000-08:00

Nothing much new to report. We had a little earthquake the other day. I think the news said it was a 4.6 of something. Bf said he felt it and I just heard a loud rumble. Poor Bill parrot and Patches Cockatiel freaked out.

Bill bonked his beak a few times trying to get away. Hannah and Bubs weren't bothered at all .

The outdoor girls are doing well. I think I have at least 3 of them laying now and with spring approaching I am sure the others will be starting up here pretty soon. It's been ages since I have had any unwanted visitors in the coops

I've had to start thinking about what to put int he garden this year. Bf wants to try growing some mustard for seed. That should be interesting.

Since I just haven't had much luck with tomatoes and cukes these last few years I think I'll try a few other things. I plan on doing more potatoes this year since they seem to do well for me. Maybe some brussles sprouts or broccoli this time.

Here is a photo of Bubba enjoying the Chia Pet from Bf's Mom for Christmas. He was impatient and didn't want to wait for the grass to grow very much.

Here are Hannah and Bill enjoying the giant jar of cashews the bf got for christmas. Bill isn't too crazy about sharing

2009-01-27T20:45:00.000-08:00

I have neither the scholar's melancholy, which is emulation,
nor the musician's, which is fantastical
nor the courtier's, which is proud,nor the soldier's, which is ambitious, nor the lawyer's,which is politic, nor the lady's, which is nice, nor the lover's, which is all these: but it is amelancholy of mine own, compounded of many simples,extracted from many objects, and indeed the sundry's contemplation of my travels, in which my often rumination wraps me in a most humorous sadness.

Jaques,
As you Like it"
W.Shakespeare

2009-01-27T20:36:00.000-08:00

"If God were just, then we'd all be toast"

Metropolitan Jonah

2008-12-24T10:38:00.000-08:00

Let is snow!!

We've had even more snow over the last few days. The grand total is now up to 13 inches. In all my years living here I can't remember there being this much snow.

Bf finally dug out the little truck and put chains on it and took me to work. It was pretty dicey since my office is up a big hill.
Bf spent a lot of time yesterday shovelling out trails for the chickens to run around on and when they came out this morning to find another inch or two on their paths they weren't amused.
Our little humming bird continues to visit the feeder. For a few days there he was sitting on the hanging plant right by the feeder. I don't know if he was just resting or hanging around to fend off any other hummers that wanted to visit the feeder. A few times another one would buzz by and he would chase them off. We've been taking the feeder in at night and I think I may try adding a little more sugar than usual.

I have been keeping my fingers crossed we don't loose our power. This morning I saw a large tree branch break off down the street, another on a neighbors tree and our own big fir has a couple of broken branches.
Looks like we may have a white Christmas after all this year! I hope everyone has a wonderful Merry Christmas and joyous new year!!
Here are some pictures of snowy annoyed chickens

2008-12-21T15:29:00.000-08:00

The official snow total so far is 8 inches. I can't remember when we last had this much snow.
This morning BF and I worked on a tree that had branches that were so weighed down with snow they were pulling the cable and phone lines to the house.
So with a ladder and chainsaw BF freed the wires, god forbid the cable and /or internet should be cut off!

2008-12-20T12:09:00.000-08:00

Here are some pretty pictures of the snow and our resident hummingbird. He stays in the plant by the feeder all day and doesn't mind us too much. This morning another hummer tried to sample from his feeder. He didn't approve of this and we were treated to quite the aerodynamic hummingbird fight.

2008-12-19T15:16:00.000-08:00

Here is a little Hummingbird that has taken up residence in our plant. He was hitting up the feeder all day yesterday and this morning when I went out to let the girls out he was sitting there just a few feet from me peeping. Then I noticed the feeder had frozens so we made him some fresh food and since then he has spent all day eating and then resting on his his haning plant

2008-12-18T11:17:00.000-08:00

Snow!!
We got several inches of snow starting last night and lasting until. well, right now. We even had some rare thunder snow this morning. Bf' job cancelled so he had the day off and I took the day too. Felt a little guilty until it started snowing buckets.

Here's Lily all snuggled up

Here is Korma striking a pose in the snow. The girls were not too thrilled with the snow and took their time coming out of the coop, complaining loudly the whole time.

Here's everyone debating whether or not to venture outside. For a treat the girls and the wild birds got cooked stuffing, mashed potatoes and rice all mixed up. That disappeared fast. We also have a humming bird hitting up

the feeder every few minutes.

All in all it looks like we got around 6 inches of snow

2008-12-17T16:47:00.000-08:00

Near Death Experience

Well, not really, more like a really really embarrassing experience that thankfully no one saw. The other day we had a big freeze. Colder than usual around here. The kind BF scraped my car windows for me when he did his since he leaves about a half hour earlier than I do. Still by the time I went to leave they had frozen up again.

Thinking this was no big deal I went to open the car door. It wouldn't budge, tried the passenger door, that one won't open either. Neither would either of the back doors.
Hmmm ok so I decide to try pouring some lukewarm water over the car to help unfreeze the doors. The doors were unlocked so it wasn't the locks that were frozen it was the doors themselves. Being afraid of pouring hot water on a really cold car I went with warm water.

Several pitchers of water later I manage to open one of the back doors. Yipee!! So I climb in and manage to start the car from the back seat thinking it will warm up and the driver door will open. So with the car running I get back out to realize that all that water I had been pouring on the car had frozen to an ice rink all around the car. So now I was slipping and sliding around while waiting for it to warm up. I notice a couple of other neighbours were out warming up their cars too. I noticed they didn't have any trouble getting an in out of their cars so I just stood around trying to look casual, like I knew what I was doing.

About a half and hour later I still can't open the drivers side door. I was afraid to pull too hard for fear of breaking the door handle. So I kept up with the water and the slipping and sliding all around the car. Finally I get the front passenger door open. Yippee! Now I can get in, and try to push the drivers door open with my feet! I close the back door I left open, hop into the passenger seat and leaned over to try to open the driver door from the inside. As I did this I hear my passenger side door close. Ok no big deal.

Pushing and straining I can't open the drivers door... Damn..ok, I'll get more water I guess. At least the car has been running for nearly 45 minutes now so it should open here pretty soon. Wait a minute, I have a strange moment of panic when I realize that not only can I not open the driver door, but the passenger door that shut only moments ago was now also frozen shut. I pushed and even tried kicking on it but I couldn't open it.

Ok, I had the back door open before I'll just crawl over the seats in my heavy coat and wet shoes and get out that way. Huh..um. it's stuck too. All the doors were now frozen shut.
After I look to see if my neighbours have noticed my running car rocking all over the place with me thrashing around inside..nope they haven't.
So what do I do now? The car is running, I have less than a quarter tank of gas. I do have my purse and cell with me. Who do I call? How do I explain that I am trapped in my own car? I look around in the car trying to think of my options. I suppose I could try to crawl through the trunk and see if I could open that from the inside and escape that way.
Or I could drive to my brothers call him on the cell and tell him to come outside and help me, even so what could he do?? I could already image what he could do...run back in the house, grab the video camera and come out again and die laughing while he films his little sister stuck in her own car.

After another few minutes of shoving kicking and pushing with no luck I decide to just try driving around for a bit and if worse came to worse attempt a trunk escape. So after about an hour of ice skating around the car and fighting with frozen doors and driving for awhile I finally got the drivers door open. Of course all that day I worried about getting home again and if I would have to endure my co-workers watch me get stuck again.

Thankfully the drive home was uneventful...all I could think of was " I am way to old for this shit"

2008-12-14T14:19:00.000-08:00

We had a little snow here the other day. Just enough to make everything pretty. The BF and I went to a brunch his family puts on every year and the driving was little dicey but not too bad.

When Bill heard there was snow he decided to lay low in his fort for a awhile.

This was the young chickens first experience with snow and they are not impressed. Kiev chicken tried to navigate by hopping from place to place but still got her feet wet. In the ednd everyone decided to just hang out under the kitchen window

The other day we noticed a hummingbird hanging around out back so we cleaned up and refilled the feeder and he's been visiting alot lately.

In other news I finally have enough seniority at work to get the ever cherished 4 10's with a 3 day weekend!

2008-12-08T12:05:00.000-08:00

This is a news article reflecting the times..

http://www.reuters.com/article/email/idUSTRE4B433420081205

2008-12-03T18:57:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Bf and I had a very nice Thanksgiving at his folks house. Bf's Mom went all out as usual with a great turkey stuffing and the traditional dried corn. Little Miss Emma had fun playing make believe with Unka George.

Here's Abbey the cat, she decided she really likes to join the fun at Thanksgiving

2008-11-30T15:08:00.000-08:00

More from back east!

On our trip we stayed at the Lizzie Borden bed and breakfast. Yes it's true the scene of a horrible murder many years ago is now a tourist destination. The people running the place have done a good job. It has been carefully restored to the way the house was when the murders actually happened. The house is the only one left is what is quickly becoming an industrial area is is really already pretty run down. I wouldn't recommend venturing out at night there.

Being weird I booked us in the "murder room" This is the room where Lizzies stepmother was killed. Needless to say the other guests that night were pretty jealous.
This is a very good replica of the sofa where Lizzies father was napping when he was axed.

This is a display in our room of a dress worn by Elizabeth Montgomery in a made for tv movie about the murders.

And this is the famous spot where the step mothers body was found. She was apparently making the bed when someone walked up to her, hit her in the head with an axe and then she fell back toward the wall. The murderer then stood over her body and hit her several more times after she had already died.

Another view of our room

This is the view from the stairs of the room. When Lizzie found her father she had her maid go and search the house for her step mother. They say she made it halfway up the stairs and looked in to the room where she could see the body on the other side under the bed.

The owners put on a pretty good tour every night for the guests. I think we had a full house the night were were there. The tour is good, you even get to see the autopsy photos which are really pretty graphic by the way. On the tour they tell you all about the murders and the following trial.

All in all it was a pretty interesting or weird experience. The house itself was beautifully decorated and did have an ambiance about it. However at no point did I ever feel creeped out or anything. The house is designed in a very odd way, there are 2 staircases going upstairs and several bedrooms upstairs but no hallway.... think about it. You can only get from one bedroom to another by walking through a bedroom.

The house wasn't creepy, the other guests however.. well there was an elderly couple who were just in the area and decided on a whim to stay there. A man who dragged his nephew with him because he saw a show on the Sci Fi channel and he was very anxious to see something ghosty. Another small group of people who got together every now and then to go on odd or unusual vacations just for the heck of it. Then, of course, there was the yuppie goth couple. Since we had "the" room of course people really wanted to come in and see it and I could'nt blame them. While I was standing in my room talking on the phone to my sister in law several people came through and took turns lying face down on the floor between the bed and dresser where the stepmother died.

I did have the thought at the time " Wow, this is kinda weird"

I have to give credit to the BF. Neither of us are social butterflies so the idea of spending the night in a small house with a bunch of strangers who want to come into you room all night didn't really appeal to him but he went along for my sake. This made the following even funnier. At one point in the evening the question came up of who was staying in the murder room. I answered that we were. The Yuppie goth then asked me " I read on the internet that there's this guy who stays in the murder room all the time and he sleeps on the floor where the body was (pointing to bf) is that him?"

Another guest asked the BF if he was gong to sleep on the floor in the murder spot and his rely was " Why would I do that? there's a perfectly good bed right there"

Apparently there are alot of people who like to sleep on the floor where someone died.

They also did a seance that night that we skipped, from what we herd from the others the next morning it was pretty hokey.

Am I glad I stayed there? Yes, most definitely. It's one of those things that I can say I did.

Plus is was fun in a weird way, would I do it again? Prolly not : )

2008-11-03T14:39:00.000-08:00

Ok Back to the trip. At Mystic we were fortunate enough to get to see the Charles W. Morgan. The only surviving wooden whaling ship, and oldest American commercial vessel. It's about 160 years old. It has been refurbished several times over the years and a few days after we were there she was going to be put in to dry dock for some major hull renovations. We were lucky to get to see her still in the water. Sadly they had removed her masts the day before we got there but still it was really cool to get to go aboard.

This ship was also a "Hen frigate" meaning that a few of her captains took their wives and families to see with them

Here is the view from the stern

This is the bathroom on deck or the Head. Basically it's just a little chute over the side

This is the captains quarters. The bed is made like a cradle so it always remains stable.

The captains parlour,

This is the galley,

This is a small cabin built on deck for the captains wife.

Ever see those deck prisms for sale in gift shops? Here is one actually in use!

Even below decks they took the time to made their surroundings ornate.

The rest of the crew would have quarters like these.

And of course, the blubber room!!!!

Large cranes would haul the whale blubber onto the deck. There it would be cut up and put in to the try works. These were large cooking pots they would use to melt the blubber and then they would use hoses to pour the blubber into barrels kept in the blubber room.

2008-10-30T14:59:00.000-07:00

Hey Charlie Brown had the great Pumkin, looks like I got the mysterious geat rooster!

I went out to get the mail today and there was this little fellow by my front door!!
Curry hen wasn't too crazy about Mr Rooster. I think she was worried about her eggs

2008-10-28T17:36:00.000-07:00

The Bf and I just got back from our New England jaunt. The weather held out and was wonderful with the exception of a storm on oue last day. The autumn leaves were stunning.

Of course I took something like 150 photos and it will take a while to get them all up here but I'd thought I give a teaser of some beautiful colours.

We did stay at the Lizzie Borden B&B, we went to New Bedford and spent time at the Mystic Seaport. Ond day Bf took a scrimshaw class so I had the day and rental car to myself. I went for a drive, saw some historic houses and spent a few hours wandering the Mystic cemetary...here are just a few of the pictures from there. More to come!!

2008-10-11T14:21:00.000-07:00

Nothing too exciting going on around the homefront. Miss Hannah continues to do well recovering from her surgery.

Poor thing, looks like they had to pluck a few feathers!
Here are some of the big double yokers we were getting for awhile

After our annual trip out to Preys for apples I came home with a 40lb box of "saucers" So here's some of the canned applesauce. Hannah inspects the apples for the next batch.

This little beastie was growing quietly down by the coop. It's about 8lbs and 15 inches long and I have no idea what it actually is.. still it's cool looking

2008-10-02T18:19:00.000-07:00

It is with sadness I must report that Young Korma Buff Cochin hen has passed away. This was not a casualty of the great raccoon war. She did not seem well last weekend and when I went to her I found that she had a prolapsed vent with an egg. She had tried to lay an egg that was just too big and her chicken uterus had prolapsed. I had read about this sort of thing happening with chickens, ( it's gruesomely called "blowout") but she had an egg that was still in the insides that were now on the outside.
She was made comfortable with clean straw in a separate cage to prevent the others from bothering her.

It was an unpleasent thing but I did make a couple of attempts to gently
push her insides back inside I realized that with the unlaid egg there was no way I could do this myself. There was also the option of trying to actually break the egg while it's in the insides ( now on the outside) then push the uterus back in and hope her body would absorb the egg, then slathering her back end with Preparation H to help it "close up"

I didn't feel like I could do this without hurting her further, plus as time went on she seem to grow weaker rather quickly. So after some though I decided to try to get her in to the vets in the morning but she did not live though the night. She is now buried in the back yard by the cornstalks.

Owning chickens is most definitely a learning experience, some of it not pleasant at all. Still I enjoy their funny antics ( ever seen a chicken eat cooked spaghetti?) and their eggs.

Miss Hannah is at the vets this week again. After her egg episode the vet decided that it would be best to have her spayed. She has come through the operation well and is recovering and will be back home tomorrow.

Cockatoo's and other parrots have very strong feet,they have the grip of death to help then stay perched in trees. It also comes in handy when you want to stay on your person. It took a vet and one assistant to pry her off of me when I dropped her off. She was not amused.

2008-09-25T13:52:00.000-07:00

Yes, This is it. This is the $468.00 egg. After 4 days at the vets Miss Hannah finally managed to lay her egg. She is scheduled for a hysterectomy to remove her avain ovaries.
Up until now she would lay maybe one egg a year and have no trouble with it. But for some reason her hormones are in overdrive so to prevent her from having any more trouble in the future she's going to get fixed.
It's hard to say wether this whole ordeal has been harder for her or me...I have been a wreck without my baby.

Fall is here...The garden was pretty good this summer. My tomatoes and corn didn't do that well but had plenty of squash, zukes and potatoes. Even got a couple of little sugar pumpkins.
The apple and pears trees did well.

The chickens are happy they get to spend more time out in the big yard. The babies are bigger than the Big Betties now. So far I have been getting about 4-5 eggs a day.
They are smart birds. I have always used a big plastic bowl fro kitchen scraps for them. Every day they have seen me give them scraps from it. Several times I have let them out into the backyard forgetting the bowl up on the deck. The first thing they do is run right to the bowl and look in it for thier treats.

Here they are. Yes they're chickens and yes they are eating apple pie.

2008-09-20T19:25:00.000-07:00

My little baby girl is under the weather.
The vet thinks she may have an undeveloped egg in the wrong place so she is spending the weekend in the birdie hospital

She is on medications and may need an operation depending on how so she does, so if anyone out there has any spare positive vibes please send them her way.

"Oh my aching head!"

2008-09-07T15:39:00.000-07:00

Yet another great weekend in the PNW

The great thing about living here is the choice you have for outdoor stuff. Want the desert? head east, want mountains, they're right here. Want to go to the sea? You don't have far to go. This is our second trip out to Ozette in the Olympic National park. There is a great loop trail to the coast.

It's a 3 mile hike to the shore, most of the trail is wood planking and fairly level

The only downside to this place is that there are only a few outhouses at the beach and your on your own on the way there and back. After getting to the beach and using one of those outhouses..I was perfectly happy to stick to the bushes for bathroom breaks.

After you go through the woods for awhile you get to some very pretty meadows that had lots of wildflowers

Eventually you get to the beach. One section is very rocky with pounding surf and lots and lots of stinky seaweed. Back in the 70's there was a big storm that washed away a part of the beach. This exposed a significant find of Indian Artifacts, tools, baskets, tools, parts of longhouses,all kinds of things. There was an archaeological dig there and today you can see everything they found at the Makah museum at Neah Bay.

Today there is a small shack with a plaque commemorating the event. From the looks of it people like to leave things they found on the beach there. It was full of all kinds of animal bones, shells and feathers.

From here we trekked on towards sand point. There are lots of tide pools to poke around in. I was really tickled to be able to hear seals barking out in the surf.
The weather was warm but very misty on our visit.

Bf climbs some rocks.

We walked right by this deer resting in the driftwood and only spotted her when we happened to glance behind us

The Bf and I tend to do things at different speeds, especially beaches and antique shows. At the beach, especially this one, I like to look for sea glass. At a gift shop in Seaside you could buy bags of the stuff..I almost did until I saw on the bag that is was "made in China" I guess the stuff I pick up on the beach probably comes from China too.
Anyway, because I feel the compulsion to scan the sand for minuscule bits of glass I tend to move slower than BF. For him to get a ways ahead of me isn't unusual.

So as I was absorbed in pleasing my inner magpie ( pretty shiny things!) I became aware that Bf had gone out of view behind a rock up ahead. I then hear him make some strange sounds, something not quite like a scream or shout but something than led me to believe something unpleasant if not very interesting had happened. I look up to see him come scurrying back around the rock. I asked him if he stepped into a pile of stinky slimy seaweed, ( as I had done earlier in the day, causing me to make similar sounds) He said no and that I really needed to come and see what's around the rock.

Ok, so I'm thinking maybe a jellyfish, or a dead fish or something mundane. I get around the rock and look, I see nothing unusual..I look again ...nope can't really see anything out of the ordinary..I take a few more steps and it's then that I realize the large (very large) rock about 4 feet in front of me is odd...it has flippers..it is in fact a large dead sea lion.

Yep, believe it or not a dead sea lion can blend in with beach rocks very,very well. Poor Bf didn't notice what it was until he was almost on top of it. He admits it, it scared the crap out of him too.

After that I looked closely at big rocks before stepping on them!

Yes, I know your wondering..I did take a picture of it...the BF has a really good pix of it and once I get it from him I'll put it on here. His is a more pg version

More rocks and sea

The tide coming in, you have to be careful on this loop. After your 3 mile trek to the beach you have another 3 miles to go down the beachto get to the trail going back. There are a couple of places where the tide will cut you off and you have to make a arduous climb up steep hills to get around.

Seagulls like slimy, stinky seaweed.

After we get to Sand Point we like to take a break and rest. This part of the beach is called Sand Point because unlike the rest of the beach it's nice and sandy. We usually take a short nap before heading back. It's a terrific day out, long and very tiring we figure when you count all the tide pool wandering you do it's about an mile round trip. Plus the long drive there and back ( we left the house at am, got home at about 10.30pm)
We did this trip a couple of years ago and will probably be back in a year or so.

2008-09-01T19:59:00.000-07:00

This just blows my mind!!!

Danger UXB

From British Heritage magazine Nov 2008

Bromley-by-Bow

The largest unexploded World War 2 bomb found in London in 30 years was uncovered this June near the Bromley-by-Bow Underground Station. Construction workers uncovered the 2000 pound bomb during preparatory work for the construction of the 2012 Olympic Village.

Lying on a gas main only 50 yards from East London's principal sewage pumping station, the device had been dormant for more than 60 years . It took army experts several days of painstaking operations to defuse the sensitive bomb,which started ticking when it was disturbed. Meanwhile, a 200 yard exclusion zone was created. Several Underground stations were closed and two lines suspended,generating havoc for thousands of commuters.

2008-08-28T18:38:00.000-07:00

The Bf and I had a fantastic weekend down at the Oregon coast.

We drove down on Friday and on the way we stopped off at the Oregon Maritime Museum, pretty cool, lots of boat stuff, we also toured the lightship

Columbia.We then drove on to Fort Steven, I have to say out of all the forts around here that I have seen I like this one the best.

Mostly becuase there is so much of it left. We spent some time wandering around the grounds. Even found several little birds nests with babies in them in some of the bunkers. I think they were some kind of swallow? Mom and Dad were not happy with me taking pictures of thier babies.

There's also a small military museum there. There were some parts of the fort that were pretty spooky, the pictures below were taken in complete darkness. The only way to see where you were going was to take a picture!

We also visited the beach with this really old shipwreck on it. It's amazing it's still here being as old as it is.

Here is one of the views from the condo

By the sea....

We went to the dinky little ancient aquarium in Seaside. They have seals that you can feed. A dollar huys you a cut up sardine and once you get close enough you get quite a show, they rock they roll and slap themselves ( really they do) and will even drench you to get your attention. The funny thing was once your bit of fish was all gone they were all gone too. With all the activity and slippery sardine fingers I am afraid I didn't get any pictures

I did however capture this large Octopus....if you look at the picture long enough it looks like a painting by Klimnt

More peaceful waves...

On our way home after a hearty breakfast at McMinamins we stopped at Captain Flavels Mansion. I love these house museums. This one was very well done, not too overcrowded and they even had the carraige house complete with the original sleigh.

The house was large, the rooms had high ceilings and very ornate fireplaces. Allthough it didn't have much of the original furniture it was well decorated. Sometimes they stuff so much that you can't really see any details of the rooms. This place had the most beautiful door hinges I think I've ever seen.

the breakfast room

I can easily imagine the captains two daughters coming down these stairs for tea with friends.

All in all we had a very nice relaxing weekend...untill the check engine light came on on the car when were were stuck in horrendous traffic on the way home. In other news the car is working again, the squash overfloweth and the air is full of the clucks of young hens laying thier very first egg.

2008-08-19T14:14:00.000-07:00

It's a birthday Chicken!
This is a fat little chick given to me by my BF's Mom. Sadly I was down with a nasty sinus infection and I missed Bf's niece's 3rd Birthday party. I hear she had a nice time and got lots of nice presents. I also heard ( some time later) that the Bf will be an Uncle again here in a few months!!!! Yea!

Hell, I am another year older..funny how that keeps happening. As usual the BF outdoes himself. He is really good in the present department. This year he got me a really cool selection of Roman coins from an archeological dig. They haven't even been cleaned up all the way yet so I get to wash them myself. On quite a few you can see the heads of Emporors..or Ceasar or whoever was running things at the time.

Also in the stash were a few actual Roman rings...wow they knew how to make jewelry that lasts..

He also gave me a stamped coin, minted in the city of York ( our recent vacation destination) around the year 1300. That is frickin old.... I mean this coin was in circulation when the Black Plague was wiping out most of Europe!

At this rate, between the two of us we'll be able to open our own museum here soon.
As a birthday addendum we are off to the Oregon coast for the weekend. I'm looking forward to checking out Astoria ( I hear you can see the Goonies house from there!) and just spending time at the ocean. I'll be sure to get some pix

2008-08-07T12:37:00.000-07:00

Plethora of Pictures..

Since I no longer have blog access at prison I mean work I decided to do a pictoral update.
Below is what we call "The Beast" It's either Spaghetti squah and or Pumkin. The best part is that I didn't plant it. At some point during the year I threw a squash away in the compost bin, now you can hardly see the bin the plant is so huge. All I can say is that I hope family and friends like squash...

A couple of roses from the side yard

Here, the girls hang out in the shade of the Cherry tree, they are almost as big as the Big Betties now. Maybe it won't be too much longer before there are some eggs poppin' outta them.

Squash!!!

Apple on the tree

more roses

Jasmine doing her impression of a sunflower

The real thing

MORE SQUASH!!!

Keiv chicken

and Kroma chick

2008-07-25T17:37:00.000-07:00

Poor Bijoux bunny is a little wrapped up.
A visit to the vet revealed that she had a skin disease on her feet that needed some tending to.

She's boing a very good girl in her mummy legs. She has been taking her medicine well sicne it's Tutti Fruity flavoured.

2008-07-20T15:50:00.000-07:00

Hey ! BF's Mom! Look how far they got on the remodel!
Over all we estimate this whole remodel job cost less than $500.00 and that's being generous. Bf did a great job on the wall, pocket door and the flooring and I did most of the painting. The most expensive single items were the prehung door for the closet and pocket door frame kit. Everyting else was mostly luck, The light fixture and mirror were great inexpensive finds.

The sink, mirror and new light

Origninal toilet cleaned up with new quiet closing lid

Kitty hole, this goes into a closet in the garage housing the litter box and other pet stuff

Wall, floor and toilet

View from the inside of the pocket door closed

Old fawcett, new sink

2008-07-17T18:24:00.000-07:00

A quick updat on the remodel. It's hard as hell to take a descent picture in there because it's such a small room. We now have the bathroom part all walled in and painted. The walls are country blue and the ceiling and trim are sky blue. Bf got the new light fixture up. Now all thats left is to put the toilet back in and the new sink. I still need to find a small mirror. We are thinking of what kinds of cupboards or storage options to use in there.

We're going to look at flooring this weekend. We are thinking of those laminate tiles

Here's the pocket door, next we will need to move the washer and dryer out and paint and floor the rest of the room

2008-07-13T15:52:00.000-07:00

Hmmmmm...someone tagged Mom...

The rules: Are posted at the beginning. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer. Play nice, children.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
I was married to an idiot, living in a run down trailer working at a call center and driving a dying green Olds Cutlass.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list today- Do a Costco run, paint all the trim for the new bathroom,take out the garbage, water the garden, wash cannig jars for the great Jam fest this weekend ( I hope) re-paint all the spots I missed the first time I painted in the new bathroom, update blog since those nazi's I worl for upped the power amps on thier Internet filter and I can' t blog on thier time anymore.....how dare they!!!!!

3. Snacks I enjoy. Pringles, popcorn, radishes,

4. Places I’ve lived- Bot-hell ( welcome to hell for a day or a lifetime) wa, WA, Musell Hill London, Canyon Park Bot-hell, and then right back to where I started in plain ol' Bot-hell.

5. Things I would do if I were a billionaire: Close my house exactly as it is, like a big time capsule and pay someone to keep up the yard but never let anyone one in ever again...then I would buy a small farm in the country with lots of privacy where I would create my own private zoo.
My parrots would have the most extravagant aviary with thier every whim catered to..

Then I would be like that guy who used to have people write to him asking for money and he would answer in the paper wether or not he would give them what they were asking for and the reasons why. For this I would need to hire Judge Judy as my advisor.
I'd also buy apartments in Vegas and London and hang out with people like Penn and Teller,Jennifer Saunders, and the birdman of Vegas
This would be my job inbetween becoming completely self sufficient, home grown food, solar energy you name it.
Of course I would buy the BF a new truck and build him a nice art studio, maybe a racehorse or two
Obviously I have given this question some thought : )

.
.6. What are some jobs you’ve had: Florist,computer sales, receptionist at a funeral home, manager, medical assistant, professional yakker

People I'm going to Tag are:
I don't know six so I tag Barb again and Sheila!!

Here are the girls checking out Bijoux's outside pen

The "babies" are almost the same size as the big betties

2008-07-06T10:46:00.000-07:00

Here's the latest on the bathroom makeover. Tne Bf got the pocket door fittted in and built a wall around it. I'm sorry I didn't actually get a picture of it but you'll have to take my word fo r it. The small sectiont that is actually wall and not door is insulated with wool from Sheep Shed studios.
Hey, it's fire retardant and warm!

The cats are now happily usuing thier own private bathroom in the closet.

Here we see the sheet rock up

And the pocket door in place.

With this being the 4th of July we both had a long weekend. I attempted to make some jam. For some reason it's taking it's sweet time in "jelling" up and ie more like strawberry syrup right now. I guess it can take up to 2 weeks for it to set. So I'll wait and see.

I see jam, lots of jam..

Here Miss Jasmine shows off all the spinning I've been doing lately.

We managed to have a pretty good 4th, mainly becuase the wind was in our favour and blew all the fireworks crap right back onto the people setting them off. As usual all we had to do was go out on the back deck and watch the show all around us. People are usually pretty good about not setting stuff off too late.
The chickens handled the noise well, Cats went into hiding and the parrots were a little jumpy.

2008-06-29T15:36:00.000-07:00

To start off with here are some pictures of how the garden is comming along

There's a parrot in my peas!

For the first time in thier little poultry lives the baby chickens got to come out and explore the rest of the backyard. The older Big Betties have used to come out fairly often so they were prety happy to have the run of the place again. The others were pretty shy about facing the big wide world, poor little chicken chicken Cashew flat out refused to come out at all but went and hid under a bush in the pen.

Here are Korma and Keiv cautiously checking things out.

Once I sat down in th grass the decided it was safe to come over to see if I had any treats, all except Cashew. None of them went to far and were more than happy to return home to the coop. I used to like to let the girls have the run of the whole backyard but that made them easy pickings for the Coons so now they make do with a spacious side yard

Awhile ago I noticed aphids on my apple tree, so I tried an incecticide but it didn't seem to do much, so I brought in the troops, about 1500 ladybugs to be exact. When I let them go they all ran up the branches, sadly I still see a ton of aphids and not so many ladybugs. I hope they are busy multiplying and eating aphids!

Meanwhile back in the house, handy man Bf has started work on the utility\bathroom. Here it is after having removed the toilet and vanity and mirror. Looks like at one point in time my folks liked a mustard yellow room

Ewwwwwwwwwww! No wonder we never used this room!

Below is the nice floor he put in for the cat box in the closet

And one of many shelves for me!!

2008-06-22T11:44:00.000-07:00

What do chickens like to eat?

Why chicken of course! Here the girls are finishing off some left over roast relative.

The babies are almost as big as the older girls, most all of them are getting thier Ba-goks now.

I made a duplex nestbox for the coop and of course it is avoided like the plague ( avian flu?) In order to avoid it the Big Betties are forced to snuggle up a little closer to the baby clique

The continues to amaze me with his endless talents. Not only does he bake bread from scratch, create art and alternative photography, babysit 3 annoying parrots with ease but he can also build walls! Actual walls! with sheetrock and everything! We had been talking about renovating the laundry slash bathroom. Actually it's a room with a toilet, sink washer dryer and two doors. If you are coming into the house from the garage and some one needs to drop a duece you need to wait your turn, or just say Hi as you walk by them on the pot. Growing up this was a common occurance. I can recall having some long conversations with my mother this way.

Anyhoo, due to this we hardly ever used that room for anything other than laundry.

So we decided to think about making some changes. One of which was building a closet ouside the room in the garage with a cat door going from the laundry room to the inside of the closet where the cats can crap in peace and quiet. Plus they would technically be craping outside of the house.

This was the Bf's motivation, mine was the idea of a whole brand new closet in which to store things! Yarn, canned goods,earthquake supplies..consrtuction paper!!

So after a couple of trips to the Megalomart we got the stuff we needed.

Then he set to work, it's only been a weekend and he is almost done.

I know Mom is probably churning in her urn to see changes in the house but I think she would like what we're doing.

So here are the photos!! Just look at all that storage space!!

the above is the before pix

While the bf was busy I was creating this nice and cozy
den of marshmellows...
Really it's not a trap, just a little safe havan of marshmellows. I think we are being visited by marshmellow loving "possum. Something a little smaller than a racoon has been digging under the fence yet again. I am even driving wooden stakes into the ground to try to deter this bugger. So far it has made off somehow with a t-rex rat trap I set out. I can't find the trap anywhere so I guess maybe he took it home with him. He also has managed to steal marshmellows out of regular rat traps setting them off ..but not getting himself caught. He also likes to dig and scratch around the traps for awhile too.

I'll get more closet pix up here soon, Bf got the cat door in the wall and there were cats trying to get through it even before he finished. So far they have no problem goin out the new cat door but they will still come to the back door and scratch to be let in... eventually I hope they will figure out the door swings both ways!

2008-06-20T17:13:00.001-07:00

Words of wisdom

You can rarely, if ever, please, placate, change, or mollify an asshole. The best thing you can do is stay away from every one you encounter. Being an asshole is a contagious disease. The more time you spend around one, the more likely you are to catch it and become one too.

AND

Your closet door is the door to hell, do not open!

2008-06-17T20:21:00.000-07:00

Lizzie Borden took an axe
And gave her mother forty whacks.
And when she saw what she had done,
She gave her father forty-one.

Okay so you know your weird when you run around your office yelling "I got the murder room!"

The BF and I are planning a trip back east next fall. We're going to Mystic ( as in pizza) mainly becuase there is a terrific replica whaling village with lots of museums and even a class for Scrimshawing.

We're only staying a few days and traveling through New Bedford and Rhode Island. I was in the area a couple times when I was a little kid. Once for a family reunion on my mothers side and then again for my Grandmothers funeral.

Usually Bf is the man with the plan, he's very good at finding interesting things to do or see that we both like as far as traveling goes, and he likes maps and guidebooks. So I was more than happy to leave the planning to him for this trip. We decided that I would be incharge of arranging the hotels soooooo i got to thinking. I remembered that the Lizzie Borden house was somewheres imn that area, turns out it's right along the way we were planing to go soo I contacted them and miracles or miracles they had openning on the night we would be passing through town! Even better, we got the murder room where Lizzies sister was killed! I wasn't sure if Bf would be ok sleeping in a room like that but he was gung ho and excited about it

Here is the room after the murder

here is the room today,

2008-06-13T17:14:00.000-07:00

Just want to give a quick shout out to congratulate my nephew on graduating High School!!!

2008-06-03T13:09:00.000-07:00

Seems we have yet another mystery.

After weeks of an empty trap I decided to bring out the big guns. Marshmallows. I understand that Coons just love them. So I placed a little trail of them leading to the trap that was out front by the fence, right near where they dug under before.

Today I happened to glance down there and was surprised to see no trap at all. Since it was raining Bf gallantly volunteered to go investigate. After a few minutes he came back and said "Things were weird down there" The trap had been set off ( but with nothing in it) and had been dragged several feet over to the neighbours bush. It had been lodged in the bush. My first thought was that some pond sucking tree hugging neighbour had deprived me of my Coon skin Cap. Bf said it really didn't look like a person could have wedged the trap in the bushes and if they did why?

Upon further investigation the mystery gets more mysterious. A large area of lawn near where the trap was had been dug up and dirt was all over the area. I thought the Coons were trying to dig under the fence again but this area was away from the fence. After retrieving the trap and putting it back I noticed a marshmallow had a little bitemark out of it. Possibly Coon or Possum sized I would guess, also the marshmallow trail was gone.

So, here are my theories Wastson.
1. A coon or possum fell for the marshmallow trail and got trapped. Now here is where it gets tricky.

2.It could be that neighbourhood dogs ( there are some big ones) discovered trapped critter and wanted to eat it for themselves and tried hard to dig it out and dragged the trap around trying to get the critter out.

3.Or maybe...a Coon got trapped and his fellow Coons banded together to try to free him but digging around the trap and when that failed they tried to take him back home trap and all.

4Or A coon got trapped and some pond sucking tree hugging coon liberalist tried to free the savage beast and found that he or she couldn't really do so without getting bitten or scratched and so tried to maneuver the trap somehow dragging it around the area.

5.Another option is the same as number one, just substitute a cat

6. A Coon or possum got his tail caught in the trap. That could explain the dragging and digging as it would be trying pretty damn hard to get away.

Right now I am most apt to believe the last theory, I sincerely hope that some pond sucking tree hugger isn't trespassing on my property. Along with my slight hoarding tendancies I also tend to be a little territorial. I am wondering if I need a permit to put barbed wire on the top of my fences... or I could just glue broken glass on there.

Once the weather improves I will be setting up the SCARECROW thingy that has sensors and squirts water. Sadly it can't distinguish between Coons cats or nosey nieghbours..well, I can live with that.

Below is the Rhody in the chicken run..a little something to brighten this so far gloomy spring

2008-05-29T13:32:00.000-07:00

Chick FLick!!

2008-05-27T20:21:00.000-07:00

Just when you need to come up for air we get a 3 day weekend.. : )

Bf and I had a nice weekend. One Saturday we hung around the house, did a few chores and enjoyed the sun in the backyard.
The babies are growing up fast. Every now and then I will hear a peep peep peep BAGOK peep peep..
The coopcam is great I have an alarm set up the goes off when they go into the coop at night so I can check on them and when everyone is tucked in I can lock them up. No further sign of the evil racoon. I still have the water jet thingys and more alarms to set up to nail his ass.

Sunday we went to Poulsbo. On the way we stopped by Port Orchard and I was stunned to see that The Artful Ewe wasn't in the old firehouse. There was a sign saying she had moved but I couldn't find where she had gone to. So we moved on. In Poulsbo we shopped the stores, had lunch at JJ's ( very good fish and chips!). We also sasw the Marine Science thingy, I call it a thingy becuase all it consited of was a few starfish, one crab,one trout, two jellyfish and a few anenomies.
On our way back the BF thoughtfully swung by Port Orchard again seaching for The Artful Ewe and we found her! She's moved from the old firehouse to the old butchers shop. A smaller place but it still looked lovely, lots of fiber, yarn and wheels. Of course I didn't get out of there without finding some fiber that had to come home with me.

The Bf has been working on some scrimshaw. This is some kind of palm nut called Tagua. When it's polished it looks like Ivory and it often called " Vegtable Ivory"
The design he did is a North American Indian one of a Beaver

2008-05-23T11:06:00.000-07:00

A Parable For The Campaign Season
John the farmer was in the fertilized egg business. He had several hundred young layers (hens), called "pullets," and ten roosters, whose job it was to fertilize the eggs. The farmer kept records and any rooster that didn't perform went into the soup pot and was replaced.
That took an awful lot of his time, so he bought a set of tiny bells and attached them to his roosters. Each bell had a different tone so John could tell from a distance, which rooster was performing. Now he could sit on the porch and fill out an efficiency report simply by listening to the bells.
The farmer's favorite rooster was old Butch, a very fine specimen he was, too. But on this particular morning John noticed old Butch's bell hadn't rung at all! John went to investigate. The other roosters were chasing pullets, bells-a-ringing. The pullets, hearing the roosters coming, would run for cover. But to Farmer John's amazement, old Butch had his bell in his beak, so it couldn't ring. He'd sneak up on a pullet, do his job and walk on to the next one. John was so proud of old Butch, he entered him in the Renfrew County Fair and he became an overnight sensation among the judges.
The result........The judges not only awarded old Butch the No Bell Piece Prize but they also awarded him the Pulletsurprise as well.
Clearly old Butch was a politician in the making: who else but a politician could figure out how to win two of the most highly coveted awards on our planet by being the best at sneaking up on the populace and screwing them when they weren't paying attention. Vote carefully...the bells are not always audible!

2008-05-20T16:07:00.000-07:00

Guidelines for Cats

Doors: Do not allow closed doors in any room. To get door opened, stand on hind legs and hammer with forepaws. Once door is opened, it is not necessary to use it. After you have ordered an "outside" door opened, stand halfway in and out and think about several things. This is particularly important during very cold weather, rain, snow, or mosquito season. Swinging doors are to be avoided at all costs.

Chairs and Rugs: If you have to throw up, get to a chair quickly. If you cannot manage in time, get to an Oriental rug. If there is no Oriental rug, shag is good. When throwing up on the carpet, make sure you back up so that it is as long as the human's bare foot.

Bathrooms: Always accompany guests to the bathroom. It is not necessary to do anything . . . just sit and stare.

Hampering: If one of your humans is engaged in some close activity and the other is idle, stay with the busy one. This is called "helping", otherwise known as "hampering." Following are the rules for "hampering":
When supervising cooking, sit just behind the left heel of the cook. You cannot be seen and thereby stand a better chance of being stepped on and then picked up and comforted.
For book readers, get in close under the chin, between eyes and book, unless you can lie across the book itself.
For knitting projects or paperwork, lie on the work in the most appropriate manner so as to obscure as much of the work or at least the most important part. Pretend to doze, but every so often reach out and slap the pencil or knitting needles. The worker may try to distract you; ignore it. Remember, the aim is to hamper work. Embroidery and needlepoint projects make great hammocks in spite of what the humans may tell you.

For people paying bills (monthly activity) or working on income taxes or Christmas cards (annual activity), keep in mind the aim-to hamper! First, sit on the paper being worked on. When dislodged, watch sadly from the side of the table. When activity proceeds nicely, roll around on the papers, scattering them to the best of your ability. After being removed for the second time, push pens, pencils, and erasers off the table, one at a time. When a human is holding the newspaper in front of him/her, be sure to jump on the back of the paper. They love to jump.

Walking: As often as possible, dart quickly and as close as possible in front of the human, especially on stairs, when they have something in their arms, in the dark, and when they first get up in the morning. This will help their coordination skills.

Bedtime: Always sleep on the human at night so s/he cannot move around.
Play: This is an important part of your life. Get enough sleep in the daytime so you are fresh for your nocturnal games. Below are listed several favorite cat games that you can play. It is important, though, to maintain one's dignity at all times. If you should have an accident during play, such as falling off a chair, immediately wash a part of your body as if to say "I meant to do that!" It fools those humans every time.

Cat Games:

Catch Mouse: The humans would have you believe that those lumps under the covers are their feet and hands. They are lying. They are actually Bed Mice, rumored to be the most delicious of all the mice in the world, though no cat has ever been able to catch one. Rumor also has it that only the most ferocious attack can stun them long enough for you to dive under the covers to get them. Maybe YOU can be the first to taste the Bed Mouse!

King of the Hill: This game must be played with at least one other cat. The more, the merrier! One or both of the sleeping humans is Hill 303 which must be defended at all costs from the other cat(s). Anything goes. This game allows for the development of unusual tactics as one must take the unstable playing theater into account.
Warning: Playing either of these games to excess will result in expulsion from the bed and possibly from the bedroom. Should the humans grow restless, immediately begin purring and cuddle up to them. This should buy you some time until they fall asleep again. If one happens to be on a human when this occurs, this cat wins the round of King of the Hill.

Toys: Any small item is a potential toy. If a human tries to confiscate it, this means that it is a good toy. Run with it under the bed. Look suitably outraged when the human grabs you and takes it away. Always watch where it is put so you can steal it later. Two reliable sources of toys are dresser tops and wastebaskets. There are several types of cat toys.
Bright shiny things like keys, brooches, or coins should be hidden so that the other cat(s) or humans can't play with them. They are generally good for playing hockey with on uncarpeted floors.

Dangly and/or string-like things such as shoelaces, cords, gold chains, and dental floss (& Q-tips) also make excellent toys. They are favorites of humans who like to drag them across the floor for us to pounce on.
When a string is dragged under a newspaper or throw rug, it magically becomes the Paper/Rug Mouse and should be killed at all costs. Take care, though. Humans are sneaky and will try to make you lose your dignity.

Paper Bags: Within paper bags dwell the bag mice. They are small and camouflaged to be the same color as the bag, so they are hard to see. But you can easily hear the crinkling noises they make as they scurry around the bag. Anything, up to and including shredding the bag, can be done to kill them. Note: any other cat you may find in a bag hunting for bag mice is fair game for a sneak attack, which will usually result in a great Tagmatch.

Food: In order to get the energy to sleep, play, and hamper, a cat must eat. Eating, however, is only half the fun. The other half is getting the food. Cats have two ways to obtain food: convincing a human you are starving to death and must be fed now; and hunting for it oneself. The following are guidelines for getting fed.

When the humans are eating, make sure you leave the tip of your tail in their dishes when they are not looking.

Never eat food from your own bowl if you can steal some from the table. Never drink from your own water bowl if a human's glass is full enough to drink from.

Should you catch something of your own outside, it is only polite to attempt to get to know it. Be insistent. Your food will usually not be so polite and try to leave.

Table scraps are delicacies with which the humans are unfortunately unwilling to readily part. It is beneath the dignity of a cat to beg outright for food as lower forms of life such as dogs will, but several techniques exist for ensuring that the humans don't forget you exist. These include, but are not limited to: jumping onto the lap of the "softest" human and purring loudly; lying down in the doorway between the dining room and the kitchen, the "direct stare", and twining around people's legs as they sit and eat while meowing plaintively.

Sleeping: As mentioned above, in order to have enough energy for playing, a cat must get plenty of sleep. It is generally not difficult to find a comfortable place to curl up. Any place a human likes to sit is good, especially if it contrasts with your fur color. If it's in a sunbeam or near a heating duct or radiator, so much the better. Of course, good places also exist outdoors, but have the disadvantages of being seasonal and dependent on current and previous weather conditions such as rain. Open windows are a good compromise.

Scratching Posts: It is advised that cats use any scratching post the humans may provide. They are very protective of what they think is their property and will object strongly if they catch you sharpening your claws on it. Being sneaky and doing it when they aren't around won't help, as they are very observant. If you are an outdoor kitty, trees are good. Sharpening your claws on a human is not recommended.

Humans: Humans have three primary functions: to feed us, to play with and give attention to us, and to clean the litter box. It is important to maintain one's Dignity when around humans so that they will not forget who is the master of the house. Humans need to know basic rules. They can be taught if you start early and are consistent.

from
James S. Huggins' Refrigerator Door

2008-05-17T18:52:00.000-07:00

Hello all, here are some spring (finally) photos from the backyard. Here are some Evening Grosbeaks visiting the feeder

Here is a blossom from the apple tree

And

the lilac the bf planted

The little chicks are doing fine..here is one of the Big Betties resting in the shade. They tolerate the babies. I think they are still a little confused by the sudden chang in pecking order status. Each night I can watch them all settle down in the coop on the coop cam and each night everyone settles down a little closer to each other.

I swear these chickens like to have thier picture taken. Here Korma poses for the camera. These gals are the tamest chickens I have ever known. The Big Betties were from freecycle and the other ones I had raised are all gone, they were about a week or so old when I got them. These girls came to me the day after they hatched so I guess I'm Mommy, they like to hop up on my lap and peck and me. Cassie likes to try to perch on my shoulder ( Guess she thinks she a parrot) If I sit for awhile on a chair in the run I will eventually be covered in chicks curious about wether or not my eyes are shiny food.

Things are ok. Work is well, work, sometimes you just have to wade through the you know what.The weather has been downright wacky, cold one day in the upper 80's the next. Since all the girls are staying in the run I once again have the backyard to myself. So far I have a lotta peas, some tomato plants, a few cukes and some pumpkins. The BF has requested corn and sunflowers.

We got a new big propane grill and have really been enjoying it. We spent a nice mothers day with the BF's family and got to play with the ever adorable niece. She has the best manners, she informed us the she loved visiting with us but it was time for her to go home now.

Since the weather has been so hot and it's moulting time Mr Bubba really likes to take a bath,heres be-elzibubba

What? so I'm having a bad feather day!

Oh he's such a mess I can't even look!

2008-05-09T20:40:00.000-07:00

In memorium of Penny Hen

Yes, these feathers are all that's left of my last Ameracuna Hen Penny. I was awakened this morning to hear the two big Betties clucking up a storm longer and louder than thier usual morning cackle. Not thinking anything was wrong I went to the run to see poor Penny had been killed by another of those furry shits. No more pretty blue and green eggs.

I found where the shit had dug under the chicken wire that went under the fence.

The Big Betties were upset but all the babies were safe. I think that they were not bothered becuase they preferred to sleep in the coop. Old Penny liked to sleep up on the roof. So now everyone is going to be locked up every night. The babies are beign very good about gong to bed in the coop once it gets dark. I think the Betties are a little out of sorts now they are in the minority, but being the easy going girls I think it won't be long before eveyone is getting along.

When I locked everyone up tonight there was a pile of babies next to the two Betties giving them the wary eye on them in the coop.

This is it, this is no holds bar war. I have set the trap again and if I don't catch one then other more drastic measures will be taken. One of which may involve talking the BF into Peeing around the yard and or some type of weaponry. This is the fourth chicken they have murdered. I am even comtemplating waiting in my car one early morning to see if any of them cross the street.

I have learned of something called "Coon Candy" hmmm my furry shit friends may find themselves a treat.I have purchased several motion alarms and a couple of water squirters that you hook up to your gardern hose and when the detect motion they blast whatever crosses thier path with water. If it comes down to it I may even look into getting some kind of electric wire.

Is this the KFC drive thru?

Right now racoons and stupid doctors are on my shit list. Generally I am a pretty mellow easy going person,it takes alot to ruffle my feathers so to speak, just don't fuck with my chickens or talk down to me and we'll get along fine.

And on a lighter note....