Wednesday, April 29, 2009

New Do for Felix

Before


During

After

Felix suddenly got it in her head that she wanted to cut her hair. Not just any cut but a cut that looked a lot like the girl who played in the "Twilight" movie.

I've NEVER been the kind to discourage people from cutting their hair or doing something different. I've always said it's not an arm, it will grow back. It's just hair. It's MEANT to be changed, to experiment with it, see what you like and then let it grow back and try again. I should have been a hair stylist.

Any-hoo ..... so I have no issues with Felix wanting to cut her hair short. However, being that I'm old and knowing what I know about HER ... I don't think she realizes that those people in movies sit in a stylist's chair for sometimes three hours to get their hair to look like that. Even the movie stars can't do their own hair.

So I'm kind of waiting for the morning when she has to do it for herself. I'll be on hand with the gel and flat iron to help out.

I seem to remember starting to actually do my hair around sixth grade; curling, blow-dry, etc. so she's catching up.

I love the cut. I have always liked her with a bit shorter hair. Her hair just seems to lay better when it's at her chin. In fact, I love it so much, I'm tempted to put off my donation hair and just cut it now! Get ready for the summer!!

I love my Felix.


Saturday, April 25, 2009

Sleep would be nice.

Go to bed at 10:30 pm.

Wake at 11:45 pm. Worry about the chickens that I forgot to put away.

Go back to sleep.Wake at 1:20 am. Worry about the tournament in the morning and can I spar well enough.

Go back to sleep.Wake at 2:34 am. Worry if the kids are going to have fun tomorrow.

Go back to sleep.

Wake at 3:30 am. Look at the clock and wonder if this night will ever end.

Go back to sleep.Wake at 4 am. Still worrying about something else. Then go potty. The only productive thing I've done all night.

Go back to sleep.Wake at 5:30, knowing that I'm going to have to get up at 6 to feed the animals before we leave for Burien.

Go back to sleep. Alarm goes off at 6. Push the snooze for 10 more minutes because I'm BLOODY exhausted.

This sucks bad.

Dreams? I need to sleep first

Friday, April 24, 2009

Garden Time!!

Wow. Been a week since I posted. Hmmm.


Well, let's talk gardens, eh?


I love fresh veggies. My best memories I have are my dad and I eating tomatoes and cukes right out of the garden. My parents always had a garden, both in Vegas and Ogden, but then once I left, it turned into a flower garden.

I tried one in St. George but it was SO hot there, that everything pretty much burned up. The tomatoes did great however.

So we move here. I'm learning about the climate and what works and what doesn't. I have been working on a garden for four years now. The location kept changing because our yard is big and hilly and I was never sure where might be the best place for drainage, convenience, sun, etc.


Several locations were popping up: the most obvious choice was in the back 40 (I call it that; it's really not far, just behind the barn and the Zen pond) or next to the house (which would have to be completely renovated and redone) or behind the basketball court (which was the silliest spot).


We finally decided that, even though it was a walk, the back 40 is the best place. It was a large, flat spot with full sun almost all day all year. The guy who owned and built this house had some great ideas; lots of drainage, nice rooms, trout pond. But he also had some horrible ideas like ...... well, you'll see. I didn't know this fact until I decided to create a garden back there and rented a large rototiller.


So I'm tilling away, turning over the hard pack, feeling happy that I might finally get a garden and what appears before my eyes? A bed spring. Then pieces of broken mirror.


A rusty chain. I'm getting worried at this point.


A piston. What?


A crushed, burned fire extinguisher. I was aghast, my mouth falling open, holding this thing.


Finally, it dawned on me. This person would take ALL his garbage - even the stuff that can't burn - torch it and then bury the leftover pieces.


I sort of understand the burning part; lots of people burn their paper trash around here. It's quite common.


But this guy was so cheap that he didn't want to pay anyone to take any of his garbage and ... what? .. Thought, "Hmmm. If I burn it and then bury it, it will go away."


Really? It will just go away? A fire extinguisher will decompose? Agh.


That was three years ago. That was when I decided that I should make garden boxes instead, believing if I did try to plant or eat anything from that contaminated soil, we might start growing extra arms or worse, lose what appendages we did have.


I made one garden box, planted some radishes, let the deer and slugs eat what popped up and gave up.


To be continued ........ The Deer Fence.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Spring at Tulalip

In front of the Tulalip Casino. Taken while I'm driving my car (oops). The tulips and daffodils are blooming so pretty in front of the sign. Spring is finally here!!

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Bad Economy

(thanks to Greg for sending me this photo)

Monday, April 6, 2009

New Kids!

We have now increased our animal herd by three!

Our goats, Lili (Angora) and Tootsie (Pygora) kidded over the weekend (seriously, no kidding) and gave us three new baby kids.

Tootsie kidded on Friday afternoon sometime. I just happened to be walking out to the barn to grab another heat lamp for the chicks and here was this little black and white baby, wet as can be, getting cleaned by her mum!


Her name is Cadburi (like my favorite Easter candy, Cadbury Eggs!) and she is very cute.

Then Lili, our second goat, started acting strangely on Saturday and so we were thinking she would be going into labor shortly.

It took another day (Sunday) for her to finally lay down and have her kids, twin white goats; one buck and one doe. The kids got to watch that birth and that was a cool thing.

Their names are Dai (doe) and Tiger (buck) because their mom is Lili and Felix wanted a name that went with lilies.

The buck was born first and so she tends to favor that one over the little doe, which can lend itself to issues such as not enough attention and lack of nursing. So I'm going to have to pay attention to this one a bit more and make sure she gets enough nourishment or it's bottle time. Ugh.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Regular or Extra Crispy??

Well, we did it. We bought chickens .... actually chicks.

Thomas has been wanting chickens since we moved here to Washington. We started a chicken coop (hooked to the pigeon coop) but just couldn't get the run going. I'm home but a lot of the stuff takes two people to build and I only get him home for two days a week and I swear if those two days don't go by in two minutes. NOTHING seems to get done.

He finally just got tired enough of NOT having chickens that we spent last weekend and the weekend before that putting together the run. We still have the fencing to put up but that's okay. The chicks aren't even old enough to go out there yet anyway. We've got at least a month.

Right now however, they are sitting in a storage bin .......... in the spare room. Yeah. Complete with a waterer, feeder, and heating lamp. I hope they don't stink


I remember when I was pregnant with Felix and I found 11 Mallard ducklings on the freeway and took them home (AND to all you bird people out there -- I don't believe in disturbing nature normally however these ducklings would have been Frisbee ducks if I hadn't have moved them; I later took them to a wildlife refuge center and let them go) and put them in a box in our room. Oh my. After a week ... What a smell!! Bad. They were out in a flash.

So I'm hoping I can keep them in there for at least a week or until it warms up a little. Still kind of chilly for Spring.

Felix with a chick. I have no idea what she has in her hands. It might be her Lakenveldar Striped something-or-other. I have yet to tell them apart.


Robee with a Maran. This one I can tell because it's older and has a comb starting on it's head. These lay dark chocolate brown eggs. Too bad they're not chocolate eggs!

Owen is holding a Barred Plymouth Rock. We were going to get him an Ameraucana (which lay blue-green eggs) but they weren't getting those in until Friday and I wanted him to be able to have two with the kids. I don't think he cares anyway; as long as he has some chickens.

Thomas has two Buff Orpingtons so that rounds us out at 10. However, I still want the Ameraucanas so I'm going back for two more on Friday to come out with an even dozen. Why not?


Looking forward to fresh, organic, wonderful eggs!