All Grown Up

Strange sensation, being proud of a chicken. Prissy, our White Leghorn pictured at left, laid her first egg on Saturday.

I feel like we need to have a coming of age ceremony for her. She made it through chick-hood without succumbing to whatever one of her cohorts did. She made it through the night earlier this summer when another youngster was abducted and eaten by a fox.

By luck, pluck, or maybe even cluck, she grew up and now prances around the yard like she owns it. Come on over for chicken bat mitzvah next weekend.

We also just acquired two new pullets from a friend of our neighbors to replace the ones we lost. So the head count is:

• Stella, Silver Laced Wyandotte (pictured at left)
• Edna, Araucauna
• Prissy, White Leghorn
• Cora, California White (cross between White Leghorn and California Grey)
• Bernice (Bertie), Speckled Sussex
• Bob, Black Australorp

Scott got to name this last one. He feels outnumbered by all our female pets, so he had to have one "dude" to bond with. I'm sure Bob's eggs will taste the best for Scott.

Meet the Spring Chicks: Gladys, Prissy, Bernadette (Bernie), and Cora

At long last it is spring. I feel like I'm one of those pills that you put in water and it expands into a dinosaur-shaped sponge. I'm coming out of my dormant cyst form. A flower from a bud.

Part of this feeling is always generated by planting seeds. The garden is no longer frozen- it actually went from having 3 feet of snow on top to dry top soil way too fast. One day I was digging through scattered piles of slush to plant some late garlic and the next I am planting spinach seeds that I actually need to water to get germinated.

The most exciting part of this spring, however, is the arrival of chicks. A little late for Easter, these puff balls are bringing smiles and warm joy to our frozen hearts (and hot drool to our dogs' mouths). We have them set up in the basement in a horse trough with a protective wire mesh covering over them to keep out domestic predators (a.k.a. Mona the cat, Roxy and Maisy the dogs).

It is always entertaining to watch them slowly fall asleep, eyes slowly drooping like a teenager in math class, until they tumble face-first asleep into the wood shavings. Priceless.

These chicks will eventually grow to join the ranks of Edna and Stella, our laying hens, to provide eggs for goodies like quiche, cookies, flan, and more (don't worry, there will surely be enough for our neighbors and friends too).

Mawwaige, that Bwessed Event...

Since I was 9, I said I'd never do it. I thought my personal hang-ups (or his for that matter) would prevent any kind of long-term,  commitment.  I thought I never wanted to risk being part of the 50% divorce rate. I thought, "I'm an independent, do-it-yourself kind of gal". But yet, here I am picking out wedding colors, dresses, and other girlie things I never thought I'd have to do. And to tell the truth, its kind of fun. 

I could even see some women getting married just to have a wedding. Another excuse to plan, plan, plan, spend money that isn't yours, and then party, complete with tears and the emotional ride.

However, I knew I found my guy in the first two weeks we were dating. No emotional hang-ups, chemistry is good, and most of all, I trust him.

So, here are my colors. Geek that I am, I used Color Picker  to get just the right shades of Green (C5DE49), Periwinkle (AAB1FA), and Tangerine (FFD23D). Next I'm gonna go to the hardware store for paint samples, just to make sure I got it right.

I'm trying to do at least one thing per day to plan. Yesterday, I impulse bought a wedding dress on-line. Watch out, who knows what I'll do today. Don't be surprised if you see me cruising town, hanging out of a limo window in order to make sure I have just the right amount of wind in my face as we take our leave of the reception. 

Car Knitting

In times of hustle and travel it is tough to get any time for side projects. I found a way to get around this by taking projects on the road (and strategies for not up-chucking my Wheaties along the way).

To avoid car sickness I recommend four things:

1.) Only knit if you are a passenger. I hope this one is for obvious reasons.


2.) Look up once in awhile. Momma always said to stop and smell the flowers, and traveling ain't fun unless you can take in the scenery.

3.) Stop knitting on winding stretches of road. These portions of the trip are often the best to offer to take a turn at the wheel (which often helps me if I'm feeling at all sick).

4.) Stitch and Bitch. Carry on a conversation or listen to music.  It helps keep me distracted from motion sickness, which I think could be 80% mental (if you don't think you feel sick, you can actually convince yourself you aren't- at least for awhile).

I finished this pattern for fingerless gloves on the way to a holiday rendezvous. These were a present for my niece Katie. Because I had to start over a few times and didn't want to undo my stitches, I just started another pair. I'm almost finished with that second pair now.

Next was a sweater vest. I worked on this mostly in the airport on a trip to see my nephews. Not your typical sweater vest- this one has a scoop neck design and a rib that took a long time. It is the biggest project I've done in years and much of it was done off the ground.

I actually had someone ask me if I was from Europe in the airport because they couldn't believe anyone from the US still knit.