dark

Real spring is back.

Cold and dark.

I've lost all my enthusiasm to get anything done.

How do other people manage to accomplish anything?

I just want to sit around and take pictures of my pets.

It's Bunday Sunday. Spot the bunny?

grow time!

So I finally conceeded that the back yard is no place for my raised bed. There's just not enough sunlight to support the things I want to grow back there. Taking a cue from the victory garden I worked in two summers ago with sweet Richard, I got brave, decided not to care what the neighbours think... and moved the bed to the front yard!

I still need to give the yew bushes a good trim to make room for the second bed that I'm going to build (next week after payday), but right now I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

I grew some veggies in that flower bed by the front door last year- so it's a natural transition. The biggest comment I've gotten since putting it in is "aren't you worried people will steal from it?" Oh good night! If people need to steal veg, they need veg! We don't have a lot of foot traffic (or any traffic) on our little street- I know most of the faces that pass by the door, or at least know which house they're headed to. We don't even get much drunk traffic after the bars close- and we're not on the route that the kids use to get to school.. so I think most of my plants are safe. I've still got the posts though to put up the squirrel/cat nets. I hate the squirrels digging up my seeds, and the idea that a cat wants to pee on my veggies grosses me out so much.

As of this morning I've got 5 little garlic babies poking their tips out of the soil... very exciting stuff. I'm trying so hard not to plant other things yet.

Spring peepers

It's March.

Still, things are mighty strange on the hobbit homestead this year.

I can hear spring peepers, those cute little frogs. My friend found a Junebug yesterday (dear God in heaven, if this is an early drawn out junebug season I don't know what I'll do). I have daffodils and crocuses up, the strawberry plant has been rescued from the chickens. The sap stopped running. I can see the peony trying to decide if it should wake up (the rescued one)... I hope it keeps sleeping, it's lived through so much, I'd hate to kill it in it's first season of having a proper chance. I worry that we're still going to get snow. Seriously.

Even though this is what I watched for the afternoon....

Shorts. Tank tops. Bare feet.

I'm torn, I don't know what I want.

so, I realize I've been a slack in the posts department lately.

It's because I've been boring.

This weekend has been filled with awesome things though, and when I've a moment, I'll be posting again... until then, another WOTE video...

fallen

Walking home from the grocery store on Monday I had a really eye opening experience.
I had my big backpack on, walking along, when from a house behind me I heard someone screaming. Shrieking actually.

An older woman, maybe 68+? had fallen getting out of her car. Her husband had backed the car in, and parked really close to the edge of the driveway, where there was a slight drop off and a wooden divider (between the neighbour's driveway). The wife had tripped and somehow fallen between the car and the divider (not much space!)

Myself and another walker zipped over to help when we heard her fall- so we were there when the husband found her (he took his time coming around the car) I know that it was likely stress from the situation, but the husband was pretty much chastising his wife for falling, while she was crying on the ground. He tried to pick her up without asking her if she was ready, without asking if she was ok, by pulling on her arms. All the while saying things like "I told you time and again to be more careful getting out of the car there". I kind of wanted to deck him.

Instead I loudly asked her if she was ok, if she was able to sit up (husband was trying to pick her up while she was laying on the ground prone). This stopped him for a moment.

I asked her if she wanted help to sit up and rest for a moment- husband started in again on how she needed to watch where she was going. I asked her if she thought she'd be able to stand if we helped her, or if she thought we should call for an ambulance. She said she thought she could stand, but needed help because of the narrow space. I told her we were going to reach around and help her up, that she should take her time, husband again starts pulling her arms off her body by the wrist, so I calmly said "we'll help you by reaching under your arms to give you a little more support" (A "hurrumph" noise from husband, who is obviously flustered and embarrassed by all this). We get the lady to her feet and I tell her to take her time.... husband hands her some of the grocery bags from the trunk of the car!!!!!!

goodnight.

I wonder what sort of forum exists out there that we can use to educate people on how to assist others when they've had a fall? Especially for those who are aging. Yikes.

3.14

3.14
Happy Pi Day!

photo found here

Drip drip drip!

March is so weird.

This is a photo from last week... 15 mins later the sun came out and melted it all!

I'm very patiently waiting on the sap buckets to fill though. Last year's birch syrup adventure left me exhausted (um, hello! 100 litres of sap to a litre of syrup?? Yes, I made two litres of syrup). But this year's Maple adventure is much more tame (35-40 litres of sap to a litre of syrup). My big plan had been to ask the neighbours if I could tap their trees too.. Next year hopefully.

Time to go chase some chickens around the yard till lunch. I sprouted a mix of seeds this weekend that are looking like they'll be the delicious topper to today's salad. Lentil, mustard, radish, and goodness knows what!

Oh geeze.

I'm writing about salad toppings and weather. I need to get out this week.

Spring... and SPRUNG!

It's spring here!

Robins, Cardinals, Chickens, Wood Peckers... and giant leaping bunnies!

Poor 'Touff. He kept wiping out in the mud in the yard while he ran around. Slightly funny, slightly terrifying. Eventually he figured out that the herb bed was dry and solid and fun to play in (yes, the fence is going back up on it as soon as the last frost has passed). He's a bit of a lug though- and ran into the wall and the boards multiple times.

Yes, I called him a "wingnut".

Some days are these days.

But mostly I choose this when those days happen.

the list

The March "Lion" is toying with us. Which, makes me a little stir crazy. It also means I'm getting frantic to garden. I spent some time yesterday looking at garden plans (not my own). The biggest thing I'm looking at right now is finding a few spots in my yard that have enough sunlight to garden in. Possibly the front yard. Likely the fence line in the back yard with the strawbale gardens again. And hopefully the driveway fence line (I really want to put in a few fruit trees there)

Last week I was toying with the idea of making a list of homesteading skills... For now, here's a list of the skills I WANT to learn.

Why? Well, once I started listing the things I could do, I started getting pretty cocky.

Animal husbandry: sheep, goats,
(with that, shearing, milking, cheese making)

chickens- how to brood/hatch

chop wood

hitch a team

plow/or better understanding of soil

spin (I heard I'll be learning this one soon!)

sewing machine sew/ follow a pattern better

other preserving techniques (pressure cooker canning/root veg cold storage/crocks)

whole food understanding

growing and milling grains (which I wrote as "milling brains" the first time, and couldn't figure out why it looked so funny on the list)

passive solar /solar power

cob/strawbale/earth building

I'm sure this list could should would be longer.

is it time yet?

SATURDAY, JUNE 19, 2010

if I could wake up every morning and still smell like campfire
my hair
my clothes
having tumbled into bed too sleepy to change
dust on my feet
marshmallow on my cheek
sore strumming fingers...
that would be the mark of a life well lived.

lazy days

I've been reading Jonathan Byrd's travel blog the past couple of weeks.

If you haven't had the opportunity to, I recommend it. The link is to one of his entries at the end of the most recent trip. Chosen at random. I've cried through a number of the entries.. because that's who I am.

The guy can write. (not just music, though I don't know how often I sing his praises for that gift too)

Anyway, the other day he posted his entry about heading to the Folk Alliance conference. It's like OCFF, but bigger if you can picture that. Non-stop music. Beauty. Creativity.

OCFF this year was one of those special weekends. An escape.

I'm just about ready for another escape.

Monday morning I received my e-version of his travel-log. It's fantastic.

head aches

There's one thing about the new job that pains me.

The music selection.

I support a young person who's taste in music is limited to the current top 4 songs.

If those 4 songs could be played on an endless loop, she'd be happy... thanks to the wonders of radio planning, by flipping the station after every song, she's found a way to play those 4 songs in endless succession.

Enter some awesomeness.

This may be the only redeeming version of this song.

Though, I'll admit- the "Elmo and I know it" tune is the alternative I sing when subjected to the radio version.

monday bunday

so regal.

so lazy.

fingers crossed

happy 25th week birthday littles!

The Bantam Cochins are 25 weeks today... know what that means? Eggs! Soon!

All bets are that the splash (Darlene) will be the first of the two to lay. The Blue, Maria N'coco, is a little smaller and her comb and face aren't as red as Darlene's is.

I've been trying to get Cheepers (the black hen) to use a new nesting box [re: crate from the clementines] I've even been putting eggs in it so she'll get the point. Today she rolled the other eggs out of the box and into the spot where her old box used to be... and laid an egg there. I'm still not quite sure HOW she did it.

One of my neighbour's homes is up for sale. This makes me nervous... what if they're really against urban chickens?

side note: did I mention the old couple next door to me? I offered them eggs and they turned them down, saying that they thought eggs should come from the store in packages, and that they "like[d] me, but who knows what might be wrong with those eggs". I also heard this from a friend of mine. Which, makes me wonder how we ever became friends in the first place.

Anyway, it means I've been keeping the girls in their run- no time out free ranging... I don't know when potential buyers are going to be going through the house. The backyard to that house meets my yard with about 20 feet of chain link fence... perhaps that's the side where I should be putting the hedge in first? I'll hold tight, they might be city folks who'll want a high privacy fence (it's a lovely expensive house, the sort that always ends up with a high privacy fence).

oh right.

right.

sided.

While in for my massage, there was some confusion as to why my right side was so screwed up. Until I started to think about it.

Pretty sure that's scar tissue and damage from that time I ruined my ability to breathe (tearing the muscles off my ribcage). The spot where it tore is hurting today. And some damage possibly from the twisting to avoid strain on my right leg (the leg that needs a new ankle and groin muscle).

I'm super hopeful to get my shoulder dropped back down- I don't really want to add physio to my weekly rotation. Pass the Naproxen please.

tubby

Next winter I'm not turning the hot tub off. (I know, the least green part of my life... we all have a vice).

Today however, after my massage, I'm headed to a friend's place to make use of their claw foot tub. Because, if you've ever been in the hobbit house, you know how un-tub-like my tub is.

I'm very grateful.

sew.

a day in the quilting/fabric store, and all I want are those cute buttons. forget the skeins of fabric... bring me buttons.

where are these stress hic-ups coming from?

in the gutter

When I call "sick day" there are two films I must watch.

Beetlejuice

and

Little Shop of Horrors.

I love them both so much. Too much. I've mentioned all this before... I have them memorized, the nuances and speech patterns, the movements, the everythings. And because of this- I tend to quote them, or see them in things around me. I cannot go to the dentist without the entire dental song running thru my head. When someone is talking about gutters, I translate it to "in tha gutas". I wait for shrimp cocktails to grab people by the face... These are films that have shaped me.

Tonight I went to see a high school production of Little Shop. It was lovely. And... it took everything in my not to jump up on stage and play every part.

Dave Foley has a kid? (he was in the play)(the kid... not Dave Foley)