SpiderWomanKnits

30 Days of Happiness: Day 25: Unhappy

I am deeply saddened to say that we had to say goodbye to two of our sweet, sweet hens over the past two weeks. Billy Joel says, "Only the Good Die Young" and Janice was certainly our best. She was the first to go. Disappeared somewhere. We were devastated. She was a lap chicken, a loud chicken, the first out of the coop in the morning, the biggest, a bit of a bully to the other ladies and the first to lay an egg. She followed me everywhere and I always joked she thought I was her rooster. Well, she's gone. I took this picture just a few days before she disappeared. It pretty much sums up her disposition.

 

She would just hop in the car and you'd really have to check to make sure she  was not in the car before you left the driveway.  Janice was a Jersey Giant and Keana named her very fittingly after the sister in the Sopranos.

We also lost our Little Red Hen. She was much more chicken-like keeping to herself and minding the slugs in the garden mostly. I bonded with her first as a chick but then she went on to do her thing. We are very sad about losing her as well. She was our third hen to start laying.

We knew when we started raising chickens that loss would be an inevitable part of the experience.  But, it just isn't easy. Jorn is really sad. At first we were just so troubled by what, all of a sudden, was taking our chickens. Well, a few nights ago we figured it out.  Greg was walking outside and right behind the coop was a fairly large Bobcat. Luckily we got all the ladies into the coop safely. Our hens free range but we're in the process of building a large, enclosed area for them which we hope will provide them with more safety. For now they are spending their days in our garden which is fenced in and really close to the house so we can keep an eye on them. I have a feeling a dog is in our future though since we have our cats to worry about as well now that this Bobcat thinks there's a fast food joint in our backyard!

Sorry for the unhappiness on what is supposed to be a day of happy but you can't experience one without the other.

Here's one more picture of Janice where she usually was. I think I've posted it before but it's one of my favorites...

30 Days of Happiness: Day 24

A MEME! I have never done a MeMe before but this one was sent to me by Our Yellow House and I felt like playing. Plus my FIL called to say it's about time the zoom shot of him screaming makes it off the "front page"! Sorry Papa! So here it goes...

Here's how to play:

1) Link to the person who tagged you
2) Mention the rules
3) Tell six quirky yet boring, unspectacular details about yourself
4) Tag six other bloggers by linking to them (I'm going to skip this one and let you consider yourself tagged if you feel like sharing your quirks)
5) Go to each person’s blog and leave a comment that lets them know they’ve been tagged (See above)

One: I have a real pen fetish. DO NOT let me into Staples alone. There are more pens in my house than in their pen isle already. I prefer bold ball points and felt tips. Blue first then black and sometimes color. I fantasize about a job that requires me to write all day. Friends with fund raisers know who to call when they need envelopes addressed. Seriously.

Two:  I have a nightly beauty ritual that drives my husband insane because he says it takes so long.  I brush my teeth for a long time, floss, remove my makeup/concealer,  wash my face,  pat on some witch hazel, moisturize, then put on lip balm. I consider this personal hygiene he calls it "excessive". I'm just happy after 7 years of marriage he still wants me to come to bed faster.

Three: I can not finish food items. Meaning I will be the *#%hole who leads you to believe there is in fact a whole box of cookies/bag of potato chips/enough half and half for your morning coffee in the respective container only to discover there is just-a-smidgen. Not nearly enough for a portion of anything to be satisfying.  I blame this on my heritage since I am a Starving Armenian.

Four: I re-write things written in someone else's handwriting. So, let's say you defile my to-do list by adding something to it on your own initiative rather than dictating it to me to write my self I am compelled by forces beyond my control to re-write that list. This relates back to Quirky Fact #1.

Five: I must eat with a knife in my left hand. You know, to push food onto the fork, properly. I feel barbaric otherwise. (This does not apply if I am eating with chopsticks.) Jorn sets the table each night and he knows mama always needs a knife even if there is no cutting involved in the meal!

Six: I have a real knack for remembering lyrics to songs quickly but for some reason I tend to sing the same verse over and over again without even realizing it until "someone" (**cough** Greg) brings it to my attention in a rather frustrated tone. This same "someone" does not appreciate it, however, when I sing Billy Joel's Scenes From an Italian Restaurant in it's entirety. Go Figure.

So there you have it folks! Consider yourself tagged if you feel like sharing your quirks but don't forget to comment and let me know you're doing it so I can read yours!

30 Days of Happiness: Day 23

You think the economic situation is scary? Well how about a joy ride in a Jeep. You wouldn't think that it would or could be that frightening but see for yourself...

Nana looks a little miffed in this picture, eh?

Jorn, of course, was totally unfazed by the situation since we do this often. Look at the smile on his face...

Whew! Thank Goodness they made it back alive, pajamas still intact! And Thank Goodness our neighbors can't see us from their house.  A close up for the road...no pun intended...

30 Days of Happiness: Day 21

What a better way to see the beginnings of the changing season than a trip to the Monument down the road from our house?

 

We drive past Colonel Seth and The Monument everyday on the way to school, salute and say, "Good Morning Colonel Seth". I have a completely absurd urge to knit him a scarf for the winter. I can see the small town headline now, "Knitter Defiles War Monument by Placing Hand Knit Scarf on Statue of War Hero", or something like that. But I really want to do it.

See those tiny slit windows up top? You take an elevator run by Peter, who also makes reproduction carved Gunpowder Horns which he sells, almost all the way to the top. The view from those little windows is beautiful.

To give you an idea of how high up you are here's a picture of The Colonel from above.

For most of the year the Monument is a pretty relaxed place but soon Peter will have a long line waiting for his elevator as the Leafers head into town. There's a changing tree or two in there. I love Autumn. It's my birth season and Jorn's as well. I love winter squash, cider, nesting in, the holidays and of course the colors. There's certainly a lot to be happy about today. Happy Equinox all!

30 Days of Happiness: Day 19

I guess I should have mentioned I'd be taking a little break from blogging for a visit from family. Sorry.  And let's not even discuss how this blog is turning into a chicken blog rather than a knitting blog...

In any case yesterday was a really happy day for our family! Our first egg! I can't say for sure who laid it but my guess would be our Jersey Giant, Janice.  Or it could have been Hildegarde. It's smaller than your average egg, speckled with little brown dots and it's the most amazing egg we have ever seen.

Our little girls are are mature, egg laying hens now! But this was not the only joy in our house today. Today was Jorn's first day at school! Not Pre-K/K but full day, bring-your-own-lunch school.

 

After much searching, researching, visiting, contemplating homeschooling etc we  found a school that we think will be a great fit for him. A school that honors and fosters a child's spirit for learning and makes the best of their inherent curiosity.  We left him there today feeling so happy he'd be with kids who are rugged individuals, a teacher who loves children but more importantly respects them, and who expects from him no less than we do. It's so hard to let your kids "go" but this felt good. He came home with so much to say , tired but happy and proud of himself.  Love. It.

30 Days of Happiness: Day 18

 

What's all that racket outside the kitchen window?



Oh, it's just the chickens on the chair again!

30 Days of Happiness: Day 17

This little guy was hanging out in our field and he wasn't shy at all...

 

at all...



What a beauty!

30 Days of Happiness: Day 14

Jorn lost his second tooth today! We were on our way to a fair and it was just dangling by a "thread". His friend, who was with us, said he better take it out so he doesn't lose it on a ride. Well, the trip was about an hour long so just before we arrived he had played with it enough to have it fall out.  Into my wallet it went for safe keeping it went until just now when he placed it carefully in his tooth pillow before bed.

I remember that tooth from the very moment it appeared disrupting his smooth baby gum line.  It was the first to appear and the second to fall. When they are babies getting their first teeth simply means a world of solid food naturally opens up to them. It is survival, it is primal and like most of infancy it is basic. By 'basic' I mean that we as parents impose the meaning into our child's life at that point. We understand their development and the joy in it while they are doing only what their bodies make them do. We watch as they suffer pain they will never remember as each tooth comes in. We delight in their constantly changing smiles, dread the sleeplessness and thank the spirit-in-all-things for Highlands Teething Tablets.  But losing the baby teeth? That's huge.  It is magically trans formative. It's different.

Now, our children begin to make their own meaning. It's like some magical threshold they cross and all of a sudden not just solid foods but the entire world opens up to them. Though they might not grasp the symbolism just yet they are in fact shedding the "baby" and allowing the child to come through. Along with this change comes a different type of "teething pain". I have noticed a change in Jorn. He is struggling more with decisions and rules, thinking about them fully rather than just "obeying them". He is becoming more agile and adventurous, taking risks he would never have taken before because then my words of caution were the gospel. His thoughts and questions are maturing at an almost astonishing pace. In fact looking back, it is also around this time where life as the individual knows it begins, as memory. But I am not foolish, I know all of this has been gestating for some time now it just seems that the start of losing your baby teeth somehow coincides with these new developmental milestones. Now, the teething pain becomes the uncertainty of navigating this big world a little bit more independently, tooth by tooth if you will.

I meant to take the picture I took above but I didn't realize how relevant the composition actually was in relation to my feelings about him losing his baby teeth until I read this post before publishing it.  There he is, near my center where he was when I carried him. And there I am, behind him now, there to lend support and offer advice but not get in the way of letting him discover him self.  Hmm. I didn't think any of that when I sent up the shot but I feel that now when I look at it.

*Update* I also realized that while I am holding the camera in the picture it also kind of looks like I'm holding my head which may be more to the point of this new "phase" of boyhood, eh?

** BTW, in case you noticed I'm intentionally skipping over day 13/yesterday. At first I was planning on a post but then the number 13 reared it's ugly head. Let's just say there was a trip to the ER after my husband decided to cut his finger instead of the rope of the new tree swing he was hanging for Jorn.  He's got 4 stitches and narrowly missed the tendon but he's fine.

30 Days of Happiness: Day 12

Some vintage goodies from summer sales

Check out the Garden Gnome lamp!
So incredibly tacky and irresistible at the same time.
I intend to make-cover/find another lampshade...

30 Days of Happiness: Day 11

He just couldn't resist.

The water was chilly, the air a bit brisk but the leaves are already starting to turn
so we know we have to soak in
every.last.minute.