We HAVE Chickens

Last week we had the pleasure of having Allan's sister Kathleen and her 5-year-old son Evan Michael visit. I think it was the nicest visit of all the ones we have had. Evan was delightful and I enjoyed him very much. Along with playing the Game of Life and a trip to the local thrift stores, he was a big help to me in finishing up the chicken house. Hurray for us!
That meant it was time to find some chickens, grown chickens, who are not too old but old enough to give me eggs. I checked Craigslist, and lo and behold, in my own community I found a family selling their young hens who have inundated them with more eggs than they could handle.
I studied out the needs and qualities of the Rhode Island Red and picked up some bedding and laying feed, and made the chicken house as homey as I could for a small group of Rhodies, as I will call them. Then I made the lovely drive out to Silverdale, toward Seabeck, and met my new feathered friends (pictures to post tomorrow).
The 3 girls look amazingly alike, although their sizes are slightly different. And they can run! The boy who raised them accidentally let one out of the cage and spent a few minutes chasing her around their acreage. I spent that time wondering if I would ever be able to catch one if it got away. I haven't needed to yet, thankfully.
I am toying with names. For a while I was going to go with Florence, Lucille, and Hilda after my great aunts, but I'm tired of those names now. (It's just what I did when naming my children.) Then I thought about Shirley, Millie, and Frieda after 3 neighbor ladies of my childhood. That's worn off, too. They're red, why not name them after some of my favorite redheads? Lucy, Pippi, Caddie, Anne. Silas has laid claim to naming one Agnes, and that's a good one, too, and happens to be my sister's middle and great-grandmother's first name. Then again, Rhodies make great eating, and maybe I shouldn't name these girls at all....

Family Update

I am inspired by my mother's regular emails from home that keep us up to date on what's going on there. I will return the favor in my blog. So, here goes. If there is no news, I won't be bringing up the person. When there is, I will.
Allan is still working hard as ever and does a great job at work and as the Ward Mission Leader. He is also taking a writing course, and working on projects for children. He has learned a lot and will be submitting some of his work soon. Business taxes are taking up plenty of his time, too.
I, Lorraine, still hope for chickens in the near future, but rain and other projects are getting in the way. My hen pen is almost finished. Today I took a trip to Snohomish County Court to submit the first of the paperwork to obtain official custody of Silas; I am scheduled to appear on Thursday, wish me luck on having the paperwork in order. Mom-in-law Jeanie, who's visiting, came with me, along with Ginger, and it was nice to have company.
Tim's girlfriend Britt, in Madagascar for a long-term service project was evacuated, and is with Tim in Shoreline. She will be shipping out to another country to complete her service in the next little while.
David will be graduating from BYU this spring in Microbiology. Way to go, David! He is looking ahead to working and getting into medical school.
Britta should be moving into a 2-bedroom apt this weekend with friends. We are storing her belongings until the big day.
Cecilie is serving food to the elderly in a retirement home at Northgate. As someone who appreciates food, she is compassionate and humane to her residents, and enjoys it most of the time. She has the best stories.
Justin finished swim team at Olympic High and is back at the community swim team. He is dreading the difficult practice today. Oh, and he received his driver's license this past week--Yay, Justin!
Silas is doing well and has made friends here. He has the ability to carry off the most wonderful outfits!! I will start taking pix for this segment of the blog so you can see just how his creativity in dress is manifesting itself.
No big news, really, but what the heck.
There's no big news on Chloe, but she is generally a joy to have around and I love playing Skip-Bo with her.
Oh, and Clyde the kitty is adjusting to our house. I discovered him playing with a hair scrunchy. I came in and told him it was nice to see him playing, and he looked down (in embarassment?) like a little kid caught singing. Only after I left the room did he go back to batting the scrunchie; I know because I peeked. It was funny.

More next week.

Fostering a Feline

Well, I am not sure I ever posted anything about this on my blog, but I vowed after putting my kitty Nirvana to sleep at Thanksgiving time I was going to swear off cats. So much for that! Silas came to me a few weeks ago and asked if we could take in his friend Sean's cat.

It's sad what's happening with Sean; his mother is suffering from liver failure and needs a transplant. They are "giving up" their home of 15 years, their car, and Ma is now living in a nursing home. Imagine, a nursing home at 58! Sean has moved in with his older sister, and there is nowhere for their kitty-cat, Clyde. How could I say no to that?

Clyde is living at our house now, and he is quite the foster feline. He has some issues! He's needy. He suffers from separation anxiety, even when it's just separation from Allan or Silas or me. He is an indoor-outdoor cat, so he comes and goes kind of as he pleases. He's used to hanging out in the house and wandering at will, like haunting the counters of the kitchen and getting drinks out of the sink or faucet. The most surprising thing he does, though, is suck his arm! (I know a cat's front leg is not an arm, but it acts like one and that's how we all describe it.) Now, I am the mother of a few long-term thumb-suckers, but a 6-year-old cat who sucks his arm for hours each day is another thing completely. And when Clyde is doing his self-comforting behavior, he likes to be right next to someone (me, usually in this case, though he prefers Allan), and is his happiest when you are petting his head at the same time. If you dare to stop, he looks up, somewhat outraged, and meows in protest.

He is the most beautiful cat I have ever had, next to Nirvana, of course. He is actually sweet, now that I am used to having a cat in the house again. Sean and his mom have made it clear that when her health improves (she's hoping for a transplant), Clyde will be going back to their house, wherever that may be. In the meantime, I have a new child!

My Re-Usable Net Bags

One of my goals for this year is to not collect an entire closet full of plastic bags. It's not that I am the greenest person in the world, though I sometimes consider how my activities impact our environment. Mainly, in an effort to simplify my life, I realize that digging all the plastic bags that get shoved in our little broom closet, and hauling them to the recycle bin at my local Safeway or WalMart is a ridiculous use of my time.

I have a number of reusable cotton (or other) bags, which I am not reliable at bringing to the market when I shop. They have been in good use so far this year since they are now hanging by the front door, an easy grab on the way to wherever. An even better idea is to have a few stored in the car for those times I decide to shop without consulting my front entryway. Oh, well.

My biggest pet peeve since adopting the no-more-baggies-in-the-house attitude is what to put the produce in at the grocery. I saw some lovely homemade bags like these on a blog (down-to-earth) and wondered how they would work. Since I didn't have netting in the house, I simply made a mental note.

A couple weeks later I stumbled upon a baggie (ouch!) of netting scraps at St. Vinnie's for 75 cents. They made 9 of these great net baggies, and they were totally easy to whip together. They hold plenty of weight, including tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage, and oranges. I stuffed those not in use into my purse, and found that I did not have to accept a bag from Lowe's when I purchased a bunch of hardware--and it was pretty heavy for the little bag I used.

I am tickled with this latest project. Cheap, recycled, reusable. What more could I ask?

Preparing for Poultry

A lifelong dream has been to have a trio of laying hens, for wonderful fresh eggs. I designed a little poultry pen, but lo, upon pricing I found that I didn't really want to spend the money on it that new materials would cost. I went on Craigslist and looked for supplies and options, and happened upon a bird pen built a few years ago and in the next town. It was just the right dimensions, 4'x8', supposedly fit on the truck, and had oodles of plywood I could use with my own (modified, now) plans.

Above is the photo of the various phases of dismemberment of our birdie pen. Imagine it on the back of our beater truck: Silas and I looked like the Beverly Hillbillies!

Christmas is Here, Bringing Good Cheer

So much is happening right now. Our area has been hit with the worst snow in years; I canned half a ton of wheat and beans in an effort to be prepared for a possible "time of economic uncertainty;" and Silas hurt his thumb, which necessitated a trip to the emergency room and resultant activity-limiting recovery.

The snow is beautiful, and makes the place quiet. We see our neighbors again, who have pretty much been indoors since summer. They are spending some time shoveling out their cars and creating walkways to the street. After a couple days without much activity I dusted off my XC skis and zoomed up and down our semi-flat street, only falling twice. I even created a track from our backyard to the street. There is over a foot of snow in our yard, not counting what was thrown up when Allan cleared out part of the driveway. The snow should be gone by the end of the weekend, when we shall again happily enjoy rain and 40 degree weather.

I had requested the home sealer from our local dry pack cannery a month or two ago, and as my luck would have it it came available Saturday, the 20th. What a time to have 200 cans to buy and fill, all by Christmas! The senior missionary informed me that we could only have it for 5 days. When I think about the last days before Christmas, hanging out in the garage canning bags of wheat and beans isn't my idea of pumping up the holiday spirit! It all worked out great, however, since we were snowed in and it was no longer freezing in the garage. I spent about 7 hours listening to Christmas carols and filling and sealing the cans, just how I wanted to and at my own pace. It turned out to be one of the best things I did this season, and I feel better prepared and tidier.

Later the day of the canning Silas had a few friends over to earn some money splitting and stacking wood. All was going well until Si came in muttering and writhing with blood dripping from his left thumb. "Apply direct pressure!" He was in quite a bit of pain, which is uncharacteristic of him. He is usually mellow and straight faced. After taking a walk to his friend's house and periodically immersing his thumb in a bag of snow, he called and said his thumb was unnaturally swollen and that it was still hurting like crazy. He suggested, uneasily, that we should probably get it looked at. Off we went on the crazy icy-snowy roads I had avoided, to wend our way past the prompt care clinic, closed due to weather, to the Silverdale ER. This was definitely the quickest trip through the emergency room I have ever experienced through the years. The staff administered some type of numbing with shots right away, which was extremely painful, I am told, but brought quick relief. Si was diagnosed with a crush fracture, which happened when he missed the wood with his hatchet but did meet his gloved thumb, just below the nailbed. He is doing better now, with pain meds doing a pretty good job of holding his grumpiness to a minimum.

Tomorrow morning will be Christmas. Each year is so different, with children living/not living here, coming from all corners of the earth, or from just the other side of town. Silas spent this evening in his room, not feeling very well. We all opted out of going to see "the worst movie ever made" and stayed in. We built a fire and watched a little movie, after which Allan went over and got Chloe and Justin to celebrate the rest of the holiday with us.

What a year we have had. We are so blessed to spend time with each other, to have good relationships, and to celebrate together. God has blessed us so much, with wonderful prosperity and the ability to meet our needs. May you have a sweet and blessed Christmas, and may 2009 bring you the joy and peace you are seeking.

Snowy Sunday Morning

It's funny what snow can do for a Sunday morning. It creates hope that church or school tomorrow may be cancelled. The world is somewhat hushed into a sort of reverence. It's cold, of course, as well as being so wintry and foreign. Plus, as an added bonus, it makes home seem somehow more cozy and inviting than at other times.

We had our first snow last night. It's the perfect Northwest type, the streets aren't covered, but the grass is. It's rather charming in its temporariness. I love it!