House and Trailer improvements

Winter has not been cooperating. Finley told me the other day that she was angry it hadn't really snowed yet. Some snow would have been nice. Then my slave-driver husband wouldn't have had an excuse to have me out helping with the siding all morning. We got as high as we could without double-stacking the scaffolding and then I quit and came inside. I should be glad that the weather has been letting us get more work done, but my hibernating instincts are high right now, and I feel a bit like a grumpy grizzly bear.

 We did have a few days of cold, wet weather, so on Christmas Eve, Chris took the opportunity to pull out the old dishwasher we never used and install a cabinet. One of the things I really like about my husband is that he cleans as he works on a project. Notice the clear floorspace. He rarely leaves a mess to get tracked around or tools scattered to be tripped on or lost. It makes renovations or construction so much more manageable.

 Here is the new cabinet installed next to the old, nasty sink cabinet.

 After the kids were in bed that night, we even put up another cabinet over the counter and moved some shelves. Having some 'extra' storage space (that is not an open shelf) in this trailer is a big deal to me. I am waiting for the kids to go back to school to school to see how I can really reorganize things in here...

I guess my break is over. Chris want me back outside to scratch heads together. We're not sure how to put up the siding when we don't know how we are finishing out the porch beams yet...

Comic Relief

Our cat, Max

It's been a rough few weeks, with sickness on top of sickness, Z with a head injury, and more trips to doctors than I care to think about, all on top of the busyness of the holidays... It's times like this when a little comic relief is welcome and helps snap you out of a negative train of thought.

One of the greatest things about living out in the country and having animals is that they provide some great comic relief. For example: the chickens must see me as the food fairy, because every time I go outside, they all come running and follow me around until I feed them or they are convinced that I won't. Today, I walked into the playroom, and a chicken saw me through the window and came running up to trailer. Silly chicken.

This summer, Chris and I were having an argument and resolution didn't seem to be anywhere on the horizon. It was a dark night, so I went outside to sit and look up at the stars and try to get my emotions under control. After a while, I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye, and I looked to find not ten feet away from me, a skunk. I scrambled up out of my chair, away from the skunk, and back to the trailer as fast as I could. I grabbed a flashlight, and Chris and I, reunited with purpose, went searching for the skunk.

Another night, I was frustrated about some random thing. I walked through the kitchen and saw Bruno, our (former) beast of a rooster, framed by the black night, staring at me through the kitchen window. It was so out of of the ordinary, it made me laugh. And (somehow) made me realize that most of the time, the things I get all bent out of shape about aren't that big of a deal.

Nice try, kid.

Joe- "Mom, did you know that there's something wrong with my 'wahoo' thing? Listen: Weeeehoo! See? I don't know what's wrong. Maybe I should stay home."

Snippet from Finley's school program...

Monday Morning Report

Monday morning. Fin and Joe are off to school, and Z is watching Diego, and I can take a moment to drink my coffee and relax for half a moment. I am ready for life to be dull for a while.

Joe caught strep last week, so Monday found us in the doctor's office with him. By Tuesday, it was obvious I had it, too. Zivah managed to take a face dive running through the kitchen Tuesday afternoon. I thought she had broken her nose, but thankfully, all she is sporting is a bruise.

(Notice the flashlight and toy gun in her hands. This is week two of her carrying them around nearly constantly.)

I finished Joe's hat.

Saturday, Chris got the trim up around the windows and door on the back side of the house, so on Sunday, we got started on the siding. Here is a picture of Terry and I doing all the work while Chris takes pictures. Okay, so really, this is a picture of Terry doing all the work while Chris takes pictures and I just sit and watch.

Siding on the back is complete!

At some point last week, we managed to decorate the cactus for Christmas. I haven't had the energy to do much else other than put up the advent calendar. I hope the kids forgive us if we don't string an ungodly amount of Christmas lights all over like we did last year. But I suppose I should at least try to get the socks put up somewhere... We'll see.

Pop Up Fun

Ever since I brought home a how-to pop-up book from the library this spring, Finley has used the basic pop-up technique to make cards. Usually, she makes the cards for some one who has gotten hurt to try to help them feel better. This latest, Finley made for Zivah after she fell and smashed her nose on the floor.

Weekend Highlights

 I managed to finish knitting Zivah's hat. We like to call it "The-cat-in-the-hat-santa-hat". I'm working on one for Joe now.

On the way to Thanksgiving dinner, we stopped in to see the buck our neighbor had shot that morning. Terry has a way of nabbing odd deer. This one was a nine-point. He has a 13-point mounted on the wall in his kitchen.

 My brother brought his dirt bike down on Saturday, so I got my first real experience driving a motor cycle.

Chris and I finished putting up the siding on the dormer, and while I was out celebrating some family birthdays, he got it painted. We're glad to get that done with the cold, wet weather starting to settle in.

Joe likes to "race" his cars. I was getting tired of him playing with them on the carpet in the living room, so finally made him a racetrack (complete with pit road) out of masking tape in the playroom.

Finley Worries

A couple of times in the past month or so, Finley has come to me after the kids were tucked in for the night with tears in her eyes, holding her 'soft blanket' tightly to her chin. Usually, when this happens, she is worrying about something like a lost toy or is scared of something general like alligators. Lately, though, her worries have centered around death.

"I'm worried about being dead," she said. "... Can we feel when we're dead? ... Can we see?"

I can envision the image in her head, of a still body trapped in the dark, unable to move or see, utterly alone. So I explain to her that for those that love Jesus, we are given a new body and go to be with him in heaven and that people that died before we do will be there, too. "Will we be young or old? ... Will Gramma be young? ... Will I get to have my soft blanket?" So many questions I don't have the answers to.

I wrote and illustrated a little book several years ago about a little bug wondering what heaven would be like, and from all he'd been told, it didn't sound like it would be a place where he really wanted to end up. To be honest, streets of gold and sitting for hours singing doesn't sound very enticing to me. Where are the soil and trees I love so much? Won't we get to have fun?

How do you explain to a seven year old that, I think, heaven is about being with the One who loves us best of all, and once we are enveloped by that, it changes what we think is important... like having your special soft blanket. The best verse I could think of to ease her worries was John 14:2 : "In my Father's house are many mansions... I go to prepare a place for you." I told her that God loved her so much, that he is making a special place for her in heaven, and that he knows her favorite colors and the things she likes and probably is decorating a room for her in a way he knows she'd love. (And who knows, I thought to myself... maybe her soft blanket will be there. I wouldn't put it past him.)

So this morning, I was going through the schoolwork she brought home yesterday, and found a little book entitled 'I Am Thankful'. Page one: I am thankful for my family because they are my family. Page two: I am thankful for my teacher because she teaches me. Last page: I am thankful for deth because we go to heven and see god.



The hat that inspired it all.

Well, I finally finished the hat. But I should have known better and told the kids it was for someone else. Because now, Zivah and Joe want their own hats.



Finley's finished hat.

So I figured out the continetal style of knitting, have improved my knitting speed, and have started in on a hat for Z.


 And since I didn't think I'd have the patience to teach Fin how to knit, I taught her (and Joe, at his insistence) how to finger knit. This is keeping them satisfied for now.


Add caption

Knitters Are Underpaid

Christmas season is fast approaching, and I was wracking my brain trying to think of cool, home-made gifts I could make to ease the budget. My mind flashed back to a picture taken of me when I was about two, a long, pointy, knit stocking cap hanging down my back. "Perfect!" I thought. I browsed the net for a free knitting pattern and bought some circular needles.

I decided that before I spent too much time on a real gift for someone that might not be as nice as I envisioned, I would make a practice hat for Finley using yarn I already had. I started off, feeling pretty good about the project. That is until I discovered after several rows that I had twisted the stitches and had to start over. I persevered and tried again. This time, I could see the hat taking proper shape.

A few days later, I had the main body of the hat done and was ready to start tapering. But in classic Wendy fashion, I hadn't really read the instructions thoroughly and had just been doing what I though was logical. And it looked awful. I re-read the instructions and found what I had done wrong, tore out about 20 rows and proceeded. The hat is now taking shape to my satisfaction.

But really, this hat is taking a whole lot more time than I anticipated. If I wanted to sell these hats online and make it worth my while, how much would I have to charge? If I was to earn a measly $5 an hour knitting, I could not afford to buy this hat. At this point, I have been working on this for 2 to 3 weeks, for (at least) an hour each night, and (at least) five days a week. So far, I would have to charge $50 to $75, and I'm not even finished. I wondered if there were any hats like this on etsy.com and how much the asking prices were. I found several with a price tag of $25 to $40. The only way to make money off these hats, or be able to justify the time it takes to make one for a cool, inexpensive Christmas gift is to be able to whip one out in a day or two...

So unless I become a speed knitter in the next few weeks (Check out this video. It makes me ill.) don't expect any hats from me.

Books

Yesterday, I drove down to Lewisburg to do some shopping. I had some library books to return and was hoping to find something else to read. I had been on a contemporary author reading spree and was ready to read something classic. I didn't have anything particular in mind, so started scanning the shelves for old-looking dust jackets or bindings that gave away the fact that the book contained something classic. I couldn't seem to find any, so decided to check for the first author that came to mind: Austen. Nothing. What about James Joyce? Nothing. Panic started to set in as Zivah and I zig-zagged back and forth down the long aisle. Thomas Hardy. Nabokov. Nothing. Only a few months ago, I read an aging copy of George Eliot's Adam Bede. It was gone. Had the people of Marshall County lost so much interest in the classics that the librarians cleared their shelves of great literature to make room for excessive amounts of John Grisham and  Belva Plain works?

I headed toward the librarian's desk, wondering if I needed to start budgeting for books so that my kids wouldn't grow up not knowing who Mark Twain was. "Do you have a classic literature section?" I asked the lady. "You mean authors like Jane Austen and Agatha Christie? Right over here." She led the way to section 813 as I nearly sank to the floor with relief.

Of course, now my mind and emotions are spinning. While on one hand, I'm thankful that I don't have to weed through so much drivel to find a really good book, I'm pretty sure people will be less likely to read a classic on impulse. What constitutes a classic, anyway? And that section looks pathetically small... (Oh, Nashville Public Library, how I miss you.)

Tuesday morning, my mom showed up to help me get started putting up the siding in front. I was hoping to get three or four rows done before the kids got out of school. As we were loading some planks into the bed of the truck, my neighbor pulled up in his Gator. I thought he had come over to tell me the other neighbor's horses were out again. But he said he had heard the plea in my last blog post, and had come to help. At first I thought he was just joking, but no. Less than three hours later, we had most of the siding up on the right side. It is such a great feeling when you get done more than you expected. [Thanks again, Terry!]

And with Chris coming home from work early a few days last week, we managed to get some flashing up around the dormer and put up the siding on one wall. I'm feeling a bit more optimistic this week.

Every time I post a picture of the house these days, it seems as if there is little progress or difference in the photographs. It was exciting to see walls go up and big sections of roofing get completed. But now, detail work is more time consuming and the days are getting shorter, and as much as I would like to post a picture tomorrow of siding covering the whole front of the house... well, who know how many pictures are between here and there.

So although it may not look like it, we did get quite a bit accomplished this weekend. Trim is around the second story window, and the soffit and roof trim is up on the front of the dormer. We also decided to extend the eave across the front of the dormer to help protect the lower windows, so had to build that out and put the roofing material up. It was what my original drawings showed, but when we built the dormer I talked us out of it because I was worried it would sag. I'm glad Chris talked me back into it. We like how the eave breaks up the towering front wall. It was a pain trying to figure out how to get the metal to 'match up' (as in reality it doesn't), but we (or should I say, Chris?) managed to get it to work. 

The weather is supposed to be really nice the first part of this week, and I am trying to figure out if there is anything I can try to tackle on my own while Chris is at work and the kids are in school. Anyone out there want to come by and help hang some siding?

Chris took the day off work yesterday to finish caulking and painting the west side of the house. The foundation will eventually be painted a bit darker.
Now we start on the front.

I haven't been posting much lately (if you hadn't noticed). With good reason, I suppose. I haven't wanted to sound cranky. But I am. So I am afraid that whatever I might write here today will sound a bit negative, possibly whiny. You have been warned.

It's a fairly nice day today, and in spite of the fact that neither Chris nor I really feel well (some or all of us have been under the weather for the entire month of October), he is out there caulking the side of the house. I didn't really want to help him; but because we couldn't get the tractor running (we think the battery we bought for it doesn't have enough cranking amps), I gave it a shot. I lasted for about 20 minutes. Aside from the fact that I was really getting frustrated with all the little caulk boogers that refused to wipe off, the sun was shining on my back, and it made me feel really sleepy. So I came inside. I told him I might be up for it tomorrow. We'll see.

Yesterday, since there was a freeze warning for the night, I actually went out to the garden to harvest some of the fluffy bib lettuce that has been growing there. I had also pulled up most of the radishes I planted back in late September. They were beautiful and perfectly round and thin skinned. I have yet to eat any, but maybe I'll have salad tonight, and if the tarp holds off the frost, I can make the most of that lettuce in the next week or two.

This morning, I suddenly felt really tired of this trailer. I had been trying to reorganize the playroom earlier in the week and swap out summer for winter clothes, and had generally left a trail of bins and messes all though the place. The groceries are packed on a couple of shelves and in a barely-adequate refrigerator, and to get whatever it is you want, you have to move a half dozen other things and be careful not to knock anything off the shelves. Little frustrations start to add up. Really, I could be really happy in the trailer if the kids just had one small toy apiece and all we ate was oatmeal and sandwiches. But I guess that's not quite realistic, so I'll have to be satisfied with getting rid of random toys while the kids are at school, and maybe find a way to work another cabinet into the kitchen to alleviated the food storage stress.  ... Maybe I should get back out there and keep caulking.

With the soffit panels up and trim, it's actually starting to look like a legitimate house!
(At least on this side...)

We've had a visitor living with a for the past month, and he looks like this.

I don't like him very much.

For two weeks, Fin and Z would wake up in the middle of the night, coughing. At some point, Finley must have picked up another bug, because she started running a fever. I was so sleep deprived, I felt like the mother of a newborn, and my body, after holding up its defenses the best it could, finally succumbed and got sick, too. So did Chris. So did Gramma and Grampa. And yesterday, Joe came home from school running a fever, too.

So we haven't done much lately. The house waits for siding, the north pasture needs bush-hogging, and the trailer needs a thorough cleaning. Mucus man needs to get out of his chair and get gone.

Silly Kids

I am tired of cooking for ingrates.

I remember hearing my mother say that she never liked to cook, and now I understand why.

I fixed chicken noodle soup tonight, and of course the kids complained. I admit, it wasn't the most fantastic soup I'd ever fixed, but at least it didn't come anywhere near making them gag.

In dinner conversation (if that's what you want to call Finley's complaints, Joe's delay tactics, and my threats), Joe said something to the effect that it would be okay if I died, since they know to eat healthy food. Right. I'm sure apples, carrots, and cereal is the perfect, well-rounded diet.

We've been babygoatsitting.

One down (minus paint, caulk, and gable vent), three to go.

Grammar, Punctuation, and Right and Wrong

Recently, I read two works of fiction published in the 21st century that carried the same grammatical error within their pages. Both used 'try and' instead of 'try to'. This made me crazy. So I made a comment about it on facebook. You know how it is when you say something in judgment only to reveal your own hypocrisy? That is why Proverbs admonishes us over and over again that the wise man keeps his mouth shut.

Anyway, in my comment, I misspelled one word and apparently misused an apostrophe. Or did I? I don't know. I used to think that the proper spelling of "CDs" was "CDs", but in Reanna's 7th grade language book, it taught that "CD's" was proper, so although I didn't like it, I adopted the apostrophe in those circumstances. Consensus on facebook was that the apostrophe did not belong. I tried to look it up on Wikipedia, and there, the rule stated that apostrophes should be used on plural non-words, like "CD's". Another (probably more reliable) website said that the apostrophe should only be used on plurals of lower case letters, like when you mind your "p's" and "q's". So just as the comma used to be used before "and" in lists of three or more but isn't anymore (except in my writing), the rules of the apostrophe might be changing.

And this makes me crazy. Why? Because humans really do want to feel that they know what is right and what is wrong. We need to know where those boundary lines are because it makes us feel more secure in life. The problem is that those lines are sometimes hard to nail down.

And I suppose this is where I get into trouble with certain fundamentalists, because I think that, usually, their fundamentals are wrong. Just like grammar and punctuation, we try to define every circumstance and label it right or wrong, and then we end up with large books full of rules that people argue over and forget about the things that are really important, like relationship. That is why Jesus had to dumb all the rules back down for us: Love God, and love others.

And that is why I am going to try not to freak out about minor grammatical and punctuation issues, because if I do, I just might forget about the real purpose of language, the communication of thoughts and ideas.

Things go a little faster when there is a crew. With the help of my brother, Mike, and Ralph and his son, Logan, there is siding on over half the west wall now.

A Bit More Siding

Today, my mom came over and after a few minor setbacks, she and I managed to get two rows of siding up. We were feeling fairly proud of ourselves. We would have done more, but working off ladders was getting a bit uncomfortable.

Siding

So... we started on the siding this weekend. Friday night, I had visions of us slapping up the entire west wall the next day, but we didn't even come close. After a run to Lowe's Saturday morning, it took all day for us to cut, paint, and put up the trim on two windows. Sunday morning, we started the siding in earnest. Again, I was hoping to help get the ball rolling, then take a break and head to church or something. But as we didn't have a roofing nailer, we were hand-nailing every piece; and those fiber cement boards are really heavy, so it took the two of us a concentrated effort to put up each piece. By noon, we'd only gotten three rows done. I figured it would probably take us the rest of the year to get the siding up at the rate we were going, so I was (easily) able to convince Chris to stop in at Harbor Freight on Monday and pick up a cheap nail gun. Things should go more quickly now.

Finley dressed up her stuffed hamster, Scamper, to match her own outfit today. Scamper's outfit included a Barbie skirt, a little ribbon barrette for her hair, and a necklace that matched Finley's.

Today was farm day for the kindergarteners at school. Last week, they sent a note home asking if we had any farm animals we wanted to bring to show the kids. I was a little hesitant, thinking that there would probably be a truckload of people bringing farm animals since we live out here in the country.

I decided to offer to bring Isadora, our blue Polish hen. I named her after my grandmother, since they seem to share the same white, round, fluffy head of hair. I figured at least if there were other chickens, at least Isadora would be a different kind of chicken...

Turns out there weren't as many people bringing animals as I thought there would be. Out of about 100 students, only seven families brought animals. There were handful of chickens, one duck, one rabbit, a few goats, a horse, a calf, and two miniature horses.

Needless to say, Isadora and her funny feathers were quite the hit.

Maybe when Z in in kindergarten two years from now, I'll have a pig to bring, too.

I have been thinking lately about the act of receiving. I know the bible says somewhere that "It is better to give than to receive", but I have the feeling that was meant for an audience that struggled with greed and selfishness more so than pride.

There is something in those of us that are proud that wants to reject a 'gift' if we feel we can provide that thing for ourselves or are ashamed that we can't. Whether it is something in the physical, like money, or something abstract, like forgiveness, it takes a certain amount of humility to receive.

When we are able to finally receive well, without either the greed of a kid on Christmas morning that just wants more or the embarrassment of feeling that others are giving to meet some sort of deficiency in ourselves, we are able to truly experience love.

And that's really the goal of life, isn't it: To be able to love and be loved without our personal issues getting in the way?

The past two mornings, I've been able to witness the morning descent of a flock of wild turkey from the trees into the neighbor's pasture. One by one, they glide down from the night's roosting spot into the open field. I'd been hoping to catch a glimpse of the elusive, not-quite-albino turkey, but either this isn't its flock, or that turkey is no longer of this world. I have no way of knowing which is the case.

While most of the time, watching wildlife is a relaxing and joy-filling experience, sometimes, it can be extremely stressful. This morning, two of the turkeys landed in a different pasture and were separated from their buddies by a livestock fence. One of the turkeys took a couple passes along the fence, then realized it wasn't going to get through, so flapped its wings and flew right over. Sadly, the other turkey wasn't quite so brilliant. I watched as that turkey marched back and forth, back and forth, while the rest of the flock started wandering off to a more distant location. Twenty minutes later, the flock was entirely out of sight, and still this turkey wandered the fence line, looking for that hole that wasn't there. I left the window to do other things.

An hour later, I found myself wondering if the turkey had finally figured things out, so I looked out to the neighbor's pasture again. It was still there. I couldn't take it anymore. I headed outside and into the neighbor's pasture. I didn't have to go far when that turkey spotted me across the field, hopped the fence, and took off running after its long-gone buddies.

Windows and Doors

We just have one more door to install on the side of the house, then maybe we can keep the chickens out of the house.

This morning, I am going to take it easy: Piddle on the computer for a minute, drink some coffee, and take a long, hot shower. I managed to get the kids off to school on time, which felt like a miracle, since I was up three or four times last night with coughing children and we had a late start.

Aside from the coughing, Finley was up late reading and had started to complain about her eye... said it was blurry and everything looked kind of yellow through it. I was hoping a night of rest would clear up whatever problem it had, but she got up this morning pressing her blanket to her eye. I don't know what is wrong with it, but like I do with everything else, am just going to give it some time and see what happens. One big bummer about her eye is that today is picture day, and if she isn't comfortable relaxing and just opening it up, she is going to look mighty funny for the camera, screwing up her face like a pirate. Oh well. I am just thankful that she wore her flowered dress yesterday- the same dress that she wore for both photo days last year- and I was able to convince her that it was too dirty to wear again today and that just 'fluffing it up in the dryer' would not be okay.

Anyway, yesterday, in spite of the lack of sleep due to hacking, snotty children, Chris insisted that we clean the whole trailer in an effort to help the kids kick whatever this funk is they've been fighting. I didn't argue. If he was going to step up and help me clean, I was all for it. So I spent the morning doing laundry and disinfecting counters, knobs, and light switches. When he got home from work, he dusted, disinfected, and wiped down the floors while I fixed supper and washed dishes. I don't think the trailer has been this clean ever. It didn't even get this clean when we moved in. There is one room that didn't get any special attention, though, and that is our room. I guess since the kids aren't supposed to be hanging out in here, Chris didn't feel it was necessary. Maybe I can take care of it today... although what I'd really like is to just curl up in a ball and sleep for about two days. You'd think once you wean your infant from nighttime feedings, your zombie days are over and restful nights are all that are on the horizon. But no.

The neighbors had another round of baby goats not long ago. Chris got a call wondering if we might want to take a bottle baby. That might be fun, I thought... so we went over to see what the deal was. Sometimes a mother goat doesn't bother taking care of the kid, and most of the time, that is why some need to be bottle fed. This situation was different. This kid seemed to be paralyzed from the hips down and couldn't stand up on its back legs. They didn't know if the kid had some birth defect or had been stepped on. Aside from the unusable legs, the baby seemed healthy enough... but I felt like it would be a waste of time to take him on. Sometimes a "farmer" has to make a decision... that every life is not worth saving.

Our neighbor, Denise, couldn't quite give up on him yet, though, so she ended up bottle feeding him, then even got the mother to let him nurse... When I heard the news that he was strong enough to nurse on his own and seemed to be happily dragging himself around the pen, I felt a little guilty. Who was I to play God and decide this life was not worth giving a chance? I started having visions of a goat strapped into one of those doggie wheelchairs, pulling himself around the barnyard with his strong front legs, bringing joy and inspiration to visitors with his undefeatable spirit. A quick look online showed a doggie wheelchair ran about $200, but I bet we could rig one up somehow...

We stopped in for a visit this afternoon, and sorry to say, "Gimpy" (the name I tend to give all animals with leg handicaps) wasn't doing so well. Sure, he was hearty enough, thanks to Denise's attentive bottle feeding (he was no longer able to nurse), but he could no longer even get up on his front legs, and Denise had finally decided it was time to put the guy down. Sometimes, with animals (I'll not dive into the human aspect of this),  it is better to not "save" a life. Life is life, and death is part of life, and sometimes, maybe, we shouldn't fight so hard against it.

Windows

We started installing windows today. I would be more excited about it if 1. the process of selecting and buying said windows hadn't been such a headache, 2. it wasn't miserably hot, 3. I felt like I knew what I was doing, and 4. I wasn't irrationally grumpy (aka. pms-ing). Five down, nine to go.

Another Egg-citing Surprise

The girls and I went outside yesterday afternoon to check for eggs. Finley checked the corner of the house where we found the eggs on Sunday and the stable. Nothing. Zivah and I checked the big chicken coop. Nothing. Then we went into the back yard to check the small chicken coop. I told Finley to let Z open up the little door. I expected her to exclaim excitedly, "An egg!" But she didn't. She just stood there, looking.


And when I looked inside and saw this...:I confess, I let out a small scream. Thankfully Chris was home, and he pulled the snake out of the coop:

Then he cut off its head with an axe. As you can see, it had just eaten an egg, and when the axe came down, egg yolk splatted dramatically up into the air.

Maybe I could handle that next time. We'll see.

After routing one chicken from laying in a flower pot, I've been trying to keep my eye out for other non-approved nesting spots. In the mean time, I've been finding less eggs in the approved locations. The chicken that was laying an egg in the stable stopped after I put some extra hay down to give it a more comfortable nest (where's the gratitude?), and I haven't been finding as many green and blue eggs in the nesting boxes. I don't know if they have decided to lay elsewhere or if they are just tired of this dry heat, but Finley did discover this cache in the new house today...

Joe is home sick today. On top of recovering from strep that I think all three kids caught, his nose started running yesterday, and then last night, he started coughing. So I didn't get much sleep.

A few weeks ago, we had trapped another possum on the porch, and when Chris went to release it 'back to the wild', he spotted a kitten that had been dumped on the side of the road. He brought ihim home, then the kids named him Max, so now we're stuck with him. He's been the typical kitten terror, running around and clawing his way all over the furniture, then calming down just long enough to sleep on your lap for the ten minutes it takes to convince you to forgive him for his antics.

We've been keeping him in our bathroom at night, but by morning, he is ready to tear through the house. And since I haven't been too fond of being woken up at 5 a.m. when Chris gets up for work, I banished him to the shop last night. When Chris left for work this morning, he heard some desperate meows and went to check on Max. Apparently, Max freaked out and wouldn't let Chris touch him, and when I went to see if I could retrieve him, could find no sign of the little nutcase. Although I made lots of loud noises, he refused to show himself or utter a meow to let me know he was okay. I don't think he could have gotten out, so I guess I'll just have to wait out his little tantrum.

And now I have put my foot down. No more kittens. As funny as I think that super bowl commercial was where the cowboys were herding cats, I don't want a farm full of cats.

Speaking of critters... Saturday, I walked out the front door of the trailer to see that elusive skunk poking its head out a pipe that sticks out from the foundation of the new house. (It is what we will run the sewer line through.) I called Finley and asked her to watch the pipe to make sure the skunk didn't run off while I tried to find something to catch it in. I managed to get Chris attention, and we decided to block the pipe with cinderblocks until we could borrow (again) the neighbor's live trap. I had to crawl under the house, praying that I wouldn't come face to face with the skunk in order to block the other side of the pipe. Trying not to get too close to the front of the pipe, I aimed my flashlight beam down the pipe and thought I saw a furry lump huddled inside. We borrowed the neighbor's trap, set it up on one end of the pipe, and waited.

The next morning, we hadn't caught a thing, so I crawled under the house again with a 2x4, hoping I could push the stubborn critter into the trap. I pulled the cinder block back, and peeked in, only to find... nothing. The skunk must have run out the back side of the house while we were blocking the front.

Two nights ago, I relocated the trap to another part of the crawl space. Yesterday morning, there was nothing in the trap, but today.... there is. We had covered the trap with a garbage bag so that if we caught the skunk, we hopefully wouldn't get sprayed by it. But now, I can't see if there really is a skunk in there, or if it just might be another possum. And I am afraid to look.

I had a feeling some of my chickens were laying eggs in some sneaky spots. I have one that lays next to the hay rack in the stable, and I had found some eggs shells under the chipper stored in the stable as well. Yesterday, I even crawled under the deck and checked the crawl space under the trailer but didn't find a thing. This morning, I went to water the plants on the deck and found THESE in the big ficus pot. And I thought that chicken was just coming up on deck looking for the peanut butter I had been leaving in the trap for the possum. I guess not.

Haircut!

I was tired of the frumpy way the straighter hair from the top-back of Z's hair came down and covered up Z's curls in back, so I decided it was time for a hair cut again. I cut the back up to the same relative length as her sides, then layered the straighter hair above her curls. Cute, cute! (If I do say so myself...)

Deals

Wandering around Lowe's last week, a shower unit caught our eyes. It was exactly the size we wanted and a one-piece: just what I was hoping for. We had installed a three-piece shower in Nashville, and I was forever cleaning orange slime out of its seams. And although custom tile would be neat, a one-piece will be a whole lot easier to clean. This one-piece even had a little bump out in the corner where I can sit to shave my legs. And the best part? It was a $378 shower on clearance for $150.

A few days later, Chris stopped into another Lowe's and found a tub and shower one-piece on clearance. Originally retailing for $378 as well, he got it for $104.

We found these at just the right time, too. If the windows and doors had been installed, we might not have been able to get any one-pieces into the house.

If that wasn't enough, yesterday I went to Tractor Supply to pick up some cat food. Browsing through the clothing department, I found some $40 Carhartt jeans on clearance for $15, and they actually had them... in my size!! I bought two pair.

Photogenic Eggs

I really can't help myself. Our different colored eggs are so pretty together, I had to photograph them. I am even contemplating finding a way to incorporate that color scheme inside the new house somewhere, although I'm not sure the paint guys at the hardware store would be able to use eggshells for color matching.

Then today, I found this egg with a feather stuck to it just so.

Today is the first day of school... Joe's first day of Kindergarten. No, he didn't cry. In fact, you'd think he's gone to school every day of his life. Makes it easier on Mom when your kid isn't clinging to you and bawling. Two years ago, you'd never know this kid could be so confident. I couldn't leave him in the three-year-old class at church without having to peel him off me first.

So I only have one child underfoot. Well, not literally, as she is in bed for naptime, and I am praying (pleading with God) that she will actually go to sleep. Can you imagine what I could do without ANY interruptions for two hours? Maybe pull the broken water pump off the tractor? Who knows...

Z is 3!

Z turned three a few weeks back, but if you ask her, she might tell you she's four. Or twenty.

When Finley picked out her birthday dress, Z enthusiastically agreed that she wanted one, too. But do you think I could get her to wear it? No. I tried not to let on how pleased I was that she was rejecting a dress... and that she was asking for an Iron Man shirt. I now have hope that at least one of my girls might be more of a tomboy like me. We took back her dress and since Iron Man wasn't available, she opted for a red Lightning McQueen shirt and red athletic shorts. Her other favorite clothes include a Titan's jersey, a black t-shirt that says "Dad is my superhero", her Funny Farm shirt, and any sort of comfy pants or shorts.

We are actually making progress in the potty department. She can keep her pants dry if I remember to ask her fairy often, and she sometimes even lets me know when she need to go. Number two is a different story, though.

Her favorite toy is her Schleich horse (named Horse) who is usually accompanied by Cow. It's all about animals for Z.

Z loves to be silly, she loves to laugh, her smile is bright and frequent. She is aggressively affectionate. She is my ornery little light.