Da funky disco z'in da house

...because everyone loves a good mashup...

...dare ya to watch and NOT tap your feet or nod your head!

Stayin' Alive In The Wall (Pink Floyd vs Bee Gees Mashup) by Wax Audio

Gonna have to build an ark!

I've been mentioning a lot of rain lately, eh? Oh we do get sunny moments here and there and they're beautimus! But the fact remains that we don't know where to put the dang water anymore.

My friend took this photo of her street yesterday morning:

Her street borders our property, eh?

And our property is bordered by two creeks, who now fancy themselves little rivers. The aggravating thing is that the grass is growing like crazy: our lawn is green and lush, ready for a good mow before it gets out of control. Only it also sports mini lakes all over and to call it a bog would be an understatement. Our footprints leave giant sinkholes everywhere, so forget using any kind of machinery on that lawn!

Yeah, it's a right mess and it won't get any better until the skies clear up, which could be July by the weather predictions! Maybe we should buy a canoe....

How's spring in your part of the world?

The slow diaries

Oh dear - I keep forgetting to visit blogland and then the days fly by and I go and mess up my lower back again and spend days shuffling around like an old grannie in agony and then Vegas finally comes back from his business trip to help me but he's leaving again and I'm in a panic when I should be in a body brace and we're flooded with violent storms and my head hurts but my heart sings from the warm weather and bursts of sunshine and oh look baby freckles on my nose or am I just imagining things and that's it for now good night!

Man-made madness

Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, 

then names the streets after them. 

~Bill Vaughn

Lo! and Behold!

Last night, around 6pm, the voracious winds turned warmer 

and pushed away the heavy grey low-hanging clouds 

to reveal this awesome sky... 

What a feast for the eyes! the heart! the soul! 

After I put the flocks to bed 

I rushed into the house to grab my camera, 

you can't miss breathtaking moments like these ;-)

I felt soooo small, standing there looking up up up...

And then, looking down at me from the deck: 

our sweet beanies!

I found this in our flower beds at 7pm last night,

no idea how it survived yesterday's weather -

even better, it bloomed in it

because it wasn't there yesterday morning!

I feel like a wet rag today but I'll try to get some work done on the coops, 

eventually everyone WILL be outside for the summer dangnabbit!

My friend's going riding this afternoon but I can't go with her

as my lower back is still messed up and 

I'm alone for most of the week...

Gotta be careful.

*another Le Sigh*

Wishing you all a very Happy Easter,

if you celebrate it!

Pffffft!

That's what I think of April so far: PFFFFT!

It's made no effort whatsoever to be nice - my gosh it's MAY in a week and the trees are still brown and bare, shivering in the freezing rain and trying not to break in the hurricane-ish wind...

Gardens are bare and devoid of flowers, grass tries to grow here and there but ends up buried under snow every few days... It's rained so much the half-frozen earth can't absorb any more water, hence the bogs and giant puddles everywhere...

Worst. April. Evar.

*le sigh*

I hate to sound like a broken record but I'm just sayin' it like it is. Found another very sick hen in the coop this morning, no doubt related to the fluctuating weather and cold winds and humidity - I'm so tired of this, you've no idea. SIX MONTHS is enough!

I've got cabin fever today - Vegas is leaving for a business trip tomorrow afternoon so there's no sense in baking or anything. Can't do laundry until the dryer has been serviced on Monday or else everything will stink of burnt crap again. I hoovered two days ago, the dogs are sleeping and I'm in no mood to start any big project like painting walls or cleaning out closets, bleh.

So Scrabble vs The Robot it is, watching HGTV, puttering online and spending time with my flocks, doing my best to make do with what we've got. We may go out for dinner tonight although I don't feel like it right now. Just want to sink into a hot bubble bath, put on my jammies and go to bed until tomorrow, when it's *supposed* to be a bit warmer and, hopefully, sunny.

But no, I have to go walk the dogs later, bring in the horses and feed everyone so scrap that thought!

Are you tired of my ranting yet? LOL

/end of SHITTY NON-SPRING post/

and Darwin smiled

If we are going to teach 'creation science'

as an alternative to evolution, 

then we should also teach the stork theory 

as an alternative to biological reproduction.  

~Judith Hayes, In God We Trust:  But Which One?

In case you were curious...

This is what spring looks like

in our part of the hellhole country:

Yep, waking up to this loveliness

on April 21st takes all kinds of willpower

not to go a little bit nuts.

We are so moving to a warmer climate

as soon as we can!

The day after

Well, we're still buried under November-ish weather

but I have to remember that soon,

we'll be seeing this:

Must. Keep. The. Vision!

I was afraid to wake up to more dead hens this morning but no, we got spared. I just hope that was the last of it yesterday, I was at my wits' end. Apologies for the crappy post... I was in a crappy mood.

Today is a day for staying inside, from horses to chickens to dogs to us peeps. Luckily I baked a home-made carrot cake with cream cheese frosting yesterday, so a slice of that coupled a cuppa hot tea should pull us through. Soon spring. Soon spring. Soon spring.

I got to thinking about chemicals last night while taking a shower.

Yes, I do most of my productive thinking while scrubbing, LOL.

We're so careful about the stuff we ingest (well, some of us some of the time...) but how about the chemicals we slather on our bodies every day? Hair products, body creams and powders, soaps, nail polish, makeup and makeup removers, sprays and perfumes, not to mention toothpaste and mouthwash?

Is any of it safe?

What is it doing to our systems?

Just a thought...

Maybe I should stop taking those showers, it hurts my head.

/end of Ponderins And Green Stuffs post/

Rant

I'm too mad and upset to post properly these days.

Some evil "spring cold" is decimating my flocks and I am counting down the hours until the meds to cure them arrive, in the meantime I watch helplessly and am livid about it. I am losing birds every day now with more and more in quarantine, I'm at my wit's end.

Sunny today but very cold, the next few days are forecasted as winter-like: gray, cold, hail, freezing rain, snowflakes, high winds - look! Snowfall warning in effect!

I WANT TO SCREAM!!

Yesterday I ripped a muscle in my lower back trying to help a guy get his van and trailer out of our muddy, slippery ramp next to the barn, it took an hour and half and was completely exhausting and frustrating. All this to try and get the big manure pile down to a workable level - it's taking forever.

We still have no flowers, barely any buds and no leaves on the trees, the lawn is a brown bog and oh, how I dislike this time of year. Painful in too many ways to count.

Housework and baking awaits me as I scoot from the barn to the house in endless trips, hobbling along like an old cripple. Fuck I'm in a bad mood today.

Die-t

Reality check: you can never, ever, use weight loss 

to solve problems that are not related to your weight. 

At your goal weight or not, 

you still have to live with yourself and deal with your problems. 

You will still have the same husband, the same job, 

the same kids, and the same life. 

Losing weight is not a cure for life. 

~Phillip C. McGraw, The Ultimate Weight Solution, 2003

The Green Thing

Copied from a Facebook post that caught my eye this morning...

In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that plastic bags weren’t good for the environment.

The woman apologized to her and explained, “We didn’t have the green thing back in my day.”

That’s right, they didn’t have the green thing in her day. Back then, they returned their milk bottles, Coke bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, using the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But they didn’t have the green thing back in her day.

In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. They walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks. But she’s right. They didn’t have the green thing in her day.

Back then, they washed the baby’s diapers because they didn’t have the throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts – wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that old lady is right, they didn’t have the green thing back in her day.

Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house – not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a pizza dish, not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn’t have electric machines to do everything for you. When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used wadded up newspaper to cushion it, not styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, they didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by working so they didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she’s right, they didn’t have the green thing back then.

They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty, instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They refilled pens with ink, instead of buying a new pen, and they replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But they didn’t have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar and kids rode their bikes to school or rode the school bus, instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And they didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint. But they didn't have the green thing back then!

Author: Bill Patchett

Your daily bread

One may have a blazing hearth in one's soul 

and yet no one ever come to sit by it.  

Passers-by see only a wisp of smoke from the chimney 

and continue on the way.  

~Vincent Van Gogh

...

My beloved Paloma was fine a few days ago, happy and free-ranging with her flock - 

and this morning I had to watch her die in front of me, 

drowned from thick fluid in her lungs 

after struggling miserably to breathe the past two days.

All this because I had no access to the proper meds to save her.

I am devastated.

I brought this sweet girl home at 8 weeks of age on November 30th, 2009, 

and watched her grow into a huge, beautiful and gentle soul 

with the softest feathers and most demure disposition. 

And now suddenly, she is gone.

And three more girls are sick with the same respiratory ailment

after being fine the whole winter long.

I'm almost ready to throw in the towel,

I can't take any more hits like this, 

it hurts too much.

Good forever night, angel...

Either way

(click to enlarge pic)

Mindless

Multitasking while making your coffee can lead to a caffeine-free experience, as I found out yesterday morning.

Only when I hit the bottom of my cup did I notice the latte was, well, pretty white. I had forgotten to add the coffee part to my hot sweet milk part - ok not funny, but kinda funny when you think I didn't even really notice until I'd drank the whole thing.

>>>>>>>>>>o<<<<<<<<<

We finally got our new bed delivered last Friday and it's a beaut! Finally, after almost two long years, no more mattresses on the floor. Bliss! Complete with nightstands, too - my very first!

Only I always get up in the middle of the night (thank you, peanut bladder) and nearly did a face palm on the floor as I caught my foot on the side of the bed, expecting the floor but hitting air. Yeah, that would have been awkward - bloody nose at 4am. Imma lucky girl!


>>>>>>>>>>o<<<<<<<<<

I posted a new video of the free-ranging flock on The Chicken Diaries if you want to smile. No laughing at the filming shadow or whiney voice, mmmkay?

>>>>>>>>>>o<<<<<<<<<

Yes, the weather's been that gorgeous the past few days. Back to rain and cooler temps now, but it was nice to get a taste of spring. Our daffodils are *almost* in bloom, the tulips are making good headway and the lawns and fields are starting to take on a tinge of green. Love it :-)

>>>>>>>>>>o<<<<<<<<<

I don't love the mud that goes with all this rain, though.

Nor the crampy head.

>>>>>>>>>>o<<<<<<<<<

I made yummy walnut brownies the other day but after pigging out on them, I now feel too guilty to indulge. I keep saying I want to lose some weight for the summer (hence my current poll, LOL) but man, I do love eating. My thighs and lower belly seem jigglier than before and I don't have that "glow" in the face that I used to, you know?

And I'm moving all the time, so I don't know what's up with that.

Too many calories in, not enough out?

Meh. I need a makeover.

And sleep.

>>>>>>>>>>o<<<<<<<<<

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Making pretty

I love waking up to a warm spring morning,

with Vegas doin' his moves on the deck -

slumbering puppies at his feet:

We've had a couple of incidents with one of the neighbor's kids,

who saw fit to throw dime-store firecrackers at the horses -

why would anyone want to torture these poor critters?

Yes, we're on war turf right now -

*fckers*

Meanwhile, we moved the main flock to their summer quarters

which means they're all over the yard now,

scratching for yummy stuff and feasting on tender grass shoots.

It's a beautiful sight!

I just feel really bad for the other two flocks,

who are still in the barn for a couple of weeks.

Their summer coops require bird netting over the outside pens

to keep the birds in and the hawks out.

Last year a snowstorm on April 26th tore all the netting down -

yeah, I'm not being conned a second time into believing

spring is really here yet!

First thundershower of the year happened this morning.

I slept through most of it.

So! Much! Rain! :-o

For reasons unknown, I'm moving more than ever

and not eating any differently than before,

yet I seem to be gaining weight - wth?!

I want to experiment with a low-carb diet for a week

and see if I get that boost of energy

that many people claim -

thoughts on this?

I need to lose weight for summer!

(ps: voted in the poll yet?)

fly me to the moon

The desire to fly is an idea handed down to us by our ancestors who, 

in their grueling travels across trackless lands in prehistoric times, 

looked enviously on the birds soaring freely through space, 

at full speed, above all obstacles, 

on the infinite highway of the air.  

~Wilbur Wright

A spring day, in photos

Finally, the clouds broke and let the sun through!

I've been enjoying every possible moment outside the past two days,

it's time for spring yard cleanup,

prepping the summer coops

and all that awesome fun stuff :-D

The doggies (aka The Beanies) are loving it too!

Pics below taken in our back yard yesterday.

Photo below is entitled "The Pooping Bitch" -

click to enlarge and see why, LOL!

The formidable mouse hunter, hard at work...

after all, akitas *are* giant cats!

I hear something in the distance... so...

...I better check it out NOW! NOW! NOW!

Ha! Ha! 

It was just me farting!

says Dakotah

Sniffing out the huge ant hills, 

wishing they contained bigger things.

Our boy pretending to be all regal and stuff.

The real melonhead :-D

Mine. And mine.

It's all mine.

Random sky shot, just because.

Happy beanies.

Wanna play? 

Huh? Huh?

Oh! Joyous spring!

How we all love thee!

If this weather keeps up...

...we're going to need to become "The Best"!

Booooyeah

I don't know who's aching and limping more today, Jack or moi!

We went riding yesterday afternoon and the old man went nuts on the running. Heart and adrenaline of a five year old, body two decades older - dang it. But oh, we had a great time, Jack absolutely loves riding, he just comes alive under the saddle - pure joy! However, that boy has no brakes and I'm going to have to work with him a few times per week to bring that under control.

In the meantime it's cold, wet and miserable today so that's not helping anyone's old bones. Booo. I put a pot of spaghetti sauce to bubble on the stove and a double batch of banana bread in the oven, wooo!

Balance, we need balance.

Jack will get some nice organic apples tonight with his dinner :-)

Nothing much else going on, we're stuck inside most days so not much progress on springtime activities. Doggies are fine, chickens are getting "end of winter colds", Vegas is working hard and is looking at a lot of traveling for business this month, we're both dreaming and scheming for a move to warmer climates (who isn't?!).

Does nobody like my new poll?

So few votes! LOL!

/end of Better Posts Coming Soon, Promise! post/

Urban poop

Each year it seems to take less time to fly across the ocean

and longer to drive to work. 

~Author Unknown

Stone Soup

There's nothing like a good fable to lift one's spirits - here's one of my favorites (linky here) - enjoy :-)

A kindly, old stranger was walking through the land when he came upon a village. As he entered, the villagers moved towards their homes locking doors and windows.

The stranger smiled and asked, why are you all so frightened? I am a simple traveler, looking for a soft place to stay for the night and a warm place for a meal.

"There's not a bite to eat in the whole province," he was told. "We are weak and our children are starving. Better keep moving on."

"Oh, I have everything I need," he said. "In fact, I was thinking of making some stone soup to share with all of you." He pulled an iron cauldron from his cloak, filled it with water, and began to build a fire under it.

Then, with great ceremony, he drew an ordinary-looking stone from a silken bag and dropped it into the water.

By now, hearing the rumor of food, most of the villagers had come out of their homes or watched from their windows. As the stranger sniffed the "broth" and licked his lips in anticipation, hunger began to overcome their fear.

"Ahh," the stranger said to himself rather loudly, "I do like a tasty stone soup. Of course, stone soup with cabbage -- that's hard to beat."

Soon a villager approached hesitantly, holding a small cabbage he'd retrieved from its hiding place, and added it to the pot.

"Wonderful!!" cried the stranger. "You know, I once had stone soup with cabbage and a bit of salt beef as well, and it was fit for a king."

The village butcher managed to find some salt beef . . . and so it went, through potatoes, onions, carrots, mushrooms, and so on, until there was indeed a delicious meal for everyone in the village to share.

The villager elder offered the stranger a great deal of money for the magic stone, but he refused to sell it and traveled on the next day.

As he left, the stranger came upon a group of village children standing near the road. He gave the silken bag containing the stone to the youngest child, whispering to a group, "it was not the stone, but the villagers that had performed the magic."

Moral: By working together, with everyone contributing what they can, a greater good is achieved.