OASIS

Baby Rabbits!

2011-06-01T10:51:00.000-07:00

This is for you Brandy. :)

Strawberry's Babies

Miracle's Babies

Miracle & her babies

FOR STEPHANIE

2011-05-20T10:00:00.000-07:00

Stephanie- just drop me a line on Etsy & let me know which dress you want with your little doll! Happy shopping! :)

DAY ONE- PART 2 NURSERY SCHOOL

2010-06-27T11:11:00.000-07:00

DAY ONE- NURSERY SCHOOL

2010-06-27T10:46:00.000-07:00

DUCKIES FOR ROSY

2010-06-26T20:30:00.000-07:00

BABY CHICKENS FOR JESSICA

2010-06-26T18:36:00.000-07:00

WHEN THE MICE COME OUT TO PLAY

2009-10-31T16:55:00.000-07:00

The events of the afternoon looked alot like this...

Cornstarch to create the white, and a knife to attempt to sharpen the eye-liner pencil...

And then this happened...clothes strewn all over (and is still there).

This was left behind- such a sad misfortune...

And then these characters showed up and demanded reparition in the form of sugar & pizza

I think that we should be afraid- VERY AFRAID

But this one is kinda cute. Do you think that it could be a trap? You know, using the cuteness to lure us into a comfort zone- than swashbuckling us? Not sure...

Yeah- I think it's a trap! This is too cute to be a totally innocent appearance!

EARTH TO...

2009-08-29T20:18:00.001-07:00

...US

For those who need to know...our phone number has changed. Email if you need it.

When I met the KING OF THE JUNGLE

2009-08-06T10:20:00.000-07:00

This is Bella.

Bella is a baby.

Bella is a baby LION.

And she didn't want us to leave.

This has been counted in the Annals of Our Lives a possibly

one of the Few Great Moments in Life.

To have The King of the Jungle curled up on your lap for a nap is beyond description.

We'll be going back.

GRATEFULNESS

2009-07-20T09:22:00.000-07:00

And here I begin. At the beginning. A road yet travelled, an adventure yet lived...

I am grateful for:

1. My best friend at my side every day
2. A living room that is neat, organized, orderly and clean
3. A wall built, sheetrocked and finished at the stairs
4. Garden ready for the next successive planting
5. Cherries
6. Home made fish sticks- so yummy! http://www.elanaspantry.com/fish-sticks/
7. Friends coming to town
8. Friends safe at home again on the other side of the world
9. Winning this pattern in a drawing http://www.hedgehoglane.com/small-dolls/
10. Happy music

CALICO PIE

2009-07-16T11:18:00.000-07:00

One of the things my mother made sure of was that my brother & I learned to read & enjoy poetry. Probably one of my all-time favorites, out of the huge volume of 1,001 Poems You Must Read (or something to that effect) was The Owl & the Pussycat by Edward Lear. You have not lived if you have not read that poem. Another favorite by him was Calico Pie. I've only just recently discovered that he not only wrote nonsensical poems for children, but illustrated them as well. Check out this link for the illustrations.
Calico Pie- http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/ns/calico.html
The Owl & the Pussy-cat- http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/ns/pussy.html

DAILY THINGS

2009-07-15T10:58:00.000-07:00

This is an idea that I got from http://walkslowlylivewildly.com/. I thought it was nice, so I'm copying her. :) This list was geared for someone at home, but since I'm at work I figured I'd do it from here.

Outside my window…there is no window here in my jobsite office, but I can hear the city noises, and ocassionally the children from the local YMCA on a field trip to the movies
I am thinking…about how to set up an office space/area using furniture/items that I already have around the house- this weekend's "official" project.
From the kitchen…for lunch today- tortellini with home-made pesto. I'm so excited about that!
I am wearing…tan carhartts, grey t-shirt w/ a navy blue monkey embroidered hoody
I am creating…operation & maintenance manuals for this job that we're wrapping up
I am going…to the office to make copies, and then home!
I am reading…(in the evenings) "Mossflower", book two in the Redwall series
I am hearing…a city bus, the refrigerator, my computer's brain thinking, squeeky brakes on a passing car, the plumber doing paperwork in his office.
Around the house…Hubby framed the wall on the stairwell this week, and has also been getting the front yard ready to plant grass. The next hatch of quail is about the pop out of their shell. This morning (after I let him out & left for work) the dog got ahold of a bag of wood chips for smoking meat on the bar-b-q & played with/destroyed the whole thing (did I ever mention that D & the Dog don't like each other? this is part of the reason why!).
One of my favorite things…is a clean kitchen & all the animals fed
A few plans for the rest of the week…move the new rabbit cage frame to its final resting place, weed the garden, fold the laundry

GORGEOUS

2009-07-09T07:37:00.001-07:00

~ Serengeti~

SMITTEN

2009-07-07T13:23:00.000-07:00

OK, so I'm smitten. I have a love affair with frogs, salamanders & mushrooms. They're just cool.

MY CAREER

2009-07-07T11:16:00.000-07:00

I think that this could be called my career, or something... I'm great at starting quilts (I love to pick out the fabrics!) but once they hit about half-way they stall out and take months (or years) to get any further! But they're pretty, and they inspire me...so I keep doing it. :)

This is my red (obviously) quilt. It will be twin-sized when/if it's ever done. The back is going to be black w/ white dots (same as the red w/ white that you see in the top).

This is the Hubby quilt. It will replace the one his mother made for him years ago. She told me that when she made that one, he specifically requested fabrics w/ flowers...so I've tried to find non-girly flower prints to incorporate in this quilt. It will be X-large twin-sized.
I have no idea what the pattern is, I saw something like it, and then added the sorta log cabin twist of red in the center.

This is my Happy Quilt. It will probably be a full size when it's done...right now there's just alot of it! And I'm not even entirely sure what I'm going to do with it, as the pieces aren't long enough to make the quilt wide enough, so it will be pieced somehow.

But it'll be happy when I do get it figured out! :)

PIGEON GUILLAMOT

2009-07-06T11:06:00.000-07:00

Betcha' can't pronounce that name... Don't ask me, I'll just make it up.

Hubby came home the other day telling me that he got "hit in the head by a puffin on the beach" that day. Turns out that this was not an entirely literal description of the event, but kinda' close.

We've known for years that some sort of sea birds nest in these holes

We were told that they were puffins

But it was strange that we've never seen puffins...

Until Saturday when I saw a Guillamot just off shore with a fish...and then it flew into one of the holes! "Ah-hah!" I said to myself "they're not puffin holes, they're Guillamot holes!" Well, I didn't say exactly that, but that resembles how it went.

And then...

I looked again and saw a Guillamot egg. My day was complete- no, my WEEK was complete! Isn't it the most beautiful water-colored egg you've ever seen? I think so. I bet the Guillamot Parents agree with me.

The egg is slightly larger, and slightly more eliptical, than a large chicken egg.

THE CANINE OBSESSION

2009-07-06T10:23:00.000-07:00

It starts innocently enough...

...this obsession of boy & dog

Find a stick

Chuck a stick

Chase a stick

Catch a stick

And drag it home for dinner

Hail the conquering hero

Pretend to ignore it

Until the bigger, better mousetrap is invented

And then you begin again.

The obsession perpetrates itself.

AROUND THE YARD

2009-07-06T09:47:00.000-07:00

Some random recent pictures...

Whimsy

Lakenvelder hen

Red

Rhode Island Red hen

*has no name yet*

Black chicken (black sexlink?) hen

Muffy

Ameracauna hen (she's smart, too)

Little Hen

Ameracauna hen (this year's baby)

Goldie

Buff Orpington hen

(dumb blond chicken award goes to this bird!)

Nan & my basket

Boo & Toby

Sweet Bluebell

Baby quail

The dish is only 1 1/2" across...

SUMMER GARDEN TOUR

2009-07-06T08:43:00.001-07:00

Come on in and tour my garden with me. Please excuse the weeds, they get a little crazy up here in our fertile valley. After this past weekend, they're mostly gone anyway. (I'm winning)

Strawberry, on the OUTSIDE of the garden fence, gazing wishfully at the abundance just beyond her reach!

Baby tomatoes

Evening Stock- this is what heaven will smell like. If you've never grown it, your life is not complete. Grow it.

Walla Walla Sweet onions, beginning to bulb up.

The crop that I WISH I wasn't growing. Our yard must have been the town nail dump for the past 200 years...I collect, and pick, and remove, and toss out, and throw away & rake up nails until I'm blue in the face...and still they grow. This is most certainly & regretably not a bare-foot garden!

Zucchini. I think that I planted too many plants! Anyone want some?

Lettuce

Green beans- searching in vane for something to climb (finally got the trellis up this weekend)

FRANKENspinach...that is my foot, and that is the leaf, and it really is that big!

Cucumbers (in the middle), marigolds (on the two sides), radishes (bottom & top), volunteer tomato (bottom, center)

Carrots

Blueberries coming on

Mega-radishes. They were about 3' tall here- not edible, but impressively huge

COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS

2009-06-30T12:04:00.000-07:00

I was counting this morning…actually, I wasn’t counting. I was working on a spreadsheet of the almost 10,000 light fixtures that I have ordered, received, counted, unpacked & supervised installation of on this jobsite, listening to my iPod (“Celebration”) in an effort to drown out the sound of the mouse munching on something in the trash can across the room, and thinking about an adorable little Russian girl that I would have brought home with me 10 years ago if I could have…she’s 15 now. Her name is Lida. I’ll post a picture someday so you can see her as I remember her.
Remembering, and listening to the hauntingly beautiful sound of that song made me melancholy. So I did what any sane girl would do & wrote to a friend who shared that day a decade ago in the play yard of a little Russian Baby House…asked her if she still thought of “her” little girl Olya, and then went on to tell her about our hopes & dreams. Which basically do not encompass the place we are currently living.
And then I apologized for sending such a downer of an email and told her about all of the wonderful things that we have been able to do with the place we’re living now in spite of how very far it seems from our dreams (wherever you are, be all there…we are). And the tally was kind of amazing- so I thought I’d share it with you.
First and quickly- most everyone probably already knows that we hope to someday have property almost in the middle of nowhere and live as simply and with as little dependence on retail as possible. But right now we live squished between two houses in a rather dense suburban neighborhood on a city lot that is less than ¼ acre. On that lot there is a house, a large shed/workshop, a separate garage & a greenhouse. There is also a rather large concrete patio. In spite of all of these “obstacles” we have still managed to fit onto that little lot: (4) pheasants [to lay eggs, to incubate, to raise for food, sale & release],

(12) broiler chickens,

(6) egg chickens, (20) quail [to lay eggs, to incubate, to raise for food, sale & release], (3) breeder rabbits + (1) pet rabbit, (9) fryer rabbits, (2) breeder ducks, (11) roasting ducklings & a dog. We also have 600 sq ft of vegetable garden

where we are growing potatoes, snap peas, cucumbers, shelling peas, zucchini,

green beans, carrots, radishes, beets, spinach, lettuce, greens mix, onions, green peppers, tomatoes, rhubarb, strawberries, blueberries, gooseberries, grapes & raspberries. We have a pear tree & a fig tree.

A 100 sq ft of herb garden, and flowers in every corner of the yard. I should also mention that this is in spite of the fact that the entire front yard (another 600+ sq ft) looks like a war zone due to the excavation & re-decorating efforts of the dog & hubby- but once we get that landscaped & under control we’ll have even more growing space.
We have a 1,000 gal pond that will someday be home to a colony of crayfish, and a utility room full of 40+ baby quail w/ more eggs in the incubator. The greenhouse will continue to provide us with greens & hopefully tomatoes through the winter. We heat with a wood stove front the huge woodpile in our backyard, we’re getting rain barrels set up and have a compost pile in the works.
It’s easy to focus on the future with eyes only for what Will Be, but if you take a step back and look at the What Is where you are in the now…you might just be surprised.

SUMMERTIME, SUMMERTIME, SUM-SUM-SUMMERTIME...

2009-06-19T07:23:00.000-07:00

The wanderings and ramblings of June... Enjoy.

It's mid-June. Strawberry season. YUM. The dryness & heat has made it a great crop this year, and the berries pretty much picked themselves & jumped into the box. It only took me 1/2 hour to pick 20lbs. It took me much longer to make jam and get some whole ones in the freezer.

D went out to his truck last night, and found this wriggling on the sidewalk. He tried to pick it up, but it kept trying to bite him. He finally nabbed it in a bucket, and after taking pictures (while it screamed the entire time, who knew moles could scream!) we released it in the semi-wild park over the dike. I hope it is what was digging up my garden, and that it is gone (and the digging will cease!)

{Polaris}

That crazy cat! She LOVESLOVESLOVES corn on the cob. Go figure.

My boy's bounty. Wish I had pictures of him, in goggles, swimming underwater to nab them (it looks like we trapped them in the live trap, but that is not so). They are going to happily dwell in the grandparent's pond.

Ok, maybe they won't be so happy about that dwelling.

My boy & my dog- for once, at peace

Beauty after the rain

A Mama Partridge in a Pine Tree! She had babies hiding in the grass below (I never found them!), so she wouldn't fly even when I was 4' away!

And he went hunting, on some friends property, to attempt to eliminate some obnoxious vermin. He was moderately successful.

Hubby went fishing...the traditional method wasn't working, and he saw a 2-3' bass up a culvert inlet pipe... This excercise did not result in a fish however.

We went over the mountains & through the woods to camp on the other side. It was a WONDERFUL weekend! (Notice my new I-can't-believe-how-much-I-love-it digital camera?)

The baby Pheasants, all teenager-grown-up. They love their brush pile.

Itty Bitty Baby Quail! Notice the thimble? They are TINY when they hatch!

We currently are up to 14 baby quail (hatched in the incubator).
Little Sis has named them Hobbles (has leg/hip issues), Jabber (super cute name!), Theodore and Rosy (I hear that it will be "Roosevelt" if it turns out to be a boy).

Dinosaur- aka Dinner. These are broiler chickens, but we think they resemble dinosaurs! I'll post a picture later of their feet- they're HUGE!

We went from barely any eggs, to almost 3 dozen a week!

When they were born, I fully intended to give a weekly progress report-in-pictures so you could watch them grow. Well, here they are at about 8wks old. So much for the weekly thing! They're very curious, so come flocking to the door whenever you walk by. They're weaned now, and Mama Rabbit (Bluebell) is frolicking freely in the backyard.

Our very obedient, seafood loving cat. She sat there and stared and smelled, but never touched that shrimp (even when I left the room for a few minutes!). If cats can lust, she did.

You'd think he hated crab, but the look must mean "I'm a tough crab catcher- I caught them with bare hands (and feet)". He & Polaris feasted like kings that night!

THIRTEEN

2009-06-05T13:59:00.000-07:00

DUCKLINGS!!! YAY! THEY BEGAN HATCHING JUST BEFORE I GOT HOME FROM WORK ON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, AND CONTINUED TO HATCH ALL NIGHT. HAD A VERY SUCCESFUL HATCH OF ALL 13 EGGS!

DAILY LIFE

2009-06-03T08:58:00.001-07:00

I have hundreds of pictures piling up, and a whole bunch that I want to share with the few of you who faithfully peek in here on our little world, but currently no time to go through the process of loading them onto the blog. So please accept my apologies for my long and boring absence, and enjoy a look at my day today- which is a pretty typical day for me.

Up @ 4:00am to get ready for the day, make & pack lunches, let the dog out, feed the yard rabbit (Bluebell currently has the freedom of the whole yard at her disposal, as a “reward” and escape from the not-so-small but newly weaned babies) let the dog back in & feed him, and head out the door by 4:45am. It’s already 60˚F, the sun is coming up and the traffic is very light. Travel approx 60miles, and at work by 6:00am- where I take a few moments to change from my very comfortable sandals into work boots. Check emails, catch up on orders and issue pricing, reconcile the “bucket of money”, make sure I’m aware of what the crew is doing today and impart any information that I have that they need. Down into the “basement” (lowest level of the expansive parking garage) to inventory & pack the materials that we are sending off-site, as this 2-year long project is nearing completion. Break @ 9:30 w/ the guys, lunch @ noon and then spread throughout the day: fire alarm inspection, installation of light poles in the plaza and up-lights in the tree planters, someone empty the stinking trash can in the office, type up some [electrical] panel schedules, get a couple of guys working on removing the mountain of trash in “the basement”, attend a subcontractors meeting on site, confer with the owners on location for equipment in the retail spaces, order some breaker lock-offs, look forward to what needs to be accomplished tomorrow, talk with the scheduling department about scheduling a couple of the guys to move on to other jobs come Monday, run up to the 6th floor to watch the guys jack up a transformer (all 550lbs of it) to install noise isolation pads in an attempt to quiet the beasts…getting off at 2:30pm and it's now 90˚F. Change back into sandals and head out into the heat (thankful for the air conditioning in my truck!).
Stop at the butchers for bones for the dog (who has been behaving like a saint lately…such a strange turn of events, we’re wondering what got into the little monster to be such a nice normal animal!), Cash & Carry for syrup to flavor the hubby’s iced tea, the feed store because somehow (in spite of my careful planning) we’ve managed to run out of all of the animal feed, all at the same time. (Generally I try to stagger the need so I don’t end up buying everyone’s food at once…it’s ridiculously expensive!)
Done at the feed store, and it’s just a hop, skip & jump across the river to home. Once home I hope that I’ll find that the quail eggs have begun to hatch, today is the day that they should start; make dinner; plant the next in the successive plantings in the garden (lettuce, carrots, spinach) and maybe have time to begin the construction of Strawberry’s cage (newest rabbit). Eat dinner & talk w/ the hubby, allow the cats to use us as their cushions (they live for our attention!), turn the incubating quail eggs, collect today’s quail eggs, make tomorrow’s lunch & get the dishes into the dishwasher (if I’m really on top of it) hop in the shower and head to bed- hopefully before 10:00pm.

ONE LITTLE, TWO LITTLE, THREE LITTLE...BUNNIES!!

2009-04-17T07:54:00.000-07:00

Bluebell had 11 babies two weeks ago today. Nine of them survived and are growing fat & sleek. This is her first litter and she has been such a good momma bunny!
You'll find the 1-week pictures at the bottom of the post. They are just starting to get fur. Their eyes started opening at about 1 1/2 weeks old. At two weeks, they are beginning to crawl around inside their nest box, suck on the hay, and even a couple of times catch a piggy back ride on momma when she leaves the nest box. They enjoy the opportunity to crawl around in the cage, until they begin to get cold & tired...and then they're very happy to be reunited with their littermates!

TWO WEEKS OLD

ONE WEEK OLD

LAST WEEKEND- OUR LIFE

2009-04-03T11:51:00.000-07:00

I don't have time to write a story, so I'm going to let the pictures tell the story...more later. :)

And this, below, was 4:30am this morning. Very, very proud Mama, 10 babies (10, I think, I discovered that I can't count very well in the dark @ 4:30am...)

NEW EXPERIENCES

2009-03-23T11:19:00.000-07:00

My sisters came for the night this weekend. S & I made falafels for dinner. She was excited & a little nervous to get her hands that close to hot oil for the frying- but we discussed how to put them into the oil so that it didn't splash, and how you can use pure vanilla extract to ease the sting of an oil burn...we probably should have also discussed that if the oil should catch on fire, you throw baking soda on it...next time.

While S & I were making dinner, M & Daniel were splitting wood and getting the wood stove going. S took one look out the kitchen window & ran for the door. The picture below is her first look at how the splitter works- the air was electric with the sheer awe of both of them.

And, immediately after S had her turn working the thing- the camera battery died...so though M did most of the splitting, you don't get to see that!

CADBURY BUNNY

2009-02-17T09:40:00.000-08:00

This is our newest guest. He is a young New Zealand white- about 10lbs of rabbit...his 10lbs of self is currently living in our bathroom, as we weren't expecting him and didn't/don't have a cage ready. He's a very good house rabbit, hasn't ventured more than 2 feet his "bed box" (seen in the last picture).

" What's this? WATER!??"

" Hey, maybe a bath isn't so bad after all"

"Ooo! Feels so nice & clean!"

This would be Polaris.

Remember, she "Rules with an iron paw"?

Yah, this is her checking out the digs before anyone else is allowed to inhabit. Typical.

Rabbit came to us dirty & apparently a bit underfed. He is convelescing very well in his plush new habitat and seems to be happy (unless the ferrets are loose, then problems potentially arise!).

So here's the kicker...he has no name. Daniel keeps calling him "Frank the Crank" (perhaps the red eyes? not sure what the motivation is for that moniker), but I would prefer a more appealing name.
The current options are: "Charley" or "Bugs" (as in Bugs Bunny). What do you think?

INTRODUCTIONS, PART 2

2009-01-20T06:54:00.001-08:00

So, now you've met the ferrets, cats & dog, but there's more, and they haven't shown their furry/feathery faces yet. Let me continue the conversation from my first post, and introduce you to more of the critters on our little oasis...

PAISLEY & babies of '08

Paisley is just a mutt of a little duck...someone rescued her & her sister from a culvert as small ducklings & I ended up with them. Ping (her beloved sister) died for no apparent reason last spring, and Paisley flew away... Several weeks later she returned with 8 little fluff balls...was she EVER a proud mama! First time any of my ducks have provided ducklings! That was fun.

This is RAT.

She is gentle, smart & loves attention (and food). She has dispelled all inhibitions that I have formerly had against [pet] rats. They're pretty cool!

TUCKER
Tucker was my sidekick and main pal for 3 years. She was an East Indian Runner duck, and characteristic of that breed & the chocolate variety, she turned a white-with-brown-splashes as she grew older. Tucker died at the teeth of oppossum last spring. It was a very sad day at our house, but she had lived a long and happy life. I'll post more on her later.

CLYDE

Clyde is a Buff Orpington duck, and so named because as a duckling he was very small, and was thought to be a runner duck like Tucker. And then he began eating, and eating, and eating, and eating...which resulted in ALOT of growing. I think we had another name for him when he was a duckling, but as he grew & grew my husband began questioning if he was really a duck or not, and started calling him "The Clydesdale Duck". Which is where he got his name. I have actually heard people walking by exclaim over the fine goose we have, he is so huge! Clyde adores Paisley, and they are inseperable. Those rare occassions when Paisley gets a wild feather & flys away for a few days, Clyde goes into deep mourning. And that's about the extent of Clyde's brains... But he makes us laugh, and he makes Paisley happy, so he sticks around.

GOLDIE

A Buff Orpington hen who believes that it is NOT her duty in life to supply us with eggs. She's not very bright, even for a chicken, but I keep hoping that this spring she'll wake up to her true calling & begin providing us with eggs... And she is gorgeous, and pretty nice, even for a chicken, and lets people pet her...which I guess is her redemption.

MUFFY

An Americana or "Easter Egg Chicken". She lays green eggs, and is (for a chicken) brilliant. Actually, I should say she did lay green eggs, but then she apparently realized that we're thieves and she hasn't layed eggs since. I hope it was a coincidence and she begins again when the weather is nicer!
RED

A Rhode Island Red, and an exceptional layer! She has layed an egg every single day since sometime last July or August...even in the nasty cold, dark weather we've been having. I think we'll stick w/ Rhode Islands in the future!

And that's all for now...I have to figure out what I did with the rest of the pictures!

BOO-BOO

2009-01-19T07:07:00.000-08:00

And finally, the last bit of big news from this weekend, our other rascal- Bongo- somehow managed to slice his hind leg wide open (fence? piece of glass? bit by the other dog?) on Saturday night...only I didn't notice him limping & the blood everywhere (how on earth did I miss it!??) until Sunday morning so of course I felt terrible & neglectful and all that... We've had twice-daily bandaging session w/ him pinned down under my knee on the bathroom floor so I can clean & rebandage the wound. I'm very glad that though it's deep, it's clean & it stopped short of the muscle (which means that having to run in to the vets is probably not necessary).

(Oh, if any of you medically-type people who "do nursing" are reading this- email me with suggestions on what I should do/do differently... I'm not exactly in my field of profession here, but I can give you more of the gorey details and you can tell me what to do. :o)

DOUBLE TROUBLE

2009-01-19T06:55:00.000-08:00

Baxter has been renamed "Rascal"- it seems to fit much better, and helps in not hopelessly mixing up the two "B" names. And then last night someone mentioned that we should have named one "Double" and one "Trouble". They never cease to make us laugh with their antics, and torment of the cats (who pretty much hate the ferrets across the board).

RASCAL

BANDIT

FASCINATION

2009-01-15T14:28:00.000-08:00

This is Bandit. He is best friend of Baxter. Baxter & Bandit are young ferrets who became part of our family on Tuesday. We got them from a wonderful lady who has a ferret shelter (such things exist?) one town over. Her barn was flooded in the recent disaster, and she is surviving with about 40 ferrets (in cages) in her living room, and about 100 more in foster homes across the state. Bandit & Baxter were among the ones chilling out in her living room, and though they were well taken care of, were more cramped than the accomodations that she generally provided allowed for. They were SO happy to come home with us and get to run around the house. We have about died laughing watching the ferrets interact with our cats, especially Baxter, who absolutely delights in cornering a cat & chasing throughout the house! The cats are entirely NOT sure what to make of these long, slinky creatures.
And here's an interesting note- I always thought that ferrets were #1) stinky & #2) vicious. Well some might be, but these two have dispelled that notion. They smell wonderful (in other words, they were given a bath, and no longer have the musky ferret smell about them) and they are super sweet, follow us around and want to be petted & played with.

THE RAINS CAME DOWN AND THE FLOODS CAME UP

2009-01-08T06:33:00.000-08:00

Well, for those of you elsewhere in the country, you may have heard that Washington state experienced a very unusual, very, very white Christmas this year...and then the weather warmed up ALOT. And the rains came. And they kept coming and kept coming. And the snow that we had at Christmas, all melted off of the mountains and began it's trip to the ocean...creating avalanches, mud slides, rock slides and floods. All of the mountain passes out of Western Washington are closed, the major highway going north is down to only one lane due to a pick-up sized boulder in the road, and the major highway going south is closed because the river re-routed and went across the highway (with no possible detour, or so I hear).

Apparently we are the only people who are not under water, in spite of our very temperamental river-neighbor, the Skagit!

This is the Stillaguamish river, about 20min south of us, flowing through a large playing field, and in general, the outskirts of the town of Arlington.

This is what it looks like about 30min north of us, up in Bellingham...not really sure what river is causing the problems in Bellingham (Nooksak, Lumi?), but apparently that isn't hindering things from getting awfully wet!

And this is the Skagit river acting up in our town. It doesn't look all that good, but it's actually only affecting a couple of roads. They haven't even begun sandbagging, and, not to worry, our river probably won't do anything more than splash over the banks a little bit...which we're very grateful for as historically the Skagit enjoys spreading it's waters across the entire county.

Here you can see the current water level of the Skagit at our house (blue line, 27 ft at 7:15am, 01.08.09), and the level it is predicted to reach by early tomorrow morning (29.11 ft). Two years ago, when we had actually moved everything valuable to the upstairs and were pretty much prepared to load the truck & evacuate, the river had reached into the purple and crested at about 33 ft. As you can see, record level is 37.4 ft...so basically, we should be fine. (That is, as long as this rain will stop!

BREAKING NEWS

2009-01-07T13:34:00.000-08:00

As you may see, my blog is experiencing a case of the winter flu... At least, all of the photos have died. I will be tapping every last bit of my computer knowledge to figure out what's up with that, and hopefully this is just a temporary outtage. (But you might want to hunker down for the long haul, because I don't know all that much about computers...)

RASPBERRY ICED TEA RECIPE

2009-01-07T13:14:00.000-08:00

I would like to present you with a recipe of how NOT to make raspberry iced tea as a special treat for your dear & loving hubby.
#1) DON'T retrieve an antique 1/2 gallon canning jar from the bottom cupboard (because when the antique canning jar is in the bottom cupboard, and the back of the cupboard is on the outside wall of the house, and that outside wall of the house is not insulated, and the temperature outside is somewhere between 35-40*F-- the antique 1/2 gallon canning jar is cold).
#2) After retrieving the jar from the cupboard, DON'T think "Hmmm- is this jar too cold? Should I run it under warm or hot tap water first?" and "This jar feels really heavy for a 1/2 gallon canning jar, I wonder if it's too old and therefore not tempered and therefore not strong enough to actually use?"- and then dismiss the thought with "Oh, I've used this jar many, many times in the past 6 months to make my dear & loving hubby his favorite iced tea. Never had a problem before! Even all those times I pulled this antique 1/2 gallon canning jar out of the fridge & dumped boiling water into it. After all, it's a canning jar, and they're made for high temp- right?"
#3) DON'T put the jar on the counter, drop in 3 Red Rose tea bags, check the kettle to make sure that the water is boiling good and hard, and then leaning against the counter a little (the better to pour 1/2 gallon of water) proceed to hold the rim of the jar and pour the boiling good and hard water into the antique 1/2 gallon canning jar.
#4) When the antique 1/2 gallon canning jar explodes across the counter and the water doesn't just flow nicely across the counter creating a huge puddle across anything and everything that you didn't want to get wet (like bills, seed catalogs, your gelcap vitamins set out as a reminder...)- DO jump violently back from the counter.
#5) When you don't do step #4 quickly enough, DO start crying & yelling due to the excruciating pain of scalding water soaking through sock & adhereing scalding hot sock to the top of your foot, all the while jumping around on the unoffended foot while ripping all clothing affected by the scalding hot water off of your person in a self-defense mechanism.
#6) AND, when your dear & loving hubby walks through the kitchen doorway at the precise moment that you begin your dance, DO make a mental note of how wonderful he is when he does NOT say "WHAT ARE YOU DOING" followed by insane & insinsitive laughter (because that's what he wants to do, but he is showing in human restraint & remembers that you might not find it quite so funny at that moment).
#7) And finally, when you hop out of the kitchen half-clothed, whimpering, and collapse in the nearest chair, make another mental note of doing something wonderful for your dear & loving hubby because he brings you a cold clothe for your extremely offended, poor, scalded foot- and then cleans up the huge mess in the kitchen...and never yet has he said anything to the effect of...well, if you're married you'll know what I mean.
#8) Make a note to stop at the store tomorrow to purchase something that is NOT glass as an iced tea making recepticle.
#9) Give up on the day and, since it's already 9:30pm, just go to bed.

BIRDS NESTS & BUNNIES

2008-11-10T10:58:00.000-08:00

I had a crafy-weekend with with my youngest sister, 10 year old Susanna. She came to spend part of the weekend with us while bigger sister & parents were involved in a youth group function.

We made braided fabric birds' nests at the suggestion of Happy Things http://happythings.typepad.com/happythings/2008/02/happythings-2-3.html

First we cut long strips of earthy-colored fabrics, which we braided together.

Then we sewed the brades into a coil, to form a cup shape.

The finished product looked like this:

And the very happy nest-maker looked like this:

Then we planned the dinner menu, which ended up looking like scalloped potatoes from a box, chicken noodle soup & biscuits from scratch. We rouned off our healthy dinner with ginger ale, while watching (for the millioneth time) the one Tom & Jerry video in our collection. (Which is, incidentally, the only cartoon that she'll watch). She was delighted to hold the power of making all of the evening decisions without her opinionated older sister "helping".

Here is a cute pic of Nan making the biscuits:

Sunday she went home, and I came back to the house & spent the afternoon making her Christmas present (SHHH! DON'T TELL HER!), which is an adaptation of this adorable pattern from Wee Wonderfuls http://weewonderfuls.typepad.com/wee_wonderfuls/store/wee-bunny.html

The pink one turned out a little bit bunchy, and I had to change the way I made the ears because it was nearly impossible to do them the way that the pattern said. But I think that they turned out just great. And the best part is that everyone who made them was raving on how easy & fast it was. I thought "yeah, right, they might say that it's easy, but as soon as I try it, it will turn into a huge ordeal". But they were right! SOOOO easy!

PROMISED

2008-10-14T16:49:00.000-07:00

I read something someone wrote this morning, and it has stuck with me…they were musing on whether their life was all that there is, or if more can be expected…as a child of God, is it right to want more, or to just be content with what is. But the poser was the comment that, after all, Jesus never promised anything.
Just a musing, something someone was thinking about, something I happened to stumble upon on the right day at the right moment to get the gears in my head working. It may not be right to expect or demand more than what has already been bestowed- but I know that Jesus has promised things to me. He has promised that He will give peace, and that abundantly. He has promised that His yoke will be easy & His burden will be light. He has promised to be with me always. Snippets from very familiar Bible passages, often glossed over in their extreme familiarity & over-marketed clichéness. But just stop for a moment and consider these all-to-familiar verses…or are they?
He has promised PEACE. Peace like a spring day with daffodils, peace like a hug from a loved one, peace like the sighing of Bronn Journey’s harp, peace like the moment when the autumn sun dies into the earth in golden hallowedness. He has promised me peace.
He has promised lift the weight of those things that are too hard for me to bear, strength when the journey seems to long endure, help when the burden is too heavy, HELP when I can no longer see my way through the storm or the fog or when the trail withers and fades away and I find myself alone in a wilderness. He has promised to ease my burden. He has promised help.
And he has promised to be WITH ME always! To be with me when I am happy, to be with me when I am sad. He will be there when I have spent the last of my strength and can go no more, He will whisper in my ear when I don’t know what to say. He will be beside me when the voices of the angels of heaven are shouting for joy over me, just as surely as He will be right by my side when the dark forces of the hosts of hell rise up to defeat me. He will be with me always.
He is Emmanuel- God with me. He is El Shaddai- my God is enough.
He has promised.

Where I find myself

2008-09-29T16:51:00.000-07:00

o·a·sis

(ō-ā'sĭs) n. pl. o·a·ses (-sēz)

1) A fertile or green spot in a desert or wasteland, made so by the presence of water.

2) A situation or place preserved from surrounding unpleasantness; a refuge: an oasis of serenity amid chaos.

(courtesy of www.dictionary.com)

SEPTEMBER

2008-09-28T13:24:00.000-07:00

A month which is usually filled to overflowing with wonderful things- crispness returning to the air, perfect hiking weather, the last of the summer sun, putting the garden to bed for the winter, finishing up the last of the yard projects, cutting firewood & curling up in front of the wood stove's blazing cozieness... but not this year. September this year has been a month of foggy brains, kleenex, tylenol, orange juice & blankets on couches. I have been sick with Something for nearly a month now. Finally gave up and went to the doctor's last week only to find out that it's just a sinus & ear infection- all that for THIS?! The guys at work are hoping for a case of the bird flu, and I'm sure that it's much more related to the Plague than a simple sinus infection. At any rate, I have learned from my dear hubby these long weeks how to properly put a dinner menu together as I've watched him alternate between the "pancake & sausage", "saltines & pnut butter" and the "microwave popcorn & pudding cups" menu...poor guy is desperately ready for a wife to make dinner again!
The Doc gave me a prescription to some version of something which is reportedly capable of killing the nastiest bug in no time (though lots of time has passed & the bug still hangs on) so hopefully October can be the month of hiking, leaf raking, gardening & general battening-down-the-hatches before winter comes.

On another note, many of my friends have asked for a long time for me to post photos of our wedding. I finally found them this weekend, and will try to get some up on here soon (just in time for our second anniversary, too!).

INTRODUCTIONS

2008-09-26T10:31:00.001-07:00

I would like to introduce you all to our little critter family...

Bongo is a Basenji/English Pointer cross. His humongous ears are his biggest asset. They make every female-anything swoon on the spot (forget peaceful walks when people are around!). He loves to dig huge holes, and be with his people (whom he adores). He is 60lbs of laughing energy, is slowly chewing our back porch to the ground, loves to run and drives Daniel crazy. He joined us in June of this year, and is approximately a year old.
Isabella the Imp came along in July. She's a Snow Bengal & comes from a succession of homes where life was not so good for her. She's probably 2 years old. She looks innocently sweet- but she opens all of the cupboards, sorts through all of the contents, steals all of the toys, and pokes at the other cats until a raging brawl occurs and threatens to tear the house apart...but she is of course above reproach in all things.
Polaris a Korat, and the Queen of our Castle. She maintains her rule with an iron paw. The only thing she is afraid of is the rabbit (go figure- but the rabbit gave her a good reason!). We got her when she was a wee 6-wk-old kitten, and named her "Polaris" after she dove into a bowl of carrots & snatched one away for her dinner, snarling & growling. Polaris means "Spirit of the Bear" and is another name for the North Star. She's now 2 years old.
Sherman was a stray found huddled in the woods at my parents. We think he's a Russian Blue, and about 1 1/2 years old. His one goal in his new life with us is to love and be loved...oh yeah, and spend as much time as possible sleeping on something soft & cozey. Life in the woods was terribly traumatic, and he never wants to go outside again. He earned the name "Sherman" because he is, as Daniel says, like a Panzer Tank...Panzer didn't quite fit, and since he's an American cat he was named after the American tank "Sherman".
Serengeti is a Bengal cat like Isabella. The breed is a direct decendant of a wild cat breed which is found in Africa/India/etc. He is special, and he is quite sure of it! Every night he "kills" his toys & brings them to our bedroom loudly proclaiming his superior hunting skills...and then he curls up on the bed & purrs contentedly for the rest of the night. He is 1 1/2 yrs old, and can jump 7' straight up. He views his greatest personal accomplishment as being the time he nearly killed the duck (ran out the door & pounced) that is twice as big as him. Well, he thinks he nearly killed the duck- really the duck just lost two feathers & some dignity.

There are several more critters that live in various corners of our home & yard, but the introductions will have to come at a later date when I have photos...

More soon!