Look At The Moon!

Me: Look at the moon girls! Isn’t it beautiful tonight?!?full moon through trees

Clara: (In her characteristic tiny voice reserved for cute things,) “Oh my God!”

Jane: (At the top of her lungs,) “OH MY GOSH!!!”

Ivy: (Dryly, after a quick glance out the window,) “No.”

 

DVD Trouble

Both of Jane’s sisters were at at birthday party so she and I were going to have a special night of our own. We had rented a movie, popped some corn and were all settled in. But the DVD had some serious scratching issues. After the third round of hopefully waiting for it to unfreeze and giving up and taking it out and putting it back in and finding our place and skipping ahead just a smidgen, it froze – again. Which is what prompted my little girl to stomp out of the room while exclaiming:

“Movie suck!Jane black and white

And I, (with the certain knowledge that such unbecoming language came from either John or myself and that if we aren’t more careful our children are only going to be fit company for drunks in backwoods bars, which they aren’t near old enough for yet) thought:

“Awww shit.”

*Sigh*

At least that time it was only a thought.Jane black and white smile

Despite all our issues we did eventually finish the movie and have a very nice night together.

A Tricky Subject

Yesterday was another beautiful winter day. So while the girls and the dogs played, I took pictures until my bare fingers had all the dexterity of frozen fish sticks. (Which took all of ten minutes.) The camera battery and I persevered in the cold because, not only was it was a gorgeous day, but it has come to my attention that I share very few pictures of Trip.  It’s not that I don’t love my dog. Quite the opposite, I’d love to plaster pictures of him all over this blog and then wait expectantly while you tell me how wonderful and handsome he is.  But, taking pictures of Trip is a bit tricky…

Mostly they look like this:Trip running out of frame

Sometimes they look like this:Trip running in snow

Occasionally I’ll get something like this:Trip running on snowy driveway

But more often they turn out crazy like this:Trip running with devil ears

My dog – he likes to run!  And if Trip thinks running is good, then running when you have something someone else wants is great.

This is Storm.Storm standing in the snow

The thing Storm loves most in the world is balls (and sticks). Storm obsesses over balls to the extent that I worry that our girls will forever be inept at any sport requiring one because we don’t ever let Storm play with balls, or see balls or, heaven forbid, fetch balls. Ever.

No balls.

Trip, in addition to loving to run, is (and I am, of course, totally biased here) a very intelligent dog.

Once Trip has discovered that he is still confined to a mere handful of acres and not allowed to go check out what’s happening three miles down the road, he eventually settles down (relatively speaking) and decides to torment Storm instead.

Since there are no balls – anywhere- he goes for the next best thing. Apples. Where you ask, does a dog find apples in the middle of winter with a foot of snow?

On the tree of course. Trip getting apple out of treeAnd if the last apples are out of reach, you just have to jump:Trip jumping for apple

(In addition to his grand intelligence, my dog has an excellent vertical jump!)Trip with apple in snowBall like object found he proceeds to torment Storm by showing it off (as in above picture) and then racing around out her reach. This causes Storm to bark incessantly, and then get yelled at for barking.

This crazy behavior was not a one time event. Trip has been tormenting Storm with apples all winter.

My dog is a brat.

A smart, high jumping, brat.

Eventually, when Trip is done with the running and the jumping and the teasing, he can be found taking a nap in a sunbeam.Trip sleeping

Which is when I can finally get my picture.

Still Chilly!

Below zero is too chilly to get a clear picture out the open window. The heat from the house causes the air to shimmer and everything looks a bit fuzzy. Unfortunately, while I like playing outside in the cold my camera and it’s battery seriously object to such treatment. I suppose in theory a person could have a really clean window and shoot from inside – however this is a theory I have been unable to test. But fuzzy issues and all I just can’t resist sharing this cold, grumpy looking sparrow!

sparrow stylized

I changed this from the original photo I posted. This one has gone through much photo shop doctoring with the intent that it looks more like a painting.

Thank you for all the well wishes on my Clara induced injury it’s getting better everyday!

Basic Clara Safety Rules Revisited

Long ago when Clara was just a crawling infant with a serious projectile vomit issue, I wrote a post outlining the Basic Clara safety Rules.

They were as follows:

1. Always treat Clara as if she were loaded.

2. Never allow the mouth to point at anything you are not willing to see destroyed.

3. Be sure of your target and beyond.

And while the projectile vomit is a thing of the past (a fact for which I have thanked my lucky stars individual and by name) I fear that the basic rules still apply.

And I, alas, forgot the rules.

I was sitting on the floor, my back to Clara,  working on a project with Ivy (Rule violation #1 always treat Clara as if she were load and never turn your back on a loaded Clara) when Clara launched herself from the bed at my head. (Rule #2 violation- clearly, my head was not something I was willing to see destroyed).  But, I had forgotten the rules and my middle daughter, with all the grace of an evil flying monkey, landed on my head and clung there.  Now, there are times when I have adhered to the “screamfree parenting” approach – this was not one of them.

The evil flying monkey/middle child was quickly removed from the back of my head and life went on. Unfortunately, life for me these last two days has consisted of two things. The necessary tasks around house (i.e. parenting) or lying flat on my back in front of the fire with a bag of peas on my neck. And, just in case you were thinking that sounded cozy, let me tell you that it is very hard to stay warm on a chilly day with a frozen bag of peas on your neck.

Thanks to anti-inflammatory drugs, frozen peas and extra rest, my head/neck are recovering from being the target of Clara. Sadly, it is likely that blogging will continue to take a backseat this week, as it is very hard to do while laying flat on my back and despite my wishes otherwise, it is not actually essential to daily life.

My bag of peas is calling and so I leave you with one final reminder, for your safety, as well as the safety of others:

1. Always treat Clara as if she were loaded.

2. Never allow the mouth to point at anything you are not willing to see destroyed.

3. Be sure of your target and beyond.

Goodnight Ladies

“Goodnight ladies.” I say as I come up, shining a quick light through the coop to be sure the rouge possum that’s been about hasn’t found it’s way in for the night. The feathery bundles hardly shift from their toe warming hunker as I close the door. But if the chickens are indifferent to my presence the ducks make up for with their blind panic at my after dark arrival. Years of the same nightly routine and not even my “Hey Ducks.” called out as a warning that it’s just me calms them. So after a quick head count, I scoot the door closed on their frantic quacking.

Evening lock up done, I call the dogs and we circle back to the house taking the long way. The dogs happily bound ahead through the snow, no doubt hunting bunnies. The cold air is sharp on my cheeks but I’m bundled up against the cold and I turn my flashlight off, enjoying the sounds of the dogs, the glow of the snow and stars and relish the fact that I’m doing “chores.”  As in, I’ve got to go out and take care of the birds. Have to haul that water. Have to make sure they have feed. Have to get the eggs.  Have to close them up, safe from predators and the nasty wind that’s building.

Have to.

Twice a day.

I have to go out in the mornings when everything is covered in last night’s blanket of snow. I have to bring the dogs along and watch them tear through the fresh powder. I have to go out through the storms, hearing nothing but wind and snow, cocooned from the rest of the world inside the weather. I have to go out on the crystal clear nights and see the stars hanging low and bright. I have to go out where I can look back at the glow of the warm house through the trees knowing that if I’m a bit chilly, the fire inside will feel extra warm when I get back.

What a “chore.”

I head back into the warm house taking one last look at the bright stars, one last breath of the air that stings my nose and wonder – as much as I love the winter weather, would I leave my warm fire without those indifferent birds awaiting my care? Would I miss all this? I’d like to think not, that when the temperature drops I’d still be out just for the adventure of it all.

But I’ll keep my birds – just in case.