Our Life

Once again I’m being reminded that it has been many days since I’ve had something to share, but there have been reasons for this people, many reasons!

There was a horse fair, and a ballet recital and a trip to visit Sarah, that included a birthday tea party for her daughter. Once that was all done and we were back home it was Monday night.

At this point I did at this point attempt to put together a little post of our weekend fun, but then Tuesday night happened.

Tuesday night, was quite a night.

Things happened.

Lots of things.

All at once.

From what I can remember, though not necessarily in this order, it included things such as: peeing on the floor, breaking a glass, dogs barking, cars honking, chasing ducks off the road barefoot, Kamikaze kids jumping off the couch, false starts on dinner, missing ingredients, the cook being locked in the kitchen for protection from the kids and dogs,  messing up recipes, John announcing that he was “OUT OF PATIENCE!”, some pee in a potty chair but mostly on the floor, dinner eaten, bath time, blueberries eaten- everywhere, and finally the real reason why there has been no updates since Friday. Pee in the surge protector that the computer plugs into.  It was chaos, and through most of it I was cooking dinner in the kitchen laughing so hard I was crying.

Laughing with John because this is our life.

It’s a great life.

But some days….some days you’ve just got to laugh.

Assumptions

Due to the nature of John’s job (synthetic organic chemist who makes pharmaceutical drugs) and our little farming venture, we often confuse people.

Those who know of John’s work first are shocked to find that we also pasture raise chickens.

Those who know we sell free-range eggs are sometimes slightly horrified to find out John is involved in the pharmaceutical industry.

Somehow this all has a tendency to spill over in the assumptions of the food we eat. Of course being assumptions, they are almost always wrong and mildly irritating.

Tonight I’d like to set the record straight:

We eat…

… almost exclusively meat that has been raised by us or shot by us,

-except when we eat at McDonald’s.

….a large amount of seasonal food,

-except when I just really need a bunch of grapes.

…local food

-except when we eat 30 lbs of clementines from Spain.

…Diet Coke, lots of Diet Coke,

-and water.

…no dairy products (especially if your name is Clara),

-except when we do (unless you’re Clara).

…Tostidos Salsa con queso  (when Clara is asleep),

-and homemade salsa.

…no prepackaged food,

-except corn dogs.

…98% of our meals after making them from scratch,

-except when we get Chinese food.

…no yeast,

-except when everyone but me eats a bag of pretzels.

…healthy,

-except when we don’t.

So – now you know.

It used to concern me, this crazy dichotomy of food, (Were we turning into crazy hippies? Were we poisoning and malnourishing our kids when we fed them a hot dog?) but now I’m good with it. We eat at McDonalds and when I’m at the big supermarkets I make my food choices the best I can for my family, our budget and our beliefs. Sometimes I get funny looks when people find out I choose my butter on the basis of where it was made and I don’t come close to having the approval of the hard core, local, organic folks, but it works for us.

I’m going to continue raising my pastured chickens and as I admire them running around living the good life in the sunshine, I’ll take a swig of my Diet Coke and all will be right in my world.

Then someone will ask me if I saw on T.V. how Diet Coke would kill you.

And I’ll tell them no I don’t have a T.V.

And the assumptions will start all over again….

Duck Soup by Jackie Urbanovic

We are once a week library regulars, we know the librarians, they know us and 95 percent of all children’s books are returned the next week. Even good books are hard to read every day multiple times for more than a week, but Duck Soup was an exception.

It’s a funny book, best read with a bit of flair (we did lots of yelling) and  guaranteed to be kept from the library longer than usual without being lost under the couch!

Would I recommend it? Yes, we’ve also had Duck at the Door and enjoyed that one as well, but this one is better!

The Indecisive Chicken

My last week has been consumed with the frantic finishing (and starting) of the new mobile chicken coop.  Some times work went more smoothly than others, as you could have perhaps guess from reading about my feelings on the second law of thermodynamics, but laws of thermodynamics and all the chickens moved in last night. The new coop is located far out in the pasture away from their old coop in the yard. Many of the chickens spent a happy afternoon scratching through the leaf litter in the woods and poking about decisively on their never ending search for tasty treats. Other chickens slowly made their way back into the yard and familiar territory.

Knowing that chicken bedtime was bound to be a bit interesting just before dusk I grabbed a few pizza crusts and headed outside. I was hoping that I could lure those chickens that had come back into the yard back to the new coop in the pasture.  It started out fantastic. I gave the “hey chickens” whistle and they willingly followed me  right up to the edge of their old home range. Then they’d start looking a little worried, and scoot back into the yard. Meanwhile the chickens out at the new coop in the pasture wanted to come back and eat with the other chickens. They would have come straight back but dark was coming and chickens have a very definite sense of bedtime. They just couldn’t get that far away from the new coop where they knew they could roost for the night.  What followed was a lot of me whistling for chickens and watching them run to the middle no mans land, panic and run back the way they came. On rare occasions a chicken would switch “sides”, but not necessarily in the direction I was hoping for.

I can already hear my Dad saying that a chicken can’t be indecisive, that that would require brains. It is true that chickens don’t have the reputation of being the brightest bird but tonight their little brains were working so hard I could practically hear their thoughts.

They went something like this:

I see some of my friends! I should go see what they are eating! OH, this is getting really far away from my coop… It’s almost dark! I’M ALL BY MYSELF! Which way? WHICH WAY? I see chickens eating, I see chickens roosting, a new coop, my old coop…. OH dear, oh dear….. AHHH I CAN’T TAKE IT!

and the chicken would sprint back the direction it came from.

It would have been more amusing had it not culminated in me carrying 25 of my 35 chickens from the fence in the yard  out to their new home.

So if your Sunday evening is looking dull, just come on over. You can watch indecisive chickens panic over which direction to head followed by me carry piles of chickens through the dark to their proper location.

Who needs a T.V. when you’ve got entertainment like that?

The Second Law of Thermodynamics

“Nothing in life is certain except death, taxes and the second law of thermodynamics.”- Seth Lloyd

Just in case you’ve forgotten the second law of thermodynamics, here it is courtesy of Wikipedia :

The second law of thermodynamics is an expression of the tendency that over time, differences in temperature, pressure, and chemical potential equilibrate in an isolated physical system. From the state of thermodynamic equilibrium, the law deduced the principle of the increase of entropy and explains the phenomenon of irreversibility in nature.

It involves other stuff as well including Kelvin and Clausius and stuff that looks like this:

–

In case that didn’t make things clear we can look to Woody Allen for help –  “It’s the Second Law of Thermodynamics: Sooner or later everything turns to shit.”

That my friends was how my day went. It started beautifully, with waffles, well behaved children, a clean house and great swimming lessons….. then the second law of thermodynamics hit.

-air went out of tires

-Clara puked

-the house was no longer neat and clean

-things were forgotten

-the computer malfunctioned just exactly when I really needed to put in a DVD for Ivy

-staples could only be found for the hand staple gun while the electric staple gun was the only staple gun seeming to still be in existence

-clippers were dull

-children snuck bubble mix into their beds at nap time

-math functions failed miserably

-building supplies were short

-straw bales fell apart

-stuff broke

-diapers went from clean to dirty

-laundry piled higher

-Clara screamed, and screamed and screamed

and the day was no longer beautiful.

Fortunately by that point there wasn’t much “day” left anymore and we spent a lovely evening with some new friends while watching the entropy attack their house.

Now we have returned home, energy has been spent to attempt to reclaim some of what went awry, plans have been made for tomorrow and I have quit for the day.

Taxes don’t seem to be going anywhere, death is inevitable and one can only do so much against a thermodynamic law, I’m giving up the fight until tomorrow!

*note: The author of this blog realizes that not all of the above items are technically functions of the second thermodynamic law. Some are functions of other laws such as; the law of the kids will be the worst when you need them to be the best, the law of never give Clara anything with dairy in it even on accident, the law of Jessie can’t divide, and most importantly the law of projects with kids never go as planned.

The Soldier Son Trilogy by Robin Hobb

These three books ( Shaman’s Crossing, Forest Mage and Renegade’s Magic)would be a clear example of when my stubborn persistent reading does not pay off. The books did not get better as I went, the end was not worth it.

 

Would I recommend it? No, they don’t even warrant a picture.

Let Them Climb Counters!

As a general rule children are discouraged from climbing on kitchen counters.  But I say…

…if you teach your kid to climb on the counter……and you teach another kid to bring her dishes…

…they’ll empty your dishwasher and put away all the dishes.

Leaving you free to watch and take pictures.

It’s a good deal.

So…

Let them climb counters!