April....

Well, missed April!  Maybe in May I'll get a writing bug?

A Tiny Friday Rant

For a rant, large print seems appropriate.  

I have finally figured out why I am almost excited for the wheels to come off our current political system.  It's been bugging me (the wonder at my attitude, I mean)  since 1999, when I was hoping the everything would shut down.  Here it is...my apostrophe....I am sick of the first world whining and posing and worrying about stupid stuff.  I want to get back to will we eat today, not is my carb load balanced with my protein.  And if you do these "16 easy exercises" you will have a six pack of abs and buns of steel.  If community was a necessity for survival, people would stop being so petty.  If we needed Joe and his plow to make us a spot to grow a winter's worth of food, we would be less likely to gripe about Joe's wife's dog barking at our cat.  Or something equally important.

Am I the only one?

In Like a Lamb

      I like old stuff.  Old dishes and old seeds and old sayings.  I like in like a lion, out like a lamb...even when it is vice versa.   
    We had such good intentions to follow the old rule of planting potatoes and onions on St. Patrick's Day.  For the week leading up to P-day, it looked as though we would get it accomplished with gorgeous sunny skies in the 70 degree range.  Until the night of the 16th when the sky cleared and the temperature dropped to the mid 20's, with a high of 48.  It proved our mettle as gardening "urban" homesteaders.  Zip. Zero. Zilch. NADA!  We cleaned the house and played games inside instead.  The chickens didn't even get their grass time.  
    Today I got a surprise day off of my paying job, and thought I would type a little and look back on the last few years of garden through pictures.   A little encourage and reminisce.  

I love this picture of Emily and Sparky.
I think it is the only garden picture that
survived the death of the picture hard-drive
that took 3 years of our time in Vernonia.

The bean jungle of Putnum Valley was the only time
 I ever grew enough beans to put  my own into jars.

My little helpers back in the day. 

Look how beautiful and organized, before it all went feral.

My biggest greenhouse and biggest cuke and tomato crops
at Grandma's place.

Chicken tractors hard at work on the outside
 garden at Grandma's. 

Last years, teeny little Eastern Oregon trial garden.
This year's dwarfs it in comparison.

      Looking through old pictures always makes me a little melancholy.  So much has changed and people who were so prominent  in the old days are not in today's pictures.  But there are also new faces and places and happiness of a different kind.  Looking forward to another good year of gardening and of living.
    

The Wee-Remodel

This weekend's project, the Big Project that is, has been to move the sewing and craft area upstairs into what was Char's room.  It hasn't been her room for quite some time, but it seems that much messiness has happened in there.  

The plan has been to have the guest and sewing room downstairs after Wilson moves to Boise in the spring.  The plan was thwarted, however when Em and Char decided they wanted to share that room...the one with the carpet and big windows.

Char and I have been busy girls this morning!

These windows overlook the chicken yard and the river in the
 distance.  When I get to town for an extension cord,
 the desk will go over there to enjoy the view while working.

A place for Tim and Madi and Ashe when they get to come.
The cat will have to be uninstalled

Craft desk on the right and sewing on the left.  You can see
behind my chair how well organized I have been.
Those boxes, tubs and bins hold my some of
my fabric stash and mending pile.

Snow...Finally

And we weren't home to enjoy.  Here is what we came home to on Friday evening.

This is soooo cool!  Love the hanging down.

The girls thought we were punishing them.

Corgis love snow...in case you didn't know.

Yard from the chicken fence with the garden on the left
and the baby greenhouse on the right.

Indian Summer, and Then....

For the first time in many years we were graced with a long, 

warm Indian Summer.  It made yard work and outside duties where

 we wanted to be, so on this 29th day of October, I am still trying to 

catch up on the housework.  We also went on our semi-annual

 trip into the Eagle Cap Wilderness, where the feeling is so

 bittersweet for me. All of my growing up years it was

 more anticipated than Christmas, and many of my grown up years

 it has been a struggle to work up the desire to go.  It's strange how

 throwing some in-law drama into a family sucks the

 fun out of most situations. 

 Now onto the good stuff.

The annual Dream House picture.  

Playing in the creek.

Handsome guy.

Practicing for the circus.

Just plain cool.

Lookin' hot at the cross country meet.

RUN, Wilson!

And after all the loverly weather....snow in October.

To end what is usually my favorite month, I sprained my ankle....again. 

 In the throws of cabin fever and bleacher bum-itis, I worked 

on my farm logo.  I wanted something cute to put on  jars

 and eggs and other plain 'ol country things.  

This hen is the one Wilson put on the chicken yard gate he built me, 

so I wanted to get her in there.  Peas are the one crop

 I can always grow. And I am proud of the fact that in

 this world of marriages that last an average of seven years,

 Darrin and I still enjoy each others company more often than not.

Discoveries (Or; "Things I Should Have Already Known")

If you have ever seen the movie, "Hook" with Robin Williams as Peter Pan, you will understand when one of my children says that they have had an apostrophe.  What Hook's toady (Bob Hoskins) really meant was an epiphany, but it was just such a funny word slip (and we watched it almost daily until the tape was ruined) it just became part of our family vernacular. Here are some of my recent apostrophes.  In no particular order.

1)It is not possible for me to read the Bible in 90 Days if I read anything else at all.  When we did this program in 2010, I "fasted" from all fiction for the duration.  As well as I know most of the people that "follow" me, I know that means something to you, because we are all such bibliophiles.  This time through, I attempted to keep one foot in the Word and one in the words.  And got as far as the end of Leviticus.  Even though I will not be reading the entire Book as quickly as I had planned, today I am starting where I left off and finishing.

2) Beginning a new job at 40 is really hard if it is constant motion and physically challenging.  I have PAIN!  My bod is MAD!  But the benefits (most days) outweigh the hurts and ouches.  I am in better physical shape than probably ever before and all those people who say it gives you more energy, they ain't lyin'!  It's nice being an actual size 10 not a 14 stuffed into a 10.  

3)  I am not looking forward to being a Grandma as much as I thought I was.  Madi's best friend just announced she is going to have a honeymoon baby.  It's a family tradition, it seems, with both her and her husband's oldest sisters being nine monthers.  But when Madi told me, I put the brakes on the grandma train pdq!  (that's purdy durn quik) It isn't anything about vanity or being too young or anything like that, but because I still remember how hard it is!  Those first years with tiny, dependent, loud humans are no walk in the park.  I don't think my daughter is ready for that and neither does she.  The financial struggles are so much to deal with when you are first married and scraping through college is plenty of pressure without the "WHY IS THIS CHILD CRYING AND NOT STOPPING AND WHY AM I SO EXHAUSTED I CAN'T COOK AN EGG!?"  

Here's the selfish part of it, trotted out for the whole world (or you all at least) I want to have my own kids mostly raised so I have the money and time and wherewithall to go and stay with her when the little ones come.  I want to be like my mom and come and make her tea in bed and hold the baby while she gets some rest that first week or two.  And understand when she is crying and not sure if it's happy or sad or hormones.  And help her through having the udder of a Holstein implanted on her chest.  And to help her be deliberate about the baby years in ways I was not because they go by so fast and if she is like me, all she will do is try to live through, not savor every minute.  Even now the lack of on-purpose-enjoyment of those years makes me choke up and be angry with myself.  I want better for her.

As per usual with my brainy ( :P ) posts, I have run on sentences galore and some pretty crumby grammar, but it's how I communicate in real life, so it should be here as well, right?  RIGHT!?  Next time, pictures and silliness.