Gittin' 'Er Dun

I am a bad chicken mom.  I have been telling my girls
that they needed to get to laying or they were
going to be stew.  They were laying...just
behind the brooder box! This weekend,
 I think we need to get the nest boxes built.

The under kitchen worm bin. It started having a bad odor
I noticed there were less worms working it,
so I took it to the back porch and dumped it.
Charlotte and  dug through and picked out all our
wiggly friends.  There were still some worms, and some babies
 and even one cocoon.  But they  were definitely
down in numbers.  Re-bedded and put back to work.

After picking out the majority of the wrigglers,
you are supposed to pile the bedding in little piles
so that the remaining worms go to the bottom.
 My little helper and I did such a good picking job,
 though we only got a handful the next day.

Over the winter I requested seed donations from a few
companies for the school's greenhouse and
community garden project.  Baker Creek Seeds and Territorial
 both were VERY generous and donated many hundreds
 of dollars worth.  This is the Junior and Senior class
and a small sample of the plants that they started from those seeds.

Spring?

We finally got a sunny-ish weekend-day to enjoy the green of our yard and get a few things done around here.

The rose (that is happy in it's new house pot)
was on the table at Madi and Tim's wedding.
The mints are from my last shopping
 trip with Kay Lynne.
The burl is from an Eagle Creek camping trip.
The heart is from me to Darrin.

Emily's contribution to the front flower bed.
It's to be a cottage garden.
Maybe.  Someday.

The wee garden and it's guardian.

Supper?

A word to the wise.
 If you are going to order chicks for
yourself and others, be prepared for the
possibility that they may desire BWLs.

Wilson, with a little help from Dad,
finished the window frame on the barn
while I worked away on the greenhouse.

Onions &

Peas &

Potatoes.
Side dish anyone?

Not a lover of the Iris,
but isn't this one loverly?

I've wanted to have a south facing laundry
room for years for only one reason...to use
 the heat from the dryer vent.
Here is the beginning of the Wee Greenhouse,
over the vent hole.

And while we were yard-ing,
 Friday was holding down the fort.

Curtain Call

Mowgli, Akela, and Kaa after the
Missoula Childrens Theater's production of "The Jungle Book."

One of the EXTREMELY cool things about being part of an extremely small, extremely rural school district is this kind of thing.  It is a group out of ,of course, Missoula, Montana that comes with props and backgrounds and costumes and in one week puts on a musical.  The kids get to sing and dance and act and just have a wonderful time.  

Ours were the only "older kids" who participated, which was disappointing, but they were good!  And had so much fun! They all sang, even Wilson. He also played the leader of the wolves in a rather Elvis-like fashion. Emily made the best snake, and led her little group of snakey tail so well. Charlotte had to teach the little monkeys to dance and let them drag her around so expertly. 

Can't wait for next year's performance.

Charmed

Last fall, while visiting my sweet, generous MIL, we went up the mountain to Virginia City and I bought a photo charm bracelet.  And it has been in my desk drawer ever since.  This week I had a couple of days off work and needed a creative outlet. I was also feeling a little nostalgic, so I used the program that came with it and added these pictures. Except in black and white. But I can't figure out how to save them that way, so use your imagination :)

21 1/2 years ago we got married young.
Even though  so many people said DON'T
we just did and have been
blessed beyond measure.

Almost 19 years ago we had The Mouse.  

Then 17 1/2 years, came Buddy Boy.

Next at 14 1/2 came EmmyLou.

And at the end of a long diaper run,
12 1/2 Chuck.

Now we get to start counting the other way,
and adding to our quiver,
starting with SonIL, Othy.

How could we ever say THANK YOU enough??

Mom Guilt

I had to post Dorcas's blog again...so much good truth and it made me think (as usual.


http://dorcassmucker.blogspot.com/2012/01/moms-guilt-etc.html

So here's my biggest MG...I had the wonderful opportunity to really teach my kids about God's love and plan and Word, and I didn't.  They probably know comparatively lots of Truth, but I wasted sooo much of those years with them.   I won't ever get that time back!  They are flying out of the nest and I won't get the chance. I just hope they look back when they have kids and know that my intentions were good and I love them to the moon.

Embracing Melancholy

Up the creek...no paddle.

My favorite 4-wheeler corner.

One of a million raindrops.

The barn where many good games were hatched.

It seems to me that the normal everyday average human is on a quest to be as discomfort free as possible.  Myself included. Over the ten days we were visiting the west wet side for Christmas, I found myself thinking that it would be much easier on  me to just never go back.  That I would be so much more comfy doing my own thing without seeing those I love (and knowing that it was painful for them knowing we were only visiting) and wandering the places that shaped me (and seeing  big changes in their landscape) 

While doing that wandering I took pictures of the most homey of my homes-Grandpa and Grandma's place. notJoy and I and our younger siblings ran that place top to bottom for many years.  We made forts and played games and had lots of hours of talking. We swam and made dams and got badly sunburned on many occasions. I love it.  It is what I think of when someone says home, even though my nuclear family lived six miles the other side of town. That home is very different now.  There have been 40 years of changes to the land and trees and four-wheeler paths. There have been many logs cut to pay for improvements and taxes. 

Coming back from being away makes me melancholy.  It makes me want to play avoidance. I would rather not think about what will happen when Grandpa and Grandma are gone and my father and his eclectic collection of siblings are trying to make decisions based on their wishes. It makes me want to stay 288 miles east and pray for them from a distance.  I wonder if that is selfish or self preservation. 

In those hours of wandering in the drizzle, I had time to think well on the reality of melancholy.  It isn't something I long to experience, but when I change the perspective, and look at my feelings, I realize that feeling the way I do is because overall the memories are good.  That the experiences I had there were because I had something so many people long for...roots.  Long standing, deep growing. And that avoiding the melancholy could make them less important and maybe even less meaningful.  


I hope the next time we spend time on the other side of the mountains, I am able to embrace the melancholy the first day of the visit, not half way through.

The Flock

Have these ^

Have these ^

And for spring...these ^

Or these^?

The major problem is that I have an 

uneven number of birds and I just can't have that! 

It just isn't RIGHT!  

AND besides, while the buff and brown together are very nice,

I believe that some black and white are necessary for balance, correct?