Thursday, April 29, 2010

Stealth cat


Stealth cat hides from the bothersome sunlight. (This is Angel.)
Sad news -- Stacy-kitty passed away last Thursday. She had developed an oral cancer, and faded over a period of four or five weeks. I waited as long as I could, but it was time to let her go. I held her and sang to her and snuggled her and told her how lucky I was to know her, and I am utterly certain that she was happy when she went, and that going was a mercy.
Angel, who forever denied loving Stacy, and always acted so aloof.... really seems to miss her. She now insists that I spend at least 20 minutes loving on her before bed, and will chase down children to get them to pet her. She pinned Willow in her bed the other day (Angel is no small cat) and insisted that she pay undivided attention to her. She even (**GASP**) SHARES PERSONAL SPACE WITH THE DOG NOW.
The children told me we need a new cat.
I told them no.
:)


Friday, April 23, 2010

Pipedream

I've had a little pipedream about small-farm life for years now. Well, really, as long as I can remember, it's been there. (Along with a few friends, like the "grade school teacher" dream, the "famous fiction writer" dream, and the "entrepreneur" dream.)

This dream has crept its way into my life over the years. The gardens get bigger and bigger. The dreams get bigger with them. The Christmas presents that come in Mason Jars get more and more plentiful.

This year, just to indulge my own pipe dream, I'm taking this class:

http://central.illinoisfarmbeginnings.org/farm_dreams/about.aspx

(and likely, I'll take the whole series of courses.)

I can't wait! It's a really neat program, for people like me... big dreams, a (very small) pocketful of knowledge, a love of dirt, a passion for plants, and a remarkable ability to bite off more than I can chew...

I'm pretty excited.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Made me laugh...

I'm still laughing about this.

If you have time, go see this:


http://www.wimp.com/classicbloopers/

Monday, April 12, 2010

Forts and Go Karts and Gardens, Oh My!

We've been very, very busy lately.

I've painted my bedroom, and the boys' bedroom, and done a lot of regular spring cleaning. We're having a neighborhood garage sale on Saturday, and whatever is left is going straight to goodwill! It'll be freeing to park in the garage again.

While I was doing all this painting and sorting, the kids were home for their spring break, as well.... which was just a BLAST. I really got to enjoy them up close and personal all week, and I also got to watch them just play, unstructured, in the backyard. There was a major digging operation that ended in a mud fight and what looks like a giant dinosaur footprint in the yard.

They also had fort time:


And one day, it rained, so Gideon dressed for all possibilities:



We started some sunflowers in little pots for them to watch:



There's a cute story to those -- We planted three cups, one for each child. Gideon really, really wanted his to sprout RIGHT NOW, and so he would "check on them" a few times a day. Which sometimes involved shaking them, and other times poking.





His, sadly, didn't sprout. But God Bless my dad, who had a whole pot of sunflowers sprouting in his yard -- I took three of those sprouts and transplanted them quickly into Gideon's cup. I showed them to him the next day, and he was SO EXCITED. He ran to tell Glen and Willow -- "Gwen!! (Ls still come out as "w") Wiwwow! Mine GWOWED!! It GWOWED!".





Some days, I get to win. :)





Then I spent some stretches of time out at the Chateau getting everything ready for the year. My dad came and ran the tiller for me -- It was enlightening watching him run it. I learned all the tricks that I was missing the last few times I ran it. Next time will be much easier! I got in beets, carrots, turnips, radishes, and separated garlic and onions, in addition to the other soil preparations. The whole time, the kids just played and played.





Glen got to "invent" with anything he could find laying around, and he made a go-kart!







It was pretty awesome.

All in all, it's been a great, rewarding, and productive few weeks. I think it's going to be a good year.