"Creature" Encounters

Bats in my living room -- if I'd titled my blog with that statement, I'm sure you'd be expecting more drama. But, as it happens, these bats were fairly placid (except when consuming too much sugary treats). They descended upon my house after watching an episode of "The Magic School Bus" that prompted them to emit long, ear-splitting screeches and try to hang upside down everywhere and anywhere. Who knew multiple Batman costumes would be so invaluable, other than for the nightly crimefighting?


Fionna Bat


Grady Bat (If you're looking for Ainslie Bat, she was more than happy to confine herself to the shrieking portion of the act.)




On the topic of strange flying creatures, this was another encounter we count ourselves fortunate to have had. One evening at Community Dinner, we found ourselves picnicking next to this unlikely couple. They hung out in the park for at least a couple of days (we saw them there the next evening as well). Someone said they looked like Green Herons, perhaps. Either way, it was a special treat to be so near them. The same night we saw them, I also had the amazing pleasure of having a small owl first land on a tree branch right over me and then, shortly thereafter, flutter to the ground just 10 or 15 feet from me. I felt really lucky that night. :)


I'm sure it's by now evident, we're an animal loving family, and it's been a distinct pleasure of this summer to have so many creature encounters. Something we're loving is that our yard is once again inhabited by frogs (Woodhouse's Toads, to be specific). A few years ago, we seemed to have dozens of them but we hadn't seen any for the past couple of summers. Happily, they are back. Whether we have many or one, we're not precisely certain. To the kids, they are all "Mr. Toad." Mr. Toad likes to hang out under our house and emerge in the evening and early morn. The dogs' water bowl makes a fine swimmin' hole and he (she/they?) is/are definitely finding enough to eat.

Can't seem to get bloggy with it.

Alas, this looks like it will be another photo entry. My children don't seem crazy about the idea of letting me write today...


Family bed, a la Casa de Renee. (If you're wondering, Lenny didn't even try to fit into this, he slept in the kids' bunkbed that's in our room.)



Fionna and Ainslie as "pretty, pretty princesses." The dress that Ainslie is wearing was mine as a kid, except that we're missing the underdress. Fionna added panties to the outfit since "the dress was see-through."





Grady, with his latest love, firecrackers (these are the little poppers that you throw on ground). The ferocious experession is because I told him to smile more than once, and he wanted me to know he WAS smiling (until he got ferocious).



The kids made a Father's Day "statue" for Lenny. It was often higher but this is the best shot we got. (I say "often" because Ainslie was certain it was built specifically to be demolished, and Fionna rebuilt, a lot...)

More summer fun...shucking corn & "dog days"

The "chaste" tree in our front yard is looking lovely, and the kids were relatively clean and well dressed, so I thought I'd capitalize on the moment and snap a nice shot. They marred it a bit by insisting on garden gloves (why, I do not know) but they're sweet nonetheless.



I know, the dog days of summer are nowhere near here but that's all that goes through my head when I see this shot. The kids insisted I lift Lily into the hammock. We were all mightily surprised when 13 y.o. Munch managed the leap up there on his own.



Ainslie helped shuck corn for the first time. She loved it, of course, although I'm not sure if she was as happy as the chickens who were on the receiving end of the husks. :)

We're revelling in summer...

Our summer so far has felt sublime. Lots of unscheduled fun, downtime, being outdoors. It reminds me of what summer felt like as a kid. I have a good deal more to write but not time for it at the moment. I'll share these pictures for the time being...



There is a similar picture of me as a child, covered in chocolate, so I couldn't resist snapping this "messy" shot.


ln cleaning out the closet in what will some day be Ainslie's room, we unearthed some of Lenny's old hunting gear. Grady was enthralled.


My little redneck, shirtless and all...


We also "discovered" this inflatable "boat." Ainslie has been getting lots of rides in it.


Unfortunately the better shot of this picture didn't come out. The point of it is that Ainslie is dressed in my old sunbonnet and two pieces of doll clothes from my childhood. They actually fit her rather well. The bottoms which you can't see are Cabbage Patch bloomers and the top is an old faded pink cotton dress.


The kids are clamoring for a fire every night, the better for roasting marshmallows. Here they are hamming it up for the camera.


Ainslie has discovered that she loves to indulge in foot baths, oh at least 5-6 times a day. It's even better when you can brush your teeth with two tooth brushes, at least one of which isn't her's.



And who could resist some brotherly love? :)

I haven't blogged about the garden?!?!

It was only as I mentioned the garden in passing in the previous entry that I realized I haven't officially blogged about our garden. In my blogging "absence," I composed so many mental blog entries that I've sorta lost track of which ones actually made it to the keyboard and out to cyber reality...

So, the garden...We planted in early April, and so far, so good. Currently, we are growing:

--french radishes (already eating those, yummy!)

--carrots

--melon (don't know what kind, it was a shared seed from a friend)

--two kinds of squash (again, don't know what kinds)

--corn

--several different kinds of tomatoes (started by a friend from seed, he gave me the plants when they were pretty small)

--bell peppers

--pumpkin

--yellow onions

--green onions

Also, sunflowers, morning glories, hollyhocks, chocolate flower, indian peace pipe, shasta daisies and marigolds have all been started from seeds. :) Everything is coming up and doing okay so far. I state it like that because sometimes, our summer heat comes on so suddenly, my seed starts have just shrivelled in the past.

In terms of our existing "food" plants, our peach tree has lots of fruit, and our apple tree is actually alive (which I didn't expect it to be). Our strawberry plants (which are practically evergreen here) are producing slowly but steadily (think about 5 berries a week). I had currant berries off the currant bush I transplanted from my grandma's house last fall. I didn't do anything with those (just let the birds have them). The same will go for the heavy load of crab apples coming along from that tree (also a transplant from my grandma's house).

I was worried that keeping up with the weeds would be miserable work. So far though, it hasn't been too daunting. And, I have the extra incentive of wanting to give the chickens fresh vegetation, so I almost welcome the weed pulling knowing that the chickens really love their greens. They are officially penned up for the summer (so as to spare the garden), and I do feel a bit guilty that they aren't allowed their free-ranging pleasure currently. It's my plan though to let them roam again, come late fall. Until then, I'm trying to be very mindful about supplementing their diet with weeds, bugs we gather, as well as our kitchen scraps which they make mighty fast work of.

When I rushed out a moment ago, to photograph the garden, the kids, of course, wanted to know what I was doing. When I told them, they said "well, you have to show everyone our pool." So, they very obligingly dove in. ;) (Ainslie is currently napping, or I'm sure she would have been quickly wet as well.)

Making oil blends...and a few pics

I just spent a fun half hour or so this afternoon indulging one of my favorite pasttimes -- mixing essential oil blends. I love the fragrance, the power of making something to meet my needs (rather than purchasing something), and just the lovely "witchy" creativity of it (I say witchy because it meets my mental image of an old time "herb witch" crafting her goods). The blends I made today are 100% courtesy of dear Sandra and her power to research and resolve problems. Both of our families suffered mightily at the hands of mosquitoes last summer. And lately, she's heard an earful about my problems with ticks and my dogs. So, before I know it, I get an email from Sandra with recipes to solve both these issues. We combined an oil order to supply the oils we were both missing from our own supplies (I needed lemon eucalyptus, catnip and cedarwood essential oils and fractionated coconut oil). The result -- a homemade mosquito repellant that is oh-so-natural AND great smelling and an equally good smelling tick repellant for my dogs. Absolutely nothing synthetic or harmful in either one of that -- this makes me a happy woman! :)

So, I also said I'd post a few pics. First, you'll see our lovely garden as it's looking currently. Everything is growing so well, and the energy out there is peace at its best. A few months ago, I as lucky enough to "win" a hammock stand on FreeCycle. We weren't able to get the hammock for it until recently but now it's all set up and it's definitely my new favorite spot. AND, for once, it coincides with where the kids want to be. They are loving the yard right now too (it doesn't hurt that we got a new kiddie pool).





Next, I bring you Ainslie a la her brother's Ninja Turtle costume. I think it's actually the costume's photo debut as I bought it for Grady last Halloween but at the last moment, he couldn't bear to not be Batman.

Catching up...what went down at C.L.U.C.K.

I do this periodically, lose the time to blog and then it begins to snowball. Soon, it feels like too much has passed and how can I possibly relate it all? Then I begin procrastinating, even when I do have the time to blog.

As before, I guess I just have to dive back in. I know there's no chance I'll be able to write about, or even remember, what has come and gone in my month-plus of silence, but what can you do. Time doesn't stop, even for busy blogging mamas...

I last wrote about C.L.U.C.K. at the Farmer's Market, and it truly was both a successful and very fun day. We garnered many signatures and support and met lots of very fun folks. Fionna was in heaven as we decided to take Whitey, our friendliest hen, along, and they were showered with lots of positive attention. Fionna is very much in her element when she's at the center of lots of positive attention. Whitey, the valiant chicken that she is, was taken in and out of her crate, petted by a myriad of admirers and fed copious amounts of kettle corn (that lucky hen!). An extremely kindly woman even approached me and said that she would very much like her own daughter to have a chance to sketch Fionna (she was doing sketches for a fee that morning at the Market), and if I was agreeable, she'd give me the money to have Fionna's sketch done with Whitey. Of course, I was agreeable :), so Fionna sat to have her sketch done. She was so proud, and Whitey was so funny. She dozed in Fionna's arms, in the sun, even drooling at one point. Chickens drool; who knew?

My camera battery went dead, just when I needed it. But Nora came to my rescue and captured these images. I also will include a photo of the sketch.