Cookie Monster

Finley has started asking for cookies with his foot, a signal he's always used to show that he likes something. Cookies (alfalfa cubes) definitely have his stamp of approval!

I'll take that as a compliment

Yesterday I was called in at the last minute to substitute at the school. There were no more spaces where the faculty usually park, so I parked over among the high school students.

It wasn't until I was halfway home later in the day that I looked into the rear view mirror and realized my car had been decorated! (Click to biggify).

Your Hot

Bad grammar aside, I think I'll take it as a compliment. (Especially since the weather was cool!)

It's been incredibly windy, with gusts strong enough to blow large sheets of roofing tin off a stack and around the yard. After a slight frost last week, the weather has continued to be unseasonably warm but a real freeze is predicted for tonight. We tend to forget Winter does eventually arrive here in the land of Summer.

There will be plants to water in and cover, other plants needing to go from the house into the greenhouse, and chicken coops to close in with plastic. Some dry wood will need to be cut and moved into the house for the fireplace. But it's only an afternoon of work. We don't have to drain or store hoses, as it will be back up into the 70's-80's again soon.

Where Babies Come From

This one is too good not to share. Used by permission from Doug Savage. Visit www.savagechickens.com for more of his funny cartoons.

I remember as a child asking my mother where babies come from and she got me a book about where hippopatamuses come from. I didn't make the connection, and I thought my mom was pretty stupid for not understanding my question. I stopped asking her important questions after that!

Macro Monday: Have You Hugged Your Flower Today?

Still about flowers, only a little lighter this Monday!

I figure if Ed can use Spidey in his macros I would pull out my Flower finger puppet! She was rediscovered when cleaning out the bathroom closet this weekend, along with a a $100 bill I'd forgotten about! See, there is incentive in cleaning my house!

It's a chilly 52 degrees here today and we've received 2 inches of gentle rain all morning. This should help our well which has slowly been recharging over the past couple of weeks. I'm ecstatic over the promise of having running water in the house again.

Flower goes out to check on Finley. Just look at those smiles!

I've heard of stuffed animals before, but I've never seen a stuffed flower... 

um, you got any alfalfa cookies with you?

For a close range view from other photographers, visit Macro Monday!

Sunday Stills: The Letter 'C'

I know what you are thinking...being the Crazy Chicken lady and all...but you are mistaken!

Yesterday we drove to Kerrville to get groceries and have some fun. For us this means Coffee shops, book stores, and thrift stores. The Coffee was Consumed too rapidly for photography. We passed by a terrible Car Crash surrounded by several Cops on the way, but I thought it would be inappropriate to photograph someone's Crisis. I wanted to find something a bit more Creative.

One of my favorite place to shop for Clothes is a thrift store that supports a ranch near us for troubled Children.

I love shopping at thrift stores because it is like a treasure hunt--you never know what Collectible you may find. Purchasing there, I am able to Conserve my money while supporting a great Cause.

I love things that have been Crafted by hand. Looking for something with the Colors of fall, I Caught sight of this Captivating item.

At only $4 I did not have to Contemplate long on making a purchase.

How often does one Come across such a Charming Cardigan? It was hard Contain my good Cheer as our nights are getting Cooler and I was hoping to Cuddle up in something Chic.

Epilogue:

After 10 stops in 9 hours and 150 miles would you believe we discovered--after hearing its plaintive Cries--one of the young Cats from our Carport inside our Car engine? After several roadside attempts, it would not allow us to Capture or extract it, so presumably it made it home. It is most fortunate its Cleverness did not end in a Catastophe!

Avo thinks we should have taken him along instead, as it's a Cinch to Control a Chicken by Comparison! For a more Comprehensive Contemplation on the letter 'C' visit Sunday Stills!

All Our Ducks in a Row

Today, when we woke up all our ducks were in a row!

Farmer Rick and I have much to be thankful for--we've made it through another year together including our better foibles in chicken husbandry and accidental gardening, and our worse drought in history. His love did not waver even when I persisted on having curved walls in the new coop, and admits his carpentry skills improved with my nagging encouragement.

Nor did he admonish me for the outrageous debt we incurred from me having to take rabies shots after being bitten by the fox. Yea, he understands and supports my need to rescue critters, stick fingers into their wild mouths and to nurse them back to health. He loves my cooking--even when I forget that I am cooking and serve dinner a la charra y el carbon.

I have come to enjoy being awakened at 4 a.m. when he begins playing Chopin etudes and Joplin rags, mistaking my back for the piano in his deep slumber, and have begun to see it as a new way to get a jump on my busy day. I look the other way when he consumes all the household pickles, and gleefully cap the toothpaste and shampoo after him, because secretly I think I got the better end of this deal. He assures me we are equally fortunate!

People tell us we were made for each other. Indeed, we are cut from the same recycled cloth, quilted together by the poets, nobility, explorers, and farmers of our ancestry, having since discovered an 8th great-grandmother and 21st great-grandfather in common. When we cross the creek, neither of us can remember what we went there for.

Honey?

Uh hum?

Look, all our ducks are in a row! How cute!

But...we don't have any ducks!

Oh...You're right!



Y'all better go home!

Sunday Stills: Mechanical Transportation

This was taken in Bandera, Texas, "Cowboy Capitol of the World" a couple years ago. It is the only place I know where you can buy beer with your breakfast tacos and churches hold rodeos on Sundays. I'm sure many of you would enjoy taking your horses to worship!

(And no, this is NOT my car!)

For more takes on mechanical transportation, visit Sunday Stills.

We Are Not Normal

Today Millicent, our wiener-terrier rescue, discovered Francisco's toy frog. It has been in her mouth all day long. Usually she plays with a dozen toys each day. Usually she plays with the kitten. But not today. This. One. Is. Special.

Was I Really That Fashionable?

This morning I was catching up with my blog friend Dana over at A Cat in my Lap, and--being a purveyor of blog fun that she is--was introduced to yearbookyourself.com where you can upload a photo of yourself and see how you might have appeared over the various years in yearbooks.

It looked like loads of fun, so I gave it a try...only to find out I really did look like that in those years. In fact, I think they must have been using my yearbook! See what you think...

1970's

This was when I tried to have Farrah Fawcett hair only we didn't own a blow drier and hair conditioner was not invented yet. I think there were only about three choices in shampoo then, all of which were pretty harsh on natural curls. I was probably singing some sad folk song by John Denver when this was taken.

1980's

These were the years of big hair, and I had just come from Dallas, Texas, where the bigger the better. I believe this volume was created by a root perm (invented for Rod Stewart?) and hot rollers. This shot was taken by the newspaper for a write up on a one-person show of my paintings. I had just begun modeling high-end clothes for a department store because computer graphics hadn't yet been invented and there wasn't much I could do with an art degree.

1990's

This was the decade I dispensed with makeup, high heels, and uncomfortable clothes and embraced my more natural, laid-back self. I became proficient in computer graphics and also had a successful nature tour company. These were the years I felt and looked my best.

And of course the fun one for me was the '60's since I was still a kid. But I still had the 'do'.

1960's

I think I was the only kid that had a Tressy instead of a Barbie. You could change the length of her hair by pushing her belly button. Growing up, I always felt unfashionable. Awkward. A misfit. But in retrospect I was more fashionable than I remembered!

What did you look like in those years?

Sunday Stills: Nuts!

OK, rather than show a bleak photo of all the dessicated pecans falling off my trees from the drought, I thought I'd submit a cheerful and nutty self portrait from the archives! This was taken at the Pioneer Village during the Texas Folklife Festival.

To see some real nuts, visit Sunday Stills!

Moonwalking

Several years ago my birding colleague Bob B. sent me this funny YouTube video. I've been thinking about it in light of this week's news. It's hard to believe Michael Jackson did not invent the Moonwalk, but he certainly mesmerized us with it. Isn't nature wonderful?

Love is Apparently Not Blind

Elvis figures out how to roost. He had to lose the blue suede shoes first.

Since moving the older chickens to the coop, some of the young 'uns in our bathtub have figured out they can jump out. I began to wonder if I couldn't just start sneaking them into the new coop instead of moving them into the newly vacated bathroom.

First, I started with the young Silver Laced Polish, the only other one being Elvis. Because Elvis hasn't crowed or been in fisticuffs with the other roosters, I was beginning to wonder if he was a she.

But the moment the younger one entered, he did a double-take. Which was pretty funny with that big pouf on his head. He rushed over, then twisted his neck so he could see her eye to eye. Then he circled her, and gave her a wing and a peck, thus claiming her for himself. No one challenged. I thought it was very interesting he recognized her as his type of gal.

A little later, I brought over the young Buff Laced Polish, who was instantly recognized by the older one we named Little Bird (after our other hen Big Bird), who ran over to "groom" her new charge. I'm thinking they are both female, because there was no flirting. We are calling her Little Bitty Bird. I think she looks like Woodstock from Peanuts.

Pressing my luck, I brought over a Gold Laced Polish hen. Avelino, the Gold Laced Polish head-honcho rooster, strutted over like a pirate (he reminds us of Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean), circled her with the drama of a toreador with his wing down like a cape, and gave her a peck.

Everything was bliss between the all the "couples" and the rest of the flock. Breeds do recognize their own. How hunky dory!

That is, until Geno the Buttercup, Bruno the Brabanter, Marco the Marans, and Otto the Spitzhauben all decided this hen was the most beautiful they had ever seen. (Well, she is beautiful!) So, now I know it's go for your own breed, unless a real hottie shows up.

Introducing...Angelina.

You can only imagine what happened next. The biggest free-for-all between the roosters busted out, and the hens all started running around like the sky was falling, and everyone was chasing or being chased, and pecking or being pecked, and some chairs got busted, and whiskey bottles crashed over combs, and when the shots rang out the piano player jumped behind the roosts...

Anyway, I had to bring Angelina back to the tub. Sigh. She is looking over a contract for the cover of Cosmo as we speak.

Space Alien Stick Invasion

I'll take care of that pesky monster for you!

New Office Assistant Needed

Look very carefully and you will see

why I am behind in paperwork. *

*This also explains the fur in my invoices.
Only self-starters need to apply.

You Know How Some People Look Like Their Pets?

Well, I'm beginning to get a little worried...









I've got kind of an Appenzeller Spitzhauben thing going on.