Hearing or Hairin'

While killing a little time on Wednesday before AWANA's we walked by our local barber's.  "Perfect, my boys look like little Sasquatches," I said.  "Line up boys."  Well, he actually had a line, so we had to come back which was great, because I wouldn't have wanted to submit any one else to some of the antics they performed-let alone poor Bob.  So after clipping down layer after layer, he finally found a pair of ears on each of them.  It is true, they'd been hiding for a while, especially on my oldest son's hair-we could pert near braid his in the back. (not quite a Billy Ray mullet-I'll give myself parenting credit for not letting it go to that point, but we were close runners up.)  Well, as the mention of 'ear' comes up, my middle son says, "Yah today my ear starting itching at school.  And, well I stuck my finger in and start picking and itching at it.  And a BIG glob of ear wax came out.  It was huge!" (Big grin on his face.) My elbows hit my knees, forehead in palm, and all I could do is look at the floor and shake my head and say, "Oh...my...gosh!  That is disgusting.  We just probably didn't need to know quite all about that."  Of course all my other boys are laughing, and our poor barber is leaning over my oldest son's head, clipping away and just laughing.  Well, naturally as gross as it was I had to ask, "now what exactly did you do with it?"  He says, "Oh, I stuck it back in."  Lifting my forehead from my palm I say, "HUH?  How'd you do that?"  He says, "Just crammed it back in."  Again, shaking my head, "Oh my gosh."  Joking I said, "What'd you do, save it for later?"  He smiled, "Yep."  It all kind of went to a blur then...laughter...the rolling thoughts of where that glob of ear wax ended up.  I think he mentioned something about music?

So this brings me to think.  I wonder if my little boys selective hearing is all caused by the backward cramming of earwax deep rooted in their little heads.  Maybe that's what happens with my husband...just 38 years of ear wax build up that deconditions the ears to hearing along with the lack of neurological response connected with hearing and memory.  There's got to be a connection.  Proven solid by a nine year old. 

Selective hearing at best is like this example at our house.  And on a good day it has a response, most often it's my Snoopy Peanut voice being played over and over to them-apparently.  But if I was to holler.  "Boys are you hearing me!"  I know the response would be...delay...delay...more delay.  "Oh mom you lost an earring.  I'll help you find it."  They're good kids, quite helpful most days.  Hum...compounded ear wax theory?  But suppose I throw in a southern dialectic...appropriately slanged for our barber shop experience.  "Boys ar'ya hairin' me there?  I'm fixin' dinner, yu'ngry?"  The response would be....delay...delay.....(longer pause due to southern drawl and slow dialogue accounted for-I grew up in Texas I can say that)...delay.  "There's a hair in our dinner?  I'm not eating it."  Yep...that does it-just killed the whole dinner experience without even getting started. 

I am happy though. I'm quite certain my son's ear wax didn't get stuck to some poor unsuspecting other child in his class, maybe just some random piece of music equipment.  Yeah, I'm not sure that's better, but some things left unknown are just best, especially when it comes to ear wax.  I just hope we didn't traumatize our barber too much, and he'll let us back in for a 'shave and a hair cut-two bits'.

Corgi Trails

 

It was almost cruel and unusual corgi punishment as I opened their kennel gate.  My daughter giggled with glee as she watched them, however they didn't make it far before being completely high centered.  So I broke a new path through our 'easy' 18 inches of fresh snow.  One bounded with emphasis proudly leading his pack. One acted as if she had a pogo stick connected to each paw, and boing...boing...boing she leapt through the powdery wet bliss.  And one stopped looked at me, back at the kennel, back at me and gave me her best 'ReAlLy' look.  She then lifted one paw and gently lunged ever so slightly, an almost motionless movement, into the trail I'd just cut, and sat down to seriously ponder her options. Can you guess which one is which?

 

In no time, we had a maze of corgi trails all over the yard.  This picture doesn't do the scene justice because it was a weird spot by the barn, but all the other trails were like little miners tunnels for our four legged friends.  I'd gaze across only to see the tips of ears cruising through their new found paths.  Every once in a while I'd go rescue our 'not so ambitious' one, and eventually she realized it was much more important to be strategically located as close as she could be to the door. As I opened the door our over joyed wee one 'had' to let her in so she could cuddle her neck. 

 

The trails came in useful for our chickens and cats too.  It was a single file line situation, so you can imagine how it worked with the chickens, the dogs, and a couple cats mixed in.  At one point I saw a chicken flitter, skitter, and fluff, while simultaneously releasing a 'SqWaCk!' as it went up and down, and up and down in the honey comb maze trying to evade a crazed critter in tow.  But it's all a day in the snowy life of three lil' corgis and their pals.

Writing for Children

Over the weekend I was excited to attend the fall conference for Montana's chapter of SCBWI-Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.  What an AmAzInG Conference!  I loved every moment!  Met some great folks as well as visited with other's I hadn't seen since I attended previously (5 1/2 years ago).  However I do have to confess I felt overwhelmed, defeated yet inspired and elated with the weekend.  Which means, again, it was amazing-just what the brain needed. 

Not only were the presenters a wealth of knowledge, but they also all sparked and encouraged the value of writing for children-be it board books to YA.  It was great to absorb their roles, jobs, depth on projects and perspectives as a whole.  We did a writing exercise, that I think sparked a solid novel in me.  I've been whittling on one, but I see it all together with this one-YEAH!  And it's completely different from my new draftings for Banjo...so stay tuned for Life on the Ranch with Banjo's upcoming project news.

My two hour trip home from Bozeman seemed to be a blink since I had so many story ideas rolling through my mind.  I wish I had a converter for how fast my brain dialogues to correspond with my typing hand, and it would flow onto paper-eh, maybe someday.  But until then, I'll keep the sparks-a-flying from mighty pen to paper as fast my little freckled fingers can type.

Go, Go...Gettin' it Done

My God-mother posted & shared this one Facebook yesterday, and I wanted to share it too...plus a few extra ideas.  This looks like an incredible way to organize household chores & 'to-do' lists.  Thanks Bakerette!  She has lots of cool stuff on her site, too.

Other ideas I have are:

1.  ALL YOU-At least two Friday's & Sunday's a month on the FREE days, carve out an hour or so to work on 'your' projects like; scrap booking, crafts, hobbies, a special hike, or anything you LOVE to do!  Make the time for yourself.

2.  MONTH Up & Comings-First Friday of the month-glance ahead on your calendar for any birthdays, celebrations or events you have upcoming for the month.  Write out your list of ingredients, plans, or 'to-get's.  If you're mailing cards, take a moment to sit down & write your correspondence, address, & put a stamp on so it's ready to go. (November is a great time for Get-It- Done Friday's.  Work on Christmas plans, gifts, cards, or other items to make,  wrap & get ready to send snail mail if that's your choice.)

3.  DIY days-At least two Friday's, Saturday's or Sunday's a month plan for one of your household projects to get done.  If you've wanted to paint a room-take the time on one of those days, seen some neat ideas on Pinterest-try you're hand at it or any other DIY project.  You'll have a WHOLE new home or space to enjoy & be proud you got it done!

4.  RECRUIT-If you have children, recruit them to help do these chores on some of these days. They can take out the garbage, dust, clean toilets, put away their laundry-gauge it for their age (big & little) but there's plenty of ways to work together as a family team!

Smokin' socks

This is the last time any one will see these.  It breaks my heart!  They've been a part of our family, covered 40 of the most precious toes, and lived in the depths of my war-torn laundry basket.   Ha-Ha!  So Long Socks!

Am I truly sorry to see you go? NO! I've been carting you around trying to find your match for months-with no success.  Somewhere in the deep dark depths of the washing machine world there is a void.  A large deep, soft and fluffy void of socks.  I don't know where this 'sock void world' is or how so many of my family's socks end up there, but apparently it's a great place for socks to go for a permanent vacation and most likely find their one true match.  While they do this they leave us mom-type-folks hanging onto threads, literally holding their knitted together existence in our hands ravenously trying to find their match.  So, so very unfair! 

My remedy for this came when I was pregnant with our fourth child (horomones run amok), and it's proved extremely therapeutic. Campfire anyone?  Preferably in our wood burning stove! Bwa-ha-ha! Did you get the hint of sinister laugh!

Throw them all in the the wood burning stove, grab your favorite fire starter, and BAM...you have yourself some smokin' socks.  They go out in a blaze of glory! Thank you socks-be gone, be ash, be out of my laundry basket.  This simple act of fire is extremely freeing.  No more digging through the trash (when you do finally throw the mismatch in there) anticipating the next laundry load in the dryer will have it's match, thinking you could knot them together for another dog toy or making yet one more dust rag.  I mean really...that's why we have cats for our dogs and who needs one more dust rag?  Not I.

So long smokon' socks!  Off to the softer sock place in the sock world sky.

Zikes...the Zukes of the Garden!

If I was a zucchini, I'd be happily flourishing in my garden!  Yee-Ha!  I'd be basking in the afternoon sun and enjoying the cool of the early morning and night with my neighbors squash, cucumber, pumpkin and onions. Most of all I would eagerly anticipate four excited children lifting my oversized leaves to find the hidden treasure of my green growth. How fun it would be to be a zucchini?!  Something to ponder...

I don't have a natural green-thumb, but I'm slowly learning how to grow and produce some bountiful crops.  My zucchini's are the first to really sprout and grow!  There's so much you can do with zucchini: grate it for breads, can it for cold winter days, make soups and freeze, or slice and bake it with a little butter, garlic salt and Parmesan cheese on top.  My family loves to do this.  We toss them on the grill as well...so good!

I wanted to share one of my favorite Zucchini Bread recipe's:
3 eggs
2 C. sugar
1 C. vegetable oil/substitute with 1/2 applesauce if you'd like
1 tsp. vanilla
2 C. grated zucchini
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3 C. flour
Chocolate chips; semi-sweet or milk chocolate to taste.  I usually toss in a heaping handful or so.

Beat eggs, add sugar and oil; mix well. Blend in the remaining ingredients.  Grease two loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.  I like to start checking my breads at around 35 minutes in the oven.  I also like to make mini-loafs.  Those only take about 30-35 minutes.

You could add craisins, walnuts, white chocolate chips, or drizzle chocolate across the top as well for a 'little flair for the gourmet' and to make it look pretty. If you want to drizzle the chocolate over the top simply melt the chocolate in the microwave with a little oil. Then drizzle it on top.

I find zucchini can be a little 'extra' wet, so I pat it down with paper towels after I grate it, and let it air dry a bit before I add it to my bread. (My unscientific method for not making bread as heavy as a brick that my husband could use on one of his houses.)

Also, here's a couple other Zucchini sites hosting lots of different and useful ideas.

All sorts of Zucchini Recipes-Yum!

Zucchini Brownies

Zucchini Canning Recipes
 

Ziploc Omelets

So this is an awesome way to make omelets for those of us who make 'egg-stra' special disasters when attempting to make omelets in their traditional form.

1.Just grab a Ziploc bag. Write your name on if you're making multiple. 
I like to put it in a mixing bowl, just makes it easier to work with.

2.Start your pot of water boiling.

3.Toss 2 eggs into your Ziploc
4. Add a splash of milk
5. Plop in your favorite meat or veggies
6. Throw in a handful of cheese-any kind you like
7. Dash a little Salt & Pepper on top
8. Extra spices like red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper for a zzzest
9. Seal up the Ziploc
10. Squish up all the ingredients in the bag. Great for kids to mush!
11. Grab your tongs
12. Drop Ziploc bag 'carefully' in pot of boiling water with tongs
13. Let your concoction boil for about 12 minutes until the eggs don't look runny
14. Once cooked, pull out your gourmet omelet, carefully with tongs
15. Cut off the top of the Ziploc and roll the omelet onto your plate

 16. Garnish with green onions, peppers or whatever you're taste buds crave

ENJOY!

M & M's to the rescue

We had a world-wind trip to Yakima, Washington this weekend for a very meaningful Family Reunion.  It was lots of fun to see, meet and put faces and names together on my husband's paternal side of the family.  It was, however, a creative trip with four children in the car for a full 24 hours (round trip).  On the way there we borrowed a friends Mi-Fi jet pack.  Thanks to the GOOD Lord!  So it allowed the boys to watch Net Flix on their I-Pads and play games.  Our littlest one was done with our trip on about hour 6.5.  So a little screaming occurred, but we got through it.  We just had to turn up the 80's hair band rock and roll I downloaded on my I-pod, and put the pedal down.  I actually had to hold on to the little handles by the window and duck behind my sunglasses to survive my husband's road rage and speedy driving...but that's a whole other story.

Our trip home was a tad different.  I realized my error in  re-charging some of our techo gadgets-about 2.5 seconds into my husband accelerating onto the highway.  Even though I had spent a small fortune on all the various 12 volt adapters, converters, and plug-in galore, there's always something missing.  I have yet to figure out what that 'missing' thing was to make everything function properly, but most importantly it's what I did find-a packet of M & M's.  The boys had a great opportunity to count trees-my idea (they finally rounded up to several million), semi's and look at nature when their 2% charged techno gadgets failed them, but it wasn't as easy for our one year old.  Hence out comes the M & M's.

It's amazing how two small bags of chocolate filled bliss can instanteously stop screaming, creates great entertainment even fills the gaps in a hungry tummy.  What more could you ask for?  Therefore I made those two bags last 12 hours.  Needless to say she was amped up on sugar until about midnight the night we arrived home, but eh-it worked for the car.  M & M's to the rescue!

I have to be honest.  It's not the first time M & M's have come to my rescue.  One blustery winter day in December of 2006 I had a two and a half and one year old.  While desperately trying to wrap Christmas gifts and get them in the mail, my little guys were just simply bored and into everything.  I was finally to my whits end.  I was getting nothing accomplished and had been rolling like that for days.  And then I saw it...the brown bag illuminated itself on our rough-sawn log table my husband made.  It glistened as an answer to prayer....M & M's!

In slow motion I ripped a small opening in the bag's corner.  Walked over to the center of our cozy living room and pulled the bag's corner with vigor! Plop..plop..plop...sploosh! All the  M & M's, of a three pound bag, cascaded to the floor.  Perfect!  "Here you go boys," I called.  "Have fun!"  They dove on them like ants on a picnic.  Their cheeks looked like squirrels packing acorns in for the winter. Their eyes were large and round watching my every move-wondering when I might change my mind on the whole thing.  But I had no intention to, it was 20 minutes of solid entertainment for them and I got Christmas 'to do's' 'to done'!  When I've mentioned this story to some folks their eyes get big and ask if the boys got sick.  Unfortunately at the time, I never even thought of them becoming ill.  I was totally in my momentary trance of complete self gratification in actually getting something accomplished
.  Horrible I know, but honest.  They didn't get sick, just for the record.  M & M's to the rescue!

Blogging Deliquent

As my words want to burst through my fingertips, I have to admit...I am a TRUE blogging delinquent.  Cardinal rule for blogging..."if you can't keep up on it, don't do it".  Well apparently that's been the fact since April.  Now-to my thought processes' credit, I didn't think I was 'that' far off, because I have so many things I 'mean' to post on my blog.  So moving forward from tax season, six weeks of traveling for little league, end of school CrAzInEsS, four summer birthday's, summer camps, 4-H fair, 22 animals, four kids, a construction company, a weekly column, camping in our Awesome mountains, a garden-which is actually producing edible products, tonsils out for one kido, a rapidly approaching family reunion, school closing in-deep breath, oh and throw in about 100 loads laundry, meals, four children and a husband...but moving forward it's all good 'cause that's the beauty of the summer and writing for your own blog! Yee-Haa!

One a side note besides being a blogging delinquent...here's a picture of one of our lucky hens.  She flitted, fluttered, and fluffed herself farther from the coop than usual.  And why is it she's lucky?  Well, she's 'lucky' our Corgi didn't ring her scrawny, crooked chicken neck.  See...he's gotten a hankerin' for chicken, and because of his taste buds we're down to two hens.  Now to remedy his eating disorder we've been told to tie a dead chicken around his neck and let it hang there until there's nothing left.  I for one couldn't see how that would be beneficial; a. he'd probably continue gnawing on the dead chicken, b. it would probably make him mad-der and he'd want to kill more, c. it's just a plain ol' disgustingly nasty idea. 

So in my illustrious wisdom, I decided to borrow a remote shock collar.  My friend said if you're going to shock 'em, may as well make it count.  So I turned it on high, and waited.  I snuck around our farm with the remote tucked in my pocket like an FBI agent searching out a thief.  I was anticipating just the right moment to ZAP him without his knowledge of me being the Zapper, but I waited. And then I waited, and waited...oh did I say I waited for DAYS.  Did he ever come close the our last remaining chickens?  Never. 

Well it came time for me to give up on using the collar.  It had been on about a week.  When I reached for him, and unhooked the collar's latch a vile stench came from his neck. I peeled the collar away from his skin.  Fur, pus, and infected liquid from his neck overwhelmed my senses.  After a moment of pure disgust, I felt his neck, pulled fur back for a serious look and was immediately nervous.  It looked a dog vampire had attacked him.  The two shock prongs were longer than our perimeter collar we used on him as a pup.  I didn't give it a second thought when I put the remote collar on him.  I wish I had.  The prongs had dug deep into his neck, and it was badly infected.  I felt horrible!  He had shown no signs of discomfort.  He is always in tow of myself and our children, and it's not like he's isolated.  He's with us all the time! I immediately called my vet, and got him in within the hour. 

Thankfully it looked worse than it was.  His infection was serious, and once she shaved around the area I could actually see the damage.  But he didn't require tubes inserted in his neck to drain the fluid. It was extremely swollen, red, and pus still oozed from the vampire marks.  Our vet told us she's had to euthanize dogs because the remote collars spin around and get lodged at the base of the neck and spine because they're on too long, some infections have been so bad-it killed dogs, and one dog had gone missing for several days wearing a remote collar and was hung up on a fence.  When the owners found it, the dog was alive, but barely.

So my chicken eating dog.  Oh my chicken eating dog.  What to do about a chicken eating dog?  NOTHING!  Buy more chickens!  And build a better fence!  I could have bought 50 more chickens at $2.99 each for the price of the vet visit.  Which I'm not complaining about the vet bill.  I'm so glad she was able to help our little corgi and that's just what it costs.  I totally understand!  And would gladly pay it two-fold again if need be.  But I would've saved him the pain and suffering of the whole darn thing!  Let alone the guilt on my part!

So moral of my story...
1. Think twice about free range chickens if you have dogs,
and tying a dead chicken around your dogs neck.
2. ALWAYS remove a remote shock collar after using it with your dogs
3. Can't fault a dog for having a hankerin' for chicken!

Until next time,
The Delinquent Blogger

Crock-pot fajitas

Take me out to the ball game, take me out to feed lambs, pigs, chickens, horses, cats, dogs & 'camp robbers', take me out into spring...can you hear the tune?  Well, it sort of goes along to Take Me Out to the Ball Game, except it's my rendition of adding everything in. 

 

Green grass is poking through the frosty dirt, or soggy spring snow, which means a change of season is upon us, and with a change of seasons comes a slew of fun outdoor activities.  For me it also means a time to try and menu plan.  I enjoy baking, but cooking is challenging for me, because it usually requires for-thought and time-which I seem to lack mostly by my own procrastination though.  So when a friend and I started talking about fitting in healthy meals and snacks for the next couple months, this recipe came up.  I'm sure it's in some recipe book somewhere, but we just hodge-podged it.  I recently did the same with round steak, but that'll be another  post.

 

The flavor was great!  The chicken really absorbed all the ingredients. I have to say-I thought it was one of the best fajita dinner's we've had, and my family gobbled it down so it seemed to jell well with them too.  And it's something you can throw in the crock pot after school, have it ready for dinner, and it's low maintenance-no oil, extra skillets, stove tops and dishes to wash.

 

So here it is:

Chicken breasts-boil.  I used four frozen breasts.

Line crock pot with a slow cooker liner-hence the low maintenance part above

Once the chicken's done, place them in the crock pot

Add 2 cups water

Add 2 cups chicken broth

1 package of fajita seasoning

1 onion sliced like you'd like for fajitas

1 red pepper sliced like you'd like for fajitas

1 yellow pepper sliced like you'd like for fajitas

Put on low for 2 hours

Pull out with a slatted spoon

Place all ingredients in a bowl

Serve with warm tortillas, cheese, tomatoes, pico-de-gallo, guacamole, sour cream, salsa and a side of rice and beans.  Super easy!

 

I like extra cumin, and garlic, so I added a little more at the end.

You could also add 1 can of Rotel tomatoes in it for spice, and it would be good in the tortilla once you're ready to serve. Cayenne would work too, just depending on your taste buds.

 

You don't have to boil the chicken, but for food safety-I did, after all it's chicken.  If you have a longer amount of time you could add frozen breasts and slow cook them all day, then toss in the onions and peppers a couple hours before you're ready to serve.

 

While I'm at it, I'd like to share a couple more web-sites with meal planning tips, recipes, and ideas.

http://www.momswhothink.com/  This site has great plans to print out, plus a ton more ideas.

http://www.once-a-monthcooking.com/ I have these cookbooks, and they are extremely helpful.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Birthday Time Capsule

In our immediate family we get to celebrate birthday's every month from April through August, then the papa's in December.  But we also have many family and friends through out the year, as everyone does, when we get to share the special day they became a gift to us all. Recently, I found a birthday time capsule web-site.  Just type in the birth date and viola...a page of all the great things that happened on the day compile as well as the price of groceries, fuel, who you share the day with, etc.  It could make a fun gift, scrapbooking addition, or give you a little trivia about the day.  Here's the link: http://dmarie.com/timecap/step1.asp

Have fun!

Redneck Easter

While most families hunt Easter eggs, at our house we started a new tradition.  "Let's shoot 'em," said my husband.  "YAH!" hooped and hollared our boys.  They couldn't wait! 
We started stashing extra eggs from our hens a few days before Easter so we would have plenty to plink.

On Easter morning the first thing out of their mouths was, "how much longer 'til we can shoot the eggs."  Now this was about 5:30 am, and I know the rest of the morning must have seemed like an eternity for them.  The chocolate for breakfast helped the enthusiasm, the jelly beans for their pre-church snack sent them bounding a little further on their sugar rush, and the peeps and miscellaneous candy snuck here and there had them soaring into a sweet abyss, or as I saw it walking sugar sticks of dynamite.  Especially after church as we witnessed our middle son, put on his ski helmet and goggles in the back seat then proceed to play the 'air' drums on his head all the way home-yep...there was a little of a LOT too much sugar running through his veins.  With so much 'fuel' inside these boys, the outlet had to be dynamic...our redneck Easter began!

Carefully placing the eggs across our dirt hill, my husband readied the scene.  Safely armed with three rifles the egg splatting began.  They each took turns.  "KAPLOW!" went the rifles echos.  Their smiles beamed with excitement with every shot they took!  "All be darned if each of them hit every egg, dead on," said my husband.  I smiled.  "That's my boys," I thought to myself.

Then it was my turn.  Still in my church skirt, I knelt down in the dirt, set the cross-hairs on my egg target and pulled the 410's trigger.  The egg yoke blasted into the air, the shell burst into a zillion bits and splattered all over the dirt hill. "Ha-ha! That was awesome!" I said.  What a great feeling to 'plink' an egg.   Our boys shot for over an hour with their dad, learning from him, shooting a few eggs, and spending some quality 'boy time' as well as burning off some of the sugar rush pulsing through their little bodies...and so our redneck Easter tradition began. 

Maybe next year you'll share in our Redneck Easter tradition at your home, or maybe you have a Redneck idea to share with me.  I'm game, how 'bout you?

Season of rebirth

He lifted his head to meet her continual licks.  She knew what to do, and had probably done this natural and maternal instinct many times before.  But I caught a glimpse of this precious beginning as I was going about 65, well maybe plus one or two, miles per hour north headed to Billings.  She was a lone cow in a pasture close to the highway, and there he was too.  Birth on a spring day in a pasture-simply sweet yet complex, soft and quiet yet rough while trucks, trains, and cars sped alongside.  The symbolic meaning of Good Friday came to me as I witnessed this moment. 

How many times have we speed by the chance at seeing 'wholey' or 'holy' the true vision of birth or the act of rebirth daily.  Here in a pasture every spring a calf is born-the miracle, the celebration, the life, the rebirth every year, and we-that'd be us two-legged sorts-are given daily, hourly, minutely, secondly the opportunity of rebirth in Jesus.   He has Risen for us this Easter weekend.
This picture was the closest I could find on google it's from http://theheritagefarm.me/. 

 

 

A little wool goes a long way-Felting

"Agitate the wool in a circle.  Put some elbow grease into it," said my instructor.  With every sudsy circle I made I saw the creation coming together.  What a learning experience.  It was something I had wanted to learn for years, but was gun shy to try it because I thought I 'had' to knit.  I have a dear, dear friend who has shown me how to knit, several times, but I am a tragic student.  Every time I knit something it looks as if mice beat me to it-with the apparent gaping holes.  So when I heard about the 'non-knitting' felting classes at the Muddy Lamb in Fishtail, Montana, I was more than excited.

Now what is felting? 
"Very simply, felt is matted wool. Wool becomes felt when it is subjected to moisture, heat, and pressure. (In fact, if domestic sheep were not shorn, over time their wool would felt or "cot".) Hot soapy water makes the wool slippery, and causes tiny scales on the fiber to "open up". The scales prevent the fibers from backing up again after they slide across each other; with agitation, the fibers get hopelessly tangled together. When cooled and dried, the scales close and lock the wool into the tough, durable material we call felt." ( directly quoted from http://www.gfwsheep.com/felting/felt.html)  There's a detailed project with images for further reference on this link.

Also, here's a little information directly quoted from the Woolery.

"FELTING is an age-old craft. Perhaps developed in the Middle East, perhaps the Far East, it is a process that has evolved with local traditions wherever it was used. And it is still used today, by kids in kindergarten to nomads on the great plains of Asia living in felt yurts. The technique is basic, requires very little experience or tools, and "mistakes" may well lead to interesting results. The Woolery brings you products and information about feltmaking and needle felting.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WETFELTING, FULLING, NEEDLE FELTING & ARTFELT?

WETFELTING or FELTMAKING means that you are working from the fiber (most often sheep's wool) to make a felted fabric or product using soap and water; there is no spinning, knitting, crocheting or weaving involved.

FULLING or KNITFELTING is achieved by knitting a garment and then shrinking it, filling (hence the term "fulling") the holes between the stitches. This fulling can be done on crocheted or woven items as well. Check our knitting books for many projects that are knitted and then "felted".

NEEDLE FELTING, unlike felting, does not require soap and water and does not need to be animal fiber. It is accomplished by using felting needles to make figurines or apply additional fibers to decorate fabric or garments (those can be made of felted material or knitted, crocheted or woven material).

ARTFELT is the name of a new product that is very similar to needle felting but uses a special paper backing that can be needle felted onto and then dissolves when washed leaving just the finished product."


I had a great time at the Muddy Lamb! I learned a lot to bring home, and share with my children and friends.  We've felted Styrofoam eggs and soap, and even needle felted them.  It's a fun and easy project for any age!

 

Here's a couple links of good sites with lots of information:   Muddy Lamb, Gleason's Fine Woolies, Woolery, Ravelry

 

Blue feathered friends

 

No, my blue feathered friends are not a flock of rare blue birds, instead they are none other than my loyal flock of followers-that is if I'm toting my chicken bucket filled with scraps-my hens. 

So in my 'illustrious' wisdom, here's how it went down.

As my oldest son and I were paint branding our lambs, here flitts a curious hen.  Well, naturally holding a spray can of blue branding paint I was feeling a little 'ranch rebellious' and said, "Hey wanna paint a chicken blue?"  Now I do admit there was a slightly sinister tone in my voice as I suggested the 'cool' idea, and I was probably a tad over zealous. 

However it all happened so fast!  I had no control.  The next thing I knew my pointer finger grew a mind of it's own, it pushed down on the spray nozzle and out 'sssshhh'ed the blue paint, and, and, and....Well a blue chicken flittered and fluffed away. "Ha-ha! Sweet! That worked," I said.  Yes, probably a little too excited once again.  "Mom, what's Dad going to say?" my son asks.  "Ah!  He won't notice.  It's only one chicken,"  I said.  I could see his wheels a turnin' as I said this, an idea he did have. "Then...can we paint the dogs?" he asked.  "Um, nope.  He'd definitely notice that," I said.  So after our conversation and branding our lambs, our 'one' blue hen happily dashed and darted around the yard all day.

Well, there's a valuable lesson to ponder when one is opting to paint a fine feathered friend.  Paint dries...obviously-that's how paint has always worked, however chickens aren't aero-dynamic once air borne with feathers painted blue and dried.  Hence when you 'huck' a 'cluck' over a gate, be prepared for its air to ground drop rate.  While they do flitter and fluff through the air they also land with a thud in the mud-and break a leg.

Now, you ask yourself why the photo shows more than one blue painted chicken.  Since hucking the cluck ended up to be bad luck for my fine feathered friend, I felt compelled to hide the situation from my children.  So naturally I painted all the chickens with a dab of blue here, and a dab of blue there.  And while I camouflaged the situation it was a quite colorful scene-now definitely husband noticeable. However, it did work great for the kids which was my primary concern, not the husband, until I hear them running into the house later saying, "Mom that chicken not only broke it's leg...it's head popped off too."   Yep, that did it...I am now wishing I was more worried about what my husband might say about the blue chickens in the yard.

Note to self...don't huck a cluck and paint t'aint good for them chickens.

  

Laser school day

Our youngest son is just at the age where he's in preschool but counting the days until Kindergarten.  He does love his preschool and friends.  However, he is really ready to go to the 'big' school like his brothers.  So on this fine Monday morning I call and call him to get ready.  When I go in search for our little man I find no 'small fry' in sight.  "Hum...where did he go?" I said.  And it was then I saw the end of the pretend 'laser' gun sticking out from under the bed.  "I'm NOT going to school today!" he declared and began firing his pretend laser gun with it's 'amazingly obnocious' laser gun sound.  "Pew...Pew...Pew!" It sounded.  "I'm not coming out!" he said.  Well who can argue with a five year old armed with a pretend laser gun holding up under his bed, not I.  So I left him with the end of the pretend gun still showing it's face from beneath his bed. "Eh-he'll come out when he's hungry," I thought.  It wasn't five minutes later  his tummy and ears got the best of him when he heard his bagel was ready.  He'd come out from his hide out, put down his pretend laser gun, and now was armed with a bagel covered in strawberry cream cheese.  Looked like getting ready for school was in the near future after all.

I will not go to school today

I will not go to school I say
I want to stay home and play
No way, No way
I will not go to school, I say

You will go to school today
You will go to school I say
You will not stay home and play
Yes way, Yes way
You will go to school today

 I will go to school today

Because that is what the mama say
Yes I will I say, I say
Yes I will I say and I will play

Lil' hooves

The wind pelted my face as I walked to the barn.  There may have been shards of ice compounded inside each blow whipping by,"Whew...it was a cold morning," I said to myself.  I looked  to the east.  With the time change the sun wasn't cresting the Pryors yet but the heavens had lifted and I could feel dawn brewing.  It was a little after 6am, a smidge earlier than I had been going out.  As I opened the cold metal gate latch I felt I should be moving faster, and then I saw her.  I definitely should've been moving faster, with good reason.  There she was, pearly white with tufts of fine wispy hair around her eyes and ears, and a rumpled up 'almost' wool coat covering her pink skin.  Her mama had done a good job licking her off quickly on this windy cold morning, and she had a little more to do yet.  But all in all the spindly legs and little hooves held her weight, she was a good size, and bright eyed.  Mama made her 'gurgling' noise at me and kept working away on her little one.  I talked softly to mama and baby.  I told her we had to move into the barn and I wasn't taking her baby away.  So as I coaxed her out of her covering, I felt the newborn lamb's beating heart under my hand as I held her.  "So precious, so sweet-a soft moment in life on this morning," I thought.  Funny how all I could think about was the wind and the cold as I walked to the barn, and now it hadn't crossed my mind since I saw those big eyes peak around the corner when I lifted the gate latch.  She had all but said to me, "Ta-da!  Here I am!" 
I laid her softly in the jug filled with fresh straw and her mama immediately went back to 'checking' her over.  The overhead light's glow cast a soft welcome upon the two newcomers.  Placing a leaf of alfalfa in the corner, I rubbed the mama's nose and said, "good girl".  Next I needed to get the cord taken care of, nutrition, colostrum supplement and water, but first I had to run to the house and tell the boys.
As I pushed open our front door I saw my oldest son putting his socks on sitting over our floor heater.  "Did we have one?" he asked.  "We did!" I said excitedly.  "Come see."  So together we braced ourselves against the wind, and the now sunrise gave us a little extra light.  She looked at us as we interrupted her nursing and smiled with her eyes.  "I think we should name her Sally," my son said.  "I think that's a fine name...Sally it is," I said.

CrittersnGogetters

Welcome to my blog!
As for critters...we have plenty of them to share their zaney antics, and gogetters...well...big and small there are plenty of escapes to report on. 
Stay tuned!