Two Faced

We've been practicing our happy and sad faces, and just like a 4 year old, Maryn was able to produce both with in seconds of each other.

For the Record

A friend reminded me to record some of the fun times.... so this is for daddy (at the Mt Hood stage race) and for all the grandparents, and for anyone else out there who needs a reminder to come visit.

Spring is in the air...

There is nothing like a spring breeze...

 and running your fingers through your hair and finding leaves. 

Spring and I have a complicated relationship. 

Llama Drama!

At one of the campuses I work at we have large groups of oak trees and generally forested areas. Recently maintenance has been bringing in sheep and goats on the weekends for vegetation control. Everyone praised the idea saying that it was the "green" thing to do. I find that statement funny since we're renting sheep and goats to get rid of the green... but whatever.
 I'm in favor of the idea because GOATS! We're a decidedly pro-goat household even though we have no real reason to be. We're never owned goats, used goats, or been closer to them than at the state fair. But we certainly enjoy the idea of them, their babies are super cute, their milk makes great cheese and since we appreciate them from afar, we think they are nifty.

Back to the college... I teach a class on Fridays and Saturdays when there are few, if any, other classes on campus. While driving on campus I came upon the sheep and goats munching away in a movable gated area. The way they were situated put them right up against the parking lot I wanted to park in and I smiled at them as I  parked and unloaded my books to go to class.
Later, when I came back to the car I noticed that they had really eaten down all the tall grass and taken all the new growth off the underbrush. I could see a handler setting up fences to make a new pen for them to move into, one that would bring them right up against my car. The animals knew what to do, starting to crowd the fence leading into the new area and I saw he had a couple of llamas with the other animals.
As he got closer I said "I see you have llamas too.. are those for the high brush?".
He opened the new pen and the llamas came through first. He said "No, those are gaurd llamas".
I laughed out loud, "Ha! Guard llamas! Funny!" because, of course he was kidding.
The llamas were getting pretty close to my end of the pen now.
 "No," he said, yelling over the sounds of the herd coming through."Really! Guard llamas!"
I heard the warning in his voice as the first llama started getting very close, making a low throaty sound.
"Really! How long are you going to be here? You should probably get in your car!" He yelled as the llama finally reached me.
 I jumped in my car quickly but my window was rolled down a little and I was faced with a llama staring at me, chewing and getting ready to spit.
"You should go now!" I heard the man say.
I pulled out and watched the llamas following me around the perimeter of the lot..always putting themselves between me and the rest of the animals.
So..I'd never heard of guard llamas... but after googling it, I guess it's a thing. They use them a lot in Canada and wherever they need to protect sheep from coyotes.

I guess they're pretty good at protecting sheep from chemistry teachers too.

Stuffed with everything good

This last winter, with a gift certificate burning a hole in my pocket, I bought myself a beautiful french cookbook by Dori Greenspan.

I had heard an interview with the author, but when I got to the bookstore I couldn't remember the title of the cookbook...  

I did however remember the author because her name is Dori... 

which is the name of Meeshmellow's Parent's pug - a sweet, round, little sausage of a dog.

While listening the radio interview I kept imagining the author's voice coming from a little pug dog in a beret, talking about pumpkins and bacon, licking her little chops... 

It's the kind of image that sticks with you, and the reason I was able to find the book. 

Since it was winter, and sugar pumpkins were available I tried "Pumpkin stuffed with everything good".

Boy is it.

The recipe calls for bread, cheese, bacon, garlic, and heavy cream. Oh, and a pumpkin to hold it in.

I followed the instructions but substituted 2% milk for the cream with great results.

 It smells so good cooking, it's hard to let it finish. 

 Since then I have made it a couple times as a casserole with butternut squash as a base. So good... a new fall/winter tradition!

Pay back is a female dog.

We have two dogs... 

an older black lab, Beta, who is sensible, quiet and well behaved

and a younger pointer, Friday,  who is... none of those things. 

Since the very beginning of their time together, the Friday has always sat on Beta. We're not talking about a "snuggle so close she's almost sitting on Beta" type of thing. We're talking about sitting like a normal dog, front feet on the ground, but with her rear end squarely on Beta's back/head/side/rear. Like a 70lb dog sitting on a 80lb dog shaped bench.

This taken when Friday was just a pup, so take this pic and add 40lbs to her.

Everyone comments on it, we always thought Friday would grow out of it, or that Beta would stop putting up with it when Friday got too heavy. But it just kept going on. Now when it happens, Beta just growns and gives us a look that we can only interpret to mean "Wasn't I a good dog? Things were perfect before this Thing came. Why is this happening?"

Now she has a reason to be happy:

Oh, how the tables have turned

I guess now it's Friday's turn to look at us and say:

"Things were perfect before this Thing came. Why is this happening?

Easter in January

It's about time! Our new chickens started laying eggs in January. Mary, who is an Ameraucana breed lays green shelled eggs (just as we hoped). Ameraucana chickens look a little different, with fluffy neck feathers and a short, hookish beak. To me they look a little hawk like.

Not our Mary, but looks just like her!

 Our other new chicken, Shirley, is a Barred Rock and lays brown eggs.

Again, not Shirley, but a splitting image!

Our Shirley is always fluffy so she looks really fat all the time. She is such a good chicken, really personable and doesn't mind being held or petted. She is very aggressive about food, so if you have some she is your best friend!

Of course there was excessive documentation of the  first eggs!

Both a little smaller than "jumbo"eggs, but decent size for first eggs!

As usual, the yolk is proportionally bigger that store bought eggs.

Hard to see here, but after we hard boiled the green shelled eggs, the inside of the shell is a light blue. 

Easter will be interesting this year... what will the green eggs look like when we color them?

 Maybe we won't color them at all!