Just a reminder...

I've moved!

You can find my new blog here: http://knownbyname.wordpress.com/

Hope to see you there!

Blessings,

dina

It's Moving Day!

No... no... we're not moving houses! Phew! Can you imagine? No - our blog is moving!

Here's the thing... I've got several blogs. I've got shortcuts to them on my desktop - and I'm always thinking about updating one or the other of them. But it just makes my life feel so fragmented.

I don't like a fragmented feeling life.

So, a month or so ago (maybe longer...) I started thinking, "What if I move - and merge! - all of my blogs into one location?" At first it seemed like a crazy idea. But the more I investigated, the more I thought about it, the more I brainstormed... well, it seemed less and less crazy.

So I've started a new blog - moved all of the posts from my other two most invested in blogs there, too, and well - today is the day. It's time to move.

So - you can now find me over at: http://knownbyname.wordpress.com/

It's still a work in motion. I'm trying hard to get stuff categorized - if you look on the upper right hand corner there's a drop down with categories. There's a category for the Hip Chick Chronicles and subcategories. There's a category for Living the DS Life (my weight loss surgery blog) with subcategories. And then there are some new categories where life kinda intersected.

So I hope you'll follow over there. If you're new to RSS subscription - look on your browser toolbar - it's a little orange button with a dropdown. When you click on that you can subscribe to a blog. Then, when updates are made, you can be notified. It's a very cool thing to know how to do!

Anyway - I've got some blog housekeeping to do. Hope to see you over at http://knownbyname.wordpress.com/

Spring is sprung!

This is probably just about as random a collection of photos as you're gonna find, but it's spring - and I was outdoors with the camera - and so - well, here you go!

BiL's Farm Fresh Eggs has got itself an egg sign - and finally - a holder - and it even works! Woo Hoo!

The peas are looking like they may well give us something to snack on soon. I keep looking for a little pea pod to snap off and pop in my mouth - but we're not there quite yet... soon, tho!




















Is there anything more beautiful than Japanese Iris?




















This is the new garden plot that John has laid out, tilled, and prepared. We got corn, yellow crookneck squash, and zucchini planted in it yesterday.
















Do you have sons? Cause if you do - this next photo will make total sense. Look! One of the pear trees is armed!















The flower bed along the street (adjacent to the low fence at the front of the property) got planted yesterday, too. There will hopefully be lots of Shirley Poppies, nastursiums, and sunflower seeds of varying types.



























There are now 30 tomato plants of different varieties planted in the main garden plot, thanks to my husband's ever diligent efforts.





































































We love these trellises John put together for tomatoes. They are so easy to tie up (we use construction tape - it's amazing, and cheap at Home Depot!), and they get lots of good sun and ventilation this way.






































This is John's stack of lumber for the chicken coop expansion project that he's working on.

He's removed the little run that was attached to the coop - that was the first step of the project, the demo. Now he's going to frame out the new addition area, and floor it first.

Can you see them? Baby pears!

Hanging out in the yard with Pepper, admiring the planting John did yesterday.

Pepper, the wonder chicken dog at play!

Gosh I love this time of year! Is there anything better than hanging out in the yard with the one you love and planting some amazing stuff that will enrich your lives?

First Field Trip

We decided this afternoon that we would let the babies out into the big back yard this afternoon for their first foray into life without fences...

We were surprised that for the most part, the big girls just ignored them. Rooth being the most aggressive of the big girls - but she for the most part stayed out of the way of the babies - letting them get their first taste of the wider world.

Aren't they cute?

Five of the babies are supposed to be Delawares. Four of them look very much like Delawares. This one (below) is all white, with the puffier cheek feathers, and has black legs. Not so much like the other Delawares! Mystery chick!

Here's the buff minorca rooster (William is attempting to name him Paco - we'll see if the rest of the family will agree with this name or not!) - only two buff minorcas, and one of them is a rooster, darn it all! We started with three, one just didn't recover from shipping - the other two have fared well. But this means I'll have my work cut out for me in a few weeks, looking for a new home for the boys who seem to be emerging in the flock.

Here's one of the speckled sussex. They're so cute and inquisitive and one of them is the first one out the door and the first to scope out a new treat offered.

This one is a blue andalusian - also a roo. Great. I wish we could keep the roos. But the one set of difficult neighbors makes that impossible, unfortunately. Even just this morning I heard the neighbor down the street's rooster greeting the morning... sniff... wish we could have one - or as many as show up! :)

This is another one of the Delawares. Jessica has named her Pecky. She is BIG. She is inquisitive. She loves to try and peck at my rings, nails, earrings - well, everything. She's hilarious to watch jump high up and try to get leaves off of the willow tree. AND... she is perfectly happy to sit on a lap and be petted. She's VERY personable, thrilled with the attention, and loves to follow people around.

William named this female buff minorca Princess. She's sweet and mellow. She is petite, though - both of the buff minorcas are. It will be interesting to see if there's any evening out compared to the rest of the flock.

Here's one of the americaunas. They are so cute and happy to be handled.

This is the mystery chick. I think it was supposed to be one of the black minorcas. Yeah - not so much. This one DOES NOT like being handled - HATES being caught - and doesn't ever quite settle down if you do catch it to hold and love on it a bit. It will be very interesting to see what she turns into!

It's amazing how quickly they're growing. The babies are now 5 and 1/2 weeks old. Dang - time flies!

We need your help...

Our son, William (you can call him BiL if you spell it right - long story!) has decided to start an egg business. With the family, neighbors, and friends who are interested in eggs on a fairly regular basis - and quite a big interest from those who go by our place - it was decided that if we had some more chicks, we could probably have a pretty decent little egg business.

If you know anything about chicken keeping you'll know that it's not cheap or inexpensive. However, if you factor in what we paid for our not as good as what we grow for ourselves eggs in pre-chicken keeping days - it's not THAT expensive. ($14 a week-ish for 40-free range eggs times 52 weeks - over $700 a year for eggs! So yeah - we're doing just fine now!)

But we've got a dilemma.

We need a name for the Egg Business.

We want your input.

Would you help us?

William thinks "Hip Chick Eggs" is dumb - okay, the other words he's used in conjunction to that name include stupid, bad, girly. But we're striking out on coming up with an alternative.

Will you help? Just respond in the comments section, and then when we've got some options, we'll post a poll where folks can vote - and then we'll let you know what the winner is!

Thanks!

I once fell in love...

I was age 16 - away working at a camp for the summer in the Seattle area - far from home - and had a weekend stretching in front of me with lots of free time - and not much to do. I was a little bummed. A friend said, "Well, you could read the Chronicles of Narnia again..."

"The Chronicles of what?" I asked.

"You know, "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe" is the first one..." she prompted.

I looked at her blankly.

Her mouth dropped open and she held her hand out and said, "WAIT RIGHT HERE!" She dropped everything (literally) and went running full speed ahead toward her cabin. She came back at same break-neck speed with a cube-like thing clutched to her breast, and completely out of breath. "Here!" She panted, shoving said cube my direction. I grabbed it, looked at it, and realized it was a set of books. Seven books, to be exact.

Little did I know that day all those years ago that my life would be inalertably changed because of my friend's generosity.

I spent the day sprawled out on a blanket - part of the day on the floating dock at the beach, the other part in the shade of a tree not far from my own cabin - plowing through the first few books. (Have I ever mentioned I'm a voracious reader?) By the time the weekend was over I'd read all seven books - and fallen completely head over heels in love...

with Aslan... of course!

with Narnia... duh!

with the beauty, the poetry, the symbolism, the justice, the symmetry.

So much to love.

Do you know - that here, nearly 30 years later (it's true, I'm turning 46 this year!) I still re-read the Chronicles? I'll be honest, I'm a little ADD, and at one point in time I came across an amazing thing - audiobooks! - and found a lovely set by Radio Family Theatre of the Chronicles - not just narrated - but acted out - and purchased it. (Here's a link - if you have children - buy it! If you love beauty - buy it! If you have any kind of road trip in your future - buy it!) And, of course, I've seen the recently produced movies of "The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe" and "Prince Caspian" - which honestly, are good - but in my opinion, stray a little too much from the original.

Last weekend I attended the Beth Moore Conference here in Portland with two very dear friends. It wasn't easy for me to go - me in a cast, needing to use a walker and a scooter to get around and through the crowd of 7300 women there, and needing to keep my foot elevated. I was a little tempted to bail. I'm so glad I didn't.

The past nearly 8 weeks - following the surgery on my ankle, and my time needing to allow my body to heal and graft the donor materials into my body - I've felt a little... I don't know. isolated? Well, it hasn't just been just since then. Do you ever feel like your heart is getting tired? weary? hard? isolated? And worse - that you don't mind?

I think that conference last weekend (my first exposure to Beth Moore - shhh... I'm a Precepts girl! I know, Kay and Beth are BFF!) was the beginning of the thaw.

Spring has been helping with the thaw, too, I think.

This afternoon as I was sitting on my comfy bed knitting away, the movie of "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe" came on TV. (Have I mentioned yet that I've seen more TV in the last 8 weeks than I have in the entirety of my lifetime combined prior to this surgery?!) I thought, "Ah... Narnia."

Aren't visual reminders a sweet thing?

I was reminded a new of some important life lessons...

I don't ever want to be a land or country that falls under the alluring spell of a temptress that turns me to stone cold.

I want to be like the trees - once awakened - who exude beauty, grace, and peace!

I want to be breathed on by Aslan - daily - just in case my heart is hardening.

I want to remember when I see Spring coming to life around me - here in my beautiful corner of the world - that I want my heart to be growing and maturing and bearing fruit.

I want to have an open invitation to bury my hands into the golden mane of the Great Lion - knowing that there is nothing to fear because I have been rescued.

I want to never lose my fear of Aslan - that tinge of it at least - because, you know, He's not a tame lion.

I want to live my life expectantly - knowing that the Son of the High King is working things together - and will one day arrive.

I know - totally off topic. Not chicken or garden related (much). But it is real life related - for me, anyway. Sorry to be so random. But I'm feeling pretty darn thankful for Spring right now!

So grown up!

The really cool chicks have already figured out how to FLY up to the ledge! Just a week old and already trying out their wings! Wow!

Speaking of wings - you gotta see how fast they're developing serious feathers! Wow!

Isn't she adorable?

I'm not able to get out to the coop much, unfortunately. I'll be so glad when I'm able to walk again!!! But I try to get out there at least once a day and spend some time talking to the babies and giving them treats and holding a few of them. I love that! It's so cool!

If the weather is good on the weekend, maybe we'll do our first field trip out with the baby gate to give the babies a taste of what life on the lawn is all about! Woo Hoo!