Beauty

Although our summer garden didn't provide a harvest bounty, it did prove well for flowers. Sunflowers are my favorite flower and to actually grow my own gave me an amazing sense of pride. Next year, the giants will be planted around the perimeter of the yard. An incredibly simple pleasure of this spring and summer has been the watering of the butterfly garden with Ginger and Ella keeping me company. It's magical to have butterflies and hummingbirds flittering by. They've served as a much needed reminder of finding the beauty that is so close by and within reach.

Go Mo Go!

She's so cute I could eat her!
Mo Kinhi

No More Drama

I'm lounging in the backyard while Jeremy works on the coop. (YES, the coop is not done but it will be THIS MONTH. The only thing that happens quickly around here is the disappearance of ice cream.) He's listening to my RIO MP3 player, the one he bought me when I thought going to the gym was a swell idea. He was just dancing with his Makita and singing with Mary J. Blige, to the best of his ability. He says I have weird taste in music but I can't help but notice he's getting a lot more done today than he has in a long, long time. Music, it's good motivation.
Ginger enjoys having her picture taken with Mac's Photo Booth while supervising the construction of her coop ala condo.

I Hate to Brag

... But I will. I love me some chickens and since the last picture of the girls received praise, I feel obligated to post a couple more.

Ginger has been practicing her Marilyn McNugget pose atop the heat pump. Unfortunately, she does it when I don't have the camera with me or when it's getting late and any attempt to snap a cool pic is in vain. This one will at least give you an idea of what she looks like with her feathers a-fluffin'. (Please excuse that awful, awful pic!) At that particular moment, she looked more like a chicken practicing for space but more times than not, her feathers are all fluffed out and flowing in the breeze. Silly, silly girl chicken.

Ella, in contrast, is more distinguished. She has remained very vocal and now sounds like she's saying "OHHHhhhhh" like she's very concerned about something or another. It was interesting to see her position change from follower to leader once the Cockerel-Formally-Known-As-Xena left. There isn't much of a pecking order since it's just the two of them but on occasion they'll posture a little but hey, all females do that in some fashion when another female is around. Overall, they're just the best of friends and seem very content to do their chicken work all day long.

I'm Like a Bird

Jeremy discovered this family of baby mockingbirds tucked into a caution post at work. Of all the places to call home! Mama mockingbird was minding her flock from a close proximity while Jeremy tried to get a closer look at their humble abode. There were four peeping babies tucked into that tube and how they've survived this long is totally amazing! Their home offers z e r o protection from the weather (which is nothing short of way-hot) or from predators. My chickens are still considered fair game and they have lots of hiding places in the yard. It just boggles the mind that mama mockingbird would plant her nest where she did. I guess she's like me, she likes wide open spaces (although their quarters are a bit cramped). It's the wide open spaces of my mind that have kept me away lately. All is well, just needed to devote time and attention to other interests and To-Dos.

One thing that has held my attention avidly is this new MacBook. I've been working on our relationship, getting to know one another, becoming close companions but trying to take things slowly. With the transition to Mac comes information overload and overwhelmedness, if there is such a thing. The iMac and MacBook come with so many groovy gizmos that I've hardly known where to start. After pecking around a bit I decided to tackle iTunes.

There still remains a focus on decluttering and simplifying in our home so I thought getting rid of dust-collecting CDs would be an excellent multi-purpose project. I've been sorting through the myriad of music we have and have been downloading and determining which CDs are already destined for a trade at a local used bookstore. I'm not even a quarter of the way through our CD collection so the CDs pictured above are a mere sampling of some of the stuff I dig hearing.


Speaking of birds, check out my birds! Ginger and Ella are growing up to be beautiful young women chickens! They're right around 4 months old so within the next month or two, we should be scramblin' up some fresh organic eggs!