13

First off, I must update you on the Useless Cat:




Valerie came home from school today and reported, "Okay, there are two things on my bed. I find one of them disturbing."

I don't blame her. That cat drags in all kinds of foxtails and itchy things.

The skull is a souvenir from Michael & Rex's hunting trip today. They said that thing was coming right for them. So, not the wild boar meat they were hoping for, but not empty handed.

Today Rex officially turned 13. We have an actual teenager in the house. Michael and I cannot even remember our 13th birthdays (although 12 and 14 can be recalled) so we snapped a few photos for posterity:











He requested a cheese cake. I made it with eggs from our chickens and honey from our bees. On the side was a strawberry rhubarb compote that was also harvested from our yard.

In fact, at dinner tonight the salad and artichokes came from our yard and were served with a homemade mayonnaise (also compliments of our hens).

So, when Rex was in my belly I was still eating canned tomato soup and tater tots. 13 years later we are harvesting as much food out of the yard as possible. We've come a long way ... Baby!

Thank goodness for Rex and his sisters for this grand adventure.

Useless Cat!

Let it be known throughout the land that Mr. Whiskers (aka: Steve Austin, the $6 million cat) is utterly useless! He woke me up at 2:30am to go outside. Darn cat.

At 6:15am I stumbled into the kitchen and put on water for tea. I turned to get a glass of water when something sprang out of the garbage disposal toward my face. Naturally I screamed. I stood staring at the sink for a moment wondering if I had just imagined that. A dark gray shape sprang back up toward my face and fell back into the sink again. "Mouse!! Mouse!!! Mooooouuuuuuse!!!" I screamed in the hopes that someone would come rescue me. Who? Oh, you know, one of my children. They are so brave!

I never thought of myself as the type of woman who would shriek at the sight of a mouse. I think it was the combination of the utter surprise, followed by the suspense of wondering where it would go, would there be others? And then the larger issue: We have mice!

So, I screamed again, "Valerie!!! Mouse!! Mouse!!!"

Now, normally it's difficult to get the girls out of bed for school in the morning. But when Valerie heard her name followed by the word "mouse" out she ran. "Oh, it's one of those little jumper mice," she said. We discussed catching it and she put on some leather gloves as I ran to get a box. "What ever you do, Mommy, do not turn on the garbage disposal. It is already really wet and scared." With the authority of someone who has years of experience with these situations she took charge. "I need a flashlight. Okay, I can see he has lots of food and water down there, so he'll probably hide out a while. I'm going to have to go in after him. How much will you give me if I catch the mouse and turn it loose in the field down the street? $5? Okay."

And the next thing I know, it was done.

Later in the morning she was taking some scraps out to the chickens and came in to inform me that there is a squished mouse under the hinges of the nesting boxes in the chicken house.

Mr. Whiskers, you are so fired!

Victory!

Here's Rex with some of his other scout friends at their 50 mile mark. They covered it in less than 6 hours. This was their goal but they continued on for nearly 68 miles.




So cool!

Whaddah Weekend

We have had so much going on here lately. First, an update on the bees: The Queen is dead. Long live the Queen." As I suspected, Margaret is dead. And the activity at her former hive was just the few bees who were left behind being robbed blind. I should have robbed the hive first. Darn. And I did not catch the swarm. I have only Queen Margaret and her girls left behind. C'est la vie.

In other news, Amira spent a three day, two night camping trip at a farm recently with her third grade class.










Upon her arrival home, Rex took off for a two night camping trip with the Boy Scouts that was apparently epic. Rex and his friend , Bailey, apparently were short a tent and had to build a "lean to" shelter. By the second night they had apparently modified it to withstand the elements. Oh. The adventure!

Upon Rex's return, Valerie was off to a week long field trip to the Shady Creek Environmental Camp with her sixth grade class.







During all this Michael was off in the Bahamas for a job. He skyped in nightly complete with palm trees in the background for a nice touch. Sorry no pix of that.

Finally the five of us are reunited at home. Michael and I spent the weekend doing chores. He had to chicken proof the grapes and stake the tomatoes. I had loads of weeding, tilling & planting to do. Oh, and coops to clean. And bees to check. And laundry to do. And sleep on which to catch up. The list goes on.

Amira cut some poppies to bring in as I was digging them up and planting my zinnias and portulacas.



While we were home working on our farmers' tans, Rex was partaking in the Wildflower event. This year it was the Flatflower 65. Seriously, that kid rode 65 miles today! We're so proud of him.












Now that Michael is home, he can grill up yummy stuff for dinner. Soon his grill can move onto the patio!

Michael is out playing Marco Polo in the pool with the kids after a crazy good dinner of grilled pork chops, sautéed zucchini and salad. Remember when you would have had to wait 45 mins after a meal like that to get in the pool? Kids today don't even know what is was like back in the day.


Spring is here with the air already giving a hint of summer. There is the promise of fruit on the trees, grapes on the vines and a pergola to cover our new patio!

Should we eat the artichokes or let them bloom? I'm really torn!




Here is a photo of Valerie with her favorite Shetland sheep from a recent 4-H meeting:



Here's Rex making chocolate covered strawberries:





And a lemon merengue:




And his volley ball team:


Life is good. Busy. But good.

Swarm Season

So you may know that I had quite a reaction after my last bee sting. Well, maybe you didn't know. I got stung just under the left side of my lip earlier this month. At first there was no crazy swelling. But I woke up in the middle of the night unable to feel my pillow on the entire left side of my face. My lip, tonsil, throat, chin and all were completely swollen. Like a visit to an evil dentist. My head and neck were completely puffed along with dizziness and just generally being taken out of commission for two solid days.

Remember the movie Elephant Man? There's a visual for you!

As a result, I promised not to go into the hives until I got an epi pen and Michael was home. Needless to say, our hives have not been inspected for quite some time. And I'm pretty sure the bees are running out of room in there.

Today Rex and Michael discovered that my bees are swarming. Well, possibly somebody else's bees as well. In fact, I saw some swarms around town today. It seems to be the day for it.

Here are some videos and pictures of what's going on at the ranch this afternoon.

Very exciting!

Amira's Gone to London Town

Amira has spent the last week on an amazing trip to London with Neni. They have sent photos of parts of their adventure. Apparently it is freezing there and even snowed one day.

She met the (Lego) Queen:

There was some relaxing at the hotel.



The food was fantastic.



The British Museum:




The Tate Museum:



St. Paul's Cathedral:




And we hope to hear many stories when they return. Apparently they had a Beatles tour of London and went to see Let It Be live on stage. How cool!

We Got Chix!

25 of these things. Super cute.

No turkeys this year. The kids tried to put together an Easter photo shoot with Napoleon & the chicks. They didn't take direction well.

Ready? Set ...


Go!


And you go too!


Hey, where did everyone go?


A stuffed animal rabbit holds the pose better than Napoleon.


Our next rabbit is going to be a Flemmish Giant. Check out this photo:




Can you imagine this guy living in your living room? A lap bunny!

One more photo for good measure:




This is on the "I want" list for sure.