Where Eleanore Acquires Botulisim from the Compost Pile

Her name is Eleanore. Eleanore A. Chicken. The A. stands for amazing. One Friday, on a trip around the yard, dear Eleanore decided to make a quick stop off at the compost pile. Now the compost pile is usually well fortified against chicken entry, chickens not being old enough to discern the good from the bad within it. On this particular Friday however, Eleanore noticed a small opening that one of the dogs had made. Delighted with her find, Eleanore wasted no time. In she went, eating delicious bugs and fruit.

Later while lying paralyzed on the chicken run floor, Eleanore wondered whether it was the barely recognizable half of orange that gave her the botulism, or the aged broccoli remnants. "No matter," she thought, "whatever it was, it accomplished its job very well. Not a muscle would obey her command. Limp as a, well . . . as a dead chicken, Eleanore lay on the gritty run floor, waiting for the nasty bacteria to finish her off.

What Eleanore didn't count on was Food Lady coming out to check for eggs early Saturday morning. Food Lady usually came out later in the morning, today however, she was up early to attend the Farmers Market. Crossing the lawn from the house to the coop, Food Lady took one look at Eleanore, let out a small shriek, opened the run and grabbed her up with no regard for her freshly washed clothes. Not knowing where she was going to put her, Food Lady brought her into the food barn. The food barn, being the dark and quiet place that it was, seemed a much better place to Eleanore than the run floor. Being trampled and pecked by high and mighty snobbish chickens was no way to "fly the coop". Food lady laid Eleanore in a largish cage, with fresh clean bedding. Being paralyzed as she was, Eleanore decided not to even try and protest. She just looked up at Food Lady with the only outwardly working part she had, her eye. Food lady was horrified. Never had she seen such a sick chicken, and she hardly knew what to do! Google, being the wanna-be farm girl's best friend, quickly told Food Lady that it was botulism that she was dealing with. It also told her that dear Eleanore was already a dead duck. Not prone to believing everything she reads, Food Lady rifled through her cupboards and brought out some highly digestible fish protein capsules, some strong pro-biotics, some vitamin E capsules, and some trace mineral drops. She then cracked a fresh egg, and mixed the yolk with the other ingredients and added a splash of Glacier Ice Gatorade to thin it down. Armed with the concoction and an eye dropper, she set out for the Food Barn, whispering prayers all the way.

Upon her return, Eleanore could see that Food Lady's faith had wavered. She noticed that Food Lady continually looked toward the axe that leaned against the wall. Her eye being all she could command, Eleanore looked up pleadingly at Food Lady. It must have done the trick, for once again Food Lady seemed in command of herself, and got to the business of being a chicken doctor.

Poor Food Lady, her heart broke to bits as she held the limp neck of Eleanore. She noticed that Eleanore's comb was blood red and that she burned with fever. Squeezing the bulb of the dropper, Food Lady filled it up with the fishy yellow concoction and filled dear Eleanore's crop. After each dropper full, Food Lady would hold up Eleanore's noodle neck and let it drain down to what was hopefully the proper area. After gently laying the dying Eleanore's head down and encouraging her with soft soothing get well words, Food Lady closed the barn door and whispered another prayer as she went in for the night.

Food Lady woke with the sun the next morning, and still clothed in her jammies, she sprinted to the barn. Slowly she opened the door, fully expecting to find a dead hen. Eleanore jumped in fright at the intrusion, only her jump was a barely noticeable wiggle of her head. Food Lady took the wiggle with great hope and ran inside to make another batch of Chicken-Get-Well-Goo. Even at this hopeful stage however, Eleanore noticed Food Lady eyeing the axe. What she didn't know was that Food Lady felt awful for keeping Eleanore alive in such an awful state.

Every two hours Food Lady mixed and stirred, squeezed and droppered. By nightfall, dear Eleanore had regained enough of her faculties to protest with a squawk and a slight wave of the feathers. By Sunday evening, Food Lady required assistance in getting the goo down the not so floppy neck of Eleanore.

Monday morning found Food Lady jumping for joy as she peered inside the barn. Eleanore stood on her own, preening her feathers. It seemed to Food Lady that Eleanore was saying "I am a mess, please do not let anyone see me this way. Food Lady remembered being very ill once herself, and recalled that when the time came that she could worry about how awful looking the ordeal had left her, she was well on her way to being mended.

After one more day in convalescence, Eleanore returned to chicken society, missing only a few feathers from the botulism incident. In the heat of the day, all of the hens gather under the plum tree and listen to Eleanore tell her harrowing tale. Food Lady cannot help but smile as she sees Eleanore standing tall upon the tree stump inside the run, just a few short feet from where she came upon her limp body days before. God, is good.

Morning Bliss

     I woke this morning at five am to the gentle soft light of early dawn. Robed and slippered, I made my way to the kitchen and brewed delicious fresh roasted coffee. By the time the coffee was finished brewing and the house smelled like a coffee shop, it was time for my son Garrett to get up. My daughter M'Kayla woke early too, and we all took our coffee and sat out on the back porch. (that is my kids in the photo to the left) It was thirty minutes of bliss. It was a morning that I will treasure and cherish forever, and the best part was, I was present enough to realize it at the time. What made it so special? There was nothing but my kids, my coffee, and my life. That is special.
     If we look, there are incredible moments just begging to be noticed, but that are hidden inside the mundane tasks of our everyday exsistance. The sad thing is, as humans, we just do not take notice often enough, or if we do, it is usually too late.
     One day, in the not too distant future, my kids will have set sail into the world. They will pack their belongings, leaving only a few bits and pieces for me to cherish, and begin the amazing exploration that is life. They are already on the deck, waving their good-byes to their childhood. I am on shore, blowing kisses with tear stained cheeks, and reminding them to write.  I am so excited for all that God has planned for my kids. They are incredible human beings full of compassion for others, and a desire to be about God's work. But even in the midst of my excitement at what is to come, the mama inside of me aches to have them small and safe once again, tucked under my wings. It is this transition most likely that causes me to take notice of a morning like today. I am so thankful that I was given the presence of mind to notice it.

    

See Me Run.

Hmmm, May 12th, 2009. That is the last time that I made a new post, over 6 weeks ago! Summer is officially here in Montana, but I haven't been able to see much of it. I finally (and I say finally because it is something I have wanted to do for a very long time) went back to school and am working on my RN degree. I have only just begun, as the song goes...(my english professor would be mortified at my awful misuse and over-indulgence in elipses!) but am having a wonderful time.

I have been close to panic a few times, feeling overwhelmed and conflicted between home and school, but all in all, it is working out very well. (If you can call stacks of dishes, hair in the sink and piles of neglected laundry well) I am able to catch up on Friday's as I am only at school Monday through Thursday.

The chickens are growing, and as soon as I replace my dearly departed camera with one that doesn't take purple pictures with lines through them, I will post some photos. The baby girls are now as big as the big girls. The time I had, trying to integrate the two flocks was maddening. Maggie, my big girl bantam, was wicked to the little ones when they were introduced. I had to seperate her from the rest of them until the size factor evened out a bit.

On a sad note, as I sat outside yesterday drinking my morning cup of coffee, I heard a distinct crow coming from the henhouse. I am not sure yet who is masquerading as a girl, but I am attempting to discover who it is...he does not crow when I am looking, that much is sure.

The garden is growing, although not as well as last year. Its as if the plants have noticed my absense and shrugged in apathy, if I don't bother to show up, why should they grow? My planting choices were rather chaotic this year as well, all last minute as having surgery right before planting season put a damper on my planning.

I promise to update more...I really am more motivated when I am taking photographs!

Ripples of Memories (with link to Ripple Afghan Pattern)

I have been crocheting and crocheting and crocheting some more. I was completely and mindlessly addicted to making this easy ripple blanket. You can see my sweet Boston Terrier Opus posing on the ripples. I have only made one other blanket in my crochet history, a pretty flowered granny afghan for my moms birthday two years ago. I can usually be found working on projects that can be completed in one or two sittings, its a patience thing. :-SS

I had such a great time making this because my daughter M'Kayla was right along side me knitting a baby blanket for her friend. We would take any empty time slot, throw a movie in and "yarn" away. Such good memories all stitched together. I had originally planned to give this blanket away. I wasn't sure to whom, but I usually don't hang on to the things that I make. But as I thought about it, I came to the realization that M'Kayla being 18, will not have so much time in the future to knit and crochet with her mama.
I think that this will be a mothers day present to myself. A weaving of memories.
I used up so much of my yarn stash, which is what I had intended to do. Some of the yarn was probably 7 years old and left over from projects that I had made for my family. Again, so many memories and woven together. We watched some great movies including Penelope, Twilight, Blast From The Past, Lord of the RIngs, Becoming Jane, Emma, Love Comes Softly, I Am Legend, I Robot, Hancock, Transformers, Kate and Leopold and more that I can't remember right now.
I used this great simple pattern here if anyone wants to give it a go. Its easy, mindless, and great relaxation :)

Note to self...

From My Pictures

When you pour bleach into a tub of water....look away! Ask my eye how it knows this. Today as I was adding a few drops of bleach to a tub of water, the bleach hit the water just right (or wrong depending on how you LOOK at it) and splashed directly into my eye.

Yes, there was squealing and running in circles and throwing huge splashes of water into my eye to clean it out. After a while my eye realized it was going to live and stopped shutting without my permission, and then the bleach decided it wasn't a great place to hang out and the burning eventually subsided.

The "bleach incident", as I will heretofore refer to it, really made me think though, about accidents and how fast they happen, and how a small bit of "slow it down girl you don't have to clean the kitchen in 6.2 seconds flat" goes a long way in being able to think before you act.

So.. the new me is slower, more cautious, and wearing safety goggles when I clean. Okay so it isn't the new me, but I am going to be more careful!

Breaking News: It is with great sadness that I report to you that my Snug Black T-Shirt was damaged in the bleach incident and will no longer be appearing in my wardrobe. An innocent bystander, Snug Black Tee took a direct hit to the front and will be layed to rest in the rag drawer. Snug was a good tee, full of life and elasticity. I accept full responsibility for her demise. She will be missed.

Operation Christmas Child

Yesterday I received in the mail a letter from someone I had never heard of. It came from the Philippines and so I was very curious as I opened it. Inside I was delighted to find a letter and a photo from a little girl named Arabella Angel who received one of the shoe boxes we donated last year at Christmas time to Operation Christmas Child. If you haven't heard of it, OCC is an amazing organization that is part of Samaritans Purse, which is a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world. Since 1970, Samaritan's Purse has helped meet needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine with the purpose of sharing God's love through His Son, Jesus Christ. (This was from their mission statement)
At Christmas last year we had so much fun putting together shoe boxes full of toys, candy, clothing items, pencils, paper, stickers, tooth brushes and tooth paste, hair ribbons and books. Our family went shopping together carefully choosing the items that we would place in the boxes. At one point I broke down and could not contain my tears because I knew these precious babies had next to nothing and I wanted to make these boxes perfect for them!
We enclosed Christmas cards in our boxes and a little note to each child that might receive the box. We also enclosed photos of our family and Montana and a return address in case they might want to correspond with us.
To our delight Arabella wrote to us with the help of her aunt! Her letter was decorated with the crayons and pencils we had sent her. When my daughter and I read it, we were both in tears. It is amazing how close we feel to this precious little 6 year old girl!

If I get my scanner working I will scan the cute little letter.

My Daughters First Knitted Baby Blanket

This morning, my daughter M'kayla put the finishing stitches on the baby blanket she has been knitting for her friend Kayla who just had her baby.
She chose the colors purple and black because when Kayla first found out she was pregnant (which seems ages ago but was just 9 months) they were both working at Taco Bell.
I think it turned out fabulous! She chose to crochet scalloped edges to make the blanket look more finished.
I am SO proud of her! She loves to knit, finding it much more relaxing and much easier than crochet. I on the other hand, love to crochet. I like knitting okay... but when I have to do more than knit and purl it makes my brain cry.
For the past month, she and I have been partners in fun, she knitting, me crocheting as we watched gobs of movies, some old, some new and some well worn favorites.
She wants to start next on a baby blanket for her hope chest. I love the idea!
I will find the pattern that she used and post it here in a few days.
I am still in work mode on the vintage feel ripple scrap blanket that I am crocheting. When I finish, I'll post it here as well.
Happy May!!