Laundry Life

How NOT to reassure your fearing-blasé-middle-age wife:

GTR: I used to do so much more in my life: travel, adventure, intellectual or idealistic things. What am I doing with my life now?

WF (innocently): Laundry?

Ha! In his defense, I WAS standing there with some freshly air-dried laundry in my hands. Ah, life.

What day is it?

Ah, Saturday. The sun’s out, the washing machine’s going, the chickens are sunbathing. I’m still fighting my sinus bug, and WF is just now up again after a bout with a stomach bug. Bill the cat is resting after a couple, ah, messy days. I’m really getting tired of germs, but I think we’re turning the corner. I'm getting a good review of various remedies: did you know that slippery elm powder is useful for both human and cat digestive issues? Ginger is also a favorite for human maladies. Need to keep up on my herbal learning...

We’re tackling the house and dishes today, which have been put aside during this icky sick/work craziness time. I’m done with the busy first step of two major work projects (grant applications, so the real work could come later), just the regular end of budget year busy-ness ahead.

Oh, wait; is it the holiday season? These Christmas card things started appearing in our mailbox, seriously a surprise to me. We don’t decorate much around here, and if anything, try to focus on Solstice. I used to do a bit more, but with 3 cats and solar power (and a celebration-averse or just ambivalent WF), it’s hard to go too crazy with climbable, electricity-using decorations. I’m trying to remember (and instill) the value of just plain old ritual and seasonal celebration; humans have done that for centuries. Even if we’re not caught up in the commercial or christian Christmas, we can still celebrate the return of the light and the turning of the seasons, a time of gatherings and family. We can all use that in the midst of the cold, dark, germy winter, right?

Ok, now to find some energy for some gifty sewing or holiday letter writing...

Out, foul snot!

Dear Mr. Rhin O. Virus:

I do believe you’ve left an elephant shoved up inside my sinuses. Kindly remove it at once. Consider this also your eviction notice, effective immediately.

You have definitely overstayed our temporary rental agreement. Your little party in my sinuses has been so wild that it is completely blocking all exits to those delicate little caverns. Not only is this a fire (and breathing) hazard, it has trapped your dirty little bacterial friends inside. They’ve taken your cue and begun wild, drunken partying as well. I do not appreciate elephants in sinuses, nor green, sludgy snot.

I have reluctantly called in reinforcements, kindly given to me by modern western medical practitioners. Your complete disregard for my kinder methods (goldenseal and echinacea, herbal steam, saline neti pot washes, massive amounts of assorted teas) and the subsequent bacterial bash has led me to this unusually drastic measure. You additional disregard for my need for sleep to have brain power to address serious work projects has also increased my animosity.

“Is this a tissue I see before me? Out, damned snot! Out, I say!”

Sincerely, GTR
(sniff)

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We take a break from regular programming to bring you this message:


Hello. I’m Bill the Cat. Have you been searching for the perfect snack to share with your feline friends?


I recommend Smart Puffs, the crispy cheesy taste cats (at least me, and I’m a cat) crave.

The wonderful musky smell...


The cylindrical cheesy goodness...


The delicate crunchy texture...



A purrrr-tastic delight! It’s the only thing that turns ME into a lap cat! Mmmm! I’ll think I’ll have just one more...

(Actual cat intake of cheese puffs was limited by prudent humans, but I swear it’s his favorite treat. We bond over bags of these "healthy" cheese puffs. One of senior Bill-cat’s many little quirks...)

Chilly Chickens

It does finally feel like “nice” winter around here (ie not just cold and gray, but fun snow and some sun), and the chickens are not exactly sure what to think. Sun = good. Snow = bad. Straw on top of snow, put down by the kind WF = okay, good enough reason to go out. At least there's not yet quite as much snow as last year's similar view.

Some of these chickens are experiencing their second winter, but for seven of them, this is a first. Newer readers may not have followed our “second chicken generation” saga, documented starting here. Or actually, here. Those chicks are now 5 months old, and fairly hard to distinguish from their mothers. We still have one rooster from that batch, along with 6 (well-documented) hens:



The young hens are reaching the time when they should start laying some eggs. The “elder” hens have been taking it pretty easy, with a total of 10 eggs in November (!). We think it’s still a product of the molt, but sheesh, it will be nice to get some eggs again. I had no idea molts took so long.

We’re not sure how productive these young ones will be this year, though, as we have a very “natural” chicken raising philosophy: no extra light or heat, just a well-insulated passive solar coop (mostly because we don’t have the power to run that stuff off the grid). It worked well last winter, and the hens continued to lay all winter. But they were young and fertile, and had gotten into their egg-laying groove by the end of September. These new hens (due to our reluctance to let the broodiness go ahead the first time the elder hens tried) were born quite a bit later, so are behind that curve.



But the passive solar coop does work fairly well (when we get sun!). We spent quite a bit of time calculating how high to set the big (recycled) south-facing window and how big the eaves should be to get max sun in the winter and the minimum in summer. Sometimes I feel bad that it gets rather chilly in the coop, but these Buff Orps are a cold hardy breed and did fine last winter. I have to think that people DID have chickens in MN before they had electricity to keep them warm, right? We all need to think of the past as we think of an energy-uncertain future…


Blog note: I did switch to beta in order to use categories. I’m still not sure how to get them to show up on sidebar, but click on the tag below the posts to get more chicken pics, etc!

Germs and Gov't Gems

(re: Title- I know I love alliteration a little too much. "A little alliteration goes a long way." Ha!)

Anyway. I’ve been slow to post this week, partly because of a sneak attach by some cold germs (masqueraded as allergies until it was too late, grr) and partly because of some crazy work projects. One big chunk of the work-work is done (whew!) but I’m going to have this little rhinovirus guest for a while. Sigh….

I’m a big believer in natural healing, self care and PREVENTING these nasty bouts. If I’m aware enough, I can usually catch them with zinc, vitamin C, Echinacea, more sleep and less sugar before things get too bad. I’ve lately heard good things about elderberry, and have been trying that, too.

I think this particular round came from my big Monday evening in town, consisting of a visit to the gym, yoga class (in a lovely old 1914 school) and library. Darn public germs! Gotta be better about no nose/eye touching and handwashing out there.

Anyway, off the topic of germs and back to gems: When I was at the library, I indulged in a little wander in the Federal Depository section. Have you ever been to one? They are FASCINATING. Well, as a former federal employee and current history buff, I think so. Where else can you find the 1896 Report of the Office of Animal Industry (with some great “modern” butter-making photos) right next to some 1970’s Energy Crisis activities for teens, nestled up against some 1980’s era maps of western National Parks?

I don’t completely understand the concept of these places: they are such a wonderful, random hodgepodge of documents from all eras. It’s like picking up a dictionary to see what word your finger falls on; serendipitous messages from the past. I rarely see any actual people in the stacks, just row after row of carefully prepared reports, some over 100 years old. Who says government paperwork doesn’t live on? I hope these throwbacks to a long-ago paper age last through this computer age; where else am I going to get my 1930’s Farm Co-op News fix?