Ordinary Time

(All photo credits to K.) Duck is definitely one of the most adored animals here at the farm and her popularity has risen even higher after the events of last night. I've decided that everyone could stand to be a bit more like duck.  Duck is kind When Fluffy the Rooster took himself off to live alone in the barn, Duck would always come up to visit him. Sometimes a random hen would make the trip, but Duck was faithful with her visiting. (Sadly we lost Fluffy a few months ago.) Duck stands up for herself More than once someone has seen Duck grab Zorro (the rooster who is twice her size) by the neck and yank him out of the way when he tried to push by her. Duck doesn't put up with that. And really don't even think about taking the eggs she is sitting on. Duck doesn't put up with nonsense. Duck stands up for others Last night we are all convinced that she saved the young hen's life and probably all the other chickens' lives as well by holding the raccoon at bay unti...

If you are a long time reader, you are aware of out ongoing battle against the raccoons we inherited when we bought the Big Ugly House. It took years before we had finally managed to get the house raccoon-free.  We have been free of raccoons for many years now. It was lovely. Then a couple of weeks ago we started seeing raccoon evidence outside. This was not met with joy, I can tell you. Then, this morning, when I entered the kitchen to get the day's first cup of coffee, I found L. in the middle of making a hearty breakfast and looking as though she had been awake for a while.  This was because she had, in fact, been awake for a while. She had been awake since 5:00 am, when she was awakened by some very loud sounds from the chicken coop. Being a good chicken carer, she rushed outside grabbing a shovel on her way. The shovel was a good idea because when L. got to the coop, she discovered a raccoon INSIDE the coop. It escaped through the wire roof when it saw L. coming after it ...

When I'm talking with parents, I often urge them to try to use humor to lower the emotional temperature in their home. (To be clear, using humor that is just generally funny or self-deprecating to the parent is what I mean. Making fun of a child, especially one who is struggling, is never going to end well.) Humor can help make things less intense and take the edge off things. By using humor, we show our children that we aren't angry and the situation is much less dire than it could be. These are all great reasons to nurture your sense of humor. Imagine my excitement when I was reading a book about a totally different topic this afternoon and came across yet another reason to add the use of humor into your parenting (or relationship) toolbox... it helps create a sense of felt safety and connection. I know I am always nattering on about felt safety and connection, but the more I read, the more I parent, and the more I work with other parents, I become more and more convinced tha...

This is what I've been working on for the past couple of days and it's far more interesting than showing you a picture of my computer and telling you I spent the afternoon on Teams. (A new online  Certificate program in Equine Assisted Services began today, which I am co-facilitating.) This is the English paper piecing (EPP) project I have been working on. After fiddling with the placement for a few weeks, I finally had something I liked.  This is seven hundred hexagons. You can see it wasn't quite enough. I figured that would be the case, so I wasn't surprised. Here are the three fabrics I'll use for the last forty or so hexagons. In the meantime, though, I really need my studio table. I was also more than a little concerned that some animal or child would accidentally move them around. Today I spent labelling each hexagon with it's place in the design. (It's paper piecing so there are papers inside that I can write on.) I went by column, giving each colum...

As you pull into our driveway, the first sign you see is this. You'll notice that would be 'ducks' plural. But we haven't had more than one duck for several years. I love ducks and ducklings; I don't love brooding them. It's the biggest reason we have had just Duck for so long. L. promised she would be the one to take care of ducklings, so in February I ordered four Welsh Harlequin ducks.... three hens and a drake... with a hatch date of May 18. They have been eagerly anticipated. Yesterday I received the notice that they had hatched and shipped. All we had to do was wait for our post office to call and say they arrived. I don't like little baby ducks (or chicks) to have to live in their shipping box longer than necessary, so I was relieved when the post office called about noon to say they had arrived. L. and I immediately cashed out to collect them.  I'm always relieved when I peek in the box and see that everyone has survived.  Can you see the little ...

But it was an intense weekend with a lot of people-ing and I don't think I have the bandwidth to write much of anything. So instead, enjoy a couple of pictures of the bagels Y. made last night. There is jalapeno and everything. They are very good.