Ordinary Time

Because we are now learning about Tudor England in history, I have asked everyone to read at least parts of Utopia by Thomas More. Earlier today, Y. comes stomping into my bedroom where I am working at my desk to complain about Thomas More and his supposed perfect society. She has a bone or two to pick with him.  This evening while we were fixing dinner, J. was continuing the discussion offering different ways that Utopia can be interpreted. Nope, Y. was giving no quarter and proceeded to list all the ways he was wrong.  She may not like or appreciate the book, but I bet it stays with her. 

Today was warm. Warm as in we opened up the windows and I contemplated changing into a short sleeved shirt. It's still February, mind you, historically my least favorite month of the year because of the unrelenting cold weather.  Late this afternoon a storm started rolling in. It was totally dark by 5:40 because of the heavy clouds. When I went to feed horses about the same time, it was just starting to rain lightly. Further west, where TM lives and J. works there was some significant hail. But ever the photographer, TM braved the falling balls of ice for a good photo. By 6:30 I was keeping the live weather forecast on my phone because of the number of tornado sightings. It was a rather stressful forty minutes as we kept track of where tornados were. One did pass about three miles south of us. Poor Kenzie spent the storm sheltering in the downstairs bathroom, which he does whenever a storm passes through.  I'm sure he didn't think it was the optimum way of celebrating his r...

Over the weekend I decided I wanted to spin something pretty, so I dug through my fiber stash and pulled out a couple of merino/silk dyed braids that I got a while back. I didn't really have a plan for them, so was a bit unsure what kind of yarn I wanted to spin. This particular fiber seemed to want to spin on the fine side, so I decided to do that. I could always make it a bit thicker by playing.  As I was spinning, I realized that the color of the braid was reminding me of some yarn I picked up at a thrift store several years ago. There was a lot of it, and I thought it might make a decent warp for... something. It was fairly thin and had a soft drape to it.  This is where the rather outlandish idea began. What if I used the thrift store yarn for the warp and kept my new project as singles and used them for weft. They were about the sand diameter as I was spinning, so it could make a lovely twill fabric.  I have a lot of the yarn and I have eight ounces of the fiber (wh...

This could be brief as I don't think there was all that much that happened this week. J. and I went out for two Saturdays in a row which is pretty unheard of around here. Last week we went out to dinner just ourselves as we couldn't remember the last time we had done that. Last night we met our very good friends the P. Family mom and dad because it had been far too long since we had seen them. Some children think it is a bit profligate of us to go out two weeks in a row. We have been living pretty frugally since the new year (our two nights out not withstanding) because we have had several large bills which we are working on getting paid off. But I did splurge on one thing ... a laundry sorter.  This falls under the heading of why didn't I do this sooner? I'd been using baskets to sort laundry, but they take up a lot of floor room in an area that doesn't have a lot of floor room. I had a similar sorter in the old house, but it was made of PVC pipe and would always b...

It's that time of year when you start seeing eggs baby chicks. We're no exception here. I asked L. to take the eggs baby chicks out so they could get some exercise, so she took some pictures of them while they were enjoying the sunny weather.  Want to see? Just enjoying the view. Admiring the tulips that are beginning to come up. The chicks' first snow. Sitting under a tree. Now a little biology lesson. All these chicks eggs chicks are fertilized. How do I know? We have two roosters. They take their job very, very seriously. I assure you, they are fertilized. And, yes, all the eggs we eat are also fertilized, while the eggs you buy in the store are not. (Yes, I realize sometimes you can find fertilized eggs in the grocery store, but they are labeled as such.) This sometimes confuses people, so I often find myself giving chicken biology lessons. Hens lay eggs regardless of their fertilization status. A hen will lay whether there is a rooster around or not. For fertilized...

I was at a memorial service this evening, so will save the weekly update for later. But I know people are wondering about the pony.  I think she is slowly improving. That would be an emphasis on slowly. She is up on her feet more, they seem to be a little less sore, and she's eating more. That's all good news. But, she still has enough times when I look at her and wonder if she is actually getting better. I wouldn't call her out of the woods yet. She has been showing a little more interest in life, though, and will nicker at us when we come to pass out more hay.  I wish I had a functioning crystal ball, because if I knew she would get better, I'd give her as much recovery time as she needs. But if she can't beat this, then it doesn't seem fair to ask her to keep going. The short answer continues to be that I just don't really know how she's doing.  Here she is from a couple of days ago trying her darndest to get Java's unsoaked hay from under the sta...

Co-op days take it out of me, leaving little energy to cone up with something to write. Instead, enjoy the picture I took this evening when I went out to feed the horses. And looking the other direction. I love the pink clouds in the blue sky.