Monday, August 31, 2009

w-w-weird w-w-week

It has been a bit of a strange week for us, kicked off, I suppose, by the spider-eating incident. Here are two bigger developments and a handful of other tidbits. And a few pics.

  1. # 1 in the What We're Doing Next category: we decided last weekend we'd go to Alaska for the fall semester. Jason needs to take one class for a Biology degree that has drug on and on (due in no small part to the vagabond thing). School started last Tuesday, but he got permission to show up a bit late. Work here in the Park is letting him off early, and plenty of construction work awaits him in AK. In a few short days, things slam bam came together and we're going for it. Long story short, he'll head north Friday by car, and Zoralee and I will follow by plane a week later, depending on whatever housing sitch he finds. This isn't as sudden as it seems, actually. We'd been considering it all summer but let it slip to the backburner due to other things...
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  3. # 2 in the What We're Doing Next category: I haven't posted on this topic, (we can discuss it through personal correspondence), but Jason has been in a massive application process since February for a government job that could initially take him away for several months of training. A couple days after we'd decided on going to Alaska for the fall, he was cleared for hire. Literally anytime we could get a phone call from a stranger, and within a couple of weeks it'd be Sayonara, husband. We're still heading north, because what else can you do? We might not hear from the stranger for months.
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  5. We spent some time in car dealerships, which we usually avoid at all costs. We thought it would be the quickest and easiest way of getting rid of our pickup and into a smaller all-wheel-drive car, even if we had to take some loss. It was a bad omen when we were at the first dealership's "big sale" (hardy har) and I got myself a cup of rootbeer from their rent-a-fountain-drink machine. I looked into the cup to see 1/2 beverage - actual substance - and 1/2 foam. Just like the dealers' mouths. Three places offered us deals bordering on hilarity, to where we decided to keep the pickup and sell it privately when we have more time.
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  7. My folks were given an emu egg, and while we considered trying to sneak it under one of our broody hens to hatch ourselves an emu, we opted instead (read: Mom opted instead) to cook it. Scrambled egg. Singular. Well, we added a chicken egg for size comparison. The shell was very thick and hard, and when it cracked with a good bang against the counter edge, it was sharp. It smelled blander than a chicken egg and was really viscous. Mom wouldn't eat any, but she did take video clips of Zoralee. Dad liked it. I thought it was alright, but I couldn't eat a lot. It's difficult to explain the texture. It's more dense and yet spongier or springier. It was a nice harkening back to dinosaur days. One very true phrase during breakfast was, "Eat up. There's more."


And now, for the randomnesses that have come in pairs:

  1. Last night Jason took for a horseback ride a couple of Slovakian young folk he'd picked up hitch-hiking. This might take the cake.
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  3. Two of our chickens are either off in the woods sitting on a clutch of eggs, or they were swiped by an eagle or coyote. One of them is Blind-ey. We're down to seven hens and Six Dolla' Roo.
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  5. We have had two extra terrible nights for sleeping on account of little Zoralee teething and/or, okay, maybe I drank too strong of coffee too late during those days. Dangit. I need to write a whole post about shooting oneself in the foot. Anyway, the first night, while I was laying in the dark listening to Z squirm about restlessly, I had three spider encounters, enough to qualify it as a game - two matches of spider throwing and one match of spider seeing on the wall and waking husband to kill it. This is not a happy middle of the night activity. The second night, no spiders, but Zoralee was up playing from 3:30 a.m. until 5:20 a.m. Real nice.
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  7. Both Jason and Zoralee have marks on the bridges of their noses where they were hit with forks. How does that happen? Well. Jason needed to tie on his lava-lava, but he had a fork in his hand. So, like anybody would do, he rolled the fork up in his shirt and commenced to tying. Meanwhile, Zoralee came over and pulled herself up on his leg, wanting to be picked up. He bent down, and the fork tumbled out and hit her nose. There was much unhappiness. Jason felt so bad that he dropped the fork from a couple feet above his own head to try and duplicate it. He said it was pretty painful.

Z's sore is healing quicker (quick-rejuvenation baby skin)

8 comments:

Rachel @ Lautaret Bohemiet said...

Ha! Couple a' things. First... GAG ME AGAIN with that Emu egg. I can't believe you guys ate it. I think I can safely say I gag at least once every time I read your blog, but yet the cuteness and greatness keeps me coming back for more and more, despite the gagging. ICK! I can't believe you ate it! Poor Cam wouldn't have wanted to even be in the house when you were cooking it. When we were there, he was grossed out just THINKING of you guys eating it.

Funny fork story. Zor knows how to do a real sarcastic "I'm thrilled" face, doesn't she?

Love you lots.

Unknown said...

It needs to be said that the blue plate with the broken emu egg is a full sized dinner plate, not a saucer, and the skillet is an extra-large one. Those emu are hard workers!

I'm not even going to comment on the Alaska plan. Other than to say that Lori just THINKS Zoralee is going to Alaska. Really she's staying in Montana with me! Zoralee and I have already discussed it, and she's skilled at getting what she wants.

Anonymous said...

That really just might be the cutest little pouty lip. Ever. CAN'T WAIT TO HOLD THAT GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!
(Sorry Rena :()

Rachel @ Lautaret Bohemiet said...

Told Cam about the egg, and just as I suspected...he was grossed out. :)

Shana said...

That egg is crazy! And, that was my first thought about Alaska...how is Grandma going to take Miss Zoralee being gone!!!

lori said...

Yes, Grandma and Zoralee will be devastated by not seeing each other every day. That's the thing I'm the most sad over with going to Alaska.

Team Baliko said...

Ok three comments...we can't wait to see all three of you...we might have to take a trip to AK to do so!! The EMU egg is absolutely beautiful and I think I'd be trying to come up with all kinds of things to do with that shell...wow. And lastly, what is Jason wearing in this this picture??? Steve

lori said...

Team Baliko -

1. Okay, plan an AK winter visit! And if it doesn't work out, chances are good we'll be near P town in the next four or five months, give or take.

2. Yes, the emu egg shell was very beautiful. It would've made a dandy blown egg, but possibly one of those things you save for awhile as a decoration and then suddenly one day think, "Why am I saving this?"

3. Are you referring to the skirt thing on Jason? If so, that's a Samoan lava-lava, given to him by one of the young guys in a youth home program where he worked (back when we were dating). It's the handiest thing - just wrap it around ya and go. That's what he was trying to tie when he put the fork in his shirt.