winner of the "Guess Stuff About the Baby Contest"

Before Zoralee was born, I held a "Guess Stuff About the Baby" contest. In the 9 weeks since her birth, I've been getting emails by droves of people experiencing anxiety attacks over who the winner is. Yuckity yuck yuck. In truth, no emails. This may be because a) people have lives, b) no one was a strikingly accurate guesser and therefore didn't think about claiming a prize, c) the prize was brazenly slated to be practically worthless monetarily. Otherwise, you've got to admit: this was a kick-pants contest!!

Anyway, because no guesses were dead on, and because I hadn't figured out which features of the guess would hold more weight and which less, this took some serious calculating. In the end, it was a VERY CLOSE match between Autumn and Laura, who both guessed "girl." Neither guessed the exact right date and time, but Autumn's guess was 35.25 hours past when Zoralee was born and Laura's was 34.5 hours before; score one for Laura. Autumn's weight guess was 2 ounces too light, while Laura's was 3; score one for Autumn. Finally, Autumn's guess for length was 2 inches over and Laura's was only .5 inches; score another for Laura. Do you see what I mean? They don't teach you this kind of practical life stuff in school; that's for sure.

So, without further ado, I hereby declare the winner as......LAURA!! Laura was a co-worker of mine at the University in Anchorage. Our cubicle land made it seem like children wrote the script for the show, "The Office;" we have an arsenal of bizarre memories. I never laughed very heartily at Dilbert jokes until I worked at UAA. One lady, named (to us) Fern, sprayed her ferns daily with a very loud squirt bottle that resonated through the office. Another lady walked her rounds holding THE EXACT SAME CONVERSATION with people every day. One guy stood by your desk eyeing your snack food until you offered him a bite. I love people, but I don't love offices; offices pull the weird out of people, turn it into downright cooky, and put it back in. All of that to say, "Way to go, Laura, who now lives back in her home state of North Carolina!"

Also, for our runner up, Autumn: she and Dan just received recent news that their long-awaited adoption of sweet Mezmur from Ethiopia went through, so I feel a little ridiculous saying, "No, I will not send a prize to you, even though your guess was only 1/2 hour different than Laura's and only .5 units off from Laura's when you add the height and weight together," as I think any contest officiant would agree. So, there's a chance they'll get a little prize too. I think Autumn could use something knitted....let me think....

Zoralee Meets Chick

I recommend clicking the white triangle at the bottom right corner and then "HQ" to watch in High Quality. It's much, much better that way!

the chicks now, plus Zor, plus the chicken house

Yesterday was day 5 of having the chicks, so we took the broilers' food from them last night, as Jason read that he should. This morning when he gave it back, woooo-eee were they excited. They lined right up and commenced to pickin.

We've got the two flocks separated now into two brooders. They have already grown so much! It's interesting to see how the two breeds interact differently with us. The dark ones, our egg layers (Barred Plymouth Rocks), are quite sociable. If you stick a hand into their brooder, they run up to it to see what will happen. The yellow ones, the broilers, scatter.

*

Here's the first close-up encounter between Zoralee and Henlee this morning. Get it? Hen. Henlee, like Zoralee. And actually, this one may not keep the name Henlee. I want the chicken who is most like Zoralee to get that name, and this one is way too laidback.

further progress on the chicken house

(a.k.a. guest house)

precarious

Have you ever bought those sherbert deals from Costco that are inside of real fruit shells? This used to be one of those, but is now our soap dish. It falls into the sink all the time on account of having a round bottom. I don't care though; I like images of precariousness, because they seem the truest of images.

*

I'm sorry to report that little Bonus found himself in Chickie Heaven a bit earlier than his comrades. He put forth a strong effort, initially improving by leaps and bounds from how he arrived. But by the end of his second day here, it was clear he wasn't going to make it. Bonus didn't realize that the quickest way to get someplace is to walk forward as opposed to backward, and he attempted to sleep standing up, with his beak down to the ground for stability. He continued to lay down in his water instead of drink it, getting weaker and weaker until he was an object of pecking by the others. He was, eventually, a very pathetic sight.

When I saw this button on my nightstand, I thought of Bonus, who at the time was still alive but on the edge. Unfortunately, when I grabbed for the button, it fell to the ground. Despite our best attempts, Bonus fell too. Everything falls. Everything is precarious, most notably you and I. Which is, I suppose one reason why we need grace and should readily bestow it upon each other.

*

Last Saturday my family went to the Penguin Plunge in Whitefish, a fund-raiser for the Special Olympics. My Pops jumped with the Police Dept, as he is a Chaplain. Each group took its turn standing on the edge of the dock and jumping into ice cold water.

My very favorite moment was when the Special Olympic team stood preparing to jump. The crowd did the usual count of One - Two - Three! but they just stood on the dock. "Three!" we all yelled again. Pause. Pause. "Three!!! Jump!!!" Finally they did, all but one. She stood in her ill-fitted swimsuit and looked at the water, face wrinkled in a cry. We waited. Soon we began to cheer. "Come on!! You can do it!" A long minute went by. It could've gone either way. She could've walked back down the dock and gotten into her warm clothes. But she jumped. In she went, mouth agape with surprise. And of course, the crowd went wild.

the frozen lake