elks and deers

I think of Corky from the movie, "Waiting for Guffman," when I say elks and deers in the improper plural like that. That's a GREAT movie, if you're a fan of dry, mockumentary style humor.

Now then.

Doesn't Jason look determined here? Shoulders back. Jaw set.

He was getting out of the way, thinking I was photographing Zoralee.

It makes me giggle.

We went walking as a larger family group a few evenings ago (so, including Mom and Pops), to the woods nearby in search of the elk. It was blustery and cold, but we were rewarded with a fieldful of critters, which we watched for about twenty minutes. Here's a short clip that shows them in the distance. Sorry about the cruddy quality - it's with my point and shoot camera. Especially watch for the running deers' reflection in the puddle.

status of "the other" chickens

As for the chickens who aren't in the freezer, there are 10 egg-layers of the breed called Barred Plymouth Rocks. Someday they may be totally free-range, but there are a couple of steps between now and then: 1. our dogs and the neighborhood dogs must realize they shouldn't eat the chickens, and 2. they must then yearn to protect the chickens from hawks, eagles, coyotes, and foxes. Meanwhile, we'll keep them in this portable daytime yurt that Jason built. It is easily moved around the yard for fresh grass and bugs.



We think that PVC pipe would be great material for kids to fort-build with. What you see there cost less than $30 and is infinitely adjustable, and you could use tarps, blankets, sheets, whatever for walls. If the whole thing caves in due to design flaws, it's so light it wouldn't matter! Some zip ties and chicken wire rounded off the supplies we needed.

This is the day we moved the main chicken coop to a better spot in the yard, pulling it with the pickup and rolling it on logs. (Yes, Zoralee is referred to as Zoey, a common mistake since she has a little friend named Zoey.)

all settled in and roosting for the night

haikus on parenthood

all things that you drop
socks, pacies, blankets, toys, fruit
go under the bed

got cricks in my wrists
babies are hard on bodies
chiropractor says

Friends! Want to have a haiku-off in celebration of parenthood / your folks / your kids? The haiku style I'm thinking of has three lines: 5 syllables, 7 syllables, and 5 syllables. Email or comment me your haikus (stillwalking2002 at yahoo.com). On or around Mother's Day I'll post them all in one big blog.