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Hello, nice to meet you little Bunker Bean

He came almost a toddler...at 9.9.
At only 18 hours old:

And Momma - the princess who is always smiling...has her smile on...

Dalton Samuel is here safe and sound.
He is yum-a-licious. And Hungry.
We're planning some serious baby snuggles.

they are my babies

I remember having all these silly feelings before The Farm Chicks show. As I am busy tagging today, I am falling in love all over again.
Oh, I know don't love something that can't love you back...I know. I know.
But I pick up a bag, kind of forgot about it, look inside oh - yum, cute pocket, cute lining, don't want to sale it.
Take Josie for example:

Is it because red and gold were my high school colors. I'd have to be especially horrified if I thought that was why I love this bag.
Sling this girl on your shoulder and tell the world you love "LIFE". Oh I like you Miss Josie.

...with  your little cross stitchy pocket. Remember.
Or how about Tara:

She is so nice and big she could pack all your worries away. All away.
And bring a smile to your face every time you reach inside and see her fun stitchy flower pocket...

Oh...my sweet girlies...off you go. To the BarnBarnBaby  (the Vintage Barn Show) show on Sept 6th and if you aren't snatched up there by some lucky new owner (oh, new owner please be kind to these girls)...then off to Ohio to the Country Living Fair.

Bye bye sweet girls remember your humble beginnings in a Magic Room in the Pacific Northwest.

Moving on

Our favorite daughter called to tell us she had just thrown her kids to the wolves. I gave her full permission to eat three Snicker bars and lay on the sofa - cry her face off - and just generally have a pity party day.

Well, I am here to tell you whether it is sending off third and fifth graders...or...your baby boy your pride and joy at twenty-seven...those rooms seem pretty empty.
C has a job opportunity in SLC and so today left this room behind.
Fortunately, I only ate one Snicker.

a chicken story

Being raised on a homestead and all, we had experiences that well, to be honest, can only be believed if you have been raised on a homestead.
One such.
Early one morning while visiting a neighbor (homesteaders are good neighbors - have to be - it's that inner circle support system), Dad found out he was bemoaning losing a pickup  load of pullets. The silly things had gotten scared and piled up on one another and suffocated. Chickens are really pretty stupid.
Dad, once finding out the neighbor was just going to bury them, and that they had just died within the hour, asked if he could have them.
Dad, he was resourceful and knowing Mom - determined and diligent and goes without saying - HARD worker, offered to bring them home.

A PICK UP LOAD!!
Imagine how many dead chickens fit in a pick up.
A LOT.
He came home pretty excited.
Chickens.
Since we raised cows chickens would be a delightful diet change.
Trying to describe the task before us - that needed to be done post haste before there was any worry of spoilage - is - impossible.
Four little girls - Mom - Dad - set up in the barn - tables drug from the house, make sift tables from saw horses and plywood, big pots gathered, knifes sharpened, pots boiling to prepare for the plucking. You have to dip chickens into hot, but not quite boiling water to loosen their feathers. Do you know how to check if the water is the right temperature so it will loosen the feathers but NOT cook the bird? Dip one finger in and then dip it in again. If it burns on the first dip - too hot - if you think you can dip it a third time -  not hot enough.
That's the truth. I can still remember testing.
This next picture I found isn't pretty but gives an idea of my memory...

Mother was meticulous and clean. VERY clean.
Dad mostly did the hot dipping, us girls mostly did the 'outside' work (that means plucking hot soggy stinky feathers) and Mom mostly did the 'inside' work. I remember her pulling out those chicken guts all the live long day. She carefully saved the gizzard, heart, liver, not to waste anything.
I don't remember the chicken count.
Two hundred and fifty - three hundred? Four million? Does that sound about right, Mom?
Oh...we soldiered on. We completed the task before night fall. We had to have the barn back in order before night time milking.
Chickens laying in the top of our freezer and all the neighbors. (Good neighbors - we left a few for them.)  (You can't just put all those hot chickens in one freezer as they will spoil before they all freeze.)
And interesting twist to the story.
I had the stomach flu.
Think on it...stomach flu..dipping and cleaning hot stinky chickens...not a good combination.
Mom said, "Oh, Honey I am sorry you are sick - but we need you - you can lay in the manager as you do your part. You can be sick tomorrow."
So I laid in the manager as I did my part.
Lessons:
No question I was part of a family that needed me, that just feels really really good. Not just 'cuz I was a good chicken plucker, (I am a good chicken plucker!) but I am part of a team. I have something to contribute. What I do and who I am makes a difference. I belong!  Do I help my kids know they are part of a family that really needs them. I hope so.
Sometimes we just have to work - even when we have the flu. Knowing we can be sick tomorrow, after the task is done.
While I am not cleaning a pickup load of chickens, thank goodness, I am working pretty diligently to prepare for my upcoming shows.
I am not sick. Thank goodness.
I know how to work hard. Thank goodness.
I can tackle a task. Thank goodness.
I was raised on a homestead. Thank goodness.

The Good : The Bad : The Ugly - and something I learned.

Wonder about the good?

The piles are getting nice and big...

The bad? Well, remember that magic room I love so much?
Like my daughter says, it kind of looks like Santa Claus threw up in there...hey Santa, come back and tidy up.

It has been pretty much me and Bernina and the Olympics all week. Whoosh.
Did you see the womens water polo? How can you lift yourself up to toss a ball in water, what do you push against, water? And yes I am a Phelps Phan - what a great story/athlete.   

And this is just the photo from one angle. Oh, ha ha, I typed angel the first time.
That is what I need an angel....to come in while I sleep tonight and tidy this all up.
Did your Mom every say that to you about your messes - "What do you think happens when you leave, a band of angels comes in here and cleans up after you?"
I think I'll go to bed tonight and give those angels a chance.
The ugly:

See those dern swollen joints?
Mr Arthur-right-us has been messin' with my joints this week in this cool damp dank weather.
I love cool damp dank - but Mr Arthur, not so much.
Something I learned:
Tonight at our womens meeting at church - this idea was shared.
Two gifts. One we can give to others and one we can give ourselves.
The one to give away - don't judge. “Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don’t judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet...accepting someone’s differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings."
To ourselves- Don't compare. Don't compare our weakness with someone elses strengthens.
Recognize our strength.
Something to ponder on as we go through life and all the calamities of living.

          

Thread and jumping

Silly post.
I ran out of thread.
I have sewn 12,000 yards.
That seems like a lot to me.
I am living a charmed life.
It is me and the Olympics and Bernina.
In a magic room.
I have also finally found an Olympic event I want to participate in.
Trampoline.
Yip.
I would also like to do synchronized swimming.
But I can't swim.
(And you know that thing I have about things that squeak?..just seeing all those wet swimming caps, makes me have to turn my head, and do deep breathing/relaxing exercises, once in a while.)
I taught all my kids to swim.
But I can't.
Shhh.
Don't tell them.
What event would you like to participate in? Well, if you were young and agile like a puma, and all one  had to do was train and there was no laundry crawling up the walls, and mouths to feed, and you know all those other things in life going on.

Riggety Jig...

Home again...we spent a few days on the 'west side'...

When traveling with RR this is part of the conversation. The one-sided conversation -  "Doug fir, the Cascades, cedar, grand fir, hemlock, thimbleberry, blackberry, salal, ferns"
It is breathtakingly beautiful.
We love going there. Well we love the nature there...this we don't like so much...

And we spent a lot of time doing this..

And I ate a lot of these growing everywhere. Local folks could tell I was a visitor, as they watched me stopping along the way to pick and eat, I think locals have had their fill, I couldn't imagine, until I'd eaten -  like a quart....! I am kind of done.

I am glad that I live in this beautiful world...

And the beat goes on..........

Proper photo shoot will come...but for now....

A man and his garden

It is just amazing this year..well, every year.
This morning with the sun just starting to cast his magic growing power...

Isn't it beautiful?
One of our favorite zucchini dishes:
(I cook like a farmers wife and so this recipe is just that...use what you have, measure with your hand)
Grate (use a biggish grater) together
Equal amounts of zucchini and potato
(medium size, bigger than a light bulb smaller than a cantaloupe)
a couple big carrots
add diced onion
a couple eggs and about 1 cup pancake mix
salt and pepper
Then anything else you like...
garlic - sun dried tomatoes - ham - sausage bits
(or not)
Fry like a pancake or bake in oven.
Add (or not) sour cream, salsa, cheese etc.
OH YUM.
I make the lean mean version and then have sausage - cheese  etc available to add for the  men I live  with. 

Jilly

Baby house is about to pop, and this was ten days ago.

Oh. My.
Hey, little Bunker Bean Boy we are excited to meet you.
Come on out....

And in case you are wondering...Jilly pretty much always has that amazing smile.