OUTSIDE!

Sorry, I have been absent for the last week. First off, a couple days after Christmas I got food poisoning. This isn't the first time I have had it, but man, it was the worst. I was so sick that I was ill for days, although the throwing up only lasted about 7 hours (which is a lot when you think the average flu, you only throw up three times, and I threw up closer to 8 and was still heaving after). And from nothing except Arose Con Pollo lunch, at my favorite Mexican restaurant. It is sad, but I don't think I will be able to eat there for quite a while.

But the other reason I have been absent is because we have been getting OUTSIDE! We took a walk at the waterfall park next to us yesterday and spent the rest of the day drawing and talking about it. There were these beautiful Canada Geese that were nesting in for the night about 10 feet from the path and were completely undisturbed by my two kids exclaiming loudly each time one of them moved. I wish I had my camera with me, but alas, I didn't.

Then we had a 9pm New Years Eve party with Cyan and Logan and a bit of sparkling cider. We called Alex (who is on East Coast time and therefore was perfect!) at "midnight" and watched the ball drop from last year (we were 4 minutes late for the live feed) on You Tube. It was a lot of fun.... the kids loved it, and it was only an hour after bedtime. So Don and I loved it too...

Today, I spent the whole of the afternoon being creative with some chicken coop issues. My chickens are happy birds for the most part, but their coop lacked some serious comfort that would make me feel better about having them. Like nesting boxes, a roosting pole, and a floor. I solved all of that with no money... and am terribly proud! We had boxes that they had been avoiding because they were on the ground, and so I took two 10 gallon buckets and flipped them over, then put a board across the top and put the nesting boxes on there. Then I added a 2X2 that I nested into the dog kennel siding securely as I could and put it across the front of the three boxes. Then I took a bale of ceder chips (that we use for their bedding and floor) and I put the whole thing in there and added some to the boxes. I moved their light so it was warming the part where the boxes weren't... so they could sleep if they wanted to while it was on.... and I have a completely comfortable chicken coop. I didn't even have to leave the house. The chickens are enjoying a treat of scraps from making some chicken noodle soup (no, I don't feed them meat) and digging around their new "floor" right now.

Creature comforts are good.

In other news, I have been reading the book Omnivore's Dilemma... wow. What an intense bit of information.