Sunny days, chicks, cats and dogs

Yesterday was a BEAUTIFUL day!! In fact, one of the principals in our state, Washington, gave all the kids a day off as a Sun Day. They have had no snow days this year, so he thought it was only fair that the kids and staff get a day to celebrate a day without rain and with a lot of sunshine. With the announcement he included a picture of himself on a motorcycle with sun glasses and thumbs up. I love that story!

Yesterday I was unlucky in having to be at work, but lucky in that I was out doing site visits so I got to enjoy the day at least a little. When I got home I gather up my little chicken (which are getting bigger every day!) and took them out to the temporary run while I cleaned out their cage. By the end of the process, I was sunburned and my little girls were in chicky heaven pecking and scratching away outside.

There is something elementally calming about watching chickens with their tails in the air scratching the grounds and pecking our nummy morsels. Not to mention the Keystone Cops comedy of antics when one of them finds an especially juicy worm and the others give chase. Inevitably the worm will be dropped and they will all scramble for it, ending in another chase.

They are getting pretty big now, and have just about lost all their baby chick fuzz. They look like small, skinny versions of adult hens at the moment. This is their awkward stage, also known as the ugly stage, or adolescence. They are getting braver and starting to stretch their wings. In fact, they are trying to fly. They all excited and will actually get off the ground, but I think when their feet leave the ground they get a little freaked, because they will suddenly freeze, drop and then look around like they’re asking, “What hell was that?”

My cat is both fascinated and confounded by them. Bird watching has been a longtime preoccupation of hers. She loves to site and watch them through the window, and will track them if she is outside. Up until now she has never really gotten close to any. She loves laying on top of their cage and just watching them. She can do it for hours. She seems totally confused by them.

Yesterday while the girls were in their temporary coop outside, she found a loose place in the fencing and stuck her head in, then freaked out when the girls ran over to check her out. Poor Hinata, she doesn’t have a brave bone anywhere in her little body. I’m afraid she’s going to have to give up her cat card any day now.

Last weekend when I had the girls out in there temporary coop, my sister’s big ole red dog, Rusty, managed to find a way in. So, here is this huge dog in a small coop, with six small chickens and anywhere else this would there would be some serious feathers flying, and really fresh doggy treat. Not for our Rusty! He was too busy trying to convince the girls that he is their new best friend, as they whines to them and licks them. The girls were unimpressed and unafraid. They just kept on with the important work of being a chicken, scratching and pecking.

It’s always something!

Language, what?

“For crying in the sink!” and “Good greifinhimmer!” These are just a couple of fun sayings by my supervisor, Megan. Add to this the fact that when she laughs it sounds like someone is tickling her. She has a silly sense of humeor and is a real hoot!

We all say things at times that are so uniquely us, or at least out of place to others. For instance Megan is from upstate New York and for all I know these could be very common saying there, but here not so much. I find myself saying, “Holy molie canoli!” Not real sure where this came from, since it doesn’t seem common here and wasn’t common when I lived in Texas. Not to mention that this phrase mixes Hispanic and Italian culinary arts. It’s just crazy!

Language is such a funny thing, not to mention the English language in particular. English spelling is just flat out insane. A millions rules and a million exceptions to them all! It’s no wonder I can’t spell worth anything. But, the language does give you room to express yourself. I remember my grandmother describing her longing for something as a hunger, like being hungry for spring. That twist, gave her longing more intensity and suggest an actual physical response.

Here in the Pacific Northwest you will see signs in construction zones that say, “Caution: Abrupt edge”. I had not seen this phrasing before moving here, and it struck me funny the first time I saw it because it seemed for formal and proper. I also noticed signs that said, “Ahead Rec Veh Park”. I remember wondering what kind of organization Rec Veh was that they could sponsor so many parks. I mentioned this to a friend, who laughed and told me Rec Veh was short for recreational vehicles. Well, duh, it seems crazy obvious once I was told, but you know a couple of periods would have been good clues that these were abbreviations!

Chicks in the house

For years I have daydreamed about chickens and have periodically thought how nice it would be to have a little flock of my own. I was unprepared to commit to a rural life in order to have them, so it was just a nice, pleasant fantasy that went nowhere.

A couple of years ago, for about 8 months, I worked as a code compliance inspector for the city. My job was to investigate complaints, and to inspect home businesses for their licenses. During this time I learned that you can have chickens in the city, but no roosters. In fact, I got to see quite a few really nice backyard chicken set-ups during my inspection of home businesses. I also got to ask some questions about how it worked. I learned from chicken complaint calls that neighbors really hate it when you have a rooster, or when you don’t keep the coop cleaned out. There are literally hundreds of households in Portland, that keep chickens, only a very few complaints are made each year regarding them.

So time goes by and I’m still thinking about chickens. This year, is my year of the chicken. Saturday Danna, Tiger and I went and picked out our chicks. This brought back memories of my grandfather taking to us the feed store, and seeing the baby chicks. Back then, at Easter, they would dye the chicks in a rainbow of colors. Not so much any more.

We ended up taking home six, all different breeds. They’re so cute! Currently they are living in a box in my house, waiting to grow big enough to be moved outside to a new home, as yet unconstructed. They will be a very pretty flock when they grow up.

Some things I’ve learned so far: 1.) Chicks eat and drink a lot! I’ve filled the waterer and feeder several times in just 48 hours, especially the waterer. 2.) They’re little poop machines. 3.) They live to scratch. In fact, part of the reason I’ve filled the waterer so many times is that they keep scratching the bedding into the water dish.

The heat lamp has been the biggest challenge. Unfailingly it always needs to be at some point in mid-air where you just can’t get it. At one point we have a bar stool turned upside down, with a foot stool balanced on the bar stool’s feet, and a dowel rod counterbalanced in a hole of the footstool, with the heat lamp hanging from the dowel rod. Oh yeah, and all this was on top of a counter. Even after all this engineering, I’m not it’s in the right place, but hey they’re still alive!

The next step is to build the coop. Stay tuned for that! LOL

2010 Winter Olympics and my observations

Loved the projections during the opening and closing programs!! The closing was awesome. You’ve got to love a country with a sense of humor!! Based on Russia’s whining in the news I’m thinking that the next winter Olympics will not be as light hearted, and what a shame.

I have a new favorite sport, snowboard cross. It is absolutely the most exciting thing to watch!! Of course, I would hate to be out on the track watching or participating in it. You know how I feel about snow and ice, it should be enjoyed through glass. Either a window or the TV screen.

Speaking of the TV, I found myself doing a lot of screaming at the TV during the coverage. I kept screaming, “Shut up Bob!!!!” Bob Costas, is there any more annoying person in the world? Probably, but your uncle Fred isn’t on TV, usually. His need to fill every moment with his own voice, there has to be some kind of clinical therapy for that. If not, I think a good roll of Duct Tape would be a good investment by the network. I mean really, if they just said something in English and are now saying it in French, does Bob need to tell us what is being said? SHUT UP!!

Curling, you have to love a sport where men know how to use brooms. I want to marry a curler!! I think we need to invent a competitive sport involving toilet scrubbing!!

Skiing: I mean really how many times can you watch a bunch of people slide down a mountain on skinny sticks? There is the slalom, the giant slalom, the super G, the normal hill, the big hill, the combined, the individuals and the team competitions, and on and on.

Is it just me, or has all the artistry been sucked out of figure skating? I haven’t watched it in a long time, probably since the last Olympics, but the routines seemed so bland. Only a few exhibited any kind of the musicality. I will say this, Frank Carrol’s skaters are easy to pick out, because their programs hold true to the art as well as the athletic intent of the sport.

OK, I admit I really only know two things about hockey: 1) you advance the puck by hitting it with a stick while in skates on ice, 2) when the puck goes into the net of the opposing team, you score one point. With this as my knowledge base, It’s understandable that there are some things about the game that totally confuse me, when compared my knowledge of other sports. Like, how can you be out-of-bounds? There is a wall around the rink! And if you do get out-of-bounds who would care, because you’re now out of play? And what in the hell is high sticking? Is that like a high five but using your sticks? Why would that be a penalty? And why is it called Hockey?

How credible are we?

Today on NPR the questions was “Should you be penalize for the actions of your family?” OK, I was pretty quick with a “Hell no!” Then the example they used was of the New York Times editor in Jerusalem, whose son has volunteered for the Israeli Army. The question became, can he be objective in his reporting?

Well to begin with I thought the first question was totally miss leading, and implied that a family member had done something egregious where someone needed to be penalized, and I didn’t think that was a fair representation of this situation.

That said, I found myself pulled in a number of ways by this dilemma. My first knee jerk reaction was he should be reassigned given the magnitude of hostilities between Israeli and its Arab neighbors, but then I had to take a step back. As the various experts banged away at the issues I could see the points they all were making, no matter what their viewpoint was.

I’m still not sure exactly how I feel about this, but I did start to put myself in the place of this father and son. In a way I’ve been there. I have certainly experienced the worried and pain of a parent whose child is in the military, and has been put in harm’s way. Many people have assumed that they knew how I would feel on a subject based on the fact that I have children in the military, one severely wounded in battle, or as a member of Soldiers’ Angels. Rarely have they been completely correct in their assumptions.

All of us are impacted by the lives we choose to live, the random acts that occur in that life, and by choices others make whether they are close to us or not. This is exactly why none of us can truly be objective. We can only speak from the accumulation of our experiences. The question isn’t if he can be objective, it is how will this situation, added to all his other life experiences effect how he interprets what he is reporting on? I’m reminded of the joke about three blind guys, each standing a different place around an elephant describing what they feel with their hands, leads them to believe there are three different animals there with them. We are all handicapped and empowered by our past and present when interpreting an experience. Does this make our reporting more or less valuable or credible?

Men baking

You have to love a man that can bake!! One of my co-workers (male) brings in the most wonderful baked goods from time to time. Today it was an apple coffee cake, which was beautiful with thin wedges of apples baked ringing the top. Wonderful!!!

Dan, that’s his name, does this about 3 times a year, and it’s always something different. I’m not sure how often he actually bakes, but boy is he good. Every once in a while another one of the guys on the floor will bring in something they have cooked, and most of it is really good, but Dan is the only guy that brings in baked goods.

Now I’m wondering why there aren’t more guys who bake. It seems to me that of all the cooking types, baking would be most up their alley. Appealing to their love of precession is the exactitude of measurement and the endless debates on weather ingredients should be at room temp or kept cold in the frig. The endless experimentation with ingredients, and the quest to improve a recipe. And how about the power tools? The food processors, mixers, choppers, peelers, timers? Then there are all those nifty hand tools too: whisks, spatulas, and spoons, presses, nut crackers (OK maybe there’s a clue there). There are also a 1001 kinds of pans, some of with come apart and some are spring loaded. Not to mention that at the end of the process there is something to eat. It just seems to me that almost every guy would be into baking.

Of course they’re into BBQing, And let’s face it, they are ALL drawn to fire but, the tools are so limiting and basic. Maybe the next evolution will be man learning to bake on his BBQ pit?

Neighborhood meetings, characters and dogs in the park

Last night was our monthly neighborhood association meeting. As is usual it was a rather mixed bag. We heard from our city liaison about a couple of trainings coming up for citizens. Our neighborhood police officer reported on cuts in the department and how some duties are now being covered by volunteers. We heard an update on the start of construction of a new development and we had a couple of presentation, one on elder services, and the other on airport noise.

I know, it’s not exactly stuff to keep you on the edge of your seat, but it was all useful information.

Our neighborhood is lucky in that we usually have pretty good attendance, about 20-30 people on average. Most neighborhoods get a dozen on a good night. Our groups has a lot or regulars, and then there are always a few odds ones thrown in.

Where our meetings get interesting, at least if you’re any kind of student of human behavior, is when the more odd, and off the beaten track individuals start to chime in. We have the guy that sits in the back, and has lived here all his life. He will decided that a particular point has interest for him. This point is ALWAYS some very small piece of the topic being discussed, it is ALWAYS something that we have very little or no control over, and he ALWAYS wants to discuss it in detail and have someone fix it. Never fails!

We also have “The Grandmas” 3 older ladies (there used to be 4 but passed a couple of years ago) who always come together, and sit together in the front row. They almost never bring any issues, or have opinions on issues, but when they do you had better listen. They attend every function in the neighborhood, and can be relied on to volunteer for committees.

We also have the guy who has to be the “character”, the one with a story for every occasion, has experienced almost everything. In our case this person has lived a pretty incredible life and is totally devoted to our neighborhood. He also happens to be our president and is the one who conducts our meetings. Being a “character” and the president can lead to some really long meetings with a lot of stories, most of which we have heard before. I should also mention that tact is not his strongest suit.

So last night we endured a mind numbing long presentation from the elders services group, we were their first neighborhood presentation. We also had some fireworks between the president and the sergeant-at-arms over the railroad and their use of horns, resulting in raised voices and the possible resignation of the sergeant-at-arm, who also something of a “character.”

After all that we got down to new business and community concerns. The big issues related to dogs in the parks. (We have two neighborhood parks.) To be specific what dogs leave behind in the park that their masters are not picking up. We have installed doggie bag dispensers recently to address this issue, but apparently they are not being used.

The other issue was dogs off leash. And, here is were the meeting became truly interesting. One of the neighbors (A) said that her neighbor (B) routinely brings her dog to the park off-leash. Neighbor (A) gently reminded neighbor (B) that all dogs need to be on a leash. Neighbor (B) responded that her dog did not have to be on a leash because her doctor has written a note for the dog. ---- I’m telling you, you can’t make this stuff up!!----- I turned and put the questions to our neighborhood officer who hadn’t heard the story because he was talking to another neighbor. I said, “Drue, is it true that a person is exempt from the leash law if they have a doctor’s note?” He looked at me as if to say, is this a trick question. Then he looked around like maybe he was being punked or on Candid Camera. I’m sure it’s one of the stranger questions he’s gotten. For the record, the answer is NO.