You thought I was slipping back into the silence, didn’t you? 

Truth be told, I just plain forgot to blog last night.  It was Monday after all, I will cut myself some slack.

Today is just going to be a quick post though……My wee friend in a sweater I made for her.

It’s the five hour baby sweater knit up with big yarn and needles so it would be toddler sized.

Her mom knit her hat.  I love it! So cute!!!

I have been getting a lot of sleep this weekend.  On a usual work night, I get about 8 hours of sleep.  But this weekend, I have been plum tuckered out! Friday night, I slept for 11 hours and last night I slept for 12 hours! Hopefully, I am catching up on my apparent sleep deficit!!!

Yesterday, Nature Boy had some friends over and they played video games for the afternoon.  Dh and I holed up in our bedroom and set up Netflix on the tv so we could watch some shows.  We stumbled across the series Bones and are enjoying it a lot.  I think we’ve watched 4 or 5 episodes at this point….I love murder mystery shows and I really like this one because you don’t actually have to see the murder or a reenactment of the murder.  It appeals to my puzzling brain (who dunnit) and my gentle nature (I don’t like tv/movie violence). 

One thing we noted when watching tv upstairs is that our upstairs birds are a bit raucous! Normally, we don’t mind, but it was hard to hear the tv sometimes over the chattering birds.

Speaking of those birds, I think I may have mentioned that we’ve got eggs all round here…..Our canary just laid an egg (she had laid some a few weeks back too…Hers aren’t fertilized as we have no male.) and the finches are on eggs as well as NB’s doves.  When we had our last batch of eggs going, I took some pictures to show how small the eggs are….The finch eggs are tiny! Tinier than those milk chocolate Cadbury eggs.  The canary eggs are a bit bigger than the Cadbury eggs.

Here’s the canary egg.

And here’s the canary egg with a finch egg.

You can see that the white finch egg would easily fit inside the canary egg.  They are unbelievably small…Of course the finches themselves are tiny, so it makes sense, it’s just amazing to see it in “real life.”

A few weeks ago, we had an opportunity to leave our landlocked state and have a quick visit with the ocean.  Really, I had a conference, but it was on the coast.  It also took place at the end of the week and coincided with some half days at Nature Boy’s school.  So, we all went and made it a mini vacation.

I was in the conference pretty much for the whole time, but the boys got out and had some fun.  They found a gaming store that they went to at least two times.  Nature Boy picked up some new dice and they found a new couple of games to buy…..If you think we have a lot of birds here, you should see how many games we have!!! <shakes head>

I’ve played neither game yet, but this is what they picked up:

Hive

And Mystery of the Abbey

The mystery game is very much like clue….We ought to sit down and play it soon! We’ve been so busy lately, we haven’t had much time to play games.  The boys have however played Hive several times.  It is portable and quick, good for toting places.

But the best part of our trip was that I got to see the ocean.  I love the ocean.  I love the sound and feel of the rhythm of the waves as they break on the beach.  I could easily be lulled into a deep relaxed state by the waves. 

We only spent like a half hour at the beach.  The timing wasn’t great, it was basically just past the peak of high tide, so really there wasn’t even much beach to speak of.  We did walk along the rocky top of the beach.  it was also windy and cold….March, at the ocean, is not that hospitable.  Of course, Nature Boy got wet pretty much first thing, so it didn’t take long for him to be freezing.  But I got to see and smell the ocean and feel the waves as they pounded the ground….It was very nice!

Nature Boy staring at the waves.

Maybe this summer, we’ll make a trip to the beach when we can sit and really enjoy it!

So, what has been going on here lately?  Lots of the usual stuff.  Work, work, work and family, family, family.  Nothing really exciting is going on right now, but that’s okay.  I like usual.

Our family has grown lately.  We have birds coming out our ears here. Nature Boy got a pair of doves about six weeks ago and he is so wonderful with him.  The kid has a real knack with animals and is using it with his doves, they respond really well to him and he to them.  I made a big deal about the doves being his responsibility and it was a commitment that  he was not going to bail out of.  He actually spent about three months deciding whether or not he was ready for the commitment.  He read and researched and thought a lot about it.  Finally, I had some baby finches that needed taking care of before they were re-homed (okay, they weren’t so much babies at that point) and I put them in his room.  He loved taking care of them and having the company.  I think that’s what turned him to decide to get the doves.

The doves themselves are beautiful.  For some reason, I only have one good picture of one of the doves…But here she is.

They are ring neck doves, the pet store sold them as pink, but we think that they are really apricot colored.  They are very docile and Nature Boy has tamed them up very well.  And most exciting of all, last week they laid a pair of eggs.  We have candled the eggs and they are indeed fertile and developing.  We should have squabs next week!

See what I mean about birds coming out our ears?  Six chickens, two doves and two on the way, eight finches and one blind canary……It’s avian overload!!!!

Today has been a delightful day.  Dh has been away since Sunday at a conference in far away Seattle.  I took today off of work so that I could pick him up at the airport. He got in around 10:30 (his flight was early, even!) and he is now home with us.

So, the best treat of all has been having a non-work day.  I got to sleep in a bit, have a leisurely shower, do a quick run to Walmart when it was not mobbed…And after getting Dh at the airport and having some lunch, I took an hour and a half nap. 

I need to take days off more often!

My fat quarter bundle was in my post office box today. Squee!!!  It isn’t the batch with the fabrics that I posted yesterday, it has some different fabrics.

And what did I quickly run into Walmart to buy?

The diapers to use for the burp cloths.

Used to be you could buy packs of those Gerber diapers at the grocery store, but not anymore. 

Now, I am waiting for the rest of the fabric to come.  I also need to wash the above fabrics so they are pre-shrunk. I suppose I need to wash the diapers too.

I can’t wait until my sewing day!

I am not going to drink the water at work.  I think it is spiked!

Seriously, we are having a baby boom at work.  It started in October with baby #1, then baby #2 in February.  Next up is baby #3 in June and baby #4 in September.  I think it must be contagious!

I decided no not knit for the next baby due and try something different so I am going to make up some burp cloths and bibs and little baby shoes and see what else I can do that is cute.

I had an idea of what kind of fabric I wanted for this project and found some fat quarters on etsy that I will be using.  I am impatiently awaiting the yummy fabrics.  I think the first batch should be coming tomorrow. Squee! 

Here are some others that I ordered as individual fat quarters.

Look! Two days in a row! 

I decided to get those pictures of the new cream finch up for you to share.  He is just wonderful.

And since I am showing finch pictures….

Here are the babies a few weeks back.  At first they are all gray with black beaks.

And then their colors come in slowly.  Right now, they have much more of their adult coloring and their beaks are only black on the very tips.  They have slowly changed color from proximal to distal.

And here is a cool picture I got of one just about to land.

I had another one of these kinds of pictures I posted before.

It is just neat to see their wings spread open!!!!

Oh, and one more thing about the cream finch, he has a distinct voice.  All the other finches and babies sing the same songs in the same key.  The cream finch seems to be singing the same song, but it is different, his voice is…..welll…Okay, yarn analogy:  The Other Finches voices are chunky yarn and the cream finch is more like a DK.  I really enjoy hearing his voice.

Can you tell? I totally have finch fever!!!!

Yes, I am alive.  And yes we are surviving the big ol’ snowstorm.  I love a good storm, so I am quite happy.

It has practically been a whole month since I blogged. <ack!>  I have a lot to catch up on and will try to do so over the next several days.

Our chickens are doing well and we are now getting 5 eggs a day! 

We had someone knock on our door last weekend and say, “I think your chickens got out.” And sure enough, two of our hens were in the park driveway pecking at the gravel.  For those of you locals, you know that the park driveway is the last place we want our chickens.  (And for you non-locals:  The park has many, many dog visitors who are not kept on leash or even under voice control.  In the past, we have lost chickens to dogs from the park catching our chickens on our lawn and ravaging them.)  So, the next morning, we went out and the hens got a flight feather trim.  Now, they are fairly well grounded and should stay in the yard until their next moult.

Speaking of birds and eggs…..The finch babies are pretty much all grown up.  I kept one female and the other two, a male and female, are going to a friend.  And, believe it or not, the momma finch is already on a new clutch of eggs!!!!  What will I do with so many finches?!  Don’t worry, I have plans for them. 

And I must confess (and I must get pictures off the camera to share) I bought a new finch a few weeks ago.  I went to Petsmart, just to buy some millet and feed, and I saw the most beautiful finch ever!!!!!  It was a male and I had to have him.  He is cream colored….Oh, so pretty!!!!  Now, he is a new member of our flock.  The female baby finch I kept is to be his gal.  They already have taken to each other.  It is very sweet.

Okay, speaking of birds and eggs, I am going to run out and check for any more chicken eggs before the evening news (and more importantly, weather!) comes on.

I needed a new toothbrush…You know, after all that puking and brushing the taste of vomit out of my mouth……Eeeew

I went to Hannaford looking for a small head soft toothbrush. (I have a small mouth and sensitive gums.)

Guess what squee I found?!

I’m not so sure I am so much into Hello Kitty as a cowgirl….But I grabbed two toothbrushes.  One with the blue handle and one with the the purple handle.  I will let you know if the cowgirl Hello Kitty brush works any better than the Geisha girl brush.

I am back to work tomorrow.  I expect it will drain me.  Then tomorrow evening, we have a big meeting at the high school regarding Nature Boy moving on up next fall.  I am not sure exactly how it is that my baby is now so old as to be going to high school. <shakes head>

Well…since I am home convalescing, how about some pictures?

But first an update on me….I am doing better, but still am pretty sick feeling.  I am trying to rehydrate myself, but am still losing fluids in an <ahem> rather unpleasant way.  However, that is easing off some.  I have been doing the BRAT diet today and it’s been okay.  My stomach still doesn’t feel great, but at least it is not turning inside out anymore. 

I have some winter pictures from a couple of weeks ago before we had the Great Rain.  It was an icy, crisp morning and dh and I went out to do the chicken chores and were just amazed at how the frost had landed on all the surfaces making vertical frost flakes. So pretty! Everything sparkled in the morning sun….It was quite magical.

So pretty! 

It’s funny, I’ve been bantering a bit with Fibermom on Facebook about ice storms….That she does not really care for them and that I think they are kind of fun and beautiful.  I guess I have to like winter and what it throws at me, or living in Vermont would not work so well.  

Now…Speaking of weather, we had the Great Rain last week.  It got very, very mild here and rained…no it poured all day. I guess that was Monday. All that sparkly snow in the pictures above is gone!!!  We have since gotten a bit more so at least the ground is white again, but it does bring to mind the phrase, “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes.”