Chicken Varieties

This post is for the chicken loving nerd in me.  Did you think I could just leave the last post as is, without even telling you what kind of hens are on their way?  So, if all goes well, our flock will consist of:

3 Red Stars

2 Rhode Island Reds

3 Barred Plymouth Rocks (or just Barred Rock as most people call them)

3 Australorps

2 Speckled Sussex 

2 Easter Eggers

Some of these we have lived with before and know how wonderful they are and others will be new for us.  I tried to make it so that all the birds are hearty and good layers and then the next important thing was to have a colorful flock.  I love that they all look different.  This will be fun!!!!

If you are interested in seeing what they look like www.mypetchicken.com is a great place to see and learn about the different varieties. 

Spring is Just Around the Corner

I just ordered 15 day old layers to arrive on April 16.  That will give me till the middle of May to take down the old coop and put up a new one.  I am so excited.  Living in the country is beautiful, but I could be living anywhere and live the way we have been.  Only, there would be a lot less driving if we lived closer to things.  So, to make living in the country "worth it" to me, I had to get the hens.  I know I could have a few if we lived in a more populated area, but I like having a flock.  Next, I'm going to figure out if we could have sheep.  Of course there are other people living here, so I guess I need to find out if they would care.  

Another exciting thing we are doing is, brewing beer with some friends.  We have two batches going and we'll make a third next week.  Since we all love drinking beer, we thought we should make it ourselves.  In the long run it saves money and it'll be one more thing we do for ourselves.  

I've been wanting to grow hops, so I think the next thing I'll do is start researching how.  My current garden was, as my kids might say, an epic fail last year.  I'm hoping it will go better this year.  If I could just get it planted, I think it will be fantastic.  I made the design myself and I really want to see if it works.  Its a companion garden, everything in it supports the growth of everything else.  This time of year, when its cold, and still dark, I have discovered, as so many others have, planning for the spring is a great way to get through it. 

Alive?!

I wrote this about a year ago.  I'm choosing to share it now.  I still feel this

but now, I can be honest.   I can tell you.  This is more a spoken work than

a poem, but I need to share here and now. 

      Alive?!

My heart hurts.

It bangs so hard in my chest –

Every day –

 just about all day, the only time I don’t notice is when I’m doing something very physical,  
  like…moving rocks.

I can’t believe I’m not in the hospital.

My heart hurts and bangs so hard it’s as if the whole world can hear and see it pounding there. 

I look sometimes –

but I can’t see it with my seeing eyes. 

But sometimes I can see –

 with those other eyes –

my mind’s eyes –

 pushing my skin, my breasts, my ribs up just a bit –

 I can see it –

 I can hear it –

 beating –

 so loud.

Sometimes I’m surprised I’m heard when I speak.

Sometimes I’m surprised to hear words at all for my heart and my stomach seem to migrate to my throat –

often –

making breathing and speaking a rather labored affair. 

All that banging and constricting takes up so much room.

Will it ever stop? 

Will it lessen?

Or will I just become accustomed to this unusual bodily arrangement of parts?

An alien to my body. 

This body of heartache and grief –

 I am forced to dwell in –

part of,  yet separate.

A loved one said “Perhaps the pain is keeping you here.  Without it you would just float away.”

Perhaps that is right.

Perhaps pain is a friend, waking me up –

 to life. 

For surely, alive is what I feel –

or present at the least –

here and now –

 the colors so loud –

 the scent of everything sweet and foul upon the air –

 and the pain so always present,  keeping me

tethered to now.

Declaration of the Occupation of New York City

This is huge.  I cannot sit quietly by.  I am the 99%.  I am out in the streets.

Petitions

I recently received a petition to ask the congress or the president or someone in power to forgive student loan debt.  I think that is utterly ridiculous.  As long as the system stays the same, those loans need to be paid back so other young people can get them as well.  If no one pays, where will the loans for the new freshman come from?  How will next year’s seniors finish school?  Unless the system goes to one like England has, where anyone who is a citizen can go to school for free.  Then I would agree that we should forgive all the loans.  Until then, there are some things that ought to be left alone. 

Jerry my Phone Gnome

So the other day, my phone stopped working properly. By that, I mean, I could no longer hear the person on the other end of the line, but he could still hear me. I found this out, when I finally got the speaker phone to turn on and I was told how annoying this was getting. This is spoken by my very patient husband. It only took 3 or 4 calls to him before I realized something was amiss and another 2 to figure out how to get the speaker on before he hung up again.

The reason things like this happen to my phone is Jerry. Jerry is my phone gnome. Jerry wreaks all kinds of havoc with my phones. Yes, that’s plural. Jerry seems to travel from phone to phone enjoying my company and watching my frustrated antics as each subsequent phone ceases to operate properly. Of course Jerry isn’t actually a gnome, but he hates it when I call him that. Since this is the only way I have found to get back at Jerry and cause him some annoyance, I find myself taking the opportunity every chance I can get. Jerry seems to want to play at least once a week and sometimes every day. Jerry is quite unpredictable. But I have grown to love Jerry over the years and I can’t imagine a life on the cell phone without Jerry there to cause static, dropped words and calls, screwed up speakers and of course the wrong dial.

Agnes Under the Big Top: A review

We saw Agnes Under the Big Top last night at the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven, CT. My favorite part, was the set. This design was truly amazing and the show is worth seeing just for that reason. It seemed so simple and yet did so much. There were so many moving parts it fun to watch. They did a great job of creating the subway station. I loved the platform signs that showed the scene titles. The subway station feel was great. From what I read, this set was very elaborate and required a bit of machinery. I wish I knew better how to talk about set design because this was very cool and I know I am not doing it justice.


I liked the lighting too. Again, it felt like being in the subway station, waiting on the platform, seeing the trains go by. The way the stage was lit between scenes, really worked as well. I liked being about to see what was going on and the set would change. The way the crew moved with the rhythms as they changed scenes was awesome. It all flowed to rhythm of the trains...it was brilliant.

The acting was fine. There were a couple of outstanding performances, but mainly outstanding moments. I loved the human music machine.

I'm not sure why but the show, overall, was just ok. I'm unable to pinpoint what it was that prevented it from being anything other than good. I always knew I was watching a show. There were moments that really stood out and I would forget for a moment where I was and enter the scene with the characters, but for the most part that didn't happen.

We should have stayed for the "talk-back" afterward, maybe it would have helped make sense of it, but I do think art should be able to stand on its own. I do love the theater though and a good (not great, not bad) show is way better than no show. There was much to admire and be in awe of so for me it was still a win.

Good chance I lost it again.
What is "it"?
"It" is me.
Me on paper.
Me on the screen, pretending to be paper.
That is where I lost it again.

The first time,
It was stolen by man.
This time stupidity took it.
The screen is not paper.
If you want it to last,
it ought to be backed up.

I didn't do that.
I lost it again.
My words.

Oh lamentable day.

The day the computer refused to boot.

Writing

I miss writing. There is something soothing or comforting in the act of placing the symbols for sounds on a page. Stringing them together to form thoughts or ideas that can be shared is quite fulfilling. What is it about this simple act many of us take for granted, that is so enticing? Perhaps it is taking the intangible, thought, and giving it a life to be touched, viewed and, with the right implement, even smelled.

Extracting ideas, that without the written word, would have no place to go, they could be told verbally, but it isn’t the same as existing on the material plane, giving them concreteness, is so exhilarating for me, that I often find myself writing about nothing more than writing or the idea of not having ideas which is still giving form to the creation of something from nothing. The nothing being lack of thought, the something being the words I am writing and hopefully you are reading.

Ahh, fulfillment.

My Inner Hippie

Things. We have them. We desire them. House, automobile, land, clothes, items to fill the home. We then need to hold on to them, for we musn't let go. The keeping and acquiring of these things takes a great deal of effort. For some, it is all that life is about, they thrive on their efforts to retain and gain. For others it is only with great difficulty and a huge amount of energy that they can have or keep the basic necessities for life. What would happen if we were to use that same amount of energy to love? Love each other, love the flowers, love the weather, just love. Love would encompass appreciation; appreciation for food to nourish; a roof, be it tarpaulin or wood, to keep the elements at bay; a hug to fill the soul. Things take great energy to retain. Love, freely given and received is what we really need, not a thing or any thing else at all.