Household size: 30 (and just a little jealousy)

The baby chickens are finally here! I was just about to give up and go get some ducklings to tide myself over, but the farm supply store was out and I got the chick call. This morning, the little ones arrived in a very stinky, loud box at the Greenbank post office. One chick didn't make it, and was not so fresh, but we have 26 alive and well and very busy. I guess Sandhills Preservation Center, who I ordered the chicks from, decided to send me a couple extra because they were short on Marans. 

Tim and I have spend most of the day sitting in that chair staring at our baby birds. So far, we have about four we can reliably identify. I missed out on getting a picture of Tim sitting over the chicken box with his ear protection on when the chicks first arrived. Until they all got a little food and water in their bellies and a nap under the lamp, there was an awful lot of high decibel chEEping going on. Now they are quiet enough to leave the door open without risking hearing damage.

I gave them a little time to get the hang of eating and drinking, then opened the door to the second half of their nursery. One side has food and water and brighter light while the other has water and roosts (for a little later) and a heat lamp a little closer and warmer. They've gotten the hang of jumping between boxes to go after what they want and find their friends. 

Cameras are pretty cool, aren't they little buddy? One of these guys got to go on a field trip to see Grandpa earlier today.

Looking through the little door between boxes. Happy chicks cozy together. Man there are a lot of them! I guess it's the same number I've had arrive a few other times in my life (is this batch 5? 1. Scritch, Scratch, Tricky, Nicky, Cuddles and Pecky; 2. Tacky, Penny, Xena, Gabby, Bluie and Buttercup; 3. Aretha, Diana, Billie, Tina, Mariah and Ella; 4. Toblerone, Cadbury, Dove, Ghirardelli, Hershey and Nestle), though normally 3/4 go to their new homes with someone else within a few days. This is the first time I've ever had "straight run" meaning half boys, so we're trying to remind ourselves that these adorable precious balls of fluff are going to be soup in just a couple months. After that it will only be about twice what I've normally had.

Tilly's a little jealous. She sat on my lap next to the chicks for a while but was sniffing so hard I was afraid she'd give those poor babies little heart attacks. Tim took her for a nice long outing at the dog park to try to compensate for her displacement as only cutie in the house. It also gave me an opportunity to get some more school work done. I'm still shooting for Sunday night at midnight as my self-imposed deadline to get this thing over with and move on!

Chick chick chickens!

I have a tracking number! The baby chickens are on their way here and should arrive by Wednesday at the latest!

Aside from that, I have been getting serious about finishing my degree and am now quite close - close enough I could probably call it quits and pass but am doing a little more this week to have a quality final portfolio, or at least a little higher quality and a little less blatantly minimalist.

Tim's still figuring out job plans for the next 5 week until fishing. Hopefully I can start applying for real jobs very soon!

Found!

Yesterday, I had Master Gardener's Class in the morning, and got home just in time to see Brother Tim and Husband Tim shoot of the potato gun while Tilly chewed on a skin. After Brother Tim headed off for the ferry again after a little visit, I got busy digging two more raised beds while Tim did a second pass over the property with the lawn mower (it is looking excellent!) and Dad, via phone, came up with the best plan yet for turning all the piles of branches on our property into wood chips.

Today! Today Tim headed off to help a friend of a friend with a mower, and Tilly and I headed to the Trillium forest! After hours of sad puppy having to stay in the car watching other dogs play while I accompanied some experienced search teams, it was finally Tilly's turn! With all the other dogs put away, she was free to meet all the humans, then do her own baby search problems. For the first day, it is my job to be the bait and the reward. It is my day to be super exciting with a stick and then run off while someone restrains her until I am nearly out of sight and have dove into the bushes (hopefully not nettles), then Tilly is released to come racing after, pausing near me to sniff and look and listen, then the big party when we are reunited! Sticks and squealing and all kinds of loving enthusiasm. Then we do it again, with me racing over a freshly logged swath waving my arms madly and shouting all the way down the hill. After three increasingly long runaways, we got to walk back to the cars with our entourage and sticks and get some water and cheese and go home until next week. Friday is going to be some dusk work and hopefully my last day of being the runner before I get to upgrade to handler and follow Tilly as she chaises after some other poor exhausted folk.

Now... about that school work. I think I'm done with my last paper! Thanks Joe for helping me stay motivated. Still a portfolio to go with a goal of May 7th.

Return of the lawn tractor!

So, we're not going to dwell on how clean my kitchen floor now is or why you should always make sure the soap you are using is intended for dishwashers... But I am very glad to have dish washing detergent again and be able to clean my kitchen properly! Especially as Brother Tim is planning to visit tomorrow. Today we had our final day of long driving to deliver the box of boat supplies we've spent the last three days collecting from Bellingham to Seattle. After five hours of driving an amazingly full car, we came home to a package on our doorstep with the final missing piece for our "lawn tractor" and now have a working mower again! Which meant a nice sunset drive around the yard about 15 times. Tim mows, Tilly and I walk behind looking for weird objects and sticks in the next four feet of grass, and Grandpa supervises from his balcony view.

How does Tilly keep getting cuter?

And with freshly trimmed nails, she's now fully groomed and ready to impress her new Search and Rescue friends. Hopefully without any affectionate teething on their hands or clothes or faces... 

The one good that came from breaking my nice smarty-pants phone then losing my first $10 Walmart phone... was finding this awesome  antler while searching for the dropped phone! Isn't it excellent?! Tilly thinks so. And as the internet reminded me, she eats deer poop whenever she can so surely there is no more harm chewing on a great freshly shed antler. Plus it hooks so nicely on the cushions to aid in chewing.  So many surfaces to chew on.

I know all of you readers (parents, friends, family) only check the blog to stock up on more of Tilly's cuteness and no one really wants to hear about how many horsetails I pulled from the garden and how many are still there or what excellent plans I have of projects to get done when Mom comes in another week. Aside from watching videos of dogs taking good care of chicks with Tilly and hoping it will inspire her to be kind and gentle when our new edible family members arrive, I am working my last day with The Children on Thursday in hopes of better focusing on finishing my Masters in Teaching. Please call me or text me and nag a little so I get this done! By call and nag, I mean distract me and help me procrastinate, so perhaps texting or emailing or facebooking me to "get back to work! finish your degree!" and "what are you doing on Facebook when there is work to be done!?" is more effective.

Rescued

Well, yesterday I went to my first Search and Rescue K9 unit meeting! Tilly stayed home so I could focus on watching the drills and meeting the group. So far they are a fun and friendly group with a good balance of experienced dogs and handlers, as well as other fresh puppies. Next Sunday, Tilly will be joining me in the Trillium forest for her first official practice problems. I am so excited! For me, Search and Rescue was one of the saddest options to leave behind by moving and I know Tilly could use the work. We are delighted to begin training. Also this coming weekend, I will be resuming my Master Gardeners training. Speaking of gardening, I went out this morning to look through my horsetail plot and found some little lettuces mixed in there! And my garlic seems to be holding its own quite well. I still see that plot being replaced with asparagus in the near future, but for now I am waiting and seeing what comes up.

Scoping out the Trillium forest for next Sunday

Tim has been spending time with Tilly and did further landscaping on the beach. Oh right! And we sheared our first fiber animal! Our little ball of black and brown is a little less black now with her new summer do.  Now I have a garbage bag full of fur to see if I can spin!

I took  the low-pressure, kiss-covered job for the first hour
then abandoned Tim to keep at her for a couple more. 

...Yes, that's a mohawk, and yes, she's keeping it!
I like her frosted black baby tips and it matches her giant fluffy tail.

Full house

On my way home from work tonight, I picked up a young couple hitch hiking between the Greenbank store and Classic Road and ended up bringing them back to our house to join us and our fire on the beach with Scott and Zac and Drake and Tim and I. The are staying at the Cottage B&B up the road which they showed me around and it is quite lovely! Our fire on the beach turned out a little too windy, but I did come home today with some super Russian Kale seeds which are supposed to be indestructible once established and particularly delicious according to my employer.