Eggs!!!

Yes, EGGS!!!

Finally, at long last, after what has seemed like FOREVER, my little chickies are laying eggs. At least some of them are. And, of course, the two days I wasn't here to find them myself is when the blessed event happened. Luckily we have some great neighbors who look over things while we're gone, and she called as soon as she found the egg. I came home to find two more in the nest boxes...good job girls!

Here's the first egg:

And here is what happened to the first egg, served "egg-in-a-hole" style. Otherwise known from childhood as what Cousin Chad referred to as the "Ashlie Egg.":

Here is the haul so far, minus two we ate, one that was cracked, and another that I dropped on the kitchen floor when I tripped. Maybe collecting eggs will someday become a chore, but so far I can't wait to check for eggs every morning. And mid-morning. And noon. And afternoon. And evening. Maybe I'm bugging them too much? I think I'm creeping out the hens. That's the idea I got from Rosie here..."hey, do you mind?"

Well in other news, the garden is still doing well. Beans are petering out, but the tomatos have come on strong. See for yourself:

We've also got LOTS of corn, and most of it turned out really pretty. Here's some Barbara, Mr. Hooter's mom and my mother-in-law, was helping me cream and put in the freezer.

I have to give a great big THANK YOU to Barbara for helping around the house while I was "recovering" from my very very very minor surgery. I had some alien skin bumps removed from my leg last week (nothing to worry about), and since they put me to sleep, it took me a day or so to get back into the swing of things. Thanks again Barbara, even though she did say I was a bad patient after I snuck out of the house to pick beans. :)

Evils of Fly Strips

Sometimes I wonder if I was cursed at birth, say, by the "Stupid Things Will Happen To You" Fairy. Because it never fails, stupid things happen to me with ridiculous frequency.

Recently we've had an influx of flies on the back porch, which follow you into the house to further annoy you into a maddening frenzy. In a sudden inspriation, I remembered we had some of those hanging fly strips left from last summer that were effective when we were working on the house, leaving the doors open and battling flies.

This is what happens when anyone else uses fly strips: A person unwinds the strip, hangs it up, and flies stick to the paper. Paper gets full of flies, person removes the fly strip to the trash. End of story.

This is what happens when I use fly strips: First, I unwound the strip and hung it up, satisfied that my job was done. I turned to go into the house, when a big gust of wind came up and *fwap*...blew the strip off the hook and right into my HAIR, wrapping around my forehead. I immediately went into self-defense mode, dancing around the porch and ripping at the strip, which HURT, because it's in my HAIR. As soon as I got one part unstuck, another part of the strip would find more hair. I could've called for help, but not only was Marden taking a nap, it wasn't really a position I wanted him to find me in. Eventually I worked the disgusting strip out, and had to work on getting my hair clean of the sticky yellow goo that came off the strip and lodged into my hair and on my face. Little known fact, cooking oil dissolves sticky stuff. I learned that when I was a seasonal SCA at Pinnacle Mtn. State park after I found a black snake that had gotten stuck in a sticky mouse trap. Gross, but effective. Then I had to re-wash with shampoo to remove the cooking oil. And now I'm a few hairs closer to bald. Luckily you can't tell.

My next mistake was re-hanging the fly strip, thinking that it was still good and that I'd fixed it's wagon by re-adjusting the hook. Not so. Later in the day, the possessed fly strip took flight again, this time to land on the worst thing possible - one of the fuzzy little kittens that was napping on the porch. The kitten, Pearl, automatically turned into a hissing, spitting, growling, flopping ball of fury, wrapping herself even tighter in the sticky strip of goo and now dead flies. Once rescued, I had to coat her in cooking oil, then a bath. Talk about one unhappy kitty.

And once again, I re-hung the fly strip, FURTHER adjusting the hook so there was NO WAY it could fly off again. I must note at this point that the other fly strip still hadn't moved. Fast-forward to this morning, when Marden rescued Opal, the OTHER kitten, from the SAME FLY STRIP. More oil. More bath. More unhappy kitty.

Fly strip in the trash, where it belonged in the first place. Beware the fly strips.

I "Need" My Cell Phone

While I'm sure there have been many editorials written about cell phones, I'm going to add to them anyway. A couple of days ago I had a cell phone mishap, which rendered my phone utterly and totally dead, and realized exactly how dependent I am on this tiny little piece of technology.

Remember the days before cell phones? Days not THAT long ago? I remember my first one. I walked very nervously into a U.S. Cellular store and uttered the words that would forever usher me into the world of the "technological leash." My words that faraway day, late summer, 2002 were, "I think I'd like to get a cell phone." A half hour later, I walked out with my very first cell phone...a now-primitive Nokia with a *gasp* black and white screen, that ONLY called people. No music, no pictures, no video, no internet. I was on cloud nine, and at the same time very intimidated by the new responsibility of the ownership of this amazing leap into the future.

Now just five short years later, the loss of my cell phone is akin to the loss of a limb. As I sat on the couch looking forlornly at my destroyed phone, wondering what I should do next, I thought, "Was it really just five years ago that I got a cell phone?" The loss instantly warranted a trip to town to the phone store, where I gave them my sad story...thinking I had insurance. I didn't. I walked out with the most bare-bones phone I could, which is still leaps and bounds ahead of that first Nokia. Still, it's a step back from the one I broke. AND, they couldn't get any of my stored phone numbers or pictures. Arg.

But what counts is that I have a phone and no longer feel like I've had an amputation. I suppose the benefits of cell phones outweigh the drawbacks, but sometimes I wonder. They're great for car trouble, but is it always so great to be SO accessible at all times? Remember the days when you got calls at home, and only home? Remember when you couldn't even walk around the house, but were confined to a single area by a cord? We are definately spoiled.

Ah well, those days are gone. For better or for worse, cell phones are here to stay. I, for one, am glad to have mine back. But what technology is ahead for us that we "can't do without?" Only time will tell.

By the way everyone, I need your digits.

Happy Independence Day!

I hope everyone has a very happy Independence Day! And here's to hoping that in the months to come, our presidential candidates as well as voters remember and stay true to the ideals our founding fathers had in mind for the U.S. and the ideals our people have fought and died for. Here's hoping we'll stay true to The Constitution.

Freedom. Liberty. The right to take care of ourselves, run our lives the way we see fit, and make our own decisions. Once we chicken out and give away our personal rights, there is no turning back. If anyone wants a government to make their decisions for them, there are plenty of people out there in the rest of the world who'd be more than willing to trade places to live here. So, wherever you are today, keep these things in mind.

Happy 4th everyone!