Wanderings of an Elusive Mind

I always thought puppies and kittens grow up far too quickly, but when compared to chickens, they are very slow. Our girls are rapidly leaving their chick stage, growing up into teenagers, and starting to show their true colors.

This one is Deborah, the Barred Plymouth Rock. Deborah is the bravest and friendliest of them all, always front and center, always ready to climb into a hand and out of her pen – which we don’t encourage because we do have cats, and our Vlad cat spends a lot of time sitting on the chair by the pen, watching them. It’s like he thinks that’s his cat TV.

You can see that although she’s getting her big girl feathers on her body, she still has her chick fluff on her head. This is true for all of them.

This one is Ashley, a Silver-Laced Wyandotte. She is always right behind Deborah, wanting to know what’s going on.

Then we have Penelope, a Speckled Sussex. She has white on her neck and breast, which you can see, and when she lifts her wings she has more white. Her body feathers have the speckles of rusty brown, and some charcoal gray/black. Her head feathers are not nearly as fluffy as Deborah’s.

Say hello to Wynonna, the Gold-Laced Wyandotte. You can see she has a rose comb instead of the single comb. This is common to the Wyandotte breed.

Here is Ruth, who is either an Americana (which is what the label in the farm store said) or an Ameraucana, which is what I think she is. She has a pea comb. I am learning so much about chickens!

And last, but certainly not least, is Gertrude, who is a White Leghorn. I worry that Gertrude might turn out to be Gerald, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed that she is not. She has the single comb. She is a week older than the others, although we think Penelope might be older than the others too, perhaps not by a full week though.

We’re getting their chicken house/coop and run ready for them to move into in about 3 weeks. We have almost all the accessories they need – the bedding, a feed bin, a dust bath, a tarp with tie downs for over part of their run. The water jug will be here in a few days, and we’ll get the sand for the dust bath when we get the 2 x 4s to build the roosting bars/perches for them. Pictures of the completed coop/run to follow.

I gotta say, chickens are a lot more fun than what’s going on in the world.

Wishing you enough.

It’s a quiet, cloudy morning, with a chance of rain in the forecast. This week is cooler than the past week or so, so inside seems a good place to be – in my comfy chair, with a cat on one side of me and a cup of coffee on the other, the fireplace providing some warmth, and the sounds of our chicks coming from the next room. Those girls are growing so quickly. Just a few days ago, they looked like this:

That’s Deborah, the Black-Barred Plymouth Rock, in front. Deborah is always in front, and always the first to jump to the top edge of the pan when the pen door is opened. In the rear, left to right, is Ashley, the Silver-Laced Wyandotte, Gertrude, the White Leghorn, Wynonna, the Gold-Laced Wyandotte, Ruth, the Americana, and partially out of the picture is Penelope, the Gold-Speckled Sussex.

This morning, the girls are bigger, growing real feathers, developing little tails and tiny combs.

Once again Deborah is front and center. Behind her, left to right again, are Wynonna, Gertrude, Penelope, Ashley and Ruth.

They’re rapidly outgrowing their pen, so one of our projects for the coming weekend will be creating a larger living area for them. They have about four more weeks before they can go to their permanent outside chicken house and run area. We’d like to allow them to free range, but there are just too many risks for escape and worse in our back yard, so we’ll give them as much run space as possible.

In other “news” Kat and I will be driving to Vancouver, WA on Saturday to go to a psychic show, then find a place by the water for dinner before we drive back home. The new chicken pen will be our Sunday project.

I watched the PBS news last night. Just when I think that man in the highest office of the country can go no lower, he manages to do just that. Apparently he views himself as the God-like Almighty ruler, king of all. I view him quite a lot differently – rather like a mad narcissist, not fit to hold the office he currently has, surrounded by syncophants, also not fit to hold the offices they currently hold. Will the world wake up, or will be crash and burn?

What was it I was just thinking I should look up? The story of my life, the escape route for thoughts has been enlarged and off they go. Perhaps one day I’ll remember to write things down immediately.

Now I think I shall go clean myself up a bit and put some clothes other than my robe on, prepared to face the day in a very laid-back, lazy manner. I have enough and hope that all of you do too.

There I was, comfortably sleeping in my bed in the early hours of the morning, when suddenly I felt a gentle tap tap on my face. Opening my eyes, I realized that our little Nong was staring at me, obviously in dire need of attention. This cat

the one who usually resists being petted, was obviously suffering from neglect, and insisted she required attention at that very moment. When did she decide petting was a good thing? At 6:30 a.m. I’m retired. I’m old. I can sleep in and my sleeping in has no effect on anyone else – except obviously, this cat.

I fulfilled her needs, and she allowed me to doze off again. For a few minutes, after which she returned, once again having a great need for being petted. Say what? Who are you? And why? Don’t you need to go outside and check your world to make sure there are no other cats encroaching on your territory?

Satiated again, she allowed me to doze off once more. And then – something different. A large, heavy, furry something approached and gently, ever so gently, laid its body across my neck. Wait, wait, my breathing apparatus is affected when weight is placed on my neck. Eyes open once again, I confirmed that my new visitor was yet another cat. This cat:

This 20 pound boy came in for his attention time. My question of “can we do this later?” was ignored, and he settled in more comfortably. For him, not for me.

I gave up. I got up. I got my coffee and sat in my chair. The black boy, Vlad, joined me for awhile, again displaying his need for attention. The Nong went off on her own mission, no longer needing me.

Was it a plot? Were these two cats, who are not friends with one another, conniving and working as a team for a change? I think an early nap may be in my future.

Anybody want a cat or two?

Because it seems any words that want to come from my mind to my fingers to the page are grumping, fretting, sadness, fear – all of those things the current state of affairs bring out of me, and I think no one really wants to read those kinds of words. I really hadn’t realized how long it had been since I last posted until a fellow blogger contacted me by private message to see if I was okay.

Yes, I’m fine, or as fine the state of affairs can allow. I haven’t been arting for a few weeks now – my muse is on holiday, apparently. She’ll be back though – she does this quite often. And – spring is awakening, the plants in my patio pots are coming to life, and so I’ve been absorbed with their arrangement and the best way to care for them. Watering always seems to be a problem, and Kat and I will be gone for two to three weeks in July, so to ease the pressure on the other K, who will stay home and be in charge of cats and house, I’ve decided I’m going to put all the pots of plants on one side of the patio and install a drip watering system. That should simplify life for all of us.

My other current obsession is this: It’s chick season, folks. Our local feed store has many kinds of them, and every single one is cute and funny and cuddly. Well, they’re not really into cuddling, but perhaps could be given some time and practice. We had chickens when we moved here, but nature, wild critters, and time took their toll and we have been without for a year or so now. So, seeing the feed store ad to buy 2, get 1 free, prompted me to suggest perhaps, maybe, we should consider it. It didn’t take a lot of convincing to get Kat and K to agree with me, so one week ago today we ventured off to check things out. We came home with four little girls (at least we hope they’re all girls):

Gertrude, a leghorn:

She’s the oldest at two weeks when we brought her home.

Then Penelope, who is a Speckled Sussex:

We think she might be the second oldest, between Gertrude and Ruth, who is an Americana:

Then there’s Deborah, a Barred Plymouth Rock. Deborah was the first to actually stand and look at me after a couple of days of going in to talk to the girls frequently. I think we’re bonding.

We set the girls up in our little miscellaneous use room in what was the rat cage when we had the rats, with a heat lamp, food, and water. I kept reading about various varieties of chickens, decided I wanted one more – a Black Australorp. So on Monday, I returned to the feed store, but then realized they also had a couple of varieties of Wyandottes, who are supposed to be friendly, hardy chickens. So no, Australorps (which I had read are very hard to sex), but instead of that one, I came home with Wynonna, a Gold-Speckled Wyandotte:

And Ashley, a Silver-Laced Wyandotte:

So our flock is a bit larger than we originally planned, and we’re hoping the cage will prove large enough to house them until they can go outside at 8 weeks old, which will be May 10. We have added a brooder plate to the cage, but are also still using the heat lamp. I expect to move the heat lamp away next weekend, and leave just the brooder plate, which should be sufficient for the 80 degree heat they’ll need then.

In the meantime, I’m working on cleaning out the metal shed in our backyard to turn it into their chicken house, and Kat is creating a chicken run using a dog pen and other parts we have laying around. We want their run to be fully enclosed to offer protection from our overnight critter visits by the possums and raccoons.

Hopefully these babies are all girls, because our town does not allow roosters. Their noise is so much more disruptive than cars racing their engines and the drivers playing their music far too loudly, you know.

My hope is that in November, we will still be able to vote. In the meantime I wish for each of you enough.

Why can’t I correct the typos I’ve made in a couple of the above paragraphs? WordPress, what have you changed? Oh, apparently we have a time limit now? What?

I just watched the news – yeah, taking my mental health into uncharted territories, I know. The take-away from that activity is this: It has been 396 days. Can I deal with another 1064 days (+- a day or so)? The anger, the name-calling, the “if you’re not with me, you’re against me” attitude, the narcissistic personality. . . I have no patience.

And then there’s Congress, refusing to take responsibility and do its job. I’m sure there are some elected officials that are trying to do their jobs, that are trying to earn their pay – but not nearly enough. The government being shut down, or at least partially so? Really not a big deal, so far as I can see, except the Congress is still getting paid, while the little guys that are government employees and therefore at the mercy of its’ whims, are not. Fair? No, but then is anything fair right now?

Today there was a headline about measles which took me back to my childhood, all those many years ago – the years before vaccines, when measles and chickenpox and smallpox and whooping cough and dipththeria and polio were uncontrolled and a constant threat to the health of families. I remember getting measles multiple times, always during spring vacation. I was lucky in that they left no lasting problems for me. It would seem to me that the years of science that have developed the vaccines and the proof that they do help much more than any possible harm they might cause – any harm which is questionable at best – should be respected. Increased cases of autism? Or maybe just better methods to allow diagnosis more readily than in the past? And better communications so that we hear more about the diagnoses?

Fact-checking – I try, I do try, but with all the misinformation out there, how do we tell what is “real” fact, and what is “alternative” fact? How do we know who to really trust? I trust very few and very little anymore, but as in the past, I know what my feelings are, what my life tells me, and I have to make choices, just as we all do. It comes to this – believe what you choose to believe, but give me the same right, and do it with grace and kindness. Don’t call me names because we disagree, don’t worship those that do, recognize that in the end, all we have in this world is each other, and that fact needs to be respected and honored.

The Ks have been off on holiday to Germany this past week, so the cats have been forced to make do with me – that person who doesn’t get up as early as they really would prefer to be fed. I’ve awakened some mornings to two of the boys sitting on the bed staring at me. Pretty strong hint, I would say. They have not missed a meal, although the timing has perhaps been less than stellar for them. I have cleaned their litter boxes, and offered lap time as much as possible. As with most of my life, I’ve done my best.

I’m looking forward to the Olympics ending – I am a fan of figure skating, and my life this past two weeks has been wrapped around the event schedules so it will be nice to get back to a more regular schedule. I was sad when Ilya failed, happy when Alysa won gold – thrilled with her joy and appearance of calmness. I admire the dedication and work that these athletes subscribe to, day in and day out, for such a large part of their lives, but I don’t really understand that drive. And once you’ve become a celebrated athlete, where do you go from there? For those whose success continues, there must be so many that end up back in regular real life. It’s good we are not all like me.

I hope that, despite everything, your lives are filled with enough.

I feel like a little meander down the lane. Will you join me?

I get a lot of ads in my email for hearing aids for people over 50. So why are the pictures in the ads of women who are a long ways short of being 50?

I got a new iPad Air with a Magic Keyboard – suddenly, when I want a question mark, I get this dash-hypen thing. It is a challenge to find the key that creates the symbol I really want. This thing is apparently a little schizophrenic. I have an appointment at the Apple Store for next Wednesday. Maybe I will try a restart to see if that matters. Later.

Nope. Out of patience, already. I switched to my laptop, which I plan to sell, because I want my symbols to be where they say they are. I like the iPad and the keyboard – when they behave.

Having serious problems trying to get myself to watch the news. Things just seem to keep getting worse – how and why the heck is this happening? I feel like it’s time to move into a cave, except I’d go nuts without light. I have recently realized how much I need light – and how weary I am of our winter gray skies. No snow, lots of gray. I’m ready for barefoot weather. NOW.

I recently did something I haven’t done in a very very long time – I bought some fabric. You know, material fabric, the kind you make clothing out of. Yep. Gonna give it a go again. I used to make all of my clothes and then the price of fabric went up and I found stores where the price of clothing was reasonable. But – I’ve fallen in love with maxi dresses, but I want them to hit my ankles, not 6″ above my ankles. And I found a pattern I like – so, any minute now, I’ll clear off a table, spread out the fabric, pin the pattern on, and see what happens from there. It will be an adventure.

Hmmm – I’ll probably need to move some of my painting supplies in order to set the sewing machine up in my space, which will be the most convenient for me. That could be a bit of a challenge, since I’ve kind of filled up my space with supplies. I did just spend two full days organizing my cling stamps.

It seems the dry cat food I put out for Rose, Fritz and Herbert (the raccoons and possum) also attracts cats. Who would’ve thought? We have quite a variety of them that visit in the wee hours. Last night the camera also captured Kat on her way to the hot tub. You never know what might turn up!

I’ve been checking the neighborhood trees and the plants in my pots. No spring growth yet – except we do have some daffodils popping up in the more protected areas. I have to keep reminding myself it is still February, despite all my wishing for warmth and sun and spring.

I admire the bloggers who can do stream of consciousness posts and make them interesting. That’s what I was hoping for when I started this, but I’m not sure I made it. Oh well.

Here’s wishing you enough.

There are things to do – a kitchen that needs attention, errands to run, art awaiting creation, books to read . . . yet here I am, ready to share words, some happy I hope, probably more angry or despairing or sad. I’ll also share some of my art in between those words – perhaps a compromise, an attempt to add some cheer and beauty (depending upon the eye that looks at it, I’m sure).

If we are lucky, each day will give us bits of light to glory in, to enjoy, to soak up, along with some words of the non-political type, perhaps even wise or cheerful. Because our government will not give us that. Our government cannot even speak for our rights and the rights of others, our government that seems to be populated by sheep without eyes, brains, or voices, caring only about retention of their power.

We all need quiet places to revel in nature, to seek the harmony so missing in our daily discourse, in what we read and see. I try to create my own harmony, provide my own pleasure, away from the world, in the silence of my space.

Places where life goes on, with only the sounds of nature, birds singing their songs, places we can fortify ourselves, balance our needs and rights and wishes and pleas. Where we are safe from the outside world.

Peeking out – has the world come to its senses yet? No, then I’ll dive into a book where life is what I want it to be be, exploring people and the world and sharing adventures with pretend people, who seem now to be so much more pleasant that what I hear when I open my ears.

Sheltered, trying to believe in the good, in the gentle, in the kindness I know still exists, but is hiding to preserve itself.

Waiting for the world to open its ears and hear the answers – those things called logic, thought, common sense, empathy, life, peace, joy, love – for all. Let each of us differ and agree in peace, in acceptance. Let us not spread more hatred and violence.

So can we just have a new election, a new government, maybe some people with intelligence, logic, morality, integrity? I’m weary of the chaos, the hate mongering, the divisions.

I saw a Facebook post from a man saying “people, all Trump wants to do is put a military installation in Greenland ” – yeah, well we already have a military installation in Greenland and T’s rhetoric doesn’t sound to me like what you’re saying he’s saying.

Which brings me back to how we choose how to interpret words that are put out there – how we choose what we believe and what we trust.

Which also brings me great sadness. I’m so weary of being sad. Why is it countries so long maligned for violence are starting to sound peaceful to me?

I’ve been seeing a lot of posts on Facebook about “new series” that are soon going to appear on some streaming platform someday soon. Yet when I research to learn more, nothing can be found. It would be so nice if those people with all that time to send out disinformation could use that time more productively. Gosh, that’s a very old wish I’ve expressed, but I think it applies to more people now than it did not so very long ago. And that doesn’t even demonstrate the really harmful disinformation that keeps going around.

Conversations remind me far too often how much things have changed since I was young, and even since my kids were young. Yeah, I know all old people say that – but that makes it no less true. What is sad is that I think many of those changes are not for the best for our country or our people. A friend of mine has always said she thinks we lived during the best of times – the 1950s. I might even be starting to agree with her.

So I stay in and hide from the world as much as I can. Although I do need to go out today to buy some ice cream – because, in these times, ice cream is a necessity. Whatever comforts your soul – I say you should go ahead and indulge!

It is halfway through January already, and the sun in shining – which has to mean spring is on its way. Never mind our grass, which is still green, is tipped with frost and the hummingbird feeder in my window has a layer of ice in it – spring must be on the way, because we don’t get sunshine in the winter here.

I watched the news last night, which I usually do on Mondays and Fridays. Those days because there are features included that I like to watch. It was no less depressing than it usually is, but at least I feel somewhat informed between PBS and the feeds that come in my email – often uninvited. I spent quite a lot of time yesterday morning unsubscribing from mails to which I am certain I never subscribed. Interesting how that works.

Today I will actually leave the house – a trip to the post office for Kat, then a stop for birdseed because the birds are very hungry this time of year. I am hoping for a side benefit of feeding the birds – sometimes they plant sunflower seeds and we get a lovely crop of the happy yellow flowers in the summer. I wonder if I have a photo from last year – I’ll be right back.

Amazon tells me I have read 85 books in 2025. Amazon knows because I have the Kindle app – my preference over paper books. All of them easy reading, because that’s my preference. I wonder if that number includes a couple of books I started reading, but didn’t finish. Like one about RFK Jr. – recommended to me by a fan of his. I started it – realized it was written by a friend of RFK Jr., which explained why it sounded like a fan letter. I did not finish it.

I realize that last bit tells you a lot about what I believe. My son and I have parted ways on our beliefs lately, so we have agreed to discuss it no further. I have reached the conclusion we all choose what we wish to believe, and we can all find written words to “prove” we are right – which means we really can’t trust anything at all, can we? So, we also choose what we trust, right or wrong. It’s rather a sad way to live, I think. I can only hope we survive the next few years, and that maybe, someday before too long, the sun will rise, hearts will open, division will disappear, peace will return.

In the meantime, I amuse myself with my “things” – reading, occasionally writing something here, playing with my paints, stamps, and dies.

This one is watercolor on watercolor paper which was covered with cling wrap while wet, then let dry. It’s waiting for me to decide what more to do with it – perhaps some stamps, maybe some doodles. I love the shapes that formed – and I see an eye and a nose in part of the gold – I might play with that.

This one is also waiting for me to decide whether to do more. It’s watercolor on mineral paper and was a complete accident – I started out trying to reproduce the sunset I had been lucky enough to see earlier in the evening, but then added the dark foreground before the blue and pink paints were dry, so the darkness flooded into the sky and did its own thing. What I see is what I fear is happening to the world as we know (knew) it. It could be an explosion, it could be a giant tsunami heading our way, it could be a tornado. It could be . . . whatever you see.

I think I might let this one stay as it is. I’ve added a wee bit to what the paint did mostly by itself, and I am relatively pleased with it. It’s also watercolor on mineral paper.

I fight myself with my “art” all the time. I keep reminding myself I do it for the pleasure of it, with no real expectations, and that’s all that matters. So why do I constantly question myself? Stupid, I know. Sometimes I think we humans are our own worst enemies – or at least I think I am.

Now I shall leave you – and hope that despite the chaos of our world you have enough.

Today is winter solstice, the longest day of the year. Our skies and temperatures feel like winter, but no snow is in our forecast.

Tonight we pick up Gep at the airport, making my family complete for the holidays. I am happy.

Yesterday I mixed up bread dough – I baked one loaf and put the dough for another in the freezer. Today I plan to make chocolate chip cookies. That’s my version of being productive.

The smallest feline girl has joined me on my lap. She is my puppy cat, the one that is allowed to go outside because if she isn’t, we will all be unhappy. She is the one that follows me around when I go outside, and often follows me around when I am inside. Kat says she has a cute little nut face. She followed Kat home from Thailand.

She has established a relationship with one of our neighbors, which means I have a bit of a relationship with that neighbor. She visits them regularly for treats, and when she hasn’t been around for awhile, the neighbor will text me to make sure she’s alright. She insisted we send them a Christmas card this year. Of course, I obeyed her request – I usually do.

I’m still playing with watercolors in various ways on various papers. On mineral paper, letting the colors and water blend however they want.

On watercolor paper, using plastic wrap to create texture.

I am wishing for each and every one of you a special holiday season this year – close your doors on the world and enjoy your time with loved ones in the warmth of your homes, sharing your time and love.