What's in the box?

This box arrived at the post office this morning. What do think it is?

You can find out the answer in this lopsided video. Yes, I thought I was improving the view by turning the camera vertically.



Here they are in their new home. They are Barred Plymouth Rock hens (hopefully hens!) 25 of them! We are trying the poultry experiement once again. But, this time we are older and wiser. We plan on selling most of them and keeping just a few for eggs. I think chickens will be a lot less messy than ducks.

Before we left them to go to storytime at the library I put the cover back on. It was a good thing too, because when I came back to check on them a big black hawk flew out of the stall. He must have heard them. He was just sitting there staring at them, to him they were tasty little chicky nuggets!

I knit something!

These are the booties I knit while on our Alaska trip. Ella picked out the colors. I messed up the first snowflake and did much better on the second. The heels seem to keep slipping off. I am not sure how to make them longer. If any knitters out there have some advice that would be wonderful. It is hard for me to think outside of the patterns. I just do exactly what the pattern says and don't know yet how to improvise. The fairy dress is from a cute store Elizabeth and I went to close to the BC US border. Yes, she likes pink, pink and yellow are her favorite colors.

my garden

I lost my steam in sharing my Alaska pictures. If you want to see more check my facebook page for those of you who have a profile there.



I come to share my feelings of victory. Today I finally felt that, though far from perfect, our garden is quite satisfying. My man has put hours of work into planting evergreens and laying out pathways of chips. So there are pleasant shady areas in the forest. He has nurtured our rasberries and blueberries so that they are yeilding a nice crop this year. My gardens in the front are overflowing with perrenials and I am pleased with my two rose bushes which are finally giving me large, bright, and fragrant blooms. Things look a little crazy, but, I find it beautiful, and that is what matters right?

Alaska to Washington

My sis-in-law Elizabeth and I travelled down from her ex-hometown Soldotna on the Kenai peninsula back to Washington state. 2800 miles and six nights. I will be posting a few entries with pictures of our trip so stay tuned if you are interested.

Here's E's car leaving Alaska and entering the Yukon.

The Animals We Saw

These are all out of chronological order and a couple on their sides because I CAN'T FIX THEM!!

ARRGH!

We saw many moose but this first picture is all we could catch of them on film. We even saw one with her calf....and another not 15 feet away as we were lounging in the Liard Hotsprings. One fox, a couple coyote, eagles and other birds of prey, one caribou, and some stone sheep are among the others we weren't able to catch on film. We saw many black bear including the mother with her two cubs. Jack and I didn't even see one on our honeymoon trip! The last one is an otter E spotted in the Yukon river while we were on a hike at Wolf Creek in Whithorse.

















Other types of wildlife included those pictured below. Found often displaying strange behaviour in cocoon type nests.

Happy Ella, Mad Ella

Here are some drawings by Ella and Auntie E.


Ella

Ella "mad at mommy"


Therapy? ;)

Mad Girl on a Rainy Day

She begged us for a walk, but, apparently this isn't what she had in mind.

It didn't last long. I know it is dark, but, it works.

Frilly Socks and Grubs

You know that Ella is a girly girl by the socks she picked out the other day. These are her dressy socks that we bought for a wedding she was in. It was cold one morning and I told her to put some socks on. I heard some yelling and fussing and after asking what was wrong this is what she told me, "My pants are covering up my pretty socks!!!" She was very frustrated. Always the hero, Mom comes to the rescue, and rolls up her pants.



But, this is how we also know that we have a country girl who is not always girly....

She was convinced he was her friend.

Mollasses cookies

Yes, she did actually help.

My Little Creations

Bunny


Toby the Terrier

Playing in the Cherry Blossoms

Imagine!

Everett's children's museum.




Doctor Ella is in.







Washing the porcupine.

Chipmunk's check-up.

Pilot Ella.

Paleontologist Ella.

Chef Ella.

Daddys are the best!

This lovely dragonfly has broken off it's lighted chandelier ikea type thingy. It hangs over Ella's bed. One night when Jack was putting Ella to bed she asked him to fix it for her. He tinkered with it for a bit then said, "I don't know if this can be fixed Ella." To which Ella adoringly replies,

"Daddy, you can fix anything!!"

Do You Take Cards???

Ella: "Daddy will you play with me?"

Daddy (facetiously): "It depends. How much money do you have?"

Ella, remembering a promotional mileage card laying on the floor, went and retrieved it, then said;

"Do you take cards?"

Baking Bread

We have all been sick with the yuck and can't seem to get over it. It has been weeks! But, we are managing to still have fun, mostly in the house.

Baking whole wheat bread with Daddy,

OOPS!

YUMMY!