We lost our first hen yesterday to a marauder who took one wing. My farmer friends have voted they think it is a raccoon based on the details I sent them, broad daylight attack, and other forensics which I won’t share. The boys and I came running outside to hear Merlin clucking his alarm call and the hens were all huddled in a corner with him. Sam was the first to notice a hen was missing. I kept hoping we’d miscounted, but sure enough a Rhode Island Red (RIR) was missing. The one with the little pea comb (small comb) – the sweetest of the three. We looked all over for feathers, or for her. We looked in the woods and on the trails. We couldn’t find anything so we thought it was a hawk. Merlin was looking to the sky as some kind of confirmation. Then just as we got everyone settled in and having a scratch snack, some salmon leftovers and soup (chickens have a good life!), we went to the truck to run our errands. That’s when I found her – on her side. Poor thing. So we went in to tell Daddy and this morning before church I dug a little grave and put her in her final dust bath. Yesterday the boys and I nailed a little kindling wood cross together and put it by the corner where we found all the hens huddled together – a way to celebrate lives saved vs a life lost. It was just too morbid to mark the hen’s grave. However, we did name her – Polly – so that she would be remembered. Sam took it really hard – he really understood and said it was so sad that Pecky Becky wasn’t the one lost. It was little pea-comb Polly, the sweetest of the three. After lots of talking and empathy, I gently reminded him that she was really one of the “production” birds, not the pet three, but it doesn’t really matter to a kid who had become attached. And I took it hard, too, feeling responsible for allowing the girls to have unsupervised recess. We had gotten a bit lax, I guess, having not seen any evidence of critters in a long time, not even the resident raccoon we knew lived in a tree right nearby. The hens remained under the coop today, growling in a low cluck. They wouldn’t come out to scratch unless one of us came to protect them. We counted hens many times, still unsure of exactly which predator it had been – coyote, raccoon, possum, hawk, eagle, rat – there are so many of them. We did get to church, and a visit with Santa today. We’re recovering. But I tell you what – the three of us (boys and me) are eager to avenge Polly’s death. We want at that critter. Sam decided yesterday, though, that God gives us predators to teach us about challenge. And Ben has decided the hen is up in Heaven with new feathers on. Wouldn’t you know, their advent calender treats yesterday were two little rubber chickens – one hen and one rooster – with candied almond eggs. Dave and I thought about swapping out that treat for something else but ultimately decided it was meant to be. Tears were shed aplenty yesterday, but we are strong and will persist. This happens in farm life, however micro the farm is.

The most compelling memory I have, though, is one of life: Merlin in front of his hen house, guarding his ladies with all his might, chest broad, feathers puffed way out, and head and neck pulled way in and down like a football player ready to charge. I could not believe it. He was truly guarding. Here is a picture of him:

Merlin guarding his hens. He wouldn't crow for 24 hours. SO unlike him. And so very interesting to watch all this unfold. Bless you, Merlin, for your example of manhood!

The boys meeting Santa. Ben finally decided he was ok to talk to. Sam had his list all written out for him, one side for Sam, and one for Ben. Sam has been jotting things down for Ben on the back side for a month now.

Lest you think I have processed the loss of a hen without too much upset...I avenged her today on the rest of the wood that needed splitting. Thanks to Polly, I found enough vengeance to wield the "daddy" axe - the real axe, not the maul - on the wood. I split many of them in one blow, and they sprang about 6ft to each side. Boom! Some of them I had to use a sledgehammer on the back side of the axe, but many I got on first or second swing. So satisfying to finally have that confidence. Thank you, Polly. Know that we are sorry you were lost to that raccoon, and that we are being extra vigilant with your buddies.

We missed doing the studio tour today because Dave went in to work, but we kept pretty busy here at the homestead trying to string lights up on a couple 15-20 ft blue spruce trees. Sam was a huge help. My stringing leaves much to be desired at the top of the tree, but I couldn’t reach even with a ladder and an 11 ft pole. After that fun, Ben insisted on chopping some wood. I actually tried the axe today, not just the mawl, and did pretty well. Then inside for lunch and a little of our own studio time – Sam drew a HUGE Merlin, and I did a few paintings. I made one of a hen that my friend loves very much for her Christmas present. A few samples below…I was wondering when my 2011 painting would emerge. I was a little cranky until I exorcised them!

View from our old house on Kihapai St. Always meant to finish this one...

My friend's dear hen, Margo. When she was sick one time she came in to sleep with my friend in the house.

The various moods of Merlin, our rooster. I stood watching him as I painted and several Merlins appeared. This one is frisky. Early-morning 'tude he has here!

This is how he looks strutting around the garden, enjoying an afternoon in the sun.

And this is how he looks sitting up on the gate, peering down at all of us before crowing out his greetings.

Nothing gets me more excited than that! An impromptu lesson as I carried cookies to the table!

"Boys! This is like your SKIN!" Skin cells have a signaling mechanism whereby bumping into each other signals full growth, and no further replication by mitosis necessary. So cool!

"And this is CANCER." Cell signaling goes awry and they keep replicating, creating a tumor.

"Mom, what happens when you get a bump on the head?" Well let's just pretend my arm is a blood vessel - more fluid comes into the area and causes the swelling you see with a bruise. We also talked about a cut - separation between the cookies, then filling back in with new growth.

Having a great dinner with Melodie and Matt, Tres and Jenni (from L to R). Thanks to Dave for making a really awesome sausage and red pepper pasta! Jenni brought incredible peppermint fluffy cookies and wine from Italy that they shipped back with them. I think Matt and Melodie brought the awesome cheese, salami and crackers - I lost track of all the goodness coming in the house! The best part was an evening of conversation and laughs - great memories. Clicking on picture will take you to recent pictures.

It’s been brought to my attention that I have not been posting as much to KampKrug as I did in Hawaii, so indeed I had to check! I had been feeling like it’s been scant lately. In Hawaii I posted about twice a week, sometimes more. Here it’s more like once a week. So – am I busier? I think so – a bit. There is just a lot more land to take care of, trails to cut and tend, chickens to care for and play with, wood to cut and haul in, fires to tend. A lot of nurturing is going on here that we weren’t blessed to have room for in Hawaii. I’m also cooking more! Four out of five meals are basically edible and sometimes good! Dave used to get home most nights in Hawaii to throw together dinner – I’d have a plan and items out and prepped and he would make it. Here, his commute is a bit longer and his hours are consistently longer. So I am happy to finally assume the role of cooking and am enjoying figuring out what to do with all the farm-fresh stuff. Makes it pretty interesting around here! Thank you for telling me you appreciate staying in touch – thank you for all the notes you leave – I really enjoy hearing from you. The treasures I value most in life are memories of time with friends and family. So thank you for keeping those fresh and dusted off!

Dinner-time exercise! Doing box jumps, cartwheels, jumping jacks, pretending to be a Nutcracker dancer...the boys had a great time, as did I! Daddy is working late as he often does on Tuesdays. Note Sam's long socks and pants pulled up like knickers 🙂

We had a very happy Thanksgiving adventure in a cabin with 14 grownups and 20 kids!

We are thankful for the blessing of new friends who welcomed us so quickly into their circle when we moved here. We compared notes on the likelihood of family coming to visit the Pacific NW in Nov and quickly realized we are not alone – it seems many of us don’t get visitors over Thanksgiving! Ha ha – no wondering why as the cold rain thunked the cabin roof while we set up tables and got the fire going. It quickly warmed up inside as food arrived, kids munched down on appetizers and played games (including flying about 20 airplanes all over thanks to me bringing crafting supplies!). Later the clouds cleared and stars twinkled above as the kids threw pinecones at each other after dinner (in lieu of snowballs). We enjoyed homemade pumpkin pies – made from scratch! – and a fabulous array of meats. These families are so warm and fun – we are thankful to have spent the time with them, yet we miss being with our family very much, too. As I type, I can see through our skylights that the sun is sparkling on the tips of the tall Douglas Firs, so we are mounting up an expedition to another Island trail, then more relaxing time with family. The boys are building a Lincoln Log cabin like the one we were in last night, and Ben is playing “box drums” which means he is marching around the house with a box on his head and playing the inside like a drum, laughing and marching. It’s the Macy’s Day parade here 🙂

All our best to each of you for a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! You are named on our little hand turkey decorations hanging from our kitchen lamp 🙂

Ben is a funny guy. Tonight we were just chatting while Dave and Sam were at Sam’s guitar lesson. Here is how it went:

“You are so cute, Benji. What does mommy call you when you are so cute and good?”

“Benji.”

“Right! What does mommy call you when you are naughty?”

(quiet for a second) “Ben-ja-min”

“Yes! You are funny. That is right. What does mommy call you when you are REALLY naughty?”

(no answer)

“Benjamin William?” I say.

“What do you call mommy when she is really sweet and fun?”

“Mommy?” with a little smile.

“What do you call mommy when she is naughty?”

“Mom William!”

“Mommy, why is that guy on the news called Brian Williams?” He must think “William” is synonymous with naughty!!!

Ben on his way to the Assembly at school to honor Veterans. Click for movie of someone else you know!

There’s something about veterans. They are an incredible bunch. Words are not enough to thank them for their sacrifice and service. I admire them and am proud to be a part of our family’s four-generation military tradition, thanks to Dave’s nearly 20 years of service. Sam’s teacher inspired the kids to learn their national anthem, and not only learn it, LOVE it. It’s been a favorite song here for a month. They also know the Pledge of Allegiance. And they know how to stand respectfully. So when Sam was asked to play at the assembly today to honor veterans, we were thrilled. He picked out a red/white/blue outfit, including a lapel pin on that his dad got him (with the US and WA flags).  We were also doubly honored to have in our company a dear friend, SGT Matt Martinez, who delivered remarks on his service and what veteran’s day means to him. His remarks were so on-point and well delivered. He also thanked the teachers for their service, and brought tears to my eyes when he honored his friend Alex who was killed in Afghanistan when his chopper was shot down in August of this year. Then he concluded with how his medal means much to him, but the letter he received from a school student in Indiana meant much more than that – “priceless” he said. In the video you’ll see a young man whose mom is deployed off the coast of Africa right now. Watch what the young man does. Sorry for the glitch at the beginning – I was way more jittery than Sam. I wasn’t sure it was recording, then at the end I was shaking like crazy and had to stop. Enjoy, and hug or salute any veteran you see! They appreciate it, even if they’re too humble to say so.

Hungry men having farm breakfast cooked by Daddy while we were out doing chicken chores on Sat.

So I was tucking Sam in last night and reflecting on herding Merlin (the rooster) back into the pen out of which he’d flown after Ben gave him a good chase. When you herd a big, fast rooster, you need to go very surreptitiously – carve a wide swath, approach slowly, pretend like you don’t care if they go where you want or not, and that you have all the time in the world. He’s got to think it’s his idea. I realized this has so much relevance to how I should strive to parent. The swath gets wider with age, but arms remain outstretched for guidance, and yet a gesture of love and acceptance at the same time. I have got to (somehow) pretend like I am not invested in the outcome myself – go through the gate if you like, or not. And I’ve got all the time in the world, right? Sure. But the key is – I do. They are my first priority. I have to somehow keep that top of mind despite all the other immediate pressures. These kids are a gift on loan to me. My mom always says that, and she’s a great role model. I have a patience issue – I do get a lot done in the typical day, but I’m breathless much of the time. So these mornings spent with Ben doing chicken chores (and finding eggs followed by “Thanks girls!”), then a walk on the trails in our woods to see Racky asleep in his tree are precious moments.

So thankful for time with my family. We are all healthy again, the washer is fixed after a two-week hiatus, and the leaking pipes under the house are fixed!

We enjoyed time traveling together out to Port Townsend yesterday, and trail work today. It took me about 4 hours total to cut another 200 feet of trail. Wow. It is a lot of work, but very gratifying to get out into our woods and work, machete in hand. I am a human brush hog. The trails are machete-swath-width, and bare to the ground. They are beautiful. I even carved out a foothold in a downed tree to help kids climb over it. Now we do wheelbarrow loads of mulch. I finally updated the pictures in Oct and Nov, so you can have a peek by clicking on the crazy picture to your left, which will take you to November, and some nice videos. Just click on the little square at the top of the page to get to the folders for each month so you can look at the last of October.

Hope you all had a great weekend! Thanksgiving is almost here. It’s easy to find things to be grateful for every day.

"That's an A!" at Gazzam Lake

We enjoyed a family hike at Gazzam Lake in the south end of BI. Ben is really doing well with recognizing letters – the ones that he can trace with his fingers like this trail sign are particularly fun! When we got home we split some madrona – very hard wood, but it burns so well it’s worth it. We saved about $100 on a cord by buying it in rounds vs split – we bicker over who gets to do the splitting! We really enjoy working around here vs going to a gym. We are blessed to have space and projects that need attention. The CrossFit folks have a workout of the day (WOD) that they do. So it’s fun to think of alternative WODs around here! While I was stacking the wood that Dave split, I had a couple of random thoughts. 1) My husband is really strong – he just wields that axe like nobody’s business! 2) Have we forgotten what hard work is all about because so many of us are now doing intellectually demanding jobs vs physically demanding? 3) If we were doing more manual work, would we be less apt to complain about the economy? 4) Would we be more likely to be activists locally (vs protesting remotely), making our own communities better by doing/giving/helping – pick a gerund and get it done!  5) Have we as parents dropped the ball a bit by hovering and praising overly much, such that our children’s generation is not only out of touch with what it means to do hard work, to sacrifice, to suffer from time to time even, but they are also out of touch with just plain old dedication, keeping their eye on the ball, focus from minute to minute, set goals and take responsibility?  I remember from caring for horses on our small farm that if I left the stall door unlocked, I could pretty much bet that I’d be up all night walking a horse with colic (who had gotten into the feed and eaten too much). Colic is a deadly illness…plus I’m a big fan of sleep. So I did develop a touch of OCD regarding keeping doors locked, but also an acute sense of personal responsibility. Figure out how I’m going to feed myself after graduating from college. It wasn’t a vacation in any way – it was a time for preparation for emancipation. I never lost sight of ensuring I had a practical skill that I could use. Unfortunately, that driving focus on ensuring I could work meant I did give up some dreams, like being a large animal vet. I didn’t think I could do that and be a mom (couldn’t go out on lambing calls at 3am and stay on the farm well into the next day like James Harriot). So there’s a balance to be struck here for sure. Off to close up the chicken coop and go on coyote patrol – I saw suspicious ears stalking around about 50 yards from the coop the other day around 6pm. Exciting stuff!

While Dave was working on his paper for class, we embarked on a fish outing. It is spawning season here for salmon and we had a lot of learning to do to get up to speed!

We started at Dogfish Creek, the largest freshwater tributary to Liberty Bay, by hiking around a park in Poulsbo up near the high school. Not finding salmon there (we didn’t really expect to, but one never knows!), we headed to Fish Park. Surely we’d find fish, or at least information about fish, there, right? Well, the park was awesome but the brochure said more about the park’s history (development, funding, etc.) than about fish. So I grabbed a nice local couple out walking their dog while Sam and Ben climbed around on this salmon structure. Not sure if it’s an oversized bike rack? Play equipment meant for kids? Artwork? Anyway it kept them busy while I researched! So – you CAN view salmon spawning (or returning further upstream to spawn) from the viewing platforms here. The park has undergone tremendous work to restore the estuary and make it suitable for fish and wildlife (a culvert had made it very difficult for salmon to return to their birthplace). The trails were easy and numerous. We had a great time. Then on to the Poulsbo Marine Science Center for some time with the docents and reaching into a VERY cold touch tank to pick up sea stars. We learned lots of interesting things (nudibranch means naked gill – that’s how sea slugs breathe). Of course Foster’s daddy (Ben) was very interested in the sea slug. There is an octopus and a very sinister looking wolf eel in residence. Dave met up with us for JJ’s dinner afterwards. YUM! Sam says there should be national Fish Day. He may be onto something – there’s a FISHING day, but not a day for EAT FISH as far as I can tell. Hmmm… Stay tuned for more fish adventures. I have something up my sleeve for Friday with Ben as my co-conspirator (he is game for anything!). But I’ve really got to stop having so much fun – it takes time to offload the pictures and then get them up here! It means no down time because I’m desperately trying to whip up a good fire with damp wood while the house cools off – I want to get it going before the heat kicks on – who will win??? If I drink Scotch while blowing on the fire, will the air I’m blowing be more flammable and likely to really get it kick started???

As a scientific/technical/medical communicator, clear, concise, accurate communication is important to me. I think about public health and education policy messages with respect to the data upon which they rest. Remember the mammogram recommendation controversy in 2009 – do we start at 40 or 50? I watched a UW lecture on that last night in my down time (scary, I know). So when I happened to catch a press conference today that did not uphold what I consider to be key tenets of credible communication, it gave me pause.

President Obama announced the troop withdrawal from Iraq is going to remain on schedule for Dec. 31, 2011.  Bush signed into the law the termination of US forces in Iraq during his term in 2008 – see attached status of forces agreement. This is not a “new policy” as stated by Obama in his press conference which I’m listening to now. See page 15, Article 24, #1: http://usiraq.procon.org/sourcefiles/SOFA-11-19-08.pdf

While all politicians engage in shaping news to their advantage, when they do so without appropriate context, it diminishes credibility. This agreement was jointly negotiated by the Bush administration with the Iraqi government, three years ago. However, President Obama several times indicated that he had developed a “new policy” to withdraw troops in 2011. If he were to actually have credited Bush’s policy upfront, and then gone on with his remarks as planned with respect to his determination to uphold this “new” policy, his message would have remained intact. His credibility would have been enhanced, not eroded. Not only did he forget to footnote a reference, he plagiarized policy. If this were a journal submission, it never would have made it past peer review.

Reference your sources. Ask questions, keep an open mind. Be discerning. Another election is around the corner.

At the pumpkin patch! We decided to let them haul separate wagons and we'd buy what they could haul. Well...$41 and 164 pounds of pumpkin later (and a quick trip home to get more money!) we had lots of carving in front of us. Two strong boys! I think this might be an annual event. I will keep track of pumpkin poundage as they grow.

We have had so much fun working on projects with Gramma and Richard that 2 1/2 weeks have flown by! We can only tell how hard we’re working by how sore our backs are from stacking or splitting wood, stapling fencing to posts, trenching the driveway to install low voltage line out to the coop…you name it. Richard is a work horse. Stuff gets done, and done RIGHT. What a guy. The chickens are very happy. We celebrated tonight by letting them go out to the big pen where all the GOOD bugs are. We decided to see how they’d react and if they went back in the coop on their own. Yup. Merlin is a good rooster. He got the hens in, all except for OliEdnamode who was still out thinking about more snacks. She is a big eater. She did come in, though, when mom went to close up the coop.

I love this picture of Sam in the hay bale maze…he is turning into a real handsome guy like his dad.

The hay bale maze was a lot of fun! The boys were running around in there while Gramma raced home for money to buy the pumpkins!

We also did some carving tonight…

Sam designed the face of this monster pumpkin and mommy did the carving. It was so thick that it resisted cutting open! I had to use my machete. Seriously. But I am always happy to have a good reason to break out the big tools ;0 Thanks for the picture, mom! The chickens also have a carved pumpkin, in their run 🙂

A few pictures of our time enjoying the hens, and collecting our first egg today! It was a brown one, laid by the Red Star hen (Oli Ednamode is her name, per Sam).

Collecting eggs is as magical as it was the first time when I was a kid! Our little hen managed to lay an egg between laps around the coop outfoxing Sam and Ben trying to catch her. And if you’ve ever wondered if chickens are smart…well, I think so. A quick web search of the lay literature turned up this interesting article about chickens and sentience regarding the future, self control, and higher level reasoning…http://animal.discovery.com/news/briefs/20050711/chicken.html Mom and I think that they have more self control than the boys do! Can you picture Ben or Sam holding out for 22 seconds after dessert is put in front of them?