Ode to April Showers

I couldn't let April go without this final little joyful tribute... Enjoy.

Today's Hot Tip!

Happy Earth Day!

Domestic Update

The saurkraut is ripening as we speak. I smelled it wafting up from the basement as I passed the cellar door this morning. If its readiness mirrors the saurkraut stories Paco tells of his Czech grandmother in Minnesota, the MINUTE it is ready we'll have to freeze all activities mid-step to bottle it! Last night we made 6 pints of blackberry jam. We're full swing into wheat grass production. I've been swigging a jigger of wheat grass juice down about every other day which should account for any surprise "Moo's" that I may emit. Dalai is looking radiantly with child--she's probably down to weeks. Have I mentioned how sweetly these animals eat out of our hands? I'm researching llama de-fleecing techniques. A sheep farmer I conversed with says that he just "traps" his amongst the sheep flock and goes at it! I asked for an invitation to the next one of those. He agreed and also reminded me to come for my llama fleece he's giving me to spin. My wool carders which I received for my birthday arrived yesterday. Next step--figuring out how to clean the fleeces I have piled up in the chicken coop. The rhubarb is coming up as are the lilies. Pastures are greening. Mugsy took a nap under the crabapple tree yesterday. Paco smoked ten pounds of chicken yesterday. And the wheels here at Peaceful Acres crank on...

Spring is Here!

My friend and I took advantage of the warmer weather to take a bit of a walk. The winter has been hard on us; we've aged a bit, but we're young in spirit!

Insomnia

Lately I've been waking up in the midnight to 1 A.M. slot. Very consistently for the past two weeks or so. Why? Why?? and Why again??? Now it's 3-ish. Be that as it may, thank heavens for the internet! Would that it would make me sleepier, but it does the opposite! This morning I've been perusing worm composters. No clue how I got started there. I'm thinking perhaps I was inspired. So, do you think Paco needs one of these for his birthday? This one almost looks pagoda-esque there under the blossoms, doesn't it? I think we could probably even keep it in the house--put remotes on top or maybe magazines. I need to make a note to myself that common earthworms (the kind we have in abundance that make our lawn lumpy) don't breed well in captivity (perhaps we could trick them into thinking they were guests--put chocolates on their pillows, call them for breakfast...), so you need to import worms. I found a worm farm in Arizona that would sell us 2 pounds of worms for around $13. How do you think they ship those? Maybe we'll have to buy them a bus ticket! They like a temperature between 55 and 72 degrees. Hmmmm....are these worms going to need to share our electric blanket in the winter??? They eat kitchen scraps (not dairy or anything oily) and junkmail!!!! Yes, junkmail!!!!! I'm digging this!!!!!! These composters have a spigot on the side which dispenses "worm tea" which I guess will make hair grow on the chests of my houseplants or at least add a degree of robustness to their speaking voices. I also looked up some stuff on composting in the classroom. Little Shop of Horrors!!!! I could recycle students!!! Or at least their essays. FLASH!!! FLASH!! BEEP!!! BEEP!! STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS MAY FOLLOW!!! PROCEED WITH CAUTION!!! IN THE EVENT THAT THIS BLOG POST TURNS RANDOM, MOVE AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER!!! MOVE AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER!! I need a Venus Flytrap on my front porch! MOVE NOW AND NO ON WILL BE INJURED!!! Anyone who read my blog back in its infancy will recall that the fly problem here nearly sent me over the edge. All right, it DID send me over the edge. I harangued and harangued about fly stalking. It was ugly. Post after post ad nauseum. I now....drum roll....have a vacuum sucker dustbuster sort of thing which works like magic! I'm sucking up flies and VERY good at it, I might add. I haven't quite mastered sucking them out of the air, but I corner them in the windows and that's all she wrote for the scoundrels!!!!! It's a beautiful thing. Here it is in all its radiant apocolyptic glory. Couldn't you just eat it???? Just never you mind that I'm stroking the spout. Then (because my sucker has a semi-translucent holding tank) I am also getting extra jollies by watching them squirm. Justice. The only problem is that I'm paranoid that they're starting to get conditioned, and when I rev up my buster, I'm suspicious that they are learning to react quicker. My imagination? Eventually they decompose --HEY, I'm back to my original theme!!! DISREGARD ANY PREVIOUS WARNINGS. EMERGENCY AVERTED--and I just throw the remains in the trash. But now I'm thinking maybe I could add the fly remains to the worm composter!!!!! Good on ME!!!!!! It IS TOO easy bein' green!!!!!!!!!!!! 3:15.....3:16...

Ya Gotta "Hand" It to 'Em!

Apparently these performers are all Chinese deaf mutes. They premiered at the Greek Special Olympics.