Chicken Wings

So in the flurry of getting ready for the reunion and in an attempt to diminish the many pilings of chicken s*&$ on all the sidewalks, in the grass, the sandboxes, the doorsteps (my personal favorite), and pretty much everywhere—Jeremy built a new chicken palace out past the barn. The idea, this time, is that the chickens stay “locked” up (they have a run, for goodness sakes all you animal rights activists) and keep the compound “poop” free. Part of the problem with the other run/coop is that they were darn good at escaping. This time, however, we did our research and, hopefully, clipped their wings correctly. Apparently you’re supposed to clip one wing: you know, to keep them lopsided. We’ll see if it works. That rooster is the devil and if there’s a way out of the new place…he’ll find it. So, keep your fingers crossed.

Having the chickens so far away has been a blessing, though, we don’t hear the rooster as loudly when he begins crowing at 4 am. Yes, you heard that right, 4 am. Actually, it seems that he doesn’t really stop crowing…so you can hear it about anytime of day or night. Related to the crowing is the funny joke that Dustin & Jeremy decided to play on Kyle Brown. They took the rooster over there one night and tied it up on the porch so as to wake everyone up at some point in the night. Long story short: Cameron & Pam and Shadow (their dog) prematurely scared the shit out of it (literally, it was everywhere on the porch), and it broke its tether. They had to throw it in a box for the night. It didn’t stop the crowing, though. The unfortunate thing of all this is that I was extremely excited to finally get a good nights rest when around midnight our neighbors backed a huge truck down their drive, and herded out some “just weaned” calves. “Just weaned” means that they were ripped away from their mother and spend the next week and a half bawling every night because they miss her. Sad, I know, but more annoying than anything. Joke’s on us.

Anyway, come get some eggs, though, we now have brown, green, and pink ones.

Busy

I have wanted to post for a while, however, we are booked solid with getting ready for the Prusso family reunion…which is going to be held at our house in two weeks. Dustin is in a flurry to finish our bedroom and tile the bathroom floor so that we can at least set a toilet. Alas, we will still have only one shower. Of course I decided that none of our other quilts would match our new bedroom, so…true to my nature I am making a quilt down to the wire. It’ll be a beaut though. I’ll post a pic as soon as it’s finished. Needless to say, the rest of our lives are completely being neglected…I’ll be excited to get back to being a good mom soon. It is fun to finally be working on a project, though, I haven’t got the sewing machine out since Jane was born.

The barn is close to being finished, and by barn I mean 4,000 square foot shop/garage (no animals intended). It will house many of the festivities of the reunion, a deHaro Christmas party, and Canyon & Hannah’s wedding reception. Like the tractor and the golf cart before it, every day I’ll say: “How did we ever live without this barn?” Anyway, hopefully you all can come soon to partake in all these wonderful adventures…oh, I forgot to mention the new chicken coop (palace really) that Jeremy built.
Hope you’re not as busy as me.

Fall

The Vineyard in our backyard.
Fall is my favorite season, my favorite time of the year. That being said, it’s also the time of year that I feel the most homesick for Logan and its extreme seasons. The leaves in the canyons are breathtaking…the crispness of the days and the outside smells (I guess of decaying leaves: which doesn’t sound very poetic) are fresh and woodsy. Since living here, I’ve have come to accept the gloriousness of less extreme seasonal changes and have embraced it happily because for six months of the year it feel like a spring in Logan…which is also wonderful, but oh so short. So, here are some of the beauties of fall here:
--The smell of grapes being harvested and the beginnings of wine making—took a little getting used to, but also a very organic woodsy smell.
--The sparkling of the hills: as the grapes get bigger near harvest, they are infested with birds and so the wineries do anything and everything they can to keep them away. The most aesthetic way is they tie glittery ribbons every few feet on the grapes, apparently the sparkle scares the birds.
--The changing light: I love the way the sunshine in the windows changes as the southern exposure develops and lengthens.
--I love when the pumpkin patch down the road (literally, down the road) opens and we can spend afternoons playing in the mazes and eating snow cones.
--The last few Thursdays at the farmer’s market are exceptionally attended, poignant, and a little reminiscent and nostalgic for the end of the summer season (plus—not as hot).
-- Playing really, really hard outside after school to try to get it all in before hot baths, books, and bed (the three b’s).
--The sunsets are somehow, more beautiful: something to do with the changing light I guess.
--It starts to get dark earlier, which I sort of hate, except that we can study the stars before bedtime.
--It’s still warm enough to really enjoy the outdoors and we usually have enough warm days to even go swimming a few more times.
--Finally, when the grapes are harvested and the days start getting colder, the leaves on the vines become like rows of fire on the hills and the grass turns green and oh...the contrast is breathtaking.

So, take a drive down Logan Canyon for me and soak up the changing colors…and I’ll eat some nectarines at the farmer’s market for you.

Why I Miss Them

Canyon & Hannah left for Provo a few weeks ago: and, for those who don’t know…surprise, they’re engaged. Yeah, I know, we were stunned too. They’re getting married in St. George right after Christmas so book your calendars. Anyway, it’s been a sad house around here and I’ll tell you why:
1. No Hannah to cheer up a grumpy Alice after her nap.
2. Less pies, strike that, no pies since they’ve left.
3. No one to finish up eating all of our leftovers.
4. No one to call if we feel like going to Los Vaqueros and need a few extra hands to help with the kids.
5. No one for Jane to smile at—actually, she pretty much smiles at anyone (sorry Hannah, you’re not the only one).
6. No one for little Canyon to pretend to ignore and be grumpy to (big Canyon), honestly, he’s been the happiest little kid to everyone since you left. I miss his grumpiness (it’s hard to type the sarcasm into this one, but you get the idea).
7. No one to take Lily & Kaia to movies.
8. No one to dance with Lily & Kaia to the “High School Musical” soundtrack.
9. No one to visit at Trader Joes.
10. And last, but certainly not least, no one to call in a last ditch effort to babysit (I sob on a regular basis now over this one).

So, hurry up and get married and move back here. The offer to sleep in Alice’s room is still open—I think you’d love it.

Ahoy, We Sail

Canyon--Sailing
The girls lounging
Skipper Scott
Emily & Jane
Dustin & Alice
Captain Canyon

So, I was pondering, lately, on how many opportunities my kids have had to do these amazing things…that I never had or had later in my life. For example, I heard Lily bragging to a friend that she’d ridden on a ferry three times. The first time I was on a ferry was when I was 17 and in New Zealand (or it would still be zero). Anyway, so apparently we are peers in this adventure thing because this past weekend we all went on our first sailing trip on the bay. Papa Scott got a sailboat about a year ago and has been working on it and honing his sailing skills this past year—and we finally got over to see it. Canyon was the real drive behind the adventure, oddly enough, as soon as he realized that Papa’s sailboat was more than a sunfish at del valle, and actually has an anchor and a cabin…well, you can imagine, it was all he could talk about it. Sooo, I called Scott to set up a sail trip and when went. It was a beautiful day and our expectations were to maybe motor around the marina, or even just play on the boat. I was afraid that Canyon might be scared of the open water. Boy, was I ever wrong…he fell in love from the start and was the farthest from being nervous. Neither were Jane and Alice…yes I took a baby and a two-year-old sailing on the bay.

We sailed out by Angel island and enjoyed a view of the Golden Gate Bridge and the foggy city. We sailed with just the jib (is that right Scott?) so that we were a bit slower—a perfect pace for us newbies. The kids had a great time just looking at all the other boats, the seals, and the birds. Alice was a trooper, it’s not easy for a two-year-old to sit in such a small space for such a long time…especially while wearing a life-jacket. Lily and Kaia spent a lot of time in the cabin with the baby, which was really nice for mom and dad.

We went back to the dock and had a fantastically prepared picnic, by Katrina, who was on the first day of a month of eating only locally produced food. The local potato salad: delish. Canyon kept on “checking” the anchor—code for feeling like he was participating in something extremely important on a real boat. He hasn’t stopped talking about it. We can’t wait for our next trip and hope that when people come to visit…they’ll come with us.