Feed, Korene and an iPhone4s

Last week, as I was rushing to get us all out the door for school, I noticed S4 digging out two apples from the fridge.

"You only need one," I told him, silently thinking what great boys I have to want healthy food.

"It's not for me.  It's for Whiskers and Bunny," he answered me.

As in, Whiskers and Bunny the bunnies that live on our front porch.

"Just give them their feed," I replied.

"Well, that's just it, Moma.  Their food is kinda icky.  It got wet and then it got hard," he explained.

"And things are growing on it," S2 added.

"And I am just now hearing this?" I demanded.

They nodded silently.

And I knew what my day would now entail, heading to the farm store for feed.

My friend Korene, who will be starting a craft blog soon, stopped me to see how my morning was going and I spilled this whole story to her.

She giggled.  "You'll make it funny, just you watch."

And so I prepared myself for my fun surprise twist of the day.

As I headed into town, my phone rang.  My cell phone.  Since our house phone was down (but ATT fixed so well!).  And my cell phone was acting up.  The call was my husband and I asked him if he minded if I could stop in at the Verizon store and see about an upgrade.  He assured me it was a great idea.

I walked in with my blackberry, with this picture as a screen saver...

And asked for help.

I have a fear of cell phone stores.  I have had to deal with a totally awful one.  As in, T E R R I B L Y awful.  This one, well, this one had the nicest, super knowledgeable employees.  They didn't just try to sell a phone, they wanted to know what would be the best fit.  They listened and offered advice.

Since I was looking for the iphone anyhow, they asked me questions about what I would use an iphone for and looked at my rebate I was up for and said, "The iphone4s is for you."

I had to ask my husband first, that handsome man who loves my chickens too.

"Yes! Yes! Get it right now!  That's a great price! I figured you would! Go right ahead!" he cheered me.

And so I did.

And so my day to get feed for bunnies - and chickens, wild birds and the cat - got me an iphone4s.

Korene was right, it was a great day.

And my new iphone....oh. my. goodness.

I do believe it's the most wonderfulest phone ever. I also know I just know the tiniest bit about it.

But I do know fully well how wonderful my hubby is.  As in, the greatest ever.

(Even if he didn't get the iphone for me, he'd still be great.  But this sure makes me grin at him a bit more.)

I'm a Chicken Girl, not a Turkey Princess...Yet

My boys are always looking for pretty things for me.

I am currently using a leaf for a bookmark.  I have flowers and pretty leaves at various places around the house.  It's not uncommon for me to have rocks or nests on display.  I regularly sport a flower tucked behind my ear.

If the boys find it beautiful, they have to share it with me.

Today the two little boys brought me in a white chicken feather from S3's chicken...you recall the one that went to school with us?  Yes, that chickie is still doing well.

They gleamed joyfully as they handed the chicken feather up to me.  "For you, Moma!"

"Oh!"I exclaimed happily, "A new bookmark?"

"No!" S3 nearly spat out, shocked I would mention that.  "It's for your hair." (It was said "like duh!")

"Yah, your hair!" S4 agreed.

I wrapped my hair up in a pony tail and stuck it in the band.

The boys were so impressed.

"It's beautiful!" S3 informed me.

"But not pretty like an Indian Prin-preen-prencee...what's that word?" S4 asked.

"Princess?"

"Yah, that.  You aren't as pretty as that Indian girl" - S4 wrinkled his forehead in concentration - "Princess but...I'm not saying you look BAD, Moma, I'm just saying you don't look princess good."

"You'd need a turkey feather to look that pretty," S3 agreed.

"And maybe black hair.  But that would look....different," S4 added.

When S4 says "different" he really means "bad".

They posed for the picture and then ran outside, determined to find me a turkey feather so I could be a princess.

Because with this feather I am a Chicken Girl, not a Turkey Princess.  Yet.

We Need New Pets For School

This week, S3's teacher sent home a note letting us know that the class would be studying pets. There is a form to fill out to see if parents would bring in the child's pet for a show and tell at school so the kids can talk about all the different pets and how to care for them.

I think S3's teacher is very brave.

Can you imagine having all sorts of pets in school?

But then S3 and I had a little chat and I had to send her an email thanking her for her brilliant idea.

S3 was making his lunch for the next day and we were discussing bringing pets into school. I asked him what he wanted to bring and he shrugged with an "I don't care" attitude. " I guess Josie," he stated, as though he HAD to bring a pet to school and it might as well be her even if he didn't want to bring her.

"Why Josie?" I asked, quite surprised but already forming in my head all the stories I could tell about her to make her seem interesting even if she wan't much to brag about.

"Well, Sadie would be too hard to take to school."

I imagined her hauling me down the hallways, hiding behind people, barking at everyone and had to agree that while she would be memorable, she would not be wise choice.

"You could bring a chickie," I suggested. S3 is my biggest fan of chickens, he and I share that bond. His eyes lit up momentarily and then his shoulders slumped. "But Chickie is so big now that no one would want to hold him."

Well, he had me there. I thought about running down to Family Farm and Home to get him a new one but you can't really do one baby chick. And I didn't really want a bunch of baby chicks on the porch right now. AND we are getting a little flock of grown chickens from a friend so we may not even need a baby chick....

Suddenly, his eyes got huge. His smile was bright. I mean, if you could actually see the turned on lightbulb above his head you would because he suddenly had a brilliant idea.

"I KNOW!" he nearly shouted and then he began to stammer over his words in excitement..."We could go and buy six cows and maybe a bull too because we need a daddy but six cows and we could milk them or whatever or we could ride them, yah, we could ride them or, no, we could buy six horses! Yah, we could buy six horses and we could ride the horses and we could take them to the school for pet day and we could ride the horses to round up the cows and we could take them in...no, that won't work...oh, I know! We could ride the horses, one for each of us, to round up the cows and we could herd them by the window and then my whole class could see our cows and horses."

I was stunned into silence.

"Can we, Moma?" he pleaded, taking my silence as a good sign of his sheer brilliance. "Can we get a get just six cows and just six horses. And a bull. But six cows and six horses? Please?"

I was still stunned so he grasped at "Aunt Ginger could help us."

Aunt Ginger who works on a cow farm and has horses.

"Well, we'd have to run that one by Daddy," I finally said.

And then I quickly typed an email to his teacher telling her what sort of a mess I was in now because of her "bring a pet to class" assignment.

To which she responded with great laughter. And this email response to my "thank you, thank you very much..."

I AM LAUGHING HYSTERICALLY!!

Now THAT would make a great blog post!! (Of course questions would follow

as to the credibility of my teaching, but hey, what could I say?!!)

Remind Eli that it does say one pet per student. And, if he considers

cows and horses his pets, then I'd love to meet them (or one of them!).

Oh, you're quite welcome!!

So I did blog about it. And if anyone has suggestions for me...send em along. Before I have to find six cows and a bull and six horses.

But to be fair, I did ask him the next morning if S3 would tell his teacher what he was hoping to bring in and he informed me he was now thinking of kittens. Kittens would be much easier to work with.....

Though not so blogworthy, you know?

Chickie, Chickie, We 'Shore Do Love Our Chickie!

Many have you wondered how S3 is doing since the untimely death of Chickie's tragic swimming accident.

How's this for an answer?

After the tragidy of Chickie, we received 35 new chicks in the mail.

S3 decided all the white ones were his, because Chickie One was white. He has many to choose from and every day, at any time, he has one of the many. He is pretty sure he always has the same one, but some ride on his shoulder, some ride on his head, some he just carries around.

Buck Howdy sings a song "Chickens, Chickens, I Shore Do Love My Chickens!" S3, and the rest of us, sing this song all the time, just as 'Chickie, Chickie, We Shore Do Love Our Chickie".

There is no more mention of Chickie One. However, new Chickie is getting super special privaleges. Moma sometimes has to chickie sit if he has to get ready for a hockey game or go potty, Chickie eats breakfast with us most mornings, Chickie is a fan of PBS we found out...the only things Chickie is not allowed to do is eat dinner with us (what if we had chicken for dinner, that would be uncomfortable for all present!) or sleep with S3 - and he has asked if Chickie can sleep in his bed a lot of times.

But, as you can see, all is well here on the farm with S3!