Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real

 Knut got me these beautiful flowers.  They were given at the perfect time.  On Valentine’s Day, they would have been: “Here’s the flowers I’m supposed to give you on Valentine’s Day” flowers.  Just after Valentine’s Day, they would have been: “I’m sorry you were upset I didn’t get you flowers on Valentine’s Day” flowers.  However, it must have crossed that appropriate line to finally be: “Here, I wanted to give these to you because I love you, and I know you like flowers.”  Well done, Knut.  Well done.  They make me smile every time I pass them and adds some beautiful life to the house.

 Our chickens are gradually returning to the life of laying!  Last winter wasn’t nearly this bad.  They slowed down by not quite half, but they didn’t stop for months like this winter.  But with the molting, and the trauma caused by the bully-roosters (4 of whom are still in my freezer) they’ve been taking their time getting themselves pulled together again.

We went 3–almost 4 months with not one egg from any of them.  Of our 10 ladies, we know at least 5 are back on the nest now.  Perhaps 6.  We’re getting 3-5 eggs a day and we’re almost at the point of not needing to buy the white store ones anymore.  We’re in the process of picking out new chicks for this spring.  I’d like 10-15 more.  It’s looking more and more like we’ll be getting some meat birds too.  If that is the case we’ll be getting quite a few more.

 I don’t know if this is funny, but it makes me smile.  David is working on a fort outside.  While digging, he was very excited to find the basketball hoop.  I told him I didn’t realize it was lost.  It’s the biggest/deepest fort yet.  I’ve been working on getting the Silje and David more scheduled, and I put on  their day 30 minutes of outside time when the weather permits.  Silje couldn’t believe I would do that to her in the winter, but it wasn’t so bad that day, and she had not been outside in days.  She ended up really liking it, and explored a few drifts in the yard.  I was hoping she’d stay out past her 30 minutes, but she came in and grabbed a library book and sat by the fire like nothing had happened as soon as she could.

Self-portrait.  Ingrid’s head isn’t hanging as much as it appears.  Her chin was leaning against my chest. This is me most days.  Moby wrap and a baby over sweats, with a cozy wool sweater thrown on top, and my hair in a messy pony tail.  I love baby-wearing.  No one can see how big your belly still is.  They just see baby.

Linking up with Our Mother’s Daughter blog today.