All around a pretty good Friday and not even one of the get-paid ones.

[which_chick]

Happy Friday! It was a pretty good day.



Today I finished up the corporate taxes (mostly -- I still have the rct101 for VH and the forms for the inactives but mostly that's type the address and the ein and some zeros so it's not like serious work). So that was good.

Also I think I found a source for Maran chickens nearby. My friend Lala has chickens but they're just the regular kind that make regular brown eggs... Rhode Island Reds. (Link has pictures of the chicken and the eggs that it makes). They're OK chickens but I think it would be nice if we had FANCY brown eggs. (They taste the same. They're just cooler. If I can't have things just because they're cool then really I'm not having my best life over here.)

So I talked to Lala a while back about the Cooler Chicken Project and she said we could have FANCY brown eggs if I found a source for the chickens. Craigslist has provided. I have re-confirmed with Lala that it's OK to get Cooler Chickens that lay Fancy Brown Eggs and a number of chickens that would be appropriate (8, 2 of which are for Mordecai). I have texted the craigslist guy with the Cooler Chickens and am waiting to hear back from him.

Since probably you don't know fuck-all about chickens (I assume nothing but most people don't have the ability to name one chicken breed let alone know any breed traits about them) here's the info page for Marans.

And lastly, I got ACTUAL Mail In The Mail! A bit ago, I'd sent off a sampler package of wool to crockpotcauldron for spinning practice (as a portable craft for travel) and today in the mail I got back an absolutely delightful hand-made art postcard about said travels (and crafting)! It was lovely and brightened up my entire day. :)

Speaking of Mail-in-the-Mail and how fun it is, I wonder if I should start sending letters to Trysta's boy Mordecai, who is learning to read, kinda. (He's turning 6 in April.) I bet actual mail in the mailbox addressed to him would be a big thrill. I could illustrate it. He is young enough to not-know how badly I draw.

I could send him an invite for Vernal Pool Exploring. We are planning to go exploring for vernal pools and salamander & wood frog eggs here directly, like in two weeks or so. For Mordecai, it will be "exploring" but as I already know where these things are (they come back every year in the same shallow depressions and seeps and stuff), for me it's more "hiking to the appropriate location and directing the boy's searching so that he will be successful" but he doesn't know that. It will be very fun for him. And he loves the outdoors and woods and critters and stuff. (We also keep A NOTEBOOK of his discoveries. As he's pre-literate, right now they are drawings. But he's learning to read, so... watch this space. Scientists keep NOTEBOOKS. Observers keep NOTEBOOKS. I'm working on Why Literacy Might Be Useful For Me, Mordecai, here. Right now, he doesn't see much point to it and he's way too young for porn, so...)

He also wants to see a rattlesnake, which (a) we have and (b) I kinda have my suspicions as to where they den up. More research is needed on that front, though. And also they don't come out of their dens for real until about the end of May, so not for a while yet.

Comments

[crockpotcauldron]

Ooh, what about teamwork? He draws the thing he saw, you write down stuff he wants to say about it, and when he's old enough he can look back on the cool outdoor times he had.
I tend to add little descriptions to the more, uh, obscure specimens of the kiddo's art, along with dates.

[which_chick]

I can make his mom do the writing. Her hand is substantially better than mine and also she's along for these outings. Mordecai outings are easier with two adults, one to direct the activity and one to shepherd the kid. Also, I eventually get tired of his energy and this happens a lot slower if there are two adults along for tag-teaming purposes. (I don't understand how his energy makes me tired, but damn it totally does.)

If he weren't a brown-haired soul, I would rechristen him Red Chief.

[crockpotcauldron]

Children are tiny vampires, fueling their endless energy by draining the adults around them.