Time Travelers

We are transcending time this weekend. Before first light this morning our time machine transported us across the picturesque Indiana countryside to a battlefield during the War of 1812.

Luckily, we didn't land directly in the center of the battlefield. We stood at a safe distance and watched the Americans win. Thank goodness, it would have made for an awkward teaching moment had they not.

After the battle we played with some of the local children.

And we studied many craftsmen and women working at their trades.

It was all I could do to resist the temptation to pull out my "letters of credit" to purchase everything they made. The time machine is small you know. But I did sneak in a beautiful wooden spoon and a small pair of sewing snips.


The kid made out like a bandit with all the primitive wooden swords available. I believe he enjoyed himself. I heard him mention something about it being "heaven". And that "it was the most excited he's ever been". And how "we have to go back every year". And how he "wants to do this when he grows up".

Yes. I believe, today, I witnessed a reenactor being born.

We Hit the JACKPOT!

Well okay, no not that jackpot. We won a chicken coop contest! You see, our friends over at Backyard Chickens run these contests every once in a while amongst all of us crazy chicken people who like to hang out there and we won the large coop category this time around. Now our coop will be on display in their coop gallery. How exciting is that? And if just the "coolest coop" title were not enough look at all the loot they sent us!


Now I just need to get the girls to live up to the wording on the t-shirt. LOL

Eviction Notice

Dear Fat-Bottom Hens,

It has come to our attention that you have resided on said premises for over four months. If you will recall subsection B of the Front Porch Indiana Chicken Bed & Breakfast Agreement, the owners of said porch were to provide the bed and you hens are to provide the breakfast. To date, you have not provided said breakfast. This has caused a significant disruption in the supply chain and is causing the loss of business as the owners are unable to fulfill orders.

It is understood that every possible accommodation requested by you has been granted, whereby further delay of egg production is no longer substantiated. You are hereby notified that you have 30 days to begin production of said breakfast to pay for your room and board or you will be evicted.

Regards,

The Management




"Did you understand a word she said, Maude?" "I'm not sure Gertie, but I think we're getting fed a special breakfast tomorrow. I hope it's pancakes."

Hey Kid, Get Your Nose Outta That Book

This morning we woke before the chickens, brushed the manure and feathers from our boots and headed out early to the big city to get us some culture. The kid's art class is currently covering shadows and light. Since we're homeschoolers and can do what we please we arranged a visit to the Indianapolis Museum of Art where a docent could take us on a tour covering, you guessed it, shadows and light. Being able to see the works in person it always better than just reading about them in some boring textbook. Take this painting for instance. When viewed at a distance it looks like cows crossing a creek bed near a bridge on a serene early morning.


But if you are able to study it closely, you see that those cows are really just brown blobs with carefully placed highlights that make you believe they are cows. I think we would have missed that in a textbook.

Of course being able to break into small groups of parents and students helps foster discussion about the pieces. So much better than the massive bus load of children following behind a frazzled teacher who is too busy counting heads to talk scene you often see with public school field trips. If you take the time to listen, a lot of these teens have some incredible insight.


Which may be why I liked the new Class Pictures photography exhibit by Dawoud Bey so much. It included 40 photos of high school students of all cultures combined with their own written words. It was striking and you couldn't help but be drawn to the photos and stories. It's only here until Thanksgiving so if you're local, don't miss it.

But, even though the artsy fartsy types belittle him as "only" an illustrator, this hick from the stick's all time favorite at the museum will always be the Norman Rockwell. His work just speaks to me.

Thinking Out Loud

When I was a teenager I had a t-shirt that said "I'm surrounded by idiots." Lately, when I watch the news I wish I still had that t-shirt. Then there was another one that said "I must be a mushroom, they keep me in the dark and feed me bull___."

Hard to believe after all these years my teenage opinions of the world are still relevant.

The Quicker Fixer Upper - Bathroom Edition

It all started out with a five dollar garage sale mirror...

You see, I didn't like the plain square mirror that hung above the bathroom sink when we bought this place two years ago. I wanted something more suited to an old house, but could never find a mirror I liked at a reasonable price. So the square mirror and ugly light fixture, that should have been recessed but for some reason wasn't, stayed. Along with the lovely 1980's faux gold fixtures that were loosing their faux gold.

Before we moved in:

Then came the five dollar mirror. There is a big festival around these parts Labor Day weekend. Pretty much the entire community is for sale, everyone has a garage sale. One of my neighbors had the perfect mirror and only wanted five bucks for it. So our seemingly quick and easy little fix up to the downstairs bathroom started. A new mirror, some paint and a few new fixtures, how hard could that be?

Whah, ha, ha, ho, ho, hee, hee...

When you own a 100 year old house, NOTHING is ever quick and easy. We know this, yet we always forget. The mystery of why the light fixture was never properly recessed was quickly revealed. The junction box was off center. Why on earth would the junction box be over there you ask? Because the previous owner forgot to consider the electrical when he was doing the plumbing. The vent pipe for the sink is smack dab in the center of that wall, exactly where you would want your light fixture to be.


Luckily I married the Engineer, and he was able to make it all better.

After:

Then there were the fixtures inside the shower. There is a reason they don't sell the gold fixtures anymore. The peeling gold flakes were kinda gross and although we don't use this shower much, since this bathroom serves as our guest bath it only seemed reasonable that we should try to make it look better. That was our second major mistake. We were able to replace some of the parts, but those handles ain't coming off for nobody, no how. The only way we can get them replaced will be to knock a hole in the wall on the other side and replace the whole shebang. The other side is my laundry room and I'm not really up to tackle that project at the moment, so for now we still have gold handles.

Before:


After:
Notice we did get a new light fixture up with no problems. There was even a bonus included in the box. Not only do we have green eggs and ham, we now have a cat in a hat! How fun is that?

Gettin' Our Money's Worth

When you homeschool, that does not mean you're sitting home all the time. In addition to weekly park days, an art class and monthly rollerskating events we do a lot of field trips with other homeschool families in the area. Yesterday's event was rock climbing. Hey, it's educational, that qualifies as PE. And you know, it just might come in handy with all the mountains we have here in Indiana. (Uh huh?)

I wasn't so sure about this event, when we signed up for it. Seemed kind of expensive and a long drive. But after two and a half hours of climbing he only stopped because he had blisters on hands. I think we got our money's worth.


I on the other hand was tickled pink when I collected eggs. Look at the one on the left. It's HUGE!

And to my delight I was correct in my estimation. It was a double yolker, our first! For someone who likes to dip her toast in the yolk, it's kind of like winning a scratch off lottery ticket. You never really expect it, but it's a nice surprise. Unfortunately we'll need A LOT more of these to get our money's worth.


There was an extra brown egg when I collected this morning. So that means at least one of the fat bottom girls has started to lay. We're getting there. Woo hoo!