April 28, 2011

a dog, a baby, a chicken, a cow

April 28, 2011/ molly balint

This morning was quite a doozy.

Let's see, where to begin....Mid-morning my children's collective whining broke me down enough that I blew off school work to take them to the library. While driving, the grey skies opened up and decided to rain down a torrential downpour mixed with a sprinkling of tornado warnings. We bagged the library, opted for the drive-thru window to pick up our books and began the slow creep back home, watching the sky and listening to AM radio all the way....

I dropped the kids off for lunch at my dad's, anxious for an hour or so of quiet to deal with a few deadlines hanging over my head.

I walked in the door to discover that we were without power.

I walked up the stairs to put the baby to bed when I heard oddly loud squawking from the yard. From the upstairs window I got a glimpse of the neighbor's dog running around the yard chasing my chickens. I shouted out the window in my meanest "bad dog!" voice which sent Birdy into a screaming fit.

I ran downstairs and outside, crying Birdy on my hip, to discover the dog standing over a dead chicken.

I threw a stunned Birdy into the car to keep her safe, grabbed a big stick and threatened and yelled and chased the dog into our garden shed. I closed the door behind him, put a bench in front of the door for good measure and rescued Birdy (who was now hysterical) from the car.

We walked to the front of the house, so that I could inventory my chickens and see who was missing, only to hear loud rustling and movement at the other side of the house.

There, standing in the middle of my flower bed, was a teen-aged calf from my OTHER neighbor's farm.

By this time, Birdy was still sniffling, but beginning to think that maybe this outdoor adventure was ranking higher on her list than a nap.

I called in for reinforcement, trying to decide how I would manage a dog, a baby, a dead chicken, and a cow.

Eventually, I decided I couldn't wait around any longer. I stuck Birdy in her car seat and drove to the neighbor's house to tell her I had her dog. My neighbor lost her husband just a few weeks ago, so I couldn't bear to tell her the whole story. I just said I had her dog in my shed. She asked if I could walk him home on his leash. Hmmn.

On my drive back from her house, I spotted the other neighbor pulling in to his driveway. I flagged him down and asked if he needed help with the calf.

I became a human roadblock to keep the calf from traveling farther up the road as he herded it back into the fence. I hear Birdy wailing in the car. From her rolled down window, I wave at her and try to tell her I'm coming. She's not interested in my attempts at comfort.

I returned to my driveway, only to run into my uncle who was coming to retrieve my dead chicken to put out for the Bald Eagles. (word travels fast in the valley.) I asked if he would mind walking the dog home, too.

He was happy to. Thank goodness

I took Birdy back upstairs and threw up a prayer that she'd nap despite not having her usual sound machine running in the room.

I pulled the blinds, closed the curtains and laid her down in her crib.

I walked outside and flopped down in the chair, sweaty, wishing I'd showered that morning, and run the dishwasher, and done a load of laundry, and wondered what work I could possibly accomplish around the house that would involve absolutely zero noise in order to keep the baby sleeping.

There was a loud hum, and the lights came back on.

But, alas, the day has only since improved. I have showered. The baby has napped. The girls have plowed through some school work. My kitchen is clean. And I have even managed to squeak in a four o'clock cup of coffee (which I'll probably regret later) and a few things ticked off my to-do list.

Things are good.

April 27, 2011

it's all about the egg

April 27, 2011/ molly balint

Maybe it's like childbirth. How we conveniently forget the pain, the contractions. And somehow we find ourselves happily going through it all over again.

That must be what was happening when I decided to do the "chicks in the bathroom" thing again.

The chickens have launched a complete take over of the downstairs bathroom. The large green plastic tub that was formerly their home just wasn't cutting it and appparently unlike their mild-mannered predecessors, it wasn't enough space.

Every time I, heaven forbid, had to use the downstairs bathroom for its intended purpose, I had to first remove a roosting chick or two from the seat of the toilet. (a down toilet seat, of course.) Within seconds of plopping them back in their home there would be another, jumping at my thigh or flapping up to the edge of the box.

That's when it occured to me that we could give them the whole back corner of the bathroom. Which means, I guess that I'm the one responsible for the take over. And perhaps this also means that maybe it is a good thing that this little bathroom never saw a minute of remodeling work.

So I called Dan at work and asked if he could finagle some sort of barrier, he said it wouldn't be hard and by nightfall they had the run of the place.

Yesterday afternoon, Emma had a friend over and the mom stopped in to see the chicks. She's curious about the whole process and thinking of trying her hand with chickens.

She leaned over the large plywood barrier, looking at the chickens running willy-nilly on my bathroom floor which is now covered with both a tarp and layer of shavings..."Now, what is the advantage to getting chicks instead of older hens that are ready to go out in the coop?"

Huh. Good question.

It's fun? They were cute for three days before they started to get their pin feathers? They'll be tamer when we put them outside? I like the way they make my whole downstairs smell like a chicken coop? It gives my children something to do while they're on the potty? Life was getting boring and I needed a little something to fill all my free time?

Well, really. It's not that bad. At least not all the time.

There is enjoyment in the process. Like it or not, we are becoming attached to these six feathered characters taking up residence in our bathroom.

And some day these girls will begin to give back. We just have to keep our eyes on the egg.

March 21, 2011

so much for boring

March 21, 2011/ molly balint

Just a few nights ago my husband made some remark about being bored with the winter weekends and how he was so anxious to get going with spring projects and gardening and cleaning up the yard....

So perhaps, I should blame this on him.

Saturday night, as I was finally getting my long-overdue shower--hair lathered, soapy body parts--the water pressure started to change and get lighter and lighter...

With this house's past history, I quickly got most of my hair rinsed before that trickle came to a complete stop.

I managed to use a freezing cold glass of water to rinse off the rest of the way and called down to Dan, who was oblivious, reading in the living room, "Umm...we have no water???"

Long story short, our well pump went out this weekend (yes I did eagerly study that diagram last night.). You know that large pipe sticking randomly out of your yard. Yup. That's where it lives. And of course, is anything ever easy? Of course not. The wrong tools. Buying the new pump only to have it be a broken pump with no continuity (a term I learned this weekend). A trip to the giant hardware store with teenage help who don't know much about our problem. A trip to the other giant hardware store where finding help is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

But, with car lights shining into the yard and a series of family members coming by to help out through the day, by 9:30 last night, almost 24 hours to the minute, the sound of running water could be heard at Thomas Run once again.

Granted, the water has a beautiful brown tinge. And the kitchen sink is still refusing to give me any kind of water pressure, I'm still thankful that just maybe, I might be able to take a shower later this afternoon.

In the meantime, some other things I learned:

*without water, I had to constantly remind myself that we did have electricty.

*I become obsessed with keeping the house tidy when everything else (like Mt. Dishmore) is in chaos.

*that when the lady at the hardware store UNDERcharges me by $100 I will go back with my receipt and pay up.

*that one day, I wrote this. And it's good to read it again.

*that the lights I see shining from the windows in the farmhouse next door remind me that my twenty-four hours without water pale in comparison to the dear farmer next door who has come home for his final days.

*that we're all gonna be just fine.

March 02, 2011

some things you might like

March 02, 2011/ molly balint

Good morning. It is March, people! The sun is shining. All my girls are at the barn riding horses. The baby is napping. And I have a few exciting things to share with you before I slip upstairs into their bedroom to surprise them with new curtains, hung and ready to go when they return....

**When you stay up too late, once your children have gone to bed and the house is quiet, you do crazy things like make a facebook page for your blog. Kidding, it wasn't crazy. I actually have been meaning to do this for quite awhile. My hope is that it will be a space to connect with all of you a little more--since I'm sure you can't get enough of me, right? But late that night as I was working on it, I knew that I wanted to give a little something from me to you. So sneak over there, "like" me, if you do, and check out the discussion. There's something waiting there....

**As if I wasn't asking for enough already, I have another favor...will you vote for me? I have been nominated for Circle of Moms Top 25 Creative Blogs. And right now, I have 5 votes (and ashamedly, one of those is mine, the other is probably my sister...) I know bloggers often ask for votes, and I know it takes some of your precious time, but I promise this one is quick and easy. Would you, please? I would be both honored and grateful.

** TO VOTE FOR MOMMYCODDLE CLICK HERE **

**A few blogs I've been enjoying lately:

the kitchen generation

modern parents messy kids

likely stories : this may be biased because Tiffany is a "real life" friend. But there's something about her blog and her outlook on life that makes me smile.

interior photos : sometimes reading this motivates me to clean. some times, it makes me think my house will never be clean.

L'E Dans L'A: i know i've mentioned this one before. it's how i keep my french fresh. (not really). but it is a beautiful simple blog. it will make you want to take lovely photographs of your children, just being children. (and dress them in bloomers, tights, and little leather lace-up boots.)

sally j shim blog : sally has a beautiful new blog + website. the design is clean and fresh and very "sally". i loved perusing it last night.

** bluegrass on the tube : i LOVE bluegrass. i feel like i grew up on it, riding in my dad's car listening to 88.5 on the radio. and it was my dad who turned me on to this site. a new bluegrass video in your inbox daily. the website is a little plain and uninviting, but the videos are so good. here's proof below: (and if you don't like bluegrass this is probably what you think all bluegrass sounds like, which is exactly why you don't like it. and if you like bluegrass, you'll appreciate why this is so good.)

**Do yourself a favor, let your children get on polyvore. It's like internet paper dolls. And it is hilarious what they come up with when given free rein to create outfits at will. With just minimal instruction my children were creating "looks" in minutes. And let's just say, if shown in a lineup of polyvore sets, I could have picked this one among thousands as little Mary's. That's my girl. In the sets she created after this, she became obsessed with finding legs for all the dresses. Now that makes for some interesting outfits. The only downside? Everyone on polyvore now thinks mommycoddle has some really wacky taste in clothes and has a serious infatuation with ponies and princesses.

alright. If I'm ever going to get these curtains done, I need to walk away from this computer. Thank you friends for visiting here, for taking your valuable time to sit and share and read and say hello.