The Latest from Our Back Yard

For Christmas my mother wanted to get Dylan (and Conrad, though it will be some time before he can use it) a "play structure". I don't know what they are officially billed as, but all of us, including Dylan, now call it The Play Structure. For some time now my love of watching the chickens free range and forage has been at war with my crankiness over washing chicken poop off the porch and glider. I had mental images of the chickens roosting on the swings and pooping in the sandbox of the play structure and was not pleased. This would not do.

In a chicken discussion on backyardchickens.com, someone had been lametning the state of their garden and another BYCer suggested a chicken moat. Not an actual moat, but a chicken run that went around the perimeter of the yard. A moat made of chickens! So on the way down to Corvallis, I worked on my plan for a chicken moat. Here it is:


(The yellow is the approved chicken zone and the blue is the chicken-free zone. The little dots are the fence posts. At some point I'll have to add another fence around the garden, but for now they are free to roam and forage and fertilize).

I've already had to make chicken-proof fences for my tulip bed and my garden plot, and I figured I would do this the same (tedious) way -- covering those little wire fences with chicken wire. It turns out that our friendly neighborhood nursery carries these awesome coated-wire-and-post sets. You pound in the posts, hook the wire fencing to the little hooks, and hey presto! You're done.

The only trouble is that we need easy access in at least two points. Jonny and I can step over the fencing, which is only 24" high, but I wanted Dylan to be able to move around at will, etc. I took some of the fencing that was guarding my tulip bed and modified it. I cut the bottom tines (which usually stick in the ground) off one of the wire panels, bent one connecting tine up and out of the way, and bent the other down so it could serve as a sort of door stop. I used a thinner wire to create little loops that act as handles and go over the fenceposts to secure the whole thing.

I am indordinately pleased with my chicken moat. It makes me so happy to look out and see my chickens puttering along on the right side of the fence, secure in the knowledge that I need not encounter their poo.



Meanwhile, Jonny put together the play structure. My initial thought was that it would take up a lot of space and sort of ruin the zen fantasy I have for our yard. But, I have to admit that it looks quite spiffy. And Dylan seems to be enjoying it very much.

So here's the funny thing....

I made that last post because I assumed no one was reading anymore! I was trying to translate my holiday letter into French using Babelfish so that I could send a rough translation of the letter to my French relatives. It was too long to cut and paste and easier if I had it on a web page. So I put it on my web page.

It's very gratifying to get comments when I assumed everyone had given up on me.

Aside from all the glowing stuff I wrote about in my holiday letter/last entry, the major event in my life right now is my Dad's decline. Things are speeding up all of a sudden and it looks like he will need to be in a "memory care facility" sooner rather than later. In the morning on the way to work, I call my sister and my mother for updates, developments, and next steps. In the evening on the way home from work, I call my sister and my mother for a recap of the day. I'm trying to remember my Dad as he was for the first 35 years of our relationship, rather than the last three.

Conrad started walking on Tuesday. I have discovered that he is adorable in overalls. He's added some crazy shoulder and hand movements to his dance repertoire.

Dylan is playing soccer. Well, he's had two lessons. The first one I had to drag him onto the field bodily several times, and for a while he say there like a conscientious objector. He did spend about 20 minutes participating and having fun, which made me suspicious. I didn't see any reason for distress. He tends to be timid about new experiences and while I didn't want to force him in some traumatic way, I wanted to encourage him to do something that I was pretty sure he'd enjoy.

So for the second lesson I told him that if he went out there and participated for the whole lesson, I'd get him a milkshake. He was not convinced and was doing the passive resistance thing until I started dressing him myself, and then I guess he decided that I was serious. He put on a warm hat and his enthusiasm and bounded out of the house, bounded onto the soccer field, ran and kicked the ball and yelled, and very much enjoyed his milkshake. Jonny said, "You realize you're going to have to get him a shake every week now, right?" and I said, "That's just fine."

We are also applying for Waldorf kindergarten. How parental does that sound? Yikes. I have a friend who is really into Waldorf and she keeps telling me stuff about it and I keep thinking, "How cool!" I finally checked them out online, and they are the same price, roughly as daycare! Granted I'll have to figure out how he'll get picked up everyday at 4 instead of 6. And I just found out that it's a two-year program and I'm pretty sure I know where Jonny stands on the issue of free public kindergarten versus expensive private kindergarten. But anyway. We're applying. Nine months ahead of time. Do seniors even have their college applications in? Seriously.

Oh, I'm Compacting this year. The idea (as Kathy knows) is that you don't buy anything new. If you absolutely HAVE to buy new, you buy small and local. I'm really excited about it, although I feel like I'm still buying lots of stuff. There are a lot of small local places with fun things for sale. And maybe I shouldn't be smug, seeing as how it's only 9 days into the new year.

I really want to tell you all about my chicken moat, but I think I need pictures to fully explain it. So I will leave you with the tantalizing promise of chicken moat-age next time around.

Greetings from Seattle, where we are sitting inside drinking coffee, listening to Christmas music, and watching the snow fall. And fall. And fall. We hope that this letter finds you well and warm and enjoying the first days of a happy New Year.

Dylan just turned four in September. He has been having a great time at preschool, and has made a lot of new friends. He loves building things with Legos these days, and is starting to learn his letters. He's also a big fan of nature specials and pretends to be a wide variety of animals. Dylan also loves dancing to Def Leppard and can climb all the trees in our yard. Although he often finds mischief to get into (a recent "spearament" involved dumping an entire bottle of expensive liquid exfoliant down the sink), he helps with the chickens, picks up toys, and entertains his brother with his antics. He just started indoor soccer lessons and will hopefully enjoy that.Conrad just turned one and is a sunny little imp. Although I was certain that his eyes would go brown like Dylan's, they have stayed blue instead. We've decided he's a throwback to the Norwegian relatives on his Grandma Susan's side of the family tree. Although he doesn't walk or talk yet, Conrad loves to play peek-a-boo, applaud wildly, point at items of interest and wave hello. He also loves to dance and can tear it up on the kazzoo. He also thinks that everything Dylan does is fabulous, and is happy to play with him. He particularly excels at pretending to be any quadripedal mammal of Dylan's choosing. He started at the same daycare Dylan attends in July, and adjusted easily.
Jonny has fulfilled his personal dream of owning a hybrid car, thanks to a well-timed home refinance. Rest assured that he still has his VW bus, butthe beetle has moved on to a new owner who will hopefully appreciate its many quirks. His Presidential Porter (brewed President's Day weekend, with a recipe he developed from the favorite beers of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin) won a blue ribbon at the Novembeerfest competition. Because free days are becoming more and more scarce he has gone from brewing 10 gallon to 20 gallon batches! Jonny is still enjoying his job at Bio-Rad, where he's currently working on new methods of MMRV (measles/mumps/rubella/varicella) detection.
He is excited to be getting more projects in the lab with less time spent behind the computer.

I'm in the middle of my tenth year as Museum Director of the Issaquah History Museums. The organization's big achievement this year was the culmination of an oral history project that recorded the stories and memories of 25 long-time residents. At home, my biggest project has been... chickens. Daisy, Tallulah, LuAnn and PingPong have come to reside at the Maniez-Miner home and provide a steady stream of fresh eggs. When I'm not tending my livestock, I'm still dabbling at sewing and doing genealogy. This year I started tracking down Jonny's Sicilian ancestors.

The election was a topic of much discussion at our house, with Dylan asking a lot of questions about "Rocko Bama" and actually watching the debates with us. We were all very happy about the election outcome, and looking forward to our country's future under Obama's leadership.

We hope that the new year finds you happy, healthy, and with many things to look foward to.

Warm wishes,

Morning Ritual

Feministing on Sarah Palin:

As Vanessa blogged last month, Bill Kristol was claiming McCain would pick Palin -- and that would prove that Republicans are "much more open to strong women." Frankly, that's bullshit. Republicans are more open to a certain type of woman -- one who is strongly against things like equal pay, universal health care, and reproductive freedom. In other words, the party is pro-woman-candidates, as long as they enact anti-woman policies.

Documentary Footage

Glossary

(Dedicated to Kathy)

woolies: wool diaper covers, prized for their natural ability to breathe while also containing the moisture created by a baby bottom. Does not need to be washed after each use. Commonly typo-ed as "wookie" which is very amusing. "I'm lanolizing my wookie!"

lanolize: to apply lanolin to a wool cover, either for the first time, or after a long period of use, or (in this case) after accidentally running the cover through the wash on hot. Oops.

mei tai: pronounced "matey", a mei tai is a baby carrying device that can be wrapped around the body in a variety of ways. It is not recommended to drink more than 3 mai tais when you have your baby in a mei tai.

A Day in the Life

To Do Monday & Tuesday:

• vacuum all the floor debris that Conrad will otherwise put in his mouth -- DONE
  
• finish cleaning the consignment store rug for Dylan's room -- DONE
  
• pick basil -- DONE
  
• lanolize the woolies -- DONE
  
• hem pants -- DONE
  
• process plums -- DONE (plum crisp, yum!)
  
• wash and prep fruit -- DONE
  
• deliver chicken feed to neighbor
• dinner - something involving tofu and basil -- DONE (although I forgot the basil)
  
• make little origami decorations for the Butterfly Room at daycare
• take Conrad to the pede for well-baby visit -- DONE
  
• empty dishwasher -- DONE (thanks Mom)
  
• make Jan's birthday present -- DONE
  

To Do At Some Undetermined Point in Time:

To list on Diaper Swappers: bjorn, white dipes, Moby?
To list on Craigslist: baby bucket?
To sew: mei tai, baby shoe craft, take in blouses, A-line skirt

So I'm diddling around on Facebook (AGAIN. STILL.) and notice that there are some museum groups I could join. One of them is called Emerging Museum Professionals and I thought I'd check it out. "Have you been in the museum profession less than ten years?" Um, barely.

I am too old to emerge. Or maybe my emergence has passed. I missed my chance to become an Emerging Professional! I already emerged and I didn't even notice it?!? Is that fair?

* * * * * * * * * * *

Conrad officially started crawling today. There was something on the floor he wanted, and everything clicked, and off he went. I thought he might have a hard time recreating the feat (when he learned to roll over, he did it a couple times on evening and then not again for about a month) but he definitely has it down.

He's half-learned how to clap, and waving hi and bye. He's also doing a lot of babbling. Da da da da da and deg deg deg deg. I remember the deg-deg phase from Dylan. It's so funny how universal that stuff is.

* * * * * * * * * * *
Scene: the dinner table

quiet chewing
Dylan: I want to get....a tattoo.
Erica & Jonny: Oh, really?
Erica: What kind of tattoo do you want to get?
Dylan: a big dragonfly.
Jonny: Oh? I know someone who has a dragonfly tattoo.
Erica: Why do you want a dragonfly tattoo?
Dylan: Because I like them and they're hard to catch.
Erica: How about getting a heart? A heart that says "I Love Mom?"
Dylan: No, I don't want that kind of tattoo.
Jonny: Where do you want the tattoo to be?
Dylan: Right here on my arm [points to inner forearm].
Erica: Maybe Conrad will get a Mom tattoo.
Conrad: Deg da deg deg deg

By Popular Demand

More Conrad pictures: