Freecycle Goodness

On a post offering craft supplies:

I would like to see these things go to someone who is going to
actually use them and not a hoarding craft junkie like me!

Cleansing feels great!  Thanks freecycle.

Pick up ASAP, before my old self resurfaces and I decide not to part
with it! Ha!

Welcome Zenphoto and Web 2.0

I’ve been spoiled. I like web-2.0. And Gallery 2 is great, but its more than I need and its slow. To edit the name for an image requires browsing to the image, choosing edit, typing the name, scrolling down-down-down and submitting the change. SLOW. So I decided to try Zenphoto.

WOW!

Other than being unable to upload (probably because the images are to large) its great. Simple. I can edit the image data while looking at it – no new pages. Its fast. And since I use subversion anyway, I just checked out the album folder, added images, type svn commit then svn up and the photos are there. No browser needed. (Yes, I had plugins to do that on Gallery2, but any time saved was lost after the 5 minute process to name the photo.)

So the gallery is located at rockcat.us/gallery. Enjoy.

Firetrucks, Face Paint and Helicopters

Cellular One (formally Chinook Wireless) had a fun / grand opening day today. They had the standard hotdogs, bounce house and face paint, but they also had the Evergreen Fire Dept. for the kids to see. Kevin wanted the food and I knew the boys would love the firetruck, so we stopped in.

We had  fun, even though they were out of food (we had to wait until more showed up – Kevin and Jonathan seem to like hotdogs). As a bonus there was a helicopter for the kids to sit in! It was a very small one, weighs 900 pounds alone, or 2,000 pounds fully loaded. Both boys visited it twice, they even got to sit in the cockpit. The boys (all three) got to sit in the firetruck, and I think they tryed all the seats.

David enjoyed the bounce pit, and even danced a little. Both Jonathan and David got to play limbo. Andrew had a spider painted on his face, then David got a dragon on his. Jonathan finally decided to try the face paint and requested a blue snake.

Free fun is good, and Kevin is sleeping like a log now (alas, the kids are still awake).

Rainbow Bridge

I was reading on the Backyard Chickens Forum and someone posted this poem (the poster had put down a dog earlier after it had a seizure). Its such a nice poem, made me think of Max meeting my Mom again (except she was waiting for him).

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.
When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.
They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together….

Author unknown…

Landscaping

If I had know it would look this good, I would have leveled the ground first! The nice thing is it was 100% free.

• The currant bushes Kevin got from work last year (from the trash).
• The 2×4s are pieced together and not in great shape – which is perfect for this.
• I cut up some black plastic bags and put them over the ground.
• The plastic was covered with wood chips left after the electric company cleared under the power lines.

Its just outside my garden fence, which should make mowing easier. The only thing I need to do is bury some perforated pipe for watering – I didn’t think about that! I just wanted to keep the grass down.

New Babies

I have been thinking about getting a few chickens for the last few years. Everyone tells me “you don’t want to get tied down”. I have 1 husband, 3 young children, 3 dogs, 2 cats – I think I’m already tied down. Besides, I like being home. I want to do some camping this summer, but that will just be overnight. I need garden fertilizer, I want to have good eggs again (we had chickens when I was a teen), and they can eat bugs.

So we have 6 chicks now.

I purchased these chicks from a local gentleman on Monday. The 2 reddish ones are supposed to be Americanuas – 5 weeks old. The other 6 are Dominiques – 4 and 5 week olds.

Jonathan likes them, especially the red ones. I just hope they are hens – I can’t keep a rooster here, to noisy.

I can order small numbers of chicks (pullets only) from Cenex, so I should be able to end up with 6 hens fairly easily. With 6 I should have plenty of eggs for us and the critters. If I end up ordering more I might get a few Rhode Island Reds.

I will be glad to kick these girls (thinking positive) out of the house though. They smell like birds!