A few things

Way too many orders of business for one blog post. But what the heck, here we go. Feel free to bail out at any time.

1. Scavenger Hunt at Ashley's
I've *ahem* lost the battery charger for my big camera. Tragic (or fortuitous?), I still have my old camera. And after falling off a 100 year old chair, which earned me a 5 inch long dandy of a bruise on my thigh, and tossing that XTi across the room where it left a quarter inch deep gash in the table... it seems to be working better than ever. Lucky, lucky me.

Stacked up:
(this was taken with my full frame)


Winter Wonderland:
Look! We got some snow! What a bizarre winter.


Sweet:
I think Arnold has a girlfriend.


Hole:
Hey Bean, were you trying to get that cupcake into the big hole on your face? You missed.


Frozen:
I mean, not really.... frozen. That hen could be in my freezer, you know. Not that I would do that, or anything.




2. Clickin' Moms

Friends, that button on the side of my blog, the one that looks something like this...


That's an affiliate link. If you decide to become a member, and if I have been the one to introduce you to Clickin' Moms, please... please. For the love of all things photography.... click through my button when you join so I can receive credit for referring you.

If you have questions about the forum, email me. oldnicholsfarm(at)yahoo(dot)com

I'll convince you that your photography will become fabulous overnight, and you won't have to put any work into it whatsoever (at all). Ha. Hahaha! But really, it is an amazing resource.



And, yes, they have a week-long trial membership for only $10.


3. Flickr

I thought it was obvious by now, but apparently not.

I. am. on. flickr. Add me as a contact, friend, whatever. Really, it's okay.

When left-clicking is enabled for a photo on my blog, it'll take you straight to flickr to see activity/comments on that image over there. If you care about such things.


4. Project 52

There is a tab (button thing, click!) under my blog header that says Project 52. This is my little year-long photography project for 2012. Just something to keep pushing me. I'll update that page with a new photo weekly - probably Saturdays since I am a master procrastinator.


5. Carsen's Courage

I love this beautiful lady. I love her sweet family. I love her adorable kid. Her selfless determination to give him the very best of every opportunity is inspiring to say the least. Life isn't easy for Carsen, but what he has overcome already... brings me to tears.



I'm not only lucky enough to know them in real life, but to be related.

Kelly is hosting a Thirty-One bag giveaway - a great excuse to check out her blog.

If nothing else, read this post: Carsen's Courage.
(if you click, read the entire page, and have a box of tissues handy)

Friday in random

Beans in the crockpot.

Not The Bean. That would just be wrong.


{not winter - July}

Banana muffins in the oven. I set the temperature to 350 degrees and it bounces to 450 and then 225. It's a wonder I manage to successfully cook anything in there. I've generally stopped complaining about it because shopping for a new one will be painful.

Cats in a pile. This is what they do when it feels like winter. Just outside the barn, in the sun, out of the wind. I'll never get a good picture of it, because they scatter when they hear the door. When the cat-heater is involved, it's similar to this:


{imagine a couple more felines and you've got it}

Winter in North Dakota?

We've had days here and there that felt like winter, and most of one week with a couple inches of snow on the ground that looked like winter. Really, it's been a gorgeous November, December, and first part of January too. We've gone below zero (F) maybe twice. I finally gave up on my last mini-greenhousesometime in early December. Parsley, if you must know.

Overdressed in January:



Now that it finally feels to me that our unseasonably warm days might be over, and winter has possibly tried to settled in... this is still not bad for mid-January here. Not bad at all.



Selfish me wants to say, "We totally deserve this after the last three winters (and Spring flooding) we barely survived dealt with." But it's far from over yet. Or maybe the last few years have been so harsh that I've completely forgotten what winter can be like.

Internet in warp speed!

Last night we actually measured what we're getting with our Wildblue Satellite Internet. Yeah, that's right. I'm finally gonna come right out and say it. They're way over-subscribed and their service stinks. We should be getting 0.512 Mbps downloading and 0.128 Mbsp uploading. That's what we're paying for.

Guess what we actually have?

It doesn't matter if you don't even know what then numbers mean. It's still impressive. We measured at 0.17 Mbps downloading and 0.05 Mbps uploading. That's what we have.

But Monday! Oh, sweet Monday when our fiber optic is hooked up and we're set free from this pain... 20 Mbps glory that I can't even imagine!

Liar in confession...

Forgive me. I lied, and I'm pretty sure I knew it. This image is really my favorite of my best from last year.

January 10 on 10

8:21am
"Ummm... excuse me. Did you eat my mouse?"


9:22am
The breakfast of champion chicken wrestlers. There were no un-funky-looking leftovers in the fridge, so I had to improvise. And yes, she steals my food every darn time.


10:54am


11:46am
Multi-tasking. Obviously.


12:58pm
Not sleeping, just snuggly.


2:53pm


3:50pm
January 10th in North Dakota. It could be -30F.


5:34pm


6:54pm
Spelling. Getting back into the swing of things after Christmas break is tough.


8:59pm
Only two? Those nutty birds of mine have a secret stash somewhere, I just know it.

Then I dropped one in the sink and smashed it, which is better than in my pocket, at least.

Room in the Barn

The kids were in bed. I bet it was forty minutes we'd spent, standing there in the kitchen reading bits and pieces of what we'd scrounged up on the internet. He, surprisingly, seemed almost receptive to the idea. I was giddy.


I headed across the room to look for a snack but stopped right in the middle of the floor, and started jumping up and down like a two-year-old.

"I want an emu!"

He raised his eyebrows.

I couldn't stop.

"I want an elephant!"

Completely ridiculous ideas make not quite as ridiculous ones look even better.


"We will never have an elephant", he said. Matter of fact. (see, the emu has a chance)

But that seemed beyond ridiculous to me.

"What if we live in India someday? Then we might have an elephant."


"We will never have an elephant", he repeated.

"But think how the kids will laugh watching it splash around in the pool!"

He gave me that look, "What am I gonna do... drive it to work?"

Best 11 of 2011

Choosing your own best pictures of an entire year is difficult, but it's a good exercise. Being pushed to select my ONE favorite out of those? Cruel and unusual punishment. It involved snipping little bits of paper and taping them over thumbnails of the images on my computer screen. Once I had it down to three it became an impossible task.

11. "Circle of Life"

I might have maybe promised one of my readers I wouldn't post any more pictures of dead animals, but this one wasn't dead. Yet. And this is art. Or so I've been told.

10. "Taking it All In"

I Heart Faces "Beautiful Eyes" 8th place

9. "The Decisive Moment"


8. "Back to School"


7. "Into the Light"

featured on Mortal Muses - Life in B&W

6. "My Little Melons"

earned a link on Shutter Sisters for being silly (self portrait)

5. "Tiny Joy"

featured on Clickin' Moms blog

4. "Time Never Rewinds"

If I were ranking these by raw emotion alone, this of my boys would be my favorite by a mile.

3. "Hold Me"

"I Heart Faces" winner. The judge: my most favorite photographer. *I must be dreaming*

2. "Past Bedtime"


1. "Fairytale Afternoon"


Thanks for looking!

Last year: Favorite 10 of 2010.

linking up with "You Capture"



Edited to say: Confession time. I lied. This one is really my favorite.

"Gift" is an understatement

He's an enthusiastic plumber. He's the road superintendent of miniature towns built around our yard. He can tell stories filled with such creative use of words that your brain is left spinning.

A package arrived here Monday, with his name on it.



We only told him was that it was something very special, and that he had been specifically chosen to receive it. I knew what it was, but thought I must be dreaming. And when he saw the picture on the front of the box...

His look of confusion and disbelief matched my own.





But there it was. And it is real. Somehow of all the deserving children who were nominated to receive this, Autism Care Team chose him (and four others).

We are blessed.



I can't even begin to imagine how this is going to change his life. It's a motivator, a reward. It will calm when anxiety is too much. It will be a positive distraction when all else fails. And more.

Already it's been so interesting to watch how he reacts to this device.



I should really have something clever and interesting to say about all this, but I'm still just in awe. I mean, why him? Why us? And knowing the background of why this charity was formed, I'm so stunned that this flood of encouragement and support has rolled all the way down to us.

Our struggle doesn't feel as lonely.

Amazing Arnold

This is Arnold. He wants to join the circus and be a famous flying trapeze artist.



Does he seem a bit intimidating?

Sort of powerful?

Maybe like he thinks he's the man?

Don't be afraid. He's really just a harmless tiny little squirt.



Look! Clown feet!

He's ready for the circus!

One yellow claw on each foot!

An extra toe in the back instead of a sharp spur!

(The ladies will thank him later.)



I don't remember why Arnold was in the house that day. I'm sure it couldn't have been purely for entertainment purposes. Ahem. I mean, that never happens around here.

He came from an itty bitty egg. Remember these eggs that I asked permission to take only after I stole them?

I'm so classy.



All we managed to hatch out of those were four of the smallest small eggs. Two are (very) little red hens, one is a beautiful soft white hilarious Silkie hen, and one... well, one is Arnold.

The Silkie has blue earlobes. I loooooove her, but I can't tell you about her until she has a name. And don't beg. The stress of having to come up with a great name for sweet little thing that looks like she stuck her toe in a light socket... well, let's just say I have enough to deal with right now.

Arnold is a little bitty rooster. He can crow, and it's good for your health to hear Arnold crow. He's a little squeaky toy rooster. Imagine picking him up and squeezing him a few times. Yep. There you go.

When our big Red rooster crows, it echos off all the buildings and a quarter mile down the road.

Arnold's song may be a bit lacking, but besides being such a handsome guy, the bird does have another talent.

Are you ready?



People, if only I could post video.

Alas, my satellite internet majorly stinks.

Once upon a time Several weeks ago (yes, I've been holding out on you) I walked into the barn to put my birdies to bed for the night... although it seems to be entirely unnecessary because we have a gigantic Chesapeake Bay Retriever who has taken it upon herself to keep these chickens safe at any cost, and ride the school bus occasionally...

I opened the coop door and was surprised (to say the least) to find a chicken standing on top of the door. You know who it was. On top of the door. Not the door frame. Does this make sense? No. Not at all. They just, those birds can't... well, they just can't be there.

He looked at me like I'd really bothered him.

They can't be there.

It defied the Laws of Physics.

Not much truly surprises me around here. After all, this is a funny farm. But the Laws of Physics? They must not be defied. So I grabbed the video camera the next evening.

This time I looked before I opened the door. And see? He's levitating.



Notice the girl peeking at me from the roost. Obviously, something is up.

When I opened the door, it bumped the cord, which is normally up near the ceiling where electrical cords should be. The cord slid along the top of the door, and because I did it verrrrrrry slowly... Arnold didn't have to suddenly and silently jump from his electrical wire roost to the top of the door, which is what had me so confused then night before.

Because there is no way on earth a chicken (even a tiny one) could fly up and land on a cord that was (past tense) only inches from the ceiling, without pulling it out of the wall or causing all sorts of destruction. No way. Trust me.



And if he could do it, how could he ever find such a slippery swinging unstable sort of roost comfortable?





It's a good thing I took video too, because even though I can't share it with you, it turned out to be valuable because my husband would never have believed me otherwise. My only mistake was not continuing to shoot video as I attempted to close the coop door with Arnold still on the wire.

He ended up on top of the ladies on the roost. Briefly.