Mermaids are Magical

We had a tragedy on the farm on Monday. Monday is one of our Home Days and the girls were happily playing some imaginary game in the playroom, I was cleaning the house, the cats were sleeping and the chickens were roaming in the shady spots in the backyard. Francesca opened the door to go outside and ran back in, slamming the door and screaming, "The neighbor's chickens are in our backyard!!!" I ran outside to find feathers everywhere, Tornado, our rooster laying on his side, half dead with two dogs chewing on him. To my right was a dead black star chicken by the fence and another chicken seemingly dead by the garage. I was instantly sent into freak-out mode. I threw the dogs out the gate and ran around the yard to find the other chickens. Tornado jumped up, suddenly okay, but the black star was definitely dead. Sunburst was okay, but clearly seriously traumatized and Sippy Sippy Sophia was hidden on the other side of the house, frozen in fear in a corner. After herding them into the coop, the remaining three chickens went into the coop, not to come out much again. I took them to the vet and they were lucky. No major internal injuries, mostly just surface wounds, but they are totally traumatized. They are so skittish that we can barely come near them and they stay in the coop most of the time now. I'm hoping that after some rest, pain killers, antibiotics and more rest, they will eventually be okay.

Francesca and Cecilia took it better than I did, by far. They were scared while I was in freak out mode (running around the yard saying, "F*CK! SH*T! SH*T! and not knowing what to do,) but after I got a grip, they were calm and cool as cucumbers. Sometimes they forget that Sophia died and say, "Why are there only three chickens?" and sometimes when they're playing pretend, they say, "My neighbors dog killed my chicken," but other than that, they faired pretty well. I'm just glad they didn't kill all of them, or break wings or legs. Argh.

On a related topic, we had a play date the next day and the four boys were playing, "Pirates killing the bad pirates." We don't play kill games. Killing isn't nice, and is especially not nice in light of recent events, having seen our pet chicken killed for sport, in our own backyard. Our play reflects our reality, and in our reality, killing isn't nice. Eventually, the "game" made Francesca cry because she kept sweetly trying to redirect the game into something nicer, something she wanted to play, to no avail. And she was persistent, suggesting fishing games instead of swords, or Sparkly Mermaids Under the Sea which led to the pirates killing the mermaid and Francesca crying. Since I was the only mother without a son, the gist of the rhetoric was pretty much boys will be boys, and this is endlessly infuriating to me.

Because a boy child is a boy, it is necessary to foster bloodlust in them? Violence is part of mankind's history, yes, but its our job NOT to perpetuate it, unless we want our children growing up and joining the Army or something so they can kill for real! I don't know what my next baby will be, but wether its a boy or a girl, they will know the spirit of non-violence and feel the same sensitivity for killing that my girl children do. Not watching movies is probably THE reason that the girls ONLY play games about their experiences or their imagined experiences. Their experiences aren't Hollywood movies or hunting or killing 'bad guys,' because in their world, there are no bad guys and killing sucks. It sucked when our chicken was killed in our backyard, and it sucked when the mermaid was killed at the park. "You don't kill mermaids. Mermaids are magical! I know they are!"

Missing Camera

I was going to post some pictures like everyone else's blogs, but I can't find my camera. I don't know what's wrong with me and electronics, but I'm always losing or breaking my cellphone and can't find my camera or the battery is dead of I can't find the charger. My mom bought me a new camera for Mother's Day and I haven't been able to find the charger since the first day I charged it, so I can't use it and then I can't find my old camera . . . what a dork.

We went to see the Harry Potter movie last night and OMG! Two tickets to the show were $19.50! Holy smokes! The last movie we saw at the theatre was the last Harry Potter movie, so I guess we don't get out much. I've turned into some sort of Amish/Palisade woman - I never leave my farm/Palisade so when I get out in society, I'm shocked and horrified. There were people at the movie last night with 3 year olds . . . argh! This was a 153 minute movie that began at 7 and ended at 9:45. My children have NEVER sit still for that long in their lives, unless they were strapped into a car seat or sleeping. And the kids in the theatre were pretty quiet, too. Not that I was impressed, I was definitely on the shocked and horrified side.

Two weeks ago, we went into town with mom so that I could go to my midwife appointment and mom wanted to go by Sam's club. The girls were in awe. As soon as we walked in there are these huge big screen TV's and as we walk by, Francesca is like, "MOM! I'm watching TV! My brain is melting!" haha - Meanwhile, I'm thinking . . . who buys all this stuff? We are so blissfully sheltered here in Palisade.

We went to the farmer's market yesterday and bought a beautiful lavender bouquet from Paola. She is so impressive and she always looks so elegant. Anyway, the Farmer's Market is so neat. Its only one block and its all produce and locally made schwag like wooden bowls and stuff. We can get pretty much get everything we need right here now - hence, no need to leave my compound. Pictures tomorrow - I swear!

The girls spent the night up at Granny's last night for the first time. Francesca has done it before, but this was Cecilia's first time and the first time they both did at once. Mom said that as they were going to bed, they started talking about the Sandman and then Francesca started squirming around (which she does to keep herself awake) and then she says, "The Sandman is making me all itchy!" and Granny says, "That's because you're squirming all around, you have to be still and relax." So she did and fell right asleep.

Playing Catch-up and Just Playing

Omigosh! I can't believe how long its been since I've blogged. How embarrassing! Its just been a fun and busy summer. I'm about 6 months pregnant and that shouldn't be too much of a shocker to anyone that reads this. I've been breezing through pregnancy #3 just like the others and am looking forward to our third peaceful, joyous home birth. We're taking hypnobirthing classes with Maran Perry and she is totally fabulous and the class is great. We took it before when I was pregnant with Francesca, but its good to have a refresher. We can't seem to think of any good boy names, so maybe we're destined for a trifecta of girls, which we wouldn't mind one bit. A boy would be fine because he would have such sweet sisters, he would turn out peachy, too.

Speaking of peaches, the peaches are already ripe and we've been enjoying them daily. Well - Francesca and I enjoyed them today, but Cecilia has some sort of gastrointestinal illness that manifests itself as explosive, frequent diarrhea. Its very tempting for me to go into the details right here, because I have honestly not seen anything quite like it, but I'll try and spare you the gore. Luckily, she stayed hydrated and hasn't had a spell since 5pm, so I think she's on the upswing. She's so good natured that even frequent, watery, mysteriously greeny-black-yellow, stinky, squirty poo doesn't ruin her good mood. She just goes about her day singing and whooping it up with her sister. This is the greatest age (I know all ages will be) but right now, they just play and play and play all day long. Pretending to be one thing or another or another. Yesterday Francesca said, "Cecilia! Let's play Petco!" And Cecilia doesn't miss a beat and says, "Okay, I'm Cynthia, the Veterinarian. Is your kitty sick?" Its so awesome.

And its been so hot outside that when we're not at Island Acres, The Palisade Pool (which rocks this year, minus the rude, lazy, chain-smokin' lifeguards) or Granny's house, we're inside playing in the coolness.

So - our chickens are getting big and Jackie's are already laying eggs. Our rooster (Tornado) hasn't crowed or anything yet, but I've been noticing him making some different sounds. Just testing his vocal cords, I guess. Mom is going to take him when he crows and probably the rest of the flock. They bought a shed to convert into a chicken coop so as soon as our Tornado crows, he's moving to EOM.

I don't have a car anymore because Andrew blew up his Grand Marquis, so that has been interesting. I find myself holing up here in Palisade more and more. The girls and I rock the bike trailer and once a week or once every other week, Andrew rides his bike to work so I can have the car. At first we were freaking out, but now that I'm used to having no car, I don't miss it a bit. We'll buy a little beater that gets good gas mileage as soon as we get our Tax Return, but who knows when that will be. (Yes, I filed my taxes late.) We walk to the post office and Bakery. Ride bikes to FFT for grocery odds and ends and coax our friends into hanging out at Granny's house so that we don't ever have to leave the Palisade Area. Perfect!

I can't really think of any other news. I'm going to try and blog more regularly. Jackie is inspiring me (at miminkogj.blogspot.com) And damn if she's not a crafty one, too. Watch out Amy Blake! Jackie's on the scene and she does ALL the work around the house! (Love the post about Hudson saying something like that - haha!)