Seagulls and Jellies

Yippee!! Shop updates finally! I have been working my fingers raw making products to put in the shops and finally have enough to post some new items on Etsy. And I'm most excited about this seagull mobile and also the jellyfish mobiles which have REAL JELLYFISH ACTION!! You can see them both in action here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkk5G6iBbok and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJOyuE5TlhY They are some of my very first YouTube videos. I think this means I'm officially in the 21st century.

I love making mobiles. There's something very satisfying about the engineering aspect of it as well as the motion. They are all very soothing. The seagulls look for all the world like they are flying because I strung them with black thread which disappears into the background. I almost hate to sell them but I keep telling myself I can make another one. I also have a larger seagull in the works. The kids are I picked up a supply of driftwood on a dash down to Gloucester and Rockport, MA during April vacation this year. That was a fun, but icy, trip.

Now I'm back to knitting more jellyfish. They are a lot of fun to make. I'm really appreciating my stash at this point. It's nice to be able to pull out exactly what you want. Next up is, fingers crossed, pix of my embellished woven chenille scarves. As soon as the turquoise ones are off the loom I hope to put up some pix. My trusty camera gasped and died so it's charging at the moment. And right when I was in full posting mode too. Bummer. Was just about to list some vintage paper ephemera. Ten lots of letters, some of them a total scream, keep watching the shop if you're interested.

All Done!

Half N Half

Teasel Before

A Rabbit of a Different Color

Because Blogger is very unhelpful picture-wise I'm going to do this post as a series of pictures (posts) with titles, but the basic premise is that little Teasel got plucked today and I took pictures before, during, and after. I got him in natural lighting so you can see his true color. He was extremely good especially considering he's only 3 months old. I normally wouldn't expect to see a baby coat ready to come off that fast, but as you can see he had a completely intact coat coming in underneath and actually it's already quite long. Since this was a bit of a documentary for the sake of record-keeping you may be interested to know that one baby coat weighs about 1.5 ounces. You may also be interested to know that we listened to one CD from The Fellowship of the Rings while we plucked. Teasel was particularly interested in the bits about hobbits. And it kept us mostly occupied for the duration.

Escape by Albatross

Don't let those innocent faces fool you...these are two have a sense of humor and a blatant disregard for authority. Every night, after much coaxing and cajoling, Cyrus and Petunia are placed in a big plastic tote and brought inside to spend the night in the kitchen. Next to the three chicks who, aside from being bossy are pretty low-key compared to geese.

Last night the geese thought it would be great fun to pull the towel off the chicks' tote so they could fly out. They were happily fluttering around the kitchen while the guilty geese looked on as if they'd had nothing to do with the jailbreak. And did they help with clean-up? No. They did not. That's geese for you.

Introducing Teasel

So I know everyone has been waiting with bated breath in excruciating agony of suspense over the empty cage in the stacks downstairs ever since Fergal moved back upstairs. It seemed so sad. So lonely. So EMPTY. Well, I have been thinking about it too. I really wanted a chocolate and thought I'd located one but alas, the color changed as the baby grew and in the end it wasn't chocolate. So I reluctantly passed on her. Then this little guy became available from Apple View Angoras. He's actually St. John and Posey's nephew (they are half siblings.) The color isn't as striking in this photo because I took it indoors, but he's got the coolest color. He's a blue pearl so he's blue underneath and on his face and ears, but his coat is whitish with blue tips. Very pretty. Can't wait to spin his wool and see what it looks like. The nice thing is that his wool will blend well with the rabbits I already have. Chocolate not so much. One of my babies who left was renamed by its new owner "Teasel" and when I heard the name I liked it so much I decided to name a bunny that at some point so this new little guy is Teasel.

Cyrus and Petunia

The Goosesitter

It's amazing how fast Cyrus and Petunia are growing. They are a hoot. They don't follow us around so much any more unless they're interested in where we're going. They spend most of their time eating and pooping and taking baths. That is, Cy takes baths; Petunia watches. She's still not real sure about all that water stuff. It's wild when they decide to take off after you because suddenly you'll hear a lot of slapping. When they run they wave their wings around wildly and their feet make slapping sounds. They would have trouble sneaking up on anything.

Max isn't sure what to make of them. When they do get in the water and start splashing around he gets too excited and I'm afraid he might eat one by accident so we put him in the house. But when they are quite, like in the picture, he'll stand guard over them.

The chickens are learning to give them a wide berth. Yesterday one arrogant chicken got too close and a gosling (can't remember which one) grabbed her by her tail feathers. The poor startled chicken started flapping and for one comical moment she was suspended midair but couldn't make any headway because she had a gosling hanging off her butt.

Even if geese turn out to be a huge mistake we're having a lot of fun with them!

Mourning Doves

According to the Internet (the source of all information in the universe) that's Dad on the nest and Mom on the pole. She was coming in to relieve him of duty when I surprised them by returning to the barn because I ran out of hay to put in the nest boxes for the geese and chicks. I was beginning to suspect that the brown lump next to Mom was more than just part of the nest when it moved from one side of the nest to the other. Last night it was on the left. Today, the right. It's difficult to see because it's dark in the barn. I tried binoculars but I'll have to find another pair. They were too close to see them well enough.