"We just stole your cat..."

...our very nice new neighbors announced as they crossed the street to our yard.

We already knew. It had been kind of a joke earlier in the summer and had been growing more obvious as the weeks went on.

Snowball, (we would later discover was his third name) had moved away from his former family around the block to live at our house several years earlier. They got a baby and a dog and he was outta there! It was bound to happen again. You see, Snowball is a neighbor whore.

He's a wonderfully kind and genial black cat. Why Snowball? Because he has a distinctive white patch of fur on his right flank. He looks like he's been hit in the @$$ with a snowball. Not very creative, but somewhat ironic. He had been hanging around the neighbor's porch instead of ours. When called, he no longer comes over.
**sigh**

I will certainly miss him. Though he's not far, and we all joked that we can come visit him anytime, he's still gone. And he is one to remember.

Sayanara, Snowball! Miranda and Jeff, enjoy his company!

Sarah

Harvest is not without its hazards.

Some may be so unfortunate as to lose parts in heavy machinery. Some may lose their crops from Nature's wrath.

Then there are those like me.

I just seeded, sliced and froze a whole harvest of hot peppers...without gloves.
Ouch...

Sarah

Chickens, butter and beans...oh, my!

Tonight was a fun night in our urban farmer almanac.

On tap was:
* Butter making (Brian loves this task)
* Putting up green beans for winter (Sarah's, hands down)
* Chicken wing-clipping (takes both of us, this time as tipsy as we were...)

Reason behind the chicken wing clipping is, now that they are laying fairly reliably in the nest boxes, we can let them roam in the garden to eat bugs and seeds, poop, and generally enjoy chicken life.

All this after very long days of work for both of us and a light dinner of local homemade pasta with our own Alfredo sauce (made in Jan. 2010 and frozen--wanted to see how it thawed--great is the answer) with some caramelized shallots and a nice California Cabernet.

Now it's 10:19 in the pm...and I'm tired. Finishing the framing for the Eiteljorg Museum in the am.

Sarah

The Kid of off!

It was a whirlwind of a month. And now the Kid is on a plane from London to Beirut, where she will be attending grad school in Urban Planning and Policy.

There's no keeping up with her. You just gotta nab her when she flies by and hang on for a while!
I couldn't be more proud (proud-er?) of this woman!

Hopefully, I will be able to pass on some great stories as the time goes by. Certainly looking forward to our own visits to the "Paris of the Middle East"!

Sarah

EGGIES!!!!

I dashed home between farmers market shopping and work. While bringing in the produce, Brian said, "I heard a familiar sound out there"--gesturing his eyes toward the coop. Really??

I had to see. Changing into the $#!% shoes, I ran out to the coop, shoo-ing the girls out from under my feet. Threw open the egg door and didn't see anything! No eggs!

So I looked under the henhouse where they like to hang out. And there it was! One little eggie in the very back!! As Brian entered the coop he saw another one right under the hanging waterer!

TWO LITTLE EGGS!

We're in business now ;)

Sarah

busy--busy--busy

Mercifully busy! Completely booked in both the shop and framing appointments through the end of next week! Not a moment to spare!

I gotta get back to work...

Sarah

Opposums really like cat food

They argue and fight over the outdoor kitties' food each night that we forget to bring it in at sundown.

Then one night I chased off 2 raccoons. At some point that same night there was a break-in (or break-out) of the screen door--gaping open at the bottom. All the cats got out and we can only assume the raccoons had free-reign of the house too! Little Cat is still outside, having decided it's nicer there than indoors.

Nuke was out the front door in the morning having spent the night with the raccoons. And Charlie, the giant kitten, well he was gloating in the morning that he was the only one who disregarded the temptation to romp in the night. Until I petted him and found him covered in burrs. Ya, right, Charlie.

Sarah