Saturday, May 30, 2009

Thanks Mom!

Mom left for the weekend for a ladies retreat, and I have realized several truths.

Without Mom:

1. We would die of...
    
 a. Starvation (We went to see UP on Friday, everybody ate like a piece of sourdough bread and then we left to go to the movie at 7:15. Elise didn't finish her bread and halfway through the movie complained that her "tummy hurt". Dad bought her popcorn but she didn't feel better until we got home and she ate a whole banana, even the little bit at the end you aren't supposed to.)
    
 b. High Cholesterol/Food Posioning (I'm extremely surprised we didn't go out to eat at all this weekend. We had these awful frozen chicken nugget things that tasted like cardboard but less flavorful. In all fairness to dad, mom bought them for us to eat while she was away. Then again, I don't think dad cooked any..... wait, he cooked hotdogs on the grill.)

2. There would be no guarantee that dishes were clean/ There would be no clean dishes. (No one washed the big dishes in the sink at all this week, in fact, mom is washing them right now as I type. Mom had run the dishwasher before she left, but we kids had taken out dishes for breakfast and stuff. Dad, seeing the empty spaces, assumed the dishes were dirty and put dirty dishes in, and everybody else saw the dirty dishes he had put in and did likewise. I just hope those spoons I took out were clean.)

3. There would be no clean clothes. (It didn't get bad, but nobody did laundry at all while mom was gone. I saw my brother, fresh out of the shower with nothing on but a towel around his waist heading down into the living room where he probably was hoping there would be clean undies or something.)

4. Um, the house would be chaos. (The counter was witness to this.... even before I made cookies for church. In all fairness (to me), I left it cleaner than when I found it. Really, I did.)

And I can't think of any other overexaggerations of anything that went slightly wrong. But honestly, our house would be a pit without Mom. Thanks Mom! Happy (Belated) Mothers Day (And yes, I did do something for mothers day!!!). And thanks Dad, you really weren't that bad.... especially since we got to go to the movies. 
     

Nicknames

For my mother's sanity (never know who's looking at a blog) (but mostly my own amusement) I've decided to give nicknames to various siblings. For further reference:

Wilt, 14yrs: My younger, taller, brother. For anybody who's watched the kids tv show, "Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends", my brother is just like Wilt. He's extremely tall, quiet, too nice and says "sorry" way to much.

Bloo, 12yrs: Yes, my younger, shorter brother is also very similar to a Foster's character. For instance, he wanted his nickname to be, "Dashingly Handsome". I can't say much more about him lest risk coming under my parent's wrath and losing computer time. 

Monster, 6yrs: Seriously, this sweet little girl has the face of a cherub. I just call her monster because... well, just because. 

I'm thinking of calling him "Humperdink"


Ain't he cute? I found him in the chicken feed... probably like seventh heaven for him until my brother and I started terrorizing him and "Wilt" scooped him out. 


Aw or Ew?


My little sister (6yrs) wrote this to our grandparents, I don't know why she felt like she had to inform them that her tooth fell out. (Why do grandparents have to have such long names? It's hard for little kids to write out "grandmommy and grandaddy")


Friday, May 29, 2009

Wildlife

These are pictures of the Wildlife that's been lurking around, and no, we don't live out in the wilderness anywhere, we actually live in a pretty urban area. 



The photo above is an attempted picture of a fox, here it is zoomed in and "enhanced":




The coyote took several wild goslings, thankfully it didn't get any chickens. 


Through the binoculars.


The stupid "blue" chicken. Good thing the coyote already had gotten 8 Canadian goslings




Ducklings!













Here are my ducklings, they are Blue (grey) and Black Indian Runners. So called "Bowling Pin Ducks" by my dad, because of their peculiar way of standing straight up when adults. (They're already sorta tipped upwards.)

Why my ducklings look like drowned rats

(I wrote on spacebook that my ducklings looked like drowned rats after swimming, and then dared someone to " ask me why they looked like drowned rats since as you and I both know, ducks swim all the time without looking remotely like drowned rats." Someone fell for it and since I don't want to write it all up again for my blog here it is.)


Buhahahah! You fell for it! Now I will go on a long and quite possibly boring dissertation on one of my favorite subjects, ducks!

Yes, well, actually, they looked like drowned rats because they don't have developed oil glands yet. On the base of an adult duck's tail there is a small gland that releases oil. In most birds this it to make sure their
... Read more feathers stay flexible (it helps the barbules that hook the pieces of feather together to slide back and forth) , but on ducks (and other water birds) it also keeps them waterproof. In the wild, a duckling's lack of oil glands is not a big issue because the mother's oil gets on her babies. But my ducklings don't have a mother, so they are not yet waterproof. (Well, I suppose I'd be considered their "mother" but since I definitely DON'T have oil glands, in this case I don't count.)

Interesting, eh?

All those lovely words and phrases from our friend the chicken

I have several chickens and these are all the interesting phrases that have originated with chickens.

I have these in alphabetical order... and I don't know why I'm telling you that.

Broody (or brooding) : A hen becomes broody when she decides it's time to hatch her eggs. She sits on her eggs to warm and incubate them. While she is brooding, she is generally irritable and cranky, will growl and puff-up.

Chicken (as in "you're so chicken") : Chickens aren't known for their brains or bravery.

Cock(like to "cock" one's head) : Roosters (called "cocks") frequently cock their heads to size up you (or anyone/anything that takes their fancy).

Cock-eyed: See above, cocks tilt their heads and roll their eyes up to see if they can take you on.

Cock : I'm pretty sure this came from the root word "cock", because if anybody's cocky it's my roosters.

Coming Home to Roost: Chickens always roost in the same place, at night my chickens will always go into the coop to sleep (or a tree, if they're being naughty).

All cooped up: I'm not sure if this comes from "chicken coops" (that's the house a chicken lives in, and is sometimes crowded in), but it seems a bit of a coincidence otherwise.

Don't count your chickens before they're hatched : Sometimes not all the eggs will hatch, so if you count before they're hatched you'll get a wrong number. Pretty self-explanitory.

Don't put all your eggs in one basket: Also pretty self-explanitory.

Hackles (as in "to get one's hackles up") : The feathers around a chicken's neck is called it's "hackles", when a chicken is broody, feels threatened, is about to fight, etc., its hackles puff all up to make it appear larger (and quite possibly to just make it feel tougher). This is common to most animals, not just chickens.

Hen-pecked (A hen-pecked husband) : A group of hens will sometimes actually peck, pluck the feathers, and generally harass the rooster, thus he has been "hen-pecked". Not that the rooster is not guilty. Not by a long shot.

Pecking Order: The hierarchy of a flock of chickens. When chickens are still pretty young, or when new chickens are introduced, the chickens will fight to see who is over who. Interestingly enough, the head chicken has responsibities and privilages. He (or she if there is no rooster) has to fend of enemies/warn of attackers, and as a reward he gets first choice of food, etc.

Rule the Roost : Um, my mom suggested this one. Read above. The head of the "pecking order" is the ruler of the roost.

Spring Chicken: Spring chickens are young and tender... and tasty if you've got meat chickens.


And that's all I can think of for now.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Colorblind

Look what I just found out! You can change the colors of the words like this! Now I can make a horribly obnoxious website like a colorblind person (no offence, if you happen to be colorblind, it's only people who ACT colorblind, really) with absolutely no taste or color scheme. I can annoy everybody who visits! Headache centeral.... (ugh... feeling woozy... sarcasm... backfired... need... asprin... )

Why I've named my Blog "The Brillig Blog"

I'm a big fan of funny and nonsensical poetry... I really like to memorize stuff like that. One of the poems I like to frequently quote is "Jabberwocky", to my brother's dismay.

Jabberwocky, by Lewis Carroll (yup, that's the dude who wrote Alice in Wonderland.)

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

This is the Poem that Alice reads in the beginning of the book "Through the Looking Glass" (That's the sequel to Alice in Wonderland, for you illiterates).
Later on Alice speaks to Humpty-Dumpty (what WAS Lewis on?) and he explains what it means.

"'Brillig' means 4 o'clock in the afternoon- the the time when you start broiling things for dinner."

"Well, 'slithy' means 'lithe and slimy.' 'Lithe' is the same word as 'active'. You see it's like a potmanteau - there are two meanings packed up into one word."

"'Toves' are something like badgers - they're something like lizards - and they're something like corkscrews." "They must be very curious-looking creatures." "They are at that" said Humpty-Dumpty: "also they make their nests under sun-dials - also they live on cheese."

"To 'gyre' is to go round and round like a gyroscope."

"To 'gimble' is to make holes like a gimblet."

"'The wabe' is the grass-plot round a sun-dial."

"'mimsy' is 'flimsy and miserable'"

"A 'borogrove' is a thin shabby-looking bird with its feathers sticking out all around - something like a live mop."

"A 'Rath' is a
sort of green pig"

" 'Mome' I'm not sure about. I think it's short for 'from home' - meaning that they'd lost their way, you know"

"'Outgribing' is something between bellowing and whistling, with a kind of sneeze in the middle"


Of course, before Humpty explains all this he says:
"When I use a word,"Humpty-Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it too mean - no more nor less."

To be totally honest, I couldn't think of what to call me blog and I figured "Brillig" was as good as anything. ... then I looked up what "Brillig" meant.... but I stuck with it. So here's my "
4 o'clock in the afternoon" blog, which you can read "around the time when you start broiling things for dinner". Plus, "The Brillig Blog" sounds nice, you know, alliteration and all that. (Alliteration, for you word-wise folk, means a bunch of words with the same sounds/letters, for instance, "She sells sea-shells by the seashore" is an example of alliteration. It is also an example of a tounge-twister. If you want to know why it's a tounge twister, try saying it 10 times fast and you'll find out.)

My Very First Post (it's like a baby, ya know?)

Hello.... This is me. Not you. Preferably. I don't know how these "blog" thingys work. It seems like it's supposed to be some sort of public diary or journal (a public diary? Isn't that an oxymoron?). So this is my first post and all... Glad it's so memorial.