A friday

It was a dark and stormy evening. The clouds were thick and dark. Rain pelted down so hard that most cars had pulled off the road to wait it out. Adeline, oblivious to the dangers, played with the cool special effects on my picture phone. This style she called the painting look. I don't know what its really called because unlike her I haven't explored all the features of my phone or anything else technological. Unbeknownst to us flash floods and baseball sized hail was pelting down a few miles from us, causing much damage.

Minutes before the hardcore rain hit it was a beautiful day at lake Roubaix. The ominous clouds built in the distance, surrounding us but leaving us a window of warm and sunshine. Even when the wind changed and brought cooler air, we persevered, determined to enjoy as much time as possible at the lake.

That morning Josh, Adeline, and myself enjoyed some good old fashioned fun at the Threshing Bee in Sturgis. Antique's galore with steam powered engines as the show case. Adeline had fun, Josh too, I was glad to be with my family but there's only so much of the bee I can take.

the babies

Here's the babies! The closest one is the runt who still has some pink left. It's markings are a lot like its mothers. The middle one tucking its head under the big ones chin, we think is a girl. And the big one is the brute. He is the first to do everything but he's still a mama's boy. Their eyes are still closed but they manage to crawl around the cage now. They get themselves in wierd places. We took her wheel out so they don't get stuck under it while Hammy tries to shed those extra pregnancy pounds. We're going to put her in her ball every night for a bit though- I think she likes the little break. Last night she groomed herself for what seemed like forever and would pick up the babies and kiind of toss them away from her whenever they got too close. A mom just needs some alone time once in awhile.

2007 Sturgis Rally

Adeline's second vest with all her rally pins-only 2004 is missing because she was in Indiana. She has a patch too from when she was growing in my uterus-but we'll wait til she gets a more permant sized vest to add that.

This is the only pic of the rally I took. It was my favorite bike I saw this year-vintage. The guy is even in full costume-although as far as I know that's the way he dresses year round.

Iwas going to take a pic of biker chicks, Adeline and Madi, but Adeline was in a mood and so we went home instead. (I got a pic of her at home in her gear though) In the car we talked her through to her happy place. We're really trying to instill in her that only she can determine if she is going to be happy-that sadness and disappointement and frustration does come but that she doesn't have to stay in that place-that she can find her way out of it by thinking of the things that do make her happy. And to pay attention to her body-if its hungry or tired or just needs a breather-than its okay to give it what it needs so that she can think and feel more clearly. She's getting better at taking responsibility and I'm getting better at not getting upset when she doesn't-Josh too.

Dead Meat

I've added meat back into the diet. It never actually went out, I just refused to buy it and prepare it at home. I'd occasionally eat dead meat if we ate out. But I just don't feel as healthy without a little carcass in my system. This way I can be sure it's quality organic meat-prepared the way I like it. I still don't like having my kitchen contaminated with meat juice and whatever lives in it-but I do think its better than the random flesh bits served at restaraunts.

Today I'm making chicken cacciatore. With the left over parts I'm making stock-my grandma would be so proud. Adeline played with the innards for awhile-cutting up the heart and liver, looking at the bones-real hands on learning about what's inside a chicken.

I'm slow cooking the chicken. I'm normally a really horrible slow cooker cook. I've ruined many a roasts and other chunks of meat by trying to slow cook them. Finally I bought three slow cooker cook books and think I've figured out the secret-mainly proper preperation. We'll see in about 6 more hours how it turns out.

The hogs are roaring outside. Although not technically dead meat nor are they all hogs. But they're noisy. I love it. People complain-but it's usually the people who find their happiness being miserable. I know too many people like that. I don't like being around them but I've gotten much better at letting it roll through my head and out again. I find such a better quality of joy in actually being happy-appreciating things and people.

We happened upon a delicious little BBQ joint at the Sturgis Rally. They hauled their gigantic smokers all the way from Tennessee. Very good food! So good that we're going back Saturday.
Josh can't resist good BBQ and I have to admit its pretty tasty.

Hammy-mentioned a couple posts earlier-has three babies of the six left. I think these ones will make it. I do wonder what happened to the others. I don't think she ate all them. There were mysterious mounds of litter after they disappeared so I'm guessing she may have buried at least a couple of them. I guess we'll find out in a few days when I can disturb her enough to clean her cage.

Another friend is pregnant. It's so awesome! She's probably my best friend and it'll be neat to have someone close to me being pregnant and having a baby. Under seemingly impossible odds she got pregnant without even trying. Josh says the universe is trying to tell me how easy it is. I do know its easy but when he says that, its not really any better than the religous thumpers who would say I'm not getting pregnant because I'm such a sinner. So yeah, it does sting a little that yet another person I know is having a baby when I've already passed at least two dead embryos. But it only sucks for a day or two when I start bleeding every month. The rest of the days are fine and I get so excited to know a good mom is going to bring a life into the world.

Well I better go clean up the kitchen from all the blood, corpse juice, and bits of viscera.

entrance chi

Our house entrance must be full of positive. life-attracting energy. Some bees have decided to buld a home near our door. They are really docile and pretty much avoid us. We don't mind them but we fear that guests and delivery people might be thwarted from out home. The bird feeder also draws a lot birds to our front door. Originally the feeder was in the tree but the squirrels would empty it in a day, most of it ending up on the ground where it would sprout into lovely green things but didn't do well to feed the birds. So we moved it to our front awning. Seeds still find their way to the cement ground but the birds can get to it. Along with our various feathered friends dining at our small stoop, are squirrels (although the buggers have figured how to get to the feeder there as well and still dump large amounts of seeds. We also saw a chipmunk. Stalking the small animals is a snake. He likes to hide under our decorative metal grate-although he does wriggle away under a small space to the side of the door when the entrance is busy. So depending on what type of person you are, either beware of, or enjoy the wild life when coming to visit us.

Adeline's pet

About a week ago Adeline got her very own pet hamster to keep in her room and take care of. The pet store lady flipped it over and said it was a boy so Adeline named it Hammy. We filled his tank with environmentally friendly litter, some food and water, a cool chewable hut, a tube to explore, and a wheel for excercise. We got a ball so he could roll around the house while we cleaned his cage. He was busy this week remodeling, chewing, digging, and nesting. Last night Adeline got me out of bed to show me some very unusual behaviour for her little guy. Hammy, turns out, is a girl and SHE gave birth! Four at the last count but we're not sure-actually we're not sure they're all still alive. She got a little stressed out and tucked them, one at a time, into her cheek and moved them from her hut to her seemingly confining tube. We think we see movement but we'll have to keep a watch and let this blog know later.

*Update*She moved for a bit and I counted six squirmy pink babies. The info I found said not to disturb the mother or the cage for about 10 days. Since the babies are in her tube at this time, and because she spends a lot of time laying on them, getting a picture is difficult. Sometimes when she moves I can get a peek through the holes in the tube-after nursing she takes them one by one and licks their tummies to stimulate bowel movement-so we'll see about pictures then.

Anyone want a hamster in about 5 weeks?