Saturday, July 30, 2011

those sneaky little buggers!

I'm the temporary mama for six baby chicks (and one grown-up, real mama chicken). Today started like all the others: I opened up their wood house just after 5:30am, did an egg-check, tossed Daisy (the mama) some seeds, refilled their food and water bowls, scraping away the chicken poop and then traipsed inside, bleary-eyed to tend to Jesse, the sweet pup. After a quick check-in on the wildly-enthusiastic-for-two-minutes-a-day-hamsters and elusive black cat, I scrounged around in the fridge for myself. I sat down with a bowl of homemade yogurt (dweeb alert!) sprinkled with AZ pecans (!), dried fruit and drizzled with honey and sighed, quietly sipping a refrigerated cup of coffee, ready to dig in. I think I may have smiled -- it's so quiet, I thought!

Now, perhaps you haven't had the experience of sharing an outdoor space with seven chickens, but silence is something that I can't imagine a chicken owner ever achieving, not even in a rainstorm. (They shriek.) I registered this fact a bit slowly, but after a few moments it sunk in -- like a brick in a lake. I clanked my spoon into the bowl, skidded my rickety chair back from the table and jogged outside. I looked under their house, underneath a protective door (think: chicken patio) and, genuinely panicked at this point, I desperately started circling the fence.

There, clustered together, the couch potatoes sat on a fence post that offers support to the very back of their home, where they were completely hidden from each window in the house and all typical spots I amble around in the backyard, too (like the trampoline and Jesse's pee spots). The chicks looked over at me, two gave me a short cluck, and then, unruffled, they shuffled around, rearranging their order -- perhaps choosing dibs for who had the best view of the fencepost. After the immediate relief wore off and subsequent grumblings subsided, I picked up my camera and snapped a few photos. A while later, I went back inside, scooted my chair back into the big table and enjoyed the yogurt bowl and cold coffee.



Hey! Make room for me, guys!

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Pecos River stomp! (and chomp!)



On Sunday I strolled along the Pecos River and munched on BBQed vegetables and pineapple rings with the PROS crew (Pecos River Open Spaces). PROS is a non-profit based in New Mexico that preserves land and river habitat. I ambled with my camera on my own and spent a solo hour, plopped down on a rock, wrapping up this book. Most of the stories were a bit chilling, but I was glad the last one ended on a more optimistic, less down-in-the-dumps note.

Monday, July 18, 2011

NM 3rd week discoveries

Farmers' market flowers, staying fresh in a plastic-baggie pool of tap water.


P.S. I'm DOOMED! Just a spry 1 mile from my little casita is a bookshop where all books cost around a dollar. My Antonia (which I finished last night; a wonder!) was a mere 25 cents. I suppose it's a good thing I drove here...


Here's last Friday's loot. I think I'll start the Cormac McCarthy book next.
P.P.S. Forgive the iPhone blurries.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Saturday, July 2, 2011

a necessary shout-out!


Last night I watched my dear chum and her gals scale fabric up to the ceiling, trapeze, play on mid-air hoola-hoops and stilt-strut. BUST! Circus Intensive Workshop is a non-profit in Santa Fe that is worth talking about. It "provides a safe space for women of all shapes, sizes, ages, gender presentations, backgrounds and ability levels to come together and explore their physical and inner strength while building trust and community." In short, they're utterly fantastic and induce gasps and many giggles. Check 'um out! These ladies deserve many more standing ovations.

food & friends


Friday, July 1, 2011

wide open sky

and a new fruit tree planted on Navajo Nation last year