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As The Butter Churns
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The story of a city girl from Los Angeles who quits her job packs her bags and moves her family to a rural farm in Washington to start Fort Flashback, an American History camp for kids. Things don't go exactly as planned. Tune to find out if Denise ever
Recent Posts Tagged With 'pea'
October 4th Heads Or Tails?
(Gnatalie, with Abe and Andy together for a rare moment) Everyday when I look out on my pasture I see two beautiful deep red steer, Abe and Andy and then I scan the field for Gnatalie who is inevitably all alone half a field away. I feel like I’ve ...
September 27th Waste Not Want Not
(Christina and Riley saunter past Franklin and Richard) **WARNING - this post contains some graphic pictures) It was another predictable Sunday of laundry, housework and barn cleaning. With the added hope, I’d have time to hop on the treadmill and ...
September 5th The Remains Of The Day
(Irish and Bruno snuggle) When the alarm rang, I was already awake. The house was dark and everyone was still asleep except for Irish who wagged his tail and Bruno who gave me a groggy look as I went down the stairs. I poured a cup of coffee and dres...
August 19th Cow Girls
(enjoying the chicken show and the shade - Alex, Riley and Christina) We worked a deal reminiscent of a baseball trade, Beckie (on Lopez Island) was buying a couple of Milking Devons from Ruth who was buying Anna from me by paying Susie for Gnatalie,...
August 17th How Now Brown Cow
(Andy, Anna with downward horns and Abe in front - hear my calls and come running out of the forest) I’d brought Anna and the boys up to the barn with the assistance of my trusty bucket of grain. They came willingly and eagerly in fact, it would ha...
July 20th Blood Sweat & Tears
(Nick loved his bloody eye- a result of of something like sneezing or who knows what) The laundry room reeked and for once it wasn’t Henry’s socks. The little chickens and turkeys had a big smell. What’s more they were stuffed in what was once ...
July 16th Without A Paddle
(Deli - proof only mad dogs and Englishmen) It was one of those still mornings when you can feel the heat on your skin and you just know the day is going to be hellish hot. As part of our fun activities we had planned to go whale watching and spend a...
July 15th It Happened One Night
(Henry the romantic) Everyone was around the island in the kitchen: Tom, June, Awesomez, Carly, Amy, Henry, Lindsey and me. We were fixing food and chatting when I realized I’d barely spoken to Henry about his time away. “So Hen how was camp? I...
July 14th In The Miller-tary
(now named "Bucket"-by Awesomez - this little turkey-lurkey sits on top of his water bucket) (Cleaning out the laundry room - lining the bottom of the chicken/turkey cage) Nothing inspires a reluctant housekeeper more than the promise of a houseful o...
June 6th After Midnight
(Deli subscribes to the philosophy: treat your family like company) Sensing something as I lay warm in bed I opened my eyes to see Henry’s smiling upside down face about three inches away. “It’s My Birthday!” He sang. “So it is" I said grog...
June 1st A Royal Pain
(lilies in our yard) My dad wrote me from Paris using some colorful language and some strong “French” insisiting I acquire some proper clothing for dealing with the bees. His treat, for Henry’s birthday. We’d planned to go down to Cedar Bees ...
May 28th The Great Escape
(Emmett Dean and The Rat-Bat-Cat-Dog) Toby who was going to spend nine days in Bellingham is still somewhere out in the Pacific North West packing, un-packing or doing Heaven knows what, while Dean remains with me. Together, Dean and I picked up Tom ...
April 23rd Trail of Tears
(Oatmeal Rasin cookies in the making) In the morning, Tom and I got up chatted about different possibilities for the future. We snuck over to the trailer and looked at how big our boy was. Our eyes misty at how fast the time is going. We sat around d...
April 22nd The Odyssey
(the San Juan Islands out the window) (the Cascades) An eyelash shy of food stamps these days it was odd to fly the upgrade Lisa got us all at the airport, but non-fat latte in hand I endured the irony of first class. We couldn’t get three seats so...
April 8th The Miracle Of Life
(Clara and her girls - one is tucked safely under her wing) The thick grey skies seemed to mirror our mood this morning. The death of Clyde has left everyone here a bit somber. We’re not running around crying all the time, but it’s sort of taken ...
April 6th Family Affair
(Alexis' charge) After 24 hours of driving in three days, we slept like the dead, surrounded by our menagerie. I woke up and started the coffee. Tom was close behind followed by Henry. Anxious to see the babies we chatted excitedly about going out to...
April 4th Iron Man
(on the road) I instructed Loretta, our trusty navigational system, to direct us to the Spokane Airport so we could pickup Tom. She freaked out and told us to make a left turn across four lanes of traffic. Not to mention taking all sorts of routes th...
March 17th Light Up My Life
(Me -sanding the landing- stairs to the attic apartment) I’d done all the research on what to look for when candling goose eggs, I was prepared and anxious, but I waited patiently, which isn't like me, however Henry wanted to be there for the big e...
March 16th Let There Light
(The gander gang and - Matilda who has abandoned her nest to be with the guys) Lisa, the voice of reason called “How many eggs do you have? You don’t want to be overwhelmed with goslings Denise.” She said authoritatively. “I know I don’t bu...
March 15th Forward And Back
(keeping my mouth shut - was hard to do - I had high fiber oatmeal) When Tom’s here it’s always busy because we’re trying to cram in all the things regular families do, plus a bit of home repair and whatever event Tom has actually come in for. ...
March 12th Happy Landing
(Irish can't resist my light-up hula hoop- Bruno looks on with admiration) I'm planning on having guests this summer. My friend Go-Go, Henry's Godfather, Joe and maybe Sam and Kimona might be back and while most people pull out a mop and call it a da...
February 8th All In The Family
(Black Jack Medal) When we got off the plane in Las Vegas I realized this was the first time we were going to be all together as a family. Tom was driving in with both Craig and Laura. The sun was shining but rain clouds loomed on the horizon. As we ...
January 25th Return To Sender
(Golden Gate Bridge)The past couple days have been a whirlwind of activity. Friday began with Grandpa Horn playing jazz for band class with a very proud Henry in attendance. “Is that really your grandpa?” the kids clamored after my dad left. (air...
January 18th The Good Bye Girl
(Grandpa Horn and his girl - Deli aka Delta Blue) Grandpa Horn is in Country. He arrived the other day from “gay Paris” and has been staying with Lisa. Busily been making the rounds of his grandchildren, He went to Phoebe’s soccer game and boug...
January 17th Give Him A Hand
(The Mud Puddle Coffee House and their Obama cookies) (President elect Obama on a cookie) Henry and I picked Tom up at SeaTac and headed straight for the ferry to Bainbridge Island. We had to wait an hour before we got on and so were starved by the t...
January 5th All's Well That Ends Well
(Life in an Ansel Adams picture -on the way to school) Day 24 –of our drought. The day Pea and Laura head home, school starts and the well-guy is coming to see what he can do about our water situation. I stumbled downstairs to find mouse guts laced...
January 3rd Runs In The Family
(Laura's stocking) Laura, Tom’s only daughter and Henry’s sister is coming for her first visit to the farm. I’m a nervous wreck. She has one dainty cat and has lived with her mother who’s a gourmet cook in an immaculate house most of her life...
January 2nd Water Torture
(My sweet gentle Vivian looks like she starred in Damien Omen II) Day 21 finds the snow continuing to fall and us getting good at this “no water” thing. A large coffee urn now stands plugged in on the counter giving us hot water on demand. Two su...
January 1st Can't Say No.
( The morning after? No just a common scene - It's too bad none of the animals get along) Most of my life New Year’s Day meant watching the Rose Parade on channel 9 over coffee. I loved going to Pasadena and touring the floats after the parade, you...
December 31st In The Moment
(Tom serving up his pork chops)For the first time, Quinn had New Years Eve plans with some girlfriends, Annie didn’t feel well and to Lisa, Chris and Phoebe’s disappointment as three is too few to play many games except Kadoo™, we decided to st...
