Day Five ...

... at The Hormone Ranch

As I tossed the last handful of chopped apple into the oats, my brain shouted, "Caliente!" It sounded very celebratory, even though I don't know what it means nor where I may have heard it.

Showers, two of the three came up looking for clothes to wear*, then oats with apples, cinnamon and maple syrup (and soy milk for some), and (soy)milky chai or hot soymilk for breakfast. Lunches made** and packed , dogs and chickens fed, last minute "Where's my ..."s done, and onto the bus they went. Smiley, huggy morning folx.



I call this one Wiggly Life With Yarn

Three out, two in. These two help me all day, by sitting on my feet, lying in front of the sink, stove, fridge, and in doorways, and running into the backs of my knees when I walk across the ice.

*Good thing I'd ignored the "Yah, I'm good"s and done a coupla loads anyway

**I made one of the lunches at 7:59 'cuz the bus comes at 8:03 and it wasn't made yet. No, he won't starve, but be damned if I'm going to send him to school without lunch or make the bus driver wait while he makes a lunch. He came up to make it at 8:01 ... prolly could have done it, but I got twitchy.

I was going to change the chickens' light bulb this morning, but Linda beat me to it ... so they have light again. They're already winning the egg race. Without Robin here to help battle the eggs, we could be buried in them by the end of the week. Speaking of conspiracies, I think the dogs make new matts overnight so they get fussed when they come in.

Dishwasher's run, dishes are washed, yesterday's laundry is folded, there's a load in the washer and one in the dryer, and a couple of skeins of yarn soaking in a koolaid and vinegar bath in the crock pot. We're out of fruit and laundry soap, so I'm off to The Village ... I'm doing my own version of the daily trip to Ralph's for groceries, except not in Palm Desert, and not Ralph's.

* * *

Dinner and tofu-for-sandwiches made, laundry loads switched just in time for smiley, happy chatty folx in the door. Linda finished the rest of the egg salad and started on her homework. The boys took their laundry downstairs, then did their thing for a while. They built smoothies when Linda came up for a break and we all watched TV together. I tried to keep the snide comments about the commercials down to one per.

Hippie Lasagna and Greek salad v2.0 for dinner. We've been watching an episode of season 1 of SG-1 each night. Linda had choir, we all did our chores and homework. Cory called leftover lasagna for tomorrow's lunch ... over tofu sandwich! I'm calling it a success.

Eggs: +9 for the day
Collected - 10
Eaten - 0
Discarded - 1

Day Four ...

... at The Hormone Ranch



This is something I saw when I was where Mary and Robin are now (guess who didn't take any pictures today) ... taken with my phone.

Showers, then oats with apples, cinnamon and maple syrup (and soy milk for some), and (soy)milky chai for breakfast. Lunches made and packed, dogs and chickens fed, last minute "Where's my ..."s done, and onto the bus they went. Smiley, huggy morning folx.

I be'd domestic, gathered eggs, showered and headed home to see if the house was still standing (it was) and if there was any mail (there wasn't) and get groceries. I forgot to get light bulbs ... poor chickens ... though I'm not sure that's the issue.
There was no light on Saturday, so we checked (and adjusted) the timer, but there was still no light, so we checked extension cords and plugged the unplugged one back in, but there was still no light, so we figured we'd find the bulbs and change them on Sunday. \
On Sunday, the light was on, so we scratched the bulb-changing plans.
Today, there's no light on again. I think the chickens are messing with us, but I'll try changing the bulb tomorrow.

Smiley, huggy afternoon folx came home and hoovered up some leftover cabbage, tofu and oatmeal, along with anything else that wasn't nailed down. Greek salad (with bonus kidney beans) and falafel for dinner. Ernie went off to confirmation (I hope he has time to finish his homework after!), Cory's been sorting his room and homeworking, and Linda made a beaded snake for a friend, then helped me wind the yarn we dyed into centre-pull balls, and drew some pictures, then bed.

Eggs: +9 for the day
Collected - 16
Eaten - 6
Discarded - 1

Day Three ...

at The Hormone Ranch

I went pelting out the door as soon as I got up this morning, 'cuz I suddenly thought, "What if I can't reach the pedals in Mary's truck? I'll have to take the kids to church one at a time in my car."

I can reach the pedals ... whew!

The fuel light is on ... ack!
Can I make it to the church and back and over to the Co-Op before running out? I dunno. Ernie and I consulted and decided better safe than sorry, so I went charging off to get fuel while Cory, Ernie and Linda got ready and had breakfast.

I saw a coyote in a field on the way ... cool!

The Co-Op was closed ... crap!
Keep going to The Village.

The Petro-Can was open ... and I made it without running out of fuel ... whew!

The Co-Op was open when I drove past it on the way back ... thanks, Coyote.

So I put gas in 'til the auto shut-off kicked in, went in and paid for the gas, and left. I was down the road before I realized I'd put in only a quarter tank. I didn't think anything of it, 'cuz that's about how long it takes me to fill the tank in my car. I probably let up on the handle and it shut off. Colour me dingbat.

Back in time to take The Three to church, after which, there was a flurry of egg sandwiches.

The yarn turned out nice.

Again, with the (mostly) reasonable negotiations, today.

Baked tofu, brown basmati cooked with coconut milk, curried cabbage with coconut, fresh tomato, avocado for dinner. Just enough tofu left for one lunch. Ernie called it.



Eggs: +3 for the day
Collected - 16
Eaten - 7
Discarded - 6 discarded

Day Two ...

... at The Hormone Ranch

Chores while the peppers and onions and musthrooms slow cooked for breakfast burritos. I would like to report that there was complaining and fighting and hair pulling, but the three indoor hormone contributors went about their Saturday morning routine matter-of-factly, negotiating, and even helping one another out. Afterwards, stuffed to the gills with breakfast burritos, there sas no biting or scratching or pulling of hair over computer time. Instead, there were (occasionally mildly sullen) negotiations and compromises. Saturday is their mellow day, so we mellowed, mostly ... 'puter games and music and we koolaid dyed some turquoise yarn.



We made Head Salad (salad as big as one's head) for dinner and ate them while watching Stargate, which Cory, Ernie and Linda hadn't seen. We talked to Mary and Robin on the phone again. It sounds like they're starting to relax.

Eggs: +1 for the day
Collected - 18
Eaten - 7
Discarded - 10

Day One ...

... at The Hormone Ranch

After much charging about, getting ready, loading the car, acquiring fuel, rendering the windows transparent again, etc., I hit the road at 2:00 this afternoon. From the Hughes on 99th, it took me twenty-five minutes to hit the highway. After that, it was a lovely drive. I got here, found everything where Mary said it would be, unpacked, and got their computer to play nicely with mine before Cory, Ernie and Linda got home from school.

We made baked tofu and a small mountain of maki for dinner and ate it all.

Dogs got fed, chores got done, games got played, and everyone drifted off to bed as they got tired. It's just about my turn.

I took the cats to the kennel yesterday, and did a bunch of other running around and getting stuff ready at home. Wednesday was Mary's birthday. We went grocery shopping (woohoo! weirdo), then met Mona for lunch at B's Diner. I got a chance to take in some more hats. Brenda said she found the blog of someone who was taking apart knit things for yarn to make hats for them. She's going to double check it ... we think it may be this blog! Hah! Bob introduced Mary to a fellow who has a plant store across the way, so we went there afterwards. Tuesday, I turned in my keys at work, collected up my stuff, turned in time sheets, and had a visit with Chicken. A good day!