Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Should Have Raised Them in a Barn

I will have to tease my in-laws for a moment, because after a week’s visit, they left this morning. And the sun shone and the skies were blue….for the first time in over a week.  My poor MIL, who has spent most of her life in southern California and Brasil, was a tiny bit cold the whole time.  That is, she was only a tiny bit cold while wearing three regular layers and a bathrobe over those layers.  Perhaps I do need to turn my heat up when we have guests…

But a warmish, sunny afternoon in mid-January!?!  You bet the kids and I were outside.  I dug out half of the worm bin and Kyla loaded up her garden with worm castings.  Piper took out tupperware, cut holes with a sharp knife in the lid, sliced carrots (“with a sharp knife, Mama, and I used a cutting board!”  “That’s nice, honey, now I don’t have to choose between you or my table.”) and made a new cozy home for the chosen worms outside our front door.  Yes, our worm bin is also right outside our front door, but Piper’s worms are special worms.  She sorted through many worms to find the smallest and cutest, and then ran a petting farm for her siblings with lots of rules about putting tired worms down and gently picking up a new worm.  Wesley fell in line with Piper and marveled over cute worms before going inside, cutting up carrots for the worms without washing his hands or using a cutting board.   Gross, yes, and it makes the kitchen table’s argument stronger for being the one I keep.  Sorry, Wes.

Further farm news: Immediately after confirming an, ahem, altering appointment for both kittens this morning, odd sounds came from down the hallway.   I fear Rosie has been violated.  They are not even 5 months old, so I hoped getting them taken care of before the end of the month would be fine.  I just became a really strong advocate for pro-choice, because you know what I choose?  Nope, it’s not more kittens.  And, yes, Rosie and Timmy are siblings.

A few weeks ago, Kyla asked enough questions that she now knows quite a bit about sex and mating, so she was quite interested in seeing a live demonstration today.  However, I had to tell her that the kittens needed a little time apart from each other instead.  Yeah, like quiet time.

I try to call our place an estate, but that might be just an uppity way to say I’m raising my kids in a barn. 

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