Old black mare is not what she use to be

I've been sick since Wednesday with a stupid stupid cold.
It seems like it's been dredging along fer-ever!
It's really getting in my way of playing with my friends and watching Alex get a tattoo.
Plus I still have to work, and yesterday I even came in early to cover someone else's shift.
Hmm, now why can't I seem to get well?
I'm sure it has nothing to do with building a chicken coop at Borton while I'm sick either?
Or taking 18 kids out into BELL.
Hmm?

Gotta go, I think I just coughed up a lung?

Tuna Margaritas

Doesn't that sound delish?!
No??
I suppose I could also refer to them as prickly pear margaritas, but what is the fun in that?!

This was actually an experiment aimed at Ari's classroom The Shooting Stars.
No, I did not mean to get them all drunk.
Yes, I know that is illegal.

My goal was to figure out how to make juice from the prickly pear fruits (tunas,) so that next time they are in season we could harvest them and make juice with the kids.

Since all the original tunas at the school disappeared, the wonderful Rebecca lent me some of hers.

So here is how you make tuna margaritas (....or tuna lemonaid for the kiddos.)


1) Pick tunas CAREFULLY, they have tiny spines in them called glochids that are a female dog to get out! I used BBQ tongs from the dollar store.
Make sure when you pick them off that they red at the base, that means they are ripe!

2) Boil the tunas. This gets all the prickers off, and softens them up.



3) Peel the tunas and then boil them again. Add sugar and lemon to taste.


4) Strain out the seeds. This also strains out any missed prickers! Muy importante.
The leftover is your juice. You can add this to lemonaid, sparkling water, or ta-kill-ya.


for the kids I added sparkling water and more lemon.


Teagan loved it, but Ari hated it. Ari still felt the need to smile for the camera.


Mine went into a margarita, and it really was delicious!!!


Cheers!

Future Wal Mart greeters of America

Okay, not really, but with those red vest they could be.



Tea and her buddies after performing for chorus at the Holladay Open House.

good ol' barn raisin'

The last two mornings I got to help with a barn raisin'.
Okay, it was actually coop raisin', but it was still monumental.
The sense of community was fabulous, and the chicks will have some sweet digs when it's completed.
Waaaay nicer than the hokey coop I have!
I'm really excited for our chicks to finally leave the guinea pig cage and move forward in their little chicken lives.

Here are pictures of building the coop:








Sometimes people got creative with the techniques..



Then there were people who just watched others work (like ME.)



Finally it just got silly.
I can't believe these people are my friends?
JK, yes I can!



The kids had a blast, just hanging out when school was closed. It was like a huge playdate for them. Plus the felt pretty important being involved in making our "Community Garden."







And hey, if the chicken thang doesn't work out it can always be used as a 3rd grade classroom.

Chillin' with my peeps

The fab Tamale, one of the many amazing teachers at Borton, received a grant to build an edible garden and chicken coop at the school this year. I like to think it was because of my amazing letter of support, but Rebecca keeps reminding me that it was hers. Either way, she got the grant!
And although I have no kids in her class this year I often loiter in front pretending. I believe Rebecca and I were even asked once by another parent to loiter more often, just to share stories of BELL. Although I tease Tamale about her "stupid happy new parents," I'm always happy for all her projects. She's amazing.
And completely unrelated she was on the news Tuesday night for some other grant she got to teach kids that aren't mine important things. No really, I am happy for them, I am.


Speaking of chicken coops... (?)
I suckered, um I mean convinced, Tamale into letting me pick out her chickens for her.
I actually offered to donate the chickens as long as I picked them out and kept them at my house until their coop was built.
HA! Take that!
Wait.... who was the winner in that situation?
But these peeps were ADORABLE! On Monday they turned two weeks, now they are "pullets."
I brought them into Tamale's class last week and I'm bringing them again today.





I put a stick through their cage, and now they all roost at night.


So far their are 8 pullets.
1 buff orpinton
1 rhode island red
2 americanas
1 polish
1 giant cochin

2 are bantums
1 is a polish and 1 might be an americanas?

The bantum americanas is so tiny my husband keeps insisting that it's really just a sparrow the flew into the chicken's cage before I bought them. Ari seems to think she not a sparrrow at all but a hummingbird.


But the coolest by far is the polish banty.
This poor chicken only has a month or two before the feathers on her head grow so big that she can hardly see.


Aaaw.

bok, b-b-b-bok

I've been meaning to post picks for a while, but I've been in a big ol' funk lately.
You know when you find out that your pregnant, but don't tell anyone for 3 months "just in case?" (...and no I'm not thankyouverymuch!)
That's how I've felt about our chickens. We've had too many deaths and it's been a bit traumatizing for all of us.
But we've now figure out the culprit, and I'm pretty sure our fatalities have subsided.
The culprit is the neighbors cat. But not just any neighbor, the neighbor with the permanent yard sale, the one that was busted about two years ago for having a meth lab.
And now their Stupid Meth Lab Cat is responsible for the lives of four our girls.
See people, drugs kill!
Our chickens are now on serious lockdown. They are allowed two supervised releases per day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon.
Otherwise our little flock of six are sweet.
They are about 3 months old now, so they won't be giving us breakfast for another 2 months.
Their names are Lulu and Ginger (Americanas)
Flower and Daisy (buff orpingtons)
and Roxy and Cocoa (barred rocks)