The Farm Report – Page 121 – Archiving the early years

I want to live with you. Yes, YOU.

November 5, 2007

Last night I was headed to the grocery store, when I noticed Ellie at the end of the driveway. This is a problem, because the end of the driveway is far beyond the Invisible Fence line, and she shouldn’t be there. So I got out of my car to get her, and then realized, it was, in fact, not Ellie.

For half an hour I ran her around to the neighbors to see if anyone recognized her, which they didn’t. And then I had to call Tom. You know it is true love when your cat-loving husband, who has already allowed two canines to reside in his house, sighs and tells his wife to bring home a third to stay in the garage overnight.

We took her to the vet today, on account of all those bumps on her face (they think she got into an insect nest of some sort and got stung), and then our adventure began.

GOOD NEWS! Our dog has a microchip! She has an owner!

BAD NEWS. The owner’s address is hundreds of miles away.

GOOD NEWS! One of the phone numbers listed is ringing!

BAD NEWS. The answering message is in Spanish. And you can’t leave a voicemail. The owners name is not even slightly hispanic, so we suspect this number is no longer current.

GOOD NEWS! We contact the vet who installed the chip, and they remember the owner!

BAD NEWS. They also remember the owner moved, but they have no forwarding address.

GOOD NEWS! We have the owners name, so maybe we can locate them!

BAD NEWS. 411, the white pages, the university directory, and Google yield no results.

GOOD NEWS! We put a sign on the road, hoping the owners live close and will drive by. We’ve called the police, the newspaper, and the shelters and left our name and number.

BAD NEWS. No calls yet.

So there’s still a dog in our garage. (She has to be separated from the others until the results of her ringworm test comes in.) I’m stumped. If I lost one of our dogs, even if I couldn’t remember the name of the microchip company, I would move heaven and earth to track it down. But the microchip company has heard nothing. The old vet has heard nothing. The shelters and the police have heard nothing.

I’m beginning to wonder if the owners don’t really want her back, which is absurd, because she’s as sweet as can be.

So, um, is anyone interested in adopting a very cute, spayed, young black lab mix?

FYI…we’ve managed to keep the kids in the dark about the dog, so help us keep it quiet until she’s out of quarantine!
Baby shower? This was clearly a baby bath.

November 4, 2007

I have known Anne since the days way back in college when we were young, underage, and were mired deep in the world of chromateks and kerning.

She and her husband John are expecting their first at the beginning of December, so we decided it was high time for a shower. Everyone attending, however, clearly thought it was time for a bath. We only had eleven people in attendence, yet four of those arrived with the same baby bathtub. I love Target, but why stores in two major metropolitan cities cannot figure out how to check the “fulfilled” box is beyond me.

Bathtub duplication aside, it’s always a great when we all have an excuse to get together, especially when it’s a happy occasion. By the end of the party, husbands and kids were crowded in the room, and I managed to take a few moments to capture a few quick pix of babies who clearly used their mothers as surrogates, since they’re both carbon copies of their fathers.

(In case you were wondering, the wine is for after the baby is born.)
Sleeping dinosaur

November 3, 2007

Neko is obsessed with this costume lately. Tom even helped her make a Dorothy the Dinosaur mask to go with it. Today we found her, sound asleep in her room, in full costume.
Beads

November 2, 2007

We’ve been really into beads around here. It started as a way to keep Shep busy, but then Neko really got into it, too. Now we’re all sporting some pretty impressive bangles.
Halloween

October 31, 2007

Today was Halloween. This has become a huge event in this household, since Neko is finally old enough to understand it involves a costume and a candy pay-out. But mostly it’s about the costume. I’m sorry, that should be costumes, plural. Last week she was set on being a ballerina. Then it was a ballerina with dinosaur hands and feet. Then she became a pink cat (much like a ballerina with ears, tail, and whiskers), and then a black cat. She had settled on the black cat, but then made a last minute addition to become a black cat in a ballerina outfit with one ballet shoe and one regular shoe. There was going to be a magic wand, too, but she and Shep started arguing over it and, like magic wands sometimes do, it magically disappeared.

Shep was a rock star, since he carries around a guitar half of the time at home. Go figure, the one time he refuses to carry a guitar? Halloween. His ABCD shirt seemed to be enough for a costume, but he petered out around two houses in due to a bad diaper rash. Must remember to add that to the list of stories to tell at his wedding.

Ellery was a bear. This is a fun comparison of Shep in the same costume.

Special thanks to Kim, John, and Mary who hosted us for a real neighborhood trick-or-treat, since we don’t have sidewalks and trick-or-treating could only be done in our neighborhood by car or horse.
Lesson learned

October 30, 2007

You would think I would have learned this earlier in my 4.5 year stint as a parent, that one should always call ahead and check on whether a place is open before you go. Even if all signs point to the fact that it should be open. Like they’re having a big Halloween festival at night? One might assume that means that all the facilities are open during the day, but one would be wrong.

Akiko and I took the kids to a local farm which claims to be “open” 365 days a year, open being a relative term. The gate is open and the animals are in their pens, but, um, not a lot else. Unless you were a school group that called ahead. Which we weren’t. We did, however, discover a fun walking trail and the weather warmed up nicely.

But next time? I think I’ll call ahead.

Photo of Neko pretendeding to be a goose, homemade cat tail attached.
One-on-one time

October 28, 2007

We’ve been trying to do more one-on-one time with the kids. So this morning Neko, Ellery and I went to the coffee shop. After we finished our drinks, I asked Neko what she wanted to do. She surprised me by requesting a walk, so we spent nearly an hour walking around campus and taking photos. I took some of her and she took some of Ellery and I.

Tom and Shep played music and took a trip out to purchase Guitar Hero. Since then, Shep has been wearing the “guitar” non-stop.
Pumpkin Pick-up Party

October 27, 2007

Last year Beth and her mom, Lynne, invited us up for an impromptu day at Lynne’s farm. They planned ahead and placed pumpkins all along a path where the kids had to run from one place to another. Everyone had a fabulous time, and when they offered to do it again this year, we couldn’t say “yes” fast enough.

This year they raised the bar even further. We started with a scavenger hunt around the farm where Shep could not have been more excited to discover apples to be gathered at every destination (he’s a little obsessed with that particular fruit these days). The kid probably ate the equivalent of four apples, taking three bites of an apple and then starting in on the next.

Then we all headed inside for lunch and playtime where Tom and Carter sat down for a mean game of Battleship and Jamie tried to teach Shep how to play Hangman. Soup, sandwiches, and desserts were followed by pumpkin decorating orchestrated by Beth’s sister Amy. This might be my new favorite thing to do with pumpkins.

We never even got around to hedgeapple bowling, but by mid-afternoon, we loaded up a car full of tired, happy kids. Thanks to Lynne, Beth, Dave, Amy, Jamie, and Carter. If you do it again next year, we promise to bring croissants!

Special thanks to Beth, who grabbed the camera and took actual pictures of Tom and I. Notice she sneakily avoided getting in any of the photos, however.
Speak up

October 26, 2007

Our city is working on its comprehensive plan, a document which will set the tone for what our home will look like in five, ten and twenty years. In a few weeks they’ll be holding some open forums to collect the public’s input, to build the vision we as a community would like to see.

I have an awful lot on my plate these days, but when I got a request from the vice-mayor to help facilitate some of these sessions, I happily agreed. I’ve been looking for small ways to make this town a place I love to call home, and this seemed like a great step.

Today I had a training session to prepare me for these meetings, and I’m excited to see creative and innovative ideas about our town. I encourage anyone who lives in the city to clear some time on your schedule on November 12th or 14th to contribute your two cents.
Fall photos

October 25, 2007

It’s been raining like crazy around here, which, of course, coincides with the time we’re surrounded by perfect fall leaves. Susie and I took advantage of the break in the weather to hustle the kids out for a long walk on campus and take some photos.

In between running noses and hacking coughs, we were able to snap a few shots.