Proof
☆ January 6, 2015
I feel I’ve been swimming the Atlantic for the last two years, and didn’t even realize it till now – now that I’m out of the water, sitting on a dock, eating a sandwich, the salt water sun-drying on my face. Ahhh… exhale and smile. Some snippets: The Fustercluck – the punk band of chicks we got this spring that are now full grown chickens – were living in the chicken house with the rest of the chickens, but that crazy gang of punks have moved into the barn! They roost on the high crossbeams. Just that bunch. The rest of the chickens still sleep in the chicken house (with a few dozen sparrows, a family of partridges, and unknown numbers of wild bunnies).
It’s hilarious but frustrating – the chicken house is far warmer than the barn, which is not yet insulated nor doored. But they’re an independent band and will not be deterred. They still wander over to the chicken house during the day to eat and lay eggs in the nesting boxes, and the other chickens love to hang out in the barn during the day. I still owe a full barn reveal; Mike had put the tin on the roof back in September while l was in Seattle, and when I got back, I was waiting in vain for it to rain, to wash all the dust off the pretty blue roof before photographing it (this fall was so dry). It never rained; instead, it went from dry and dusty to snow-covered and you STILL can’t see the pretty blue roof!
Speaking of so much snow…. one day last week, I was walking back to the house after being out with the cows and Daisy was following me, as she will often do, thinking that she might get some special treats if she’s pushy and demanding. The heaps of snow must have obscured the contrast of the stairs to the deck, because as I climbed them, she followed me right up and onto the deck! I heard her hooves on the boards behind me and turned around and was like, ‘oh shit….’ and at that moment, Daisy realized she was up in the air and she was like, ‘OH SHIT!’ She panic pooped and spun in circles and I was praying I could help her get down before she broke through the deck. Thankfully, she trusted me enough to follow me back down the stairs, sloooowly at first and then taking the last few in one leap. Crazy Daisy! She got her bucket of alfalfa pellets after all, to help calm her down with her feet on solid ground. And now I shovel and sweep the stairs between *every* dusting of snow.
Also last week, I was testing something out in the Shop, pretending to be a customer, and realized (with horror) that the checkout process through Paypal was clunky, difficult, and annoying. I have changed it entirely. Paypal is still available for those with Paypal accounts who like one-click ordering (that part is handy), but a new, improved, completely secure, non-paypal credit card system is now up and running. It’s very sleek and easy and I’m so sorry I didn’t realize and address this issue sooner. If anyone has not gotten a 2015 Charlie Calendar because of the Paypal pain, I’ve fixed it for you, and in the nick of time – you’ll only miss a few days of January if you order yours now!
Speaking of the shop, I want to thank you deeply for your support and enthusiasm this fall and winter. I had the shop pretty much shuttered all spring and summer, and this blog was very quiet, too. When l finally revved up for for holiday and calendar season, I didn’t know if anyone had kept their patience with me. I’m so grateful for your presence and support, and I love sharing my work with you. I have some exciting and beautiful ideas for this coming year. I’m excited to emerge from the murky, mysterious ocean.
Mike found this fossil before all the snow arrived and gave it to me. Neither of us could immediately determine what the fossil was… until it dawned on me. It’s a fossil of angel wings.
Happy new year to all of you out there.
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36 Responses to “Proof”
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January 6th, 2015 @ 9:10 am
Reading your blog makes me miss Wyoming and feel like I’m still there all at once.
My dad and I used to found “angel wing” fossil all the time around Ten Sleep when I was little.
Stay warm!
S
January 6th, 2015 @ 9:15 am
Beautiful fossil! Happy New Year to you, Mike and the rest of the farmily. Wishing you a year that keeps going up with lots of sun, friends and animals!
January 6th, 2015 @ 9:40 am
Angel wings? Everybody knows that.
January 6th, 2015 @ 9:50 am
Love the angel wings. And love your shop! You helped me so much with Christmas presents. The necklaces were much admired and appreciated and the antlers made many doggies very happy! Hope you have a lovely 2015!
January 6th, 2015 @ 10:29 am
I’m glad you made it to the dock – and the sandwich!
January 6th, 2015 @ 10:31 am
Love, love, love The Daisy Story! How wonderful, and so blasted funny! I am still giggling as I write this!
Hope 2015 is a year blessed with sweet, good, healthy, loving and miraculous things for you.
January 6th, 2015 @ 10:53 am
I love the thought of angel wings…what I see is the world’s only ancient mollusk hook-up fossil. hehe Happy New Year!
January 6th, 2015 @ 10:59 am
I love your angel wings but for conversation sake I’m going with 2 ammonite’s. I think that’s spelled right. Otherwise I hope 2015 is awesome for you and yours and that angels always look upon you.
January 6th, 2015 @ 11:23 am
As always, fun on the farm!
I love it when you write. ;)
January 6th, 2015 @ 11:27 am
What a story about Daisy and the stairs! Do cows not normally like things like that? (sorry, city-kid here; I have sadly not had the pleasure of knowing any cows personally, but I love their noses and eyelashes)
-d-
January 6th, 2015 @ 1:12 pm
Oh Daisy!!! You crack me up! Along with the punk chicks! Happy New Year to all of the gang here and there!!!
January 6th, 2015 @ 2:42 pm
I like the pictures in my mind from reading your snippets! Thank you!
January 6th, 2015 @ 2:52 pm
Happy New Year, Shreve, to you and Mike and Farmily!
January 6th, 2015 @ 3:28 pm
D ~ No cow has ever attempted the stairs before! I think the (visual) bars of shadow and light deter them, like a cattleguard.
January 6th, 2015 @ 3:29 pm
Thanks, all :)
January 6th, 2015 @ 3:45 pm
The angel wings are a good sign for the coming year & future.
Always enjoy the stories of your farmily – short or long.
January 6th, 2015 @ 6:01 pm
Happy New Year to you too!!
I was just trying to think how many years now since I found you and Charlie in Cosco.
January 6th, 2015 @ 7:46 pm
I’ve issued reading your blog. I’m glad you’re through your deep end of the ocean; I’ve been there before, it’s not fun, but it did build a lot of character and I am the better for it.
Stay warm up here.
January 6th, 2015 @ 9:05 pm
awesome post as usual, loved hearing about Daisy and the crazy chickies!
January 6th, 2015 @ 9:54 pm
I was thinking it might be a fossilized imprint of Frisco’s hoof. So yes, angel wings.
How very like the clucks to strike out on their own and create their own flock in their own space. Friendly enough to invite the neighbors in and go lay eggs in their nest boxes, but staking out their own territory.
You know, the only solution is to finish the barn….and install nest boxes for the little punks.
Reading of your adventures I can’t help but dream of an unlimited supply of fresh eggs and fresh, raw milk.
I bought myself a vintage, used (not cheap but cheaper than new) copper bowl online. I am impatient to whip me up some meringues. If I had fresh eggs every day, I would so be baking macarons, pavlova, macaroons, Royal icing and whatever else I could think of. (With fresh milk to make ice cream I would be motivated to perfect my meringue shells). I am going to teach myself French, Swiss and Italian meringue so I have my choice depending on the recipe I’m making.
I envy you your potential ice cream, caramel, cheese making, meringues, omelettes and quiches. But not the weather.
Can’t wait until you can see your clean blue barn roof.
January 6th, 2015 @ 10:21 pm
Angel wings – its an opened-up and discarded Pennsylvanian era brachiopod. Look for teeth marks.
Keep on writing. You’re good at it.
January 6th, 2015 @ 11:08 pm
Always so happy to see there’s a new post here. Love every one of your stories.
January 7th, 2015 @ 2:56 am
So good to hear from you, Shreve. Antics on the homestead are ALWAYS entertaining. I would love to peek in and see the menagerie of Wyoming animals in the barn…
January 7th, 2015 @ 6:28 am
I love your stories and writings. I’m glad you have landed on dry land safely and I am wishing you and the family and wonderful 2015.
January 7th, 2015 @ 8:12 am
Happy New Year, welcome back, and love the angel wings.
January 7th, 2015 @ 1:46 pm
I’m so glad to hear that you have rebounded from last year’s challenges. You seem to have such a resilient, courageous spirit that I had no doubt that you would bounce back, but I’ve really missed hearing about your life and all the farmily in the last year. Here’s to a happy 2015 for all of you–
January 7th, 2015 @ 5:23 pm
the girl with the fever tattoo II. a gang of punks have moved into the barn that supposedly has a blue roof, cow pie is now being served on the lido deck, and proof of miniature angels has been submitted for peer review. perfectly normal.
January 7th, 2015 @ 8:11 pm
I loved everything on your blog. The story of the Clusterflusters, Daisy, your metaphor of coming from an Atlantic Ocean swim, The barn and the blue roof—can’t wait to see a photo of it! You are a wonderful story teller!
January 9th, 2015 @ 11:28 am
I think the fossil is two brachiopods next to each other. I just checked with my manager, the fossil nerd, and she agrees. (We do environmental ed.) I like your description better, though :)So glad to hear you are doing well!
January 9th, 2015 @ 11:33 am
Happy New Year. Looking forward to your posts in 2015.
January 9th, 2015 @ 11:54 am
happy, happy 2015. may you, mike, and all you love be safe and well. love to you all…
January 9th, 2015 @ 4:05 pm
I’m so happy to see you writing again. I love these little windows into your rural life in Wyoming and often wonder how you’re doing.
Daisy on the deck would be a great cartoon. Are you still planning on a Charlie comic of some kind?
And how exactly did she get up there? One step at a time?
You must have gobs of stories to share. We are your audience in waiting.
:o)
January 10th, 2015 @ 9:07 am
Still the cow whisperer! With your words this post left several endearing imprints in my mind. I can hear Daisy singing, “I will follow you wherever you will go…and angel wings spreading over the property.
Blessings to the farmily in 2015
January 12th, 2015 @ 3:08 pm
Do the punk chickens sport Mohawks?
January 14th, 2015 @ 5:35 am
Shreve, I absolutely love your blog! I am living vicariously through you and the Farmily.
January 16th, 2015 @ 11:41 am
Please, what is going on with Leila? We can’t wait to see what she looks like now. Is she still a big lag dog?