walkin' in a winter wonderland

 We finally got some snow!

The barn door.

join a blog party? yup...

Okay, so I am going to attempt to join this blog-party thing from Rear Window. (Thanks, Anna Gray of bella vita!)

Did that make sense? Well, just click on the button...

So, I shall start off this by saying that yes, I am indeed an authentic person (meaning a human), not a robot, droid, spammer, troll, schizophrenic, or sparkly vampire. 


About me? 


Just read my profile to the right over there, and you can spare me the trouble of introducing myself. *sarcastic smiley face* (Wow, I am in a vindictive mood! Not good)


I have always wanted to blog. I kept a crafty (knitting, sewing, etc.) blog when I was nine or ten years old, but soon abandoned it for other various pursuits. Then in the spring of 2010, I got 5 chicks, and started a blog titled 'Awesomefowl' with the honorable intention of filling it with photos, obsessions and chronicles about chickens. (you can read the early chicken posts under '2010' in my archives)


Fail. I hadn't updated it in a year when I decided to rename it and just blog about whatever I felt like....hence a new fancy* sounding name, and various rants, rambling, or dissertations.
This is not a craft blog, or a photography blog. It is mostly just whatever I feel like at the time: book reviews, classical music, poetry, complaining, opinions, and yes, photos of chickens! I have 25 chickens, one Muscovy duck, sheep, and one annoying goat.


*because it's French for 'left bank'; I'm assuming a river bank.


I try to update this blog reasonably often, while attempting to receive an education which of course comes first.


On the next question!


What's the nerdiest/geekiest/weirdest thing about you?


Um...everything? I'm not a geek, or a nerd, per say, but when it comes to all-out weirdness....
I guess I could say my irrational hatred of incorrect use of semi-colons, commas, and apostrophe's, as well as punctuation-less anything, mostly when it comes from those that are perfectly capable of correction. Nothing makes this walking thesaurus more irritated!


I really like mythology and history too, not sure if that makes one geeky or not.


My encyclopedic knowledge of domestic animal breeds could count too.

CREDITs!

 If you could live in a fictional universe from any book, movie, or television show, what would it be?
I honestly don't know....what's wrong with  Earth? Free air and free salvation, even if nothing else is. 


Do you like animated movies?

Not really. Only a select few, like Dumbo (from the 1930s) and violent Looney Tunes cartoons!

What is your favorite household chore?


Vacuuming!




Waffles or pancakes?


Either one, as long as they are fluffy and aren't drowned in syrup.




Do you like to play games?


Not really, except for Apples to Apples, which is the funniest post-modern game ever!
And dodgeball and air hockey.



Have you ever let anyone win a game?


Yes, but I can't remember who and when or why.




Have you ever dyed your hair?


Yes, a blue highlight, but it didn't work, unfortunately...




Do you make your bed every morning?


Who? Me?? Of course not!




Picasso or Norman Rockwell?


Norman Rockwell. I like his whimsical and nostalgic portraits of American life a long time ago.
 


I'm not really a big fan of Picasso's works, although they sure are interesting!




Do you like hardwood, tile or carpet floors?


Hardwood all the way--carpets get covered with dog hair, and tiles get too cold, although they are beautiful. I think I'll put a tile mosaic on the floor of my first house.




If you could put one thing in a safe under your bed, what would it be?


I don't know. Money? Important documents? A dirty sock? <---what really is underneath my bed right now. 




What's your favorite condiment?


Homemade ketchup, or horseradish. I usually eat foods plain though. 
CHOCOLATE SYRUP.




Have you ever thrown up on someone?


Yuck, of course not. 




What was the last thing that made you laugh?


C'mon, can't you guess by now that I have a poor memory for such things? 
Probably Yarael Poof though (an somewhat unimportant and short-lived Jedi Master; doesn't he look like a cross between E.T. and the aliens from War of the Worlds???)




Think fast...whats the first song that pops into your head?


"Think of Me" from the Phantom of the Opera, since I was singing it this morning. After that, either random Gilbert and Sullivan, or "Dust in the Wind". What can I say....




~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
So, that is it..and this is a cool idea!


~ Diana 

broody hen + babies

Taken by my brother, of Adventures with David. 

Fluffy butts!

Our incredibly cute Lab pup. As always, click on the photo to enlarge.

Tanicha, if you're reading this you need to post some photos of your chicks on your blog! Please????

~ D

prayers please

Salvete amici Latinae,
I could really use some prayers right now. I am going through a miserable time, which isn't anyone's fault but my own, so please pray for me.
It is always hard for me to share things; we all want to give the allusion of suave coolness; but underneath we are all sinners.

Thank you! :-)

On a lighter note:
• My silkie hen hatched out two adorable chicks; will post photos tomorrow!
• I'd like to do a Classic Book review and poetry link-up thing--I will start by posting and adding a button you can copy to your own blog. Interested, anyone?

Hmm....I am posting from my iPod so let me see if I have any cool photos...
A Sharpie ad? I do love sharpies! (If anyone's wondering what to get me for Christmas...)

Adios, Diana

rive gauche gets a makeover!

After perusing this blog, and noticing the neat, spare layout, I decided to fix up my blog a bit. I haven't found a layout that I absolutely love yet, but I think this one is pretty nice. The thing is, a plain white not-too-distracting template like I have now can get boring quickly for a personal blog unless you keep adding tons of luscious photographs to keep it interesting, and I rarely find time to take pictures. But on the other hand, maybe plain and boring is better than too much busy-ness, smiley faces and cutesy fonts.  

I like the chicken in the header! I find chickens very fascinating; they have the funniest personalities, and may I remark that roosters add a lot of excitement to a flock? 

Ronald aka Big Red, a huge and beautiful Rhode Island Red

I also finally got the gumption to post a picture of myself in the profile picture. So, now, dear readers, you can see what I actually look like, rather than reveling in the sheer beauty of Sadie the lamb's face.  


"Misery, in cold truth, is a weight less upon those who undergo it than upon the minds of those who see it; for he who is cold and starving is so busy in his efforts to obtain warmth and food that he has little time for self-pity, and endures his unhappy condition better than those who take it upon themselves to suffer for him." 
— Kenneth Roberts

If you have any comments upon the new layout, please leave a lucid and intelligible comment. (Very important criterion; please observe)

two thoughts.....

Thought number one:


"I need Thee, O I need Thee;
Every hour I need Thee;
O bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee."
~ Hymn by Annie S. Hawks 


Y'know, we really do need God. We literally cannot exist apart from him. As His creations, we can try to escape all we want, but when you pray to God and know in your heart and mind you belong to Him, it feels perfect. Because it is. We are His children. 


Thought number two:


~ If the youth and civilians of America don't care enough, as a whole, to preserve our culture, traditions, history and civilizations, who will?


Who will?  Who will reverse the moral decay in Western Civilization in general, and stand up for our beliefs, if we don't? It will disappear, just as Rome did, and the world will sink back into barbarism. 


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Okay!!! Enough seriousness for this very fine evening!!!!


I enjoyed the other Artemis Fowl book(s); I've read the third book so far. Much more interesting than the second, and an exasperating ending. 


And this week I'm taking a crew rowing camp here.....it is so much fun! I am terrible at it, improving but still at the exasperation-to-the-coxswain stage. Crew is basically the only truly amateur sport, meaning you usually don't get paid to do it anywhere. It is done because it is the funnest way to get exercise you can imagine! 
And it has a whole glossary of words unknown to those who aren't/weren't boat people.
Starboard, right, port, left, "way enough" means stop and many more......

What? No photos? Fie upon me, shame, shame. So here is a beautiful clownfish, nice and bright and summery.
And lastly an old photo of one of Artemis's Fowl, as edited by a BYC member (thanks!). Bottom picture is of two more of Artemis's fowl, Mary Lou and Ophelia, looking coy:

I love summer. 

music, life, and other ramblings....

Two very different songs:

1957- Julie Andrews sings "The Lass with the Delicate Air", an old English folksong I sang in June for my recital. Perfect diction, as always.

And you are going to hate me for this--Julian Smiths absolute WORST song ever! It is so irritating, not funny, and obnoxious, that I think you should have it stuck inside your head too! I'm an extremely compassionate blogger. ;-)

So, on to less jovial subjects...or not. Joviality does indeed have its place.

Last night the other females members of our household and me went to see H.M.S. Pinafore as performed, in a simplified concert form, by the Cornell Savoyards of Ithaca, NY. They did a fantastic job! We really enjoyed it. I was in the chorus of this operetta in 2009. Lots of fun!

I performed with the Summer Savoyards, which is an amateur group which performs a different G + S each July. They're doing Patience this year, if anyone wants to go see it. We're going!

Gilbert and Sullivan is amazing! W.A. Gilbert wrote the witty and gently satirical lyrics and dialogue in the 1880s. It goes perfectly with the sparklings music composed by Arthur Sullivan, who also composed a "real" opera and the hymn Onward Christian Soldiers. For a sampling of G + S just go onto Youtube. 

From Pinafore's dialogue:

"I am poor in the essence of happiness, lady --— rich only in never-ending unrest. In me there meet a combination of antithetical elements which are at eternal war with one another. Driven hither by objective influences — thither by subjective emotions — wafted one moment into blazing day, by mocking hope — plunged the next into the Cimmerian darkness of tangible despair, I am but a living ganglion of irreconcilable antagonisms. I hope I make myself clear, lady?"

I love that line: "I am but a living ganglion of irreconcilable antagonisms." i can even pronounce it!  Ah, the joys of using and learning really long words, even if half the time no one can make out what you're saying....

Finally, as a suitable ending to a completely raggletaggle assortment of blatherings, a photo of a toucan. NOT MY PHOTO.

untitled

Happy Fourth of July, everyone-who-is-reading-this-page!
God Bless America!
And enthusiastic if insufficient gratitude to all of our troops and veterans who put their lives on the line that our way of living could be preserved. Thank you.
Not that our way of life is perfect, but it is much better than most/many countries on this earth today. It is our duty to preserve this culture, our heritage, and keep it from crumbling. Please pray for our country, that we can fulfill this duty. 


A RANT- You have been forewarned.....
Another thing: why is it that city/suburban dwellers tend to look down on farm animals and farmings in general? Not all of them (I'd prefer not to stereotype them all, as I am a former suburban dweller myself!); this is slowly changing due to the local food movement and such. (BTW: while eating locally produced food is good,  better, and delicious, I'd like to inform my readers that commerce and imported foods are not a bad thing. Walmart, Oreos, and supermarket vegetables do have their place too. Also, without industrialized farming we wouldn't be able to feed all the people we can feed!) 


Farming is important. To quote a bumper sticker popular amongst organic farmers, environmentalists, and suchlike:

 And, as the illustrious T. Jefferson wrote:
Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independant, the most virtuous, and they are tied to their country and wedded to its liberty and interests by the most lasting bands. 


 In other words, farming connects you to this beautiful earth. A farmer's job is to steward the earth's resources, converting poorer land into grass into beef, lamb or chicken; growing vegetables and the very important cereals such as oats, wheat, and corn.
But not to romanticize it: farming is hard, sometimes heartbreaking, dangerous and dirty work. The advent of modern machinery has lifted much of the hand labor off the farmer's back, but running the dangerous  machinery can still  result in accidents. The reality, and if you raise any kind of animal you'll soon see this, is that things die. The weather fails the crops dependent on it. Many things can happen.  
...But my point is that farmers deserve more respect. Their job is hard, but someone has to do it. We all have to eat. Meat doesn't grow on Styrofoam trays.
....And my second point is that so do the animals they take care of! (deserve respect) We all love our dogs, cats, and assorted pets. They provide companionship and love, a beautiful gift from God in the form of pets. But do our dogs or cats actually produce anything real? 
Hey, those cattle died to make that cheeseburger. The milk cows produce many gallons of milk every day which goes into ice cream, cheese, or yogurt. (or whatever!)
And so do the smaller animals. Chickens, pigs, sheep, goats, ducks and many others are killed every day that you can eat. They may not be fun, may not be the smartest knives in the drawer, or even attractive, but these animals and their husbandry is one thing the world depends on for daily protein intake. It's a symbiotic relationship: we take care of the animals, and they provide us meat, milk, eggs, fur, or whatnot which we need.
So, next time you see a cow, say "Hi. Thanks, buddy!"


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
Rant finis.
*whew* Writing is hard work. I think I'll eat some lunch now. 


Edited:
DISCLAIMER: I'd also like to say that worse problems than prejudices against farmers are threatening our country...lest I sound like an environmentalist! 

I've been informed...

I spelled the title of my blog wrong. oops! What can I say, French makes no sense.....

So, in a rather desperate effort to make this blog slightly less boring, I will post some lists of favorite things.


*Current favorite sheep breeds....

Katahdin

Olde English Babydol Southdown

Herdwick

Zwartble

Shetland

You can see I like the cute breeds--however, myseff, I'd rather raise less attractive, more practical breeds!

(Sadie and Amelia over a month ago)











*Favorite music currently.....

Ravel's Bolero  A weird, Spanish sounding piece.
Mozart's Voi, Che Sapete from "The Marriage of Figaro" A lovely piece.
Puccini's O Mio Babbino Caro is nice too for a classic opera aria (I think).
I can't think of any others now.....
Irritating yet funny lyrics:

This is the song that never ends,

It just goes on and on, my friends.

Some people started singing it not knowing what it was,

And now they just keep singing it forever just because...

[edit]

LOL. I got it off wikipedia!

*Favorite sandwich:

1 whole wheat tortilla

OR 

2 slices rye, white, or whole wheat bread

1 large brown egg

Pepper 

Salt

Lettuce or sprouts

Tomato optional.

Mayonnaise or cheddar cheese

Fry egg in butter to liking; assemble sandwich. Eat. Obviously.

I love tortillas!




To end this on a happy note, I am now getting up off the computer and going outside. Adios.

introducing the girls!

I have at present eight chickens: five pullets and three chicks. This blog is for all the photos I like to take of them, and for random ramblings on their various antics and personalities!

Here are all the girls when they were still chicks.

From left to right: Blackie, black sex-link, Rosie (r.i.p.) rhode island red, Annabel, barred rock, Desdemona and Ophelia, silver laced wyandottes.

At the bottom you can see Mary Lou's (another barred rock, Annabel's sister) head.

Blackie in the flowerbox!!!