In which Hansel and Gretel inspire me: we don't get lost in Spring

Hansel and Gretel used shiny rocks to find their way home the first two times they were abandoned in the woods. The third time they used breadcrumbs, and we all know the complications that came from that little debacle.



The little birds might scoop up a little bit of my trail-marking equipment to use as nest-building material, but Fiddle creates plenty for me to use.


We never get lost during shedding season!

In which we build a short fence, and Luna discovers a Predator

Mimsy's harrassment of the local bunny population led her too far astray today--and much too close to the busy road! We got her back, safe and sound, and then got busy building a doggie fence around the orchard to keep dogs away from traffic.

Thanks to our new neighbor Kathy L., we have a bunch of short t-posts that are perfect for the task. More photos of the fence when it's finished--we have to run to the hardware store in the morning to pick up more chickenwire.

Meanwhile, the local lagamorphs will be relieved. One of the Wildlife Rights Representatives (photo at left) told us that if we didn't corral that sniffing dog immediately, we'd be finding coal in our easter baskets instead of chocolate. Eeek. We got busy immediately.

Luna had a small adventure today. Having lived here nearly three weeks, she has explored the property with her usual zen-like cluelessness. I'm not sure why she suddenly looked up...but she did. That's when she (finally) noticed the horribly threatening predator:

I was pretty sure she'd lose interest (she's a pretty attention-deficit kind of dog) by the time I returned with the camera, but she continued to circle and bark at the scary plastic owl for at least 10 minutes while we stood around laughing.

It's good to come indoors and sit by the fire after a day of working out in the rain.

In which we are mostly moved In, and start to add more colors inside

This is the view from my breakfast table.

Jim and Willie attacked this little hedge-y area yesterday when Jim discovered that the whole thing consisted of a very weird stump and a bunch of hazeltree suckers. They didn't finish clearing out all the suckers, but they made a good dent.

Mimsy enjoys exploring the "sniffs" in the orchard in the morning. Bunny tracks, mole hills, bird scratchings--this dog could stay out here all day, just practicing her inhalation skills.

Luna prefers to sit decoratively in one location, until someone notices her and takes a picture.

Mom offered to buy interior paint for my birthday, so we spent a week looking at paint samples taped to various walls around the house, tearing down the colors we don't like and marking our initials on the colors we do like. We finally made color decisions, and I emailed the list to Mom, telling her to choose whichever room she wanted to paint.

She wrote back that she "had a lot of fun" at the paint store, and bought them all.

I wonder how much fun Mom would have at the hardware store, buying fenceposts. Hmmmm.

In which Food From Far Away is a Very Good Thing for tired folks!

We've declared Sundays "Korean Food Day" at Haiku Farm, which puts Willie in charge of cooking Sunday dinners.

He was every enthusiastic and raced into the kitchen as soon as we got home, laden with packages and bags from the Korean grocery store in Lynnwood. I'm happy that he's comfortable with this task, because I'm trepidatious about cooking with ingredients when I can't read the labels!

I'll ask him to send me the Korean name for these foods. (click the picture to enlarge)

The squares are a pounded fish, the cylindars are a dumpling-ish pasta, and the curly noodles are curly noodles. This dish included a couple kinds of seaweed (including one that is just for flavor--Willie and Jim both warned me not to eat the large stiff leaves) and some spices.

Can you guess what this is? Jim's favorites!

We also had a small korean melon, which we ate before I remembered to take a picture. I wonder if I can grow them in our garden here?

Update: I found the melon seeds for sale online. Here's the picture from the seed catalog!

I'm going to order seeds and plant some!

In which we truly understand the meaning of "A Full Cord of Wood."

Jim's dad came out with his shovels and rakes and implements of destruction on Saturday to begin the job of pruning the orchard. He dodged my camera, but he was so inspirational that soon there was a crowd in the orchard, busily chopping, sawing, and snipping branches.

Some were more adventurous than others in their pruning focus.

Others were determined not to miss important Spring Break Slacking Time, and took a more relaxed approach to clipping suckers from the pear trees.

We still aren't sure what types of trees are up there, nor can we tell (yet) which trees are which. We suspect that the most upright of the trees is probably a cherry.

Most are probably apples and pears.

At least one tree has a large collection of peach pits around the trunk...so either it's a peach tree, or the local squirrels are playing an elaborate hoax on us.

Later in the day we had a cord of wood delivered, and Jim and Willie and I took an hour out of an already tiring day to get it all stacked in the nice, dry woodshed.

Sure enough: it poured down rain about an hour after we finished!

I found this photo on an artist's website . (click on it to enlarge).

I don't think we'll ever get this fancy with our woodpile.