Annaka takes a chicken for a walk.

I have been working on getting an area prepared for a small orchard. The other day I set out to dig a couple holes to plant two peach trees. This is in addition to my two previously planted apricot trees.

Annaka started off helping me by sitting in the grass next to her pink backpack and eating a cookie. In the grass because the dirt was dirty and I had to carry her over the dirt to where the grass began. Eventually the cookie and her attention ran out and in her roaming way she trekked off through the thigh high grass. I noticed that she headed in the general direction of the chicken coup and our free range chickens. I didnt really think much of it as I could see and hear her.

At this point I have to give you a general lay out of the house. The house looks out onto our field. Then on the left hand side is some bushes/trees and the chicken coup. On the far right hand side of the house is where I have started the small orchard. The distance between the orchard and chicken coup is about 60 yards or so.

After a few minutes I noticed that Annaka was starting to head back towards me. I was happy that she was getting closer as she can dissappear quickly. The closer she is the easier to watch her when she gets into something she is not supposed to. I turned my attention back to what I was doing... finishing the planting of the first peach tree.

A few more minutes go by and I see that Annaka is still plodding along through the grass. But this time I notice a little surprise. I really dont know how I missed seeing this before but in her arms is one of our reasonbly large brown chickens. She had somehow caught a chicken and picked it up. She had then carried it almost 50 yards back over to me! In my mind it is amazing she caught it in the first place as they are free ranging (running free) . I laughed as I watched her plod her way towards me carrying it as if it was one of her more heavy baby dolls. I asked her what she was doing and she told me, matter-of-factly, that she "had a chicken". Well, she most definately did have that chicken and the poor thing wasnt going to escape either.

Naomi ran out and took a picture of us as we traveled back over towards the other chickens to return Annaka's catch. Sadly, of the 3 pictures only one of them is below. The other two that didnt have the fence in the way were accidently deleted by me. I am still miffed about it. So, that being said enjoy the image even with the fence in the way.

It's March and it's Snowing Again

Ever since we received the first three feet of snow it has not warmed up enough to actually melt it. Last week, we thought spring may have been on it's way. Then it snowed last Monday and, yet again, yesterday. Normally, I'm a huge fan of snow. However, we are in mid March and there hasn't been much of a reprieve. Let's just pray for some sun.

Now, since I haven't posted in quite a while I'm going to subject you all to a most terrible post that seems to go on forever. Completely contrary to the very nature of blogging, I know.

New Orleans

In mid February, I had the very cool opportunity to visit New Orleans on a school conference. We were there learning how to get better parent engagement in your schools as well as exploring as much of the area as we could. I find New Orleans to be a very exciting place with much to see and do but tends to attract a very "interesting" group of people. During the evenings you really had to look to find entertainment that wasn't meant for the trashiest of people. As for the history of New Orleans there are many wonderful opportunities to explore. One museum, not limited to the scope of New Orleans, was the WWII museum. It was incredible and drew you into the story of WWII from the point of view of the soldiers who were there. I highly recommend visiting that museum at least once. Of course I must mention the artists. There are artists everywhere. Many of them are quite good and many were mediocre at best. But, if you're a gallery hound this is a good place to explore.


Seattle

The last weekend of February I attended the T Cubed International conference in Seattle. I wish I had something fun to say about this one but I literally never went anywhere other than the convention center and my hotel. It really doesn't help when you're 7.5 months pregnant and been on your feet all day. Let me say the conference was great! I feel like I have a much better idea of what I should be doing in my classroom with my calculators!

Annaka

She is growing up into quite a character. We have all kinds of conversations together. Lately, she has been fascinated with the new baby chickens we brought home. Caleb's idea is to raise some chickens for eggs. We'll see how well it will work out. For a pretty small investment we could end up not having to buy eggs for like, uh, ever, I guess.

We were pretty worried that the hardest person on the chickens would be our dog, Jindol. We even held one chicken down for him to sniff fully expecting him to attempt to eat it. Apparently, he doesn't feel that these little peepers need to be exterminated. We just have to make sure Annaka doesn't get into the chicks without us. She just gets too excited to handle them with a completely gentle touch. I'm sure it won't be long before one pecks at her hand and sends her running.