Meet Alfonse

After the death of her good friend, Babs, Gert seemed quite forlorn. We set about finding a new friend for her, but the lady I got them from only had boys to give away, and since it's fall, the nearest hens (of any breed) were at least two hours away, and more money than I wanted to spend. So, it was a little trepidation, that we accepted the rooster and prayed he would be good company for darling Gertrude. I chose the tamest of the three I had to choose from, and the most pretty. Here he is riding in my car on the way home:

He was pretty good in the car, other than this moment when we first got in, he stayed in his tub and did some minimal chatting on the way home. I felt like we bonded.

Upon arriving home, I carried him to the yard, and set him down. He started doing a little squawking, the kind of "locator cry" I've come to expect from them, and Gert came running over. They grazed a bit side by side, and I thought it was love at first sight. But then Gertrude turned to face him, puffed up her feathers, and attacked the poor, unsuspecting rooster.

... and then he ran away.

It was a pretty rough first day for Alfonse. Gertie was not too sure she wanted a boy in her midst, the dogs barked at him and he ran into the woods. But he kept coming back, and made himself at home on our porch and attempted to roost on our grill. Given evidence of the giant owl in our neighborhood, we opted to keep him safe and put him in his coop.

Soon enough, they will be fast friends, and we'll have to work on getting a couple more hens to keep Gertie company!

Oh Dear Barbara!

It's been a less than fabulous week here at the Moore homestead. Monday night one of our chickens was taken, we think by a fox. I was awakened by this screeching noise, at first I thought it was the cat, then I realized it was one of the chickens. There was just a pile of feathers, and a trail leading into the woods. It was our darling Babs, the leader of the two. Now poor sad Gertrude is all alone, and we need to find her some chicken friends. The lady I got them from only has boys to give away, and I'm not certain we need a rooster around here. But polish roosters are hilarious looking, and that could be reason enough to get one. And they try to protect their ladies, so I think we'll get one rooster. Even still, I think she's going to need a couple of girlfriends. And I need to pick out the best rooster name ever.

Then the next day, our betta fish, Oscar, passed away. We've had Oscar for about a year, and he'd been acting like the end was near, so it was not entirely a surprise. It was, however, still a big bummer to have two of our pets die within 24 hours of each other.

The good news is the dogs, the cat, and the other fish all seem to be doing very well!

Here's a pic of Barbara the Polish Chicken, to remember her by:

I've been avoiding posting for a few weeks because, well, my dad died. And I thought I had to write something profound and heartfelt to show how wonderful he was and how much I loved him. But I was heartbroken and couldn't find the words.

Then I had too many words. They all came jumbled inside, and I had to get all of them out, but it made no sense and because the world's longest run on sentence.

So here's what you need to know: I love my dad. Though he was sick for a long time, and I truly recognize that he's in a better place and not suffering anymore, I still wasn't ready to not have a dad anymore. Most days I get through the day just fine, and then it will hit me that he's not here anymore.

There doesn't have to be just one post about my dad, there can be many. I have thirty years of memories of him, I can't get them all out at once. I think that's how it should be. Someday, I will tell you all about his last days, because they were actually quite wonderful. Right now it's all a little raw, but now it's out there, and I can move on ever so slightly, a little bit at a time.

Fiona Came Home!

Our darling little girl cat, Fiona, disappeared for a full 24 hours yesterday. Well, I think. We last saw her right before we went to bed, and the next morning she was nowhere to be found. She's a self-imposed indoor cat, has never really wanted anything to do with going outside, but we leave the door to our attached garage open so she can go in there and catch mice. Something she does almost too well. The other night she woke me up during a thunderstorm in the middle of the night to show me her TWO kills, and she was soaking wet! So obviously she had gone out the not quite closed garage door to the outside. I guess she discovered a world out there that she missed from her days as a stray. Or maybe she got shut in the neighbor's basement. We'll probably never know.

We made a point of leaving the garage doors open, but Hubs hadn't seen her all afternoon. On my way home late last night, I drove past our house to see if she had  been hit by a car, or met some other terrible fate on the road. But no kitty. I walked in the house, and she was standing at the top of the stairs as though nothing had happened. The dogs came out of their room and sniffed her all over (too bad no one can tell me where she was!), and then she discovered there was food in her dish, and chowed down.

Today she is all snuggles, enjoying the warmth of her home and her person's lap. She doesn't seem affected in any way, really. So I guess nothing terrible happened to her, she was just out having a good ole' time.

My Sweet New Ride

I've been wanting a scooter for the longest time. I told my husband about this plan, and he agreed, but took it and ran with it and got himself a small motorcycle. (Ahem, got "us" a small motorcycle). Which makes sense for the roads around here. But I was afraid to drive it, so he finally went out and got me exactly what I wanted so I can learn on something little where maybe I won't kill myself, and if I crash it, it won't be the end of the world. 

Meet our new edition, the Spree: 

I freaking love it! 

I took it out for a spin around the neighborhood, and while I never did over 15, I had soooo much fun! I can't wait to ride it some more and take it farther (it needs new tires, I need a better helmet, and it only goes about 35mph, so I'm not going too far). 

He gets BEST HUSBAND EVER for finding this adorable little thing for me! I'm totally repainting it some super rad 80's colors, but first I have to find the paint since half of it is plastic. And this now makes 3 Hondas in our fleet. 

Hope you all are enjoying your weekend as much as I am!! 

Hint of Lyme

Our big guy, Brooklyn, has been feeling a little under the weather lately. Not wanting to eat his food, lazing about, all pretty unlike him, but not 100% of the time. He doesn't have the best dental hygiene, so we assumed that he had a bad tooth and took him to the doggy dentist. Or, you know, just our vet.

Turns out his teeth really aren't that bad, but he does have some tartar build up and we need to brush his teeth more often (also known as at all). But another explanation for his tummy troubles is that he came up positive for lyme disease. As the vet explained it, the test is simply for the presence of antibodies, so he could have lyme disease, or he could just have a "hint of lyme." It made me laugh, and also made me think of him as a tortilla chip. No laughing matter though, he is now on antibiotics since he had symptoms in line with lyme disease, and after he finishes this round we'll see how he feels and go from there.

In other news, Fiona (our cat) seems especially enamored with him of late, so maybe those two will be friends after all. And Brooklyn thinks he's extra special since he got to go for a car ride, and went to a place where everyone told him how handsome he is and gave him treats (apparently he didn't notice any of the needles).

How to Clean Your Washing Machine

Guess what I did today?! I cleaned my washing machine! I've been seeing various methods floating around pinterest for months, and our washing machine is pretty old. It was my in-law's before it was ours, and we have been using it for 2+ years. There was definitely some build up in it, and it was starting to smell a little stale between loads.

There were a few different "recipes" out there, but they all seemed to involve the same basic steps, so I decided there was no perfect way to do this.

Here are the before shots:

That's some serious gunk and grime. I'm most embarrassed by the dirt build up in the bleach dispenser (bottom right of the top picture). What you can't see in any of these is the dirt that was piled under the hinge of the lid. Hubs gets REALLY dirty in his line of work, so our washing machine definitely gets a work out, and dirt gets deposited all over the place.

So here's what I did:

Step 1 - Start a hot, normal wash cycle and add bleach. I dumped in whatever bleach I had left (roughly 1.5-2 cups). Let the machine agitate for a few minutes, then stop and let the machine soak for a while. I left it for 45 minutes. Then start it up again and let it finish the cycle while it washes itself. I should have taken a mid-point picture as it was already starting to look pretty good.

Step 2 - Another hot cycle, but this time with vinegar. I use vinegar for a lot of cleaning projects (including as fabric softener), so it was no surprise to see it used here. Add about 2 cups of vinegar and follow the same process as in step 1. This time though, take a cloth and wipe around the edges, wipe down the agitator, the top of the wash basket, the sides, the bleach dispenser, everything. I even went a step further and used an old toothbrush to really get in there and make sure it was super clean. Hey, if i only clean it every few years, I might as well do it right. It was at this point my husband took notice of what I was doing and I had to say, "No, I'm not a crazy person cleaning my washing machine with a toothbrush." But it was totally worth it! After all the wiping down, let it soak for another half hour or so, let the machine finish it's cycle and TA DA!!

Check it out:

It could seriously be a brand new washing machine. For realz. Look how shiny it is!

And one load later, it already has some more sand on it, but now I see that and wipe it down as I go! No more gunky grimey washing machine.

Try it out, and let me know how it works for you!!