Hump-dili-icious, Hash is fine, bored, setting the house on fire

HashTag is officially off the  "worried about him" list.  He's just fine. He's doing so fine that he has an early case of spring fever going on.   I almost feel like I need to cover my eyes when I go out in the back yard....   He starts by doing a little whirling dance in front of whichever of the  girls  he's decided needs his  attention.  When he  has her fully  hypnotised by the whirling,  without breaking rhythm he whirls right on top of his chosen love.  By the time she figures out whats going on..... its over!    As soon as we  are settled in the new place ( or  know for a fact that we are staying here for a while)  I am going to try and incubate  the, obviously, fertilised eggs.  Yes, I know,  the results will be mad max looking  chickens.  They should have good temperaments like Hash , lay decent eggs and be broody.   Most of your modern laying hens have had brooding bred out of them. It interferes with egg production since the hens don't lay  for two months while they are setting and then mothering. 
Sadness, sort of ,this week.  The last of the winter garden was officially eaten this week.   I know its only  January and I have another month to go before I can start any gardening.... But I am really itching to get my fingers in the dirt.    I'm pretty twitchy right now with this house thing going on.  I cant start any projects,  cant work on anything that takes any time or space. Oil paints  take forever to dry so I  cant do anything in the studio and the mortgage Gods have proclaimed 'spend no money' until this process is over.  This  'process' started the week before  Thanksgiving.  I am so bored!  Pay attention because it is likely you will never hear those words from me again.  Yes I have the fabric paints and I can crochet or  sew or work on my weaving, but really there are only so many tea towels and pot holders one can make!  Textile work is fun and rewarding and its great when you are snowed in but,  relying on it to keep me busy AND engaged for 2 months is asking a lot.  In an attempt to try some new things that don't cost money and can be completed in a short period of time..... I almost set the house on fire.   I have been intending for some time now to learn how to render fat both for soap making and cooking.  My 'country living skills'  book  has a nice page on how to clean your cooking oil so it can be reused instead of thrown out.  A couple of things here :  #1. It boils over like milk (fire hazard...guess what I did!)  #2. It stinks to high heaven!  I will never do this in the kitchen again.  This, like soap making, falls into the  outside activity only category.   After that  almost disaster, I broke into my cash stash (which has dwindled to almost nothing) and  went over to goodwill and bought a bunch of cheesy, historical bodice rippers.  I calculate I have  about 10 days of  reading fodder.  That should take us up to the deadline. 
Before I end this blog entry I would like to thank everyone who has invited me to do things over the last few weeks.  Please don't forget about me. I will be allowed out  of this mortgage imposed Guantanamo .....eventually. 

Backyard chickens, snowed in, trichem fabric painting, cyber quilting bee without the quilting

I really hope the weather guys are right this time.  This snow and ice just needs to go away.   My chickens havent been out of the coop in 4 days.  Hash tag flings himself into my arms every time I go near the coop door.  Hester... bless her little chicken heart has been giving us an egg a day  even though there isnt really enough sunlight.  She's pretty stand up since the carnage in the coop.  She's taken a middle management stance.  Anytime  something is going on she runs  to the back door ,knocks until I answer and then marches  me to the problem.  Maybe we should have named her Lassie. 
The bright side of being snowed in?  Feral Jane and I have been skyping for hours as we each work on our  various knitting, crochet, painting and sewing projects.  Its pretty cool....  a cyber quilting bee (only without the quilting).   When the news guys started screaming STORM OF THE CENTURY!!!  I  figured I better find myself a couple of projects  to make  the cabin fever  less than nightmarish.  So, I picked up some liquid embroidery.  For those of you old enough to remember .... trichem, ball point,  fabric paint was all the rage in the 70's.  Now its almost impossible to find. But,  find it I did.  I also picked up several of Aunt Marthas embroidery transfers.  The first project was  painted onesies for reproducing friends in Portland.   I did cute little baby chicks and butterflies. Jimmy did a fire breathing dragon cooking a Buddha, while a giant Godzilla-like panda devastated  a serene village. (that ought ta put the  kid in therapy early).  I made  Feral Jane a matching set of Buddha tea towels.  The Good Typist  gets  hand painted   flowers on hand made pot holders.  And I will just keep going until the snow melts.  I'll make gifts until  everyone is covered and then I'll start sending the stuff to Etsy.  I looked.... There is a serious shortage of  tri-chem, hand painted,  tea towels on Etsy.   Yeah, I know this blog post  is singularly insipid.... But , Hey we are in deep winter.  There's not a lot to do  but sit in front of the fire and  do textile work  while the bread rises.  I should probably enjoy it.  A couple of months from now it will be all about soil and planting and  hatching baby chicks.