Chicken Woes, Swim Lessons, and a Tale of Two Salesmen

   1.) We are currently facing the bane of poultry owners everywhere: native carnivores. 

We've lost two chickens so far (one we found a half eaten carcass, the other just vanished) and some of our other birds have taken to roosting in the trees in and surrounding the chicken yard rather than their coop at night. 

Sometimes they don't go back into the yard. I went outside this morning to find our dog carrying around a live chicken by it's neck feathers like a puppy (said chicken was most perturbed, but unharmed). 

We're going to try the most basic thing first-- shutting the coop door at night (we have a step landing rather than a ramp, so we didn't think we needed to do this. Our last flock never had an issue. Evidently, this flock is different). If we're still losing birds, we'll have to start reinforcing things. 

We're also probably going to have to trim flight feathers. 

2.) Swim Lessons 

We're doing swim lessons for the kids this week, and yikes...I forgot how disruptive it is to have to leave the house every day. 

It's in the morning instead of the afternoon this go round, which does make things better. It's less disruptive to start your day with the interruption to routine than to stop what you're doing for it. 

In some ways, anyway...

The kids are enjoying lessons and picking up some new skills. The teen boy teaching them is surprisingly patient too, God bless him. 

3.) Dueling Salesmen

Chris and I, being the weirdos we are, decided to go to a used RV sales lot and to a home building place on a date. Not because we're looking at buying an RV or building a house anytime in the terribly near future, but because we were curious and wanted to window shop and because we wanted to do research (we may build a bigger house someday (as in more than five years out), or we may just create more semi outdoor living space via a deck on our existing house. Not sure which. Hence, research). 

We encountered two salesmen on our strange little foray, and it was two very different experiences. We were open with our intentions at each place-- we weren't there to buy, not this time. Just look. 

The first, a woman at the RV dealership, acted EXACTLY like a stereotypical used car salesman. She honed in like a dog on a scent when I said I "really liked" one, and immediately started using my name. When we got back to the office, she managed to rope us into sitting there for a few minutes while she did the "let me take this piece of paper to my manager and leave you alone for a slightly longer than comfortable amount of time" song and dance, and then tried to get my (?!) phone number before settling for Chris's. "You should trade your old one in! I need to make one more sale this month! Emily, that one you like might be gone tomorrow!" 

Sorry lady, but you're barking up the wrong tree. 

The guy at the house builder, on the other hand, acted like we were human beings instead of meat. We explained what we were trying to find out, he listened, didn't try to upsell us on a fancier idea, and was actually helpful. He came off as personable instead of aggressive. 

Maybe the second person was just a more polished manipulator than the first, but it made for quite an interesting contrast. 

Or maybe I should just avoid any and all lots that sell used things with wheels. 

4.) Homeschool Books

I've been wrestling through the books we're using for school next year and filling out a "big picture" plan. 

It's a little painful. Lots of page flipping and squinting at numbers. 

I know it'll pay off later in the year though. At least, I hope it will. 

5.) Substack updates

I made my Substack look prettier. 

It has a logo now (thank you free version of Canva...), and I have an "about" page that I actually wrote instead of leaving on default. 

It makes me feel all professional and stuff. Look out freelance writing world, here I come!! (Ha.) 

6.) Another thought about free speech 

I tore up part of a collage today. 

A year ago, I wanted an image of St. Joseph for my children's room. I used one from a holy card the Knights of Columbus sent out, combined with a dollar store frame and some paint. 

Then, several months ago, it became public knowledge that the artist who created that particular image of St. Joseph was a serial rapist who used his art ("I need models") and his position as a priest to gain access to his victims. It's not just art created by a deeply immoral man, it's art created in the act of his immorality. 

I've waffled on what to do with that piece of artwork ever since. I'm not a fan of cancel culture, nor am I a proponent of the idea that a piece of art is completely under the control of the artist's intent (at least, not with visual or musical art). I don't think I can be reasonably offended by seeing art by that man in someone else's home, and I'm still very conflicted over whether it ought to be removed from the churches and chapels where it's been installed (not least of all because doing so is EXPENSIVE, and it seems an awfully unfair burden to places that may not be able  to afford either the removals or replacement art). 

But I finally  decided I don't want that art in my home knowing its history. I don't think it should be aggressively erased from existence, but there's a definite "ick" factor using it to catechize my children. I think it's time to find something better. 

7.) Odds 'n ends 

We've also had some visitors (one of my out of state brothers and a dear friend who's usually out of the country), I pickles okra for the first time this summer (new recipe, I'll let you know how it turns out), Chris borrowed a tractor mounted auger to dig a hole to bury a cat (not ours, my brother's...had to get the cat corpse deep enough that nothing would try to dig it up), and we mowed and tilled most of the garden. 

I also spent an evening with just my SILs and my MIL at the beach. We spent an hour stuck in traffic, but it was an hour without the kids so I still call it a win. 

No idea what we're doing for the 4th beyond putting up our flag. Any fireworks will be limited...those things are expensive!!

And that's what's fit to print.