The Girls Finally Earn Their Keep

This would be yet another example of my "going gangbusters" when I get a good idea.

And the good idea? CHICKENS. Mostly I hate chickens. I don't eat them. It's a long story involving chicken slaughtering, a bucket of feet and beaks and rocky Vermont soil. Buy me a beer and I will tell you the entire tale.

I organized a neighborhood chicken coop tour. Built the coop. Bought the chickens from Jerry at the Farmer's Market. Brought them home and gave them love.

And finally, one of the girls has started laying eggs.

On our way out of town last week, I was rushing around, getting water and food for the chickens. I poked my head inside their coop and what did I find? EGGS! Hooray. Harper and I did some celebratory dancing and woo-hoo-ing.

We gathered them up and took them to Portland.

Aren't they pretty?

They were delicious.


Our Chicken History: A Photo Essay

Laramie's New Bike

I found this for a steal on Craigslist. Sears bike, built in Austria, which makes it a bit better than the ones made here. Or so I learned on Google U. Regardless, it is adorable and my lady friend will look smokin' on it.

Wicked Busy

I have been incredibly busy this last week. Here is a sneak preview of some upcoming posts, I promise.

3 delightful days in Portland.
Finishing up the movie project for my co-worker.
A new bike for Laramie if I can get up to Lynnwood to pick it up.
A makeover for Eliza.
The chickens finally earn their keep.
Windham laughs.
Harper discovers here own style.

Stay tuned.

What to Do?

I found this quote and loved it. Right now I feel like I am on a personal mission to get everyone I can on a bike. Adults on bikes, UNITE!

So I made this graphic. Now, what should I do with it? Maybe a t-shirt? sticker? tatoo?

The Saddest Poster in the World

Seen on our walk to the park this afternoon. So sad. This is why we have 2 Doggits. Lord help us if we lost any of them.

A Solution

That didn't take too long.

What did we ever do without the internets? I swear.

Squared 5 makes a free MPG converter that you can download. I did a quick conversion to a MPG-4 was then abe to import into imovie. I still need to do some tinkering, but I think it will work.

3 Cheers for Google University.

Feeding Time at the Zoo

The Scene:
Laramie was in the kitchen, Windham in his chair at the table and Harper off playing in the living room, finished with her breakfast. Laramie heard a sound that sends panic through every parent's entire being: silence.
Upon turning the corner, there was Harper, sitting at the table with Windham, feeding him pears.

Jump Up, Jump Up and Get Down

I was hoping to edit together a few of these jumping videos but I couldn't figure out how to get imovie to import my mpg. (Any Mac folks out there know of a solution?)
So here is an unedited glimpse of the life and times of one Jumping Harper Bean.



Short and oh so sweet.

Our New Cyclist

Turned it upside down and riding is a go…







Harper loves it.

Ah Ha, Upside Down!

Last night at Harper's party, Brandon and Erika helped me realize my dream, uh, Harper's dream. They had tole me about assembling the bike upside down, but I didn't quite get it.

Turns out, you just turn the body upside down to make it shorter. Duh.



Now it fits. We watched a few video this morning of some tots riding their Skuuts. I think it will still take some time for her to figure it out.

AWESOME!

Harper's Birthday

Today is Harper's 2nd Birthday. I don't think she knows what that means. We keep telling her she is two and then when we ask her how old she is, she say "free."

Yesterday I rode Eliza to work so I could pick up the bike on my way home. I am really excited about this Skuut. Harper's cousin Jasper has one and he loves it. I must admit, I felt pretty cool riding with this big box hanging out behind me.



I was so excited I had to put it together last night. Pretty easy, just a few screws in a few places. I can only imagine this is the beginning of years to dread the 2 words "assembly required."



But 15 minutes and sore fingertips later, we have bike.



I have overambitious parent syndrome. I really wanted her to have her own bike and this one is the coolest. Harper, however is too small for it yet. I am more disappointed than she is. We gave it to her this morning, and she could barely touch the ground on her tippy toes. (We discussed saving it for Christmas, but I couldn't wait!) So I pushed her around the house a few times and she loved it. I think we can have some fun with it until she gets tall enough.

Unnecessary Toys

I believe I have mentioned this before, but I have some addictions. One of my favorite things right now is my Google Reader account. I have about one thousand bike blogs (that might be a slight exaggeration) that I read and the new posts are delivered directly into my account. I highly recommend this for anyone who sits a computer all day.

This was delivered from the EcoVelo blog this morning.

iPod Bike Speaker



Totally cool, totally unnecessary, but if it takes 2 hours to ride one way with the childrens, then maybe justifiable. It is waterproof, rests safely in your water bottle cage and has a handlebar mounted remote.

I am voting for Michelle

Michelle Obama dancing on Ellen. I love it.



go here to see the video

Polls told us that people voted for Bush because they liked him and wanted to have a beer with him. Well, I am voting for Obama because he and his wife danced with Ellen. So there.

Another great bike day

Here is what we did on our bikes yesterday.

1. Delivered Harper's birthday party invitations
2. Picked up a humidifier for Baby Windham
3. Ate ice cream and splashed in the water at Seward Park
4. Relaxed at a BBQ at Erika/Brandon/Josie/Baby Zella's house

We left the BBQ after sunset and it has been a long time since we had ridden at night. It really is a different experience, one that I quite enjoy. It feels a little bit dangerous(although we had plenty of lighting), a little bit exhilarating and a little bit peaceful.

It was awesome. We are making great strides in our efforts to be more car free. Laramie is going to ride to work today. We mapped her route, got out her saddle bag (I hate the word pannier), bought her a new lock and are talking best rain attire for wet commutes.

Confused, and I don't like it

This Sarah Palin nomination has me all a wiggled up on the inside of my brain.

I was listening to NPR on my way in to work this morning and they had a piece on the 2 sides of this debate. The Mommy Wars. Ugh. The "You Go Girl" versus the "How Could You?" I find myself coming down on the "How Could You?" side and it makes me a little uncomfortable.

The feminist in me believes it is time for a woman in the White House. There is no reason a woman couldn't or shouldn't be the leader of the free world. I like to think she would do a much better job than the peckerheads that have come before. No war, an end to poverty, free quality education for all, universal health care, marriage equality, etc. I am not that naive however. Or maybe I am too cynical. (And I would never, ever vote for this woman in particular, obviously with that list above!)

The parent in me is shocked and appalled that the mother of an infant, and a special needs infant no less, would sign up for the job of Vice President of US Americans. And she is going to be a first time grandmother to her 17 year old daughter's child. What the What? If there is anything I have learned from this parenting gig, it is that you can't have it all to the extent you want it.

Vice President is no 9-5er, its no 6-12er even. It appears from my perch to be a 24-7er. And I am judging here, but either you aren't putting in the time for your children or you aren't putting in the time for your country. When will she have time to sit under her grandbaby? When will she find time to conspire to out CIA agents?

It isn't that I think a mother shouldn't be on the presidential ticket, but not a mother of so much at this time in her life. I like to think I would have the same judgement for a man in her same situation. I am really interested in other folks opinions on this. So pipe up if you have one, and I know you do. We all have them, as the joke goes.

P.S. On a totally ridiculous note: what happens if she leaks breastmilk on Meet the Press? That is totally sexist, I would never ask that question of a man.

Our House to Wallingford…on the bike

We had a great adventure yesterday.



Seattle Tilth was having a Farm Fair and they had me at goats. We just had to go. I was itching to try out a longer trip on the bike. Thus far we had only been around the neighborhood.



I loaded up the kids and away we went. It took a good one hour and 45 minutes to go the 10.5 miles. A bit longer than I anticipated, but we weren't in any hurry. It was much more pleasant than being in a car. And with a Husky game, general Saturday traffic and parking, it probably didn't take that much longer.



We visited some booths, did a bit of dancing. Watched the goats. Ate organic peaches and bread. A nice way to spend the afternoon.

The ride home consisted of one napping toddler, a singing and then screaming infant boy. I stopped several times to feed him but that never stopped him for long. I felt like a terrible parent as the many cyclists passed me by with a look of "Do you know there is screaming infant in that trailer behind you?" Well yes in fact I did. But it was either stop and pacify him for a minute or just keep going. I chose to just keep going.

We made it home all in one piece. Turns out he needed a diaper change. But you can't think of everything. This parenting thing can be tough. Sometimes you remember to make it all the way through the list, and sometimes you forget. After 21 miles, I forgot one of the first checks: the diaper.

A Little Bike News

I have finally gotten Eliza set up so I can take both children. The extra weight of the trailer slows me down but we are never in a hurry so it doesn't matter. Mostly we have just been down to the park and around the 'hood. But I am hopeful we will take some longer trips to the zoo or somewhere else exciting and beyond the Valley.

On our trip Saturday, we ran into Boyd, Ann Melone, Boyd's mom Kay and Baby Nonah. We finally got a photo of our bike train. Thanks Ann.



And in other news, I took my old and much loved Univega "Viva Sport" to Bike Works to convert it to a single speed. I have wanted to do this for awhile, and finally decided I could use it to commute to work. I picked it up on Saturday but hadn't had a chance for a ride. Today we ordered take-out from the Thai joint a few miles up the road. I quickly turned the new bike into the ultimate take-out delivery bike.



She rode great. I will definitely get myself in bike shape right quick. I added the quick release bike rack, 2 bungee cords and a soft-sided cooler we picked up at Ikea years ago. The food fit perfectly in the bag and was still warm by the time I got home.