Friday, May 30, 2008

CONTEST! IndieHomeSchoolMoms Group Icon Image!


Whose Got THE LOOK for Indie Homeschool Moms on IndiePublic??

Its been awhile since we've been active, yeah, I know LIFE is busy. So I thought to spark a little activity I'd host a GiVe-AwAy contest for our IndiePublic group image!~
The winner will win one of my Fridge Friend Magnets of their choice (anyone else who feels so generous can donate to the cause too!) If you aren't familiar with these heart stealing critters, you can see them here: MY ETSY STORE!
It's not difficult, just submit your "G" rated images, photos, drawings whatever that you think best represents us as a group of indiecrafters. Submissions should be sent to: playventura@gmail.com . I can then post them over here and we'll take a poll for the winner (Blogger has a polling widget, I haven't found one at IP yet.)
You'll have till Friday, June 6 midnite to submit. Once the submissions are all posted here, I'll run a poll for the week, we'll vote on the submissions then on Fri June 13, I'll announce the winner here, on IndiePublic and through our group messages.
Now put on those thinking caps and plug 'em in!!

Saturday, May 24, 2008

My Goosey Goosey Gander- In Memory of Tristan

My heart breaks this morning for a beautiful goose named Tristan. He and his paramour, Isolde, lived fairly peacefully on our little farm pond. We've watched them for the past year and a half and taken some beautiful photos.



Yesterday, from their treetop perch, my daughters saw a mess of white feathers by the pond. They scampered down and ran with breakneck speed only to find beloved Tristan murdered. My 5 yos came to me in the house hotly angry to relay their findings. I went to see for myself. Tristan was a large and yet fast goose when it came to his flight response in cases of attack. How could he have not escaped!?
Sure enough, there was the poor beast, looking like a museum stuffed display that had seen better years. He was not bloody, but mangled. Definitely a dog kill, a just for the fun, run at anything that flutters kill. We lost a rooster a couple of weeks ago to another one of the neighbor's stray rescues. Now, beautiful Tristan.
I found Isolde painfully hiding in the shrubbery on the other side of the pond. Nearby her own feathers were scattered from her attack, a miraculous escape. She was the more timid and fragile of the two. Definitely dogs packing up, they must have been pumped up and eager to go at her as well. The dog tracks around that side of the pond revealed my suspicions. Isolde would not let me near her. I wanted to help as her tail and back were covered in flies, a telltale sign of some collection of wounds under the ragged and ripped feathers. She survived, but for what? To live lonely and vulnerable to the next seige??
I wanted to sell the farm, I wanted suburbia and laws and covenants. I wanted the promise of the farms you read about in sweet blogs with lovely photos. I wanted to wretch.
I returned to the house, to my utility room where I am raising the three offspring I incubated from Tristan and Isolde this spring. Isolde has lost two nests to the neighborhood dogs so I thought the only chance she would have was my intervention. Turns out I was right. The lovelies were hatched only two weeks ago and they have captured my heart more than any of the dozens of chicks I have hatched over the years, and I assure you, I have loved them as well.


Now, just WHAT am I to do? Well, for one. The violence on the farm is not over unless I am proactive. Deposit will be made at the Humane Society for borrowing a dog sized trap. I can not enjoy my farm, my animals can not live in peace on my farm as long as this is going on and dog owners think it is "just one of those things that happen on a farm. Dogs and birds don't go together."
Yes, well, neither do dogs and bullets.





I hope we can secure the property's peace again so our lovelies will be safe again and then we can continue to watch them thrive. The pond is only an ugly mudpuddle without their graceful movement upon it.
So said I my peace.
UPDATE: Isolde would not let me collect her and shelter her and on the following morning she was found to have had the same demise. We'll miss them.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Twinkly Things in Sight...

Being a hat person, I like to give applaud to crafters/artists who come up with unusual and functional hats! I happened upon the nifty little store of Twinklythings,by way of our EtsyBloggers Team and my attraction to her cute avatar. Great great store, great blog, great products, its that simple. LOVE the
twinkle Girls Medium Japanese Floral Bucket Hat !