Archive for May, 2012

See You Soon!

Posted on May 19th, 2012 by Tonia 1 Comment

Bye-bye, Home Sweet Home. We’ll see you in 12 days.

Super big THANK-YOU! to our friend Seth who is house-sitting for us, and to our ever-awesome neighbors Bob and Sarah for acting as back-up. Thanks for keeping all our critters alive and our garden watered! It’s so nice to be able to go gallivanting off and know that everything is safe and sound.

Here’s to an awesome adventure!

Not a Baby Announcement

Posted on May 17th, 2012 by Tonia 13 Comments

The other day- out of the clear blue sky- Mike said, “Maybe we should have a baby.”

So I said, “GUESS WHAT WE’RE ADOPTING A CAT!”

That is how it works around here. If one of us utters the B-word, we get a new pet. It’s the rule. Until we’re “mature” enough “to be trusted” with a tiny human, we will continue to collect animals. It might be a while.

Also there have been mice getting in the house {so grossssss}. They are apparently supersmartypantsmice because traps do not work on them.

Long story short, meet Cleo:

She single-handedly wards off B-words and mice and looks good doing it. And she’s not a half-bad snuggle-buddy either. We’re pretty fond of her already.

So this is our new calico family member. Not a baby. Sorry Mom.

The Great Italian Adventure: Packing

Posted on May 15th, 2012 by Tonia 9 Comments

Drum roll please…..Mike and I are going to Italy with my family NEXT WEEK {happy dance}!!

We’re more than a little excited. This will be our first big trip since our honeymoon, and Mike’s first time to Europe. We have a bad itch to travel, and it can only be scratched by the Duomo, excellent gelato, and the Tuscan sun.

My little brother is currently over there WWOOFing at a gorgeous wine vineyard. We’ll be meeting up with him and staying in Central Italy for 12 days all together. His fantastic girlfriend is coming with as well. It’s going to be epic!

One thing stands between us and adventure: packing. One doesn’t simply “pack” for “Italy”. It’s an all-week affair consisting of frequent mind-changing and last-minute panicked online-shopping. Right now our bedroom looks like an evil Laundry Monster rampaged through it.

Perhaps I should forgo packing all together and buy everything IN ITALY? Sounds like a plan.

Raising Backyard Pigs: Or, as it is, Pig.

Posted on May 15th, 2012 by Tonia 3 Comments

We left off the pig saga last time with the sudden and unexplainable death of one of the hogs.

It was sad and weird and we felt guilty like we had done something to cause it, even though the farmer we got her from assured us that this sometimes happens and it wasn’t our fault. And mostly we were worried how our one remaining hog would adjust to the single life. Pigs are very social.

Well, we’re happy to report that she has been doing great! She gets a lot of attention from us. And from the dogs, who {as I mentioned before} think her poo is a tasty delicacy and spend much of their time hanging around her pen, waiting. She likes the company, so she gives them what they want. Which encourages them to stick around for more. It’s a very healthy co-dependent relationship.

Eeeeew.

Anyway, she is well and happy. We move her pen around the pasture every couple weeks so she has new grass to forage. She loves rooting up and munching on the gnarly quack-grass roots, and is kept happily busy with this task.

Her other favorite thing is a good spray-down with the garden hose on sunny afternoons. She wiggles around under the water stream and oinks with pleasure, and then promptly rolls in the mud.