After a long cold day of working outside, I wanted nothing more this evening than to cozy up with a blanket in a soft chair and spend a few moments writing about some of the many important things I've had on my mind. You know, the really important things of life, like silly snow chickens and vats of fermenting pear juice. But this crucial work was hindered by the interference of these wild kittens of mine.
This is what I'm dealing with here, people. How am I supposed to compose my prose with these pesky fur balls in the way? They figured out that they could see each other through the little gap between the screen and the keyboard, and trying to paw each other through this gap became the most entertaining game of the day. Which is saying a lot considering knocking a pumpkin off the table and breaking one of the slats in a window blind had already been thoroughly enjoyed.
They can wreak all this havoc because they are so adorable and purr the entire time, which seems to lull me into an accepting mood. That pumpkin is destined for pie anyway, and I should really replace those old blinds, right? Purrrrr...rrr... It's a genius design.
While the kittens have been getting more and more comfortable in the house, the poor chickens had to figure out snow again. And as we all know, a chicken wakes up in a new world every day, so the first snow of the year is like the first snow of their lives. Maybe the first snow ever! Mrs. Hall bravely exited the coop and with much trepidation, lead me to the breakfast area.
Helen, on the other hand, refused to step from the coop onto the strange white world, and cooed and whined pitifully because Mrs. Hall was getting breakfast without her.
I finally took pity on her and brought her a cup of food, but placed it just out of reach so she would have to step in the snow. She finally took a leap and landed with her big clumsy feet in the tiny food cup, which resulted in spilling her food everywhere. But, after that attempt, she realized the snow wasn't the absence of ground, and got a grip on herself. Silly chicken.
Remember the copper pot still I bought at the junk store in Spain? Well, mom and Jamie helped me clean it up, and we practiced by putting water in it and putting it on the stove. I can proudly say that I have made distilled water from scratch! Whew, I can now check that off my list.
I was practicing with the still because I have three gallons of pear juice fermenting in a crock. Jamie and I used the juicer and used up almost all the pears I collected from the tree at the farm that hadn't been eaten. In the photo above you can see the pulpy cap that rises to the top of the juice, and the bubbles that rise up from the yeast action when I stir the juice. The photo below is what it looks like after I give it a stir, which I do twice a day.
Looks yummy, huh?
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