...

I lost one of my very dear friends recently.  You see, on Tuesday, we let the hens out like we always do when we're home.  When I went outside at about noon, Henna wasn't among them.  It's not uncommon for a chicken to wander off.  If she wasn't with the group when I put them away, she would just roost with the cocks.  My baby wasn't with the nine other hens that evening.  It was still light out when I put them away, so I couldn't check the tree the roosters always sleep in, and later I forgot.  Like I said, that's a fairly normal thing to happen, so I didn't worry.  But on Wednesday, when I still didn't see her, I began to worry.  I let the hens out for the day.  I thought maybe Henna might be among them when I put them back, but, alas, she wasn't.  Yesterday, Thursday, I went to my class so I was busy acting out a play (that went very well, by the way) and doing science and learning about different Indian tribes.  When I got home, Henna was the last thing on my mind.  But then I did something to remind myself that Henna was still missing.  Two days I hadn't seen her... I went out to the rooster pen praying that I would find Henna there.  I only saw the Feisty and Cosmos, our two free roosters (we also have a penned up one that attacks a stick if you poke it into his little pen).  I also checked the pen where we keep the older hens that are a bad influence for the younger hens.  She wasn't in there either.  I came back in the house, where I went to bed, looking and feeling dejected.  Of course Mother came in to tell me goodnight and say she was sorry about Henna.  I miss my little hen.  I remember a couple of summers ago when she was about as young as the hens we have now are.  Feisty was so mean to her.  She came to me, hoping I would take her under my wing (so to speak) and treat her kindly.  Not only did I protect her and love her, I taught her how to think like a person.  In less than a month I had her people-loving and loyal.  Any time Feisty would try to attack her she would run to me and I'd pick her up and shoo Feisty away. She was an extremely smart chicken.  Just a little while ago we (Rosey, Bobby, Sara, Henna and I) were having a training session.  It was so nice to do that since we hadn't done it for months. And now... now Henna is gone.  I'm going to make a plaque in memory for her.  It shall say:

In memory of Henna Newhall,
The chicken with a sense of humor.

A Little Medley

To start off, I'm going to give you a Janet-to-Janet conversation:

Janet:  I wanna find out the definition of "looky."

Janet:  Looky - also lookie - means: "to draw attention to what one is about to say."  The example sentence is:  "Looky there!  You've gone and broken it."

Janet:  Broken what?  Your arm?

Janet:  I bet he broke some ribs, and his arm, and his leg... and I bet he had a concussion, and a sword wound to his side, and an arrow wound to his other arm... how exciting is that!

Janet:  *Gasp* and he lives in LOA, Rainbowland!  That was Deuce speaking in the "example" sentence!

Janet:  I need to get my iPod Touch and coat and get outside!  I should ride my bike today.  Oh, wait, I should record this in my blog or something.

Janet:  Let's make a Little Medley.

Janet:  Okay.

That is a true conversation I just had with myself.
Now on to my kitten!  I've decided to let you guess his name.  With hints, of course.

1.  It begins with the letter R.

2.  Its second letter is either E or A.

3.  It's a classic name.

4.  People pronounce it many different ways.

5.  Its meaning has to do with God.

Have you guessed it yet?  Keep on thinking and you'll get it.  If you do guess it, it'd be nice if you left a comment saying you know it (or think you know it), but you don't have to.  By the way, I'm hoping I get my kitty today, tomorrow or Friday.  Then I can write Kitten Part 2!  I felt like putting two exclamation points back there, but I refrained myself.
I really need to get outside, so A Little Medley is, believe it or not, smaller than usual.

California!

I'm back from my exhilarating trip to see my nephew.  I was going to write a huge post about it, but the notes I took really speak for themselves.



Through the entire journey there were many pretty clouds.
There were some gorgeous views.
Snow!

CALIFORNIA!!

Yreka

Maybe next time, San Francisco.
Somewhere in there were Willow, Walnut Creek and I-680.  (Side note:  I was half asleep at that time.  It was pretty late.)

Cayucos Beach was magnificent.  We saw gulls and herons and Dolphins.

We went to an antique shop in downtown Cayucos.

After we got home, Pat and I went for a walk and stopped at a couple places.

By Sunday I was finally able to comprehend that I was definitely in California.

We went to San Luis Obispo Mission and looked in the museum.  Then we browsed the gift shop and I got a little Guatemalan doll.

We went to Big Sky Cafe and had a lovely brunch.

Later we (not Matt, Margaret and little Mr. Newhall) went to Goodwill.  I found a sad hippo.  A statuette, of course.

Baby Walter was so perfect and sweet and amazing.   got to hold him first and last.

Farewell, California.  Hopefully you, with your palms and your cursive license plates and your wine, and I will meet again.

Welcome to Stockton.

What is it with Williams?

We saw wolves (wolf rescue stuff, not loose).  We also saw bison.

Raindrops!
Welcome to Redding.
Dana reminds me of an obnoxious girl at my first year of camp and Dana Scully (The X-Files).
It felt almost criminal to drink the vanilla In-N-Out milkshake I got.  The burger and fries were pretty good, too.  (Side note:  I was exaggerating on the milkshake, but it was good.)
We saw some lovely crags and Mt. Shasta.
We saw whooping cranes and the remnants of a forest fire.

Welcome to Yreka "The Golden State"

Adios to California... sorry it had to end... (Side note:  I stole song lyrics.)

Hello Oregon!  It's good to see you.

I never thought I'd be happy to see Morton like that.

HOME!!

It was so good to see Rosey and the rest of the gang!




...And that concludes my list of notes.  In handwriting I had 3 1/2 pages of notes.
I'll write more about my lovely journey and get my videos and Mother's pictures up on here and Facebook soon.
By the way, I didn't correct the typos because they're part of the character of my notes.

Kitten Part 1

I'm getting my little kitten today!  To make a long story short, something happened so the kittens didn't get fixed, so we're taking my kitty to our vet to get her fixed separately and Mom (Linda, Grandma) is going to get the mother cat fixed right away because the father cat has been hanging around, and Mom certainly doesn't need more cats!  Oh, and the reason this is Part 1 is because Part 2, which will be written tonight, will have pictures and a detailed description.  Part 1 is just talking about getting the kitty.
I love T.S. Eliot's works.  'Murder in the Cathedral' is one of my favorite books.  Once I acted it out for Mother.  But I'm actually focusing on this poem...

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn't just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there's the name that the family use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey-
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter-
But all of them sensible everyday names.
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular,
A name that's peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellyorum-
Names that never belong to more than one cat.
But above and beyond there's still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover-
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.

At that note, I leave you to wait for Part 2.

A Little Medley

As I write this, I've got my precious turtle with me.  Now you know this has got to be good.
My kitty will be joining my pack in a few weeks.  Hopefully.  When I do get her, pictures will be everywhere, by the way.
NaNoWriMo is coming up very soon.  I just have to think up a book to write, that's all.  I think I've finally decided to write about Rainbowland.
I can't wait for next week!  Chris, Kari and I are going to carve pumpkins.  Mine is the first orange one I've ever had from our garden.  It's going to be a Zombie Pumpkin with innards dyed with red food coloring sticking out from his noggin.  I'm definitely going to win the annual pumpkin contest we hold!
I'm 5'2", and Mother is 5'4".  Not too long ago I measured and found my legs to be an inch or two longer than Mother's legs.  Today I was looking at Mother as she bustled about the kitchen and noticed how funny she looked with her legs being the teensiest bit longer than the rest of her body.  That's pretty normal, I believe.  Now the thought that crossed my mind was:  "If she looks like that, imagine how I must look!"  Don't get me wrong, though.  I love my long legs.  They come in handy so much.
Now, here are some real life faces of mine:

My disgusted face.

Sort of a disgusted face.

Playing, dancing around the room, making odd faces...

Aunt Professor Cool

To most people, I'm Professor Cool, but to one special child out there I'm Aunt Professor Cool.  Walter Gerard was born last night, and he is the cutest baby I have ever laid eyes on (well, next to me, of course).  We're going to visit him in four weeks, meaning California trip and all.  You know, I haven't been to California in a long time.  When I get down there, I'm going to promise Walter a lot of things to do when he's older: go to Disneyland with his favorite Aunt, go horseback riding on the beach, visit my reptilian menagerie, have a campfire complete with camp songs (I'll have my guitar and harmonicas) and Rainbowland stories... all the most fun, exciting things to do in life.  And, when I go to college, I'm going to TAC!  That's another story in itself, though, so I'm just going to end this post.

Surprise!

Instead of a story about a chicken, I've come with camp pictures!  Here they are:

There's Emily on the first day of camp.

The lake.

I was in a camp daze, so how was I supposed to know I was taking a picture of rocks?

Disco!

The canoes and Kate, our cabin leader.

The changing rooms.

All the girls in my cabin had a spigot shower.  What fun!

Blond Emily, one of the girls in my cabin.

Emily and Emily.

The theme was Crazy Crazy, so the day we got stewards, the tables were upside down.

Emily in the bathroom.

Lattice braid on short Emily.

The view from Disco, the main lodge.

A blue sharpie.

The Memory Tree.  We hiked up on the overnight.

Boat Rules.

Kate made us a cake to frost and sprinkle and eat.

Left to right: Lauren, who wasn't actually posing for the camera, Emily and Maggie.

I messed up my face.  Oh well.  I actually look kinda cool.  Oh, and left to right: Tashia, Casey, Lauren, Emily, Emily, Emily, Maggie, Johanna and the renowned Professor Cool.

My piece of cake!  It really was delicious.

We went tallest to shortest.  See, I'm not short.

At the Craft Shelter.

Emily, aka Katniss.

Birthdays at camp are fun.

The last campfire... with no fire yet.

Sinead!  Sinead the British counselor!

The last sunrise at camp.