Five Knocks

Last night we went to a popular new dance party in town that is only held once a month.  The DJs spin old Motown records and the girls wear vintage dresses.  The bar has several infused vodkas:  cucumber, lavender, strawberry rhubarb, mint.  We went to celebrate Ashley’s 26th birthday.  Afterwards we ate Mikey’s Late Night Slice and piled into Rachel’s car.  Once at the house Ashley is house sitting for (in Victorian Village, complete with a pool), we stripped off our clothes and jumped into the water.  There is a possibility that surrounding neighbors were concerned, but we were far too brazen and free to mind.  It was dark and late and happy and memorable.

Ryder has been working tirelessly on constructing a nine foot trellis to aid our new project:  growing hops.  He purchased rhizomes of Chinook, Cascade, and Nugget, which will grow up our giant new trellis next to our pond.  He is just barely free from working seven days a week and already diving head first into interesting construction projects and perhaps soapmaking soon.  I am far too prone to lazy relaxation and I admire his passion to keep learning about new things.

We took the second of two hens to the Gilli today.  The first was taken over yesterday to rescue her from the merciless pecking of her sisters.  This morning I was visiting with the chickens when I noticed that Wasabi, the runt from the beginning, was also being pecked.  She spread her wings and displayed an awful patch of skin where her feathers once were.  I can’t explain what it looks like really, other than that old pattern on Kleenex brand tissue boxes.  The two hens looked at home at the Gilli, though, and it really completes their farm.  Now they have two goats, two chickens, a dog, and a cat.  Perfect family!

We have had 5 visitors to our house today.  Or rather, 5 individual separate people have knocked on our door.  The first man had the wrong house.  The second approached the house while I was pruning (see: hacking) our rose bush.  He opened with, “I have a big problem.  Who is in charge here?”  And after spending a few seconds attempting to clarify what exactly he meant by “in charge” and “here,” I garnered that he was asking for money.  The third was a man who told us he would kill his dog if we didn’t buy it from him.  Not an angry ultimatum but a sad manipulative one.  Like, he didn’t want to kill the dog but couldn’t afford to keep taking care of it.  Only, when we offered to take the cute puppy to a no-kill shelter, he walked away…  The fourth knock was Paul, looking to see if we needed any yard work done for pay, and the fifth was a neighborhood kid from our church asking for a helmet.

It is not altogether uncommon that people come to our door asking for things, but not like today.  What a funny day.

Kelly