In one end and out the other.

Although, it could have been a cool keepsake for the baby book to have an x-ray with your first initial.

So easy even a child can use it!

Several months ago, like as soon as we moved into the house, before our things had even arrived from Ireland, I decided that I wasn't going to throw away the kitchen veggie and fruit scraps but compost them. So I checked out books from the library, shopped for compost bins, searched for direction on making your own, and generally went gung-ho on getting started with the project.
We decided that we needed an enclosed bin because of the large amount of food scraps we wanted to put in, and the presence of raccoons and squirrels in our neighborhood. Also, I am hoping to have some compost to put on the garden this spring, our soil really needs all the help it can get. The fastest way to get fully rotted compost is to turn it often. But, I'm unlikely to be out there shoveling and stirring the pile around. And the commercially made tumblers are really expensive.
So I read about just drilling some holes in a plastic trash can, lashing the lid on with a bungee cord and rolling it around the yard when you wanted to mix it. But then I found some 55 gallon plastic barrels on craigslist for $20. And Orrin offered to "rig something up."
So, now that the ground has thawed and we borrowed a post hole digger from the neighbors, I finally have my fully operational double barreled compost tumbler.
We decided we needed two separate containers because at some point we'll have to stop adding to one so everything can decompose for a month or so. The first barrel is almost full. We're hoping for a nice weekend so we can clean out the duck pen. Once we throw the duck poo filled straw in there we should have a really nice mix. Then we just have to wait for the blasted weather to warm up so the bacteria can go to work.
I asked Orrin to write this post, so he could tell you more about the construction process, but you'll be waiting till we're harvesting zucchini if I waited for him to write it. It was pretty straight forward except for having to brace the doors so they didn't warp and dump everything out as it turns. Final cost was probably $60 for the barrels and the latches on the doors.
And as an added bonus the barrels were originally used for cream soda syrup so even with 50 pounds of rotting garbage inside they still smell sweet. A little gag inducing when the smell was filling the basement and house, but not unpleasant while giving it a daily crank.

Secrets

Silas: Running board. Running board. Mom, some people call me running board.
Me: Really? Who calls you running board?
Silas: Oh, just some people. You don't know them.
Me: Hmm. So what are their names? What do you call them?
Silas: Well, I can't tell you. It's a secret and I can't tell you because I don't know their names.

Sufferage

We had a silly jammies competition during halftime of the Purdue basketball game tonight. We couldn't decide who was sillier, so we're putting it to you to choose.

Duck. Duck. Duck.Duck. Dog.

Our pets. We are now the proud owners of a Cayuga Duck, two Blue Swedish Ducks, and Buff Orphington Duck. The blackish green one is the Cayuga. Strangely enough she occasionally lays black eggs. This is their indoor pen in the corner of the garage. We took a couple of old hollow core doors and made one the side of the pen, and the other a roof to help them stay warm. The bottom is filled with straw and we're using a heated dog bowl for water. Orrin takes a pitcher out with him when he leaves for work in the morning. Silas, Emmet, and I go out about 9 to feed and collect the eggs. Orrin usually checks them on his way in from the garage after work and we take an extra pitcher of water out if necessary. The end panel of the pen has a built in feeder that Silas dumps their feed into. He's using a trowel in the picture but we've since made a scoop out of an old milk jug.

This past weekend was nice and warm with highs in the 50's so Orrin cut a hole in the side of the garage and now the ducks have an outdoor area. Right now, their food and water are still inside, so they prefer it in there. But I'm hoping they'll be outside more often as the weather warms up. I have seen them come out occasionally on their own to enjoy the sunshine. But I have to admit, there isn't much out there to tempt them. Just a boring concrete slab. We'll try to throw some weed and other veggie scraps in there once the garden gets going. We decided on ducks instead of chickens because we'd heard they were quieter, they seemed friendlier, and they are better able to forage for their food. So eventually we would like to have them roaming the yard and garden eating slugs, bugs, and weeds.
Here's a picture of the nest. I know, you're thinking, "Wow, eggs, straw, is that duck poop? Fascinating." But they are our eggs, and I'm pretty proud of our little flock. We've been collecting 3-4 eggs a day now for the past 2 weeks. A couple days we've actually gotten 5 eggs. I'm not exactly sure how 4 ducks are capable of that many eggs. I'm guessing we must have just missed collecting one, or the timing of our collection just yielded an extra egg. Or possibly there is a renegade duck loose in the town depositing eggs in our garage.
My 4-H days taught me the importance of keeping records of animal projects. (Well, actually they taught me the difficulty of making up a record book the week before the fair, so I'm trying to be more diligent and set a good example for my future 4-H'ers.) So I started a spreadsheet/duck diary to record our expenditures, egg collection, observations, experiments, successes and failures. In a little over a month of having the ducks, we've collected 71 eggs, and spent $104 on fencing, feed, ducks, lighting, bedding, and heated water dish. So that comes out to about $1.50 an egg. Not exactly a money saving venture at the moment. But if we just take feed cost into account they are the same price per egg as the free range chicken eggs. Plus we get the awesome soil enriching duck poo to put in the compost bin and garden. And the self satisfaction of raising our own food. Not to mention delicious delicious carmel butterscotch egg custard.

Duck Egg Custard
6 T sugar
1 T corn syrup
3 T water
1 cup cream (divided)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/8 t salt
2 cups milk
3 whole eggs
3 egg yolks
2 t vanilla

Boil water sugar, and syrup until it turns amber colored, about 4 minutes. Stir in half the cream until smooth. Add remaining cream, brown sugar, and salt. Stir until dissolved. Whisk in the milk, then the eggs, yolks and vanilla. Pour the mixture through a strainer (I found this to be important with the duck eggs because the whites can be a little tough/stringy so the stainer caught some that hadn't been completely beaten.) into custard cups. Place in a roasting pan and fill with hot water until it come 2/3 up side of the custard cups. Bake at 325 for 25-35 minutes depending on the size of your custard cups. Mine took longer becasue I used two larger dishes instead of individual cups. It should jiggle just a bit in the middle and a knife inserted should come out clean. Let cool, cover and refrigerate. Will keep for about 3 days.

With the left over whites, I made this recipe. I didn't have the red paste coloring, so I improvised by adding red decorating sugar in place of some of the white sugar and made them a pale pink. I'd read that the duck egg whites were a little bit more difficult to use for meringues, but I didn't have any trouble, and they came out tasting and looking great.

Bird House

Great Aunt Carol sent these really cool cardboard birdhouses to Emmet and Silas. She was kind enough to send one for each of them, but I was only patient enough at the time to put together one of them. Perhaps in a few weeks time when we need another project the second one will go together and be decorated. Or maybe we'll inadvertently save it for next year.
Anyway, it did pop together fairly easily. Although Silas definitely couldn't' have done it by himself. He was able to thread the ribbon around it and to hang it, as pictured to the left.

Of course painting it was the more exciting part. I was just talking to my Mom saying Cousin Ellis had his hands traced to make peacocks and she had drawn butterflies on his birdhouse. And then she asked me how we had decorated our house.
Well, Grandma Lise, let's just say our artistic standards are a little less refined around here.

We were pretty thrilled that the paint stayed off the clothes, floor, walls, etc. and that the birdhouse is not one gigantic brownish black smear.

Silas was actually quite careful to cover all the white on the birdhouse, and was describing what he was painting and why the birds would like to live in a house covered with boats, rockets, acorns, asian beetles, leaves, and worms.

Emmet practiced his finger painting so he'll be ready to decorate the next bird house. Thanks again for the thoughtful gift. It was a lot of fun. And I hope there will be another dispatch here when we have a family of nuthatches or wrens living in the Kaleidoscope Shack.

Second's Best

I fear I neglect Emmet in this space. He's not talking, much, so it's hard to relate tales of his antics compared to go-go mouth Silas. And being a second born myself, I try to be a little extra sensitive and make sure to take pictures and record milestones for Emmet as I did for Silas. But I'll admit, I'm not doing a very good job of it. But here's a few stories just about Emmet.

• He went through a terrible terrible sleeping phase (in that he didn't sleep) right before and during my parents visit. Of course, 20/20 hindsight, he was on a verge of a developmental breakthrough. His language has really exploded. I think his first words were probably "gud grrl' said to Sophie. Which seems kind of odd to me, because I feel like I'm always saying 'No Sophie! Lie down, Go away, Outside! or Scoot!" So he's picked up only on the positive. That's good at least. Other approximations of words: cookie, milk please, thank you, juice, water, book
  
• The other day at dinner Sophie was sniffing the table and Emmet kept telling her no, no, no, no. Finally I said "Sophie lie down." Which she did, and Emmet says "gud grrl!"
• He's feeding himself with spoon and fork. He insists on having his own dish and utensils. I tried giving him bits of quiche just on the table and he won't touch it. put it on a plate, suddenly it's like everybody else, and it's delicious.
• Similarly, anything Silas feeds him is devoured instantly. Anything Orrin or I offer him is eyed suspiciously, tasted, and possibly spit out. Apparently we are sneaky and not to be trusted. Not so with his much admired big brother. Silas hasn't discovered pawning off items on his plate to his unsuspecting brother.
  
• I know it probably has more to do with hunger and activity level, but Emmet does seem to be a meat and potatoes kid. We had meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and mixed veggies for dinner tonight and Emmet must have eaten an adult sized portion. Same story last week when I made pot roast.
  
• That said, he also enjoyed the shrimp, snow peas, pepper, and quinoa salad the night before. So maybe it's just a growth spurt.
  
• And if you're thinking, "She fed shellfish to a child under two?" Here's my theory on that: Holy crap! Shrimp makes a diaper from hell. Forget allergies, dont' feed shellfish to any child that isn't potty trained.
  
• He loves his Dad. When he hears the back door opening. He drops whatever he is doing and runs/walks/waddles/toddles to Orrin with his arms flung open ready to be scooped up.
• He gives kisses and hugs like crazy. Accompanied by the cutest "mwah!" He also blows kisses and eats pretend food served up by Silas. To be honest, he pretty much mimics everything Silas does, including the "calming" yoga "balloon breath," complete with arm motions and dramatic exhale.
  
• The other day I asked Emmet to take the dog food scoop upstairs as it had made it's way downstairs somehow. I didn't really think he understood me, but about 3 minutes later I found him upstairs by the dog food container happily scooping dog food out into Sophie's waiting jaws.
  
• Finally, the learning tower has proved to be a nice elevated playpen for Emmet for the past 6 month or so. Those days are over. I'll have to get a video of this, but his exit strategy for the learning tower is akin to Indiana Jones. He doesn't turn around and back down out of it like he does when climbing down the stairs or off the bed. He faces forward, hangs onto the bar over his head, and swings himself out and down. I don't really know how he figured out how to do this, but it works for him, so it works for me.
  

Song Writer

I'm not sure Silas totally understands the concept of rhyming words yet, but he did compose this variation on his signature song in the car on the way to the science museum this morning.

Oh Emmet sat on a railroad track
His heart was all a flutter
Silas came to save Emmet
Hooray for the big brudder!

Cupcake

I went to hear Lynne Rosetto Kasper speak at the University of Minnesota on Sunday. I found the talk to be obvious and repetitive. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't anything interesting, new, or challenging. But I did get a good, kid free visit in with my friend Bonnie, and we won a door prize of a "How to Eat Supper Book."
The highlight was meeting another urban duck keeper. And another lady interested in learning about ducks.
Also, we went to this cafe, Cupcake, before the talk. They have an open bakery area, so Silas and Emmet liked watching them mix and pour and bake and ice all the cupcakes during lunch. So much so that Silas has worn a towel tied around his middle all evening saying that it is his apron and that he is making red velvet cupcake with spiky icing.
Unfortunately, the cupcakes looked much better than they tasted. Or at least the red velvet one that we sampled was pretty poor. The cream cheese icing was decent. Bonnie selected a "deconstructed cinnamon croissant" which appeared to be monkey bread with croissant dough, an idea worth replicating at home in my opinion. However, the red pepper and bean wrap I had was actually awful, and I am an extremely un-picky eater. So for me to not like something is a pretty bad sign.
And the service was bad. For example- they wouldn't make a grilled cheese sandwich for me/Silas. It's a bakery so I know they have bread, and many of your menu items contain cheese. But when I asked they said they didn't have a grill. Hmm..so how will you make the pancakes my husband just ordered? And it took ages for our food to come out.
So despite my high hopes from their cool website, I won't be returning.

More from the "fun" park

In this picture, it actually looks like both Silas and Orrin are having fun. Although Orrin looks to be white knuckling it. Hold on tight! Swiper's Sweeper is a wild ride!

Cone head

Here Emmet is modeling my first attempt at cabling. Well, maybe technically it's my second attempt. Does it count when I knitted the same yarn in the same pattern and then ripped it all out because it was too big around and not long enough?
Anyway, it was sent off to Grandma Lise's so maybe she'll comment and let me know if this one fits better? And doesn't make her look like a cone head as does to Emmet?
I really love the yarn, but not so sure on the pattern. I did find an awesome yarn shop not too far away, but managed to go in, get the double pointed needles I came for and get out without purchasing any yarn. Hooray! I have to get the yarn supply down to manageable levels before buying any more. But I am trying another cabled hat pattern, with an open cable. It seems a little more difficult, but I'm hoping it won't be too bad once I get started.

Nickelodeon Park

Guess who had more fun at family day at the Mall of America?

Hanes His Way

Catherine is going to love this one.
(Especially because we used to tease her growing up that she was a boy and wore "Hanes His Way" underwear. Why she didn't just blow us off, I'll never know. Obviously she was/is a girl.)

Silas was "helping" distribute the framed pictures that have been lying in a heap since last month when we took them out of their box. I was telling him about a picture of my three sisters and me when we were little. My youngest sister, Catherine is a baby of about a year old. " See the baby in the picture? That's Aunt Catherine when she was about Emmet's age."
Silas looks at the picture briefly. "She was a boy!"