T-Shirt Designer

*picture via Yuba Feather PTSA

Abby won the design contest for this year's spirit shirt at her school.
Didn't it turn out wonderfully wild?!

Alabama, your orders will be there soon!

Sacramento {train museum and good eats}

The railroad is another giant piece of California's history. 

Following the gold rush, the rush to connect our continent by rail was on. 

But it is a part of my history too. 

My dad's dad worked for the railroad--L&N Railroad to be exact--and my great, great grandfather was Casey Jones.  Really.  I've been to the family reunion before in Jackson, TN.

The train museum in Old Sacramento does a wonderful job of taking you back to the days when the western rails were built and train travel became glamorous.

It is a great museum for families because there is something for everyone.
The kids can take a turn as an engineer in one of the engines. 

You can see how a private car would have been decorated had you been rich enough to afford one.

I loved walking through the dining car.  Each railroad company had their own china pattern.  You can see a complete table setting and sample menu!  (I'm a complete nerd, aren't I?)

Upstairs, you will find all different sizes of model trains!  The kids love watching them run around their little tiny towns.  And, of course, there are Thomas trains to play with.

*this picture was taken a couple years ago during our first visit.  this is joe!

After your trip through the railroad world, you might want to grab a bite to eat.

There are several historic places to eat.

You could go to Fat City.

The food isn't my favorite but you have to at least pop in for a look at the magnificent carved wood bar and their collection of Tiffany stained glass.

When my sister brought her family we found some tasty dishes at the Ten22.  I loved that they used fresh food from local farms! 

Has anyone been to The Firehouse Restaurant?
I've heard some good things and would love to try it.

Something I have tried is the brittle at Sacramento Sweets Co.

Peanut. Pecan. Walnut. Almond. Cashew!
They have it all and it is all. good.

Do you have a favorite place in Old Sacramento?

Sacramento {Gold Rush Days}

Jono and I were able to get down to the "big city" to celebrate his birthday.

The big city is Sacramento. 

It might not qualify for some of you but there are sidewalks there. 

And people walk on them to get places.

And there are buses and tall buildings and more concrete than trees.

And lots of stop lights and confusing one-way streets. 

And after dark, there are still people out walking the streets.

It has a completely different feel than the small mountain community

where we spend most of our days!

While most of the city is very modern, a small area downtown by the river has been preserved as a historic landmark.  For a few days each year (usually around Labor Day), the streets turn to dirt and horses and carriages are the only vehicles allowed through the streets.  It's straight from the 1850s.

Gold Rush Days!

My family lucked out when their visit happened to overlap the festival.

How would you like a ride in the paddy wagon?

There are all sorts of exhibitions: 
gold panning, medicine show, pony express riders, dancers,
AND a wild west shoot out!

Good times in Old Sac!

What is your favorite big city? 

Books Are My Life

     “Brianna, come and get your breakfast it’s almost time for school.”  I am reading a book.  Harry Potter to be exact and it’s good.  I’ve been reading since 4:30 this morning, but I guess I have to stop.  I walk down the stairs for breakfast.  Rubbish.  It’s cereal again.  I force the everyday cereal down my throat.  Finally, I finish and off to school I go.

     I meet my friends Anne, Tinka, and Fred.  I giggle remembering Fred Weasley from Harry Potter.  He’s lucky to be named after someone from Harry Potter.  I walked up to them.
    
     “Hey, Brianna.” 

I am about to say ‘hey’ back when my head gets all foggy and I can’t think of anything else but books.  It is quite odd.  It isn’t any exact type of book, just books.  But, it went as quickly as it came.  Anne, Tinka, and Fred were all looking at me funny.  I say ‘hey’ back and try to act as if nothing happened.  I wonder if they would believe me if I told them about whatever happened a minute ago.

     The bus pulled in.  I sat by Anne.  I made up my mind and decided I should tell her.  I’m closer to her than any of the three, so it would be safest to talk to her.  I try to tell her the exact details.  It looks like she’s listening pretty hard.  When I finish she’s looking at me more intently than my likings.  Then, out of the blue, she asks me, “What Harry Potter book are you reading?”  I told her I am reading The Order of the Phoenix and she just nods her head and keeps looking at me intently.  It is quite creepy really.  Then she tells me to keep a book with me ALWAYS. 

     Just then the bus pulled into school.  We got off the bus and met back up with Fred and Tinka.  We went to class, took roll, and all the other normal stuff.  We have twenty-one people in our class and ten are absent.  TEN!  That’s the most we’ve had absent ever.  I look over at Anne.  She looked horribly grim.  It’s the first time she has looked like that.  She’s usually so cheerful.

     Finally, it’s lunchtime and to my surprise we aren’t the only ones with bad attendance.  At least half the school must be gone!  I got my lunch and sat down by Anne, Tinka, and Fred.  I looked at Anne.  She looked at me.  “What’s going on?” I whisper. 

     “Mlake Month.”

     I look at her puzzled.  Suddenly the lights go out.  I heard footsteps, then a screech.  I waited for the lights to come on.  I heard what sounded like fingernails scraping metal.  I saw a bright flash.  Then everything was over. 

     Anne looked zoned.  “That’s a Mlake.  They are dark forces.”  I listen intently thinking.

“Is there a way to stop the Mlake?”

     Anne sighed.  “The way is different for all of us.”  I waited for a minute.  She didn’t say anything so I just ate my lunch.  Suddenly, Anne announced, “I’m afraid we’ll have to go looking for them.”

“Anne, what do you mean by us?”

     “There’s a special society for people like you and me who have been attacked by the Mlake.  We go around the world protecting people like you who it’s their  first time experiencing the Mlake before.”  She stopped.  I understood so far.  She started again.  “We’re what you call W.O.T.C.H.E.R.S.—Wilds, Olameers, Teams, Coes, Halameers, Ecutes, Ralameers.  W.O.T.C.H.E.R.S. are what you call all of us, but those are just the steps.  Right now you’re a Wild.”  She grinned as she said it.

So we’re going to go looking for  the Mlake?” I asked. 

“Not until we find out your secret weapon.”

“How do we find my secret weapon?” I asked much too cheerfully. 

     “We just test out things that you like and see if it has the power against the Mlake.”  Just then, the bell rang to go to class.  When I walked into class, I remembered the lot of kids absent.  I looked at Anne.  She just said it was okay, the Mlake just took them to scare me and they would be back. 

It is the time of day where the teacher reads aloud.  I jot down a list of things that I like.  It was everything I could think of from waterslides down to snowflakes.  After school, Anne and I walked to my house.  The whole way we talked about what were the most logical things for me to try.  When we got home we took everything into action.  We tried for hours, but nothing worked.  When we were done Anne looked confused.  I thought of everything I tried and what we didn’t.  I read the list aloud, “Waterparks, bowling, drawing, skiing, snowboarding, waterskiing, tubing, sledding, watching the snow fall, and dragons.”   Anne collapsed on my bed and groaned, “We’ve tried all that.” 

     Suddenly, the lights went out.  I heard a terrible screech and a bang.  I heard Anne call my name.  Just then, I remembered the ‘vision’ I had earlier today.  Books!  I grabbed one and opened it.  There was a bright light that lit the room and I could see it was coming from the book.  I saw the most horrible creature leave and not turn back.

 The next day at school we had perfect attendance.  I looked at Anne.  She looked at me.  “This may be the first time, but it won’t be the last that you will have to fight the Mlake,” she whispered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is Abby's second self-published book.

Abby is an avid reader and wanted to write a story to encourage others to pick up a book.

You can check out some of her earlier works here.

Sustainable Living

*DISCLAIMER:  Do not read if you are easily grossed out.*

We would love to be those people that grow all their own food, get their milk from the goat out back, make their own brews, absolutely never buy store bread, etc.

Let me just say:

We're not there yet.

This summer we acquired a handful of chickens. 

Remember how one of them turned out to be a he-chicken? 

Well, he is a very good crower.  All day long.  And then he made the mistake of attacking Jonathan.  (He has this effect on animals.  Maybe his legs are just too long?)  And we don't really want tiny chicks in our morning breakfast.  I think you see where I'm going with this.

The rooster had to go.

We did some research and came across this very helpful blog on how to butcher a chicken.  It takes you through the whole process step by step.  With pictures.  Very helpful.

The first step is to catch the chicken.  We did not have a large net like the helpful blog suggested and we didn't want our first kill to be in front of the kids.  We just didn't know what would happen exactly.  What did happen was I herded the rooster into the shed with the canoe paddle (it took several attempts because we didn't want to take out the layers in the process and they kept following the rooster right into the shed).  Then, Gard-dawg took him out with the other paddle.  Away from the eyes of the curious, innocent children. 

Next, he took the rooster out and, well, chopped his head off.

It's what the instructions said.

At this point, we could contain the children no longer.  "Is he dead?  Did you kill him, Daddy?"

Their reactions were pretty predictable.



Joe and Trek were thrilled by the gore.

Dylan wanted to follow with his brothers but just not sure about it.

Abby chose not to look.

Jonathan took care of the rest of the cleaning of the rooster by himself.

He gathered all his tools.

Boiling hot water.  Sharp knives. KVMR.

And, that's about all the pictures that I feel need to be shared.

Except this one more.



I'm pretty sure he cut open something the blog people said not to cut because it was awfully smelly and quite possibly have turned my husband into a vegetarian.

So.

Got any vegetarian recipes to send my way?

Oh, and this wasn't just a way to get rid of Red.  The meat is being fried up at guys' night (a very honorable ending for our rooster, Don't you think?)



Get in the Frame

Fellow blogger Emily from The Anderson Crew sends out the call every Thursday to get in front of the camera with your kids (or spouse or friends).  So that when they are all grown they will have some sort of proof that you were actually there.  Documentation is a good thing.  I have documented all sorts of moments in their lives so far.  From the first day of school to that mysterious dinosaur egg/rock that they discovered.  I take pictures of them all the time. 

 I didn't think it would be a big deal to snap a picture with me in it with them.

Wrongo!

These two weren't too hard because I can still catch them.

This one was being goofy and preteen-ish and didn't want to look like she might like her mother.

But we did get one eventually.

This one acts like he doesn't want to be in pictures at all!  Much less with his mother putting her arms around him.  I mean, gross.  He ran.  I employed the help of his siblings.  I tried tackling.

Maybe I should have busted out the pig-nose-hold that I used in my hog wrestling days.

This worked somewhat.

I don't want to forget to document this guy either. 

He's my love and friend that has committed to walking through this crazy life with me. 

We gotta remember how we were just then in that moment.

Thanks for the challenge, Em. 

It was a physical challenge but I hope it will be a treasure for my little rascals one day.

It's a treasure for me now.

If you would like to link up with Emily too, just click on her button below. 

Halloween 2011 Recap

This was the year for Potter costumes!

 Here is the crew before going out trick-or-treating.

The kids had several opportunities to dress up so there was more than one costume worn.  Dylan was a cowboy and batman but not "inny yon" like he said he was going to be for the last two months.  Trek went from Mad-eye Moody to Spidey.  Joe stayed with the Harry Potter theme but swiched from the Slytherin house to the Gryffindor house.  Jono wouldn't let us help with his costume but based on what he came up with we declared him Lockhart.

Bring on the candy!

We also did some pumpkin carving with some friends.

Didn't they turn out great?!

Pumpkin seeds were saved for roasting with this recipe.

How was your Halloween?