tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-98279582010-08-09T19:49:21.513-05:00Raising children, lettuce and hell in TexasKCBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407766450085647680noreply@blogger.comBlogger1040125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9827958.post-89343391913356595512010-08-09T19:31:00.005-05:002010-08-09T19:49:21.529-05:00

Y'all probably knew this was coming -- or not coming, as I haven't posted anything since February -- but it's time to put Redneck Mother out to pasture. I'm not out of things to say, by any means, but I am short on time to say them regularly enough to warrant maintaining the blog. It's a good thing, trust me. I haven't stopped expressing myself; I'm just working in other media.Thank you so much

KCBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407766450085647680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9827958.post-27780445688685129942010-02-02T21:09:00.004-06:002010-02-02T21:48:37.185-06:00

Marfa, Texas, October 2009I didn't wander off again. I was right nearby and meant to blog but was either rehearsing, adding beads to or removing beads from dance costumes, or lugging buckets full of chicken and rabbit crap around the garden. Such is the balance of my life right now. On the one hand, sparkles. On the other hand, shit. (Add your own political rimshot here.)The winter garden is up

KCBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407766450085647680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9827958.post-81923463320243260012010-01-09T10:27:00.005-06:002010-01-09T11:26:18.577-06:00

It's too cold. I'm throwing it into reverse and heading to last November in Fort Worth. No need to step outdoors; we can scroll through the Botanic Gardens right here.If only I'd had this photo to share with the Québécoise seatmate who grilled me on a Detroit-to-Montreal flight about what the poor cattle eat in Texas since "zere eez no grass in zee desert." Unable to convince her that we do so

KCBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407766450085647680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9827958.post-7903417932401699962010-01-04T15:25:00.004-06:002010-01-04T15:39:12.231-06:00

"You will totally rue it."One New Year's resolution plan accomplished: Thanks to the good folks at the Austin Humane Society, Ninjabel has been trapped, tipped, chipped and fixed and is recovering in a quiet corner of the garage with a heater keeping her at the perfect temperature. I think it's a sweet deal, but her thoughts seem to be on revenge. I just hope she isn't so angry that she quits

KCBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407766450085647680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9827958.post-88530314561080659242009-12-26T11:51:00.003-06:002009-12-26T12:38:16.501-06:00

For my pals, family and readers stuck in the snow, a little break from the whirling whiteness outdoors:Davis Mountains State Park, October 2009Our Christmas was calm, sunny and free of snow. While Rocketboy lamented the unfairness of his Oklahoma cousins getting a working blizzard for Christmas, we spent a couple of hours after presents and lunch working on a new raised garden bed next to the

KCBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407766450085647680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9827958.post-45444535932909272712009-12-09T22:10:00.004-06:002009-12-09T23:39:15.558-06:00

Hurricanehead demonstrates. (Photo: Rocketboy)In the past month I turned forty, took another road trip with the fam, accepted some dance-performance commitments (contingent upon timely recuperation of my busted ass), put in the fall vegetable garden, worked on a big new shrub and flower garden, agreed to speak to the Austin Backyard Poultry Meetup in February,* gave thanks, chased a hawk out of

KCBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407766450085647680noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9827958.post-17083453155589136932009-11-06T15:05:00.003-06:002009-11-06T16:12:27.270-06:00

Luckily for you this is a picture of madrone berries at the Indian Lodge in Davis Mountains State Park rather than a photo of a molting hen.But if you must know what a half-nekkid chicken looks like, be my guest--and scroll down.Of all the times for Hombre to abscond with my camera, it would be when Wanda is molting like her life depends on it. I didn't realize when we got our first birds that a

KCBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407766450085647680noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9827958.post-9356307686912726192009-10-22T20:12:00.003-05:002009-10-22T21:05:45.061-05:00

You can't see them from here.I recently agreed to something Hombre's been after me to do for a long time: take the kids on a zillion-mile car trip through the West Texas desert to eyeball five score metal boxes. He saw this art exhibit ten or eleven years ago and has been talking about it almost nonstop every now and then since he came back. When Rocketboy was a toddler we made it to within

KCBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407766450085647680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9827958.post-77360849973256371302009-09-28T13:26:00.006-05:002009-09-28T14:11:42.037-05:00

Another rainy afternoon and an instructional treat requested by Jill in Quebec: How to Open a Door with a Balloon. Enjoy!Rocketboy has a bright future in balloon engineering.

KCBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407766450085647680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9827958.post-86811981775932058402009-09-13T12:15:00.004-05:002009-09-13T12:33:25.355-05:00

It rained Friday, and despite my rainy-day blogging promise I put off posting until yesterday. Maybe I shouldn't have done that, as the message was a little stronger on Saturday.My backyard around 1 p.m. Saturday.I haven't bothered with a rain gauge since late last year because there hasn't been any rainfall to measure. The weather folks said four inches fell here yesterday. The high-water mark

KCBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407766450085647680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9827958.post-32865098195896234302009-09-10T22:04:00.004-05:002009-09-10T22:27:22.932-05:00

We learned that another of the red hens is laying. Is it Sparky or it is Batman? Only they know for sure.We learned that Rocketboy can, true to his word, open a completely closed interior door using an inflated balloon. Can you?We also learned that interrupting people and yelling insults are habits best broken in childhood because they get expensive later on. Hollerin' Joe Wilson, Republican Rep

KCBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407766450085647680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9827958.post-83192387109109480542009-09-06T16:45:00.004-05:002009-09-06T17:11:13.375-05:00

The seasons are turning, Congress is almost back in session and there's something in the air here besides seasonal mold spores--and there's no reasoning with it.My week in politics started at the salon. What should've been (for the price and the time involved) a relaxing time turned ugly toward the end. After an hour of amiable chat, the stylist started in on my eyebrows and on the topic of

KCBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407766450085647680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9827958.post-80455643838635076212009-09-05T10:42:00.006-05:002009-09-05T11:59:03.637-05:00

Rained last night so I owe you a post. Still not ready to talk about politics because I'm almost equally disgusted by Washington's left and America's right at the moment. Maybe it'll rain again today and I'll go hog wild, but rain is never guaranteed around here and I'm trying to stay in my happy place at the moment.School started last week for those who partake, and life kept following the

KCBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407766450085647680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9827958.post-47374658467857537262009-08-27T21:14:00.003-05:002009-08-27T21:56:25.903-05:00

Same old grind. Ag museum, Texas State CapitolAnother month gone by, during which time I've often thought, Damn, I should blog about... and then the train of thought gets derailed by the oppressive heat. But today it rained, lowering the air temperature to a chilly 85 degrees and allowing me to complete a thought not related to vodka or heat for the first time in weeks.The thought is this: I'm

KCBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407766450085647680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9827958.post-65342991616112132432009-07-27T16:45:00.004-05:002009-07-27T17:16:02.648-05:00

Yes, I wrote a post extolling the virtues of vodka around the house and then, yes, I went a month without writing another post. But I swear it's not what it looks like.Thirsty local vandals are going after the succulents.What happened is it got hot. Certainly too hot to while away my days sipping vodka homemade cleaning fluid. Too hot to write. To hot to think. So hot that even native-born and -

KCBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407766450085647680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9827958.post-17052313982709826252009-06-23T13:41:00.008-05:002009-06-23T14:14:12.941-05:00

The perfect solution to my household cleaning needs.I've been harboring an eco-secret for a while now. All the eco-cleaners I've tried suck.* They stink up the joint with cloying herbal scents, leave the bathrooms grotty, waste my money, and piss me off. I'm not a clean freak--with two boys, two adults and eleven pets in residence it's simply not worth trying--but I do love an unspattered

KCBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407766450085647680noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9827958.post-2144599088717541452009-06-18T20:54:00.008-05:002009-06-23T13:41:04.665-05:00

See the update below.As always, you can click to enlarge.A friend brought over some daylilies from her grandmother's garden the other day and her little boy announced that we had the "caterpillar jackpot." Sure enough, he'd spotted what looked like a hundred or more little black wrigglers about a quarter-inch long on the sunflowers near our mailbox."They're baby asps," Hurricanehead said upon

KCBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407766450085647680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9827958.post-65082717863987568522009-06-10T20:13:00.005-05:002009-06-10T21:00:46.257-05:00

And it's out now:Yes, it actually glows. You can even take it into a closet with a blacklight if you're so inclined and really see something cool.Because I've spent close to half my life with Hombre, because I've seen live and in person how much research and time and joy he put into writing The Day-Glo Brothers, and because I am over the moon that his eight-year project is now honest-to-dog ink

KCBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407766450085647680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9827958.post-88274927988044141462009-06-04T18:32:00.006-05:002009-06-04T19:45:23.646-05:00

No, I haven't forgotten or abandoned the blog. It's just that I have, as Dick Cheney might say, other priorities at the moment. Unlike Cheney, mercifully, my priorities include a belly dance convention this weekend, followed by the culmination of a solo-performance preparatory class that will involve--egads!--an actual in-class solo performance.In addition to the actual dancing, there's been an

KCBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407766450085647680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9827958.post-38193465419553522282009-05-27T21:54:00.003-05:002009-05-27T22:03:09.998-05:00

Don't know what it is, but I like it. (Image: Rocketboy)Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone. Rocketboy saw UT's robot dog team a few years ago at the campus open-house day and still talks about it. I would love to get him on a Lego robotics team; I even considered starting my own but gave it up because it would have involved thinking about robots. (Spare a thought for Rocketboy, the

KCBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407766450085647680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9827958.post-87507490364607950502009-05-20T17:52:00.001-05:002009-05-20T17:54:29.160-05:00

Rocketboy, now ten years old, has never been much of a joiner. He learns best on his own, prefers reading to group activities, and while he's social enough he's no extrovert.He has, however, expressed an interest in the local homeschool science team. He's not quite old enough yet--he'll be ready next year--but in the meantime I asked him if there were any academic teams or groups he would like to

KCBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407766450085647680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9827958.post-6889452374067497352009-05-12T11:07:00.006-05:002009-05-12T11:43:09.260-05:00

Slate has discovered the "brown market" in used cloth diapers, tying cloth's popularity to the recession. But some of us were hip to cloth years ago, and even with the laundering I still think using cloth dipes was a good decision.Dig: I spent about $400 on diapers and waterproof covers over the course of my baby-raising career. (Most I bought used from eBay before they decided to ban used diaper

KCBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407766450085647680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9827958.post-59821724083127485252009-05-11T19:29:00.004-05:002009-05-11T19:34:11.417-05:00

Rebecca asked, and here it is: the Wanda update. In short, her stitches are healing well and she can almost get on her perch unaided, but she's taken to clucking in the most pitiful, bluesy tones. You'll never get this 30 seconds of your life back.For once, things are relatively calm and tranquil at Rancho Barton. Time to go to belly dance class.

KCBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407766450085647680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9827958.post-10262146139400995482009-05-06T21:48:00.003-05:002009-05-06T22:38:51.553-05:00

Pink evening primrose (Oenothera speciosa) with weird green fly (??)It's been a long and surprisingly rainy while since I updated the VG's status. So here it is:Powdery mildew sucks. My lacinato kale, collards and curly mustard greens all fell before its sporey evil, and the snap peas may be next. That would be a tough loss, as my children sometimes forage for breakfast in the snap-pea bed.Swiss

KCBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407766450085647680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9827958.post-20098492834873560552009-04-30T09:43:00.005-05:002009-04-30T09:54:14.937-05:00

I've already outlined some of them. But here's another: the Bountiful Sprout co-op in Wimberley will host a public tasting and movie screening in a couple of weeks.(Click to embiggen.)There'll be music, face painting for the kids and lots of delicious local food. Check it out.

KCBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407766450085647680noreply@blogger.com0