Weird Stuff

For a long time now I have wanted to write about my parents' house. Since we spent the weekend there, I decided it was time to do it. Unfortunately, the first frost came the week before, so the garden is not up to it's full summer glory. But there is still much to see.

There is never a dull moment at our house, and that is because my mom and dad are half crazy, in my opinion. Don't think I'm trying to insult them, I admire all the hard work they do, and everything they accomplish, but I know that I would never be able to stand doing any of it.

Warning: The pictures and stories you are about to view will likely change your opinion of me and my family forever. Proceed with caution.

Upon our arival on Friday evening, we were told that we each (Emma included) needed to eat one cantalope per day so that this huge pile of cantalopes wouldn't go bad. Dad had to pick them because of the frost, and we simply could not keep up. Luckily the winter squash will keep for months to come.

Moving on to the house, my parents have several pets. They have a couple of little babies to fill up their empty nest. These little guys here are "the pugs," Zoey and Zues. The pugs are my little brother and sister. They sleep on pillows, they sit on laps, they are spoiled to death. Dan claims to hate them, but always seems to enjoy being around them. And Seth loves them, can you tell?

The pugs are really good with the kids. All of the grandkids love to go see them. They even put up with Emma when she tries to ride them.

This is the cat. She has a name, though I don't think any of the grandkids know it. They simply know her as "the mean kitty." And she is. Moody and onery. The only person she really likes is my dad. Oh, her name is Buffy, more often called Poofey.

Moving outside of the house, the animals get significantly less lovable. This may appear to be a harmles box of dirt.

However, upon a closer look, it is filled with worms! My dad is so proud of his worms. They digest by-product from the kitchen and make fertilizer (or maybe they don't make anything, I can't really remember). They are currently digesting artichoke leaves, which my dad grew in the garden.

The next, and possibly most exciting (lately anyway) animals are the chickens. At the point that my parents got chickens, I offially dubbed their house a mini-farm. My dad built this chicken coop.

And here are the chickens. These are not just any chickens, they each have names, have a personality and are very special to my parents. I have not gotten to know them, and actually prefer to stay a ways away from them, but my parents have litterally spent hours just watching them and loving them.

The kids think it is so fun to feed the chickens. They get to eat chicken food (shown), but they also enjoy lots of table scraps, and really juicy worms that grandpa always tries to get Emma to pick up and feed to them. She never has, so far.

Here is where the real magic of the chickens happens. They each lay an egg every other day. With over ten hens, my parents are getting loads of eggs every week. They come in all styles: large, small, mini, brown, white, even some blue. We've even had a double-yolk egg.

It's pretty exciting to find the eggs each morning. Like an easter egg hunt every day.

The best part about the chickens is the yummy eggs. Are they different than other eggs? I can't say for sure, but I think they are. They whip up really light and fluffy, and the chickens don't have any hormones in them. Has to be better, right? This is our yummy german pancakes. As you look at this picture closer, you may wonder why we are baking egg shells with our breakfast. Well, they are not to eat. . .

They are to be crushed up and added to dad's compost pile. If the pugs are my mom's little babies, the compost pile is dad's. He is so proud of his compost. They put any organic waste (except dairy products and a few others), and put them in the compost pile out back, which just sits and biodegrades, and becomes amazing fertilizer for the garden. Whenever dad is missing, we always check the compost pile to see if he's out there stiring it.

Cute little ceramic canisters. Do they hold sugar, flour?

No, they hold yet more compost. I've gotten in trouble many times for eating an apple and throwing the core in the trash. It goes here and then on to the compost pile.

Another project going on this weekend is my dad's bees. Dad grows bees, and each fall he harvests the honey. I did not get any shots of the actual extraction of the honey from the comb, which is too bad. He puts each comb in a big metal contraption that spins is around, the honey flings off and then drizzles out a spout in the bottom. He's getting the very last of the honey from some wax he collected.

This year he got ten honey bears full, and six two gallon buckets. We keep asking him what he will do with all that honey (really, I won't eat that much honey my whole life). But he just smiles and says we'll see.

Moving elsewhere in the kitchen, here is a look at the fridge. Who knows what is edible? As my brother in law said, the fridge is chuck full of food, but we can't eat it without mom or dad telling us what it is and whether it's ready. These jars are tomato sauce, fresh salsa and pickles, all made with fresh ingredients from the garden.

This is a gallon of fresh grape juice.

This is the grape vine arbor. There is also a fence covered with grapes.

Along with the garden, they keep a very beautiful yard. It's always cut and edged, and full of pretty flowers. These are some of my favorite, they are estrogen flowers. My dad thought he would be clever and make mom some tea with them. He never did, but it's been a fun joke this whole summer (good thing my mom is such a good sport).

This is a look up at the garden. Like I said, it is not in it's full glory. Emma is walking away from the rasberries (a great snack). To the left is the tomatoes and zuchinis, and to the right is where the corn was. Also in the garden are onions, peppers, artichokes, squash, watermellon, cantalope, brussel sprouts, beets, greens, strawberries, blueberries, rubarb, herbs, and probably tons more that I can't remember. There are also many fruit trees around the yard.

I think it's pretty cool that we can sit down to a dinner and eat a whole meal of food that my dad has raised himself. This is the reason I always craved fresh (and I don't mean grocery store fresh) food while we were away. I grew up eating like this all the time, but it has taken some getting used to for the married in part of our family. Each of them talks about how shocked they were the first few times they ate with us (and occasionally still are). A recent incedent with Sonnie and artichokes is a perfect example.

A truly amazing part of home is my dad's greenhouse. It is always filled with wonders. We get fresh vegetable through the winter.

Along with many different orchids. These are Emma's favorite. Try as he might, dad will not get her to hold a worm, she just asks for him to pick her a flower. Sweet.

Pomegranites.

Lemons. There are also limes and tangerines.

Plumeria. You usually have to go to Hawii to see this beautiful flower.

Mom and dad spent a huge amount of time putting in this play set this summer. It's so fun for the kids. That dead looking plant is a big banana tree. It will go in the green house this winter, and come out in full health again next summer. Incedentally, it has never produced bananas - it doesn't get fertilized.

Not really with the theme, but still something we love about grandma and grandpa's is the hot tub.

Putting their heads under the water.

The above pictures are a bit eccentric, but let me assure you that my mom and dad are very normal, socially adept people who have raised four very well adjusted children. I look up to them very much, and I hope I can be like them (okay, minus the animals maybe). Every time we go home for a weekend we are reminded why we want to stay close if possible.

Another thing that makes Utah so great is that Dan's parents are also right down the street from mine. We are so lucky to have them, too. They are a great example to us, and we admire them very much. And I have to say that they did a great job raising their son and his siblings as well!