Ruby is a Rockstar.

Photo proof. Ruby caught and ate an entire mouse. Who needs barn cats?!

Our free range poultry band~

Today's performance was an ensemble by our free range poultry band, Ruby and the Turkey Farts. Performing daily here at Peculiar Ambitions.

Be Still

An afternoon pause to knit and think.

Literal Heirloom Tomato~

First Cosner tomato of the season!

This is very special as this tomato was grown from true heirloom seeds!

True meaning they were sent from Paul's great-aunt Jessie in WV!

This tomato has been grown and seeds saved by his family for generations!

And it now will be for generations to come, if my Eve has anything to do with it!

Cosner was his gram's maiden name. Her name was Delphia Lucille Cosner-Hanlin.

We are major-hippie-geeking out about this tomato.

Life Happens~ Recent Photos

My favorite social media is, by far, Instagram.

For the past five years I have taken a photo a day on my phone.  

I love to capture something from each day to help spark memories... 

it seemed like life was zipping by so very fast, and it made me sad to not remember those small things in my life that I appreciate so very much.  I joined instagram last spring and it makes it so much easier to share those memories with those I love.

You can follow/view our photos via instagram here: Reenie's Instagram

OR in our flickr album here: Reenie's Flickr Album

Here are some photos from this past week~

It's green bean season! 

Ann was a machine, doing most of the work to put 20#+ into the freezer! 

The beans stuck to Paul's shirt like a felt board (remember those?)

Quilt love. 

My mom gave me a quilt made by my great-great gram and her daughter, 

my great-great aunt Ruby! Dated 1910.

The fabric designs are beyond words... and over 100 years old, yet still so relevant.

New knitting project... a sweater for Ann.

The color is edible. Miss Babs Yowza in bright pink with orangey undertones.

The grass is so dry lately, we have been letting the turkey farts out of their area to range and graze.

One drawback? They love the front porch, and they love looking in the door at us (AND pooing all over the porch!) Eve captured this shot of Precious talking with the turkeys. You can see the hens lining up to go to bed in the background.

I have been in the midst of a hat making obsession this past week. Planning on a holiday craft/art show this season, but mostly just working ideas out of my brain. Sometimes they back up and start making me crazy (crazier?). Some are pattern ideas I am marinating, some are just because I love the yarn so much and need to feel it work through my fingers... All are toddler/kid sized hats.

The girls had a sleepover with friends and they set the tent up to camp out in the orchard.

One night past the full blue moon. I love this time of year, when summer is still hanging on, yet you can feel the crunchiness of fall sneaking in. 

See the tent?

Coming down the lane, this is the view of the orchard and pond.

The pond is beyond the apple trees.

Paul had xrays taken for a back issue (which is healing nicely).

I asked for the films. I LOVE X-rays and scans. 

The human body is so amazing.

This is my handsome man.

Yesterday we had another bat visitor upstairs.

He was napping quietly above the doorway.

He was a hissy little dude. 

The girls caught him in a container and put him outside.

At the same time they were catching the bat, my friend was texting me to tell me she caught a feral cat at her house, do we want to give him a home?

We have been waiting for a barn cat to find us.

Meet Bruce. 

Named sort of after the bat (get the connection?) and sort of because, well, he looks like a Bruce!

Bruce is still contained in the barn until he gets acclimated to his new surroundings, I am afraid he will just take off if we let him loose before he calms down from his car ride. 

He is chatty, scrappy, scared and very skinny. But so very handsome and loves to be petted!

His job title is "Captain Mouser".  

If he hangs around he will be taking another car ride very soon to the vet for some altering (another car trip I am sure he will not like)! I love how this photo shows how he felt about being caught and crated.

Well, life is calling.

Talk soon!

xo

Ruby's Roadtrip~

Meet Ruby.

Ruby is our silly rogue hen, she simply cannot be contained. She hops all the fences and we gave up returning her to the flock a long time ago, so she free ranges around the farm, sleeping on the tractor at night and laying her eggs in the straw bales.

She is friendly, sweet, visits everyone who stops by and LOVES 

when we let the turkeys loose to range (friends!!).

Today our favorite UPS guy, Todd, returned from a 7 month hiatus. 

We chatted for longer than usual, catching up on the latest happenings...

When he pulled out to leave, my friend Jackie was looking out the kitchen window and noticed chicken feet in the truck. We assumed the chicken jumped out as he pulled out to leave. We looked around for her for a bit, then gave up (sometimes Ruby hides very well) 

and laughed about how Ruby may have left with Todd. 

About 15 minutes later, we saw the UPS truck coming back down our lane!

Poor Todd got to his next stop about 3 miles away and opened the back of the truck to find a stowaway!

So Ruby had a roadtrip, Todd now has a new UPS story to tell, and we all had a good laugh.

Oh, Ruby.

Life Happens~ Absorbing Summer

We love summer.

Love love love.

Here are some recent shots of life around here lately~

~~~~~~~

Paul has been working with the hives. 

We had a swarm move into the empty hive boxes in our barnand they built their comb under the lid.
He had to move the brood into frames. The bees will fill in the gaps with more comb.

It's dahlia madness in the garden. 

Eve planted a kajillion of them. Want some?

Mrs. William's hydrangea bush bloomed for the first time this year 

(since we moved here three years ago!). It's amazing. 

Mrs. Williams lived here for 65 years before us.

I created a cocktail, (and promise to post the recipe). 

It's called a" Goosey Lucy" and it is SO yummy.

There has been a LOT of swimming in the pond.

Gathering of friends...  

 Family visits (our entire family lives in PA)...

And my quiet practice. 

Being still and quiet is not something that I do enough, but is so good for me.

Be still and listen. It's something I need to cultivate and work on every day.

We planted flowers in memory of all my grandmothers. The gladiolus are for my Gram Kopp.

Planted in her favorite colors, lavender purple and a peachy pink.

 View of the orchard from the tractor.

Our young flock of hens.

The news ladies' tiny eggs are on the right.

The giant egg in the center is our old, over-achieving Ameracauna hen (Connie). 

She lays a big one every week-ish. It usually has a double or triple yolk!

And of course, there is a lot of knitting happening. And planning. 

The planning never stops. 

Back to absorbing this last month of summer!

See you soon!

xo

reenie