Hoo Ray for 100 Posts!

I got here faster than I thought I would.
Must be all the running of the mouth. Or fingers.

In other news. What happened to my little tiny cute chicks?
They're all growns up!

Last week: Tiny Birdies all cute and fuzzy. Sweetness and light.



This week: Monsters!

On that note.

Happy Feast Day of St. Catherine of Sienna!
Who, by the way, happens to be the confirmation saint of one of my dearest and definately oldest (and by oldest, I mean we've known each other the longest) friend Jenny. St. Catherine helped heal a schism that was forming within the Church during the 14th century. She was also the youngest child in a family of 26. While you won't find me bearing 26 children, and I wonder if her mom was a little shocked to have a gaggle of kids, it's nice to know that the last child in a line of many may be destined to do great things for all of mankind. She rocks.

On a totally different subject, we just had yet another frickin freezing night and we're one day away from May. What gives?

Yesterday morning, as a way to unwind from a busy couple of days what with Mary's recital and then a double wedding to attend, Dan and I took Ana down to our pasture for a walk. Our pasture only used to be a pasture. Now it's in the federal conservation program. It's a beautiful nature area that we love to visit as often as we can. And it's only a 1/2 mile walk through fields to get there.

As usual, Stewart joined us. Because although he looks like a cat, acts like a cat, and is a cat, he's actually a dog and follows us wherever we go. But it was Stewart who alerted us to an unusual wildlife scene. One of the old dead trees around our pond in the pasture has become home to a den of minks. It was quite a scene to see old Stewart, yes the same Stewart who couldn't care less about mice, find and follow a shocked and sharp toothed mink into his bedroom. Minks are known for ferocity as much as for their silky fur, so we high tailed it outta there to get Stewart home and away from his new friends.

Here's the tree that hosts their den, and Stewart on the prowl:

Then, to make the morning more exciting, as we neared our house, we heard little tiny mews barely distinct from the songs of birds. Dan looked at me, I looked at Dan. KITTENS! Yes, Butterscotch's kittens were out and about. Here's a peek at their cute little three week old faces.

Speaking of kittens, it appears that one of Butterscotch's offspring from last year is also expecting. I named little Stevie after Stevie Wonder. Now, let's say that I named her after Stevie Nicks. In a few weeks, this place will be crawling with little tails and little whiskers.

Later in the afternoon, while Ana slept and Dan studied, I got a chance to plant the rest of our potatoes and to start marking out where our permanent vegetable beds will be. Dan and I are trying out the no-till method of gardening made popular in the 70's and 80's by Masanobu Fukuoka, a method which has become quite the norm among organic farmers.

In the foreground, you can see our cold frame and the little lettuces that are defying the snow and sub-freezing temperatures that still stalk Minnesota. In the back of the garden are our tomatoes and string that is outlining their beds. To the left, I have started to mulch foot paths to keep our feet from compacting the beds ... essential to no-till.

And, of course, the littlest gardener.

Safe, For Now.

Last night was a success! Mary and Pinar did a fantastic job on their pianos, and the venue was full. It was a wonderful time. Ana did fall apart at one point. Afterwards Dad asked if someone let off a fog horn during the recital. No Dad, that was Ana. Sigh.

It's been a while since I've spent time downtown Minneapolis before their Friday and Saturday night blitz of shameless carousing. So, I guess I was due to be reminded of humanities distorted desire for Too Much Alcohol and Bad Behavior. Before the concert, Ana, Dan and I were on the second floor of the hall, overlooking the street. A Mustang Coupe pulled up, and out crawled two appropriately (or inappropriately, as it were) dressed young women. Their teeny tiny party girl dresses barely covered the nether regions. They wore no jackets, even though it was forty degrees and raining. They made their way into the nightclub adjacent MacPhail, after a minute of teetering on impossibly high heels and shivering in the freezing rain. There were two boy who looked to be about twelve, standing next to me observing the same scene. It makes me nervous to witness the corrosion of impressionable minds, like these two boys on the brink of becoming their young adulthood, and all the hormones that come with it. I worried about what they must be thinking while seeing these two "Bond Girl" look-alikes.

"They look cold," said one boy to the other.

"Check out that mustang," the other boy replied.

The youth are safe, for now.

Tonight's the night!

Don't forget!

A different kind of shameless.

And here we have three people (Dan, Mary and Mom) on three seperate laptops. What is even worse is that they are all on webcams ... with each other.

Shameless Boasting.

Of my cute family!

They're Here!

The chicks have arrived. This is a day I have been looking forward to since I saw my first episode of Good Neighbors.

A Kitty Only Worth Petting

You can take the kitty out of the city, but you can't take the city out of the kitty.

Although we found Stewart as a stray at a State Park in Iowa, he is pure city cat as he proved to us lazing about our condo in St. Paul for four years. This has never been so apparent to us as it was this weekend.

Yesterday, Dan cleaned out a tub that had been sitting in one of our barns and that contained copious amounts of corn. Of course, seven little mousies found it to be an irresistable feast and a very warm bed for the winter. Little did they know, one day they would be picked off one by one by our barn cats. Not, I would like to point out, by Stewart. Even though we gave him the first go at them.

Here is a pictoral essay of Stewart's encounter with the mousies.

Enter mouse.


Enter Stewart. (See the mousie over to the right, under that same corn shuck as above.)



"I thought you guys said a mouse was in this pile!"



"I'm outta here. Got anymore of that Meow Mix?"



Truly, this cat is only good for two things. Petting and cuddling. Preferably done indoors, on a comfy couch. Here's a shot of what Stewart now dreams of. Taken a few years back when he was still allowed indoors.

Call me Elmer.

Yesterday I woke to find half of my spinach and most of the butterhead are gone out of the cold frame. "Now I'm not saying we should get a .22. But maybe we should trap and release a few," said Dan. "No," I replied after a moment. "We should get a .22." This coming from the same girl who a year ago watched with horror as a barn cat licked clean a bunny carcass. Now I'm witholding cat food until I see at least 6 clean bunny carcasses.

This morning I was able to direct sow 2-20 foot rows of delectable salad greens and spinach. Butterhead, mesclun, frisee, raddichio and some spinach. All within the safety of a fence this time. Hopefully by next week I'll have radishes, peas, potatoes, carrots and onions in too.

Yesterday I got the grain mill fired up despite the hives and ground up some corn. By the time Dan and I left for our E-Team meeting, we had a piping hot basket of corn bread in tow to share. The potluck was thrown together at the last minute, so we all brought a bit of a hodge podge ... Beef Stroganoff, Baked Apples, Heart Attack Pasta (Father's version of Carbonara), Marshmallow Salad and my corn bread. Doesn't sound like it would go together does it? Well, it did. It must've been the Holy Spirit working on our taste buds. In fact it was delicious. And so was the brownie fudge sundae's for dessert.

The conversation and discussion was awesome, as usual. We talked about God's love as embodying both eros (burning desire for us) and agape (wanting to pour himself out for us) and how we were made to love in the same way. Amongst all the great comments and hilarious blunders (father's as usual), there was a side note made. It stands alone in my thoughts as the One Thing I will ponder for years: A father punishes his son for a wrong by not letting him have dessert with dinner. Not unusual, except that the father abstains from having dessert as well. An simple act of compassion, a teaching moment for his son and a true reflection of Jesus' taking on our rightful punishment of death. Wow.

Lastly, here is a MUCH cuter and better picture of our sack of wheat berries.

So, I have my mill now, but am a tad scared to use it.

I even picked up 50 pounds of organic hard wheat berries and corn from Ryan last night. I should be all set. Why the anxiety? Why the hives? I blame hormones.

Did I mention Ana and I went out last night? It was our monthly Walnut Grove Farmer's Market meeting. AKA Gathering of the Wierdos, but that's what you get when you gather people together from Western Minnesota who are actually excited about agriculture. But that's a whole 'nother blog post.

Ana had a wonderful time talking with everyone and pointing at Sunny's cats and turkeys. After the meeting, Ana and I stuck around to line dance with Sunny in her freshly scrubbed, 120 year old barn. And, if I'm lucky, I'll get to take home a little baby turkey next meeting. Here's hoping we won't have to go Golden Plump this Thanksgiving.

Here's the leftovers of the yummy baklava I made to bring to the meeting.

Love, Mary

This just in ... from my sister Mary who is performing next Friday in Minneapolis. This especially goes out to my MSRS readers who need something free to do! It's going to be in MacPhail's new concert hall, which isn't really a hall, but more of an atrium with seats. So, it'll be easier to bring (noisy) kids (who need to be ushered out all the time. Ana.)

I would like to invite you to an upcoming concert featuring Turkish pianist Pinar Basgoze and myself as a piano duo. The concert will take place on Friday,April 25 at 7pm, at MacPhail Center for Music in downtown Minneapolis. Admission is free! Our program includes Debussy's Petite Suite, Schubert's Fantasy in f minor, and Barber's Souvenirs. Please join us for this event, and feel free to pass on the informationto anyone else who might be interested!Cheers!

Friday, April 25 at 7 pmMacPhail Center for MusicGary Sipes Stage501 South 2nd StreetMinneapolis, MN 55401

Welcome Holy Father!

It's nice to have the Vicar of Christ around these here parts.
I remember when Pope John Paul II died, what a heartwrenching day it was for us young Catholics who only knew him as Pope. And what an amazing Pope he was. He truly allowed Christ's light to shine in this world. It was difficult to imagine anyone being able to replace such a leader.

When then Cardinal Ratzinger was elected, it was a shock. I hadn't let myself even
think or hope for Ratzinger to be elected. It would be too good to be true and I wasn't in the mood for a let down. So, when he was elected, you can imagine the tears of joy. And he has been our holy shepherd.

Tomorrow night, our E-Team group will be going over Deus Caritas Est a wonderful and quick read (relatively speaking) if you feel so inclined. Why not? Get to know this pope. You can't make a judgement until you meet the person. And what better way to get to know Benedict than by reading his first encyclical letter. I promise, it's not boring.

Fun in the Sun.

Ana had her first trip to the playground today. The weather was sunshiny, beautiful. A little chilly in the shade. Though that didn't damper her spirits. Neither did the fat lip she got diving head first over the side of the slide.

Keep praying for Gianna! News update is that the cancer has spread throughout her body. She has stage 4 neuroblastoma. Don't forget to pray for her parents and her 3 older siblings. It is especially hard on Makayla, the oldest sibling, who has been dying for a baby sister for, oh, about 12 years.

I made no guarantees.

The Office bombed last night! What happened? It was simply painful to watch. Office fans, take hope. There's always next Thursday.

In other news, I made the big leap and ordered a grain mill. It's quite unusual for me to just go out and buy a big ticket item without a lot of agonizing. I guess there's just no more agonizing that can be done right now. I'll be getting a big 'ol sack of wheat berries from Ryan for 50 cents a pound. Have Cheap, awesome, tasty as all get out bread, here we come.

Have I mentioned yet how much fun I'm having either growing our own food, or buying it from a neighbor? To borrow a phrase from Mr. Rogers, it's a good feeling ... a very good feeling.

Last night I attended a "Get to know you" session at SMSU's Green Bistro at their Culinary School. They are looking to use more local products for their restaurant and class demontrations. It was something to see the dynamics between two Los Angelos transplants (read the ultra hip banished to prairie land, the West Coast version of Siberia) and midwestern farmers (read mutes). I'm not sure if they meeting was useful to anyone but me, since it filled my quota for entertainment.

Tonight will fill a years worth of entertainment quota. That's right, The Office is back. What prank will Jim play on Dwight, and will it be as funny as the Future Dwight prank? We shall see.

Meditation on Knowledge

Written by an anonymous Carthusian:
"To know is simply to be more, more fully, more truly. To know is to be enriched with the very being of things, allowing them to be what they are."

Update

The tumor is malignant, so it is true that little Gianna has cancer. She will begin chemotherapy very soon.

Pray pray pray.

I hate these kind of posts because it usually means that something's horribly wrong.

Our very good friends Tom and Jennifer found out yesterday that their infant daughter, Gianna, has a tumor in her neck. At present, it is inoperable because of it's size and location. They will find out soon if it is cancerous as the doctors suspect. If it is, she will receive chemotherapy in the hopes that the tumor will shrink small enough to be removed. The only good news is that this is apparently a common enough tumor in infants that the doctors know what they're doing and have a very good success rate.

In any event, please take a moment now to pray for God to be with the Samountry family and the doctors.

What are YOU looking at?

Days until new episodes of The Office: 3

Not exactly what we were thinking.

The chipper broke four branches into said chipping. In addition to other events beyond our control and equally as frustrating.

So, here is our wondrous pile of woodchips that is supposed to be enough for our garden and our landscaping. Ana is wondering where all the chips went?

Like it always happens.

Yesterday went really well. Dan and I knocked down a good dozen trees, and chainsawed the downed pine tree from last year. All with the help of Dan Sr. Though, he did spend some time doing donuts.

We worked ourselves silly. Not without consequences however. Dan couldn't hold his trombone up at Mass last night. And I woke up with a slight case of Mastitis. At least I get out of woodchipping though right?

Our property looks better already with the dead trees gone. We didn't get them all, of course, but it was a good dent.

Here Dan is taking out an old dead tree (one of many).




And here is Dan and Big Dan posing with their conquest: the pine tree.



When you're taking down trees, it's inevitable to run into a few nutty environmentalist protestors. Yesterday was no exception. Here is a particularly ornery protestor who kept showing up and latching onto targeted trees no matter how many times we pulled him off.



Later, we relaxed with an episode of 'Allo 'Allo. Here's Herr Flick doing one of his Gestapo routines.

Updates later!

Days until new episodes of The Office: 4

Happy Friday to everyone! Tomorrow is the start of the weekend and that is always good. Been so busy around here boiling sap and reading new cookbooks while trying to fit in some philosophy reading and tending to a toddler. I'm so glad we can relax now that it's almost the weekend.

Except, oh, that's right. It's wood chipping weekend. We've rented a wood chipper for Sunday. Tomorrow we will spend the day hauling all the trees that fell last year and overgrown branches. Then Sunday will be a Fargo re-enactment. No, that's a joke. Although, it might be tempting to do, just for a few giggles.

In other news, Ana got some cute little Swedish lambs, Boo and Baa, and their book as a belated birthday present from my friend Anna (Ana, Anna, I can't say their names in the same sentence without getting confused because of the short and long "a"s). She loves them.



Days until new episodes of The Office: 6

Kitten Mania!

Butterscotch is a skinny little thing again, which can mean only one thing. She had her little kittens! a barn. Seems when I was trying to get a picture of her pregnant belly on Sunday, she was in labor. That's why she was so skiddish of me, and constantly licking her bottom.

Here is the one picture I did take of her. From Sunday. A cat in labor sitting in front of the maternity ward. This was as close as she would let me come. Silly kitty.



Days until new episodes of The Office: 7

Conscience Pricker of the Day: Pope John Paul II While writing on a materialistic culture in his encylical letter Evangelium Vitae: "The values of being are replaced by those of having."

Sheepish.

I got my new cookbook Nourishing Traditions. So excited. So far, it looks very good and nothing outlandish. Except for the Breaded Brains Appetizer and the Raw Liver Drink (I kid you not). One thing I really ought to point out though, there are several recipes for corn dishes.

Dan points this out to me and proudly proclaims "See, everything in moderation." Only it sounds like he says "Thee, evythin in motherethen." Because, you see, his mouth is stuffed with a marshmellow Peep. The first in a line of five.

Days until new episodes of The Office: 8