Newness

The Girlz started out the new year, by laying eggs again. You can clearly tell which hen laid which egg by the color. Lacy, Penny, and Star. Penny is a year younger, so that may be the reason she continued laying while the other two took six weeks off during the darkest part of the year. Their hen house has a moon roof AND they get a heat lamp, the spoiled little chicklets that they are! One would THINK that would grant them more light. Clearly a few more minutes of light each day, as we passed Winter Solstice is what makes the difference.

I'm working along in the new year, but not full production mode yet. I have many many many new plans for my etsy shop and creative life. I'm taking time to explore ideas, and what my heart desires to bring to life. I'm happy to report I have many returned customers from holiday rush. Folks are coming back to get a new coffee cozy or wrist warmer set for themselves. And I have a record, SIX people in my secret coffee cozy club! I love that. For those who aren't familiar, I sell a four month "subscription" to my club on etsy. Members fill out a fun questionnaire about themselves, and I send them monthly coffee cozies based on what they wrote. Surprises await for my clubbies!


Fav new things!


Funny coy photo... this necklace was made by Australian artist Jen of Jen's Jewelry. It's a sterling moon, with my children's names stamped on, and the words, "I love you to the moon and back" in a spiral, and stamped stars. Some of the "o's" are rivets put into the moon as craters. Jen was fun to work with, and packaged everything so sweetly. From a distance, it's just a 2" moon with crescent, up close it's all specialzy.

New video camera xmas present for the family! The kids are loving it already. IT's got a touch screen and night vision (looks all green like on Survivor). WE are ready to start making documentaries! I have to learn the editing software.....


New favorite mug. I bought several hand built pottery pieces as holiday gifts. I hadn't really looked at local pottery in a long time. Just in passing, so I went on full search. If something looked like pottery in passing, I was IN their booth scoping it out. Eugene Holiday Market, Art Shows, Portland Saturday market......looked at a lot of work and was surprised to find so many potters doing the same old same old muted colors and blah drippy glazes straight out of the 70's. Blech. I found one interesting, bright booth with fun colors in Portland and bought a few pieces.

And then found Bob Haley from Corvallis with several booth weekends in Eugene. I teased him that he must make purple glaze to get all the ladies in his booth. He laughed and told me about his life being a color blind artist!! He was trying to make a navy glaze and ended up with two custom shades of purple that are so popular, he continues to make them. He can't tell green from gray, blue from purple, and didn't realize he was colorblind until he and his wife had a terrible argument over a colored vase and almost divorced!

I love this size, texture, and color of mug. With the smaller opening, my tea stays warmer longer in the cool studio space AND it holds LOTS of tea! I love his work. Fun colors and really wonderfully architected pieces. (Can we turn that noun into a verb??) He can be reached at bhaley18@comcast.net. Alas, not everyone is on etsy.

Speaking of etsy, I had a delightful season, shopping on etsy, but also wanted to spread the cheer to local artists. Esp when it came to buying heavier items and clothing.

What are your new favorites??

Penny- the urban chicken adventures continue

I'm looking forward to being able to share photos again, when Blogger fixes this problem some of us are having. We have a new family member- a young red hen that the kids named Penny Q. She's so cute and makes dear little whistle noises. The two big Girlz haven't accepted her yet, and she has to follow them around the yard, at a distance, to watch and learn from them what's ok to eat, where to dust bathe, where the good bugs are kept, and how to beg chicken crack from the humans by standing on the step, staring in the glass door.

She's due to lay eggs in about two months. Long Leggs McCormack (son #1) and I have taken bets on what color her eggs will be. He's going by the skin color behind her ear feathers (light brown), and I'm guessing by her color (brown).

Surprisingly, Mudslide Sydney (son #2) found a tiny wee speckled egg in the grass yesterday. I have a photo of the dear thing, which I'll post as soon as Blogger gets the wax out of the pipes!

The Grrlz Hen House

For those asking to see the Grrlz Hen House, this post is for you. If you haven't met the Grrlz yet, you may link over.

This is the view of the moon roof, so The Grrls get lots of light even with all our Oregon weather. The house has a roost for sleeping, a red warming lamp for sub freezing temps, and a thick bed of straw. They lay their eggs in a shared nest.

They have a small collection of hen art on the sides of their house. You know how hard it is to find images of hens without roosters? We can't have a rooster within city limits, but we can keep up to four hens. Amazingly, many adult friends ask how the Grrlz produce eggs without a rooster. Or suggest hens don't lay as well without a rooster. Excuse me?!! Grrlz do NOT need a man around to get their job done! A rooster does nothing but make noise and hump hens. The Grrlz lead a perfectly peaceful, productive, and appropriately adventurous life without a rooster underfoot. (FYI, rooster fertilize eggs, but we don't need to eat fertilized eggs. I think the kids would go on egg strike if there was any possibility of hatching into PEEPS. Thanks to Tonia for the term.)

View of the chicken run, feeders and into the roost- no hens in sight because as soon as one opens the big door, they rush into the yard for bug chasing time! I designed this structure so it could be moved to a different location of the yard. The blue tarp can be used to batten down the hatches when it's stormy, or 1/2 uncover the run for lots of sun. We let the Grrlz out for awhile in the afternoons. They love their yard time, indeedy doo.

What are these?? Yes, hen napkins. As much as I adore the Grrlz, I don't want my house taken over by hen iconography. No. REally. However, shopping at the fabric store, I could not resist buying this fabric. It depicted our two hens so perfectly! We needed new spring napkins. It's cute how much the kids love something new and handmade like this.

Urban Chicken Adventures

It is difficult to take a candid shot of the Girlz because whenever they see me, they come running! I do love this "Charlies Angels" shot of the Girlz: Star, the tall white one, the brains of the crime fighting, bug destroying duo, and Lacey, the black girl with soul, bravest and chattiest of the two. Together they make up the "Urban Chicken Assault Team!" Today's target? You'll never guess, but right after this photo was taken, they found a snake sunning itself along the base of the house! Star quickly sounded the alarm, "Ba-bock!", and jumped out of the way, as Lacey dashed in for the attack! "Take THAT and THAT!" she grunted, Mrs Piggy kung fu style. (Although it sounded more like, "aaawwww!.....bok!..bok!"). Star, quite frightened, let Lacey do all the beak and leg work. Lacey pecked the snake, dodged for safety's sake, (peck and weave, Baby! Peck and weave!), bawked at it, jabbed it, flipped it over, pecked..... The poor garter snake didn't have a clue what hit him. He tried to quietly slither a way into taller grass, and Lacey grabbed him by the tail and yanked him back out for a second beating! Poor wee snake! I could have actually stood back and caught all this on film, but I was busy gently defending the poor thing. It was fascinating to see the Girlz reactions, however. And Lacey instinctively treating it as though it were poisonous. I think she would have killed it, if I hadn't held her back. What a fierce girl! If you haven't been properly introduced, go back to the post "Introductions: Girlz and Boys".

Introductions: Girlz and Boys

Etsy customers ask about The Girlz so much, I promised to include them in the Bliss Monkey Studio Blog. After all, they are a big part of studio life.

Top photo: Mr. Long-Legs-MacCormack (aka Son #1) holding Star. Star is our star egg layer. She can lay big, white double yolk eggs, and often makes "extra extra large" which are impossible to close in the egg carton. She is tall, cute, and always squints one eye shut when you pick her up.

Second photo: Sir Mudslide Sydney (aka Son #2), holding Lacey. She's the Siamese of hens, always making noise, loudly announcing each morning's egg, and responding to anything we say to her. She lays demure brown eggs, which sometimes have freckles and sometimes are solid brown. She is very sweet and has the softest feathers.

The Girlz roost in their little yellow hen house, decorated with art, and enjoy their chicken run. Afternoons will find them pacing at the door, impatiently waiting for their yard time. They enjoy such endeavors as: dirt bath in the GOOD DIRT up against the back of the studio, sneaking into the fenced herb garden and quietly scratching up the tender budding things trying to grow, tapping at the sliding glass door until someone comes out to give them Chicken Crack (cracked corn and wheat= highly addictive stuff), and comically running to us when we call. Stay tuned for The Girlz updates and a future art contest.