Jennifer and Eggs

This past week Edward's new girlfriend, Jennifer, was visiting northern California. He took her to do some of the usual stuff: SF, wine tasting in Livermore, Yosemite...and Davis, of course. =)They spent Thursday-Saturday here in Davis with us. I'm so glad she got to spend some time with us! She's great and I fully approve of her. =) She fits in with us crazy Levie-Bowers nicely!

Thursday afternoon after I got back from the last day of my workshop, we went to the Davis Creamery to get some ice cream. I gave Eddie his own spoon and let him have a whole scoop of avocado-coconut (it was super good!). In case you're wondering, he's THE messiest ice cream eater ever. I actually apologized to the salesgirl for the huge mess he made (she promptly brought out a mop). But Eddie sure did enjoy himself! Then we went to the co-op to buy a few things for making pizza.

That night we made a lot of pizzas--one was gluten free/celiac-friendly for Jennifer. We each decorated our own pizzas. (We tried to make mozzarella cheese, too, but the milk we used didn't curdle fully. It was close enough so we used it anyway and then made ricotta from the whey.) When Dave got home that night he ate some of our leftovers while we watched Green Zone. He said the only way he could tell which pizza was made with the gluten free dough was by deduction: my pizza was "over loaded" with tomatoes (whatever) and Edward's was super spicy from all the fresh jalapenos he put on it. So that left only one. Yep, the dough that super good!Friday we all went to the American River Confluence to play in the water. We left in the afternoon so Clark's Pool was completely shaded when we arrived. It was good and bad; we didn't have to wear sunscreen, but it was a little cold. Everyone except me and Eddie went swimming and jumped off the rocks.



There were two girls sitting on some rocks by the water giggling and snacking. Suddenly one of them started screaming "help me! Someone HELP ME!" We all look over at them to judge whether she was being stupid or really needed help. Her friend was standing there laughing at her so we figured she was fine. A while later when they walked by me to leave, I asked why she was screaming earlier. She said, "Oh, there was just a praying mantis on me." I shot her a weird look, and pointed out that she really shouldn't scream for help unless something is really wrong because it sorta worried all of us and we didn't know if we should jump in the water and swim over to help her or not. She gave me a "you're an idiot" look and snapped, "Well, I would have yelled 'help me' if I'd really needed help." I told her that she HAD yelled that...she seemed annoyed and embarrassed and just walked away from me. Stupid girl!

Saturday we made Jennifer-friendly pancakes using a new recipe and they were super good. We added finely chopped nuts (pecans and walnuts) and oats. Edward and Jennifer went on a tour of the underground tunnels below downtown Sacramento while us Bowers went to a birthday party for Cassie's daughter, Leila. She turned 3 and the theme was princesses--Eddie got a crown in his goodie bag and there was a castle bounce house! I wasn't sure Eddie would like getting knocked around inside the bounce house, but he really liked it! (Except when he knocked heads with another kiddo...)Once Edward and Jennifer left for the airport on Saturday, Dave and I settled back into our normal weekend routine: laundry, a trip to Home Depot for project supplies, cooking, gardening, etc. Our plan was to finish installing the new panel doors...but we had to change that after I tended to the chickens on Saturday afternoon. Dave decided to build a nesting box for our feathery girls instead because one of our gals has started laying eggs!

I found two blue/green eggs in the coop while I was refilling the water container. Our two Americanas (Noodle and Vindaloo) are called "Easter Egg Chickens" because they lay pretty colored eggs. So I'm guessing it was one of them...but I'm not sure. This morning when I checked for eggs again, I found another underneath the hanging water container where I'd earlier seen Tom Ka (the white Brahma) laying down.

The eggs are pretty small but the color is nice. We only kept the one from this morning to eat since I didn't know how long the others had been out there. I blew out the first two and will (try to) turn them into Christmas tree decorations.

While Eddie napped this morning I planted a bunch of drought-tolerant perennials in the front yard and then transplanted some baby ferns to the patio yard. I really want to get that yard landscaped--the rock-hard dirt look just isn't doing it for me.