Country update

Being prego has been served as an exciting distraction to other country-living updates. Here is the latest:

The chickens. After spending about four months locked in a 10x10 room, the chickens have been released to re-explore their outdoor run. This exciting development has led to a plethora of eggs. I guess it makes sense: chickens + warm air + sunshine + a place to run = happy chickens. Yesterday, I collected 11 eggs! And, we think all three breeds are finally laying as we have white, pink and brown eggs. In addition to a customary bottle of wine, we are now arriving with a box of eggs at parties, weekend outings and other events. Huevos, here we come!

While the Hubby still loves his fried eggs, I have been trying to think of new ways to use these silly oval objects. Last night, I made a huge batch of egg salad. Today: egg salad sandwich for lunch. The Hubby's boss recommended pickled eggs. I don't believe I have ever had a pickled egg but can only imagine a pickle + egg = gross. I will have to see. If anyone has good egg recipes, let me know!

The neighborhood. Guess what?! Other people actually live on our street! During the winter, everyone seems to hunker down and, at times, our street feels like a ghost town. Warm weather has brought folks out again! From burning ditch lines to pruning fruit trees, folks are out getting ready for a new season. Additional sights:

• The folks with the awesome vintage red pickup truck are building some sort of new building. We think it might be a barn or, it is tall enough to be a garage for an RV. I am voting for a barn.
• The Doctor got a goat. The goat is a very social goat and will bleat (that's what goats do, by the way, they 'bleat') at you if you are out and about. Of course the dogs think this is some sort of invitation to play and have gone over to visit. Oof. No torturing the goat!!
• The neighbors on the other side of our house bred their cocker spaniel with a poodle to create cockapoodles. The puppies are adorable and apparently they are hypoallergenic too!
  
• Random dude who walks his horse down our street in a full cowboy gettup is back. Sweet.

The Hubby. The Hubby is in full house-project zone. In addition to raking up the rest of our leaves (and I am talking about a gagillion leaves), he built a headgate for our ditch, cut down multiple trees and branches and transplanted a tree. Virgos get so much done!

The casa. As the Hubby has taken on more brawny projects outside, I have focused on more leisurely tasks inside. Weekend highlight: the purchase of a new vacuum cleaner. I feel very oh-so-very-housewife for being so excited about a bloody vacuum cleaner. However, our house has wall-to-wall carpet and wall-to-wall carpet does not mix well with living in the country. The dogs come in and out and, no matter how hard you try to wipe their paws, they track dirt in the house. The Hubby needs a tool and 'tiptoes' in the house with his shoes on and leaves a trail of mud...The list could go on but the point is is that a good vacuum cleaner is needed at our casa. Our old cleaner would suck up dirt and then spit it out the back side. This new spiffy Hoover actually picks up the dirt and keeps it. What a novel concept!

I should note that as I write this, we are experiencing a complete and total white-out blizzard. It is snowing horizontally. WTF?'