Monday, August 27, 2012

Riffday: It. Starts.

So first of all, Nell says hi, and she will tell us about NZ when she gets back.  She just finally read that post a couple of days ago, but she can't figure out how to comment on her phone, which is the only computer she has at the moment.

Classes started today.  My usually-beautiful drive was not so great today because it is so smoky.  I'm listening to Ship Breaker on audiobook as I drive.  It's one of the ones I have to read for class this semester.  It's yet another post-apocalyptic. I'm curious about why there is so much post-apocalyptic stuff these days-- books and movies.  Maybe we will discuss that in class.  If you have any ideas let me know.  Are we so hopeless?  All we can imagine for the future is despair?

It remains to be seen if this guy can do something different with it, because honestly, I'm not all that excited about reading yet another book where civilization has fallen apart and it's a dog-eat-dog world out there.  yadda, yadda, yadda. end of the world, people killing each other to stay alive, institutionalized savagery-- yawn.  been there done that, got the t-shirt, ate the cupcakes.

It made me very happy to be back on campus.  Usually I'm not there on the very first day of class.  Even the remote parking lot was full, and there were lines everywhere.  Lots of excited energy, though.  The YA class looks like it will be great.  And I got to stop on the way back and get good bagels.  Have I whined about that before?  There are no good bagels in our town, so when school is in session, I make a weekly stop at the bagel store in U-Town. 

Also, like most bloggers I occasionally get e-mails from people wanting me to promote something. Usually I just delete them, because they are so obviously mass-generated e-mails, the equivalent of getting a form letter.  But recently I've received several from someone who sounds more sincere, so here is the link to a page on her site:  18 Ways Going Back to School has Changed (link removed at site manager's request, you can probably google it if you're interested).  It is more general than just adults going back to school-- the information on that particular page goes from grade school all the way up to college. It's kind of a fun article.  Check it out if you're interested.

The Chicken update.  I got a picture text from MadMax when I got out of class -- there were SIX eggs today.  That's the first time all six chickens have produced in one day.  MadMax named one of them Larry, and although a chicken is clearly a she, we've all accidentally called Larry "he" on occasion.  So I've accused MadMax of giving him-- I mean her-- a gender identity crisis that made it so she couldn't produce eggs.  But apparently today she did!  Go, Larry! 

Photographic evidence (sorry if this bores you to death-- it's sort of like posting endless pictures of your child's band concert-- but I just can't get over the fact that our chickens are laying eggs! woot!)






12 comments:

  1. I'm not bored, your eggs are beautiful. And maybe Larry wants to be a Larry even though she's a girl. I have a cross dressing cactus. (His name is Alfonso but he decks out in pink blossoms for Thanksgiving.) So you can have a female chicken named Larry who lays eggs. Why not?
    I so sympathize with you on the bagel front. I remember my days of Fred's Bread and Bagel in Albuquerque and Big City Bagels in San Diego and now I have to settle for lenders in a bag. Even then the grocery never has the green onion. Friday I may go in to Paducah, though. Panera's. Closest thing to a good bagel round here.

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    1. lol the cross-dressing cactus :-) and now we have bagel solidarity. I like them, but Dean is the one that really misses them. He has tried all kinds of frozen and "bakery" bagels from every grocery store in town and they just aren't very good.

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  2. The eggs are definitely cool. And I am thinking that you need to have omlettes (oh I have NO idea how to spell that darn word) for dinner.

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    1. You know, I have never made an omelette (red squiggly line= I don't know how to spell it either). I just do scrambled or fried. You're right, I need to try that sometime. Will let you know how it goes.

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  3. Time to share with us your best egg recipe so far . . . wish I could send you some recycled egg cartons.

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    1. so far I've been keeping up with scrambled, fried, and hard-boiled, so no brilliant recipes. I tried chile relleno casserole this week, it was good but really dry so the recipe still needs work. maybe in a month or two I will post my best ideas for using up eggs. (and by the way, HI MAE!!!)

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  4. I love hearing about the chickens! I keep wanting some, but since I'm the only one who eats eggs in this family it doesn't make much sense for us to have them. Maybe I'll make a video of how to cook an omelet and send it to you! Mmmmm - deviled eggs, souffle, scrambled eggs, poached eggs, custard, flan, lots of things you can do with eggs!

    Good luck with school. There are times I miss all the intellectual stimulation, but mostly I'd just like to audit - I'd do the reading and all but I don't really want to be writing papers any more.

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    1. oh lord, I COMPLETELY agree about auditing and not having to write the papers. One more semester. I can do it. I know I can. I'm both dreading and looking forward to being done.

      I will take whatever egg ideas you have!! I'd love to see the video! you should post it on your own blog. One of Nell's friends gave me The Fresh Egg Cookbook for my birthday and it is awesome. I just haven't done much of it yet.

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  5. I second the idea of Karen posting her cooking lesson over at her place. Eggs are SUCH a difficult thing to give up....

    We have lots of bagel places here. I have no idea what is a good one. Some are larger than others, some are denser, hell, even Safeway has nice decent ones. I am clearly not an expert. ;)

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    1. most grocery stores just bake circles of bread. I guess for "real" bagels, you have to boil the dough and THEN bake it. There was a terrific bagel shop in the town where we lived before we moved here, so we got hooked on the real thing. Honestly I don't really care all *that* much, but Dean adores good bagels.

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  6. Ever since chickensitting, I'm very interested in people's backyard chickens! I wish I had some.

    Being back on campus for the new year is kind of exciting in the beginning. I used to love walking by the hotdog stand they had set up outside, seeing all the students sprawling on the grass in the sun, seeing what the new profs are like, getting excited by what I was going to learn that year, fresh books in hand... When I returned to school as an adult I had a GREAT time. I got the new BA/MA so I could teach at college, and I don't know if that will ever happen. But I don't regret the degrees, cause they were fun. (And so cheap in Quebec that they didn't create debt for me.)

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    1. It is fun to go back, isn't it? Probably in an attempt to be sympathetic about how scary it is, I neglected the fun aspect. There are *often* times when I'm in the student center eating lunch while live music plays, or walking around campus while there are frisbee games and people slacklining and I think to myself, I can't believe how lucky I am that I get to do this! It really is fun.

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