Classes and chickens

The fall has come to Klamath Falls. I've enrolled in Anatomy and Physiology 2, and completed the first week of classes. There is a new professor who I am enjoying much more than the old one, so that is good, but the class doesn't end until December 10th, so it looks like we won't be going to Alaska before Christmas. There still isn't a whole lot of tangible results on the plumbing front, so now we're just hoping they can get it finished before the cold prevents digging in the ground. I guess it is good to stop living day to day, waiting for the call to leave, but it is still hard for me to accept not seeing Dave for another 3 months. We've kept busy though. Dad and I added a second story to the chicken coop, to make room for the new additions. Shortly after though, one of the brown ones got sick and died from a common chicken bacterial infection. We tried to medicate, but she had stopped drinking water and so didn't get enough medication in time. Very sad! The other 3 seem to be fine, so hopefully no more chicken deaths.

Julia was very interested in helping with the construction 

who says carpenters need pants?

Julia's new favorite food group, popsicles. (she learned to open the freezer and can now help herself. Thus I have stopped buying popsicles, but she is in the process of transferring her affections to ice cream)

We also moved the coop to the side yard and moved the fence so they would be able to scratch in the compost pile.

Julia was thrilled with the fencing job too and quite capable of delivering ringing blows with the fencing pliers

the chicken chalet

I got some secondhand carhartts for Julia. When I talk about them though, she thinks we're going somewhere in the car. 

My aunt sent me this outfit, that was hand sewn for my grandpa Oscar when he was a little boy. I took photos and now I plan to send it on to the next baby in the family, my cousin Diana's boy. 

I decided one day that Julia needed a proper sandbox, and whipped one together out of scrap wood. It came together amazingly easily, but don't let any carpenters get a close look at my shoddy cuts with the jigsaw! 

Olaf likes it almost as much as Julia does. 

Julia has also taken a liking to watercolors (by liking I mean that she demands it on a daily basis)

 I've been taking Julia to storyhour at the library, and she really likes it. We're getting to know some of the other kids and parents now that we're regulars which is good for both of us! While talking to another mom, she told me about Jungle Gym, a pediatric physical therapy center that offers a class on thursdays for any old toddler. We tried it out this week and it was a huge success! Julia loved all the different activities and loved checking out all the different toys, and even had some neat interactions with other kids. She rode a teeter totter with another girl for a long time, and one little boy spent the entire hour in a sand sensory box. Julia would run over frequently and play alongside him for a minute before heading off to other things. The class included some songs and simple games, some playing with a parachute, and plenty of kids checking out whatever they wanted to. I signed us up for a 6 week punch card, so we'll head back next week!

the sand sensory box

A box of shakers that Julia was pretty excited about

she was a big fan of the ball pit

and a really big fan of the soft slide with a giant pillow at the bottom.  

she didn't really understand the parachute 

but loooved the trampoline.

Since class started I haven't been sewing much, but I did make these little giraffe/dinosaurs.  I put a piece of crinkly packaging in the neck so they will hopefully be fun for babies somewhere someday.