April 28th, I hate you.

Wednesday was decidedly a bad day.

No, this isn't drier lint floating down upon my daffy friends...

It's just plain wrong, people. 

I object. Formally.

"Rhymes with Pumpkin-Eater"

I know it is cheating to just slap pictures and captions up here as a means of updating everyone on my recent "adventures," but I truly don't have the time to write the 1,000-odd words that each photo represents.

Not only have I been busy not finding or purchasing a stuffed beaver for the children who are about to descend upon my workplace (turns out with taxidermy they expect you to provide the dead animal...they don't actually stock shelves with them,) but I also have been trying to hire 18-20 staff for the spring season while not letting any of the 15 summer staff (from all around the world) that I've already mostly hired for camp fall through the cracks. While I've been doing this, I've also been trying to string along the random assortment of organized, forward-thinking fools who have applied for fall positions who, while aggravating to this disorganized ding dong, are probably some of the sharpest, best people I could possibly have for our busiest season. (Pause for maniacal laughter and tears.)

Also, I'm going to Montreal this weekend with Stevo and Lisa and next weekend I'm going to see Amber so any extra weekend cramming I might usually do has to be extra crammed into the already crammy cram cram work week.

But I've brought this upon myself, so I won't cry. Too much.

Anyways, I'm going to cheat and just show some pictures. And then I'm going to get back to the pile.

The aforementioned chaos. I've cleaned up since this picture. But I'm almost back to this state. 

Spring! In earnest now!

A beautiful campfire, a newly-dug fire pit and a good bye party for a friend.

Mmm, meat!

Insert your own hot dog pun here.

Turns out I'm not too old to be dared to eat a marshmallow and sausage sandwich.

Salad tongs are perhaps the most underutilized grill utensil.

Look at Michael Sharry's face. I love Michael Sharry.

The end.

Things I never thought I'd be paid to look up

I really like my job. I realize that not too many people can say this with any real conviction, but I say it often and mean it almost every time.

I have a different task to occupy me almost every hour of the workday and while this sometimes induces chest-crushing anxiety, it mostly just keeps me hopping, engaged and chugging away. I've had the job where I spend my time watching the clock, willing the seconds to tick by, and believe me, this is better.

Anyways, yesterday, I was working through my to do list. And there, between "11 am interview, update Work Weekend 2010 list for teen and kid projects, deliver red and gold spray paint to Day Camp and email ICCP re: visas in progress," was this little gem:

• buy a stuffed beaver

An ever dutiful employee, I opened The Google and typed in "Taxidermy, Beaver" and then spent an hour combing through taxidermy web sites in search of a beaver that will suit our needs here at the BOC. You see, we teach a class called Beaver Ecology and we take kids out into the woods to see active beaver ponds, beaver lodges, beaver dams and beaver meadows. 


The only thing they don't see in the course of their grand educational adventure is, of course, an actual beaver. Have you ever seen a beaver, just in passing? No, you haven't. They're very shy. Now can you imagine a group of 15 third graders, even on tip-toe, using their very smallest voices, having any chance of sneaking up to see a beaver in action? Absolutely not. 


Hence yesterday's search. 


Taxidermied beavers, I'll tell you, cost a pretty penny. So I'm being extra thorough in my search, wanting to make sure we're getting one that has good teeth (their teeth never stop growing, so they have to gnaw their whole lives or risk the teeth growing back into their heads!) has a back feet (webbed!) that are easy to see, well-preserved ears (on the tops of their heads, like their eyes, so they can survey the scene above water without getting too much of their bodies out of the water,) and a nice glossy coat that illustrates the how the oil their skin produces creates a protective (almost waterproof) coating to keep them warm/dry in the water.

Look at all you've learned. You're lucky I'm in your life.

So the inspiration for todays post came when I found this on a taxidermy site:

I thought of the friends that came to my house and didn't want to leave...and had a moment where I wished I hadn't flung their offensive little corpses into the woods for the carrion.

But then I noticed the price tag ($65 per mouse, plus $10 more for the mouse perched on the trap itself,) and thought, eh. I'll just put it up on my blog. It'll have the same effect, I'm sure.

And now I'll post for you a few of my very favorite taxidermy sites. Some of them are worth a quick gander, just so you know what's out there and what kind of people populate this great world we live in, even if you don't have the good fortune to have a job that gives you a reason to interact with them.

http://www.huntnstufftaxidermy.com/
This one is my favorite site - just for sheer personality. Kenny (the taxidermist) is really letting it all hang out here, and I like that.

http://www.taxidermyandfreezedrying.com/taxidermy_freeze_drying_CONTACT.html
(This one is special because they also do FREEZE DRYING.)

Finally, I leave you with some images I'm sure you'll carry with you for a very long time:

and

and

Love,

Sarah

Spring is trying

Well, if spring can try, then so can I. Here's what I mean: the weather is milder (not warm, mind you,) the mud has dried up, the grass and hardier plants are trying to push past the mountains of dead leaves that have covered them all winter (the drawback to the "world-famous New England autumn") and the daylight is lasting until the sevens!

So my "try" is in the spring cleaning department. I've begun by going through my drawers and closet, throwing things into two piles: give away and pack away (for winter) and spiffing up areas in my house that I've been whining over for months. 

So behold, my new and improved kitchen:

A work in progress. Why must it always get worse before it gets better?

Success by morning, though! Look at my storage options and imagine me standing up on my kitchen counter roughly 1/3 as often as things previously stored there are now at normal height!

And even though this picture is (ironically) dark, the parts I want you to notice are the lights hanging so clean and pretty right above my previously-dark work surface. Score!

This is the patch of color that my eyes feast on as I walk to work. The grass is trying to be green, the trees are trying to put out leaves (hey trees, don't hurry, yeah, take your time, that's right, we'll wait,) but the forsythias are going BONKERS. A happy, explosive yellow hello, just for me, every day. God is good.

Stimulating Your Visual Cortex

Spring in Becket - ain't it grand?

This is my driveway the muddy pit I must cross daily between work and my humble dwelling. (Why did I think I had to duck down to be in the frame?)

HOME!

David and Shoshana soaking up the atmosphere of the best spot on earth. Aah. 

Dad, on breakfast duty. 

We upgraded our annual (white trash) tradition of Peep-consumption. These Peeps are in Tuxedos. 

We still feel smug.

Easter/Passover Breakfast Backdrop: Play your cards right and you could get yourself invited next year.

Just Rachel. Being cute. I love her.

Have I mentioned that I love these people?

A windy, sunny Chicago day! 

Dad and Dave, doing what they do.

Here we stand, straining our brains to locate and photograph ourselves in "the bean" downtown. 

Success!

Recent Doings

I have two categories of things to post - and no, they don't break down into category A or B adventures. So in this post I will try to catch up on the things I've been doing lately. Some of them are quite fun, and had I been blogging about them all along, would've made for some lovely posts.

Alas.

If only I weren't so reliably me. A more organized blogger would have wonderful, photographically illustrated posts to show for her past few weeks. A more dedicated blogger would have chronicled her adventures in real time, with the fresh blush of emotion and experience still on her cheeks. A more disciplined blogger would have...ugh.

Oh well. Moving on.

And hey, I've had a glass of wine, which makes me feel like it's ok to just gloss over things. Ah hah! So here we go with the rapid-fire catch up session. Things I've been doing:

• Visiting my four favorite humans on the planet (la familia Strull) in a very springy Chicago
• Vanquishing rodents (VICTORY IS MINE!)
• Running - ugh and yay, simultaneously
• Making a delicious feast for Stevo & Lisa before their envy-inspiring Spain adventure
• Menu item 1: homemade vegetarian lasagna with eggplant, zucchini, squash and fresh mozzerella!
• Menu item 2: crusty sourdough garlic bread
• Menu item 3: gigantic salad with many a crispy vegetable and some tasty dressing options
• Menu item 4: key lime bars. Oh yeah. 
• Battling a bug 
• I was sick for three days!
• I had so little energy, I'd limp to work, put in a few hours, limp home again and snooze on the couch until it was dark enough to get into bed and sleep for the night. Pathetic? Affirmative.
• I coughed up some colorful items and got back to my usual robust lifestyle.
• Visiting my old pal Morgan in Maine
• Emily and I "practiced" some spontaneity (that's meant to be funny since she loves to plan and schedule and feels like my job in her life is to help her  be a little less, um, structured.)
• Watched the SNOW fall while we were there. Yes, snow. On April 17th. We hate it here. 
• Re-arranging my kitchen to include some fun new storage and fantastic lighting (that Santa brought me so many months ago!) 

So now I owe photographic evidence of these things and I will provide some in my next post (read: I can't upload photos from home and will steal five minutes from my workday tomorrow to make good on my promise.)

The second category I alluded to at the start of this post will have to follow tomorrow's photo extravaganza. In honor of spring and new life all around, I'll attempt to detail some of the inner workings that surround all the doings of late. Maybe writing about them will help me sort them out. I hope that's right.

Love,
Sarah

Bad Blogger of the Year

Perhaps my first post should've been one that dealt with expectations. So I'll double back now and clarify some things:

Anyone who expects regular posts to this blog is demented. (Optimistic, but demented, none the less.)

Having gotten that off my chest, I'll move on. Several new posts are in the works. Get excited.

Love,
Sarah