Five things

1. I slept really well Friday and Saturday night. After weeks of insomnia/restless nights/nightmares/etc. I was so grateful to really rest.

2. E and I had a really nice date day yesterday. First we hung around in our jammies all morning then drove up Mt. Lemmon. We hiked from the Box Camp trailhead and had a picnic on a log. We did not eat ants on a log...

3. Today Mead performed with her clogging dance group at a festival downtown. She and her group did such an amazing job, it was particularly fun to watch traditional dance done to Party Rock, Big and Rich and other surprising choices. Ha! Their leader has a great sense of humor and independence. I loved it! I can't wait to go to her other performances.

4. Before and after her performance we hung around at the festival. It's a festival that celebrates the different cultures that all live in our city. There's traditional music, dance and food. Every year Mead and I share food from the Polish food stand. We share the stuffed cabbage and potato pancakes. This year we also added a ham sandwich from the French stand. YUM! It was fun getting to catch up as we didn't get to hang around together last weekend because she was out of town. Absence does make the heart grow fonder! (but I was already fond enough! I hate it when we miss a week!)

5. Last night I had this really intense dream that I was in my backyard with a kind, old lady who was teaching me to care for my chickens. I was standing by my chicken run, the exact one that I am always looking for (6 feet wide, 6 feet tall, 12 feet long, chain link panels with a well designed door/gate) and had the deepest sense of happiness. When I woke up I still felt happy, I have been looking for a run with these specifications for a long time. I watch craigslist, I look all over the internet. I've researched our local fence construction trade. I've been to every pet store and feed store with no luck. There's a guy who builds them an hour and a half north of here but he charges a fortune and told me it would cost two hundred dollars just to bring it down here. So today, I woke up and checked craigslist, which I do almost every day, and lo and behold I found the chicken run of my dream(s) posted just yesterday. I spoke to the owner, he said he would hold it for me until the afternoon when we could come pick it up. It's now waiting to be assembled in our backyard. I started the book that Eric gave me about backyard chicken raising tonight and am hoping to get a few birds this coming weekend. I am also really grateful for Eric's help with getting the chicken run, he drove out to pick it up with me in the pickup truck I rented and then carried all of the parts into our backyard. The guy who sold it to us was so nice from beginning to end. When I went to hand him the cash he said that he had lowered the price by 25 dollars. The chicken run (originally designed as a dog run) was worth at least 200 dollars more than I paid for it. It was already a bargain so he didn't need to lower the price at all. Anyway, he helped us load it into the truck and wished us well. Now all I need is the benevolent old lady to teach me chicken care...

Good night.