My Most Recent Creation

Look what I made!

Finally!  I can introduce Jess!  We had to wait an extra two weeks, which meant that I went into the hospital on the night of my birthday to be induced.  We ended up waiting around till the next day because there were too many active labors for them to start me right away.  Once they got to me, though, things really got going!  It seems I just needed a little nudge to be able to proceed on my own.

We had a really good experience with the induction, the hospital, and the midwife team.  They got a big kick out of Josh (who brought his own scrubs) as he floated between doctor-mode and husband-mode.  I was really grateful that he knew what everything meant and could help me make important calls like, "is now too soon for the epidural?"

Since I was having contractions with no break in between, we settled that question with a resounding "no!" and I got my relief.  The nurse told me I got the award for most constant contractions.  Hurray for me!  We passed a few hours after that with a Storage Wars marathon on cable.  It seems that whenever we have access to cable tv, there is always a Storage Wars marathon.  Which is awesome, because it's kind of our guilty pleasure.

Later that evening, after 2 hours of pushing, Jess was born at a whopping 9 pounds 13 ounces and 22 inches long!  The little guy had 42 weeks to grow that big, though.  He was a solid 33% of my pregnancy weight gain!

I'm so pleased that everything went so smoothly - from pregnancy to delivery.  Now all we have to worry about is recovery and baby snuggles.  Both of which are progressing well!

I Have Resurfaced to Tell You a Story

I took the summer off.  And the beginning of fall.  We were just having too much fun.  But more on that later.

Right now there are two things you need to know going into this tale.  1. I drive a 1982 Jeep CJ7.  It makes me feel tough.  2. I drive my CJ rarely enough that we only filled it up 8 times in 2011, which is quite a feat for a vehicle that gets 11 miles to the gallon.

Additionally, Josh and I disagree about the function of this part of the Jeep:

Yes, it is large enough to be used as a temporary shelf.  Yes, it leaves the garage only occasionally, so it seems like a convenient place to leave things.  However, call me crazy, but I don't expect items to be stored on the front of my car.  So I don't often look there before driving away.

Many things have made it all the way down highway 26, through Portland, and to the Red Cross on the front of ol' Wheezy (it's short for Louise): a burlap sack, Josh's steel tipped hiking staff named John, a styrofoam cooler.  But this is the tale of the one thing that didn't make it.

After a day of working in the garden, Josh took off his cozy flannel and corduroy jacket, placed it on the above disputed area, and came inside to rest his weary bones.  Who knows how many days the jacket stayed there before I needed to drive the Jeep instead of taking TriMet.  But I do know that it wasn't until I came out of work one evening and approached Louise from across the parking lot that I saw the jacket on my bumper.  "Phew," I thought, "I didn't lose it!"  And I moved it safely inside the Jeep for the trip back.  But when I got home and returned it to Josh, we discovered the tragedy:  The items inside the pocket of his jacket somehow came out and flew away without the loss of the coat itself.  How does that happen?!

And of course, I didn't lose the cheap cooler or the free burlap sack.  I lost the only thing to make this dangerous journey (other than John, which is priceless) that was worth anything.  And now I have to buy Josh a new pipe.

June Happened

Oh my.  June was a whirlwind.  We started off by marching in the Grand Floral Parade for Portland's Rose Festival.  We were pioneers with the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center.  We looked like this:

Then we hosted Josh's mom and her two sisters in a Portlandia Extravaganza.  We went everywhere and did everything.  Which includes walking through the Naked Bike Ride.  10,000 people shed their clothes and ride through the city to protest oil dependency.  They got between me and VooDoo Donuts.  So I went through them.  With my mother-in-law.  It looked like this:



Just kidding.



I was going to make it a more elaborate story.  We had to cross the Nude Sea to get to the Promised Land which flows with maple and bacon.  Or something along those lines.  But I couldn't quite flesh it out.

We finished Josh's second year of residency and partied with the program's 2012 graduates.  In 362 days, that'll be us!

I took my serger class at Modern Domestic.

We ended the fiscal year at work, and I give myself a B in my fundraising for the year.  Except then we adjusted the goals because (thank the Lord) there was no big earthquake this year like there was in both 2011 and 2010 to boost Red Cross awareness.  Once we made those adjustments, you could say I exceeded my fundraising goal.  If you wanted to.

We celebrated birthdays, welcomed friends back to Oregon, geeked out at trivia nights, and congratulated friends on impending parenthood.  I made a couple little gifts and gave them away.

It was also in June that a new life dream came to Josh and me.  Now our shared goal in life is to become Royal Rosarians.  They are ambassadors of goodwill for the city of Portland, and have a love for pageantry.  We, too, are fond of goodwill and pageantry.  We have taken our first steps to drawing an invitation from the Rosarians by being in the Grand Floral Parade, and also I was on the Portland Society Page last week with the Red Cross.  Pageantry and  goodwill, folks.  This is happening.  We will look like this:

Hey, Go Stick Your Face in There

Here is a series of photos that make me smile.  Whatever these things are called, Josh and I can't resist putting our faces in them:

Lyman Orchards, Middlefield, CT

Tillamook Cheese Factory, Tillamook, OR

Oregon State Fair, Salem, OR

Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm, Woodburn, OR

Fruit Loop, Hood River, OR

Yup.  You're never too old for these things.  Though, the parents of the kids that wait in line for us to finish being the only adults to get our pictures taken might disagree.  But they're clearly  incorrect.

Pura Vida

Since we got back from Costa Rica, it feels like I haven't been keeping up with anything.  It didn't help that I came down with a pretty vicious bug of some sort for a week, but I feel bounced back now and ready to share some exciting pictures!

 Our luggage for two weeks - mine is on the left, Josh's is the right

Me rappelling down a 200-something foot waterfall

 The sunset as we walked out of Santa Elena

 A trail in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve

 We sat here for five days.  It was awesome.

Quite possibly the most hilarious picture we've ever taken

Our Costa Rica vacation was a great way to start out 2012.  It had the perfect blend of adventuring and relaxing.  We brought along a durable, waterproof camera that resulted in hysterical water-spot-face-distortion.  We laughed a lot.  We walked a lot.  I remembered more Spanish than I thought I would.  We enjoyed where we were.  Our love for Oregon deepened. We made up a new humidity index based on how tall my frizz gets.  The highest LFI (Laura's Frizz Index) was 10cm.  We embraced the Pura Vida!

Now we're hosting a friend and running all over northwest Oregon showing him its wonder.  I've finally finished a quilt top, we've got a plan for a fun Easter package for our nieces, and now that I'm feeling better, I'm actually going to do some yoga tonight.  I'm digging proactivity again.

Sometimes You Need to Drop Everything and Play Zelda

When Josh and I were dating, we talked about a lot of important, life shaping things.  For instance, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is the best video game ever made.  Early in our marriage, we pulled out the old N64 and went through the whole game again together.  It was vital to both of us that we could share in the joy of Link's many quests to save the princess.
Well, we're at it again.  We got the new Zelda game for Christmas; and though we haven't touched our Wii in maybe a year, we dusted the old thing off, bought the new controller we needed, and started adventuring.  Yes, we have some final arrangements to make for Costa Rica in a couple weeks.  Yes, I have a quilt top that I am very excited about, yet am ignoring.  But it's Zelda we're talking about here.  Everything else can wait.

I'm happy I married my perfect match.

On that note, we're also working on one of my previously mentioned goals for the new year: exploring Oregon to see where we want to settle after residency.  McMinnville had been pretty alluring for us, but after having spent the weekend investigating the area, I don't think it's as high on our list as others.  It was tons of fun to visit.  We stayed at the McMenamin's hotel and explored the main street (which is 1/3 tasting rooms and therefore awesome), but all in all, I might prefer the northern part of the valley.  Our next mission: Estacada.

Welcome, 2012

It's strange to be almost 30 and to still have June feel more like the end of the year than January. Although life will probably change more for us on July 1 when residency year 2 becomes residency year 3, one of my goals is not to live in waiting anymore, so I'm putting up my thoughts about and hopes for 2012.

 

That starts with thinking about the last two years. About how 2010 was a year of adventure. We went through the residency interview process, match day, I quit my job so we could run off to Europe, we moved to Oregon (in a Jeep with no a/c. Through the desert. In the summer.), we started new jobs, we met and got to know lots of new people.

 

Life stopped feeling adventuresome pretty quickly, though. 2011 was a year of getting by. Don't misunderstand me, "getting by" was still pleasant most of the time. Josh and I are pretty good at enjoying the moments we have, but the big things started getting wearisome. Hour long commutes that eat into our precious time together, long days at work (mostly for him), even just not having a space of our own ate away at us from time to time. We often reminded ourselves of the big picture, the long term goals, and how the lifestyle we're sacrificing now will make them more accessible in the future. There were some fun things in 2011; but even though we had a few chances to climb mountains, go to the coast, and enjoy the quirks of this fair city, nothing really felt like ours last year. We feel like we could have done more.

 

Which brings us to today. I know every day is a good day for a new beginning and there's nothing really magical about the replacing of an old calendar, but why not use January 1, 2012 as a jumping off place? I guess my overall theme for the new year is proactivity.

 

So far, in 2012 I'm looking forward to:

*Going to Costa Rica in January

*David, Ruth, and the girls coming up in the summer

*Starting the last year of residency

In 2012 I want to (in no particular order):

*Check out potential places to live after residency. We're jumping right into this one - we already have reservations at McMenamin's Hotel Oregon in McMinnville next weekend so we can begin our investigation.

*Take a serger class.

*Take better care of my hair. Most of the time I simply rely on its ease of management which often ends up just looking unkempt. And big.

*Find a church home.

*Actually start exercising. I know this freakish metabolism with which I've been undeservedly blessed won't last forever. To be specific, I will try to do yoga twice a week and run once a week. Just that sounds like a lot to this sewing-chair-potato.

*Meet my fundraising goal for work.  I'm proud of my job.  This is important to me.

*Make more clothes. I got some Pendleton wool from my aunt that I hope to turn into awesome free shirts for Josh; and I have had some clothes to alter and fabric waiting to become a dress in my "not quilting projects" basket for too long.

*Send more fun packages to our nieces (we'll shoot for Valentine's Day, Easter, and Halloween).

 

I tried to be specific in what I want to accomplish this year.  I think this list will please the part of me that likes to check things off and provide enough lifestyle change to propel me forward.  I hope to add to it as schedules flesh out and some things move into the "completed" column.  I will, of course, also post about my various projects still.  In fact, I'm half way done with my first quilt top of 2012, and it's pretty darned adorable.

Things That Are Not Sewing

Umbrellas
Josh and I caught an episode of Free Agents the other day, which takes place in Portland.  I was sewing, so I didn't pay too close attention, but something stood out to me.  Free Agents is about people at an advertising firm, and in this episode they were trying to figure out how to sell umbrellas to men.  Because, apparently, umbrellas are not manly and so men in Portland won't buy them.  I think the real problem, though, would be selling an umbrella to any Oregonian at all!  Ride the train, look around the city, or take a walk and you'll see that the majority of the folks just tough it out with a raincoat, or some microfleece and a hat.  We snickered like natives in on the joke that TV doesn't know what it means to be an Oregonian.

Vacations
It's been a year and a half since our Europe trip and we still haven't put up any pictures on Facebook.  Oops.
We leave Friday for an epic East Coast Adventure.  We're spending a day in Hartford visiting friends and family, a week in a cabin in Maine hiking and rowing, five days in the Smokies backpacking, and a couple days in NC visiting friends.  We've been working hard over here.  I'm ready for a break.  I'm ready for fall.  This is going to be awesome.

Adele
I have a vocal crush on Adele.  I love to sing along with her songs.  Singing Rolling in the Deep is hard!  I have never heard a good cover of it.  I'm sorry to say that includes my listening to John Legend's version.  I thought if anyone could do it, it would be him.  They always fall apart at the chorus.  But so do I, so I totally understand.  No one can do it like she does.

Have a great two weeks, world! 

Bright Hope

The other day, Josh and I were sewing (yes, both of us) while watching the classic She-Ra cartoon.  I was working on a quilt, Josh was re-sizing a fleece jacket (which is a manly sewing endeavor), and She-Ra was saving some miners from the Hoard.  We were all enjoying what is a perfectly acceptable evening in the Reese household, when She-Ra accomplished what Josh and I had not been able to for a couple weeks:  She-Ra named our boat!

She and her team were sailing off in a boat she had just purchased, and She-Ra declared in her noblest voice, "We shall call it The Bright Hope, in honor of our journey."  Josh and I decided that was exactly what, and exactly why, we would name our boat. And so, I give you our anniversary boat, The Bright Hope, in honor of our journey:

We took her out for her inaugural row on Saturday, and I discovered a side effect of naming the boat Bright Hope.  I spent most of the evening with the classic hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness stuck in my head.  You know, "...strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow..."  At least it's a lovely song!

Anniversary Stories

For our first anniversary, I wanted to get something great for Josh - and I had an idea that I wanted to follow the traditional gift guide.  Now, I'm not really sure when that whole gig started, but whoever began it decided that the first anniversary gift should be something paper.  I needed something awesome...and made of paper.  I felt pretty lucky when it came to me that I should blow up a photograph he took and have it framed for our new home.  It was no ordinary picture, you see, this was a Tulsa State Fair third place winning picture of Mount Hood from the yard in front of Pittock Mansion.  There was a couple in the way of the shot, and I remember being disappointed that we couldn't get a better view.  But they brought a nice warmth and balance to the whole thing, so I guess I owe that mystery couple a "thank you."

Anyhow, I had it matted and framed and I wrapped it up and presented it to my husband.  He opened it and got the strangest look on his face.  "Dangit," I thought, "he hates it.  I should have gone with a different frame or something."  After a minute of me feeling like a failure, he got up and told me to follow him into the garage.  In the back of his pickup truck was a fantastically done painting of the same picture he asked his brother to do.  At that moment, I think we might have yelled "MFEO!" (Made For Each Other?  Sleepless in Seattle?  Anyone?) because we got each other pretty much the same present.  We hung them next to each other in the living room as a testament to our synchronicity. 

Here is the painted version, plucked from the background of another picture

We've done well at following the gift guide since then:
Year 2 (Cotton):  I commissioned a Tulsa-inspired painting on canvas done by his favorite Saturday Market artist, and Josh got me tickets to see James Taylor because he mixed up the first two years and thought it went cotton then paper, instead of the other way around.
Year 3 (Leather): We picked out cowboy boots together
Year 4 (Fruit/Flowers): We got a membership to a local vineyard

Today is our fifth anniversary, and the gift this year is supposed to be wood.  We thought about a nice piece of furniture, or maybe a tree, but we don't have a house anymore.  So that's out.  Instead, we've been looking at little boats on Craigslist.  I'm getting pretty excited about it!  I like our tradition.  It makes us get a little creative, and our anniversary gifts have always been memorable!

Another Europe Post

I know it's a little ridiculous.  It's been almost a year since our trip and I've posted only 2 or 3 of our European adventures.  But I've been thinking about how great Hallstatt was lately, and thought, "I should blog about that!"

Hallstatt, Austria was the second stop on our trip, and just might be my favorite place we went.  This place is Alpine perfection:

We stayed in a house where we had our own kitchen.  So Hallstatt became the home of our first international grocery shopping experience.  We bought some things we recognized and some things that we thought looked good even though we weren't quite sure what they were.  We ended up with some pretty tasty stew!  We also ate at some lakeside restaurants (because the whole town is lakeside) and had some fresh Hallstatter-See fish.  We hiked up to the world's oldest salt mine and then all through the woods.  We saw an authentic May Day celebration complete with liederhosen and accordions.  We explored an abandoned hotel in the next town over.  And we drank a lot of coffee on our balcony while admiring the once-in-a-lifetime view.  The lady we rented our rooms from said that the town doctor was getting ready to retire, and we really wished that Josh could speak German so he could take over!  Here are some pictures to help explain why:

The view from the salt mine above the town

 Some from our hike

The town's main street.  I love how everything is terraced up the hillside.

 Our future homestead in a clearing outside of town

 The waterfall by our future homestead.  Yes, this is about as close to perfection as you can get in this life.

I convinced Josh that this empty hotel was unlocked because they wanted us to explore it 

Our view

Wow.  This makes me want to go back.

I'm Fancy

I wish this statement were true: Josh and I made a resolution to be fancier this year.  But we didn't.  I did however say we did when telling a story, because it sounded funny (it got a good laugh) and we are being fancier so far this year.  If I realized it a couple weeks into 2011, and we keep it going, can I say we resolved to be fancier?

Anyhow, I'm sure you're wondering about our first big event as fancy people.  On Saturday, we are going here

for an exclusive Cellar Club party.  Yes, we are members of this club.  Like I said, we're fancy.

On the quilting front, I finished sewing around the edges of all 480 leaves on the quilt for Emma, sewed all the blocks together, added a border, and made my first ever pieced back for it.  I'll add a picture soon.  I finally came up with a good plan for PJ's quilt and will start that this weekend while Josh is working in the ICU Sunday.  We do at least have a little weekend, he gets a whole 40 hours off starting tomorrow morning!

Ending 2010

The last thing I did in 2010 was overheat my CJ.  It sounds unpleasant, but I ended up having a pretty good time - let me explain.

I was driving home from work on the 31st when the cab of the Jeep started to fill with steam.  I was just at the top of the hill coming out of Portland, so I pulled off at the next exit and into a parking lot.  I like to think of myself as a problem solver, so I thought I'd check out what was going on under the hood:

I'm no mechanic, but I was pretty sure those two loose ends ought to be connected.  With encouragement from a stranger we'll call Helpful McPasserby, I got up the nerve to cancel the tow I had called for and fix it myself.  Before digging in, I of course had to go into the coffee shop upon whose parking lot I was imposing so I could warm up.  The thoughtful baristas saw my plight and gave me a warm drink for free!

Thoroughly warmed in both body and spirit, I walked across the street to a convenience store for a screw driver and some coolant.  They had neither.  But the helpful attendant showed me that a dime will do the trick when you don't have a screw driver.  Wouldn't you know it, that was the only coin in my wallet!

Using my dime, I successfully unclamped, reattached, and reclamped the hose.  But I needed coolant.  Here I met my Waterloo.  I had to call my dad since Josh was at work and have him run some up to me.  While I was waiting, I had 3 or 4 strangers stop and make sure I was okay though.  All in all I lost a couple hours, but I ended 2010 feeling pretty good about my community.

Zoo Lights

Josh and I went to Zoo Lights with our residency bff, Denise, on Sunday.  The Oregon Zoo makes beautiful displays all over the grounds.  For instance, a safari scene complete with light-alligators opening their mouths and a light-bird swooping into a light-river to pick up a light-fish.  It is pretty spectacular.  I mention this experience for two reasons:

1. Among all the animals made of lights that you would expect to find at the zoo, there was a light-triceratops and also a light-stegosaurus being attacked by light-raptors.  What?  And a light-unicorn, with a beard.  Whaaaat?

2.  We rode the steam engine.  Not the new-fangled zoo train, but the old steam engine that they only bring out for special occasions.  Why is this so exciting to me (aside from the fact that steam engines are cool)?  My grandpa helped build the Oregon Zoo Steam Engine back in the day.  I feel pretty important having that as a part of my family history.  My roots are deep in this city, and I like them here.

 

This is an old picture, we don't have any snow yet!

Getting There Is Half the Fun

We took a vacation.  We went to Tulsa for Thanksgiving and saw as many people as we could - it was a blast!  It was awesome from the very beginning, though. 
We took the Max to the airport, and I passed the time by finishing up the binding on a quilt.  This got the attention of a lady who has been quilting for more than 50 years, and we talked almost the whole way there.  She was the coolest!  She told me about how she used to live on the Baja peninsula with the natives there.  She lived in a teepee and was a midwife.  She said she was the hit of the neighborhood because she had a generator and therefore a fridge and a sewing machine. 
She also told me that she was allergic to an ingredient in anti-venoms and has unfortunately had several run-ins with poisonous creatures.  I was reminded once again how great Portlanders are when she told me about just having to wait out a brown-recluse bite that was "way crazier than any of the acid trips" she'd ever done.  Then she continued on talking about her loving husband, six kids, and grandkids.  Ahh, the quaint charm of Portland's elderly!

What's Over There? Oh, The President

On my way to work yesterday, I heard that President Obama would be at the Convention Center in Portland and because of that my evening train would be delayed.  Well, the Convention Center is just one short block away from where I catch the Max, so I thought I'd go check it out after work.
But then I read that people had been lining up since dawn and that not everyone there would get in when the doors opened at 4.  I don't get off till 6, but when I got off my bus at the station, I wanted to see what the deal was anyway.
I walked over to the Convention Center and saw a bunch of policemen guarding the back door because the President hadn't arrived yet.  I thought, "Well maybe I'll catch a glimpse as he's rushed inside," but I stood there for a long time and nothing was happening.  So I went around to the doors just to see what else there was.  As I walked up, there was a small group to whom a secret serviceman gestured and said, "All right, you're the last group in."  I made myself a part of that group and went on inside!
I had to wait through a lot of other political speakers, but eventually President Obama came in and spoke for a good half hour.  It wasn't terribly crowded so I got pretty close - probably the closest I'll ever get to a president.  However, like in side mirrors on a car, objects in an iPhone camera are closer than they appear, so this picture is misleading about my proximity:

Really, I could see his face clearly enough to see his varying expressions, which is saying something because I'm approaching blindness faster than I would prefer. (My eyesight takes after my mom's who, without contacts, says, "I can still see light and color" - oh, good)

Now I've seen a president in person, and rather spontaneously too!

Cave Canem

It's another Europe post!

One of the coolest things we did while abroad was visit Pompeii.  It wasn't what I expected after visiting other ruins because it still looked like a city.  We walked around on streets that had ruts worn in the stone from cart travel.  We went into houses built 2000 years ago and admired the murals on the wall and the mosaics on the floor.  We saw the bars, brothels, and temples and could still tell what they were.  There were vases, sculptures and pieces of furniture on display.  All of which had been suddenly buried under ash and thus preserved since AD 70.  (There were also plaster casts made from the actual inhabitants frozen in place, covering their faces as they were covered in ash from Vesuvius - it was eerie)

One of the most famous mosaics is this one found at the entrance of one of the homes:

"Cave Canem" means "Beware of Dog."  Awesome, right?!

Also awesome is that it kind of looks like my dog:

Also also awesome is that there are still dogs living in Pompeii.  They just have free reign of the city.  They're kept there under protection and are up for adoption.  You can adopt a dog from Pompeii.  Tell me that's not cool!

Busy Busy

This last week was busy.  I finished this quilt for our friends the Herberts who had their first son, Daxton, this weekend.  Congratulations to them!

Because of my poor photography skills, I don't know if you can see that the fabrics include waves, palm trees, and starfish or that it's quilted all over with waves.  Those Herberts love the West Coast, and who can blame them?

Then Josh and I went on vacation.  Josh hadn't seen Central Oregon before so we visited Bend and Sisters.  We met a legit watch maker in Sisters from whom we will purchase all our wrist and/or pocket time pieces in the future.  The guy is an artist!  I don't remember his name.  But Josh got his card.

On the way home, we decided to track down some ghost towns, since Oregon has the most.  We bought a book at Powell's before leaving the city, but since they deal mostly in used books, the only one on ghost towns we could find was 40 years old.  Mistake!  Although, it is the same book my Grandpa used when he and Grandma went on a ghost town tour in the '70s (no lies).

Our journey was kind of a bust, because in the last 40 years one of the towns from the book had completely disappeared and two others had kind of bounced back (good for them, though!).  My unstable relationship with the camera was momentarily in good standing when I took this picture:

Too bad the only real abandoned building we saw was surrounded by barbed wire and "No Trespassing" signs.  Oh well, it was nice to have a break, and I certainly enjoyed five whole days in a row with Josh!

Filler

I'm still here!  Aside from getting half my quilt blocks done for Juliette's baby quilt, we picked peaches for canning this week, and we picked a little bit of blackberries.  We only picked enough for two and a half cans of jam, which I made today.  I just wanted to check in and put up a single picture from our Europe trip before getting back to sewing.

I want to show off the very small bags we took with us!  It was incredibly handy to not have to check anything, nor to have to lug big bags on and off the many trains we took.  These are our backpacks lounging by the sea in Greece while we did the same.

Yes, that is all we had between the two of us for a month of travel.  I even had a fancy occasion dress for going out to dinner in Venice stuffed in mine.  As my sewing projects wind down, I'll post more pictures, I promise!

The Great Chicken Caper

Josh and I are house sitting this week for a couple of his senior residents.  Our responsibilities include caring for the gardens, the dog, the cat, and the chickens.  They said we could bring Ada, and we thought she would make a great addition to the household, but I didn't anticipate one thing - she turned out to be a professional chicken hunter.

Yes, within five minutes of taking over guardianship of our friends' home, Adelaide found the backdoor open and discovered her feathered friends.  She chased them until one flew over the front gate, one completely vanished, and one was in her clutches.  After I got her to release the chicken and tugged her back to the truck, I tried to figure out what to do. I went back to the chicken she caught, expecting to find it mortally wounded, but it was only scared out of its mind and had gotten up to hide behind the compost bin.  Where it stayed for hours.

Then, after setting up Ada's crate and relocating her (I'm not cruelly leaving her in the car on the hottest day of the year even if she did try to do in the chickens), I began my search of the neighborhood.  I went around and asked the neighbor over the back fence if our chicken ended up in his yard - no.  I asked several passers-by if they'd "seen a chicken clucking around" - no.  I searched the yards surrounding the house, but only found a glass chicken yard ornament - not good enough.

In complete shame and despair, I gave up and went back to the house to eat.  I texted Josh, who was on call at the hospital.  I did some Red Cross work.  I called my friend to commiserate.  Several hours passed.  Then, I decided to water the plants so nothing else met its demise on our watch.  Lo and behold!  Chicken #2 emerged from under the house.  I quickly made sure that it was not Chicken #1 simply in a new place.  No!  Chicken #1 is still terrified behind the compost bin!  Having two chickens is way better than having one chicken!

Revitalized by this discovery, I thought, "Surely the other chicken is still hiding nearby!"  I began my search again and quickly found Chicken #3 in the neighbors tree.  I told it to stay where it was and went to get gloves.  I could only find snow gloves.  I chased the chicken around the front yards of several houses in snow gloves.  I caught the chicken and put her back where she belongs.  Days later, we still have all three chickens!

We did relocate Ada back to my parents the next morning, though.