Under a Blue Moon

We had a casualty today.  Bellina died.  We noticed her breathing getting a bit labored a couple of weeks ago.  That's weird, we thought, thinking the heat had something to do with it.  Inexperienced chicken keepers, that we are.

Yesterday when we put them all away for the night we could actually hear Bellina wheezing.  This morning I called our local feed store and asked them if they knew of a poultry vet.  They gave me the name of a woman nearby and I brought her in. 

I really try to be conscious of not anthropomorphising animals.  I think it takes away from the, well, animalness of the creature.  It's so easy to superimpose our intentions or emotions on our pets.  Rather, I think we should just respect and celebrate the catness or the chickeness of them. 

That's not to say that I don't become wildly attached to my pets and that I wouldn't do anything in order to avoid any suffering they might experience.  

So off to the chicken vet we went.  Unfortunately it was too late for Bellina.  She had contracted some sort of throat worm that caused her air passages to get irritated and close up. 

We are trying to be very responsible chicken owners.  We clean out their coop and run every week.  Clean out their water daily.  Give them organic feed and allow them to free-range.  What we should have done was de-worm them.  We did start them off on medicated feed as chicks but once they became laying age we switched them over to the organic feed. 

I really liked the vet I took Bellina too.  She says her first approach is always the most non-invasive, natural way.  But there are certain things that just require chemical intervention and worms fall in that category.

I feel a bit as if Bellina was the sacrificial chicken.  It took her dying to educate us.  It's not like we just jumped into chicken raising blindly but we missed this particular lesson.

Polyvore

How about this for a bedroom palette?  I am a bit stymied by the rug which is green.  It's a fairly neutral green, as green goes.

Notice the absence of pink.  I'm very intrigued by Ellen Kennon Full Spectrum paints.  The color swatch is Mushroom which is described as being a chameleon color. Appearing putty in some lights and rosier in others.   Has anyone heard of this line before? 

Here is my newly acquired chandelier:

This is pre-cleaning.  I need to take it apart, clean it and rewire it.  I found a place I can order the missing bobeche and crystals. 

See what happens?  You get a free chandelier and the next thing you know you want to totally redecorate.  Never fails.

Uma Thurman's townhouse up for sale

I have been in a mood to redo our master bedroom.  I'm running into a little opposition in my plan to paint the walls a very pale seashell pink.  Even though I keep telling the opposition how flattering the color will be to his complexion.

I love Uma's parlor above – I like that it is soft and light but not overly feminine.  Well at least I don't think it is overly feminine.  Maybe my two male readers can weigh in.  Except the opposition.  You aren't allowed to weigh in. 

Here are a few quick shots of our room.  Which I've always liked but lately I'm over the pale green walls. 

From the doorway, looking into the room:

From the opposite corner, looking towards the door:

And finally from the corner looking towards the sliding glass door (which was hard to take a picture of since the sun was coming in):

I'm thinking I can do a few simple changes.  Paint.  Ahem.  Cover the big, squishy chair with an off-white slipcover.  Recover the vanity chair (I'm thinking maybe the palest grey velvet or the palest camel velvet).  Remove everything off of the mantel and replace with clear glass or crystal things.  Creamy white bed linens.  Maybe a throw pillow or two in the same color (but different fabric) as the vanity chair. 

And I still want these lamps.  I've been coveting these lamps for a few years now.  Lampsplus has a less expensive version but I don't like the lines as much. 

Take note of where that candle holder/chandelier looking thing is hanging above the vanity.  That's where I want to put the chadelier that Kelly gave me once I rewire it.   I'll show you a picture of it tomorrow.

So how about some inspiration?  What does your master bedroom look like?  Or you wish it looked like?
 

I did that wandering off thing again.  Sorry about that.  I just have not felt inspired at all lately.  I think it's the changing seasons.  It should energize me but instead I just feel lazy and dull.

It's also really hard not to post every single day about the chickens.  They are just SOOO funny that's all I want to talk about.  I knew raising chickens was going to be fun – I just didn't realize that they have such funny, distinct personalities. 

What they don't have is an off switch and we have more eggs than we know what to do with.   We keep telling them to take a few days off but they are hard little workers. 

I went to see my friend Kelly last Monday and, is her style, she loaded me down with some fabulous stuff.  I keep telling she should just open a shop.  Amongst the goodies where two turquoise canning jars.  I can't decide if I should wash them or keep them kind of hazy looking, like they've been sitting in someone's root cellar for the last century. 

She also gave me a beautiful glass chandelier that is a nice, compact size.  It needs to be rewired and it is missing a bobeche and a couple of crystal but they are easily replacable.  I'm thinking I might hang it in the corner of my bedroom where I currently have a hanging candle holder/chandelier type thing.  That corner could use more light.

When the weather gets cooler it makes me want to change out the bedding in the guestrooms.  Kelly gave me a duvet cover and two matching shams done in faded florals.  I have a red flannel quilt that will go perfectly. 

There are more things to talk about but I'll save them for future posts.  I'm trying to get back in the swing of daily posts (at least during the week) so I better save some topics. 

Happy Monday everyone!