Tommy is Trouble

Tommy is making quite the ruckus around here. Yesterday one neighbor told me he has been cockadoodledooing for over a month, which I am sure is a lie. But still. Last night we went to a party at another neighbors house, and I felt we had to fess up. I announced upon our arrival that we were the people with the illegal tranny rooster and if anyone had anything to say about it they should talk to Kevin cause I was going to hit the cupcake table pretty hard for a while. Which I indeed did. With frosting all over my face and a sloshing beer in hand, I also managed to start a conversation with one of the other guests about the time our naturopath told Kevin about his previous patient's vagina boil. You're welcome neighbors! Please invite me to your next gathering and I will tell more stories that include the words "vagina" and "boil". Poor Kevin, having to go to parties with me. It must be just terrifying.

Tommy has crowed 15 times already today and it is only 10:21 am. He has to go. Tonight Nic is taking him to a farm where he will be the stud cock to over 100 lady chickens. I wish him luck and honor. My heart is broken.

Tammy is Tommy

I awoke to quite a ruckus yesterday and assumed it was my neighbors horrible flock- but alas, it was not. The sound was coming from my own coop, from Tammy. Tammy is a rooster. Tammy is a tranny; now Tommy. And she's not for sale, despite what my horrible friends Nic and Topher were thinking when they put this ad on Craigslist.

This explains so much about Tommy.

I can't stand all this beauty!

This blog is beautiful.

This blog is also beautiful.

This blog breaks my heart and then buys me plane tickets to Italy.

This blog told me I need a Thermomix and then got me re-excited for Spain.

This blog seems to have a good thing going on.

This blog is where the dogs live.

Chickens in the Kitchen

They are so entitled.

Pine State #3 Opens on Alberta TODAY FOLKS!

Here it is!

One hard working employee models his gloves.

Have you ever seen such love so early in the morning?

These hotties had to be removed from the premises.

The proud owner, being embarrassed by his girlfriend.

Surprise! It's open. In case the farmers market or Belmont were too far away, you can now go to Alberta street for biscuits and gravy! Stop in and tell Kevin and Walt that you love them. Trust me- you might get some extra bacon on your sandwich for it. I know I did.

The space is much bigger than Pine State #1, and capital F Fancy inside. Subway tile, exposed beams and lots of beautiful old lumber makes the space both masculine and beautiful. The menu is the same as the other locations, but soon there will be beer and hopefully cocktails, and a very exciting late night menu. I can't wait for the liquor licence to arrive so I can have a beer on the rocks with lemonade alongside my bucket of fried chicken. Just what I need.

Stop Draggin' My Heart Around

I love this song. That is all.

Practice Hike

Last week we went hiking with our friends in the woods. I was breaking my boots in a little bit and they were getting their brand new infant out for some fresh air. If a baby can do it I know it doesn't count as "training" for my trip, but I feel pretty good about it. Fit. Ready. I went for a walk! What more do I need?

Ah, the Pacific Northwest. It's finally hot out and my bff Sam and I are going to the RIVER TODAY!!!!!! It's also part of my training.

Just Walking, But Really Really Far.

At the end of August, I am walking across Spain. I heard about the Camino De Santiago last fall and couldn't get it out of my head. After enough signs from the Universe throughout the winter, I bought my tickets this spring and told my workplace that I need 2 months off. Since I bought the tickets I have kind of lapsed into a state of disbelief- me, walking 500 miles alone? Without Kevin or Jacky or Hiro or the chickens or the quail? I don't know, I might bring a quail along. But seriously, I got sore mowing the lawn a few weeks ago. I don't know what I'm thinking but I am very excited. VERY EXCITED.
I will fly home in August to get a kiss from my mom before flying to Dublin (where I get to spend 10 hours- anyone have any good ideas?) and then to Biarritz, France. There I will do some topless sunbathing (not) before hopping on a train to the small boarder town St. Jean Pied A Port. This is when the fun stops and I start walking over the Pyrenees with a bunch of nuns. Just kidding, this is when I start complaining about blisters and hire someone to carry my backpack for me. No but seriously this is where I get a flight to Italy and send fake postcards home so no one knows I wimped out but then when I come home really fat they will catch on.
OK, really, if everything goes according to plan I will walk about 28 kilometers a day (I have no idea how far that is but doesn't it sound really, really far??) and sleep in bunk houses with all the other nut jobs who are doing the same thing. It should take 5 weeks or so, depending on how many times I take cake-days. My friend who has done this walk told me that some times you just need a day to sit down and eat cake and cry it out. I have penciled in a few of these days for before my trip also.
Yesterday I bought my pack and some really stupid athletic clothing. I hate shorts and I hate sports but need stuff that dries quickly and can be worn every single day, so I had a few challenges to contend with already. I might as well just admit it- I bought a skort. I will be wearing this skort every day for almost 2 months and I feel pretty good about it. I also bought sport underpants and sport shirts. I'm wearing one right now, for practice. It's good for blogging so I figure it will be good for hiking too.
And, when it's all over, my darling Kevin is going to join me in Barcelona! We are going to stay there for two nights and then we fly over to Majorca ( Mallorca if you're nasty). We will be staying there for 6 days and hopefully it will still be warm enough for a few dips in the Mediterranean. I plan on eating a diet exclusively consisting of octopus and chorizo. This part sounds like a dream vacation so I really really need to make it through my walk. When I am laying on the dusty road, moaning and drooling on my sport outfit, I just need to picture olive oil poached octopus with pimenton, and Kevin wearing a Spanish flag. Then I will get up and keep walking. I'm not saying I will stop moaning, but hopefully those images will give me the strength to keep walking. And maybe a few emails from Jacky would help too.

Now that I wrote about my trip once, I will probably write about it a lot. I broke the seal. Maybe I will take some skort photos later.

Margarita Party (we wish we were back in Mexico.)

We drank that whole giant world market-y jug of margaritas like it was our JOB! Then we ate one million tacos also like it was the other part of our job. I guess summer is kind of here.