A Heart Full of Gratitude

Last week, in my aerial class, I was the only student in class, which meant I got quality one-on-one time with the instructor, who also happens to be the owner of the circus center. Super Jes was subbing for our usual instructor, and it's always a treat when I get to spend time with her.

When I joined the now-defunct Old Lady Circus Club four years ago, I found a family and support system that I never expected. To be considered "old" enough for OLCC, one only had to be 35+, and I had just turned 50. I completely understand that 35 in the aerial world is old, but it still made me giggle.

OLCC was like playing on the playground to me, and I made some good playground friends. Super Jes, the owner of the facility, was one of them. She's an incredible, supportive human being who just makes me feel better being around her. Dutchess Lindy, who specializes in (hula) hoop flow, is another who just welcomed me with open arms.

When I started at the circus center, there was only one studio/gym, and a couple of years ago, they expanded to another studio right next door. The original studio is small, crowded, and feels like home.

Dance trapeze in OLCC

After Mom and Bill's accident almost three years ago, one of the first places I went to feel some normalcy was the circus center. I had to get back to OLCC, and my "old lady" friends. For the first time since the accident, I could breathe. Stepping into the studio was like a giant hug.

Lyra or aerial hoop

OLCC has evolved into an adult performance troupe, and I've moved into regular classes. The majority of my classes are now held in the new studio, which is very nice, but it's not home.

Silks last week, learning arabesque
into backbend

With Super Jes as my instructor last week, even in the new studio, I felt a piece of home. Who knew that joining a writer friend of mine on a whim four years ago would morph into something my soul needs? Not so much the aerial skills, which are fun and I love, but the support and love from the women who have been by my side through this journey.

There is one skill - a basic mount into any apparatus - the pullover that I've struggled with my entire circus journey. I get it, then I lose confidence, and I spend another few months relearning it, only to lose confidence ... it's become a vicious cycle. Super Jes literally held my hand through it last week. I managed successfully twice due to her support and belief that I could do it. She didn't spot me through it, she didn't physically help me through it, she simply covered my right hand with hers and that's all it took.

Last week's class, being the only student who showed up, and with Super Jes as my instructor was definitely a "my cup runneth over" class and I'm forever thankful.

Hallowe'en Decorating

Last year, Nebalee found the coolest Hallowe'en craft that we were unable to do, because finding pool noodles in Colorado in October is practically impossible. However, this year, I stumbled across some at the Dollar Store, and snatched up enough to make both of us the gothic candle craft that we couldn't make last year.

All it took was $20 in pool noodles, $5 in spray paint, $5 in black ceramic plates to act as bases for Nebalee's, and $83 solar tea lights. Yes, you read that right, eighty-three dollars! So much for a cheap craft, lol. The solar tea lights are worth it, because of the time saved in not having to turn on and off all of the tea lights if they were battery-operated. To me, it's worth it to not have to waste time remembering to go out and turn on twenty lights, then turn them off in the morning.

I knew I wanted two sets to put at the end of Whimsy' archway, and two sets to put into Maggie's gothic bird cages, plus two sets for Nebalee's house. The first thing I did when I got home was to cut them in staggered heights, then tape them together so I could glue them.

All taped and ready for gluing.

For a smart person, sometimes I'm not so smart. Do you know that hot glue and foam pool noodles don't play well together? If I'd stopped for three seconds and thought about it, I might have picked up some glue when I picked up the pool noodles. I finally figured out a way to make the hot glue and the foam pool noodles play nicely enough to stick together. Jay then added some wood glue (the only glue we had at the time) around the top, and let it run down so it would look like melting wax once painted.

Wood glue on foam takes forever to try, and I impatiently waited until it was "dry enough" to take outside and paint.

Once they were all painted and dried, I took them to their assigned spots. I wired the two for Whimsy to her arch, since I knew the winds would blow them away if I didn't. I mean, if the wind can blow down a whole outhouse, my foam gothic candles wouldn't stand a chance. With them in place, I again had to wait for the tea lights to be delivered. And then I had to wait until I had time to go add them to the candles.

The tea lights didn't fit down inside the hole of the pool noodles, so some creative carving was required, which was messy and time consuming, but so worth it!

The first night, I only had time
to carve holes in one set of candles.

But look at how amazing these are!

It took a week after the first tea lights were installed to get the rest installed. Digger and the Gremlin were over the night I was carving and installing the rest of the tea lights and I basically just ignored them in my quest to complete the project. I think they'll forgive me.

I love them in the gothic birdcages,
and they're protected from the wind.

I realized that my candelabra would go very nicely on the shelves I moved into Maggie, so I moved it from the potting bench over to the shelves. Those tapers are battery operated, so they only get turned on for "special occasions", i.e. when I feel like walking out and turning them on.

Last month, Jay had won a gold skull in a game, and he thought it would be great in Whimsy, if I added a tea light to it. He's right - it would look amazing in Whimsy, but once I moved the candelabra to the window shelf, I decided that the skull needed to go there, too. Since we live on an old farm, "treasures" resurface every spring, and I've been collecting them. This year's treasures included a lot of animal bones, so I made a temporary wreath of rib bones for the base of the skull.

I just love the way this all came together. Yes, Maggie is a bit lopsided, with the candelabra and skull in one window, but I still love it. There's still time, I might find something to go in the other window before Hallowe'en. This is honestly the first time I'm disappointed that we never have any trick or treaters.

This just makes me so happy. <grin>

Whimsy, the Whimsical ... Retirement Home?

L.E. added three pullets to her flock a month or so ago. The current hens are getting up there, almost to hen menopause, so she needed to bring in layers that would take over when the older ladies finally quit laying.

Meet Hi-ho Silver, Andarna*, and Princess Buttercup
Aug 15, 2025

Mary Kathryn, our oldest hen at almost 8 years old, wasn't having it, and immediately went after them. She was placed in time-out for a little bit that day, then allowed back in with the rest of the ladies.

As the pullets have grown, though, they've not forgotten her hostile welcome and she's slipped to the bottom of the pecking order. For the past few weeks L.E. has been taking her out each morning and putting her in her private suite, the chicken tractor by the strawberry/mint patch. Mary Kathryn has not complained about this one bit. She's always been a bit spoiled.

Her history is amazing.

She started her life with my niece, Autobot, who tamed her, and carried her around like a pet. When Autobot enlisted, she needed a good place for Mary Kathryn. At that point in time, Beel had become a crazy chicken lady (or, as he preferred, a chicken tender), so Mary Kathryn made the move up to the lodge with his girls. 

While at the lodge, she fought off and survived two hawk attacks. During a coyote attack, she was smart enough to fly up into a tree, and lived to tell the tale. When Mom and Beel evacuated during a big fire a few years ago, the flock came down to live with L.E.'s until they got the all clear to go home.

Then came the bobcat slaughter. Beel found Mary Kathryn huddled in the coop, surrounded by the evidence of the attack. By that time, Beel's heart had been broken enough by losing hens, and he asked L.E. if the old girl could retire down at our place. L.E., being the kind-hearted woman she is couldn't turn him down.

Her introduction to the existing flock didn't go well. They ganged up on her, and she was just too traumatized to fight back. Instead, she became L.E.'s best friend. She would walk up to L.E. and ask to be held and carried around, just like Autobot used to do when she was just a little chicken nugget. She was the only hen allowed to free range. But free ranging meant that she just followed L.E. around the yard.

Eventually, she managed to integrate, and remember she was a hen. For the past three years, she's done really well. Until the new pullets came and the drama started.

L.E. is leaving to visit her kids and grandkids in a few days, and so we were trying to figure out what to do with Mary Kathryn. I leave for work long before the hens wake up, and I didn't want to go pick her up out of her nesting box in the middle of (her) night. We discussed moving her private suite into the "cat barn", where the feral cats used to live, but as we were standing outside talking, I was looking at Whimsy. I asked L.E., "why don't we just move the chicken tractor into Whimsy?". Then I did a mental facepalm. Why move the chicken tractor into Whimsy, when I could just shut the bottom of the Dutch door and let her have the run of the place?

So, that's what we did. L.E. made her a nesting box out of a cat carrier, I moved out anything I didn't want chicken shit on, and we moved her in.

Mary Kathryn's new retirement home.

She dove right into the food, so we suspect the other
had been keeping her away from it.

Checking out her new digs.

She's kind of hard to see in the shadow,
but she was pretty happy in there.

By living in Whimsy, she's close enough to hear the other hens, and better protected from predators than she would have been in the dark cat barn at the edge of the property. She has Diana, the pomegranate, and a couple of potted plants to keep her company and give her something to scratch.

While Whimsy's not fully insulated, and her interior walls aren't complete, it should be warm enough in her nesting box during the cold nights. Diana is getting a frame covered in heavy duty plastic, so I'll be sure to leave space for Mary Kathryn to get in if she wants as well.

I can't tell you how much it tickles me to have Whimsy used in this way, and I hope Mary Kathryn loves living in there.

*Yesterday, Andarna went cock-a-doodle-doo, so now he's Tairn.