Charlie with Ostriches

Charlie is happy he made the decision to get beard extensions and become a stay-at-home Ostricher. (For my next coloring book, coming soon.)



ostriches



New Chicks!

We got the "Choice Layers" mix from McMurray Hatchery. (Let's hope their "choice" isn't to not lay eggs!)

I'm pretty sure this one is a Polish Hen, (the kind in the coloring contest). That wasn't supposed
to be one of the choices, but I'm not complaining! They are cute, and nice, actually- the coloringcontest picture is entirely fictional. We can't keep them alive at our farm, though, because they like to wander off, far away from shelter, and that poof on top of the head blocks their vision, and the flying predators eat them. But, hey, we'll try again with this one-
and the other two they sent. (Look at my fine lady hands! :) My hands are so beautiful. I just host tea parties.)

Cute as can be, but too fast to catch on film.





The Imposter

What's going on here? I've been seeing wild birds a lot in the chicken coop, warming up and eating the chicken feed. I don't mind. Whatever gets you through the winter. Then today, I was mindlessly collecting eggs (I'm a practitioner of mindlessness) when I noticed we have an unusually small egg: 


Is that a cowbird egg? (I think cowbirds lay eggs in other birds' nests and let the other birds raise their young.)

We don't have any miniature chickens, and all of our chickens are way too old to lay practice eggs. 
 

All Ages Coloring Contest!

all ages coloring contest by shoshanah marohn
Color me!


It's an all ages coloring contest!

1. Print this beautiful picture of me and an exotic chicken.
2. Color this beautiful picture of me and an exotic chicken!
3. Take a snapshot of your beautiful work. 
4. Post the picture to my Facebook page, facebook.com/shoshanahart  (if you don't have Facebook, you can email it to cellar27door@yahoo.com).
5. Make sure you post it before February 29, 2016 at 5 PM Central.
6. The winner will be judged by me, Shoshanah!
7. The winner will get to have their coloring decorate the back cover of my upcoming coloring book, "Birds in Beards," as the "author photo." (Bwahahahahahaha!)

Anything goes, but pictures with hand coloring will be favored over computer fill-ins. For those who like realism: I am super white skinned, with pink and brown freckles (well, probably age marks, but we'll say freckles), and my hair is an all natural mix of pink, blond, and grey. This is a Polish hen, and they range in color from violet, to brown and white, to white (for the lazy colorist), to black with a white head, to grey and brown mixed- they run the gamut. I highly recommend doing a google image search on "Polish Hen."

Happy Coloring! 


Bernie Sanders and a Sociable Weaver

An old Socialist Bird and a Sociable Weaver (Democratic Socialist- which is a totally different animal, of course.).

Bernie Sanders and a Sociable Weaver
Bernie is a Democratic Socialist. 

Cats are good.

Andrew Ettinger with a Double Barred Finch in his beard. (For my upcoming coloring book, "Birds in Beards.")

Andrew Ettinger with a Double Barred Finch in his beard. (For my upcoming coloring book, "Birds in Beards.")

Meta Snow Zombie Chicken

Three Weird Things About This Chicken:


1. Our chickens don't normally go for walks in the snow unless the temperature is above freezing- and it isn't.


2. Chickens usually go for a walk as a flock, with the rooster checking things out ahead if the girls. This one is all alone.


3. A few days ago, one of the chickens died while sitting on an egg. She seemed frozen solid. I guessed that she didn't get up to eat or drink, because she thought the egg would freeze. I put her body outside in the snow. Her body is gone, and this chicken looks exactly like that chicken. 

She followed me all the way to the house, so I gave her some old bread crusts. I'm thinking of naming her Lazarus. 

Poor Dan

Poor Dan has a Yellow Sapsucker clinging to his face- if only he had a bigger beard! I'm glad he got my name tattooed on his neck, though. That was definitely a good move.

For my next coloring book, "Birds In Beards."

By the way--- if you see Dan Constien around, take his picture! I had to draw this from a one inch clipping of him in a group photo. I know Dan, so I still did it, but gosh- why are there no pictures of Dan?

Yellow Sapsucker

Heart

Strange drawing for a strange day. It was a snow day in the sense that they cancelled school, but there wasn't much snow. We went to my doctor's appointment for my messed up ankle. Then we sewed some new things out of old clothes. Then we played obscure TV trivia board games (Andy Griffith Show Game, anyone?) and I taught her how to make macaroni and cheese. (We discovered that cheese curds don't melt well.) I originally set out to make a Valentine, but it turned out weird. I don't think I would try to woo anyone with this drawing.



A Turkey Poses with Dwayne Fry

Dwayne Fry by Shoshanah Marohn

Dwayne Fry is an indie comedy writer who let me draw him 
for my next coloring book, Birds in Beards

This is from back when Dwayne was a youtube star who called himself, "Harry Potter" (no relation).

13 Types of Floss

It was 6:50 AM. The school bus comes at 6:55, so I knocked on the bathroom door to get Z,

"Time to go!"

She came out and started putting her socks on.

"Do you know we have thirteen types of floss?" she said. "I wonder how we bought all those flosses?"

"Well, when floss is on the list, I buy it," I said.

"You really need to take floss off the list! We have thirteen different flosses!" I didn't really look at her closely until I gave her her glasses to put on.

"Why is your hair all matted? What were you doing in there? Go brush your hair!"

She went back into the bathroom, but then I realized the bus waits for no one.

"Never mind! Come put your snow pants on! The bus is coming!"

She made it to the bus on time.

If you see my eight year old daughter today, yes, her hair is matted on one side, yes, her teeth are unbrushed, and yes, she will be smiling with a smug sense of accomplishment, because she did carefully count and organize all of the flosses in our house this morning:


Thirteen different types. I don't think she flossed her teeth.