The Experiment - Day 14

It's Day 14 of The Experiment where my 10-year-old Rebecca assigns me tasks I must complete.

I have been staying away from all my usual news sources. However, I confess I did make a short comment to someone's facebook post about the Wall Street Protests. I suppose that constitutes a violation - hopefully, just a minor infraction. I will endeavor to do better this morning and stay away from all news sources until 12:30pm.

I created a little happiness mini-journal and have added two entries so far:

The first was about getting our new little bantam hen, "Boots". She wasn't welcomed initially by our hens, so she is in a little cage just outside their run. Last night, we put her on the roosting pole with the rest of the birds. This morning, it was quiet at first when they exited the coop, but before long, they were pecking at Boots and chasing her around the run. We'll move the cage inside the run so they can interact, but Boots will be protected. And again tonight, we'll have her roost with the other hens. Hopefully, it'll only take a couple days before they all settle down and Boots finds her place in the pecking order.

My second entry was about pulling out the Fall candles and setting them up (on the little rustic shelf I built a few years ago), amidst all the ornamental gourds that we grew. Usually, I have all that stuff out before the official first day of Autumn, but it's still warm and a bit humid, so it didn't feel like Fall yet - we can't light candles while the ceiling fans are running, anyway. (The dry, crisp weather is supposed to arrive on October first.) I was a bit disconcerted that I waited so long to pull out the candles because the childlike part of me usually gets impatient and, weather or not, I install the candles before the first official day of Fall.

However, last night and the night before, I did light up like a kid on Christmas when I heard a nearby Screech Owl make its haunting call. I dashed outside to hear the Screech. I want to build a roost and put it up in the hickory tree to encourage them to come to our yard more often.

Here's today's tasks:

1. Go for a regular loop (about a mile+) walk. While walking, try to use all your senses and be aware of them. You might want to jot down in a notebook what you smell, see, hear, touch, taste.
2. Do something that you've never done before or haven't done in a long time. Be creative and do something different than you did last time. Again, I already have a couple ideas about what I want to create! That takes the pressure off.

I'll let you know tomorrow how today's tasks went!