The chickens are restless...

(apologies to Gary Larson and the creators of Chicken Run for this post's title)

It's late winter, when our natural defenses are weakened and folk become vulnerable to "stuff that's going around." (In a non-resource-conscious world, my own vulnerability would be to stuff of the flannel variety, going around in a nice hot clothes-dryer. Since we spartan farmer-types don't indulge in such devices, I'll huddle by the woodstove, next to the wooden clothes-drying rack, and expose myself to some other stuff that's going around: these "several random questions" lists that have taken over the blogiverse and facebook for the last couple of weeks.

(So there, Mama Pea. I took your bait!)

37 RANDOM QUESTIONS

1) Do you like blue cheese? Can't think of any foods more toxic--I'm allergic to mold!

2) Have you ever smoked? Only once, when my brother "accidentally" lit my hair on fire.

3) Do you own a gun? Nope, but if the neighbor's boxer dogs ever get out and go after my birds again, I'll consider it.

4) What flavor Kool Aid is your favorite? Ewwww. I can't say "Kool Aid" and "favourite" in the same sentence.

5) Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Not so much. Just wish I could afford 'em!

6) What do you think of hot dogs? Cheap protein sticks, the food of last resort. But give me a good grilled sausage made from happy creatures ANY day!

7) Favorite Christmas movie? A claymation retelling of a Tolstoy fable...I think it was called, "Where Love Is..."

8) What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Red tea with milk and honey, or papaya/passionfruit juice mixed with lime seltzer...if I could get it!

9) Can you do push-ups? Only a few, but I'm good at pushing up against deadlines!

10) What's your favorite piece of jewelry? Earrings from my Sweetie.

11) Favorite hobby? What's a hobby? I've forgotten! (I love to learn songs, play the fiddle, and make papier-mache masks, wool felt dolls, and all manner of other crafts, but all my hobby-time has been swallowed up by the Great Woodshop-Cottage-Conversion. Can't wait to be done!)

12) Do you have A.D.D.? Well, you could say that I... ooh, did you hear that? Say, I read the most interesting thing yesterday, and...hmm, let's bake cookies!

13) Do you wear glasses/contacts? Used to wear glasses just for driving. Broke them or lost them or something & never looked back. (Hah.) Anybody know a really cheap optometrist?

14) Middle name? Suzanne, my parents' one concession to the era of grooviness. It's a reference to the Leonard Cohen song of the same name, but also a nod to several Suzannahs--and one Zusannah!--in previous generations.

15) Name thoughts at this moment? I should be outside checking on the cows.

16) Name 3 drinks you regularly drink. Cold, sweet well-water, red tea with milk, and hot chocolate (made with whole milk, fair-trade cocoa powder, unrefined sugar, a pinch of ginger, and a wee splash of whiskey when we have some in the house).

17) Current worry? Health and wealth, or rather the potential lack thereof.

18) Current hate right now? The callous disregard exhibited by our plumber.

19) Favorite place to be? Surrounded by evergreen trees, salt water, traditional musicians or ripening berry bushes.

20) How did you bring in the New Year? Huddled under blankets in a 35-degree house with frozen pipes, vowing that we'd move out soon.

21) Where would you like to go? Scotland, Wales, and Brittany. Also Ravenna, Italy, to see the ancient church mosiacs that depict a woman bishop and other "Mothers of the Church."

22) Name three people who will complete this. Nobody, because the three people who actually read this have already "done their time."

23) Do you own slippers? What? Dancing? Ballet? Bedroom? Cozy, shabby bedroom slippers with rubber soles that allow me to walk outside if the snow's well-packed enough.

24) What color shirt are you wearing? A turtleneck the color of sun-warmed freshly-turned earth...in other words, dirt brown.

25) Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? Never tried... but my grandmother once gave me an old satin pillowcase so I could "rest without mussing my hair."

26) Can you whistle? Sorta... I wish I could whistle more sweetly and with more volume.

27) Favorite color? Hmmm. I'm going through a cobalt blue phase just now, but usually it's a hard call between mossy greens and warm reddish-browns.

28) What songs do you sing in the shower? Mostly Scottish Gaelic and Scots songs that I'm trying to teach myself...I used to slip lyrics inside plastic page-protectors and hang them up with suction-cup hooks on the tile wall, then see how much I could sing before I had to look.

29) Would you be a pirate? Aye! Like Grania O'Malley, Anne Bonney, and other wild women before me. I'm also fond of Lynn Miller's campaign to recruit more "farmer pirates." I'd want to be the Robin-Hood-type, though, working to "afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted."

30) Favorite girl's name? Sylvia, which for some odd reason seems to make most people think of a 60-something chainsmoking waitress. It makes ME think of a wonderful storybook by Jane Yolen, and it means "of the woods." I love the woods.

31) Favorite boy's name? Forest. The eponymous movie may have spoiled it for a while, but that will fade... I hope!

32) What's in your pocket right now? Haychaff, handkerchief, and my two cents' worth.

33) Last thing that made you laugh? Cakewrecks blog. (Thanks, Ryan!)

34) What vehicle do you drive? 'Merican-made four-wheel death trap. I'd prefer an oxcart, but we don't have a barn, a reliable blacksmith, or a local cooper.

35) Worst injury you've ever had? Deviated septum. It didn't hurt much, but the repair sure did! (On the other hand, it was kind of fun to tell my high school friends that I was a "septual deviate.")

36) Do you love where you live? Dearly.

37) How many TVs do you have in your house? None. We do have a monitor and VCR/DVD player, though. The library in the next town over has a decent selection of British dramas, musicals, foreign films and documentaries. Highbrow Luddites we be!