I'm not the blogger you're looking for...

My name is Donna.  

And by the way, I'm not overly comfortable to put that out there for the entire web-iverse to see, I'm pretty much invisible in the world and I like that.  I don't have to deal with all the creeps and wackos that are out there if I'm invisible!  But I want to succeed at this course so there it is...

I am going to keep this pretty much private to my classmates, instructor and some close family and friends because I am by nature a hermit.  I'm the person you find holding court at the kitchen table with a deck of cards at a party.  That doesn't mean I don't talk, I do, and it's mostly wickedly sharp sarcasm and exceptionally dry humor.  I also have a tendency to sit and quietly observe my fellow humans as they do some seriously strange and disturbing things; none of which I'll go into right now.

I've introduced myself, and you are?  Nice to meet you!

So, for this first post I'm to write something I'm passionate about.  That's a pretty broad subject for me.  I'm someone who throws themselves into something whole-fraking-hog when it interests me!  The things I'm most passionate about are in no particular order: 

Sewing - I make my own clothes and my husband and I are into Renaissance Faires so I make our costumes - like these:

We portray Elizabethan Nobility obviously.  Each of those costumes are historically accurate from the undergarments to the hats.  They take on average 12 to 18 months to fit and construct.  We do nobility mostly because we both like nice clothes and, well, to be honest we like the bowing and scraping peasants have to do when we wander around.  You just don't get that anywhere else.

And it's the one place I can be very artistic in.  I can't draw to save my life, or sculpt, or paint.  But I can manipulate fabric and I have an eye for design and color so I let the frustrated artiste come out that way.

Our pets - We've got a dog, black Labrador to be exact.  His name is Bowen; and no we don't call him Bo.  We call him Pooh or Goofball or Duffus or Boob, he really doesn't care what the heck we call him.  He's a good boy, he's got his issues (don't we all???) he's a bit insecure and slightly neurotic but we deal with it because he's such a lover of a dog.  

We've got three cats too - our oldest is Polgara; We call her Pol.  She's a 14 year old blue and cream Persian cat.  Her name comes from the David Eddings books; Polgara was a sorceress who in her youth was a bit of a scruffy, dirty little tomboy.  That's our cat - she's a dirt mop.  Groom her and set her on the floor and poof - she's found crud to cover herself with.  I have no idea how she manages to do that, my house is NOT dirty!  I think she's got a stash of dirt somewhere.  She's also the one most likely to figure out how to build a weapon of mass destruction with fuzz and toothpaste. Our next cat is Belderan; a 12 year old Silver Point Himalayan, that we call Bel.  Her name also comes from the same books.  And as in the book she's the exact opposite of Pol.  She's a Miss Priss, and D-U-M-B as dirt.  She's extremely beautiful, but completely devoid of any gray matter.  She's Barbie!  Her motto is: "I don't have to be smart.  I'm pretty."  Seriously.  This cat runs INTO your legs when you startle her instead of running away.  And she's psychotic, loves you one second rips you open the next. The third and final cat is Basil; age unknown, breed is total mongrel, suspect he's about 6 years old and we call him Baz.  He's a MOOSE.  This cat has to weigh close to 20 pounds.  We found him at the shelter and he's the king of all cat head butts!  This cat could win an award at how good he is at butting you with his head for attention, he puts all his size behind it too.

Gardening - I grow food.  A few flowers around the house because I have to keep up appearances and the property values.  But mostly I grow veggies and some small fruits. My garden is just at the edge of full swing production now; I just planted the tomatoes, cucumbers, squashes and sweet peppers.  I've been harvesting greens, radishes, spinach and bok choy for the last few weeks, and I should be getting potatoes, broccoli, napa cabbage, cauliflower and snow peas here pretty soon.  I'll be planting beans (green and yellow) in the upcoming weeks. I spend at least an hour or two out in my garden every day or so just puttering about and playing in the dirt.  I have raised beds that I rotate the crops around in every year and a permanent bed for asparagus at the back of the garden.  Some of the things I grow aren't just for our consumption though.  They're for my biggest passion.

Chickens - I raise chickens.  In the city.  I'm one of those semi-crunchy, slightly hippy folk.  You know the type; all back to nature, save the planet; make you want to hit them over the head with a giant zucchini types...

Not really.  Well...maybe a little.  I grew up with my grandparents and they had chickens and gardens and I remember how good those eggs tasted and when I found out I could have them again here in Raleigh I set out to get me some chickens!  So I have six right now; two hens that are laying and a little over a year and a half old; and four young ones that will be laying in another few months.  The two big girls are Buff Orpingtons, big, lovely, golden, fluffy hens that lay nice big brown eggs.  We call them Ro for Roast and Barb for Bar-B-Que.  The other four are about two months old right now, three Barred Plymouth Rock hens which are white and black kinda stripy looking, and very sweet-natured birds.  They'll lay big brown eggs too.  We've named these ones Gennie for General Tso, Sammi for Sesame, and Ling for Dumpling.  And the fourth is a Rhode Island Red; another brown egg layer that we've named Mari for Marinara.  And trust me they don't care what they're named so long as I have treats I can call them anything!

And of course I've been anything BUT brief as instructed.  

What can I say?  I'm passionate about my passions...