Image of the Day

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Fried Chicken "Funky DJ" (Stone, 1976)

I'm playing 45s tonight at Captain Blacks for the latest installment of Chicken & Waffles. Stop on by!

(flyer artwork by Derek Erdman)

Family Slideshow

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A small selection of photos from our recent exploits – click to enlarge:

Belltown, Downtown Seattle

The barrel of a Disappearing Gun at Fort Casey, on Whidbey Island. My Great Grandpa Owen grew up on the Muskogee Reservation in Oklahoma, joined the military, and was stationed here in the early 1900s. Later on he was a beat cop in Georgetown. More on Owen and Fort Casey and the notorious Triangle of Fire in a later post.

Emily at Ebey's Bluff, Whidbey Island. Finally got around to it – we were going to walk along this trail last November but it was too foggy to see anything.

A chart explaining the different ships that pass through the Straits of Juan de Fuca on the way in and out of Puget Sound, including but not limited to a Sloop and a Yawl.

Rig full of trophies

Jason and Emily with one of Jason's chickens.
This one has furry feet.

bok-bok

Dude I was talking to on the way to work the other day

My brother Sky, his girlfriend Daniela, and Emily at the Cappy last week.

My mom and Emily at Penn Cove, Whidbey Island

Daniela and Sky

Thing I found on the beach

Garter snake

Lizard

Much more on my photostream at Flickr.
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The incredible, edible egg

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Some old family photos that just re-surfaced:

My mom and my uncle Perry collecting eggs on my grandpa Don's chicken farm, Vashon Island, ca.1951

My mom's kindergarten class, Vashon Island – that's her in the middle row, fourth from our left. Click to enlarge – the back row looks like trouble.

Don Woodfin Poultry Farm float, Vashon parade, early 1950s. The sign on the front of the truck says
"How do you like these Chickens?"

The Farm Yard Connection

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Back to our regular programming.
Via Swissmiss, this photo by Kevin German.
From the website where you can buy it:

A 5-year-old girl shields her face for a moment from a gust of wind with her favorite chicken, Steve, after running to catch him for 10 minutes on her father's farm in Deary, Idaho. "One time I squished a chicken so hard that an egg fell out," she said.

It's a beautiful photo, but it also caught my eye because Deary is Emily's hometown, and she has some funny chicken/egg stories. I'll tell you some other time, or maybe she will – I got stuff to do. This weekend is our last free one in New York (well, there's next weekend, but we'll be getting things together for our big going-away blowout on the 6th). The following weekend, the big move begins.

Like I said before, blogging will be fairly light, but do look in for photos of this coming weekend and whatever else I come up with. And in the month or so that I'm criss-crossing the country (twice between September 14th and the end of October) look for a ton of photos from life on the road.

The Thrills of Owning a Chicken Ranch

One hundred years ago today, Vashon Island's own Betty MacDonald was born. The author of The Egg & I, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, and many other books, MacDonald garnered a worldwide following and still has millions of fans today.

Why do I care? Number one, if you can't celebrate your local heroes, what the F can you do? Number two, my grandfather Don Woodfin had a chicken farm in Lisabeula (an area on Vashon) in the 1940s and '50s, and was a good friend of Betty and her family. He built them a barn, chicken coup, and caretaker house, all of which are now recognized National Historical Landmarks. Don was immortalized as "the unforgettable Marine" in Betty's book Onions in the Stew, her story of life on Vashon. After 9/11, many members of the international Betty MacDonald Fan Club e-mailed me to offer their best wishes and let us know that they were thinking of us, all because he had built her barn. It was really nice.