Despite our record, we Holstens do not move for sport. But we did move again. We have left our beautiful apartment in the Napa countryside for a farmhouse further into the Napa countryside. 
Complete with a horse, cow and some chickens. We weren't looking to move again, but a series of circumstances sort of fell into place and here we are. Well, not here. This is Isabella's farm house, and she won't let anyone move in unless you look like a chicken. Or moo like a cow. 
This is the real farmhouse. It's over 100 years old and sits on a 26 acre family ranch. There are vineyards, oak trees, animals, pastures and coyotes that howl at night. 
It's charming. Even on a cloudy day. I have known this house since we moved to Napa a little over 2 years ago. A friend of ours, Suzanne, had moved to Napa around the same time we did and she was renting it. I was insanely jealous that she had found this house, since at the time, we were living in a one bedroom apartment (which ironically was about 3x's smaller than our apartment we had moved from in NYC). Suzanne knew I loved her little place and its accompanying space. Oddly enough, it was Suzanne who had learned about the country apartment being available to rent and we (ok, I) jumped at the chance to have something similar to what she did. 6 months after we moved into the apartment, circumstances changed for Suzanne and she ended up vacating the little farmhouse. The landlords (whom we had met several times before) were looking for tenants. I started daydreaming. I tortured myself over it because we had it pretty good already. But how could we pass this up?
And by that I mean, how could we pass this up?
Ironically (again) around the same time circumstances were also changing for our landlord and his family and there was a possibility that we were going to have to vacate the country apartment anyway. Because there was no guarantee of how long we could stay there, we decided to take the opportunity to move into the farmhouse since it wouldn't likely come around again. In short, after only 6 months in the country apartment, we moved. 
In moving, we inherited Suzanne's four chickens. Isabella loves them. She wants to move in with them.
The Chicken Whisperer.
I have to say how pleasantly surprised I am at Isabella's comfort level with all creatures great (goats) and small (chickens). Me? I love the chickens. Seriously, they make me happy. I LOVE having fresh eggs. I have no problem cleaning out their coop, feeding them, collecting their eggs, hanging out with them in their pasture. Just don't ask me to pick them up and put them in their coop at night. (That job was quickly relegated to Mark). At night they become The Feathered Beasts that peck your eyes out and claw you to death. Nope. Not for me. 
We also inherited several rose bushes, which I also love. Fresh flowers in the house! Isabella is terrifed of the thorns. I guess she'll stick to animals. I will post more pictures soon, including some of the inside of the house. Hopefully we will be staying put for a while now.
