A Birth day

Angus worked steadily all morning, and he was feeling some strain on his bad shoulder. He was starting to remember now Robert's multiple warnings about how much he was going to need some weeks of physical therapy with Andrew to try to rehabilitate the damaged muscles and cartilage before he did much heavy work with it.

Marcus saw Angus wincing, and he went over and took the bricks he was carrying.

"Mate, you're pushing. What do you think you're doing carrying so many?

"I've only got ten," Angus said.

"Yes, but each one weighs nine pounds. Idjit. Look. I'm hungry, and my watch says its half past one. Would you please take a break and go order us some lunch salads from Sparks or something? Or make us something?"

"Is it that late already?" Angus asked. "How are the babies?"

"Sam took them in about 45 minutes ago for food, diapers and naps," Marcus said. Angus went inside and found four different kinds of lettuce, some carrots, some sweet onions, some radishes and tomatoes, and he made a big tossed salad, and he added some chopped hard boiled egg, some shredded cheese, some croutons, and some slices of leftover chicken breast that needed to be used. He had containers of three different homemade salad dressings in the fridge, and he set those out for people to use.

Then he plated two bowls of the salad for him and Marcus. He peeked his head over in Edward's side where the women were working, and Edward was studying something.

"I made a big lunch salad, if you're all hungry," Angus said. "I do realize it's now about 2 in the afternoon, but Marcus made me take a time out because he was hungry. So, if you're hungry, come over and dish yourselves up a bowl. There's plenty for all."

"I thought my stomach was getting narly for some reason," Edward laughed. "You're right. We are definitely later than usual. I'm on my way. I'm hungry." He got up from the desk and headed over to Angus's kitchen. Angus called Marcus who came in and washed his hands and then picked up the bowl of salad that Angus had plated up for him.

"Perfect," Marcus smiled.

Ruby and Aria and Simone made a lot of Strawberry jam placing them in jars and sealing them as she did Aria placed some in Edwards pantry and there's before boxing up the rest for transport over to the main house of to shrink for the Fae to take back to their homes. Now down to the last batch she looed up and smiled as she saw Marcus mention food it was now she glanced at the clock on the wall above Edwards fireplace " wow that late , I completely lost track of time" she said

Aria slid the last Jar into the box and sealed it as she heard Marcus talk about food and smiled to him " well I for one am ready to eat" she said placing the box with about six others. " there were a lot of strawberry's" she said with a chuckle as she picked up a jar and walked over to Marcus " here this is for us" she said then looked back to Ruby " coming " she asked as Ruby placed down her ladle and moved over to them.

"we'll finish once we eat and clean up too" she said to Simone " you coming too?" she asked " since Edward has already left" she added with a chuckle.

"Yep. I'm on my way," Simone said. She washed the jam off her hands, and then went over to Angus's and took her turn to portion up some salad into a bowl for herself.

"Where are the babies?" Simone asked.

"Sam fed them lunch and put them down for a nap maybe an hour ago now," Marcus said. "That swing he made for them was pretty ingenious."

"What swing?" Edward asked.

"He took the old baby basket, transfigured it to a boat shape, put a couple throw pillows in the bottom of the basket to make it soft, and then he hung it from a tree limb and secured the babies in it, and cast a little charm so the swing moved back and forth," Marcus said. "The babies are totally in love with it. Minos's wife, Ili sat in the basket with them to keep them safe, and by the looks of it, she loved it as much as the babies did."

"It's really pretty clever. Reminds me of all the children's stories of flying ships," Angus said.

"You had quite a little collection of those," Edward laughed. "You either wanted me to read Treasure Island, or Peter Pan, or one of your stories with the flying ships. Rarely was it anything else."

"That figures. Pirate through and through," Marcus teased.

"We should call you Blackbeard."

"But he doesn't have a beard," Sam said, coming downstairs. "You'll have to call him Black Apron or something. But, just so you know, Caprice is a complete git."

"Why?" Angus asked.

"The only way she's going to sleep is if someone clubs her in the head," Sam said. "Angus, how do you make a latte?"

"I'll get it," Angus said, leaving his salad to go make a quick latte for Sam. "Mocha alright?"

"if you make it extra large," Sam said.

"Consider it done," Angus said. "Black Apron, huh? I doubt that name will fly. Thank goodness. Doesn't sound the least bit imposing. Sounds like a bloke in a filthy kitchen."

Ruby and Aria moved to their side and over to the salad taking a bowl each they sat down Ruby was about to ask about the babies when Angus spoke and she smiled " ingenious indeed " she said with a smile as she ate . Turing she heard Sam and looked at him puzzled " why do you say that?" she asked " she's always gone down okay for me?" she added looking at Angus.

Aria listened and chuckled at Angus pirate name " black apron " she said and chuckled " I agree with Angus , not intimidating at all" she added as she took her salad and sat down to eat .

"Did you take Finn with you?" Angus asked.

"No. That dumbass got skunked just before I took the babies in for lunch. I didn't figure you'd want the nursery and the babies smelling like skunk," Sam said.

"Well, that's why she isn't sleeping. She's probably looking for Finn. A skunk? Seriously? Oh jeez. What'd you do with him?"

"Tied him up over around some of the new fruit trees way over on the other side of the yard," Sam said.

"Poor Finn. He's never been tied up," Angus said. "I appreciate your help with the babies, but go ask Jack if there's anyone who can help you scrub Finn up since you're still on the disabled list. Tell them I'll cook supper for whatever grounds worker is kind neough to help you. I'll cook for that person and their family if they have one."

"Okay," Sam sighed, heading out the door. He had known Angus would not have liked Finn being tied to a tree, but he believe it was the best he could to in the moment.

"You boys still have work in the garden to do?" Simone asked.

"Some, yes. I had some special landscaping around the stairs going up into Mino's palace, so I really want to finish that before dark," Angus said.

"We'll get the lunch dishes then. You boys go on back out."

Ruby heard about Poor Finn and shook her head " he's not going to forgive you for that" she said as Aria chuckled. Jack had found Finn tied up and untied him taking him to the barn her prepared arm bath and some shampoo that removed the smell of skunk that some wizard had made . Now with him and anew hire they washed Finn top to tail then dried him off " now leave the skunks alone, again" he said remembering that was the second time he had to wash Finn. Following him back to the duplex he saw Sam walk towards him. " he's de skunked" Jack said with a chuckle. as he saw Finn run past Sam and inside and up the stairs.

Pausing Jack spoke to Sam " there's a shampoo in the barn in the tack room next time he does that just use it its easier than tying him up." he said with a chuckle " or just call me" he added and again chuckled. Ruby saw Finn enter all clean and smelling like flowers and laughed.

"some one washed him " she said as he darte4d past her and up to the nursery. " and there he goes" she added as she picked up her plate and placed it for washing.

"Thank you, Jack," Angus said. "Sam just now told us about Finn getting skunked again, and I had just told him to go take care of him. I am glad, though, that you are several steps ahead of Sam. I haven't tied Finn one time since he's been here. Haven't needed to, so I wasn't very happy that Sam decided that was how to handle it. I appreciate it. If you're hungry, I have some big salads with chicken in them. You're welcome to help yourself to one."

"They're very good. Angus does get good produce for us," Simone said. "These veggies were the cream of somebody's crop."

"Those are some of the hothouse veggies from the new hothouses on Robert's farm," Angus said. "He built three huge hothouses and three huge greenhouses last season, and we tried putting some vegetables in the hothouses to see if we could get by with fresh hothouse vegetables across the cold season, instead of canning and freezing so much."

"I've been debating doing that in Tuscany," Edward said. "Granted, we don't get as cold there, but its still nice to have fresh things year round. I might have to pick his brain about what he's found that works and what hasn't."

"I honestly think he's stumbled onto a really good magical fertilizer dust," Angus said. "Really helped the produce taste fresher. The only thing is that you really do have to wash the produce thoroughly before you use it because Robert thinks the stuff could cause some sort of odd side effects if we just ate the produce out of the hothouses without washing them," Angus said. "Not sure I want to even know what that would look like."

"Definitely not," Edward said. "One of my old schoolmates did something similar, and he ate some raspberries he grew with his fertilizer potion. He ended up with rippled skin that looked like the skin of a raspberry--but it was bright baby blue with pink polka dots. He was in St. Mungo's summer for weeks before they got it turned around."

Jack chuckled and nodded " yeah it happens " he said the smiled hearing about Angus food he had cooked and how it had come to be. " oh yes I was thinking of asking Robert about getting those for the far side of the estate for us threw the winter." he said as he gathered some salad and chuckled as he ate it. " this is good" he said " and healthy " he said as he continued to eat.

Ruby ate her own food and smiled as Jack brought an un stinky Finn back now looking and smelling clean. " I agree thank you Jack" she said as she dished up a plate for Jack and handed him it " enjoy" she said smiling to him as she listened about the hot houses . " those sound idea to be self sufficient around here" she said as Jack nodded his head as he ate.

"We've been pushing for self sufficiency here for the last four or five years, and I think we're getting really close to managing it finally," Angus said. "I really think that if we reorganize how he's got the plants laid out there, and if we add heating to the new greenhouses he put in, we could manage all the hothouse stuff there. We're using his fields for grain and hay crops for both estates as it is, so why not do that with the hothouses?"

"Then," Angus continued, "what I think we could do is to tear down those two old leaky greenhouses here that haven't been used in the last two or three years because of how damaged they are, and we can rebuild. If we put in four large size greenhouses that are the size of Robert's hothouses, I think that would carry us through. We have to tear down those old leaky greenhouses this spring anyway, don't you think? Robert doesn't believe they're safe anymore.

"And, I want to add another building back there anyway. Every summer and fall, the main house kitchen is stretched to its limits with a big crew of people trying to freeze and can all the produce we grow. American farms sometimes have what they call a summer kitchen. In some of the old houses it was either a second kitchen built onto the back of the house or it was a separate building altogether. They did that in the old days to keep the summer heat and the heat from the canning process out of the living areas of the house. I'd like to do it, though, to build a huge commercial kitchen where we can have a big crew do all the canning and freezing down there. Maybe we could include a big storeroom to hold all the overflow. What do you think?"

Ruby smiled as did Aria both looked at each other but it was Ruby that spoke first " we like the idea " she said smiling " fresh home grown veg all year round is a good thing" she said smiling. Jack looked at Angus and nodded.

"I can help with the heavy lifting." she said then spoke again " oh the Mackenzie farm is almost finished repairs and the new barn is in" he said to Angus as he cleaned his plate of the salad. " just added the chickens in today they took to it. The siding on his house might be a challenge we've not found an exact match so I have instructed them to reside his whole house to make it look better." Jack told Angus " don't worry its not coming out of any ones pocket but mine" he added as he walked back to stand with Angus.