Random Musings

There are times when life seems like a parade route with slow moving floats that never want to go anywhere. And then there are times when it seems like something from a movie where the floats take off in fast motion and the people are waving frantically as they whiz past the crowds. Spring is always one of those crazy times when things pick up the pace faster than should be allowed, but there's not a lot that can be done about it.  But there are some really good things happening among that craziness. The two teens who help us out some assisted me in putting up the fencing around the garden area yesterday. It made a world of difference having two extra sets of hands. One rotated the roll of wire, one pulled the wiring taut, while one of us attached the wires to the posts. We rotated positions some throughout the procedure, and hopefully that made it a little easier on everyone. I think it looks so much better than the first section of the garden I did a few years ago.  I've...

From the side, everything looks just like the old one. :) Still need to make and add the front door. There's no decoration in the top like on the old one,  but we added handles on each side to help with moving the house. :) That's worth way more than any decoration! My boards on the back don't line up quite right, but we'll be adding the last pieces the end of this week, and for the top open spaces, I think I'm just going to make a hen house sign to cover it. :) Managed to get the posts in for the wire fencing for the garden area before the rain started,  but will have to wait until my helpers are back to unroll and secure the wire.  On the rooster front, Old Poppa is slowly healing, though we are having to be very careful to make sure his son, who his now the dominant rooster, does not come in contact with him. The hens have almost totally switched their allegiance, so I think the only thing we can do at this point is find a new home for Old Pop...

The youngest rooster (who was also messed up the most in the last few days of fighting) has been relocated to a new home where he can hopefully rest and recover and enjoy the rest of his life in almost celibacy. We did rehome one of our egg-eating hens to the same farm, but no one has seen a sign of her since we dropped her off. Knowing how good she was at hiding in the hen house here, I think she's found her a spot in one of the many barns and sheds there. Hopefully the young roo and the strange hen will find each other and be at peace with one another.  One down...one more roo to see about. And here's what else is happening on the bird and building front...  The last two Saturdays one of the teens from church has helped me assemble the walls to the frame of the small hen house.  We were able to reuse the old nesting boxes, but with a new board re-inforcing the bottom, a new support beam, tile, and a good coat of fresh paint.  And we used the old perch, ...

Not sure what is going to happen with our noisy, grumpy old birds, but the dominance has clearly shifted from the Poppa of the flock to the largest rooster. He actually slept in the hen house last night, with the old rooster hiding in the corner, and the new Alpha hung out with the hens all day yesterday and part of this morning. But this morning the hens aren't totally cooperating and are rotating between the two roosters, so I'm not sure what is going to happen. I may wind up having to capture a rooster or two to keep them isolated, a thought that does not thrill me at all. Meanwhile the rebuilding of the small house for the biddies is making slow but sure progress. Hope to paint boards tomorrow afternoon and finish assembling and moving everything Saturday morning. And at some point there will be pictures!!

Isn't it funny (in an ironic way) how when we should feel on top of the world, we don't? And when we should be in the depths of despair and our emotional heart physically hurts, we have that inner peace? Last week I had a biopsy - one of those "we don't think it's anything but since we have no other explanation and things are clearly out of whack we need to double check" kind of things. The dr didn't think it was serious; I didn't think it was serious, and yet, when he didn't call with the test results Fri morning like he said he was going to...I was ticked. When I got home from Quilts of Valor it was too late to get through to anyone at the office, and of course my charts online had not been updated. So I called Monday morning and played phone tag with the nurse, only to find out a few hours later we were all correct in our assumption that everything was fine. So I should have been elated, (and I am truly relieved it's nothing), but I was m...

Barred rock (blackwith yellow rump), leghorn (yellow, white), Ameraucana ( chipmunk stripe), two Rhode Island Reds, Ameraucana, Leghorn...now at 10! The leghorns are one week older than the new chicks. Amazed at the difference in size already!

The picture above is not the best, but the two hawks above are some of the reasons why I'm rebuilding our small chicken house and pen. I need something sturdy and not half rotten to keep these guys safe: I haven't made pics yet, but I am a significant step closer to having this project completed. While I'd love to say within the week, the reality is it might be two-three weeks (three weeks is when the birds above will need to be moved out of the brooder box and into the small house/pen). A young man from church helped me out Saturday, and we were able to get 3 of the 4 sides up, as well as the first part of the inner frame for the T that supports the nesting boxes and perches. Once those are done, then it'll be time to repair the roof and attach it to the frame. I'll paint it last, after we have it outside and the weather is a little warmer. Meanwhile, we'll pick up more little girls tomorrow. :)

Well, my over-ambitious soul is NOT finished with rebuilding the small chicken house, though by the end of this weekend I should be finished with the pen, and hopefully a small portion of the house completed. Let's just say my cutting skills are even worse with wood than they are with fabric. My husband, who has refused up to this point to allow me to have a circular saw finally gave in this week. :) He's still convinced I'm going to saw into an artery in my leg or cut my fingers off, but he's finally come to agree that his nephews are very busy people and are not always available to help out. And since I'll be asking a man in the church to redo the big chicken house, it really and truly does make sense for us to tackle the small house, especially since I'm re-using all the boards and expensive wiring that it still in good shape. So I now own a circular saw, have read through the instruction manual, and when I finally have part of a free day on Saturday I hope t...

I took a class this weekend (Thursday night show-n-tell, aka "trunk show", and Friday actual class time), and during the class the instructor, who also happens to be a representative for Bernina made the comment that in Europe people actually trade their old machines in for new ones. (Like trading in a car) But in America the reps laugh that the Americans only collect machines. And we all paused, then sheepishly laughed. So I found it a bit funny today when one of the quilting blogs I followed asked how many machines people owned, as well as the story behind them. I have an old singer that belonged to my Grandma White. She was having problems with the tension when she gave it to my mother while I was in high school. Mom had my uncle, who had been a sewing machine mechanic for Arrow Shirt Factory, look at it. He made some adjustments to it, but before she could finish sewing a garment the problem had returned. I "inherited it", and my mother-in-law took it to a m...