In the Doghouse

We built a dog house... for our cats.

It has been so bitter cold here for the past little bit, and I felt bad for our poor kitties.  We have two cats who lived quite comfortably in the house - in our last house.  When we moved in with my dad, they were relegated to be outdoor cats because of my dad's allergies.  They coped just fine with that, only occasionally sneaking in the house (and regularly sneaking in the garage).  But when the snow and the cold came, they had no shelter.  Poor kitties.

So David and Eddie and I went over to a kind neighbor (the greatest scout leader ever!) who helped us cut and assemble this dog house.  It was pretty easy, as the directions were all nice and clear at the Lowes website.  

Just one sheet of 4x8 plywood, cuts, some 2x4s, a bunch of screws, and we were done in a morning.

We brought it home and painted it green in the kitchen.  Because I could only find green paint and pink paint, and because the kitchen is the only place to paint when it's below freezing outside.

Trent cut up some carpet scraps to insulate and make it all cozy for our kitties. In the spring, we will put on shingles and make it pretty, but for now, with a tarp thrown over to keep off the snow, they are warm and toasty.  Every time I look on the back porch, I see a tail or two or some whiskers through the door.  Glad they can be warm!

Good Morning, Good Morning!

I remember hearing my mother's voice as she walked through the house.  She would sometimes sing a little song in the mornings, as a cheerful way to wake us up, I suppose.

Way up in the sky
Is where the little birds fly.
And down in the valley
The little birds rest.

With a wing on the left
And a wind on the right,
The little birds sleep
All through the night.

Then up comes the sun
And the dew goes away.
"Good morning, good morning!"
The little birds say.

I walked through our neighborhood this morning, listening to all of the voices singing.  The voices were of the feathered variety, and there were sure a lot of them!  It seems that every tree had birds tucked among the branches.  There were chirpers and tweeters, squawkers and even a few warblers.  I wish I knew enough about birds to be able to identify their songs, but I love listening to them.  Our street sounded like Saturday morning at the Tweedlebug market, Good morning to you, too!

The weather has turned cold, and the summer birds are gone.  I've just started seeing a few of our winter birds, but in the middle are the migrating birds that stop in for a few nights.  Our street is lined with trees, a good 30 to 40 years old.  They aren't anything like the trees we had in our neighborhood in Washington State - those were enormous and stately.  No, here they are much shorter, suburban trees, but that means the birds are closer to the ground.

I grinned as I walked home, pulling my thin jacket closer around me.  The weather forecast said it would snow today.  I was glad that all my birdie friends were wearing down coats.  I ducked my head under the branches of one tree, half its golden leaves still shivering on the branches.  As I did, the tree came to life and a whole flock of little birds whooshed out.  The chilly breeze seemed to pick them up and whisk them right away.  I was impressed with how much noise their tiny wings made.

I guess if we work together, we can do amazing things.  Or just be more noisy.  My twins have that one down.

Sad Chicken Day

We had my dad this weekend while my brother and sister-in-law went on Trek, a recreation of the experience of pioneers coming across the plains in a handcart.  My sweet sister-in-law is quite pregnant, and my dad told her not to start anything... meaning having the baby, of course.  No one could believe that she would actually do Trek when she only has a few weeks left until baby day, but they were so excited to go.  Honestly, I would have gone, too.  It sounds like they had a great time and many memorable experiences. I'm jealous.

Our big news today is that the neighbor's dog got out and went on a rampage in our yard.  Feathers everywhere.  He killed Ebony and we can't find Amber.  It was pretty traumatic for the kids to come running down the hill and see that scary-looking dog with a limp chicken in its mouth.  Even Chris was mad about it, and held him in a corner with a big stick.  I'm not sure what to do about it now - the dog has the taste of blood, and I'm sure he'll be back any chance he gets.

Next up, loads of apricots to process.  The joys of summertime!

Be Patient

It's true.  We love our chickens.  They make good pets, and they make us breakfast, too.  And my man loves having a good, hearty breakfast of eggs.  Me?  I'm a syrup kind of gal.  Pancakes, waffles, French toast.  Yum.  Give me sugar first thing in the morning, and I'm happy.  But even so, we need to have eggs.

That's why it's been upsetting lately that our chickens have gone on strike.  The ladies refuse to lay.  I;m not exactly sure what is going on, but I suspect it is a combination of issues: the watering-boy took a break from getting the birds clean water daily, we ran out of official feed and gave them whole grains, the days are getting shorter, and one hen went broody.  She sits in the nesting box all day, trying to hatch two golf balls, and clucks at anyone else who disturbs her.

Gotta fix this problem.  Trent actually had to buy eggs from the store.  No space for freeloaders here!  So we changed the water-boy.  Got more feed for laying hens.  Partitioned off the broody hen (with a chicken noodle soup box - subliminal messages) so the others have access to the nesting box.  And we sprinkled cayenne pepper in their food.  Some say it will kick-start their systems.

Man.  It would sure kick-start something in me, too.  But they really liked it.

And now we wait.  One egg yesterday.  Three eggs today.  Things are looking up.  Maybe it was good that we didn't make a giant pot of chicken soup back when we first got frustrated with the girls.

Just for today, be patient when things aren't going your way.  Do everything you can to improve the situation, then wait with hope.  The sun will come out... (bonus if you are singing!)

Learning About Eggs

We have eggs.  Baby eggs and medium eggs and a few whoppers with double yolks.  As I understand it, new laying hens take a little while for the systems to start working properly, and regularly.

I also learned that we have a chicken that lays blue eggs.  And that the brown on brown eggs is only on the outside.  It's white on the inside, just like the (bleached!) eggs you get at the store.  Fresh eggs are tougher than store eggs, so we sometimes make a bit of a mess cracking them open.  On the other hand, when the twins bring in an egg and accidentally drop it, the shell cracks.  But it doesn't always break all the way through.  Good thing, because they love bringing in eggs.  Oh the excitement!  Checking for eggs is the high point of Angel's day, and she'll go skipping off to the coop with a basket over her arm.  I did not know that gathering eggs would be so fun for them.

And I have learned that fresh eggs do not need to be refrigerated.  We keep them in a basket on the counter.  Eggs on the counter, however, tend to get cooked up faster for breakfast than if they are hiding in the fridge.

Right now, this basket is empty.  But we'll be getting more tomorrow!  We like fresh eggs.

Vacation Planning

I love planning.  I could think and dream and research and plan all day.  Unfortunately, it doesn't do me any good unless I get up and actually do something.  (sigh)

Alec is graduating from Army basic training, and evidently, it's a big deal.  So we decided that we would go.  All of us.  We'd drive for, maybe forever, in our big white van towing our tent trailer.  And we'd eat fun travel food and play fun family games and never get upset with each other and have no potty accidents and see the country and make great family memories.  What a great plan.

I like the planning, but the actual prep work is so not my favorite.  NOT.  AT.  ALL.  It makes me grumpy on a good day, and nearly unbearable by the end of a bad one.  It's a fault of mine, I know.  So I worked really hard - prayed lots, took lots of deep breaths - to not get stressed out about this one.  Challenging, because besides just getting kids on a trip (doing laundry, finding luggage, making sure that everyone is packed), I always want to leave our house presentable (cleaning!  Yes!).  And our critters need to be cared for while we're gone (finish building the chicken feeder, hiring a neighbor girl, making an egg-collection door into the nesting box).  Add in the family reunion (lunch for 50, a presentation in the family genealogy program), and the details of camping (coolers, food, bedding, cooking utensils), and you get a perfect storm of stress for the mom-person.  Oh yeah, and the man had to work overtime the week before we left, so he couldn't help.  Yikes.

So I made lists.  That way, I could 1) not forget anything, 2) feel some sense of accomplishment as I crossed items off the list, and 3) I could give lists to the older boys and they could help.  They were a great help, and we made it on our way without any meltdowns.  No big ones, anyway.  :-)

It actually looks like this on our trip.  Blue skies, puffy clouds, unending ribbons of road.  Maybe one day I'll figure out how to get pictures off my camera.

We started the trip by going on a family reunion.  Two nights and two days of hanging out with some of the neatest people on the planet.  I loved it.  The only drawback was that the kids didn't get to play on the lake.  They rented waverunners, and my boys were so excited... but it didn't work out.  Major bummer.  We'll have to rent some when we have some time with Alec.  That will be fun.

As we finally got off and driving, we had plenty of time to think.  I thought of my lists and felt satisfied that I got most of the biggest things done.  I think.

Chicken Coop Update

This is a case when a project (although it would be nice to just have it done already!) becomes an opportunity to get other things done.

Like remembering that you have to build on a solid foundation.

Like listening to each other and learning to appreciate other people's experience.

Like remembering the childish delight of figuring out how things work.

Like feeling that satisfaction of making progress, rather than waiting for completion to be happy.

Ben, with Chris assisting

Chris and Ben

Ben and Alec

Like watching the boys learn to work together, and just buckle down to get a job done.

 Like growing enough faith that someone else knows how to steady themselves, and not worrying.

We put the chicks in when it was this much finished.  The windows were framed but not cut out - the door was cut out but propped back in place with boards and heavy bricks.  Good enough for now.  

 Like figuring out when things are "good enough" to work for a while and take a break.

 Ben took a chance to try out par kour, climbing on and jumping off the roof.

Right now we've got the roof on, the painting done, most of the finish trim up, the run fenced, and the window screens in.  And our chickens are happy.  Still have some work on the inside to do (permanent roosting bars, nesting boxes, shelving, and a sick chicken hospital), but we'll get there.  I think we've learned a lot in the process, even though we're not done yet.

An Addition!

We have a new critter at our house!  We almost had a duck, because the neighbors found the cutest little fuzzy duckling wandering around in the street.  But I guess they decided to keep it.  Darn.

No, our newest critter is much bigger.

This isn't a photo from our house, but it tells the same story.

And less wanted.  A mama raccoon has been bringing her four babies to our porch every night to eat all our cat food.  At first it was cute, then not so cute, then expensive to feed all of them and our cats.  And now the mama raccoon is starting to get a little snippy with our pets.  We're afraid that if we don't put out the food, she'll go after our chickens.  It's wildlife extortion, that's what it is.

So we're looking for a nice way to subtract our additions.  Our local animal control doesn't do wildlife, so Trent has been watching coon trapping videos on YouTube.  We'll see how it goes.  Hope it doesn't get nasty!

Learning

Today I learned how to use a jig saw.  I bought us one, to cut out the windows of the chicken coop.  So I did.  It was kind of fun - makes a big difference, really quickly.  And now the chicks have windows.

And I have sawdust... all over.  I also learned that when one is using a jigsaw chest-high or higher, one must be wearing a turtleneck shirt to avoid getting sawdust... all over and in.

That's all.  And I'm headed to the shower.

A Bad Day For the Chicks

Some days are just like this, aren't they?

Georgie and Freddie love to climb in the pen with the chicks.  We have them in their new (yet unfinished) coop, with a fenced-in walkway leading to the fenced-in trampoline pen.  It is all but impossible to keep the children (nearly all of them!) away from the chickens.  Angel picks them up and carries them around and holds them and cuddles them until we think they might lay scrambled eggs, but they seem to like it.  But the twins are not gentle.  They love to chase and scare and throw things.  The chicks run from them.

And if that wasn't enough, Trent climbed on the roof and started banging like crazy.  I don't think the girls understand what tar paper and shingles are, except that it's awfully noisy.

And later in the afternoon, there were amazing and terrifying sounds of chainsaws and breaking wood and crashing branches.  Two old, dying trees leaned near the coop, ready at a moment's notice to topple into the neighbor's shed.  Today was the day they gave up and were reduced to piles of leaves and firewood.

When I checked on the chicks, they were huddled together in a corner of the coop, making distressed peeping noises.  I think tomorrow should be quieter.

Sorry, chicks.  Hope you don't develop Tourette's.

Building Relationships

So we've been working on the chicken coop.  And we've been changing our minds again.  This is four major overhauls of the design so far.  I say so far because I'd be really surprised if there isn't another change.  Even though I'd like to just pick one.  And stick to it.  And get building already.

I've heard that building a house together can really strain a marriage relationship.  There are even vows you need to add to your marriage before embarking on a building project.  Any large undertaking can tax a struggling marriage - buying a new house, a new job, pregnancy, reunions, vacationing, children, breakfast...

Yeah, we've had a few struggles.  And we're just building a coop, for chickens' sake!

That about sums it up.

I wanted to just lay out 4x4s and build on that.  Trent built a sturdy foundation of two courses of cinder block.  I'd like the coop to have a lower profile and fit in the yard better.  He wants it to be a full eight feet - plus the peaked roof.  Sometimes when I've made a suggestion, he smiles and gives me the "that's nice honey but that's not how we're going to do it" look.  A year ago, that would have bothered me.  Actually, I would have been spitting nails.

But now (after a year of counseling!) we both smile and laugh a little.  I know that there is a particular way that he thinks is proper and right.  And I know that I don't have to cave in and and become a doormat when there is something I think is important.  His view count.  My views count, too.

But the most important view is the one that we see together,

Sorry for the mushy.  I've just been glad that we can work together - and enjoy it!

How To Not Study

1. Convert an old trampoline frame into a temporary chicken run by stretching chicken wire around it.

2.  Insert adorable chicks.

3.  Bring homework papers and books into chicken run with aforementioned adorable chicks.

4. Have mild delusional thoughts that you will complete said homework.

5.  Get distracted.

6. Repeat steps 4 and 5.

7. Insert younger sister, who chases chicks every which way.

8. Laugh.

9. Give up and do homework inside the boring house.

Chick Update Again

The chicken saga continues.  I had no idea that poultry could be so entertaining.  The boys have each chick named, and know their breed and personality.  I know that I need to check them a few times a day because they like to kick wood chips into their food and water.  It's the scratching instinct.  Good for birds, bad for people.  If I brought it up, I'm sure I would have boys doing the chicken scratch thing at the table during dinner.

The chicks are just about done with the fluffy and adorable stage that makes us want to buy them.  Their downy feathers are disappearing (and less of it is floating around my house than I would have thought!), and their big girl feathers are starting to grow in.   You can see some of the wing feathers starting to grow in here.

I learned that feathers grow in all rolled up, and are called pin feathers.  They don't unfurl and fluff out until they are all the way grown.  In the meantime, the chicks look like they have a bad case of porcupine neck.  Or head.  It doesn't hurt them at all, but it's painful to watch how awkward-looking they get.  Talk about bad hair day!

I'm amazed at how fast they grow.  Here are our Easter Eggers, Pocket and Badger.  Pocket was a gray ball of fluff when we first got her, hence her full name, Pocket Lint.  My fabulous niece named these two for us.  (Hey Kristen!  Miss you!)  Eddie loves to hold them and take them outside to play.

Badger is getting some colorful patterns on her back.

These are their "teenager" feathers.  They will molt again at 7-12 weeks, and then they will get their adult feathers.  Some of them will need new names at that time, as their coloring and overall look will be quite different.

They live in our sunroom now, in a plastic kiddie pool filled with pine shavings.  We stretched a tube of chicken wire around it to keep the flappers in, but even so one flew out today.  This is the cabin in the woods we are building for them. 

 No, it changed since then.  Trent-the-man-from-a-long-line-of-bricklayers decided that the foundation needed to be cinder blocks.  Now it will be sturdy, like the third little pig's house. Hopefully that part will be done tomorrow and we can start framing.  Otherwise, we'll have chicken nuggets wandering around the house.

Chick Update

Here are some picture I took a couple of weeks ago.  The chicks are about two weeks old, and just starting to grow in their wing feathers.  They are still bundles of fluff here - I'll have to get some pictures of how they look now - bigger and scruffy and awkwardly adolescent.

We put marbles in the waterer so they wouldn't drown.  Yes, we did see one tipsy chick stumble and fall head-first in the water.  They are top heavy, just like our human babies.

We built a itty-bitty roost so they can start learning how to stand on sticks.  Important chicken skill.

Eddie loves chicks.  That is the most interesting thing about this chicken thing so far.  All our boys love chicks.  Maybe that shouldn't surprise me.

Spring Break

It's Spring Break.  I love having everyone at home.  Love, love.  We hang out in our pajamas.  And watch movies and play computer games.  Oh yeah, we worked in the garden too, until it started to rain.  And we went shopping together - eight of us and two shopping carts and almost $300 of groceries.  It was a riot.

We went to the library.  This is the stack of books for Ben and Angel.

Alec installed a thingie on the computers that shuts them down every half hour.  I love it - they don't.  We have watched a lot of "Chicken TV."  Those little chicks are incredibly entertaining.

Chris is helping me design a chicken coop.  Man he's good at Sketch-Up!  Trent wants to see our plans, because he's sure he'll have half the supplies somewhere so we don't have to buy them again.  Tomorrow, we build.

Announcing... An Addition!

The twins are my littlest ones.  They grow so fast!  And they are big enough now that I can think about adding to our little family.  So we did.  And we have an unusual interest in what is going on... in the laundry room.

Wanna see what he's looking at?

Aren't they cute?  Even the big boys are mesmerized, and using non-teenager-boy words like "adorable."

It's a new adventure, that's what it is.  Wish us luck.