May 30, 2014 Chickens

Douglas's triteleai now popping up
everywhere!

Wednesday 5/28. There are ants in the hummingbird feeders.  They are drawn to the sugar; crawl into the openings; fall into the syrup; and float up into the feeder where they swim as long as they can.  The birds don't seem to mind them crawling around, but they do compete with the bees for the little "flowers".

We started mowing the south slope before lunch.  Actually JB was mowing, I was walking in front of the tractor looking for logs and rocks, and hoping not to find snakes.  Up and down the slope - got my exercise for the day.

It was a beautiful day but thunder storms were in the forecast.  We heard two thunder claps about 1:00 pm and the rain arrived a half hour later.  Only lasted about ten minutes.  But it moved on to the east and there was a fire down by the bend in the river which was probably lightening set.

After hearing the thunder, we stopped mowing and I brought in the wash.  Had a late lunch and then just puttered around for the rest of the afternoon.  Our high temperature for the day was 64.

Time magazine had a very interesting article on sugar.  There was a picture of a brain on sugar and one on cocaine.  Well, no wonder I'm addicted to sugar!

Thursday 5/29.  JB left for Down There at 8:30 am with clear skies and a chilly temperature of 45.  Clouds drifted over for most of the day and even though there was a lot of blue sky, the sun was often hiding behind them.  It is as if the clouds freeze up over the mountains during the night and then the warmth of the sun sends them on their way.  Usually by late afternoon they have all moved on and the sun is clear again.

I did laundry in anticipation of JB mowing again on Friday.  Then finally got the bird bath cleaned out.  That's quite a job, as I have to remove the large rocks and then scrub everything.  But the birds seemed quite pleased when I was all done.  

We have been thinking about getting chickens ever since we moved Up Here, but I just wasn't ready for the responsibility.  When Larry was up the other evening we got to talking about how poor Bella is still getting beat up on and wouldn't it be nice if we could take her.  Well, that got us thinking and we stayed up late thinking about where we could put a chicken coup and designing it.  Suddenly it just seemed like the right time to start our flock.

Well, Larry called the next morning to say that Elsie simply did not want to get rid of Bella, which I could certainly understand.  Then Elsie called later in the day to ask if we would want the two chickens that were picking on her.  Then last night, when we were talking on the radio, Larry said they wanted to give us all three of the same kind.

So yesterday, while JB was Down There, I decided that the best place for the chickens would be by the outhouse/garbage shed.  It gets a lot of sun and is sheltered from the wind.  We could build it on the south side and would only need to build three walls.  So that is our plan.  It will be a 6'X8' coup with a large run.  We will try to get it built within the next week.

I had it all planned out by the time JB returned home.  He will use the tractor to shorten the wall of dirt from the parking area and level the ground, being sure that it drains away from the coup.  He was going to get cement for the floor of the coup on his trip today, but found out it would just cost too much.  So they will have a dirt floor, which will be just fine.

He was home at 1:30 pm, then hopped on the tractor and we did about an hour of mowing.  He'll finish that one area tomorrow.

RJ called to let us know he is at his cabin.  I invited him to breakfast on Saturday.  Will be so good to see him again.

It was a nice day with large clouds drifting over and clearing up in the evening.  Our high for the day was 64.

Friday 5/30.  It is 53 and mostly clear this morning, with a forecast of warmer weather for the weekend.  And it it going to be a very busy weekend.  We will probably take the garbage down tomorrow and use the trailer to bring back most of the building materials.  Today JB will finish mowing and then work on preparing the coup site.

Thought for the day: If you are looking for that one person who will change your life, take a look in the mirror.