Well...after the morning feeding routine (which has changed slightly since the chickens are over here now), I changed out of my ratty jeans into some decent looking clothes and plopped down at the computer to work on a 'James and Burke' episode. I haven't gotten that finished yet.

At about 10:50, I suddenly realized I had better get started on lunch--Granddaddy likes to eat around 11:30. I jumped up and went into the kitchen and stared at the pack of chicken thighs. Something akin to this was running through my mind, "What a dingbat I am!! Chicken takes an hour to bake!!! I KNOW that! What was I doing on the computer??"

With those kind of things running around in my foolish brain, an idea suddenly slapped me upside the head. "Hey! Why not fry a couple of pieces for lunch and just stick the rest in the oven?" Saved by my practical streak, I got the skillet heating and put the chicken into a baking pan and into the oven--minus two pieces. One for me and one for Granddaddy. (I forgot to mention everyone else was not home...)

With the chicken crackling in the pan, I hurriedly chopped some mustard greens, thankful Mama had already washed them in the big sink across the creek. I dumped the baked beans out of the box they were in and put them on the stove to heat as well.

I ACTUALLY HAD LUNCH READY ON TIME....I was rather surprised about that, but quite pleased. I was equally pleased at the way it turned out--tasty. :D As Granddaddy was getting seated and I was dishing up the chicken from the stove (no need to dirty an extra dish with two pieces of chicken that were just going to be promptly removed), I told him, "We're having a good Southern lunch." He grunted, "Good."

We didn't talk much while we consumed lunch...but that's not unusual. He went back to the TV and I to the blanch the remaining greens I hadn't cooked. I also washed the dishes and made my coffee. Once done with all that, I took my coffee and returned to 'James and Burke'...

Coffee gone, I turned my attention to my afternoon's errands. I dropped by Wal-Mart first to get silver spray paint for the 'new' gate, as well as cat food since they are almost out. I made an impulsive (not too implusive really) buy of the Tintin movie. I've wanted to see it ever since I first heard about it (I LOVE Tintin!) and was just waiting until it came out on DVD. (I think I'll watch that tonight...)

I fully enjoyed this next part...While standing in line, the lady in front of me looked me over once. A minute later, she turns back and motions to my spurs (which I had noticed her looking at) and asked me, "Are those the real deal or just for decoration?" If she had noticed that the sole of my beloved boot is coming off, she might have answered that question herself. :D I told her, "They are real." Then she asked me if I used them...duh. "Yes, I use them on him sometimes...sometimes he needs it!" "Is he standing out there in the parking lot?" she teased. "No...when I left the house he was standing there eating hay!" A little later she said, "I'm a Northerner,  can you tell?" I laughed (this whole episode was hilarious), and said, "Sorta."

I was checking out and the cashier carded me--because of the spray paint!! That is kind of weird. Anyway, she said I didn't look over 18. 

From there I went and got fuel...then with a full tank, I headed for Bryan's. 

At Bryan's I hopped out and headed in; the Hispanic guy (who for blogging purposes I'm going to call 'Jose'--unless I find out his name), saw me, grinned, and asked, "A roll of hay?" I laughed, how could I help it, and agreed with him...only I was actually getting two! Scott (I think he owns the place or is one of the owners) took my plastic for both rolls and Jose loaded #1. Seeing me fumbling with my straps, he backed the forklift around and basically asked me if I'd like him to show me a better way of strapping in the hay. Why not? And you know what? It really is better! The hay doesn't roll near as much with the strap around the back rather than over the top.

I arrived home and unloaded roll #1. Granddaddy's cows have never had hay before, so they haven't exactly attacked it. I think they will eat it--once they get done butting it around and ripping it to shreds with their horns. Moonbat started 'horning' it first thing and I yelled at her while shaking my PVC head-wacker. She just looked at me over the roll of hay...nevermind....

I dashed back to Bryan's, and Dave (who has an injuried eye--he might startle you if you weren't expecting it--he makes up for that disfigurement with a quick smile and laugh; I like the guy...and I appreciate it when God places physically non-perfect people in my path. He continues to teach me not to judge by outward apperances or get 'grossed out' because someone has something wrong with them. I just hope Dave didn't see the reaction I had when I first saw him...I fail miserably on this front and I am ashamed of myself for it.) loaded roll #2. I strapped it in like Jose had shown me and left again.

After unloading that one, I headed out again...after filling a five gallon bucket three times and carrying it around 100 yards to make sure Snip had water. The pump is no longer pumping water--even though it was sitting there and running! I have to do some research on that. (If anybody reading this has any idea what might be the problem, contact me! Please...I'm totally lost on this front. :})
 
At Smith's I picked up another 14 50 lb. sacks of pellets and one of chick feed...I was going to get 4 bags of mineral too...but they were out. Drummer Dude, Redneck 1 (who I hadn't realized was so short! It's been a while since I've seen him) and Redneck 3 loaded my truck. Redneck 3 seems to be a real nice kid--he smiles an awful lot...

I got to our place, swept out the garage (I remembered Mama! :D), unloaded six of the bags of pellets and left again. I got over here, unloaded feed, chased calves, filled up Snip's water tank a bit more (the cows can get water out of the creek, so I'm not too worried about them), got something to drink myself, fed cows with Katherine's help, then fed Snip, the cats (I only saw Shadow), and the chicks. By now I was really hungry...three measely prunes at 2:30 don't exactly qualify as a filling snack and it was almost 6.

We (the first shift, Katherine, Granddaddy, and I) ate shortly after I came in. I really tried not to shovel...something I'm really bad at when I'm starving. And that pretty much sums up my day...it was busy, exciting, and even distressing to some extent...I have to figure out what to do about the pump...but I'll worry about that tomorrow!

Until next time, enjoy laughing at (and with) me!

        Racheal

 
For the chicks that is. The rooster coop being done completely, it was determined that we would put all the chicks in that for now (the hens were seriously outgrowing their bo. I can tell the roosters and the hens apart, so when it comes time to move the hens out, it won't be overly hard. (I hope.)

Anyway, Katherine and I loaded the chickens, in their cardboard box brooders, into the back of the pickup. I strapped them in and did not speed on the way over here. Someplace along the way, I lost the elastic out of the end of my braid, so I ended up with my hair down--totally unusual for me as I never do anything remotely like this with my hair all over the place like it was. I tied it in a knot twice, but it promptly came down as I took the chicks from Mom and tossed them farther back into the coop (which I was sitting in.) 

I crawled along on my knees getting the heat lamps rigged up, putting feed out and of course, water. The smaller of the two boxes is in the coop on it's side. When I tipped it over, the chicks were still in it and several of them got buried in the shavings, so I had to dig them out. 
I cut the flaps off the bigger box with my trusty pocket knife (I have no idea how many yards of cardboard that thing has cut over the years) and we propped them against the sides of the coop, under the tarp.

I think the chickaroo's are going to be pretty happy out there. Right now they are under the huge downed oak...and I'm having difficulty writing this in an interesting fashion, so I think I'll go ahead and close for now. 

        Racheal

 
The hen coop is well underway. We didn't finish today because we ran out of wire and I thought we'd wait and ask Mama a few questions before we continued. Anyway, here are the pictures from today's adventure.
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What we started with...
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My tape measure doesn't have a lock swtich on it, so I have to improvise. :)
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We cut four strips of wire that were roughly 12.5 or 13 feet long...
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Then we laid them out like this over the 'ridge' pipe...
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And wired them down...
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This was probably the trickiest part. Katie gamely undertook to hold the 12' 2" PVC ridge poll up while I wired it to the top of the triangle. She managed to get this really good shot of herself after I had the first end wired.
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Wiring the opposite end.
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For me, this was the most uncomfortable part...I'm fine up a ladder so long as it has NO wiggle. Here it was a tad jiggly, so I had Katherine steady it for me. She's terrible cute with her glasses on the top of her head!
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"Don't lean over TOO far, Racheal..." I was wiring to the middle sections of the triangle.
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This isn't a very good shot of what we finished with, but it'll have to do. As you can see, the ends are open--we still have to rig that up somehow; more wire of course. I have some plastic stuff, but I'm not sure that won't get used in the horse trailer...
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And in closing, how about a picture of a lovely old oak?

        Racheal

 
Well, we pretty much got the rooster coop done today! I have pictures to prove it...
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This is what we started with this morning...wire on three sides and the top wire hanging down inside.
We added a few more support bars and then started putting the wire back on. We had to patch it some, but it worked fine!
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So....I was goofing off with the PVC pipe cutters. (Great tool, by the way!!)
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Cutting pipe...I was sitting on a feed sack because the grass was still wet from the dew!
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Drilling holes in the ends of support pipes.
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Inside the coop...I was talking to Katherine.
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Ah, there she is!
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Cutting a piece of chicken wire to patch the side.
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Katherine 'sewing' the sides where the different peices of chicken wire came together. (That is my uncle's boat in the back-ground...)
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The finished project!! (Minus however I'm going to practically close the 'door'--the end facing you.)
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The state of our hands...mine are a tad more scratched up than Katherine's.
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So this one really has nothing to do with chicken coops... :P
It is just the author...having fun!

        Racheal

 
No pictures tonight...but more words. :)

After lunch, Katherine and I headed out to work on the rooster coop. I was hoping we would be all done with it tonight, but it didn't work out that way. We started by putting wire around the whole thing, length-ways, starting at one end and wraping it around back to that same end, leaving the end open. (That's my 'door' end!) We put about six inches down on the ground as an extra deterrent for critters and wired the thing on. Katherine spent a good deal of time 'sewing' the wire to the bottom pipe with the thin, very supple wire that came wrapped around the chicken-wire itself.  Meanwhile, I was going around wiring it to the corners. Mama dropped by as she and Savannah were head to town and suggested support bars in the middle of my ten-foot sections. Okay...so out came the drill, the pipe cutters, the nails, and the hammer. I didn't need to cut another peice of pipe since I had two four foot sections laying around already. I drilled holes in either end of the four foot sections and roughly in the middle of my ten foot top and bottom pipes. Katherine poked the nails through and I hammered them down.

Then we went back to wiring...now, if  you've ever worked with wire, you know the state one's hands get. Soon we both had blood on our hands. Somehow, Katherine actually managed to get scratched more than I did...but I have some doozy's alright. Katie went in to get a band-aid for her arm at one point and came back with another poked in her pocket. That was providential because a few minutes later I really got a walloping cut on my right index finger. With that bandaged up I went right back to work.

We were almost done with all the wiring when Mama got home and came and looked at our progress and made some more suggestions. If you know me at all, you know that when I'm hungry and getting tired, suggestions aren't always the best received. Well, I bit down on that growing, "aww....just leave me alone!" feeling, and actually looked at what she was pointing out and laughed instead of growled. Yep...it really did need cross bars to keep it from sagging like that. I cut some more pipe (oh, by now my hands were so tired from cutting electric wire--what we are using to tie the chicken wire on with--that I had to use the ground to help me cut the pipe)...mind you, sitting inside  the three foot (plus a few inches) high area. Then I drilled some more holes, Katherine poked the nails through, and I pounded them.

We didn't finish...it was time for dinner and we were hungry (we never did stop and have that suggested apple break...go figure.) Anyway, it shouldn't take too much longer to finish--though I'm not sure we'll get it done tomorrow because we have to go someplace tomorrow afternoon.

I will post pictures when it is done! (Would have had pictures today only Katie left her camera across the creek!)

Rachea

 
Greetings again...it's been a while, hasn't it? Anyway, I got around to the next step on the coops today. The "roo" (rooster) coop's frame was assembled and I later went to town and got the wire (it's green!)...but instead of putting the wire on, I rode Snip.
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The Materials...
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Measuring...
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Cutting...
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Rrrggg....
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Rooster coop frame
I was going to write further, but since I'm Skyping with Daddy, I'll save that for later... :)

        Racheal

 
Well, actually this is Part 2, since I started on the coops two weeks ago. Anyway, with Katherine's help, the frame of the first one is finished. Problem is...it didn't work like it was supposed to!

For starters, it was supposed to be shaped something like this:
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My cute as a button assistant...
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You know, I can be rather goofy sometimes...
We had all but one hoop (there were supposed to be 5) together, when they started snapping! 1 inch 40 SD PVC pipe popping is rather startling. This was the result...
Sooo...we brain-stormed...I called Daddy...and this is what we ended up doing: We made a triangle out of the pipe (instead of arches). I drilled holes through the ends, stuck a nail through, and pounded it down. 
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I started by sawing off the one unbroken pipe.
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Then I drilled holes in the top of the pipes...
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(How'd you like those orange ear-plugs? )
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Pounding away...(I had to have another pair of gloves held against the head of the nail to keep from hurting myself.)
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Finished frame!
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It wasn't that hot...I just thought this one was a cool picture! (I was still up the ladder when Katherine took it.)
Well, there you have it...we still have to finish...but that'll come in Part 2.


 
*snickers* 

Ahem, excuse me, I'm clucking like a chicken. Why? Simple...chicken coops are on my mind!

I spent a good hour in town getting stuff I need to build the chicken coops. Would you believe it, but none of the places I went had this particular type of PVC pipe fitting? I got the 't', 'x', and elbow connectors, but I couldn't find one of those that looks basically like an elbow with an opening on top. The closest anybody had was at 'Do it Best'--they had one, but the top hole was like half-inch rather than one inch. I went to Tractor Supply, Smith's, and Ace and none of them had even that!

Now that I've finished my lunch (I wasn't ready to eat at lunch time, so I only ate about half my food), I'm going to go out and at least get started on the hoop houses. Savannah and I are planning that next trip to P.C. (Monday), we'll go to Lowe's or Home Depot. Surely they will have what I need! I can get everything else pretty much done before then and all that will require is a few minutes for each corner.

I still need the chicken wire...I forgot that today. Oh well, I'll get it later.

I look forward to getting my chickens at the end of this month! 

        Racheal