Mud Puddle Splashtacular!

I've been home for a couple of days. Started with achyness and giddiness then, a more annoying than anything, intestinal glitch of the barfy kind. Ok, that's enough detail. The good news is, other than feeling weak and 'off', I'm actually not feeling all too awful. This happens about once a year - I get achy or barfy or whatever, and between bouts of gastro-intestinal distress I feel OK. I haven't done the big bad flu in a few years now, just these little flus. Still it is the flu and I'm home, keeping it real, keeping it all to myself (as opposed to idiot co-workers who have (so help me, some do this) tell you they are ill, but feeling ok enough to work. Thanks a lot people! No doubt one of you (or some poor soul on light-rail) gave this too me. You're too kind.

Enough bitchin'! Ran across this clip and it totally makes me feel happy. How can you watch this elk, one of nature's children play and not feel somehow refreshed - and dry. Watch this and I dare you not too feel at least a little up-lifted.



Been two days... am still laughing at this playful elk.

My Chicken Dreams Come True

Le Tres Chic, Lavender Chicken Condo

Hurrah! Tonight, for the first time, I put the girls in to their new, upscale Chicken Condo. Up until now, they've been crashing in their rather flimsy temporary quarters. But now they have, or so I hope, the protection of a portable and lockable pen. There are wheels in the back so I can roll them to a new spot as needed. Portable coops are called 'chicken tractors'. What sold me on it, is it's plastic, like a giant Fisher Price toy for chickens. I can disassemble and/or hose the whole thing out as necessary.

You can see the girls in there, bedding down for the night, no help from 'moi' necessary. *sniff* They grow up so quickly!
I fretted over whether it would be difficult to teach the girls how to go into their closing, night-time quarters (totally necessary to protect them from night roaming raccoons, skunks and opossums). Ha! After having their first meal out of their fancy feed container, as it was twilight, they climbed right up into their night-time roost as if they had made reservations and wanted to check out their accommodations. Why does their 'knowing how to be chickens' thing continue to surprise me?

"Bwwwak... I was hoping for better decor, bwwwaaak, I guess this will do"
I LOVE this coop. Has 2 pull out trays under the 'bedroom' (above), which I've lined with newspaper for easier clean-up. There is a little ventilation slit to keep the girls aired when I lock them in for the night. Their boudoir seems well insulated against excessive heat/cold too.

The girls are wondering about the 'privacy' of their spacious new quarters
That last view looks through the hole. They will - without my help of course - figure out to climb through that hole into the egg laying room. There is a removable porthole so I can remove their eggs, when those wonderful commodities make their first appearances say in February or March. I can very nearly taste that first omelet now.

My kitty Rum was looking a bit miffed that the girls are getting such first class treatment. Really - he was. So to make it up to him, and to keep the Animal Cruelty people away from my door, I washed and cleaned out his outside winter-time bed. Maybe being snug as a bug in a catbed (that would, I guess be a flea?) will keep Rum purring 'til spring.

I Love Hard Work - Could Watch it All Day

Boo hoo. Last full day of having Joann visiting. Today we mostly stayed home. I've long had some handyman work contracted for today. Was so worried about the workman getting all done - poorly, that last night I had rampant anxiety dreams - woe was me.

The end post, that holds up the patio roof has dry rot & the board that holds up the lattice work rotted and fell away. I've whined about it before; the wood got dry rot because a former handyman Paul took down the gutters and refused to put them back again, because, according to the ninny, 'who needs gutters anyway?' Yeah, who needs gutters, unless you don't want the supporting structures of your patio rotting out and collapsing. Gurrr!

Before: pathetic, huh?

These posts survived, but the bottom board is almost rotted away.

The bottom cross beam is rotting away,
and the lattice is all faded, black with dirt

I was so frantic over whether or not the work was going to be done correctly that I actually had anxiety dreams all night long. The usual; my car lost and me trying desperately to find it in a huge unfriendly city. My bad dreams didn't foretell a danged thing because it was a perfect day.

Jorge showed up and I drove us over to Lowe's Hardware for $60 something bucks worth of 4 X 4 wood posts and new lattice work; a few metal stays and some finishing nails. Back at the house, Jorge dug in and...

•           replaced a post, 3 cross bars and two lattice works.
•           repaired the hole in the corner of the yard i.e. Hurrah! The cat-freeway is closed!
•           mortared and bricked up the broken corner of the front yard's southern flower bed

Replaced the dry rotted post and lattice

Replaced the lower three cross bars t hold up the lattice work

I couldn't be more pleased with Jorge's work. He didn't cost an arm and a leg which makes me happy. We already started planing the next assault on the woodwork of my front porch. Hurrah! My home will not fall down around my ears after all.

Joann was self entertaining most of the day, watching a few shows on TV while getting in some good work on her soft, green baby blanket. We did a bird-store run so I could get some treats - i.e., mealworms, for the girls, who spent most of the day roaming around the yard. They are now, thank heavens, large enough, that the few cats that sneak into the yard won't touch them. Poor Rum-kitty, is terrified of the girls.

Meanwhile, the Joann and I got a little more work done on new chicken coop. We decided to treat ourselves to dinner out at Mikuni's the Japanese restaurant. The girls were treated to a new can of mealworms. Life is good.

The girs roamed wild and free most of the day
It is so lovely being to large for cats to mess with