Saturday, June 22, 2019

Saturday Projects

We worked on projects today. Michael and Alex were determined to finish the upgrade to the chicken coop before Michael leaves to bring our baby girl home. They succeeded. Michael can leave knowing the chicks are contained and I'm not chasing them up and down Mat Peak. LOL 

They'll have a covered area this winter and I'll wrap the fence in that corner to cut the wind and snow drifts. We are hoping this will allow them to be outside more and cut down on the pecking and such. We also hang cabbage for them to peck on, give them carrots, put balls in there, and I'm looking for a xylophone to attach to the wall - anything to give them something to do. LOL   

They errected a temporary fence that runs from the corner of the coop to the existing fence. This will keep the chicks in and close to the bigger chickens. We're letting them get used to each other, waiting for Phoenix to mature, then we'll sneak this year group into the coop some night. Maybe it will go smoothly. Lucille still can't go back into the coop. She is bloodied every time we try. She WANTS back in....that'll preach. 

Josiah came by as we were finishing our Saturday projects and helped catch chicks. They have enjoyed free-ranging. I am tired of the poop on the front porch. They've started heading for the road, and one made it. They are also easy prey the further they range.  They are adjusting well to their confinement.

CATCHING them was an adventure. Benny jumped in to help with this as well. They love hiding under the trailer.

As we caught them, we introduced them to their new home. Stacia with Lorri 1. 


Josiah and Lorri 2. 

Alex with Red - needs a name. 

 See the thin one with the white head and gray back lower half. She holds herself very upright when she runs. She's fun to watch. We've named her road runner - and we'd love guesses as to her breed. 

 While the guys worked on the chicken coop, Stacia and I continued working on the garden. 

I hadn't realized how big the garden spot is. I planted all the seedlings I had....and still have 1/2 the garden to plant. I had hoped to find some squash and pumpkin starts - no luck.  The chick weed up here is like Kudzu in the south. It's terribly prolific! I don't want to look at a huge patch of weeds all summer....the wood shavings did not deter the weeds last year. They grew through ROOF shingles. ::snort::  I am covering the areas we are not using with black plastic in an effort to check the weeds.  We were given a roll and used it. Michael had a huge box from Lowes and we used all of it today. I need to go buy more. 

I am standing in the NE corner of the garden by the fence post...all this grassy area needs taken down and then covered. To the left is corn. 

Stacia and I covered from the beds to the fence line and over to the other SW fence line. 

It's going to be a work in progress. I envision various sizes of beds, some flowery spaces, a bench and table to enjoy....a trellis and a wooden fence with an arched entry way....for now I'm content to slap plastic over it and weed every day....Things are growing this year. I'll do a post soon - I have garden questions too. Anyone surprised? LOL

As the guys picked up tools, we started dinner inside. It was fun to have Josiah out to visit and to catch up with him.

We played a couple of rounds of Farkle and STACIA won for the first time since G Dog arrived. LOL