How To Spend Two Weeks...

...on behalf of a bunch of chickens.

So we're in the new house, but the chickens aren't here yet, and we're feeling bad that they are still living in the barn miles away and it just doesn't feel like home yet without them.

So as soon as we get ourselves settled in enough for our day to day needs, we go hammer and tongs at building the new coop & run. We are fortunate enough to have two sheds in the back yard, one of which will become the new coop--on the left of the picture, the one without the roof on the right:

Only problem is, it's in the wrong place. It needs to be moved over towards the middle of the yard and back about 20 yards. This is soon accomplished by pulling it loose from it's moorings and dragging it with lots of nylon rope, some improvised rollers and the Jeep. We also rent a trencher and dig the trench for the run posts and the buried wire--vital in areas where predators know to dig under the coop wire to get at your birds.

In this pic the coop has been moved, it used to be on the left where the chunk of old plywood is lying on the ground. The framework on the ground is the carport pipe structure that was the old run, moved from the old house.

The trenching shows where the edges of the run will be, it is so we can bury the run hardware cloth underground about 6-12 inches to foil digging predators.

One thing we have here in SPADES is rocks. This area is an old glacier field and when it left, it left all kinds of damned rocks. Dig down two inches and your shovel will hit a rock. Or 12.

The run roof going up. This was quite harrowing to raise, by the way. It swayed and did the hula in such a way as to have you fearing for your life.

But go up it did, yay!

A better look at the trench where the wire will be buried at least 6 inches below ground, bent outwards to foil digging predators.

The run posts were seated in cement, which got a field test with 65 mph winds the very next night. None of it ended up in the next county the next morning, so we must have done good.

The run roof goes on, just in time for a light snow.

The first course of wire goes up on the right side! We use 1/4 inch welded-wire, also known as hardware cloth--NEVER chicken wire!

More wire on the other side, and the doorway is framed in...

Because we now live in an area that sees much colder temps and higher winds than where we used to live, we're adding insulation to the walls & ceiling of the new coop. It will also have a heat lamp or a barn heater for REALLY cold nights.

The courses of wire are overlapped by about 4-6 inches and secured with UV resistant zip ties, which will seal out rodents that may try to slip between the wire edges. Chickens and their food attracts such things.

Unfortunately for me, while I was cranking down on a zip tie with a huge pair of channel-lock pliers, it broke and I smacked myself in the face with the damned pliers. Cut the Hell out of my upper lip and judging by the way my upper arch is flexing, I'm fairly sure I've got two fractures in my maxilla and may lose my two upper front teeth. Time will tell.

The doorway framing is done and the roof goes on the coop.

The plywood coop roof is overlaid with tar paper, which will in turn be sealed with Henry's and given a final covering of shingles.

Remember all those damned rocks? They go into the trenches as a digging predator deterrant. JUST TRY AND GET AT MY CHICKENS.

It's getting there...the trenches are topped off with dirt.

The door is on!

Time to go inside--this is the coop before it gets insulated.

The insulation goes up...

...and the walls are then sheathed with plywood. Except for finishing touches, the coop and run are finished, yay!

But I still feel like something is missing...hmm...

I know!

Pissy, carsick chickens!
I swear when they saw me coming at them with those carriers again they nearly wept. But at least this time it was a shorter drive. Plus they got a small amount of revenge in me getting my arms all scratched up from hardware cloth edges.

Aaaaanndddd...they're IN!

Temporary roosts in the form of some moving boxes, our garden bench and a ladder.

Also temporary are the nest boxes, repurposed moving boxes with new, smart-ass labels such as 'Fresh Chicken' and 'Fluffy Butt, This End Up'.

 

Pompadour inspects them...

...as do Fran and Pong.

The next day sees the flock cruising their new digs. Sadly they are confined to the coop & run for now as we still have some fence repairs to do on the rest of the 1/2 acre before we can let them roam it.

Weedcat the splash Giant Cochin roo in the middle.

But they're here at last, and waking up to roosters crowing and hens clucking finally makes it feel like home. Sadly neither Phoenix our Head Roo nor Millie our MilleFleur Belgian d'Uccle hen made it, both passing away at Christmastime. But they are here in spirit, as one of the first things we did after buying the house was to bury them in a special corner of the yard.

Today it's snowing, and the chickens are getting to enjoy their first experience with that. After the weather clears in a few days we'll be able to finish the roofing, add real nest boxes, roosts ladders and roosts, and get them settled for good.

Then I can go back to unpacking and painting!

It's That Time Of Year!

Happy Fourth of July! That said, don't do this:

Crunch...

...went my car today, a very final sound.

While driving this afternoon, slowed way down to turn right...

WHAM!

And my car, a VERY large 1969 Plymouth Fury III convertible, gets punted about 10 feet, accompanied by a horrendous noise. Then dies & rolls to a stop around the corner I was turning.

My glasses are gone, and since I'm blind as a bat without them, the first thing I have to do is find them. I had the top down, so God knows where they went. Pry myself out of the car and commence feeling around for them. Another driver stops and offers to help, he finally finds my glasses in the back seat. Now that I can see, here is what I find:

Neither the trunk nor the passenger side door will open, and it's pretty clear that the frame is tweaked. The hood opens, but with resistance and groans, although the engine looks OK. The top, which had been down, still closes but does not line up to latch properly, everything is shifted towards the passenger side. It still drives so I got it home, but it moans & groans and doesn't feel safe.

I think my car is toast. :(

The girl who hit me was moving at a pretty good clip. Her car suffered damage to it's right front and would not restart, so she had it towed. A cop was driving by so he stopped and took a report, the girl did not seem hurt at all. I was hurting but not enough to go to the hospital.

Tonight I've got mondo pain & pretty good bruising starting to develop all up & down my left side...and my neck hurts, naturally.

Luckily I've got a spare car, a '75 Pontiac I picked up to use while the Plymouth was undergoing restoration. I was just about ready to get the body work & paint done on the Plymouth, maybe next month. Now I've got to wait & see what the body shop says and see if the Plymouth is too broken to fix. And this after I sank all that money and time into getting the engine rebuilt and a bunch of other stuff fixed on it...

Bleah. And ouch.

Weeping Angel Nearing The 3/4 Done Mark...Plus Bonus Randomness!

I've got two of the wing sides put together, more loose feathers painted & ready to get glued down, the wig is painted and the dress is halfway painted. Waiting for things to dry takes quite a bit of time.

I still have to work up the backpack/wing harness rig, but really that will have to wait until the wings are done. Tomorrow I'll paint the tights while they are on the kid & let them dry while she's wearing them. Cutting down the fingers and creating the 'gloves' out of the tights is giving me the most trouble so far, the tights are surprisingly hard to sew. I know my sewing machine can hack it, the trouble is at my end in the learning curve.

It's been a strange day today. My neighbor knocked on my door at 1:30 asking for a ride to Kaiser and holding her arm, which was hurting & hanging useless at her side. Her husband & son weren't home, and the little English she speaks is very difficult to understand--and my Spanish is even worse. I took her, but partway over I figured that she was having a heart attack (pain & numbness down the arm is a symptom) and I was gonna have to put my CPR training to work...turns out she'd had surgery recently to repair some torn shoulder tendons and was checking in with her doctor. Whew!

After that, Phoenix, my big rooster, managed to tear off one of his claw tips & bled all over himself. I was in the house & had a sudden urge to check on the chickens, and he was standing near the back porch. I got the feeling I needed to check him, and found the bloody foot. He was OK at that point, nothing I could do for him. But he did hang around for pets & cuddles, all males like attention when they are sick/hurt, I guess. :)



A few hours later I had my OWN ride to the urgent care center when I stepped on a Hellaciously HUGE old, nasty, rusty, FILTHY upholstery foot with about a 6 penny nail in it. The people that used to live here used the back yard for a garbage dump and stuff still surfaces every so often, I managed to drive the damned thing into my foot admirably solidly. So off for a Tetanus shot & antibiotics.

Really am hoping that tomorrow is less...ah...'interesting'. For everyone.

Ouch, But...Yay!

Right knee has been bullied into submission thanks to pain control injections directly into the thrice-damned thing by my trusty pain doc. Today I can actually walk on it again, yay!

The injections sites hurt, and I didn't get much sleep last night, but today the over-the-top pain that I'd been dealing with since June has been thwacked into submission most of the way.

He wasn't able to drain the cyst, he said it was 'too spongy' (ick). That is something that may have to be cut out, time will tell.

We're BOTH Ailing!

'We' in this case meaning me and my computer.

It discovered it had a virus, despite my fortress of anti-virus software. J. managed to clear it up, but it was a tough, sneaky one and did something to my photo files so that now PhotoBucket hates my attempts at uploading pictures and refuses. Oh well, the new computer J. built for me is ready and waiting in the wings, so this weekend we'll get it in place and ditch this old one. I plan on donating it to the local school once we get it cleared up and empty.

I found out yesterday the results of the MRI on my right knee--it has a cyst (Hey, I was right!), both of the miniscus are GONE, and severe arthritis. So, the doc tells me, it's knee replacement time. Oh joy, major surgery. To top things off, J. had an aunt die from an infection after she had her knee replacement done two years ago--which up to now I knew was possible, but I'd never heard of anyone dying after getting a new knee before. She was in the hospital for many months--after the initial surgery and immediate complications, she had ANOTHER replacement done, then the infection just ran rampant through her--and never DID get to go home at all.

Why do these things happen RIGHT before school starts, and I NEED my damned knee? I don't have time right now so it'll have to wait till after school starts. Meanwhile, the little bastard hurts and isn't planning on letting me sleep anytime soon.

Yay for needlework projects to help keep my mind off pain.

Spring Cleaning, A Bit Late...

Spent the last two days cleaning out the pantry, right down to the bare shelves. Now it looks great--scrubbed clean, questionable stuff tossed out, remaining things arranged sensibly. We'll see how long THAT lasts.

Evil has a name, and it's called a three year old bottle of dried lemon peel. That stuff smelled funky. Discovered I'd done the Peanut Butter Trick with paprika and had no less than three little jars of it.

What's the Peanut Butter Trick?

That's where you look in your pantry, intent on building yourself a good ol' PB & J sammich. Oh...well, OK, you're OUT of peanut butter. Strange, you SWEAR you had some. Diligent searching ensues, alas, no peanut butter. OK, on the next trip to the store you grab some.

Time passes. Inevitabley the PB & J craving strikes again.

You go to grab the peanut butter...nothing. Well, DAMN, you say to yourself, did I not just BUY peanut butter not too long ago? You search. No peanut butter.

So, on your next trip to the store...you get the picture.

I once did this to the point where I had THREE jars of opened peanut butter going at once. The stuff just manages to get shoved to the back of the shelf where I don't see it. I swear, the damned stuff has a cloaking device, it actively hides from me.

So, I coined the term 'The Peanut Butter Trick' for when this happens and you end up with multiples of something that you KNOW you already have, but cannot find to save your life. Yesterday it was paprika. I also discovered that the curtains in my pantry window need replacing (my house was built by blind idiots and has the stupidest construction known to modern man)--yes, I have a window in my pantry, it faces west so as to gather as much southern California heat as possible and ruin my food stores.

Also, poor Bug, my daughter's favorite hen, has a NEW problem. After narrowly escaping death, she's finally recovering from her respiratory ills, eating and drinking on her own, gaining weight and continuing her molt. Last night as I was doing the beak count at dusk to make sure they were all in the coop for the night, I gave her a little pet...and found something stuck to the feathers on her back, kinda under the end of her wing. I investigated further and found that it was HER SKIN, dried and peeled back like a corn husk. I got a great view of her muscles underneath. She had a hole in her back the size of a large pack of gum.

So away to the house she was whisked.

Luckily, the wound is spotlessly clean with no blood or pus, just a big chunk of missing hide. I figure it's a slice from Phoenix the rooster's spur on that side from a mating attempt that slipped. So today it's off to the vet for antibiotics no doubt, and to have her sewn up if he can. If he CAN'T, it's going to be up to me to initiate cell migration therapy for her and try to encourage new skin to grow and fill in the area. It will mean slathering the area with antibiotic ointment and keeping it bandaged (not easy with a chicken) and changing the dressing once a day to clean and debride the wound--you DON'T want a scab to form or else new skin will not fill in the area properly. That takes mondo time, and the bird MUST be kept clean and away from dirt the whole time till the hole heals.

Bug is NOT happy with me, she wants to be outside with her buddies and is bored inside the house. Me, I'm not happy at the prospect of vet bills and having to have J. build a little special wire cage for her to sit & heal in--because I'm NOT gonna have a crabby chicken wandering my house for the next month!

Oh...Well, That Might Explain It, Then...

Just got back from my pain management doctor, told her about my last month of huge right knee pain. She took a look and seems to think I may have DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis) going on in there. She compared the left & right leg and sees more swelling and redness in my right knee and calf than the left.

So, off to my regular MD I go this afternoon, for a Doppler Ultrasound of the knee to see if, indeed, I gotta a blood clot in there. Although it WOULD explain the shitty monster pain I've been having in that knee, I'd just as soon NOT have a new and possibly-fatal-at-any-moment issue going on. I have no desire to take blood thinners and/or go to the hospital, this kind of drama I do not need. Myself, I suspect there is not a blood clot and it's just my crappy knee flaring, but like I always used to tell dental patients with a confusing array of symptoms: there is no reason why you can't have more than one thing going on at a time. And DVT is nothing to ignore.

Please be wrong, doc.

Anyone Have A Spare Right Knee?

...because I'd LOVE to have one that isn't a painful mass of uselessness. Having to walk with a cane SUCKS, and damn it, I've got things to do. It flared up bad like this last summer, that time it lasted a solid month before going back to it's normal pain level just as suddenly as it had started with the mega-pain thing.

This time it's been at it since the beginning of May. I know it's got somthing to do with the inside tendons, and that it feels like some kind of cyst or something has formed. It's screwing up my sleep pattern as well.

Stupid knees. Stupid, badly designed knees. Stupid pain.

*grump*

More Origami Folding...

Since I've been sitting a lot recently trying to rest & heal the flare-up in my right knee, I've tried to keep at least somewhat busy doing some origami. The pain is pretty heavy-duty and cuts right through the painkillers, which can only do so much. So I've kept to the simpler folds.

First, some butterflies!

These were quite simple and are actually made from two sheets of paper, then joined with a dot of glue.

Next, some Bellflowers, using a diagram that came with the packet of origami paper---I added the stamens and freehanded a little simple leaf. These are quite striking when folded with multicolor paper:

I've also come up with my very own design, my very first; yay! So here are some Little Green Men:

They could, admittedly, use some finesse. But these little alien guys fold with (not shown here) or without fangs, and are quick, fun and kid-friendly. I used the first part of the classic crane diagram, then diverged a bit from there. I think it uses maybe 10 folds, max--I haven't diagramed it though. Am I mistaken in thinking there is a program that will do that...?

Purists beware: there is ONE scissor cut. But I'm sure with more fussing about I could eliminate it.

Hen Fight Outta Nowhere!

The other day Sugar, our Buff Laced Polish hen, suddenly became the target of Baby, our Kraienkoppe hen. Out of the blue, no reason that we could figure. Baby is broody and spends most of her time on the nest, but when she DID come off, she had a mission, it seems--to try and KILL Sugar.

We grabbed Sugar and brought her into the house to recover, but her face was so swollen that her eyes swelled shut and she was effectively blind for an entire day. She looked like a prize fighter, and the poor thing roamed around the house all day bumping into things. We gently sponged away the dirt and goop from around her eyes with a warm, wet cloth, then applied some cold compresses. Today she is improved, one eye is mostly open and she can see out of it, the other is about 1/3 open but the skin around it is still quite swollen. Her targeting is off though, she tends to peck to the left of whatever she's trying to eat.

Hopefully by tomorrow she'll be able to go back outside, at which time I'll have to isolate Baby and break her of her brood so she'll calm down. Doing that isn't easy or fun, she'll have to go into the 'hen pen'--an isolation cage--by herself for days.

Chicken jail, essentially.

This Weeks' Chapter In The Car Saga...

Ever had one of those days?

Here was yesterday for my husband J.:

Thankfully, other than being banged up and sore, he seems OK so far. The truck, on the other hand, seems totaled. We'll know more when they drag the poor thing off to the repair shop. This is what happened when some guy driving in the far right lane suddenly realizes that he's going to miss the left hand turn lane he needs, and cuts off people in order to get there, rather than continue on past it and turn around. I swear some people think the road only runs in one direction. So after this guy--who was, by the way, driving a transport service van full of handicapped kids--cut off my husband, my husband broadsided a woman in a car. He blacked out for a moment and came to with an airbag in his face. That's all he knows right now, but the woman unfortunately had to go to the hospital. We'll have to try and find out what her condition is, if she is in the hospital I would very much like to send her some flowers...being in there at all is bad, being in there for Thanksgiving is gonna suck.

The truck has a nice 'S' wave to it when you look at it head-on, but heck, at least the diamond-plate toolbox in the back still closes...of course, the capper is that the truck didn't have a dent or ding on it, and we'd just gotten it paid off. I had to prepare N. a bit before we got home from school yesterday, she was very sad that the truck was ruined (but very glad her daddy was OK) and seemed to gain a bit of appreciation for how much damage cars can do.

As I look across the dinner table this Thursday at my family safe and sound, I know what I'LL be thankful for.

Happiness ISN'T...

...getting your freakin' leg whacked open from stem to stern. Here comes a full-on whine: DAMN, MY LEG HURTS!!!

OK...that's better. At least yesterday I made it down to the doctor to get the 900 ton cast removed. Since I couldn't get my left leg into the car on the driver's side around all the gas/brake/emergency brake pedals, J. had to drive me. I took along my old friend, Das Boot (a Frankenstein-ish orthopeadic boot, complete with numerous adjustment knobs, heavy duty black velcro straps and steel reinforcements, it looks like something Q would invent) that I had from the original broken ankle back in 2000. Lucky I did, since they were nice enough to cut off the bulky cast and replace it with the boot, but with a no-nonsense steely gaze and stern instructions NOT to walk around without the boot, and then even only when strictly neccessary.

No problem there. Especially since walking feels like someone is cheerfully holding a red-hot poker against my leg, it's automatically self-limiting. Since they had to make an even bigger incision to remove the hardware than they do to place it, the current incision is something on the order of 10 inches long. J. inspected it last night and said, "Hey, now you've got another new scar!" Whoopee. I told him I was going to come up with an interesting story to go along with it, maybe involving a bar fight down at the docks or the time that little voodoo doll came alive and chased me around the house wielding a butcher knife. Hmmm....

Ya Gotta Think Like A Kid...

Tomorrow I go in for surgery...NOT my favorite thing...to remove the metal bar and 6 or 8 screws that are holding my left ankle together. Yesterday and today I've been trying to get the things done that require me walking/driving/leaving the house/being upright. Bank...grocery store...gassing up the car...the kind of chores I refer to as "killin' rats"--that is, things that have to get done, but nobody likes doing. I'm also digging out my Advance Directive paperwork to take along, much as thinking of that kind of thing is Big Time No Fun and makes me cringe a bit, it's gotta be done. My own personal take is: No heroic measures (which means no rescusitating me or placing feeding tubes if it means I'll be a vegetable and have no quality of life), and if I pass away I want to donate any organs they can use and cremate the rest of me. Strip me for parts and burn the rest, heck I'll be long gone anyway so I won't care. *L* J. has the same plans, although he still needs to officially fill out the paperwork. Hate that general anesthetic, *bleah*. I really am fascinated by surgery anyway so I'd prefer to be able to watch, but they don't allow it.

This evening I was out enjoying the grass and visiting with the chickens since I'm going to be in the house for the next few days/weeks (our house is raised and has no wheelchair ramps). Phoenix the rooster

 Ain't he cute? Goofy, but pretty!

came over to be friendly, so I picked him up, talked to him and petted him. I teased him a bit with my standard line as I gently felt his little meaty thighs, "Ooh, aren't we a yummy, meaty bird! Umm, yep he's just about ready to eat, FEEL those meaty little drumsticks!" Phoenix just gives me a "Sure, like you'd ever really eat me. I know you're full of BS." look and bears with it. N. came over and said, "Can I?" OK, I said, but gently. She does, feeling his thigh and saying, "Yum, ice cream!"

I was laughing so hard I had to set Phoenix down. Drumsticks=ice cream, in the mind of a 5 year old... :)