Painting Progresses...

Because of how we need to move around furniture and plan ahead on unpacking boxes, painting is progressing rather strangely. The last two days I've concentrated on half of the dining room.

Before, universal boring white.

Although NO shortage of painted-over staples, tape and nailheads thinly covered with spackle...just enough to make you think it's just a spackle glop and run the power sander over it, haha. When this happens the sandpaper tears and makes a truly horrific, loud, rattling noise that is guaranteed to make your heart stop. Even more fun if you are up on a ladder sanding over your head. Added to this kind of fun is having to scrape big glops of painted-over acoustical ceiling bits from the walls & molding. Plus the truly craptacular spackle job from two previous paint jobs--especially where some bonehead used rubberized caulk for spackle and thought it'd work--and you've got yourself a fine recipe for foaming at the mouth and moaning obscenities at the previous tenants.

So yeah, the first day is mostly scrape, repair and scrub. Then came painting, the same Americaunas-egg green for the walls as I used in the kitchen, and a light brown to match the kitchen countertops for the trim.

So far in this room I just did this corner and the wall around the sliding glass door, so that I can move a large cabinet into this corner and hang the sliding door blinds & curtains. The door to the garage will be done later.

Once this is done, I can unpack the boxes in the living room, which will clear THAT room for finishing IT'S paint job.

Meanwhile, it's 100 degrees and time to stop for the day. Oh, and we believe we have a skunk living under the house.

But that's a whole 'nuther adventure involving mothballs placed in Mason jars with holes popped in the lids, then stealthily and *carefully* rolled under the house like Molotov cocktails--all while poised to RUN.

It's A Chicken Swamp Cooler!

Finally got a few burlap bags to hang around the coop, on hot days we wet them down and they act like a swamp cooler--evaporative cooling when the breeze blows.

It'll take a while for the chickens to appreciate their new curtains, for now Dinner and Weedcat are treating them as hostile, chicken-eating aliens and are wailing and running about in a silly manner. Scott and the older hens are much more curious and harder to rattle. After all, it might be food...

It's That Magical Time Of Year...

...fire season. Today we had dry lightning around the valley which sparked at least three fires, two of which are creating tons of smoke--these pics are about 50/50 smoke and clouds. Just before dusk the sky was glowing, it was making the chickens VERY nervous.

Another one off to the right, this one is closer and responsible for most of the smoke in our neighborhood. The local fire crews are right on top of all of them, of course.

Tonight the air is warm, close & still, we'll see what morning brings as far as how the fires are doing. At least the fires up here smell like a campfire rather than a trash fire!

Progress!

Got the front entryway painted, despite all the heat!

Before--on moving day, drab and boring white:

After!

Haven't done the crown molding throughout the room yet, that'll come after the rest of the living room walls are painted. I may end up taking down the crown molding, stripping it, painting it and rehanging it, depending on how ambitious I get. The previous owners slopped all kinds of acoustic ceiling bits on it, plus a ton of paint drips, and applied paint so thickly that it obscures part of the detailing in the wood. The molding at LEAST needs to have the gunk scraped off.

Spent today repairing the back yard fencing so the chickens can safely be allowed to roam the yard. We still have a few spots to finish before it's ready, but it's about 85% there! I'll feel so much better when they have more room and can settle into a more normal routine...also we need to incorporate the chicks into the flock.

Also, we had a HUGE fish fly spend one of the hottest days on our front window screen, he camped there till dark then went on his way.

He was very pretty, I love the grid design on his wings, that ISN'T the screen showing through! I told him he was darned brave to be hanging out at a chicken owner's house...

Finally--!

Found a use for about 1/320,000th of the rocks in the back yard...

The new run is now lined all along the outside with a thick layer of rocks to deter digging predators, and is ready for the chicks to occupy!

Second Run Progress...

It's gettin' there! The door is on and all four sides are up.

All that is left is to secure the bottom wire to the ground to thwart any digging predators, attach it to the coop building and add roosts and a daytime shade cover. It should be ready for the chicks to move into in another day or two!

Although they don't seem to be in any real hurry. Linc started this weird 'lie on your side' thing and now she's got the rest of the chicks doing it.

Leave it to Linc to start a dumb new chicken fad...

Meanwhile, the back yard is actually starting to look better, the weeds, volunteer plants and years of trash & junk are getting cleared away. Plus the damned junipers are slowly getting tamed/removed, although we will for sure be renting a chainsaw soon to eliminate about 6 of them.

Endless Yard Work And Second Chicken Run

I'm starting to feel like that guy in myth who had to forever push that damned rock up a hill. No matter how many days on end we spend chopping and hacking at the juniper bushes in the back yard, they never, EVER seem to be going away. We have, however, by dint of raking and ruthlessly yanking crap out from under them, produced piles and piles of yard garbage.

The score so far stands at 4 giant metal stakes, 2 giant metal grappling hooks (yeah, I don't know, either), a sprinkler head, 2 huge hunks of carpeting, assorted 2x4s and other wood bits, 3 baseballs and a metal rake. Not counting a giant pile of run-of-the-mill trash like plastic milk jugs, beer cans, airsoft pellets and snuff containers. Also not counting the 4 volunteer elm trees we've cut down that were growing in VERY bad places. On the plus side, three of the four fire ant hills in the back yard are gone, and the last one is getting all my love, attention and borax/sugar treatments. I don't care if they are dead or have just moved on as long as they are GONE.

And that's just what we've pulled out from under the EDGE of the juniper bushes, no telling what we'll find once we really get in there and chop the thrice damned things out to remove them.

Also, two unmatched horseshoes, one of which sports toe clips. I'm wondering, if I find the other two do I win a free pony? I will I just find the unfortunate wearer of the shoes at some point?

The second chicken run will be attached to the coop so they can eventually share the area. Once the chicks are part of the flock, the second run will be used for sick/injured birds, for broody hens with chicks or as a seperate living space if we want to have a dedicated breed pen. So far the wire is on the roof and one side. We figure another week or so and the chicks can move outside for good, meanwhile we're also continuing to work on the enclosed part of the back yard (where the junipers are) for all of them to roam around in during the day. We've got three chain link gates to repair before they can be safely in there.

Meanwhile the chicks wait patiently and use their sisters as big ol' floofy pillows...

We did take a break the other day and ran off to the park for the annual Carson Valley Days shinding. Got the kid a ride wristband and she happily rode carnival rides all afternoon and evening. I got a shot of this fun sign, which in Nevada brought to mind loading guns, not iffy carny rides: