Yay! I Found The Knobs

This morning started off with the loud brrrrrrrrrrrrrr of chain saws. Davey Tree was out clearing branches away from the electric lines and making sure everyone was awake. Well, 7:20 was ok since the alarm was set for 7:30 for Kristine and I to get ourselves ready to get our hair cut. Nice being able to see again... my hair was getting way too long, but I didn't take a razor blade to it like I did last time. I really don't like to make the hair cutter lady upset... "What did you do to your hair!" Didn't hear that this visit.

Can you spot the Buff with a bustle? Kristine says that big Buff has a bustle and pantaloons. She is the
hen that survived the fox attack... our house hen. I think the reason she escaped the fox was because
 he missed the chicken and got a mouth full of feathers.

The chickens had a surprise this morning when I gave them lettuce, then some grapes and finally an apple. Wow!


The lettuce was planned but the grapes were tossed on the porch because they were covered with ants. We haven't had ants for years, but this morning black ants showed up for a few hours and then went away again. Strange.

The hens are so funny chasing the apple, picking it up and running with it and then dropping it and the fun starts starts all over again. I wish I could post a video of the chickens playing apple soccer on the porch. Blogger in draft won't post my videos. I know I could switch back and try the old editor... I'll give it a try this Winter.


Knobb update: I went on a hunt today and looked in every place I could have possibly put the knobs (at least twice) and finally found them where I had put them safely tucked away in a corner behind the computer monitor in an empty chocolate tin. I'm so mean to myself. Why couldn't I have left them in the drawer?

Of course the knobs were in the last place I looked. Why do I say that! I don't expect to keep searching for something after I find it. Well... I was very glad I found them.

Putting three knobs on some drawers shouldn't be such a big deal and a royal pain, but as usual things always seem to take me a while to do.

Here are the steps I went through to put on the knobs.

1st I used a piece of paper to cover the drawer front, folded it to
size and then folded the paper to find the middle. I really don't like to measure that much. Folding paper is much less stressful and much easier and faster. Well... it is for me.

2nd I used

a punch and hammer

to mark the center of the drawer.

3rd I used a drill bit the size of the knob bolt to drill a hole from the front of the drawer.

4th I measured how far I needed to drill with the larger drill bit to allow the head of the bolt to fit inside the hole on the inside so it could reach the knob. And then marked the depth with tape on the drill bit so I wouldn't drill too deep. Been there, done that.

Longer bolts

would have made things easier,

but I didn't have longer bolts.

I'm always trying

to make things work

with what I have.

The three drawers are on the right end of the island. And now they have knobs! Now all I have to do is have the oven checked out by an electrician so I can use it!








The island looks much better with the brown wood painted over and with cupboard doors.


Finished!

Peek at the Past

The chickens still zip out of the coop

in the morning as if

something is chasing them.
I was working on the island
last year.

(September 16, 2009

[2 eggs today]

~:>

Smiles

Photos Of Chicken Aprons And Getting Rid Of Stuff

I'm really enjoying my open shelving with the apricot interior. It makes the kitchen bright and happy. I may or may not add back some of the cupboard doors. I have some of them knocked apart trying out fitting plexiglass in the middle instead of a solid wood door. I'll see how it goes... how many mistakes I make.

Dog Hair In My Coffee asked about the chicken aprons... here is a photo of my two chicken aprons. I love them! They make me smile and feel happy just looking at them. Don't know if it is the chicken print, the color or the fabric... but I think it is the chickens.

We found the cow and Wilber the pig in some boxes that got packed many years ago. These little guys are survivors.

They survived the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake which was an 8 something up in the mountain where we lived. They do have some ear tip damage but it's not too bad. We will be enjoying seeing them in the kitchen. I wish we had a farm with real cows and pigs, but chickens are as close as we can get.

It was very hot today at least 100 or above and what with sorting through boxes and moving stuff it was a very bad day for working outside. So, yes, I'm very tired and am in great need of a shower, but I'm going to make this short post first.

I didn't even make dinner even though I took the chicken out to thaw this morning. I just never got back to spend time in the kitchen.

I had to make Morgan lay down on the bricks in the shade so she could cool off a bit. She doesn't like to stop moving, but when it is so hot we worry about her having heat stroke. She could watch me so she was happy. The chickens were all under the house where it is cool. I thought about joining them, but I'm too afraid of black widow spiders and snakes.

The last photo is of the pickup with part of a load for Goodwill. There will be many trips. I'll be so glad to see all the stuff gone.

I wonder if I should have researched how to make decisions on what to get rid of? Are there rules? I'm keeping valuable stuff, stuff I can't replace and things I love. I suppose I will be sorry down the line that I got rid of some things.

Peek at the Past

mmm... chicken and broccoli

(August 25, 2009)

[5 eggs today]

~:>

Smiles

Noisy Hen/Roo And Noisy Me Clearing Stuff Out

 Hen/Roo has been very upset today for some chicken reason known only to herself and her coop sisters. Kristine caught her in a nest box yesterday sitting on an egg. So, did she lay the egg or appropriate it from one of the other hens? We wonder? But we know Hen/Roo is the noisiest hen... rooster... ?

Click here for an article about a rooster who became a hen. So, it works both ways. I wonder if Hen/Roo could change back. I suppose it depends on why she changed in the first place.

Today I made a video of her squawking, but it wouldn't load. (I'm using the new editor) I did take this photo of Hen/Roo and click here is an older video of Hen/Roo in a post about my teddy bear chair. Her squawking has gotten louder.

There was some very loud squawking from several hens going on earlier that had me and then Kristine running out of the house to see if there had been a fox attack.

But, no, we  counted the chickens and they were all there. Maybe they have figured out that I give them scratch (so I can count them) when they make a commotion.


We should have believed Morgan because she wasn't upset. She knows chicken language and knew there wasn't a predator after the hens.

Housework is something you do that nobody notices until you don't do it. ~ Anonymous

I guess I am the only one who cares what it looks like under the kitchen sink. I'm glad I had already used some vinyl squares to cover the cupboard floor. That saved me some time because the vinyl makes it easy to wipe clean.

Well, as part of my cleaning/clearing out program I tackled the "stuff." I got rid of things (sorry no photo) I wasn't using, consolidated others (why did I have two boxes of Brillo,) and moved the salt and dog food to the new cupboard.

Earlier in the day I was noisy as I was dragging and moving "stuff" and clearing out a storage room and got it ready to paint tomorrow. But, first I will need to do some clearing away of monster spider webs. I can see me on the ladder tomorrow wielding the vacuum wand high over my head. Maybe I can get Kristine to steady the ladder for me. 

My next place to empty out is the closet next to the front door. I'm going to take everything out of the closet and only put back in things I'm using. The closet will no longer be a place to store "stuff."

There is some interesting stuff in that closet like my Dad's old fishing rod that is over 60 years old. I wonder what else I'll find? No spiders, please.

This corner cabinet on the end of the island used to be the upper kitchen cabinet over the counter. It is much more useful here. Sometimes I can't believe I tore all the cabinets off the wall and used them to build out the island. I tore down the laundry cabinets and put them up on the wall in the kitchen, took off the doors, painted and presto cheerful cabinets. And I don't have to keep fighting with cabinet doors. That's a plus.

P.S. Thank you to Marie Anne at In The Garden With Sow-n-Sow for the blog awards. She has a great blog about gardening and her chickens. And she writes! 

Peek at the Past
click here

(August 1, 2009)
I still use the pins.
I painted the table top.

[5 eggs today]


~:>
Smiles

 Lonely, is the only Dark Brahma we have left and she spends much of her time alone since the fox took her buddy (the other Dark Brahma.) She does pal around with, Pasty, a Light Brahma, but most of the time she is off all by herself. Kinda sad. Hope she makes friends with some of the other hens. Everyone needs a friend.

In the photo she is on the porch looking through the slider trying to get my attention because she wants some treats. Earlier I gave the hens some cantaloupe and some corn cobs to peck. She has come back in hopes of a second helping.

She has her beak open in the photo because it is hot and she is trying to cool herself off. Chickens can't sweat so they pant like dogs to lower their temperature.

Usually our chickens hide out under the trees when it is hot and scratch out cool places in the dirt in the shade where they can keep cool. Or if it is really hot they go under the house where it is always fairly cool.

I make sure to put out three sources of water. Very important that chickens have access to water. Some people put out fans or misters to cool down areas for their chickens to use. We just let our chickens free range during the day. The coop is under trees and is a comfortable temperature for them by evening.

I did get all the kick boards nailed on today. Tomorrow I have some caulking to do and a second coat of paint to put on in a few areas.

Note: My daughter, Testing The Waters, has a new post about an experience she had at the Blind Convention. Spoiler... she got felt up. I thought it was funny!

Peek at the Past

(July 24, 2009)

That British Woman has asked if she could use my

Peek at the Past idea and I said yes!

If anyone else would like to use the idea feel free.

[4 eggs today]

~:>

Smiles

Island DIY Paradise, Not

Today the hens were happy to get another bag of lettuce and a few tomatoes. Except for the few hens who stayed in the woods the rest of them seemed to have a good time tussling over the same pieces of lettuce. Never mind that they had run around with the lettuce and left it all over the place. Oh no... they want the lettuce the other hen has. Go figure?

This island was not originally an island. It was a wing of a "U" shaped kitchen. Tricky me decided I wanted to be able to walk through that end of the kitchen to the other side of the room without walking all the way around. And besides I wanted the dishwasher next to the sink and there wasn't room unless I cut a hole through the counter. So, I did! Cut a hole. Walkway.

This is what I started with a week ago or so. Tom and his buddy built stuff on here and I had built stuff on here and it was a big crooked mess. Except the top was ok and the cook top was great. I needed more kitchen cupboards and decided to use the dresser my brother had left behind. So, instead of taking it to the garage sale, I built it in the island. I had stuck a kitchen cupboard on this end of the island to see if I would like having shelves in the walkway. No. It didn't really work out very well, so nix on that.

Yesterday I finished sheet rocking over the end (and forgot to take photos.) By hanging the sheet rock first, making sure it was plumb, shimming, and then nailing 2x4's on the floor, so I had something to screw the bottom of the sheet rock into, it all worked out. Phew! Well, that was ok for that end. Sounds easy, but it took three days. I'm old and slow. And this is confusing.

When I get finished I am going to post a whole bunch of photos of this adventure, but for now here is a glimpse of the shims I had to tack on the wood before I hung the sheet rock to make it level. I did a cheat and put the electrical box at the end of one of the small sheets. It is much easier to cut the hole if you only have to cut three sides. I like easier much better than harder.

Here is another example of the rigged up things I had to come up with to figure out how to put up the sheet rock. No plan to begin with means problems and here was a gap... nothing to nail to. If I had more sheet rock I could have cut a wider piece to fit, but I couldn't, so I came up with this idea. I pounded these pieces of wood in the space and shimmed them tight, and then I screwed on a strip of sheet rock. Sneaky me.

At the end of the day this is what I have. It will all look a lot nicer after I put on some joint compound, sand and paint and put on the kick board. Tomorrow I have the other side to finish up. Then I can start with the mud (joint compound.) That's another post.

I thought I would use the middle drawers for potatoes and onions. Kristine said her jeans were rubbing on the dresser and leaving a mark. Maybe I'll have to put a wood strip along the top of the dresser? We have two bar stools and it is true there is not much leg room at all anymore, but people usually/mostly always sit sideways facing left towards the tv. So, I would rather have drawers than leg room nobody much uses. It's all about me, heh, heh.

[6 eggs today]

Smiles

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