Up On The Roof... Again

Time to rake the leaves off the garage roof. The orchard ladder makes a safe and easily climbable stairway.

I always think of this song when I'm up on the roof and it hums around in my mind while I'm up there.

When I lived in San Francisco and Los Angeles I didn't have a roof to escape to, but I did have the beach and nature trails available that gave a sense of quiet and freedom.

There is something magical about just being on a roof! I highly recommend a trip to a rooftop... (as long as it is safe.)

After I raked off one side of the roof I climbed to the ridge  and surprise... a tree was laying on that side, but thankfully hadn't punched a hole through the roof.

I climbed down there and hauled on the tree to make it slide off, but it was caught on some other trees.

I had to go get help.

But first I sat down and rested and sang a bit of Up On The Roof. It was so nice up there.

Here is a photo of the roof without leaves.



And here are the chickens taking me home.

I think they wondered what I was doing up there... raking up good things to eat? I often wonder if they don't think I am a big chicken with an unfair advantage and want rakes of their own. 

PS. I didn't have any ice cream last night. Thought about it... almost as good.

Raking In The Rain

Click on the photos to enlarge.

Today the chickens and Morgan were out looking around for interesting things while I was out raking leaves off paths. I was also busy shoveling dirt along the bottom of part of the wire fence to cover the opening that the chickens made when they scratched all the dirt away and uncovered the bottom wire. I have tree trunks laid along part of the fence to help keep critters out.

I also started a new path,

but I'll wait to finish it until after I have raked all the leaves

away from the house and cleared the paths

 I already have that are covered.

I raked this path not long ago

so it has a light covering of leaves. The area around the house is rather deep in leaves and I'll have to push the snow shovel along and scoop and push what I can out of the way before I start raking. So far, that has turned out to be the fastest and easiest method I've come up with to move the leaves. Well, there is the blower, but it is so noisy, takes a lot of electricity, and I don't get the benefit of much exercise walking around with ear muffs and goggles, blowing leaves all over the place.

It rained a little while I was raking which was rather fun since I was nice and dry under the trees. If there had been any lightning I would have quit and gone inside, but there wasn't, so I got to enjoy the rain falling around me and the trees. Morgan and the hens didn't care about the rain and kept on about their business.

I ran across an (click here) article about food rationing in Britain that had a very interesting video. I remember my mother dressing like that and the hair styles. That video brought back a lot of memories. I remember my Dad wearing hats and rolling cigarettes. I was born in 1941 and have memories of finding and playing with ration books and stamps around 1945. I think I must have got in trouble because I remember my Mom finding me and a lot of talking about buying things. We would go to the country to visit my Mom's family on the farm and that is where I first saw a chicken house full of just hatched fluffy yellow chicks. I thought the chicks were so cute, and there were so many of them! I wanted some chickens of my very own. And now I do!

[1 egg today]

I think it was from the broody Australorp.

Smiles

~:>

Winter Wood

The hens seem to like having the scratch on the ground,

but I notice that they only eat some of the grains. Picky chickens.

Having the wood stacked behind the door will make it nice when we need to get wood, especially at night, or when it is really cold and I don't want to walk around to the back of the shed. I guess Tom is going to try this stacking arrangement out and see how it works. He will need to keep stacking wood there as we use it up and this will mean moving the wood at least twice. More exercise.

I cleaned the chicken pen today while the hens were out. I do like a clean chicken pen and coop. I raked up lots of feathers and later took a photo of a molting light brahma. At first I thought some critter had got her and bit out a bunch of her feathers, but Kristine said no, she was just molting. She looks terrible! I was going to post the photo, but it is rather unpleasant to look at a partially feathered chicken.

Kristine and I counted the hens tonight and there are still 18. We hadn't counted them for awhile and I wanted to make sure the hens were all ok. I admit I was worried that something was after the hens even after Kristine assured me the brahma was only molting.

I finished up raking half the driveway today. Raking leaves is great exercise. It was very nice today (75 cool and crisp) and I enjoyed being out in the piney smelling woods. There are so many downed branches that it smells like Christmas trees. I don't normally notice the odor of the pine trees, but with all the broken and crushed pine branches it smells wonderful.

I didn't paint today because Kristine has a cough and I don't want any problems. Even though the paint doesn't smell there is still something that is given off as the paint dries.

[2 eggs today]

Smiles

~:>

Leaves Have Moved

Looking good! I can see the path now that I have moved the leaves up against the fence wire. All this raking works out much better after it has rained. There is little or no dust and the leaves stay where I put them. But there was a little wind this afternoon and it was blowing toward the fence, which blew all the dirt away from me. Well, except for when the wind turned around and blew the other way. Tricky.
This is a view the other way of the back fence line and you can just see Morgan down there on the path. She is looking for squirrels.

This is one of the blackened dead trees.

I am looking forward to the rain and then

working cutting down dead stuff.

I bought this barrel to keep the bags of dog food in and it is finally get used for that purpose. I washed the lid and it is sitting there drying. I'm planning on getting a big bag of walnuts and filling the lid with them. The walnuts will cover the middle plastic part and when the lid is on the barrel it will look like the barrel is full of walnuts. Or? I could fill the lid with wrapped candy!

[4 eggs today]

Smiles

~:>

Raking, Darning Foot and an Invisible Thing

There are chickens out there in the woods. Can you find the Australorp? A Light Brahma went flying up in the air back by the fence just as I was focusing this photo, but then she did the vanishing thing among the leaves probably out there in the sunny spot. I took this photo of the paths I raked today.. reraked. The chickens are busy dumping the leaves back on the paths. I do the raking in the middle of the day. It is hotter then, but also there are a lot less mosquitos. When one comes eeeeeeeeeeeeing around me I run away and rake somewhere else. The trick is to keep moving so the little beggars can't find me.

Here is the Darning Foot or free motion quilting foot that is supposed to fit on my Heart Truth 2008LE. I suppose it probably will, but I will have to use a screw driver. I really don't like messing with my machine with tools. But I will have to take the machine and the foot back to the store and have someone show me how to make the change without me harming the machine. Phooey! I like the other feet that just click on and off with the push of a little button. I worry about messing up my machine. It works so beautifully now. I'm afraid...

Here is another Invisible Thing. I got tired of dumping brillo pads because they got rusty. So, I took the plastic lid off a peanut can and made some triangle cuts along the edges and one into the center so that when I put it in the cup it makes a pointy dome in the middle. 

This holds the brillo pad away from the water and allows it to dry out quickly... no rust. The triangle cuts allow more air flow so the water drips evaporate faster. 

Everybody probably does this or something like this,

but I was happy with the peanut plastic lid thing

because it fit the cup. 

I keep it in the window because it is a cute cup, I like the chickens, and there is a better chance of it having good ventilation, sunlight and drying out up there. And it is easy to reach.

Holly gave me the blue and white figurine on the left. I can't remember where I got the shoes. I thought Sue gave them to me, Kristine thought I got them from Mary, or it could have been Kit? I think it was Sue. Maybe. I got the chicken planter at a garage sale. John and Sandy gave me the little chicken  and I bought the one with the blue. The collandar lives up there so it can drain away with no problems.  I love no problems. 

Nag, nag, nag, as a Mom I can do that rather well. I don't indulge in nagging very often and then for only what I think is a good reason. Today Kristine told me a chicken story that happened last night and it made me laugh out loud even. Well, you probably would have needed to be there to hear her mimic the chicken screams and Morgan's nonchalance while out for an evening walk.

Soooo, I nagged her until she made a post on her blog! http://19chickens.blogspot.com/

3 months! I mean it has been 3 months since her last post. She is stuck to her laptop watching bleach. There are way too many episodes. But, hey! I got her to make a post! Nagging rules!

Smiles

~:>

[9 eggs today]

Wonderful Visit!

Holly and Danny + Uncle Tom and Aunt Callie

We all had a wonderful visit yesterday!

Holly made a lovely celtic rug for me

and she and Danny brought it to me all the way from Seattle.

They are soooo sweet!

We thought they were just coming up for a few hours

because they have so many other family members to visit.

But they planned to stay for the day and evening.

Yikes!

I hadn't planned anything for them to eat and didn't know

what they could eat.... 

so, Danny and Holly and I went to the store

and they bought all the fixins for a great dinner

and then Holly proceeded to barbecue dinner!

But first we went for a walk!

Well, Holly tried to walk...

Danny had been pulling all-nighters so he grabbed some winks.

While Holly barbecued the tri-tip.

And the chicken, sausage, and zucchini!

Barbecue smells sooo good.

This is the place of honor the celtic rug is occupying.

I love the colors and the intricate weave.

Beautiful!

And Holly made if for me!

Thank you, Holly

Thank you, Danny

Hugs and kisses!

Here are some links that I found that give directions

and they have photos too.

- Tie an Ocean Plait Rug -

http://miniatures.about.com/od/miniatureprojects/ss/oceanplaitrug_2.htm

and

- SummitPost - So You Want to Make a Rope Rug Eh! -

http://www.summitpost.org/article/263578/So-You-Want-to-Make-a-Rope-Rug-Eh-.html

I like the directions and photos on both of these sites

but I really like the wooden platform to hammer nails

 into to mark the turns in the bottom link.

You did a beautiful job, Holly!

I love the rug.

It rained last night! Yea! I hope it rains again today, please. The rain made it much easier to rake up the leaves and I got halfway around the back of the house before I had to call a halt due to fatigue. I'll be back at it tomorrow.

[5 eggs today so far] + 1 = 6

6?

Have a Great Day!

Smiles

:)

Dirt Road?

[6 more eggs so that makes 9 so far]

Gee, two posts today!

One of the reasons I wanted to move

here was because this place was

on a dirt road.

I remember dirt roads when I was

a child and in the summer I loved

the feel of the hot silky dirt

between my toes when I went

walking to see the farm animals or just

to take a walk.

The main roads were paved, but I also remember crossing a covered wooden bridge near where we lived. I treasure all those memories. So, anyway, I wanted a dirt road but that was not to be.

Because neighbors got together and paved the road... 

That was good for them, but I decided I didn't want to put any money into building the road because they were not going to follow code and deed it to the county. I heard too many stories about people being sued by people who had accidents on their self paved road... blaming the paving. So, I still have a little bit of dirt/rock road and that means I need to rake the leaves. Good thing I like to do the raking thing.

In the top photo you can see

where the pavement stops and

the rock covered dirt road

begins. The neighbors really

did need the road in front

of their homes paved because

the level of dust raised by

cars was pretty bad.

But since we live at the end of

the road we didn't have that

problem. So, lucky me, I get

to enjoy my dirt road! 

I finished raking, took the photos, and by the time I got back to the house clouds had begun to move in and block the sun. Looks like the rain is going to show up after all. Well, I'm glad I got the raking finished in the front. The rain will wash off the rocks and it will look even better. Now the forecast is for more rain this week. Well, I think I will make a stew again tomorrow. This time I will take more photos!

Smiles