Staining Wood

My new cousin, Kay (Addicted To Knitting here,) sent me a link (thanks Kay) to a blog post about a lady who has chickens that like to watch her knit. There are photos of the lady and chickens here! The chickens all look so interested in her knitting. Cute!

I finally got the last hole under the stove covered. (bowing to weak applause) It took forever to find the right size boards and then I had to cut them down to size in places. Naturally, that wasn't easy. I was even spread out on my stomach on the kitchen floor using a big hand saw and sawing away at some plywood under the counter that was in the way. Amazing.

The next step in this counter saga was staining the kick boards. The boards are on the deck bench behind the chickens. Everybody wanted in the photo.

No. Not really. The chickens wanted a treat when they heard me open the slider. Morgan wanted a treat too. I just wanted to take a photo of the boards. 

Genealogy: I'm still going to be doing more ancestor searching and learning how and where to do the searches. In the meantime, check out this page here . It would be neat if everyone had one of these in their purse, wallet, car, whatever, so they would remember to ask questions and write down the ancestors, I mean answers. I need to print one out.

Kristine's blog here ... Kristine has posted again from Phoenix and this time there is a photo of the bear she made and photos of two guide dogs. I want more photos of the guide dogs. Please! And Phoenix... where is Phoenix. 

Peek at the Past

click here (July14, 2009)

Thank you LindaG at Me (here) for forwarding on the award to my blog. And thanks for all the kind words you had to say. Readers of this blog are welcome to the award. You are all wonderful bloggers!

[6 eggs today]

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Smiles

More Scratch, Please?

These big white Light Brahma hens crack me up. They are big enough to be pushy and bossy, but they are very good natured and even a bit timid at times. This hen is checking me to see if I have more scratch to toss out for her to look through. There are some things in the scratch the hens like a lot more than others. They leave the "others" in the dirt for the wild critters.

There are enough feathers floating around to clothe several chickens. Amazing that the hens don't look bald. They do have some sparse patches here and there. Poor chickens. It must be terrible to have to molt every year. Rain is on the way. For sure by Tuesday. I don't think they can get their feathers grown out by then, but maybe the cold weather will kick their feather production into high gear. I want my chickens to have their feathers grown out for winter!

Tom still has more wood to stack in the wood shed, and luckily he still has some room for this wood. I'm sure he will have it all stacked tomorrow and out of the possible showers Sunday night and Monday. It is a great feeling to have the winter wood put away safe and dry and ready for the cold days ahead.

[6 eggs today]

Smiles

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Getting Ready

I think it was Henry Ford who said that if you chopped your own wood you warm yourself twice. Well, this year, Tom, ordered in some wood all ready to be stacked in the woodshed, but he did get a workout carrying and stacking all the wood. Looks like he will be getting some more wood or he has plans to use some of our wood and split it with the splitter John left.

Some years the wood was delivered and dumped in a pile and left to dry over the summer. Other years, Tom, cut trees, split them, and stacked the wood. A few years we left the wood in a pile and covered it with tarps before the rain and snows. It is a lot nicer going out to the woodshed and getting wood than fighting with a tarp, especially if it is wet and has puddles or snow. I like that "squirrel storing away nuts" feeling of getting ready for winter.

The old dog food and chicken feed bags are full of kindling and the straw is there for me to use to freshen the hens nest boxes. Once in awhile, Tom, finds an egg or a broody hen in the shed when he is working out there, but the chickens don't make a habit of hanging out in the woodshed because it is usually shut up tight. The metal panels come off the back and the side behind the wood, so we can access the old wood and use it up first. Good thing, because it is the driest and burns best. We wait to have our first fire until we are having a heavy rain. I worry about sparks setting alight the dry forest and we for sure don't want any forest fires!

My brother built this shed originally to hold building supplies when he was building this house. Then he divided it and fixed this side up for a horse for his daughter. The other side is for feed and tools. There is something really neat about a woodshed stacked full of wood ready to keep us warm through the winter. Nice cosy feeling.

[4 eggs today]

Smiles

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