Snow and Decks and Porches

Today, as you can see in the photo below, there are patches of ground showing where the sunlight can reach. As I sit here typing I can hear the sound of snow sliding off the roof and hitting the deck.

Speaking of "deck" I have a story to tell. When I was putting this blog together, I was stumped for a name. In my first post I told how my daughter yelled, "the chickens are on the deck," and I thought, ah, ha, there is my blog name.

I was raised in the olden days when decks were on the high seas and people had porches, so when I went to type "deck" somehow, my fingers typed porch... and that was that. It was too complicated for me, a brand new blogger to figure out how to change my URL, so my blog became chickens on the porch.

And now that we need a new deck, I have been wondering about the differences between decks and porches. I remember porches with swings, railings and overhangs/roofs. Friendly porches vs large flat decks. I'm going to have to check them out. I would really rather have a porch. I'll post about that someday.

The snow is melting

with a forecast of rain tomorrow.

Will there be more snow?

Yes, I do believe we may have more snow

because there are a few stray flakes coming down.

More snow?

A white store bought extra large grade AA egg.

One of our hen's eggs.

And a small Cochin egg.

Don't know why she lays such small eggs.

Must be a Cochin thing?

Time for bed.

Some of the girls hurry to roost.

To get the best places?

And some of the girls stop for a bedtime snack

before retiring for the night.

"Sashiko and Other Stitching,"

is one of the blogs I check everyday. 

Today, here

she posted some wonderful Japanese quilts.

I especially like the last one.

It has chickens!!!

And there is even a quilt with my tree idea.

My idea is in excellent company.

"Yamagata" are, I think, quilts made by the

Peaceful Heart Quilt Group

I'm still trying to come up with a quilt design for my Japanese fabric.

And I'm realizing that most of the problem is trying to come up with something to please someone else. (even though she says do what ever you want) If I was making the quilt for myself, I would be much more at ease and free with my ideas. OK! How about I make two quilts. One for me and one for my daughter. I'll make the first one for me. Let's see if that decision kick starts my brain or sets it free or something like.

My sore throat feels much better today

but I'm still taking it easy.

Smiles

February Snow

Surprise snow! Last night it was raining, then light snow, then more snow, then I went to bed to read... and the lights went out. Oops! I didn't have my flashlight by the bed, so I wandered about in the dark and found the computers and unplugged them both, found a candle and lighted it, found the flashlight, found the batteries to my book light and went back to bed to read.

The power just came back on this morning, so I took photos

and I'm posting while we have power.

We didn't get as much snow 

as we did in January.

Only 2 to 3 inches.

It looked so pretty last night, snowing.

I hope it snows some more

but I really don't want the power to go off again.

More snow, please.

Smiles

Baby Chicks

Thought I would take it easy today while I fight off a sore throat.

I think I am winning so far.

I ate hot salsa with some chips and my throat feels much better.

Hot salsa is my home remedy for sore throat

and coughs. Works for me.

So, how would you like to see some baby pictures?

Raising chickens!

Chicks always seem to be eating, drinking or sleeping.

Some of them fall asleep at the feeder.

They do have their little episodes of activity,

but settle down fairly quickly.

They did well with the special chicken bedding pellets.

The pellets kept the area clean and the chicks didn't try to eat them.

We really enjoyed raising these chicks.

If you are interested in learning more about

chicken breeds,

click here.

A Brahma chick.

This is a Buff Orpington chick.

An Australorp chick.

And this is a Wyandotte chick.

If you would like to see our chicks all grown up,

click here.

Rock garden before I took the leaves off.

The chickens like playing Top Chicken

on the rock pile.

Morgan gets excited

when the chickens jump and squawk at each other,

so she runs around them anxiously.

After I took the wreath down, I put the house flag back up.

It is not a winter flag, but I like the warmth it exudes.

I can almost smell that pie.

Hot apple pie!

mmmmm

P.S. It's raining!!!

P.S.S. Woopie! Now it is snowing!

P.S.S.S. Now it is even snowing more and it is sticking.

We may end up with 2 inches or more if it keeps up.

Hope so!

Smiles

Wreath Out the Old

These colors seem to get along together and even the block I made yesterday looks OK next to this one. I guess as long as the colors and patterns in a block work then they can hold their own when next to a block of another color. Seems like. Help... I am dreaming about quilt blocks.

Here is the wreath I made for this Christmas.

It is getting dried out, so it is time for me to take it apart.

First I got two pliers ready.

Then I took off the ornaments. They were attached with long wires.

Now it was time to put the pliers into action.

I pried the wire prongs open that were holding the bundles of pine.

And tossed the pine into the forest with the leaves to compost.

Now it is just a matter of putting all the wreath fixings into a bag

and store it away with the

Christmas decorations so I can use it again next year.

Some people use wire to make a circular frame

and to secure the pine bundles instead of clamps.

I made this wreath using a machine that closed the clamps

when you pressed on a foot peddle.

Next year I think I will try to make a wreath using the pliers

and see how that works.

Happy quilting!

Smiles

It's A Block!

I needed a fabric fix.

I couldn't stand waiting anymore

so I took some of the scraps and matched colors and sewed.

I feel better now that I know

this is the way I feel most comfortable piecing quilts.

I'm a liberated quilter!

Well, a very new liberated quilter,

but piecing fabric together in such a way that pleases me

is what makes me happy.

I appreciate quilt patterns, but I like piecing this way best.

How about a block a day?

Every other day? Two a week?

If I make some blocks,

I will get to know how the fabrics should go together.

Sounds like a plan to me.

All these rocks were hiding under the leaves.

My brother and sister-in-law made the bridge.

The pavers don't really belong because they are not natural.

I'm thinking of moving them to the garden.

It is covered with leaves too.

Peaceful.

I would like a solar powered water feature.

The chickens like to wander around and over the rocks.

They check out the basins and have a drink.

Time to lock up the chickens

and go in the house and warm up by the wood stove.

The ladder is there so we can climb up

and clean the chimney cap when it gets clogged.

Doesn't happen very often. 

If you click on the photo

you can see the leaves are still on the garage roof.

As soon as it stops raining I need to get up there

and rake them off.

Smiles

Chicken Coop

(click on photos to enlarge)

Taking time off from working on the quilt is giving me lots of time to get things done outside. I'm hoping that I will get some great ideas while doing stuff that needs doing, but no wonderful quilt ideas have drifted into my mind. I did have one idea that I am considering. I have seen quilted pillow covers that look as though the quilt had been turned back over the pillows. But, it is really a separate quilted piece, as wide as the quilt, that is laid over the pillows. I was thinking that I could used the carp for that and make it so you could use either side. I like that idea. Maybe I should just use the pattern I used for the wedding quilt here. I could do that...

View from inside the coop

showing the windows and door closed.

The feeders are inside now because the weather has changed

and wet feed is very bad for the chickens.

We used to use the gate to enter the coop, but now it stays closed.

I would like to take it off and re-hang it so it opens out instead of into the pen.

That way I could get a wheelbarrow in there easily

to deliver loads of dirt or take out stuff.

Here is a view with the screen door open.

You can see some of the nest boxes

back there next to the broom.

In the summer I take the plastic off the screen door so the girls

can enjoy a breeze if one happens by.

I leave the windows open when the weather is warm.

When the windows are closed the chickens can go from the coop to the pen

by scooting under the closed windows.

If the weather is very bad,

I block off the "scoot" opening to cut down on cold drafts

and/or we put a heat lamp by the roosts.

We only use the lamp when the temperature drops very low.

This little girl is very happy with herself.

She has found a sunny spot

and has dug a hole so she can take a dust bath

and soak in the sunshine.

This is the rock garden area that my brother and sister-in-law made.

I moved rocks around and made the dry stream bigger

and added a few things, but overall they built it.

Tomorrow, I'll show you what it looks like without leaves.

Smiles

Time For Bed

Morgan wants the chickens to go in their coop and stay in there!

The chickens are gathering near the coop

because it is nearing dusk.

Morgan gets excited!

She runs around the coop and around the chickens.

The girls don't pay much attention to her

other than to try and stay out of her way.

She hasn't figured out how to make them go in the door

and not come back out.

But I think she has figured out that when I lock up the chickens

then she gets to come in the house with me and relax.

So, she is pretty happy when the girls are locked up.

Job well done!

Smiles

Bear Trap

I'm sleepy because I stayed up night and day reading my new book. Nonstop reading is the only negative side of getting a great new book. It was great. Now I want a sequel!

Sometimes, Morgan does take a break from chicken herding.

She gets tired too.

I wonder what that stuff is leaning up against the back of the coop?

Could it be the bear trap I promised to show you?

I spy a chicken.

This is a late afternoon egg.

The one in front. The one in back is a wooden egg.

___

Ok, below is the bear trap.

When the bear was coming around,

both we and our neighbors built noise traps.

The idea is that the noise made by all this stuff clanging and crashing

as it is knocked apart will bring us running.

I heard the bear knock down our neighbors metal trap

and they went out with a gun and fired it to scare the bear.

Didn't work. Well, he went away, but he didn't act afraid.

The bear just looked at them for a bit,

and then shuffled away and climbed over their fence.

The bear never knocked down this stuff.

Maybe he was afraid of it. Looks scary to me.

What the bear did do was to climb up the tree on the left and hop down

into the pen next to the chickens pen. Ha!

Scared the bear so bad!!!

He landed on another noise trap that made a tremendous crash as it all fell apart under him.

He left in a hurry and never came back.

Yet.

I'll have to get Kristine to tell the story of how she hit a bear in the head

with a metal dog food pan to scare him out of the coop.

She says I get my bear stories all mixed up.

Good night, our house is under there somewhere.

Smiles

Girls Day Out

Kristine and I went shopping today for books. She ended up with two books about Japanese Kan'ji, although all she originally wanted was a Kan'ji dictionary. It wasn't me who talked her into buying an extra book that showed how the character sounds relate to shapes we know. I wouldn't do that. ;)

I am so happy to finally have the last book of The Sharing Knife, Horizon, here, by Lois McMaster Bujold, and I also got an audio book, The Graveyard Book, here, by Neil Gaiman. 

Then we went to Best Buy and got printer ink and Movies! Well, I got the ink and she got the movies, but I get them next! I like to watch them on my Mac. The picture is great and with my headphones on there are no distractions. 

After shopping we were tired and hungry,

so...

Kristine treated me to lunch at

this Chinese restaurant.

The price was very reasonable, and there was lots of very good food.

You don't go away hungry from this place!

And no MSG!

They were so nice they even sold me a box of their house tea.

I'm drinking a cup even as I post this.

Soothing tea.

Yesterday, I said I was going to tell you about a rock.

I will.

But first, we have to have some acorns for props.

I cracked one so you could see the lovely nut inside, and I found

some of the tops and stuck them back on so you could see how they look in the trees.

OK...

You peeked!

And of course you know what this is, but I'll tell you anyway.

My brother and his wife built our house (we bought the place when they retired) and one of the neat things my brother did was build a water feature. He got a bunch of rocks and piled them up into a mound at one end of the area for the water to flow over and down, and also made a small dry stream. One day I was moving the rocks around and I found the big rock first and then the small one. Surprise! 

I was a docent at a museum, and one of the things we demonstrated for the school children was how the local indians made acorn flour using rock mortars and pestles. This site, here, will give you a general idea of how the indians used rock areas for pounding until they deepened them into actual holes.

In the museum we had individual rocks like mine that can be moved even though they are heavy. At Castle Rock State Park I remember seeing a largely flat area that was really the top of a huge outcrop of rock. It was covered with what are called bedrock mortars. Holes in the rock made by the indians pounding acorns to make flour. The women (and children too,) would sit in large groups and make flour. Here is a site that tells how to make acorn flour.

I can't prove that these rocks were a "pair," but they fit together so well, the shape of the pestle fits your hand so comfortably, and the end is rounded from what looks like pounding.

I think they are a match!

I'm very glad to have them.

Since it was late when we got back

I thought I would check out the chickens sleeping arrangements.

Looks like two of the girls have opted for a wood shavings mattress,

 while the other 16 ladies roost.

That one hen doesn't seem to mind the wire I put up at all.

I guess these four rate a separate bedroom.

Or they are outcasts?

There is room for them on the other side.

Smiles

Quilt Break

I took the good advice of Millie at Patchery Menagerie here who said that I would do well to stop working on my quilt and take a break. Since the weather is supposed to be in the 60's this coming week and the snow and rain have made for easy leaf raking, it sounded like a deal to me! I thought I would start out by checking in on the chickens.

Up and at 'em girls!

They left in a rush before I could get a photo.

Well, I could have, but I didn't have the camera ready.

See the cow bell?

It is hanging off the door knob.

The idea is that, if a critter tries to get the door open,

we or the dogs will hear the bell and come running

to save the chickens.

I'll have to show you my bear trap tomorrow.

I look at the picture below

and can't believe I rebuilt this side of the coop.

I got the windows and the doors at the town garage sale

and knocked the coop apart and nailed it back up

with the doors and windows.

Pretty neat!

My building skills would probably give a carpenter fits,

but the chickens don't mind

and I like using the doors.

We used to have to bend down and open a gate to enter.

I was forever bumping my head.

Well, at least once a month.

The waterer needs cleaning.

It always needs cleaning because the silly birds like

to take dust baths under the waterer

and fill it up with dirt.

Go figure?

This is much better.

A bucket or two of dirt to fill the hole they dug while dusting.

It is really time for me to haul in enough dirt

to resurface the coop yard.

The girls deserve a nice play and eating area.

So, while the girls are out and about

in the woods with Morgan

I get the coop all to myself while I rake it up,

fill holes, fill feeders, and hang them up outside

since the weather is nice.

Then I went out to rake some more paths.

Morgan keeps checking up on me and

she also wants her ears scrubbed.

It was a lovely day!

Thank you, Millie for getting me to take some time off from the quilt.

What's that?

Rocks?

Yep!

I'll show you something special tomorrow

about one of the rocks.

Bet you are excited...

Sure, you are...

Smiles