Job #8 - Closet - I'm still typing this post...

Job #8 - This closet was a real bear.

I didn't expect to find canned food that was leaking.

Yuk!
And scary!
I didn't want to deal with the mess... but I did.

This is a photo of the closet after I cleaned up the mess.

All nice and neat!

I took out two of the shelves

so I now have room for the vacuum.

It is a little tricky to get in there

but it is sure nice to have a place to store the hose & vacuum.

I had to send Morgan upstairs.

I didn't want her to lick up any of the drips.

This is all the stuff (even the shelf) I bagged up for the dumps.

It had all got spattered and dripped on.

Good news!

New deck in the works. I like the light gray color.

This is the closet I'm going to empty tomorrow.

I'll do the same thing I did today.

I take every thing out

and put it on the hall floor.

And then only put back the things I will actually use.

Sure hope I don't find any more surprises.

Here is a photo of Dorsal and one of the other Austrlorps.

Dorsal is in front.

Kristine named her because her tail looks like

it could be a shark fin.

She is a funny chicken.

Thinks she is hot stuff.

Had to post in a hurry.

Didn't realize it was so late.

1 egg today.

~:>

Smiles

Job # 7 - Refrigerator And Boxing

Job # 7 was to empty and wash the refrigerator.

I took everything out of the fridge that was removable.

Then I washed everything.

I even washed off the bottles, etc.,

before I put them back in the refrigerator.

I also dumped a lot of outdated stuff

and bottles with little drips and drabs that were

being saved.

There is a lot more room in the fridge now.
 

Then I continued going through the kitchen

getting rid of things I never use

and have been saving for many years.

Don't know what I was saving the stuff for.

Went through all the drawers too.

Filled up these two boxes and at least three more.

And I still have three closets to empty.

Getting rid of stuff gives one a very freeing feeling.

And here is a lovely surprise!

Holly sent me a Dream Catcher

that she bought at the Navajo Reservation.

I should have taken a photo before I hung it up over my bed.

It is beautifully made!

Thank you, Holly!

I also did some raking

but leaves are falling and I need to rake it again.

~:>

2 eggs today

Smiles

Job #6 - Dishes

Job #6 - Clearing out mismatchted dishes

And other dishes, cups, pots, pans, utensils, etc., that I don't use.

New Dishes!

Since I got rid of all the mismatched dishes

I treated myself to these chicken dishes and mugs.

They cheered up the kitchen!

There are four different roosters.

Four different cups, a salt and pepper,

dinner plates and salad plates,

and a rooster utensil holder.

I am still in the midst

of going through kitchen stuff

and have a lot more things to sort and pack up for Goodwill.

Feels so good to get rid of stuff

that has been saved or put away because it might be used.

I have to admit I was a utensil junkie.

I hardly ever saw a utensil

that I thought I couldn't use or didn't need.

But I have reformed!

If I don't use it, it is going to have to have

a very good reason for staying.

I'm ruthless!

I guess I could post a photo of boxes

of old dishes, etc.

Maybe I'll post a photo of packed up boxes later.

Not very exciting.

Morgan is all worn out

from her trip to the groomer.

She really doesn't like to get her hair done.

3 eggs today

~:>

Smiles

Job #5 - Floor

Job #5 - Wash The Floor

First I vacuumed all rooms downstairs

and then I went around on my hands and knees

and wiped the floor with the Laminate Floor Cleaner.

I put a lot of lotion on my hands

before I put on the rubber gloves.

The instructions on the bottle say to spray the cleaner

on the floor and then wipe it up.

But I hate breathing the spray

so I pour about a cup of cleaner in the bucket.

Dunk a piece of old towel in the liquid and wring out well

and use the towel to wipe the floor.

Works for me.

All the rooms look nice and shiny.

Morgan doesn't think much of the floor's new smell.

She took a sniff!

And rubbed and wiped her nose.

A lot! 

Arrgh

Poor Morgan!

2 eggs today

~:>

Smiles

Job #4 - Shed

Job #4 - Clean Out The Shed

Bright shiny new containers.
Retired the plastic cans.

These metal cans with tight fitting lids are for keeping

the chicken feed safe from little critters.

One of the cans is just for storing the

chickens feeder in overnight.

We found that mice, etc., were even getting into

the chickens hanging feeder.

I put the chickens feed out in front of the shed

in the open, in the sun during the day

where mice, etc., will fear to tread.

The old plastic cans didn't let leaks from the roof in,
but they let the mice in.

I took everything out of the shed and swept it clean.

Then I only put things back inside that were actually being used.

Or had a very good chance at it.

I need to do a better job of covering the bikes

In front of the bikes is a plastic container holding a straw bale,

the white bag is full of newspaper kindling,

the plastic can is for kindling...

...dog crate in the corner,

plastic cover and deer netting on top,

and the black thing in front of the dog crate

is a fold out metal dog pen.

So nice to walk into an orderly shed

The shelf is full of all kinds of chicken stuff

for adults and chicks.

Didn't realize there was so much.

The garden tools are all hanging

except for the small hand tools that are

in a bucket of sand.

I think I did pretty good getting rid

of lots of stuff we didn't use.

Below is a photo of what is left of the compost pile.
I need to fill it up again.

I had packed straw around the sides to keep the chickens

from pecking all the soil out.

I dug out pretty much all the soil

and added it to the planter beds.

I went out to take photos of the chickens

but couldn't find them.

Under the house?

Off in the woods?

2 eggs today

~:>

Smiles

Job #3 - Chicken Coop

Job #3 - Cleaned the chicken coop

I forgot and let the chickens out this morning

before I took a photo of them 

in their nice clean coop.

So, I took a photo of the last hen

to come in the coop tonight.

The rest of the hens are roosting.

I leave the windows dirty so the hens don't fly 

into the glass and break it.

This morning I did take photos of the two broody hens.

I would really like to believe that these are not

the same hens

who where in the photos about 6 weeks ago.

They look the same though.

I usually break hens from brooding,

but I have been busy.

And I took this photo of Morgan this morning

as she ignores the Light Brahma marching 

over to see what Morgan is doing.

Food?

And here are some photos of my owls.

One is on top of the ladder looking over the planter beds.

(it is really Kristine's owl)

See... cute, isn't he

I move the owls to different places in the garden every day.

Have to keep the birds convinced the owls are alive.

Here is the other fellow.

I have to blow him up and keep the air in

while I try to close the opening.

Tricky.

The chickens love their watermelon.

Oh, dear...

I forgot to check for eggs.

Later...

1 egg

~:>

Smiles

Job #2 - Planters

Job #2

Planter Beds In Green Garden

Small planter bed full of herbs

Larger planter bed:
Kale, Lettuce, Potatoes, Carrots, Onions

The top two photos are of the planted beds.

Job finished.

These lower photos are of some of the steps

I went through to get the beds ready for planting.

First I took out all the berry bushes and weeds.

I did leave the potato plants.

I turned all the soil over

At the bottom of the beds are old branches.

See the Hugelkultur Tab above for those photos.

Compost pile. shovel, sack

Then I went to the compost pile

and shoveled sacks full of soil to add to the beds.

This was in addition to the soil we got at the nursery.

I turned the soil over again

and made trenches, filled them with water

to soak the branches at the bottom.

Soaking the bottom of the bed.

Filled the beds up with soil.

Raked the soil and removed twigs, rocks, etc.

Beds ready for planting.

The potato plants are at the high end of the bed.

I have deer netting over and around the beds.

I also move two plastic owls around the garden

to scare away birds.

The garden hasn't been bothered by deer.

But If they spot this green stuff

they may decide to hop the fence.

?

~:>

3 eggs today

Smiles!

Job #1 - Posting Again After A Work Break

Job #1 completed! 

Cleared out this loft for the second time! 

Only thing left is the vacuum hose...

 This is the second and the last time 

I'm going to move everything out of the loft. 

and the horrible old rug

This time the loft gets a new floor 

before anything goes back upstairs. 

!!!

It has been very hot here 

so we got Morgan a "cool bed." 

Morgan really doesn't like her photo taken.

It took a long time to fill the bed 

with water and it is heavy and not easy to move around 

but Morgan has started using it to cool off. 

I even tried it out. It is cool to lay on. 

These three beds are Morgan's night time bed.

What I really like about these three beds 

is that they all will wash in my washing machine. 

The thick bed on the bottom has a foam core 

and the cover zips off to wash. 

One of my new rules is to just have 

dog beds that I can wash in the machine. 

I'm done with hand washing dog beds! 

I have been working and not posting or even reading blogs. 

I think I should feel guilty 

but I don't. 

I just feel tired. 

Tomorrow, I'll post photos of the garden beds. 

The carrots finally sprouted. 

The chickens are not laying well. 

Some days no eggs. 

Some days one, two, three or four. 

I think they are laying eggs under the house. 

Maybe? 

Smiles 

~:> 

Broody Hen

Update2
8/22
Ok, this weekend
for sure
I'm going to start posting.
I still have a few things to finish.

Update 8/7: I really am going to start posting again soon...
I'm busy cleaning/clearing house and yard.
The chickens are fine.
I even cleaned their coop.

Broody Hen

This Buff Brahma puffs herself up but stays silent

when I open her nest box.

Hen laying egg

This little Wyandotte just sits quietly.

I made soup tonight.
It wasn't a plan... it just kind of happened.
I steamed a pot of brussel sprouts, green beans and kale
and the water under the vegetables
turned this lovely shade of green and I just couldn't throw it out.

Green Refrigerator Soup
(stuff I had in the fridge)
I had some leeks.
Washed, chopped and added them and some garlic.
Leftover cooked bacon.
Let it cook.
Added cooked potatoes and seasoning.
Then I whipped it up with the immersion blender.

Added chopped cooked chicken,
1 roma tomato chopped fine (seeds removed,)
and 2 finely chopped spring onions.

Then I added juice of half a lime.
and some more salt.

I put it in the fridge.
Hope it will taste even better tomorrow.
Might add a bit more lemon or lime juice before serving
And ?

It's still green!

~:>
1 egg today
The hens got watermelon and kale for treats
Smiles

Rocks

Hard to find some good eats among the rocks.

Poor hen.

I didn't promise her a rose garden.

This is what the hens get.

Dry. Hot. 

But they have a lot of room to forage.

Remember I mentioned the thunder yesterday.

Well, there were over 500 lightning strikes

in the Tahoe National Forest

and over 2,000 strikes in national forests in California.

CA lightning strike map

There are over 20 lightning forest fires.

See, there really was a lot of thunder

and lightning.

1 egg

~:>

Smiles

It's A Duck!

Look! A duck in the water!

No... can't be a duck... its got fluffy chicken feathers!

What?

Both of these Light Brahmas love to play in the water.

On hot days

I fill up the water bowl

and let it overflow and make a puddle.

These hens love to scratch around in the puddle.

They don't play nice

and share their play puddle very often.

There

under the little stack of branches

in front of Morgan

is the rock that I tripped over.

Today I stopped hurting, so that's good.

This evening I had to turn off and unplug the computer

because we got a surprise.

Lots of thunder!

But there was a little rain too

so hopefully there won't be any forest fires.

It is almost 3AM

I stayed up until the thunder pretty much stopped

and I could finish my post

and send a chat message to Kristine

and let her know we survived the thunder .

~:>

3 eggs today

Smiles