Finished Painting The "In Between"

It's mid afternoon. I can tell by looking at these chickens in what I call "the huddle." The hens have their daily routine and don't vary from it very often. The rest of the hens are close, but these hens fit in the photo.

Later, when it is almost dark just before the hens go in the coop to roost for the night most of the chickens will gather near the coop door.

But the huddle is a time to fluff and straighten feathers and make themselves beautiful. I guess it's like a bunch of girls heading off to the powder room together.


I mixed up the paint (3 gallons) and finished painting the room. I even had a half gallon left over. I love this paint because it is so easy to wash the brush and roller with water, covers in one coat, and the container has a side handle and screw on lids. 

There are some places that are just not meant to be cleaned. The back of the water heater, behind the washer and dryer, and behind this vacuum canister thing. I decided not to try and paint behind it either. I'll try and get the cobwebs, but that's it for cleaning. 

I'm really supposed to be finishing up working in the kitchen. I still have the top cupboard to paint. But, I wanted a place to put all my tools, so I painted this room so I could move my little work table in here and fill it up with my stuff.

The middle of this room is finished. It still needs some kind of flooring and the top of the room needs something. It is very high and I'm a bit afraid to climb up there and try and paint. So, for now the cobwebs I can't reach will have to stay. I would like to have scaffolding.

I love the light from skylight!  This room is an enclosed walkway... not really a room. We call it "the in between."But, I like it painted much better than the way it was before.

Next project is to go back to working in the kitchen. Tom picked up some magnetic catches for the cupboard doors. I can put those on tomorrow. That will be enough... I'm tired. I'll take the day off.

I've come up with some new ideas for finishing the top cupboards. Open shelving. I need some more boards. Hope I can find some around here.

Kristine wrote up her experience about when a bear tried to get our chickens (and some other home alone stories) and she chased the bear away. I didn't know there were two dog pans and that she drove around the property. Click here if you want to read her post.

Peek at the Past

click here

(August 7, 2009)

[6 eggs today]

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Smiles

Painting Slowdown

There is something living near the water pan and it has dug a hole that makes a great drain for the water. There would be a big puddle here if the water wasn't running down the hole.








Morgan and the chickens meet up at the watering spot. On the hot mornings I turn on the water and let it run while I collect eggs. The only bad thing about this is that sometimes I forget to turn the water off.

This is the fat wyandotte. 

There is a mean wyandotte

and a poorly wyandotte that is doing much better.

And this is the skinny wyandotte that was the first chicken trapped under the fence. She was already a skinny hen. Good thing I guess.

I  made a start on the painting

and found out that I need to cut

some trim boards and trim out around the slider

and some other places before I continue painting.

Tomorrow I'll nail up the trim

and then use a roller 

and hopefully cover the walls quickly.

I have been painting with a brush and that is a lot slower. I thought I would paint the grooves and trim before I did the roller painting. I'm tired and got hand cramps from using the brush. Early to bed for me.

Peek at the Past

click here

(August 5, 2009)

[4 eggs today]

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Smiles

Chickens, Paint and Fresh Garden Vegetables

This morning I was in the chicken coop collecting eggs when I heard the little fence fall over. I spun around and there was the fence on the ground with a buff orpington struggling between the slats trying to free herself from the evil fence. Before I could reach the buff she had freed herself and scurried off under the trees.

Who ever locked up the chickens the night before had unhooked the fence (I had put up a hook so it couldn't fall over again) and leaned it against the straw bale. The fence is in front of the door during the day to keep Morgan out of the coop and chicken pen so she doesn't eat the chicken feed. Morgan loves chicken feed. The buff must have gone behind the fence to scratch at the straw and then got caught  and whoosh, bam, almost smashed chicken.

The first time the fence fell it was a wyandotte that almost got flattened. Kristine came to the rescue that time. She said the comb and wattles were turning blue. It's hard to believe that a chicken can push the fence over when they go through the opening between the slats. I guess I am going to have to put up a hook on the outside of the coop to hook the fence on when the door is shut.

I finally decided what I'm going to do about the painting project I'm supposed to be working on instead of finding other things to do like fixing the couch. I'm going to be brave and pour all this paint in a big bucket, mix it up and paint the walls with what ever color results. I hope there will be enough paint. Yes, that is a worry. I suppose the color could be a worry too. I love the screw off tops on these paint containers. I mixed two of the colors together and the color was not too bad. Tomorrow, the painting begins. I hope.



Kristine brought home bags of fresh vegetables picked today from local gardens. She was gifted with this wonderful produce. We enjoyed fresh green beans for dinner and I sliced up the cucumbers and mixed them with wine vinegar, olive oil and a bit of salt.

I hope next year we will have a garden and produce that we can share.

Peek at the Past

click here

(August 4, 2009)

[5 eggs today]

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Smiles

In The Works

While Morgan was waiting for me to give her some doggie treats, the chickens were eating some lettuce I'd tossed on the porch. The chickens get excited over their treats and run and flap around. If I leave Morgan on the porch with the chickens she gets excited and and runs around and then the chickens run around even more and the lettuce gets trampled and I have to tell Morgan to stop. Not a big deal, but this way is easier on my nerves.

Those are a couple of the kitchen cabinet doors that are waiting for screws the right size and for me to finish painting the cabinets. I put on more joint compound today. It is going to be in the 70's the next couple of days and Kristine is doing better, so maybe I can paint? Maybe? Kristine says "whatever" "paint if you want to"... argh! So, so, I don't know... I guess I'll paint?

The chickens have churned up this area where I dumped some of the leaves that I raked off the driveway. I think I might use up some old wood and build a big planter type box thing here and use it as a leaf dump. The chickens could play in it and eventually I could plant something there or just keep it as a place to put the rakings. That looks like a Wyandotte and an Orpington.

Since the weather has brightened up I moved the feeders outside. The chickens have cleaned out the inside of the pumpkin and there is only a thin shell left. I suspect they will finish the whole thing off in a few days. I added pumpkin to the grocery list.

The pen was empty when I started messing around in there, but some of the hens came back in the pen while I was hanging up the feeders and taking photos. I thought they were hungry, but when I left to take some photos of the pen from the outside, chickens came flapping and running out the door and across towards the woods. Whoa! The pen was empty! Kristine says she thinks the chickens are curious and that they do the same thing when she is out there. Gee, and I thought the chickens wanted to be with me because they liked me.

The Light Brahma that has done a major feather dump seems to be growing her feathers back in almost as quickly as they fell out. I noticed today that she has new feathers sprouting.

This is great! Some of our hens have taken six months or more to grow back their feathers and have had to wear duct tape over the bald spots. This hen seems to be well on her way to regaining her feathered splendor.

Today I made biscuits again on the wood stove and burned them. They still tasted great. We just pulled off the bottoms. I set the timer for ten minutes and should have checked them at five minutes. Note to self: check biscuits more often. And I think I got the pan too hot before I put in the biscuits. Cooking on a wood stove must have been a real art. I bet women knew exactly how many pieces of wood and what size to use to cook different foods. I'll keep trying my experiments. I would like to figure out how to make cookies on top of the wood stove. That would be so neat. Biscuits and cookies! Two of my favorite foods.

Congratulations, Tanya! You did a great job.

DIY is fun!

I always figure that if I can imagine how to do it

then I can do it myself.

[1 egg today]

Smiles

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P.S. I couldn't publish this post earlier or even get to see my blog. I searched around and found this site and clicked on "Something is Broken."

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/blogger?hl=en&utm_source=HC&utm_medium=leftnav&utm_campaign=blogger

Once I found out there was a problem with blogger I relaxed and waited awhile until they fixed the problem. I bookmarked this page and will check here next time there is a problem. I really didn't like thinking that I did something wrong, or that my computer or browser was at fault.

My Chickens Are Smart

It may not look like these hens are doing anything particularly intelligent, but I think they are pretty smart. At least these hens have got themselves in a warm spot that gets the last rays of the sun, standing on a hunk of concrete that is giving back the heat it has absorbed all day, and they are out of the wind on the protected side of the wood shed. I don't have much of an idea about what they have found to eat in the straw I dropped, but scratching around there is a great excuse for staying in a comfortable place. From left to right: two Buff Brahmas, Curly the Cochin, a Dark Brahma, an Orpington and a Wyandotte are the smart girls.

Morgan wanted to go with me when I went to water the green garden, but not to pal around with me. She wanted to eat some grass. I think Morgan has a tummy ache? The green garden is the only place that has any grass and there is not much left after the last time she munched on it. I was growing a little patch of grass for the chickens, but the hens didn't want to eat it. They want lettuce and veggies. My two little spider plants that I potted are still sitting there in the garden and will stay out there until I hear a freeze is coming, then I'll bring them in the house for the winter.

I sanded the tops of the old table and another little ol' table and gave them a coat of paint on the level surfaces, when I gave the drawer ends I found a second coat. Remember the board I found, sanded, primed, and painted that was going to cover the holes where the drawers won't fit because of the cooktop. Well, I don't need that board anymore because I found the drawer ends. Such is life. I'm thinking about how to use the board to finish the end of the counter. Maybe.

I tried out some different colors of green paint on the wall and I think I am going to go with the darker green. But, I may end up using different shades of green on some of the walls depending on how much paint I have. I put the hardware on the cupboard doors. I'm doing all this other stuff because I still haven't figured out exactly how I am going to finish that board on the end of the kitchen cupboard.

[5 eggs today]

I collected 4 eggs this afternoon

and Kristine found a Cochin egg when she locked up.

Smiles

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Boo?

This little fellow is not scary at all. In fact he is rather cheerful and makes me smile. I have four of these and hang them back to back, so I have a pair in each half of the slider window. I got them on sale, after Halloween one year, for only a dollar each. I still haven't found my Halloween stuff. But then I haven't looked in the Christmas boxes yet.

I did more chicken herding again tonight. This is what the late hens usually do. They hang out under the chairs, on the chairs, or roost outside on the old horse feeder. Maybe the other hens pick on them, so they wait until the other girls roost in the coop? Beats me. Mostly I wait until it is almost dark and by then the tardy chickens have given up and are in the coop.

This may not look like much, but it is a sign of progress. I have two coats of primer on each side and one coat on the board balanced on a box. That board will be used for the end piece on the counter. It has some cutouts on it that I hope will be covered up by the kick board. I measured and it will be close, but I think the holes won't show. If they do I will have to fill them up before I paint. I think I will have to put two coats of paint on these cupboard doors and on the board too. As soon as I post this I am going out and put another coat of primer on the board, so I can start with the painting tomorrow. That primer is covering, but it is strong and is giving me a sore throat. I will not be able to use it in the house. I'll have to put on lots of coats of the non-smelly paint to cover the dark wood on the kitchen cabinets. That's ok, it will work.

The only thing I don't like about painting is cleaning the brushes. I really don't like cleaning brushes! This is my trick so I don't have to clean my brushes until I am finished with my painting project. Between painting, I first wrap the brush in saran wrap (or something like that,) then I wrap it up in aluminum foil, and if it is going to be more than a day I then put it in a zip lock baggie. After the brush is wrapped up tight, I put it in the freezer. The only problem I have is when I forget to take the brush out a half hour or so before I want to paint, so it has time to defrost. Can't paint with a frozen brush.

[4 eggs today]

Bad me. I didn't work in the coop today.

Smiles

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Treats On The Porch

Kristine said the cantaloupe burned her mouth. I have had that happen to me when the cantaloupe was ripe all the way to the rind. The chickens didn't mind it at all, and they had a lot of fun running around with the tomatoes playing keep away. I think the hens like to have their treats on the porch rather than in the pen. They seem to huddle close and eat together on the porch. When they eat in the pen they are more likely to grab stuff and run away with it.

I got the doors ready to prime after I ran the sander over them. I still have some sanding work to do in the kitchen and I need to nail a cabinet in position tomorrow. I cut, sanded, and rounded the edges and corners of a board to cover where the drawers used to be in the front of the island. The cook top took up the space where the drawers used to be, but I had to figure out something to cover the holes.

I thought I would prime and then paint the board first to make sure the paint covers the latex primer. I have had problems with paint not covering some things and then I had another oops to fix. I enjoy painting. The only thing I don't like about painting is having to worry about getting paint on stuff. If I can empty the room first, or push everything into the middle and cover it, then I can have fun and enjoy the painting.

I would like to put some vinyl down on this floor and paint the walls. Something else that needs doing. I think something ate the potatoes I planted, because they are gone. I have to go to the dentist tomorrow and I'm not looking forward to that.

[5 eggs today]

Smiles

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Apricot Seashell

The Apricot Seashell is on the right of the beam and the orange I'm covering up is on the left. There is so much dark brown in the house that I was looking for something to brighten the place up and decided to try orange. It does seem to liven the brown up and make for a more cheerful aura.

There were lots of cobwebs up there. I tend not to notice the webs because I don't look up and check. They are good for catching spiders, so they do serve a purpose.

The apricot toned it down a bit, just enough I think, it is brighter in real life. The original orange was a tad too much. I am going to keep one wall in the original orange as an accent wall at Kristine's request. It was too hot to continue to paint today, so I took the day off and watched some more Sherlock Holmes shows. YouTube is pretty neat.

Morgan doesn't like it when she can't be next to the chickens. I won't let her in the pen, so when the chickens go in to eat, she waits not too patiently for them to leave the pen and join her in the woods. Morgan is so cute.

[4 eggs so far today]

Smiles

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