IMG_2022Sometimes Monday’s live up to their name. Today was like that for me, but Sue seemed to get a great deal done! While I was still waiting for a member to show up for a meeting that she forgot this morning, Sue sent me a photo of what she had accomplished by 10 a.m.  She was repurposing the Duck Deck into a chicken shade/food shelter, since the ducks refused to use their awesome deck which was surrounding the large water tub Sue got them, just for their own entertainment. Anyway~(thankless little ducks – ok, I’m done.) today she put a little roof over the center which had been cut out to go over the rejected tub.  We’ll use it out in the field once we start letting the chickens free range over the property.  There will need to be enough shelters strategically placed so that they can hide if a hawk or other flying predator comes a-hunting.  This will work great! I think Sue’s going to use some left over composition roof shingles for the flat part, just so the wood doesn’t keep weathering away. It’ll be a great use of the deck. We’ll need to put a few heavy rocks on it though, to keep it from sailing away during the windstorms. Easy enough. 

Once that little project was done, Sue started back in on the tent trailer. She got almost everything out of it. Just a few more things that need to happen before she can start building, like removing the sink and the water tank; these are things that are very re-usable, so she’s trying to get them out without ruining them. This will be an ongoing conversion project, so there will be updates periodically.

Img_2023Over this weekend we accomplished a few things as well… At the moment I can only think of a couple: Sue began digging an area in the chicken run for a little pond. It only gets water in it once a day, when we change the little duck pools, but you should see how much the ducks love to get in there and mess around. A couple chickens too – they hunt for grubs and worms and other bugs.  Sue took this photo in the morning – you can see that the water has all gone, but they are rooting around in the wet soil and enjoying the heck out of it.  I’ll try to remember to get some good shots of them playing in the water of an evening and share them another day.

I think the only thing I accomplished this weekend was to weed the iris garden behind the compost bins. Sue wanted to weed wack it, but I wasn’t sure if the iris were coming back yet from the summer grasshopper decimation, so I wanted to do it by hand. They were coming back a bit, and I’m glad we didn’t just cut them back again… but it was a bear to get behind there and weed. Worked at it though and it does look a lot nicer now. 🙂

The only other interesting thing I did was spend a little time with our Banty Teens. They are so funny looking as they run around. Sometimes I think they look like they’re wearing pajamas, but Sue had an observation today; they look like they have huge slippers on!  Someone gave them monster slippers for an early Christmas present and they’re being naughty and wearing them outside. Anyway, I have a clip to show you. At the end is a little solo showing from Road Runner – our special little free Banty that we don’t know the breed… we guess she might be a Seabright, or a B.B. Red (which is an Old English Game Bantam). Anyway, here ya go… hope you enjoy.

Today’s Weather: It’s been starting off cool, but then getting quite warm. 85° yesterday and 84° today. It was starting to cloud up and cool off by 3pm today. No rain in the forecast though.

Egg Report: Saturday we ended up: 2 duck eggs (our now normal) and 11 chicken. Sunday 2 ducks and 13 chickens, today we had a great chicken day: 17 eggs, and of course – say it with me – 2 ducks.

Gratitude: #11 What Holiday am I grateful for: Thanksgiving! Because my parents come to visit for a time. My mom and I get to cook together. We come together with friends and neighbors to enjoy the fruits of everyone’s labor! This year will be the 2nd time that we host some soldiers from the nearby Fort Huachuca, so that’s a new tradition we’ve added.

#12 What Texture am I grateful for: I’m grateful for all textures of yarn, and roving, and wool. I enjoy textures of all types, silks and velvets, feathers and furs.. but I really enjoy working with yarn as I knit or crochet.

#13 What abilities am I grateful for: I think I’m most grateful for my artistic abilities. They help to enrich my life in so many ways. Creating, lettering, working in the fiber arts, designing, singing, making music… all these help to keep me centered. OK… all caught up. How are you doing???