Rainbow(s) over Huachuca City, captured by Alexis as we were on our way to California.
Ok, so you may have noticed that the posting schedule was a bit – irregular for a while; sorry about that. I took a quick trip with Alexis, to California, to be with my folks, visit a friend, and drop Alexis off to visit her dad – while my blogging intentions were good, and I had planned on posting last Friday, when I went into Starbucks to use the wifi (my folks live in the boonies as most of you know and, while visiting with them, I don’t have cell phone service, nor is there anything but dial-up internet <gasp>), I ran into several people from my previous church and didn’t end up typing anything but a title! Once I returned to Arizona, we had Patty and George visiting, and we were off having too much fun with them after I was done working and… I didn’t post. I tried to make it up by posting on Tuesday about our cute little Roman, and now I’m back on schedule for a while. In the interest of full disclosure, this off schedule thing could very well happen again because my folks, along with my niece, Rhiann, and my Aunt and Uncle from New Mexico will be here during Holy Week through to Easter (Would anyone else like to come and visit for the holiday? Just let us know and bring a dish to share! Hey, we might have more hands to help out with the P.O.W.W.O.W. that Saturday!). We’ll just see how that goes. Enough with the excuses~ let’s get on with the update! Continue reading
Chickshaw Re-do: As you may recall, the wonderful Chickshaw had been battered about by one of the severe wind storms we had earlier this year. So much work went into making it, that we didn’t want to just scrap it and forget it. So Sue has been diligently recreating the concept and making it sturdier, heavier (good thing), and rethinking it’s usage. It is almost re-completed, only needs one leg (on the far front side) and then some hardware to keep the front hinged portion closed in a stiff wind. Dustin had the idea to place rocks on the wheel frame and a few inside and that has kept it quite steady and in place through some very harsh winds in the last few weeks. Sue is thinking of using it in more of a semi permanent capacity for the new Littles, once they’re ready to venture outside.She’s done a great job fixing it up and I’m so happy that we’ll be able to use it again! 
The brooding table was completed, Sue purchased a couple bricks of shavings so that the chickies would be comfortable on top and on the bottom. She set up the warming platform and tested it out, placed the feed and water stations on the platform. She received a notice that the chickies shipped today, so we should be able to pick them up at the post office Wednesday morning, first thing. Everything is prepared. A week after the ducklings should be here! In an effort to keep down the dust in the coop, Sue set up one of the shaving bricks in the biggies’ side. Instead of spreading it out herself, she decided to let the chicke
ns do the work , and give them some entertainment in the process… especially since they weren’t able to be outside very much due to the wind. The shavings come vacu-packed in a 
plastic wrap, when you take the wrapping off, they retain their shape quite well, so it takes a bit of effort from the chickens to fluff it up and spread it around. The photo on the left shows them just starting on Saturday. The second photo is of the same spot on Sunday afternoon! They did a very good job! 
Living Fences are exactly what they sound like. Fences that are alive and growing. Sue wants to plant these all around our property fence-lines. It’s a great way to have a very tightly woven fence to keep animals both in and out of pasture or orchard areas, they can make a GREAT wind break (which you know we’re always looking for), plus – in some cases – fruit! Mother Earth News has a really comprehensive article with i
We need to finish some projects! We have some friends that will be visiting over the next 4 or 5 days and so Sue’s been working on finishing projects. One big one was the processing, which was a success. And, now, with Dustin visiting, Sue’s had a little help with some other things. An important project that’s been lagging is painting the chicken coop. During the rains, we found out that the siding on the coop is like a large sponge and so it had started buckling in some places, not badly, but enough that the guys who put up the coop suggested we paint really quickly. As of today, it’s almost complete. Tomorrow they will paint the trim and be all done with it. Another project will be checked off the list! 
Hügelkulture – AKA “The Abyss”- Sue made huge strides this week in completing this project. She ordered yards and yards of mulch from the transfer station in Sierra Vista and had it delivered. The guys that delivered it also planted the bigger trees for us and moved the mulch around into the abyss and added the dirt etc. That saved us a great deal of work and they were done in two days with what probably would have taken us a week or so. The photo at left shows the progress th
at was made yesterday: the trees are placed and the mulch pile at the back is being distributed around the grounds. These other two photos are of the finished work from today. The guys covered our trees and and also mulched previously planted trees. It’s just so nice to have the trench filled in… now we’ll see how well the trees do as the mulch, manure, cardboard/paper, and wood breaks down over time. The way the trench was filled and the fact that it’s all on a downward slope should also help us with the watering, especially during the monsoon season. The yards will be looking so lovely, as long as we can keep the trees growing. Sue did make gopher proof planting baskets for the trees, so – hopefully – we won’t loose things to those little buggers. 
like she knew just what she was doing and when I shared that
thought, Mr. Jaxel winked at me and said, “Don’t worry, she’ll get better.” As he took over for a minute, prior to re-positioning the tractor, I could see that he had spent many hours behind the controls of a backhoe. He made it look so simple. I was still very proud of Sue for what she was able to accomplish and, with practice (there will be many opportunities for practice), I know she’ll be a pro in no time. Then I can learn! It just looks so darn fun. So, John S. and Candace C.~ still want to come and learn some tractoring? We’ve got lots of earth to move! Actually, that invitation is open to any of our friends or family. We’d love to have you visit and see what we’re doing first hand, maybe take a turn on the backhoe… at the owner’s discretion. Until then, as always,
Now that they were in there, we needed to put the finishing
touches on their new home. Sue was sure that they needed to have some type of curtains over the nesting boxes, so she went all festive and purchased Christmas Dish Towels at the Dollar General and stapled them up! Very cute for a short term solution! In the photo below, the curious have gathered to check out their Christmas hangings.
Sue then decided that they needed a roost and ladder to better access the boxes. So she went about putting that all together. It was installed the same day as the “curtains”, and again the littles gathered to watch the installation and kibitz amongst themselves at the wonder of it all. I think they were probably saying “Oh my. Would you look at that!” and “Whatever will they think of next?” Come on, say it like a chicken would~ you know you want to!
This was all completed by December 20th, which is a very good thing because the evening of the 24th and morning of the 25th, it snowed! Our littles were safe and cozy warm in their hay filled coop. On Christmas morning, Sue was slated to play and sing at the 7:30 am service, so I stayed and did the morning chores. The littles refused to come out and be in that cold white stuff. They decided they were snowed in for the day. But the biggies were not deterred at all. They came out and were scratching around as though they were old pros at this snow stuff. It didn’t last that long anyway, it was mostly gone by the time we came home at noon. Everyone survived and stayed safe. 
So, here he is discussing things with Sue as his guys frame up the foundation for the coop. We might have it poured on Tuesday, barring the presence of a rain storm. Things happen fast around here!!! We’ll definitely post some photos of the pour.
Wing and a Prayer 