Garage Move-In

This past weekend, we acclimated ourselves to the new sounds and new smells of a new structure as we moved into the garage apartment. Bathroom and foyer tile have been laid and floated but still need to be sealed. Some spots on the wall are uneven and need to be repainted. The kitchen cabinets and microwave need to be lowered a few inches. The stairs need to be sanded and stained. While there's still much to be done, the loft-style garage apartment is now complete enough for the whole family (including the dogs) to actually live at the site. Sunday was spent relocating our egg-laying friends. We picked up 150 feet of chicken wire to create a large open run behind the garage.

Fortunately, our original coop design was portable enough to bring to the new property (with the help of our landlord's Ford pickup truck). At dusk, we boxed up the first batch of chickens and brought them to their new home. Despite the low four-foot-tall fence, we'll try to hold off on free-ranging until they are familiar with the new location and/or we get our new super-portable hotwire fencing solution set up (more on that later). The upshot of the move is that we can now bring our Rose Cottage lease to an end and start applying that monthly payment toward something else, like the new car.

License and Registration, Please

The commute from Columbus to Charlotte is brutal. Google Maps says 105 miles...each way. That's almost four hours of "me" time in the car five days a week, and about 54,600 miles per year. I know, ridiculous. Factor in fuel (even though prices have dropped to about $1.60 per gallon) and it's ludicrous. Can you tell how committed I am to farm and family? So, I woke up a bit later than usual this morning and was trying to make up some time on the Highway 74 near Mill Spring when I saw the flashing lights in the rearview mirror of my rental 2008 Mazda 6. I switched lanes, but when the State Trooper mimicked my maneuver I knew I'd been busted. The trooper said he clocked me doing 80 in a 65, and seemed rightfully surprised when he found out I was commuting to Charlotte. My punishment was a $151 speeding ticket, and I can't wait to see how this might affect my insurance, which has quadrupled already due to the longer daily commute. Yea!

"Geeeeetttt Ouuuuuutttttttt...."

After three days of no water at Rose Cottage, the landlord had the well pump replaced. Not only was the initial service man a bit slow getting out to respond, but it turns out he was not really a well specialist. The result? Water came back on, but was so terribly discolored that we didn't dare use it anyway. It began to clear up a little bit, but then the water stopped once again on the following Friday. Something wasn't installed correctly and the new pump burnt out. So, we suffered another few days without water and ended up bathing at our new garage apartment despite not actually having a certificate of occupancy. It was weird. We felt like squatters in our own house! We recommended Pittman Well Boring to our landlord; this was the company we used for our own well at the construction site and were pleased with their work. They came to our rescue pretty quickly and installed another new pump (same model we went with actually) but, because it was an old well, we ended up having more discolored water due to the rust and corroded metals (so they say).

Seeing such dirty water coming from the pipes is a disturbing image...as if this possessed old cottage was trying to get us to move out faster. Believe us, we're trying!

Let There Be Light

Electric is all hooked up at this point on the garage, but there are still some wiring issues that are causing breakers to flip when certain switches are turned on. This should be addressed prior to our move-in, which we are hoping is within a week at this point. We picked out barn-style lamps for the front of the garage with a single metal halide lamp at the top in case we ever need to be working out front after dark or the kids want to practice their 3-pointers with our non-existent basketball hoop. We've also got dusk 'til dawn motion-activated security flood lights at the back corners of the house, although the angles need some adjusting at this point.

Circle Drive

The days of contractors getting mired in the slick red mud are finally over. The circular driveway was graded and crush and run was laid down to create a more definitive driveway. The circle has a 70-foot-diameter, the exact distance required by delivery trucks to ease with co-op or feed drop-offs. We'd like to widen it just a bit more on the side nearest the garage, and eventually we'll get higher-grade gravel put down. We're thinking about what to put in the center of the circle...a small garden? Decorative vegetation? A large rock? Here's a couple of progress shots:





We also had them grade and lay down some gravel on the west side of the garage to create a parking pad. The garage is full of our stuff from the ongoing move so it will be a while before a car actually gets parked in there!

Remembering Sasha

Last night, Sasha the chihuahua passed away from congestive heart failure. Sasha was a surprise gift from us to Danna (Dionne's mom) in 1996. I remember the look of shock on Danna's face when we first told her we had a "Mother's Day surprise" for her---she thought we were going to say we were pregnant! And like a new child, Sasha always received royal treatment; she wore sweaters in the wintertime, ate her share of hamburgers, had her feet wiped after walking in wet grass and was granted the right to sleep on the bed inside her very own pillowcase. I used to carry Sasha around in my pocket when she was little (granted I wore some pretty baggy shorts in '96), but Sasha never let the big dogs boss her around, despite being the runt of her litter. She is pictured here in a photo from Thanksgiving 2007. Good dog.

The Importance of Water

Water covers 71% of the Earth's surface and yet it remains a precious resource, especially when you're not on the city water system. When I returned home to Rose Cottage last night, Dionne sent me right back out into the cold night to find out why we had no water pressure. We thought we heard a "running water" sound, which might have meant a broken pipe, but it turned out to be the water boiling in the water heater because it wasn't refilling. Armed with flashlights, FRS radios, and our winter coats, we determined that the well pump had quit working causing water pressure to drop at both our cottage and the neighboring rental house. After resetting the electrical breakers and finding no apparent leaky pipes, we went ahead and alerted our landlord who called his plumber (personally, I think it's a mechanical well pump issue vs. a "plumbing" problem). It's only a matter of time before the clothes in the washing machine sour, the unflushed toilet stench overwhelms us, the dirty dishes fill the sink and my coworkers take notice of an unusual amount of mousse in my unwashed hair. Fortunately, the kids were just bathed and we had enough bottled drinking water to make it through the night (we don't trust well water from the tap). On a side note, the first thing I did when I got to work this morning was wash my hands in the company bathroom and it felt wonderful.

Flurries

Dionne e-mailed me this afternoon to report some flurries of snow. Can you tell we're excited for winter? That is all.

It's Time to Take Out the Garbage

Living in suburbia, weekly trash pickup is a part of life. Your refuse goes from the table to the kitchen or bathroom waste receptacle. Then it gets transferred to a larger container in your garage or just outside. Then it's dragged or rolled to the curb once a week either the night before or, somewhat more grumpily, the morning of city trash pickup. Well-paid guys in coveralls drive a noisy truck down the street, empty your trash can into the vehicle with careless abandon, and your unwanted by-products are never heard from again. While you might think I'm about to lecture you about the three Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle), this is actually a post about trash disposal in the country. As city folk know, trash service is usually bundled with your water or utility bill. Of course, when your water comes from a well, you don't have a water bill so residential pickup service is $16.50/month (billed quarterly). The good news is that there doesn't appear to be any additional cost to come all the way down our 1200-foot driveway for "curbside" pickup. More good news, recycling is also available. The only caveat is that recyclables need to be placed in clear plastic or blue bags to distinguish them from non-recyclables. These services, incidentally, are provided by All Bright Sanitation---the same company that is providing our gigantic dumpsters during construction.

Cold and Getting Colder

The leaves have dropped and we had some nice color this year. The shorts and sandals are packed away and jackets and knit hats are once again hung by the door. The Farmer's Almanac (using their 200-year-old secret formula) seems to predict a wet, snowy winter. Sure enough, we've got snowfall in the nearby mountains already, but, as we live in the foothills, the weather is usually a bit milder for us. I am looking forward to some sledding with the kids this year in our backyard.

We've stripped down the original chicken coop to rearrange some roosting branches and nesting boxes. We've also removed a deteriorating bedsheet which was used as a layer of insulation. With a red heat lamp and the existing bubble-foil-bubble and tarp, we think we're good to go.

LOST: Pet Deer

On the way out of local Ingles grocery store, I came across an interesting "lost pet" flyer on the neighborhood cork board. While lost dogs, cats and even birds would not have surprised me, I didn't suspect a lost deer sign. The proposition of a young pet fawn (that sleeps on a bed no less) was one that left me somewhat giddy despite the obvious impracticalities. Ah...living in the country opens up so many new possibilities.

Replenishing the Flock

Paid a visit to Foothills Alpacas and picked up 11 Plymouth Barred Rock pullets and one Rhode Island Red this weekend to replace some of the hens we've lost over the past year.

These new birds will be kept separated from the rest of the chickens until they mature a bit more. They are too young to compete with the larger chickens for food and we worry about free-ranging them at the rental cottage for such a short time---might as well get them on the new Collinsville Road property.

Using mostly existing materials from previous coop construction, we made another smaller hoop house and fenced off the back section of the run (which isn't used by our free-ranging older birds.


Apart from the one Barred Rock with a deformed foot and the singular Red, we can't tell any of them apart... but the kids can!

The kids have begun the usual process of naming them which means we won't be eating them.

Countdown Complete?

If you've been watching our blog, perhaps you've been eagerly watching the Construction Progress countdown in our lefthand menu. Now it reads "Countdown Complete" as we've passed September 15th. Unfortunately, due to the change in builders a while back, we've missed that deadline and are hoping to be in the garage apartment by mid-October. As of today, we still need to finish up the drywall, get a well pump, install garage doors, lay down flooring, pour the parking pad, construct the stoop and paint---not to mention acquiring appliances and fixtures! We're looking into Sears Outlet for some good deals on scratch and dent or overstock items.

Gas Crisis

During the construction of our new home, I've been commuting from Charlotte to the homesite each weekend. It's a respectable drive and one that I'm not particularly fond of. To make matters worse, the current gas crisis makes the weekly trek an expensive one. While I was born in the 1970s, I've never witnessed this absurdity in my adult life. Last night, for example, I drove around two states (I live near the NC/SC border) looking for gas and was able to find it in only three places, all of which had ridiculously long lines. Even the local Sam's Club ran dry. Prices are hovering around $4 per gallon in Charlotte, if you can find gas at all. Many stations are simply out of fuel, and sometimes lines form at gas stations that are expecting to have a fuel delivery. To combat the madness, I've been carpooling to work during the week with a coworker who happens to live the same apartment complex. On a related note, I've rented an economy car until our mortgage is approved and I can buy a new, more fuel-efficient vehicle. Needless to say, we are not driving the 14/16 mpg Suburban much.

More Elevations

I told you Heather was fast...here's more elevations for your viewing pleasure. Click to enlarge.



We are supposed to get the actual hardcopies soon and they will include little cut-outs of mini-furniture to play with. This scored bonus points with Dionne, who is the quintessential homemaker.

North Elevation Sneak Peek

John of Pharoah put us in touch with a draftsperson named Heather Barnette. Heather's work is fast and affordable, and she has been able to recreate our main house plans to include all of the changes and updates we made which varied from the original Healthy Home Plans blueprints. Above is a preview of what the north elevation (back of the house) will look like when viewed from our backyard meadow. The garage will be off to the right, and, as you can see, we're building on the side of a slight hill. It's so satisfying to be able to visualize this stuff!

So, What About That House You Were Building?

It's been a long 3 weeks since we mentioned anything about the home construction, but there's certainly a lot to tell! Pharoah Construction is working out well and is well-connected to the local contractors. Here's the garage when we last saw it here on the blog:


And here it is as of Friday, August 15th:



Despite the ominous clouds, framing is complete and everything is moving along nicely! As you can see, the roof is now up with 30-year asphalt architectural shingles covering the tarpaper. Soffit (the part up under the edge of the roof) and facsia (the edge of the roofline that faces outward) are nearly done.

The entire garage is also wrapped with the vapor barrier material and is now ready for siding. Here's a shot of the wrap going up...

I love how these guys have no fear of heights! Inside, you can really get an idea of how the final space will look even though the drywall isn't up yet.

We've made nice use of some otherwise "dead space" by creating several storage nooks built into the walls of the second floor...


Although not the intended usage, the dogs will love to sleep in these cozy spots! Plumbing is going in and here you can see the downstairs laundry room hook-ups...

...upstairs kitchen...

...and upstairs bathroom...

Just in time for the tub/shower unit!


On a side note, we visited the site this past weekend when nobody was around and witnessed a herd of eight deer (including a buck) crossing through our backyard meadow. We look forward to views like this on a daily basis!

No Traction Means Need for Tractor

We've been getting more rain recently. It serves to replenish underground water sources, rejuvenate flora, reduce dust and generally cool things off (Dionne read 107 degrees Fahrenheit in the Suburban's thermometer the other day!). But it also creates a serious lack of traction for construction vehicles on our home site. The ground quickly turns to a slippery red mud and we've had several victims so far including the siding installers and their trailer, and then our project leader John. It sounded as if another party that got stuck (two vehicles besides John's yesterday), I think it may have been the roofer or possibly the siding material delivery truck. On a side note, the structural engineer with his 4 wheel drive Isuzu Trooper made it through just fine. We may want to consider 4 wheel drive for our next vehicle. Anyway, in some cases, we've been able to use spare wood to wedge under the tires. In the case of larger vehicles, we've twice had to call upon our neighbor, Tom Black, who owns a tractor. For his assistance in towing out stranded vehicles, Tom earned himself a case of Milwaukee's Best and a promise to donate some crush-and-run to his back driveway (which is scheduled to be installed tomorrow). Never thought I'd say this, but I can't wait to get my own tractor! Concrete pour scheduled for today has been delayed until Friday or Monday depending on driveway completion.

Name That Chick

From Chicken and Eggs

The kids finally settled on some names for the three new chicks. The photo above shows them dirtbathing with mother hen "Beach Bunny." The golden chick with the black stripe is a Buff Araucana mix called "Cheeto" (born second). The Araucana Black Star mix next to Cheeto is known as "Sleepy" although it's sometimes called "Little Red". The largest one (shown sitting) is a pure-bred Araucana called "Checkers." Checkers is the first-born and the most aggressive when it comes to feeding. Here's Maya mugging with Cheeto and Sleepy.

Super Genius

(Sample photo)

Just a quick post that we had a coyote visit this past weekend. We heard the chickens squawking loudly outside and I peered out the window toward the coop and saw what looked like a medium-sized dog about 15-20 feet into the woods behind Rose Cottage. We've had stray/lost/feral dogs come around a few times before, but then I saw the bigger ears and thinner face of a coyote. Before I could get outside, it did a double-take at the chickens and rather calmly walked back into the trees. It was either confused by the loud chicken alarm calls or simply on a reconnaissance mission. While we worry about the flock, we also realize that free-ranging has its price and there will be predation.

Snakes Like Eggs (Part 2)

Back in mid-July, we had a surprise visit from a large black rat snake in the back yard of our rental cottage. He was somewhat docile, so we relocated him away from our chickens and eggs. About a week later, Dionne opened the garage door only to find an even longer, more aggressive snake slithering around trying to reach the peacock eggs that we were incubating for Danna. The adrenaline kicked in and Dionne took charge of the situation.

We'll spare you the more gruesome photos, but this time the snake was decapitated and buried to avoid any future problems with our chickens, nearby livestock, or the kids. I had snakes as pets growing up so I felt terrible about this, but I'm guessing this isn't the last time we'll be killing wild animals in defense.

HarvestEating.com

Harvest Eating is an online resource for healthy family eating and home of the Harvest Diet & Chef Keith Snow. Keith, a Columbus-area resident, provides articles, advice, recipes, and instructional cooking videos all from his own home (I'm jealous). His site also offers social networking features, a discussion forum, podcast and more---pretty cool stuff. So, what are we getting at? Blue Harvest Farm is proud to be a supplier of organic, free-range, non-soy-fed chicken eggs for Chef Keith! Watch for our wonderful marigold-colored yolks at HarvestEating.com.

New Builder Begins

Big news: We decided to switch builders to someone more local and they are eager to start working today with a larger crew to pick up where the last builder left off. The homesite had not been active for a few weeks so we went out there yesterday and did some weedeating around the piles of lumber. Maya also found some watermelon sprouts coming out of the garage gravel floor where the previous workers had spit them out during lunch breaks! She transplanted them to a large pot which also contains some onions and carrots (we think). Anyway, Pharoah Construction is the name of the new builder and the business is operated by John Riley of Campobello, SC. They still plan on meeting our previous move-in date so I don't even have to reset the countdown timer on the lefthand menu!

4 and 5 Didn't Thrive

Hatchlings 4 and 5 were born this morning, but sadly did not stay with us. One was found lifeless in the nest, possibly crushed or born with some sort of internal defects. The other was born with its yolk sac on the outside of its body, having failed to draw it back within itself before finally hatching (they do this so as to feed off of the nutrients for the first few days of life outside the shell). After some attempts to remedy the fatal oddity, the chick was euthanized. There are three eggs remaining and they've been moved to our incubator in the garage. If they don't hatch within the next few days, we'll probably end up burying them.

Number 3 Has Hatched

Our third chick hatched overnight! This one appears to be another Araucana. No telling the gender on these little fuzzballs until they get older. There was a fun episode of "Dirty Jobs" that featured this not-so-desirable profession of chick sexing and "venting"...

New Week, New Chick

Just hatched about an hour ago was chick number two! Family members received a phone call from an excited Maya to let them know that we have a new Buff Orpington. It also appears that a third egg is slightly cracked which may mean another hatchling on the way. Stay tuned...

The Lone Chick

Our little Araucana chick is doing fine (and remains nameless due mostly to ambiguous gender), Beach Bunny is a good mother hen, and we've been having fun feeding them crickets and grasshoppers since they are sequestered away from the rest of the flock and cannot fully free-range at this time. Still, only one of the 11-egg clutch has hatched, and we lost two eggs which we found broken. Beach Bunny continues to incubate the rest although she seems to come off her nest more often now to demonstrate scratching and bug-catching for her sole hatchling. We'll give the other eggs a few more days before removing them, but here's hoping that at least one or two more are fertile!

We have peeping!!!

This evening when we went out to give the chickens their evening scraps I went in to check on Beach Bunny, one of our Buff Orpington hens who went broody on 12 eggs approximately 18 days ago. I smelt something stinky and thought one of the eggs had broken or maybe was rotten in the nest, so I checked the eggs under her. All the eggs were intact, so I figured it was something else. As I sat quietly feeding her bits of apple I heard peeping!!! WOO HOO!!! We have peeping eggs!!!

The eggs are not due to hatch until this Friday and I've heard chicks can sometimes peep for a few days, but then again our dates could also be off by a few days, LOL! So I called for the kids, ran inside to grab the digital camera and I was able to catch the sound of the eggs peeping under the her. We're so excited! Maya is beside herself with excitement since she's been waiting for this event for weeks. She says she is going to get up at the crack of dawn and go out to see if any have hatched.

Luckily last week I constructed a separate enclosure in the run area and moved Beach Bunny while in her nesting box into it. Now all I have to do is secure some chicken wire around the area of the enclosure that has larger spaced wire that chick can easily get through and get a feeder and watering jug from my mom's so we'll be ready for the chicks. Luckily in hopes of having chicks this season, I ordered chick starter and broiler food the last time I purchased feed.

My only concern is we have a recouperating hen, Chew Hair, in with Beach Bunny and her soon to hatch chicks and this may pose a problem. Chew Hair may peck at the new chicks and kill them if they aren't well protected by Beach Bunny, so I will need to set up a secondary enclosure for her... just in case.

I will post more tomorrow if new chicks arrive. I'm curious how these hatchlings will look since the eggs are a mix from our three breeds of hens (Auracanas, Buff Orpingtons and Black Stars) and will most likely be fathered by our head Auracana rooster, Fluffy... what a mix!!!!!

Snakes Like Eggs

Today, Foster was looking out the back sliding glass doors of Rose Cottage when he spotted a 4.5-foot-long Black Rat Snake (Elaphe obsoleta). These are non-venomous and generally avoid humans, but they do eat eggs. With Danna's help and a large cooler, Dionne decided to transport it down the road and into the woods near a creek and far away from our hen fruit.



If it were a King Snake (Lampropeltis getula), we would have released it on our 13-acre property since King Snakes will eat other, more dangerous snakes.

You Gotta Keep 'Em Separated

To prepare for the hatching of the eggs, we ("we" meaning Dionne) set up a separate enclosure within the existing chicken run---a cage within a cage, if you will. Apparently, other hens might be rough with the newborn chicks and the roosters may flat out kill them. The top level of our bucket nest structure was only held in place by its own weight which made it easy to relocate to the new enclosure, broody hen and all. Below you see the two roosters curious and desperate to get into the restricted area.

For now, our sick (but nearly recovered) hen Chewhair will share this space. In fact, when broody Beach Bunny got up to stretch her legs, Chewhair took over the incubating for a few minutes.

We also got a quick peek at the eggs to see if any were cracked or rotten.


You can see here that we marked them initially to make sure that no new eggs were added to the clutch which would make it hard to track hatchling schedules. We found out that using a regular pencil is better than a Sharpie because the eggs are indeed porous...you live and you learn.

Screams in the Night

Occasionally we hear some odd sounds at night out here in the country. While sleeping with the windows open one night, Dionne and Maya were awoken by some eerie screaming that came from the field between our rental cottage and the landlord's house. It lasted for about a minute and sounded unlike any animals they had heard (but you must remember, we're still relatively new to the country!). When the screaming stopped, the chickens could be heard quietly clucking amongst themselves as if to say "Be very quiet or we may be next!" A few nights later, on the weekend, we heard the same (or a similar) noise and I was able to capture it on my cellphone.

http://www.tk899.com/blueharvestfarm/nightcreatures.mp3

We're still not 100% sure what it was, but my guess is coyotes fighting over a deer carcass. Either that or the chupacabra.

A Better Mousetrap

This past weekend we woke up to find two dead field mice floating in the chicken's water bowl which was left out overnight. The water level was low so we assume the mice came to drink, fell in, and couldn't get out. Not the most humane way to kill mice, but no pesticides either. We tossed the mouse corpses into the woods but then remorse turned to hilarity as a chicken chase ensued with the hens competing with each other for the novelty prize (don't worry, they didn't eat the mice). In case you'd like to try this yourself, the bucket wasn't anything special...something like this:

A Sick Chick

This morning when we let out the chickens, Chewhair (an Araucana) stayed silently on her roost*, looking rather sleepy and weak. Dionne had to actually place her on the ground, and then help her back up into a nesting box when she continued her lethargic behavior. Dionne's mom provided us with some worming medicine (which means we have to take her out of production and discard her eggs), but this is worth the small price to pay to possibly save her life. We really don't know what's wrong with her at this point, so we've put Chewhair into quarantine just in case. The rest of the flock is being treated with Diatomaceous Earth and Apple Cider Vinegar as a precaution. We were planning on building a separate area for the broody hens this 4th of July weekend anyway, guess now we have a head start!

*I just thought of something while writing this post. Does the word "rooster" mean something that roosts?

Google Street View

Google Maps recently introduced "Street View" to its array of handy directional features and it's truly fun (even if a bit creepy) to see what locations look like. Google has apparently contracted drivers with special cameras to take panoramic photos from the road. While some may see this as an invasion of privacy, I don't believe we'll have to worry about this on our new property since we have a very long private driveway. The above image is the apartment we rented in Charlotte for several years. Our Suburban is circled in red and indicates that the photo is at least 8 months old since Dionne has had the truck in Columbus at the cottage for some time.

Assassinated!

I've been assassinated! No I'm not dead and I'm not communicating from the beyond, but I was assassinated today! While trying set up new accommodations for our broody hen, Beach Bunny, I was moving a wire cage and felt a sharp pain on my hand. At first I thought I had poked myself with one of the sharp points of the chicken wire, but I did not see a cut or any blood. So after about 10 seconds and the pain becoming quite a bit worse, closer inspection revealed a red spot beginning to appear. YEOW!!! Now it's really hurting... Stinging, burning, numb-tingly sensation radiating from the red site. MAMA MIA!!!! OOCHY OUWY!!!

Still not knowing exactly what happened I began to look around where my hands were placed on the wire cage and sure enough, there was a strange bug I'd never seen before. At this point the paint was getting worse and I needed relief, so I ran inside, rinsed the site and applied Benadryl. The area near the site had become red and blotchy and was spreading, so I started to become concerned that what ever it was that bit me might be dangerous! So I ran outside with my camera, took pictures of the assailant and sent them via e-mail to my mom, stepdad and Dean in an effort to identify and determine its threat.

Dean was the first to respond, "Don't panic, but it's called an Assassin Bug!!!".



WHAT?!! IS IT DANGEROUS? My heart began to race. He said it's also called a wheel bug (Arilus cristatus) and as long as I do not have any reaction to its bite (more like a puncture!) I should not require medical treatment, but to be on the safe side taking an antihistamine probably wouldn't hurt (in case I have an adverse reaction or break out in hives or something). EEK!!!

The site he read me stated that its sting was way worse than a bad bee or wasp sting, and boy were they right! Even now it feels as it there is a needle poking in my hand and from my wrist to the tip of my pinky feels all strange and tingly. Luckily I have a pretty high tolerance for pain or I'd be balling at this point and the kids would be panicking. So at the urging of my mom, Harrison and Dean, and in an effort to avoid any other reactions, I decided to go ahead and take an antihistamine. Benadryl knocks me out, so instead I took some liquid Zyrtec that Maya had been given for a seasonal allergy attack last Spring.

About this time my mom shows up to help me get lunch on the table for the kids, YEA! I was glad to have her come over because at this point I didn't feel up to doing much more.

Now I'm feel groggy and tingly, but the redness has stopped spreading and the pain has started to subside, after about an hour!!! Hopefully I'll have no other reactions and the site will heal quickly... several sites said it could take up to half a year to heal! The heck with that! I applied a good dose of Tea Tree oil, it always does wonders.

So here's to surviving an assassination attempt and to bugs with cool names! Next time I'll be more careful where I place my hands!

Broody Time

Since we have lost (sometimes quite literally) a few hens over the past year, we decided to let some hens go broody in hopes of baby chicks this summer. We left some eggs in the coop for a few days and several hens took turns sitting during the day, until Beach Bunny, a buff orpington, was the first to commit to an overnight stay (they normally all go up on their wooden branches in the coop to roost). Beach Bunny is currently sitting on about six eggs of various breeds, and we have marked them in case other hens decide to squeeze in and lay new ones. If the 21-day cycle is accurate, and the eggs were fertilized by one of our roosters, then we should have some new additions to the family around Friday, July 18th. While Beach Bunny squawks in defense of her nest, and has puffed herself up practically filling an entire 5 gallon nesting box, we still need to move her away from the rest of the flock so that the other hens won't go broody (which means egg production slows or even stops!) and so that the newly hatched chicks won't be subject to harm from other chickens. She seems to get off the nest periodically for food and water, but we've been bringing her water and fresh greens which she seems to appreciate.

Nobuko-san MIA

On Friday the 13th we lost another hen. This time it was an Araucana named Nobuko-san who did not return at dusk after a day of free-ranging. Predation or simply on vacation? Frankly, we're still surprised we haven't lost more chickens after a year's time. We are considering adding a few new chicks to the flock to make sure egg production remains steady.

Spur of the Moment

We've noticed that many of our hens are getting scratched during mating, so we decided sand down lead rooster Fluffy's spurs a little bit. Although you would think that chickens could use their beaks for self-defense, they really just rely on their spurs to fight off predators. Once we caught Fluffy, we put a towel over his head to reduce the stress and I went to work with a sanding bit on my Dremel tool while Dionne held him steady. I was surprised that there was some bleeding almost immediately after I began sanding (I thought the spurs were solid bone or keratin), but it stopped quickly. We ended up just rounding the spurs a little bit in the end.

Hooray! Tick Season Is Here!

I was petting our dog Mo this morning and felt a relatively large lump on his back. Upon closer inspection, this was no blister. A rather an engorged tick had been feasting on Mo's blood all night long as he slept (in our son's bed!) and was about the size of a large blueberry. Where the tick was attached, we found a second tick who was apparently waiting his turn. We removed both of them with tweezers, being careful to grab them by the head to avoid leaving any parts under the skin. We've photographed Dermacentor variabilis (The American Dog Tick) here just for your viewing pleasure. It's flabbergasting how big they can get after sucking their fill! After breakfast I spotted two more ticks on Mo's face near the edge of his mouth (thank goodness for his white fur). Later in the evening as we were bathing the kids, we found another tick attached to Foster's ribs. He was very brave about the whole thing even though the tick took a big bite of skin as we removed it. Needless to say, now every little dark spot in the house looks like a tick and it is very unnerving indeed. Both dogs got a bath and will get their flea and tick protection tomorrow without fail. Ticks can be disease carriers so we'll be watching for any unusual symptoms in the next week or two. Why so many ticks? The locals will tell you it's because we had a mild winter which didn't kill off as many of the bugs as a harsh winter normally would.

We've Been Framed!

Well, technically it's the garage that has been framed. Dionne stands where the garage doors will be and you can see a future window in the back wall behind her, which will be the laundry/utility room below the staircase.

From the view above, you can see what looks like double doors in the northeast corner. Both of these doors will open to a covered breezeway which leads to the main house, but the far door leads to the stairwell going up to the living area, the other to the garage. True, you will not be able to pull into the garage, park, and walk upstairs without first going back out of the garage...but the concept is to ensure that the parking area on the first floor is sealed against fumes that might make their way up into the apartment. You will also notice three holes dug into the gravel. These will be filled with concrete and will serve as the footers for three main columns to support the main floor beam for the second floor. It certainly seems the traditional stick-built work goes much faster than the ICFs and cinderblocks. On an unrelated note, the well-drilling company did hit water this afternoon, but it had a poor flow rate so they are going to go to 700 feet now. Should've hired a dowser.