Chicken Coop Construction - Continues!

Well construction of the chicken coop has been coming along nicely. We're getting more and more excited as we reflect on our progress. This project has been especially nice for Ken as he's getting a opportunity to use the majority of all the nifty toys... oops! I mean tools! Yes, tools he's received as gifts - most over the years by his loving wife! :-)



For a few days we had some much appreciated help from Johnathan Hetrick, which was fun for us and for him. Jewel also enjoyed taking a break from construction during one of the days and spending time and having fun with the other Hetrick children Samantha, Christina & Nick when we did a "kid swap." On one day, when Johnathan came to help, I did have to give him a hard time though... here's why: So I come out to check on the progess and see if anyone needs another hot chocolate (motivation for cool autumn mornings), when I see three eggs on the deck table. Odd I thought, hmmm... thinking nah - our girls are supposed to lay brown eggs, but without holding, but rather after touching the eggs softly and feeling them just barely warm, the fleeting moment of excitement came - Oh my! Has the day come? But they're white eggs! Only to find out Johnathan had brough 3 hard boiled eggs to snack on during the day. We all got a good chuckle out of that one!


On a perfect day - Johnathan helping Ken put the roof on while learning some basic carpentry skills. What a trooper and such a big help!


Coop construction is really looking good & the roof is on!


The wonderful overhang to keep us dry at the end of the coop. It rained a couple of days after we put this up and it was SO nice! We're also putting up a bug zapper attached to the corner of the overhang to keep some of those pesky bugs at bay. Hope the chickens like their bugs well done!


Jewel helping with Linoleum & trim installation on a cool autumn morning.


Ken finishing up nailing the flooring trim. I thought it looked nicer than what we have in the house now, perhaps trim updates will be another up and coming project since Ken did such a lovely job!


Ken and Jewel working hard while I document their progress inbetween helping.


Ken getting some much deserved appreciation from one of the chickens for building their lovely coop!


Jewel with her favorite hen "Tender," a Black Australorp. Tender is the most calm and sweet bird so far of the older bunch. This breed is quickly becoming one of my favorites.


Tender is our biggest hen, though our older girls are all quite large. They'll be 18 weeks old as of Monday!

Pardon Our Mess! Chicken Coop Under Construction!

It's been a busy week for us building the bigger chicken coop for our hens. We have experienced some extensive delays with all the (much needed) rain that's fallen. So... we have had to run out and accomplish as much as we can get done anytime during the day(s). It's been a mix of fun, interesting, frustrating, refreshing, and enjoyable. The cool autumn days that have been less humid have felt so good, especially while working.

Building this coop as a family has been fun. It's also been an especially good experience for Jewel as she's learning a great deal about basic construction.

Framing


Hammering


Measuring Twice & Marking


Cutting with the miter saw


Nailing with the air compressed nailing gun


Building the coop is so much fun!


Building continues in between days & periods of rain!


Interior coop floor framing


Building progress


Break time to hug Patch!


Jewel & Patch having a mind-melding moment. Ahhh... a little girl & her puppy - adorable!

Hello there Ms. Spider...

We have had this lovely spider living in our garden by the shed. She has a large web amongst the passion fruit vine. Recently we saw a large egg sac. How absolutely lovely to have such pretty spiders to help us cut down the bug population!

Help our local Foodbank of the VA Peninsula Win a Truck Load of Food!!

We're Connecting Needy Souls with Giving Hearts

Help our local Foodbank of the VA Peninsula Win a Truck Load of Food!!

The push is on to help fight hunger on the Peninsula!!

September is Hunger Action Month & with ONE day left, if we ALL pitch in, our foodbank could WIN a TRUCKLOAD of food!!

We are currently in 5th place to win a truck load of food!!

We could win it with the help of our ENTIRE community!!!

A truck load of food will provide 35,000 meals!! So…..

If you haven't already taken the pledge to help fight hunger, please visit www.hungeractionmonth.org before the end of day on September 30th.

You only have to enter your name/address information. No monetary donation is required.

After YOU have taken the pledge, PLEASE forward this message to EVERYONE ELSE that you know!! Ask them to take the pledge also!!

Once again, the foodbank with the most pledges (based on population percentages) will WIN a truck load of food!

Thank you so very much for your pledge to help fight hunger!!

Jewel Thinking, Composing, Expressing...

Jewel often times when feeling thoughtful and pondering likes to sit at the piano and just play... I think it's a form of therapy for her as she grows into a young lady.


All music posted in this blog is property of Jewel Spivey and may not be used without her expressed permission.

Concrete Find...

Most who know me, know that I'm a real thrifty shopper and love to be active in organizations like Freecycle. Well, recently someone offered a pair of concrete benches for free. Based on the description, I imagined a plain pair of rectangular concrete benches with square edges. I was happy with that as it would be a nice firm weather resistant seating for around our planned pond. How pleasantly surprised I was when we arrived to pick them up and saw the lovely curves and designs in the concrete benches. They could use a new coat of concrete paint, but there's also something about that aged look that is so appealing too. Only time will tell what I decide to do.

Our new concrete benches






Designs on the supports & edgeing of the seat


Hot tub shells we received a while ago from Freecycle that we plan on sinking into the ground to create a nice pond in the backyard and filling with Koi and surrounding with plants of course.

Beautiful Chickens & their Feathers

We really have been in awe at how lovely the chickens are looking. Their feathers have been so incredibly soft, colorful, and full. Even the Black Australorps that we pretty much expected to be plain black with maybe a hint of green sheen have really turned to be one of our favorite birds as they're so beautiful. One of the Australorps, Tender, happens to be one of the most docile and likes to be with us the most. It's been fun to watch the personalities develop and their antics.

One of our Black Australorp's feathers


Que, one of our older Welsummer's Feathers


Interesting steel blue eyes of the largest of the baby welsummers. One of our welsummers has gold eyes, one has green and one blue.


Beautiful wings of the largest of the baby Welsummer


Baby Welsummers


Our Rhode Island Red, Bar, getting ready to bother our dog Patch


Our Rhode Island Red, Be


Our Black Australorp, McNugget with our Rhode Island Red, Be looking on


Our oldest Welsummer, Que


Que


The baby Golden Laced Wyandotte - beautiful


The baby chicks on the wood pile roosting