Portable Chicken Coop

It was very fun to build this chicken coop.  So fun we tried to sell this one so we could build another one!  We love this coop!  Tall man did a great job finishing it with very wonderful and easy to follow directions that we purchased online.  Best part is that we move it around our yard and the chickens are kind enough to fertilize and eat ants in that area.  We hose down the lawn with a little water each time we move it, and presto....instant fertilizer.  It did take the chickens about a week to figure out how to use the ramp to the roost area. 

Much of the afternoon they spend free ranging in our yard. Very fun to watch the gang of chickens wander the yard, but I don't think the cat enjoys it much. I think my favorite part is herding them in at night.  I feel like a pied piper of chickens.  Wonder what they would think if I came out with my bagpipes next time I put them in at night?  Might have to video that one.

Finished with nice pine shavings

FInished but without chickens inside

Doors on the sides with chickens inside

We have chickens????

We have chickens.  One night I was visiting with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law and next thing I know....I  have chickens.  When opportunity knocks, you run with it.  Being the spur of the moment kind of people; who honestly do better when we don't think things thru, we ordered chickens with my sister-in-law.  I wanted 2 brown egg laying chickens and two green egg laying chickens.  I'm not sure why, but I have always loved green eggs.  They are so beautiful.  Mother natures' Easter eggs.

February 14th rolls around and we get the news..."chickens are here".  Now what?  Um....what are we doing??  Moment of realization we don't have a clue what we are doing.  Thankfully, we know people who do.  Learn as you go, I say.  There's nothing more motivating in learning than the NEED to know.  So, we now have four lovely chickens who are growing from one box to the next and living in my house.   Yes, I have chickens living in my house.  I'm sorry, but I really think this is weird!  I remember when my dad would pick up fertilizer for the garden and it stunk.  And that fertilizer came from the back end of a chicken.  I have invited that into my home.  Someone check and see if I have a pulse.

Four people in the house, four chickens in the house.  So, we all named one.  One brown one is named Kip (chicken in dutch).  The other brown one is Pollo (chicken in spanish).  The black one is Petit Oiseau (little bird in french) and the white one is Colonel (No translation necessary unless you've never eaten at KFC).  We have some very creative people in our house. 

Funniest moment so far....

My daughter, after hearing the chickens cheeping like crazy, went quickly in to check on them.  It became obvious what their terror was all about.  She found our 18 pound cat sitting by the box, peering over the edge.  I would be scared.  That cat is a beast with VERY long teeth.  That had to have been a King Kong movie moment for chickens.

I have one complaint, other than the smell......chicken feet.  They honestly, totally creep me out.  I don't know why.  But when I go in to check on them, I have to consciously tell myself, 'Don't look at their feet!  DON'T LOOK AT THEIR FEET!'  And then, I do because ......I don't know why I do!  But my stomach rolls I get nauseated and have to leave. It's like being told as a kid not to look into the sun because it will burn your eyes and so you do, because burning eyes sounds irrational.  Creeped out by chicken feet sounds irrational.  Call me irrational.

Bursitis....it hurts!

Iliopsoas Bursitis, believe me when I say, you don't ever want to suffer from this ailment.  I have learned over the past week that bursitis hurts and even read in one article that it is more common when you get older.  Thanks....really needed that info.  Very helpful.

I tend to workout like a crazy lady.  2 hours in the gym is not uncommon for me.  It is my escape, my stress reliever and where I go to regain my sanity.  Last Tuesday, I finally had a day where I could spend as much time in the gym as I wanted.  No deadline to run out to, just finish to exhaustion and then go home. Yes Karen, forget about the fall you took last week and how your hip hurt after. By all means, just pump it out at the gym.  Really, don't congratulate me here, it was actually really stupid.

I haven't been able to be as consistent with my workouts.  But, that didn't stop me from believing, "Hey, no problem.  I've got this workout in the bag!"  Well, the next day, I realized that bag I thought I had was way overloaded and my body was about to let me know that I big time over did it.  I took a step in the afternoon, "Ouch!"  What was that?"  A little later, another step...."Ouch!  Okay, what is going on here?"  Stepped out of the car later in the afternoon..."OUCH!  I can hardly put weight on my leg!"  Then, I proceeded to ice, stretch and try and convince, pop, stretch or destroy my body into believing that it was fine.  I really should know better, but I am totally incapable of being objective when diagnosing my own body.  I tell myself...."You HAVE to get to band practice, the concert is next Saturday and if you miss it, that would be BAAAD!!"  Let's just say, when I got into the parking lot and tried to get out of the car, I nearly fell on the pavement.  "OUCH!!! OUCH!! OUCH!!....."  It went on like that for about five minutes until I finally gathered enough courage to step on my foot and get into the auditorium.  I lasted about an hour standing, before I ended up laying on the floor.  My concert participation is now toast!

So, visit to the PT confirmed....iliopsoas bursitis. Old people ailment.  Icing all week, on crutches, not fun. Please take my advice....don't overdo it in the gym if you haven't been going consistently.  Ease back into it (insert weekend warrior joke here), stretch lightly after your workout, and if your hip kind of hurts because you fell and strained it the week before, don't power through it.  You might actually need some rest, ice and ibuprofen.  (Karen?  Are you listening?  Yes, you! I'm talking to you!) Or, you might end up like me, watching your band perform instead of being in it....(insert sad violin music here).  Anyone know where the balloons are?  It's time for a Karen pity party, and I'm going all out this time!!  Chocolate will be consumed.

Here's a little diagram in case you are curious what this little "bursa" thing is that can cause an idiot like me so much pain!  Be scared, be very very very scared of annoying the bursa.

http://www.aidmybursa.com/illiopsoas-bursitis-anatomy.php

Most disgusting dessert I have ever made!!

Just wanted to share this important tip about Mango's.  They are really stringy.  When you cook them, they are even more stringy.  Which in your mouth, tastes a bit like you have eaten a large hair ball.  Cat's must feel about the same coughing up a hair ball as I did trying to eat this.  I like cats, but that is taking it a bit far.  So, warning...when you cook with Mango's get the kind that aren't stringy.  Asian brand.  The experience of trying to eat this dessert ruined me from trying another mango dessert...maybe someday!

Is it Spring yet?

What I've been up to....

Wow....six months, just like that!!!  A bit like the precooked, sugary, waffle that I just threw down my throat just now and then it was gone, just like that!!

Last week was soup week at my house, because everyone, and I do mean everyone, got sick.  Except me, but I don't count because I'm the mom and I don't get sick.  Even if I do get sick, being mom sick means I show no signs of illness.

Would love to share the pics of the soups with you, but I didn't take any.  But, I will share the recipes, this week, but not right now.  This is just a teaser post to see if anyone in blogosphere is listening, watching or wondering....."why don't she write?"  (Wow....did you know blogosphere is actually a word?  It didn't pop up with those red dashes underneath it.  Amazing.)

This is what my cat does all winter, tries to hide behind the door and spy on the birds outside.  Or, he might be doing what I'm doing....looking for signs of spring.  No....I am pretty sure it is the birds he's obsessed with, because zoo boy always dumps a pile of birdseed on the back door step, just so he "can see the birds up close".  The bird feeder is apparently, too far away.  All those birds so up close and personal torments the poor cat, but the birds are fun to watch.  Their beaks are amazingly effective; how quickly they crack open seeds.  Very clever and useful tool that beak, but I think I will stick with my opposable thumbs.  They are pretty cool too.

Accepting the fact, he's never going to get through the glass

I love the ears in this one.  

Hiking....

Hiking is working out and meditating at the same time.  We've set a goal to hike more as a family.  Zoo boy has been hiking like a crazy man, getting ready for his 50 miler.  He did 20 miles the other day.  I anxiously awaited his arrival home.  After nearly 12 hours, he bounded in the house and said..."that was fun!".  20 miles, up and down a large hill, fun?  Yes...I was thrilled.  All those years of hiking him around Madeira apparently have paid off.  The boy practically grew up on various trails, sidewalks, and hills either in a backpack, a stroller, or hand in hand with a parent.  I'm thrilled he loves to hike, and why?  I love to hike too!  It is bliss for me and I'm really excited about our family goal of going hiking once a week.  We started off yesterday on a beautiful hike called Tibble Fork loop.  A bit muddy because of all the spring rain, but so green, lush and as zoo boy observed..."it just smells different up here".  He later asked me for a year pass to the National Parks for his birthday.  Mtn goat, as we like to call her, has it in her, she just doesn't know it yet! ;)

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson