Denim Deb Hay, hay, hay. Thank the Lord!

[Poka_Doodle]

So sorry, I know the feeling of loosing a favorite, lost my best friend/favorite chicken on Halloween probably to genetics, from MURRAY MCMURRAY, annoying

 

[Denim Deb]

That's the problem w/having any animal, you know eventually you're going to lose them. But, having them in your life makes your life so much fuller and bring its own rewards.

Didn't get on last night, I was just too tired.

W/all the rain we had last week, it was still pretty muddy in front of the run-in. I almost got the mower stuck! So, when I went to fill in the chicken area, I scraped up a bunch of mud from there. And I found that underneath all this muck, there's a solid base. I left some of the muck, and will add my pea gravel to it. Hopefully, this will make that area drain well when it rains and keep it from being so muddy. Of course, once I get a rain gutter up, that will help.

I got the area for the chicken pen pretty much level. Only problem being? I broke one of my posts. I didn't have time to mess w/it yesterday. I'm planning to take my drill and my large bit and seeing if I can drill into it, then wiggle it around some, and pull it out. The bad thing is that I have to replace it. The good thing is that I have more posts this size, and this gives me another one for my RP.

The goat let himself out of my field yesterday. I quickly blocked the best I could the places I know he's getting in. I'm hoping that this will keep him out. The sheep is not as much of a pain. I have to constantly watch the goat when the horses are eating. Otherwise, he's eating their feed.

I didn't get as much done as I wanted to. LF invited me out to lunch. I hesitated about going since I had so much to do, but went anyway.

I'll be taking Ashley out to the farm this morning. There's no reason for her to still be here. I think she'll probably be glad to get back to her buddies. And, I'll be treating everyone for just in case. Since I have my appointments today, I don't think I'm going to be getting anything else done at the farm. I need to get off of here, get the fire going, then do dishes, laundry and housework.

 

[Denim Deb]

The goat was back in the field when I got there this morning, but I did see how he got in. So, if he lets himself out again, I can hopefully block that section. It would make my life easier. While I was keeping an eye on him, I decided to see if I could get the fence post out. I drilled into it, then pulled on my drill and it came right out! I don't know if the hole is still deep enough, but since I didn't want to chance a horse stepping in it, I put the new post in. Then, I checked to see if the ground was level enough. It seems to be! So, tomorrow, I should get a lot done.

I've decided to chance my schedule for cleaning my house. I've been cleaning the living room on Monday, the kitchen on Tuesday, my bedroom on Wednesday, the bathroom on Thursday and the basement on Friday. Instead, I'm going to clean the bathroom on Monday, the living room on Tuesday, the kitchen on Wednesday, my bedroom on Thursday and the basement still on Friday. And since I didn't get the kitchen all done today, I should be able to get it done in the morning. I have the trashcan out, so I can take the trash out after I've finished cleaning it tomorrow. If I get it all done B4 I need to leave, I'm going to do more to the living room. Then I can finally get my tree up.

I got more 2x3s today. So, I'm hoping that I have enough now to finish. My goal is to finish putting the first one together tomorrow and have it caulked and parts of it painted-like the door where the hinges go. Then, I'd get the 2nd one framed out and have the bottom of the 3rd one painted. Then on Thursday, I would finish painting the first one, then finish the 2nd one, caulk and paint part of it. Then on Friday, I'd finish the last one. On Saturday, I'd finish any fencing that still needs to be done, put the netting on and hopefully move my chickens down.

 

[Denim Deb]

Today's going to be another busy day. I need to finish cleaning the kitchen-mainly dishes and finding my counters. I need to get the trash out. I need to finish cleaning my living room. Then, I get to go to the farm and work on cleaning my field, then working on fencing and my chicken houses. Then, when I get home, I need to work on firewood. I think I'm going to be tired tonight.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Sounds like it! Hope you get it all done.

 

[Denim Deb]

Didn't get as much done in the house as I wanted, but I'm almost all caught up on the dishes now. And, I can find more of my counters.

Cleaning the field took longer than expected. I need to change how I do it. Right now, I'm behind because of the rain last week. So instead of cleaning it 2x this week, I'll be cleaning it 3. Since it's a bigger field, I think I need to drive the mower more. Normally, I just park it and walk the whole field. But, it takes too long.

I got more of the chicken area done, but not as much. But, I did work some on the fence and the one chicken house. I had planned on being done by Saturday. But, since I have them on meds and will until Monday, I'm thinking I want to move them Monday evening. That way, I don't have to try and split up the meds between the different groups. Any birds that I don't want will be sold at a slaughter auction. It's what the lady from the USDA recommended. I don't have time to process them, and I won't sell them on CL.

I got my wood holder in the basement filled. I mixed the stuff we just bought w/the stuff I already had in the woodshed. I had to split some of it, and some I had to put to the side because it's too long. But, I shouldn't have to do any for several days now. It's going to be warmer, so I won't be burning as much for the next several days.

 

[Denim Deb]

Going to be busy. I have GOT to finish my kitchen and living room today. I want to get my tree up. And, if I have time, I need to clean the bedroom, or at least change my sheets.

I want to get to the farm as early as possible. I have to get feed first, then I want to spend as much time today as I can working on the chicken area. I should be able to get a lot done if I leave early enough.

 

[Denim Deb]

Had a pretty good day. I got the dishes done and the counters cleaned. I didn't get to the living room. I made some easy fudge instead.

Got my feed, then headed to the farm. Because of the stupid goat, I had to change how I'm feeding everybody, but it may actually be better this way. I was getting my guys fed, then while they were eating, going and feeding the other horses, then letting my guys loose. Instead, I feed LF's horses and put out their hay. Then I give hay to KN's horse and RU's horse that's in the same field. They're a pain in the neck. Then, I feed my guys, and put out hay. And I keep an eye on the goat the whole time. While they're eating, I'll bag feed, or work on something else. Then, when my guys are done eating, I let them loose, then go and take care of my chickens. Today, I got the horse feed out while they were eating.

I got the section of fence attached. I think I've finally figured out how to put it up. I won't work on the fence anymore until I have the houses all done. It's easier to work on them w/out having the fence in front. I don't have to worry about getting thru the door area.

W/the fence up, I finished putting the frame on the floor. Then, I got that out of the stall and put it where it belongs. I got some bricks to put under the legs. W/that out of the way, I finally got the last floor cut! The floors were all on top of the wood for the nesting boxes and the sides. So, I leaned the floor up against the wall, and got the wood out for the nesting boxes. I got the nesting boxes for the first house all made and attached! Then, I worked on the walls. I didn't get done. I have walls up on 3 sides. The one will come back off. I only put it up so I could mark on it where I need to cut out the chicken door and the "window". And, since this wall is slanted, I needed to draw how that goes as well.

So that meant I needed to figure out how to do the roof supports. I had somehow or another managed to get 1 board cut that was the right angle on 1 end. But, I wasn't sure how to do the other side. I managed to get it cut close enough to how I wanted it to make it work. But, I need more cut. So, I sacrificed a small piece to figure it out. I think I have it now! I'm glad I didn't get the others cut. I was thinking I needed to cut 4 total. I marked where they were going. Then I remembered that I have to overlap the roofing and I want a support there. So that means I need to do one in the middle, then have 1 on either side of it as well as at the ends. So, I'll get them cut tomorrow as well as cut out the one wall, then finish the wall around the nesting box. Then I can do the window, the door, caulk and paint!

I doubt that I'll finish everything tomorrow. So, I plan on going out on Saturday. I'm going to need 3 more pieces of the one size wood, so I'll get them B4 heading out. I don't know what I'm going to do about the last roof. Each house has a different color. KN picked up the pieces for me, but they didn't have the one. They have it in another store, but I can't fit in in the jeep. If I don't have a way to pick up by Monday, I have some really thin wood I could put on for now, then cover it w/a tarp. If at all possible, I want to have the chicken area done on Monday. Only problem being, they're calling for rain, so well see. I don't know that I want to take the last floor out unless I'm able to work on the house.

 

[Denim Deb]

Hubby took the day off. He'd better not complain when I start doing some work. I prefer doing dishes in the morning. More often than not, I eat my dinner after I've gotten a shower, and, other than making and eating dinner, I don't feel like doing anything after I get one. And I have a whole basket of clothes to iron. I also have to put away sheets. I get that done, I'll eat breakfast and head to the farm.

I need to clean my field. I'll be driving the mower around the field in hopes that I can get done quicker. And I also hope that this gets me caught back up. Once that's done, I'm working on the chicken houses. I'll finish the one, and caulk it. Then, I'll work on the 2nd one while the caulk dries. Once the caulk dries, I'll paint the first one as well as the bottom of the 3rd plus I'll finish painting the legs for that one. Then, I'll finish the 2nd one and caulk it. I'm hoping I can get to that point by the end of the day. If I can, then I can hopefully get the 3rd one done on Saturday and start on the fencing. I'm learning a lot about carpentry as I build these. I'm actually quite happy w/how these are looking. I think I did a much better job than I did on the smaller houses I built.

 

[Denim Deb]

I was tripping over him this morning so I left way later than I wanted to. But, my field is now all clean and I got the first house done to the point of being ready to caulk. If I hadn't lost that time this morning, it would have been caulked.