~ Retired and Starting My Future In The Foothills ~ - Page 125

Every time I mention the straw wattles, John gets annoyed. "You aren't really going to get those, are you? They're ugly. He's nuts. Afraid of a Tsunami of chicken [poop] rolling down the hill, gaining speed, rolling boulders, making a left turn and spilling into his yard."

Last night when I called him to exclaim about how freakin' WONDERFUL the deck looks with the balusters in place, the subject came up again. (Because Double Diamond has them and I can get them there.) "If you have to, you could put just one against the fence over closest to his property, but... Make it look like something. They look like huge snakes, why not put a bit of hose at one end, like a snake's tongue, something for eyes...."

Yes, someone has noticed I am into whimsical yard decorations.

He had other news for me: he saved one of the chicks in the Kindergarten pen. It had gotten stuck in one of those "can't go forward, can't turn around, not smart enough to engage 'reverse' to back up" nooks and flapped itself into getting tangled in the chicken wire. A goose was attempting to help it - but goose assistance is counter-productive. The squawking ruckus drew John into the coop. He untangled the chick and "the stupid thing ran right back into that same spot," he related. So he blocked that spot after rescuing it again,

"You're my hero! Thank you so much for doing that!"

Plus, the pullet which had been repeatedly getting into his work van laid a light blue egg inside it, yesterday. He now keeps the doors to the van closed. (He took the egg home and put it into his refrigerator, was that okay with me? Of course!)

I knew I had been right when I told him I thought she was looking for a place to lay! Silly Cindy.

I'm having such a nice, quality chicken time day.  Lizbeth has communed with some of the flock in the yard and up on the deck; they don't pay her any mind and she winds her way amongst them very comfortably.  Blaze Bunny is still wandering around, always returning to the porch and the hutch to visit her sister inside it a few times a day.  John mentioned "that rabbit has got it going - you can ALMOST catch it, but not quite."  Blaze also moves through the flock as if she's just another member of it. 

 

A few of the NYD Hatch chicks got out of the Chicken Kindergarten pen - I stopped chasing them to put them back into it when I saw how they were totally ignored by the rest of the flock as I filled all the feeders.  So I left the pen door open.  Some of the chicks have come outside the coop, through the pop door (which is all the way on the other side of the pen from its door) to investigate the yard.  Little dust-bathers found sunny spots against the coop wall.  Some traveled a bit further away, always scampering back to be close to the coop.  Then they discovered the open people door directly opposite the Kindergarten pen door and some investigated in that direction.  Little bitty chickens scratched in the soil, pecked at the dirt, ran around from here to there.  Kate kept them shepherded away from the edge of the drop-off at the back side of the coop.

 

There's a pause in the Deck Project because the dark green paint I used on the coop exterior wall is not the best for painting the deck boards.  I'd primed the coop wall, so that paint doesn't have  built-in primer and it's a "flat" finish.  We want to use a satin finish and will need more than one gallon (there's only half a gallon of the other green paint left).  I'll pick up some matched paint on Monday during my lunch break and leave it out for John to paint the deck on Tuesday.  He's got an estimate job on Monday, anyway, for a real estate company with the listing for an estate sale.

 

When he arrived this morning, he took some time holding Carl in his arms.  I managed to get some photographs of him doing so.

 

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This next picture cracks me up.  Because John has been painting, he wears his older coveralls.  I didn't notice Brenda checking out the hole at his right knee until I reviewed the photographs.

 

 

I asked John if he thought a climbing rose would look nice growing up a support onto the cover and his response was, "Sure - if they're plastic."

 

Plastic?  Huh?

 

"Mother Nature is always recycling.  She uses the weather and growing things to slowly take down structures Man has built.  You put a plant there, she'll invite bugs and moisture and start working on recycling this deck.  I don't want you putting a barbecue grill, water fountains or potted plants on my perfect deck."  He was kidding, sort of.  He's always going on about keeping ALL soil away from ALL wood surfaces, because the microorganisms immediately start to break it down.  Yes, this is true, but no flowers growing up over the deck cover?

 

"Oh, okay, if you must. Don't blame me if something happens to this deck in 30 or 40 years, though."

 

Yeah, just as the fourth wall to the coop has shored up the former, dilapidated garage, this deck will provide support and stabilization to my little house probably into the next few decades. 

 

I assured him I was going to use a small table with plastic covers on the bottoms of the legs and only place "flameless" candles on it or the deck railing, No burning down the deck and house or scratching the surface of the deck flooring.  He said chickens are okay once the two coats of dark green paint have dried. 

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It is a work of art, although he said it was a simple thing to build.  Didn't involve a lot of thinking, unlike the two-level veranda he built around another customer's entire house....  Now, that goose pond, that will engage his mind a lot more, because he's never built one of those before - just smaller ponds as accent pieces. 

 

I didn't get around to going to Diamond Springs today; I needed ALL day to enjoy watching the flock.  I'll take care of it tomorrow.  Maybe.