~ Retired and Starting My Future In The Foothills ~

[The Sheriff]

I am happy for you and so hoping it all works out. Tell your geese that they are messing with the fertility rate if they break up the "dates" all the time!

 

[Kansaseq]

Linda, it sounds like you had a perfectly lovely Sunday at your new place. I am sending positive thoughts your way, and truly believe things will work out in your favor. I'm looking forward to the day when you no longer have this hanging over you.

 

[drdoolittle]

I hope everything works out in your favor. It sounds wonderful where you are at.

Deer are dangerous here where I live too-------I'm always scanning the side of the road when I drive into work early in the morning.

 

[gryeyes]

Y'all may not realize how gratifying it is to read replies to my posts and all the supportive well wishes, so let me be very clear about it: I appreciate the responses and input SO much!!!!

I also know there are some folks wanting more photos of life on the Olmstead Homestead. Yeah, I been taking pictures, you betcha! I don't know how to load them from my iPhone; every time I try, something goes wonky. So I either add them from my home PC - which is still at the rental house - or from .... Well, where I work, when nobody is looking.

So I am pleased to announce the appointment date for satellite Internet installation: Monday, August 29th, the day before the 57th anniversary of my birth. (For those of you not paying attention, that means I'll be 58.) It's one of my alternate Mondays off, and I am also taking the 30th as a personal holiday.

As to the "situation," I spoke by telephone to a very nice, pro-chicken fella at the Planning Department today. First, I asked him to tell me what County Ordinance 17.14.060 was....as I'd gotten a "notice to correct" letter citing it. He looked it up and asked me, "You got a rogue stable or something?"

No, I have chickens on less than one acre.

"Ahhhh. Let me close my office door....". And then we had quite a lengthy and informative conversation. "Stable" refers to any structure housing animals, it seems. And, because the coop is a transmogrified garage structure, it is less than 30 feet from another building structure: my house. Duh.

But the real issue is chickens on less than an acre. And somebody did have to call or file a complaint for the Code Enforcement officer to come check on it. If nobody complains, the county "doesn't see it," he said.

So I asked about the administrative hearing mentioned in the letter, if I don't "cease [my] illegal activity by September 14, 2011."

Here's the process, essentially the same as explained by the Code Enforcement officer at the time of his visit. Remember, I said he was a nice man. (Well, this guy on the phone is an even more nice guy. Worth some fresh eggs, at some point, I think.)

Step One: Just go on keeping the chickens.

Step Two: On 9/14/11, or whenever the Code Enforcement officer returns to see if I have removed my chickens and stopped housing them in the "stable structure" too close to the house, politely accept the written, misdemeanor citation.

Step Three: as per the instructions on the citation itself, request an administrative hearing.

Step Four: when the administrative hearing UPHOLDS the citation, appeal it to the Board of Supervisors.

In the interim, any positive influence upon the members of the Board of Supervisors will be most helpful.

I explained my idea of trying to buy half an acre from neighbors, and he looked up the parcel numbers, sizes and owners of record for me (public records), then printed the information to mail it all to me. Plus the description for zoning district "RE5" where my property falls. If I had an acre or more, I could keep ANYTHING there, pigs, sheep, horses, llamas, cows, alpacas, emus, all the roosters i wanted, grow crops, wine grapes, and nobody's complaint would matter.

It's a very good place to be, with an acre or more.

And here are some photos, in just a couple of minutes.

A white leghorn checking out the top row of nest boxes.

TJ and one of his Josies - they were BOTH inside that nest box together before I got this clear shot of them.

Albert and Fiona, my Mille Fleur D'Uccle pair. Sitting on the porch railing.

Albert confronting the metal, garden implement "chicken" sculpture on the porch railing.

Angus in the side yard, as seen through the French doors.

"Gander Wandering In The Garden" by gryeyes

The PERFECT dust bathing spot!

Parade o' Poultry from one side of my veranda to the other.

 

[tazcat70]

Wow! I would say that sounds like pretty good news!

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

I love the dust bath lookout and the parade...........well that is just awesome.

on the other issue.

 

[theoldchick]

I love the Poultry of Parade! Welcome home!

 

[HHandbasket]

You know I spend waaaaaaayyy too much time at Linda's house when I can name every chicken and goose in the Parade of Poultry running down Linda's porch. At least the ones I can see.

The one at the farthest end, I can't tell. But I can see Rebecca or Samantha (I can't tell them apart until I see them side by side... don't ask me why cuz they don't really look THAT much alike), and I see Frick, and Cagney, and Bartholomew, and Ghost, and Kate & Angus.

The girls in the dustbath appear to be Alice and either Daughter1 or Daughter2. Can't tell who that is off to the left... either Samantha or Rebecca?

 

[HHandbasket]

Quote:
Might be a blessing in disguise if the fertility of her flock gets interrupted! Hehehe... she started out with like a dozen hens less than 2 years ago, now has like 70 or 80 chickens.

And she ain't gonna eat any of 'em.

I might, though.

 

[Buugette]

Linda, your place looks amazing. I can't wait till this is all behind you. Just how much under an acre are you? Sending you good vibes that everything will work out in your favor.

And to the jerk who caused all this trouble...