~ Retired and Starting My Future In The Foothills ~
- Thread starter gryeyes
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #642
Well, the Plow & Hearth cat feeding station will need some adjustments for Smudge, as he's a hefty kitty. I'll take my jig saw to the rounded corner opening to make it larger. Or, maybe I'll ask John the contractor to do it... He was scheduled to come over today to install the electronic pet door, but called earlier to ask if it was okay if he came over tomorrow, instead, as his brother is in the hospital Down The Hill and his dad didn't want to drive himself there.
Is it okay??? Are you kidding? Of course! And he thanked me...
It got below freezing last night. Today I wrestled the air conditioner unit out of the other bedroom window. Not only do I not need any air flow AT ALL through it, I would like to have all the sun I can get through that window. It's over the day bed, and the dogs are just ecstatic at having sun splash on the day bed for them.
And I can report the "Warm & Cozy" toilet seat cover is really rather nice.
Angus started billing my shoes and clothing this morning, with Kate close by and watching carefully. He was checking me out and talking to me between nibbles and tugging. He still doesn't want me to handle him very much so I'm quite pleased with this progress. He is also coming up to me, Kate accompanying him, quite often.
The flock, in shifts of a few birds at a time, has been enjoying a cabbage I hung for them. Carl has been pulling off bits and dropping them for some hens.
.
Later, TJ did the same for some other hens.
.
On the other hand, Patrick has been over by the next door neighbor's chicken pen, attempting to impress those ladies.
.
This is a new whirligig I also bought from Plow & Hearth, to replace the damaged one from the rental.
A few chickens dust bathing wherever they could find a bit of sun and some dry soil.
.
This is Lola, one of my senior hens.
This is Brenda and one of the Josies sitting on the bench on the porch.
This is Hannah, one of the chicks from my MPC order earlier this year, and I don't know what breed she represents. Any clues?
.
Dooley and Smudge on the back of the sofa, awaiting my return from the chilly outdoors.
Is it okay??? Are you kidding? Of course! And he thanked me...
It got below freezing last night. Today I wrestled the air conditioner unit out of the other bedroom window. Not only do I not need any air flow AT ALL through it, I would like to have all the sun I can get through that window. It's over the day bed, and the dogs are just ecstatic at having sun splash on the day bed for them.
Angus started billing my shoes and clothing this morning, with Kate close by and watching carefully. He was checking me out and talking to me between nibbles and tugging. He still doesn't want me to handle him very much so I'm quite pleased with this progress. He is also coming up to me, Kate accompanying him, quite often.
The flock, in shifts of a few birds at a time, has been enjoying a cabbage I hung for them. Carl has been pulling off bits and dropping them for some hens.
Later, TJ did the same for some other hens.
On the other hand, Patrick has been over by the next door neighbor's chicken pen, attempting to impress those ladies.
This is a new whirligig I also bought from Plow & Hearth, to replace the damaged one from the rental.
A few chickens dust bathing wherever they could find a bit of sun and some dry soil.
This is Lola, one of my senior hens.
This is Brenda and one of the Josies sitting on the bench on the porch.
This is Hannah, one of the chicks from my MPC order earlier this year, and I don't know what breed she represents. Any clues?
Dooley and Smudge on the back of the sofa, awaiting my return from the chilly outdoors.
Last edited:
- Oct 13, 2010
- 1,789
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- 153
I had that poster from the last photo! The bird of paradise! Kind of like your place is a paradise for birds.
thebirdguy
Songster
Hannah looks a lot like my speckled sussex
- Thread starter
- #645
Quote:
Really? I thought speckled Sussex were brown not black. Huh. I might order some more by name, then. I really like the way she looks. Of course, I like the way brown speckled Sussex look, too!
Really? I thought speckled Sussex were brown not black. Huh. I might order some more by name, then. I really like the way she looks. Of course, I like the way brown speckled Sussex look, too!
Your mystery MPC bird looks like an Ancona to me.
Golly, Carl is sooooooooo handsome!
Golly, Carl is sooooooooo handsome!
- Thread starter
- #648
Wow, thermal insulated curtains DO work as advertised! The kitchen and utility room were much warmer this morning when I got up for work and made a cup of coffee. I also - no fainting now! - hard-boiled 30 banty eggs for the office potluck today, all cute little green or brownish pink, or white eggs. I USED MY NEW STOVE!
Lemme back up and report Monday's activities. Sunday, John called and again asked if I wouldn't mind waiting until Monday for him to come over and install the electronic pet door. Nasty, stormy day, and he didn't want his dad to make the drive to Sacramento in that weather. Not a problem, but I had something else to add to The List: I needed to be shown how to operate the gas (propane) heater that looks like a wood stove.
Immediately, John asked, concerned, "Will you be okay over night, or do you need me to come over today?"
Oh Lordy, I couldn't resist! "I'm not sure our relationship has progressed to the point I can't live without you at night, yet - and I do have electric baseboard heaters I've been using, anyway."
Thank goodness he chuckled. "Okay, then - I promise I won't flake out tomorrow." I let him know his familial obligations were a higher priority, I was just informing him there was a new item on The List of Things To Do At My House. "After all, I do have that 350 gallons of propane that's already been paid for; I would just prefer not to run the electricity bill up any more than I have to."
He showed up Monday morning and was gratified there is furniture in the house, so he didn't have to stand whilst reading the instructions for the electronic pet door. It's a super easy job, really, and I've installed the regular kind through a door a thousand years ago in another galaxy. This pet door unit is engineered so there is ONLY a simple 8 by 10 inch opening to cut, put up the unit, screw it into the wall, put the nice frame on the outside surface and plug the thing in, then adjust the settings. But I don't have the tools to cut through a wall....
Easy, quick, right?
Not only had somebody put siding up over a window and painted over the window glass on the inside of the house, but that wood siding covered asbestos tile siding.
"I just love old houses, they are always level and there are never any surprises.." John mused, when the super long drill bit snagged during the first hole marking a corner of the opening to cut.
The ground on the outside of the house is higher than is the inside floor, so there had been some extra prep work to situate the opening at the right height outside. Furry kids will use a little set of stairs to get up to and through the pet door. I had that set of stairs (got two of 'em, had 'em for the past several years, as Zorro is a mini-dachshund with existing back condition we don't want to get worse) set in the spot where it would be used once the door was installed.
John changed to a new battery for the drill and pushed harder to get through the asbestos tile. Then he sawed out the interior drywall rectangle and went to work chipping away at the thick tile. This also meant the wall was thicker than we had expected, so I scrounged up a bit of leftover 2x4 for him to cut and frame the inside of the wall and line the exit "tunnel." We relocated outside to do that work, but he forgot his set of drill bits. I offered to get it so he could continue to do contractor things without interruption.
Startled the heck out of him when I held it out through the hole in the wall.
He passed the drill through the wall a couple of times for me to use it in sinking some long screws diagonally into the 2x4 pieces comprising the inner frame. I learned a new technique in doing so. Amazing way to start a difficult angle. When I enthused about it, John said,"Best learning is being shown followed by immediate hands-on practice."
I told him he was gonna laugh his butt off when I finally get the coops up to the property and he sees the two I built all by myself.
He was as delighted by the electronic pet door as I have been, maybe more so, because the automatic chicken door was a new concept to him, when he installed it in the coop. But he took one of the collars and zoomed it around, checking how and where it activated the door. We adjusted the sensitivity for the inside approach so the dogs can come visit me when I am.......seated for a period of time.... Without activating the door. They'll have to get within 3 feet for it to open. The outside distance was adjusted to 5 feet, but it still does not open unless the pet is facing the door, rather than just passing by it or laying down next to it.
And it can be set for four different scenarios: entrance from outside but not going out, exit out but no entrance, in and out, and nobody going anywhere, in or out.
.
I took these shots immediately after John finished installing the door, before any clean-up. I'll also have to make the outside ramp a bit more secure where it rests on that rock.
I thought the thing came with one collar, so I ordered two collars. It didn't, so I'll have to order a third one for Smudge. He has a litter box, so the doggies got theirs right away. If they haven't figured it out by the time I get home tonight, I will be surprised. But if that's the case, I can spend all Thanksgiving Day shoving them through it u 'til they get the idea how the door operates. They have been used to the kind which are physically opened by them pushing their heads against a flap and pushing on through. This door is the guillotine style, sliding up and down with an electronic whir. Kinda scared 'em yesterday. Then they crashed after John departed, all tuckered out by all that activity requiring them to be on alert.
John's second task for the day was to show me how to operate my propane stove heater. We discovered it has an igniter, not so old as to require the use of matches. However, the pilot lights, it starts the burner under the artificial logs, but will NOT stay lighted. We chatted lightly while he used a faux pretentious voice to explain each step. "Push the RED button and HOLD it for at LEAST one minute so that little doo-hickey in the flame there gets hot."
When the burner flared into beautiful flame we were cheered. But it went out as soon as he left go of the control dial. "Crap, that sucks," he said, after several attempts. "That really sucks. This is going to need a gas guy to fix it. I can change thermocouples, tweak this or that, but I'm a contractor and hire people who really know how to work on these if I can't figure it out. I'm sorry - and you know they'll charge more than a couple bucks to do it."
As he pushed himself up off his knees, he glanced left at the bottom shelf of the bookshelf unit on that side of the heater. "Oh, what have we here?"
My vinyl LP collection. He scooted over to look at the covers. We spent a few minutes talking about music tastes. Rubber Soul was the very first album he ever bought; I have all the Beatles' albums up to John Lennon's murder. After that, they're all on CDs. His vinyl collection was ruined at some party he gave many years ago, so all of his music is on CDs. "And nobody touches them but me," he said.
He'd never heard of Melanie, though. And I waited for a question about the Up With People albums, but he didn't ask, or I would have had to admit I used to be in one of those groups during my teens. He did remark, as he finally stood up, "Good thing you didn't lose those in any of your divorces." Ahh, he's been paying attention!
Next task.
The rod to hold the thermal curtain panels is fancier than any I've installed myself. Posts stick out of the wall, the rod rests in little cut-outs with spring loaded thingies to secure it tightly. John had to cut part of the rod to make it fit the best, because I also had very fancy finials to screw onto its ends.
.
There was nearly NO clearance on one side of the French doors.
And then, when he started to secure the holding posts to the wall, he discovered there were no studs in the correct places. The whole bit of header wall space above the doors was dry wall material. Again, John said, "I just love old houses, they are always level and there are never any surprises.". He set his driver down, then smoothed his hand on the offending bit of wall. "Every carpenter knows that's supposed to be solid wood above doors like these. Who the heck did this work for them!?!?"
But he made it work.
.
I've noticed John NEVER uses the screws provided in kits, but selects specific ones from his supplies to use instead. (Usually they are much longer.) When I held out one of the little packs of screws and aked what he wanted to do with those, he replied, "Toss those in your junk drawer so you will have screws to use for other stuff." While I pondered that, looking at the small collection in my hand, he said in a
perfectly normal, matter of fact manner, "I prefer longer, better screws."
Wait, I thought. That sounded.....
His face was impassive, but his eyes twinkled. "Oops," he said, almost in a little boy's "I've been caught" tone of voice.
"Don't we all," I replied archly and walked away trying not to blush.
We went outside to look at the two, huge boxes of the shed kit, and determine where I need him to build the foundation for it. We decided a wood and pier block foundation would be best, so no water from rain run-off would seep up through a concrete pad. He will open the boxes for the instructions to get the measurements on Wednesday, as he had a small job elsewhere on Tuesday. I don't need to be present for him to start work on this particular project.
I forgot to show him the rooster cabinet and drawer pulls.
(Finally added the photos!)
Lemme back up and report Monday's activities. Sunday, John called and again asked if I wouldn't mind waiting until Monday for him to come over and install the electronic pet door. Nasty, stormy day, and he didn't want his dad to make the drive to Sacramento in that weather. Not a problem, but I had something else to add to The List: I needed to be shown how to operate the gas (propane) heater that looks like a wood stove.
Immediately, John asked, concerned, "Will you be okay over night, or do you need me to come over today?"
Oh Lordy, I couldn't resist! "I'm not sure our relationship has progressed to the point I can't live without you at night, yet - and I do have electric baseboard heaters I've been using, anyway."
Thank goodness he chuckled. "Okay, then - I promise I won't flake out tomorrow." I let him know his familial obligations were a higher priority, I was just informing him there was a new item on The List of Things To Do At My House. "After all, I do have that 350 gallons of propane that's already been paid for; I would just prefer not to run the electricity bill up any more than I have to."
He showed up Monday morning and was gratified there is furniture in the house, so he didn't have to stand whilst reading the instructions for the electronic pet door. It's a super easy job, really, and I've installed the regular kind through a door a thousand years ago in another galaxy. This pet door unit is engineered so there is ONLY a simple 8 by 10 inch opening to cut, put up the unit, screw it into the wall, put the nice frame on the outside surface and plug the thing in, then adjust the settings. But I don't have the tools to cut through a wall....
Easy, quick, right?
Not only had somebody put siding up over a window and painted over the window glass on the inside of the house, but that wood siding covered asbestos tile siding.
"I just love old houses, they are always level and there are never any surprises.." John mused, when the super long drill bit snagged during the first hole marking a corner of the opening to cut.
The ground on the outside of the house is higher than is the inside floor, so there had been some extra prep work to situate the opening at the right height outside. Furry kids will use a little set of stairs to get up to and through the pet door. I had that set of stairs (got two of 'em, had 'em for the past several years, as Zorro is a mini-dachshund with existing back condition we don't want to get worse) set in the spot where it would be used once the door was installed.
John changed to a new battery for the drill and pushed harder to get through the asbestos tile. Then he sawed out the interior drywall rectangle and went to work chipping away at the thick tile. This also meant the wall was thicker than we had expected, so I scrounged up a bit of leftover 2x4 for him to cut and frame the inside of the wall and line the exit "tunnel." We relocated outside to do that work, but he forgot his set of drill bits. I offered to get it so he could continue to do contractor things without interruption.
Startled the heck out of him when I held it out through the hole in the wall.
He passed the drill through the wall a couple of times for me to use it in sinking some long screws diagonally into the 2x4 pieces comprising the inner frame. I learned a new technique in doing so. Amazing way to start a difficult angle. When I enthused about it, John said,"Best learning is being shown followed by immediate hands-on practice."
I told him he was gonna laugh his butt off when I finally get the coops up to the property and he sees the two I built all by myself.
He was as delighted by the electronic pet door as I have been, maybe more so, because the automatic chicken door was a new concept to him, when he installed it in the coop. But he took one of the collars and zoomed it around, checking how and where it activated the door. We adjusted the sensitivity for the inside approach so the dogs can come visit me when I am.......seated for a period of time.... Without activating the door. They'll have to get within 3 feet for it to open. The outside distance was adjusted to 5 feet, but it still does not open unless the pet is facing the door, rather than just passing by it or laying down next to it.
And it can be set for four different scenarios: entrance from outside but not going out, exit out but no entrance, in and out, and nobody going anywhere, in or out.
I took these shots immediately after John finished installing the door, before any clean-up. I'll also have to make the outside ramp a bit more secure where it rests on that rock.
I thought the thing came with one collar, so I ordered two collars. It didn't, so I'll have to order a third one for Smudge. He has a litter box, so the doggies got theirs right away. If they haven't figured it out by the time I get home tonight, I will be surprised. But if that's the case, I can spend all Thanksgiving Day shoving them through it u 'til they get the idea how the door operates. They have been used to the kind which are physically opened by them pushing their heads against a flap and pushing on through. This door is the guillotine style, sliding up and down with an electronic whir. Kinda scared 'em yesterday. Then they crashed after John departed, all tuckered out by all that activity requiring them to be on alert.
John's second task for the day was to show me how to operate my propane stove heater. We discovered it has an igniter, not so old as to require the use of matches. However, the pilot lights, it starts the burner under the artificial logs, but will NOT stay lighted. We chatted lightly while he used a faux pretentious voice to explain each step. "Push the RED button and HOLD it for at LEAST one minute so that little doo-hickey in the flame there gets hot."
When the burner flared into beautiful flame we were cheered. But it went out as soon as he left go of the control dial. "Crap, that sucks," he said, after several attempts. "That really sucks. This is going to need a gas guy to fix it. I can change thermocouples, tweak this or that, but I'm a contractor and hire people who really know how to work on these if I can't figure it out. I'm sorry - and you know they'll charge more than a couple bucks to do it."
As he pushed himself up off his knees, he glanced left at the bottom shelf of the bookshelf unit on that side of the heater. "Oh, what have we here?"
My vinyl LP collection. He scooted over to look at the covers. We spent a few minutes talking about music tastes. Rubber Soul was the very first album he ever bought; I have all the Beatles' albums up to John Lennon's murder. After that, they're all on CDs. His vinyl collection was ruined at some party he gave many years ago, so all of his music is on CDs. "And nobody touches them but me," he said.
He'd never heard of Melanie, though. And I waited for a question about the Up With People albums, but he didn't ask, or I would have had to admit I used to be in one of those groups during my teens. He did remark, as he finally stood up, "Good thing you didn't lose those in any of your divorces." Ahh, he's been paying attention!
Next task.
The rod to hold the thermal curtain panels is fancier than any I've installed myself. Posts stick out of the wall, the rod rests in little cut-outs with spring loaded thingies to secure it tightly. John had to cut part of the rod to make it fit the best, because I also had very fancy finials to screw onto its ends.
There was nearly NO clearance on one side of the French doors.
And then, when he started to secure the holding posts to the wall, he discovered there were no studs in the correct places. The whole bit of header wall space above the doors was dry wall material. Again, John said, "I just love old houses, they are always level and there are never any surprises.". He set his driver down, then smoothed his hand on the offending bit of wall. "Every carpenter knows that's supposed to be solid wood above doors like these. Who the heck did this work for them!?!?"
But he made it work.
I've noticed John NEVER uses the screws provided in kits, but selects specific ones from his supplies to use instead. (Usually they are much longer.) When I held out one of the little packs of screws and aked what he wanted to do with those, he replied, "Toss those in your junk drawer so you will have screws to use for other stuff." While I pondered that, looking at the small collection in my hand, he said in a
perfectly normal, matter of fact manner, "I prefer longer, better screws."
Wait, I thought. That sounded.....
His face was impassive, but his eyes twinkled. "Oops," he said, almost in a little boy's "I've been caught" tone of voice.
"Don't we all," I replied archly and walked away trying not to blush.
We went outside to look at the two, huge boxes of the shed kit, and determine where I need him to build the foundation for it. We decided a wood and pier block foundation would be best, so no water from rain run-off would seep up through a concrete pad. He will open the boxes for the instructions to get the measurements on Wednesday, as he had a small job elsewhere on Tuesday. I don't need to be present for him to start work on this particular project.
I forgot to show him the rooster cabinet and drawer pulls.
(Finally added the photos!)
Last edited:
Hahahah you go girl.....
Yep, EVERYONE like the longer screws better. They hold better.
I was waiting for this. I hope John hasn't subscribed to this site....... WELL maybe he should so we can get this show on the road.....but the trip is what is so much fun, and ya'll are on a great trip!
I just love a good love story!
I just love a good love story!
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