Results of Taking a Day Off!

This is what I accomplished on my 2 days off (the pen, not the coop itself):

This pen cost me NOTHING!! It was all scrounged from stuff found around the farm.

I doubled and tripled up on the fencing, weaving it back and forth because I didn't want to cut it, in case if we ever put a larger pen in, I'll still have longer lengths of fencing.

The gate is an old pallet, with hinges that I found left over from another project.

The tarp is for cover from the rain and sun until I get the coop done.

The pen is 20x10. The only thing left to do is put a top on it (the birds keep flying out) and to finish burying the bottom of the fence along the back wall (to keep other critters out)

Then it will be done (after I clean up the "leftovers", and I can finish the coop (an anniversary present from hubby!). I'm excited, this is really the first time I've had an "official" area for my chickens and turkeys.
Along the front of the pen, I transplanted my chives seedlings, the area gets full sun and they should do well there. I also planted some lemon basil seeds.

The turkey feathers, along with all of the chicken feathers are a result of wing clipping to try to keep them in the pen, it didn't work, it will need a top.

I have to get the rototiller back in the garden. With all the rain, and trying to get this pen done before we leave for our vacation, the weeds have taken over. There's nothing yet to be harvested, but the weeds do need to be eliminated.

So, before we leave IN ONE WEEK (diving and family reunion in Mexico)!!!! I'll get the chicken coop done, the pen covered and the garden de-weeded.

When I get back it will need to be done all over again!

We currently have a house resident (one of our "kids") who is staying with us, she'll take care of the farm while we're gone. It's so nice to have kids that know how to run a farm, so we can get away once in awhile. There isn't any of our kids who couldn't keep the farm running, summer or winter, keep the house warm, start up the generator if we lose power, or basically just take care of stuff if we need them too, that's a big security thing! These kids definitely have survival skills! Which is a great comfort with what the economy is doing to us.

Now, to see how well The Mouth does at "the touching up of the roots" before we leave! They seem to be growing out and not looking quite so summery as they did before. I had hoped that the summer highlights would kick in by now, but not so much. Oh well, it will be another blonding episode!

Thinking now, with the chickens penned up I'm going to need to maybe find another barn cat or two, I'm thinking the snakes will start to show up. We'll see.

In Which Ter Gets Blonded!

So, I thought it would be fun to go "Sun Kissed" with my mousy brown hair. Now that the sun is starting to make an appearance in N. Mich, and being as how my daughters are all (well 3 out of 4)are blonde, just thought it would be fun.

Enter The Mouth.

And her Frosting Kit.

And her "If Someone Else Can Do It So Can I" attitude. Hmmmm, wonder where she got that? She's an ologist, I've mentioned that before, however "Cosmet" doesn't fit in front of the ologist in her world.

So we blonded, Mother and Mouth, in our special kind of way. It was special. Very special. And fun, I always have fun with my kids (like the Snow Day incidents, where.... never mind, another day for that one). 3 out of 5 of them are blonde, and well, of the three, three of them are, well, blonde. The other two, dark, dark brown, I tell you, it's all or nothing with this group. But come to think of it the dark brown 2 are blonde also.

I got sidetracked again, imagine that!

So, back to the blonding, The Mouth cut foil, parted hair, pasted frosting, and repeated for the better part of a half hour. When it was all said and done, we waited the appropriate time and rinsed, and shampooed, and did the conditioning rinse thing. Then she combed and towel dried and NEVER SAID A WORD!!! Well, then, must not be too bad. Until I looked! And saw

PATCHES!!!

PATCHES!!! Of Blonde. Along with some really cool streaks, but PATCHES!! O.M.G! Part of me was streaky and part was chunky. It was actually kind of cool except for the patch over my bald spot that made it look, well, a lot bigger.

But with some "creative" blow drying and combing, she made it all better. Apparantly she's experienced with this type of hair-tastrophe, a little tidbit she neglected to reveal before she started with the cutting of foil, parting of hair, and pasting of frosting. It's all good, until it rained this morning. Oh well, I've got no-where to go except work so.....

You're still waiting for the Snow Day Incident to be told aren't you? Ok, just a quick one. I like to play with my kids, they are fun little creatures, it's all what you make it actually, Back when I was working part time, and my schedule was very very flexible, like if I didn't want to work that day it was all good (good job if you can get it), there was a time

a few times

Ok, it happened about once a month or so, when it would snow, really hard. Us hardy types up here are used to that, we expect it, and are dissapointed when The Snows Do Not Come". Well, one such morning, or maybe more than one, it snowed really hard. Not hard enough to call off school but a lot, and little creatures, being fairly trusting that their mother would only have their best interest in mind, believed me when I told them they had a snow day, and I stayed home from work, and we played out in the snow all day. That actually went on for quite awhile, probably 3 or 4 times a winter, until they started to catch on. They're blonde, it took them awhile, and in the meantime, education isn't all about sitting in a classroom, it's also watching snow fall, studying snowflakes, making snow angels, studying the logistics of a toboggon whipping along behind a truck in the fields, stuff like that. And it was fun. And it was good. And it was a long time ago, and I've grown up now, so no fair sending the truant officers after me! Besides, they'd have to find me, and my driver's lisence picture shows an old brown hair lady, not a sun streaked kid! They'll never find me!