I'm Just a Girl With a Chainsaw

Nothing seems to be a better distraction for me than revving up the chainsaw and getting some work done.  

Last year a tree that was leaning towards the house slowly leaned further and further.  Eventually it landed on the roof.  It had been held up by grape vines and over time they just loosened.  I got onto the roof and cut the end of the tree off while two people stood on the ground with a rope around the tree pulling it so that it would fall away from the house.

Once it was down I was able to cut it up more.  Unfortunately, the pictures I had of this feat have disappeared.

This is the area where the tree was.  The shed is long gone, but the tree was just to the left of it.

I finally got outside last week and chopped down another tree that had been bent under the weight of the fallen tree and then chopped up all of the trunks and branches into bonfire sized pieces.

The tree I chopped down now because it was ruined by the fallen tree

Crazy vines hanging from trees and holding everything up

Our wood pile

I'm not sure if it is just knowing that I am able to accomplish these "man" tasks... Or the power behind the machine... Or the fact that while it is running I can't hear anyone yelling "Mom!!!!  He touched me!!!  He looked at me!!!  Mom!!!!" so it's a nice break :)

In any case, I love any chance I get to use the chainsaw.

Watch out for falling branches (that your mother sets on top of you for good pictures)

Happy Holidays

Santa (or HanuKlaus) brought the animals gifts...

It only took her a day to tear this apart and leave stuffing in every room of the house

She is tearing apart a reindeer stuffed animal

There is a small bone on the carpet, blends in a bit

And for the chickens....

Yes, it says Chicken Crack

And the chickens will love these

 I actually opened the window and threw out a couple handfuls of the mealworm to them...

The goats got new collars.  They each say:

I AM A PET

(_____name____)

(phone number)

Not a very good picture, my renter posted it on her FB page and I just took it from her

The Discovery

This is a follow up to a post a week or so ago about the teenager sneaking off.

Mr. Sam was yelling to me from his yard.  I headed over there and he walked me over to a pile of dead tree branches and pointed.  This is what I saw.

Then I leaned in closer...

Buffy is a little booger.  There were 7 eggs in that pile.  I collected them all and brought them home.  

We haven't caught her sneaking over there anymore, but I will need to go check if there are any more eggs there.  She may have snuck over without being caught.

It's like having a teenage girl

This is my favorite bird...

We eat the Dronet Secret Family Recipe of Sweet Potatoes Too!!!

Buffy is a Buff Orpington.  She was one of the purebred birds we bought from the fair.  She was the first girl to eat out of my hand and she's always been the first one to run over to me when she sees me.

The birds always stick together - either as one big group or split into 2 or 3 groups, but I've never caught one alone.

Until last weekend.  Buffy was 50 feet away from me and then suddenly she was gone.  Because of the fox issues, I was scared.  I searched for 20 minutes and couldn't find any sign of her.  I finally came inside and tried looking up information online.  I kept thinking that something must have snatched her up, but why didn't it or she make any noise???

I told the kids and Jennifer what happen and we went back outside to search for her.  About twenty minutes into this search Johnathon yelled that he saw her coming out of the trees from the direction of our one neighbor's place.  Sure enough she came skipping out of the trees, alone, and unharmed.

I gave her a stern talk (no really I did) and wanted to just grab her and hug her, but birds don't let you do that.

Today I went out to give the birds some treats and realized that I hadn't seen her.  I counted the birds and there were a couple missing so I thought they must be in the coop laying eggs or around the corner in the dirt.  Awhile later I still didn't see them all so I went looking and found two, but was still missing Buff.

This time I just headed straight through the trees to the neighbor's place calling her.  Sure enough I was almost to the opening of the trees at his yard and she was coming towards me.

There is about 400 feet from his house to mine - so about 200-300 feet of trees and brush - it's not thick, especially with all the leaves being off trees and bushes.

I have no idea what she is doing.  I am wondering if she's going over there to lay eggs, but I'm not sure how or why she found a spot over there.  All I keep thinking is "it's like she sneaking off to see her secret boyfriend, like a teenager!" and I get upset with her :)

I looked around, but only for a second because I didn't want the neighbor to come out with a shot gun or just think I was crazy.   I figured I'd take some fresh eggs over tomorrow and ask if I could look around (after explaining why).  

Giving the goats something more

When I picked up all of those shipping crates I knew that I would make the goats an additional shelter.  I started building this towards the end of the coop project.

I've gotten much better at certain things so this was much faster.  I added the roof by using a piece off of another crate and reinforced the corners of the crate with 2 x 4s that would angle and support a roof.

I cut two different size doorways for a reason.  I was trying to give them more shelter from the wind and cold air and a small part of me hoped that the little ones would use the little door and the big one wouldn't be able to.

Kelly was already checking it out

I sealed the outside and the roof with wood sealer and I still want to add another piece of wood across the top of the doorways but I went back to working on the coop after I took these pictures.


The next day I put a piece of wood over the top half of the entry.  I decided (so far) not to cut the doors larger because the two smaller goats were able to get inside.  I'll wait to see if Jenny goes in later today.

Building another coop

Decided to put together information about how our chicken coop was built.  Our first one was made from the same material but was built the original way - horizontally.  I decided to make this one vertical for a variety of reasons.

First I found these huge shipping crates on Craigslist for $10 months ago.  When we went last time we could only fit one in the truck that I was using.

I found the man's phone number and called him asking if I could come buy some more from him and he agreed.  They were about an hour away

 

We were able to fit three of the large crates (they are over 6 feet long, 3 feet and 4 feet tall) on the trailer that I rented.  Then we fit a 3 foot by 3 foot crate at the back inside the last big one.  We also had some extra pieces of wood tucked in on the other side.  

This was the future coop.  By this point I'd removed the huge blocks of wood off the bottom by simply removing the entire bottom of the crate.  I installed some thick pieces of wood on the new bottom with wheels so I can move it into the goat pen easier and then flipped it up horizontally.

Got a new side put on where the former bottom was (took this off one of the other crates.)  And I painted it with wood sealer so that it can withstand the weather.

I added the nesting boxes that I made out of 3 gallon buckets from a dollar store and scrap pieces of wood. And I added three roosting bars.  I am worried about the top row of birds pooping down onto the lower birds so I may add a "poop bar" later.  A poop bar is a piece of wood that I would put under the roosting bar to catch the poop.  If I use linoleum or metal on it then it's easier to clean.

I sealed the floor but I am hoping to raise the floor a few inches.  Either by making the "floor" that they walk on be fencing so everything falls through and I just have to clean out the very bottom, or by actually making the floor higher and thicker than it currently is.

What's For Breakfast?

Collected all of these from the coop this morning....

Made these for breakfast....

Good Morning

Took these pictures last week when I went out to the coop.  

Yes those are Christmas lights in the coop.  

Yes the birds are a bit crowded so the new coop is going in today.

You want me to do WHAT?

The goats never got better after the last vet visit so they had to come out again.

The vet said that they needed a series of three shots - EACH.  They said they could come back each time and I would pay for it, or they could leave the shots with me.

They showed me how to give the shots and then left on their merry way.

I'm suppose to do this?!

That needle is HUGE!

I can't even hear stories about a paper cut!  I nearly pass out every time I donate blood!  I can't even look at a tooth that's fallen out!

Today was the second shot.  It took us a few minutes to catch the goats and then Jennifer helped to hold their heads still while I grabbed on to their skin and gave them the shot.

It was horrible.  I started feeling queasy and wasn't even sure if I could do them all.

Carrie was the last one and she's never tried so hard to get away from me before we even gave her the shot. After the shot she wouldn't even come near me.  It broke my heart.

There is no way that I can give the third shot to them.  I need to find someone else to come out and do this.

Down one rooster

Rooster (really, that's his name) has been getting more aggressive.  Based on everything I've read and been told, you simply can't have an aggressive rooster.  And by aggressive I mean that he is going after people.  Roosters can claw out eyes, rip open skin, and do some serious damage.

He went after me once a few weeks ago and I used the old-school method of chasing him right back until he backed down, and then chased him for a few minutes to embarass him in front of his girls.  He's left me alone ever since.

He's gone after Jeremiah but Jeremiah was too scared to chase him down and put Rooster in his place.

And then, this last week, Rooster went after me again.  He would not back down.  For a good 60 seconds I was swinging a stick at him and even kicking out at him trying to get him to just back away and stop trying to attack me, but he would not back down.  I finally got him to stop going after me and I chased him a bit to make my point.

Five minutes later, he was after me again.  I actually made contact kicking him (not hard, but enough to scare him and to try to protect myself) and he still wasn't backing down.  He actually went through my shoe and hit my foot with his beak at one point.

Rooster has to go.  :(

I'm looking for someone to take him and I'm not sure if he will become a member of a flock or a piece in a chicken soup, but I don't want to know.  Roosters aren't usually wanted for anything more than meat unless they are pure bred roosters so I have a feeling that's where he will end up.  That is a part of life, I do eat meat, I just feel bad that I knew him and named him and that's where he might end up.  :(