Visitors from abroad

Sophy and Polly and Martha have come to visit!  (Well, they came to See America, but have chosen Flint over things like, oh, the Grand Canyon, to stop in on their relatives.)  Here's the RV they hired:

(It's got a TV and everything!  And its own private lake(s).)  Here they are sitting on our sofa:

And here they are this morning eating at Flint's Finest Coney Island, Starlite Diner:

...and sampling the wares at Flint's Farmers' Market:

The Duck Who Wouldn't Share

Since the notorious Night of the Possum, we have been locking up the small birds in our garage. That was one thing when each chick and duckling was the size of a small grapefruit but now the chicks are as big as small turkeys and the ducklings are almost full size ducks. (Never mind the smell they make each night.) It would be nice to toss all the ducks into the duck house, which is certainly MORE THAN BIG ENOUGH for them but, unfortunately, this guy (pictured below) begrudges sharing: he won't share his food, he won't share his pond, he won't share his yard, and I am certain he won't share his house.

So I slapped together this divide and attached it to the middle of the duck house. The idea is that we toss the ducklings on one half, Pretzel in the other, and then--quick!--slam the door shut. They will be able to see the other half, but not touch (so no butt biting, which is what Pretzel does when given half the chance to get within nipping range of the ducklings).  If any are alive to tell the tale tomorrow, then it was a success.

The plan is that eventually, all the ducks will be such great pals, that they can share the yard, the food bowls AND the house and then we can remove the divider.  Hope springs a turtle!

Coop finished!

So today's task is attaching a summer door (without windows such as Coop 1 has, this coop needs ventilation in the hot times) that keeps the possums and raccoons out, and the chickens in.

I made it yesterday and it took about 24 hours for the paint to dry, since it's been raining non-stop since Friday.  Amazingly, it fit into the door frame despite the fact that I measured once and cut once.

Note nifty hinges, handle and lock all expertly attached to the door frame.

And, just to prove the nay-sayers wrong, here the door is open thereby showing that the door can both open AND close.

Only one thing left to do: the outside cedar shingles to keep the rain and snow out.  The chicks don't know yet that this is their new sleepy time home.  So the plan is to let them tumble into their usual giant black tub and, instead of carrying them to the garage to keep them locked up away from possums, we will grab them one at a time and toss them into the coop and then, quick as a wink, slam the door shut before they all flap out like terror crazed chick a doodles.

Coop stage 4

Although the finish line is near, there is still a lot to do. And none of it particularly exciting. Once the major design decisions are made, the final bits are kind of tedious.  There is the tin roof.  I'll spare all photos of the slices I have on my legs and arms from the razor sharp edges.

Interior of the roost.  All these paints are left over from some other house project.  Inside I see: upstairs bathroom drawers, Frederick's dresser drawer knobs, Thomas's cloud room paint, Thomas's library room shelves (the ones that got hauled away to the end of the driveway a few months ago).  The roost bars are closet clothing rods.

Finished painting and added a nesting box (door frame painted with leftover paint from Thomas's library and the nesting box leftover from paint that WAS the color of Thomas's library).

See?  Green nesting box.

Sinead's latest haircut

Terrible photo but in my defense, I was crammed inside the chicken coop, trying to install roost bars and Sinead was zipping around outside the coop door. She ran back and forth several times, peeping inside the coop each time--desperately curious about all that I was doing, but not daring to slow down lest I grab her and pull out a few head feathers. I took several photos of her, but the others were just a blur. She clearly has some head feather fuzz going on, which is good. She doesn't look so obviously like a lobotomy patient anymore, and is starting to look like a real chicken.

I don't know if she is simple or not, but she is definitely not like the others. The other eight flop into a neat heap and preen their feathers or take quick naps, while Sinead wanders aimlessly around the coop, seeminly oblivious that she is the only chicken awake. Then she suddenly realizes, is gripped with fear, and then runs top speed to join the others, flopping right in the middle of the heap, snuggling down deep into the pile, the chicken version of kids hiding under a blanket so the monsters can't see them. This fuss terrifies the others, who wake with a start and jump up, flap about desperate to figure out who is attacking them. They jump around, so then Sinead jumps around, they disperse...and then a bit later the other eight all settle back down into a napping heap while Sinead wanders off, following flies or chipmunks. Then the whole cycle starts up again.

The Big Five-O

Happy Birthday to me (Simon)!

Thank you to all you gift-givers!

Coop II, part 3

And so, despite horrific heat and humidity, the work continues...

Here, I am starting on the roof.  We've been promised much needed rain every day for the past two weeks, so I thought I ought to get it started.  Of course, no rain has yet arrived and now last week's storm has been pushed off until Wednesday or even Saturday.  Perhaps we'll never get rain again?  Well, regardless, the chicks will have a roof:

And there it is, a much simpler design than Coop 1, and so easier to make.

And now the face of the coop.  It's a lot less attractive than Coop 1, which featured glass block windows.  But, those were free and I have no more so there you go.  So, rather than fancy glass, I've decided to give these chicks a fancy decorative lintel above the door.  But that's getting ahead of ourselves...

Here is the aluminum flashing flooring--a brain wave if ever there was one, which I had when making Coop 1.  It makes cleaning out the coop a BREEZE.  If I ever get done with Coop 2, I am going to do updates to the duck house and a new aluminum floor will be the first thing I do.

Inside the coop:  Unlike ducks, chickens need roosting bars so here are bar supports.  I'm going to paint the inside of the coop later today and, once the paint is dry (which will take a while since it is very humid today--have I mentioned that the weather is miserable lately?) I'll attach the roost bars, which will finish the interior.

All that remains (structure-wise), is the door frame and the door, complete with a handle, hinges and a latch (possum proof, preferably).  And then move in day.  After they move in, and no longer have to be schlepped back and forth to the garage every night and morning, I can continue to work on the siding and shingles for the roof.  It's relatively peaceful work with the chickens checking up on me every time I do anything.  They have learned to tolerate the drilling and hammering noise, which alarmed them at first.  They also keep a keen on on all changes I make.  The second I leave the chicken run to get something from the garage, they all gather round, pop in and out of the coop (or under, or behind, or around) to see what the latest it all about.  The idea was that the young chicks could move into this house, thus leaving the oldsters to the old coop, in relatively peace.  But the old ones seem to prefer the new coop and all the chicks have been popping in and out of the old coop, tossing about the straw, and giving the nesting boxes a test run.  As long as all hens end up in at least ONE coop every night, and so long as there is no fighting or feather pulling, I don't really care where anyone goes.

New boat

 Using an electric pump connected to the cigarette lighter to pump it up.

 I carried the boat, Frederick carried the paddle.

 Down to the lake.

 Off we go!

 This is the life!

At the beach.

Halfway house for the ducklings

Coop II contd.

Ok, stage 2: time to get the inner walls and floor done.  That isn't an old rag in front of the coop, that's a black chick with white spots.  That's the one that looks more like a guinea fowl than a chicken.

Insulation, to keep their little chicken toes warm in winter.

I had to lay towels down when I was working inside the coop because whenever I went back to the garage to get something (which seemed to happen increasingly as the temps and humidity levels rose during the morning) the chickens would race into the coop and crap in it.  I now know why calling someone a "chicken shit" is really, really insulting: much worse than dog or cat shit.

And there it is, a floor.  Not the final floor, no sirree!  They are going to get flashing on the floor for easy clean up.  (Because crapping is all they do.)

See?  There one is, claiming the entire box as her own.  If they had their way, I'd be making 12 coops, one for each.  

Dinosaurs (with feathers! and cars!)

As long-time readers will know, the Sloan Museum periodically gets a visit from a traveling dinosaur exhibit.  Both our boys have enjoyed this at various stages in their lives (when Thomas was little, their animatronic savagery was a little much).  Well, it's come back, new (feathers!) and so expanded that it won't fit in the museum.  Fortunately, a nearby mall is still mostly empty following the crash of 2008 so there's plenty of room there.  Room enough to add the contents of the Buick Gallery, currently being refurbished. 

Various Summery Scenes

I just did a camera (phone) dump and here are some of the pictures that have been sitting on my phone for the past few weeks:

Grand Blanc Commons

The line of cars waiting to get into Seven Lakes one particularly sweltering weekend (so far our only lake swim - more to come no doubt)

Emily's car emerging from the grassy road down to her family's lakeside property (where Frederick spends a lot of time - he's certainly had plenty of lake swims without me).

People fishing in front of the newly-created (by finally demolishing a very old, long-condemned dam right next to UM-Flint campus) weir.  I can't believe people eat those fish - this is the Flint River, after all.