Getting Ready

My lack of blogginess lately is not a sign that I've taken up slothfulness in my retirement. Quite the opposite. I don't have those long stretches of nothing to do that I used to have at work, times when I could ponder what to say. My days have been wall-to-wall work. This last month Bob and I have been trying to get the homestead organized so we can leave for a while and go to Hawaii.

Take a look.

We don't have many chickens, but they were in an assortment of pens that Bob made when he was in 4-H. With the constant threat of raccoon raids, they were not providing our chickens with a safe place to live. We decided to build something better.

Bob and Nick (who helped build the Pigeon Inn last year) started the project over a month ago.

Bob and I immediately started arguing whether the floor should be dirt or wood. Bob wanted a dirt floor because it was easier and cheaper. I wanted wood because dirt is, well, dirty. It's easier for me to keep pens clean when I can sweep them. I don't handle a shovel very well, and especially not inside a 4 ft x 4 ft pen. I finally won the argument when I asked, "Would you prefer that I clean the pens myself or bitch at you continuously until YOU do it?"

Partially constructed, with walls and floors in place. I painted both sides of all the wood. It took 4 gallons of paint. Why paint a chicken house? Because it's easier to control mites if they can't hide in the unfinished wood. Also the pen weathers much better.

The project slowed down when it came to putting on the doors and the wire. Home Depot and Lowes don't carry what we wanted. There are no decent farm supply stores left in Sacramento county. Why? Because there are no decent farmers left who need supplies. Poultry supplies, that is. And the ones who are here go to Woodland or down the valley to San Joaquin county, where there is a higher percentage of farmers and other rural people. I finally found what we needed in Galt.

Bob finished the pen and I added the chickens.

The chickens are happy, and hopefully safe.

I wasn't in the back yard arguing with Bob all the time. While he was sleeping until noon every day (grrrr), I was working in the front yard. I haven't planted anything new in a while because new plants need daily care, and I didn't want to leave that for Katherine, who will be housesitting. The front yard is very tidy.

The back yard, on the other hand, is a very wild place. The shrubs and the Four O'Clocks have taken over. The lawn gets mowed once a week, but it looks more like a sheep pasture.

The pigeons like it that way. They play in the water and relax in the grass. Sometimes the whole flock of 19 adults is out there, like flying sheep. Here are a couple of them.

There will be 5 of us going to the big island, Hawaii. We're staying near Hilo for half the time, then on to the Kona side for the remainder. Of course I'll take my camera and my laptop so the rest of you can be with us, too. My main goal, though, is to relax and enjoy and come back ready to start in a new direction, getting ready for the rest of my life.