Mini Golf - Part Deux

We went miniature golfing again today...Any guesses on who won? That's right...he won. Again. Let's tally the number of games won by me vs. him over the last 12 years....

Me - 1
Him - 1, 797

Something is very wrong here in paradise...

And today...today...I dressed in black (photo above is from our first game when I brought home a respectable score), picked out a black golf ball, and a black putter...And then I made my family refer to me as...

The Intimidator

Right...turns out the only one who was intimidated was my golf ball...who seemed to be terrified of the tiny plastic cup at the end of each putting green. That has to be the reason I was unable to get no less than five strokes for nearly every single hole. I played so badly today that I was nearly beaten by our four year old, who managed a hole in one. Yes...four years old...a hole in one. Child must take after his Father...

I'm breaking up with both of them and moving to a lush golf course where I'll spend my days sipping iced tea while trying to improve my golf scores and putting abilities...

The Finished Coop

My goodness, it's been ages since I've posted here on the 'ol chicken blog! The month of August has been busy, busy, busy....I'm not really sure what it's been busy with but I must have been doing something important to be this behind on everything in my life, including blogging! We did have a busy two weeks preparing for the wedding of a friend's daughter (more on that later, along with photos of my most handsome son, who was the ring bearer) and it seems that the work load has increased three-fold...then there's the picking of veggies that simply must be canned this week, the prepping of school work (AAHHHHH!!! I'm not ready for school yet!) for the kids, and keeping up with my never ending pile of craft projects. OK...I guess I get what I've been busy with...

That said, I'm really behind on posting photos of our babies, who are now just about full grown and should be starting to practice their art of egg laying in a few weeks. (One has already started to check out the egg box and sing her "I just laid an egg" song...seriously...they cluck a little song after they lay an egg...it's pretty funny...Google it...)

As you can see from the first picture, the coop is completely finished (with the exception of that pesky door still being unpainted...are you that type of person that throws themselves into a project 110% and then never finishes the last little bit...I am...I think my husband might be too...No wonder we never finish anything around here...Good grief, I can't even finish a sentence without interrupting myself!!) Now what was I saying?

Seriously folks, my hubby did an amazing job with the coop and I love the finished product. I think the girls are pretty happy as well! And I really like that the coop fits in so well with our existing barn. Even from the other side, it looks great, nothing trashy about it...Oh, I mean the deflated dirty pool, overgrown vegetable garden, bikes in the driveway, and chickens running around the yard looks trashy...but not that coop, it's like the Taj Mahal baby!
Here are the girls on their first night in the coop...notice how clean everything is? It doesn't stay that way...Chickens produce more poop then a herd of cows...I'm sure of it...And did you know that chickens are kind of like lemmings? Once they see one chicken do something, the rest just follow suit. Want to teach them to climb the ladder into their sleeping quarters...Just push one up the ladder and the others will follow. And then the smart ones like to teach the "simple" ones to do bad things like eat the veggies from my garden...when I'm not looking. I know they know what they're doing because all I have to do is step out onto the porch and say in a stern voice, "Chickie-Egg...what are you doing?" Up pops the head, out comes a big 'ol cluck, and she's outta there! She knows better!! Heck, these birds might be better trained than my kids!
The chickens have two areas in their coop, the run where they hang out and smoke cigarettes...Nooo...they're chickens after all. But they do hang out in the run, drink some water, wallow in the dirt, and stand close to the door, 16 little beady eyes staring at the house, willing us to come outside and let them out of their little jail. We have decided to let them free range (oh, that sounds so PC doesn't it) for most of the day. They do a great job of eating bugs (and my veggies, those scoundrels!) and wandering into the neighbors lawn and porch. The neighbors haven't yelled at us yet but I'm wondering how long it's going to take before they realize the poop they keep finding on their deck doesn't belong to the dog.
And the second area is where they roost, or sleep, during the night. Here's Brownie (always the first to turn in) getting settled down for the night. We think Brownie is the top chicken. She runs a tight ship and what she says goes. Once she waddles into the roost, the other little chickadees are never far behind. The other chickens try to force Brownie off of her end spot on the roost by putting down their little chicken heads and pushing her right off the edge. (The WWF have nothing on these birds) This goes on for a few minutes until she puts the smack down on them...then they all fall in line, say their prayers, and close their eyes like good little chickens.

We (I use the term "we" very loosely) are thrilled that the coop is finished! A lot of hard work went in to getting it done and I couldn't be more proud of my husband for doing so much research to figure out what needed to be done and how to do it...He can be a real go-getter, that hubby of mine...Think I'll keep him around for another few years...Goodness know someone has to get up early and gather all those eggs!

Snapshots from Everyday Life

Who needs a pool when you have a plastic storage bin and a hose?

Country Kids

All that's missing it a pitchfork....

One of Beanie's favorite activities, snuggling with a chicken in the big green chair.

And how about those boots? They were just gifted to us by some friends....they are the perfect farm boots and I can't wait to get myself a pair! Do you think I can get them in a 3" heel?

How about this look? Winter boots....on the wrong feet...with a stern, "nooooo, don't take my picture!" look...Perfect!

Talkin' Chickens

It takes a special man to love a chicken...

"Ah, the humans...I have them right where I want them."

Mini Golf

On Monday we had one of those days...those fabulous summer days filled with beautiful weather, open windows, early risings, swimming lessons, picnics, and mini golf.

Nothing has been more exciting for me than to enjoy being with our boys now that they're older and able to participate in more family outings, able to stay up later at night, able to refrain from melt downs, and able to go without pull-ups (that's big people, big!)

And nothing was more enjoyable than taking our boys to a mini golf course for the first time in their lifes. The weather was simply perfect, cool breezes, no humidity, just amazing. The course was filled with waterfalls, park-like spots, gazebos, painted benches, and beautiful landscapes. It was the perfect end to a nearly perfect day...Carter, one who is normally a perfectionist, did a fantastic job at just hanging out and enjoying the experience. He even did a pretty good job at getting the ball in the cup, sometimes right on par. (Is that the right golf language? All I know about golf I learned from a mini golf course...that's telling, isn't it?) He managed to do well even though he held the club in a most unusal way, as seen above. He was quite sure this was the proper way to hold the club....actually...

Cooper decided it was much more fun to just run around the greens and walkways. We did get him to try to hit the ball a few times...He felt it was better to put the ball just a few inches from the cup and then hit it in, after which he's raise the club in the air and shout, "Yes, I did it!" It was precious.

Here's Dad giving advice on the best route for the ball. He did this at each of the 18 holes we played and Carter listened intently. And then he proceeded to hit the ball frequently, any 'ol crazy way, until he made it all the way down the green. Thanks for listening son!

Mama and her boys...Aren't they the cutest things in the whole wide world? :-)

And PS I love mini golf; came in second; was beat by my husband; again; he's evil. OK, not really...but we've been married for 12 years and I've only beat him once at a game...once...sigh...One day my time will come...one day...

Here's a partial veiw of the course...it was wonderful. Big hills, through trees and over bridges....loved it!
We ended the evening with an ice cream...The boys had a cup and it appears that I had a gallon of ice cream...piled on top of a cone. I whined that there was simply too much ice cream on my cone, "who eats this much ice cream?" I asked my husband when he brought me my cone.

Turns out...I do...

Hello Weight Watchers...do you have room for one more?

Life in the Chicken Coop

or maybe this should be called the chicken castle or perhaps Trump Chicken 'cause the chicken coop project has taken many more hours and dollars that anticipated and has turned into one big structure. (Of course one should probably consider these things before running out and purchasing EIGHT chickens!!)

My husband is never one to do things half way. New hobby? He'll find every message board that supports said hobby, find complete strangers to talk to about said hobby, expend time, money, and energy into said hobby, and basically eat and breathe said hobby.

New chickens? Same rules.

He's now the master of all of the new chicken message boards, has downloaded numerous chicken coop designs, and has poured over every detail of how much space is needed for said chickens, how much ventilation is required in said coop (who knew this was an important detail), where the food should go, the water, how much water, how about kind of soil they poop in...goodness, that must be important!

Sometimes all these little details and his obsession over knowing all of them make my little head spin...

But you know what...

I love that about him...

I love that he finds ways to truly understand what's needed and required because if it was left up to me those poor poultry vittles would have been sheltering in a cardboard box with a few holes punched in the lid!

That said, I'm behind in posting details about our sweet chicks so these photos were taken from a few weeks ago. The coop is actually now just about complete and the girls have made a nice home in their castle...err...coop. These photos are from the first few days that we took them out in the yard to let them play in their new run. Yes, yes, chickens need playdates too!

Here they are first thing in the morning...You should see them when you let 'em lose in the yard. They just about lose their chicken heads...oh, maybe that's not a good visual. They love being outside and did you know that chickens eat all kinds of bugs? They're great for eating ticks, mosquitos, etc. I wonder how they'd do with a NY cockroach? Ehh...they wouldn't stand a chance, those babies can strip a car in under three minutes.

This is Peck (have I told you the name of our chickens? Let's see...There's Brownie (she's the chicken who thinks she's a dog....that's for another post), Peck, Blackie, Chickie-Egg (our youngest named that one), Parmesan, Catchatori, Potpie (yes, we have a warped sense of humor), and Jump. Anyway, Peck is a Black Cochin and although she doesn't look so hot here, she's going to be one pretty chicken when all of her feathers come in.

And here's Brownie, soaking up the sun and a whole lotta dirt. Turns out chickens love to not only dig in the dirt but they kind of like to wallow around in it too...must be that whole living on a farm thing. They do this funny thing with their leg...they push it far out behind them while stretching out a wing and rolling on one side. If you didn't know any better (and I didn't) you'd think they were having a heart attack. Thankfully, one of my other chicken-loving friends had warned me about this quirky behavior so there wasn't any alarm. (For any of you who know me well, you know I'm prone to being easily alarmed!)

And here are the boys enjoying their new pets...They adore spending time with the chickens and holding them and so far the chickens seem patient with being picked up. No one has been aggressively pecked yet so I think we're in good shape.

Our oldest is allergic to cats, dogs, flowers, pollen, trees, mold, just about anything with life in it so chickens have been good pets. So far we've had no evidence of him having a chicken allergy, although I suspect that if we still have chickens when he's old enough to scoop poop that he'll insist that his allergies are "acting up."

I'll be back soon with photos of the completed coop and new chicken photos...wait until you see how grown up they are! I think I saw one of them trying to hot wire the car last weekend...troublesome teenagers...

Talkin' Chickens

What chickens from New York say,
"You talkin' to me? 'Cause I don't think you're talkin' to me..."

How to Build a Chicken Coup

Step One: Remove carpet from yard.

I know, you're asking yourself, "why do those people have carpet buried in their backyard?" Well let's consider some possible scenarios...

1) "Hey, honey! Let's put an addition on the back of our barn...we'll start with the carpet!"

2) An experiment with indoor/outdoor carpet that went horribly wrong.

3) Green shag carpeting is cheaper than astroturf.

4) A great way to kill weeds!

5) All of the above

Think you know the answer?

The truth is, as we understand from the folks that built our house, it's less expensive to bury carpet in your backyard (and hey, it might help kill the weeds too!) then it is to throw it out. See here in the backwoods of New England, you have to pay money to the town to throw out certain items (and you can only throw out those items once a year). I thought I paid taxes so someone else would not only throw out my trash but also pick up whatever I throw out. Turns out that only happens in NY, if you've got the right connections...

Here's the pile of carpet we (notice how I included myself in this sentence) unearthed from the chicken coup area. You know what's scary...There's more carpet, a lot more carpet, buried in our backyard. At this point, we're not going to dig it up...Turns out carpet doesn't really kill weeds but it provides a lovely walking experience when one is outside minus shoes.
My husband...he's a hard worker and he worked on the chicken coup from 8am 'til dinner time. And I was right there in the trenches with him. Digging up carpet, cutting wood, using a hammer and nails...

Reading a book on my iPod...But I was reading right there in the direct sun...Without sunscreen!!Talk about dangerous...

Starting the chicken coup was hard work but someone had to do it....Good thing my husband married such a hard worker, who is so willing to jump right into any manual labor task!!

PS - I should note that we actually know the folks who built our house and they're lovely people...even if they did bury carpet in the backyard.

Here's How it Started...

I'm from New York (not originally but I'll never tell you otherwise)...

Just a few years ago I had what many would call 'big' hair...(it worked in NY)

From the time I was 19 until I was 31, I worked at the same company...

And then...I moved to Massachusetts....

I met my husband while out to lunch with friends from work (his brother was one of my friends...heck, he still is a friend)...

We got married five months later...

And then...We moved to New Hampshire...

We had two children...

We got eight chickens...

And I don't know anything about chickens...well except for what I learned while watching Looney Tune cartoons as a child. Remember Foghorn Leghorn, the chicken hawk? Priceless people, priceless...

I mentioned to my husband the other night, as we discussed just how in the world we were going to house eight chickens, that I was surprised chickens didn't sleep in their nests. Turns out they sleep in roosts and only lay eggs in their nests. WHAT??!! "That's not possible", I said. "The chickens in the Foghorn cartoons always slept in their nests..."

That, my friends, sums up how much I know about chickens...

This is a blog to document our adventures in owning chickens, planting a vegetable garden, living in what I consider the woods of New Hampshire (ok, the main highway is only 10 minutes away but it takes me a half hour to get to the mall!!), and the transformation of my hair into something short, straight, and oh so New England.