Friday, May 9, 2014

The Kids Moved Out

The last two days have been a whirlwind.

The kids are moved out and into their new home.  I was at a mad wobble this morning putting the finishing touches in place. 
DH calls it the Chicken Taj Mahal.  See that big wall?  I think it calls for a Barn Quilt. As soon as I mentioned it a big piece of metal 3ft by 3 ft showed up courtesy of DH, all prepped and primed.   Notice that they also have a covered porch?  Yes I know there is stuff on the porch and there is no run yet, but the kids are too small to play outside for a couple of months.

I ran their temporary electricity from the garage, into the woodshed and up through the rafters and out to their palace.
Opened their bag of bedding.  Yep that is one huge bag of bedding and believe me they did not need all of it.  See that board to the left?  That is their space for a while until they are a wee bit bigger.  That area is filled with 2 inches deep of bedding and this is what was extra. Which is plenty for this area when we are ready to let them have some more space  after they grow up a little bit.
Got their food, grit and water set up. 
And their light, and if you look really close you see the little fluff balls in there.  They were running, and hopping and were like a bunch of kids let loose to play in a huge area.  The last time I checked they were moving the bedding all over the place and were down to the bare floor in some area.  Kids!  Sheesh!
DH worked hard getting this prepped for them. See that area up under the roof?  We put a ceiling in the enclosed part, and it is filled with R19 insulation, and you can see the walls those are wood, metal and foam insulated panels which are about 3 inches thick.  I think they will keep cozy even during a brutal Michigan winter. 

Remember the previous post I was going to try to get my garden in, flower beds weeded?  Well....

I hit the nursery yesterday and this is my haul.
I bought yet another blueberry so that the one single one which keeps surviving can have a friend.  The others got too cold obviously when we had our late snow a couple of weeks ago.  I actually got it planted today and watered.

I have tomatoes, zucchini, summer squash, holly hocks, lupine, foxglove, astilbe, butterfly bush, heliotrope, a couple of hanging baskets one for the MIL and another for the ancient aunt, lavender, wooly thyme, and  lamium.  A couple of annuals. but mostly perennials. 

Unfortunately while DH may be a techtard I am a farm implement challenged individual and I cannot get the mini tiller going to help with the weeds in the flower bed. I tried to go low tech and get one of those dandelion weeders but after stopping at 3 stores I could not find one so I was trying to go more aggressive. 

Then the rain came, which put a real damper on my plans. :(










5 comments:

  1. My friend bought some flowers while we were shopping, they look like yours that are very brightly colored on right. What are they called and are they annuals or perennials?

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  2. Wow! You are my farm woman hero!

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  3. Your little chicks got quite an up-town chicken coop! When we had chickens in northern Montana we were told to sprinkled a little cayenne pepper on their feed in the winter. It was supposed to help keep them warm. They survived the winter and their accommodations weren't as nice as what your chicks have. I can't wait till I can get some plants. I won't be until after June 1.

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  4. Hi Colette! Looks like you are busy as usual! I look forward to hearing more about the chickens as that is something that I know nothing about! Your plants are pretty. I bought some this week too, some purple and blue annuals and a coworker gifted me some more hosta. If it stops raining here I will plant them too. Have a nice Mother's Day!
    Nancy

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  5. We have two more weeks here at the mission and then we'll be heading home - I have big plans for my flower beds and my "garden" (pots on my deck). :) blessings, marlene

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