Cooped up

Things have been progressing with painting, sawing, cutting, fitting, hammering, etc, etc! The chicks arrive in six days and we're hoping to be done painting and making loud noises in the basement by then. I guess those fluffy little chick bodies can't handle it.

Here Jeremy is working on the window which will go in the south side of the coop. This is the awesome window we got for free from the ReUse Center.



Here is the inside of the coop as of today. The hole in the back wall is for the nest boxes. There will be some little doors on the outside so we can reach in and swipe out the eggs. The hole on the wall to the left is, of course, for the window. And the hole in the floor is where the chickens will be jumping in and out.



And here is Jeremy working away in the "workshop" (otherwise known as the garage):

Sew messy

It turns out I never told you all about my sewing room! I took all the photos in December and forgot to say anything. So, the story is, we have a second bedroom in our apartment that has been known by various names (depending on what we're looking for in the house, or the week, or the time of day): the library, the office, the guest room, the storage area, and so forth. We did have dreams for it to be an awesome library but all of this sewing has come up and we realized it would be a perfect room for that.

And my sewing mess all over the dining room (and having to move it all at least three times a day for meals) was driving me crazy!)



So, the mattresses were moved out of the guest room leaving a nearly blank canvas (there were still two bookshelves, a filing cabinet, and a dresser)...





Then we moved in a couple tables and voila! A sewing room:



I'm afraid over the past several weeks things have gotten messy and unorganized and disastrous! A couple weeks ago we did move the book cases out to the living room for more space, but it was still quite unorganized and messy...







So I convinced Jeremy to build me some shelves:



Yay - I love organizing!





So, what sewing have I been up to these days?

A doggie bed (doggie approved!):



A tie skirt for niece Claire:



And I took this corduroy jacket I got at Goodwill for probably less than $1...



...and turned it into a pretty cool bag (if I do say so myself):





And, if you notice the clothes rack in the last sewing room picture, that's a stack of mending I've been working on. I put the word out and in addition to making things like curtains, ottoman covers, dog beds, and whatever else, I'm also hemming, patching, sewing on buttons, and things like that. So, that's what I'm up to these days while Jeremy is in the coop...

Rain Day

It's suddenly gotten up above 30 (40 even!) and the piles of snow and ice everywhere are melting. There is nowhere for it to go so all the sidewalks and streets and yards have turned into lakes and rivers. It also rained today. Jeremy got a tarp over the coop so it's hard to see what's going on.

But, he got a moisture barrier in the floor and the floor in. It's very exciting. Progress!

Before and After

Remember that door Jeremy cut down to make the doors into the hen house? Jeremy wanted to paint them and I offered to sand and paint them so he could work on some other things.

I grabbed the first door and started sanding away. Lo and behold - it was a little white underneath! I thought it was just a grungy wood door, but it had been painted at some point in time. And then I thought, what if this just needs to be washed? So - I washed the door and that was about all it needed.



I kid you not - this is the same door!

I washed the other one, did some light sanding on the rough parts, and we got those painted yesterday. Jeremy spent a lot of time yesterday cutting some more wood and painting some parts that need to painted before they go in the coop.

I think we're about to have another explosion of progress on the coop. The weather is holding out for us too - lots of days in the 30s. Although this has made the whole area around the coop a wet, slushy, muddy mess.

all things chicken coop

The chicks will be here in 12 days and we're moving at a seemingly relaxed pace. Jeremy got the brooder mostly finished, with an adjustable light hanging over it. (Now we just have to find a different place for tools!)



Jeremy has also been working on the doors to the coop. We had a couple unused (unwanted) doors in the basement so he chopped one down. These will be access doors so we can open up the whole hen house and clean it out (oh joy).



And, work continues on the coop. Jeremy is painting some things in the basement (with a couple space heaters going to keep it at 50 degrees) since it's too cold outside still. Though, we have had several practically balmy days in the 30s. Ah glorious spring - I know you're on the way! (but I won't get my hopes up just yet)

Stalactites (of the non-cave dwelling variety)

This last one is hanging off our house and as you can see it's probably 7 or 8 feet long. I could see it easily while sitting by the windows on that side of the house. There was another, much larger one at the front of the house but it came off with an almighty crash a week or two ago. These icicles keep forming, breaking off, then reforming. I think they are quite beautiful.

Weekend chicken coop construction update

I was minding my business on Saturday, sewing or cleaning or something, while Jeremy was out working on the coop. He's been cutting wood and doing stuff in the garage, so I was quite amazed to look out the window and see this!



I took pictures as things progressed, but I didn't go outside so the pictures are a bit fuzzy since I took them through two panes of dirty window glass.





(nephew Adam came out to help for a little bit)


(this is today, Sunday.)


(putting up some studs for the hen house walls)

This was the best part of the day: Our neighbor across the alley heard Jeremy pounding away and she came over with her banjo and played us a chicken song she knew! It was great.