Eggstatic

So I'm pushing along, making good headway. Not going as fast as I had hoped, but making good progress. Today I was able to get the door up, some henhouse siding, and the front egg collecting door.  All of this was a little harder than anticipated. But I think it's looking pretty good. I think the ladies will like it.

T-shirt drying and Coop door building...............

Aaaahhhhhh. The good life.

I'm evolved.....I'm using power tools.

Kelly  +  3/4 Poultry hen staples +  Hammer x 2 = Serious Frustration.

So, I decided to take my brother's advice after attempt number two (insert swear words here) to nail the hardware cloth to the frame and bought an air compressor and a heavy duty staple gun.


I went to the Hardware store and said, " I need a heavy duty staple gun for hardware cloth and a chicken coop enclosure." The guy said,  "Oh yeah sure no problem. Right over here," pointing to the small manual household staple guns.  "No No I replied, "My brother said I need an air compressor with it."The guy looked at me wide eyed and said "oh ok. Follow me." And in the next thirty minutes I was hooked up with a new air compressor, a 100 foot extension cord, a new staple gun, and a box of 1 inch heavy duty staples. After reading about it and learning how to use it I gave it a little test drive today and I must say if it were human, I would marry it. It's amazingly fast and super easy to use.  I was able to finish all of the top and wrap the whole lower half with ease in about an hour. The whole time I was stapling I kept thinking about that hammer and those annoying poultry staples and I realized that this was the best idea my brother could've had. Seriously, if anyone out there is thinking of building a coop, consider buying a setup like this. You won't regret it.

 I have three days off this week and I know it sounds gutsy, but I am going to try to finish the chicken coop as long as the weather remains cooperative. Hopefully friday it will be complete!

Who's Excited?

I know I am. I knew Austin was awesome. They had a great article in the paper the other day that left me really inspired. I even joined the meet up group Austin Backyard Poultry. Austin's is the second largest in the country second to Atlanta.  As soon as we get back from NYC in a couple weeks............ Im getting the chicks.

T-shirts for a Cause

Well, Today i had the day off and while it was another gorgeous day, the kind to make all the worries of life fade away, I was busy in the studio. What? No chicken coop? That's right. I didn't have time today because I have another little project going that's near and dear to Claire and myself's heart (excuse the grammar, I was never one for english class in high school). This project is different. It  involves a little boy with a lung disease named Noah, Claire, our friend Maggie, lots of miles paced, worn out kicks, and lots of different sized T-shirts. Huh?


Claire and Maggie, God bless their feet, are running the NYC marathon. I remember when these two ran their first one together. I believe it was at mile 22 when both of them, hot, tired, and breathing rather deeply said, "I am never doing this ever again!" Fast forward a year and these crazy girls are going to run through all 5 boroughs in less than 5 hours, all while raising money and awareness for a pretty good cause.  You see our friend Noah is a toddler with cystic fibrosis. It is an inheritable lung disease that usually leads to death at an early age. Research is being done to hopefully find a cure so people who live and breathe everyday with CF can have a chance at a normal life. Claire and Maggie have teamed up with Team Boomer to help raise money so that research can continue.


So, what is this little project I have going on? T-shirts. Lots of them. I designed a T-shirt that encompasses a dragonfly, NYC, and some runners to signify the girl's marathon. Today I printed it and honestly I wasn't all that impressed with the results. I think I want to rework the design a bit and see if I can get some of the finer lines to show up. In the mean time here's a pic of the first design and first attempt.

I have watched Claire and Maggie train for this marathon for months and am excited to see them run in three weeks. They have worked so hard to get there and I couldn't be more amazed with the determination of both of them. Here's to you girls. Glasses in the air,  clinks all around (yes I clinked). Have a Good run. I will be cheering loud and proud!




http://www.firstgiving.com/clairewhitehead
http://firstgiving.com/maggiekeen

I thought I hated painting and trenching.......then came the chicken wire

I'm grumpy. Yup, that's right. Super Grumpy.
I had the day off today and figured since the weather is even more gorgeous than last week I would get a good day of work done on the coop. This morning was awesome. Nice Breeze. In keeping with the modern design of the coop I decided to paint it a dark grayish blue. The thing is, I hate painting. I will be the first to admit that I am an awful painter. I know I could be good at it if I didn't have the mentality of a slug when it came to spreading the color hue. By the time I'm done, it's everywhere. In my hair, on my legs, all over my clothes, Tate's nose. I don't know what it is but I have always found the dip dip, back and forth super challenging. Painting has always been my least favorite part of a project until I finally finished this morning and moved on to my new hated passion..................trenching.


Now, I know its important to protect the new ladies from predators here in the urban jungle. And I would by no means want to put my ladies in harm's way so I followed the tougher fork in the directions and decided to dig a foot deep trench around the coop so that the chicken wire goes down a foot deep and predators won't dig under the coop. I remembered seeing a fancy trench digger at the hardware store the other day and so this morning I ran there to get one...... $32.00.  No thank you. I will use my rusty dulled Target shovel before I spend money on something I'm only going to use once. Seriously, an hour and a half later and with a new posture resembling the Hunchback of Notre Dame I was done. After that, I felt like I would rather paint the Sistine chapel 30 times over than ever trench again. It was my new "I'm going to hire someone to do this next time" task until........................... the chicken wire.


"Seriously, why does this shit keep coiling up. UGH," I said to myself as I unraveled it for the thirteenth time.  I swore today. I swore a lot. First time really since starting this project. I had been productive today with framing the henhouse, painting the coop, and digging the trench. I don't know why I felt the need to delve into the chicken wire. I should have called it a night with the trench, poured myself a glass of wine, and been proud of my accomplishment for the day. Instead, I unraveled it for the thirteenth time, carefully measured it, bent it with precision as the directions said, and placed it up on the roof. But for some reason it didn't fit. Great. I wasn't about to cut it again. So I made it fit. At this point I was super annoyed and frustrated. Once again I should have stopped and called it quits.  But I didn't. I kept going nailing that chicken wire in its imperfect place with those annoying 3/4 galvanized poultry hen staples and BAM, I nailed my finger sooooo hard with the hammer. I haven't felt something hurt that bad in a real long time.  This is why my grumpiness came about. With my new throbbing finger, I have to say that chicken wire is my new worse enemy. Seriously, If it were human I would kick it's ass.

                          Blue Coop and the infamous chicken wire

I can't believe how awesome the weather has been. Today I was lucky to have a day off and was able to be outside, enjoy the beautiful weather, and work on the coop. I had a pretty productive 1/2 day. The coop is finally coming together with the addition of the rafters, purlin's, and roof. Unfortunately, I was only able to get half of the roof on because I lost a few of the supplies to the highway coming home from the hardware store. I looked out of my rear view mirror cruising 60 mph, jamming to some good tunes and saw a pack of my foam pads flying out of the back of my car. Ugh. Do I go back and get them? I couldn't possibly haul myself across the highway for a $4.00 pair of foam pads and risk certain death could I? Well, it was a five-pack. With good judgement, I decided against it, said sorry for littering to no one in particular, and made my way home knowing it wouldn't be complete know matter how hard I tried. I have a hard time leaving things incomplete, especially when I had my heart set on getting the whole roof on today. But I am realizing slowly that the list from my projects is never ending.


So far so good...No major snags or head rubbing WTF moments yet.
Here are some pics of the progress

                       Stinky Vi taking a Nap......I need a new assistant

Frame Frame................... I know your name.

I had the past day and a half off from work and was finally able to do some productive work on the chicken coop. The weather here in Austin has been amazing. Windy and cool. Seriously, I can't ask for anything better.
Over the past few weeks, we received a lot of rain and the weeds are starting to take over the mud pit  backyard. I spent the first half of the day trying to get these weeds under control, first pulling them with my bare hands. As I was diligently pulling, I started think about every Natgeo show I have watched and visions of "I was Bitten and I Shouldn't Be Alive" kept popping in my head. I suddenly realized I should be careful about where I put my hands and feet. I mean these weeds were waist high and wasn't it me a year ago who called 911(seriously, that was Claire's idea) to report the massive 5 foot rat snake creeping through our bamboo? I grabbed the weed eater and with my learned snake wrangler mentality from "In search of the King Cobra" I went to work, sans Land rover, cutting everything in my path but keeping an eye out for the best spots a snake may lie and wait(to kill me no doubt). Three small snakes, two long hours and 652 sore muscles later I was done clearing out the yard and had the best spot mapped out for where the coop would go. I picked the perfect spot that receives sun in the morning and enough shade in the sweltering afternoon heat. Nothing but the best for these ladies I haven't even met yet.
The rest of the afternoon I worked on the frame and as of this morning, I have the frame built and all 8 of the cinder blocks placed and leveled. I think out of this whole project leveling cinder blocks is most likely going to be the hardest thing. I don't know what it is about leveling stuff but I must not have the patience and I'm guessing right technique to do this easily. In the end it always works, but it's not an easy road I take to get there.
I'm stuck rotting in the box( my office, my job) all weekend so building will resume on Tuesday of next week where hopefully I will start on the roof and get a load of topsoil to level out the coop floor. So far I have done everything on my own but these next few steps I'm going to need some help. Perfect timing forACL next week. I think I will make a few of the friends staying with us earn their keep.............................