Ok, I’m sure everyone is like this, but maybe not. There are things in weird places all over my house. Most of them I’m sure I have left there, others I’m not sure who left them where they are. For instance there is a glass desk top leaning against the wall in my bedroom. I’m sure I put it there thinking it was temporary when I dismantal it for the new desk. I'm sure I meant to move it out to the garage, the rest of the desk is out there. It’s still in my room and has been for at least a year. It has become invisible to me. I’m hoping now that I’ve embarrassed myself by telling all you this, I will finally remember to get it moved. Maybe I even get it, and all the rest of the odd stuff I have into the neighborhood cleanup this year, or onto Craig's List.

Other items end up in odd places for really odd reasons. Like the cracker box sitting on the vanity in my bathroom. – I should point out that my bathroom is so small that calling the counter a vanity, or a counter for that matter, is being really generous – It got there because I was using it to cover the top of a bucket while carrying my young hens. I was putting them in the bathtub. – I know weird! But, it was raining outside and I had to clean the cage. Where else could I put them? – I put the box there while unloading the chickens and forgot it. It’s been there for two days now.

I’m a little concerned that I will continue to forget it, and then everyone coming into my house and going to the bathroom will think I eat crackers in there. How embarressing would that be?

By the way, who is Craig, and how did he get a list? I'm just wondering.

Sunny days, chicks, cats and dogs

Yesterday was a BEAUTIFUL day!! In fact, one of the principals in our state, Washington, gave all the kids a day off as a Sun Day. They have had no snow days this year, so he thought it was only fair that the kids and staff get a day to celebrate a day without rain and with a lot of sunshine. With the announcement he included a picture of himself on a motorcycle with sun glasses and thumbs up. I love that story!

Yesterday I was unlucky in having to be at work, but lucky in that I was out doing site visits so I got to enjoy the day at least a little. When I got home I gather up my little chicken (which are getting bigger every day!) and took them out to the temporary run while I cleaned out their cage. By the end of the process, I was sunburned and my little girls were in chicky heaven pecking and scratching away outside.

There is something elementally calming about watching chickens with their tails in the air scratching the grounds and pecking our nummy morsels. Not to mention the Keystone Cops comedy of antics when one of them finds an especially juicy worm and the others give chase. Inevitably the worm will be dropped and they will all scramble for it, ending in another chase.

They are getting pretty big now, and have just about lost all their baby chick fuzz. They look like small, skinny versions of adult hens at the moment. This is their awkward stage, also known as the ugly stage, or adolescence. They are getting braver and starting to stretch their wings. In fact, they are trying to fly. They all excited and will actually get off the ground, but I think when their feet leave the ground they get a little freaked, because they will suddenly freeze, drop and then look around like they’re asking, “What hell was that?”

My cat is both fascinated and confounded by them. Bird watching has been a longtime preoccupation of hers. She loves to site and watch them through the window, and will track them if she is outside. Up until now she has never really gotten close to any. She loves laying on top of their cage and just watching them. She can do it for hours. She seems totally confused by them.

Yesterday while the girls were in their temporary coop outside, she found a loose place in the fencing and stuck her head in, then freaked out when the girls ran over to check her out. Poor Hinata, she doesn’t have a brave bone anywhere in her little body. I’m afraid she’s going to have to give up her cat card any day now.

Last weekend when I had the girls out in there temporary coop, my sister’s big ole red dog, Rusty, managed to find a way in. So, here is this huge dog in a small coop, with six small chickens and anywhere else this would there would be some serious feathers flying, and really fresh doggy treat. Not for our Rusty! He was too busy trying to convince the girls that he is their new best friend, as they whines to them and licks them. The girls were unimpressed and unafraid. They just kept on with the important work of being a chicken, scratching and pecking.

It’s always something!

Chicks in the house

For years I have daydreamed about chickens and have periodically thought how nice it would be to have a little flock of my own. I was unprepared to commit to a rural life in order to have them, so it was just a nice, pleasant fantasy that went nowhere.

A couple of years ago, for about 8 months, I worked as a code compliance inspector for the city. My job was to investigate complaints, and to inspect home businesses for their licenses. During this time I learned that you can have chickens in the city, but no roosters. In fact, I got to see quite a few really nice backyard chicken set-ups during my inspection of home businesses. I also got to ask some questions about how it worked. I learned from chicken complaint calls that neighbors really hate it when you have a rooster, or when you don’t keep the coop cleaned out. There are literally hundreds of households in Portland, that keep chickens, only a very few complaints are made each year regarding them.

So time goes by and I’m still thinking about chickens. This year, is my year of the chicken. Saturday Danna, Tiger and I went and picked out our chicks. This brought back memories of my grandfather taking to us the feed store, and seeing the baby chicks. Back then, at Easter, they would dye the chicks in a rainbow of colors. Not so much any more.

We ended up taking home six, all different breeds. They’re so cute! Currently they are living in a box in my house, waiting to grow big enough to be moved outside to a new home, as yet unconstructed. They will be a very pretty flock when they grow up.

Some things I’ve learned so far: 1.) Chicks eat and drink a lot! I’ve filled the waterer and feeder several times in just 48 hours, especially the waterer. 2.) They’re little poop machines. 3.) They live to scratch. In fact, part of the reason I’ve filled the waterer so many times is that they keep scratching the bedding into the water dish.

The heat lamp has been the biggest challenge. Unfailingly it always needs to be at some point in mid-air where you just can’t get it. At one point we have a bar stool turned upside down, with a foot stool balanced on the bar stool’s feet, and a dowel rod counterbalanced in a hole of the footstool, with the heat lamp hanging from the dowel rod. Oh yeah, and all this was on top of a counter. Even after all this engineering, I’m not it’s in the right place, but hey they’re still alive!

The next step is to build the coop. Stay tuned for that! LOL