You knew there was going to be at least one more chicken coop post, right? Good.

Ian has been working hard on this thing and we’re nearly there. He had to build two double laying boxes, one for each side of the coop. Without the top on, they look like this.

We are told that hens like to share laying boxes, so you don’t need one per hen. With four boxes, we will be able to expand our flock, should we find we LIKE having chickens.

Here’s the chicken coop with everything on it but the lock on the front doors and the decorations. We are thinking about putting in windows on the front doors for ventilation and light. Adding windows means adding decorative trim and that means I’ll have more surfaces I can paint. I’m thinking that no matter what, the chickens will be a feature of our backyard from now on, so their coop might as well be cute and creative, right? How many colors is too many colors to paint a chicken coop?

The laying boxes on either side have hinged tops for easy egg gathering. The coop is behind our garage building and up against the west fence, where the neighbors have really tall privet shrubs that shade my yard. The chickens will have shade during the hottest part of every day. At the moment, Ian and Lucas are outside installing the ramp the hens will use to enter the coop.

The hens we are adopting have to be out of their current abode on Saturday, 7/17. The finishing touches on the coop might not be done until after that.

I still can’t believe we’re going to be chicken owners. Wacky.

“Summer is the time when one sheds one’s tensions with one’s clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit. A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all’s right with the world.”   —Ada Louise Huxtable

Makeshift leaf bandage, fashioned by Lucas to heal his little brother’s hurt knee

Pumpkin vines and roses love hot, hot days

Morning glory heart-shaped leaves are as precious as the flowers

A surprise magnolia blossom on my tulip tree

Asher’s interpretive dance with Mardi Gras beads and stick

Blueberries for pie!

We’re getting chickens!

Grandma’s next-door neighbors are relocating to Rhode Island and they must find a new home for their five hens. Since we’ve been talking about getting chickens for about two years, we decided that now is the time. The hens are two years old, tame,  and laying. Perfect! The coop they are presently in cannot be moved as it’s more of an outbuilding than a coop, so we have to build our own chicken house. In our area, there are plenty of raccoons, opossums, and skunks who would love to feast on our girls, so we have to provide them with a safe home.

We visited the hens on Saturday just to make sure our children wouldn’t be terrified of them. I wanted to discover any phobias before we invested the time and effort into moving the chickens to our home. Then we set out for the local feed store, a place I haven’t been in many, many years. We met the chicken expert and pecked his brain a bit, then Ian started designing and figuring and calculating and masterminding.

On Sunday, we hit our home improvement store to buy building supplies. Then we came home and started work on our coop.

Lucas hammering

Asher hammering

Measuring and marking with his new carpenter’s pencil

My husband is so clever! And handy! And handsome!

Endless fascination

Asher did his natural work of mimicking and playing with the hardware. (He also did an amazing interpretive dance wearing mardi gras beads and a sword—LOVE.) Lucas was a big help to his dad and kept on task through most of the day, keeping a good attitude. Both boys are over the moon about getting chickens and promise to do their chores.

The coop is coming along well! After the first day of construction it already has a raised floor, back, and sides. Next is putting on the roof, building some nesting boxes, and putting on the front doors. The boys were so cute while helping Daddy yesterday. We made good progress over the weekend, but there’s still a long way to go, including sinking some fence poles and building the run. We are thinking about using a few vinyl flooring tiles on the floor of the coop so it scrubs clean really easily, like a kitchen floor. The whole front of the coop with be two big doors, so it will open completely when we want to clean it.

Me? So far, I’ve been in charge of photography, holding heavy lumber, beer buying, iced-tea and popsicle distribution, editing to keep up our bottom line, and dreaming of what colors to paint the coop.   😉

This is a peek at our summer nature table, which is really our piano top. Sorry about the flash. It took me a while to get around to changing from spring to summer stuff, but that’s just because we were really busy LIVING summer.

• framed paintings by Lucas (first grade wet-on-wet watercolors)
• ceramic bee hive made by Lucas last summer in our pottery class
• summer Rio Samba roses in crystal vase
• knitted sheep, one by Lucas (made in his first and second grade handwork classes) and one knitted by grandma and sewn up by by me
• picture book called In the Space of the Sky, by Richard Lewis and illustrated by Debra Frasier. The page says, “There—in the space of the sky is a field for the sun”
• ceramic frog made by me at pottery class
• fuse-bead rainbow sailboat made by Daddy
• print of little boys playing on the beach near the ocean, a gift from my parents several years ago
• orchid plant that looks in the scene a little like palm trees
• wooden rainbow arches
• seashells and sea star
• postcard of children frolicking from Ring-A-Rosies preschool, where Asher goes
• tree branches in Clouds vase
• needle-felted blue bird on a nest with eggs, made by me
• play silks for meadows, water, and sand

“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.” —Sir John Lubbock

Inspired by SouleMama {this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Some random thoughts …

Is it wrong to have a “pet” black widow spider? I have one in my backyard and I’ve not told the children about it, nor do I want it killed. It has a secret lair, which seems to me to be kind of miraculous and good, since it’s outside the normal traffic patterns of our lives. What I really want is a macro picture of its pretty red hourglass. And a long black dress with the same design to match.

My Asher has caught a cold and is staying home today, not so much because he is slowed by it, but because he is most likely contagious right now—I mean, insofar as I can guess such a thing. I’m wondering what to do about swim this afternoon. He is stubborn and demanding.

I’m trying to figure out a new project I have to do by September. It’s the reorganization and recreation of some curriculum for the instructors’ resources that go with a textbook. Puzzling … puzzling …

Last night my father in law and Mimi came over for dinner to celebrate two overdue birthdays and an overdue Father’s Day. Ian grilled the best chicken breasts I’ve ever had—moist, perfectly cooked, and flavorful—and Mimi brought a gorgeous carrot cake, in which the special ingredient was crushed pineapple. Divine.

I’m sending all my love to two friends today. They need it.

I think perhaps we’re still tired from the late night on the 4th, or at least, that may be Lucas’s case. He’s dragging. We’re all feeling a trifle crabby, even though everything is perfectly … normal. There is an uncomfortable degree of bickering between my children. Summer days are full and hot and long. My brain is split in two thanks to my two jobs; and I’m feeling like I’m not doing very well at either of them.

Happy Independence Day!

Because photo posts please me, here are some scenes of summertime. Hope your summer is shaping up beautifully!

Dandelion tossed into the creek, where it spirals around and around

Mountain wildflowers

Lush meadows filled with every imaginable shade of green

Sand and rescued ladybugs

Cabin’s looking pretty spiffy these days

My lilies just keep blooming like mad; they put forth such effort!

Lots of swimming pool time with Miss Brittany

Pink and green hydrangea buds

California sycamore shade and hot summer skies

Inspired by SouleMama {this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

We went to the cabin to do some cleaning in preparation for guests. I really feel we organized ourselves perfectly to have maximum fun and minimal work time. We enjoyed Pope Beach and the Rainbow Trail on Saturday and then got to explore around the cabin on Sunday. We went back to the Rainbow Trail to see the stream profile because it was closed the first time.

Don’t they look determined? My boys are marching toward their lunch in this photo. I distinctly remember the day in the woods when my father told me that I didn’t have to step on or over every single obstacle in my path while hiking, and that if I sometimes went around obstacles, I’d have more energy to walk farther. I was probably 9 or so. My kids still choose to go up and over.

These yellow wildflowers, called mules’ ears, were everywhere, but especially in the empty field near the cabin. So spectacular!

I think these purple flowers are poisonous larkspur, but I’m not positive. Sometimes I can find pictures on the Internet that help me ID plants. (I’ve got my eye on a wildflower guide book.)

Lucas enjoyed exploring the creek by the cabin; this tiny creek joins a bigger one that was running too fast and too high for us to play in. I remember many long afternoons spent rambling up and down that creek with my cousins when I was a girl.

Asher got pretty brave after a while on the beach!

The neighbors were growing some perky mushrooms amid their new landscaping.

Here’s a scrub jay in a Jeffrey pine. Ian told me that Jeffrey pines smell like vanilla, and sure enough, they do! Marvelous! He delights me with tidbits like this pretty frequently. I’ve been going to Tahoe my whole life and I didn’t know that.

This little trip was a feast for my nose. Sage, Jeffrey pines, mugwort, and something that smelled a lot like spearmint. I never figured out where the mint scent was coming from, but the air smelled fantastic.

Shadow family portrait on the green pond algae

Asher among the wild mules’ ears. To me it looks rather like he sprouted there.