Good Things Jar

Thanks to an idea I got from Mom's Clean Air Force on Facebook through a shared post, a year ago I began a "Good Stuff Jar." The idea was to jot down any surprise gifts, accomplishments, beauty of nature noticed, LOL moments, good memories, etc. Then we would read them at the end of the year.

Any project is difficult to maintain for a full year and this one didn't require a lot of attention, so it was often forgotten. Still, I did wind up with a handful and reading them with my husband on the first of this year gave us a chuckle and a reminder of some things we appreciate. I'd like to share them with you, since there aren't too many. Some of them were funny to us because they seemed great at the time, but didn't really pan out in the end...

• Frying chicken + pork chops was a lot easier than I was making it out to be.
  
• Bonus plants from Patrick (for my garden - we laughed because my garden was a bit of a failure)
  
• Elmo cleaned the ENTIRE kitchen... for $25. HAHAHA (he felt underpaid)
  
• Gardening + catching worms with Sasha
  
• Daddy brought an OK Brown [tarantula] home from [work].
  
• Found Little Leafers (a local nature explorers group that died out before it even began, when the leader suddenly had to move out of state)
  
• Taste of Summer, Horse Awareness Day and Zoo - all in 1 weekend with Samantha (my stepdaughter, shortly after we gained visitation)
  
• Spencer choosing the [ASL] "monkey" sign to mean "Marcus" (his Speech Therapist).
  
• Cathulhu (the cat... that we immediately had to re-home when it was found that Samantha was allergic)
  
• Neighbor, Brent, brought wood + tools - spent 5 hours on coop!
  
• Carnival Epsilon performing in our own back yard for Ronni's Sweet 16.
  
  
• Awesome garden tools from Angie.
  
• Got to sleep with Elmo all weekend! (This would have been before the move, when I usually slept on a different floor.)
  
• Horse Awareness Day (apparently warranted being mentioned twice)
  
• Singing Disney songs in the van together
  
• I learned how to make paper seedling pots.
  
• Discovered the wonder that is spinach in scrambled eggs - new favorite! (I still eat this almost daily!)
  
• Spencer learned to give hugs & made a hugging game. (Taking turns hugging people)
  
• New-to-us stove deal - approved out of rent
  
• Last $325 [owed] to [last place of residence] written off
  
• Made Tubby Custard - Kids loved it! Sasha asked me to make it again the next day.
  
• Angela chose our family to receive her free [weekly] "Meal Maker" eggs. (She later sold me our 6 hens at a great deal!)
  
• [new home address] (We have been very happy to live in a house!)
  
• Courtney & mom [last name] - furniture including full size bed! (They gave us furniture they had in storage.)
  
• Got to be Dulce's guests to Taste of Summer (an event that includes free ice cream!)
  
• Elmo figured out how to safely install new-to-us stove.

Considering how many times we forgot about the jar, that's pretty good! I'd like to continue the jar into 2015, but I think I'll add one detail - a date. I think it will be cool to be able to put them in order, remember when things happened and maybe even match them up with pictures at the end of the year! This was a really fun thankfulness project and I would definitely recommend it.

Mamatography 2014 - Week 49

Day 334 - Sunday - November 30

Headed out to see the chickens.
And they're gathering up to see him, hoping for treats!

Mamatography 2014 - Week 47

Day 320 - Sunday - November 16

Playing with Winter weather apparel.

Mamatography 2014 - Week 46

This post catches me up! Next week will hopefully be right on schedule.

Day 313 - Sunday - November 9

Found our dinosaurs using the bathroom sink as their personal wading pool.

Mamatography 2014 - Week 43

Day 292 - Sunday - October 19

Buddy Walk Day! Our team: Spencer's Sidewinders

Chicken Coop Project - Part III

If you have no idea where this started, check out the first post, Chicken Coop Project - Part I. This week (Day 3, just 1 week after our last work day) will complete the actual building of the coop! See, there became a little bit of a rush because my egg / chicken lady friend was suddenly needing to re-home some of the members of her over-sized flock. I was itching to do the roof, but...

Brent was already building fence panels when I got outside. He had these 1½ inch square posts he was saving to use on his porch, but they had just been sitting in a rotting pile of wood. We also used a 2 x 6 (from my fence panels), split down the middle, to make the top and bottom. I had picked up several 10' sections of wire fencing (for free!) from a guy outside of town when he had to downsize from his 200+ flock. Elmo had also found a random roll of new fencing in the woods while geocaching! (The roll turned out to be over 20' long!)

Based on the length of the used sections, we made the fence panels 2 inches shy of 10 feet. One post was used at an angle to brace the panels so they would stay square. We made 4 panels and stapled the fencing onto them. These will be mobile, so we'll have the option to change the chicken run around a bit.

We had some random sized sections, too. Brent stapled fencing onto the front of the coop and under the nest. We only closed off 2 sides. I picked up 2 pieces of cheap sheet metal to use for the roof, total cost $20 from a local building supply (that has used and new materials). He used 2 boards from our scrap pile, nailed inside the coop, to support and attach the roof.

We set one panel right behind the nesting box. It connected (in an L) to another fence panel, which we wired to the fence post already in place. The placement was perfect for strong support, despite the old fence being in major disrepair. There's my li'l chickadee, testing out the half-done chicken run.

I didn't get pictures of the roosting bars yet, but we wound up using those same 1½ inch posts from Brent's pile. We used scraps of them to make a U shape on the wall. The roost bars (one high across the back, one low from front to back) slide down into the U support shapes. This makes the bars easy to remove for cleaning or in case I need to get into the coop. I had planned to use branches, but didn't have one the right length to go across the back.

We wired a fence panel to the existing chain link fence. The girls we're getting have been free ranging in a yard with a similar chain link fence. The other panel connects to the coop and overlaps for a handy gate into the run. To make it stay put better, we simply screwed another post scrap next to the panel on the coop. This was very helpful since this panel gets swung in and out so often.

We also installed a new security hasp to lock the coop door closed. I wish I could have found a used one, to match the hinges we used. The hasp cost $3 at the same place as the sheet metal. Brent threw together a temporary cover for the chickens' door (using fence planks) that I'll use a rock to hold down overnight. The nest cover is made with scrap sheet metal from the roof. It isn't completed with hinges yet, we're watching for the right scrap to support it. I just hold it down with rocks for now and its tucked under the fence planks so its still safe from rain.

After this last five hours of work (and less than $60 in supplies), the coop and run are usable! I talked to my connection and... hens would be delivered the next morning!! She also planned to bring enough pine shavings for our coop plus a little feed and scratch. I'm sure I'll write another post about welcoming our girls!

Mamatography 2014 - Week 42

Day 285 - Sunday - October 12

Final work day on the chicken coop.
Lovely fire burning some of the extra scraps.

Chicken Coop Project - Part II

If you have no idea where this started, check out last week's post, Chicken Coop Project - Part I.

We hosted a couple of birthday parties and were generally busy, so we didn't have Day 2 on the coop until almost a month later (October 5th). During that time, I also gathered some more free supplies:

My neighbor/helper, Brent, gave me the idea. Fence panels are much easier to dismantle than pallets! My little brother brought over a truckload and dumped it between our houses.

I actually enjoyed pulling these apart!

There was enough wood to do the chicken coop, a small project for the neighbor, a play house and maybe even a small fence for us! Let's not get off point, though... chicken coop...

I purchased a pre-cut piece of vinyl flooring for about $25-30 at Lowe's. We just cut a chunk off the end of the roll, laid it down on the floor, and tucked under or folded up where appropriate. Since we decided to put walls on the inside, we weren't worried about gluing the floor down. The flooring will make for much easier clean up of the coop.

I actually got to do some of the construction on Day 2!

Its coming along! The nesting box was covered in tar paper left over from another job (to keep the touching wood from rotting). Fence panel pieces all over the inside and outside of the coop, except the inside of the nesting box.

Brent built a cute matching door (with more fence panel pieces) and framed in the entry (with scrap from a job). I stapled the flooring around underneath. We made the ramp out of an old waterbed sideboard that was in the yard when we moved in and chunks of branches trimmed around the yard. The branches are just stapled onto the board, which is screwed into the doorway. (It was later moved down a bit to make it easier for the chickens to use.)

I got it covered for upcoming rain using those same trusty fence planks. Once again, we put about five hours of work into the coop. Isn't that door the cutest?!

Stay tuned for Part III! Its nearly finished!

Mamatography 2014 - Week 41

Day 278 - Sunday - October 5

After almost a month, we had another work day on the chicken coop!
This pic is just a sneak preview. Come back Friday to see!

Chicken Coop Project - Part I

So I got interested in keeping chickens. I did a LOT of reading. I studied and then I drew up my very own plans for what I wanted! I also collected some pallets. Every time I read a site where someone used re-purposed materials, they had something from a spouse's job or some other personal connection. My coop is no different, but I hope what you take from this is that there are materials in your area that can be gathered and re-purposed for minimal (if any) expense. As I gathered my materials, my husband worried what a hunk of junk I was going to erect in our back yard. I promised him it wouldn't be junky...

Without further ado, Day 1 (September 7th):

My neighbor is a contractor. He had this long pallet (for holding siding) laying around. He also had scraps of 4x4 long enough for what I wanted: elevate coop 3' off the ground.

We wanted to keep the coop small enough that we could roof it as easily as we did the floor in it. So he cut it down to about 7½' long. My friendly neighbor also bought the floor piece of OSB, which cost about $8 (but was free to me).

Floor is attached, hole in floor cut for door. Sasha provides our first chicken test... she likes it!

Walls going up with a slope for the roof. Its starting to look like something!

Brent built out a nesting box on one end. I had not even dared to dream of a nesting box because I felt too clueless to figure out how to build one!

This is what our coop looked like at the end of the day; five hours of work.
Sasha was very excited with the progress and can't wait to share it with chickens!

That lovely neighbor? He recognized that with no experience and no tools... I was going to be at it for a very long time! He is a good guy, so he volunteered to help me with the project. I think I'd be lost on this thing without him! He actually did all the work on Day 1. I got to hold some boards steady, that's it.

Stay tuned for Part II!

Mamatography 2014 - Week 37

Day 250 - Sunday - September 7

My friendly neighbor is a contractor. He came over to "help" me build a chicken coop from pallets. (Don't worry, there will be posts dedicated to this project!) He was showing Sasha pictures of his granddaughter.

Mamatography 2014 - Week 34

Day 229 - Sunday - August 17

I think he likes liked it.