Things I Did This Weekend

Typing is a bit difficult for me at the moment for reasons that will become clear about half way through this post (on a scale of 1 to “crime scene photo” it’s about at a 3… if you’re squeemish you might want to stop here) so instead of waxing philosopic about everything I did this weekend, here’s the less-wordy version:

I spent a lot of time cutting barnwood.

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It went here.

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I also spent time cutting corrugated metal roofing…

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Which graciously returned the favor, and almost took one of my fingertips with it in the process.

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Protip: When working with large sheets of metal roofing on a windy day, don’t be a dumbass… wear gloves.

With the help of some friends I moved the coop outside.

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It’s not done– the finger incident might have slowed me down a bit– but it’s not too far from habitable. Just need to get the doors attached, and then I can worry about the finishing touches after the chickens are out of the house.

 

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I did get approval from the future inhabitants, however.

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And I spent a lot of time hanging out with the animals– herding chickens, getting my face licked by donkeys…

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Reminding the cat that he is not one of the flock…

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It’s useless. He’s already decided he wants to be a chicken when he grows up.

Kids these days.

I also spent a good deal of time installing my raised beds for the garden, mowing the grass (and then immediately walking over to the guy mowing my neighbors yard and hired him… check that off the list for the rest of the year) and, gasp, doing laundry. (I know, right? Who the hell am I?) And even though I was hoping to come out of this weekend finally feeling on top of things, the truth is that my to-do list feels longer than ever.

Luckily it includes a lot of things like “spend more time hugging donkeys” so really, who is going to complain about that?

12 Responses

  1. Love the chicken barn – great work. Does it get its own weather vane, or will that just be a chicken sitting on its roof? Glad to see the chickens, the cat and the donkeys approve. Looking forward to hearing what the coyote thinks. Cheers

    1. I am only ever going to refer to it as the chicken barn from here on out, thank you!

  2. But you hired someone so that is a done deal. Love your cat hanging out with the cutlets. (Grown up nuggets) .

  3. Love the coop! Do you think it might get too hot with a metal roof? Kinda like a solar cooker? It’s crazy hot in the summer where I live, but I have always loved the look of metal roofs (and the lack of worry of shingles flying off in the storms).

    1. Ha. Roast chicken! That’s a good question but that’s actually not how a metal roof works. The interior of a structure that has metal on the roof isn’t hotter than one that has asphalt or wood. The lighter color of the roof may even deflect more heat, however metal does not have the insulation value of wood or asphalt, so the coop is less insulated against heat and cold, but for a structure this small it’s not that significant.

  4. OUCH! Hope your hand heals quickly!
    So happy the cat loves the chickens… hopefully he wont remember that he’s a “cat”! LOL

  5. Please note that I did not freak out about your finger, or even worry about it. I want credit for this!

    1. Yay mom! You finally got my sense of humor 😉 (I used liquid skin and a couple of bandaids… like five. I’m sure it will be good as new.)

  6. *gets pissed*

    God dammit, woman. Wear your fucking gloves! Seriously! *bonks you on the head, grumbling* 😛

  7. When I read the first paragraph I thought this was going to be a harkening back to the splinter/fingernail/poison ivy debacle. I should’ve known better…of course you’d have come up with some new and creative way to injure yourself by now!

  8. Wow, you make good progress on the weekends! I usually have plans to get a bunch of project stuff done on the weekends, but get “stuck” on one project and its usual 3+ trips to the hardware store for the stuff I forgot. Last weekend I was determined to ride my horse to the hardware store (combining two of my favorite things)to get parts for the sliding screen door. It’s about 4 miles one way. We got 4/5 of the way there and Dante wouldn’t go near this big cement lot with flags flapping around it. Try as I might, I could not encourage him to go over or past it. Not even clear on the other side of the road. A detour would have meant backtracking an take us almost a mile out of the way, so instead I gave up rode him back home. Riding Dante on the way back, I was stopped by someone who wanted to take pictures and ask all about Clydesdales, and then later by a mom with her little girl who wanted to pet Dante. They literally pulled over in front of me on the shoulder of the road so I would stop for them. Later, finally having all the parts, I continued project one, re-screening and re-wheeling the sliding screen door. After fighting with those little annoying wheels for almost an hour (wanted to punch whomever invented those damn things), I started re-screening, rolling out the screen as I worked along the length of the door. Another 45 minutes trying to get that screen even and tight, which is a whole lot harder than it appears. I was just about finished, rolled out the last of the screen, only to find I was about 3-4″ short on screening material. GAH! By this time I had spend most of Saturday accomplishing… well, nothing. I was so frustrated I went to Home Depot that evening and bought a new door. Not just a new screen door, but a whole new patio door. Couldn’t pass up the inside-the-glass blinds and the low-e glass, none of which I have on the old door. This is the sort of thing that happens to me every weekend, when I have lots of projects to do but never get done, and then when people ask me what I did over the weekend, I have a hard time answering. So I might just say, “I bought a new patio door” and leave it at that, because they rarely want the long story like this. But when I say “I bought a new patio door” in answer to the question, “What did you do this weekend?” it just confirms to people what they already know… I’m strange. LOL.

  9. By the way, since you seem to have as many “oh shit” moments as I do, and also seem to frequently forgo the personal protective equipment, I recommend keeping lots of those tiny tubes of super glue around. They work great to seal up nasty cuts like the one you had on your finger. I have used it many times. Just today I was gashed on the arm by sheet metal, and got out the super glue. Many people don’t realize super glue found its first successful use as a surgical adhesive to seal tissue together (if you have ever accidentally super-glued your fingers together, you know why). I have sealed some nasty cuts with super glue and it beats waiting 6-8 hours in the ER just to get stitches. 🙂 Or dealing with a bunch of band aids and tape. Just wash and dry the cut well, then glue it together, and within a few minutes you can be back to work on your project.

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