Chicken coop project

Ok first I have to say that I feel really bad for bringing home hens on the hottest (yet) weekend of the summer! Poooooooooooor Daddy. He has been sweating and working his bootocks (a word made up by Bubby combining buttocks and booty) off! The project proved to be a hard one in this hot Texas sun. He's been in the shade for the most part so it's only been around 100 degrees. :)
In between screws, staples and the jig saw there are brakes that consists of hosing himself off with the garden hose. I peek out there from time to time to hand him something to eat/drink and maybe a pill or two to pop for the muscle pain. I'm wondering if maybe this is calls for a day at home tomorrow? You see Daddy dude is not one to cut corners. He believes if something is worth doing it's worth doing right. Sometimes I admire that quality. Sometimes it just frustrates me because I don't work like that. I can't with two little critters running around me. Most of the time I'm just happy to get anything completed. ") But in the long run I know he is right. If done right the first time then it saves you trouble down the road.
So it looks like it will be completed another day. :( That's ok the hens are holding up fine where they are at and can wait. They will be in the coop for a week or two before letting them stretch their legs in the yard anyway. It will help to get them to go into the coop during the night.
One good thing. It's made us take care of part of the yard we've been neglecting for awhile. Our poor next door neighbor asked if it would be ok to cut off a weed branch that is creeping over her fence the other night! It was a jungle, a bit scary too. I got my weed eater and my trusty Marty dog to watch over me as I went to work. We have alot of snakes, gecko's and lizards around here.
I don't mind them much as they help with bug control but I like to keep my distance and let them do their work in peace! I didn't see anything but for one little pesky yellow jacket buzzing around me. Wow the yard looks bigger with the weeds cut down! ")
I'll post pictures when Daddy gets the coop completed. So for now the story continues...................

Something's lurking in the backyard

Yes we have them. Two wonderful Road Island Red hens that I picked up today from Terrell. They are laying but will probably not for the next few weeks to a month from the stress of being moved into their new home. Speaking of home, Daddy is planning on spending most of his day tomorrow in the back building on a chicken coop project. The plans are laid out and ready to go. For now they are spending the night in a wire dog crate. We are planning on letting them go free range in the section of back yard that is already fenced off during the day and coop them at night. I raised chickens when I was young from baby chicks. I remember there being some work involved in getting them to the point of laying eggs. That's why this time I decided to buy them grown. ")
Our incentive? Healthy eggs. I can't eat anything but organic eggs or they make me sick and I'm tired of paying for the cost of them. If I could, I'd get a dairy cow too. But the city makes it clear that I can't do that and my neighbors are grateful for it. We are allowed two hens with no roosters. Fine with me, the roosters won't be missed. I can remember them crowing anytime someone would turn on the kitchen light in the middle of the night to get a drink. On the other hand, the hens have a nice quiet cluck. Something I enjoy hearing.
Their names? Well Bubby wants to name them Chicky and Icky! I was thinking something with alittle more class like Harriett and Oprah.
So we are now chicken farmers on a very small scale. I'll let you know how it all goes..........

Nobody in the world can....

Make me laugh as hard, cry as deep and get as mad as this man can!
Love u Daddy Dude.

Do you believe in aliens?

You should.

Bubby's 4th Birthday pool party

A wonderful day and fun, sun and some surf. We spent most of the afternoon at the Surf and Swim to help celebrate Bubby's big day. Some of his friends came and shared the fun with him.
Bubby had fun running back and forth from the wave pool to the wading pool. He also got a great soaker toy for being the birthday boy. I can see it getting some good use at home as well. It was hot but not too bad if you kept yourself wet. T-Bone had a great time too playing in the shallow end of the wave pool while momma caught some sun rays. Daddy took the day off to be a part of all of it too. Daddy was a trooper and played a great host to our guests and keeping up with the boys! Thanks Daddy. And thanks for all our guests that came to help us celebrate!
We came home with a good kind of tired if you know what I mean ")
Ate some grub and we hit the hay early.
Well Bubby's four now heading for another wonderful year of growing and learning!
How did the days past SO fast? I'm caught between missing him as a baby but love seeing him so grown up. He is a great son and God has really blessed us by having him in our lives!

Happy 4th Birthday Bubby!!

Happy Birthday to our Bubby Boy! He is the big 4 today! He is smart, thoughtful and the cutest 4 year old ever!
Well we started the day off having some Dun kin donuts for breakfast and then running up to Target to spend the gift card that his Aunt had sent to him. He choose a cool 3 way stunt hot wheels set up. I spend a good hour trying to set this thing up. It wasn't big or anything but Daddy's must more "gifted" in this area than I! Between trying to understand the instructions and my poor aging eyes we didn't have much of a chance. Bubby sat patiently sat on the floor playing with the parts that he could while i fumbled through it. Finally success and we was playing!
After lunch and a nap we did our Family tradition of going out to eat at the Birthday persons request. Bubby decided that he wanted to go to the new Chinese buffet around the corner from us. I was surprised and just knew that we was looking at Chick Fil A or a Pizza joint but he chose different. He said that he liked their cheese pizza and chicken on a stick. So we went when Daddy came home early. Bad news, no cheese pizza tonight! So guess where we ended up? Yes you got it Chuck E. Cheese's. We just can't seem to get away from that mouse when his Birthday rolls around! We went after 5:30 so you can imagine the crowd there! We had fun eating and playing games. After we got home Bubby got a small cake (Party's tomorrow) and blew out the candles.
Then came the gifts. I have to say that the skill and understanding of opening and getting presents is much more advanced at 4! He got a crane, transformer, spider man swim trucks and matching shirt, Spider man art set, A Play Station 2 Cars game from the movie and his FAVORITE present, a spider man costume! That boy was ripping his clothes off to put it on before you could say spider man! I'm afraid that he's going to be wearing it daily. He's already shown some concern about me having to wash it. Funny thing, he has never seen Spider man in action. He's just seen pictures and knows that he is a super hero and helps people. I suppose that's enough huh?
Well tomorrow we are having his Birthday party at Surf and Swim pool not too far from home. Another big day headed our way! I guess it's a great day for the pool since we are expecting a temperature of 101! Well Happy Birthday my baby (you'll always be my baby) boy! Love you.

Am I becoming a pioneer woman?

Well I'm going in deeper into the green over here. Not sure if I told anyone out here in blog land but I have been hanging my clothes to air dry instead of using the dryer. It kind of started after air drying the cloth diapers that I have been using on T-Bone and just turned into to something more. It seems like every time I turn around I am thinking about doing something else that could make me more self efficient and cost us less. Today I ventured out further and made my first batch of powdered laundry soap. I am proud to say that one load of this stuff will cost less than a penny a load. It's natural and very easy to make:
One cup of grated (I used the food processor) Zote bar soap
1/2 Cup of powdered Borax
That's about it. I found both products at Walmart. The Zote soap is for hand washing clothes and smells great. It was a bit messy at first trying to figure out the best size of cut up bar soap to put in the processor but soon I was done. I used about 3/4 of a bar and they were 97 cents each! Some also recommend putting 1/2 cup of baking soda in there as well but I read that it can cause wear and tear on the cloth diapers so I passed. So everything looked like it was going well but nothing to yahoo about till we seen what this stuff can do in the washer right? I did my first load this afternoon. It was kind of weird not seeing any suds in there (they warned me that this was normal since no detergent is in there) but I did see the clouded water so it was cleaning.
After a spin cycle I hung them out to dry. Well I think we have a keeper.
I had checked into this before but for making a liquid soap. It required cooking, not that deep into it yet! ") But hey I can cut up bar soap and put it in the food processor right? Sure I can.
And I did. Mission accomplished.