Wouldn't you wonder how in the world these two things are related? A fishing trip and the expansion of the chicken coop - no visible connection. Remember how Big John so easily agreed to add on to the hen house? And remember how I was a little leary of that? Well, it turns out there was a secret plan on his part to take one of his two days off to go fishing. Yes, he had the nerve to actually plan a relaxing few hours on the water during one of the two days off he has for the next nine days. I know what you're thinking - I wasn't happy about that either! Hmph!
John's good friend and his youngest son came down with the intention that they would fish one day and build the forms for the new dog kennel the next day. Fishing was GREAT! Jeffrey even caught a shark!
During the wee morning hours of the concrete-work day, we got a little thunderstorm - 2 inches worth of thunderstorm. Now, you'll not hear me complain about the rain. It's just that all that rain put a damper on the form work. Here's as far as they got:
Looks great to me!
Here's what it looks like now, a day later:
No, you're not seeing things. Turns out, it was 3 inches out of square or level or plumb. Whatever. I'm more of a "good 'nough" kind of girl. Big John - not so much. This morning, we undid all the hard work he and James had done. Guess I'll be helping to build forms again. I hate concrete work. (Stay in school, kids. There are easier jobs to be had than pouring concrete.)
Once the form was un-built, Big John and I set our sights on starting the coop expansion. We needed to get those posts set so that we can butt the dog kennel slab up next to that - or so I'm told. I'm the chief gofer around here when it comes to construction. Thank goodness for Big John's skills. He's not only good looking, he's pretty handy, too!
The chicken coop will go from a 10' by 10' space to a grand 10' by 16' chicken mansion! Wow - lucky ladies! This extra room will allow me to expand my brood to about 30. Once the weather cools off, I'll order some chicks. At about 6 months, they'll start laying. If you do the math, that puts me at more eggs in about a year. I could take the shortcut and just buy some laying hens, but it's so much fun to raise chicks. (Remind me of that when I'm complaining in a few months!) I may order all Ameracaunas and Wellsummers - blue and chocolate brown egg layers. There are so many pretty birds to choose from. It will be like looking through the Sears and Roebuck catalog. Remember those days?
We'll set the coop posts in concrete tomorrow, then I imagine we'll start on that slab form again. I'll bet it comes out right this time around!
No comments:
Post a Comment