Moving on up.

For longer than I had planned on, our chickens have been living in a jerry-rigged pen, which was built in a hurry because I got tired of chickens pooping on the patio once I decided that the chicken tractor we bought was not quite big enough for 5 birds. 

In fact, the pen was SO ghetto, I guess I never even posted a picture of it,  so, here is an example of what my chickens have been living in for the last 10 months or so.  It's not white, I just took the picture on a frosty morning. 

Yup...some t-posts, some 4-foot chicken wire, and then I used the snips to cut a hole in the chicken wire to cut a door so we could mount the tractor/coop up to the pen.  After the chickens proved they could clear a 4-foot fence, we installed the bird netting...and it worked.  It wasn't pretty...but it worked.

Now, we have something that is pretty, and it works.

It's 10 X 10 X 6 dog kennel that we bought at Lowe's today.  After accidentally displaying limited amounts of competence assembling trellis's for the garden, my wife started talking to me about building a larger pen for the chickens.  It didn't take long for me to convince that that wasn't the best idea.  The leap from trellis's that don't have to be square to a pen that does, not to mention the price difference between untreated 1 X 2 and 2 X 2's for trellis's and treated larger lumber for a freestanding pen, well...it didn't feel like something I wanted to attempt.  We determined for roughly the same price, we could buy a kennel.

It still took some assembly...the only thing that came already together was the actual door for the gate.  Other than that, it took my wife and I about 2 hours to put it together...and man, if you ever want to test the strength of your marriage try stretching wire fencing around a 10 X 10 foot frame. 

We aren't putting a roof on it for now.  While the chickens made it over the 4-foot chicken wire, they have never made it over the 5-foot fencing around our yard.  If we did do a roof of some sort, it would be more to protect the chickens from outside threats. 

Of course, now I need to clean up the mess from the last run at some point. 

Maybe I won't follow the instructions next time.

The scarlet emperor runner beans I planted along my back fence are pretty far along now.

Because I followed the spacing/thinning rules on the package, I didn't quite get the 'wall' of color that I was hoping for, more of an accent.

Still, they are prettier than just a chain link fence.

Next year, if I decide to do them again, I might ignore the spacing guidance to get more color...it kind of depends on how the beans themselves taste.  As someone who is used to plain ol' 'green beans' it's possible I might not like these type of beans at all, so I won't care as much about overcrowding the plants. 

25% is worth a warning.

With the growing popularity of backyard chickens, the Seattle Times ran a link to an article on a Bainbridge Island website warning about the dangers of chicken coop fires caused by heat lamps being in close proximity with wood chips.  The fire chief says that 3 of the 12 coop fires in the last year were caused by this problem.

There is nothing in the article that I really disagree with.  It states that the latest such fire just happened June 15th, and that it really didn't need to, because adult chickens shouldn't need a heater, which is true for Bainbridge Island.  A cold night over there is somewhere between 35-40 degrees.  Now,  you do want to make sure your coop keeps the birds dry in that climate.

Over here in Eastern Washington, I do run a heater for my birds anytime it is forecast to be less than 25 or so. 

I'm just curious what a burning chicken coop smells like...I imagine it's not a pleasant 'campfire' smell.

Good timing.

Yay!  No rehearsal tonight!  Dinner at home with the family tonight! 

In a pleasant coincidence, I also decided that the first two zucchini were ready to come into the kitchen tonight.

Then they were chopped up and went right back out of the kitchen to the grill.

It tasted pretty good...and now that I have mastered the difficult art of growing zucchini, my family will never go hungry! 

I'm down with that, yo.

I saw this headline during the few quick minutes I had to surf the internet today.

Shane Black Wants Chris Hemsworth to Play Doc Savage

There is nothing about that sentence that I don't like.  Shane Black is a writer, producer, and director.  His name is associated with things like 'The Long Kiss Goodnight', 'The Last Boy Scout' and 'Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang'.  Chris Hemsworth has been playing Thor, and it's not his fault the new Red Dawn was not as good as the 80's Red Dawn(critics gave him good props for his role in 'Rush', but I haven't seen it, so I can't comment).

As for Doc Savage...

I can't say I am a Doc Savage fanatic, but in my teenage years, my dad picked up 7 Doc Savage books at a used book store, and came close to ordering me to read them.  Well, he only had to order me to read the first one...the rest went down easy after that.  I think it is a character that should translate well to the big screen. 

I'll have to pay attention to this and see where it goes. 

So, it's THAT time

Well, we are less than 2 weeks until opening night for the Mid-Columbia Musical Theatre's production of the Sound of Music...which means rehearsals are starting to stretch out, so we can get a full run of the show in each night.

It means long days and little blogging.  Sorry about that.

Through it all, I am really proud of my daughter...not just because she has learned her lines, but because she has been able to stay focused at each rehearsal.  She has like TWO lines, and they are within 10 minutes of the end of the show.   It's asking a LOT for an 8-year old to keep her eyes on the prize for 110 minutes, and then be ready to do what she needs to when it is time.  Heck, some of the 11-13 year olds are having hard times with that.

Of course, she is also great for the advertising.

Well you see, there was this movie, and...oh, never mind.

As my kids get older, they are starting to notice things...like the lyrics and meaning of songs. 

Today while we were running around, the Warren Zevon classic, Werewolves of London. 

My older daughter asked what the point of the song was, and I must not have done a very good job of explaining why an early 80's movie about werewolves needed a hit song.

Eventually, I gave up.

Kind of like the producers of 'Last Ship'.  I SOOOOO didn't want it to suck(I mean, it has The Hero of Canton!)...15 minutes in and I am rapidly losing faith.