I don't have much time to update, but I thought I'd post some photos...
Lots of things happening at the house - the house has been sided and right now we're working on tiling the kitchen. Once we're finished tiling the kitchen, we'll be installing cabinets. Some of them are mismatched, but in time we'll sand them down and refinish them.
I have tons of tomatoes, jalapenos and zucchini. I was hoping to start canning tomatoes, but a) I have no canning kit and b) I have no kitchen/range to use!
Dresdy is still alive and has rejoined the flock. Her bone is still exposed, but she's doing great!
I heard Mouse crow for the first time this morning. It sounded a little pathetic, to be honest. I was worried that he would be too noisy, but it's really not bad at all. Hopefully he won't get much louder. He's been kind of a jerk to the hens - I think it's because he's trying to mate with them. No eggs yet. We could get eggs anywhere from now until a month from now. I'll try not to anticipate it too much, as I'm sure that once they're laying, we'll be wondering what to do with all of them!
I think that I may hatch out some of the eggs next year, just to see what they grow into. A white silkie/black star chicken would be really interesting. I thought about getting new chicks next year and selling/giving away some of the girls (3 or 4) that are already laying... but now I think I'll hatch out a bunch of eggs and sell the extras to keep my flock at around 12. My boss said that I can borrow their incubator, so I think I'll take him up on that.
New siding is hen-approved
Upstairs reading nook! We installed laminate flooring in our reading nook, throughout the upstairs hallway and the third bedroom. Photo is a little dark, will have to take more pictures. This area used to be a room at the front of the house, but it was too small to serve much of a purpose. We knocked out the wall and made this inviting little space. We can either spy on our druggie neighbor or look out over the dairy farm across the street. I prefer the latter option.
One of our bargain chairs - we ended up getting a 36% discount... I can't begin to think how much money I could have saved in my life had I actually haggled with salespeople.
Piper, aka Trouble, aka Kitty Whore, aka Princess Kitty Whore hiding out under the blanket
Siding project started. When we began this project over 3 years ago, this side of the house was covered by pine trees and vines. The square hole with the plywood over it on the right side is from the monstrous a/c unit that cooled the downstairs. We now have split system central HVAC and a pellet stove downstairs for supplemental heating. However, we still need to have the heat pump and air handler unit installed downstairs. We're expecting to do that after the summer, once demand dies down.
Dresdy in her hospital room
Mr. Draco checking out Dresdy on her trip outside to rejoin the flock
High heel race in downtown Denton.
They didn't have size 14W men's size in women's shoes, therefore the duct tape. Next year perhaps we'll get Jay a nice set of heels.
Shakespeare Alive. Jay playing a tree as part of a scene in "As you like it."
Tiling, tiling, tiling. It's all we do. This is the second time we've had to tile the kitchen, as the first time we used the wrong stuff and the tiles broke or came off the floor.
Chicky poos enjoying some corn from the garden... my corn blew down during that Derecho and ended up falling into shadow. At least the chickens got a chance to enjoy it! Check out the coloring of the black stars... I love their iridescent feathers. They're such pretty girls!
Finished siding! We still have to complete the siding on the attic dormers and some of the sofit.
Kitchen cabinets waiting to be installed
I took my first bath in the completed tub/bathroom, even though it's been done for 2 months now. It required a Sawzall, because Jay didn't install an access door. Our niece had taken a bath previously and we suspect that she tripped the breaker because she turned on the tub before it was filled. :-/
Morning chickens
We'll be attending a wedding this weekend. I'd much rather be at home trying to finish the kitchen. We are getting really close to having things nice in the house.
