Is It June Yet?

May in our family is crazy.  I mean CaRAzy!!!    We have had multiple birthdays, Mother's Day, a cruise, a couple weekenders, Mr. G goes to Mexico, end of school year doins' for the grands,  home improvement projects, throw in there chicken farming, and May has been the busiest month on record for us.  For me!  It always irritates me to no end to hear someone say, "I am too busy"  or "when I have time"  or " let's do it after.......dut...da...dut...da...duh..."    You see...here's the thing people..... We ALL have the same 24 hrs in our day.  You, Oprah......Dr.'s, mother's, business owners, folks who work full time, and folks like  me.....a housewife in Corona, who's day begins at sun up and ends when the last dish is washed, and the last light is turned off, to begin it again the next day. If it is important to YOU, you will do it.  If it is a PRIORITY with you, you will find TIME to do it.  If it MATTERS to you, you will make that call, or make that lunch date, or visit that friend..if it is truly a desire of yours to do. Don't say you don't have time.   MAKE time. Time is our most precious gift.  What do you do with your time?  For my job, I get paid in hugs and wet kisses, and wouldn't trade what I have been blessed to do, for anything in the world!  I am greeted every evening by a husband who comes in with a smile, and a kiss, and no matter how hard a day he has had, home is where his heart is.  So, as May comes to an end, and with it, perhaps some slower paced days, and some precious time to enjoy them. I am hoping to get into my sewing room to tackle some of those projects waiting for me.  And finish some of my yarny things I started.  Do some home projects I have been wanting to do.  I realize that some of you may be sick to death of my chicken chatter.  While others are enjoying my adventures with the hens as much as I am.  However, I am pretty certain that my new "girls" will continue to be featured here on my blog regardless.  Let's get to some photos.  Remember my dilemma with the two Rhode Island Reds, and wanting to separate them from the rest of the girls?  I really hated to have to give them away, because they are prolific egg layers, but honestly....they are.....well....bitches.    When the little ears are not around, this is what I lovingly refer to them as.   There, I said it. Hope I didn't offend anyone!  So two days ago, after getting Noah off to school, I got to work.  Using old pieces of wrought iron fencing, a Little Tikes playhouse, some chicken wire, a staple gun, and a whole mess of zip ties (man I love those things!), I made a second coop, that extends straight off of the existing one, but is completely separate. Here are the little "B's" looking through the shutters...saying..."what the heck?"

Here they are about to walk into their new home.

 I added chicken wire to all the windows and to the front door.  I placed an old rush ladder back chair inside for their roost at night.  And a box for laying eggs in.

You don't need to buy an 18 dollar nesting box from the feed store.  Any sturdy box, roughly the size of a hen to settle down into, is perfectly adequate for laying eggs.  And up to 5 hens will share one box.  This little house is large enough for up to 4 hens to safely roost in at night.  However, they will need a larger space to roam during the day.   This is called  " A Run."  You can also allow them to free range, but they have to have a safe place at night to keep them from predators.   Interestingly enough, when they are all free ranging, they do not bother Snacker at all.  It was only when in the coop together.  Here is a picture taken from outside the run and coops.

 When Greg got home and saw what I had done, he laughed and said, " You ARE your father's daughter!"  I had to smile at that.  My Dad would have loved to go on this chicken adventure with me, I think.

I need to get some shade cloth to hang over the top, since the run is in sunshine for a good part of the day.  For now, I have an old vinyl Xmas tablecloth hung over one end for more shade.   This turned out to be the perfect solution to my problem.  Everyone is happy.  I even got two eggs yesterday from them.

 Now Snacker is happy, and the three almost teenager girls are happy in their new  home.

 Snacker prefers to be wherever I am in the yard.  Sometimes she sneaks into my flowers, and thinks I can't see her!

Here are the newest three I have.  I took this from the patio, looking into my sewing room.

My garden is looking lush and growing quickly now.  

The corn is getting tall!

 I still have some space in this box to plant some new seeds.  I will probably do that this weekend.  The zucchini have gotten so big that I have had to remove several of their gigantic leaves to prevent them from shading other plants in my garden!

 I love to work in the yard.  But my yards are not manicured and perfect.  In fact, far from it!  I plant what I like, where I like it.  I have grass that is more weeds than grass.  Our grove is always in dire need of trimming something, weeding, or some other such chore.  But I love the little nooks and niches that are carved out here and there.  I have even come to terms with the fact that,even though we  have a guy who comes once a week to mow and edge, I will never be able to stay completely on top of it all.  Mr. G does not share my love of yard work.  He keeps the grove weeds under control, but I do the rest.  I always joke with him and say if he shared my love of working in the yard, it would be a show place.  Well, okay, maybe not a show place, but a place I would love to show!

Last night, we went to dinner at a new place in town called Luna for Erika's 
birthday.  It was SO good!  Kind of dimey...but delicious!  Here is what I had.  It was smokey grilled shrimp over a bed of pasta with a Tex- Mex flair.  Oh so yummy!!

When I got home, I discovered that SOMEBODY was a very naughty boy!!!!!   AGAIN!!!!! 

Ducey has taken to using any and all screen doors as  his own personal doggy door!  He discovered that if  he charges the closed screen, full speed ahead, it magically pops out of the seams just enough for him to slip on through it.  And after he has finished romping in the mud puddles I have left by the gardens and chicken coops, he can sneak back inside, through the same said screen, and hope no one will notice.  

Not this time Bucko!!!  That filthy beard, and dried mud crusted in your paws was a dead giveaway.  Along with the screen that lay flapping in the breeze!!!!  

He seems to be VERY curious about who has taken up residence out back.  And he will stop at nothing to sneak out there and visit!  We are getting screen guards FOR SURE this weekend!!!!!  

Well, that's a wrap for today.  Go out and make it a great day.  And MAKE time to do something  you have been wanting to do.