We have a house

Well, we got our house. I wish I wasn't quite so grumpy about it. (I just need to get settled.) I'll gripe a bit and then I can look at all the blessings that are being poured out on us. We were going to be able to keep the chickens until someone decided to check the ccr's: No Poultry. We thought about smuggling them, but we left them with the Rowells. Naturally we didn't get the final word till this morning as Jonny is ready to pull out. Dropping them off set him back a bit. Then I forgot about renting and the no trampoline rule. AARRGGGHHHH!!!!! At least we don't have a piano yet. If I had finally managed to get a piano and then had to leave that behind I would be furious. But the trampoline will stay at Mom and Dad's house so the kids will have something fun there. I was hoping for a 6 month lease, but they only do 1 year leases. We just ran out of time.

But I think the house will be good. I'm not sure how we will arrange things, but I do like it. I talked with the bishop today and found out what ward we are in. He is going to try and get some unloading help for us. We found the marina and walked the docks. It feels good to be back around salt water, tides, and sail boats. It looks as though I can buy local fresh free range eggs, local beef and local produce. I need to find a local dairy for fresh milk. I am excited. I do think this will be a good learning/growing experience.

Chicken update

Well, good and bad with our chickens. Two weeks ago we found that a hen had been killed. She had a nasty wound on the back of her neck. We figured it must be one of the local skunks. Jonny put out a trap and caught one two days later. Then last Saturday, another hen had been hurt and the rooster was attacking her. She was almost dead. She had a similar wound. The back of her neck was open; the rooster had ripped the skin off. We super glued her back together. Hopefully she will pull through, but it may be time to eat that rooster. We now are wondering if it wasn't a skunk at all. He is very aggressive already. He has tried to attack Rebecca.

The good news is that they are laying now. Yeah!!! But instead of 6 hens like I had hoped, we have two roosters and three hens, one of which may not pull trough. Maybe one hen will decide to brood and we can get more next year.

A Rooster

Well, it's official. One of our hens is a rooster. I have been suspecting that our New Hampshire Red might be a rooster. In this breed the hens have combs, so I didn't think much of it for quite a while. Then I started to notice that this is a pretty big comb; those tail feathers are much prettier and bigger. The bird is bigger then the rest, and is definitely dominant. Last week I finally decided it must be a rooster. And today, we are hearing crowing. I hope the neighbors don't get mad.

We have Chickens

I have talked of getting chickens for years. Jonny has never given it much attention. I’m not quite sure what changed his mind. First he helped me build this great garden box with 150 square feet. Then, when our friends began brooding chicks, and were going to have extra, he decided to build a coop. For two weeks now, Jonny has been building a mobile chicken coop. He built it out of an old trampoline frame; pretty cleaver, I thought. This way we can have partial free range hens. Every couple of days we can move the coop to another part of the yard. We got our 6 hens yesterday. They are so pretty. The kids love them, and I am so excited. I will have to figure out how to put pictures up here.