Living room

New avocado-colored chair and globe in the living room. Same crazed dog.

Teenagers

So many feathers!

Adventures in chicken-raising

We brought the chicks outside on the deck today for some sun and excitement.

 They were fairly calm about the whole thing, and I found out that if you pet the back of their neck they really like it. Also, they're already getting their feathers - you can kind of see here that their wings are almost completely feathered.

Hopefully they'll remember the good times we had snuggling and be really friendly their whole lives.

In the meantime, the coop is coming along quite nicely! We let two of the chicks check it out this evening - two girls one coop.  One of them pooped, which we'll take as a sign of approval.

We didn't want Dakota to feel left out, so we let her have a turn in the nascent henhouse as well. What a goof.

This is the foundation of the coop - the frame has chicken wire loosely attached to the bottom, then dirt shoveled over it.  This will hopefully keep out any fossorial predators. The henhouse, adjacent run, and roof over both will go on top of this foundation.

More chick pics

All the ladies in the house.

Life under a heat lamp.

Cuddle friends - Ladyhawke and Britney.

They grow so fast!

We got chicks today!

Our first chickens.  We got four.  They're 4 days old, and they're already getting some feathers in at the tips of their wings. Here they are: Gaga the speckled sussex, Britney the buff orpington, Ladyhawke the white plymouth, and Paula the Rhode Island red. Adorable!!!

Gaga, up close:

We're going to try to hold them a lot so they're friendly when they're older. Britney:

They fall asleep on their faces a lot. Paula:

Dakota is WAY too interested in them.

But we let her have a supervised hello.

They'll have a lot of their feathers in only 1-2 weeks. Peep peep!

forsa

got a couple days in with the family in sweden last weekend. here are some random photos from my short trip.

showed up just in time for mormor's 90th birthday, with lots of cake!

met a well trained hound that would serve as a great role model for some other turkeys i live with

sweden is developing lots of wind power, on the way to town i saw the below sign that reads something like 'NO to windpower on our beautiful mountain'. Just like home.

mum at the falls

this raw milk vending machine was newly installed at the local ICA grocery. the feds don't allow the farmers to sell raw milk in a retail environment but there is a revolution starting. i wonder when we will see these vending machines in seattle?

the local mountain. no, the wind farm would not be installed here but rather 30 miles away in some hilly forests.

Meanwhile, back in Seattle....

The hot tub has been installed out on the deck.

my first weekend in copenhagen i went to kjuge in sweden for some climbing (1 hour train and 1 hour drive). there happens to be a 'castle' nearby where you can stay for a bed and breakfast. it was certainly the high life as fas as climbing accomodations go, but the breakfast puts one in fine shape for climbing.

Sprouts

Spring is apparently springing.

no toilet yet

7 days later... little behind schedule. i thought i had included some contingency for re-dos, mess ups, and other difficulties, however my safety factor may have been underestimated. cutting and hanging drywall may be my least favorite of the re-assembly. the ceiling went well, with some robotic help, but navigating 8ft pieces of drywall into this room and squeezing them into place has not been fun, especially when the walls are not exactly straight. next time i will hire out the drywall and taping.

my strong robot friend holding the drywall in place, best $25 i have ever spent



i knew preparing the subfloor would be a little tricky, but after installing the new 1/2" ply and 1/4" cement board i thought i would be in good shape. but a solid base is not necessarily a level base, and after getting some 2nd and 3rd opinions i opted for application of a leveling compound to get rid of some seams and bring up the tub side of the floor. i was intimidated about pouring a soupy mix all over the floor, but in the end it was pretty simple and i think it will be time and money very well spent.

looking psyched? while it has been stressful it was 30 minutes with a wet saw cutting tile that gave me the grey hair



smooth (ish) sailing for tiling tomorrow night... hopefully, unless i decide to apply another layer of leveling compound.

the end of a (pink) era

it was meant to be the first thing we did, but we grew accustomed to the pink and tan charm, the wooden seat and the stained linoleum floor. we also got distracted by basements and a myriad of other odds and ends. i pictured this being relatively low impact, and i never planned to gut the whole rig. just pull the shower, toilet, vanity and floor, no big deal... after finding a little mold in the drywall and not being terribly confident about creative wiring solutions or drywall cutting, i decided to pull the walls and ceiling out. 2 days of demo later, and lots of cleaning, it's ready for re-assembly.

what was





demo really is fun (once a year, in a small bathroom). while wedging the old tub out i levered it against the plumbing and had a bit of a leak/spraydown. otherwise it was relatively smooth sailing.



bones



the beginning of what will be (had a little help to lift the 250 lb cast iron tub into place)



now i have 7 days to get the walls back up, the flooring in and the toilet re-installed before j gets back from field work. no fun going downstairs to use the bathroom multiple times in the night...