Rats in the chicken coop

We completely rebuilt the 1950's coop this year.  I toyed with tearing it down and building another but we looked at the lumber and realized the framework was milled on site and still good so we just gave it a new roof, new siding and new windows.  And I guess we also gave it a healthy population of rats.  I cannot quite express how much I dislike rats running across my open-toed shoes in the dark. Where I could feel their little toes running across mine. (insert squeamish high pitched scrinchy faced BLECH here from a woman who is never squeamish or high pitched)  In all honesty I am sure the rats were always there but we just made their home so much more conducive to good health and breeding that they run in front of me drunk with chicken feed and water.  I am declaring an all out war.  Traps. Poison. I am not a gun person but if I was I'd be sitting in a rocker with a shotgun waiting for them. Shotgun? Rat? Can we say overkill? Not when they run across my toes in the dark.  I will try not to look at their faces however.  Because to tell you the truth they have very cute faces and I don't want to have any second thoughts.  Rats make me consider getting rid of chickens.  Seriously.  But first I have to try the war thing.  Maybe more cats, too!  The unfortunate thing is this coop is closer to my neighbors house than mine -- I really don't want them heading over there. 

One year anniversary.

One year ago I had a stroke.  Soon after I went into my doctors office (if you are in Seattle and need an excellent neurologist -- send me an email). Unable to walk straight, unable to stay awake and alert for more than a couple hours, entirely overwhelmingly terrified with how my future had just changed...  my doc cleared boxes off an exam table (he had just moved into a new office), told me I wasn't on the right meds (given to me a week before by the hospital), told me they had misdiagnosed my type of stroke (nerds), and then looked me in the eye and said " In one year you won't even know this happened."  Meaning that I would have no visible outward remnants of part of my brain being dead.  I remember thinking he WAS NUTS... but he wasn't.  Today I am close to how I was pre-stroke.  Other than I weigh less, have a bit of short term memory spaciness, my muscle mass is different, I say things "differently" at times, and am on cursed cursed prescription drugs.  But who's to say I wouldn't be a little ditzy and tongue-tied at this point anyway? 
There always will be the life shift that happened on that day.  I went from being in control of everything... farm, kids, finances, future -- to being in charge of not hitting the door jamb with the left side of my body when I walked through a door.  I learned to accept help from others.   My way of looking at life, disability, and independence took a tumble toward the real.  You know, that we are not actually in control?  I am very good at ignoring the unpleasant.  Probably why I can own an old house... I can just merrily trudge through my home repair to-do list as an oblivious optimist.  I read sometimes that when people survive something drastic they change their look on life. ( I have Tim McGraw's "Live Like You Were Dying, " going through my head right now).  I thought all these life changing thoughts for about nine months and then realized : I wouldn't do anything different.  This is the life I would lead if I knew I was going to die in a year.  All the mistakes I've made, all the successes, my failed marriage... I wouldn't do it differently.  I've got great kids, love where we live, have always had jobs that were ones I picked for interest and luckily supported me.  I have not solved any world issues.  I don't know how to stop young men from taking guns and harming strangers.  I have not found the cure for cancer.  But I have lived, gave friends hugs, had long conversations with my ma, laughed until I peed my pants (wait, should I be typin' that?), watched my kids grow with pride and love.  I guess I don't record what is important to me anymore as the accomplishments that list my resume, and I used to.  That is not what I will take to my grave, and that is certainly not what I thought of when I was in the hospital waiting for my stroke to do its damage.
Best to you all.

Garage electrical

My neighbor came over and offered to rewire my garage with a friend visiting from Africa. His friend wants to learn everything he can so I guess they decided my garage was a good candidate.  I know he is familar with the inadequacies of the garage, as the previous owner and he were friends. And the previous owner was very creative with home repairs.  After I bought the house, he told me he had cut electrical lines in the yard to the pond and all outside lighting because he knew they would not pass inspection. 
All  I need is to get an electrician out to find out how it is powered --where the lines are buried from the house and update that-- and he will do the rest.
Neighbors are good.

Hydrangea outside my front door. This is the first it has bloomed in a couple years. Previously we would have a cold snap at an inopportune time and freeze all the wee blooms off. Not this year! 

Summer is here?

They always say in Seattle that "summer doesn't start until after July 4th."   Last week rolled around, we were at the family birthday/4th of July picnic, and it was a blindingly gorgeous day.  Blinding because it has been so dang cold around here the last 2 weeks we are all mole-like in our ability to handle the sun.
Finally my tomatoes may have a chance.  It does not do well for my ego to work with a bunch of professional horticulturists at my nursery job.  The yields they get from their gardens vs. what I get is mindboggling.  Right now they are making salads with peas and strawberries... I have one flower on my bean vines.   But dangit I am lovin' that little future bean!

Giving something away on Craigslist or How To Weed Out Your Responses Responsibly

In prep for my new garage doors, I bypassed the $300 dismantle and dispose fee and listed the old ones on craigslist.  This is how I weed the emails out. 
I posted the ad with a picture of the doors.  I only use the craigslist response email, I do not give any personal info, no phone, no email, no address in the body of the ad. Here is the ad.
"Three garage doors, two mahogany, one I don't know. Four paneled doors, all with glass panels, approx 8 x 7.  Ca. 1970's. They are being replaced with metal garage doors.   Use them for gardening? Building a chicken coop? Your own creative object d'art? Sometimes I am looking for weird stuff on craigslist that I know people are getting rid of, so I thought I would see if anyone is looking for these! "
  The key thing is I am going to have them work (they had to dismantle and take the doors) so I want to make sure they know there is a reason I am giving them away.  That they have all the information they need.  I do not hide problems with the item and hope they don't notice when they get here... that wastes my time and theirs.  The only big problem with this ad is I did not give dimensions.   Here is how I navigate responses. I edited and changed the following emails and names to protect the innocent. Ha.


1. This guy totally legit, since he is emailing from work (bad employee!) and gives his full name.  Since I wanted to get rid of the whole thing, I passed him by for other folks who wanted all three.

From: Dean F <deanf@autoparts.net>
To: -3077420896@sale.craigslist.org
Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2012 9:24 AM
Subject: GARAGE DOORS

** CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY --- AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY
** Avoid: wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home
** Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping
** More Info: http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams

I need 2 to 3 wood panels, and no glass. Are your new doors up. I can pick the panels up at noon if they are.

Dean 

2. The following three I never respond to other than to tell them they are gone.  Many people just surf the free section and don't even really need the item, they just look at it as a resale.  This first guys problem is lack of intelligence, and I prefer not to have strangers over that miss such key information. Such as it is an item priced as free and listed in the free section.
Sent from my iPad

CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY --- AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY
** Avoid: wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home
** Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping
** More Info: http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams

How much?


Cecil


3.  These are what the free surfer dudes look like. I guarantee when you call him he will have no idea what you are calling about and you have to remind him because he responds to anything he can resell.  I have found these fellows to be inconsistent (not always showing up) and uncareful in removal(since it is not for their own use).
Sent from my iPhone
Very interested please call me . Aaron 360-611-


4. Do NOT EVER ask this. Just don't. Say you are interested, you can pick it up soon, that you have a way to transport it, why you want it.... but never this.
Sent from my iPhone
Do you still have the doors?


5. This is who I ended up giving it to. He wanted it for a fixer upper he just got from the bank. He had a large truck, was so courteous and careful, and regaled me with stories of Hollywood and the house he just bought. He was a fellow ole house lover! He also was persistent (two emails) had a real email and name (not hotmama69@yahoo.com or spacyfrieddude@msn.com)
and used capitals in his sentence. I know that the youngsters probably would not blink if someone didn't use capitals, but it is just one more sign they have a semblance of wherewithall to know if you are sending an email out into the ether because you want something for free, and someone is going to trust you to come to their home... well you can throw a little punctuation and capitals in that sentence.

From: Phil D 
To: 3077420896@sale.craigslist.org
Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2012 2:57 PM
Subject: garage doors

** CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY --- AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY
** Avoid: wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home
** Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping
** More Info: http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams

I emailed you earlier, wondering if they are still available and that I can come and get them as soon as I here from you..I can sure use them..Thank You..Phil at 425-

From: Andrea blueshoefarm@gmail.com
;
Subject: Re: garage doors
To: "Phil" <phil.@.com>
Date: Friday, June 15, 2012, 3:18 AM

Hi Phil,

You understand I am replacing them... so they are definitely not perfect? Andrea

Yes thats fine.Where in poulsbo,and what time tomorrow would work best for you?thank you,Phil

To finish it all off be courteous and let the responders know your item has been given away, and take the ad down from craigslist when it is gone.

xyz@bye.com
Re: Garage doors

Hi, They all got picked up today. Thanks for your interest.

Andrea

Minneapolis

This is a window from the Lutheran church between my hotel and the convention center.  I didn't want to interrupt a service and gawk at the building, so I dodged up this tower and sat and listened to the music out of sight--and took a pic of a fantastic window.  I am telling you, if they had built churches in Seattle like the ones I saw in Minneapolis, we wouldn't all have the reputation of being such agnostic heathens and humanists.  I would go to church anyday in these stunning buildings!

Window detail

Personal pet peeve.  You tear down a building and put something else up... what do you do the the highly skilled stonemasonry work from the building?  Put it on the ground, in a teeny area, outside the new building.  These were designed to be high on top of a building, not below navel gazing level.  Similar to laying Michelangelo's David on the ground... the perspective would be all off.  Stepping off soap box...
I guess this is better than them being in the landfill or a private garden out of view.

Historic photo of the park superintendent's office, Loring Park

Lovingly restored!  There was a sign that it is now used for the dressing area for performers/concerts in the park.

I loved this picket fence-like siding detail.  You can see that it was on the original structure, too.

Minneapolis-St.Paul

I am finally putting up pics from the museum conference I went to over a month ago. We ended up at many museums (duh) and it reminded me that I don't go to museums enough!  Besides being exhausted exhausted by the end of each day, it was also a fantastic town.

This was the biggest damn flag... inside a mall connected to skywalks throughout the city. Even when the weather gets (HOT!) and (COLD!) those residents can keep moving through Minneapolis on these elevated walkways.  

At the Walker Art Center (www.walkerart.org )... this was a 2-D art installation of a dolphin that talked with you by keyboard. You typed, he answered on a screen.  He'd also swim and look cute.  Excellent engaging art!

Again at the Walker, a room of dripping gooey changing color things.   It was very visceral. Definitely an experience, not a necessarily a good photo op.

This painting was huge. And it was actually a photo of a model town and I was fascinated by the detail- and that its model perfection was somehow  realistic.  (James Casebere)

We won an architect

We won an architect at my son's school fundraiser auction for $100.  Such a deal!! I am really trying to pare down my needs... I don't want to overwhelm someone with a list three pages long.  Keep in mind, I don't want to change the house, I feel there are 106 year old patterns of use, patterns of living that were put in place for a reason.  I want to respect those patterns...since what is life but one big continuum?  Historically, I also am keen on that this house was designed as a working farmhouse... every room was placed for a very specific reason, whether I know the reason or not.
I would like my fridge moved in my kitchen, however. I know the reason it is not there... kitchens in 1906 did not have double wide, tall, stainless steel with water dispenser cooling units... they put it in the mudroom in the because it fit fifty years later. And some windows on the exterior have been moved... and all have lost their two over two single hung windows in favor of vinyl sliders. But I can't dwell on that sad bit of info.

Not my house. Just showing you that the original window style looks alot better than sliders.

My house. Hmmm. What project was I tackling? It was probably the gutters and installing that rain barrel. That is the ladder I drove over with the truck.  Lesson: Always put your tools away.

13 years old.

You are in a car, an enclosed space, with another person.  You know how those are the times you have conversations that are more in depth than the average garden variety?  More personal? Today that person was my son, Wilder.  We ended up in the car for 4 hours while taking my mom to the airport.  On the way home I was thinking about him, getting a little wistful, and I said,  "Sometimes I wonder what you will be like when you are an adult. What you will be doing, who you are."
Wilder: "Yeah, I wonder too. I wonder what my hair will be like."

Chicks, Garages, Paint

1. I walked by the baby chicks at the feed store and no lie.... the three alone Rhode Island Red chicks in the top cage all looked at me.  If you know chickens at all... they tend to scatter and freak out (the sky is falling!) rather than quietly stand close to the edge of a cage watching people.  That should have been my warning to walk on... instead it is why I now have three chicks at home in the chick enclosure.  They are very unchickenlike in their bold, peck me, run-me-over tactics when I am going to feed them.  They are still small-  I don't think that bodes well for when they are big.  I tend to like the big, fat, slow, friendly chickens... the austalorps, wyandottes and especially the orpingtons.
2. I ordered my flipping garage doors! Yay! Three of them! For a whopping $2500!
3. Deciding paint for the house.  I think it was a rush paint job the former owners did 4 years ago, because it is looking pretty sad.  Will show you possible colors in another post. 
4. Did I tell you I got a job? Very part-time, in a nursery.  LOVE IT.  Give them most of my paycheck back when I buy plants.
5. This week Rose turned 17, and last week Wilder 13.  I am not sure when it happened I can no longer sling them over an arm and burp them, but it seems to have happened quick.  

Where have I been?

Where have I been? Obviously not posting on this blog.  It is spring, the garden is calling, or more loudly, the weeds are growing.  I also got a part-time job, the kids are doing kid stuff which means growing up and making dorky dumb decisions (like "If I say I don't have homework and don't do it -- it will disappear" or "when driving if I back into a rock -- I should go faster to get off it quicker." These are all necessary mistakes to make on their way to growing up but jeez-louweezie they are guaranteed to keep my grey hair growing in lush and fast.  It also seems like high school is one big marijuana festival, I am so naive I thought it was a few kids, like when I was in school-- the 'stoners.' Nope, there is a serious pot problem out there, the football team gets high before practice.  The 4.0 students do it during school.  Do you have that in your schools?  I was shocked when I learned all this.  I knew it was bad when a police car pulled over a school bus.  For pot.   

Good thing Rose never looks at my website...this is her getting a color in her hair to fix a color experiment she and a friend tried.   The experiment did not work, hence the professional intervention.

Chickens and Cats and a Mouse

While I was in Minneapolis for a week the kids dad stayed at the farm and "took care" of things.  He cleaned up a pile of wood next to the compost heap and saw a mouse run from the woodpile into the chicken house. 
On my return in the evening, I was noticing that our new cat "Margaret" (called alternately Margie, Madge, Marjorie and Large Marge courtesy Peewee Herman) was looking a little wild in the eye so I offered her the choice to go outside. She took it.
Our other cat Bella was already outside.  When I opened the door a couple hours later, there sat Marjorie on the front stoop, Amanda dog by her side.  They both sauntered in.
Bella was nowhere to be seen. I went back an hour later and called. And another hour later...Bella always comes in, but not this night.
I wondered where she was, figured it may be her wild night and went to bed.  When I got the paper in the morn I expected to see a cat right at the door... but Bella was not to be seen. I was getting worried.  I did regular morning stuff --took Wilder to school, stopped for tea, scones, and drove back home.  As I got out of my car I noticed the chickens had not been let out of their house by Wilder that morning and they sounded pissed.  Usually when they are cranky birds I talk to them and they calm right down.  But they were in a state and as I walked around the house to let them out they were really lecturing me. 
I unlocked the door and lifted the flap... and out shot a small black cat, Bella.  She had just spent 14 hours in a coop with five birds.  I hope she got that mouse!

Pic: A Welsummer and a Golden Laced Wyandotte on my porch surveying the insect population.

Rose told me when she was locking the chickens up tonight, Bella, Marge, and Amanda went with her--but Bella stayed far away from the door.

Leaving

I am heading out to Minneapolis for a week for a conference.  This is for my museum skillset -- the American Association of Museums-- and a gal friend was supposed to speak at it.  I thought it would be good to see how my new brain would do, since this was easy as punch information pre-stroke.  I am curious how my brain processes things now.
The hard part is leaving the kids and farm.  You cannot believe the to-do list I have. The kids dad will be staying here, and now that Rose is a driver (did I mention she got her license??) it should be easier.  Still moms will be moms and I am fretting about Wilder feeding his guinea pigs, Rose locking the chickens up at night... the garden being watered... on and on and on.
Once I get on that plane it will all be a non-issue!  But right now I am Type A 'ing.

Horse Fencing. Again.

When will the fencing saga end? Probably not as long as I have horses to contain.  The Red Brand fencing I put in last summer is magnificent.  Neighbors dogs cannot have access to the horses, bunnies can't even get in.  I haven't seen the deer hop it either, to graze with the horses.  The clincher is that I need to have an electric hot tape running the perimeter.  "The grass is greener"... and my horses are leaners.  So I spent way too long electrifying another section.  I know the fence works because I wasn't being careful, zapped myself, screamed, the horses both jumped (I am not usually a screamer), and then I swore that my finger was permanently damaged. It wasn't, I am fine, if a little over-dramatic... but this is not the electric fence of my youth! 

Spring break for the kids

We took a staycation to big ol' Seattle and acted like tourists for a couple days. Wilder brought a friend along and poor teenage Rose just had me. Funny thing... they had more fun at the small neighborhood park playing lavamonster and getting unseasonably wet in the international fountain at Seattle Center (I don't even know if it is still called that! My 70's roots are showing). We all had fun, I got enormously exhausted. Stayed in a perfect Seattle funky (historic!) hotel next to Seattle Center that was as quiet as my Poulsbo home. Actually quieter during frog season at my house. The Marqueen. If you are looking for cheap and funky... we had a kitchen, reading nook, and four people fit in our room great. We ate well, drove (fast) down the hills of Seattle (poor suspension!), talked to homeless people, went to uberexpensive EMP, took the monorail from Seattle Center to downtown.... some standard tourist stuff, some maybe not so much.

That is my son with the umbrella... prepared to enter the water spray. I can tell them "Don't get wet" but those words just disappear in the wind when they get near the challenge of a fountain.

Wall of Death. Have one in your city? One of the hidden gems under a bridge in Seattle. We also tracked down a troll squeezing a VW bug under a different bridge.
Kerry Park on Queen Anne hill is always a great place for a photo. Hopefully yours will not be a kinda dark, missing a flash photo.
Wow. Seattle traffic. It was insane. I freaked the kids out and said I was going to roll down my window and start asking people where they were from since there was so many more cars. (I didn't.)

Garage doors

Pics: This is the post in the best condition with the foam dug out. I have three garage doors, two which don't open. I got bids to replace them and one bidder noted "it doesn't appear anything is holding this whole wall up." Upon looking closer it appears someone had patched WITH FOAM major structural pieces and then painted it to match. Only when you poked it was it apparent there was nothing of substance, the paint was the toughest thing there.
So yesterday new handyman Erik came over and fixed them. He is a local, and me trying to find another local person for repairs since Javier is all the way in Seattle and always booked solid.
All the support posts holding the three garage doors were rotten and missing except one. I did not take a pic of the most dramatic because my camera went dead, but take this image times three and you get the picture. Erik said my building was being held up by the 70's steel rails from the garage doors. At least they were still making solid stuff in the 70's otherwise my garage would be slumping. I talked to him about converting the third garage into a studio but it not looking like a "former garage door closed off to make a room." To do that would not be a quick job and take some more concrete and structural work so I put that off. I still have a bathroom to fix.
More garage images here...

Change of focus - Mom's House

My mother bought a house 11 years ago so she would have someplace to call her own when she visited her grandkids. I know she would add "and her daughter" but I am a realist, and when her grandkids came on the scene they were quite the attention hogs. As it should be.
She is here about 3 months out of the year so liked having her little house. At about 900 square feet and built like a tank it is a solid, if petite, place. She is gearing up to sell it this spring and I recommended Javier to do painting before she got here from Michigan so she was not asphyxiated by fumes. I told him what she told me - which was the ceilings need painting. I unlocked the door, gave him some paint, and drove to Lowe's for more paint. When I returned he had me follow him around. "It looks like a little hole for a mouse back here... (behind her fridge) want me to patch that?" "I pulled off some of this where the hole was and there was a whole 18" paper hornet nest (in her shower)." Do you want me to paint over the green paint around the doors (incomplete paint job)" " Do you want me to attach her baseboards and sink the nailheads and paint?"
So a ceiling paint job turned into a Javier fixit couple of days. God bless that man. Did I tell you he charges me $150 a day? If he brings his cousin I pay $300. And a day is as long as it takes the job to be done?
Did I tell you I pay my plumber $150 an hour?

Plan of Attack - farmhouse

So say I had $10,000. And with it I could do any house project I wanted. (Which I guess is not that much considering what I am working on --it could disappear fast.)
Some options are to:
1. Paint the whole house and replace some siding (who is burrowing in my siding? Do I really want to know?)
2. Replace my three garage doors (two of which are broken) and the painted FOAM filled support beams-- part of the previous owners Walmart crafty repairs. God I love them for the humor aspect when I am not cranky about their workmanship. Foil. Foam. Empty paper towel rolls. Why buy it when you have perfectly good repair materials laying about the house, preferably from the garbage or burn pile?
3. Foundation work. Add support to the basement and stabilize the south wall which has a bit of a tilt. Should my house move like I live on the train tracks when youth are running rampant on the main floor? Granted they are boys, but still.
4. Move my fridge to the kitchen. Yeah, a novel concept... it is currently in the mud room. This job involves electricians, and they never come cheap.
5. Build out a two level studio/guest house into the loft and main floor of the garage. This might be a weeeee bit more than $10K. BUT it could be an income generator down the road.
6. Build a porch. I have always wanted a porch to sit on and narrate the neighborhood goings on. My house would be cuter with one, too.
7. Something else that I can't remember now.

A side note: I was doing house research this weekend and found the obit for a 92 year old woman who was born in my house. Makes me sad I found out about her from a news article about her passing. I would have liked to invite her over and visited.

Wacky weather - snow

It has been snowing since last evening. Granted it is very wet, but we do have a one inch blanket making everything white. Strange weather. The frogs went silent about 36 hours before the snow started. Its pretty! Of course, I got the spring garden fever a little early and cleaned out a major flower bed a week ago. Probably all those perennial and bulb starts I uncovered are frozen lumps of green mush now.

Bees

Skep plaque outside the Portland Museum of Art.   Bees/skeps images on architecture and in design were used to show industry/cooperation/teamwork.




 Found this while wandering last weekend. There was no identifying signage visible, but this was from a series of architectural plaques that looked like they came off a masonic hall - probably one that was torn down to make way for a new structure.  They were rough edged, sitting above the grass by a few inches, some it was clear what they were of... (bees, sun and moon) while others were more abstract (lodge emblem). They were alongside the sidewalk in a narrow elevated garden about four feet off the ground.  Context, people, context.  What does this have to do with Portland? With the art museum? What do these images mean? More crucial to the passerby... why are they here?  Sometimes I cannot turnoff my museum public education and outreach training, since I have seen the spark people get from having that knowledge, enthusiasm, sharing.  (Maybe not this skep info per se, I may be the only one that loves such stuff) 
   I did have a point to choosing this picture to post. I took it because I am going to bee training class for 5 months so I can get bees down the road at B.S. Farm.   Maybe then I will have to change the name from Blue Shoe to Bee Sting Farm.