Fresh Chicken Dinner

We were very pleased with ourselves when we found a new home for Rhonda the Rooster. Unfortunately, we soon started to hear from our neighbors that they were hearing crowing coming from our yard. We'd never heard it and we thought we were in the clear with Ginger, but alas, we have another rooster on our hands. What are the odds of two out of our four chickens turning out to be roosters, right? Hope it's a tasty bird.

Just in the nick

We got a response to our free rooster offering! Someone just picked up Rhonda...turned Roosevelt to take him to a happy home with 24 hens. Just as we were loading her...ahem...him into the box he gave out a muffled crow, his first. We are very happy he gets a new home where he will be appreciated as something other then chicken dinner.

The Suspect

After numerous discussions about the possibility of getting chickens, after careful selection of the breeds best acclimated to the snow & elements, and after the work of building the chicken coop, after all this, it turns out that one or possibly two of our hens might actually be roosters. We got the chicks after they had been carefully tested to determine their sex. The process is 90-95% accurate. Rhonda is looking very suspicious with her long tail feathers and large comb. You decide for yourself. Here's the suspect:

I don't have a shot of the other. After careful online research, we have determined that if it looks like a rooster and crows...it's a rooster. None of our chickens have started laying eggs yet, so the egg factor is not yet a determining factor. So, for now we are holding our breath and hoping that one day we don't wake up at 3 am to the crow of a rooster. I think are neighbors are hoping that too.

House Projects

Here's the current status of our fireplace mantel (you'll have to see previous entry with the before shot). We're still under negotiations and it may change again.

We got four chicks which are quickly turning into full grown chickens. Here they are, Rhonda and Ginger in the forefront, Lucy and Hermione are hiding behind.

Michael made a fancy chicken coop for the girls to enjoy. Eggs to come a few months from now.

Northern California

We had a great time visiting Northern California. See that great Subaru in the window's reflection? It worked great until the end of our trip on our way home. First we locked the keys in the car, then ran out of oil, broke the piston, and got to drive home for the last stretch in the tow truck visiting with Gerardo on the way. We're now looking for new transportation.

We found some sea creatures in the tide pools.

Simon and Michael caught some fish and crabs.

The boys enjoyed finding which of the Redwood trees would make the best fort.

We met up with Mystery Inc to consult on one of their current mysterious projects.

Went to the aquarium and got to see, touch, and feed some great creatures.

Got sprayed by some waves.


Tried not to get too wet while collecting sand crabs.



We love camping with these great boys.

Ice castles

We went to see the ice castles in Midway that are made every year. Here's some of what we saw:







We finished Sam's desk & set it up with a display of Sam's lego creations.

New House

We've been busy since we moved. There's a lot of work to do in a home built in the 1960's. Here's a few of our projects: Michael painted a movie screen on our wall for our very own home theater.


We took these amazingly large rocks off the fireplace wall. Each rock weighs precisely 953 lbs. It covered a huge portion of the wall.


Here's what it looks like after the rocks came off. We still need to cover with a mantel. After picture to follow.

We pulled off the wallpaper in the front entryway and painted. Before:

After:

We got some plantation shutters.

Sam & I painted a desk and shelf for Sam's room.
Before:

After:
We have this window in the front that is curved in five narrow panels. Two of the windows open, so they have a crank on them. Any good suggestions for blinds for this window?