Chicken Apocalypse 2

On a sad note, we lost one of our chickens (Paige Jr.) in the last two weeks. Once the duck project had ended (with Bob's untimely demise and Mabel's adoption to another family), we had been pretty much letting them do what they wanted. They roosted high in their home and woke up as well as put themselves to bed. No more getting up at 7AM to open the enclosure. We thought we had gotten sooooo lucky.  Was not to be.

One day we went out and I couldn't find PJ. She was kind of a little bitch. 

Aside: Here is where I would totally volunteer that she was just like her Mom in that sense but that isn't true. We named her PJ because she was kind of always off doing her own thing, just like me. Also, she wasn't afraid to be herself, again, just like me. She was complicated. That was something that I liked about her.

Her partner was around and not giving us any clues. There were some feathers in the greenhouse but PJ had started to molt, so alarm bells didn't immediately go off.  We looked and looked and it was me that found her. Something came into the greenhouse, snatched her off her roost. By the amount of feathers, we were able to piece together her last, violent moments. I am proud that she fought so hard to escape and I know that if there is such a thing as chicken heaven, that she is there. Her body was hidden under a ramp, her head was chewed, her eyes gone and her body ripped to pieces.  A neighbor came out told us that she had heard a loud commotion that woke her up and sounded like "geese" but she did not investigate because she was home alone (and she did not come knock on our door to tell us either).  It's not that we could have saved her. In fact, if we had been outside when it happened, it might have been like that time the squirrel got into the wood stove and I lit the stove not knowing it was in there. Watching something tragic happen and being able to do nothing about it.  No, I mean that it would have been nice to have been with her so that she didn't die alone. That was the worst part for me.

PJ and No Name in a favorite spot

We buried her in the yard next to Bob. Then of course, Otis decided that a new patch of dirt was perfect to roll around in for a few days.  :) Either way, we adopted two new chickens that looked like they came from a concentration camp. All three are now happily hanging out together in the yard everyday. We go out every night and close them in after dark and every morning, I have returned to getting up with the sun to open it up again. A small price to pay so that we don't have to bury another one.

Ryan says that pets are just a tragedy in waiting. Do you agree?  I look around and our life is so full of joy in ways that the people in my life have never provided, save a small handful. One of these posts I'll tell you all about Cleo. She is the "special needs" kitten that Ryan brought home a couple of months ago.  I don't think that she will ever stop being entertaining.

Is it fall yet??

Mid-October and we finally had our first rain.  Really?  I can't recall that ever happening before. Our 1000 water tank was down to the last 50 gallons and we waited patiently for the rain all throughout September and it never came.

My birthday is in late August and there are two constants to that date throughout my life: 1) there is always a horror movie playing in theaters (and I was tempted to drag Ryan to it as I have so many birthday party attendees in the past) and 2) my friend Stacey always calls or texts me a "Happy Birthday". So while those two things remain constant in my life, the weather certainly hasn't.

It was blistery hot every day until my birthday and we needed that time because the new roof took more than 20 minutes to install. In fact, if you ever get a near toothless man recommended to work for you by a supplier. My advice it to take it.  Don looked like he had led an imaginably hard life and I think this was a tremendous growth opportunity for Ryan. On looks alone, it was hard at first to have faith that this man would help us. Soon enough though his honest approach, tirelessness and amazing abilities won us over.  If anyone who reads this needs a man to help them install a roof, please let us know as Don comes with our highest possible recommendation.

Back to the point I was making... The day after my birthday it suddenly became fall. Crazy. From so warm that you can't sleep to crisp and chilly. In one day.  We are truly blessed to live in this part of the country. Now we just needed rain. Although I secretly was hoping for a little more time to get some painting done.

We waited with breathless anticipation for the first rainfall to test our work. As of this writing, 5 days of rain have fallen and every single leak has been addressed. Yea!!

We also proved to ourselves that we can work together on a project and our marriage will survive. I realize that a roof is not quite a house, but our communication and abilities to work as a cohesive team have been steadily improving over the years and were tested mightily on this project. Sometimes having two capable people is a hinderance (sometimes it isn't)  however, it is a tribute to my beautiful husband that he doesn't stop trying.  Thank you Ryan  :)

Isn't she pretty?

Don wrapped the peaks, so she looks like a present.  :)

October 2012 Update

Hi everyone...

Ryan and I are gearing up for winter at our home. Not much at all being done about the house since we are stretching it out a year.   I started a new job last month and am almost done with my exams to get a license that I need.  Ryan and I will work on our drawings as we get the motivation to. We still go up to the property every so often and Mike is doing s terrific job cutting the grass for us.

Things we need to do:

1) Perc test (to be done next summer)
2) redraw drawings as a result of the last meeting between Chuck and Ryan (eliminate some windows and other passive housey type things).

At this point, I am honestly not sure if we are in the counties pilot program any longer. They have a 5 year deadline which we will be unable to make.

We are putting this down for now and hope to break ground by 2014 but if we don't... that's ok too. We are very busy throwing as much money towards this project as we can afford to and as soon as we have enough to get a good, running start, we will start paying attention to how to navigate the hoops. In the meantime, you all have our contact info if you need to convey needed information to us about this project.

TTFN

Paige and Ryan

Update. AUGUST 14. Where we've been

For the last 5 weeks, Ryan and I have been tearing off the roof of our 1939 home. The new roof comes tomorrow and should be on the house by Monday. 

In the meantime, we have met with Chuck Dougherty and gotten started collecting all of the nigglibits that are going to be required in addition to our plans. We might be in this stage for a few months so check back later. Otherwise, full steam ahead paying down the property and getting ready for next year. We feel that we are still on track to break ground next spring and are not panicking.

The ball starts to roll

On Monday morning, Ryan and I have an actual meeting with an actual, live person!!

Chuck Dougherty ( Form Studio,
Creating Innovative Built Environments
360.573.8082 ) is going to give our plans the once over and give his opinion as to how we are doing. With his input we will be able to complete our packet and turn it in for review. Chuck is essential in the counties green program, so we feel lucky to have his attention.

To prepare for the meeting we need to get our list together for the Petals. If I can get through Chapter 4 in my PHP MySQL class today, I should be able to make that happen.

*** Note to anyone who is interested: once you get your WAMP environment set up on your Windows machine, don't mess with the settings ( even if you are trying to learn something). I totally broke mySQL in AAMPP last night. An uninstall, regedit search and several repeats of a fresh install ( even in safe mode) did not fix it . The AMP stacks on the Mac are a lot more forgiving I am finding.

Changing the root password manually on some of this open source is dangerous business. Had to go with another WAMP stack. That's 4 hours I'll never get back, so I'm behind.

Will update again after our meeting for next steps...

Roof Square Footage Update

Ryan got the roof plan done today and we have final numbers for rain water collection

The main house and garage combined are at 3198 sq.feet. Which, for our purposes equates to 3198 * .55 = gallons per inch of rainfall. ( see House Elements page above).

This is good news because we will have the capacity to collect more water than we would ever use during the rainy period and have no troubles during the summer. The plan us still for a cistern between 10 and 15,000 gallons.

Cheers!!

Checking In

For those of you who don't live in Washougal, you may not know that they are working on the road. For 15 weeks we will not be able to go the direct route to the property. We might not get there all summer. Ryan is finishing the basement and roof plans now. I have to finish the Petal information. We just had a giant project thrust upon us at work so we are now " officially" behind schedule. 

More later