Chicken Update

The chicks are nearly full grown. Three are just now 3 months old and the fourth will be 3 months on the 21st of May. The chick that is furthest away in the picture is the youngest.

Amy Made the Frontier Drill Team

Amy tried out for her Middle School Drill Team this year and was very excited to hear that she had made the team. She is less excited about the uniform...lol I like the uniform.

Road Rash

For Matthew's 11th birthday he got a new bicycle. As it turns out, it doesn't make very good U-Turns. It's made for going fast, not turning around!! He has this raspberry on his elbow to prove it! We think it looks kinda like Africa....

Chicks are growing

Today was such a nice day, I thought I would let the chicks out into the run for the very first time. They were a little skeptical at first, but soon they were running around and exploring everything. As we worked in the yard, the kids kept giving the chicks worms. They loved the worms, and would try to take them away from each other. It was pretty funny.

Minnie has been keeping a very close eye on the chicks...lol

Garden progress

Matthew helped me move the garden soil from the driveway to the backyard.

Today I completed the second row of blocks. I wasn't as lucky this time, since the top row is a bit smaller in diameter than the bottom row, but I improvised with a rock from the yard to fill the gap.

Well, as I began to get closer and closer to completing the circle of retaining wall blocks, I started to get nervous that when the blocks finally met, they would be slightly out of level, or I would have way too much space for the last block, or way too little space. (or both!) Miraculously, when I got to the last block, it was perfectly level and exactly the right size to complete the circle. I was in shock! (but very, very happy!)

Now I just need to dig all of the rocks out, add the second story of retaining wall blocks, bring in some nice fertile 3-way with fertilizer and we'll be ready to plant something!

PC Build

Yesterday afternoon the UPS guy brought three boxes of goodies....When unpacked it all looked like this...



After installing the CPU on the motherboard. (Intel i7 Bloomfield 920 cpu and ASUS P6T LGA 1366 X58 ATX Intel Motherboard)


Matthew installing the bracket for the cpu cooler. (Arctic Cooling Freezer 7)


Matthew ready to install the CPU fan power cable on the Motherboard.


Matthew connecting some of the case wires to connect to the motherboard.


Making progress. Power supply is in!


Matthew connecting the HD Audio cable to the Motherboard.


Matthew installing Windows 7 Pro.


We started the build around 4:00 pm and finished around 8:00 pm. It will be moving upstairs to it's final resting place soon. Matthew did a great job with the build and we both enjoyed working on it together.

Tech Specs:

Case: Cooler Master Storm Scout
Motherboard: ASUS P6T LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX
CPU: Intel i7 Bloomfield 920 2.66 GHz Quad Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7
Video Card: EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512 MB 256-Bit DDR3
Power Supply: Cooler Master Silent Pro 700W
Hard Drive: Wester Digital Caviar blue 1TB 7200 RPM 32 MB Cache SATAII
Memory: OCZ Gold 6GB (3 X 2GB) DDR3 Triple Channel
ASUS DVD Burner
Acer 20" LCD Widescreen display
TV Tuner: Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600

Future additions: NAS device

New Computer

It's a bit embarrassing, but I have to admit that I have put off upgrading our home computer for far, far too long. It's a Dell P4, 1.8 GHz, 512 MB of RAM dinosaur! Can anyone guess how old something like that would be? If you guessed 8.5 years, you would be right on the money. (Yep, it even has a 19" CRT!!) Back in the day, this was a screaming machine, but over the years it has slowed to a crawl for even the most basic challenges. The final straw came when it was time to install Smart Music for the kids to practice their instruments with and it completely froze up before the install had barely gotten underway! Anyway, it was at that point that I started thinking it might actually be time to say goodbye to the old Dell and get something more current. I thought it would be fun for Matthew and I to buy all of the computer components and build it together. Hopefully, it will also be educational for Matthew and maybe even a little bit fun. It looks like everything should arrive on Thursday. Stay tuned for updates and pictures of the build! For those of you wanting all the details on the hardware, I will include that as well.

Raised Garden Bed update

I love it when the weather person predicts rain and then they are completely wrong. Today was one of those days! It ended up being a beautiful day and perfect for working in the yard. We made some progress on the raised garden bed, even though the progress was slower than we would have liked, we are happy with how it is shaping up. You can see the base of crushed gravel, to ensure a solid foundation for the retaining wall blocks to rest on.

New Garden

With the chicken coop project all wrapped up, it was time to get busy with the garden project. We have talked for years about having a raised garden bed instead of trying to fight with the extremely rocky soil in our backyard. Since the chicken coop is now occupying part of the old garden area, this seemed like the perfect time to finally get that raised bed done! Earlier today we had 5000 pounds (80 blocks at 60 lbs each) of retaining wall blocks delivered (I'm standing on them as I take the picture below) for the perimeter of the bed. It will be about 15 feet in diameter and about 12 inches high. More pictures to follow as we make progress.

New chick arrived

Yesterday we picked up our 4th and final chick. She is 3 days old and is a Black Australorp. She doesn't have a name yet..... she is only 11 days younger than the other three. Amazing how quickly they grow!

Hen house and run complete

Today I worked on getting the run put together and in place. There is quarter inch hardware cloth fastened to the bottom to keep any varmints from digging under and up into the run. I dug down about 3 inches so the hardware cloth will be covered by a few inches of dirt.


It's taken longer than I thought it would, but it's finally all done and ready for the hens as soon as they are old enough to go outside. (I actually still need to cover part of the run so it stays dry in the winter.)


It's been a fun project and we're all looking forward to seeing the hens out there laying eggs!

Still Growing...

The chicks are still growing. On Wednesday, we will be getting a new chick. A black Australorp. When she arrives, you will really be able to see how much the first three have grown in just a week and a half.

Hen house moves outside

Today we moved the hen house to it's final location in the backyard. By the time we got it there and I thought to take a couple of pictures, it was starting to get dark

Yep, I left some tools inside....



Next will be installing the chicken run so the hens can be outside when no one is around to make sure they don't leave the backyard or become lunch for a predator. It will be 3' X 10' and 3' tall. It will attach to the back of the coop where the chicken door is located.

They're growing....

We've had the chicks for 4 days now, and it seems like they have grown a lot in that short period of time. They can run about 60 miles an hour, or so it seems. They jump and flap their little wings and are generally very curious about everything.

Silver Laced Wyandotte


Barred Plymouth Rock


Rhode Island Red

Hen House Progress

We are nearing completion on the Hen House. Painting is about 85% done and then we just need to install the roof and a bit of locking hardware on the doors and windows.

The Chicks are Here!!

Today we got three chicks and are planning to get one more when that particular breed is available. The Henhouse is partially painted and will be completely done soon. Pictures of the henhouse to follow soon. The golden colored one is named Hufflepuff, the black one is Pepper and the black and silver one is Oreo.

Henhouse nears completion

Today Matthew and I did quite a bit of work on the hen house. We finished today by caulking some of the seams to help with weather-proofing the unit. We are now ready for paint and then some hardware on the doors and windows, install the roof and we'll be all done. Next project will be to build an enclosed run area that will be safe from predators. Chicks should arrive on Feb 12. They will be inside the house in a brooder until they are 6 to 8 weeks old.

Clucking right along....

Seems like we have finally gotten some traction and are moving along. We put the flooring on....



Left, right and rear walls installed.......


Matthew Models the access door.....


Front wall is under construction, nest box is in place....


Nest box detail......


Now we need to finish the front wall and install the roof, then we are down to some detail finishing and paint!

Henhouse...Part II

It amazes me that after all the hours Matthew and I have put into building the Henhouse, we still don't have much to show for it. I guess that is because we have been building all of the pieces that will eventually go together to make the completed structure. We have completed the base, the left, right and back walls and we're almost done with the nesting boxes where the hens will lay their eggs. The pieces for the front wall are cut, but not assembled yet.

Matthew with the mostly finished nesting box.

Hen House gets started

If you can look past the messy garage, you'll see the materials for the Hen House that Matthew and I are going to start building for the 4 chicks that we expect to get on February 12. Stay tuned for updates as the Hen House progresses.

Webelos Craftsman Activity Badge

Matthew is currently working on his Craftsman Activity Badge for Webelos. He decided to make a necktie rack. We came up with a design that was right up his alley. The Glock Firearms Logo.

Here is Matthew with the logo penciled on the wood.(Oak)

After we cut the corners off with a jigsaw.

We got a little carried away and forgot to take the next picture, so here it is after the edges and logo were routered and the holes for the necktie pegs drilled.

Stain has been applied....

Logo has been painted....

Pegs inserted.....


Matthew is very happy with his new necktie rack! Some of you may be wondering.....how many neckties can a 10 year old have? Matthew has about half a dozen.


Matthew did the majority of the work on this project, with dad supervising the use of the power tools. Matthew routered the entire logo and most of the edges. He drilled 5 of the 7 holes for the pegs and wore his elbow out sanding.