Eleven!

We had a combined birthday party for Wesley and the twins in February so today wasn't very exciting as far as birthdays go. Just a simple (store bought) cake and a quiet evening at home.

First Swim of the Season!

After being tempted by the beautiful blue water for months, we were finally able to swim again. We were mad at ourselves for shutting down the pool as soon as we had a cold snap last November. There were several days after we turned off the heater that it was warm enough to go for a swim. We have been waiting and waiting to get back in so we had plans to get the heater going as soon as we could.

The heater didn't even have to work hard at all thanks to the addition of about 10,000 gallons of 80 plus degree water after the table repair. The unseasonably warm weather last weekend helped too. The temp drops a few degrees each night, but the heater gets it back up to about 80º by mid-afternoon.

The repair work was done Thursday and the pool company sent someone out to balance the water on Friday. He gave us the go ahead to get in when he was done.

Back in January we bought some umbrellas for the umbrella holes in the table and the baja step. Last year they were sold out at every store we checked by the time the pool was finished. I have a feeling Annabeth and I will be spending many hours under those umbrellas this summer!

The boys were making up all kinds of games with the pool toys. But it seems every one's favorite pool activity is jumping off the grotto. No one wanted to go in the grotto because apparently a big nasty spider took up residence there while no one was swimming this winter. I don't know if this is true for sure because I wasn't about to go investigate. We decided Dad should do a little grotto clean out before any of us would go in there.

If you look closely you'll see seven boys swimming. Two of the new neighbor boys heard the pool guy give us the okay and they ran home to ask their mom if they could join us. They seemed to have a great time. I hope we have lots of friends join us this swimming season! If you're local, come by anytime!!

Stepping Out

On Friday, after over a month of garage living, we finally let the chicks get a taste of the outdoors. They were a little nervous at first and wouldn't do anything more than peek out the door. I don't think it helped that all the kids were sitting outside the door watching them. I moved their food and water outside and told the observers to back up. Finally, they were brave enough to step out.

The Reds seem to be a little more skittish than the Buffs. One Buff in particular comes to the door every time I open it, even in the garage. She is always the first one to hop out to say hi. She led the way this time too.

I put a little fencing up and used a beach towel to create some shade and let them explore a bit. They seemed to enjoy it. They pecked at the ground and ate a few weeds. Their water sure stayed a lot cleaner outside. In the crate it fills with bedding when they scratch. I have to clean it out several times a day. At the end of the day we carried the crate back into the garage.

Sunday afternoon we let them have another outside adventure. They knew just what to do this time! They were out that door in a few seconds. I don't know if being outside awakened some chicken instincts or what, but several of them enjoyed their first dust bath. It was fun to watch. They dug a little hole and took turns. Who would have thought "bathing" in dirt would be enjoyable?!

They are quickly outgrowing their current accommodations and it is definitely warm enough for them to be outside more in the daytime. We are working on their coop (stay tuned for another post about that) and look forward to moving them to the big house very soon!

Mending Fences

We have owned this house for one year as of March 12th, although we didn't actually move in until about a month later. The fence in the back portion of our lot has been broken since we first set eyes on the place. We have no idea what happened. Maybe a car hit it? We have a lot of dirt bikes and four wheelers in the neighborhood, but I don't see how a smaller vehicle could have done that amount of damage.

We temporarily put up a couple posts and some leftover chain link, but it was still an eye sore.

Since the chickens will be moving out there soon we had it fixed last week. It looks so much better! We still have to paint the steel to match the rest of the fence but even unpainted it is a great improvement.

When we moved in a there was a fence along the guest house driveway that could contain any animals (or kids!) in the grassy part of the yard. That fence was removed when they put in the pool. So to keep the backyard enclosed we also had them install a gate across the guest house driveway.

The company we hired gave us a discount (almost $100) for paying in cash. Like real dollar bills in an envelope cash. I'm not really sure why, but I was kind of nervous about it. It just seemed shady since with cash there is really no record of payment (except in this case the guys initials on our contract). As much as I like Dave Ramsey's ideas for building savings and reducing debt, I could never be on board with his suggestion to pay "cash only" for everything.

We have made lots of improvements in the year we've owned the house, but there's always something more to do. We have a couple of things I really want finished before it gets hot: landscape rock and build a planter to cover the septic caps. We're hoping to get the rocks delivered later this week so if you want a little exercise come help us haul rock. The weather should be beautiful and if it gets too hot you can jump in the pool for a quick swim!

The Coop (Part 2)

From 3/17/13:

After a week off we were up and running again. We started by framing the back wall. Then we leveled the floor frame on some concrete supports. I should back up and say after we decided where we wanted it and mowed the back lot we leveled the floor. Originally, I envisioned the coop in the far back corner. A few things made me change my mind: the neighbor dog and access to water and shade. This location also makes more sense as far as keeping an eye on the chickens throughout the day and access to future eggs.

With the floor frame level(ish) we were ready to lay down the floor. It looked like a stage at this point and we all tried to think of at least one line of Shakespeare to share "on stage".

The walls went up pretty fast after that!

Since we were out of materials we decided to call it quits for the weekend and do some other yard work. I'm looking forward to seeing the real form take shapes when we add the siding next weekend!

Pool Building Flashbacks

Am I dreaming? Did we go back in time? It was hot today and felt like summer. My pool was half empty and there were guys working on it.

No, we didn't go back in time and, unfortunately, I'm not dreaming. Way back when the pool table was installed, they were in a bit of hurry and had someone - NOT the table crew - install it. When they were done we noticed a "chip around the umbrella hole". We mentioned it to the pool superintendent right away and he told us they would get a little repair kit to fix it. After not hearing anything for months, we finally asked them what the hold up was and it seems there is no repair kit. Guess they were not going to mention that and see if we ever cared. The remedy: a new table top. Okay. The procedure for a new table top: drain the pool to the first step. Ugh.

It's been a struggle. They didn't show up the first time the "drain and fix" was scheduled. Then the gal in the office had "computer problems" that suspiciously affected her phone as well. Uh huh. Jerry finally insisted it be taken care of this week. So yesterday a guy came to drain our beloved, perfectly (chemically) balanced water and pump it out into the back field.

Pumping out the water (FYI: Those are solar rings to help warm the water.)

Then early this morning the three man install crew (the real ones!) arrived and literally broke the old table into pieces and removed it. Old table, we hardly knew ye! After cleaning up the pedestal edges, they got the new top all situated and were on their way.

Removing the old table

Installing the new table

The boys wondered why the pool crew couldn't just put on their swimming trunks and fix it. It does seem like a waste to drain all that water for an hour of work. But the water was cold (about 65º) and power tools and water don't mix. The good news is the water going into the pool is at least 80º so I think between that and the warm weather (high of 90º today and 92º tomorrow) we will be swimming this weekend! We had planned to turn on the heater and I think the addition of warm water will give it quite a jump start!

As you can see my pool-filling helper really enjoyed the warm hose water! We spent a good half hour our there splashing and spraying.

It was kind of funny how word spread. Soon Eli joined us and then Wesley, Hayden, and JD appeared with their suits on. The boys actually stepped into the deep parts where the water was still a bit chilly. Us girls stayed up where it was warm. Everyone is READY to be swimming again. Looks like we will be very soon!