RooRoo

We understand hens are happier if they have a "man around the house," so Jen gave us one of her roosters.  His name is RooRoo and he made life kind of miserable for one of her other roosters so we are hoping all the chickens will be happier if he lives here.  Our plan was to keep him near, but separate, from the girls for a couple of days but he was so miserable in the cage that we let him out the first day.  It's been a few days now and they are hanging out together more but at first they just ignored each other.  The hens are kind of like teenagers at this point and RooRoo is older and wiser and has his wings full trying to get them to behave.

The girls are curious but RooRoo is playing hard to get.

Still playing hard to get but doing so as close to the girls as he can get.

Great Sand Dunes

We have had a wet spring and summer and Medano Creek is still running strong.

Practically white water in places.  Well, that might be a slight exaggeration but it is moving fast.

And it is wider than I've ever seen it.

And look at all the green stuff!

Looks like light but is really only sand that is dryer than the sand around it.  Still pretty though.

Shot this photo on my way out of the park.

Another one taken on a little further down the road.

Fourth of July parade

Decorating the float and our truck in the Methodist Church parking lot.

Galen drove the truck and I rode shotgun and took photos.  The folks on our float were shooting water canons so inside the truck was a good place to be.

The kids didn't mind being shot at one bit.

I wonder if this woman's husband knows she is setting him up.

He didn't seem to mind.  She's off to the right and out of the line of fire.

This guy used his daughter as a shield.  LOL!

Not too sure about this.

The chickens getting their first look at the outside.

They are not big on new things so decide to go back inside the coop.

Galen lures them back out with chicken treats.

On their way down the ramp into the yard.

Success!

Chickens

This is what might happen if you come to visit us.  :-)

Our guests weren't sure they wanted to hold chickens on their laps.

But they were pleasantly surprised at how social they are.  We have handled our chicks a lot since we got them and they enjoy being held and petted.

Dug a trench, by hand, all around the chicken yard and put up a fence.

We have eagles and hawks and falcons here, too, so Frances and Bob helped us put netting over the top of the chicken yard.

Happy in their new home now but they weren't too sure at first.

A Better Barn!

Our friends, Larry and Lu, came for a visit and mostly what they did is work.  This was our barn before.  Pretty sad.

Larry had quite a challenge getting everything to look straight on a barn that isn't.

And he did a great job.

All done but the door.

Next step was the back of the barn.

Lu and I hammered on tar paper as high as we could reach and then let the guys take over.

There is a chicken coop on the left side of the barn and that's the reason for the fencing stuck down in a trench at the base of the building.  We have foxes and skunks in the neighborhood that we don't want digging their way in.

We continued the fencing along the back of the barn.  Great idea, Galen!

Barn was done so Larry started on an enclosure around our well so somebody wouldn't come along and fall in.  I don't have a photo of it yet but it looks great and I will get one.

Stained glass

This was a total surprise gift from Galen - a stained glass dulcimer!  Awesome gift!  Thank you to my most favorite human being!

Finished!

I have been very remiss in keeping this blog up to date and today I am going to catch up.  Here is a photo of our house since it was finished.  It isn't haunted.  Those aren't ghosts hanging from the eaves, they are swallow deterrents and they have worked pretty well at keeping swallows from building nests on our pretty new stucco.  They are determined little critters but were more determined and every day checked the house for evidence of the beginnings of a new nest.  If we found one, we hosed it off and after about six weeks they finally gave up.