Longest week ever ...

Wow, guys. Sorry about that .. apparently "later this week" means "nearly two months" in Lanny-speak.

Things always pick up, and the days blend into weeks and before I know it .. It's two days before my birthday (*AHEM*) and I still haven't followed through on that tease. I'm the worst!

Well! THE WAIT IS OVER! *CHEER*

This is Lola. She's typically an indoor cat, but I let her come out if she wears a harness and leash. She felt like helping this time.

This paver pad is brought to you by the number 8.

D, painstakingly lining up each paver to ensure that it's not only level from side-to-side, but also front and back and diagonal...

We're a little OCD

TA-DA!

She was in charge of the whole operation.

Sand in the cracks .. not just an insult anymore!

Shooka shooka shooka ...

AND NOW! THE MOMENT YOU'VE (I'VE) BEEN WAITING FOR!

All the parts, laid out, ready for assembly!

Greetings from the interior!

3/4 walls are standing. These are good odds.

Burning the midnight oil..

..I should probably admit that I don't actually know what that means..

EEEEEEEEEE!!!

Ridge cap! (I'm amazed at all the random terms I'm learning. Never would have thought...)

When Jesus said, "IT IS FINISHED", I'm PRETTY SURE* he was talking about this.

 Goodnight Coop!

I peeked outside the following morning to find that it was STILL THERE!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch .. I slipped into my farmiest gear to play the part of chicken-keeper.

D, installing the roost .. and subsequently locking  himself in the coop

(sidenote: look at all that thatch! There's always work to be done on the farm)

ROOST

Nest boxes

Pullet-moving gear!

Picking out our new hens!

The eagle has landed

Ladies and Gentlemen, I'd like to introduce our girls...

Only the best (soy-free, organic layer mix) for our babies

(L): Janet Reno (R): Ruth Bader Ginsburg

First Egg!

Up!

I love my little farm family!

Is that all? OH NO! THAT'S NOT ALL! (why would that be all?!) After we built the foundation and assembled the coop, we still needed the fence around the coop to allow them outside time during the day!

The fence turned  out to be a tricky endeavor. Welded wire fence attached to ugly, green t-posts was not the aesthetic we had in mind for our girls. We wanted to "wrap" the posts with wood to provide some continuity. We ended up borrowing D's dad's table saw again and cutting channels down the center of a 1"x3" a nd a 2"x3" to "wrap" the post and sandwich the wire (attached to the fence) between.

As with any of our projects, we did it the hard our own way.

The posts, however, turned out to look completely adorable. We capped them, cut channels into a few 1"x1" for a "top rail" and stained it all to match the coop.

D designed, and built a gate too!

And finally, here are our girls, resting on their NEW roost. (they didn't like the branch we so thoughtfully scoured the northwest for, so we installed this beaut' and added a 1"x4" on top [not pictured] and we've never looked back)

Next up: D and Lanny get cornrows...

Always an adventure around here .. stay tuned!

xoxo

*Probably not.