Strike
After a month of living in Smallville, I can safely say I understand the whole thing about farmers going to bed and getting up with the sun. Granted, I’m no farmer and almost ten hours of my day is taken up by my job and its commute, but still. I feel like I hit the ground running at 4:40 in the morning and don’t settle down until 7:30 or 8:00 in the evening. Then, just as I settle down, it’s time to go make sure the chickens are put safely away for the night.
When I get home from work, I have so much on my list to do I have to just pick something and start on it: cultivating in the garden, cutting the grass, clearing weeds and poison ivy, indoor things for Robyn (no, that’s not a euphemism), repairs on the garage and workshop, putting up plant supports in the garden, feeding and watering the chickens, raking chicken poop, clearing around the pond. The list is a hydra, too. For every item I strike off it, two more rise up.
But I love it.
It’s so different from our last home, where I came home every day and searched desperately for something to do to keep me from sitting around feeling bored and stir-crazy. Most days I ended up going for a hike. I loved hiking, don’t get me wrong, and I’ve been pining for it recently, but a lot of the hiking I did was just to fill a block of time. Might as well fill it with something fun and active, right?
These days when I get home, I’m almost overwhelmed with the things I need to do. It’s nice.
One of the top things on my list is a fence for the backyard. I’ve got all the materials and I’m chomping at the bit, but we’re getting the pond filled in (too small, doesn’t hold water) and since the planned fence is going to be pretty close to where the berm for the pond is, I’m going to wait for the bulldozers to come do their thing before I start mucking around in their work area. IF they ever come, that is. We’ve been waiting for three weeks now, and they swear they’ll be here next week. We’ll see.
I also need to paint the old shed / shop, because it looks like it hasn’t been painted since it was built in 1935. The weathered look is nice, but our insurance won’t cover the building at full value until it’s painted. I’m kind of procrastinating on the painting, though, because I’m still a little painted out from doing the interior of the house. I’ve started doing work on the shop, though.
Sunday morning I decided to fix something about the shop that had really been bugging me. I’ll try to describe it, but will most likely use the wrong words, so you construction experts feel free to correct me in the comments. In the workshop, which is like a lean-to on the side of the original garage, the rafters come down and sit on top of the top plate, which is like a beam sitting on top of the railroad ties that form the supports for the walls. The rafters rest on the top plate and extend on out from the side of the building by about a foot, for water runoff. There’s a four inch gap between the top of the wall and the tin roof, because the rafters are rough cut 2×4s and they’re sitting on edge on the top plate.
Yes, I’m aware a picture would have been worth a thousand words here.
In a home, or fancier building, there’d be boards outside running from the wall to the edge of the roof, underneath the overhang. Those are called soffits, and they help cover the gap I’m talking about. The shed, being of simple construction, lacks soffits, and the exterior doesn’t lend itself too well to an amateur like myself trying to retrofit some.
The previous owners were apparently bothered by the gap as much as me — the wasps get really bad here in the hot months — and decided to take care of that gap in their own unique way: they stuffed big pieces of pink insulation in the gap and left them there.
I know. I felt the same way.
Thus, on Sunday I was out there to pull all the insulation out and fix the gap the right way. Or, more likely, the wrong way but still better than insulation. My plan was simple: I’d remove the insulation and vines that had grown up there, then cut pieces of 1×4 to fit perfectly in the gap between the rafters. Finally, I’d use expanding foam insulation to go around the edges and in the gap above the rafters created by the purlins.
I was about ten seconds into my task when it happened. I hadn’t even gotten to the insulation yet; I was busy cleaning old plant detritus off the top plate and wondering if I was going to encounter any black widows.
I hate black widows with a passion.
Just as I reached up into the dark corner, there was a soft hiss and a flash of grayblack, shooting out of the darkness and aimed right for my hand. Though he missed, I’m thankful as hell I was wearing gloves. I scrabbled backwards across the shed, pawing for my cell phone.
“Can you come out here?” I said when Robyn answered. “And bring the camera.”
In the dark, I was only about 95% sure he was non-venomous,
and didn’t want to try and catch him with my hands until I was 100% sure
We played chase for a little while, and I worked at getting him…
…with a stick. Finally, he dropped to the ground and tried to go
further into the shed. By then, I was 100% sure he was safe…
…so I snatched him up.
Behold, the gray rat snake.
He makes the third snake I’ve seen here in the last couple of weeks. The first was a midland water snake, swimming across the pond. I’m not sure what the second one was, just that he was long and thin, brown, and fast (brown like this bad boy, but too sleek and thin to be one. I hope.). He shot out of the weeds and into the pond when I was weedeating out there last weekend. I almost screamed and jumped in the pond myself when I saw him, he took me by such surprise.
Hell, with all the snakes here, who needs to go hiking to find them, anyway?
I took the rat snake out to the back of the property and released it into the trees. Probably he’ll come back and thank me in a few months by eating one of the chickens.
Did someone mention chickens?
I have one of the friendliest and most handsome cocks around.
The girls love the shade hoop I built for them.
The Barred Plymouth Rocks are awfully pretty.
The girls find a way to roost on anything they can. They particularly
like the end of the shade hoop.
The garden continues to grow. We’re getting spinach once or twice a week now, and it won’t be long before the sugar snap peas will be ready to pick.
Two rows of corn, the green beans, and a row of half okra / half black beans
Black-eyed peas and tomatoes.
We have 30 tomato plants. Thirty. For basically two people, since the
spud is usually out and about at dinnertime.
Onions and peppers (bell and jalapeno). And weeds.
Sugar snap peas (and more okra at the end of that row), zucchini, and happy squash.
The squash that’s smaller (toward the other end) was a replant, because I apparently planted
it too deep the first time and a lot of it never came up.
Three rows of cantaloupes and watermelons.
Most of what you see here is actually weeds; the plants aren’t that close
together. These are replants, too, as my original mounds never germinated.
The shallower rows did just fine.
That snake looked a whole lot bigger than he was and I thought, Fred you are NUTS! But I too may have been brave enough to try and get him too. Maybe, it is easy to be brave thru the internet. rofl The chickens have gotton so big! It feels like only yesterday you got them. I love all the pictures.
That snake would have given me a HEART ATTACK! I don’t care if it’s not the dangerous kind, just knowing my hand was so close to it would have sent me off screaming into the house for days!
Shiver….
Oooh, pretty!
Hmmm … am I crazy in imagining you and Robyn with a roadside produce stand in about two more months?
Way to go, Fred! No one ever said farm life was easy–its usually more work than you think. We are getting started for the market season and my husband has spend every waking hour (outside of his day job) working at the farm. Your garden looks great! Don’t sweat the weeds, all good gardens have them. BTW, snakes are great to have around, especially since you have chickens. They keep away the mice, rats, and moles with out using poison that kitties might get into.
Ick, ick, ICK! I rilly, rilly hate snakes.
Your garden makes me jealous. Here in Ohio, we’re waiting for the frost to STOP!
An easy way to identify a poisonous snake, is by looking at their pupils of their eyes. *Most* of the nonpoisonous snakes that *you* will run across will have round pupils, while the poisonous ones have slits like a cat. (the coral snake being an exception).
Thirty tomato plants for two people?! You are going to have enough tomatoes to feed an army and then some! I hope Robyn or you plan on canning the surplus.
Are your tomato plants producing yet? Here in Texas, I’ve got three (count ‘em) tomato plants growing in my mom’s garden, and so far, I’ve only got a couple of green tomatoes growing. Pretty soon, it’ll be too hot for them around here.
Martin - that’s a sure-fire way to tell the venomous ones around here. I learned that when I mistakenly killed a midland water snake I thought was a copperhead.
Rachel - we have lots of little green tomatoes, but nothing’s ripened yet.
30 tomato plants for 2 people? I couldn’t keep up with the productions from my 5 plants for my family of 4 lst summer! I see MANY batches of salsa in your future… And many happy coworkers. Have fun!
It shouldn’t surprise me, but I find it humorous that your chickens have as cushy a living area as the Cats That Are Not Yours.
Question….
The chickens seem to be roaming here and there in the pics you have posted lately Fred. Do they just automatically go into the chicken coop at night? Do you lock it up at night or do they come and go as they please? What keeps gogs and predators out? So many questions…
Dave, the chickens live in a fenced area that’s about 25′x30′, give or take, and they have the run of that all day. Every night as the sun sets, right now just a little before 8:00, they go into their coop (on their own) to roost. The coop is pretty much Fort Knox. Both doors have double twisting latches (one at each end to prevent any prying) with carabiners through the latch. The vent has a wood flap over the front, and hardware cloth screwed in (screws every 2 inches) on the inside.
Ain’t nothing getting in there unless it’s human.
You are SUCH a good Chicken Daddy! That’s a beautiful shade hoop!
This Birdlady is very proud of you,VERY proud!
Oh! The BEST bird poop scooper in the world is a wide putty knife. It cleans up perches and woodwork nicely. If you are worried about scratches on the wood,buy a plastic putty knife.
Chhers,deb
I am sure it’s a good thing to know about venomous snakes’ eyes vs. non venomous. I’m just not sure that I would get closer enough/hang around long enough to check. And in Australia I consider ALL snakes to be as poisonous as hell. Give me a spider ANY day - although we have some pretty nasty varieties of those, too!
Looking forward to hearing what you do with an overabundance of tomatoes and eggs! Those chooks are very pretty.
30 plants! I had 4 last year and gave away soooo many tomatoes.
I did find out that cherry tomatoes freeze really well, though. I use mine for cooking in pasta and stuff. Enjoy.
Well the next endeavor for you guys is a little road side vegetable stand…you can make some money off all of those tomatoes…and then you can add eggs as your next item to sell….
I can’t see you guys operating a road side stand! Instead does the local food bank take fresh produce? Also did you install an irrigation system for your veggie field?
Whenever you describe how the chicken enclosure is “fort knox,” you don’t mention anything below ground. Our egg supplier just lost his entire flock because a fox(es) dug a hole under the fence. Is your fence fortified below ground?
where’s the spinach? I didn’t see it in the pictures. Also, you should have a vegetable stand out front by the road with your surplus. Because there’s no WAY you can eat that many tomatoes. I heard if you flash-boil them, then skin them, you can put them in a freezer bag and they’ll keep forever, for later use as spaghetti sauce and whatnot.
A Nony Mous: The fence isn’t fortified, but any predator has to get through 3/4″ of plywood to get through the floor. The only thing I’m worried about in the daytime is hawks, and there’s netting for that.
Kinzie: It’s hidden at the end of the peppers (only about 1/3 of a row because I was experimenting to see if I could actually get it to grow).
Can’t believe how those chicks have grown! Amazing. Sounds like the country life is agreeing with you and Robyn.
Good thing you have the chickens secured, or you could end up with this weird scenario:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2njqzx-clto