Neighbors, straw and a half dozen eggs

That was my afterwork afternoon.  Whew!
I made a connection on Craigslist this week with a guy who has some straw to sell.  That's great because I was looking to buy some straw.  The last connection I had fell through. It turns out this guy is less than 4 miles away from us, just across the highway.  As the crow flies it would be much closer but with Rapid Creek meandering its way through, the roads take much longer.
So, after work, V picked me up and we made a quick trip to Menards to pick up the last of the lumber and roof panels for the chicken run.  Of course we had to decide to haul 12 ft lumber in the minivan on one of the windiest days this year.  We had a wind advisory this afternoon so it was interesting getting home with the hatchback chained shut over the lumber.
But, we made it home, unloaded lumber and hopped back in the van to drive over to the neighbor with the straw.  He's a really nice guy- a full time plumber and part time farmer.  We struck a deal for 20 bales of straw and he was amazed that we could easily fit 10 bales in the back of the van.  We'll head back to pick up the rest this weekend sometime.  But, it seems that now I've got a local connection for hay and straw when we need it.  The straw will be used for multiple purposes.  Some will be used in the chicken nest boxes, some for mulching strawberries and some for the garden in the spring.  We'll also most likely use some when we do some more landscaping of the yard next year.  At least we've got room in the hay loft in the barn to store it.
J17 announced when we got home that she gathered the first full half dozen eggs from the nest boxes this afternoon.  The girls are doing well.  Magnus has been a bit spooky but not REALLY aggressive.  He did jump at me last night but I was also rushing around (we were late to parade!) and probably seemed much more of a threat than I usually do.   I'll try to spend some time out there in the next few days to get him accustomed to me again.  I find that he gets more cocky when I don't have much time to spend out there. (I just couldn't resist the cocky joke!!)
I've got tomorrow off for my first 'real' 90% day.  I can't wait.  I've got a list of things to do- some left overs from last weekend- but also plan to spend some quality time with my honey.  It seems that as we get busier, we don't have the time to talk to each other much to see how we're really doing.  We went through enough trouble with our marriage a few years ago that neither one of us want to risk 'assuming' that the other is OK.  Of course, he is helping me build the chicken run so we'll be spending construction time together.  But that's NOT the same thing as sitting on the deck with a pot of tea and some biscotti.