Soaking up the sun!

It was another wonderful sunny, warm day today.  The perfect day for working outside.  I managed to spend some time clearing out the South end of the garden.  But mostly, we worked on the chicken run today.  Finally!  This has been a project that has been weighing on my mind recently, especially as the temporary run that I built earlier this year has been slowly disintegrating.

We had managed to get the repurpose fence posts set a while ago, and the top plate installed.  So, today, we installed the fencing.

We are so fortunate that V's brother gifted him with an air compressor and nail/staple gun set when he was here for V's birthday.  It made short work of stapling fencing to the posts:

 J17 helped with the chicken run while the boys were occupied elsewhere with jobs of their own (outside of course!)

 After we installed the chicken wire, we reinforced it with repurposed livestock panels from when we took down a bunch of fencing last fall.  They made the prefect support/protection for the run.

After the fencing was installed,we worked on framing for the door.  Of all the things we moved with us from our house in town, we, for some reason, brought with us, the gate from the chain link dog run that we dismantled while we were there.  It made the prefect door for the chicken run!  So far, the majority of the items used are repurposed.  

Below is Magnus looking after his girls after we removed the old temporary fencing and they were allowed to explore the new, expanded area:

 Isn't he beautiful!?  He's HUGE!

Amazingly enough, with all the ruckus going on and all the possible 'threats', he was a peach today with no aggression.

Tomorrow, the children are back in school but I've got the day off.  V and I are planning to put up the roof (covering about a third of the run) and netting over the top.  We noticed several hawks and a big owl cruising around this evening so we're looking at putting fencing over the top of the run that isn't roofed. 

I'm excited to get this task crossed off the master 'to do' list. It has been weighing on my mind for a while.

This evening, we ate dinner outside on the deck because it was so lovely. After dinner, V and I sat outside and discussed future plans and construction ideas.  Sort of a question/answer and brainstorming session.  Many future projects are 'in the works'.  Stay tuned for future adventures!

Also on tomorrow's 'to do' list is baking muffins.  I volunteered for snacks for K11's class for ITBS week and I'm to supply snacks for 26 students on Tuesday.  I figure apple/oatmeal muffins and apple cider should make a great, nutritious snack.

More tomorrow on the chicken run progress.