About 6 years ago, my dad decided to raise chickens for eggs. He ordered some exotic chicken varieties and built a chicken palace. Why do I call it a chicken palace? Because it is on wheels, so it can be moved around his back yard AND because it has carpeting. My grandpa was so impressed by it, he built a similar one for himself. When my parents were getting ready to move to Nebraska a couple of years later, they sold the palace and the chickens. Could you imagine moving cross country with live chickens? I can hardly imagine that sort of a trip with a dog! Well, Nebraska didn't work out for them, and they are living in their same house, so my dad decided once again to raise exotic chickens. He's got ones that lay green eggs, brown eggs and white eggs. Some are white and some are black and some are brown. Some have feathers on their feet and others have crowns on their heads. He had 3 roosters with this bunch, but he killed them because he doesn't want the noise that comes with roosters. Did you know that they "cock-a-doodle-doo" all day long, not just at dawn? Apparently there are rules that say people can only have dogs and cats as pets. Fe' was asking me about Dad's Chicken Palace, so I had Ryan take some pictures last weekend when we were visiting. He's got it with a 2x6 around the bottom of the whole coop, which keeps out unwanted predators. The roosting area is where the carpeting is. They lay their eggs onto carpet that is on an incline, so the eggs roll down to an opening that is accessible from the outside of the coop (which means you're less likely to be attacked while gathering eggs).
These two boys of mine would sure like a dog. Roderic with Buddy at Grandma Christensen's house (who was being watched while Uncle Jason and Aunt Shanda were at DisneyWorld). Hyrum with Toto at Grandma Gibby's house.
Rain mixed with snow fell in Boise on Friday night. Ryan was at Stake Young Men Retreat (I mean camp out) in Garden Valley, so it was just me and the kids. The snow falling was really beautiful. It reminded me of last month when Ryan had a camp out on the first weekend that it had rained in months. They cancelled all of the soccer games that weekend, so I was expecting them to do it again this weekend (even though EVERYONE knows that soccer games are only cancelled due to lightening). They weren't cancelled. Sabrina's game was at 9 am. It was foggy. And cold. If the girls kicked the ball with the right spin, the ball would stop and spin on the snow until someone stopped it. The game ended in a tie 0-0. Tessa asked if she could come with us to watch the game, so we brought her along. I think she had 5 layers of shirts/sweaters on. Roderic's game was at 11 am. The snow had melted by then and the fog was gone, but the grass was SO wet. He didn't like it. His feet were wet and cold. His game also ended in a tie 3-3. He scored a goal (for the other team).
At one point during Sabrina's game, Roderic wandered far enough away that I needed to go get him, so I asked my friend Jeanette to hold Hyrum. He didn't make a peep, but this was how his face looked:
Ryan bought a steam juicer yesterday morning, so we finished juicing the grapes we brought home from his parents' house and the ones off of our vine. Lets just say that this process is much nicer because we have an hour (while the fruit steams) to work on other things. (Unlike Tuesday afternoon when we were working for hours and hours on end and when we took a break from grapes, no more progress was made.) We got 32 quarts put up yesterday and another 12 on Tuesday. Fresh grape juice tastes delicious! Good purchase Ryan!
Roderic has become obsessed with chess, and it is affecting the whole family. Tonight while we were finishing cooking dinner, this is how the kids occupied themselves.
