So, Steve has made great progress on the upstairs floors. After 1 1/2 full days staining, he has the entire upstairs hallway done, the handrail, both newel posts and half the stairs, and actually, he’ll probably be finished the stairs before bedtime tonight. That will just leave the trim in the hallway for Friday. I’m actually very happy with his progress, as I had estimated that this was a 4-6 day project, not including time off for pesky things like paying jobs. That translates into 7-10 calendar days. Steve, however, had estimated that he could have the entire staining process done the first day (that 1/2 day he posted about earlier), and be completely finished with the sealant today. Needless to say, he’s not nearly so happy. But really, the stairs are looking great. We had been concerned that the old wood on the kick-boards and risers would take the stain very much differently from the new treads . They are matching very very well. The handrail is a slightly different color, but that’s OK too. Steve thinks they are too dark, but I think the bedroom floors started out this color too, and lightened after the sealant was applied. Isn’t progress wonderful?

Today, as I was swearing about that necessity of dodging various piles of “fertilizer” in my front yard, I was considering banning all non-pet varieties from the yard. Then, I remembered that bug control is paramount. Unfortunately, bug control requires chickens in the yard. And yes, the chickens are the primary offenders in this instance. That said, though, the sheep were in the yard for 5 days before their “deposits” became so numerous that I got fed up and kicked them back out. Then today, I saw the still-pregnant ewe and thought about the consequences of my frustration. Since I am more unwilling to find another lamb after it is too late than I am to dodge the bombs in my yard, the sheep are once again in our yard. Her bag has been full for almost a week now, so she should deliver soon. Then I can put her and her baby in a small pen for a couple of days and kick everyone else out with a clear conscience. I really really hope the barn does become usable this year, and that the sheep fence really does get put up so the sheep can stay where they belong. Those two things together should give us a system that will help minimize the lamb loss.

A while back I posted that Steve wanted to register a brand. What he really wanted was something cool to put on stationery and return address stamps, and labels if we ever decide to use our own egg cartons. The design restrictions on brands did not suit his taste, and enough people finally looked at him oddly when he said, “But we’re not going to brand anything,” that he decided maybe we could just come up with something we liked. So, here is the first draft. The colors are not set, and I’m not particularly happy with that aspect yet, but I kind of like the interlocking nature of the letters. As always, though, I’d love to have comments and suggestions.

See anything? Neither did I. So, I moved closer and looked down into the stack and saw this:

Yes, that is a cat curled up inside the plastic wrapping on the stack of snow tires. If you look very very closely, you can see a very newborn kitten in there with her. At the time, they were suspended in a kind of hammock made by the bag around the top tire, but I was afraid they’d manage to work their way down through the stack and end up trapped. So, we loaded her and her kittens into a crate with an old towel and moved them out to the wood shed.

On the chicken front, while I was looking for the kittens, I noticed a few eggs over by one wall, kind of under some junk that Steve had tossed over there. We’ve had issues with the doors for a while, so I didn’t think too much of it, other than to make a note to have Sarah toss them out for the cats and chickens. But, as I was turning to leave after relocating the cats, I noticed a nice little pile in the corner. When all was said and done there were 15 eggs stashed in the old house. Steve was rather incensed when I told him (he’s at work this weekend). He may very well have to add more nest boxes to the coop. For now, we’re keeping the old house shut up, and checking the woodshed every day. By the way, we’re averaging 4-6 eggs out there each day. *grin*

Chickens can be very contrary creatures. A while back, Steve realized that he had reached the point where he needed more nesting boxes in the coop. The idea here is that the chickens will lay the eggs in the nesting boxes and not all over the coop (and farm if we’re unlucky). So, we’re discussing ideas, and I happen to see a blue bin that we’ve not used in a while. You know the ones. You likely have at least one of them storing your Christmas decorations in the off season. The big inexpensive ones you can purchase at most department stores, and I suggest that he use that. You have to understand that we are building up at this point. The nesting boxes are actually in the back room of the coop, and the chickens have access through the interior wall. Steve built the first set from scrap lumber, but we are fresh out of scrap lumber. So, we used other scrap material for this set. The dog-food container that started life in the woodshed across the creek and tempted the racoons (details can be found here – scroll down to about the 6th photo on the right) is one. An old cooler that is really not fit to be called a cooler any longer is another, and that blue bin makes 2 more. So we now have a total of 7 nest boxes in the coop. You’d think the chickens would want to check out their new digs, but, chickens are rather contrary creatures that really do not like change. They first ignored the new boxes, and layed their eggs on the floor of the coop when they couldn’t get into a box. Then, they apparently decided to check them out, but they were unhappy with the fact that they were intended to house eggs and tossed out the plastic egg that is supposed to show them what to do there. For a while, they were making nests and teasing us, but not laying. Apparently the “new” boxes have now been in place long enough to be accepted. Sarah found eggs in all of them last week. It only took about two months. Chickens really really hate change. We do, however, still have one holdout. I found 4 eggs in the woodshed this morning. I guess she is not a fan of recycling. The cure for this is to lock the chickens in the coop for a few days so they get used to laying where they should, but I really don’t like to do that. I miss my bug control. Maybe it’s just as easy to go check the woodshed every day….