Tuesday was a running-errands-in-town-day. We went to Eugene and stopped by the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. Jeff has been doing a great job “scrounging around” for parts to build our chicken coop, but when he had to take one too many trips to the old building down below to get nails in the right sizes (by tearing apart more building in the process), he knew it was time to go buy some nails. He found just the giant nails he was needing at the ReStore. You can get some great deals on certain things there (whereas other things didn’t seem like that great of a deal.) Then we went to Harbor Freight Tools for a few things and Jeff got a heavy duty pry bar for tearing apart the old building down below (his crowbar wasn’t doing the job.) The new pry bar got tried our right when he got home and it helped immensely! Without spending much money, we came home with a few things to make our life a whole lot easier.

 See that beam across the top? Jeff put it up there all by himself while Bracken and I were inside for his nap. It may not look it, but that log is really heavy. It was a challenge for Jeff and I to both lift it while we were on the ground. So you can imagine my surprise when I came out and he had gotten it up there by himself. It’s one of the things I admire about Jeff, he has incredible willpower and doesn’t give up easily. When something needs to be done, he’ll find a way to do it. In this case, he got creative and created a pully and used ropes to pull it up to the top where he wanted it and then attached it in place.

Bracken really likes the chicken coop. Mostly he likes opening and shutting the door.

Awhile before we started building the chicken coop, we had stopped by the thrift store and had seen the most beautiful antique door. It was painted white and sanded through around the edges with the natural wood showing. The entire door had windows throughout and had a glass doorknob. I don’t know why that door looked so beautiful to me, but I saw it and gasped. I said to Jeff “can you imagine that door on our new chicken coop?” and we went right over to look at it. We saw the price tag and were stunned by how much it cost and walked away. Needless to say, we didn’t buy it. This old door on our coop is not pretty like that fancy antique one, but it was free! And we’ve been feeling a great sense of satisfaction from reusing, re-purposing, recycling. All the parts and pieces are coming together to make a coop with a lot of character and unique charm. 

We started running out of salvaged lumber to build with. We didn’t have any pieces long enough for what we needed. There have been times Jeff and I have remarked that if we had gone to a store and bought all the materials we needed, the chicken coop would have been built by now. That would have been expensive and not within our budget and it would have been much quicker and easier. So, what do you do when you want to start raising chickens again and need to build a chicken coop, but have very little money to spend doing so? Wait till you have enough money to make it easier to build? Or just dig in, and start creating your dreams now, even if that means a lot more work and a much slower process? Dig in, it is!
 It’s not to say that we aren’t enjoying the process, we just get the occasional discouraging feeling by how long it takes. But that will make it all the more rewarding when it’s finished.

 When we needed long lumber, Jeff went and got some logs from our place from the trees that had been recently cut. Then he skins the bark. He uses this antique tool he got from a relative-pretty sure his grandfather. (I forgot what it’s called. I just asked Jeff. It’s called a draw knife.) It’s one of Jeff’s favorite tools.

 You lightly skim the bark off the top and don’t go too deep. Every time Jeff skins logs we start thinking of log cabins.

 What is this? It’s not water. It’s sap! This one pine log (from a tall skinny pine tree that we had cut down near our garden) is absolutely oozing with sap. It gets our work gloves really messy and sticky, but it smells incredible! 

 Then Jeff made cuts halfway through the log with his chainsaw, in a few spots along the log (that line up with our upright beams in the coop.)

 This is another old tool Jeff loves. He got it at a garage sale. It’s actually for making cedar shakes for roofs. He used it with a mallet to get the wood pieces out.

 Then an ax.

 Then the draw knife to even it up. 

 So, as you can see, making a log work for lumber is a lot more work than if we were to use square lumber. But I’m really loving the way it’s all coming together and being able to use wood from this very land to build a structure here, feels like such a blessing.

Today has been pouring all day. It felt funny writing this blog post with all these sunny pictures while it’s so dark out today. We’ve had a productive day indoors. The productivity began in the kitchen and then went towards our business. I turned on Pandora and listened to music with Bracken while I posted new items in our Etsy Shop. Bracken likes to be outside all the time, so keeping him occupied while I get computer work done is always interesting. I’d like to say he sits by me and plays with his toys, but mostly he wants to nurse, have all of my attention (always) and climb all over me like a monkey. The music helps. Jeff has been drilling buttons and sanding a big batch of new things out in the shop.
There have been two things lately that especially fill me with anticipation for the chickens. One is when I weed the garden. I always want to deliver my bucket of weeds to the chicken yard rather than the compost pile. And the other is whenever I fill up the compost bucket in the kitchen with things I know the chickens would love. Dumping it the compost has felt disappointing lately. Oh yes, the chicken anticipation is growing. And not just with me. Bracken has been making chicken noises and going around doing the “chicken dance” (that his grandma started doing with him out in the yard while Jeff and I were building the coop.) He flaps his arms like wings like a silly thing. It cracks me up.
And what are we eating for dinner tonight? Eggs. The anticipation continues…