Scheduling, chickens, water

My schedule is filling up at work. The supervisor over the compliance department resigned and she was one of the team who spent time at the many and various conferences related to the work we are doing. In her absence, I have been assigned a couple of those conferences. I am not sure about the training in Chile but I have not removed it from my calendar and we are crowding close to the time I will be taking a couple week-long OSHA Trainer classes. Some of the assignments will obviously require travel but none of them will be lengthy assignments so time away from the farm will not be overburdening to Mama, I hope.

I took the time last night to get the roost supports built and installed. Since I had the miter saw in the garden shed because of the work I was doing on the raised bed, I was able to quickly cut and assemble the pieces. Since I was using 2x2 pieces I salvaged from the old roosts I used a nail gun to put them together. Screws of sufficient size to make them sturdy would have split the wood and caused a lot more frustration than just taking the time to set up to use the pneumatic nail gun. I am not sure the chickens will be able to tell the difference, but Mama likes them better than the metal brackets 0 which were left in place last night for the sake of time. All the chickens were outside the coop area while I was working on that project. Mama lets them out several evenings per week – and they love the freedom. They really liked being able to distance themselves from the framing nail gun as I used it inside the coop. It is quite loud. Even Sasha ran to hid in the garage thinking someone was shooting a rifle.

Normally the chickens get back into the coop with little trouble but last night was an exception. I remembered that they had not been closed up as I was getting ready to take a shower. So, I went out to shut them up and had to physically place five of them that had bedded down on the front porch into the coop. Then I had to herd another four into the open gate to get them back inside their area. Two of those I had to finally catch and deposit on the proper side of the fence. It took a bit longer than usual but it was a pleasant night to be outside. It was only after I had laid down in bed that I remembered that the gate on the west side is the one Mama typically opens to let them out – and I had not closed it. That was another trip outside to bed down the chickens. The night did not seem so pleasant at that point.

I spent the last hour of the evening watering the plants around the house and in the garden. It is easier to water in the garden but it is also filling up with plants that need watering. The benefits of the hose being there for use is that I can be very generous with the amount of water given to each plant. When I was hauling the water in buckets I was not able to be so free with the water I had available. Now it is only a matter of time, not a matter of volume. I am sure the trees I was watering that way like the new method much better. The cattle are still without fresh water due to the shortage of one hose but we will take care of that by the end of the week. I am not in a hurry to get the troughs filled because we have pulled three drowned squirrels from them recently.

Tonight is a short night for outside work because of church and this weekend Mama and I will be traveling with the seniors of the church. In times like that, I just get done what I can; usually it all works out.