Friday, June 29, 2012

Is it over yet?

 So the month of June has turned out to be pretty busy for me. Six LMS performances, one City Band concert, and a 40 hour work week all in the last 2 weeks of the month! There have been a lot of late nights (late for me, anyway). Needless to say, I'm sleepy!

 The chicks are doing good - growing, keeping me entertained. They're at a really ugly stage right now when their regulation feathers are coming in, so no photos until their looks improve (and I have time to take some!). The chicken coop is almost finished:

I went with a "peas and carrots" color scheme.
We still have to put on the doors and screen it in.

 Word must be getting around that I'm a good bird caretaker because today I had a fledgling sparrow keep me company at Giggles (the third one this year!) She was pretty cute, and luckily, I had my camera with me today.
I named her Sylvia.
She gave me a present!

 We've had a few "odd" Ladies Must Swing performances lately. Last week, it was a Healthcare Marketing convention, where we were "background music." Who hires a 19 piece jazz band for background?  
At least it was outdoors, and the weather was nice.

 Then, last night we played at the National Women's Music Festival. We were honored to be invited, even though we really didn't know anything about it. Well, lets just say, I didn't see any men in the crowd, but I did see a whole lot of buzz cuts, hairy legs and combat boots. I felt very out of place.

 Tonight, we played for a fundraiser for the Badger Honor Flight. It was "Honor the Military" night at the local stock car races, so we were invited to play before the race, and then the National Anthem and Armed Forces Salute. The cars were doing their qualifying laps while we were playing, so I'm not sure anyone actually heard us until they turned on their hi-tech sound system:

Honest to Pete - they gave some kid a PA mic and he held it in front of our speaker!
 At least that gig was done by 7:30, and it was only 6 miles from my house (we can hear the roar of the cars in our back yard)

 Now, just one more day of work, then I don't have to work again until next friday. And I have 4 whole days before another LMS gig!

 By the way, the NEW Ladies Must Swing CD "Just For A Thrill" is finally available! And I am actually playing on it! If anyone wants one, they are $20 (sorry, no friends & family discount), just let me know!

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

No TV?

Apart from the Tour de France, I doubt I'll be watching any television this summer - I'll be enjoying chicken TV instead! Already these chicks are hilarious.

Yesterday was Day 2 of their lives. I thought they might enjoy some "extra protein" so I sent Katrina to the bait shop for some waxworms. I ran home over lunch, and we introduced the girls to live food.

At first they were scared of the worms. Then they got curious and pecked at them for a few minutes. Then, finally, one chick picked up a worm. The other girls saw her, and each picked up a worm too. But then, they really didn't know what to do with them. So, they ran around for a few minutes, each with a worm in their beak. 

By this point, we were laughing so hard we could hardly see! Finally, Pickles realized she could eat this thing in her beak, and down it went. Then she wanted another, so she started chasing her sisters, trying to grab theirs (Go Pickles!), and some worm tug-of-war ensued. Little Jamie finally swallowed hers, and poor Babs (who I think is more of a Barbara - we'll see) was still not sure what to do with hers.

More tug-of-war! Little Jamie came up the victor, and poor Babs didn't get any worm. She needs to learn to stick up for herself a little more.

After all that entertainment, I dried my eyes (tears of laughter!) and had to go back to work!


Monday, June 11, 2012

They're Here!!

Today was the day! We set off with Dave, the trusty Garmin, who, for some unexplained reason, led us down every country road imaginable. After a beverage break (we were thirsty gals!), we arrived at the hatchery, where the nice man found our box amid the stacks of boxes waiting to be picked up. It was all very exciting! The nice man also told us to all if we have any questions, and that no question is too dumb. That made me feel good.

Then we buckled up and headed for home - taking a route with only 5 turns instead of the 27 or so that Dave sent us down.

She's kind of excited.
When we got home, we gave the girls a nice big drink,

They were so thirsty!
a little snack,

Left to right - Little Jamie, Pickles, and Babs

and then left them alone so they could check out their new apartment.

Tomorrow we're going to give them their first snacks - maybe a little lettuce or a couple of bugs. Yummy!


Monday, June 4, 2012

Clucky, Pecky, and Pickles

For those of you who asked, these are the breeds of chickens we're getting:

Barred Rock

Buff Orpington

 
Black Australorp

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Fast Track to Cluck Town

  First and foremost. Please take a moment to click the green DONATE button on the right, and make a donation (no matter how small) to the Krempels Center. If you have already done so, THANK YOU! If you haven't yet, what are you waiting for?                   right here  → → → → → → →

News on the chicken front: We've had to put a rush on the coop construction because the guy building it (the shop foreman at Karl's place of employment) only has until June 11 before he'll have actual job-related building to do. Karl's going to go "shopping" on Monday (since he's the materials and inventory guy, he knows what surplus is laying around the yard), and they'll get the coop at least semi-done by the end of the week. I'm glad I finally made up my mind about the design.
Pretty close to my design


 Katrina and I will be doing the finish work: painting, installing perches, putting up the screen.

I'm ordering the chicks tomorrow! They won't look like this.

In other fun news - our garage door was broken, so we bought a new one. The old one was a solid door, the new one is panels. The new one has a higher clearance inside the garage, and isn't going to fit. We have three options: jack up the garage roof, jack up the entire garage, or move the garage door opening 8 inches to the left. None of those options are going to be very fun. Once again, I thank my lucky stars that my dad is a carpenter, and we don't have to shell out thousands of dollars for this project. I'm going to owe him big time - at least a rhubarb pie or two!