I'm baaaack, part deux

Okay, I know, I have been totally negligent in posting...but I vow to be better - I do! Really!
School has started...Captain Smartypants is now a senior in high school! When did that happen?! Yesterday, we ordered his cap & gown (gasp!) and invitations (aargh!) for graduation. Next week, we have a college interview. I just can't believe that my little baby is graduating and going off to college in less than a year...where does the time go?
The Large Child is playing Varsity football at his junior high - one of only two eighth graders on the team. Go Cougs! They are undefeated in league play so far, their cumulative points are something like 79-6. We hope they continue their winning streak and are league champs.
My foray into chicken farming is going pretty well. Since I got the first 8 chicks, I've also acquired 4 older chickens, 3 hens and 1 rooster. Two of the hens lay regularly, the other isn't laying at all and is destined for that soup pot in the sky. Then, I got 4 more - purebred Welsummers. They lay a very dark brown egg. These guys (3 hens and a rooster) are about 4months old and I'm hoping for eggs soon. They start laying later than most breeds, so we'll see. I am enjoying the fresh eggs, though. I can't wait for more!!
My photography is going well - I did a Senior portrait shoot with my photography meetup group and C.S. picked one that I took to go in the school yearbook. We got copies of all the photos we liked, and he got his Senior Portraits for free!! It only costs a few cents each to make more copies. Then, I did a pregnancy photo shoot with my friend's son and daughter-in-law. That was fun! I'll ask her if I can post some here. (I think they turned out really well!)
I'm reading 4 different how-to books on Photoshop CS2, I should have that figured out in 5 or 10 years. About the same time I figure out how to use my camera...
My DH was laid off again...after working only 3 1/2 months in the last year. Our renter moved out of our condo and the taxes are due at the end of the month. I pray daily that he gets re-hired and we find a new renter.
So, that's what's been happening here. I PROMISE I'll lost more often!!

The Chicken Coop

I've always wanted chickens. So, about a month ago I decided to build a chicken coop. I have never built anything in my life. I knew I had my work cut out for me, but there was always my DH Jeff to ask for help. The first step was to read anything I could find about raising chickens. I got most of my information from this site. I already had a spot picked out - we have an old garden shed/greenhouse out back with a chain-link fence around it. I decided to build it lean-to style against the wall of the shed. But first I had to clean up the area a little.

Okay, maybe more than a little.

I had stacks and stacks of plant pots stockpiled, so I put those on Freecycle and they were gone from my life by that evening. The rest of the junk I threw out or moved to a different area. Now I had to find materials. I knew I had to do this as inexpensively as possible, so I started looking around. We had some 2x4's, a couple of treated fence posts, and some plywood.

I had been driving past this pile of stuff for almost a month before I decided to stop and get a closer look.

They were some kind of metal panels with about an inch and a half of insulation between them. Perfect for insulating the coop walls!

My first purchase was a 50' roll of chicken wire and 2 bags of cement. Cost- about $16.

I made the run first.

Then, I started building the walls.

I just framed right around those panels. Now I needed plywood to cover them. I went on Craigslist and found someone liquidating their farm on Canyon Rd. (Aaah...progress!). He had 7 or 8 4'x18' panels that had been a large advertising sign in its previous life. Cost - $25. Those were used for the walls and the roof, too. I also went to our friends Kristi and Larry's house and raided their wood pile of 2x4's. Cost - free. I needed some other things that I wasn't finding for free, so I made a trip to the hardware store for framing brackets, another fence post, some concrete piers, and more 2x4's. Cost - $90.

I found an old door in another shed, and an old gate laying out on the property.

Jeff built some nest boxes for me.

Here's a look from the outside. Notice the remnants of the advertisement on the roof panels.

So, what's left? I need to finish roofing (after a trip to Home Depot to buy more tar paper and shingles) and I need to bury 8-10 inches of chicken wire around the bottom of the shed to keep the critters out. Then, I'm all ready for the chickens! Yea!