Wow. Just wow. May has come and gone, and I am exhausted. It was a month of very high highs, and very low lows.
Let’s recap.
High: Hanson Days
This is my favorite time of year! My favorite band, some of my favorite people, and so much music and good food. It’s my girl’s weekend, where I get to be with my besties for an entire week. This year we did Skatercise, visited the brother’s art gallery (where we ran into Zac — who may or may not be my favorite), attended a podcast lecture, painted, did karaoke, two concerts, and a dance party. Then we hung out at the end of the weekend so that we could hopefully run into the brothers on their way out — and we got two out of three. Which means we got to very briefly meet and take pictures with all three Hanson brothers. It was an amazing weekend, except…
Low: Adieu Chickie Babies
On Mother’s Day, while I was still out in Tulsa, my poor husband had to call and tell me that all my chickie babies were gone. All six of them. We’d been visited by a fox, and it left no baby survivors. We do live off a popular nature trail, but we’d never had an incident before. We’ve had to chase out a raccoon a few times, but it’s a fat neighborhood beastie, and I think it mostly just wanted the eggs. But that was the worst we’d dealt with. So after the fox incident, we started plans to fortify the chicken yard.
High: Garden Beds are complete!
I’ve been looking to build some nice, raised garden beds for a couple years now — and I was finally able to borrow a friend’s house-building husband to help me complete the project. It took two long days, but we got six beds built, of varying size, so I can grow everything from squash to carrots. The first day was beautiful weather, and we enjoyed the sunshine while we worked. I got to use power saws all day, cutting down the wood to measured sizes, without losing any fingers! The second day, though, it rained un on the entire time. But I put together one of the beds entirely on my own! It’s crooked and a bit wonky, but it’s together, and it will work for my green onions and asparagus. It’s the one all the way on the right, there. About a minute after we finished up, the rain stopped… but we’re done! Now to fill the beds.
Low: The fox returned
We didn’t get to closing up the chicken yard fast enough, and the fox came back and wiped out two of my old lady hens.
I now have only one hen left (Mallory, the brown one below), who’s broody and bitchy and won’t leave her nest — which is what saved her life. She seems to be doing alright, but chickens are flock animals, and I don’t think she’s okay being all alone. So I’m spoiling her quite rotten right now, delivering food and water to her face, and chatting with her on a daily basis in the coop, in hopes that I can keep her alright until we can get new chickens out there with her.
High: New baby chickies
The end of the month brought the last batch of baby chicks to the Denver area (at least that I could find), so I went and got a new flock. Yes, because we want chickens and eggs, but also because I need to get some new chicks out to Mallory before she gets too depressed that she’s a lone chicken. So we have seven new babies set up again my office, peeping away and being adorable.
We absolutely have plans for the yard before we put them outside, and Mal is confined to the coop and it’s small, penned space until it’s safe. My friend who helped with the garden beds is helping put a roof on the entire chicken yard. He has a whole vision in his head that I can’t quite see or understand, but I believe he knows exactly what needs to be done.
So stay tuned friends. June is sure to be full of more adventures and mishaps.
