T-Day Project Day today, but before we headed out of the house, our 25 leads needed to get their emails . . .
So, created and sent all 25 emails to our leads, personalizing each one, and ensuring all the links were working. It felt like a huge accomplishment, and I admit, I wanted to stay home to make the calls to the ones we found numbers to . . . however, T-Day Projects must go on!
And, so we had our meal and out the door we went to our friend's house.
We found the neighbors had already arrived. The Mom was helping our friend, T attempt to hang a new door to the shed. The kids were running around with
Popsicles in their hands. Big
Z's friend, P, was in the house waiting for him with Pokemon strategies. Over the next 6 hours we had a lot of fun together, sharing the efforts and visiting all the while.
The kids never did help, but they came once or twice to take a gander at what we were up to. The boys even got clever and locked the new shed door on us . . . yep, clever alright!
The day was beautiful and warm . . . we found the tools by rummaging in the garage when the hubby wasn't home, and when he was home, my friend used her cell to get the most of the supplies we needed.
She'd already gone to the store to buy a new door from a recycled products store, and, had gotten her fencing and T-posts.
As I said, the Gals were attempting to hang the door. I saw the hinges just weren't going to match up, so we worked with all the wrong tools to find one that would at least attempt to be a chisel (Yes, I
should've brought mine!). Well, we finally did it with a utility knife and a screwdriver. Once the hinges were remarked and set up, we got that door hung and adjusted. We decided to take up the threshold rubber that was causing it to bind. The whole structure is a bit lopsided, but the door closed!
While I was finishing up the hinge locations, the Gals were taking off the old, old doorknob off the weathered door and so I put it on the new door. You know, you gotta put it on backwards just once, just so you can take it off and do it again as a teaching tool for those who are watching, right?
Well, that's just what I did. Put on, take off, put on correctly!
We had to adjust the striker plate to accommodate the new door and we rigged it like any old good carpenter would do . . .
And, it's a good thing I showed my friend how you can take off the outside door stops and ease the binding on the door (it was pretty weathered, too). 'Cause when those boys came around and got to playing inside the new little chicken house, they decided to lock that door handle on their way out and slam it shut!
WHAT?
Yep, you heard it here. I thought there was going to be a rash of red hides --- you know, you don't think of that when you're building a chicken fortress. Instead, you think of feather's
flyin'. Well, Mom went after the two culprits (thankfully Big Z wasn't one of them) and finally her boy confessed, "Well, I may have locked it without thinking . . . " and he apologized in case it was him. She forgave him. And I set about getting inside . . .
Well, I won't tell you how in case you ever want to attempt to break into a chicken fortress. Just suffice it to say we got the door open without
damaging our rickety striker plate rigging, and, without busting up the new recycled door!!! (Oh, yeah, I already gave you a hint above.) My friend was pretty happy, I say!
We used some old chicken wire after
our strategy's for the best ways to provide shade, grass, and sun to the chickens when they aren't in their fortress at night. We put that chicken wire doubled over onto itself around the base of the shed to keep the hens from getting under it and finding a comfortable spot to rest their eggs. And, to hopefully, keep the other critters out . . .
Then, we estimated distances and corners and tree branches to ensure we met the amount of wire and posts she'd picked up, and to keep the 'coons from dropping over the limbs and into the fenced area for the Girls (that's the hens).
We got right to work, again with the most proper tool for the job. Hey! You know, a huge splitting maul found in the garage does the trick
every time!
Our friend's neighbor was in and out of the project throughout the day and she came back in time to pound a few posts with us, and to stretch some fencing and tie it up. I say, whoever came up with the idea for pliers is my hero! We found some and they worked great for adjusting the metal clips that were supposed to securely fasten the fencing to the t-posts . . . they were too big and we had to wrestle them down for a more snug fit.
Then, there was a couple of huge holes at the top of the ridge of the shed, and my friend wanted to secure it. So, her neighbor brought back some different wire and my friend stapled it over the holes for good measure.
Next, we thought perhaps we could make a gate for the fence that we'd left open for entry with some old lumber under the shed. Nope, we found nails, slugs, dirt, spiders nests, and any other manner of stuff there, but not the kind of wood we needed. So, we estimated some 1/4's and lengths and my friend wrote them down for her next visit to the lumber store, along with added protection for the door against
varmints, and a fastener for the gate.
By this time, the sun was falling to the sea, and bed-time on a school night was calling for us all to call it an evening. So, we cleaned up shop and said our good-byes. Our friend was so happy for the help. We'll go back again and help her hang some netting for the aviary crew who may like to prey upon the hens, and see what else we can do to assist the progress of keeping the Gals happy, healthy and protected!
We we arrived home for dinner, I found a note in our email account asking us to partake in a
pre- Miracle Team Group. Of course, we said, "YES!"
'Night All
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