Sunday, June 30, 2013

Phase 5 tearing Down the Wall

Phase 5  Ceiling

vents down
Now that the wall is gone we decided against installing a vent fan to the hall vents and tore the remaining vents out.

The house is so small that there is no problem getting air circulated.

I went out of state to visit family for a week and hubby got to do demo without worrying about the kiddo getting in the way.

He got the hall cleaned out. It is gonna feel so much bigger in that hallway now.



Here it is all down and ready for drywall.

ready for drywall






So, when I got back from Texas, it took a while to recover from an illness I contracted while there.
The weekend I really could have been helping my hubby get this done, he had to do the majority of the work himself.

With the help of a pole jack and occasionally me, he got it done in a "heat wave" of 90 degrees. Yeah, that is unseasonably hot for west Cascade foothills (it might hit that in August sometimes). No AC here and the sun is quite brutal up at this latitude.

Now, he will need to cut holes and re-install the smoke detector, install the hall light to it's new location on the ceiling and cut out the hole for the skylight.



Onto finishing.




Friday, June 28, 2013

8 weeks old Happy Chickies

8 weeks old and the chickies are officially "out of the nest".

Since my last post at 5 weeks old, nothing much changed to do a weekly post.
They had juvenile feathers and were learning the ways of a flock.

I went on vacation to visit family in Texas for a week 11 days and left the chickies in the capable hands of my hubby.
Nutmeg and Puff

 A few days before we left, we lost Puff to internal laying. That left us with mama Red and poor lonely Nutmeg :-( out of our original crew. Luckily, it killed her quickly and she died before I could get the hatchet out of the shed.

Those pullets (and cockerells) grow so fast.
Boy did they change in those 11 days!

When I got back they were HUGE!

They were sleeping on the roost. Or, at least, trying with Nutmeg and Red making it difficult for them.

Mama Red chicken was no longer mama! She got back her Red chicken voice and was biting and chasing the babies.  She had ENOUGH!
She laid her 1st post-mama egg yesterday and is already back to her every day egg. (8 weeks to the day after the last chick hatched). Can I clone this bird!?! Although, a whole flock of alpha hens would not be pretty.   Red is back to hanging out with Nutmeg and Red is still THE BOSS!

I wish I could have been home to document the transition from mama to flock-mate.

Nutmeg is a lot happier now that she has her only friend back and she is not on the bottom of the pecking order.

Here are the not-so babies. (re-homes and he/she's are subject to change).




Bear - one of the Young eggs and of the 1st to hatch.
Rooster suspect. Really thick legs but I couldn't get them in a shot.
Bear will be re-homed.












BB - "My chicken" Yes, I do have a favorite and this one is it! The only full-black chick out of the bunch. One of the Tucker eggs. Full of personality! And just look at that gorgeous iridescent black plumage.
UGH! I just saw "her" crow 3 times. Rrrrrrr.... Hoping it was just because she was startled.
Dang it! I might have to waive my no roo policy?

Started out as the tiniest of the bunch but shot up to be one of, if not the biggest.









Brindle - one of the Tucker eggs. One of the smaller birds. At first a rooster suspect. Everytime I picked her/him up, the hackles would raise. Still a very "flighty" and quick bird. This is why Brindle will be re-homed to a free-range flock (good traits to avoid being eaten).









Dusty - one of the Young 4. At  first I was keen on Dusty.  Now, she seems to have gained some flightiness and is back on my list for re-homeing. She is also a pretty small bird.









EX - a Tucker egg. Not too much distinguished about this one. She looks as though she will turn out to be a pretty girl. She is on the list for re-home.











HiLite - another Tucker egg. This girl is sweet. On the list to be re-homed.











Lucky - a Young egg. She is pretty tiny and sweet.












Ned - a Young egg. The smallest of the birds now. Great for free-ranging. Brave.









Rusty - a Tucker egg. One of 2 "golden girls". AKA "Austyn's chicken. This is a sweet and pretty little chicken. She will be re-homed to a boy Austyn who fell in love with her.









Splotch - a Tucker egg. Rooster suspect because of his tall stature and early comb. He is really sweet, Not dominating but will defend other chicks when they are picked on. If he does turn out to be a rooster, I feel he will be a keeper.






Sunny - one of the Tucker "golden girls". This one I am keeping. She is sweet and has barred feathers on her wings and laced feathers on her tail.










Trinity - one of the Tucker eggs. She sounds like a robin if you pet her. She has a really pretty white face and beard. She is developing and under-bite which is causing me to keep her since she might not make good reproductive stock because of this defect. She can still eat and drink well. She does better at the feed than foraging.








Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Phase 4 Tearing Down the Wall

Phase 4 is my favorite part.

Because it will finally open up the wall completely. But, mostly because we hired a contractor to do it. Working to the sound of someone else doing the work is music to my ears. Unfortunately it is also the most expensive part of the project.

Moving the hot water heater is NOT a DIY for us. It requires finding and re-routing plumbing and electrical and is not in our scope of amature expertise. When in doubt, hire out! :-)

So, this post is not only for our friends, family and followers but for us as well. Great idea to document work and know where things are for possible future reference.

We found this contractor through Angie's List (no info  in this post is sponsored FYI). I had a few contractors over and chose these guys over the competition.
This guy keeps us informed every step of the way. I love it! He even did a lot of the work with the guy he assigned to this project. Hands on, not just a delegate.

So, we find out the hot water heater was (as we suspected) hooked up wrong. :-/

Day 1

 They did the exploring,





set up the new pipes and connections and electrical.



Drained the tank, and got it all hooked up downstairs!


WOW! Had hot water back by evening showers.

It is amazing how hot the water is now that it is hooked up correctly.




Day 2

Taping and mud.




Piping the pressure valve.



Removing the box. 









 Have to wait for the mud to dry for texture and primer.









Day 3

Texture and primed.



The rest is up to us.









Tuesday, June 4, 2013

5 weeks old Happy Chickies

Just a video of the babies at 5 weeks old



They try to hang out with the big girls.
They are almost half the size of the big girls.
I am starting to narrow down the one that I will be keeping. I base it on my personal favorites of course but also who seems to get along with who best and who is better suited for a "pet chicken" life vs a free range farm chicken life.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Tearing Down the Wall Phase3

 Phase 3 is taking out the fire box and installing the skylight.

Took one day.

Skylight


Here the fireplace is stripped down. This took a while to dis-assemble and get all the insulation out. We inserted 2x4's into the slots and carried it out the door. Yes, it was VERY HEAVY!

Ready to leave





All Gone!





Fire place out, skylight in, old water damage



Waiting for the contractor to come and do the water heater re-location.