Let's talk about chicks, baby

For the first couple of weeks that we had the chickens, I kept glancing out and telling James, "I'm sure it'll get to the point that I take it for granted they're just out there and doing okay unless I have reason to think differently." Well, friends, that time is here.

The past few days, when Mal and I have gotten ready to leave the house, I look out back and don't see the chickens and think, "Great! They're hiding in the shade! Smart birds!"

We're still learning a lot and having fun. We think we have at least one and maybe two roosters, possibly three; hopefully none. If they start crowing, we'll have to figure out what to do next. But for now, the one that seems to be trying is still a quiet li'l gender-non-specific cutie pie, though it is definitely larger than the others.

It's been hot, and the birds seem to be doing their best to stay cool by camping out under the green in the yard, or chilling on the back porch (yay! poop!). I put ice in their water fairly early in the day and then try to take them refrigerated or frozen fruit or vegetables at least once a day to give them something to snack on. They REALLY like snack time.

What's kind of cool is that they've adapted to the pigeon loft a lot better than we expected. Chickens are, as James told me, "floor birds." Given that, even though I'd modified the loft with a couple of ramps (one is 45 degrees, which is supposed to be the max they can comfortably handle; the other is about 47.5 degrees), I didn't have high hopes about their utilizing the flight deck.

But they figured it out!

I'm so happy, as it's a bunch cooler out there with a breeze than it would be inside on the floor (which should be perfect for winter).

They don't seem to have ventured into the nesting boxes, which I am afraid will be much to small for them by the time they're old enough to lay eggs... if we have any hens (fingers crossed!). They're about 13-14 weeks old now, so we still have 7-15 weeks before they're mature enough to start laying. Glad they're not having to work too hard in the heat. Also glad that a "cold front" is coming in next week. Hey, I'll take 92 over 98 all summer, if it wants to do that!

We spent a lot of time the first couple of weeks after we got the birds filling in holes at the bottom of our fencing, and around the sides of the gates, where they might slip through the cracks. For a while, it seemed like they found a new egress every day! Including, at one point, getting into the front yard by flying up onto the porch border, and going through the wrought-iron railings onto the front porch, then down the steps, and into the grass in the driveway. Fixed that by moving the porch couch "bed" over a few feet.

Simple, but thus far effective, work-around. They don't seem comfortable jumping up/flying while also trying to get through the rails.

However, all of this is really for naught because of something I witnessed earlier this week.

What's this? you ask. Well...

So, yes, they can get up onto the top of our back fence and, if they want to, into the back 1/3... but so far, they just hop back down on the inside. At least I'll know where to look for them if they go missing!

Thus far, they have been easier to clean up after and care for than the pigeons. This is due largely, I believe, to the fact that during the day, they are basically self-sustaining. They do their business outside, so there isn't as much to clean inside the loft. They entertain themselves enough that I don't feel badly if we don't interact much with them on any given day... Speaking of which, I read that when it's this hot, it's best not to check on them in person very much during the day because they get excited and, therefore, hotter.

That's probably all of the chicken news for now. Here are a few pictures of the babies.

They were way more interested in the ice-cold water than the corn on the cob!

This one seems to be trying to crow. Did you know some hens crow?

This one has tail feathers that look rooster-ish.

This one looks almost too beautiful to be a hen, but is also the smallest bird we have.

Chillin' out, maxin', relaxin' all cool and all...

What I Did Today

Today was story time at the library. Mal acted like he wanted to go, until it was time to go. Then he didn't.

We haven't been to story time in months. Every time I suggest it, he literally starts crying. I don't know why; he can't articulate anything beyond, "I want to stay home!" So we do.

Today, after deciding not to go to story time, Mal told me he wanted strawberries. I was excited about the thought of going to 365 by Whole Foods, where berries are always 10% off for club members, but that was not what Mal had in mind.

Due largely to the influence of "Ryan's Toy Review" (Google it if you're uninitiated), Mal wanted to go pick strawberries. I did not. It is humid and hot, but not as hot as it's going to be next week.

Here is where the parenting rubber hits the road.

Allegedly, James and I are committed to giving Mal as much power in determining his own fate as it is possible and practical to do. And I had no reason to say, "No," so I didn't. We headed west on 1431 for what is, I believe, one of the prettiest drives in this area. It's about 45 minutes, and I knew Mal would fall asleep on the way home (which he did).

There was almost no one there, and the berries are dwindling. But we got enough to eat and maybe make something delicious. The heat got to us when the clouds weren't obscuring the sun. Mal lasted about 25 seconds on the bounce pillow thing. We caught lunch at Chick-fil-A and then found two new Cars at H-E-B before napping and/or enjoying the vistas on the trip back.

Pretty much any parenting style demands doing things that inconvenient to the parent. But you have to do it so you can look back with as few regrets as possible. And Mal was so much fun to hang out with today; I'm glad we went. I'll go to 365 tomorrow.

Fish Gotta Swim and Birds Gotta Fly

I had an epiphany last week. It's about fishing. I've never gone fishing. I like being on a boat, but I don't have any urges to fish, especially not catch-and-release. I can actually understand the draw of fishing for dinner, but the other? Well, I didn't really get it. Until last week.

In the past couple of years, since having put out bird feeders, I have become increasingly interested in birds. Since moving into this house, I actually joined the Facebook group Birds of Texas, where there are more experienced birders than I who are happy to identify birds when I am unable to do so. In our yard here, I have seen: House sparrows, house finches, Carolina wrens, Carolina chickadees, doves, cardinals, red-bellied woodpecker, painted bunting, black-chinned hummingbirds, and turkey vultures. It's interesting: I haven't seen nor heard any Mexican scrub jays, which were all over the place at the apartment in Oak Hill. I also haven't seen a roadrunner in our yard, though I've seen them in the area, including one that walked past our house in the street every day for a week or two. I felt like he was going to work, then coming back home with a lizard for the family.

Anyway, my parents moved to Temple earlier this year, and they live in an area with so much new construction that there aren't any mature trees. They put out a feeder, though, and are being inundated with visitors. When we were up there last week, I went to sit outside to see what birds I could see. Also, it was 100 degrees and about 70% humidity.

At any rate. I pretty quickly saw a dove sitting on their next-door neighbor's roof.

Weird-o.

Then, I saw a couple of pairs of house sparrows and house finches.

Bathing.

You rang?

I also saw some grackles flying around in the area, but they never landed in my parents' yard.

If you've never watched birds before, they do this thing where they'll end up trickling into the same area, they'll all hang out for a while, then every single one of them gets a telepathic memo or something, and they all take off.

At one point, I was sitting there, staring off into space, waiting for the birds to come back. I thought, "Ha. I'm sitting out here in the heat, waiting to see more birds. Common birds. And I'm not sure when they'll be back..." Then I realized: I WAS BASICALLY FISHING. Just without the water. And I under no circumstances intended to eat any of these for dinner. My cats might have a different take on that.

But I felt a camaraderie with people who enjoy fishing just for the sport of seeing what you can catch, and enjoying the still silences (boredom) between active moments.

Also, bird-watching probably means I'm getting old, a fact that next month's birthday would tend to confirm.

Homeowner's Week of Fun!

The past few days, we've definitely felt the full brunt of home ownership.

First, after some on-and-off really heavy rains Tuesday, that night, we had the windows open as it was gorgeous out (immediately after rains are often the only times it's not ick humid... except when it is). There was a very obnoxious noise coming from the neighbor's yard, maybe? I asked James what it was, and I went outside. It was to the east of our house... As I was looking to see if maybe someone was using a saw or grinder, I saw the light on the mystery box at the back of our fence lit. Uh oh. All I knew was that it was ours, it had something to do with the septic tank, and that can't be good.

I had no idea what to do, and more than concern over the septic was concern over how to make that box STOP MAKING THAT NOISE, and how much is it going to cost to get someone out here at 7:30 at night? I looked up the name on the box, and tried to find a way to shut off the noise, but neither proved helpful. So I called non-emergency police and said, "I'm sorry, but I have no idea what to do here..." They put the fire department on the line, and that lady told me I'd need to call a septic service. By the way, the reason I called local authorities in the first place is that our septic tank is kind of "governed" by the Lower Colorado River Association, and they were closed, so I didn't know if there were a protocol about which I was not aware.

AND THUS, I called a generic septic service. They told me that I could indeed turn off the alarm myself, and then I needed to give the drain field time to dry out, as it was likely saturated from the rains plus my having done laundry. I didn't realize that we needed to try not to put a lot of water in the system during heavy rains. I had a septic tank for 7+ years in Sherman, and never ever heard that.

Anyway, I went back, and, sure enough, there WAS a "silence" switch. I hadn't looked really thoroughly because 1) it was loud, 2) there is a lot of growth, including poison ivy, back in that corner (probably outta do something about that), and 3) I was kind of freaking out.

After 24 hours, the light was still on, and that was a problem. The stuff I'd read said 10-15 hours and the light should go off. It also said the alarm gave us 24-48 hours before it would reach critical mass. So something needed to happen.

A tech made it out on Friday (yikes!) and, as it turned out, the drain field wasn't saturated. The septic pump was burnt out. It was kind of funny: The tech gave James the price for the pump, and when James said, "Yeah, of course... what am I going to do?" the tech kind of laughed and said, "Yeah. You have to."

As a consolation prize, here is a thing I saw in our yard this week.

During this same time frame, our Nest thermostat gave us a warning that something specific was going on, complete with a URL to look up. I did, and it gave me trouble-shooting tips, THEN asked me to do some wire stripping and reattaching, that I did not feel comfortable with doing. So I called them, and they talked me through some stuff on the phone, and between what they can tell on their end and what I was able to read from our system, they were able to determine that the original message error was gone.

However, at that point, our actual air conditioner wasn't working. I'd reset every breaker when we were doing the thermostat stuff, but the house wasn't cooling down. It took us about 45 minutes, but finally, for some reason, at some point when I flipped the breaker, the unit came back on. So that was a fix without having to spend any money. Yay!

Saturday, we'd come back from a walk or something when I started wondering why there was so much Chinaberry debris in our front yard. Looking up, I realized that a large branch had mostly broken off and was just wedged in. Heavy winds, and it would come down. We tried stuff with our ladder, rake, etc. and it didn't work, so we had to buy one of those telescoping-handled saw/branch snipper thingies. The only ones I saw in Lago Vista were chainsaws, and those were $400-600, so James went into Cedar Park and got a hacksaw thing for like $50.

I was able just to manhandle the branch down, after a few tries, standing on the porch and therefore under the roof so the branch wouldn't maim me (yes, I wore goggles). Then I realized there was ANOTHER branch above that one that was also dead. James came out and helpfully pointed out that I didn't actually have the thing fully extended, which would have helped with the first branch, but was absolutely necessary with the second. I had to saw that one off, as the break was on top of a branch, and the dead part was pretty securely wedged in.

That was a work-out! But it finally came crashing down, and Mal even helped me clean up the front yard of all of the sticks and leaf bunches.

Between that maintenance stuff and then my spending 4 hours Friday mowing and weed-eating, then James spending really untold hours all weekend planting irises a neighbor gave us, we've been feeling very much like fully-fledged homeowners.

And while we're outside working and enjoying stuff, here is a little record of what our back yard looks like right now, if you're interested. I took the video to mark this for posterity's sake, so if you don't want to watch it, I'm not even offended. Also, the wind wasn't that bad; I need to get a muffler for my camera, or a remote mic with a cover.

Lots of other stuff, but we'll save that for another time. Happy Easter, and have a good week!

A Super Tuesday

Our apartments are being upgraded, meaning we're getting new granite countertops in the kitchen, new flooring in all of the "wet" rooms, a new light fixture in the kitchen, new backsplash, and they're trimming out the mirrors in our bathrooms. Because having a mirror with trim is vastly superior to having a trimless mirror?

I think the assumption is that these "non-invasive" upgrades will be done in an empty apartment. They set things to right when they leave, but there are those of us who are home. All day. So I've seriously had anxiety about this since I heard about it a month or so after we moved in. I was grateful to hear that they'll wait to paint until we leave!

We were told that the work would be done between 9 and 6, so by 8:15 yesterday morning, I was ready. I had all of the stuff off of the counters, and James had moved his "liquor store" from under the sink into his office.

Mal and I had been up since 5, so by 9:02, I started to feel like they were late. We were told we'd be first on the list because I mentioned to the property manager that it's taken us more than a year to get on a relative nap schedule.

We spent quite a bit of time on the patio as yesterday was extremely warm. I heard the call of the Mexican Scrub Jay for the first time in a while. Looked around, and there it was, taking in the scenery.

When I realized I was getting stir crazy waiting for the workmen to come start tearing up our kitchen, I looked up polling places and realized we could walk "next door" to vote at a community center.

Mal and I went downstairs, got his tricycle, and headed out. He walked part of the way, then rode up the hill, across the grass, and through the parking area of an office building to get to the community center. We went inside and there were five booths with only one in use and no lines! I realized that I had to have photo ID (why even issue voter registration cards, then, really?) and while I was getting that, Mal decided to run back outside because the fun automatic doors take so long to close (it *is* a senior center, too, so...).

I pulled him in and realized he had a giant half-dried boogey on his cheek, so I ran him toward the bathroom to get a tissue, and on the way out from that, I slammed my elbow into a metal partition and cracked it open. *sigh* But I had my ID, my reasonably clean kid, and now there were four people waiting to check in.

Fortunately, the process didn't take long, but because I was choosing to participate in the Republican primary (as an anti-Drumpf), this guy pulls out a stamp and marks my voter registration card "Republican." DUDE! There's a reason I don't put an affiliation on there! I don't want one! But I changed it when I got home, anyway. Blacked out his dumb red label and wrote "Libertarian."

Oh, while I was getting stuff together to check in, this guy, of whom I did not take a picture, but who resembled this --

-- Except younger and with an afro, walked out of the building yelling "Trump it!" as he exited. He went outside to smoke a cigarette, then went somewhere, and came back to vote carrying... a baguette. This is barely Austin, but that was a sort of Austin mountain folk thing to have happened.

I only voted for Presidential nominee and three Texas propositions. I don't know or care enough about the other positions. So we were finished quickly and headed outside. Mal had fun playing with the bike racks, then hopping around on the stones between the sidewalk and the mailbox.

He got kind of snacky, so we sat on the bench and he ate a bag of dried apples.

He likes them. They're just really crunchy.

After we'd been there about half an hour, eating, jumping, trying not to mess with the "vote here" sign, even though we *really* wanted to, greeting all of the people coming to vote (90% elderly), we decided to head back because the suspense was killing me about the kitchen demo.

As we left, we passed the "no electioneering" border sign and I realized we'd violated voting day rules! We'd loitered within the boundaries for a good half hour, maybe more. Oops. We didn't encourage anyone to vote or not vote in any way, though, so hopefully they'll grant us leniency if it ever comes up.

When we passed the office, Mal wanted to go in. He looked around and I was trying to shoo him out the back door, but he wanted to go where the bottled water has been when we've had tenant events. They didn't have any in the fridge, but they had some snacks out, so we got Cheez-Its and a Cutie, walked down the hill, and found a nice bike rack in the shade. Mal played, I sat on the sidewalk, and eventually he asked me to peel the orange, which he ate.

It was such a gorgeous day, and I love love love that I get to spend so much time with my kids. (Even though one of them is on an opposite sleep schedule from me; at least that one *has* a sleep schedule!) The other day, I told James that it's actually a good sign that sometimes I get bored out of my skull with the mundane tasks of being a stay-home mom. It means that I'm around enough to take it for granted. I never feel like I just haven't had enough time before I have to move on to the next thing. I'm really grateful for that.

We got back around 11, just as the workers were getting here. By the time we got upstairs, they'd already pulled the tile half-backsplash off and were removing the countertops. They were very respectful of our space, so the demo was pretty anticlimactic. No sledgehammers. No loud noises. But it was over in under ten minutes.

The rest of the stuff took until 6 o'clock, but that's with giant gaps as they're renovating three apartments on this end of the building at the same time.

Mal wanted to watch some of it, and we also spent a lot of time outside. We got to see a roadrunner nosing around (do they have noses?) in the back yard. I've never seen one this far back in the complex, so that was a treat.

Did you know that roadrunners have an exposed swath of skin behind their eyes? It's blue-to-red. I didn't know that until I took the pictures and wondered, "What the heck?"

Interesting, right? At one point, the roadrunner called out, and I tried to get it on video but couldn't. He did it a second time, then disappeared into the bushes, and called out a third time. So now I know what a roadrunner sounds like!

Mal took a bath around 2:30 and ended up going to sleep around 3. We spent a lot of time in my room, playing on the bed and just trying to stay out of the way of the kitchen crew. Sadly, when Mal was getting out of the tub, he slipped and hit what I thought was his forehead on the side of the tub.

Yikes! Today it's pinkish purple, but the swelling is gone. Sweet little kid.

He slept for three hours, and I made him get up at 6. Now that he's napping better (yesterday, he slept two hours before he woke up for a nurse and back to sleep; today, he woke up after just a little under an hour but is back to sleep), usually 2.5 - 3 hours per day, he's sleeping less at night. He becomes inconsolable at night, so we're having to put him to bed around 8:30, even though I wouldn't care if he stayed up much later. But, no. Instead, he's waking up around 5. Last night, I ended up just going to sleep with him so I could get my 8 hours (interrupted) as I'd only had 6ish hours of sleep the two nights before that. I need like 10. It's amazing what the body can do when it has no choice.

As much as I was dreading the apartment upgrades, yesterday was actually a great day. It was made even better by the fact that James had a meeting downtown and got to come home about 2.5 hours earlier than usual! We got Dominos because it was on sale and I wasn't able to get into the kitchen in any meaningful way until 6.

So, regardless of the election outcomes, Mal and I had a Super Tuesday. I hope you did, too.

Our complex's best balconies!

After having lived in Las Vegas for nearly a decade, I was ready for some dang land when I moved to Texas!

After seven and a half years of dealing with an acre and a half (including thousands of linear feet of edging), I was ready never to have to maintain a stinking lawn again!

I've loved living in an RV and renting because I don't like "wasting" my time with yard work.

I do, however, enjoy being outside on mild occasions, one of the (few?) perks of living somewhere that it's hot: You can sit outside in the shade many afternoons and it's tolerable, and maybe even enjoyable.

Both at the Nuthaus and here at Vogefutter, we've loved our patios. They're seriously an extra room for us, and our lives would be much more claustrophobic without them.

For instance: You might have noticed that we had Daphne's birthday celebration on our patio. My sister and one of my nieces (I always spell that word wrong on the first pass) have horrific cat allergies, so it's nice to have them over and them not die or whatnot.

However... some of the people up in this complex have really gone the extra mile in making their "outside room" spectacular. Mostly, this involves lots of plant life... between the cats, the babies, and my killing things (besides my sister and niece - spelled it right that time because I typed super slowly), I don't know that this is an option for me.

But I certainly appreciate (and am mildly jealous) of their efforts. Here are some pictures from around the complex.

 Some of the downstairs units have recently had gates put up so that they have a wee "yard." So cute!

I like that the scarecrows are really for us. :)

We might be able to pull off something like this. Not too many plants, but still a nice space.

This is our caddy-corner downstairs neighbor, the 90-year-old woman and her 70-year-old daughter. They put out carrot chunks on the patio to draw rabbits. It works!

Pretty sure they're growing weed. Okay, maybe not. But this is a HUGE patio (the biggest model in the complex) and they have several structures with plant lights, and they also have the additional plastic I'm guessing to keep their dog from shimmying out between the railing. It's not too impressive during the daytime, but it's kind of hard to see what's going on at night, too. Whatever it is, it's a lot.