(** Note to Scott, our new car guru…. It’s probably not a good idea for me to sit and watch you fix the car with my phone or any other photographic machine because I’m pretty much assured of snapping a shot and showing like 500+ people in my blog. Haha… But… which one is Scott and which is his friend??? I’ll never tell! hahaha)

Well, it was super chilly and rainy in the morning, AGAIN… but thankfully by the early afternoon and when I took Blue over so he could finish up that brake line repair, it was starting to get a little nicer. Thank goodness! This rain and cold and gloom was really getting to me. I pretty much laid in bed with kitties and doggies and whinned about it to my friend Donna until she told me ah, she had to go, bye! Haha… yeah, well, it’s been super cold and gloomy and the house is COLD… Hardly gets about 50 degrees in here! Maybe 55 with the kerosene heater blaring. That kind of day in and day out cold just sort of wears you down.

Anyway. I hear that the next couple days are supposed to be FANTASTIC!!! Yeah team! I soooo need a few good days!

Blue is all fixed. All new brake lines down to the back and whoa Nelly… what a difference! The first real stop I made going home nearly knocked me out on the steering wheel because it stopped so fast and I wasn’t used to it! Haha… It feels so much nicer to have real working brakes. He said it looked like the driver side back brake had dried up and wasn’t hardly working… he got it all lubed up and functioning good again. The other side was fine. Just one of those things I guess. He said salt and water just tears those metal lines up eventually and well, it is a 13 year old car, so it was probably one of those things that was bound to happen. I’m just glad it is done.

I was sitting there thinking how cool it was to have found a great mechanic like Scott. As I sat and watched and we talked a bit, he had friends and his grown kids and younger kids all coming and going from his garage. Neighbors tooting their horn and waving, and just all sorts of really good vibes. It was cool. He is blessed for certain. He just got called back to work as a millwright and he’s glad, but he still likes helping his peeps with their cars and such. Heck, one fellow even stopped by with his lawn tractor and he started to help Scott with my car. He’s in the picture above. I like that, it’s awesome to see people all just being so good and supportive of each other. And treating everyone decent. There is no doubt in my mind that Blue threw that flat at us for a reason. To get us in touch with Scott. And to give us a little peace of mind in our new hometown. Now we know that if we’re ever in a car fix, Scott’s the guy to call. He even has a friend with a wrecker! And he’s coming to get Gunnar in a few days and see if he can get that beast running for me. How cool is that?

This is Maggie’s truck.

Maggie has loved this old truck since the first time we saw it back in January. It’s about 4 miles from our house. Sitting in the weeds, in a field.

Maggie has been dropping hints that she likes this truck. Just about every time we drive by it. And often when we talk about our various farm plans and enterprises, she brings up the truck. She digs old things. Her bike is an old Schwinn from the 50s. She is my nostalgia collector.

Well, I finally got the hint. And I talked with her Dad about it while I waiting on Blue. We kind of came to the decision that we should find out more about it and then see what might happen, and encourage her to save up some cash, and to do a little research and perhaps move ahead on some of her money-making ideas.

So, I stopped on the way home from Scotts and found out more about it. It’s a 1966 Ford 1 Ton pickup. It doesn’t run, it did, but something is up and they think it threw a rod, so basically, it’s not running. It’s all there. Just doesn’t run. The body is in really good shape, which surprised me for such an old Ford. Very little apparent rust. Good tires, and a great wood panel insert back bed area. Guy said the fellow was asking $800 or best offer. Hmmm. He seemed to imply that it would be had for less and I’m thinking $500 – $600 cash would probably seal the deal.

I have to agree with Maggie, it’s a sweet ride. Sure, it needs help, but could you see it all polished up and painted with a great Windhaven Farm logo on the driver side door? And could you see the glow in that kid’s face after she works for a good long time to get it running? She can use her egg and craft money to get parts and have stuff done to it. She has been telling me she wants to learn more about being a mechanic. She was really fascinated by the junk yard and working on the tires and all. I think she’d be pretty good at that.

Well, neither of us parents at the moment have the cash to just go and buy the thing. If you hadn’t noticed, we just pretty much rounded up EVERY single dime we all had to buy a FARM outright… hahaha… So, as I see it, no one has bought it yet and I was the first one to even stop and ask about it in over 6 months. So, I told Maggie, if it’s to be, it’s to be and we’ll just start saving. And she can get started on her various enterprises and of course, if we get some quirky windfall, or business is good, then we’ll do our best to get that truck before too long. Even if we just got it and parked it out in a pasture for a bit, hey, we’d be like most of the other people in the village… with old dead vehicles in their yard!

Plus you’d have to agree, even dead, it would make a great photography prop, now wouldn’t it?

Well, I got home and told Maggie all the details and then we decided it was time to go and start on the chicken barn. I’ve been reading this awesome book by Joel Salatin called You Can Farm. And one chapter and bit of wisdom that just SLAPPED me in the face was that you should forget about doing everything super cute and fancy and expensive when it comes to farming and your animals and all. As he puts it, livestock could care less if you bought expensive lumber for their shelters or used reclaimed or recycled things or even volunteer trees from your property. They care only that it shelters them and keeps them safe and warm. And he says, don’t always think that you have a build something for future generations. Reality says that your children’s children are probably not going to be using your chicken tractors you made back in 1973. In fact, they will want to be doing something else, or something different. So design inexpensively and creatively.

As I might have mentioned before, we do have a little “chicken coop” on the estate. But it’s all run down and needs a lot of help. The “yard” is awful and full of junk and weeds. There is tumbled down fencing and wood and junk in there. So we decided that our beautiful 20 x 30 foot steel pole barn would be a PERFECT chicken palace! Ready to use, secure and safer. And bigger. And I thought, why should be buy a cattle or hog panel for the doorway when we have all this junk fence over at the old coop! Thank you Joel!!! So Maggie and I wandered over and of course, found a PERFECT piece, nice and tall, that would work wonderfully!

We stapled one side to the inside of the barn wall, with big heavy fence staples. And on the other side, we put in three big sturdy hooks from our stash. So now, you can pull the fence nice and taunt and hook it on the hooks when you want to open up a big door and give the flock air and sunshine, but you’d like them to stay in the barn for awhile. Like in the morning, when they are laying. Once everyone is done, in the early afternoon, you can just unhook it and let everyone out to free range in the woodlot or pastures.

My garden will be fenced, thank you very much. Haha… don’t really want the ladies to eat up all the little plants! Of course, once everything gets growing, they might get little special passes to visit for a bit and help me de-bug everything!

Maggie strung up my waterers and feeders from the rafters. Dingo had to check them out. Gypsy was pretty perplexed by it all but excited.

I had a big bale of shavings for the ladies, to give it a nice soft ground cover over the dirt and something to scratch through. I probably need another bale.

Jack and Luna are so funny! They absolutely love being out back and in the buildings and such. They trot along with the old dogs and us as we do things. Jack is checking out the feed room, which is very nice. It has counters and hooks on the wall and all manners of nice things. It will be a great place to keep our chicken supplies. There is power out to the barn, so that is nice.

After all, there is a TV antenna on the side for them to watch their favorite shows.

I love this shot of Luna. I just happened to catch her out on the old foundation, watching in the back pasture at something of interest. She just adores being outside most of the day. Jack is her ever present sidekick. I remember back at the Moby when Luna was like Jack’s worse problem, she was always wanting him to be her best buddy and he had a rep to maintain with all the other ladies. But now, out here in the wilds of our little village, Jack has Luna and Luna has Jack. And each of them dislikes the wild orange tiger that prowls the back lot.

I was thinking about the orange kitty, which we haven’t come up with a decent name for yet, just “Orange Kitty”. I think I’m going to start putting out some kitty chow out by the barn, perhaps a bit off, in a little sheltered area. See if O.K. finds it and starts eating it. I would rather give O.K. that, then to have he or she stalks my hens. Or my chicks when we get to that stage. For some odd reason, I’m not worried about Jack and Luna, nor the old dogs. But O.K., I’m pretty sure O.K. is feral or at least a stray. She might like a little chicken dinner out of a pullet or chick.

She’s kind of small and defensive, so I’m thinking it’s a she. I could be wrong, of course, as I have only seen O.K. once and Jessy, twice.

Of course, Dixie and Topaz would much rather stay in the house, thank you very much.

The clouds this evening were amazing. Huge and dramatic. I saw a giant thunderhead when I was coming back from the repair. I really must remember to bring my camera whenever I go out! I have missed so many amazing shots!!! For some reason, the picture was not nearly as amazing as real life… it was bright and blue and stunning with all the clouds. I hope these clouds represent a changing weather pattern that will bring us an amazing weekend! Yeah!

I know that lately, I’ve been talking more about Maggie, as she is my companion in all things farm. But I must brag on Miss Jessy a bit. She has been so awesome with sticking to orders and working in her wonderful big office that she loves! She is the house gal, she likes the outside, but she really likes doing her business and all too. She hangs out with the calico kitty girls and digs her Ipod music and is very happy in her work. After all, she loves rocks and minerals!

And she’s learning to cook. A lot of awesome stuff. She likes that a lot too. She made her first whole roasted chicken tonight. With a garlic and honey rub and just slow roasted and super tender and moist! And some mashed potatoes and these sweet carrots with butter and brown sugar… oh my gosh! Maggie and I were all hot and dirty from our labors and we come in to smell this delish dinner waiting for us! We were through the shower in record time and ready to eat! It was so wonderful! We just have to get a dining room table and some chairs and we are off and running!

We have a table coming soon from their Dad. It’s funny, it’s the first big country table that we bought as young married people. And now it’s coming back to the farm! That is so cool. The chairs are gone or being used, but the table is too big and too country for his tastes and so, it’s being dismantled a bit and brought out to live here! I can’t wait. We haven’t had a real dining table in years! Just didn’t have the space.

Now to find some chairs at a few good garage sales and we are in like Flinn!

Well, that was the day here… tomorrow we’re building our roost and a couple nest boxes and like Joel says, we’re going to make them ourselves. So far, we have spent $10 for the waterer and feeder and $5 for a bale of shavings. The local feed store has buy 2 get one free bags of feed, so I think I might go and check that out later on. And Saturday… is the Hillsdale livestock auction!!! Poultry sales start at 9 am! Can’t wait!!!!!!!

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