Silly Birds and Tag Sales - August 11, 2019 @goldenoakfarm

On hot days, or maybe not, when I look out at the middle pasture, this is most often what I see. No birds. The coop is their only shade most of the day. It’s also their security and where the food and water, grit, and duster are. And the lap pool when it’s really hot.

The entire pen and security fences

But in the evening, or when it is cloudy, they are all out and running around.

One afternoon it got cloudy and a thunderstorm was coming. They were all out and the coop was aimed N-S (not like above where it is E-W). They were ALL clustered around the door, where it forms an L on the west side (see 1st photo). A big clap of thunder! And instead of going around the door into the coop, every last one of them streamed down the side of the coop, across the back and up the other side into the coop.

At the time, I thought silly birds! But now I wonder…. When we put them to bed at night, more often than not the netting is set-up inside so they follow that pattern along it and into the coop, avoiding going around the door. It’s much harder to get them in when they have to go down the side where the door makes an L, as above. Maybe it’s how we trained them…

Drawing the living room

Early this week I got tired of not being able to find house information. My filing system had gotten into an awful mess and I was determined to sort it out.

I would need a large area to sort it on, so I decided to use the laundry room counter at 9’ long. This served 2 purposes. If I spread it out some the night before laundry, I would have to finish it before I could start. So I did that, and it took 2 hours to finish the job.

I discovered something important. Nearly all the room plans I had drawn had been for the plans with 2 additions. I did not have many plans for the actual one we are building. I would have to redraw all the rooms, and add material lists.

So each morning for about 2 hours before it gets light, I’ve been drawing before I go to the gardens. This eliminated my time to write posts. This morning I wrote instead. I have 3 plans left to do, out of 13.

This photo does not show the sheer quantity of what I found at a tag sale Saturday morning. It was an unadvertised estate sale. The woman had been an avid gardener and I found all these garden supplies. There were dozens of supports, nearly 10 huge pots and the 5 gallon buckets I really needed.

Just one of the single supports from the back pile, that had a price sticker still on, said it was $2.95. The bigger ones with stickers said $3.99. I have no idea what peony supports cost, or big pots. My guess is that there’s at least $200 of stuff there, all in excellent condition.

I sorted them by size and tied them in bundles so they are not such a tangled mess. What a boon this will be next year (or the year after) when I start building the new gardens. Oh, and I paid $9 for the lot.

At the last tag sale, I found this pristine enamel pot WITH a cover for $3. There were also dozens of tea lights, votive candles, and wax melts. I plan to use these in my luminaria, if I ever get them finished. I filled the pot to overflowing and still had a bag and a box of candles. Got the candles for $5.

I also found this painted tin dipper there for $1. I’d also found shirts, DVDs, a ceiling light fixture for the new pantry and other odds and ends at other tag sales. So Saturday was a productive day at tag sales.

This morning it is in the 50’s and I hope to finish the Fence gardens. This afternoon may be a classical concert.

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