Perch 2.0, groundwork

Yesterday I left work a little early so I would have time to work on yet another chicken project at home, a new coop perch.  The perch we have in the coop was built by Cindy.  Although Lucy has been quite content perching on it at night it is constructed out of mostly 2 inch lumber which just isn’t very sturdy.  It was also made before we knew we would be housing a total of 13 chickens at night. Cindy had been looking at various other designs on the internet and settled on one.  She bought the lumber for it earlier in the week so I had everything I needed after she handed me the sketch she drew up with dimensions.

Pretty much the entire time the skies looked quite menacing.  We had some light rain dropping on us and had a serenade of thunder through most of the build.  I was in tunnel vision mode, I was going to get the perch done, pretty much no matter what.

The design Cindy found is good and with 2×4’s as the frame it is very solid.  In total there are 5 perches, each 46″ long, giving the chickens a wide variety of perching locations depending on where they are on the pecking order.  The angle design prevents chickens higher on the ladder from pooping on those beneath them, an important feature. I lost count of how many times Cindy said “I am so excited!” during the build process.

We had the baby chickens out free ranging with Lucy and Lola while the build was going on.  They seem to be integrating better and better.  For a period of time Lucy and Lola were inside the chick’s coop eating their food.  It was a funny visual.  Cindy was anxious to get the new perch done because she is feeling more and more comfortable with the idea of all 13 birds being together based on how things have been going the last week.

So yesterday I did the first steps in planning a potential 2015 road trip.  The plan is in a word, big.  The route I tentatively mapped out has five potential key destinations, Mt Rushmore, Yellowstone Park, Craters of the Moon, Bonneville Salt Flats, and the Hoover Dam.  To hit all of these destinations adds up 6000 miles plus of roadway which is a big number.

I have actually been to all of these places before minus the Salt Flats in prior road trips with Ali.  Despite that I am quite interested in revisiting them again because my first time through we had canines in tow which created pretty significant restrictions on what we could and couldn’t do. Plus the idea of showing Cindy some of these national treasures is exciting for me, she appreciates it so much.

There is a long list of hurdles to clear and ducks to line up before I can make this happen.  Not only do I need to steer clear of other reserved vacation blocks at work, I also have to dance around the races I am responsible for timing.  There is also the requirement of finding somebody very reliable and responsible to tend to chickens and Tuki while we would be gone.  Finally there is the monetary pressure what is sure to be around a two week trip would apply.  The fuel efficiency of the Prius is a big help in this regard but there will be tons of dollars involved in a trip of this size. I will start trying to knock down the hurdles one at a time today.

This weekend I have work to do outside of my normal circle of to do’s.  I have a server upgrade at work that needs to be handled and extensive testing of the new timing hardware that needs to be completed.  I plan to literally set up a race in my back yard with Cindy being my guinea pig.  Although I have timed something like 150 races, this will be my first time doing it with something other than Ipico hardware in the last 7-8 years.  I need to get familiar enough with the MyLaps hardware so I know how to handle at least the basic, common problems that can pop up during a race.

There is also a good chance that by the end of the weekend all 13 chickens will be housed under one roof.

Yes I read about the shootings at the church in South Carolina.  Yes it is horrible and another painful example of how sick the human mind can become.  Is there anything I can say to add insight or clarification as to why this happens? Nope.