Discovering the Okie in Me

Well, anyone who's known me for very long knows that, deep down, there must be some good ol' fashion Okie in me. It doesn't show in the family tree, but it certainly shows in my packing skills, my pick-up-and-go-itiveness (like that one?), my lack of shame in accepting used (and sometimes almost used up) items for reuse in my own domain. My suburban survival skills apparently lack for nothing.

Case in point - the materials for Flo's new abode. The donors saw the old coop in their newly acquired backyard as little more than a mess to remove. I saw potential and VERY gratefully accepted their donation. ("You pick it up, it's all yours!") It wasn't supposed to be a one-woman job, but I didn't really have anyone available during my open hours, so I made it work. (Check out the loading job on the minivan. You can IMAGINE the looks I got rolling down the freeway toward home!)



This week, the girls and I returned to the scene of the hutch pickup to gather the rest of the surrounding coop. Then, V and I banged together a nesting box for our new guest from scrap wood we've saved from a variety of other projects. (You never know WHEN those scraps'll come in handy, I kept saying whenever the urge to clean out the garage came upon us.) V had some great ideas, including the hinged lid and making the box accessible from the outside (rather than through the coop). She did a bang up job of hammering in the nails, too. I cut a hole in the screen on one side of the donated hutch, attached the new nesting box with E's assistance, then, after a bit of cleaning and a coat of paint, VOILA!

Next up, cleaning the second hutch, cutting a hole in the OTHER side of the old one and one side of the yet-to-be-upgraded one, then attaching the two together to double the size of Flo's Abode. We'll completely enclose the second half so she has the option of getting completely out of the elements, or hanging out in the breeze. We can always seal the whole thing up if weather ever turns really bad here, but chances are we won't need that in our climate.