Oy

The crack of dawn is an interesting term, don't you think? I'd always thought it meant those subtle moments in the early pre-dawn as the sun's light begins to make it over the curvature of the Earth.

Not so to Roobios, the new rooster. He began before 5am (about an hour before dawn), then continued every 15 minutes

until 8:30

and is still crowing at 9:44. Damn thing thinks he's a snooze alarm. Needless to say, the rabbits disapproved. Mightily. Even the ducks looked a bit aghast.

Since I was already awake, I went out to let the chickens out of the hutch and the ducks out of Duckgard. The home flock won the egg-laying contest with the new ducks, 3 to 2.

In other, more humorous news, Doodle kindly brought me the dog kibble scoop while I was drinking coffee as a polite reminder to feed him. I'm still confused how he managed to get to it, as I keep it up on top of the kibble bin at shoulder height. With bassets, you just never know.

State of the Tryst Inn

Having Sam, the Savior, around to get the grunt work of the yard done has been such a blessing. I wish all of you a strong-backed and willing minion! This week, he's already gotten the bushes out in the front border cut back so we can see the rock wall (remember that project from Summer 2008?) and the weed whacking done in the front and driveway. Tuesday he raked the yard of fircones, branches, etc. and today he's scooping up all the piles.

Together we managed to place the hutch/coop on it's side and pry out the duck ramp, which the cheekins can't use. In it's place, we installed a home-made chicken ladder made from miscellaneous sticks we found around the property, likely fallen from the fir trees. With Gracie's help, we placed the chickens in the bottom of the coop and locked them in the bottom section. So far, two have figured out the ladder. We will need to a bit of additional work to finish boarding up the coop to keep the cheekins warm and dry. Sam has offered, which we may take him up on. Update: Cheekins keep getting over the fence and show a particular fondness for the neighbor's boat. *headdesk*

Speaking of cheekins, Libby is absolutely enthralled by them. Half the time I head out there she's perched on top of the coop or watching them through the wire fencing. This will be interesting. I received an email this afternoon from someone who had wanted Roobios but hadn't had time to pick him up at the time his original owners were available. She's coming to pick him up, thrilled to have him. We'll take care of the gals to the best of our ability, more research and a trip to the Feedstore this afternoon should set them up well.

Josh begins leave this evening, he'll have roughly 6 days off to celebrate his birthday and work on a few projects. Not sure how much blogging I'll get in during that time, so take care of yourselves!