Hour After Hour: Hillview Drive

Showing posts with label Hillview Drive. Show all posts

And then there were three.

So, if any of you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen a picture of my four chickens: Lindsay, Maeby, Lucille, and Lucille Austero. We got the lovely Buff Orpingtons from a cute family in Lehi soon after we finished the coop (fittingly, one of the little boys was named Garrett). We were so excited and they were great layers from the start, averaging three eggs per day. We thought, "This is so easy! Chickens are great! Let's let them run around in our yard, they'll be fine! It's not like they'll fly away or anything!"
And we were right, they didn't fly away.

One morning while leaving extra early for work for an early conference call, I pulled out of my driveway and as I looked to the right, I saw a chicken moseying around my neighbor's front yard. My first thought and what I said out loud was, "What the hell is that chicken doing?! Freaking chicken! WHAT THE HELL?!" After parking and quickly chasing it for a few seconds, I scooped it up and placed it in the coop--the EMPTY coop. I started to panic. Where were the other chickens? Did someone steal them? Did the angry neighbor deliberately let them out this morning (that's a whole other story)? Did we leave the gate open? Yup, that's the one. Gate = wide open. No chickens to be seen.

I started to run around our property and then up and down the street, looking for three chickens. I found some feathers on the ground and my first (naive) thought was that one of the chickens had started molting and that's why they (all?) left. I had no choice but to get on my call at home while I looked for my chicks. And here's the real humor of the post. I'm pretty sure when I un-muted the phone to actually speak, the other people on the call could hear a COPS-esque soundtrack of me running and panting really hard and loud, with the noises of cars driving past and my shoes clicking against the pavement as I literally RAN up the street in pursuit of my chickens. I'm totally professional when it comes to work.

After my call, I dialed Gar in a panic and acted like our house was on fire. I was stressed out. And I was late for work already. And my chickens were still MIA. It was a big deal. (I think Garrett wanted to laugh at the situation, but knew better. In other words, he knew I'd be pissed if he did. Actually, maybe he did, but I was just too busy thinking about what a horrible mother I was!).

At some point I saw my neighbor and asked if she'd seen them, I told her I had to go to work and that if she saw them to please put them safely in their coop. Just as I decided to abandon the search until lunchtime, I decided to take one last gander up the street. That's when I saw my neighbor, who not only owns chickens, but horses and other livestock right behind our property. Thank the lord for city cowboys! They are up before the sun and notice EVERYTHING that happens on and around their property.
I pulled up and introduced myself (we've lived here for 2.5 years and we have yet to meet all the neighbors. don't judge me.) I don't know how, but I got the sense that he knew I was looking for my animals.
It went something like this:
Me: "Have you seen three gold hens?"
Jim: "I thought those were yours."
Me: "You saw them?"
Jim: "Yeah, they're gone."
Me: "What?!? What do you mean they're 'gone'?"
Jim: "I saw a fox running away with one in its mouth early this morning. You can't leave the coop open, there are too many animals that will eat them around here. We have racoons and we saw a deer down there last week."
Me: (OMG!) "Sad. We usually contain them, but sometimes we'll let them run around the yard. I think my husband left the gate open last night after we put them away for the night."
Jim: "Yeah, my wife left our coop open one night and the fox killed five of our 22 hens. City chickens are a great idea, you just got to watch them carefully. You'll learn..."

And then I said thank you and drove to work. I was sad that I let my pets get eaten and felt sad for the lonesome chicken.
Luckily, by noon that day, my neighbor called me and said she found two chickens in her yard behind her trash can and put them away safely. I was super grateful. And even more ecstatic that they were alive! After thinking about it for awhile that day, I figured it out. The chickens probably got out early in the morning, were hanging out in the back until they saw Fantastic Mr. Fox, wherein, he came after one and the others scrambled. There's a joke there somewhere...

The Bluth hens. No more Lucille Austero, her vertigo must have gotten the best of her.

Garrett actually has seen the fox since this incident a few weeks ago. He was out in the back one evening and looked down the hill (our backyard slopes down into a big pasture/creek bed, hence the name Hillview). He saw a hefty fox jump our fence and run into the other yard. We have also since, been cautious as to not leave the gate open after letting them roam around the backyard. I Adore my chickies.

Garrett faking looking for chickens.

Urban Farming

We have talked about getting chickens for about a year now. I have friends that have urban chickens and I liked the idea of fresh eggs and chickens roaming around the yard (we have horses behind our property, so I figured they fit in the landscape). Garrett had no problem finding coop plans online and was all over the task of building the coop. Lucky for me he is super handy. I couldn't have been more pleased with his work! Thank you Garrett for dedicating many hours over the past few weeks to making our chickens a cute little home to call their own. I think they are very happy birds. Our house came with an old dilapidated dog run that we thought we could use for chickens. We figured we'd cover the top with chicken wire and then cut a hole in the side to connect it to the cottage.

Garrett framed everything out using two by fours and then added walls made of plywood. He did a superb job cutting everything, and he realized quickly (within the first hour) that I was no good being his assistant because I kept asking him for help, which defeated the purpose of me "helping" him in the first place. I'll stick to being the on-site safety manager. I was really good at reminding him to wear protective eye wear and keeping the job site clear of debris. Or perhaps I just worry too much and I'm a neat freak. Either way, I was a great safety manager.

He used liquid-foam insulation so that we could have the chickens outside year-round, and even had the genius idea of using leftover heater vents from our remodel for ventilation. Did you know that ventilation in the coop is vital to a chicken's health? Neither did I. You learn something new everyday.

As lousy of a helper that I was, I learned something else--that I am not a builder--whatsoever. As logical as I like to think I am, I kept questioning whether the height of the egg box would be low enough for me to look into when all was said and done. The original stand that the house would sit on was more than four feet high, with the laying box nearly a foot higher after the house would be set on top of the stand. I kept telling Garrett that his measurements/plans might be off and he would literally roll his eyes at me (don't ever question someone who builds things for a living, you'll look like a fool--funny that I know this but I question him anyway ... all the time).

I almost painted the house orange because I thought red was too bold and yellow too mellow. But I am so glad I decided red would be fine and I'm thrilled with the bright red and how the tone dried out. It reminds me of a barn, and I think the chickens appreciate that...

And then, after weeks of work, it was finally done. The original house plans were a bit different than what Garrett actually ended up building. I wanted a large window that would allow for easy cleaning and a laying box that I could easily pull the eggs from. Garrett also added the sliding door for the laying box, the double doors on the stand (the food and water hang underneath), and he also added plexiglass windows so the chicks will have good light and we can spy on them every once in a while.

This is no flimsy chicken coop. Garrett cemented the stand into the ground and it took me, Garrett, and my father-in-law to lift the house onto the stand.We even found a window planter in our shed that can be nailed to the side under the window to make it look even more adorable. Because Spring actually showed up this year, we had minimal weather disruptions, otherwise it would have taken wayyyyy longer. About a week after finishing, we went to Lehi to pick up our chickens--four of them!

Fall Cleaning

First flower beds I've ever planted, and in our front yard!

Our house is a work in progress. Constantly. And probably forever.

I'm not kidding when I say that we will probably always have a major project going on at our house. We bought an older house with the intent to fix it up, but man, is it going slowly. The plan was to do a huge overhaul on the first floor when we moved in two years ago (check!), the next year fix the back yard (un-check), and then the next year finish the basement (un-check). We should have fixed the back yard this year, but it hardly looks like we touched it. We have, however, fixed the front yard, which is probably more important anyway. It feels like there are not enough days to do the work we can, and not enough money to do the work we want.

This summer we (and by we, I mean Garrett) had three goals: the path on the side of the house, a gate, and gutters. We mostly accomplished those; path (check!), gate (check!), gutters (half-check). We only put gutters in the front, but that is where we need them most, so I count it as a win.

It was a big ditch for a whole year before this.

Path on the side of the house, before.

The after ... Garrett worked really hard, and it looks profesh. Best of all, we have a gate now! Good work, Gar!

Yay for gutters! Never thought I'd be so grateful for gutters.

Since snow (and hell) are suppose to make their appearance sometime soon, we did a major fall cleaning today. I actually did get a lot accomplished. I finally (only 14 months later, mind you) stored away some wedding stuff, halfway cleaned my office (big project!), and took pictures of all the things around here that need to be sold online. Garrett told me I could pocket any money I made from the things I could sell online, so I am making an effort to clear out the clutter and make a pretty penny--I want a new laptop. I'm hoping to get a few hundred from everything, but it could take a while. Anyone want a cheap dining set, blender, or 2005 HP printer? If you are, you're in luck!

I may go back to being MIA on this here blog... I start my new (and final!) term on Tuesday. Bleh.

Summer

This Summer has been relatively low key. I have not done much besides work, school, and the occasional play. We have, however, spent some time with Gar's family and a lot of time outdoors (though the outdoors stuff consists of being outside, we haven't been doing the outdoors-y type things like we normally would). We've spent A LOT of time working on the yard--tis the season, I guess. I wish I could say there was more golf, and hiking, and rock climbing, and laying by the pool...but either way, here's to summer.

Gar and I at a cousin's wedding.

S.L. County provides residents with free dumpsters each year in an effort to get them to do some Spring Cleaning. This was the dumpster in front of our house. No kidding, that is all of the contents left behind in the garage by the previous owners. We filled that thing up in less than 20 minutes!

One of my dear friends rented a pony for her birthday party. She turned 26, not 6...but come on, who doesn't love a mini horse!?!?

Katrina's 7th birthday party. A Smurf-themed party, they all had to wear blue. And then they climbed into Gar's work truck and started screaming and being wild. Oh, to be a kid again.

Cute baby Eden in her darling swimsuit.

Love the pig-tails.

Beautiful Snowbird in the Summer.

Front Yard

Ok, so I am horrible at personal blogging...I get it.
Finally, here is the front yard, it's nearly complete. Yes, that is the AC unit in the front yard, we don't know the idiot who put it there, but at least now we have grass.

Back and Front Yard Adventures

This is Teenie and I riding the new lawn mower, I pushed the brake and shifted, and she steered. Don't try this at home, kids! It has a wagon that you can attach to it. I can't wait until the sprinklers are in so I can haul stuff up from the bottom of the hill. Oh, the joys of having a house and a big yard!

Meanwhile, the front yard went from this ^ to that v in a few short hours. Laying sod soon, more pics to come!

The Newness

After two months with out a kitchen or living room and hours of hard work, I am so happy it is all over! We knocked out a wall in the kitchen, gutted the kitchen, put in new cabinets, counter tops, appliances, lights and floors.We added bar space and tripled the storage.
In the living room we stripped the fireplace, painted the walls, added base and crown molding and added recessed lighting.
We documented each stage of the remodel and here is a quick look at what we did.
The Before: