The hens periodically make alarm sounds, but by the time I get out to the coop, there is nothing to be seen. This time I saw Sophie the cat stalk by the coop and hide under some cardboard. No wonder the hens freak. (I use the card board on the path to give traction when it is muddy, until I get some decomposed granite.)
Hiding under the cardboard is immensely cute, but I can see how it would upset the chickens!
I took the single ply merino wool I had left over from plying and made a simple lace scarf for my youngest’s doll. I had just enough for a decent length. The yarn is about 32 wraps per inch, which is small even for lace weight yarn. I tried nålbinding a new stitch, but the dark yarn was too hard to see. I tried knitting, but again, it was tiny and hard to see. So I used crochet, because I can crochet without having to distinguish individual strands. I did a simple lace pattern (chain three, single crochet in previous chain, repeat), and it still took me days to complete. Making doll clothes, though, is a great way to try different techniques with small amounts of yarn, rather than tackling a human sized project.
I setup my sky chair in the backyard, since the weather has been beautiful, and put up a sunshade, just in case I fall asleep. Not likely to happen now, since putting up the shade I’ve had caterpillars and spiders rain down on me. The puppy takes offense when I jump off the chair with a yelp. I do not have herpetophobia, the fear of slithery crawly things, but I prefer to not have them drop on me.
We had left over bits of irrigation tubing, and my eldest expressed interest in teaching the puppy to jump through hoops. Now we have three different sizes to practice with!
I found a 3/4” dowel that fit snugly into the drip hose, so cut about 3” off that and slid both ends of the tube onto the dowel.
To keep the dowel in place I used some small screws that bit into the wood, but didn’t go all the way through.
The solid tubing had a bit smaller inside diameter, so I sanded down the dowel until it just fit and I could push the tube ends on.
Missy already knows how to walk through a hoop! As recommended by the backyard agility article we read, we’ll wait until she is a year old to start the jumping part since jumping is hard on growing bones.
Taco is a strange bird. Well, her name is Taco. She is the least people friendly and the hardest to catch. When we sit in the coop, she is usually the farthest away. I caught this picture of her taking a nap as my youngest and I hung out with the flock for a bit. With her tail feathers nearly straight up in the air. The others settle with tail feathers up as well, but not nearly to that extreme angle.
