The other ones

Here are the other members of our household: Zoe the border collie and Bella the lab, and Gary the mellow Siamese mix. All of them are mutts from the animal shelter, and all are very sweet creatures. We aren't sure how they are going to take a bunch of birds hanging out in their yard, though. Zoe has seen the chicks, and her response was energetic sniffing, whining and chop-licking. Uh-oh. Websites I've been to say that dogs can be trained to see the birds as livestock to protect, but that it's also difficult to make sure they don't get a taste for fresh chicken...feathered sushi!

So our chickens will have their own fortified place in our yard, surrounded by chicken wire and netting on top to keep hawks out. It used to be the site of a broken-down shed and a dirt pile. The shed and dirt pile are gone, thanks to Dave, and Jonah and I mulched the place and sowed rye grass a week ago. The grass has already sprouted - look closely and you'll see tiny red shoots coming out of the seeds.

We spent a lot of time outside yesterday, knowing that the rains were supposed to come back soon. The deluge has arrived, so today we're indoors. I am looking forward to drier weather; Jonah's favorite thing to do is work outside, as you can see.