Doesn’t it always seem that by the time you figure something out it is almost over. Like college for example. It was the end of my junior year before I finally figured out what combination of individual study, teacher group tutoring, and extra homework was needed in order to secure an A/B average. Now it is COVID. Just a few months into a new year of living in the world after COVID, Boxes in Fields has finally found its grove…
Well it’s done. Three months from the first ditch being dug stake was hammered into the ground, two months since the last form board was hammered into place, just under one month since the first rebar was laid, the concrete pad has been exposed to its true identity. To remove the form boards turned out to be more work than installing them. All of the sand that was tossed from the ditches out had to be removed. This was bucket…
Sometimes things are scheduled for difficult but in the end are relatively easy. Sometimes things are scheduled for easy but then turn difficult. Sometimes things are scheduled but then the whole thing schedule falls apart. When Boxes in Fields poured concrete footings for the Shop Box with a hand mixer, we were fully aware the work would be hard and time consuming. The work was what it was but in the end was not as difficult as originally thought. When…
UGH. SO. COLD. Eleven days. Eleven days of bitter cold weather. An arctic blast from Canada the weather man said. Just a few days of below freezing temperatures and very high winds. Just a few days they said. It started the last day the concrete crew arrived. By mid morning that Thursday the crew were gone and weather was dropping. By early afternoon all the tropical plants were wrapped in towels and covered in plastic. By mid afternoon the chickens…
And so we wait for rain… And rain it did. Water standing deep enough the waterproof boots were water logged. Trying to keep on schedule despite the weather, the Planner continued with concrete pad preparations. There were end bed plates to make and water lines to lay in the ditch between the two boxes. The plastic wrap did keep the water from soaking into the form boards but it did not hold up to the endless wind and had to…
No better way to wrap up a busy week than with twelve fluffy chicks. The old stock has dwindled down to just a few and they lay eggs very irregularly. Four Ameraucana (no pictures taken) because colored eggs taste better (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it)… two Black Sex Link because even though Squawky McSquawkerson is loud and boisterous she is a good hen… two Buff Orpingtons because they are supposedly docile enough to hold… two Light Brahmas…
January 2021. Here’s to a new year, a new hope, and new concrete pad. As soon as the weather clears out. The New Year came and went and Boxes in Fields was a stuck duck in the work department. Concrete forms a make for a great lake if you are a duck. If you are Boxes in Fields with a concrete window the lake is a major delay. To aide in water abatement, the Planner used the water pump to…
Good grief what a year. Seriously. What. A. Year. And to think it started off on the right foot, too. A ten mile bike ride at the refuge to start off the New Year. It was calm winds, warm, and wonderful. Sadly the doggo could not join us and she sulked at the door of the car as we loaded. In her younger days, just a few short years ago, she would have jumped in the car and rested upon…
Let the forming for concrete begin. Ditch digging was easy work compared to the work that lies ahead of Boxes in Fields. Concrete workers we are not but money tight we are. Needing to save as much as possible in labor costs the Planner was approved to build and install the concrete forms. Of course, being the planner the Planner is, they were built to code for strength, durability, and reusability. Saturday after Xmas, as soon as the hardware box…
Boxes in Fields is the Underground Railroad for lost critters. First there was the Lost Rooster way back in 2017. Then there was the two chickens within a few weeks of each other establishing the Halfway House in November 2018. The first rooster; Chicken; was fully accepted and is still rounding up his flock daily. The hen became an aggressive setter, the second rooster stalked the hens, and they both were chickens in a pot. Last summer was the family…