Update on the Girls (Daughters & Chickens)

Macky and Sis working together

Practicing the old saying "What once was old is new again,"Macky took it upon herself to sand down an old set of drawers to re-purpose them for her room. We've had this old set of drawers for several years (and several kids) so it had been covered much like an old graffiti bridge we used to have in Oklahoma City called the Graffiti Bridge. Several times each year students from numerous rival schools would converge on this old railroad bridge and paint their school colors on it. It stood five decades before the city tore it down.

Mack snatched my Jesse Stone hat

Macky wanted to paint the drawers a bright color. She mentioned red but wasn't happy with any of the color swatches at the local Home Depot paint supply department. Once I heard her say "red" and "shiny" I could think of only one color that fit that bill in my mind: Candy Apple Red. I had grown to associate that name with the fastest hotrods of the day when I was a kid. Whether it was a 1968 Corvette or 1967 Mustang, if it had a big block engine and was painted Candy Apple Red...it was bad ass. So I suggested it to Mack. She loves it.

Boo says: Cowgirl Up!

A few more coats of paint and she'll be all done. The drawers will be like new again and the girls will have just a little more space to organize their stuff. The red finish stands out against the rest of her furniture just like she wanted...and the candy coating shines like a glass lake on a windless day.

Boo is starting to build her wardrobe back up (post house fire.) She happily poses in her new cowgirl belt, boots and hat for a proud Daddy. We snuck out and picked up our favorite local treat: Sarsaparilla Rootbeer. She seems to be growing up faster than any of the girls right now. I guess it's her age. She'll be eight years old in April.

She really likes the new chicken coop. She's the only girl that enjoys chasing the chickens around trying to pick one up. She giggles as they hop and fly out of her grabbing hands. We spent a good 20 minutes yesterday just jumping around trying to corner a bird so she could hold it.

Sorry for the flash-washout

Our rooster has gotten so big, we've named him Rooster Cogburn. Sometimes I just call him Duke. He's not making much noise...yet. They're enjoying the nice expansion run I added for them this past weekend. Now they can take off running full bore without slamming into a wall or each other before the end of the runway (although that was kinda funny.)

What started out as ten chicks before the house fire turned out to be eight chicks and one rooster (one hen died) when we got them back from the generous neighbor who "chicken-sat" them while we were moving from neighbor to neighbor. They lived in our rental house for two weeks, the garage for two weeks and finally outside. I built them a small-ish coop (<==YouTube video for those on dial up) but it was enough to get them outside. The garage wasn't smelling so good.

The Queen got a new hairstyle and couldn't be happier. I'm so "old" that I had to ask her what the name of the style was called. "It's called Scene Dad." It should be called "hair is covering half your face" but whatever kiddo. She spends most of her time at home with earbuds in her ears listening to music. She doesn't know it but I can relate. Only my music came from a Ghetto Blaster and in those days, you could record songs off the radio station onto your cassette tape and nobody screamed Copyright Infringement! We didn't need The Pirate Bay...we had a Record button. You just had to sacrifice the beginning of your favorite song if you didn't hit the Record button fast enough.

Thumbs up from The Queen at 13.

Oh, and Sis is doing great. She's on the track team, choir and generally having a good time. She got her driver's permit (fair warning!) and we have begun the driver's training. Monster and Flower and just happy bouncing on our bed every night. The world is still pretty simple to them. Give them something sugary to drink and something soft to bounce up and down on and their good for hours.

Wifey doesn't have a sewing room up and running yet though. She's kinda bummed about that. We inspected some wood built sheds last weekend in hopes we could someday soon afford one and turn it into her craft room. She really misses the nice one I built her back in The Valley. It had a place for just about everything. She was constantly making the girls outfits for just about every holiday.

Wifey cowgirl'd up & my '81 Chevy

I'll have to figure out how to solve that problem. I turned our enclosed trailer into a man cave/ work shop so I could find my tools. Now I need to build her a girl cave. Although, she did get to cowgirl up the other day and get herself a pair of boots, belt and hat...and she looks might fine!

My new (new to me) 1981 Chevy pickup is giving me some trouble. After running for a while she'll die all of the sudden. Like she's not getting gas or something. I'll have to go through the fuel line next weekend and check the fuel filter, pump, etc. No telling what this old girl needs repaired but for $2k, I ain't complaining. She's no Orange Jeep but she's got a eight foot bed, big V8, 4x4 and a one ton axle.

~OJD