Race against the storms

     The past couple of days have been beautiful, azure skies, sun and enough warmth to need no more than a light fleece or sweater during the daylight hours.  The nights are still falling to the 28-32 degree Fahrenheit range.  Today and tomorrow are rainy and cooler expectations.
     Yesterday after having our 24 year old neighbor, who is a machinist and gunsmith, set the scope on my new rifle, I got to practice shooting on his range for a few minutes and managed to shoot 3 plastic bottles of water with only 4 shots, the first one was high.  I have never been a proponent of guns, we even had an ugly Christmas when my father-in-law presented to my husband, an old family rifle and insisted that the children and I be present when it was given.  I stormed off angry over the incident.  I haven't fired a weapon of any sort, except a child's bow since 1969, and I was old enough to have purchased that handgun at the insistence of my ex-husband who was going to Viet Nam for a one year tour.  It was fired at a range until he thought I could handle it and then it was placed in a locked box and spent the next 44 years being moved from house to house and finally locked in the gun locker we put in this house when my hubby and I settled here.
     We live on a farm.  Our neighbors are all farmers and hunters.  We have coyotes, groundhogs and other vermin that destruct the garden, attack calves and fawns and we need to be able to protect our livestock when the fencing is up and they are added, so that our horses and cattle aren't attacked by the coyotes or our chickens aren't attacked by them, the raccoons, or foxes and to keep the groundhogs from devastating our vegetable garden or digging dens and tunnels that cattle and horses can break a leg in.  The environment here was different than the city and having guns for the right reasons has never been a problem for me, so the small 22 magnum rifle was purchased and I am now learning to handle it properly.  Next question is whether I will be able to use it against something living, even if it is a nuisance.
     Sidetrack over.  The rest of yesterday was spent erecting the fence for the chicken run.  The chicks have about 1 more week indoors, then they move to the coop for a few days to a week until they know that is home.  By late April, they should be feathered enough to start spending the days outdoors and cooped at night.  Because the coop is raised on 4 X 4 legs set on a sled base, the underside had to be fenced so the chicken can not just scoot out under it.  But I wanted them to be able to escape under the coop from hawks and the heat, so the first part of the project involved stapling wire around 2 1/2 sides of the coop.  Next the 50' roll of 4 foot garden fencing had to be staked and anchored.  I got nearly around and realized I measured wrong and didn't have enough fencing.  Frustrated, I quit for the day and went to my ladies knit night group to unwind.

     This morning, refreshed and before the rain set in, I bundled up against the morning cold and finished the job.  The chicks now have about 160 square feet of play space.

 

 

Back of coop, run, garden and orchard in the background and the next project, repairing or deconstructing the 6 bin compost bins.

The makeshift gate I realized I would probably need, though once the bird netting as a hawk deterrent goes on top, I will have to duck walk inside the run.