Today Josh, Nikki and Josie went to a daylily meeting, so the boys stayed with us.  We took them to Leebo’s (because they love to go there) for lunch.

Hudson ordered a piece of chicken with a bone in it. Denton ordered a corn dog and removed the cornbread part.  They washed all that down with chocolate milk.  Then, they

picked out desert which consisted of doughnut holes in a cup.  When we got in the car, Joel reminded them to put their seat belts on.  That, in turn,  reminded me of a jingle that came out years ago before seatbelts were mandatory.  I began to sing, “Buckle up for safety, buckle up.  Buckle up for safety, everybody buckle up. Show the world you care by the belts you wear.  Buckle up for safety, everybody buckle up.”  Perhaps you remember it.  Joel did, and sang along.  Before we could sing it a second time, Joel changed the third line to, “Show the world you care, wear clean underwear“.  Well, that changed the whole dynamic of the song, so we had to make up words compatible with Joel’s new line.  I won’t tell you what they were.  It’s more fun to make up your own lyrics to match the mood of your family.

After a golf cart ride around the property,

the boys played a video game and then were supposed to take a nap before their parents returned.  Well, Denton took one.  Hudson mostly just wallowed around in the blanket.  He said

that he was unable to sleep because he thought that there was a monster behind the door making it squeak…  I kinda wish there would have been.

It has rained ALL day. I went to the market at Inglewood Plantation to get vegetables in the rain.  I fed the animals in the rain. I don’t like to clean house when it rains, so I decide to entertain myself by doing some open hearth cooking.  To tell you the truth, it probably wasn’t cold enough to have a fire.  But, you’ve gotta eat.  Right?  I decided to cook a small loin roast.  While the roast was thawing and the fire was making some really good coals, I went out to the shop to construct a make-shift tin oven.

I cut a couple of pieces of thin sheet metal

and pop riveted them together.  After adding a little flat bar for stability, I brought it inside

and positioned it on the hearth.  While I was in the kitchen stuffing the roast with garlic, Joel came in from outside, took one look at the fireplace and said the same five words that I have heard so many times: “Susan, what are you doing?”

After I finished seasoning the roast,

I hung it inside the tin oven and turned it till it browned really well and was pretty much done.

I removed it from the hook and put it in a dutch oven,

and put it back on the hearth to get tender.  It took a little time to do all this, but it sure used up the rest of a rainy day.

I have this triangular metal trellis that I brought inside and wrapped with colored lights for Christmas.  Last night I replaced the colored lights with white lights and added some English Ivy skeletons and grape vines.  My purpose was to create an interesting light feature.  (If they can do it on Pinterest, I can do it in Woodworth.) This is how it came out.

Then I decided to take some old doors that I have used for headboards and wall hangings and make a room divider.  I needed to put some feet on those doors in order to stand them up, so I cut and

I drilled and

I welded, until I had two feet for each door.  Then I installed the feet, stood the doors up, hung a painting on them and butted the sofa up to my new divider.  After moving around a few more objects, this is what I had.

Then, on the back side of the divider, I put an old drafting table

as a pedestal for one of my metal pieces. If you look at the room from this side of the divider

this is what you see.  I’m pleased with my ‘room divided’ and am wondering why it took me so long to think this up.

Grandma Moses once said, “If I hadn’t started painting, I would have raised chickens.” I don’t see why she couldn’t have done both…I do.  And, to start off the new year, my chickens flew off of a new roost.

Joel enclosed part of my daddy’s old ‘bus shed’ so that my chickens could have new quarters.

Although this pen is smaller than the other one, it is much better. It’s also closer to the house. As a matter of fact, I can see the chickens from the porch.

After Joel finished putting up the wire, I built a gate

and made a latch

that you can drop a pin into. I also built a roost with a place to catch all the droppings

so they can be collected and added to compost.

Joel put in a water faucet, which is quite convenient.  We hung a feeder

in hopes that less feed will be wasted. Then,

I installed their old nesting boxes.

Ever since the chickens moved in, Gypsy has been hanging out down there. Sometimes she climbs up into the oak tree and just watches.  Yesterday I let her in the pen,

but when a couple of the girls gave her the evil eye, she couldn’t get out quick enough.

I have more things that I want to add to the new ‘poultry palace’,  so give me a few days to do a little construction and I’ll get back to ya.