the daydream fund challenge thread

Rummer

We really thought hard about getting chickens but felt the costs would comfortably outweigh the benefits for us. Shame really as I would love to own chickens and fresh eggs are just such a delight!

choille

We cobbled together our own hen houses with ply wood, or any old wood. Our old duck house was made from a crate my Grandfather had got from the hospital he worked at. He converted it to a dressing table. I got it & used it as a blanket box. We converted it to a duck house 8 years ago but sadly it rotted a couple of years back & ended up in the stove. Quite a life the ole packing crate had then....

A really cold day today but at least the gales have died away. Let the big hens out of their runs and the cats have not been amused.

Just pu;;ed two carrots to go in the mince & one looks insipid - wonder why when they've both grown from the same seeds - well seeds from the same packet?

My fencer didn't appear this week as expected - he's gonna put me up some decent runs in the wood for the monster hens. He's due us some favours - also he's gonna give me an estimate for deer fencing down by the shore - only bit of croft not deer fenced. When he appears we aim to get him up t'scaffolding. Anyone who ventures down here now will be conned up aloft if they have the use of all their limbs. The two of us alone cannot lift the panels that OH jas made - far too heavy - so we need hands, strong hands now.

What a glorious moon out there.

ukmaggie45

choille wrote: »

What a glorious moon out there.

We saw a glorious moon when we came home from shopping for the house last night, but within about half an hour the fog descended. It's misty tonight, and been misty moisty and chilly all afternoon, so we didn't get to the house as planned. Shoulda got up early while it was still brighter. Hope tomorrow is better as OH is going to bring his Mum over to have a look at the house and garden (garden a mess, but still interesting to someone who loves plants).

I woke very early one day last week and could see Orion's belt even with the street lights outside. I do cherish sight of the stars and planets when it happens. We must get to the caravan to shut it up for winter soon, so will be praying for clear skies when we're there - dark skies are a real luxury for us! Though sadly not as dark as they were - street lights encroaching on the country lanes. Makes me feel like throwing stones! (I joke of course, but it does make me sad that even at the caravan we are losing dark skies)

choille

Our nearish neighbours are ones for outdoor lights & they are outrageously bright. I think they came from a big town/city & are really rather scared of the dark.

No street lights here thankfully. I would have thought that Councils up & down the land should be switching them off with the austerity measures. People should use head torches. It is such a waste. But I suppose they will squeal about crime & safety & stuff.

It's been very bright out all week at night - really clear skies.

lostinrates

The thing I really regret here is e can see town lights to the east and north. We still see the stars but its never proper panic inducing blind rendering dark, there is always that faint orange tint.....and I miss that, I LOVE the dark. My neighbours cow light also sheds some light this way, but not toward the house, so I forgive them.

Davesnave

I think ply is a great material for hen houses, provided you can get hold of the proper marine stuff, but then it costs an arm & a leg. Luckily, I'm not a great carpenter, so nobody asks me to make a hen house, but they let me loose on the rough stuff....:o

Ah, but my nest boxes are functioning OK , as we discovered another egg, this time neatly parked alongside a plastic one. They're getting the idea now.:D

Today we pulled the roof off one of the old field shelters. I know it's a funny old time to be doing that, but the corrugated Ondulene stuff was so full of saggy bits and holes, we decided it would make no difference for a few days, while it's being replaced. These are the shelters we're going to demolish, so very little is being spent to make this one watertight; I'm just going to use polytunnel plastic. At least we shall have more usable log storage.

We certainly have dark skies here, though on cloudy nights there's a little bit of a glow from the small town across the valley and, sometimes, from another town over ten miles away. To the south there's miles of nothing much, and then Dartmoor!

choille

The monster black & lavendar Orpingtons are in a house that was a lamb shelter & is made from Ondulene that was on a neighbour's roof. We got it when he replaced it with corrugated iron. We'll recycle most things!

alfie_1

RAS what a lovely story and well done. made me quite tearfull in a nice way.

troglodyte

I've just caught up and am outraged by the fostering stories! This kind of thing drives me mad - presumably you are more acceptable as a prospective parent if you have no ambition? It's like the issue with mixed race children - 'coloured' or mixed race children were placed with 'coloured' parents rather than white ones - so a child of mixed race (European/African for example) would not have been allowed to go to parents of the same race as one of it's own birth parents IYSWIM. This really is beaurocracy gone mad, as they always say in the tabloids. :eek:

On the house front, I just realised the other day what I need to do to this house to make it the kind of place I would be happy to stay in indefinitely. Unfortunately I don't think it will be possible for structural reasons - but I might just ask a builder or two just in case...

choille

RAS - It was a lovely story . Reminds me of the saying, 'It takes a whole village to raise a child.'